Today was the last day of campaigning before Wednesday's election for all 132 seats in the Palestinian parliament. It's the historically corrupt but now supposedly repentant Fatah party versus the haters of Israel and Judaism (Hamas), with Palestinian Jihad (the hard-core nutballs) boycotting the vote. More here from the New York Times. But however things shake out, calcified attitudes and perceptions must change through an interfaith dialog involving Jews and Muslims, in order to move toward a settlement of the protracted dispute between Palestine and Israel over co-existing homelands for each.

So say Judea Pearl, a UCLA artificial intelligence professor and father of the slain-by-Muslim extremists Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, and Akbar Ahmed, former high commissioner from Pakistan to the U.K., and chair of the Islamic Studies program at American University in Washington, D.C. The two have been conducting town hall-style meetings for the last two-and-a-half years in the U.S., Canada and England, on the underpinnings of a resolution, which they outline in this guest op-ed for The Daily Star of Lebanon titled, "For Jews And Muslims, Time To Find Common Ground." You need to read the whole piece, especially the religious common ground that is articulated. But here are some of the main tenets:

... Jews would like unambiguous statements condemning anti-Semitism and other forms of religious intolerance. Muslim communities need to take a clear moral stand regarding anti-Semitism, whatever their feelings about the politics of the Middle East....Muslims would like to convey to Jews that the religious basis for rejecting anti-Semitism is deeply rooted in Islamic civilization...(and extol) Islam's attitudes toward and practice of democracy, human rights and civil liberties....Here the example of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan....is illuminating. Jinnah was the embodiment of parliamentary democracy and believed in human rights and respect for the law. He achieved the creation of Pakistan in1947, then the largest Muslim nation on earth, without ever breaking the law.

OK, I'll not make any snarky comments about all the madrassas and Islamo-kooks infesting Pakistan now. There are problems there to be sure, but also some hope.

...Jews must be given a clear understanding of where Muslims stand on Israel....Framing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a clash between two legitimate national movements is a crucial step for constructive discussion of the issue....Muslims point out that there is a growing sense of Islamophobia in the West that allows the prophet of Islam and the religion itself to be attacked with impunity....Unfortunately, many Muslims perceive the Islamophobia as a creation of Jews, and there is a conspiracy-theory mindset that tends to blame Jews for the ills of the Muslim world. Jewish leaders must be more active and visible in the fight against Islamophobia. Muslim leaders, in turn, must help dispel unfounded conspiracy theories.

.....on the issue of terrorism, Jews would like to hear Muslim leaders take an unequivocal moral stand, against both the perpetrators of terrorist acts and the ideologues and legitimizers of such acts - in particular, suicide bombings against Israelis. The red line against the targeting of innocent lives cannot be crossed for any grievance.

But an election result Wednesday favoring Hamas will send a very opposite message, and dampen any serious chances for progress. This is really a referendum on whether Palestinians prefer more self-inflicted misery, an ever more pitiful martyr pool, or a real chance at nationhood, even granted that affirming Fatah at the polls guarantees nothing.

Vote smart, Palestine.

And wouldn't it be something to see public - yes, public - interfaith conversations in Jerusalem and Gaza, like those held by Pearl and Ahmed elsewhere?

There may also be a message in here for echo-chamber bloggers and pundits on both sides of the controversy, that in this intractable dispute, continuing to merely focus on the faults and transgressions of the other is not enough. Of course, it's true no progress can occur if the Palestinian suicide attacks continue, and jihadists continue their nihilistic, ill-fated assault on Western culture. But Pearl and Akbar have done well to pinpoint some of the core psychologies which fuel the dispute. For once, understanding and deconstructing feelings and perceptions - specifically those which have erected walls between Muslims and Jews - could actually have real value.

TECHNORATI TAGS: PALESTINE, ELECTIONS, ISRAEL, FATAH, HAMAS, JUDEA PEARL AKBAR AHMED