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ESSAYS FOR PEACE
THE WORKS OF AN INDIVIDUAL
by Kathy
X. Wang -
Montgomery Blair High School
First Prize
Sadat Essay for Peace Competition
2005
In Lessons of History, Will
Durant wrote, "Only the imagination and initiative of
leaders … can transform possibilities into fact." Anwar
Sadat was one of those leaders. When he stepped into
Egypt's presidential office in September 1970, Egypt had
been inured in four bloody wars against its Israeli
neighbors. Thousands of people had been stripped of
their homes and security through brutal backyard
battles. With every bloodshed, Sadat saw the pain in
his people's eyes and felt the sum of their despair. In
1977, he glued together the shards of morality in the
Middle East when he made his epic peace speech in front
of the Israeli government. His sincere endeavors for
peace have left a legacy in the Middle East, as well as
the rest of the world. President Sadat taught the world
that whether we live in peace is a decision that rests
in our hands. His willingness to trek the rough road to
Israel in 1977 in his quest for equanimity at home is an
attitude that each of us must continue to embrace and
emulate.
President Sadat's speech
in 1977 shocked the world. It was the first time that
the leader of a large Arab nation spoke face-to-face
with the Israeli government. Sadat broke through the
barrier of distrust: "Ladies and gentlemen, let us be
frank with each other. Using straightforward words and a
clear conception with no ambiguity, let us be frank with
each other today." His speech, so full of honesty and
clarity, drastically affected the Middle East. Merely
months after his proposals, Israel ended its military
occupation of all Arab lands occupied in 1967 in
agreement with Sadat's "land-for-peace" settlement.
Sadat had transgressed what he called "a barrier of
fear, deception, a barrier of hallucination" – the
barrier of war.
Following Sadat's footsteps, many
leaders in the Middle East have pushed for a lasting
peace. Despite various setbacks, the Middle East has
make remarkable improvements in reaching that ultimate
goal. A problem that persists, however, is the conflict
between Israeli and Palestinian societies. For decades,
these two groups have bickered aggressively, both
unwilling to listen to the other, stubbornly maintaining
a strenuous grasp on the present state of affairs. In
the middle of this broil, Sadat's vision of a peaceful
future was lost. His belief in a sincere and honest
approach to solving conflicts dissipated. Without any
restrictions, the barrier of war quickly resurfaced in
the form of suicide bombings and military occupations.
Only recently have the two sides agreed to cooperate as
Israel receded its military occupation of numerous West
Bank settlements and Palestine agreed to peace talks.
However, more improvements have yet
to be made, especially in the level of clarity and
sincerity with which the two societies communicate.
Sadat's speech about frankness being the only road to
lasting peace is now only a figment of the past.
Instead, conflicting sides are stating ambiguous and
somewhat unrealistic expectations. Ultimately, they
blame each other and make minimal progress. This lack
of understanding, honesty, and tolerance for the other
culture opposes the message that Sadat carried into the
Knesset when he said: "Innocent children who are
deprived of the care and compassion of their parents are
ours. They are ours, be they living on Arab or Israeli
land." He said that no matter what culture we follow,
we are all people and to achieve this oneness, we must
understand each other's cultures.
We cannot achieve peace
without this basic understanding. As one who lived in
Israel for three years, I can attest to the tranquility
and kindness of its people. Most Israelis are not, as
they are often pictured in news reports, oppressive
tyrant. Likewise, most Palestinians are not rebellious
coattails. These common misconceptions induce a heavy
veil of mistrust between these two societies. This wall
of discrimination and intolerance between people of all
different ethnicities and religions persists even in the
United States, a country lauded for its mixing-bowl
population. The most evident case of discrimination
occurred directly after the September 11th
attacks, when people spread malicious rumors about
Middle Easterners. Many mosques and predominantly
Islamic neighborhoods were defaced and people of Middle
Eastern origins were physically attacked in the
streets. In merely seconds, peace between two cultures
disintegrated.
The complex issues of war and
discrimination could be greatly simplified if each
person made his or her individual contributions to
peace. President Sadat ignored the fact that he was one
man and accomplished the work of a hundred men. In our
homes, schools, and occupations, we can follow in his
footsteps to achieve peace, that ever-so ephemeral
stag. As a community, we can break misconceptions
through diverse workshops and activities. Real peace,
after all, is the culmination of our individual efforts
towards a singular goal. Only if we each take a pick,
as President Sadat so bravely did, can we break through
the stubborn wall of distrust and war.
Most importantly, it is Sadat's
clarity in communication and willingness to listen that
has made him a revolutionary leader. His ability to
maintain a grasp on peace, however tenuous, is the
reason that he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in
1978. He overcame criticism, incarceration, and the
ever-evident hate in this world. He was able to prove
that a nation "in its drive for permanent peace based on
justice, does not proceed from a position of weakness,"
but instead, from its "power and stability for a sincere
will." Yet, even today, too many countries believe that
a reluctance to peace shows power - that machine guns
and air raids can pave the road to peace. Now, with the
development of more morbid and powerful weapons, Sadat's
message for peace deserves an even more urgent calling.
As people in a perturbed
world, we must overcome our fears and insecurities about
the other side of the barrier of war. We must make
frank and sincere pleas for the importance of lasting
peace, an invaluable lesson that we are slowly learning
with every devastated village and every ravaged city.
The possibility of peace, after all, lies in the hands
of each person. It is our individual efforts that can
propel our societies to a better place. Whether we are
world leaders, revolutionaries, or simply students, we
can emulate the words and actions of President Sadat,
even if they take us "to the far corners of the world."
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