Life Outside The Tunnel

Our impressions of the conflicts in the Middle East and the tensions between the West and the Muslim world are naturally shaped and limited by what we know. And what we know of these weighty global issues is pretty much limited by the inescapable and inevitable tunnel vision created by our primary source of information – the mainstream media.

For example: The last weeks have been as usual a mixed bag in the Middle East. Bush’s visit was a resounding victory for Israel, an embarrassing defeat for the Palestinians and further confirmation of America’s self-righteousness for the rest of the Arab world. The resolution of the conflict in Lebanon was a welcome respite for the Lebanese but perhaps has sown the seeds for more serious problems in the future. The announcement of back-channel talks between Israel and Syria is hopeful but already the two sides are now fighting out their positions in the media which can only serve to significantly reduce any prospects for eventual success. Egypt’s mediation efforts over a possible Gaza truce between Israel and Hamas seemed to have died a silent death amongst all the real death that continues.

In other words, the more things change, the more they seem to stay the same. Or do they? In today’s post I want to present a small tour of some hopeful things that may have been missed because they received such little and fleeting attention, or no attention at all, in the mainstream media. I hope this overview

will contribute to broadening our vision allowing us to see more possibilities for a hopeful future.

Mozart in the desert

"It's probably as revolutionary and groundbreaking as Mozart gets these days. A German-based quartet staged Saudi Arabia's first-ever performance of European classical music in a public venue before a mixed gender audience. The concert, held at a government-run cultural center, broke many taboos in a country where public music is banned and the sexes are segregated even in lines at fast food outlets. The Friday night performance could be yet another indication that this strict Muslim kingdom is looking to open up to the rest of the world."

Interfaith dialogue

Remaining for the moment in Saudi Arabia, the Khaleej Times presented a very positive review of the call from the King of Saudi Arabia for an interfaith dialogue among Muslims, Christians and Jews:

"The last few weeks have witnessed leaders as well as people — nationally and internationally — fighting ignorance about Muslims and Islam, especially concerning women, their education, and status in society. In March, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, made an intense plea for a dialogue among Muslims, Christians and Jews... The King said he planned to hold conferences to get the opinion of Muslims from other parts of the world, and then meetings with ‘our brothers’ in Christianity and Judaism."

Qatar is already one step ahead of Saudi Arabia as they have recently opened an interfaith scholarly center:

"More than a dozen Jewish rabbis, including two from Israel, were in attendance this week as this conservative Muslim sheikdom opened one of the Gulf's first scholarly centers dedicated to interfaith dialogue… Ibrahim al-Nuaimi, the director of the interfaith center sponsored by the ruling family, said the goal is to "promote joint studies of academics from three faiths to foster understanding and peace.""

Welcoming our long-gone neighbors

This radical article by the well-known Arab Gulf businessman, Sultan Al Qassemi, appeared in the Nation and Israel’s daily newspaper Ha’aretz. The author makes a daring and passionate plea that it’s time for Arab countries to reach out to Jews of Arab descent who either were forced out or left of their own volition after Israel’s independence in 1948:

"The streets of Cairo, the historic neighborhoods of Syria, the mountainous terrain of Lebanon and the bustling markets of Baghdad were, for the first time in thousands of years, emptied of one of the most successful ethnic minorities living within their communities. Doctors, architects, businessmen, scientists, poets and writers started to pack up and leave, some with good reason and some to avoid the repercussions of the founding of the state of Israel.

"It wasn't all bad blood between the Arabs and the Jews; in fact, there were stories of heroism that have gone unreported and unnoticed in the Arab media. In the midst of the horrors of the Nazi occupation of France in the 1940s, the imam of the Paris Mosque saved the lives of scores of Jews by issuing certificates stating that they were Muslim. In Tunis, entire Jewish families were saved by a local hero, Khaled Abdelwahhab, who hid them in his farm at great risk to himself and his family; he was honored posthumously for his bravery by the Anti-Defamation League...

"In recent history, only the two forward-thinking Middle Eastern kingdoms of Morocco and Bahrain have broken the mold of suspicion toward their Jewish citizens and integrated them into the social and political spheres. The former with the case of Andre Azoulay, an adviser to the previous and current kings; and the latter with the recent appointment of (Ms.) Huda Ezra Ebrahim Nonooas the new Bahraini ambassador to America (emphasis added)...

"Is it not time to reassure the Jews of Arab origin that their ancestral homes are mature enough to welcome them back if they decide to invest, visit or even take up citizenship? Of course such statements will be met with criticism and reminders of what the Israelis are doing to our Palestinian brothers and sisters. To that one can reply that in the Middle East, no one has been more cruel and violent to Arabs, more exploitive of the Palestinians and more manipulative of their cause than Arabs themselves…"

Peace through regional economic development

Israeli business man Yitzhak Teshuva is pushing a regional plan for a mega project connecting the Dead and Red Seas:

"The project could create work for a million Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians, draw eight million tourists a year to Israel, and produce a billion cubic meters of desalinated water… Jordan's King Abdullah and Saudi Prince Walid bin-Talal have already given their enthusiastic endorsement of the project, according to its initiators."

There’s so many of these positive happenings outside the tunnel we get to look through that I will continue this tour in my next post, including the experiences of the Episcopal Bishop of the Dioceses of Washington in his meetings with Iranian religious leaders in Iran, a surprising op-ed piece in the Egyptian press calling on Palestinians to forgive Israel as key to moving forward, some more startling things going on in the Gulf and a partial answer to the question, “What do a billion Muslims think?”

Have a happy and hopeful weekend.

Comments

[Nizam Bashir]

Interesting write up Lenny. And as for the "surprising op-ed piece in the Egyptian press calling on Palestinians to forgive Israel as key to moving forward" - hits the nail on the head doesn't it? :)

[lennybruce]

Hi Nizam,

Thnks for reading and for your comment. I agree with you, that forgiveness will eventually be necessary to really move forward and make the painful compromises that are inevitable if there is to be a solution. I do believe each side will need to offer forgiveness to the other since both have deeply wronged the other. And I hope that won't first involve decades of violence because one side won't do it until its demands are met that the other side do it first. Of course, that would be totally typical of how both sides have dealt with things till now.

I hope all is well with you and your's and that the steeply rising fuel prices (and food) won't be causing too much hardship and havoc there.

Peace, salaam, shalom

[Nizam Bashir]

Peace, salaam and shalom to you too Lenny,

Forgiveness is definitely the way forward. In fact, if we look back at recent history, the Holocaust stands out as a black mark in human history.

But I remember this particular episode on Oprah where two women - Monika Hertwig (Amon Goeth's daughter) and Helen Jonas-Rosenzweig were filmed revisiting the Plaszow concentration camp. Along the course of being interviewed by Oprah, Helen said this:

"I must say that forgiveness is mostly a gift to myself in order to be able to live some quality of life and in honor of my parents and all the innocent people that perished so tragically."

I can only commend her for her positive outlook despite the horrific experience she must have had to endure.

Nevertheless, something else occurred to me as I was pondering over your post last night.

The other dimension to forgiveness is the fact that any victim will be looking for a recognition, at the very least, that a wrong has been perpetrated on them. I suppose this is where things begin to unravel a little.

But if forgiveness is kept in view as the principal goal, whatever recognition that is sought should be given. After all, there are victims on both sides of the divide.

[lennybruce]

Hi Nizam,

I am 100% with you on your point about recognition. I am actually pretty convinced that if Israel had recognized many years ago that her establishment did entail suffering and obviously played a part in creating the refugee problem that the peace process would have looked differently. I recently read (unfortunately can't find the reference) that one of the reasons for the failing of the Camp David talks with Arafat and Clinton was Israel's refusal to recognize any responsibility in the Pal refugee problem. The reason given by this insider was Israel's fear of reparations claims, which is obviously ironic since the modern day model of reparations was established by the agreements between Israel, international Jewish organizations and Germany. And that brings me to what you relate in your post from Oprah's show. If that woman is capable of forgiveness than we need to look very deep as human beings when we find it difficult to forgive.

Best wishes Nizam.