Open Letter to Camp David Partners by: Mohamed Kamel

                                                            

Open Letter to Camp David Partners

  

                                                                                                                                                                        

Date:   August 20, 2000 

It is very nice to dream of peace and it is very nice to have world peace, but what is the difference between having and dreaming of peace.

To dream of peace: it is very easy to start negotiating and put all the people on alert for expected announcement every day. It is very easy to go in a political game in which we through the ball to each party’s field. All this is good for dreams; all of this is good for heightening the ambitions, hops and dreams of the poor people who do not have homes in which to sleep, eat or have the simplest of dreams. All of this is good for giving hope to those who lack, and giving dreams to those who haven’t.

All these are not practically effort for peace, all these are games, created to mislead those concerned, without having real solutions at hand.

As interesting as the hope for peace is, the political game of negotiations is very dreadful, as it can lead to more violence upon failure. Dreaming is very good as it builds ambitions and hops for a better future, but those who have lost their dreams have no more ambition and more hope and thus becoming desperate, taking maters in their own hands, violence seems like the only solution. Since it is in fact the most effective way of getting people to listen and may be care. Care rather then watch and blame the victims.

We are hearing over and over about compromises. But compromise is not the real issue. It is a matter of rights, if I take your house by force, would you sue me for the basement, the living room or most likely the house! It is an issue of basic human rights and principals, in 1917 the Jews were promised a land where there were people “Palestine”, in 1947 the Jews created a stat over this land.

The UN accepted that and decided to create two states to accommodate the Arab and the Jews, each in a state, what a compromise! But it remains a UN decision, the UN body which is the world countries united in a decision, in 1948 Arab and Jews went in war and the Jews occupied most of the of the UN declared Palestinian state, and then they started to blame the Arabs of not accepting the two states, “ So you do not accept, if you have no power you get nothing”. And still now the dream of the great Israel exist “from the Nile River to the Euphrates River”

           

Neither Arabs nor Jews were happy with the wars that took place until 1967 in which the new Jewish state took over parts from three neighbouring countries (Egypt, Jordan, Syria) in addition to what remained of the UN declared Palestinian state.

Palestinians remained on the world’s eyes as refugees who have the right to return and be compensated, and the UN’s resolutions in 1947, 1948, and up to date stated the same: “no rights could be build on the reality of occupation and no change to the occupied land would constitute rights”. Those are not only UN resolutions but also international laws principles.

So it is a matter of principal, is the world going to stick to principals will it accept that a country have the power to gain control over another by force. It is not a matter of concessions to have peace; it is a matter of achieving real justice, which will be accepted for its farness.

What you are discussing now is not the main issue: how many refugees have the right to return? Jerusalem belongs to whom…etc? The real issue is so simple and so clear: what have the UN resolutions called for, those resolutions should be implemented, and that is the real only possibility of achieving peace, if it is in fact real peace which we are looking for; other wise it will remain some people’s game of giving hope of peace and we will return to a no war no peace situation in which each party will try to bring justice by his means.

Camp David Partners:

I would like to thank you in behalf of humanity for your effort for peace, but please be honest you will be judged not only today or tomorrow but also the 100 years to come.

 Mohamed Sherif Kamel

 Brossard, Québec, Canada