In a Middle East fractured by ideologies, armed conflicts, and identity-driven hatreds, a singular voice rises: that of traditionalist interfaith reconciliation.
Against both imported models and Islamist distortions, the vision defended by Ashteret proposes a third way — deeply rooted in religious texts, yet oriented toward peace.
Escaping the Confusion
For decades, the Arab world has swung between two extremes: on one side, political Islamism that confuses faith with power; on the other, a secularism perceived as foreign to local societies.
Religious minorities, critical thinkers, and moderates find themselves trapped between these two poles.
Meanwhile, the West often fails to distinguish between Islam and Islamism, between spiritual tradition and authoritarian ideology.
As Olga Kirschbaum-Shirazki points out in her landmark essay (Traditionalist Interfaith Reconciliation: A Necessity for Regional Peace), as long as the region remains captive to an Islamist logic rooted in “replacement theology” — the belief that only Islam is legitimate and other religions are tolerated only under subjugation — there can be neither durable peace nor equal coexistence.
She calls for an internal rupture, arising from within Islam itself, based on its own traditions, to recognize the legitimacy of the religious “other.”
The Abraham Accords: A Turning Point
The Abraham Accords represent a decisive shift in the contemporary history of the Middle East.
Far more than simple diplomatic treaties, they embody the emergence of a non-conquering, traditionalist Islam capable of recognizing the legitimacy of Israel and Judaism based on Islamic theological references.
The United Arab Emirates offer the clearest example of this new approach.
This is not Westernization: it is an internal reinterpretation.
Just as Vatican II allowed Christians to move beyond replacement theology, certain Muslim states are beginning to redefine their relationship with other faiths.
This is not a cosmetic process; it is political, educational, and spiritual.
Kirschbaum-Shirazki stresses that this shift does not deny tradition, but selectively draws from it to promote peace.
It means moving beyond fundamentalism without falling into relativism, and building a model where religious identities can flourish freely without seeking domination.
Ashteret’s Role: Mediator, Bridge-Builder, Watchful Voice
Ashteret positions itself at the heart of this transformation.
By creating a multilingual platform and defending a rooted secularism alongside a moderate traditionalism, the association offers an intellectual, cultural, and educational framework to support this evolution.
It addresses Arab peoples and European societies alike, minorities and majorities, believers and lucid secularists.
Far from moral relativism and empty slogans, Ashteret proposes:
- Revaluing religious traditions as levers for coexistence;
- Deconstructing religiously based domination logics;
- Supporting Arab, Jewish, Christian, Kurdish, and Yazidi voices who reject hatred;
- Countering the cultural hegemony of the Muslim Brotherhood and their state sponsors (Iran, Turkey, Qatar).
An Urgent Task for the Middle East… and Europe
Because the struggle is dual: it plays out in the streets of Beirut as well as in the classrooms of Brussels.
It concerns Arab youth, but also European public opinion.
Rejecting amalgams, resisting fanaticisms, and rebuilding an open religious thought is not an academic whim — it is a precondition for future peace.
Traditionalist reconciliation is neither nostalgia nor utopia.
It is a real, credible, and urgent project.
Ashteret embraces this challenge, alongside those who still believe that sacred texts can heal some of the wounds they once helped create.
Today, the real rupture is not between faith and reason.
It is between those who seek to impose, and those who seek to dialogue.
Between those who aim to erase, and those who aim to connect.
Between those who manipulate memory, and those who aspire to think peace humanely.
Ashteret chooses its side: the side of rooted reconciliation, of faith without fanaticism, and of tradition placed at the service of the common good.
It is time to give it voice and strength.