Dear Yasser

...But you have a well-deserved reputation for being a lucky man...

...Midge Decter First, let me congratulate you: Few political leaders in as much trouble as you obviously were by the end of Gulf War could have pulled their irons from the fire with as much speed and aplomb as you have done...

...To do so would be easy, but shortsighted...

...And we have the mutual recognition, which is a huge change—for 100 years Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs have failed to even lock eyes with each other...

...This action would build confidence within the Israeli and American political publics and, I believe,, gready relieve the Palestinian public as well...

...Israel, along with the rest of the world, must help in dispersing the despair, which is the ground for fanaticism- You and your people have undertaken to stop the violence...

...First and foremost, you must ensure that Gaza and Jericho do not become platforms for terrorist attacks against Israel or Israeli set-ders...

...No one, of course, can at this point be sure of the outcome of the inevitable struggle between you and Hamas (along with the other irreconcilable Palestinians...

...If we do not open all our our markets—those for chicken, tomatoes and underwear—to your exports, your economic losses will be very large...

...Stripped of a superpower patron, strapped for cash and looking over your shoulder at Hamas, you were, to put it blundy, in difficult circumstances...

...The most successful type of such interaction among nations is through commerce and tourism...

...In retrospect, your remarks, especially those on your personal support for a common market, take on added significance...

...the entire infrastructure requires planning and it's not too early...

...To be sure, in the achievement of this particular stunt you have had the help of the Jewish peace movement, both in Israel and the United States, who spoke so feelingly of the justice of your cause (if with certain pious reservations about certain of your more unfortunate methods...

...appreciated how carefully and sympathetically you listened when I told you how my fellow Jews and I prayed every Sabbath in Hebrew and Arabic for peace with your people...

...Several prominent Arab Americans declined onr invitation to write to Arafat...

...There must be interaction that permits all three to gain...

...No, in my view it won't be Hamas that gets you...

...For your emerging entity, Israel is the largest prospective market...

...These, and not the sensational, will be the stuff of regional confidence-building...

...Our initial reaction to your recent pledges was of disbelief...

...We also urge you to condemn publicly, and on a regular basis, the continuing terrorist attacks of Hamas and Islamic Jihad...

...to use Arab recognition and lifting of the embargo as bargaining chips to wring further Israeli concessions...

...Perhaps so, though I find it hard to believe that you have so soon come to the end of your ninth life...

...It would only confirm the worst fears of those who say that much of modern Palestinian history is strewn with missed opportunity and disastrous miscalculation and always will be...

...Still, as I sat before my television set some weeks ago watching you being feted by toute Washington after a hapless, pale-faced Yitzhak Rabin was forced to offer you a no doubt damp and fishy-cold hand, I was sunk in admiration for your powers of survival...

...Never count this man out, I said to myself, even if you should see him laid out in his coffin...

...Arafat, that your recent pledges are sincere and that the PLO has finally abandoned all forms of violence and terror...

...and, now, ironically, it must become yours...

...Some Israelis fear the loss of jobs to neighboring Palestinians and Jordanians...

...Prime Minister Rabin and Foreign Minister Peres did not negotiate out of charity...

...Arafat, you and your colleagues are, I hope, too busy to correspond with me right now...

...They would mold the destiny of the Israeli-Palestinian and Arab-Israeli relationships...

...You will also have to use your influence in the broader diplomatic arena...

...It is difficult to write to you because our wounds will never heal...

...They will sense that you do not want to live with them as good neighbors...

...There are mountains of despair and deserts of misery and poverty to be removed in the refugee camps, in the villages and in the hearts...

...We can never forget the pain and suffering that the PLO inflicted on our family...

...Your leadership in upholding your commitments to end the violence by preventing lethal political acts and by carrying out organizational punishment is the key to the future content of all bilateral dialogue with the United States, including contributions to multilateral agencies that provide monies to the PLO as well as opening a PLO office in Washington, D.C...

...If these politically substantive steps are taken by you and your followers, they would clear the thicket of hostile attitudes and show that you are a man of today's and tomorrow's business, not yesterday's...

...This disappointment and doubt were reflected on Capitol Hill when members of Congress were taking steps to clear the thicket of laws proscribing U.S.-PLO relations...

...elements in both fear it...

...The international community has long been seeking this nefarious criminal and we believe it would be an act of good faith on your part to surrender him to the appropriate authorities...

...Five notable Jen's with diverse perspectives, an Israeli novelist and a former secretary of stale offer adxrice...

...Such action is the single greatest threat to the prospects for Palestinian autonomy...

...The boycott is not peaceful or reasonable...

...On your side, fears of the Israeli economic juggernaut often dominate as well...

...you cannot use it as a bargaining chip...

...Palestinian authorities will have to act, within the rule of law but decisively, against would-be terrorists...

...The Palestinians will lose a future...

...Now I know that our prayers are being answered...

...It would have been sensible to suppose that with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the annoyance of the Saudis over your support of Saddam Hussein and die warm hospitality being shown to your competitors by the Syrians, you were at the very least a seriously declining force...

...As such, it can be resolved...

...Tom Dine The politics of peace is extraordinarily difficult...

...May you be successful in helping to shape the future peace...

...But on that day and the days leading up to it, you showed great political and personal courage in taking risks for peace...

...And I personally know that you support this...

...With caution, we are trying to look ahead toward a future free of terror and bloodshed...

...But there the symmetry ends...

...Undoubtedly, success in the peace process will require a good measure of luck...

...I know you will be tempted to do otherwise: to turn a blind eye to terrorism in order to avoid conflict with your Palestinian rivals...

...We need roads, hotels, airports, trains, guides...

...If autonomy does not improve security for Israel, there will be no autonomy...

...A series of directed, substantive steps need to be undertaken assuring all three of these peoples that the chances for success in this precarious process are better than 50 percent...

...and hopes are high for genuine peace...

...You should press moderate Arab leaders elsewhere to extend full diplomatic recognition to Israel...

...The recent and continuing rejection by the PLO and Arab government officials of ending the offensive policy of the Arab League's economic boycott of Israel has diminished your standing among Americans and Israelis...

...Like you, the Israeli leadership showed great personal and political courage...

...A common market is the next step...

...But you were never luckier than the day Yitzhak Rabin approved the peace agreement hammered out by Israeli and PLO negotiators in Norway...

...not a religious war, not a civil-rights issue, not a race clash— but an international conflict...

...Their actions were based, in my opinion, on an accurate calculation of Israel's short- and long- term interests...

...And, as lucky as you are, Mr...

...Dividing my life between Israel and the U.S., I observe how poor countries and rich countries anticipate free trade...

...The other step necessary is internal to your organization...

...Passionate archaeologist that I am, I want to say a few words about tourism, because it matters now for peace among us...

...Affecting the Israeli, Palestinian and American publics, I believe, is the next step in the critical process of change...

...If you miscalculate, if you fail to show the courage necessary to build a true peace, they may lose it all...

...Today, the Palestinian people enjoy a unique opportunity: a chance for the first time in over 40 years to enjoy peace, to build a society, to raise their children without bitterness or fear...

...And it is true that you have in recent years found yourself quite outflanked as a terrorist—at least according to the received wisdom of a busy and harried world—by the Islamic fundamentalists...

...The economic benefits as well as the cultural and educational advantages of tourism based on open borders and easy access is unlimited...

...You must go far beyond formal words of condemnation...

...If you do not allow Israelis to bid for contracts led by your self-government authority, Israelis will lose economically but, in relative terms, not too much...

...You must make the case for a comprehensive peace setdement in Amman, Beirut and Damascus...

...it must go...

...And you must urge the full lifting of the embargo, an ugly relic of an earlier time...

...More important, your leadership in promoting non-violent political action is the key to winning the hearts and minds of all concerned...

...Most importandy, Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians need to trade with and invest in each other to make a real peace...

...Which sight, it is being speculated by some, we should be vouchsafed soon: As a man of peace, they tell us, you are certain to be martyred...

...As we concluded our Harvard-PLO meeting, one of our mutual friends asked me to share with you a story about my synagogue, Kol Haneshama, in Jerusalem...

...They would shape this transitional period...

...I ask you to bear one sobering fact in mind during the months and years ahead: With that world-famous handshake on the South Lawn, Palestinian autonomy and Israeli security have become inextricably linked...

...Chairman, there will be no second chance...

...Actually, peace between Israel and the PLO is still to be achieved—all we have is an exchange of letters of intentions and some framework agreement for future negotiations...

...Amos Oz What should you do in order to solidify the peace with Israel and the Jews...

...nevertheless, for now it is you who are the acknowledged founding father of the Palestinian state to come, and it is surely your face that will adorn the first Palestinian currency...

...Now we need the two of you and King Hussein to quiet the fears of businesspeople and workers—and formulate a free, trade agreement...

...the region has now been psychologically and politically transformed...

...Meanwhile, the Western world passes the hat to make up for the losses you incurred with the collapse of the Soviet empire, and even Israel intends to contribute (will the United Jewish Appeal be far behind...

...Such repeated denunciations from the chairman of the PLO would strengthen and reinforce your renunciation of terrorism among your constituents...

...Having lost your main sources of clout and—no small matter—money with which to distribute patronage, you have emerged as the darling of the American press and political establishment, not to speak of being celebrated from the rooftops of East Jerusalem...

...As Secretary of State Warren Christopher said at the aid donor's conference, you and your Arab allies missed a common-sense opportunity to show peaceful intentions...

...Israel's security is the overriding priority of any Israeli government, Labor or Likud...

...In a very short period, you and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin have taken large and remarkably bold strides that have established a totally new era of peaceful Israeli-Palestinian coexistence and set the stage for meaningful negotiations between Israel and the PLO concerning Palestinian self-rule...

...Now, at last, the conflict is—no, not resolved yet—but understood by both sides as an international conflict...

...For peace to take hold, less dramatic, more measured and smaller steps need to occur...

...Perhaps even more important, the statute of limitations has clearly run out on the slaughter you have perpetrated...

...These will be the real building blocks of normality...

...No matter where one goes and converses in Washington and elsewhere in the United States or with whom one speaks in Israel, the overriding topic of concern is freeing Israeli-Palestinian relations of violence...

...Your handshake with Prime Minister Rabin was only the first act of leadership...

...Iha and Lisa Klinghoffer We are the daughters of Leon Klinghoffer, an elderly American Jew who was brutally murdered by the PLO aboard the AchilleLauro in 1985...

...Israelis would, however, become embittered...

...Two other steps are necessary...

...The world welcomes these triumphs of reason...

...At the same time, we were relieved upon learning that in your capacity as chairman of the PLO, you had finally renounced terrorism — a long, overdue step...

...Specifically, we urge you to apprehend Abu Abbas, the PLO mastermind of the Achille Lauro hijacking, and send him to Italy, where he was tried and sentenced in absentia...

...Like you, they will pay a price if the dynamic for peace falters...

...If the peace agreement fails, the Labor government may lose an election...

...And we will never retrieve what we have lost...

...It is a symbol of the old era...

...But once again you have saved yourself...

...Letters written by: James A. Baker III * Jay Ungerteider-Mayerson ? llsa and Lisa Klin^iaffer ? Midge Decter 4 Tom Dine 4 Amos Oz James A. Baker III Until September 13 of this year, I could scarcely have imagined that I would be writing to you...

...Was it possible that yesterday's terrorist is today's peacemaker...

...The PLO needs to push aside and out the proponents of hate and terror who still advocate Israel's liquidation...

...The Middle East offers an extraordinary potential for exploring ancient sites and monr uments that were built throughout history...

...Then, suddenly and unexpectedly, the peace agreement with the Israeli government offered you a way out...

...I did not know then that you had just dispatched Abu Mazin to m'eet with Shimon Peres...

...Israeli security—and Palestinian self-rule—is best guaranteed-by peace between Israel and all her neighbors...

...Successful politics requires one small step at a time...

...In memory of our father, we pray, Mr...

...But the current period remains transitional...

...My greatest hope is that you will continue to act courageously in the days, weeks and months ahead...

...May this year be one of peace and tranquility for Jew and Arab alike...

...A lot depends on how much of this you can deliver, and how seriously you want to...

...Joy Ungerleider-Mayerson * Ever since our meeting in Tunis on August 19,1 have been thinking about the priorities we discussed and the hopes we shared for economic and cultural cooperation in the Middle East...

...You will have to use all your influence, in the occupied territories and beyond, to combat terrorism and discourage its sponsors...

...Your people will be forced to forego substantial income and they will not experience in their daily lives the fruits of your and Prime Minister Rabin's courageous leadership...

...There are a number of steps you can take to fulfill your pledge to renounce terrorism and to discipline PLO members who commit acts of terror...

...You have survived assassination attempts, urban sieges and airplane crashes...

...surely blood will yet flow...

...the real danger you are in is that you may die laughing...

...Palestinian security forces will have to work closely with their Israeli counterparts...

...Without question the most enviable of all your skills is to have found the way to be given credit by your followers for the untold mayhem and murder you have caused to be committed in their name, and at the same time somehow to have emerged in the world's reckoning as a "moderate...