Karim, King of England

by Baz Wade

  Both had operations to remove bullets. In Kirsty’s case the op lasted three hours while her guts were repaired, apart from her womb that the surgeons had to remove.

  After his op, Karim was soon sitting up in bed enquiring after Kirsty.

  “I’m told she will pull through but she’s weak right now due to loss of blood – she’s sedated in Intensive Care, but stable and improving,” his doctor said.

  “Thank God for that, I thought I’d lost her. What about David?”

  “I’m sorry – he didn’t make it…”

  There was a pause – Karim welled up.

  “I feel terrible and responsible – I asked him to get involved in the first place.”

  The doctor shrugged and then hurried away to his next patient, leaving Karim alone with his thoughts.

  A couple of days later Eshkol was deemed well enough to be questioned.

  “I stopped that Rosenthal creep – it’s just a shame I didn’t stop Khaled. Someone else will have to do that for us.”

  The detective interviewing him winced.

  “So what was your motive?”

  “To save the Promised Land – cities like Hebron and Jericho – it’s God’s will.”

  “So what about the fifteen innocent people you killed with the car bomb?”

  “They were in the wrong place at the wrong time – shit happens.”

  “Are you going to apologise?”

  “It’s Khaled and Rosenthal who need to apologise – they brought this upon us.”

  The assassination attempt made Karim a hero overnight. The outpouring of sympathy was global, as was the revulsion in respect of Shazar and Eshkol’s crimes, particularly the callous disregard for the fifteen killed by the car bomb – and the brutal assassination of David Rosenthal.

  Karim’s heroic status merited a personal visit in hospital by the Israeli Prime Minister, Shimon Levy, who delivered the welcome news that his son, Ben, a recently elected member of the Knesset, had expressed a willingness to take the place of David Rosenthal to carry forward the peace process.

  “That’s truly marvellous news – when can we meet?” asked Karim.

  “When you feel well enough,” Levy responded.

  “If the medics permit it, later this week should be fine – please thank Ben for his interest.”

  “I certainly will. By the way, we’re the ones who should be thanking you – it’s taken creative outsiders to think the unthinkable about solutions to our problems and you’ve risked your life for us into the bargain…”

  Jews for Peace on Facebook were the first off the mark to congratulate Karim for brokering the peace agreement.

  A Daily Mirror journalist tweeted this was the best outcome anyone could have imagined. As hope for a genuine two-state solution had realistically died with PM Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination by an Israeli right-wing extremist in 1995, it was all the more surprising a blueprint such as Karim and David Rosenthal had produced would be agreed at conference.

  Most of the commentary was an outpouring of sympathy for Karim and Kirsty, wishing them well for a full recovery, then sadness Kirsty could no longer bear children when details of her wounds and operation were broadcast. The hard-line positions taken when the blueprint first appeared were now less in evidence as most Jewish contributors expressed appreciation that a Muslim peace-broker was able to show imagination and flexibility where it had not been shown before by the Palestinian leadership in negotiation. The speculation was that this was because Karim was outside the cauldron of Middle East politics and held a status above the fray.

  There was much debate about the Israeli electoral system which gave extremist parties such as Likud disproportionate influence in government. Ben Levy himself tweeted that this had to change. It was purely good fortune that the Labour Party was in power. The peace agreement would not have happened if his father had not shown a statesmanlike breadth of vision unthinkable if his rise to power had been through Likud, like his predecessor as Prime Minister.

  Others on social media responded to Ben Levy by pointing out that Menachem Begin, a prominent right winger, had signed the Camp David peace agreement with Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat in 1978, guaranteeing that Israel’s most powerful military opponent recognised its right to exist. Begin had been the preeminent Middle Eastern terrorist of his day (or patriotic freedom fighter, depending on your viewpoint) as leader of Irgun in 1940s, responsible for planning the destruction of the King David Hotel (91 deaths) and the massacre of Deir Yassin (100 to 260 deaths, including women and children).

  Ben Levy used the debate to reinforce his plea on Twitter for electoral reform. He pointed out that such a recurrence of an extremist becoming statesman, of seeing the light on the road to Damascus as it were, could not be guaranteed in future to foster a peace settlement.

  As well as taking the heat out of the social media debate, Ben Levy’s number of followers increased tenfold as his tweets were re-tweeted and liked more than 40000 times.

  “It’s not the first time a Jewish martyr’s been created by one or more of his own people murdering him,” said Harry pointedly.

  “I know, it’s probably to do with spending too much time reading the Old Testament and not getting out more,” Sheikh continued – “What news of Kirsty?”

  “She’s making progress but they’ve had to give her a hysterectomy.”

  “Rendered barren in a violent attack – that sounds like something out of the Old Testament as well,” commented Sheikh.

  “At least they’ve already got two kids” said Harry.

  “I know, but it’s still upsetting, to put it mildly.”

  “The most likely outcome of this episode is to increase support for Karim’s peace initiative – he’s already achieved hero status in the Middle East, and probably globally,” said Harry.

  “How about running a feature on the blueprint for peace and where it’s got to so far?” suggested Sheikh.

  “Can do – I’ll reduce it to bullet points and put in a few maps and photos. We can’t assume our average reader has any prior knowledge,” replied Harry.

  “That may be true, but he or she won’t want to be patronised.”

  “I know – leave it to me – I’ll pitch it right – don’t worry,” replied Harry.

  Ben Levy and Karim hit it off soon after meeting. Ben was progressive in his politics, ebullient and humorous.

  “Are you prejudiced against Arabs?” This was one of the first questions Karim put to him.

  “Well, you and they are family, in effect – we’re all related with Abraham as a common ancestor. I know some of them can be a pain in the backside, but so can any relative!”

  “Good, I like your attitude – I can work with you I’m sure. Have you got any criticisms of the blueprint for peace?”

  “In theory most of it seems fair. In practice, there may well be problems – the Jewish settlers who are left on the West Bank need to be fully safeguarded by the Jordanian government with a full set of human rights – citizenship, freedom of religion and so on. Also there may be problems with the 200,000 Palestinians in Israel who’ve won the right to return. Many of them will have no money, so it looks like the State of Israel will have to house them.”

  “We expect to have $20 billion to help people in need – apart from that, the US is likely to help more provided the transition is peaceful,” responded Karim.

  “The other point is that I reckoned the Israeli Electorate would be generally sceptical, but after this assassination attempt, most people here think you can do no wrong!”

  “I am truly flattered if that’s what people think. In that case, let’s preserve the momentum and move to final peace talks within a few months – what do you think?” asked Karim.

  “Agreed, let’s go for it.”

  Three months after Karim’s Middle East tour,
final peace talks started in Lancaster House, London. The talks were presided over by Foreign Secretary Clarke again.

  Most of the spadework had been done before the talks started in that the blueprint had, by now morphed into a 220-page Treaty complete with maps, plans, detailed clauses as to how the lottery was to be organised, provisions for compensation and so on.

  It was recognised that the re-location would take time, so a two-year implementation period was included. Those present included the Egyptian and Jordanian Foreign Ministers, the Israeli PM, Levy, plus Said representing the West Bank and Najib representing Gaza. These five were expected to be the signatories of the Treaty.

  The agenda included receptions at the Egyptian, Jordanian and Israeli Embassies, speeches by each of the five signatories, the signing ceremony, Press conferences and finally a State dinner in the Great Hall, Windsor Castle for all participants in the talks.

  Mainly due to substantial prepping by the likes of Ben Levy and Ibrahim, and much to the surprise of the sceptics, the proceedings progressed without any major upsets. Opponents of the Treaty were to be found in demonstrations supervised by the Police outside the building. They made themselves heard, but were otherwise substantially sidelined.

  With the signing ceremony and Press conferences out of the way, Karim and Kirsty were delighted to host a lavish State dinner. Both had by now substantially recovered from their ordeal in Israel. The following day, the Press and global media generally acknowledged that the Treaty of London 2021 represented a major achievement for English diplomacy in general, and Karim in particular.

  Three months later, while relaxing in the gardens at Buckingham Palace with Kirsty and their children, a call was put through to Karim from the RUK Ambassador in Norway.

  “Good afternoon, sir. I’m sorry to disturb your weekend, but I have some excellent news for you.”

  “Fine – please continue.”

  “I’ve been asked by the Nobel Prize Committee to inform you that they wish to award this year’s Peace Prize to you and Prince Richard jointly on account of the work you have both done to secure the signing of the Treaty of London this year. May I be the first to congratulate you, sir… it goes without saying there surely cannot be a higher honour…”

  There was a pause of several seconds while Karim digested this information. Then he managed to blurt out a few phrases like “Fantastic news… totally unexpected… it was a team effort…,” before finally landing on his feet with a practical question.

  “When and where will the award ceremony be?”

  “In about four months in Oslo, hosted by King Harald.”

  “Fine, marvellous, thanks very much for letting me know – I take it you will be contacting Prince Richard?”

  “Yes, sir, as soon as I can locate him.”

  “Good – thanks.”

  “Goodbye, sir.”

  “Goodbye, Ambassador.”

  In the glittering Nobel Awards Ceremony in Oslo, Karim included the following in his acceptance speech:

  I dedicate this award to my friend, David Rosenthal, who not only worked very hard over several months drafting the peace plan, but ultimately gave his life for his people and his humanitarian beliefs.

  I believe ultimately he will be seen as a martyr and folk hero like Michael Collins in Ireland, who also gave his life after promoting a peace plan, almost exactly 100 years ago.

  Richard, in his acceptance speech, followed suit, up to a point, by dedicating his prize to their mother, Princess Caroline, whose charisma and legacy had helped them so much in their quest for peace.

  The following day, the Daily Mail ran the headline:

  KARIM TRIUMPHANT!

  With the sub-heading:

  The two sons their mother would have been proud of.

  Karim reckoned that such praise from The Mail, a paper that had originally opposed him, meant that he had truly arrived – at last!

  acknowledgements

  I started putting this book together at least 7 years ago. During that time I have received help and encouragement, for which I am deeply grateful, from the following people in particular:-

  Pete Gaskell, who has made a substantial creative contribution, particularly to the “action” scenes; Sarah Joy, who wrote the song lyrics on page 1 and also the poem in Chapter 19; Luiza Pearson, who has been my “phantom literary agent” and explained to me how to get started; Veronica Boult, who has patiently typed my sometimes garbled dictation and amendments; Sophia Bellamy plus Claire and Ian Curry, who have proof read and edited out, hopefully, the worst of my errors; Hannah Dakin and colleagues at Matador plus Ian Churchward for helping me with the publishing and printing phase of the project; Lawrence Harrison of Swan Turton, media lawyers, for advice; Richard Tranter and Ahmed Rajab for information on Islam plus Simon Cohen and Alan Rodgers for information on the Middle East generally, derived from first-hand experience acquired over many years in each case; Prestel Publishing (represented by Will Westall) and Boris Friedewald (author of “Picasso’s Animals”) for permission to use Paloma Picasso’s quote at the start of Chapter 3.

  Many thanks to all of the above for enabling me to put this book together, grammatically, literally, legally and physically.

  Notes

  * * *

  1Quoted in “Picasso’s Animals” by Boris Friedewald, page 41.