In response to my Wall Street Journal article, “Of Braveheart and Bush,” about the futility of the Middle East “peace process,” I received one of the all-time great letters to the editor. It comes from Joel Karlinsky, and he agreed to let me share it with contentions. After reading it I’m sure you’ll agree that Karlinsky, a doctor from Massachusetts, has succeeded where Bush and Rice will fail: He’s solved the Arab-Israeli dispute.

Dear Mr. Boot,

I agree with your premise that there will never be a reasonable resolution between Israel and the Palestinian people. It’s impossible given the nature of religion and history and the inherent stupidity of human beings.

However, I have a solution which might work. It’s based on the idea that the Arabs have oil and lots of money. Simply put, the Arabs should buy the Israelis out. Give a couple of million or so dollars (even though the dollar is relatively worthless) to every Israeli man, woman, and child. The Israelis would use the money to move to Nevada, which geologically is very much like Israel, and could open casinos. There is precedent in the US for this as many Indian tribes run casinos, and we Jews were organized along tribal lines. There could be orthodox, conservative, and reformed casinos. It’s definitely win, win.

Anybody that believes that a supreme, all-knowing being gives a shit about a little strip of land on this cosmic pebble is severely deluded. Let the Arabs have it. If God doesn’t like it, he can do something about it. Or not.

One more thing. Apparently, you’re a Bush supporter. If you think that this Iraqi war was about anything other than securing oil supplies for the next fifty or so years, and control of the Middle East for American hegemonic interests, you’re a fool. It’s unfortunate that the oil belongs to the Iraqis. But hell, they don’t matter, do they?

Have a nice day,

Joel Karlinsky