At\u00a0 a playground in West Philadelphia, my granddaughter Leora played with another little girl, her name was Salam. She spoke to her father in English (with an American accent) and he answered with a strong foreign accent. My first reaction, upon hearing the little girl\u2019s name, was \u201cwhat a lovely name.\u201d Then I started thinking about our area and about peace.<\/p>\n
Until recently I didn\u2019t realize that peace has suffered such an enormous fall from grace. But first came the day of the Israeli elections on March 17th, 2015 when the candidate Bibi Netanyahu forgot that he was also the nation\u2019s prime minister and warned \u201chis\u201d supporters against\u00a0fellow citizens: the\u00a0Israeli\/Arab voters. Then last October, the same Prime Minister announced at a Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Meeting that \u201cwe will forever live by the sword.<\/p>\n