This Ongoing War..
03 July '13..
It's a perfect summer afternoon here in Jerusalem. Sky fiercely blue; sun shining and very warm, with the first hints of the wonderful Jerusalem breezes that make evenings here such a pleasure.
A good moment to pause, while we take stock of some of the turbulence happening in the neighbourhood:
The rising drama unfolding on the streets of Cairo as an army-imposed deadline on the government of Egypt rapidly approaches;
The barbaric Arab-on-Arab bloodbath that is decimating ancient cities across Syria day after day;
The step by step assault by Islamists on the glittering Gulf States and their incomprehensible waste and wealth;
Turkey, beset with angry protests and demands for protecting its democratic institutions, standing at the crossroads;
and on and on. It's not a quiet area where we live, and has not been in the past. But for now, at least, we have the privilege of being in an island of calm and quiet achievement.
Achievement? Yes. After the anger and hatred and killing and confrontation have spent themselves, it's education on which we hang our hopes for a better future. And we have a thought to share about this.
In the framework of the generations-long conflict between the Arabs and Israel, the role played by education has been stunningly asymmetrical. We know the word is used - we would say greatly overused - to characterize the efficiency and effectiveness of a well-organized Israeli military versus the Arab irregulars, the terror gangs, the religiously-inspired masses with blood and jihad on their minds.
But it's not only the ongoing war against the terrorists that expresses this asymmetry. It's also what the people on the other side do to their children in the name of a whole range of values: religious, national, historical, honor-related and on and on.
(Continue)
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