June 11, 2012

Last week, MPAC President Salam Al-Marayati spoke to about 300 University of California, Los Angeles, students and guests about U.S.-Iran Policy and the roots and remedies to religious violence.

Al-Marayati began by discussing how the U.S. and Iranian positions as counterproductive to resolving the diplomatic crisis between the two countries.

"The U.S. and Iran are speaking past each other, and we the people need to bridge that gap."

Iran and the U.S. have been at a diplomatic impasse for 33 years since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

Al-Marayati also challenged the students to engage in cultural exchanges and dialogues with other Iranian students.

“We cannot only rely on governments," Al-Marayati said. "The only solution to the US-Iranian problem is grassroots diplomacy because if the people begin to engage one another eventually the governments will have to also."

Al-Marayati stressed the importance of a diplomatic solution to the U.S.-Iran issue arguing there are severe consequences to military engagement with Iran, not only for the U.S., but on the whole region.

SEE: "Selecting ‘Options on the Table’ Carefully: The Consequences of a Military Strike on Iran" MPAC's Policy Paper on Iran

Al-Marayati later spoke on a panel that included Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple and Dr. Glen Stassen of Fuller Seminary to discuss religious violence in the Abrahamic religions. The panel emphasized the need for active peacemaking rather than reasons to avoid violence.

“We need to make religion a source of liberation and not coercion,” Al-Marayati said. “The issue is not the texts but the human interpretation of them."