September 30, 2004
I started reading this lecture given by Hanan Ashrawi at the 2003 Sydney Peace Prize today.There had been a big campaign in 2003 conducted by right wing Jewish organizations to prevented her from giving this lecture on the grounds that she supported terrorism. It became a political affair in Australia.
So let us have a look at what Hanan says. That bit never got much airplay in the media. Nor was there much discussion. Hanan says:
"As we witness attempts at imposing a simplistic view of a Manichean universe, of polarization and reductive stereotypes of good and evil, we are most in need of those who will engage in a redemptive validation of pluralism, tolerance, diversity, authenticity of identity, and the comprehensive engagement in collective responsibility. As such, it is up to us jointly to give both a voice and an audience to the silenced, and to grant space and time to the excluded and denied."
Good sentiments. Why should we do so?
Hanan says that we should intervene not only to resolve conflicts but also to prevent them from erupting or generating their own destructive forces that could spiral out of control. That is what Australians did in East Timor.
She goes on to say that the conflict in the Middle East between Palestinians and Israeli's is:
"....an anachronism in that it has all the components of a colonial condition in a post neo-colonial world, plus the requirements of national self-determination as a basis of nascent statehood in a world moving towards regional and global redefinitions."
She then puts this conflict between Palestinians and Israeli's in a regional context:
"Regionally, the conflict has provided a convenient excuse for the suspension of human rights, the evasion of democratic systems of governance, the waste of natural and human resources, and the perpetuation of centralized regimes that held back the challenges of development—all under the guise of “national security” and the external military threat. For decades, war, or the threat of military hostilities, has served to maintain the status quo and has framed the region within misplaced notions of self defense that contributed to the rising power of extremism and fundamentalism rather than human empowerment and global engagement. "
Then she argues that the prospect of peace is possibly the most effective force for dislodging such notions and trends in a region suffering from an imposed state of suspended animation.
It is hard not to disagree. Peace requires the intervention of the UN.
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"Peace requires the intervention of the UN."
How would that help?
In Srebrenitza the UN disarmed the Muslims and then left them to be slaughtered by the Serbs. In Rwanda the UN pulled out leaving the Tutsi to be slaughtered. The UN has done nothing to prevent genocide in Darfur.