Why did you choose to do this work and not trust the leadership to take care of the situation? | Just Vision Skip to main content

Why did you choose to do this work and not trust the leadership to take care of the situation?

The leadership is not able to think of creative ideas about how to make a just peace. They know what to demand but they do not know how to build systems to achieve peace. Part of my duty is to think of the system. Peace is a whole system. Everything should work together in an integrative way. Economy, education, democracy, culture, trade, infrastructure, etc., should work together smoothly as a part of a peace agreement. The leaders are responsible for signing the agreements and we should find ways to implement them. Peace agreements will not tell us how to do it, rather what piece of land we will get. I assume that if we get all that we demand, we will ask the question, "What are we going to do with what we achieved?" I want to answer this question, irrespective of when the Israelis are going to leave us to establish our state in all the areas occupied in 1967. Rami Nasrallah 28 Civil Society

Why did you choose to do this work and not trust the leadership to take care of the situation?

The leadership is not able to think of creative ideas about how to make a just peace. They know what to demand but they do not know how to build systems to achieve peace. Part of my duty is to think of the system. Peace is a whole system. Everything should work together in an integrative way. Economy, education, democracy, culture, trade, infrastructure, etc., should work together smoothly as a part of a peace agreement. The leaders are responsible for signing the agreements and we should find ways to implement them. Peace agreements will not tell us how to do it, rather what piece of land we will get. I assume that if we get all that we demand, we will ask the question, "What are we going to do with what we achieved?" I want to answer this question, irrespective of when the Israelis are going to leave us to establish our state in all the areas occupied in 1967. If we are strong as a society and as an economy, we can be part of the equation, if we are not strong we can't. I was attracted to learn from the Israelis how to build and improve our collective attempts by sharing intellect and qualifications and dealing with issues not only based on sentimental considerations. Their return to this land was not based only on sentimental values; they had a complete agenda. Regardless of how this agenda affected me and of the tragedy it caused the Palestinians, it was an effective program. If we want to deal with the Israelis as equal counterparts we can't do it without comprehensive knowledge of the Israeli side. I had the opportunity of studying at the Hebrew University and dealing with Israelis. I am informed about the economic political and social dynamics of the Israeli society. I felt I had to present the situation to the Palestinian leaders and politicians. Our view of the Israelis is not always accurate. We sometimes view the bombings inside Israel as part of the liberation of Palestine. The Israelis don't see it that way. The Israelis view a bombing in Tel Aviv not as an operation to liberate Jerusalem or Ramallah, but as a threat to their existence. It is important that we understand Israelis' fears, mentality and interests. It is important that we understand the Israeli considerations while making decisions, so we can deal with these decisions in a better way and not base our reactions on sentimental motives that lead nowhere. The change I experienced is the understanding of the other side. The Israeli society isn't a sealed fortress; it is like any human society in the world. It is also a society that succeeded in building itself in record time and putting itself on the regional map in an incredible way. We should learn from the Israelis how to build a society, a state and an economy. The Israeli economy is valued at $120 billion.1 This is more than the economy of all the Arab countries combined!2 We can use the conflict as a means of strengthening ourselves.
  • 1According to the CIA World fact book, Israel's Gross Domestic Product is $129 billion. http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html
  • 2Measured by GDP, this claim Rami makes should not be taken seriously. Egypt and Saudi Arabia's GDPs are each over $310 billion - nearly $200 billion more each. http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html