PHILADELPHIA: Since I was a small child, I have been taught that the powerless party always deserves "affirmative action in any unbalanced conflict before a true resolution can be settled. As a Muslim who now lives in the West, I keep trying very hard to understand why so many in the mainstream West assume that the much more powerful Israel is the "good guy , while the less powerful Palestinian is the "bad guy in the Palestinian crisis. Is it compensation by the West for their "guilty feeling over the Holocaust? Is it more about the power of Jewish money? Is it related to skin-color? How are we to understand that 200 "home-made rockets sent by Hamas to Israel during the first week of the crisis deserve more attention, as a proof of terrorism, than over 700 lives, mostly Palestinian civilians, taken by sophisticated Israeli weapons in the same week? Many of my fellow Muslims and I have never agreed with Hamas which perceives every single Jew as the villain whose blood is halal (permissible by God) and therefore can be shed. We also disagree with some Muslims, including members of Hamas and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who want to wipe Israel from the map. A true "two-state solution is the most reasonable option. Moreover, I completely understand that any attack on Jews should remind all of us of the Holocaust which was the most horrible crime against humanity. Everyone should work to prevent that from happening again in our history, not only to Jews, but also to every human being. And surely, let us acknowledge that since 1948 the Palestinians have been suffering from a deep wound as a displaced and dispossessed people from their land. However, in this satanic circle of violence, arguments for justified killings by either side, or why people should support one party rather than the other, are both endless and useless, or worse - are creating an even larger crisis. Clearly, the situation in Gaza today is much more complicated. The temptation to continue to use weapons on both sides is terribly strong, either in the name of self-defence, justice, dignity, revenge or even God. I have no capacity whatsoever to tell them what is the right thing to do. For over 60 years, the use of weapons by the Palestinians has only provided justification for the Israelis to kill more and to occupy more Palestinian land. If the Palestinians ceased using weapons, if Arab leaders and the Muslim world in general could help Hamas and other radical groups to stop the shooting, then Israel's justification to kill would cease to exist. Let friends of Israelis argue the same point. Only when Israel, as the more powerful party stops using weapons, will those Muslim radicals, including Hamas that was created by Israel, have no legitimacy and lose Palestinian support. Israel must stop calling Hamas " a terrorist organization and the Palestinians must stop defining Israelis as the "evil people . Peace can be made if they learn to talk and work together. World leaders need to take every possible step towards peacemaking, and we - common global citizens - need to share in the responsibility. Beside the various efforts made thus far, from prayer to humanitarian efforts, we Muslims especially, need to react strategically. So far, many Muslims around the world have reacted in ways that increase the violence. Yes, we have been sharing responsibility through prayers, fundraising, press releases, discussions, protests, art works and news exchanges. However, most of our actions stem from a "justification argument . For example, in my home country, Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world, Muslim protesters shut down the only synagogue last week because they assumed an automatic connection between Israel and Judaism. Some Indonesian Muslim groups, such as the Islamic Defender Front, (FPI) are even ready to send untrained voluntary troops to Gaza to fight. Instead of helping the crisis, these reactions only magnify the waves of hate, vengeance and atrocity that extend from Gaza to the outside world. With Gaza as the epicentre of this violence, many Muslims worldwide identify with the oppressed Palestinian who wants to fight the enemy - the "evil Israeli . Condemnation of the killing and helping victims, in whatever form, are very important. It is also equally important for Muslim leaders around the world to present the Gaza crisis not primarily as a conflict between "us Muslims against "them Jews. Both the Israeli government and Hamas deserve condemnation and both sides are responsible for the increasing number of casualties, many of whom are children, women and the elderly. We need to speak out and act, not as a particular national or religious group, but as an inter-religious global community. We Muslims outside of Palestine need to collaborate with each and every morally concerned individual - Muslim, Jew, Christian, black, white, female or male - to take care of the victims and work effectively for the same purpose: Peace. By working together, not only can we isolate the Gaza violence, but, through our sympathy, support and hope, we can also disseminate a message of peace. Achmad Munjid is President of Nahdlatul Ulama Community in North America and a PhD candidate in Religious Studies at Temple University, Philadelphia. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) with permission from the author.
