I have a dream! [Archives:2000/43/Viewpoint]
Day in and day out we are still struggling to find a place for ourselves and say here we are. What the Arab leaders tried to do in the Arab summit was a part of that. Whether they succeeded or not is a different question.
The idea here is that the more time we take to decide and take action, the more loss there is. Its enough to point out that, while the Arabs were preparing for the urgent summit, the Europeans met twice. Meantime, more than 20 Palestinians were killed. And tens were injured.
Some of the voices heard were ironically saying: why do the Palestinian mothers push their children in front of the Israeli soldiers knowing that they would get killed?. The answer is that those people dying everyday have something most of us, people and especially leaders, lack, that is, courage. They have faith in the independence of their country and the right to live peacefully.
Talk and more talk. Even these words written here are talk. The leaders were trying to make up their minds, we here are trying to help them make up their minds.
They were trying to find out a shortcut to get away with the least amount of trouble and hard work. Nobody wants to struggle for others issue. We Arabs forget that a fire starts because of a matchstick.
Like they went inside, like they came out. For the nth time the Arab leaders could not take action and for the nth time the Arab leaders have let us down. They didnt feel shame when they were there speaking on behalf of their people, who were out in the streets in thousands protesting the Israeli aggression and hoping their voices would be heard. They couldnt translate our screams into decisions and actions. Firm ones that would stop the every second misery in Al- Quds.
However, as long as there is life, there is hope. The stands Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Oman, and Yemen have taken are worth a note of thankfulness. At least even if we couldnt stop the killing, we would support the Palestinians with money to defend themselves. The Al-Quds-fund was a good decision. Also our President Ali Abdullah Saleh urged the Yemeni people to give away one days earning for the fund, and that is a good start. Tunisia, Oman, closed down the Israeli offices in their countries as a sign of their solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Martin Luther King had a dream. And because of good will and dedication from all the people, his dream came true. We also have a dream. We all dream of a free land with no fighting or killing. We have had enough of reports and photographs, of talks and meetings. On behalf of every peace craving soul, this is a message to those who can make a change; We have a dream, a dream of peace and happiness, let our dream come true.
——
[archive-e:43-v:2000-y:2000-d:2000-10-23-p:./2000/iss43/view.htm]