Tag: Palestine

October 21, 2015

Reflections on recent events

Originally posted here on Oct. 19, 2015.

I am starting to see very clearly that there are those people who have the moral and emotional intelligence to understand two sides of a conflict, two enemies at once, and there are those who need to demonize someone in every situation. There are those who can empathize with their own community and with another, and there are those who at every turn look to demonize one group and whitewash their own. These are two camps of humanity, one with an evolved mind, and one with a primitive mind. Educational levels and graduate degrees having nothing to do with these two camps.

I am horrified by the mob mentality, I am saddened by many people I have helped and defended, not from my own community, who the first chance they get, join virtual lynch mobs.

The fact is that it is easy to …
October 19, 2015

CONFLICT DEESCALATION IN JERUSALEM AND HEBRON: JUST A THOUGHT

CONFLICT DEESCALATION IN JERUSALEM AND HEBRON: JUST A THOUGHT

SUNDAY, 18 OCTOBER 2015 (as originally published on Facebook here)

We need a rapid response team, perhaps through an app, of respected observers of violent incidents in both communities, people who know and trust each other, to rapidly investigate and disseminate the facts as best they know them, in order for whatever reactions that occur be based on better knowledge of all the facts. Perhaps the app could be open, but with a respected panel who can immediately detect those on the app with consistent disinformation.

This is a suggestion for a new tactic of precision popular journalism across enemy lines. I know journalists on both sides who are committed to their profession and also to peace, and I know many on both sides who have a firm interest in saving lives always as a priority. I also know the
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October 9, 2014

“Minorities, Majorities, and Religious Freedom: Patterns and Possibilities for Israel, Palestine, and Beyond” -Georgetown University Berkley Center

My latest article was published on Berkely Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs at Georgetown University.
Please have a look at it from here, and your comments are always more than welcome.

Minorities,, Majorities, and Religioius Freedom: Patterns and Possibilities for Israel, Palestine, and Beyond

The history of freedom of religion in its most successful moments of impact has been the history of the empowerment of minority religions, the religions that are especially reviled by some segments of a majority. It is vital that the rights of minority religions be protected in both Israel and Palestine as a critical test of a functioning democracy. It is marker of a state in which the rule of law can be trusted to work for everyone. This means that Christians, Jews, and others must be guaranteed their rights in the new state of Palestine, and that Muslims, Christians, and non-Orthodox Jews be
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September 8, 2014

Thoughts on Our War World

STARVING COSMOS

How can we listen to sad love songs,
When there are so many starving for love?
Who the hell do we think we are?
What rights for pity do we think we have,
When outside our doorstep,
Is a cosmos of love-starved beings?

COSMIC ANNIHILATION CREATION

We, we are the Higgs boson,
We are elusive,
Impossible to discover,
Yet everywhere.…
September 7, 2014

Reflecting on “Dancing”

I wrote this during the Gaza war. I think the theme of dance is very important, post-quantum physics way to understand the complex interaction of enemies, how they build on each other, and what it must teach us in reverse. I am amazed at how much of a dance enemies have, how much they depend on each other’s worst behaviors. We know this scientifically but it is hard to internalize as a definition of fluid reality. All our debates are as if enemies are fixed entities not evolving with each other. We warriors for peace still do not know how to really counteract that. We have tried the arts, we have tried tourism, we have tried commerce, but the dance of death is more frightening and compelling to the masses. Why did the young generation succeed in the 1960’s to create a real alternative that attracted the masses, but …
August 28, 2014

Violence: The Turning

It is a law:
Violence begets nonviolence,
Like a tulip in winter,
In all places,
In all cultures.
But only those
With eyes wide open
Can see it,
In the middle of
Winter storms.

The most important turning point
for any civilization passing from darkness into light
is every moment
that a weapon passes
from someone who has no self control
and no compassion
to someone who does.…
August 20, 2014

“Peace Practice Online in a Time of War” -from S-CAR Newsletter

I recently wrote a cover article reflecting on the recent war in Gaza to the newsletter published by School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution.

Practice is a messy, miserable reality that deserves its own independent study. What do we do in times of war? This has dramatically changed for me and many others in just the last year or two, where every war seems to be bringing individuals together online to a level of intimacy, collaboration, and care unprecedented, and others to a level of hatred unprecedented. Then there are shades of gray, where how you frame your disagreements, your texts, your cries, your screams, your pleas, your ruminations in the dead of night, all of it yields surprising communications across enemy lines, in all of the many and variegated enemy systems that overlap in international conflicts. A string of people from one side of the conflict becoming the only
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August 19, 2014

Reflections in August 2014 vol.1

In war in an age of war the act of ultimate defiance is to make another human being feel wonderful.

Testosterone, gestures of kindness are semen seeds. Men get busy, it will make you inherently happy and bear you many children.

Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). A doctrine that was supposed to be about deterrence, not prophecy. #Israel #Hamas #Palestine

Mimicry, the compulsion of humans to mirror their postures, facial expressions, and enemy war cries. Most posts on FB and Twitter.

Better to deny the past in fear and embrace the present with courage than to embrace the past with courage and deny the present in fear.

…
August 5, 2014

Ideology and Tyranny / Mourning the Past

IDEOLOGY AND TYRANNY

Ideology is always in the service of a power that becomes tyranny. Followers do not see it coming, as they are too busy defeating the first tyranny.

Political Islam and Military Islam are dying a rapid death on the streets of Mosul that is reverberating everywhere, but they will revive in each and every place where tyranny and oppression reign. That includes the West Bank and Gaza.

MOURNING THE PAST

It is better to deny the past in fear and embrace the present with courage than it is to embrace the past with courage and deny the present in fear. Better than both is embracing the past and the present with courage and generosity.

(Photo source: Wallcoo.net)…
August 5, 2014

FB Friending Analysis

Interesting, in the hotness of the Gaza war attention (while thousands suffer and die anonymously nearby in Syria and Iraq, for example), it is interesting to watch the evolution of thinking day to day under a microscope. I find myself to be a magnet for positive rational thinking these days in terms of FB friending patterns, not that I necessarily deserve that. I am impressed at the number of people seeking to friend me in recent days who trust neither Hamas nor Israel to protect the people of Palestine or build a better future, and putting lots of thought on which parties could do this. This is a good direction of thought. One theme emerging is that very few people are buying the idea that Israel has at this point a decent plan for the future, but also, one man, one vote one time of political Islam and military …