Dear+Mr.+Machiavelli

Sara Brigagliano September 15, 2010 Mr. Mettee European Studies

Dear Mr. Machiavelli,

Good morning, I hope after several centuries of rest you are alert and ready to work, because the Israeli Palestinian conflict is a difficult and complicated one. Israel is a relatively new country that was formed after World War II, a war in which Adolf Hitler targeted the Jewish people and attempted to annihilate them, and Israel was created to give the Jews a safe place to live. When the Jews were given Israel, land was taken from the Arab Palestinians who were living under British control on that land. As you can see the state of Israel started problematic as land that generations of Arab Palestinians had lived on was being taken away from them, without them having any say in the matter. In your book, //The Prince//, in chapter XIX you state, "A Prince, as I have said before, sooner becomes hated by being rapacious and by interfering with the property...of his subjects" (Machiavelli 47). By stating this you can appreciate the seriousness of the situation in which people feel as though their land was taken from them. For the last seventeen years there has been violence between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Two major creators of this violence are "Hamas among the Palestinians and the settlers among the Israelis" (Bronner 2). Hamas is an extremist Islamic terrorist group, while the Israeli settlers are a group of Zionistic Jews who believe that Israel should not have to return any land to the Palestinians. Recently, through world organizations such as the United Nations, "the Israeli and Palestinian leaders pledged at the peace summit meeting in Washington this week to try to resolve the core issues that have long divided their people" (Kershiner 1). This is tremendous news that the leaders have agreed to and plan to meet on common ground. Barak Obama, current president of the United States, will play a crucial role in these meetings. Alon Pinkas, an ex-member of the Israeli general council stated, "the only hope would be a solution presented by President Obama" (Bronner 2). By using your plethora of knowledge of how to be a ruler, you need to advocate President Obama on the advice he should give to the President of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas and the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu.

I believe that you should begin your advice to Mr. Obama with one of your points you felt strongest about, it is better for a leader to be feared than loved. In //The Prince// in chapter XVII you stated, "For love is held by the tie of obligation, which, because men are a sorry breed, is broken on every whisper of private interest" (Machiavelli 44). You mean that men are flawed and selfish, and if they love their ruler, they become comfortable and will not treat their ruler with the respect or loyalty he should demand. You continue on to say, "but fear is bound by the apprehension of punishment which never relaxes its grasp" (44). Stating this, you explicate the point that when a ruler is feared by his subjects they will not disobey him because the subjects are scared of the consequences that they know will follow, should the disobey their leader. You should tell Barak Obama to be very clear with Mr. Abbas and tell him that if the Palestinians don't stop killing the Israelis then he will not make the Israelis give land to the Palestinians. President Obama also needs to remind Mr. Netanyahu that the United States is one of Israel's strongest allies, and that the United States will stop their support if Israel does not give the Palestinians any land. The issue of the Palestinian killings' is complicated because the majority of these killings are committed by Hamas, who does not agree with and is not supported by Mr. Abbas. One of the leaders of Hamas, Abu Obiada stated that "We will not let these negotiations go on" and continued to say "the negotiations are a stab in the back of the Palestinian people" and closed by saying Hamas will use "all means to enable Palestinian resistance to deal with Israel" (Akram 1). The fact that Hamas has no respect for Mr. Abbas, let alone Israel or the negotiations has made this issue very complicated. However, Mr. Obama needs to clarify the point that Hamas is an Arab Palestinian group, and Mr. Abbas is responsible for them, and Mr. Abbas needs to control them and their attacks on Israeli citizens. Mr. Obama needs to install fear in Mr. Abbas and Mr. Netanyahu so that they understand that they need to do exactly what Mr. Obama advises, because they need the United States on their side.

In addition to your idea of being feared instead of being loved, you also made it clear that leaders should be feared but not hated. In chapter XIX, you advise that a ruler should "consider how he may avoid such courses as would make him hated or despised" (Machiavelli 47). As I mentioned earlier, you explain that taking someone's land is a sure way to gain hate from them, however, this conflict is based upon land, so President Obama needs be careful. To avoid any more animosity between the Israeli's and the Palestinians, Barak Obama needs to be strong but nice with them, and remind them that they need to be strong but nice with each other. Mr. Obama needs to tell Israel that although they need to fear the possible attacks by Hamas, if the attacks stop the Israelis need to stop their attacks on the Palestinians and help them with their many internal issues. Additionally, Obama needs to tell the Palestinians that if Israel gives them land, they need to stop their attacks on Israeli civilians. Near miracles are expected to be preformed by Barak Obama and he is supposed to "change the game" (Kershner 2). By "change the game" the author of the newspaper article means that Obama should aim for "an interim agreement" first. This way, a change will be made quickly, which will be possible because it does not have to address every issue in its entirety, yet an immediate change will be put into effect. Tell Obama that he needs to appear tough but neutral and fair to both Israel and Palestine, ensuring that he will be feared but avoid being hated. Differing from the advice that you gave princes, Obama does not need to worry about conspiracy, which you talk about at great length, such as the Israelis and the Palestinians joining together and ganging up against the United States. However, to solve the Israeli Palestinian conflict Barak Obama needs to have the trust of both sides, which he will not have if he is hated.

Through out //The Prince// you mention the importance of a strong military and explain how effective a strong military can be for a state. At the beginning of chapter XIV you say, "....For war is the sole art looked for in one who rules" (Machiavelli 37). In this chapter you explain how crucial it is for a leader to have a strong military because of the large effect military can have, and you need to make this point clear to President Obama. Both the Israeli's and the Palestinians are suffering from Hamas. As mentioned earlier, a Hamas leader stated that the work to develop a compromise between Israel and Palestine was "a stab in the back of the Palestinian people", making it clear that Hamas will not be working with Palestinian officials (Arkam 1). Israel is suffering from frequent attacks by Hamas such as "Hamas militants who attacked Israelis this week near Hebron and Ramallah, killing four and wounding two" (Bronner 3). President Obama needs to use the fact that the United States has one of the strongest military forces in the world and promise that if Israel and Palestine corporate with giving up land and stopping all attacks they are able to, the United States will provide military support to both states against Hamas. If used correctly, military can be extremely influential, and you need to elucidate this concept to President Obama.

Finally, you need to use your passionate words you ended //The Prince// with, in attempt to inspire Italy to take action, to remind President Obama that he needs to take a bold course of action on this issue and complete it quickly. After observing Cesaer Borgia you explain in chapter XXV that "men of action command fortune". You later state, "I know of no time so favorable to it as the present" (68/chapter XXVI). Share this advice with Barak Obama because the only way he will be able to solve anything in the Israeli Palestinian conflict is if he has confidence in every action he takes and completes these actions with great haste. For example, "The killing of four Israeli settlers, including a pregnant woman, in the West Bank on Tuesday evening rattled Israeli and Palestinian leaders on the eve of peace talks in Washington" (Kershner 1). The evening before Mr. Abbas and Mr. Netanyahu, amongst other officials, meet with President Obama to have one of their hopefully many peace talks, four Israelis were shot by Palestinians. The fact that shootings such as this are always happening in this region makes it ever so important that President Obama move quickly on this issue, as a shooting the night before a peace talk could change the mind of a leader and make him reluctant to compromise. To summarize, make sure President Obama understands your crucial idea that being feared creates more power than being loved, but that a leader must avoid being hated at all cost. Additionally, Barak Obama needs to understand the idea that a powerful military can be very influential, and finally, that he must take action quickly, to ensure that all of his hard work is not put to waste because of a shooting the night before a peace talk. Good luck in your meeting with the president!

Arivaderchi, Sara Brigagliano