I am pleased to join the Israeli-Palestinian confederation committee to participate and contribute towards the peace process for the people of Israel and Palestine. With full empathy and affection for both the peoples, I have consciously chosen to remain detached from taking sides; however, you will find me critical of the leadership as well as a few individuals in the process.
It is based on the lessons I have learned from my parents, who remained objective on the issues of world affairs and being “just” was their approach to life. In an article at Huffington Post, I wrote about my life time (jihad) struggle in applying the “just” values to the conflict between the people of Israel and Palestine and I am pleased to copy the following two paragraphs from that article:
My father is my hero and had opened the doors of wisdom to me. He taught me one of the biggest lessons of my life in social cohesiveness and dealing with extremism that I continue to reflect in my speeches, acts and write ups.
My father is my hero and had opened the doors of wisdom to me. He taught me one of the biggest lessons of my life in social cohesiveness and dealing with extremism that I continue to reflect in my speeches, acts and write ups.
During the communal (religious) riots in the early '60s, both Muslims and Hindus were killed in the mayhem. I wish every father in India, America, Israel, and elsewhere teaches this lesson to his kids. He told us the "individuals" were responsible for the bloodshed and not the religions; he would emphasize that you cannot blame an intangible like religion and expect justice, we must blame the individuals who caused it and punish them accordingly for disturbing the peace and thus bring a resolution to the conflict by serving justice. He was crystal clear: You cannot annihilate, kill, hang or beat the religion, so why bark at it?
We have to come to grips with the reality that other people's suffering is as legitimate as our own; it is easy to see ourselves as victims, but we must also see the perpetrator in us, when we don’t feel others’ pain, turn the other way or not speak up when we see others are wronged.
When we strip the politics out of a conflict, we see hope; we can value others suffering without lessening our own; the overriding desire to highlight our own blinds us from feeling other's suffering, making a less of a human of us. A sense of responsibility for creating a better world needs to be awakened, and ultimately safety and peace for everyone should be driving our thoughts. One will never be at peace when others around are not.
In the many articles I have written, there are times when an Israeli or the Palestinian may feel that I have not stood up enough for them that is because of my struggle to be just; I rather fail in my struggle than lose my sense of fairness. Deep down I believe the Jewish and Palestinian people want the Americans to be honest and sincere and take a tough stand and end this conflict that is consuming them eternally.
Joining the Israel Palestine confederation is one more step for me in my quest for Justice for the people. I believe if we can be a tiny catalyst in bringing a resolution to the a sixty year old conflict, and not thousands of years as some politician point, a majority of the conflicts that were mothered by this conflict will fade and solutions will emerge.
Mike Ghouse
Joining the Israel Palestine confederation is one more step for me in my quest for Justice for the people. I believe if we can be a tiny catalyst in bringing a resolution to the a sixty year old conflict, and not thousands of years as some politician point, a majority of the conflicts that were mothered by this conflict will fade and solutions will emerge.
Mike Ghouse
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ABOUT THE VOLUNTEER MEMBERS
About the members of the organization, copied straight from the website: http://www.ipconfederation.org/about-us.aspx
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