Are we any further forward?
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The volume of comment following Richard Silverstein’s post on Gaza and the news that UN delegates walked out of an anti-racism conference minutes after Iranian President Ahmadinejad began a verbal attack on Israel makes me wonder whether the world has moved forward in any positive way over the last few weeks.
Salaam Shalom’s joint hosting of a Debate on Gaza [Click HERE to Listen again] a couple of weeks ago and a further Debate on Extremism [Click HERE to Listen] would indicate that there is a willingness to talk, but is there also a willingness to listen?
I was greatly heartened by the number of younger members of the Muslim and Jewish communities that attended the Gaza debate, but concerned that many both arrived and departed with their perceptions unchanged. Despite the best efforts to create a panel which offered a balance of arguments, albeit with passion for their own perspectives, I’m not certain they received a balanced hearing.
The media and political debate about Gaza, Israel and the Middle East continues unabated. There seems to be plenty of talk but only a limited amount of listening – a critical element of successful dialogue. Am I saying we should stop talking altogether? Of course not. Are we prepared to listen to everybody’s views even if we don’t like what we hear? Maybe that’s a harder task.
