David Suissa

February 22, 2011

A King’s Speech

By David Suissa

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To read a response to this essay by Jordan Elgrably, click here.

Read this article in Arabic here.

If I were advising the president or prime minister of Israel, I would suggest he go on Al Jazeera this week and deliver this message to the people of the Middle East:

Dear Neighbors:

What is happening right now in our region is historic. You, the great people of the Middle East, are rewriting history. You are rising up and saying, “Enough! Enough with oppression, enough with humiliation. We want opportunity, freedom and human rights.” Young and old, men and women, religious and secular, you have risen up as one and demanded a better future.

We, the people of Israel, want to be part of that better future.

It is not a coincidence that we are descendants of the same father, Abraham. Although we might be in conflict now, this was not always the case. We had our golden eras when we cooperated and respected each other like the biblical cousins that we are. We cherish to this day stories of the great Jewish and Muslim philosophers engaging each other in search of higher truths.

One of those higher truths is that we have so much in common as children of the same God and as members of the human race. We all want to laugh, provide for our families, lead meaningful lives, fall in love and be happy. Those are not Jewish or Muslim or Christian ideals — they are human ones, and they can bring us together.

Think of how infinitely proud and happy our God would be to see His Muslim and Jewish children end their conflicts and live in harmony.

Yes, Israel has made its share of mistakes. The challenges we face have humbled us. In truth, it hasn’t been easy to build a nation while constantly having to defend ourselves. Sometimes, this has brought out the worst in us and made us look like we care only about our own security. We deeply regret the displacement of so many people that occurred in 1948, when we had to defend ourselves against invading armies after the Arab rejection of U.N. Resolution 181, which partitioned the land for two states. 

We’re human. It does hurt to feel unwelcomed in a neighborhood we have called home for 3,000 years.

We have made peace with two of our neighbors, but that is not enough. We have made further offers and even evacuated settlements, but to no avail. Because our Palestinian neighbors are deeply divided between Gaza and the West Bank, we fear we don’t have the strong partner we need to make a deal — and that further evacuations might lead to more violence against us.

Despite our fears, we still yearn for peace. But it is not enough to just meet and “negotiate directly.” If both sides don’t bring to the table good faith and a willingness to compromise, our hopes will only be false hopes.

The fact that our Palestinian neighbors refused to negotiate last year for the first nine months of our 10-month settlement freeze was not a sign of good faith. Neither are their efforts to undermine us in international forums. Israel has already demonstrated its ability to make painful compromises in all areas, including settlements. Now is not the time for either side to demand preconditions that belong to the negotiating table. Now is the time to sit down in good faith and try to resolve our differences. We say to our Palestinian neighbors: We are ready to begin tomorrow morning. Are you?

We bring the same message to all our neighbors of the Middle East: We are ready to meet tomorrow morning to begin the journey of reconciliation. We dream not only of peace but of a future in which we would all enjoy the fruits of peace. We dream of the day when delegations from Yemen, Libya, Bahrain, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon and others will visit Israel and see that we are not the enemy, but a friend-in-waiting.

We can cooperate in trade, commerce and culture. We can share our technological and medical innovations to improve quality of life. We can enjoy each other’s movies, poems, stories, music and food. Our rabbis can talk about God with your imams. In short, we can create a new golden era of mutual respect and cooperation.

We might disagree, even on some important things, but one of the great human values is not to allow disagreements to turn into animosity and violence.

Beyond our own disagreements, we see too much pain today on the faces of the millions of Arabs rising up throughout the Middle East. We urge all leaders to honor their people by trusting that freedom, dignity and human rights will lead to a better future. 

Israel would love nothing more than to have free and democratic neighbors, and we want to be your partner in this momentous endeavor. Cynics will claim that this partnership is impossible — that you have been taught only to hate Jews and Israel, and that it will take a hundred years, if not more, before we can reconnect as the children of Abraham.

Maybe so, but I have no doubt that if our patriarch Abraham were alive today, he would hold our hands and bless us. He would bless us that we should find the strength to transcend our animosities and embark on our journey of reconciliation.

And he would remind us that Allah is with us, watching, hoping we will succeed.

Shalom and As-Salamu Alaykum. 

David Suissa is a branding consultant and the founder of OLAM magazine. For speaking engagements and other inquiries, he can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or davidsuissa.com.

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In Arabic

A version of this article appeared in print.

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Great translation!!!!!!  Someone needs to send this to the people of Libya….Egypt….I hope the Arabic version gets to al-Jazeera.  It’s tough love, but it’s love.

Comment by Spaniel on 2/22/11 at 6:00 pm

I read David’s heartfelt masterpiece article in english and arabic and in both languishes nothing is more to be said. Arab and Jewish leaders in all societal aspects such as governmental, religious and civic arena should embrace it immediately and act upon on and take forward.

Comment by Ed Elhaderi on 2/23/11 at 9:41 pm

Superb - and LOVE that it has a translation! Americans need to get behind this message - this is a fantastic vision of the road to peace in the Middle East!

Comment by Tristan Benz on 2/23/11 at 9:46 pm

your myopia and silliness knows no bounds
“we regret” some of that stuff in 1948 but cant think of anything to regret since then, like maybe the illegal (under israeli law) activity by settlers in west bank or the activities of ateret cohanim (check the article on limud LA in the JJ) paid for with tax deductible contributions by US jews. We can negotiate but dont expect much because “evacuations will lead to violence against us”  but let’s talk we can exchange movies, poems and stories from my new house in abu dis

Comment by lawrence weinman on 2/24/11 at 12:32 pm

Mr. Suissa maybe you can hold and arab israeli film festival in ariel and at the reception afterwards you can explain to the palestinian guests that
“we don’t have the strong partner we need to make a deal — and that further evacuations might lead to more violence against us. ” but boy did you enjoy that arab film and poetry reading

yuck

Comment by jewish israeli reader on 2/24/11 at 1:44 pm

can’t we all just get along I can’t stop expropriating your land and I certainly can’t evacuate my settlements or stop settlers from violating israeli law in expanding settlements. But it will be a new golden age: you’ll visit me in kiryat arba I’ll sell you some great techie gizmos and you can show me an arab film. And I’ll introduce you to this great lady from Brooklyn that works with ateret kohanim whose moving jews into the “so called muslim quarter of jerusalem” I met her at limud la. I regret any displacement from 1948, but her group…they’re working on creating a new golden age. maybe her rabbi can speak to your imam about it

Comment by gaon on 2/24/11 at 4:16 pm

This article is the complete opposite of myopic. It sees the situation in the Middle East on a broader level. And in this broader view, there is hope and reconciliation, not cynicism and hatred. Everywhere you look lately, people are saying Israel is scared about what’s happening with its neighbors. And some people really want Israel to be scared, which is why you keep hearing it. That’s why I think arguments like this one are so important, because it stops the cycle of negativity.

Comment by Andy C on 2/24/11 at 6:06 pm

Suissa has a great point here, but this type of talk is not popular with all the news pundits and forum jockeys who find peace bad for business. I think the people of the Middle East want peace. But what would Fox News, CNN,  the Huff Post and every other news outlet do if there were? What would they talk about?

Comment by paulie from pico on 2/24/11 at 6:16 pm

Let’s get serious. If you had to live in any country in the Middle East, where would you choose? I’d live in Israel. I’m not Jewish. I wouldn’t fit in. Rabbis would look at me funny. But I would have freedom of speech. I would be able to go to church and worship Jesus and I wouldn’t get arrested. Criticize Israel all you want, but it’s the only place in the Middle East most freedom-loving people would feel comfortable in. Israel’s the saving grace of the whole region, people.

Comment by Courtenay P. on 2/25/11 at 3:22 am

how about a different speech
“we will challenge our public to face the tough decisions the same time as you. We will hold elections in sept the same time as your elections and put a referendum on the ? of return of the settled areas as outlined in the Olmert map, if you put recognition of israel as a jewish state on yours”

Comment by aaron d on 2/25/11 at 7:49 am

i love this “where would you rather live”
how about this american jew in the 1950s when discrimination in housing employment and college admissions was legal (not to mention a black american that thought mlk was too radical)
” despite the horrible discrimination I would certainly rather live in the USA than in the Soviet Union”

so what
i think the word for a black person in that attitude was uncle tom
now think about life in the occupied west bank

Comment by perspective on 2/25/11 at 7:54 am

it’s a shame mr suissa you stopped writing about LA jewry a topic on which something you actually have something to say that has some worth

Comment by used to be a fan on 2/25/11 at 11:43 am

Lebanon Egypt Jordan & PA contacts were appalled by comments attacking Israel, presumably from Jews.

They agree PA,Hamas,Brotherhood, etc.do not want peace state of semi—war keeps them in power & enriches them. Also hatred fomented by yrs of religious indoctrination is too embedded in their every thought to be overcome by logic or an appeal for united approach to the future.

Israel,can’t count on the US, EU, UN. Etc. No matter what guarantees are given to Israel they will be reneged upon and reinterpreted. The experience of the past should guide your future.

I learned people of good will look the other way if Israel is destroyed and then bemoan its fate, just like the Holocaust.

Comment by HOWARD LAITIN on 2/26/11 at 12:40 am

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