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Wednesday, 18 April 2012

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Palestine and Western 'double-think'

Some Western hearts 'bleed' aplenty for those who chafe at and work against democracy and communal peace in the developing world, but they do not seem to be having any tears or time for the Palestinian people. It is such unconscionable indifference which has compounded the agony of the Palestinian people over the decades and alerting the totality of the international community to the situation of the Palestinian people is part of the process of delivering the Palestinians from their torment.

Fortunately, Sri Lanka has been sufficiently sagacious over the years to take on the cause of the Palestinian people and President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been prominent in his persistence of bringing to the notice of the world community the gross injustices which the Palestinian nation has been compelled to shoulder in virtual mute silence and fortitude. It is this background of unstinted moral backing which Sri Lanka has been extending to the Palestinian cause which makes Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' present visit to Sri Lanka very memorable. The event will help seal a bilateral tie which has been characterized by mutual support and admiration.

Current indications are that sections of the international community are relatively sensitive to the Palestinian cause but much more has to take place before we could rest assured that an equitable solution to the Middle East conflict is finally at hand. As is well known, the dispossession of the Palestinian people is at the heart of the conflict, and it is the negotiation and establishment of full Palestinian statehood which would help resolve the problem which has been tormenting the Middle East particularly since 1947. But in doing so, the rights of all concerned parties must be ensured.

Needless to say, big power involvement has been a significant factor in the Middle East conflict. In fact it has been a stumbling block to the settlement of the question from the late forties and looking back over the years it could be said that if the world community spoke with one voice over the issue an amicable settlement to the problem could have been arrived at. Instead, the West, in particular, allowed itself to be guided by its short term political and strategic interests in this rankling issue and this has stood in the way of the international community expeditiously resolving the persisting problem.

The West is perfectly entitled to persist in backing those parties to the conflict, which, in its opinion need to be supported, but it must be also seen that the Palestinian people have been suffering inexorably as a result of justice not being meted out to them.

It is common knowledge that sections of the Palestinian people have languishing in refugee camps in foreign lands for decades. They too have been brutally uprooted from the land of their birth and it is important that their suffering is viewed from a humanistic angle.

The international community 'cannot rob Peter to pay Paul' and adherence to the principle of equity would indeed go a long way in resolving the conflict.

As mentioned, it should be the resolve of the West to be fair by all sides to the Middle East imbroglio. The West officially swears by democratic equality and the tolerance and recognition of the 'Other', but it seems to be slow in applying these principles to the Middle East question.

As we cautioned yesterday, such 'double-think' and 'double-speak' could prove highly counter-productive in that they could get in the way of ushering progressive change expeditiously.

Meanwhile, the developing world is morally obliged to stand-by the Palestinian people and it is gladdening to note that Sri Lanka has been adhering to this policy over the years. Moves are underway to broad-base the areas of cooperation between Palestine and Sri Lanka and this policy would need to be persisted with in the name of humanity.

The issue is also that some Western hearts are in the wrong place. For instance, some of the enemies of the Sri Lankan state are molly-coddled and provided protection in the West but the Palestinian call for justice is being callously disregarded. While Sri Lanka is one of the most vibrant of democracies in South Asia and must be given an opportunity to grow further, the Palestinian people have suffered indefinitely and need to be supported whole-heartedly. Thus have consciences been perverted.

Empowering people in rural communities

The concerns raised at the last set of Divisional Secretariat Reconciliation Committees I facilitated this week in Mullaitivu and Vavuniya, after a long hiatus given an excess of travel in March, were both reassuring and upsetting.

Full Story

The Human Dimension

Can we learn something from the Titanic that sank 100 years ago?

No ship in history has captured the world’s imagination like the Titanic - once dubbed the greatest ship on earth, a product of man’s superior engineering feat of the early 20th century. It was built with the kind of solid workmanship that was noted back,

Full Story

Remembering Tissa:

A dazzling light of gargantuan versatility

Tissa Abeysekera was an artist, indeed atypical in calibre, who saw society through an artistic lense, yet equally felt the distress that humans did undergo in this riddle called life. He had a deep concern for the ongoing grievances, as society served unjustly, by segregating the deprived and garlanding the affluent, in extreme horrendousness. He was a man who was born to sense, sight as well as sound, and yet was able to uniquely distinguish their margins,

Full Story

 

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