As I watched in amazement at the sight of Gerry Adams and Rev. Ian Paisley sitting at the same table, I couldn't help but remember back to that amazing day in November, 1977, when Anwar Sadat came to Jerusalem.
I never thought I would see the day when Gerry Adams and Rev. Ian Paisley sat down at the same table. I am old enough to remember Rev. Paisley shouting "NEVER...NEVER...NEVER" at the top of his lungs regarding peace with the IRA. But it happened, and I couldn't help but think of Anwar Sadat.
Now, I may be one of the most right-wing of all the Israel supporters on DKos, at least regarding Israeli politics, but I think all Israelis agree that Anwar Sadat was one of the most courageous people in world history.
When everyone in the Arab League still maintained the "three noes", Anwar Sadat first told his own government and then the world that he would go to Jerusalem and make peace. When his closest advisors, who assumed he was bluffing, asked him what he would do if Israel actually invited him, he responded, paraphrasing, "I would go immediately." When Menachem Begin was elected Prime Minister, and invited Sadat, he made good on the promise.
I was living in America at the time, and I can still remember the day well. Hebrew School (our equivalent of Sunday School) was spontaneously cancelled. First of all, the kids old enough to know what was going on wanted to watch, and more importantly, no parent was going to leave the TV to drive the kids to shul.
I remember the crowds cheering him as he arrived on the streets of Jerusalem. To this day, it is a sight that has never been equalled, and literally gives me goosebumps thinking about it.
Just three months later, a peace treaty had been signed. And to this day, although it is widely referred to as a cold peace, it is a peace nonetheless.
Unfortunately, Sadat was killed just three years later, by extremists in his own country, for the very reason that he made peace with Israel. Just as unfortunately, the same fate befell Yitzchak Rabin a decade and a half later, for the same reason.
I don't know if such a man still exists. It's definitely not Olmert. Not because he is a war-mongerer, as many of you think, but because he is miserably incompetent, and doesn't belong in the same sentence as Sadat. A courageous man doesn't blow in the political winds, like most of today's politicians, on all sides, both here and in America.
I know most people here don't agree with me on this, but I think if such a person exists on the Israeli side, it will come from the right not the left. The left in Israel lately has only shown that they will give up anything in exchange for promises. I believe the right will make real concessions for real peace. Remember, Begin was the most right-wing of all Israeli politicians. I don't know if it's Netanyahu. Like I said, I don't know if such a person still exists, on either side. I would like to think that if Haniyeh wanted to speak in the Knesset, he would be invited just like Sadat, but I don't know.
Maybe with Rev. Paisley and Gerry Adams sitting together, someone else here, higher up the chain of command than me, will also be spending today thinking of Anwar Sadat.
It can't hurt.
Note: For those wanting to read the full transcript of Sadat's speech to the Knesset, here is a link.