karimisms

Peace and love should not be considered radical ideas.

As fourteen Arab delegates converge on Washington this week to discuss the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the world holds its breath…or does it?

There is not denying that if the debate over land and refugees is settled, and if the Palestinians and the Israelis learn to live together peacefully; that the entire Arab world will benefit. Actually, the entire world will. We have seen what imbalance of power and Western intervention can do to a nation as present in the endless Iraqi situation. Democracy, freedom, and security are wonderful aspects of life that everyone should enjoy, but you must willingly accept them and be ready to embrace them.

Many countries in the Middle East remain in volatile situations. Syria may not even participate in the summit due to the fact that the Golan Heights is not on the agenda. Lebanon’s political situation is in disarray, and the country is still recovering from the recent Israeli attacks. Egypt’s parliament now has representatives from Hamas, a group considered terrorist by the Bush Administration. The West Bank is completely taken from the control of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah party.

And there is the Palestinian refugee crises which surpasses any refugee crises in recent history. They are the millions of people born and living in absolute nothingness. Most countries around them refuse to acknowledge even their existance. When they are helped, they are helped as long as they don’t become too loud or too obvious.

I remember growing up is Damascus and being told by family and friends not to go to the “Mukhiam”, the camp. The camp mentioned was where the Palestinians lived, and what everyone else tried to ignore and deny as a reality. They have very little in the basic infrastructure needed for survival. They are also denied employment keeping them in status quo.

These delegates from the Arabian countries will sit in one room with American and Israeli leaders and try to arrive at a solution. The task is huge with massive reprocutions and implications. Last time they were in one room was during the Bill Clinton era, with mild results.

Some say that Arabs and Israelis should look forward. They should forget the dark and bloody past both people have endured, and look towards a bright and peaceful tomorrow. The problem with that argument is when you take it down to the level pf a Palestinian refugee or an Israeli boy who watched his mom or dad being savagely killed. When you consider the millions of refugees in the Palestinian camps with absolutely no reason to live. When you consider walking the streets of a Jewish city near the Lebanese border and watching a shower of missiles rain. When you consider all the horrific details of existence in that part of the world, chances are that forgetting the past becomes difficult.

What is the solution then? What will these delegates and world leaders talk about, and what will the tone of the conversation be?

To the Arabs, the solution is fairly simple: If Israel withdraws to the 1967 borders declared by the United Nations as the rightful borders for the nation of Israel, and if they allow the Palestinians to declare themselves a soverign nation with East Jersusalem as the capital, the Arabs will agree to the existence of the Jewish nation. However, a small block remains in the way.

Certain political powers in the Middle East, like Hamas in the West Bank and Iran, refuse to acknowledge the existence of Israel, and they remain defiant as they watch their countries and people perish due to their unbending stance.

When will these leaders realize that most of their people want peace. When will they realize that the babies born in their countries know no hate. They are taught hate by the elders, and they grow up to carry on the deadly wishes of those elders who themselves were born knowing no hate.

It is a viscous cycle, which must be broken for everyone to live together.

The upcoming Peace Summit could have phenomenal results affecting the lives of millions of people. That is exactly what these leaders meeting in Washington this week remember. They are in power not because they are powerful, but because they were granted the power by their people. Yes, the definition of democracy varies in the Middle East, but as we have seen in Pakistan, when the people want to be heard, they will find a way. The leaders should consider the virtues of giving, of humility, of sacrifice, of tolerance, and of love.

These virtues have forged the way in the past for millions to follow people like Moses, Mohamed, and Jesus establishing the three religions with many common threads. These virtues have also established leaders like Ghandy, King, Mother Teresa, and the Dali Lamma as ones with no hunger for power, but a huge desire for peace. They moved millions of people by saying little. Could power be a paradoxical? The more you force on your people, the more they loathe you? Pakistan again…

If we only listened to the voices of the past…maybe we can learn something new…maybe we can live together.

Maybe we will consider that peace and love are not radical ideas.