[ OUR OPINION ]
Market place renewal
will brighten WaikikiNO DOUBT some will miss the International Market Place's present cluttered character and bazaar-like atmosphere, but its transformation into a new retail and entertainment center fits well into the broader renovation taking place in Waikiki. The Queen Emma Foundation's redevelopment plans for the market place will enhance the district as other projects move ahead to rejuvenate Hawaii's tourist mecca. The challenge will be to create a setting as attractive to visitors as the market place has been and to draw residents into the mix as well.
THE ISSUE
The Queen Emma Foundation will redevelop the center in Hawaii's prime tourism district.
The market place, which first opened in 1957, was once the site of a summer home for Hawaiian royalty with gardens, loi patches and a stream running through the grounds. In its early days, musicians strolled through villages that represented the islands' various ethnic groups, their foods and crafts, but through the years that gave way to a press of kiosks where vendors peddled souvenirs, T-shirts, volcano-shaped candles, shells, plastic hula skirts and inexpensive trinkets. The famous Duke's where Don Ho first gained a following was once housed there.
As the rest of Waikiki evolved, the market place remained a unique relic of an older style of tourism, but as visitors have become more sophisticated and demands have changed, so too must the market place.
The task will be to generate a scene that doesn't duplicate the current rows of upscale and chain retailers that inhabit Waikiki and other shopping malls.
The foundation recognizes the need to restore "a sense of Hawaiianness," says president Mark Hastert. The new market place's design of low-rise structures, paths, gardens, landscaping that incorporates a landmark banyan tree and a stream that replicates the one that was paved over appears promising. The plan also will include a hearth where story-tellers can talk about Hawaii's history and an amphitheater for performances, introducing venues where visitors and residents can mingle, which has become an important component of the tourist experience. Residents will find the more than 320 parking stalls an attraction in itself.
The foundation appears to have prepared current vendors for the changes and most seem to have accepted them, unlike a decade ago when the site was proposed for a convention center, sparking tumultuous protests.
The market place offered a lively and different retail flavor and has long been part of the "old Waikiki." But its renovation is overdue and Waikiki will be better for it.
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Pressure Israel to return
to ‘road map’ to peaceTHE latest round of violence in the Middle East has prompted an unwise Israeli call for the death or exile of Yasser Arafat, an action that would destroy recent initiatives to bring a lasting peace to the region. The way to achieve stability in Israel is not to kill or send on a worldwide speaking tour a man regarded by Palestinians as the living symbol of sovereignty. Continued pressure needs to be put on Israel to end such talk and return to the peace process.
THE ISSUE
The Bush administration has joined other international voices in opposing the Israeli cabinet's threat to expel Yasser Arafat.
The threat emerged from Israel's security cabinet as Rizek Abusharr, a distinguished Palestinian Christian, was engaged in a series of talks in Honolulu. Abusharr is former director of the Jerusalem International YMCA and 1996 recipient of the Marthe Laube Prize for Tolerance and Democratic Values in recognition of his pioneering work on activities involving Jews, Muslims and Christians. He urged that Israel promptly return to the "road map" to peace that its cabinet endorsed less than four months ago.
Soon after the peace plan was adopted in May, Israel began compliance by freezing the building of settlements in the West Bank and Gaza strip and dismantling those erected recently. However, the Israeli government since then has approved several settlement extensions and has begun building a wall that separates thousands of Palestinians' homes from their jobs. The so-called road map seems to have been tucked in the glove compartment.
The threat against Arafat followed the resignation of Mahmoud Abbas as Palestinian prime minister, Arafat's nomination of Ahmed Queria, the highly respected speaker of the Palestinian legislature, to replace Abbas, and twin suicide bombings that killed 15 Israelis in a Jerusalem cafe and outside an army base. Those bombings prompted the Israeli cabinet on Thursday to declare Arafat as "a complete obstacle to peace" and threaten "to remove this obstacle," leaving the meaning to speculation.
The threat prompted immediate opposition from abroad, including U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the Arab League, the European Union and the United States. Secretary of State Colin Powell telephoned both the Israeli and Palestinian foreign ministers to voice U.S. opposition to exiling Arafat, whom Israeli troops have immobilized, trapping him in his office for a year and a half. Queria said upon being nominated to succeed Abbas that Israel must stop isolating Arafat.
