Dr. Munther Dajani is a member of the Israeli Palestinian Confederation, an organization committed to find the path to peace between Israel and Palestine. We welcome articles and notes that express the human aspirations for peace. IPC is listed on the right panel of this blog.
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Mike Ghouse
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Munther Dajani, dean, Faculty of Arts, AL Quds University, Jerusalem; co-founder,Wasatiyya(Moderation)movement:
This is the statement he was going to deliver at our convention in Jerusalem which was disrupted by demonstrators on December 12, 2011.
My name is Munther Dajani and I am a humanist, chronic optimist and a citizen of the world.
Dear participants in this historic event, of all walks of life and of all nationalities and professions, the citizens of the State of Palestine and the citizens of the State of Israel.
I am honored to be standing here today among you, we the few who believe in the future of peace to become a reality in this part of the world. Needless to say that we owe our presence here to our American friends who took the initiative to make this meeting possible and specially Mr. Joseph Avesar and his team whose relentless efforts have to be acknowledged in making this gathering possible.
We the citizens of this region are the ones who always end up paying the price of blood-shed and death. Wars that results of meaningless deaths where the rules and regulations are imposed on us by people who already passed away generations ago, we have never met or even know. Decisions that are made maybe thousands of miles away in different capitals of the world, in closed rooms outside our region that we do not have anything to do with on the individual level per say… we who live in this region and in alliance with our friends in the United States and Israel have decided to make a change and as President Obama once said and we can make the Change that we all desperately need. I believe that it is about time that we take our own faith in our own hands and make our own decisions.
A Decision that we will make today that will affect generations to come to end this protracted conflict that have plagued us for more than eight decades. I am standing here before you to say that we want peace, as most of the polls show that a majority of Palestinians and Israelis are thirsty for peace, peace of mind and body that will secure the well being of our children and their children in the region in particular and the children of the world. Stability that will usher in, economic prosperity, and will make the dream of the late President Arafat and President Shimon Peres come true resulting in a new Middle East based on human dignity and self-respect and respect of others for all regardless of creed, color, religion or ethnicity.
I am standing here to tell you that I have never met a Palestinian or an Israeli who did not hope for the achievement of peace in our area. After all, we breathe the same air, drink water from the same aquifers and plough the same land, and live on the same natural resources of the land as well as share the same touristic and religious sites…that constitute our main source of living.
In order to achieve this peace, we have to think outside the box and we have, we are proposing a confederation between the two states of the region, the State of Palestine and the State of Israel that will ensure security for all. This is the utmost level of guaranteeing security for all. This is the utmost of practical Confidence Building measure of all.
To have a shared vision for peace and common interest not only on the superficial level but to those who are concerned with security, this will be the maximum security assurance that all can hope for deep down to the core of our inner souls, our deep core of our different societies, where all will have a stake in keeping an ever-lasting peace.
This is the message we are sending all our leaders in order to be responsible towards future generations to come. We are doing this in order to save our children and future generations from the agonies of war and bloodshed.
In conclusion, this is our historic contribution and our legacy which we leave not only for our people but for mankind as a whole because we took a stand for the achievement of peace and stability in our region. I have been told again and again that this is the land of peace, this is the land referred to as the land where the prophets delivered their messages for peace have to have an ever-lasting peace.
Our call for a confederation between the states of the region, the State of Palestine and the State of Israel to begin with and we must keep it open for other nations of the region to join, I call upon all the nations of the area to join, so they can all also live in peace, peace that can assure all, political stability and economic prosperity that will end all conflicts in the region.
I thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to share with you our vision for peace in the region, that we are all sure will be achieved, due to all your efforts in the call for this initiative.
Thank you.