The end of the siege of the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem is the occasion, also for the international dailies, to reflect on the real prospects for peace throughout the Middle East. “Where is the Middle East heading?”, asks for example the Herald Tribune (14/5), in an article in which David M. Malone declares himself rather sceptical about the international peace conference, announced by the USA, Russia, the EU and the UNO and perhaps to be held next summer. “Washington comments Malone seems still involved in seeking a settlement of the conflict with its active participation in the negotiations. It’s a mistaken approach”. This is because, so the author of the article argues, “any reasonable proposal would cause political damage both to Israel and to the Arab world, and would create animosity against the US political class”. The “defeat” of Israeli premier Sharon, after the motion of the Likud, is commented on by Le Monde (14/5), which in a front-page article notes that the vote contrary to the creation of an independent Palestinian state “places the prime minister in a difficult situation, especially in the perspective of an international Conference to relaunch the peace process”. The “humility” of Bethlehem is commented on in turn by Michel Kubler ( La Croix, 13/5), who maintains that the end of the siege of the basilica of the Nativity has, in some sense, a symbolic value for the whole Mid-Eastern question. It is, explains the chief editorialist of “La Croix”, a “strong, but ambiguous symbolism”, because the “gate of Bethlehem” is “a real fortress which has become, against its will, a battleground over the last month” . But the gate of Bethlehem, concludes Kubler, “is first and foremost that of the most paradoxical humility, that of God himself: for Christians it’s there that the incarnation took place. Precisely because this space has been profaned both by the intrusion of the Palestinian fighters and by the aggression of the Israeli army it would need to be purified”. “ A museum for the common catastrophe of the Germans and the Poles” and “ An uncomfortable memory” are the titles of two articles that the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of 15/5 dedicates to the problem of the people forced into exile from their own homeland. The paper takes its cue from the project for a centre against the “ expulsion of peoples” to be established in Berlin; the proposal will be debated in the Bundestag on Thursday, 16 May. In the editorial on the front page of the German daily, we read that “the fate of being forced to abandon the land where one’s forefathers have lived and died for centuries has affected Greeks, Albanians, Estonians, Finns, Poles, Jews and many other peoples”. The same fate has also been shared by “15 million Germans who lost their homes after the second world war”. But, since they belonged to the people that “ had incurred a large part of the guilt for that war, the memory of this episode had been enshrined in a new myth: that of a presumed historic justice. And that’s why so much bitterness is still felt by those directly concerned“. But such feelings are being overcome: “ the signal that reflection on the common loss has in the end led to the abandonment of any thought of revenge” says the paper is important and so too is the announcement that “ there are those who would like an institution of this kind to be established” in Poland, at Wroclaw (the former Breslau). For this, continues the author of the article, “ the appeal of the Polish journalist Adam Michnik should be taken into consideration“ . But what’s important is that “ if the Germans want to keep the memory alive, they should do so in their own country, in Berlin“. The German educational system is becoming one of the main issues of the forthcoming electoral contest, according to the weekly Spiegel of 13/05, which headlines its front cover: “ the fools’ race, the new catastrophe of German education” and dedicates a series of articles to the question. According to Jochen Bölsche, “ after the shock of the PISA survey [on the efficiency of the German educational system] and the Erfurt massacre the catastrophic German educational system is becoming an electoral issue. The reform of the gigantic system, from kindergartens to universities, is long overdue“. The author argues that federal policy “ ignored at least seven epochal social warnings in the last thirty years of the last century” and it lists them: “ An insufficient pressure for the integration of non-German students“, “ the need to provide places for everyone in kindergartens“ “ the role of discipline as a crucial factor for ensuring quality schooling“, “ full-time schooling as an antidote to the errors committed by parents“, “ the most gifted can also learn from the weakest”, “Germany has a need for a new educational culture“, and “ the universities have a need for greater independence and competitiveness“.
