THE FLOTILLA: THE LESSON OF GAZA REVISITED

Washington, DC, USA

Today is Saturday June 5th, 2010. I am re posting this piece that I wrote and published on Saturday, January 10, 2009 after Israel's onslaught on Gaza, with minor edits.

Hashim El-Tinay


THE LESSON OF GAZA

"Where there is no vision, the people perish", the Bible.

For much too long the Middle East problem has been beholden to greedy and self-serving lobbyists and cynical politicians who exploited both sides for selfish and small politics and made their zero sum logic into a religion.

Because no body really cared or dared to address the root causes of the tragedy, both the Israelis and the Palestinians, became prisoners of a mutually exclusive and a self-destructive zero sum narrative, hatred, wanton violence and perpetual warfare.

It is high time that the enlightened and progressive thinkers on both sides dare thinking out of the box and start a serious and a genuine interfaith, cross cultural and soul searching existential dialogue. A dialogue that is free and objective that can allow them to go deeper.

By critically and rationally revisiting their narratives and history in a deeper, larger, culturally and religiously more informed and sensitive way, they will find the truth. And that truth will finally set them, and all of us, free.

It is high time, as we have been advocating since 1985, for a societal, cultural, religious and socio-economic renewal befitting the best and the noblest of the 21st Century.

It is high time that we dare to invent a thoughtful and enlightened practical and workable win-win vision that liberates both sides from their worst demons, and help unleash their better angels.

Hashim El-Tinay, Ph.D.

Founder/president
International Peace Quest Institute (IPQI)
Salam Sudan Foundation (SSF)