Imagine if, in 1948, Arabs and Jews had agreed to live together in the country of Palestine.
Imagine the Arab population, free from the exploitation of Ottoman landlords, enjoying the rich fruit of the land.
Imagine Jews, blasted by the holocaust, returning to discover the roots of their faith and identity.
Imagine a secular, multi-cultural state, built on Jewish, Islamic and Christian foundations.
Imagine Jerusalem, long the centre of so many ancient traditions, become a global capital of learning and cultural exchange
Imagine a confident, modern, democratic country eager to make peace with its neighbours.
Imagine first Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt – later maybe more – drawn into a middle-eastern union.
Imagine a culture that combines and reconciles science with the roots of ancient enlightenment
Imagine what kind of world we could be living in.
Imagine, if today, mourners on both sides, in Gaza and Israel came together in one unified event of forgiveness under the glow of a new dawn here on earth.
Imagine this. No more war, no more bombs, no more rabid, power hungry world leaders.
We are at the end of our imagination says Arundhuti Roy, and we are bound by memory.
All we can really do is imagine. It’s all we’ve got when so much is being lost.
Dreaming of peace and love ☀️
The hurt was too great
The insult was too damming
The meddling was too greedy
The authorities were too selfish
Dave, so many thanks to you for your crafting of this blog which, for me, goes to the root. How to get there from this point?
It’s not that there weren’t people with the kind of vision that you are suggesting. It’s that they didn’t take or hold control or were murdered. I suggest you read ‘Enemies and Neighbours’ by Ian Black.
I did read that book. I have just started to read it a second time
This is beautiful, Dave. It should be published for all to contemplate or even..made into a song 🎶 👋
Hi Dave. Appreciate your sentiments. Just been reading where they’re using the old AI, the Israelis, to enable them to ‘locate their terrorist targets’ – read effect indiscriminate slaughter without being directly responsible!! To enable them to salve their consciences?? Finding that hard to imagine!
Was this in the London Review of Books? That’s where I read an article on how the IDF is delegating it’s day-to-day military decision making to AIs. Apparently there is always a human sign-off but it’s something of a formality. I’d guess it is probably one of the most extensive and highly resourced use of AIs there is right now.
It is tragic and sickening that AIs effectiveness is being demonstrated by how successful it is at eliminating specific, targeted individuals.
The fact that each such success appears to be gained at the cost of a handful of killed, wounded and terrified ‘human shields’ is explained as an unintentional side effect.