June 8, 2007

The Israeli-Palestinian issue appears to be one of the most complicated and intractable of our time. The issue can alternatively be viewed as a dispute over land, a religious clash, or the result of two groups of people caught up in the larger institution of imperial powers. From the perspective of the American Muslim community, composed largely of Diasporas from around the world, the Israeli-Palestinian issue is perhaps most fruitfully understood as a strenuous struggle between the national aspirations of two peoples particularly over land, the same land, Palestine.

This conflict has lasted over 100 years, and to many seems without a solution. The first step toward solving this conflict is genuine understanding and acknowledgement of the historical origins of the conflict and dialogue to arrive at a just solution.

MPAC believes that this dialogue will lead to a strategy to end this conflict that has taken too many lives and has destabilized an entire region of global significance. MPAC believes in the importance of American religious communities including Muslims, Jews, Christians and other people of faith to contribute to establishing peace.

Without really understanding the others' culture and history, both communities will continue to use their worst fears to judge one another and gain no insight, which will inevitably lead to more damage. "Envisioning Peace" is an effort to introduce such complexity in an attempt to move forward in a more honest and developed way.

Download the Paper

"Envisioning Peace" (PDF format)