Alliance of world civilizations needed

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Fri, 05/11/2007 7:33 AM | Opinion

Undeniably, the painfully drawn out Israeli-Palestinian conflict, compounded by the war in Afghanistan and the spiraling crisis in Iraq, has shaped the views of millions of Muslims around the world. In fact, the Palestinian-Israeli issue, as the core of the Middle East crisis, has become a dominant symbol that colors political and cultural relations among nations well beyond its geographical scope. There is a priority need, therefore, to find a just and comprehensive solution to this conflict, for while it continues to rage, all recommendations to heal the mutual antagonisms between Muslim and Western societies will only meet with limited success.

To address the political issues that constitutes the overall context of the differences between Muslim and Western societies, the report has submitted a number of recommendations, including:

* The development of a white paper on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, analyzing the conflict objectively and rationally, acknowledging the competing narratives of the Palestinians and the Israelis, reviewing and diagnosing the successes and failures of past peace initiatives and establishing clearly the conditions that must be fulfilled to find a way out of this conflict.

* The resumption and reinvigoration of the stalled peace process through such initiatives as the convening of an international conference on the Middle East peace process, to be attended by all relevant parties, with the aim of reaching a comprehensive agreement.

* A renewed commitment to multilateralism, with the United Nations at its core.

Apart from addressing the most contentious political issues, which the high-level group indeed deems to be of primary importance, several areas of activities were also identified as crucial to efforts at reducing cross-cultural tensions and misunderstandings. These are education, youth, migration and media policies.

Taking into account the many initiatives and efforts already underway, the high-level group has submitted concrete recommendations on what should be undertaken in those fields, as follows:

* A global effort at cross-cultural and human rights education that will balance and integrate the inculcation of national history with knowledge and appreciation of other religions, cultures and civilizations;

* The implementation of ""media literacy"" programs in schools, particularly at the secondary level, to develop a critical approach to news coverage by the national and international media like:

* Cooperation among religious leaders, education policy-makers and faith-based civic organizations in the formulation of consensus-based guidelines for teaching about religions.

* Solving the problem of discrimination against immigrant communities, especially Muslim communities in Europe and North America, which is particularly felt in employment, housing, education and other social services.

* The development, articulation and implementation by media professionals of their own voluntary codes of conduct.

* The channeling of more resources from public and private donors to the production of media materials aimed at cultivating positive social attitudes between cultures.

The high-level group on the Alliance of Civilizations has also submitted to the UN secretary-general several specific proposals aimed at adding momentum and collective impact to the implementation of its recommendations. The proposals to the UN secretary-general includes the appointment by the secretary-general of a high representative for the Alliance of Civilizations whose task will be to oversee the implementation of the recommendations contained in the report and ensuring the viability and continuity of the Alliance. The high representative may also be tasked by the secretary-general to help defuse critical religious and cultural tensions between communities. A roster of eminent personalities will assist the high representative in fulfilling these duties.

The high-level group will not solve every conflict and every crisis occasioned by ignorance, prejudice and misunderstanding between faiths, cultures and civilizations, but it will greatly help in making these problems more manageable.

They will not replace but will complement and consolidate the efforts of governments, international organizations, civil societies and private sectors all over the world, so that we may finally arrive at a global solution to a problem that has been global in scope all along.

The article is an excerpt of a paper recently presented by Indonesian former foreign minister Ali Alatas to the First Standing Committee on Peace and International Security of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

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