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Ethnic and Religious conflict is not the issue of Palestine and Israel Conflict, says Prof Piotr Balcerowicz
UMT School of Social Sciences and Humanities invited Prof Piotr Balcerowicz from Department of Oriental Studies and International Relations, University of Warsaw, Poland, to deliver a lecture on “Palestine and Israel Conflict”.
Prof Piotr Balcerowicz discussed the causes of the Arab-Israeli conflict with a sound historical perspective serving as the background. He described the regional, sub-regional and global actors of the prolonged conflict, and examined their interests and motives from a new perspective of conflict theory. Even though the focal point of the lecture seemed to be, on the surface, Palestine and Lebanon, he closely examined all the neighbors of Israel and other parties involved.
In the introduction, he relevantly pondered whether so-called ethnic and religious conflicts exist, and -- in order to demonstrate that they in fact do not -- he offered an analysis of the actual background of such conflicts, the Arab-Israeli conflict serving as an illustration of his thesis. He further demonstrated the implications of this conflict which concern the developments in the whole Middle East and beyond, including the evolution of religiously inspired political ideologies and also the Arab Spring.
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Prof Piotr’s lecture was based on his direct observations, research as well as meetings with various leaders in the Middle East in the past, including the late Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, Hanan Ashrawi, Mustafa Barghouti, Mohammad Raad, Sheikh Ekrima Sa’id Sabri, Nasrallah Butros Sfeir, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Ismail H. Abu Shanab and others.
The lecture was followed by question and answer session. Dr Zahid Mehmood, Chairperson, Department of Clinical Psychology, pointed out that the use of the Holocaust to justify the occupation of Palestine by the Jews does not make sense as the idea of the state of Israel was conceived much earlier. Dr Mujahid Mansoori, Chairperson, Department of Media and Communication, presented his point of view on the Palestine issue emphasizing the role of religion in shaping this conflict. He disagreed with the speaker‘s view that ethnic and religious conflicts do not exist.
Other participants expressed their concern about the state of Palestinians in Israel, the atrocities committed by Israel and the role of the Western media in promoting a negative image of the Muslim world. The guest speaker answered all questions in detail, emphasizing the need to value human life and to understand the nature and real causes of conflicts from all perspectives in order to resolve them.
At the end, Dr Abdul Hameed, Dean, School of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSS&H), delivered the vote of thanks to the guest speaker for accepting his special invitation from UMT to deliver the lecture. He added that Prof Piotr Balcerowicz had explained the core issue very intelligently and we should listen to both perspectives to continue the debate for the resolution of this conflict.
The lecture was attended by a large number of students who took special interest in listening to the views of the guest speaker.
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