“This is paradise,” said Daniel Abraham as he looked down from the heights of his suite on the 17th floor of the Hilton on the magnificent Tel Aviv beachfront. “What a beach. And the sea, tell me please, what in God’s name is wrong here. What’s wrong with you Israelis? Why don’t you understand that you can truly turn this place into paradise?”
Daniel Abraham is already 89. One year and one day younger than the person he calls “my big brother,” President Shimon Peres. In the meantime, he’s not slowing down. A Jewish-American billionaire, who dedicates much of his energy, and his funds, to promote peace in the Middle East. The S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace is alive and kicking. Abraham is still shuttling between regional capitals. This week he was in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Ramallah, before returning to Washington and Palm Beach, where he resides, of course, on the beach. I meet him, from time to time, on the quick trips he makes to our region. I absorb some of this man’s energy and optimism, his very clear and far-reaching worldview, his Sisyphean, ceaseless efforts to put an end to the bloody conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians.
