The Challenges Facing Peace in the Region are the Focus of the Second Day of the Middle East Council of Religious Leaders - Religions for Peace
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Alexandria—
On the second day of the Board meeting of Religious Leaders in the Middle East and North Africa, which was held on 14,15 July, Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Director of the BA and the Honorary President of Religions for Peace gave a presentation entitled “Wealth, Poverty and Exclusion – Economic challenges to Peace in the Middle East”.
Dr Serageldin said that the world is now facing many challenges due to globalization and that religious leaders should take serious actions to face these challenges. He added that there is neither equality nor equity within the societies themselves, and this creates conflict and enmity between members of the same community. Dr. Serageldin also mentioned that many die all over the world today because of civil wars, regional wars and international wars, especially in Africa which suffers from devastating wars. He also mentioned that the major world powers do not participate in putting an end to the wars, but rather increase the money they allocate to defence and develop more lethal weapons which leaves less money to education, health care,… etc.
Dr Serageldin said that the UN developmental objectives for the millenium were not met at all, and hunger and poverty, which are priorities on the list are increasing extensively. This, he believed, was due to the fact that achieving these dvelopmental goals cannot be reached without peace which is, in turn, unattainable without justice. He also criticized the double standards the United States use in dealing with Middle East issues, especially in relation to the Arab-Israeli conflict, emphasizing the importance of peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
Dr Serageldin concluded his presentation, by emphasizing that the Islamic world is currently unopen to science as not enough money is allocated to scientific research, education, and the support of rational values.
The Library of Alexandria had witnessed the launching of the Middle East Council of Religious Leaders - Religions for Peace on Monday, 14 July 2008. A number of religious leaders from the region attended the event: Dr. Ali El-Samman, Head of the Dialogue Between Religions in the Supreme Council for Islamic Issues in Egypt, Sheikh Tayseer El-Tamimi, the supreme judge of the Sharia’ courts in Palestine, Patriarch Michel Sabbah, to mention only a few, as well as Dr. William Vendley, Religions for Peace Secretary General, and Ambassador Ali Maher, Head of the Institute for Peace Studies, hosted by the BA.