There's absolutely no contradiction in simultaneously showing the deepest solidarity with the Palestinian people of Gaza and with the Jewish community of Bondi/Sydney in Australia. In both their cases, horrible acts of inhumanity and murder were carried out that require a full condemnation, without any reserve or equivocation.
It's true that at Christmas time, the ideal would be to only follow up on fun challenges about what happens in Disney cartoons or on seasonal parties. But if in the meantime, other very horrendous challenges emerge, these cannot simply be ignored. That one shows total solidarity with the people of Gaza in no way implies support for, or some tacit agreement with anti-semitism, which must be incessantly condemned. That one shows an equal solidarity with the Jewish community in Australia can in no way be considered as a show of sympathy or support for the genocidal acts of the Israeli state in the war it has continued to wage in Gaza, and which must be equally condemned.
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PEACE AND INTERESTS
The recent edition of the quarterly magazine published by the Dominicans Knisja 2000 focuses on peace - a theme that the Catholic Church with reason, has been highlighting lately. The articles in the issue (all valid) raise various interesting perspectves about peace (taken understandably from a Catholic viewpoint). They vary from the "theoretical" in connection with international law; to the "pastoral" in the context of what constitutes personally correct conduct in inter personal and inter-state relations; to discussions of concrete cases (Palestine).
Perhaps one would have expected a clearer review of how the maintenance of peace gets linked to issues regarding whether the interests that motivate national or ethnic communities are being satisfied or swept aside. What make such interests not just legal or legitimate, but also morally valid, in a face-off with other competing national/ethnic interests? It's a question that goes beyond a discussion of what constitutes "a just war". The decay of peace starts when valid interests are overridden, even if war does not result.
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TIGNE
It has been proposed that the fort at Tigne is taken back by the government and held as a monument, part of the national heritage. The proposal should not be sidelined. Many Maltese today do not understand how in the past, this country was considered as a fortress and nothing else. The Maltese living here were considered merely as the civil appendage of the military garrison stationed locally.
Conserving the fortresses which underpinned this state of affairs makes great sense in order to prevent the awareness of a Maltese identity from blurring. The government has bought a number of premises that are run by band clubs: their operations inside them are deemed to be an integral part of the national heritage. It should do the same for the fort at Tigne.
I must declare a conflict of interest however on this one. Long long years ago, I was one of those born in the shadow of he Tigne fort, prcisely at the frontier between the civil and military sides of the island.
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BEST WISHES
A0ll best wishes for a Happy Xmas to all the staff and readers of the Malta Independent.