A month in a virtual-peace-community – part 2
Posted by worriedlebanese on 17/09/2008
What I didn’t say yesterday about this virtual-peace-community is that it is managed and owned by an young Israeli, a member of Peace Now.
This fact could explain some of the problems the virtual-peace-community faces. Peace Now is a left leaning zionist organisation. It enjoys a large international support in intellectual circles because of its pro-peace stands, but in Israel, it is criticized by all sides: On the right because of its attitude against the settlements in the West Bank, on the left because it’s seen as inefficient and too zionist.
I personally have been quite sympathetic to some of this NGOs work, but critical of its two shortcomings:
- Its support of the 2006 July War
- Its lack of interest in non-jewish membership (which is odd for a Peace movement that is in a multinational country and in a multi-religious region).
Nevertheless, one can only be admirative of the courage Peace Now and the creator of the virtual-peace-community have for extending a peaceful hand to their enemy when they are criticised by their own and generally ignored and rejected by those to whom they extend your hand. This is what Peace Now has faced, and this is what the cyber-community is suffering from. If they can’t find a way to solve these two problems, there’s very little chance that they will be able to succeed in their venture.
