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The Silent Majority for Normalization

(Huffington Post) Hani Hazaimeh - Writing for an Israeli newspaper about the visit I took last year to Israel was a move that could affect the future of my entire career as a Jordanian journalist. I received a wide range of feedback from friends, colleagues and officials. Some were supportive while others were outright angry. There were some who accused me of being too pro-Israel. Others said I had been brainwashed into promoting the idea of living side by side with Israel. My main response to them is that this is exactly the essence of the peace treaty signed by my country with Israel more than 15 years ago and it is certainly the only option on the international political table today. I had a feeling that my words would draw fierce opposition, but I was not prepared for the outpouring of understanding from people who embraced what I wrote. However, many of these people felt they could not show support for what I wrote or express the same sentiment in public, opting instead to stay in the shadows out of fear of being accused of being "normalizers." I have taken to calling these people the "silent majority." I do understand their fears. There is a powerful lobby against the "normalizers," though it is their support that has encouraged me to continue and that has given me the momentum to stay on track. People on both sides of the conflict must open their eyes to the fact that we have suffered enough and it's now time to resort to the voice of reason and resolve our differences through dialogue. The writer is a reporter and editor at The Jordan Times in Amman.
2010-03-26 09:41:57
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