Common Ground - Senior Reflection 1

• Obama's speech on Thursday in Cairo University, Egypt, addressed one of the most critical issues facing the people of the world today: the prejudice of others based on religion. He said all people of all faiths must come together to create a better society. He specifically mentioned the Torah, the Bible, and the Qu'ran, stating that the three Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have common roots and thus should be totally natural in their relations. I believe this speech served as good, long-awaited introduction Obama wanted to make to the Muslim and it served as a good display of the new administrations fresh, new policies towards the Muslim world.
• The speech was also the first time the US government has rebuked Israel's invasive actions towards Palestinian land, in a long time. This came as Obama was talking of how a two-state could be made to create a compromise between the two, long-warring nations of Israel and Palestine. This is an issue that I believe is of great importance as well, because Israel's abuse of their superior firepower in the Middle-East region is spitting in the face of any possible peaceful compromises. Israel really needs to calm down and try to negotiate with Palestine and Hamas to reach a solution to the problems they both face. Though I'm still angry Israel's bombarding of Palestine a few months has still gone unpunished. I guess the superpowers really don't need to follow the international laws against war crimes and abuse of power.