Heroism in Palestinian Culture

By: Ayman Qwaider

Among the Arab world, the Palestinian people have become icons and heroes in a particular way. Listening to some Palestinian national songs generates intense reminiscence of Gaza and the ongoing Israeli's government violence in that territory. It also paints a portrait of the Palestinian struggle and how this contributes to the culture of resistance.

The Palestinian people brought up in an unstable environment dominated by all manner of violence for decades. Regularly different areas in the Gaza Strip are exposed to Israeli invasion resulting in the killing of people and demolishing of homes. Palestinian people always show struggle and patience against invasions. After invasion, people keep speaking about the consequences of the invasion for a long time and how resistance and non-violent resistance highly highlight the violence of these military operations. Obviously, this has ensured that resistance has become a culture within the Palestinian society.

In the Islamic world, there are two special occasions "Eid" where people celebrate and enjoy. From the very early part of my life, I noticed that gun game is unfortunately the main and favorite game for little children even during these moments of celebrations. I still remember how little kids named this game "let's play Yahood & Arab" that means "let's play Arab against Jewish". This abnormal environment has a crucial role to play in drawing attention to the culture of resistance inside the Palestinian community.

A Culture Sprung from Occupation and Resistance

Palestine was placed under the British control after the First World War by the League of the United Nations. The Balfour Declaration[1] (1917) proclaimed Palestine as a national home for Jewish settlers (Allain, 2004: 80-84). The British mandate facilitated the Jewish occupation and settlement in Palestine. As a result of repeated colonisations, Palestine has a long history of being occupied. Accordingly, this has often compelled Palestinians to revolt against these despotic occupations. Palestinians, since the occupation of their land in 1948, have never stopped resisting.

Resistance under the British Mandate

The Palestinian resistance did not start with the establishment of the State of Israel but dates back to the British mandate period, starting in 1917. The British mandate and the establishment of Israel are both strongly integrated in the Palestinian history where the British mandate is considered the root of the conflict in Palestine.

The 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine came up as an example of uprising in protest against the British mandate and their role in bringing more Jewish immigrants to Palestine. In 1936, a general strike marked the start of the great Palestinian revolt.

The 1936 Palestinian general strike and the armed revolt that followed were momentous events for the Palestinians, the Region, and the British Empire. The six-month general strike, which ran from April until October and involved work stoppages and boycotts of the British- and Zionist–controlled parts of the economy was the longest anticolonial strike of its kind until that point in history, and perhaps the longest ever (Khalidi, 2006:106).

From Nakba (Catastrophe) to Naksa (Tragedy)

The history of Palestine became a long chain of losses, feelings of being outdone, dispossessed. From the partition plan (1947) to the numerous massacres and mass expulsions, Palestinians suffer to the chore the lack of a real Hero able to transcend an overwhelming situation. To survive the Creation of Israel’s State in 1948 to the “Tragedy” of 1967, survival in itself becomes heroic, and this explains too, the importance of the Hero, the love of heroic acts in Palestinian culture.

The First Intifada: Mass Mobilization

The first Intifada began in December 1987 when a military Israeli truck killed Palestinian workers awaiting permission to cross into Israel to work. It is important to realize that the intifada was a strong example of a mass mobilization uprising but not a politically-based discussion (Holt, 1996:28).

Due to the aggression of the Israeli military over the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, Palestinians revolted against this subjugation. Evidently, it had become a crucial part of the Palestinian daily life as it mobilized all population, including women, children and the elderly to participate. The first Intifada took the form of civil resistance where all population was participating to protest against the Israeli occupation (Ben-Ami, 2006:188). It also took the form of boycotts of the occupation's institutions and goods. Further, the Palestinian people at that time disobeyed the occupation and regularly organized general strikes around all villages. At the same time, there were the stone demonstrations where young people threw stones against the aggressive Israeli armed occupation troops (Beinin and Hajjar). In contrast, the Israeli army always responded with violence against unarmed vulnerable Palestinians. It was obvious that the Palestinian youths battled the Israeli tanks and soldiers with their bodies without any means of violence (Rosen, 2005:116). Palestinian youth considered that the days of fighting with the Israeli soldiers were regarded as the glorious days of the Palestinian resistance.

Manal who was thirteen years old when the Intifada broke out and she was shot at her chest at the age of fifteen. I miss those days a lot. They were the most beautiful days of my life. True, everyone was scared of the soldiers and their guns but we had dignity and it was our dignity that made us so defiant (Rosen, 2005:118).

It is interestingly attractive when I read a story that happened in refugee camp "Al Bureij Camp", where I received my primary education, which shows how the Palestinian women importantly participated during the first Intifada. For example, a woman spoke of routine raids by the Israeli soldiers. “The soldiers come,” she says:

Enter some houses without knocking and take the men and the boys away. We try to be quicker than the army and as soon as we hear the warning whistles from the guarding shabab (young men) at the edge of the camp, we women go out into the roofs and give signs to the shabab in our area that they have to run away. We signal to them from which direction the soldiers are coming. This is one of the roles of women during the uprising (Augustine, 1993:124).

The culture of resistance in the first intifada happened to be relatively non-violent. Further, it was dominated by the population through their disobedience of the Israeli occupation regarding their everyday life affairs. It’s an interesting case of “mass-heroism”.

The Second Intifada

The second Intifada is remarkably considered to be a religious uprising. It erupted as a reaction to the accumulation of the daily Israel oppression and violence. The visit of Ariel Sharon[2] to the Dome of the Rock[3] "Al Aqsa Mosque" in Jerusalem in late September 2000 was the start of the Intifada. Therefore, Palestinians give this Intifada the name of "Intifada AL Aqsa" so as to keep it linked with most religious places in Palestine. This visit was provocative for the Palestinian Muslim people as Sharon violated their holiest mosque. Israelis consequently fired upon the Palestinian worshipers and demonstrators sparking the second Intifada.

The resistance during the Intifada as it is characterized with the increase of Israeli violence toward Palestinians was more brutal than the first Intifada. According B'Tselem organization, in the first intifada around 100 Israelis were killed, about two-fifths of those security forces, and 1000 Palestinians were killed, the majority were civilians. The second Intifada was much more aggressive and bloody as around 5050 were killed, tens of thousands injured, and approximately 5113 houses were demolished (Palestinian Center for Human Rights: 2010).

It is believed that occupied people have to right to resist and International Law guarantees this right. In this respect, the Palestinian people have all possible right to resist either violently or non-violently. The violent resistance in Palestine always emerged as a reaction of the daily Israeli oppression on the Palestinians which is characterized by brutality.

Obviously, the second Intifada also took the form of non-violent resistance. This kind of resistance has powerfully sustained and empowered the second Intifada through exploring non-violence to control the Israeli power. For instance, there is a one weekly demonstration taking place in two of the Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank (Ba'leen and Ni'lin). In these demonstrations, there is a popular participation including Palestinians, Israeli peace activists and foreigners who struggle none violently. This includes the desire to halt Israeli's illegal confiscation of land for its notorious separation wall which Palestinians refer to as "Apartheid wall". This wall paralyzes the Palestinian daily life as it cuts them off from their villages and their neighbors (Dowty, 2005:172). The International Court of Justice describes the construction of the Separation Wall as illegal and gravely infringes on Palestinian rights. Additionally, the court considered the wall constitutes violation of the International Law (International Court of Justice, 2004).

Such non-violent conquests as demonstrated by the two intifadas produce different forms of heroism: At individual level and at the collective level. At the collective level, it is remarkable to observe that the Palestinian people, who in the face of comparative weakness and disadvantage, have demonstrated courage and the will power to fight non-violently for what legitimately belongs to them: their land. Such-non violent resistance also indicates the sacrifices of Palestinians which aims at producing a better good for its people. Such collective heroism is also demonstrated by the international awareness which the Palestinian people are able to create regarding the occupation of their land and their self determination.

At the individual level, Palestinians as a people have learnt to live non-violently. Suffice it to mention that as recently as February, 2010 one student, Ayman Qwaider, gallantly demonstrated heroism by exploring exhaustive non violent campaigns to achieve his right and noble objective of studying outside his country (McIntyre:2010).

Throughout the quick overview of the two Palestinian Intifadas, we would easily realize these Intifadas have created a real Palestinian heroism. Regarding the culture of resistance, the Palestinian heroism would be defined as the ability of Palestinians to dedicate their lives to struggling and resisting the occupation their land. Moving to discuss the hero in the Palestinian constitution would actually illustrate the Palestinian perspective about the occupation as both heroes have been influenced by the occupation.

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[1]On 2 November 1917, British Foreign Secretary Author Balfour, in a letter to a leading British Zionist Lord Rothschild wrote: "His Majesty's Government views with the favour the establishment in Palestine of a national Home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object. It is being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jewish any other country.

[2] Sharon is an Israeli general and politician, who served as Israel’s 11th Prime Minister. He is currently in a permanent vegetative state after suffering a stroke on 4 January 2006.

[3]Al-Aqsa Mosque is the second oldest mosque in Islam after the Ka'ba in Mecca, and is third in holiness and importance after the mosques in Mecca and Medina. It is great stature in Muslim and Palestinians' heart.

Propositions to reconstruct Gaza Strip

By Omar Shaban

1. Introduction:

Despite its evident humanitarian dimension, the Gaza rebuilding question is difficult and interrelated among economics, humanitarian, local, regional and international elements. This is how the issue seemed since the war ended and the extent of destruction on Gaza infrastructure, premises, facilities and people became evident.

We should not look into this issue from a humanitarian perspective only, despite its importance, as the destruction afflicted in Gaza occurred when the economic, political and social conditions have reached their peak worse levels since the end of 2000. These conditions are moving to more deteriorating levels where the volume of losses, based on international estimations have reached beyond 15 billion dollars by 2005. Politically, rebuilding Gaza is taking place in the midst of a Palestinian sharp division that has left its glooming shades over all issues including the Palestinian/Arab relations.

On the social domain, Gaza Strip has witnessed highest percentages of poverty, unemployment and price rise with the lack of goods and humanitarian assistance as well as wide spread of diseases and anaemia.

Therefore, this paper is to deal with the Rebuilding of Gaza as a Development project that includes the building of what the war destructed, but in a new context and a new philosophy look for economic and social level better that the current ones, benefiting from previous rebuilding experiences and missions that should have executed, in addition to treating the malformation and losses of the Palestinian economy during the past years.

What is required for the coming phase in an abbreviated phrase is a political, human, residential and social restoration that will push forward the needed goal.

2. Obstacles facing the reconstruction as envisioned in this paper:

Technical obstacles:

· The enormity of mission: Gaza Strip witnessed a big destruction. All ministries, civil, military, security and police institutions were destructed in addition to private houses, farms, factories, streets, cars, public properties and infrastructure. All in a relatively limited geographic spot of extremely high population density (highest in the world), poor and suffering from several problems.

· Coordinating Tracks: The mission enormity and amplitude impose the need to identify priorities (disagreed upon issue) and its interlaced dimensions. Humanitarianly, citizens whose houses where destructed must be housed immediately. Technically there are several required procedures and steps.

There are also difference in estimations of volume of losses due to differences in methodologies pursued where some estimations focus on the value of the destruction neglecting the furniture, equipment, computer systems and other things of human value

· Insufficient funds and its permanence: There is a great concern over the availability of the needed and sufficient funds and at the right needed period as previous experiences for donor countries have indicated perpetually big gaps between commitment and execution of financing not forgetting the ambiguity in volume of financing required to be adopted by the donors and the international community

· Property clinch: There are problems pertaining the availability of verification documents among the demolished house owners connected to multiple reasons. This is a legal issue and should be dealt with as suitable for each case to appear in this area

· Estimating non traditional properties: It was pointed before that one of the major weaknesses in the estimation of losses was that it focused on buildings without considering other belongings such as cars, jewelry, clothes, valuable acquisitions in addition to computer devices, systems, archives, technical equipment related to governmental, civil and non governmental institutions

· Level of accuracy in estimating losses: According to previous points, such estimation will suffer from relatively low accuracy. There will be problems in estimating damages in luxurious buildings like villas as a partial damage might be bigger than a complete damage in an ordinary house.

· Required Time period: It will be difficult to identify a time interval for the reconstruction as all needed resources are not available and at the right time. Additionally, there might be prerequisites for international institutions that are contradictory with the local and governmental perceptions. The big volume of the mission needs a time range that might be prolonged despite the importance for fast accomplishment due to the Humanitarian dimension of the issue.

2.2 Political obstacles:

· Reconciliation and political situation: It became clear that the international community will find difficulty to seriously deal with the Gaza reconstruction in the presence of Palestinian sharp internal division. Therefore, reconciliation is a necessary condition, even the most important thing Palestinians can obtain as an award for their steadfastness facing the aggression.

· Crossings: The reopening of all crossings is another necessary condition for the success of the reconstruction that is in need for building materials and all other relevant construction materials from the outside.

3. Administering the reconstruction:

The reconstruction philosophy: Reconstruction could be implemented based on previous situation. However, reconstruction based on a new philosophy that considers other economic, environment, social and health dimensions is preferred.

Transparency and Integrity: By following standard means, legal and financial tools and coordinating with donors

Activation of local economy participation: The private sector can efficaciously participate in the reconstruction mission. There are about 200 companies connected with housing and contracting spheres and have the required experiences. This will bring the companies to its previous activity after two years stretched of recession. This will create jobs intensely needed by the Palestinian economy

Inclusive planning: To guarantee that reconstruction will treat past errors, abandon fortuitous planning and have adequate land use in line with housing, agriculture, industrial and recreational plans. This planning should be within the framework of good land use and considering community priorities.

4. Accelerating accomplishment

· Establish a drifting harbour with a movable dock and this does need no time or effort

· Open the crossings completely and continuously

· Harmonize between the need and the speeding up of accomplishments with commitment to transparency and good planning

· International funding:

- Providing new mechanism for funding as current mechanism (PEGASE) or the previous one (TIM) was for paying of salaries and running costs. The reconstruction process needs suitable new mechanisms

- Present new products and variety of programs

- Grant loans on favourable terms

- Direct payment to those affected

- Human and social rehabilitations

5. Establish the national commission for reconstruction and development:

There is a clear argument over the party to implement the reconstruction and this debate is affected by the prevailing political attraction. Evidently, the role of international donors will be important in the reconstruction. But on the local field domain, this paper suggests to establish the national commission for development and reconstruction to embrace a variety of key social figures, university experts and the civil society to contribute in the process. Its mission will include:

- A medium between the community and the donors

- Receiving applications, coordinating and examining them

- Coordinating among different parties involved

- Raising recommendations to donors

This commission has a specific development societal role in the reconstruction process as it will guarantee the social contribution in this important operation

Resource: http://palthink.org/en/?p=201

AYMAN QUADER: THE HERO FROM MY PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE

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by: Ayman T. Quader

What is a hero? From my perspective several thoughts emerge in my mind when I think of a hero, specifically in a very broad sense. The word hero applies dynamically to individuals in different contexts of culture, history, gender, etc. The term hero might generally be associated with that man who is brave, generous and courageous. Considering yourself a hero, you would intimately reflect your own identity, culture, conflict and history.

For me, it had been actually wonderful when I discovered that my personality is motivated toward many interests particularly in my career. I finished my studies from the Islamic University of Gaza and I was well-prepared to be a teacher of English language. Through my early life, people around me never stop telling me that I have got a smile face and always you enjoy being close with children. There is one prime characteristic I really admire about the life of the refugee camp that its small roads always crowed with young children where they have fun and enjoy their time in such dire environment. Accordingly, my attitudes had been changed from being teacher of English language for children into being very close to them through another dimension of work which the humanitarian aid and relief work.

Personally, it would be simple to identify the concept of hero according to my perception and my experience in Palestine. Having this course of childhood inside me, the hero is the Palestinian child who grows up and builds his life in the light of such dire conflict. This perspective is due to the fact that I lived in this situation of conflict my entire life as well as being close to children though my previous work. In this regard, I shift my thoughts dramatically to recognize the child’s Smile as heroic figure. This smile would cry lots of qualities and values specifically in the context of the Gaza Strip. My hero is a young Palestinian child who keeps a smile on his face and keeps aspiring of a better future despite living a life in struggle and conflict.

During the fifth model period, we took an exercise called Butoh Dance. In this exercise, my imagination and memory had been perfectly working and I went behind the dancing world. It enhances my bodily awareness not only for individuals but rather for social groups this happened through greatly activating my inner imagination. This took place when we were asked to play the role of being a tree then later on to consider myself, old woman, old man, and child. My flash memory easily helped me in order to recall those people where I lived part of my life with. The only image that recalled in my mind was a young child who is of 12 years. It was very much expressive for me as I spent fifteen minutes with in his world before I imagine myself a child. In this moment I had the feeling that I wanted to stay as long as I can with this child since this child is close to my heart. Subsequently, I realized that dancing and getting my body part moving negatively impacted the recalled image, and then I decided to still recalling the image while lying in the ground.

It’s hard to count the characteristics that constitute the child’s smile. Ambitious, amusing, patient, bearable, conscious, knowledgeable, would ensure the strength of this young child as a hero in the time of conflict and insecurity.

The Rights of Children in Gaza

The Palestinian child is directly affected by the scenes of incursion, blood and war. The child is not given the basic childhood rights. It is even hard for her/him to find a space for fun, and also to get her/him physiological needs satisfied. The child retains memories of all means of death that his/her family passed through during the time of instability and warfare caused by the Israeli regular militant activities in his/her area.

Children around the world all share something in common in terms of love needed, compassion and smile. The Palestinian Gazan child has experienced an ongoing siege of unprecedented severity, including various blockages of fuel and electricity provisions, as well as all other energy resources. Israel has also imposed a strict closure on all the Gaza Strip border crossings, preventing movement of civilians, including patients seeking medical care.

Young heroes

In my following examples I would like to illustrate my definition of hero in clearer manner. There are many examples of children that inspired me while I was in my home. In this example, I will prove how the smile and the joy of children in Gaza are really heroic figures.

To start with, I remember my seven-year old sister’s smile Raghed enjoying her romantic candle light while studying her science lesson. The candle lighting at her table was not due to a special occasion. In fact, candles have become a necessity for Raghed and all children in Gaza due to the regular cut of electricity. Her smile still waves within my imaginary how she created sort of fund out of this exceptional hard situation she passed.

To move from Raghed to another aspiring childhood example named Loa’I Suboh. After the recent 23-day of war (Dec 2008 – Jan 2009) on the Gaza Strip, I started reporting some of the tragic stories directly from the mouths of children. One month after the attack, I met Loa’i Suboh, a ten-year old child who has lost his eyes in the attacks. He was injured by an Israeli air raid targeting his family in north of the Gaza Strip. Loa’i was wounded when he left the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) School with his family, as they were taking shelter on the premises. They wanted to get back to their home to fetch some personal belonging things like food and blankets. Loa’i was left bleeding for an hour and half and no one was able to have access to him and save him because of the heavy of the Israeli shelling at that time. One year after these sad events, Loa’i assured me that his blindness will never obstruct his future to be a good business man. Loa’i is an active and intelligent boy. His steadfastness and determination to complete his studies and accomplish his goals are in my opinion truly heroic, even if, sadly, his case is far from being unique.

According to data from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), 313 children under the age of 18 were killed in 23 days of war on the Strip (Palestinian Center for Human Rights, 2009:13). A great number of children has been killed or injured as a result of the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip. The majority were killed as a result of Israeli violations of International Humanitarian Law[1] (IHL), such as willful killing, violations of the principle of distinction, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks. After years of occupation and conflict children already stressed were profoundly traumatized. The significant number of killing of children or leaving them with a more or less severe handicap, has increased the cases of children suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) while there is no child who didn’t suffer a major trauma: from destruction of his home to loss of a parent, a sibling, from destruction of his school, playground, to the loss of a friend, a neighbor. They still dream and hope for peace and having space for entertaining.

I remember a Day of Action for children organized in one of the Refugee camps in the centre of the Gaza strip named (Al-Maghazi refugee camp). The event was called “Quest for Smile”. Through this after-school event, I saw the steadfastness of the children’s smiles, their smiles full of innocence. They eagerly assembled during this event and shared moments of joy and friendship. The event was organized in a local park fifty meters away from a demolished building. During the recent Israeli assault over the Gaza Strip, three children living in Al-Maghazi refugees camp were killed, and over 30 were critically wounded. Those children had been suffering from the ongoing insecurity of war and blockade over them. They were extremely cheerful during this event. “No words can express the joy experienced by these children during the event”, said one audience member, noting how the children couldn’t stop clapping and dancing with the costumed performers. The young children enjoyed several activities and performances, including dancing, group games, a trivia contest, and others, as well as spending some leisurely time outside with friends. It is really inspiring to see the bad psychological state of these children, and see how they bear such difficult circumstances and still have fun.

Through my experience as a humanitarian aid worker in Gaza, I realized how the children are affected by the consequences of the conflict and the conditions on the ground. I witnessed their struggle and how they fight to keep a smile on their faces. They play on the rubble of their homes and keep smiling. This is my hero personal perspective that embodied with children smile. Now I will explore etymological meaning of hero in Arabic since the Arabic language is a bit difficult in exploring the etymological words.

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict: A new perspective

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict: A new perspective

by Omar Shaban

19 March 2009

GAZA CITY – Israelis and Palestinians have been prevented from looking deeper into hidden and untapped opportunities, stuck in the limiting perspective afforded by the prolonged conflict, continued Israeli occupation, and failed peace talks. Both sides burn their energy managing and sometimes escalating the conflict rather than solving it. Very few Palestinians and even fewer Israelis know or can imagine that this small place called “the Gaza Strip” can provide endless opportunities.

The Gaza Strip is seen by many people as a poor place, full of violence. However, there are many good examples of productive relationships between Israelis and Palestinians, which indicate, without any doubt, the high potential of this area. Unfortunately, the media covers mostly the news of conflict and hatred rather than the good news. Following is but one example of what a just and fair peace could bring to both sides.

For 20 years, the Gaza Strip has become famous for planting and exporting flowers, strawberries and vegetables, like cherry tomatoes. Some years ago, there were more than 1,000 dunams (250 acres) of planted flowers, and 3,000 dunams (750 acres) of strawberries. These cash crops were generating thousands of sustainable, high-quality jobs for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and revenues of more than 12 million Euros per year. In 2006, when Israel imposed total closure on the Gaza Strip and restricted the movement of goods and people from entering or leaving Gaza, these two crops and many others were negatively affected; while Gaza exported 60 million carnations and 2,000 tons of strawberries in 2005, only 12 million carnations and 103 tons of strawberries were allowed through the border in 2007. Even worse, in 2007-2008, only 55,000 carnations were exported. This caused huge loses to these sectors and pushed farmers to leave their land and look for other jobs.

Surprisingly, in November 2007 Palestinian farmers and their Israeli counterparts appealed together to the Israeli Supreme Court against the Israeli government, urging it to open the crossings. The Supreme Court ordered the Israeli government to do so, which allowed for the export of flowers and strawberries from Gaza into Israel during that month. This was the only export that occurred since the closure imposed on Gaza in June 2007 after Hamas took over the Strip.

Many Israelis would have had great difficulty imagining or even believing that these lovely flowers and sweet strawberries they gave to friends were products of Gaza. Palestinian and Israeli farmers were clever enough to find common ground where both made profits while creating real partnerships.

While the Israeli and Palestinian political leaderships often invest their energy in sustaining the conflict, there are other people who search for opportunities and attempt to pave the road to a better life. There are fewer profits to be made from the occupation and the conflict than could be created from peace and cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians. There are many Palestinian doctors, engineers, singers, artists, educators and skilled workers who have been given the chance to work in Israeli institutions and therefore have been in direct contact with Israeli society. Those Palestinians have learned much, and have become great assets to the Palestinian community.

Those Palestinians were trusted by their Israeli customers or clients. Is it that unrealistic to imagine hundreds or even thousands of professional Palestinians working or being trained in Israeli institutions in the future? It's time for both sides to see and be seen from a new perspective. Israel would do well to understand that having a fair and just peace with a Palestinian state is much safer and more profitable than sustaining the occupation. Conversely, the Palestinians would do well to see that living in peace with Israel is the only and very best path to prosperity.

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* Omar Shaban is a senior economic advisor, with over 15 years’ experience in management consultancy and private sector development. He established Pal Think for Strategic Studies and serves as board member in various community organisations and initiatives. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service, 19 March 2009, www.commongroundnews.org.

Copyright permission is granted for publication.