The conflict in the Middle East concerns us all. Because it actually has to do with all of us humans, and because also a large part of the national and global population has clear emotional ties to the nationalities that are there. In addition to economic and cultural. Connections related to faith, history, religion, ideology and way of considering what is fair or unfair, perception of reality, reading events and news that reach us, many of them interpreted and ready for consumption.

Because people have agreed to define their differences through wars, justice has no guarantee of triumph. The strongest wins, not the one with reason on their side. Although it is wrong to say that there are winners in wars, in reality everyone loses.

When we also mix religion and race as a fundamental part of the conflict, it becomes impossible to resolve, because who can oppose God? A documentary film about Palestinian and Jewish children that was filmed for several years showed this impossibility. A turnkey Palestinian child said: this land is ours, my grandparents’ house was here.

And the Jewish boy answered, God gave us this land as an inheritance, it is in the Bible, it is ours. Who can go against that title?

One of the challenges… is to educate and apply creativity in finding new outlets…

Closer to us, in the Paquisha War, both Ecuadorian and Peruvian soldiers sought protection and triumph from the Virgin of Grace: Queen and Generalissima of the Ecuadorian Armed Forces and, at the same time, Grand Marshal and Patron Saint of Peru.

When I see a car driving with the sign “God’s property” I wonder who will pay for traffic violations if they are committed.

We made a god in our own image and likeness. A few years ago, I saw a picture of Christ presiding over mass in an army barracks with weapons and feeders across his chest.

The sacrifice that the Maya made, opening the chest of the person they sacrificed and offering the beating heart to the god they wanted to honor, is not far from the horrors we witness in the country, in prisons and now on the streets. .

With other variables, whether religion and its extremism are a key part of the conflict, we are sure that it will be impossible to approach under that magnifying glass.

Conflict resolution courses, mediation centers and seminars are multiplying. Negotiators have been formed, and violence seems to immerse and anesthetize us. We have to accept that our conflict resolution methods are not producing the results we expect. We have not learned to integrate emotions, spirituality, the deepest aspirations of the human soul in conflict resolution.

The UN has a containment role, but it seems inappropriate because it is more of an organization for discussion than for devising solutions. And that design is not the same for every conflict. Several adjustments to its structure and operation should be made.

One of the fundamental challenges for our survival is to educate and apply creativity in finding new solutions to old and new conflicts. (OR)