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| Med ,
Saint Louis MO |
10/23/09 |
| Middle Eastern Union |
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To be brief. You can bet your life and soul on the concept of a Middle Eastern Union becoming a reality, sooner than later, devoid of border visas, etc., to come and go as you please. The world is in the process of internationalizing, as inter-regional superstates and the Middle East will follow suit. |
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| Colin
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06/05/09 |
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STOP the export to Israel of CAT bulldozers and also:
ALL EARTH-MOVING EQUIPMENT
F16 & F15 FIGHTER/ BOMBER AIRCRAFT
CLUSTER BOMBS
BUNKER BUSTING BOMBS
ANTI-PERSONNEL MINES
TANKS & ARMORED VEHICLES
GUNS & ARTILLERY
ELECTRONIC MISSILE SYSTEMS
COVERT LISTENING DEVICES
UNMANNED DRONES
PLUTONIUM FOR NUCLEAR WARHEADS
CHEMICAL & BIOLOGICAL MATERIAL FOR WMD
WHITE PHOSPHORUS & TOXIC GASES |
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| Gerard ,
Beirut Lebanon |
07/08/07 |
| Proposed Middle East Union |
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Jeff Halper's proposal of an MEU modelled on the European Union is one that independently I identified as probably the only viable reconciliation of the conflicting claims and aspirations in the Middle Eastern region. As an Irishman working on an EU project trying to improve the livelihood prospects of Young Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon, I am constantly struck by the parallels between the Catholic/Protestant struggle for dominance in Ireland and the Jewish/Muslim struggle for dominance in Israel/Palestine, not least by the fact that both countries were artificially divided under the influence of the British Lord Balfour, producing two of the most intractable conflicts of the 20th century.
I would like therefore to back Jeff's idea for an MEU by highlighting the importance of the EU in not only keeping the peace on mainland Europe but its less recognised success in bringing peace to Ireland. Bearing in mind that the EU was born out of the desire to prevent the carnage of the 2nd world war (most notably the holocaust of the Jews, Gypsies and others that led to foundation of the state of Israel) being repeated, it is surely logical and not anti-Israeli or anti-Palestinian to debate and speculate on the application of a novel constitutional solution to the 'Palestine Question' that has brought peace and prosperity to Europe.
I have visited Israel and have been impressed by their creation of an advanced state and the restoration of a nearly dead language, (which is unfortunately something Ireland has failed to do when it achieved its independence.) However I was struck by an insularity, touchiness and defensiveness exhibited by ordinary Israelis, which I recognised from my childhood in Ireland in my fellow countrymen in connection to the Unionists and the British presence in Ireland. I was shocked however at many Israeli's unwillingness to acknowledge the rights or feelings of their Palestinian neighbours and the speed with which many retreated to crude stereotypes about Arabs and Muslims of the kind that if one was to talk similarly about Jews, blacks or women in most countries would invite a possible jail sentence.
In this context I respectfully suggest that Israelis might note that it was only when the Irish stopped chasing after the nationalist ideal of a unitary State covering the entire island of Ireland and agreed to share sovereignity, through the aegis of the EU, over the increasingly many issues of common interest with it's British Unionist neighbours and the other peoples of Europe, that it achieved real independence from Britain and took its place amongst the nations of the earth.
After 30 years of EU harmonisation, the frustration and anger caused by being a minority stuck on the wrong side of a border fence has thus been largely eliminated in Ireland as through the EU the border between the South & North of Ireland has disappeared in practice - common flag, common symbols such as standard passport/driving licences, no customs, free trade, free travel, right to live and work in any EU country, common voting rights, common EU legislation, police/security cooperation and - if UK joins the Euro as Ireland has done - a common currency. The advantages of this model for Israelis and Palestinians are obvious.
Of course it wont happen over night. It has taken 50 years for Europeans to learn to know and trust each other to the extent that they would adopt common instruments most closely connected with sovereignity such as flags, currencies and right of abode. However the riduculousness of the fact that despite the very short distances involved, that citizens of Tyre can't do their shopping in Nahariya or that Beiruti's are forced to stop for the best part of an hour at a border crossing in order to travel between Beirut and Damascus, is immediately obvious to those of us who are used to driving across international borders as if they were municipal boundaries.
It has taken nearly 30 years for the good offices of the EU to overcome the bitterness of the various Irish sects and their mutual conviction that they have a monopoly on suffering. It might take longer but I hope that an MEU will be formed that will cause the Jews, Muslims, Druze and Christians of Israel/Palestine to realise that notwithstanding the terrible wrongs done them in the past, that they likewise do not have a monopoly on suffering and that there is a bigger world outside of their territories that are focussing on the future and not stoking their bitterness for the wrongs of the past.
As a foreigner like the citizens of many other countries I am increasingly resentful of world political discourse being held hostage to the Jewish/Arab conflict and the fact that instead of focussing on climate change and Third World poverty, the world is being held to ransom by the extremist rants of ideologues on both sides in a power play that is ultimately destroying the lives and prospects of their own peoples. Likewise I like many others are sick of being slandered as anti-semites or crusaders for failing to agree with the irrational and unreasonable demands and actions of either side. |
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| Marlin ,
New York NY |
05/26/04 |
| Israeli-Palestinian one state |
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Thank you for the article. Its about time we begin to hear from truly neutral parties interested in Peace First, rather than continuing down the same ole road to impasse and defacto circumstances evolving into permanent realities. Mediate.com, don't be cowed by the "anti-Israeli" reactionaries. They don't want peace and are known for their scorched earth tactics for dealing with the truth. Anytime the truth gets this type of hateful, anti-intellectual reaction, you know you are on the right track.
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| Federico
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05/25/04 |
| We live in a world of followers! If you put out an ignorant article degrading others all your doing is causing more hatred! |
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I am very disturbed by the ANTI-ISRAEL article in Mediate.com. I am also digusted that such an article would be allowed to be posted by Mediate.com Their are many mediators from different ethnicities on this site and many are Jewish. I am sure I am not the first and last that they will hear from.
As a mediator it is our responsibility to only help people come to a resolution! It is not our responsibility to advocate one particular side! Putting out such articles only kills the whole aspect of mediation. Why? would you even attempt to speak in such a rediculous matter about a particular country that is going through turmoil! WHAT ever country it shall be, who are you as a person and even worse as a mediator to produce such an idiotic article!? It is foolish and it only shows your anger towards Israel! Again the definition of a mediator: A third neutral party who is their to help two disputant parties come to a resolution! Plus someone who would help disputant parties come to a resolution whether the color of their skin is different than the other, their religions are different, their ethnicity are different or their gender is different! I hope this article is taken down immediately and I will also pass this article on to others who are surely going to contact this site about taking this article down! |
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| Paul ,
Pittsburgh PA |
05/17/04 |
| Comment on comments |
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I welcome these comments - at least it shows people read these articles and want/need to talk about their reactions.
But about the reactions .. I would hope that we could do better than tacking a label on an article and dismissing it as "anti-[whomever]
This article, in particular proposes a new and broader approach in the search for solutions to the Middle Eastern dilemmas. I would much rather see commentary that deals with?
1) Are the suggestions made in this article a workable concept around which to build negotiations?
2) If not, why not?
3) If not, what would be a better approach, and why?
4) Are any of these options less likely to bring peace than the current situation?
Come - let us reason together. |
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| Arlene ,
Cortaillod CH |
05/16/04 |
| taking sides |
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I am also disturbed and concerned by the underlying anti-israeli position that runs throughout this article. I think this paper does not belong on this site and is a violation of what I have learned about ethics in mediation. |
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| Concerned
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05/14/04 |
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Wake up and smell the coffee. It's a nice dream, but the reality is complete hatred taught from the cradle to the grave by one side against the other. Guess which.
You are correct, though, about the 2 stage solution. Check out PLO documents from the 1970's. We're in stage 1 now; stage 2 is the annhilation of Israel.
These type of articles can give mediation a bad name and seem to indicate a creeping politicization of this website. The fact that this once-proud mediation website sees fit to increasingly post anti-Israel articles is truly saddening. |
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| David ,
LA |
05/12/04 |
| Bold |
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What a novel concept; having a larger picture in mind is a great concept. "Begin with the end in mind" is one of the 7 Steps of Highly Effective People and rings true here. Having that wonderful goal would work.
There is another model that has viability and would work in this environemnt and that is the Ulster Project. The Ulster Project started in the late sixties or early 70s by an Angleton Priest, Kerry Waterstone. This program brought to the USA 30 students (15 - 16 years old). Half of the adolescents were Catholic and the other half Protestant to live in areas of Catholic and Protestant in the USA. For three weeks of living with a host American youth, they learned about people other than the political labels they grew up hating either “Catholic” and “Protestant”. I believe the lessening of the “troubles” (as they are called) has been as a result of these students who have growth up and now influencing their society.
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