What's wrong with Sympathy?

This might not be a great time to make this post, given the current situation in Gaza. On the other hand, it's a small insight that might only contribute to hostilities against Palestinians.

A few nights ago I went to Borders with some friends, while waiting for someone else we meandered over to the religion section to see what books were available on Islam. There was a case with 4 shelves labeled "Judaica," and next to that a case with 4 shelves labeled "Islamic studies." Of these 4 shelves under "Islamic studies" there was almost half a shelf of books from the Ahmediyya movement, a shelf and a half of books on the Holocaust, another half a shelf on Islam, the remaining shelf and a half with books on Sufism and Shi'ism.

That's right. Half a shelf only of books representating mainstream Islam, but yet so many books on the Holocaust. I just found that interesting. But one of the books on the Holocaust shelves was the Diary of Anne Frank--the diary of a young Jewish girl who was in hiding during Nazi occupation. It's pretty much a staple of the public school curriculums here, but one of my friends informed me that it was deliberately not taught at the local Islamic school.

When I asked her why, she told me that the administration of the school did not want to encourage sympathy!!

Sympathy for whom, you wonder? Naturally, sympathy for Jews. It's an answer which thoroughly disgusted me. True injustice is when neither side is capable of viewing the other as human beings. When Palestinians--really, any Muslims in fact--stop seeing Israelis--or really any Jews--as human beings, they become in some sense an oppressor. While I don't mean to deny cruelty done to Palestinians, to seek enmity rather than peace is, in my opinion, nothing other than evil, and a route to more violence, and more oppression.

Peace comes from justice--we are all going to be judged by God.

And I just wanted to express my concern for young Muslims who might be so inclined to develop such an animosity towards a group of people who have suffered grievously as well. And if society cannot pause to reflect on an evil history and condemn it in the strongest terms, the same society dooms itself to suffer from the same wickedness. I mean to say that Muslims in America are in danger of being persecuted similarly, and have therefore another reason to remember, and remind the world, and also to stand up for justice in all forms.