November 2006

Interview with Daoud Nassar,Tent of Nations, Bethlehem, Palestine Daoud Nassar is the owner of 100 acres of land nine kilometers southwest of Bethlehem. This land has been in the Nassar family since 1916 – family members used to the live in caves there – and it has been cultivated for olives, grapes and wheat. Nevertheless, in 1991 the Israeli military declared the land to be Israeli state property. The Nassar family was able to challenge Israel in the courts as fortunately they were in possession of all the original land ownership papers dating back to the Ottoman period. In 2001, although the legal case remained unresolved, the local council of Israeli settlements decided to build a road on the eastern side of the Nassar land. Then in 2002 the same council took the decision to build another road on the Nassar property, this time along the western side. It took...

LONDON – Two hours drive due north from here lies the Artic Circle. But in this town of 120, 000 people one not only feels the bitter cold but also the white heat of the technological revolution. Here are the principal research and development offices of Nokia. There are 800 other high tech companies, some overflowing their expertise into neighboring Russia where they see the future “beckoning”, in the words of Pertti Huuskonen, the boss of Technopolis, which is just building a big facility close to St Petersburg airport. There are probably more PhDs per square metre in this compact old paper-milling town than anywhere else on earth. This astonishing intellectual creation can be laid at the feet of the Finnish educational system, considered by all who survey it, including the OECD, as possessing the best school system in the world. Finland is also reckoned to be in the top...

LONDON – Will the Finnish presidency of the European Union end with a bang or a whimper? No one is laying bets here, but much is at stake – the continuation of negotiations on Turkey’s future entry and the future relationship of the EU to Russia, for which the Finns have more historical experience to draw on than anyone else. Both issues are coming to a head in the next few weeks – Russia when President Vladimir Putin has his formal summit with European heads of government in Helsinki on November 24th and the EU summit in mid December when the clock will stop for the Turkish decision. Talking with Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, current president of the European Union, at his pleasant, unguarded, official residence overlooking a wintry lake in central Helsinki, it is apparent that Turkey has to realize that the longer it draws out the compromises that...

Interview with Prof. Dr. Muhammad Machasin, former Director of Graduate Studies at the Islamic State University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, on the subject of “civil Islam”. On the occasion of the globethics.net1 conference on “Ethics and Fundamentalism”, held in Huissen, Netherlands, 27-31 August 2006, I spoke to the former director of Graduate Studies at the Islamic State University, Prof. Muhammad Machasin, about his ideas on “civil Islam”. Prof. Machasin is the acting head of consultative leadership of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He is also an author and teacher on Islam and fundamentalism. His publications include:1. The Concept of Human Being in Islam, paper presented in the International Conference on Islam and Humanism, IAIN Walisongo Semarang, November 5-8, 2001.2. Faith and Identity, paper presented in “Consultation on Christian-Muslim Dialogue” held by The Lutheran World Federation and Protestant University Duta Wacana, Yogyakarta, April 4-6, 2002.3. Democracy and Shari’a in Islamic Doctrine and...

Interview with Prof. Dr. Muhammad Machasin, former Director of Graduate Studies at the Islamic State University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, on the subject of “civil Islam”. On the occasion of the globethics.net1 conference on “Ethics and Fundamentalism”, held in Huissen, Netherlands, 27-31 August 2006, I spoke to the former director of Graduate Studies at the Islamic State University, Prof. Muhammad Machasin, about his ideas on “civil Islam”. Prof. Machasin is the acting head of consultative leadership of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He is also an author and teacher on Islam and fundamentalism. His publications include:1. The Concept of Human Being in Islam, paper presented in the International Conference on Islam and Humanism, IAIN Walisongo Semarang, November 5-8, 2001.2. Faith and Identity, paper presented in “Consultation on Christian-Muslim Dialogue” held by The Lutheran World Federation and Protestant University Duta Wacana, Yogyakarta, April 4-6, 2002.3. Democracy and Shari’a in Islamic Doctrine and...

The Hope Flowers School is a unique institution where students receive a human-rights based education alongside the formal national curriculum. The school is located in Al-Khader, a village on the outskirts of Bethlehem. It was founded in 1984 by Hussein Issa, a Palestinian man whose family was forced to flee their home in 1948 following the violence that marked the inauguration of the State of Israel. Since 2001, the school has been run by his son Ibrahim, who continues to ensure that the 250+ pupils at the school receive peace education alongside the mandatory school curriculum. The school is open to pupils aged 4-13. Vicky S Rossi: Your father Hussein Issa was the founder of the Hope Flowers School. Was there already a precedent for a school like this? What was his motivation for setting up this kind of educational model? Ibrahim Issa: This model didn’t exist at the time in the...

The timing of the death sentence imposed on Saddam Hussein, so suspiciously convenient for Republican aspirations in the mid-term elections, will only deepen the sectarian tensions in Iraq, fanning further the flames of civil war. While President Bush predictably greeted the news as yet another ‘milestone’ in the effort of the Iraqi people ‘to replace the rule of the tyrant with the rule of law,’ a less partisan reaction would lament the timing as intensifying sectarian strife in Iraq that has by now become a civil war intertwined with a war of resistance. The American stage-managing of this judicial process in Baghdad has been evident to close observers all along. It always seemed legally dubious to initiate a criminal trial against Saddam Hussein while the American occupation was encountering such strong resistance by Saddam loyalists, especially as the US-led invasion was widely regarded throughout the world as itself embodying the...

LONDON – Can one imagine when (and if) Daniel Ortega Saavedra and his ex-revolutionary Sandinistas are swept back into office in next Sunday’s general election the late U.S. president, Ronald Reagan, saying calmly from his grave, “Here we go again”, and then, after a thoughtful pause, “So what?” It was Mr Reagan, after all, who said of the Sandinista regime, “If we ignore it will spread and become a mortal threat to the entire New World”. The Sandinistas were “just two days drive from Harlingen, Texas” and, as Secretary of Defense, Caspar Weinberger, added,“Defending the mainland ranks above all other priorities.” Rhetoric like this cost Central America- there were also left/right civil wars in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras- hundreds of thousands of lives and left villages and towns decimated. They were unnecessary wars and the U.S. had no business supporting a small, unyielding, land-owning class against a small minority...

The Dar al-Kalima College is a Christian college in Bethlehem offering 2-year degree courses in arts, multimedia, communications and tourism related studies. Its mission statement reads: “Through establishing an institution for higher learning the Dar al-Kalima College is committed to building a culture of democracy, critical thinking and free expression, thus contributing to the strengthening of the civil society in Palestine.”Nuha Khoury is dean of the College. Vicky S Rossi: Can you explain to me the relationship between the International Center of Bethlehem (ICB) and the Dar al-Kalima College? Nuha Khoury: The International Center of Bethlehem (ICB) is a cultural institution that has been in existence for the past eleven years. In that time it has created offshoots, one of which is the Dar al-Kalima College, which is its newest creation. Now the Dar al-Kalima College is slowly developing an identity of its own: it started with only a few programmes, but...

The Center for Conflict Resolution & Reconciliation (CCRR) is a Palestinian non-governmental organisation working for the transformation of conflict within Palestinian society based on the values of peace, reconciliation, forgiveness, respect and hope. CCRR offers most of its Conflict Resolution workshops through a network of freelance trainers. CCRR cooperates with a number of other Palestinian organizations nationally and on the international level it is a working member of both the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) and Pax Christi International. Vicky S Rossi: What does conflict mean to you as a Palestinian and what, in your opinion, is the relationship between conflict and peace? Noah Salameh: Conflict is part of life. It does not just exist between Palestinians and Israelis. Conflict is inherent in nature. It is all around us. It is a natural thing. With regard to peace, people might say they are working for peace, but what do they understand by...

Right to Education Campaign – Statement of Aims“The systematic obstruction of Palestinian education in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by the illegal Israeli occupation not only violates the human rights of individuals, it is an attack on the development of Palestinian society as a whole. Frequent closures of cities, hundreds of military roadblocks and the construction of the illegal Wall prevent thousands of students and teachers from reaching their schools and universities. Students are regularly subjected to intimidation, assault and arbitrary arrest by Israeli soldiers. Universities and schools have been closed down, raided and attacked by military order. The right to education is a fundamental human right and basic to human freedom. If peace is sought, then freedom, justice, education and development are necessary. It is the responsibility of governments, organizations and ordinary people to defend the universal right to education and to demand its realization.”1 Vicky S Rossi: When...