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The Dispossessed

(New York Times) Elie Wiesel - What is missing from the chapter now closing in Gaza is a collective gesture that ought to be made, but that hasn't been made, by the Palestinians. Let's imagine that, faced with the tears and suffering of the evacuees, the Palestinians had chosen to silence their joy and their pride, rather than to organize military parades with masked fighters, machine guns in hand, shooting in the air as though celebrating a great battlefield victory. Yes, imagine that Mahmoud Abbas and his colleagues, in advising their followers, extolled moderation, restraint, respect, and a little understanding for the Jews who felt themselves struck by an unhappy fate. They would have won general admiration. Last May, at an official dinner offered by King Abdullah II of Jordan, I spoke with the Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qurei. When I asked him what he thought of Mr. Sharon's courageous decision regarding Gaza, it was with a wave of the hand that he objected, adding with disdain: "All that is worth nothing, means nothing. If Sharon doesn't begin right away to negotiate definitive borders, a great catastrophe will be the result." He repeated those words: "right away" and "a great catastrophe." The optimist in me wants very much to believe that those were just words. Gaza, after all, is but one chapter in a book that must ultimately be about peace.
2005-08-22 00:00:00
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