A woman mourns over the body of one of two Palestinian police officers reportedly killed earlier in the day in an Israeli airstrike on their vehicle during the officers’ funerals at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday.
Image: BASHAR TALEB / AFP
GRAVE acts of intolerance in the Middle East have become a mutating problem for our global society. Tolerance in our complex society has taken a back seat. The growing intolerance is exhibited daily in our deeds, words and actions.
The very term "intolerant" invokes moral condemnation. Our unwillingness to take real measures to address the subterranean violence that is present in our society, the cynical exploitation of fear, violence and difference have become the norm in our traumatised global order. The world is awash with the victims of intolerance. Intolerance has already killed over 500,000 innocent civilians in Gaza.
Let us urgently display tolerance as we witness a rampaging conflict that is escalating out of control. Tolerance is a supreme quality that forms the bedrock of any society. In an age where the electronic media has drawn us closer together into what is called a global village or a global society, its benefits will only be felt when mutual goodwill, respect and understanding prevail. The world is full of hatred and deadly animosity. Without tolerance and harmony, the lasting peace of societies cannot be maintained, and loyalty for each other cannot be established.
People are naturally diverse, and only tolerance can ensure the survival of communities on Earth. To establish tolerance, there must be the removal of religious prejudice. The world would have been a better place if powerful leaders had promoted more tolerance than hatred. In this era, where there is enough maturity and sense of values of others, we still observe lack of tolerance regarding culture. It was Voltaire who said: “what is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error. Let us pardon reciprocally each other’s folly, that is the first law of nature.”
No dialogues can be conducted if there is no respect for human rights, rule of law, democratic principles and spiritual values. Sincere tolerance highlights the imperative for humanity to hold true to its best impulses, and guard against its worst.
FAROUK ARAIE
Benoni