“ Vi er en organisasjon (Info Midtøsten) som jobber for å fremme objektiv og flersidig informasjon om konflikten i midtøsten på flere plan. ”
OUR HOPE IS: NO WAR
We are approaching the end of the year 2010. Any good prosperity for the Israelis and the Palestinians for the year ahead? Well, perhaps not.
LIFE GOES ON
Yet life goes on each side of the barrier, but also where Israelis and Palestinians meet daily, for instance in the market-booths in the old city of Jerusalem. We hardly hear anything about this.
Nor do Scandinavians hardly hear about Israelis and Palestinians playing football on the same team in the top level in Israel. Where are the articles about the Jewish and Moslem businessmen depending on each other for creating a fruitful business? A boycott issue for them is never a topic. This belongs, unfortunately, to more extreme forces outside the West-Bank and Israel. They share their opinion with several groups within Norway and other Western European countries. It seems to us that they are more ”Catholic than the Pope”.
Why do we not hear about moderate, but positive co-existence between the Israelis and the Palestinians? Well, - Good news are not news. Bad news are.
PEACE?
Peace is not the same as no-war. But no war is better than war and conflicts. We believe that a forced sudden peace is not a real peace. Before you can create a lasting peace between the Israel and Palestine, you need to create peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
It would be wice to let Israelis and Palestinians voluntarily have their interactions and encounters with each other. They have both suffered, on both side, due to the other’s actions. We recommend the Norwegians to bear in mind that our good and peaceful relations with Sweden did not happened over night. In 1906, one year after Norway’s liberation, there was still mistrust and no warm friendship between Norway and Sweden.
It takes time to create peace. Let’s hope that time will heal the wounds between the parties in this tragic conflict. Let us hope to see an independent Palestinian state, free of extreme Islam and Israeli soldiers. Let us see Israelis walking in to a coffee-shop without fear of a suicide-bomber terrorizing a whole people.
Let us remind our readers that in order to see a Palestine as a neighbor of Israel, is not only a question of land, it is, at least as important, if not more important, a question of ideology. To leave the ideology of holy war and destruction of the only Non-Moslem state in the region is vital for both the state of Israel and for mankind.
It is INFO Middle-East’s hope that the only rockets we will see this year in the Middle Eat are fire-works.
- When credible information counts
Background
After the outbreak of the second intifada the fall of 2000, the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has been presented in a “black and white” fashion in Norway. The causes behind the conflict are many, but the Israeli version is seldom presented. The Middle East conflict is shown as a conflict between the good and the bad, the victim and the predator, right and wrong, week and strong. This is not allowing the Norwegians a correct presentation of a complicated and difficult conflict.
The position of INFO Middle East is to attempt to explain the parties positions and at the same time presenting the dilemmas in this conflict.
A Danger to the Democracy
INFO Middle East believes that the debate at home could benefit from a more nuanced information and analyses in order to understand the conflict and its possible dangers and solutions.
Goals
After many years of experience the INFO Middle East will continue to:
· bring a more nuanced picture to the Middle East debate
· increase the understanding of the different directions in the Middle East
· work against hatred and generalization of Jews and Muslims
INFO Middle East wishes to show the complexity of the conflict using educational methods.
About us
INFO Middle East is politically and religiously independent. We believe that
· The Middle East conflict is about two populations who both have and make claims
to the same territories.
· Both people make legitimate claims
· Human rights must be respected , INFO Middle East will place special focus on the discrimination of women, homosexuals, or due to race or religion.
· The introduction of democratic elections and method of governing will increase the chance for peace between the states in the region.
· With democracy we mean more than free elections. INFO Middle East defines democracy as, among other things, states where the courts are independent , where law and order are assured by the government. Furthermore, a democracy must include free press. No organizations or parties can involve military factions. The defense must be controlled fully and totally by the government of the state.
How do we work?
We work in many ways in order to achieve our goals. These include:
- Seminars
We arrange seminars with Norwegian and International expert
- Media debate
We write chronicles and letters to the editor
- INFO Middle East give lectures and speeches
- Dialogue
We have contact with key figures within the political and academic environment
- Debates
We participate in the public arena, through debates in radio, TV and newspapers
INFO Middle East believe that only through quality and seriousness we can reach our goals and be considered as a confident and constructive information-source.
If you have questions or you want to contribute to our work, please send us an e-mail on:
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Vår konto er 7032 06 20889
Et hvert bidrag gjør oss bedre i stand til å spre saklig informasjon om Midtøsten
Do You want to contribute to our activities?
Our bank is DnBNOR, 0021 OSLO
IBAN(account number) NO9170320620889
SWIFT CODE DNBANOKK
Any contribution will make it possible to inform the Norewegian public about current Middle east affairs.