Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity
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February 21, 2006

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ARTICLES IN THIS EDITION:

1. Who will compromise first? By Yossi Alpher
Yossi Alpher, co-editor of bitterlemons.org, considers the pressures on Hamas, Israel and the international community after the recent Palestinian parliamentary elections. Outlining the complicated relationships and influences that are perhaps new to this situation and that mandate an international role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Alpher believes that we may see flexibility on all sides as each party attempts to play within the boundaries of this new reality in our interconnected world.
(Source: bitterlemons.org, February 6, 2006)

2. Letters from Denmark by Mona Eltahawy
New York-based, Egyptian journalist, Mona Eltahawy, strikes a comparison between the complaints by Muslims that they are all being painted with the same brush in the wake of September 11, and the often-indiscriminate war on the people of Denmark in the aftermath of the cartoon controversy. Then she gives the floor to individual Danes to illustrate their diverse perspectives and highlight their messages to the Muslim world.
(Source: Asharq Alawsat, February 14, 2006)

3. As far as I remember Denmark is very tolerant by Wimar Witoelar
Wimar Witoelar, a political commentator, describes his experience growing up in Denmark and the tolerance he saw Danes show to Indonesians and Muslims. Disappointed in the way they have tested their freedom of speech, Witoelar reminds us that there is much more to Denmark and its people than offensive cartoons.
(Source: The Jakarta Post, February 15, 2006)

4. ~YOUTH VIEWS~ Free speech needn’t mean a lack of respect by Nancy El-Gindy
“Exercising freedom of expression to offend undermines the very reason freedom of expression exists in the first place – communication and the exchange of ideas,” writes Nancy El-Gindy, student at the American University of Cairo. Considering the difference between controversial and offensive content, El-Gindy worries that the printing cartoons depicting the Prophet merely to test freedom of speech in Denmark is “nothing less than a deliberate provocation.”
(Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), February 21, 2006)

5. Art exhibition promotes pride in unity by Spencer Osberg
Spencer Osberg, a Canadian journalist living in Beirut, describes the book and exhibit, “Lebanon A to Z, A Middle Eastern Mosaic," in which Lebanese children can find “a little of themselves and their culture, and other things they never knew about other people who live in the same country.” This initiative aims to build unity by making children proud of the diverse cultures and traditions that make their country unique.
(Source: The Daily Star, February 8, 2006)
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ARTICLE 1
Who will compromise first?
Yossi Alpher

Tel Aviv - The Palestinian parliamentary elections that produced a Hamas majority have introduced an international role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is seemingly without precedent. The vacuum created by the refusal on the part of both Israel and Hamas to negotiate with one another on matters of crucial importance is the main feature of this situation, but not the only factor encouraging or perhaps mandating an international role.

Thus far the United States, the European Union and Egypt have all lined up behind a set of tough and logical conditions that Hamas must fulfil if a government it forms is to receive their recognition and assistance. Egypt's General Omar Suleiman, minister of intelligence and President Husni Mubarak's point man on the Palestinian issue, reiterated those conditions last week: recognition of Israel, total cessation of terrorist activity and
acceptance of all the agreements signed between Israel and the PLO.

The Olmert government in Israel is generally pleased with this show of unity and determination, which in fact is also reflected in the position taken by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). But Israelis are also beginning to speak out more openly about the negative role Washington played in creating the current impasse--by pressuring for Palestinian elections regardless of the danger that Hamas would win them. Accordingly, there is also concern in Jerusalem that the Bush government, which has given its blessings to the recent enfranchisement of militant Islamists in Iraq and
Lebanon, might eventually drop some of its conditions and engage Hamas, ostensibly for the sake of regional stability and the American-sponsored cause of representative democracy at all costs.

This was clearly the premise that informed Hamas Deputy Political Bureau Chief Mousa Abu Marzook's rather extraordinary op-ed piece in the Washington Post last week. In language carefully attuned to American values, Abu Marzook appealed to Americans to accept the Hamas victory: "In recognising Judeo-Christian traditions, Muslims nobly vie for and have the greatest incentive and stake in preserving the Holy Land for all three Abrahamic faiths. A new breed of Islamic leadership is ready to put into practice faith-based principles in a setting of tolerance and unity." Never mind that Hamas claims the Land of Israel/Palestine as exclusive Islamic ground (waqf); that its charter is an exercise in anti-Semitism; and that Muslims are torching Danish legations because of some cartoons: "faith-based principles" sound good to Bush's Christian evangelical supporters.

One factor that might conceivably impel the West and Egypt to soften their terms could be signs of a more active Iranian and Syrian role in supporting Hamas, and in particular the offer of financial aid to replace western funds. Already Saudi Arabia and Qatar are transferring funds to the PA without conditions, and there are indications that some of the Gulf emirates are prepared to grant financial aid to a Hamas-led Palestinian government as well. Further, additional potential interlocutors between Hamas and Israel are being mentioned: moderate Muslim countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Turkey could, it is suggested by some Palestinians, better work with Hamas to find ways to adapt its positions to political realities.

It now appears that the task of forming a new Palestinian government will take many weeks, if not months. It will be characterised by endless attempts at compromise: fudging Hamas' rejection of its own extremist positions regarding the use of force and acceptance of Israel's existence; introducing non-Hamas Palestinians into the next government in key positions that shield Hamas from the necessity of moderating its views and/or negotiating with Israel; finding creative ways to keep the Palestinian Authority afloat financially without giving international donor funds directly to Hamas-controlled ministries.

Israel, which itself has an interest in maintaining both the ceasefire and PA financial stability, and which will be heavily preoccupied in the coming two months with its own elections, will be hard put to maintain close coordination with Egypt and the West on all these issues. Like it or not, we may eventually have to be flexible too, if only to maintain a semblance of unity with our friends and allies and at least a modicum of coexistence with our Palestinian neighbours.

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* Yossi Alpher is co-editor of the bitterlemons family of internet publications. He is former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, and a former senior adviser to PM Ehud
Barak.
Source: bitterlemons.org, February 6, 2006
Visit the website at www.bitterlemons-international.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 2
Letters from Denmark
Mona Eltahawy

New York, New York - The war on the people of Denmark must stop. It is one thing to be offended by the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten last September and it is quite another to hold all Danes responsible for them.

For years, Muslims have complained that they are held collectively to blame for the violent actions of a few, particularly after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. I am by no means striking equivalence between those attacks and the publication of the cartoons but the vilification of an entire people because of the actions of a few is indeed similar. It is hypocritical for Muslim not to acknowledge that.

News that Denmark had urged its citizens to leave Indonesia on Saturday, warning of "clear and present danger" from Muslim extremists seeking revenge for the cartoons is just the latest shocking chapter in this escalating crisis.

Denmark has withdrawn its diplomats from Indonesia and Iran because of security threats. Those departures followed that of Danish embassy staff in Syria who left on Friday because they felt the security provided by Syrian authorities was inadequate. Who can blame them after their embassy was torched by a mob just a few days earlier?

At the Winter Olympics in Italy, plainclothes guards accompanied the Danish team at the opening ceremony on Friday.

The threats made against Danes are an embarrassment and a shame that must be utterly condemned by the Muslim world.

We Muslims often call on the rest of the world to respect us and to understand the things we hold sacred. Are we prepared to offer that same respect in return and to open a dialogue with the men and women of Denmark who are watching in horror as events unfold beyond their reach or control?

After I wrote an article calling on Muslims not to overreact and appeared on two Danish news shows, I heard from many such Danes who wrote to share their views with me. I thank them for their frankness and I urge you to hear their words so that we can start to move beyond this escalating crisis that hurts us all.

Jacob, a 32-year-old man who described himself in his first email to me as a “very concerned Dane”, told me of his shock at the violent reaction to the cartoons in the Muslim world but also how he had used the events of the past few weeks to look more closely at issues and to learn.

“I've learned a lot more about Islam, the Danes, freedom of speech, the cost of freedom of speech, the political situation in many Arab countries, but most of all I have learned a lot about myself,” Jacob said.

“I've been through most human feelings, I think. I've been furious, worried, afraid, surprised, hurt and touched almost to tears and now I'm actually kind of hopeful. I've taken a lesson, and come out on the other side a more knowledgeable and definitely more tolerant person,” he said.

Since those first emails to me, Jacob has kept me updated on the vigorous debates taking place in his country and has kindly translated into English the essays of a man he calls his hero – Syrian-born Naser Khader, the first immigrant member of the Danish parliament.

Naser has launched a group of moderate Muslim in Denmark to speak out against the exploitation of the cartoon issue by radical Muslims. The group is just the latest example of Muslims living in the West who realise they must speak out and stake a place for themselves in the debates raging in the various countries in which they live so that the radicals are not the only ones who speak for Muslims.

Jacob also told me about a group of young people in his neighbourhood in Copenhagen which recently launched an online initiative called anotherdenmark.org which gives Danes the opportunity to post messages to the Muslim world.

The website includes a letter in Danish, Arabic, and English that explains “There is another Denmark, which hopes for and believes in respect and tolerance between religions and different groups of people”.

“As a Dane I have no responsibility for what a single and privately owned Danish newspaper chooses to publish. Even so, I strongly condemn the actions of Jyllands-Posten that have offended Muslims around the world, and I understand the need for an apology from the newspaper,” said the letter signed by the website’s founders.

I urge readers to visit the site and read the letter for themselves. Since its launch on Thursday, almost 11,000 people had left messages.

Kristine Nedergaard Larsen from Aalborg wrote: "I just want to say sorry for the cartoons, but also that it is not okay that some attack the Danish embassies, we need to respect one another and that is something we both need to think about.”

The Copenhagen Post reported that another site, forsoningnu.dk (reconciliation now), gathered 36,000 electronic signatures in its first four days of existence.

That website's designer, Hans Hüttel, organised an electronic petition that criticised the cartoons for showing “a serious lack of tact and sensitivity”. However, the campaign encouraged people to “make a distinction between opinions expressed by a Danish newspaper and the opinions of the Danish people as a whole”, the Copenhagen Post said.

I will end with one more message from AnotherDenmark.

Henrik J. Møller from Tønder wrote: "Greetings from Denmark. If we want a world in peace we must respect each other’s cultures and religions. We must also speak against those who do not do that."

Are we as Muslims ready to do the same?

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Mona Eltahawy is a New-York based, Egyptian journalist.
Source: Asharq Alawsat, February 14, 2006
Visit the website at www.asharqalawsat.com/english
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 3
As far as I remember Denmark is very tolerant
Wimar Witoelar

Jakarta - Danish television called me, asking if I could comment on the cartoon commotion. Apparently the Danish Embassy is evacuating its staff in Jakarta. I said "No, I cannot." So many people have said so much, and what I would say would be no different. All the things about Denmark expressed by people who do not know Denmark, and all the things about Muslims expressed by people who do not know Muslims. I know Muslims, I know Denmark, and I really have no desire to say anything.

All I can say is Jeg Elsker Danmark, I love Denmark. Those words I remember from my childhood days. And I do remember that I loved that country and its people, back when I was eight to 11 years old. I remember the gentle hills around Gileleje and the sea dunes, the wonderful springtime at Hellerup and Helsingor, and of course Tivoli Park in Copenhagen.

The people who were always smiling, Mikkel Stensballe who played football at Kobenhavns Boldklub, Jutte Hoy-Petersen who was so pretty and sent me things through my university days, Fru Tachau the lovely lady who took care of us and our apartment at Trondhjemsgade. And yes, Princess Margrethe who took bicycle rides with us at Langelinie on Sundays.

Near Gileleje, the northern coast of Sjaelland, 1955.

The Danes were always nice to each other and nice to us, Muslims and Indonesians and whoever, people from places of which they knew nothing. But they knew love, and we knew love. We had love in my family and we had love for and from our neighbours and our schoolmates and even our schoolteachers.

I have never really been to Jutland (Jylland to you now, its original Danish term), only passed by. I don't know if they are so very different from the Danes in Sjaelland or Fyn or anywhere else. Danes were always gentle, tolerant, minded their own business. They don't print cartoons to make people angry and hide behind lame excuses of freedom of speech.

Danes are so kind and compassionate, or they were when I was a child. So how come this newspaper in Jylland came up with the idea of publishing cartoons just for the sake of irritating people? Like the naughty kids on the other side of the tracks who used to throw little stones at poor people and see how mad they got. Have those naughty kids grown up to be nasty newspaper editors?

I don't think the cartoonists are that guilty. They make their living trying to be funny. They will draw anything to make people laugh and make themselves a bit of money. But the editors should have had better sense. They publish newspapers to inform and to enlighten, not to demean and to endanger.

And why does the Danish government not take its rightful place as the captain of the ship and guide it through the wide open seas? Maybe the people in Jylland have no idea what it is like in other parts of the world, where people are oppressed and persecuted and bombed, and happen to have different religions.

I am sure these Danes do not know what they are doing, so for heaven's sake, somebody tell them please. If you want to test freedom of speech, try it on yourselves.

Have the Danes changed, or is this just another case of a few bad apples? If so, please sort them out, and return the beauty that is Denmark. In the words of Hans Christian Andersen:

You land where I was born, and where my home is,
From where my roots derive, my world extends,
Where language is as soft as Mother's voice is,
And with my heartbeats like sweet music blends.
You windswept Danish strand,
For swans to build their nest in,
Green island home on earth, for heart to rest in,
'Tis you I love -- Denmark, my native land!

Somebody should tell the Danes they are a beautiful people. Do not get entangled in the posturing that causes so much malevolence. Such a shame to see Denmark provoked by powers who seek to build world tensions. I do not want to be the one to tell them. I love Denmark, I used to think I was partly Danish inside, childhood memories never go away. But now I wonder. Are you pushing me away, driving me back to find something evil in my heritage?

Sorry, my Danish friends, you are not succeeding in making me hate you. I love you and I always will. But I now am so ashamed of my Danish friends. So ignorant, so insensitive, and now so defensive. Please, come back.

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* Wimar Witoelar is a political commentator.
Source: Jakarta Post, February 15, 2006
Visit the website at www.thejakartapost.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 4
~YOUTH VIEWS~ Free speech needn’t mean a lack of respect
Nancy El-Gindy

Cairo - Last September, 12 controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad were published in a Danish newspaper called Jyllands-Posten. Of the more offensive, one cartoon depicted the Prophet wearing a turban with a bomb inside, inscribed with the Qur’anic text “there is no god but one God, and Muhammad is his Prophet”; another symbolically depicted him as the devil by placing horns on his head, and another showed his eyes covered by a black rectangle, like a criminal suspect, holding a large sword in a threatening posture, and flanked by two women, who are completely veiled except for their eyes.

According to an article in the Brussels Journal Online, the editors asked artists “to draw the pictures to test whether there was freedom of expression in Denmark after a Danish author had complained that no-one was willing to illustrate his Muhammad book.”

The publication of these cartoons was offensive enough, and worthy of condemnation, but this comment reveals that the editors knew full well that their publication would provoke a strong reaction. In other words, it was nothing less than a deliberate provocation.

Muslims from all over Europe and the Middle East were naturally angered and ambassadors from eleven Muslim countries sent the Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, a letter demanding he make sure that Jyllands-Posten apologises. Rasmussen, however, “refused to discuss the matter,” stated the Brussels Journal, “since Denmark recognises freedom of expression and freedom of the press.”

Adding fuel to the fire, first several Norwegian papers, and then French and German papers, decided to re-publish the cartoons in support of the Danish newspaper and freedom of expression. The cartoonists have received death threats, boycotts of Danish products have been organised (to the tune of $55 million dollars in lost sales according to the New York Times since the beginning of the protests), and protests erupted in Denmark and the Middle East. Protesters have now died in Afghanistan, shot as they attacked Norwegian peacekeepers. Death threats and violence are certainly unacceptable, but Westerners should understand that it is not merely the way they depicted the Prophet, but that they depicted the Prophet in the first place that has angered so many, because depictions of the Prophet are considered blasphemy in Islamic culture.

These editors chose provocation over responsible journalism. While freedom of expression is and must be sacrosanct, simply because one has the ability and right does not mean one should exercise that right in offensive ways. Freedom of expression is protected because modern democracies depend on the free exchange of ideas, and because it is a basic human right. But “testing the waters” for its own sake is totally unacceptable when the experiment results in a personal attack on every believer of Islam in the world.

The newspaper and the cartoonists no doubt justify their actions by arguing that “in our culture this is not offensive,” but that reasoning is insufficient. Freedom necessarily must have its limits, though it is best if those limits are ones we place on ourselves. Exercising freedom of expression to offend undermines the very reason freedom of expression exists in the first place – communication and the exchange of ideas. Freedom is not absolute - the moral and ethical context of speech must be taken into consideration.

Some subjects are simply inappropriate for humour. Certainly, even the Jyllands-Posten would not have the gall to publish cartoons making fun of the crippled or mentally disabled. Of course they have the right to, but they would not because it would be extremely offensive to the vast majority of its readers and serve no journalistic purpose. Sometimes the line between what is offensive for its own sake and what is merely controversial is thin and debatable, but absolute freedom of expression raises as many philosophical and ethical problems as it solves.

Indeed, can too much freedom be destructive? What should our ethics be with regard to communicating in this modern, inter-connected world, with so many cultures and so many religions, not all of which share the same beliefs? Why are some issues and topics are debatable, while others are crossed off the list and we censor ourselves?

Society is the ultimate arbiter of what is right and what is wrong. However, some aspects of life are simply so sensitive and private that even when we have strong opinions or could make a good joke about something, we keep our thoughts to ourselves rather than risk hurting others by voicing them.

This does not imply that one’s freedom is being constrained. Rather, our self-restraint is an ethical and moral gesture, not something we do because we must. It is something we are all capable of and do every day in order to show our respect for one another and to keep society on an even keel, even if that means we must sometimes make compromises. So why should we do otherwise with those of other faiths and from other cultures?

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* Nancy El-Gindy is a student at the American University in Cairo and a former
participant in the Soliya Arab-American online dialogue program.
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), February 21, 2006
Visit the website at www.commongroundnews.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 5
Art exhibition promotes pride in unity
Spencer Osberg

Beirut - "D" is for diversity, "W" is for war. With such innocent honesty, a new illustrated book and exhibit - "Lebanon A to Z, A Middle Eastern Mosaic" - navigates the alphabet through the people, cultures, traditions and histories that are this country.

"We're trying to show kids there's so much to be proud of here," said Jill Boutros, one of the three American-born authors. "Unity is our strength, diversity our treasure."

With the present political climate of sectarian tensions consuming the country, one might think this sort of talk is utopian ad absurdum, but Boutros is unfazed by the criticism.

"These illusions should exist when you're 8 or 10," she said, noting the aim of the project is to lay the foundations for a harmonious future in those Lebanese who are not already too embittered to change. "By starting with kids, we're trying to work with a generation that will give Lebanon the benefit of the doubt again."

What has resulted is both an exhibit of artworks that children can visit and a book of the artwork with accompanying text. In researching "Lebanon A to Z," Boutros said she and the other authors approached people from across Lebanon's diverse religious and ethnic spectrum to see how they would like to have themselves portrayed. For example, under the "D" for diversity, there are caricatures and stories representing Druze, Maronite Christian, Shia Muslim, Greek Orthodox, Sunni Muslim and Armenian communities.

Elefie Chadice, 11, said she enjoyed her tour through the exhibit "because it talks about my country." She noted her favourite picture was "G" for Gebran. "I always heard about him, and I know he's an important Lebanese."

Other children at the exhibit also seemed to find a little of themselves and their culture, and other things they never knew about other people who live in the same country.

Boutros said it's important to build these connections when children are young so that crossing sectarian divisions later in life will be easier for them.

"We want all people to relate to something in this," said Boutros.

The exhibit is open until the end of February, Monday to Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., at the Planet Discovery, near the Starco Building in Solidare.

For school reservations, telephone 01/980650/660 ext: 2649 or 2650.

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* Spencer Osberg is a Canadian journalist living on Beirut.
Source: The Daily Star, February 8, 2006
Visit the website at www.dailystar.com.lb
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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Posted by Evelin at February 22, 2006 08:03 AM