Politicians and officials from Egypt and beyond recognized International Peace Day at the Arab League Sep. 21, hosted by the U.S. Federation for Middle East Peace and the Young Men’s Muslim Association. Though the day did not see its mission to cease violence throughout the world succeed, leaders of various communities were on hand to express their commitment, and reservations, to pursuing peace and dialogue in their communities.
While Assistant Secretary-General Ahmed bin-Heli spoke on behalf of Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, Moussa was away for UN General Assembly. In light of recent comments by the Pope, he spoke much in defense of Islam, citing it as a “religion of peace, balance, tolerance, and coexistence. He also encouraged listeners to “deny evil and arrogance of groups trying to act against peace.
“The Islamic world has been under a lot of pressure and a lot of intrigue has been done against it he said.
The tide against Islam was re-iterated in a fervent tirade given by Palestinian Ghazi Fakhry addressed mostly to U.S. congressman Richard Swett. In the most passionate speech of the meeting, Fakhry spoke of the continued injustice against his country preventing peace. He reminded the audience that on this day, “we are besieged and that children cannot go to school, families cannot move beyond the West Bank or Gaza, Muslims cannot go pray in Al-Aqsa mosque during Ramadan, and people are suffering from hunger and poverty.
“What did the UN give us? What did our U.S. friend give us he asked. Referring to the promised 2-state solution, Fakhry said “years go by and Bush gives his word but we don’t know when.
Fakhry pleaded with Swett to convey his message that the Arabs love the American people but hate the administration: “please convey to the Congress that the world hates this administration, he said to fervent applause and cheering from the audience.
“Which terrorism? he asked “American is enemy number one. Fakhry further referred to U.S. responsibility for making the Palestinians suffer and giving weapons and support to Israel.
Swett responded critically that “peace only exists with love.
“You can’t solve problems with hate. I love the Arab countries, I love the Arab people, I love my brothers from Palestine but I’m sorry there’s hatred in their hearts.
Earlier during the talks the New Hampshire congressman promoted interfaith meetings and relationships and stressed the commonalities amongst the faiths. Swett is involved with a Middle East Peace Project involving young Jordanians, Palestinians and Israelis, meeting out of a desire to establish peaceful relationships.
He compared peace to a “beautiful jewel. He optimistically referred to the hotbed of current crisis as the tremendous heat jewelry must undergo before being “doused in cold water to be reshaped.
A representative for Kofi Annan gave startling statistics regarding military expenditures. Most notably, he announced the figure for peace-keeping as just $5 billion, less than half a percent of the world expenditures on weapons, which is approximately $173 for every person in the world. He also referred to the comparatively low expenditures on economic and development departments such as Unicef and the UNDP in relation to military spendings.
Sally Kader from the New-York based Federation for Middle East Peace perhaps put it best when she talked about today’s challenging times of “hidden agendas, ulterior motives, misunderstandings and miscommunication. She, like Swett, emphasized her belief in dialogue as the “best way to let each other know who we are, not in conferences but “in person, on a human level. She claimed the root to the world’s problems and prejudice as “fear and ignorance, nothing more and hoped people could “open [their] hearts and tell each other why we’re afraid . it’s the only way to reach each other.
Kader also announced a documentary showing young Americans and Middle-Easterners expressing their feelings toward each other, and a new peace museum to be opened in Cairo, “the most fitting place.
