Thursday, May 20, 2004

Listening Project
Haaretz: The case of Atallah Mansour

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a multi-dimensional tangle. To start untangling it, we must put an end to our habit of looking at the other side through stereotyped lenses. The Palestinians, in Israel and beyond, are not necessarily one angry, violent, hate-filled mass. They have shades - there is a mainstream and there are fringes. The Israeli Jews are not necessarily all arrogant, blind to the other side's plight and haunted with fears. There is a wide mainstream among them that yearns for a quiet life and is ready to give up most of the territories, and there are fringe groups - on the left and right.