We must put away symbols of separation and hatred

Benjamin Broome (an overseas facilitator in helping to create a bi-communal community in Cyprus) once offered this advice:

“You must reach out your hand in friendship to the other side. You must give the people in the other community a reason to believe in your sincerity and goodwill.
You must show a willingness to listen to the pain and suffering that the others have experienced. You must put away symbols of separation and hatred. You must remove from the textbooks and the mouths of your teachers the image of the other as an enemy.
You must quit the rhetoric of blame, and accept responsibility for your own community’s contribution, both from the past and now, to the Cyprus problem. You must stop the provocative acts that threaten the existence of the others. You must give up the idea of using violence and force.

Above all, you must view as legitimate the needs and concerns of the other community. The path to peace is through rough and unexplored territory, full of monsters who appear ready to gobble all of us at any moment.”

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