Elan Journo’s talk at Stanford

A couple weeks ago I attended Elan Journo’s talk at Stanford about the Arab-Israeli Conflict and I thought it was great. I screwed up the audio record, so making notes from memory:

• Wars end when one side gives up.
• Common knowledge is that the peace process failed. In reality, the process works, although it’s a mistake to call it “peace”, because in reality it is a war.
• Moral dimension of the conflict is often ignored:
  • Israelis strive for open democratic society, individual freedoms, equal rights for women & minorities, checks & balances, independent judiciary (still imperfect)  – in this conflict they represent “good”
  • Palestinians strive for totalitarian, religiously and politically cleansed “state” in place of Israel – in this conflict they represent “evil”
• Stopping terror is not a bargaining chip. It should stop before any negotiations take place
• Murderers & terrorists should not be easily trusted (how many years Charles Manson would need to “behave” in order to convince the public that he’s changed? Arafat never changed.)
• The goal of Fatah and Hamas is the same. The only difference is strategy.
• The West/Christianity tends to side with the weak (“the meek will inherit…”)

Chanda Chisala was there, too.

Here’s Elan Journo’s own notes on a similar recent talk at Berkeley