No defeating hate
Marina Werbeloff* reacts to the article entitled ‘Arabs and
Israelis held hostage by a common enemy’.
February 2007
I have read your article about our
ill-fated forum and have to agree, sadly, that despair was a large part of its
failure. Despair, exasperation, a keen awareness of the dead-end looming ahead,
and, well, probably simple battle fatigue. I, for one, got tired of being
put in a position where I had to debunk the most absurd, basest, old-world hate
myths (the
Protocols, holocaust denial, you name it!), seriously discussed as scientific
facts, or at least good working theories, by a couple of contributors to the
forum. I truly appreciated
your valiant efforts to bring them back to the land of reason, but I also saw
that reason never really got an upper hand in our dialogue.
Just now I was reading the blogs of
an Israeli and a Jordanian who jointly taught some kind of ‘peace journalism’
seminar in Sweden. An anonymous reader in the latter’s comments section said, “Just
who gave you the authority to reach out to the Zionist sector in our name?” So
many people simply don’t want peace, choosing hatred and all the
misery associated with it instead. Hatred must be a really powerful drug,
indeed; I don’t think I will ever find any words that can compete with it.
I admire your optimism and resilience and envy it a little. However, I’m sorry
to say that I find it hard to share it. I have learned from METalks that those
who keep an open mind, may, on occasion, adjust their views, but those who do not,
won’t. And, since it’s that latter group that needs adjustment the most, I
suppose one can say that the experiment simply didn’t work. If one wants to
press on, one has to find a different paradigm. I hope you find it!
Marina Werbeloff is an Israeli
citizen based in the United States.
Further reading
Read the Salom
Now! draft
manifesto
Madrid II: towards a civil peace in the Middle East
November 2006 – Prompted by the dire situation in
Gaza, Spain, France and Italy have floated an unexpected Middle East peace
drive. This initiative will almost certainly join other similar aborted road
maps and peace plans slowly decaying in the graveyard of international
diplomacy. What the EU needs to do is to abandon the deadlocked political level
and organise a high-profile Madrid II conference targeted at civil society to
set in motion a ‘people’s peace process’. Read on
How I learned to start worrying and hate the bomb
November 2006 – With North Korea’s recent
nuclear test and Iran’s suspected nuclear designs, Khaled Diab explains why he
learned to start worrying and hate the bomb and suggests how the proliferation
of nuclear weapons can best be arrested – and reversed. Read on
Give ‘salom’ a chance
September 2006 – The
best lessons to draw from Lebanon and Gaza are that all sides lost the battle
and the only way for everyone to win the war is through peaceful means.
Politicians have shown a lack of imagination and willpower and so it is up to
ordinary Arabs and Israelis to lead them down the path to salam/shalom (peace).
It is high time to demand Salom Now! Read on
Salom
now!
Reaching out for a people’s peace in the Middle
East
Using
a carrot and stick for peace
September 2006 – Given the fragile situation in
Lebanon, the pledge by EU member states to provide troops to police the
UN-backed ceasefire was well-timed. However, to avoid a fresh crisis from
erupting, Europe will have to aid efforts to forge lasting peace in the Middle
East. Read on
Salom
now!
Mobilising the untapped power of Arab and Israeli
peaceniks
Part I – Silent world
Part II – Peace begins at
home
Crisis
in
From
complete failure to comprehensive solutions
July 2006 – Israel’s
massive onslaught against
The EU’s
new Palestine
February 2006 – It may be better for the EU to
provide more carrots and fewer sticks for Hamas, writes Khaled Diab. Read on
Dressed
to kill –
Under
the cloak of Bush’s foreign policy
December 2005 – Jeff Sommers, Khaled Diab and Charles Woolfson expose what lies beneath the cloak of US President George W Bush’s foreign policy. Read on
Time
to rethink the EU’s role in the Middle East
January 2005
– If Yasser Arafat’s death is to signify anything more than the symbolic start
of a new era, the European Union must radically rethink its role as a mediator
in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to persuade the two peoples to work towards
a new dawn. Read on
Commission
wants closer EU-Israeli ties
January 2005 – The European Commission and the
EU’s former envoy to the Middle East have both come out in favour of enhancing
economic and political ties with
ă2007
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copyright of Khaled Diab.