Resolve poverty for peace

Ralph J. Bunche's mediation in the 1947-1949 Israeli-Palestinian conflict won him the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize. At the time, everyone thought these efforts would bring about enduring peace. In accepting the prize in Oslo, Norway, Bunche remembered his U.N. predecessor, Sweden's Count Folke Bernadotte, who paid the supreme sacrifice when he was assassinated in the area in 1948. That's why it's sad that the hard work for lasting peace by Count Bernadotte, Bunche and other U.N. leaders has been destroyed by the continuing bloodbath. \nThe sad destruction of lives in the Middle East is obvious from the local newspaper headlines like "Lebanon, Israel push for maximum damage" and "Hezbollah rockets continue to fly." The ugly statistics include the fact that one day recently, Hezbollah rockets killed 15 in Israel, while Israeli air strikes killed 14 in southern Lebanon. \nIn June 2006, Palestinian soldiers killed two Israeli soldiers and captured another in the Gaza area. These acts precipitated an Israeli attack, initially to free the captured soldier. Then, Lebanon-based Hezbollah forces killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two. This escalated hostilities even more. \nThe United States, Iran and Syria have been accused of arming all sides in the conflict -- thus making the warring leaders highly intransigent. Premier Ehud Olmert of Israel and the Lebanese leader rejected an arranged cease-fire, while Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, responded with an unlimited hurling of deadly rockets into various places in Israel -- including Haifa, Israel's third largest city.\nWe totally agree with \nseveral meaningful and impartial world leaders -- including former \nPresident Jimmy Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner -- who have rightly described measures to \nhalt the current bloodshed as an ad hoc and unrealistic "Band-Aid" type of treatment.\nLogically, what is needed in the area are policies that would bring about lasting peace. Equally as important are measures that will eradicate the abject poverty and squalor created by years of blood-letting coupled with sporadic land seizures, all of which have forced innocent people of the conflict-infected areas to rely on local leaders, some of whom are classified as terrorists by Western politicians. After all, while a hungry person can easily be angry at the same time, it's also logical that hungry people don't care if the person who helps feed them is an alleged terrorist or not. \nTherefore, the U.N. Security Council and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees should, at least, ensure that peaceful negotiations and the feeding of the Middle East's needy go hand-in-hand as a top priority. Otherwise, ad hoc or rushed measures won't help anyone in the end. For success, world leaders should follow the impartial examples of the United Nations' Count Bernadotte and Bunche to bring about the lasting peace that the innocent citizens of the warring nations desire and deserve.