The ongoing asymmetrical ‘war’ between Israel and Hamas has made me reflect on the need to expand my understanding of this unequal conflict.
People’s lives have become less important for the minority militaristic elite on both sides of the divide. The civilian population of Israel and the colonised Palestinians are in a perpetual state of anxiety. They live in fear of what is going to come next in this cycle of violence.
I wonder whether Hamas reflected on what could happen to its own people when it made its violent incursion into Israel.
Or whether Israel, which continues to deny Palestinians their statehood, has ever reflected on its occupation and siege of Palestinian territory.
This is the root cause of the current predicament.
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Reason dictates that we enjoy wellbeing and security to its fullness only when we desire the same for ‘the other’.
The Western, Israeli and Muslim leaders with dualistic and polarised minds have never understood this principle of wholeness and reciprocity that is rooted in the spirituality of love, mercy and compassion.
The global press also takes part and takes sides in the conflict by focusing on certain aspects that fit their worldview. They ignore the deep historical complexity of the issue at hand.
For example, mainstream Western media, such as the BBC and CNN, condemn Hamas and regard it as the sole cause of the current conflict. They do not address the colonialism carried out by Israel.
Meanwhile, the press from Muslim countries refuse to condemn Hamas’ brutal actions on ordinary Israeli civilians.
People who are limited by space and time and beholden to their dualistic ideology observe issues in isolation – instead of synthesising the entire issue related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the search for solutions.
According to contemporary American Christian mystic Richard Rorr, polarities, dualisms and seeming opposites are not opposites at all but part of a hidden and rejected wholeness
Many world leaders and large sections of the mainstream global media lack the spiritual wholeness that transcends the limitations of human ideology. They have limited themselves to their own strategic self-interest that pinpoint the parts of conflict with ideological and political lens that fit their interest.
Only the wisdom of wholeness that sees the plight of the suffering people of the Middle East in its entirety can inspire a just solution to the marginalised and oppressed Palestinians and the security concerns of the Israelis.
Until and unless the stakeholders in this conflict embrace the spiritual wisdom of wholeness, the Middle East will continue to burn. As it stands, the leaders who merely focus on the parts of the conflict for their own political, religious and hegemonic reasons are responsible for the greatest evil of war we see on the planet today.
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
