Arabs and Israelis held hostage by a common enemy
Khaled Diab
Salom Now!
And
METalks are two experimental initiatives which sought to rewrite the
script of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and give ordinary people a starring role
in the quest for peace. Those involved experienced profound changes to their
outlook and took the first steps towards forging a new, more inclusive
narrative for the Middle East. However, such popular, grassroots action is held
hostage by some common enemies: despair, hatred, antipathy and distrust.
February 2007
Part I – War and elusive
peace
Part II – Talking under
fire
Part III – Dangerous
liaisons
Part IV – Constructive
ideas
Part V – Let’s talk about
you and ME
Part VI – Terrorised by a
common enemy
Part VII – Existential
angst
Part VIII – Moving forward
Constructive
ideas
Despite the distress I felt at the degree of apathy and
hostility, I was heartened by the enthusiasm of those brave souls not afraid to
be branded ‘naďve’ or, worse, ‘traitors’.
“I have never felt more motivated than I am now. The
Lebanon war made me deeply question the silent ‘majority’ and myself as one of
them,” admitted Jad Aoun, a 23-year-old Lebanese expatriate working in the UAE.
“If I were in Lebanon, I would actually try to get Salom Now! registered as an
organisation.”
“Thank you for this brilliant idea; very much needed,
indeed,” said Ramzy Baroud, editor-in-chief of The Palestine Chronicle.
“I like that it gives us hope. I like that it gives me
something concrete to do, to try and bridge gaps,” offered Anat el-Hashahar,
the founder of METalks. “I like that maybe, just maybe, it would help prevent
more wars. I have two sons, and I am already counting the years to when they
have to join the army here.”
Numerous people took the time to dream along and think up
ideas for how Salom Now! could be developed. For instance, el-Hashahar
suggested that the alliance should be open to people “from any country, any
religion, faith (or lack of), gender and sexual preference”.
“We believe in equal rights and opportunities for all
people in the Middle East. This includes equal access to natural and cultural
resources, education, jobs, health services, and social programmes,” Marina
Werbeloff, an Israeli based in the United States, proposed as a founding
principle. “We believe that all nations must respect the territorial integrity
of all other nations and, therefore, no nation has a right to occupy, annex, or
impinge on the territory of another by force, intimidation, or any other
means.”
The debate did not skirt nitty-gritty issues, such as the
issue of Palestinian refugees, with what many would find to be surprising views
being expressed. “Israel has a ‘law of return’ for Jews who wish to immigrate
to it… it would be poetic justice to use its model to define the rights of the
Palestinians,” said Yudit Ilany, an Israeli photographer living and working in
Jaffa.
Habbouba Aoun of Balamand University in Lebanon, who is
also a prominent NGO leader, suggested that, for joint action between Arabs and
Israelis to work, it would require the framing of a common mission and vision,
as well as the definition of clear objectives.
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 K. Diab. Unless otherwise stated, all the content on this website
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