A Otte_ of-a-kind Ov9citti2citic•rt A Otte of-a-kind Mart Women's Ame_teicart OR:r charged parties talking is an immense effort. Other areas where the United States would be helpful include funding for various economic,1 political and military needs of the parties, guarantees for parts of any settlement, pressure on third parties to play their roles as out- lined above and assistance in the build- ing of appropriate Palestinian democrat- ic institutions and security forces. The American public has a role to play as well — and that is to support the U.S. government in its effort to facilitate a settlement of the Mideast conflict. An Internet campaign to demonstrate this support across a broad cross section of Americans is being initi- ated shortly under the auspices of the grass roots Campaign for American Leadership in the Middle East (CALME). You can participate when the details are announced in a few weeks. If everyone does the "right thing," then the chances for a formal agreement are increased; failure by any of the play- ers to act will decrease the probability for an agreement. How ironic that Arafat's death may accomplish what he fought against for his entire life. ❑ extremist. Her words went through me like a knife, and I cried off and on all day — my grief accentuated by the fact that we at the Jewish Council for Public Affairs had just met with him in Tel Aviv the week before. Did we recognize sufficiently the poisonous climate that led up to this tragedy? Could we have taken some action to calm the situation? I continue to ask myself those ques- tions. Our choice is clear. Either we can be observers of this unfolding drama from the sidelines and pray for the best. Or in the remaining months before July, we can come together as a community, representing the full spectrum of religious and political perspectives, to consider how to communicate our convictions and feelings to the Israeli people directly, in the hope that we will help shape, and not merely be witnesses to, Jewish history. ❑ Visions of -1-lone 2005 honoring D. Dcm 1