Open letter to His Eminence Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei

Open letter to His Eminence Ayatollah Ali Hosseini-Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic Iran from Abraham A. van Kempen, Sr. Editor of The Building the Bridge Foundation, The Hague

Your Eminence,

Does Iran want that ‘sweet smell of revenge?’ What about ‘Smart Revenge?’ If you can’t beat them, lead them! Consider destroying your enemy by becoming friends! All the firepower cannot wipe out your nemesis. Friendship can and will. Shock the world with a noble pursuit, mutually rewarding deeds, each to be upstaged by the next achievement!

Iran is a world leader with its fingers in many pies for the good of men and women, everywhere. Tragically, the ‘World Community’ repudiates the goodness of Iran. You do not need me to confirm that some condemn and denunciate Iran for all that goes wrong in the Middle East. Ironically, Iran ranks among the most stable countries on earth, endowed with influence and authority; fueled with vigor and resolve; a cohesive sovereign nation with power. Iran can effectuate an exceptional and extraordinary outcome in the Region, to be esteemed and treasured as remarkable and incomparable by all humankind.

Would the Islamic State of Iran be open to spearheading a peace initiative in the Middle East? In the past, those in command of the peace talks dare not take off at full throttle. The results: one deadlock after the other. Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Madrid, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, Vienna, Paris, and Bahrain have led to stalemates often ending in standoffs with one foot in the stirrup, the other in the sand. To eventually soar through the clouds, you must take off at full throttle with all the torque you can get to reach maximum thrust to overcome resistance. That’s what it’s going to take to secure real and sustainable peace.¹

The Israeli and Palestinian Quest to Coexist can only become a reality when everyone on all sides of the Divide can freely move anywhere and everywhere without fear. ‘Freedom of movement’, the rite (right) of passage has always been the white elephant in the room.

Saint Pope John Paul II states in “A World More Dignified for All”²:

          “Peace is a gift from God. It is in our hands.

          The legacy of the twentieth century warns us to reach the goal of NEVER AGAIN.

          Wars are often the cause of further wars …

          Wars generally do not solve the problems that lie at the root of the conflicts.

          With war, humanity loses. 

          Only in peace and through peace can one ensure respect for the dignity of man and his            inalienable rights.”

Working Through Obstacles …

The leadership on ALL sides of the Divide has yet to strike an acceptable peace package. To date, the majority on both sides reject the proposed resolutions ostensibly designed to fail from the start. “Only 39 percent of Palestinians and 46 percent of Israelis support a peace agreement package that is riddled with obstacles, comprising of:

1. A de-militarized Palestinian state [rejected by 80% Palestinians but supported by 61% Israelis].
2. An Israeli withdrawal to the Green Line with equal territorial exchange [rejected by 56% Israelis; supported by 61% Palestinians].
3. A family unification in Israel of [ONLY] 100,000 Palestinian refugees [overwhelmingly rejected by both; not enough for the Palestinians; too many for the Israelis].
4. West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel;
5. East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine;
6. The Jewish Quarter and the Western Wall under Israeli sovereignty;
7. The Muslim and Christian quarters and the al Haram al Sharif / Temple Mount under Palestinian sovereignty; [items 4, 5, 6, 7: all seemingly prayers without an end in sight].
8. The end of the conflict [ironically desired by all but impeded by all the stumbling blocks].
9. Cease all future claims against the other [supported by most Israelis, rejected by most Palestinians because they’re not going to let the Israelis get away with something for nothing and neither side will permit the other to get away with murder].”³

Clearly, the United States has failed in spawning any form of sustainable peace accords. Europe is still trying but is stuck to its historical and hysterical ruts. The Arab Peace Initiative has merits, but the Saudis lack credibility. Could Iran galvanize the world to hammer out a sustainable peace initiative? Could Iran change the Conflict to an Israeli-Palestinian Quest to Co-exist, to graduate into an Israeli-Palestinian Thrust to Trust? Could Iran build the many bridges to accomplish this goal? If peace is possible there, it is possible everywhere.

Any peace accord, minus full reconciliation, including restitution, will inevitably collapse. The wounds will be temporarily soothed, letting the disease to stealthily spread and eventually erupt and explode again.⁴ The EU-Complement to the Arab Peace Initiative outlined below can make a sustainable difference. “We cannot give up on the search to end this conflict,”⁵ says President Obama in a letter addressed to me dated 16 August 2016.

Since the 1950’s, Iran has danced around strenuous and grueling obstacles imposed by foreign interests. Iran’s tenacity has tested and toughened the Iranian people. Despite Iran’s melees, especially with the West, the Iranians I know remain generous, kind, and bighearted. You are bestowed with human resources and expertise to enter into discussions to negotiate with the European Union, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, China, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, North America, Israel-Palestine; frankly, the world? The world longs to move forward to reaching a sustainable resolve in the Region. Most people on all sides of the Divide want an end to the quagmire.⁶

Toward a Beloved Community … Combining the Dual Democracies Initiative (DDI) with the Arab Peace Initiative (API) and the EU Complement

The Dual Democracies Initiative (DDI)

DDI is the brainchild of Dr. George E. Assousa, Palestinian by birth. His thoughts are encapsulated in, Jewish Citizens in a Future Democratic Palestine?.⁷ DDI fits hand-in-glove, like the final piece in a puzzle, that can facilitate peace at the end of the finish line. Actually, it’s the spice that’s been lacking. DDI makes peace palatable, sustainable. Its core is centered around freedom of movement inside two borderless zones, a two-state solution with dual democracies that might gradually evolve into one democracy. Who knows? Let the chips fall where they may, one life-changing and one life-giving step at a time.

Excerpted from Dr. Assousa’s article:

“My heart still beats with memories of my beautiful home in Jerusalem, but my mind—trained through physics to deal with concrete facts—tells me that, unfortunately, history in Palestine cannot be reversed. The future, on the contrary, is in our hands. 

With a view to freeing ourselves from the quagmire, I therefore converted those ideas into a fully-fledged framework for final status negotiations and a track-two initiative in the form of the Dual Democracies Initiative (DDI).

In short, DDI is a mutually supportive Israeli-Palestinian two-state formula. It calls for the co-existence and mutual recognition of two peoples across two independent, pluralist, and democratic states, Israel and Palestine, on a reciprocal minorities structure, Palestinian Arabs in Israel and Jewish people in Palestine, preserving the two states’ respective majorities and national characters.

On the one hand, DDI meets Palestinian sovereignty needs. And on the other hand, it meets Israeli security needs, as well as expectations relating to the acceptance of the Jewish presence in Palestine and the recognition of the Israeli state as the homeland of the Jewish people.

DDI is the only proposal that offers a truly sustainably secure future for both sides. This is because security can only be effectively guaranteed with the following components in place: mutual acceptance, accommodation, and support; effective sovereignty for both sides; the right political and social infrastructure for highly functioning modern, integrated, and cooperative economies on both sides of the border; and effective implementation of the rule of law within such framework.”

Dr. Assousa’s DDI catalytically and creatively integrate the best of all the peace initiatives, including the Arab Peace Initiative and those catechized by the United Nations and the European Union as well as the Russian Federation, and the United States. Within this context, DDI could help the people of Israel- Palestine to democratically form, what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has coined, a ‘Beloved Community.’

Permit me to posit a possible structure, a 10-point blueprint, to uphold Dr. Assousa’s proposed and celebrated Dual Democracies Initiative. In my book, ‘Christian Zionism … Enraptured Around a Golden Calf,’ I’ve outlined this idea as the ‘Eu-Complement to the Arab Peace Initiative.’⁸ Now, it’s enriched with the ingredients of DDI, inevitably a beginning to a yeasty start, similar to the fixings that cause bread to rise.

The Eu-Complement to DDI and the Arab Peace Initiative

1. Europe apologizes to the people of Israel and the people of Palestine. As one who is more European than most, born as a British national and a Dutch national, I will take the initiative: I’m sorry what we have done to the Jews. I am sorry what we have done to the Palestinians. I speak volumes in silence.
2. Europe measures the ‘State of Palestine’ and the State of Israel by one standard with fairness and equitability.
3. Europe recognizes Israel and Palestine and treat both equally as de-facto NATO ‘affiliates’ so that neither may ever attack, invade, and occupy the other. Frankly, Israel already embraces de-facto NATO status.
4. Propose borderless boundaries or virtual borders, to facilitate freedom of movement and the right of passage for EVERYONE. Yes, with a BENELUX-type structure (Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg) one may freely cross the many Divides in the Region. Citizens of one zone or de-facto state may freely work, travel and live in the other – i.e., Jewish settlements sited in Palestine and vice-versa –, but remain citizens in their own zones. So, Israel remains Israel. Palestine remains Palestine. Jerusalem remains Jerusalem, but everyone in the region may live and work where they please but vote only in his or her own country. This is nothing new. Is Europe a single federation or a union of individual nations? Both! Am I proposing a one-state solution or a two-state solution? Depending on the eye of the beholder, it could be either or both; and, it could gradually evolve into a one-state democracy.
5. Implement restitution. Construct an EU-type Marshall Plan, guaranteed by the European Union. Banks would trip over each other to stand first in line to lend money to a credit worthy Israel and Palestine, collateralized by sovereign bank guaranties. Such secured financial instruments will enable the Israelis and the Palestinians to recompense the other, proportionate to the degrees of harm done and losses incurred. No one should get away taking something for nothing. Nor should we, Europeans, sweep our culpability under the rug. We have created the conflicts. We are the culprits. Europe owes it to the Israelis and the Palestinians to sweeten the Arab Peace Initiative with many hundreds of billions of euros in loan guaranties and grants. Don’t worry about producing a Weimar-type hyperinflation. Economies coming out of the ashes cannot be overheated because ash does not burn. Today, Europe can flush cash into Israel-Palestine for micro and macro development to generate jobs, jobs, jobs. Of course, Europe will profit too. All goods and services must be purchased from or through Europe.
6. Hang Netanyahu like Sadam? No! Let’s move forward and go beyond a justice based on tit for tat, despite what Netanyahu did to the Palestinians that Sadam did to the Kurds. As a response to ‘a tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye’ one could choose to give a tooth or to give an eye if needed and warranted. Why not reach the pinnacle of becoming the light of the world, each committing to becoming an instrument of blessing, and Give the Gifts that God has Given Us?
7. Invoke an Act of Reconciliation similar to the one in South Africa under the tenets ‘live, let live’ rather than ‘kill, get killed’; and, ‘forgive in order to forget,’ a fundamental economic principle, a precious lesson in life.
8. Encourage the people in the Region to vote for tentative (perhaps for five years) demilitarization of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and the ‘Palestinian Defense Forces (PDF)’ as a condition to enable NATO to guarantee security with heavily equipped NATO troops for all Israelis and for all Palestinians, costs to be proportionately defrayed among the Israelis and Palestinians derived from new-found revenues as a result of the new capital infused by Europe. From the beginning, the IDF and the ‘PDF’ have been destabilizing factors. Their aims, portrayed as divinely inspired, depicted with the best of intentions, have often been counterproductive for the greater good of the Region and the world.
9. Petition the Arab League together with the European Union and The Holy See to consider investing an estimated EU 100+ million to finance the work of thousands of Peace Corps Professionals to help the people of Israel Palestine to believe in their own self-esteem as well as the worthiness and goodness of the other.
10. And, tenth, for now, LEAVE THE HOLY SITES IN THE HOLY CITY ALONE! Until things REALLY cool down entrust them tentatively to something like a United Nations-mandated Trust. The Holy sites in the Holy City belong to everyone because those who have faith in the God of Abraham also believe that God is the God of Adam and Eve, the God of all mankind. West Jerusalem becomes the capital of Israel. East Jerusalem becomes the capital of Palestine with no borders to separate either. Why? God views Jerusalem as one and the same; and, perhaps someday, all of Jerusalem becomes the capital city of all of Israel – Palestine.
     

Dr. Assousa concludes Jewish Citizens in a Future Democratic Palestine? with:

          “DDI offers a solution based on the foundational principle that if Israelis, Palestinians, Jews, and Arabs are going to have to live together, they should learn to benefit from each other. Its intellectual foundations reach down to the 1947 Partition Plan and have sparked the interest of figures such as F.W. de Klerk.

          All other options have failed, and with the peace process ominously locked in reverse, it should be given a chance.”

Can we nourish and foster the creative imagination that permits us to bring into the world something that does not now exist?⁹

Rigid ideologies, isolation, and fear paralyze the capacity to imagine a web of interdependent relationships. “What we see,” says John Paul Lederach, author of ‘The Moral Imagination … The Art and Soul of Building Peace,’“are cycles of violence driven by fear and insecurity. If we are to survive as a global community, we must find ways to foster the moral imagination and recognize that our current modes of response are incapable of overcoming violence.

1. We must move away from isolation and an emphasis on domination and toward an emphasis on interdependent relationships.
2. We must recognize the complexity of relationships and not fall prey to an ‘us vs. them’ mentality.
3. We must trust that creativity and the capacity for constructive change are always in reach and not look to violence as our sole mode of defense and security.
4. We must accept vulnerability and seek constructive engagement with those people and things we least understand and most fear.
5. Reach out to those you fear.
6. Touch the heart of complexity.
7. Imagine beyond what is seen. Risk vulnerability one step at a time.”
    

Now that we have entered into a new decennium of the 21st century, how do we deal with the idea that one with one nuclear bomb is as lethal as one with 1,000? Everything we do has a ripple effect. The world has become small. We are all our brother’s keepers.

Many presume they’re on the right path. My book suggests otherwise. Christian Zionism … Enraptured Around a Golden Calf, addresses the 70 million Evangelicals in the United States and their 600 million followers worldwide, many of whom believe in their hearts of hearts that they obey God when aiding and abetting Israeli atrocities. The front cover of my book depicts Christians idolizing a golden calf. That’s disturbing. What’s even scarier is that many blindly follow and worship an anti-Christ, darkness, cast in light. Rather than walking in the footsteps of Christ (God) they are, in fact, robotically ensnared by anti-Christian chokeholds. In our Judeo-Christian-Islamic traditions, the illusion of worshipping the One God but praising the other,attests that many people take the easy way out rather than traversing on the arduous narrow road toward God’s holy presence.

The world has talked the walk of peace. Few have walked the talk. Our Judeo-Christian-Islamic heritage clearly evokes us to ⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Never rely on what you think you know. ⁶ Remember the Lord in everything you do, and he will show you the right way (Proverbs 3: 5-6 Good News Translation).

It is time to invoke divine discernment. In order to discern right from wrong, good from evil, we must combine Spiritual guidance with God-given intelligence. Yes, seek God’s will! Trust God! Exercise due diligence! To paraphrase Descartes: I think, therefore I am (uniquely created in God’s image). I think NOT, therefore I am WHAT, (a robot created in God’s image)? We are all created in God’s image to think freely like God. God has NOT created us to act like sheep, foolishly following other sheep.¹⁰

Your Eminence, we are all kings with one eye in the land of the blind. The world expects Iran to do its best. God willing, the Islamic Republic of Iran can and will frame a Peace Initiative to be favored by many; one, that will last. The Iran’s Peace Initiative could be as resplendent and as resilient as a Persian Rug … that looks and feels better over time.

With every good wish to you, dear Ayatollah Khamenei, I am,

Sincerely yours,

Building the Bridge Foundation, The Hague

Abraham A. van Kempen, Senior Editor

Attachments:

“Jewish Citizens in a Future Democratic Palestine?”https://buildingthebridge.eu/common-ground/general/jewish-citizens-in-a-future-democratic-palestine/661

“It’s About Equality …” https://buildingthebridge.eu/common-ground/general/building-a-broad-based-movement-for-israel-palestine/264

1. van Kempen, Abraham. Christian Zionism ... Enraptured Around a Golden Calf, 2nd Edition (Page 21;Kindle Location 246). https://abrahamavankempen.com/book-shop/
2. https://buildingthebridge.eu/common-ground/general/a-world-more-dignified-for-all/670
3. van Kempen, Abraham. Christian Zionism ... Enraptured Around a Golden Calf, 2nd Edition (Pages 21-22; Kindle Locations 249-261). https://abrahamavankempen.com/book-shop/
4. van Kempen, Abraham. Christian Zionism ... Enraptured Around a Golden Calf, 2nd Edition (Page 138-140;Kindle Locations 2764-2765). https://abrahamavankempen.com/book-shop/
5. https://buildingthebridge.eu/world-leaders/correspondences-world-leaders/in-reply-to-abraham-van-kempens-letter-to-president-barack-obama/107
6. “The vast majority of the Israeli Jews (73.8%), Israeli Palestinians living inside Israel with Israeli citizenships (97%) and the Palestinians (under enemy control in Gaza and the West bank) (85.7%) want peace …” van Kempen, Abraham. Christian Zionism ... Enraptured Around a Golden Calf, 2nd Edition (Page20;Kindle Locations 216-218). https://abrahamavankempen.com/book-shop/
7. https://buildingthebridge.eu/common-ground/general/jewish-citizens-in-a-future-democratic-palestine/661
8. van Kempen, Abraham. Christian Zionism ... Enraptured Around a Golden Calf, 2nd Edition (Pages 138 to 140; Kindle Locations 2760-2810). https://abrahamavankempen.com/book-shop/
9. van Kempen, Abraham. Christian Zionism ... Enraptured Around a Golden Calf (Kindle Locations 3932-3933). (Page 195; Kindle Locations 3932-3935). https://abrahamavankempen.com/book-shop/
10. van Kempen, Abraham. Christian Zionism ... Enraptured Around a Golden Calf, 2nd Edition (Page 196; Kindle Locations 3940). https://abrahamavankempen.com/book-shop/