Nissim Dahan
Admin
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10.01.2007 16:34
Dear Mr. Muhammad,
Thank you for joining our forum. It is a blessing.
You suggest, quite perceptively, that infrastructure investment in the Arab world is often self-serving, and is of minimal benefit for the intended population. You worry that humanitarian and nation-building interests could be ??drowned by unscrupulous capitalistic interests.? Frankly, your concerns are legitimate, and any viable peace plan for the Middle East must take them into account.
You seek justice for the Palestinian people, and you describe them as ??desperate and abused.? And once again, your observations are on point. Any peace plan must be rooted in justice, and the plight of the Palestinian people is crying out for justice to be done.
So why will my proposal for peace succeed, when so many others have failed? Well, I cannot give you any guarantees, but if I succeed it will be because of people like you?people who yearn for justice, and who are willing to give people like me a fair hearing. Your pain cries out, but you are still willing to listen, and that makes all the difference in the world.
You are wary of capitalism which goes unchecked. And you are right to worry. As the problem with global warming points out, it can?t just be about making money. It is good to make money, but only within the greater context of our survival as a species. And the smaller the world gets, and the greater the economic and technological interconnectedness, the more we realize that if we are to survive, which remains an open question, we have no choice but to bring order to our lives. And there will be no order without using our God-given common sense.
So, to answer your question, the reason I believe that my plan for investment could work, is that it is underpinned by An Ideology of Common Sense, which is believing in what makes sense. Instead of believing in what we want to believe, we must bring ourselves to believe in what makes sense. Only in this way will we solve global warming. Only in this way will we bring justice to Palestinians. Only in this way will we build a bridge between the Western world and the Muslim world. Only in this way will we close the gap between the haves and the have-nots. And only in this way will we truly hear the voice of God.
All our decisions, including the decision to invest, will be filtered by universal notions of common sense, and as such, we will be able to keep in check our innate tendencies to swim in the troubled waters of the absurd.
In any event, I want to thank you once again for having the courage to speak out. Your voice can lend credibility to our vision. I hope to hear from you often, and I want you to know that our hearts and minds remain open, and that only together can we give substance to what is now only a dream.
Best Wishes,
Nissim Dahan
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