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In my work supporting refugees and those plunged into poverty and despair by conflict, and in my work with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, I have witnessed the devastation of war in the Middle East, in the former Yugoslavia, and in Asia. I have seen it in the faces of the women of Srebrenica, struggling to carry on without their husbands, fathers, and sons, and even without certain knowledge of what happened to them. I have seen it in the supposedly "temporary" Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan, and elsewhere in our region, where people endeavor to make a life and hang on, even half a century later, to the hope of returning to their homeland one day. And, I have seen it in those striving to overcome the devastation land mines have wrought on their bodies and their lives in rural Jordan, in Lebanon, in Cambodia, and in Vietnam.

Creating a Culture of Peace

As we enter a new era, it is time to create a new culture -- a culture of peace rather than war. The world is becoming both more global and more fragmented; in the first half of the twentieth century, our wars were mammoth struggles between superpowers and their allies. Now, long-standing ethnic tensions have escaped the restraints of larger state control, and are escalating into conflicts -- smaller, more localized, but no less devastating to those caught up in them.

As we see all too vividly in the Middle East, where the spending on armaments is the highest per capita in the world, this is a colossal waste of valuable resources -- monetary, material, and human. The presence and availability of these vast arsenals, from nuclear weapons to land mines to handguns, rather than acting as a deterrent, actually makes it harder to recover from conflict and establish a lasting peace.

The Real Issue is Security

The real issue is security. As long as a nation, or a community, or an individual feels threatened, violence and recourse to weapons are never far from the surface. But like so much else, the definition of security is changing. Threats today come not only from war, but also from economic and social inequities, human rights abuses, marginalization, and poverty.

True security is not simply a matter of protecting borders from military aggression, but of providing a stable environment for all citizens, women and men, of all races and creeds, to participate fully in commercial and political life. Peace is not merely the absence of hostilities, but a positive human security founded in equity.

Promoting Security and Prosperity of Peoples

As King Hussein described it, the purpose of peace "is to promote the security and the prosperity of peoples. Without security, there can be no assured prosperity. And without prosperity, there can be no assured security."

In my development work in the Middle East over the past twenty-four years, I have seen clearly that providing the prosperity that underpins peace requires moving beyond traditional, ineffective, centralized social welfare schemes, to projects that empower the poor to help themselves. As we have enabled individuals, women in particular, to become active participants and decision-makers in the affairs of their communities, they also become genuine economic and political forces, increasing their status and influence. They build stable, healthy, and prosperous communities, which in turn can engage in regional partnerships in the wider pursuit of peace. These models for sustainable economic growth and political participation are an essential component of our larger quest for justice, peace, and understanding in the Middle East.

We have also seen over the past decades that it is not enough simply to sign a peace treaty. Reconciliation can be one of the greatest challenges of conflict recovery, but it is essential in order to prevent conflicts from recurring. As the recent history of our region has demonstrated, such reconciliation is possible, but often laborious and lengthy.

The Next Generation: Future Guardians of Peace

It takes courage to hold one's hand out to an old adversary. Often, the most powerful way to overcome the enmity of previous generations is to encourage the next generation, the future guardians of peace, to understand both their opportunities in a changing world and their duties toward themselves and others. In recent years we have witnessed in our region and elsewhere that with education and opportunity, even children can be a force for peace out of proportion to their years, breaking down the barriers of ignorance and prejudice through mutual respect and understanding.

Achieving Security through Education for Peace

If we can bring to education for peace the same level of commitment, expertise, and resources that previous generations devoted to their military academies, I am certain that we will be well on the way to achieving a more lasting security than the arsenals of war could ever provide.

These ideas were fundamental to my beloved mentor King Hussein -- one of the great Architects of Peace. A devout Muslim, he believed, deeply and passionately, in authentic Islamic values such as education, tolerance, and consensus building, and above all, in peace. He achieved remarkable progress in modernizing a conservative developing society through initiatives such as promoting the role of women, universal education, and a participatory and pluralistic system of governance -- all within the framework of traditional Arab and Islamic principles.

By personal example, he inspired the different people of our region to understand what he felt so deeply: that real peace is made not only among governments but among peoples, that it is written not only on pieces of paper but must be enshrined in the hearts of those who live together side by side.

This article is excerpted with permission from the book:

Architects of Peace
by Michael Callopy.

Reprinted with permission of the publisher, New World Library. ©2000. www.newworldlibrary.com

Info/Order this book as a hardcover or as a paperback.

About the Author

Her Majesty Queen Noor al-Hussein (of Jordan) was born Lisa Najeeb Halaby into a prominent Arab-American family in Washington, D.C. Her father served as head of the Federal Aviation Administration under President Kennedy. A graduate of Princeton University's School of Architecture, she met Jordan's King Hussein while working on a redesign of facilities for Jordan's national airline. In 1978, they married and she became the first American-born queen of an Arab country. She has since sensitively balanced Arab and Western cultures in her work for development, education, women's rights, and the land mine ban with her Noor Al Hussein Foundation (NHF). King Hussein died of cancer in 1999.

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