Listen to Prince El Hassan bin
Talal, brother of the late King Hussein of Jordan. He is moderator
of the World Conference on Religion and Peace, president of the Club of Rome,
and president of the Arab Thought Forum.
He is among the reflective. insightful people in the
Arab world, the whole world.
"Rather than fight a war on
terror," concludes Hassan, "why not wage a struggle for the rule
of peace?"
"The Arabic word hamas means zeal, but
flip it on its head, to samah, and it stands for tolerance."
"Sometimes you just have to look at things in
a different way."
He first startles us,
reminds us that the beginning of The Third World War is now, with violence
being thrown at every problem by regimented armies, rebellious bands, and
individuals.
"My greatest fear is that if we continue to
depend on the rule of force and on power as a deterrent, eventually we will be
unable to disable violence."
"The human race has now reached such a point that
we are arguing the merits of killing a half-blind man in a wheelchair on one
side, and the blowing up of 200 innocent Spanish citizens on their way to work
on the other." He could have added the bombing of school buses and
Passover dinners.
The Arab's vision takes us to a
new place of inclusiveness and listening by imploring that traditional,
exclusive government powers move beyond the force-based, expedient
"business of the moment: security security, security."
"I'd like them to focus on dialogue, dialogue,
dialogue. . .where everyone can sit down together."
"Experience has taught me that it is better
for all parties to be at the table for peace talks, so that no one is left off
the menu."
A
visual model related to this kind of kind of "hamas-to-samah" new
thinking and relating is on the Web at:
We hope it helps and encourages others to "sit
down together" wherever you live. -- L&L
Published by The Globe & Mail --Toronto, Ontario, Canada
-- Wednesday, April 7, 2004
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040407/COHASAN07/TPComment/TopStories
The Third World War is now
From Palestine to Iraq, the region is
aflame with conflict.
Yet the need for dialogue is ignored, says Prince EL HASSAN BIN TALAL
By EL HASSAN BIN TALAL
A friend of mine recently visited a family in a small
Palestinian village on the border between Israel and the West Bank. It was, he
said, like walking into a real-life version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
The table was laid, the dinner was ready -- but no one was there to eat it.
He continued through the house, eventually finding the
family on the roof, huddled together, crying as they watched a bulldozer tear
up their orchard. The parents and their children were watching their land and
their livelihood disappear behind Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new eight-metre-high
security fence, which has been erected throughout the country.
The driver of the bulldozer, an Israeli, said to them
afterward, "For every tree I pulled out of the ground, it was like killing
a person. It tore at my heart, but I am under orders."
The tragedy is that while they might be on opposite
sides of the conflict, these are ordinary, moderate human beings whose lives
are being ruined by governments, terrorism and the cruel, unilateral nature of
international politics.
It is not only in this deeply troubled country that
such problems occur. Across the Middle East, for every orchard that is ripped
apart, there is an olive branch torn down.
The Iraqis have watched their constitution being
changed to allow foreign companies to own 100 per cent of Iraqi assets, except
natural resources; the Lebanese live under constant threat of an Israeli air
strike; and two weeks ago, the world witnessed Sheik Ahmed Yassin being
assassinated.
Sheik Yassin was the founder of the terrorist group
Hamas. I abhor suicide bombings; they are an affront to humanity. It must be
remembered, however, that to his many supporters in the Islamic world he was an
important spiritual leader.
Terrorism, violence, the proliferation of weapons,
human-rights abuses and preventable or avoidable conflicts -- all these issues
are debated day and night on Arab television. Across the region, millions
perceive a denial of the inherent dignity that we all share -- equally -- as
creatures of God, living under one sun, on a fragile earth upon which we all
depend.
So perhaps it is no surprise that the mood is becoming
ugly. In Jordan, where I live, and in countries throughout the Middle East, I
witness the growing tensions and resentment every day.
Israel and Hezbollah are bombing in Southern Lebanon;
in Syria there are conflicts between Kurds and Arabs; in the Gulf there are
tensions between the Sunnis and the Shiites. Iran, still anchored on the axis
of evil, gains strength, day by day, with Shia and other sympathizers around
the world. The makings of a third world war are taking place in front of our
eyes.
There are more than 40 so-called low-intensity
conflicts in the world today. Maybe it is not the Third World War if you are
living in Manchester or Stockholm, but if I were in Madrid when the bombs at
the station went off, it would look very much like the Third World War to me.
What must it take to move away from the madness that
is sweeping the region? The extremists are engaging more and more moderate
citizens, who are becoming increasingly disillusioned and desperate. The blame
for this cannot simply be laid at the West's door. We must also look closer to
home.
The governments of the Middle East are losing touch
with reality. While they fight to hold on to their position, the power vacuum
is being filled by extremist movements. It is they who provide compensation for
children who are killed in conflict, who provide soup kitchens to feed the
starving and, in so doing, enlist an increasing number of supporters for their
wars.
Make no mistake that this is a world war, albeit not
like any we have seen before. The conflict is not being fought by regimented
armies of men, but by individuals and by small terrorist cells on our streets
and in our homes. The human race has now reached such a point that we are
arguing the merits of killing a half-blind man in a wheelchair on one side, and
the blowing up of 200 innocent Spanish citizens on their way to work on the
other.
Significantly, neither action has brought us any
closer to ending the conflict. Sheik Yassin's assassination has only served to
elevate him to martyrdom, and will undoubtedly incite further violence in his
name. We must remember the real danger of such an act, which could change the
agenda from Palestinian-Israeli confrontation to that between Arabs,
Christians, Muslims and Jews.
Sheik Yassin's killing, like every other killing,
whether it is justified by states or by individual groups, takes us several
steps away from what must be the overall objective: comprehensive peace in the
region.
All initiatives in the Middle East, through NATO, the
G8, the Developing 8 Muslim Countries (the D8), focus on what appears to be the
business of the moment: security, security, security. I'd like to see them
focus on dialogue, dialogue, dialogue.
What we really need is a Treaty of Versailles for our
region, where everyone can sit down together and work towards peace. Experience
has taught me that it is better for all parties to be at the table for peace
talks, so that no one is left off the menu.
In this, the Middle East is at fault. Each nationality
sits behind closed doors. I have sat with them, and all agree with the need for
a multilateral security system. But when they come into the broad light of day,
they are only worried for their own bilateral agreements with the United
States. That attitude must change.
And the West, too, must adopt a different approach.
Its member states need to move from the narrow day-to-day perspective of
politics as usual and policies that deal with hard security -- the use of the
military to control borders and regimes, and too great an emphasis on economics
and profit.
My greatest fear is that if we continue to depend on
the rule of force and on power as a deterrent, eventually we will be unable to
disable violence.
We must become more sensitized to the concept of
consequences: the consequences of poverty, illiteracy, oppression, lack of
opportunity, despair and anger -- all of which can all lead to the
contemplation of violence.
We are standing on the brink and that is something
that binds us all together: the Israeli who thinks he will be killed by a
suicide bomber, the Libyan by an air strike or the Westerner by a random
terrorist attack.
So rather than fight a war on terror, why not wage a
struggle for the rule of peace? The Arabic word hamas means zeal, but flip it
on its head, to samah, and it stands for tolerance. Sometimes you just have to
look at things in a different way.
Prince El Hassan bin Talal, brother of the late King Hussein of
Jordan, is the:
Moderator of the World Conference on Religion and Peace -- http://www.wcrp.org/
President of the Club of Rome -- http://www.clubofrome.org/
and President of the Arab Thought Forum -- http://www.multaqa.org/