The Future of the World Is Taking Place in Palestine

It is because we defend fraternity between the children of Abraham and the friendship between peoples that we stand in solidarity with the oppressed Palestinians.

We cannot believe that you are indifferent to the suffering of the Palestinian people, an open political wound for more than 60 years. The United States’ interest is to demonstrate that it is worthy of the status of world leader and not to allow injustice, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Know that the legitimate sentiment of deaf revolt against the repression of deprived Palestinians and the political double standard is spreading throughout the world.

The accusation of anti-Semitism is absurd, because Zionism is not Judaism. It is because we defend fraternity between the children of Abraham and friendship between peoples and are engaged in the pacific fight of ideas against all forms of exclusion, extremism and fanaticism that we stand in solidarity with the oppressed Palestinians. The Algerian people, who know the price of liberty, stand in solidarity with just causes.

Point 1: Muslim Responsibility

To self-criticize, we know that one must first denounce the rigidity of Arab regimes, indeed their duplicity, and the irrational and chaotic reactions of radicals. We must assume responsibility so that American citizens discover the true face of our societies, our civilization and religion. Muslims must not forget what remains to be done so that the Arab-Muslim world avoids making itself vulnerable and takes its rightful place in the world.

Muslims, in order to win the hearts of Americans who are ready to listen to them, to defend justice and improve relations between the Muslim world and the West, are becoming aware that they must correct their situation, resist reasonably and open up to the world; if they do not, the American opinion will be that nothing new is happening in the East. Muslims are not ignorant of the fact that nothing decisive will be done unless they themselves assume their duties, but know that the influence of the greatest power is such that nothing can be done without her.

The imperial ambition of the U.S. remains perceptible, but it does not seem to have decided to transform its superiority into a fair guide to the world, nor to use its strength for justice, nor its power in universal morality. It is our duty to contribute to helping you to remove the blind spots, and to counter the disinformation about Palestine in particular, and the Muslim world in general.

It is a question of politics. We must work together to face the challenges intelligently, and demine the traps and the provocations, in an effort not to feed the conflicting logic that is harmful to all.

Of course, some archaic Arab and Islamic regimes have made use of the blind violence of the proliferating radicals and manufactured extremist groups; but the Muslim people reject them and other countries, like Algeria, have fought against them and work continuously to contain them, knowing that nothing can justify them.

Point 2: Your Responsibility

American citizens, admit with all the objective beings in this world, like those six Nobel Peace Prize laureates, including American Jody Williams, that one cannot put the oppressed and the oppressor, the colonized and the colonizer, at the same level. Despite the speech your president made in Cairo in 2009, in which he affirmed, “… this cycle of suspicion and discord must end,” the hatred for Muslims is being amplified. Misjudged Islam is targeted.

The direction the world is taking is not the right one. What good is it to denounce the violation of human rights in the four corners of the world if these principles are ridiculed as soon as Israel is involved, a state outside the norm, above the law? Conversely, as soon as Muslims are involved, the prejudices emerge and stigmatize.

We note that American citizens’ knowledge of Islam is lacking. Most of the media and the film industry present it in an erroneous manner, as a violent religion. Yet our holy book, the Quran, the Prophet (peace be upon him) and history demonstrate that humanism, civilization and respect for pluralism are our values. The vast majority of the 2 billion Muslims in the world, of all races, nationalities and cultures, are citizens in love with peace and progress.

Nevertheless, considering our economic inadequacies, we need to relearn how to be an example, so that the qualities of our Prophet (peace be upon him) are visible in each Muslim and known by Americans. Everyone notices that harmful currents poison your opinions and shut Islam into false clichés. While there is no hostility between the civilizations, they aim to impose shock logic at all costs. They fail to take into account the common roots of our religions and ideals.

Point 3: Politics and Diplomacy

For decades, the U.S. has voted against all U.N. resolutions regarding the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, or even international protection. The media power of lobbies harmful to Islam is such that it has led you to believe that Israel is “a democracy and is only defending itself,” while it is a colonial system that practices racism, apartheid and repression. With impunity, Israel occupies Palestinian land, kills, imprisons and tortures, to the detriment of human dignity and world security.

The Palestinian question is one of politics. The Palestinian people have been despoiled of their land and dispossessed of all their rights; they live with a blockade that creates a situation of extreme poverty and despair. They suffer humiliation daily, most often while resisting peacefully. All the processes of negotiation are emptied of their substance by the occupying power and dishonored agreements. How can one imagine living in peace with one’s neighbors when equal rights are ridiculed? The Arab peace initiative, put forward in 2002 with unanimous support, which stipulates the recognition of the state of Israel as intended in 1948, standardization in exchange for the restoration of lands occupied by force in 1967, is arrogantly rejected.

The suffering inflicted on the Palestinian people and the crimes committed in violation of international law call out to everyone’s consciences, including those of impartial Jews. The colonial policy is harmful to Israel and to world peace, not just to Palestinians. The alignment of the U.S. with the inhumane policy of Israel is contrary to your values and interests. The guilty conscience of the West since World War II continually drives it to give aid when faced with injustice. Feeling a sense of responsibility in the face of the Nazi horror is one thing; casting it off to the detriment of another people is a tragedy.

Point 4: Convergent Values

The U.S. cannot help but go back to the strong values which belong to it, and which we share. We know that the spirit of the founders of the U.S. has nothing to do with xenophobia. You know that the American Declaration of Independence is a text that a Muslim can consider his own, because it evokes the value of liberty and in particular the freedom of conscience.

We are not ignorant of the fact that for the Founding Fathers of the American Constitution, freedom of conscience is in itself the essence of their doctrine. For George Washington, first American president, America had to welcome “the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions,” Christians, Jews and Muslims. The land of Islam has for centuries been a land of refuge for the oppressed and persecuted, beginning with the Jews. John Adams, the second president of the United States, affirmed that the Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) is one of the greatest figures of humanity, an advocate of coexistence. Thomas Jefferson, third president, learned Arabic and declared that he was reading the Quran. One day during his presidency, he organized the iftar to mark the end of the fast of Ramadan at the White House. Tradition reactivated. The Founding Fathers drew from the springs of values of civilizations, including Islam, when they instituted the U.S. political system with their own genius.

Benjamin Franklin, scientist, co-writer and signatory of the Declaration of Independence, and thus one of the Founding Fathers of the U.S., studied Islam and the great texts of Islamic culture. To express his respect for Islam and its commitment to living peacefully together, he one day invited the mufti of Istanbul of the day to come and introduce Islam to Americans.

In 1763, Franklin followed the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) example in view of his highly humanitarian behavior, notably toward prisoners. Indeed, that year, Americans, who called themselves Christian, had massacred innocent Native Americans. These Westerners, affirmed Franklin, were more savage than the natives. He stated that the human dignity of the Native Americans would have been respected in a Muslim country, because Islam showed humanity toward prisoners. During the war of resistance of the Emir Abdelkader in Algeria in the 19th century, this noble humanitarian principle was codified and applied. 150 years ago in Damascus, he had saved millions of Christians from certain death during a community disagreement. This earned him the foundation of a little town in the U.S. named for him. Like the Emir Abdelkader, Benjamin Franklin defended pluralism and freedom of expression. He cited a principle: “Without freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty, without freedom of speech.”

He advocated the sense of tolerance of the Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him), who respected the right to be different. Benjamin Franklin also affirmed his admiration for Saladin, the 12th-century sultan who liberated Jerusalem while showing mercy. Today, at a time when anti-Muslim racism is on the rise because of narrow political schemes like diversions from political impasses and blind reactions to those who usurp the name of Islam, the vision of the Founding Fathers of the U.S. is worth underlining.

Point 5: A Shared Future

American citizens, know that Muslims feel no hate toward America or anyone else. On the contrary, they aspire to friendship and know that in our global village, we all share one future. They simply have the right to be “angry” about the political genocide in Palestine, at the double standard, and at the sight of so much injustice. We refuse the arrogance with which one speaks of the Muslim, as if he might be denied access to dignity unless he renounces his specificities and rights.

In the face of the Palestinian tragedy, Muslims are convinced that words will not suffice; it is action that will make the difference. Americans, attached to universal democracy, in the general interest, in the interest of the U.S. and for peace in the world, should impose the evacuation of occupied territories and the creation of the state of Palestine. The “clash of civilizations” propaganda spread by American ideologues and manipulation of public opinion feed extremism. The future of the world is taking place in Palestine. The American people and Muslims have a common future. The America that Muslims respect is the one that the Founding Fathers had initiated to aim for universal justice, not arbitrariness.

The author is an Algerian philosopher and 2013 winner of the UNESCO Prize for cultural dialogue.