JEWS OF ARAB CULTURE CONFERENCE 1948-2009. CAMBRIDGE 22-24 JUNE 2009
ORGANISED BY THE CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF MUSLIM-JEWISH RELATIONS
IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE CENTRE FOR MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
It was a qualitative conference, with never more than sixty people present in the lecture room, including speakers. HRH Prince Hassan of Jordan formally opened the conference with his introduction. He thanked Cambridge University, CJMR and CEMEIS and commented that the Israeli blogosphere had already begun to criticise the conference before it had even started, as an exercise in Israeli bashing. There was mention of the silent majority that had been silenced, a majority that had its voice stolen; The Palestinian Diaspora. HRH spoke eloquently of the troubles plaguing the region and acknowledged the fact that “democracy cannot land in our region by parachute and perform miracles overnight.” The Diaspora of the remnants of the Ottoman Empire was touched upon briefly, having been given its own terminology, the “Turkos” and the fact that it took three World Wars, the Prussian-Franco”, WWI and WWII for the Europeans to establish the Erasmus Programme. HRH commented on the conference,”...That this meeting was a process for those setting out on the journey, towards reconciliation between two peoples...it took several decades after meeting Golda Meir, in the sixties, for me to realise the importance of dignity of all creeds and human beings was vital.”
“Judaism, in relation to the “Other” meant that they were connected but apart, separate but together.” On Jerusalem itself, he commented that “...it was ideally suited to establish a moral authority...that rises above politics via management of a Holy space through...fifteen Churches of the Eastern Communion involved in this space.” HRH explained about the different emotions he invokes amongst different people. This concerned the differing attitudes embraced surrounding him,”...I am often accused of being a closet Jew by some in the Arab world, and of being the Goebbels of the Arab world by the Israelis.”
The situation in present day Iraq was referred to because his country has so many refugees from that benighted and plundered land due to the wretched situation of the Iraqi refugee children in Jordan. Jordanian psychologists are having to treat eighty percent of them because they are suffering from trauma. HRH was visibly moved by their plight and one can only commend Jordan for benevolence shown to Iraqi refugees.
HRH moved on to the prospect of peace in the Middle East, and emphasised that it would only happen under certain circumstances and political conditions given the difficult nature of the situation,”...reconciliation will take place eventually but only when each side recognises the other...by building bridges we can overcome conflict and the only way to achieve this is to transcend loyalties by hope and that this series of talks will culminate in the realisation of Jews of Arab culture, and Arabs of Jewish culture to move forward; that the emancipation of women reflects the globalisation of the financial market...”
The full speech may be obtained from : The Woolf Institute of Abrahamic Faiths
Wesley House, Jesus Lane Cambridge CB5 8BJ