Friday, May 21, 2004

A clash of ignorances, not of civilizations

this is a very insightful take on the israeli-palestinian conflict. the latin rite patriarch of jerusalem, Michel Sabbah (who i believe is palestinian) observes that the real deal is that the perpetual violence in israel and palestine is fueled by one's "ignorance of the other's civilization and that is why he is regarded as an enemy."

i guess this is true since much of the violence has been nourished by largely ignorant and bigoted incitement and rhetoric, which for many instances, have formed the consciences of the participants of the conflict, and fanned the fanaticism involved.

after a google search, i found some examples and reports of these, although some merely allude to their use. i labored to include equal representation for each group here, here & here from one side, and from the other, here, here & here.

there is truth to the patriarch's words. i think we should also consider this truth not only with the israeli-palestinian conflict, but also in the violence in iraq, indonesia, and others.

anyway, while trying to pick the good ones, i was pleasantly surprised to encounter this, another voice of sanity in the arab world. i hope i could see more of him out there.

hmmm... i made another reference to arabs, muslims, etc... oh well, i guess i'll be expecting the wrath of verlaine upon my blog soon... her opposition to my views on the subject, especially in my apparently constant association of islam to violence, however, is very much welcome, although i deny being an anti-muslim bigot.

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