February 28, 2001 – 9:57 pm
As the world watches with trepidation the daily scenes of murder and outrage in the West Bank and Gaza strip, there is one thing we can all agree about. This particular escalation would not have taken place if it were not for good ole Ariel Sharon. His visit to the Holy Al-Aqsa compound on 28 September sparked the chain of tragic events that have claimed the lives of several hundred innocent civilians, almost all of whom have been Palestinian. It seems that Mr. Sharon was not happy to enter history merely for the war crimes he committed in Lebanon in 1982; he wanted to crown his record of disgrace with more innocent blood.
And quite remarkably, Sharon is now trying to run for the post of Prime Minister. There seems to be no limit to the audacity of this man! But I for one trust that the Israeli population will reject this war criminal at the polls, if he managed to get that far. I know first-hand that a substantial segment of Israeli society is as scathing about this man as all Arabs are. I witnessed this as a university student nine years ago. Read More »
February 28, 2001 – 9:56 pm
I first met Nicole Castioni at the International Book Fair in Geneva, Switzerland. She was signing copies of her bestseller, Le Soleil Au Bout De La Nuit (The Sun at the End of the Night) - ed. Albin Michel. My first thought was that she looked like a film star of the 1930s. She had a kind of grace and naturalness to her beauty that seemed to belong to another age.
She chatted easily with her audience, most of whom were touched by the sheer drama of her tale, and she talked with an air of understated courage that comes only to those who have been to hell and back. The people who had come to talk to her tried to put on their most understanding look, the kind those who had it easy feel they owe to those less fortunate than themselves. Nicole spoke calmly Read More »
February 28, 2001 – 6:56 pm
God is not to blame, we are
If this often preached conciliatory statement is true - that Muslims, Christians, Jews, and the rest of humankind are all, metaphorically speaking, the children of God - then we are indeed a bunch of incorrigibly spoilt kids with a very bleak future.
True, our ‘metaphoric’ Father left us His will inside more than one mysterious and ancient covenant. But one thing over which no doubt can be cast is that all have essentially sought to attain the same goal: peace on earth and equal justice for all. It is incredibly ironic, therefore, how these holy scripts managed over the centuries to become so diametrically conflicting with each other to the point that they are today totally irreconcilable.
Even the fundamental shared command against the grave act of taking an innocent human being’s life has found its detractors in the very name of the Giver of this life. The resulting endless strife among God’s agonizing children everywhere has led this humble sibling to sometimes honestly wish that the Almighty never bothered to entrust us with anything at all.
Before you slit my throat with knives of blasphemy, I invite you to take a quick tour of the world’s major conflicts today. Start in Palestine, go east to Afghanistan, take a detour to Chechnya, and then come down to Kashmir and India. Stop over in Indonesia, visit the Philippines, then travel west back to Sudan, and from there on to Algeria. Cross to Europe going over north Cyprus, then passing through Bosnia and Kosovo, head all the way up to Ireland. What do you notice? What lies at the heart of all the persisting troubles that you see? More precisely, what is it that makes all these human beings think they are so different from the people they seek to murder? Read More »
