Media coverage
Simerini / Sigmalive (Cyprus) · 2014-08-03
The piece presents Omar Shaban, a prominent Palestinian economist in the Gaza Strip and founder of Pal-Think for Strategic Studies, as exhausted, desperate, and devoid of optimism, echoing an article he recently published on CNN’s website. It quotes his account of how his dream of becoming a free citizen in a free, prosperous state has steadily faded, while the language of daily life has shifted from peace and coexistence to tanks, death, bombardment, rockets, and revenge. It also relays his appeal for the younger generations on both sides to recover lost opportunities and for the Palestinian and Israeli governments to reach a peace agreement, even as a culture of peace remains elusive.
The piece presents Omar Shaban, a prominent Palestinian economist in the Gaza Strip and founder of Pal-Think for Strategic Studies, as exhausted, desperate, and devoid of optimism, echoing an article he recently published on CNN’s website. It quotes his account of how his dream of becoming a free c…
By Marios Demetriou
Tired, desperate, and without any motive for optimism, declares in an article published last week on the website of the American television network CNN the distinguished Palestinian economist in the Gaza Strip, Omar Shaban, father of two sons aged 21 and 16, founder in 2007 of the Palestinian think tank Pal-Think for Strategic Studies — a bold voice of moderation in favor of peaceful coexistence with Israelis, in Gaza’s theocratic society, where the absolute doctrine of hatred and war of the Islamist Hamas prevails. At times Omar Shaban has publicly criticized Hamas, in interviews with Israeli, European, and American media, but this time, while the destructive conflict that has continued in Gaza for almost a month is ongoing, I understand that he is being particularly careful with his words. His explicitly expressed disappointment at the failure of the two sides to reach a peaceful settlement of their differences is already an indirect criticism of Hamas, that is, a dangerous deviation from the fanatical pursuit of the Islamists to annihilate Israel and ... it stops there ... because he knows very well that one word too many may cost both him and his family their lives. He writes, among other things: “When you have reached the age of 52, it is too late to reconsider and change your beliefs. When you realize how far away you now are from the dreams you were building, you despair... I learned in some way what freedom means when I made my first air trip in 1993 to London via Tel Aviv, as a guest of Amnesty International, as founder of its Palestinian branch. I wrote articles, appeared on television, and spoke on the radio in favor of human rights and the peaceful, non-violent struggle. I was invited and spoke before Israelis, and I welcomed Israelis in Gaza itself. I was also a candidate in the first Palestinian parliamentary elections in 1996. And since then, my dream of becoming a free citizen in a free state of prosperity and development kept weakening and receding as time passed... “Twenty years ago, it was a common discussion among the Palestinian people how to make peace with Israel. It was very normal to see crowds of Israeli citizens walking freely in the streets of Gaza, shopping and talking quietly. On the other side of the border, a large group of influential Israelis spoke loudly about the need for peace with the Palestinians. Today unfortunately, ‘peace’ is perhaps the least used word in Gaza’s daily vocabulary. It has been replaced by words such as tank, F16, death, bombing, rockets, and revenge. And in Israel, politicians and pressure groups compete in aggressiveness against the Palestinians. “Twenty years ago, more than 80 thousand workers went to Israel every day and worked together with Israelis, essentially functioning as ambassadors of coexistence. Recently, the Israeli government built a huge wall separating Israel from the Palestinian territories. Now Israeli citizens cannot see us and are unaware of our reality. That is why it is easier for the younger generations on both sides to fight one another with such aggression. They have never met and do not know the benefits of peaceful life. Now they communicate from a distance with rockets, bullets, shells, and weapons — instead of cooperating normally. “The younger generations on both sides are hostages of the conflict and waste their energy and resources making each other’s lives harder. Both generations must work harder to find the lost opportunities hidden beneath the surface of the conflict. They must be educated to see things differently. The governments of the Palestinians and the Israelis must achieve a peace agreement, but a culture of peace unfortunately remains an unattainable aspiration...”
Text © Simerini / Sigmalive (Cyprus) — archived here with attribution to the source. — Machine translation for archival reference. — Original source