Miland:This may indicate the wisdom of Zamenhof in wishing the interna ideo to not be separated from the language. The interna ideo may be an essential part of Esperanto if it is to exert an influence for peace.

Exactly. The language is the means by which people will come together and be able to communicate on an equal footing. The coming-togetherness is what's really important.

I must say Erinja somewhat gree and disagree with your post before - no conflict is alike, and I suspect that for the current conflict in North Ireland, the latest combatants came into conflict after being already united by England - their conflict is almost a case of trying to split apart. In the middle east, that split occurred well in the middle ages - in fact, it could be arguable that the decline of the roman empire had a huge effect (since Palestine then sort of lost its way) in the separation of what are now the Muslims and Jews. For solving that problem, any sort of unifying factor is helpful. Of course, the biggest problems are those who have become so narrow minded in their thinking that all they can think about is "serving" their gods through acts of violence or unnecessary radical behaviour, and those who refuse to accept that peace could actually work and thus deny it the chance altogether.

Esperanto likely won't help the situation much, but if it at least promotes some sense of unity between the differing factions, there's always the hope that can spread into something bigger.