From New York to Baghdad, Madrid to Beirut, talk is rising of a ‘clash of civilizations’ between the West and Islam — no end in sight to the catastrophe in Iraq, war brewing between the US and Iran, Lebanon torn apart again, and still no real Israeli-Palestinian talks. But we know this clash is not about religion or culture. The real cause is politics – the politics of divide-and-rule, on all sides.

This is not the world we want. But it’s the world we’ll end up with, unless we act now. It’s time for the peaceful majority – us – to make a stand. So watch our new ‘Stop the Clash’ video now for a fresh, empowering take on these conflicts, and a concrete first step we can all take today:

According to the UN among others, the Palestinian- Israeli conflict is the driving symbol of this “clash” between Islam and the West. But opinion polls show most people around the world agree that policy is the problem – big majorities everywhere want peace in the Middle East, as do most Israelis and Palestinians. If progress toward peace is made there, it will spread.

So let’s take the first step, and call for REAL Middle East peace talks now.

Tens of thousands of people have already signed the petition and supported an ad that ran on the front page of the Financial Times worldwide and in major Palestinian and Israeli newspapers.

Now we need to raise the pressure, ratcheting up to a major international day of action on June 5th – the 40th anniversary of the
1967 war that began the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. We want to hit every international summit and decision moment from now till then with the same demand. Can you help get us to 50,000 new voices for peace in the next 24 hours?

We agree on what matters most. We all oppose war, tyranny, terror and the killing of innocent civilians. We know these conflicts are caused not by some inevitable culture clash, but by bad politics. The ‘Stop the Clash’ video is a good way to remind friends, family and colleagues of the big picture of all we share – and signing the Real Talks petition is a step every one of us can take.