Letter to the Editor: Phillip Fine

You gotta hand it to Wendy Kalman. Despite unremitting evidence to the contrary, she and her legions of diaspora do-gooders continue to believe that if Jews just sit down with Palestinians at the table of brotherhood and if Israelis just make concessions, giving up this piece of land and withdrawing from that piece of territory and making a real honest-to-G-d, no-holds-barred effort to understand where Arabs are coming from, well everything will just be tickety-boo.

So, like a dog worrying a bone, Ms. Kalman and her confreres continue to study the matter, participate in seminars, convene conferences, churn out editorials, think pieces, blog posts and position papers, hold symposia, put on colloquia, engage in endless peace-building and try to forge cross-cultural links, all in the transcendent hope that eventually, a durable, long-lasting peace will break out between Israel and the Arabs.

But if history is any indication, her efforts are likely to bear little fruit. Still, hope springs eternal, doesn’t it?

Phillip Fine, Arad, Israel