Praying For Mid-Eastern Calm and Peace

02/08/2006

Paul Munnis

These mid-east riots are taking on more of an appearance of West-baiting than spontaneous and collective religious outrage to profane cartoons published in a Danish newspaper. As Shakespeare put it: “We fear they doth protest too much;” especially since their point has been made to the whole world for several days now, yet the riots continue.

As such, these riots are dangerous bait for the West to respond to and our diplomats know it. We support Mr. Bush is his call for calm and peace across the mid-east.

An attempt seems to be going on to provoke diplomatic instances of brutality that will aid the Arab insurgency and cause it to spread to nations like: Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, and other neighboring nation-states and all across the mid-east. We think of this as an attempt to amplify the use of jihad.

It has some of the fingerprints of Hamas as one looks at the methods of mass rioting and demonstration being employed; yet, we could be wrong about that. We are not privy to inside information. That rioting and looting is being done in the name of the Prophet Mohammed and it is demeaning to Islam and to the memory of the Prophet Mohammed who sought peace and advocated the use of reason in resolving conflict. This could have a resounding effect upon the sponsors of chaos since this is not the behavior taught by the Islamic religion. Other Islamic people may object to the use of rioting as a tool if it reflects badly upon Islam.

This then is a time for the people within the EU, the USA, and the UN, to join hands with their leaders and with the leaders of Islam too, all calling for calm and urging a return to calm and peace. It may not come as fast as we would like to see it but there are two keys. The first is a peaceful and non-hysterical response to the riots. The second is recognition that as the tactic fails then it eliminates itself as a useful tactic for the future.

Thus a few buildings may be lost. They can be replaced. The Danish and Norwegian Embassy’s are now largely evacuated and the inhabitants have been brought to safety. This is the first essential thing and it has been accomplished. We thank God for that.

The next consideration is that the media, while reporting the incidents, would do well to withdraw TV cameras and to cut back on CNN and other news organization dramatizations of the demonstrations. That will pull the political punch and make it less effective yet the whole world can still stay abreast of events within the region.

The voices of Islamic leaders should continue to speak out against violence and bloodshed and so should the people of the EU, the UN, and the U.S.

While all that is going on western intelligence agencies should learn who is behind this, gather evidence, and then arrest warrants can be issued and the persons responsible can be brought to trial in an international court of justice.

We fear for the future of the mid-east and we say that Hamas and their declarations of hate are the major reason for our concerns. If Hamas is actually behind these demonstrations as a principal organizer then the next step could be to remove their diplomatic license to represent Palestine as a Nation-State. Perhaps too the UN might declare that Hamas should be cut off from any income sources from Israel and the West. Such talk is already surfacing and it is bad for the people of Palestine that it is even being considered.

The UN might decide to declare Palestine to be a former state and to dissolve it as being an unworkable solution while granting the territory to Israel for re-settlement. That is what is bad for the people of Palestine, to lose their identity and their collective future as a people.

We do not want to see these bad things happen to the Palestinian people. A Nation-State should still be the international goal for Palestine yet bad things could happen even if Hamas is totally innocent of any involvement in these riots. It is appearance that counts heavily in diplomacy and Hamas would do well to publicly approach the UN seeking an opportunity to be a positive political factor in the mid-east even as a new phase in their movement develops; one of elected legitimacy. That would remove all doubts of any negative involvement. Hamas must give peace a chance to flourish across the land.

Mid-east peace can only happen if Hamas rejects the negativity of political hate and turns towards a positive value of collective love and respect for those whom they are elected to represent.

As for U.S. involvement in Iraq, the people of the mid-east can see that the U.S. is taking needed steps to prepare Iraq for independence and to withdraw our armed forces from the region. Forget all of the political rhetoric and just look at the real evidence. We are training 130,000 Iraqi police right now plus we are training and equipping an Iraqi Army. America would not be doing that without it being material in a plan for withdrawal.

We wish the Palestinian people well and we pray for resolution of conflict in the mid-eastern lands even as we also pray that no more profanity of religion happens anywhere in the world for any reason.

We also pray that killing and injury of the people of the mid-east cease and that peace be restored across the land.

It is now time for more sophisticated behavior by all parties involved in the future of the mid-east. Such sophistication develops peace and it creates a collective long-term future for the people who are involved.