Forum Draws Large Crowd

Some very important issues were raised the other night in Vancouver at a public forum at the Vancouver Public Library.

I moderated an interesting panel which included Dr. Michael Byers from UBC, Deborah Campbell from UBC, author Hadani Ditmars and Hila Russ-Woodland from the Creative Peace Network.

Hadani Ditmars gave an eloquent presentation on historic tensions and relations between the West and Middle East and cited the analysis of Edward Said's Orientalism as still highly relevant.

Deborah Campbell presented the view that the West's view of the Middle East is distorted by the lens of Western media which is largely biased. She also raised important questions around the culture of fear around criticizing Western interests in the region including Israeli government policy.

Hila Russ-Woodland brought up the need to maintain the push for peace and the idea that change is possible despite the barriers which exist.

Dr. Michael Byers talked about the principles of international law including proportionality.

In the end, the night lasted a half hour longer than it was intended to due to the number of questions which were asked.