Washington Report on Middle East Affairs - October 2021 - Vol. XL No. 6 by American Educational Trust

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TIME FOR THE GOOD GUYS IN THE U.N. TO STOP BEING NICE

DISPLAY UNTIL 11/15/2021

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TELLING THE TRUTH SINCE 1982

Volume XL, No. 6

On Middle East Affairs

INTERPRETING THE MIDDLE EAST FOR NORTH AMERICANS

✮

October 2021

INTERPRETING NORTH AMERICA FOR THE MIDDLE EAST

THE U.S. ROLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE

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America’s Tragic War in Afghanistan—Four Views —John Pilger, Graham E. Fuller, Daniel Larison, Jim Lobe

Staying Off the “Tiger’s Back”—Walter L. Hixson

Time for the Good Guys to Stop Being Nice —Ian Williams

Fatah and the PA: A Crisis of Identity—Jonathan Kuttab

The Killing of Nizar Banat—Asya Abdul-Hadi

Israel’s Nature Increasingly Alienates American Jews —Allan C. Brownfeld

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“Hear O Israel”—Rev. Alex Awad

Tent of Nations Farm Under Attack—Ida Audeh

“Blood for Blood”: On Jenin and Israel’s Fear of an Armed Palestinian Rebellion—Ramzy Baroud

Breaking the Silence Provides Testimonies of Israeli Violence: To What End?—Max Saltman

Gazans Endured COVID-19 and May Attacks. Now They Face a Shortage of Nitrogen Gas —Mohammed Omer

Holy Family Hospital of Bethlehem: The Birthplace of Hope—Delinda C. Hanley

SPECIAL REPORTS

Israel’s Energix Uses U.S. Tax Credits to Install Toxic Solar Panels in Virginia and Palestine—Grant F. Smith

Climate, Water, Peace and Security in the Middle East —Dr. M. Reza Behnam

Israel-Hamas Fighting, Iran Nuclear Agreement Draw Less Congressional Attention—Shirl McArthur

Raging Fires Ignite Political Uproar in Turkey —Jonathan Gorvett

ON THE COVER: Command

Canadian Government Holds Virtual Summits on Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism—Candice Bodnaruk

TALK FROM THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE: END U.S. SUPPORT FOR ISRAELI APARTHEID?

Ideological Underpinnings of the War on Terrorism —Scott Horton

Master Chief Anna Wood assists evacuees disembarking a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Italy, on Aug. 22, 2021. NAS Sigonella is supporting the Department of Defense mission to facilitate the safe departure and relocation of U.S. citizens, Special Immigration Visa recipients and vulnerable Afghan populations from Afghanistan. (PHOTO BY U.S. NAVY PETTY OFFICER 1ST CLASS DANIEL YOUNG VIA GETTY IMAGES)

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(A Supplement to the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs available by subscription at $15 per year. To subscribe, call toll-free 1-888-8815861.)

Other Voices

Compiled by Janet McMahon

The Great Washington Ponzi Scheme in Afghanistan Comes Crashing Down, Juan Cole, www.juancole.com

OV-1

Like it or not, Taliban Is Afghanistan’s True Independence Movement, Eric S. Margolis, www.ericmargolis.com

OV-3

Now Is the Time for a Foreign Policy Overhaul, Gary Sick, www.responsiblestatecraft.org OV-4 Israel’s Lapid Was Right. Anti-Semitism Is a Form of Racism, Editorial, Haaretz

OV-5

Evangelical Support for Israel Is Neither Permanent nor Inevitable, Walker Robins, www.theconversation.com

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After Ohio Primary, Democrats Prepare for More Israel-Related Battles, Ben Samuels, Haaretz

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The African Union, Israel and The Futility of Appeasement, Marwan Bishara, www.aljazeera.com

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Biden Isn’t Withdrawing Troops From Iraq, He’s Relabeling Their Mission, Annelle Sheline, www.responsiblestatecraft.org

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U.S. Foreign Policy Adrift: Why Washington Is No Longer Calling the Shots, Ramzy Baroud, www.ramzybaroud.net OV-12

Sports Apartheid: Israel’s Olympic Team Did not Include a Single Palestinian Citizen of Israel, James North, http://mondoweiss.net

OV-5

He Won Olympic Gold for Israel, But the State Still Wouldn’t Give Him Equal Rights, Mickey Gitzin, Haaretz OV-6

Europe’s Self-Inflicted Irrelevance On the Iran Nuclear Deal, Eldar Mamedov, www.responsiblestatecraft.org

OV-14

How Not to React to Incidents in The Gulf of Oman, Paul R. Pillar, www.nationalinterest.org

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DEPARTMENTS 5 Publishers’ Page 6 letters to the editor 54 WagiNg PeaCe:

Has Authoritarianism Returned to Tunisia?

58 huMaN rights:

Journalists Reﬂect on Uyghur Crisis

59 MusliM aMeriCaN aCtivisM: Lawmakers Request Special

Envoy to Combat Islamophobia 61 arab aMeriCaN aCtivisM:

Zogby Discusses Dark Money in

Elections

62 MusiC & arts:

Oman’s Beauty, Culture Deﬁned in Photos

64 Middle east books revieW 70 the World looks at the Middle east—CARTOOnS

72 other PeoPle’s Mail

74 2021 aet Choir oF aNgels 31 iNdeX to advertisers

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American Educational Trust

Leaving Afghanistan

Publishers’ Page

OCTOBER 2021

AHMED SAID/ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES

support of the United States. We will do likewise across the Middle Hour by hour the unbearable tragedy East—and not just when it’s at the in Afghanistan unfolds. While polls forefront of the global discourse. show that Americans support the withdrawal on a bipartisan basis, the chaos and suffering is nonetheless Remembering Tunisia and hard to swallow. It was also relatively Lebanon easy to predict. Yet, the mainstream With Afghanistan making headlines, media seems astounded by the the crippling situation in Lebanon has mayhem (see pp. 8-13). The media flown under the radar. But the reality is, in part, to blame for the American in the country is bleak. Years of mispublic’s dearth of knowledge about management have led to a situation Kids play a game by candle light in Tripoli on Aug. 23, due to the reality on the ground in power cuts amidst a deepening economic crisis sparking in which basics such as food and fuel Afghanistan. In this issue, Jim Lobe shortages of basic staples in Lebanon. are in short supply, inflation is out of notes that, until recently, the media control and many of the country’s had all but stopped covering the brightest minds are fleeing the counplacement of Palestinians in East country. “The ebb and flow of the coverage try. Meanwhile in Tunisia, the once darling Jerusalem? Would a newsperson ask over the 20 years clearly corresponded to of the Arab Spring, President Kais Saied about the Israeli nuclear weapons prothe ebb and flow of the U.S. troop presence, took dramatic steps, such as suspending gram, or would they only pose leading a fact that reflects how sharply focused the parliament, in what he describes as an questions about Iran’s nuclear intentions? [media] networks were on the role of the effort to root out deep and stifling corruption Would any reporter ask Biden to explain U.S. military in the fighting,” he points out. in the country. Critics charge that he has how aid to Israel is permitted even though “That virtually exclusive focus inevitably afplaced Tunisia back on the road to authorthe assistance violates multiple U.S. laws? fected the ability of viewers to understand itarianism. See pp. 54-55 to hear what exOur guess is, probably not. the Afghan dynamics of the conflict.” Among perts are saying about what is unfolding in those dynamics that went unreported: ramboth Tunisia and Lebanon. pant corruption and the tens of thousands Our Eyes are Fixed on Palestine of Afghan deaths—and even more physical Just like the media only seems to care Other Voices For All and psychological injuries—in one way or about Afghanistan when there’s a bloody This issue’s “Other Voices” supplement is another tied to the meandering 20-year U.S. U.S.-centic storyline, it also fails to convey vital reading for those who want more inforintervention in the country. the day-to-day hardships Palestinians face mation on Afghanistan and other current at the hands of Israel. As a result, most events. While this insert is typically only Americans only hear about Palestinians in available to those who specifically subIt’s Not Only Afghanistan reference to what their militant groups are scribe to it, we occasionally give a free look Of course, it’s not just on the topic of doing to Israel, just like we only hear about at this 16-page treasure to all our readers. Afghanistan that the press fails to inform Afghans in reference to what the Taliban We hope you find the added content worththe American people. It is perhaps moror ISIS are doing to U.S. troops. The sad while and decide to become a regular bidly ironic that as a devastating blast reality is that across Afghanistan and “Other Voices” subscriber. killed more than a 100 Afghans and AmerPalestine—and elsewhere—injustices icans outside the Kabul airport on Aug. 26, caused or facilitated by the U.S. simply go Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was Hope in Bethlehem ignored. This allows our policymakers to in Washington, DC preparing to meet with As we continue to be taken aback by the avoid accountability and continue to recyPresident Joe Biden. The media gathered never-ending flow of bad news, we hope cle the same devastating policies that perat the White House to cover the event you take time to read about the work of Holy petuate violence. While the media is again were told they needed to leave, as the Family Hospital (see pp. 34-35), which is a (understandably) fixated on Afghanistan meeting was postponed due to the events rare source of hope in a Bethlehem that has for (unfortunately) only a short while, we in Afghanistan. But was the assembled been economically devastated by the panwill continue to remain unflinchingly fomedia prepared to ask any tough quesdemic. Just like our generous “angels,” the cused on Gaza, East Jerusalem and the tions? Were they prepared to ask Bennett donors who keep this vital hospital open to West Bank, and call out the everyday— and Biden about recent reports by human Palestinians are proof that everyone can... but profound—injustices taking place, ofrights groups defining Israel as an tentimes with the financial and diplomatic apartheid state, or about the forced disMake a Difference Today! WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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Executive Editor: Managing Editor: Contributing Editor: Contributing Editor: Other Voices Editor: Middle East Books and More Director: Finance & Admin. Dir.: Art Director: Founding Publisher: Founding Exec. Editor: Board of Directors:

DELINDA C. HANLEY DALE SPRUSANSKY WALTER HIXSON JULIA PITNER JANET McMAHON NATHANIEL BAILEY CHARLES R. CARTER RALPH-UWE SCHERER ANDREW I. KILLGORE (1919-2016) RICHARD H. CURTISS (1927-2013) HENRIETTA FANNER JANET McMAHON JANE KILLGORE

Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (ISSN 87554917) is published 7 times a year, monthly except Jan./Feb., March/April, June/July and Aug./Sept. combined, at 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-1707. Tel. (202) 9396050. Subscription prices (United States and possessions): one year, $29; two years, $55; three years, $75. For Canadian and Mexican subscriptions, $35 per year; for other foreign subscriptions, $70 per year. Periodicals, postage paid at Washington, DC and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, P.O. Box 91056, Long Beach, CA 90809-1056. Published by the American Educational Trust (AET), a nonprofit foundation incorporated in Washington, DC by retired U.S. foreign service officers to provide the American public with balanced and accurate information concerning U.S. relations with Middle Eastern states. AET’s Foreign Policy Committee has included former U.S. ambassadors, government officials, and members of Congress, including the late Democratic Sen. J. William Fulbright and Republican Sen. Charles Percy, both former chairmen of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Members of AET’s Board of Directors and advisory committees receive no fees for their services. The new Board of Advisers includes: Anisa Mehdi, John Gareeb, Dr. Najat Khelil Arafat, William Lightfoot and Susan Abulhawa. The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs does not take partisan domestic political positions. As a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli dispute, it endorses U.N. Security Council Resolution 242’s land-for-peace formula, supported by nine successive U.S. presidents. In general, it supports Middle East solutions which it judges to be consistent with the charter of the United Nations and traditional American support for human rights, self-determination, and fair play. Material from the Washington Report may be reprinted without charge with attribution to Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Bylined material must also be attributed to the author. This release does not apply to photographs, cartoons or reprints from other publications. Indexed by ProQuest, Gale, Ebsco Information Services, InfoTrac, LexisNexis, Public Affairs Information Service, Index to Jewish Periodicals, Ethnic News Watch, Periodica Islamica. CONTACT INFORMATION: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs Editorial Office and Bookstore: 1902 18th St. NW, Washington, DC 20009-9062 Phone: (202) 939-6050 • (800) 368-5788 Fax: (202) 265-4574 E-mail: wrmea@wrmea.org bookstore@wrmea.org circulation@wrmea.org advertising@wrmea.org Web sites: http://www.wrmea.org http://www.middleeastbooks.com Subscriptions, sample copies and donations: P.O. Box 91056, Long Beach, CA 90809-1056 Phone: (888) 881-5861 • Fax: (714) 226-9733 Printed in the USA

LetterstotheEditor DRONE WHISTLEBLOWER DOES NOT DESERVE JAIL TIME

In a travesty of justice, a former drone operator, Daniel Hale, has been sentenced to long jail time for exposing the true nature of America’s drone and targeted assassination program. Hale expressed profound remorse for freely participating in the highly flawed program, which resulted in excessive civilian deaths. Drone operators were forced to make split second decisions, resulting in appalling errors. Hale was so horrified by the sheer immorality and criminality of the program that he decided to go public knowing that he risked a jail sentence. Desperate to increase the “kill count” in the “war on terror” (more aptly described as the “war of terror”), CIA operatives would interrogate Afghan villagers to help identify “potential terrorists.” Large numbers of innocent Afghans would be caught up in the dragnet. Informants would be richly rewarded by their U.S. “benefactors.” The U.S. has never contested any of Hale’s disclosures, but in an effort to discourage other whistleblowers the U.S. decided to punish Hale. Prior to his sentencing, Hale made a public statement apologizing to all the hundreds of innocent men, women and children whose lives were aborted. In light of his courage exposing the horrors of the drone program, Hale should not be punished. Hearings should be held by Congress, encouraging other drone operators to testify in the hope of terminating this remote killing program. The anger generated by the slaughter of so many innocent civilians may have turned the tide against American and NATO forces and precipitated their hasty withdrawal and humiliating defeat. Hale has performed a public service by exposing the cruel drone program, which has fueled anger among the victims’ families and is counterproductive in America’s war efforts. Jagjit Singh, Los Altos, CA

WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

REMEMBER THOSE WHO STARTED AND PROFITED FROM WARS

The wars we’re fighting were turned over to big corporations shortly after they were started. Blackwater, Halliburton (former Vice President Dick Cheney’s company), Kellogg Brown & Root and dozens of other companies all played major roles. Blackwater, which was run by Erik Prince, set up the military and mercenary armies that cost the U.S. taxpayers in the billions. The book Blackwater explains all of this; these wars are nothing but money-making outfits for big corporations spending our tax dollars. The wars we’re fighting have nothing to do with our freedom, and, in fact, make us less safe. We have been lied to for years. Another book, Static, by Amy Goodman (of Democracy Now), wrote about the lies that President George W. Bush and Tony Blair told to the American/British people, along with Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfield, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and the list goes on, to justify going into Iraq. This even though U.N. investigators like Scott Ritter said Iraq had no nuclear weapons. He also wrote a book about this, Iraq Confidential: The Untold Story of the Intelligence Conspiracy to Undermine the U.N. and Overthrow Saddam Hussein. Barbara Gravesen, Lady Lake, FL

A GIRL, A FISH AND PALESTINIAN RESILIENCE

The cover of the August/September Washington Report showed 8-year-old Nana Al-Akkad from Khan Younis in Gaza. With a restrained smile, she holds a jar with a fish she rescued from her home that was damaged during an 11day Israeli attack. Her picture stood out amid the headlines on the cover: “Home Invasions, a Humdrum Routine for Israeli Soldiers,” “U.S. Shields Israel at U.N.,” and “Israel’s Racist Family Separation Law,” among others. Yet, it was the face of that young girl that demanded the most attention. OCTOBER 2021

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In that child I saw trust and conagainst the Palestinian Arabs’ conKEEP THOSE CARDS AND LETTERS fidence, an ability to control a bad sistent protests. COMING! day, the resilience to do the possiDr. Thomas R. Stauffer’s estiSend your letters to the editor to the Washington Report, P.O. Box 53062, Washington, DC 20009 ble in a world of the impossible. mate of the cost of the United or e-mail <letters@wrmea.org>. Her tight lipped subdued smile States’ support of the Zionist proand bright eyed directness gave ject and the ongoing conflict is docunqualified belief in a future of hope led hostage situation at the time, Reagan umented in detail in the Washington by young people united to never give in was elected instead. Report only through 2002. The estimate to the bullying, killing and destruction imI hope that any “fresh look from hisdoes not include the cost of the loss of posed by Israel. It promised that the tory” at Jimmy Carter will include these Americans, Palestinians, Israelis, Lebyoung will save what is dear and prefacts. anese, Jordanians, peacekeepers’ lives, cious to their future. Doris Rausch, Tullahoma, TN and the many others who have died due The look says, “This is what I can do to the conflict. FOLLOW-UP ON CLAIMS MADE IN without weapons and with so few adults There was no error in my letter to the ARTICLE ON VACCINE ACCESS who will listen. I can save what is imporWashington Post requiring a “correction.” Rosemarie M. Esber’s May 2021 article, tant—life, the life of the ornamental fish I The statements in my letter were sup“The Washington Post Redacted Facts rescued from my home while for 11 days ported by numerous published sources, About Israel’s Destruction of COVID-19 it was being bombarded by the Israeli atwhich I posted in the article’s comments Clinics,” certainly raises serious questack on Gaza.” section. I refer Mr. DeSylva and other tions regarding the paper’s “correction” Doris Norrito, Largo, FL readers to the comments section and to to her letter. However, serious errors in the supporting links in my article published JIMMY CARTER AND CAMP the article make me wonder if there by the Washington Report. ■ DAVID’S PROMISES might be more to the story than Re: “Rehabilitating Jimmy Carter’s Midmeets the eye in the article. dle East Policy,” by Walter L. Hixson in Specifically, the British did not the August/September issue. promise in the Balfour DeclaraThe Camp David Accords, negotiated tion to facilitate Zionist immigraby Jimmy Carter, Anwar Sadat and Mention to Palestine, and $3 trillion achem Begin were a two-pronged effort: grossly exceeds all estimates I 1) establish peace between Israel and have seen of historical U.S. aid Egypt, and 2) resolve the Israeli-Palestinto Israel. Consequently, it would ian conflict. Unfortunately, the success of be of interest to know specifithe first effort mitigated against the succally what the Post believes is cess of the second. Egypt had been a incorrect in her letter’s assertion large factor in pushing Israel to grant the that Israel has destroyed testing Palestinians a state but, when it got what sites to prevent Palestinians it wanted (return of the Sinai Desert from from getting coronavirus tests Israel), it abandoned its support for the and vaccines. Palestinians. Gregory DeSylva, Rhinebeck, Still, all might have been well had IsNY rael honored its agreement for autonomy Rosemarie M. Esber’s refor the Palestinians. But this has not sponse: been the first time that Israel violated its The Balfour Declaration, which OTHER VOICES is an optional 16-page suppleagreements, starting with its promise to was included in the Palestine ment available only to subscribers of the Washingthe U.N. to grant equal rights and priviMandate, was a first step in ton Report on Middle East Affairs. For an additional leges to the Palestinians, and to adopt a achieving the Zionist’s goal of a $15 per year (see postcard insert for Washington constitution (which it cannot do without Jewish majority state in PalesReport subscription rates), subscribers will receive granting equal rights to all inhabitants, or tine. As Dr. Ann M. Lesch states: else be seen as the apartheid country it “From the start, the movement Other Voices inside each issue of their Washington is). Additionally, Israel has continued to sought to achieve a Jewish maReport on Middle East Affairs. violate the provisions of the Geneva jority in Palestine and to establish Back issues of both publications are available. Conventions and almost all of the 30 Ara Jewish state on as much of the To subscribe telephone 1 (888) 881-5861, fax ticles of the Universal Declaration of land as possible. The methods in(714) 226-9733, e-mail circulation@wrmea. org>, Human Rights. It is possible that, had cluded promoting mass Jewish or write to P.O. Box 91056, Long Beach, CA 90809Carter been re-elected, he would have immigration.” The British occupressured Israel to live up to its obligapiers facilitated Jewish immigra1056. tions, but mainly because of the Iran tion into Mandate Palestine OCTOBER 2021

WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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Four Views

In this handout image provided by the Ministry of Defense, the British armed forces work with the U.S. military to evacuate eligible civilians and their families out of the country on August 21, 2021 in Kabul, Afghanistan.

The Great Game of Smashing Countries By John Pilger AS A TSUNAMI of crocodile tears engulfs Western politicians, history is suppressed. More than a generation ago, Afghanistan won its freedom, which the United States, Britain and their “allies” destroyed. In 1978, a liberation movement led by the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) overthrew the dictatorship of Mohammed Daoud Khan, the cousin of King Zahir Shah. It was an immensely popular revolution that took the British and Americans by surprise. Foreign journalists in Kabul, reported the New York Times, were surprised to find that “nearly every Afghan they interviewed said [they were] delighted with the coup.” The Wall Street Journal

John Pilger is an award-winning Australian war correspondent, documentary filmmaker and author based in London. He can be reached through his website <www.johnpilger.com>. © Counterpunch 8

reported that “150,000 persons...marched to honor the new flag…the participants appeared genuinely enthusiastic.” The Washington Post reported that “Afghan loyalty to the government can scarcely be questioned.” Secular, modernist and, to a considerable degree, socialist, the government declared a program of visionary reforms that included equal rights for women and minorities. Political prisoners were freed and police files publicly burned. Under the monarchy, life expectancy was 35; one in three children died in infancy; 90 percent of the population was illiterate. The new government introduced free medical care. A mass literacy campaign was launched. For women, the gains had no precedent; by the late 1980s, half the university students were women, and women made up 40 percent of Afghanistan’s doctors, 70 percent of its teachers and 30 percent of its civil servants. So radical were the changes that they remain vivid in the memories of those who benefited. Saira Noorani, a female surgeon who fled Afghanistan in 2001, recalled: Every girl could go to high school and university. We could go where we wanted and wear what we liked...We used to go to cafes and the cinema to see the latest Indian films on a Friday...it OCTOBER 2021

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America’s Tragic War in Afghanistan

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PHOTO BY AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

gressive Afghan government and the rights of Afghan women all started to go wrong when the mujahideen started could go to hell. winning...these were the people the West supported. Six months later, the Soviets made their fatal move into For the United States, the problem with the PDPA government Afghanistan in response to the American-created jihadist threat was that it was supported by the Soviet Union. Yet it was never on their doorstep. Armed with CIA-supplied Stinger missiles and the “puppet” derided in the West, neither was the coup against celebrated as “freedom fighters” by Margaret Thatcher, the muthe monarchy “Soviet backed,” as the American and British press jahideen eventually drove the Red Army out of Afghanistan. claimed at the time. Calling themselves the Northern Alliance, the mujahideen were President Jimmy Carter’s Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance, dominated by war lords who controlled the heroin trade and terlater wrote in his memoirs: “We had no evidence of any Soviet rorized rural women. The Taliban were an ultra-puritanical faccomplicity in the coup.” tion, whose mullahs wore black and punished banditry, rape and In the same administration was Zbigniew Brzezinski, Carter’s murder but banished women from public life. National Security Adviser, a Polish émigré and fanatical antiIn the 1980s, I made contact with the Revolutionary Associacommunist and moral extremist whose enduring influence on tion of the Women of Afghanistan, known as RAWA, which had American presidents expired only with his death in 2017. tried to alert the world to the suffering of Afghan women. During On July 3, 1979, unknown to the American people and Conthe Taliban time they concealed cameras beneath their burqas to gress, Carter authorized a $500 million “covert action” program to film evidence of atrocities, and did the same to expose the brutaloverthrow Afghanistan’s first secular, progressive government. ity of the Western-backed mujahideen. “Marina” of RAWA told This was code-named by the CIA Operation Cyclone. me, “We took the videotape to all the main media groups, but The $500 million bought, bribed and armed a group of tribal they didn’t want to know....” and religious zealots known as the mujahideen. In his semi-offiIn 1996, the enlightened PDPA government was overrun. The cial history, Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward wrote that Prime Minister, Mohammad Najibullah, had gone to the United the CIA spent $70 million on bribes alone. He describes a meetNations to appeal for help. On his return, he was hanged from a ing between a CIA agent known as “Gary” and a warlord called street light. Amniat-Melli: “I confess that [countries] are pieces on a chessboard,” said Gary placed a bundle of cash on the table: $500,000 in oneLord Curzon in 1898, “upon which is being played out a great foot stacks of $100 bills. He believed it would be more impressive game for the domination of the world.” than the usual $200,000, the best way to say we’re here, we’re The Viceroy of India was referring in particular to Afghanistan. serious, here’s money, we know you need it...Gary would soon A century later, Prime Minister Tony Blair used slightly different ask CIA headquarters for and receive $10 million in cash. words. Recruited from all over the Muslim world, America’s secret “This is a moment to seize,” he said following 9/11. “The Kaleiarmy was trained in camps in Pakistan run by Pakistani intellidoscope has been shaken. The pieces are in flux. Soon they will gence, the CIA and Britain’s MI6. Others were recruited at an Issettle again. Before they do, let us re-order this world around us.” lamic College in Brooklyn, New York—within sight of the doomed Twin Towers. One of the recruits was a Saudi engineer called Osama bin Laden. The aim was to spread Islamic fundamentalism in Central Asia and destabilize and eventually destroy the Soviet Union. In August 1979, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul reported that “the United States’ larger interests...would be served by the demise of the PDPA government, despite whatever setbacks this might mean for future social and economic reforms in Afghanistan.” Read again the words above I have italicized. It is not often that such cynical intent is spelt out as clearly. The U.S. was Afghan female students walk in downtown Kabul in 1981. The Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan at the saying that a genuinely pro- end of December 1979. OCTOBER 2021

WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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On Afghanistan, he added this: “We will not walk away [but ensure] some way out of the poverty that is your miserable existence.” Blair echoed his mentor, President George W. Bush, who spoke to the victims of his bombs from the Oval Office: “The oppressed people of Afghanistan will know the generosity of America. As we strike military targets, we will also drop food, medicine and supplies to the starving and suffering....” Almost every word was false. Their declarations of concern were cruel illusions for an imperial savagery “we” in the West rarely recognize as such. In 2001, Afghanistan was stricken and depended on emergency relief convoys from Pakistan. As the journalist Jonathan Steele reported, the invasion indirectly caused the deaths of some 20,000 people as supplies to drought victims stopped and people fled their homes. Eighteen months later, I found unexploded American cluster bombs in the rubble of Kabul which were often mistaken for yellow relief packages dropped from the air. They blew the limbs off foraging, hungry children. In the village of Bibi Maru, I watched a woman called Orifa kneel at the graves of her husband, Gul Ahmed, a carpet weaver, and seven other members of her family, including six children, and two children who were killed next door. An American F-16 aircraft had come out of a clear blue sky and dropped a Mk82 500-pound bomb on Orifa’s mud, stone and straw house. Orifa was away at the time. When she returned, she gathered the body parts. Months later, a group of Americans came from Kabul and gave her an envelope with 15 notes: a total of $15. “Two dollars for each of my family killed,” she said. The invasion of Afghanistan was a fraud. In the wake of 9/11, the Taliban sought to distance themselves from Osama bin Laden. They were, in many respects, an American client with which the administration of Bill Clinton had done a series of secret deals to allow the build10

ing of a $3 billion natural gas pipeline by a U.S. oil company consortium. In high secrecy, Taliban leaders had been invited to the U.S. and entertained by the CEO of the Unocal company in his Texas mansion and by the CIA at its headquarters in Virginia. One of the dealmakers was Dick Cheney, later George W. Bush’s Vice President. In 2010, I was in Washington, DC and arranged to interview the mastermind of Afghanistan’s modern era of suffering, Zbigniew Brzezinski. I quoted to him his autobiography in which he admitted that his grand scheme for drawing the Soviets into Afghanistan had created “a few stirred up Muslims.” “Do you have any regrets?” I asked. “Regrets! Regrets! What regrets?” When we watch the current scenes of panic at Kabul airport, and listen to journalists and generals in distant TV studios bewailing the withdrawal of “our protection,” isn’t it time to heed the truth of the past so that all this suffering never happens again?

America Leaves Afghanistan, and the Regional Geopolitics Take Over By Graham E. Fuller THE FINAL END of the government in Kabul is at hand as the inexorable logic of regime collapse gains momentum. It seems more of a surprise to current policymakers than to those many observers with a long-time familiarity with the country’s dynamics. It will not be pleasant to watch, but it has long been inevitable given the utterly unrealistic ambitions and poor policy execution that Washington has maintained in Afghanistan. Unfortu-

Graham E. Fuller is a former senior CIA official and author of numerous books on the Muslim World. His first novel is Breaking Faith: A novel of espionage and an American’s crisis of conscience in Pakistan, followed by BEAR —a Novel of Eco-Violence in the Canadian Northwest. © Responsible Statecraft

WAshiNgtoN REPoRt oN MiddlE EAst AFFAiRs

nately, those darker, but more insightful views on the entire enterprise have long been largely stifled by our media. The neo-imperialist neoconservatives all argue that the American departure and the subsequent collapse of the Kabul government are deeply destructive to American “credibility” as a superpower in the world. The underlying ideology of this view is of course the cherished concept that the United States must serve as global policeman everywhere and that a failure to do so is a sign of weakness and decline. This line of thinking is precisely backwards: it is the overall decline of America domestically and geopolitically that is the telltale sign of its deeper weakness; there is an increasing international belief that the United States is living inside a fantasy bubble of denial about maintaining its global hegemony. If the 20-year U.S. military presence in Afghanistan had actually ever shown any serious advancement toward concrete goals, that would be one thing. But the neocons are ever content to throw good money after bad in the blind pursuit of hegemony—even in the very heart of “the graveyard of empires.” On a human level, of course, it indeed matters what fate the Afghans will meet under a new Taliban government. The Afghan people have been suffering under repeated and constant warfare and military intervention since 1978, starting with a domestic coup by Afghan communists, followed by the Soviet invasion, the subsequent years of fighting to expel the Soviets by U.S.-supported mujahideen groups, the subsequent civil war among the mujahideen that followed and to which the Taliban finally put an end by restoring national order and discipline— with a rough and ready kind of justice. But Washington’s focus on Afghanistan in reality has had very little to do with establishing a better and more equitable society for the Afghans. The ostensible impulse for the American invasion was nominally to destroy the presence of alQaeda in Afghanistan. But the deeper and more profound reason for the American invasion and lengthy occupation was more pointedly to establish a military and oCtoBER 2021

MARCUS YAM / LOS ANGELES TIMES

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A small group of Afghans eat their meal quietly outside of their vehicle which they also use to live in temporarily, in the corner of a parking area near the makeshift camps at Shahr-eNaw Park in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 14, 2021. geopolitical foothold in Central Asia on the very borders of Russia and China. That ambition was never nakedly articulated but was clearly understood by all regional forces. The “nation-building and humanitarian” aspects of the American occupation were largely window dressing to cover Washington’s geopolitical ambitions. Those ambitions still have not fully died among American neocons and liberal interventionists. Like it or not, a key feature of the new “post-American geopolitics” will be a return to a much more historically normal state of global affairs in which multiple players are engaged. And in this case, multiple players will also have the greatest influence over Afghanistan’s future—probably for the better. The reality is that all three countries which the U.S. perceives as enemies—Iran, Russia and China— actually all share with Washington the same major goals for Afghanistan’s future: stability and an end to bloodshed and jihadism. But all three of these countries also unite in vigorous opposition to American intervention and dominance in Afghanistan and Central Asia. While in another era, the Taliban might have cared little about the views of these neighboring countries, today Central Asia is a different place. Afghanistan is in tatters, and no matter what the social poliOCTOBER 2021

cies of the Taliban are, they also need to restore the country to a minimal degree of prosperity and peace. China, in particular, has the greatest political and economic leverage to assist in Afghanistan’s future. Afghanistan figures in China’s ambitious and visionary plan of the Belt and Road Initiative across Central Asia in a re-creation of an economically linked Central Asia that has not been so linked since the days of Genghis Khan. China will make great efforts to try to ensure that the Taliban maintain stability and avoid any support to radical movements which not only hugely affect China in Xinjiang, but also affect Russia in the Caucasus and Central Asia, and the security of Shi’a Iran—a regular target of Sunni jihadi ideology. None of these states—Iran, China, or Russia—wishes to see the United States establish itself militarily in the heart of Central Asia and were thus happy to see Washington floundering in that occupation. Once U.S. military influence is removed from the heart of Central Asia, a prosperous and stable Afghanistan is in the interest of all. Pakistan remains something of a wild card, but Pakistan’s dominant interest is to ensure that its eastern border with Afghanistan remains safe and friendly. Especially since Pakistan’s western neighbor—India—poses the greatest

strategic threat to Islamabad. Pakistan cannot tolerate unfriendly powers on both borders. It will do whatever it takes to maintain decent working relations with Kabul. And, of course, China has Pakistan’s back as a key link in the Eurasian Belt and Road Initiative. Pakistan must also be attentive to the Pashtun character of the Taliban movement; after all, there are more Pashtuns in eastern Pakistan than there are in Afghanistan itself. And resurgent Pashtun nationalism poses a constant concern to Islamabad as well. Washington will have to lick its wounds in departing Afghanistan in defeat after 20 feckless years of occupation but cannot persist in a costly and losing policy. And only a fool would try to ward off the geopolitical power of Russia and China, and even Iran, across the vast stretches of Eurasia. Furthermore, while Washington has essentially employed military instruments to attempt to impose its hegemony around the world, Moscow and Beijing are working the diplomatic route— with far greater success. What might be the nature of a Talibandominated government in Afghanistan? Hard to say, but this is a new generation of Taliban leaders who have traveled, seen the world, and dealt with many other governments. One would hope they have learned something in the course of their exile; they have little other option than to recognize the reality of now living in an international environment of mainly non-Muslim powers. And if Taliban social policies are distasteful to Americans, they might wish to reflect upon Saudi Arabia in the same context. Of course, Riyadh and Saudi money still seem to enjoy vast influence in Washington that the Taliban cannot exert. President Biden deserves at least some measure of credit in finally closing the spigots on U.S. blood and treasure in Afghanistan after 20 years. Hopefully, it is the beginning of a sign of greater realism on the part of Washington’s geopolitical thinkers about the new limits of American power. And the need for a far more modest vision of what truly comprises American interests.

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Biden’s Prudent Decision To Withdraw From Afghanistan By Daniel Larison FREDERICK KAGAN, [from the American Enterprise Institute, in his New York Times op-ed] predictably seizes on the news of rapid Taliban advances in Afghanistan to argue that U.S. forces should have stayed longer and in larger numbers: Adopting a more judicious approach would have required Mr. Biden to accept two things in addition to a longer timeline: the temporary deployment of additional U.S. forces and the slightly increased risk of American casualties. If Biden had done things Kagan’s way, it would have guaranteed more American casualties and the inevitable demands for escalation that would follow. What Kagan describes as a “responsible” withdrawal would have irresponsibly exposed American forces to renewed attacks on the off chance that keeping them there a little longer would have somehow prevented the wholesale collapse of the Afghan government’s forces later on. If the only thing that U.S. troops were doing there was delaying the inevitable, keeping them there until next year wouldn’t change anything. Biden understood that the choice was between getting out or being stuck there with no end in sight, and he rightly judged that the former was better for the U.S. The fact that the Afghan government lost so much ground so quickly proves that the U.S. failed in building a functioning state that could fend for itself. Our government has been propping up this state for all these years at considerable expense, and it turns out that the structure was bound to collapse as soon as we left. Far from showing the folly of Biden’s de-

Daniel Larison, formerly a columnist for The American Conservative, now posts on Eunomia, a daily blog on foreign policy and international affairs, <daniellarison.sub stack.com>. ©Eunomia 12

cision, it confirms the wisdom of it. A state as rickety and incapable of protecting itself as this one would not have been saved by delaying withdrawal a few more months or even years. Under those circumstances, Biden’s withdrawal was not hasty. If anything, it took longer than it should have. None of the hawks complaining about the withdrawal has good answers to a few basic questions. What vital interests are served by keeping troops in Afghanistan for a longer period of time? If the Afghan government isn’t even putting up a fight to defend itself, what difference would a few thousand more American troops for a few more months have made to the final outcome? Why should the U.S. assume any responsibility for defending a government when their own forces won’t fight for it? Kagan continues: And then there are the optics of an American retreat. Mr. Biden has repeatedly emphasized the importance of getting U.S. forces out the door, because he was tied to the peace deal and lest U.S. soldiers come under Taliban attack. Is this really the type of fearful, defeatist message a global leader should be sending out to the world? Acknowledging reality is neither fearful not defeatist. Keeping U.S. forces in Afghanistan any longer would have meant more dead Americans in a desultory war that should have ended many years earlier. Biden concluded that it was not worth the risk to the remaining U.S. troops to keep them there, and he was right. Ending our involvement in an unwinnable war is prudent statecraft. Of course, someone like Kagan wouldn’t know prudence if it were staring him in the face. Biden deserves credit for doing it when he must have known that he would face endless caterwauling from the hawkish ideologues that created the failed policy that he is now terminating. It doesn’t say much for our political culture that it takes far more political courage to end a pointless war than it does to start one, but it is fortunate that Biden had the courage to make the right

WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

decision and not be cowed by the usual suspects in Washington. A lot of Americans, myself included, wrongly believed that the war in Afghanistan was necessary for our security for a long time. That was a myth that the government cultivated and one that I and many others bought into for far too long. Once it becomes clear that the war is not necessary for U.S. security, the argument for keeping U.S. troops in harm’s way there falls apart. The U.S. set goals in Afghanistan that were too ambitious and the costs of pursuing those goals exceeded what the public was willing to support over the long term. The next time that the U.S. is tempted to try to build a new state in a country that it doesn’t understand very well, we should remember the utter failure of the war in Afghanistan and realize that we do not know how to do this and we never will.

Three Major Networks Devoted a Full Five Minutes to Afghanistan in 2020 By Jim Lobe IF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT was caught up short by the dramatic denouement of its 20-year war in Afghanistan, viewers of the three major networks must have been taken entirely by surprise. Out of a combined 14,000-plus minutes of the national evening news broadcast on CBS, ABC and NBC, a grand total of five minutes were devoted to Afghanistan, according to Andrew Tyndall, editor of the authoritative Tyndall Report, which has monitored and coded the networks’ nightly news each weekday since 1988. Those five minutes, which covered the February 2020 Doha agreement between the U.S. and the Taliban, marked a 19year low for Afghanistan coverage on the

Jim Lobe served as chief of the Washington bureau of Inter Press Service. He covered the neoconservative movement’s influence on U.S. foreign policy in his popular weblog, LobeLog.com. © Responsible Statecraft

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three networks’ newscasts. They compared to a high of 940 minutes the networks devoted to Afghanistan in 2001, all of it following 9/11 and the subsequent U.S. intervention. While the pathetic amount of coverage of the conflict last year can be partially explained by the virtually total dominance of the news agenda by the COVID-19 pandemic, the three networks devoted a total of only 362 minutes to Afghanistan in the preceding five years, or just two hours of coverage per network, or an average of only 24 minutes per network per year. “The network nightly newscasts have not been on a war footing in their coverage of Afghanistan since 2014,” Tyndall wrote on his blog on Aug. 18, referring to the last year of the surge of troops initiated by Obama in his first term. “For the last seven years they have treated the role of the military there as an afterthought, essentially a routine exercise in training and support, generating little excitement, no noticeable jeopardy and few headlines.” Indeed, as much as the networks and other mainstream media are currently focused on the fate of Afghans who worked with the U.S. and allied forces and may now be trying to flee the country, very little of the network coverage over the past 20 years addressed the plight of Afghan soldiers and civilians compared to that accorded to U.S. soldiers. In an interview with Responsible Statecraft, Tyndall estimated that 95 percent of network coverage of the fighting itself after 2002 was devoted to the U.S. role. While the cable news networks often receive more attention, and more Americans use the internet to seek information about world events, the three evening network news shows collectively remain the single most important source of international news in the United States. On weekday evenings, an average of about 20 million U.S. households tune in to national news on CBS, ABC or NBC— roughly four times the number of households who rely on the major cable stations—Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN for their news (as opposed to commentary) during prime time. Roughly two million OCTOBER 2021

more people are estimated to watch the network news via the internet, according to Tyndall. Moreover, what appears on the national networks often contributes heavily to the overall news agenda for other U.S. media organizations. “Because network news shows are the most mainstream of the mainstream media,” Tyndall noted, “they can be used as a proxy for the news judgment of mainstream media more generally.” Except for the 1991 Gulf War, the post9/11 Afghan and Iraq invasions and occupations, followed by the George W. Bush’s “surge” of troops in Iraq in 2007, and Obama’s “surge” in Afghanistan in his first term, foreign news has generally been in decline as the networks, as well as newspapers (many of which have folded due to sharp declines in advertising revenue), have closed bureaus to cut costs. In 2018, network coverage from overseas fell to the lowest point since at least 1988 (1,092 minutes out of a total of 14,354 minutes of newscasts). 2019 saw a slight uptick, but then, overwhelmed by COVID-related news, the networks hit rock bottom in news from abroad at 720 minutes—or five percent of all evening network news coverage—in 2020 of which that five minutes of Afghanistan coverage constituted 0.7 percent. In that respect, the decline in coverage of Afghanistan tracked a much broader trend of network and mainstream media coverage of—or disinterest in—the world outside the United States. According to Tyndall, network news coverage of Afghanistan has gone through four phases. The first, when coverage was heaviest, was the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and the subsequent U.S. and allied invasion. “Phase Two, stretching from 2003 through 2008,” Tyndall wrote on his blog, “saw Afghanistan presented as a sideshow, overwhelmed by the larger and deadlier invasion of Iraq.” The third phase covered Obama’s surge (to a high of 100,000 U.S. troops in-country) from 2009 to 2014, followed by the fourth phase when the networks withdrew its

coverage as the Pentagon drew down the U.S. military presence. The ebb and flow of the coverage over the 20 years clearly corresponded to the ebb and flow of the U.S. troop presence, a fact that reflects how sharply focused were the networks on the role of the U.S. military in the fighting. That virtually exclusive focus inevitably affected the ability of the networks—and their viewers—to understand the domestic—that is, Afghan— dynamics of the conflict. Dynamics such as the massive corruption and consequent hollowness of the state apparatus established and supported by Washington, the human rights abuses committed by Afghan security forces and allied militias, and the sources of the Taliban’s political support, among other factors that ultimately proved decisive in the events of the past few weeks. These issues weren’t completely ignored by the networks, according to Tyndall who noted that they ran occasional “sidebars” about internal Afghan politics, culture, education, women’s rights and the drug trade, but the time devoted to these stories constituted a fraction of that dedicated to the violence and war, particularly as it involved U.S. ground forces. When ground forces were withdrawn, the networks lost interest, permitting the Pentagon to conduct an air war that drew little notice (much as it has done elsewhere). “For the American networks, ‘war’ means troops on the ground in harm’s way, not use of lethal force remotely by the Pentagon,” Tyndall told Responsible Statecraft. Tyndall noted ironically that the event on which the meager five minutes of network attention were focused on Afghanistan last year—the Doha agreement—actually did offer a viewers a hint of what was to come, although the paucity of even that coverage still made it difficult to see the full implications. “If the Doha talks had been responsibly covered,” he said, “people would’ve understood that the powers that be in the U.S. believed that the leading political actor in Afghanistan was the Taliban, not the government.” ■

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By Walter L. Hixson

An Afghan man walks among the trailer trucks, electronics, vehicles and other equipment discarded by U.S. troops outside the Bagram Airbase, north of Kabul, Afghanistan on May 19, 2021. “ONCE ON THE TIGER’S BACK,” George Ball famously advised about Vietnam in October 1964, “we cannot be sure of picking the place to dismount.” Ignoring this sage advice from a veteran diplomat, President Lyndon Johnson proceeded to leap onto the tiger’s back in a full-scale escalation of the Indochina war. True to Ball’s metaphor, once the United States dismounted the tiger, via the Paris Accords of January 1973, the beast went into a rage. In the wake of the U.S. withdrawal, the fiction known as “South Vietnam” rapidly disintegrated, culminating in the communist takeover in April 1975. The U.S. left behind vast supplies of equipment, state-of-the-art military bases, hundreds of thousands of terrified former allies and refugees, and an embittered U.S. public. Sound familiar? Crucial lessons were readily apparent in the wake of the disas-

History’s Shadows, a regular column by contributing editor Walter L. Hixson, seeks to place various aspects of Middle East politics and diplomacy in historical perspective. Hixson is the author of Architects of Repression: How Israel and Its Lobby Put Racism, Violence and Injustice at the Center of US Middle East Policy and Israel’s Armor: The Israel Lobby and the First Generation of the Palestine Conflict (available from Middle East Books and More), along with several other books and journal articles. He has been a professor of history for 36 years, achieving the rank of distinguished professor. 14

trous war in Vietnam, but instead of learning from history all too many Americans opted for mythology. In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan and Rambo re-mythologized Vietnam as a “noble cause,” as Reagan put it. Rambo asked, “Do we get to win this time?” thus promoting the proverbial stab in the back theory, which held that weakwilled government bureaucrats undermined the war effort and even deliberately left behind Americans missing in action—a complete fabrication with absolutely no basis in fact. Failing to learn the obvious lesson that Vietnam was an unnecessary and extravagant intervention on a poorly chosen battlefield, the United States was poised in a new century to mount the tiger’s back once again for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Launched in 2003, the Iraq War, like Vietnam, was an orgy of lies, defeat and destruction whose final chapter has yet to be fully inscribed.

AMERICA’S LONGEST WAR

The Afghan War, at nearly 20 years in duration becoming America’s longest war, has now ended conclusively and like the Vietnam War it has done so in defeat, humiliation and finger-pointing. Opposition Republicans and the “liberal” media—both utterly incapable of grasping either history or complexity—predictably blame the current administration and intelligence failures. Previous presidents George

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PHOTO BY HAROON SABAWOON/ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES

Staying Off the “Tiger’s Back”

History’s Shadows

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W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump deserve more blame than President Joe Biden, who inherited a failed war and finally got the United States out. As for “intelligence,” it has been obvious for years that the Afghan War was a losing proposition, and many observers have said as much. Like Vietnam, Afghanistan was a thoroughly inhospitable battleground, one that had already proven to be the “graveyard of empires” where Britain and Russia had failed in previous centuries—just as the French had failed in Vietnam in another historical lesson that the U.S. ignored. In Afghanistan, as in Vietnam, the United States engaged in “nation building” and waged much ballyhooed “counterinsurgency warfare,” all the while lavishly funding a series of corrupt and ineffectual governments that were utterly devoid of popular support. Left to their own devices such governments invariably fall fast, whether they are headquartered in Saigon or Kabul. The U.S. suffered more than 20,000 casualties in the failed Afghan War, but the

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military-industrial complex was nonetheless a big winner. The Pentagon received barrels of cash and lots of promotions and prestige even as it orchestrated defeat. Think of the infrastructure, health care and other assistance that might have been provided with the some $2 trillion that the United States squandered in Afghanistan. Even with all the finger-pointing that inevitably comes with defeat, much if not most of the American public recognizes that the Afghan intervention was a lost cause. Many also understand the abject failure of the broader “global war on terror” and of militarism in general, in a world in which issues such as climate change and disease control are, or should be, a far greater priority than attempting to bomb foreign cultures into submission. The end of the Afghan War and the 20year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks offer yet another opportunity to learn from history. We should begin by acknowledging that we brought the war on terror and the conflicts in Iraq and (Advertisement)

Afghanistan onto ourselves. We should acknowledge that the 9/11 attacks came as blowback for a series of interventions going back decades. These intrusions— including the 1953 coup in Iran; enabling of the Israeli occupation and illegal settlement of Palestinian territory; the basing of U.S. troops in the Saudi Arabian holy land; and the repeated pummeling of Iraq killing hundreds of thousands of civilians—all served to victimize, alienate and radicalize much of the Islamic world. Decades of American intervention thus sowed the seeds of the 9/11 attacks. History offers many lessons but only to those who are willing to learn them. At the very least we can hope that Americans will have learned by now, at long last, to adopt a high degree of skepticism about the next war, whether it is with Iran, North Korea or some other foe that we will be told is the root of all evil and must be subdued by righteous American might. When that time comes, try to keep in mind that once on the tiger’s back unpleasant consequences are sure to follow. ■

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United Nations Report

Time for the Good Guys to Stop Being Nice

Afghan security forces on Humvee vehicles move in a convoy at Parakh area in Bazarak, Panjshir province on Aug. 20, 2021, after the Taliban’s stunning takeover of Afghanistan. AS U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL Antonio Guterres predictably and piously intoned, “At this grave hour, I urge all parties, especially the Taliban, to exercise utmost restraint to protect lives and to ensure that humanitarian needs can be met.” Of course he can hardly be blamed for the complete failure of U.S. intelligence and planning that produced this fall. But as an institution, the U.N. has all too often allowed itself to be used as a blue fig-leaf for the naked ambitions of the superpowers, mostly the U.S., and this limp-wristed public handwringing produces the usual results. Delete the Taliban and substitute the Israeli, Moroccan, Syrian or Myanmar military.

U.N. correspondent Ian Williams is the author of UNtold: the Real Story of the United Nations in Peace and War (available from Middle East Books and More). 16

PHOTO BY AHMAD SAHEL ARMAN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

By Ian Williams

The core of the problem is that politicians, particularly in Washington, DC, have a “pushmi-pullyu” attitude to the United Nations. They have starved it of resources over decades to keep it enfeebled and complaisant, and then saddled it with resolutions and mandates it cannot meet but which look good on the domestic front. The 9/11 attacks on the U.S. that precipitated the Western invasion of Afghanistan were a high-water mark for the United States. Already buoyed by the earlier victory over Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War, U.S. military and financial strength were boosted diplomatically and morally by its new role as victim of the al-Qaeda attackers. As a result, Washington could push whatever it wanted at the U.N.; Russia was weak, and China was only on the bottom rungs of the ladder from regional power to rival global hegemon. At this stage of the horror show it is almost unkind to remember that the ensuing invasion of Afghanistan was supported by unanimous U.N. Security Council resolutions. The first Security Council resolution, passed as the smoke from the World Trade Center still permeated midtown, affirmed the U.S. right to respond to the 9/11 attacks, but the end of the year saw Resolution 1386, which was one of all too many such resolutions in recent U.N. history, effectively a free pass for blinkered stupidity in Washington. It authorized an International Security Assistance Force under Western command (as it happened, officially British). It replicated all the errors of, for example, the first Iraq War resolutions, in handing over a mandate to interested parties such as the U.S., while abdicating serious international monitoring and control of the operations. In the end, the sad reality is that the countries that have the power and the wealth to mount such operations rarely have the sophistication and knowledge to implement them. Whatever such skills the Western allies had in the aftermath of victory in 1945 have clearly evaporated in a cloud of hubris. In 2001, the world let slip the hounds of war and said, “Go get al-Qaeda,” and then watched in bemused horror as they savaged Iraq as well, which manifestly had absolutely nothing to do with the World Trade Center—nor even, as became increasing clear, the alleged weapons of mass destruction. In the end, the U.S. predictably threw away whatever moral supremacy it had as temporary victim by attacking Iraq. In fact, in the great struggle against terrorism the U.S. mounted, it was almost chilling to read the reports of Saddam Hussein’s regime to the U.N. Counter-Terrorism Committee, which accurately and distressingly recounted Baghdad’s draconian responses to “terrorism,” which invariably involved shooting the suspects. American Intelligence, in Iraq as in Afghanistan, proved to be an oxymoron, and the hubris that categorized the occupation and remolding of Iraq was an accurate precursor of the chaos on the road to Kabul. Massive corruption by the occupiers and their local allies

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was condoned and enabled by administrators who did not have a clue about the local people. That was eloquently demonstrated by the complete cluelessness of U.S. military intelligence which had no idea of the local deals that Afghan forces had negotiated with the Taliban, until the latter turned up outside Allied offices in Kabul asking for the keys and the manuals for the billions worth of weaponry the Pentagon had just bestowed on them. As we approach the anniversary of 9/11 it is worth reminding that the award-winning movie “The Quiet American” was screened first on Sept. 10, 2001, and then promptly shelved following the events of the next day in case it induced introspective and unpatriotic thoughts about blowback in an American public about to stampede into yet another series of unwinnable wars. Graham Greene’s novel that inspired the film was about an ideologically insulated CIA agent whose naïve but murderous interventions caused mayhem in Vietnam. In reality, the agent was not just dumb, he was deaf and blind, like the many Washington decision makers who followed and who had no conception of the culture and history of the countries they were destroying to save. The parallels were obvious to some, at least. On the face of it, the collapse in Kabul should be a catastrophic blow to Washington’s diplomatic and military prestige across the world. But the U.S., even thus diminished, is still the world’s predominant power. Other countries do not oppose its initiatives, no matter how detached from reality. Even medium powers, like Britain and France, rush to wrestle with whichever tar-baby Washington sics on them. Even for a defeat and evacuation, the U.S. can muster more force and materiel than other countries can for an attack and victory, so it will retain its “leadership” position at the U.N. and in the world, albeit diminished and eroded. It simply reflects power, however, not leadership in any constructive sense. The capricious and conflicting U.S. positions are not conducive to global leadership, nor are Washington’s appeals to principles of humanitarian and international law entirely convincing when accompanied by “small print” in banner headlines “EXCEPT FOR ISRAEL.” While most countries will not go OCTOBER 2021

all the way with the U.S. over Israel, it has been many years since any of them resolutely opposed the lobby-driven Washington policies on the region. This extreme case epitomizes the issue of leadership. One can understand, even while condemning, countries waging wars for domestic policy reasons, but we have just witnessed Europeans making huge sacrifices for American electoral calculations and, in the case of the Kabul debacle, being sacrificed without consultation for American election results. Trump consulted neither the European partners nor the Afghan government in his deal with the Taliban. Biden has equally consummated the deal without consultation with any of the allies or—the U.N. It is not just a question of power, but of purpose. Logically, the Israelis should be very, very worried, but only if they considered themselves a puppet government ready to be abandoned. The Taiwanese are rightfully concerned about the implications for them regarding lines in the sand waiting to be washed away by the currents in Washington, DC. Apart from the expected flood of platitudes that the fall will generate about how violence does not solve anything, about the need for negotiations and so on, it should, but probably will not provoke a discussion of what the U.N. does, what it can do and how it does it. In fact, the Taliban have clearly been on a learning curve watching other well-practiced

practitioners of “Doublespeak.” Milosevic, Myanmar and al-Assad have shown that while you keep talking plausibly, no one will stop you from massacring. Of course, Guterres can hardly be blamed for the complete failure of U.S. intelligence and planning that produced this fall. The diplomats on the Security Council and the Secretariat staff who service them are terrified that they might become “irrelevant” and contort themselves into the strangest shapes to accommodate the wishes of the big powers to produce resolutions, which have all the effect of a mother saying “there, there then,” to a child dying in one of the innumerable “situations” that the Security Council is “seized of.” Former U.N. Human Rights chief Sergio Vieira de Mello was a martyr to such relevance. But it is past time for the U.N. to say no. Another anniversary is Aug. 19, the 18th anniversary of the attack on the U.N. in Baghdad that killed some of the brightest and best in the organization, who had volunteered to try to pull the irons out of the fire where Bush and Blair had put them. Perhaps it is better to have a vetoed resolution that names the guilty, than a vitiated one that evades naming names while preserving the “relevance” and “reputation” of the Security Council. A model resolution when faced with the latest barbarism from Israel, Morocco, Myanmar, etc. should list all current resolutions and insist they be implemented forthwith. ■

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Special Report

Fatah and the PA: A Crisis of Identity

By Jonathan Kuttab

PHOTO BY ABBAS MOMANI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Jibril Rajoub and Mohammad Dahlan were appointed heads of the Preventive Security Forces in the West Bank and Gaza respectively. Other returning fighters were given positions in the different security services, of which there were 17 at one time. In one interview I had with Jibril Rajoub, he indicated to me that while Palestinians from different factions, or no political affiliation, could be members of the new Palestinian government, the security forces had to be manned solely by Fatah loyalists. Palestinian protesters rally in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on July 17, 2021, denouncing the Palestinian As the PNA established Authority (PA) in the aftermath of the death of activist Nizar Banat while in the custody of PA security forces. itself and took on more and more civilian funcFROM ITS EARLY DAYS, Fatah was the largest Palestinian faction tions, jobs within the administration were increasingly doled out to and viewed itself as the leader of the Palestinian national movement. Fatah activists as rewards for their loyalty, as well as to absorb reIt lacked a doctrinaire ideology, as most of the other factions had, turning PLO members and former prisoners into the service of the and included political views that ranged from leftist Marxist, Leninists new government. to conservative Muslim Brotherhood types. The late Yasser Arafat During this whole period, Fatah still maintained its separate idenwas fond of saying it was not a faction or party but a movement. tity. Its members often even carried out activities and attacks on setThe national movement of the entire Palestinian people. tlers and Israelis without approval or coordination with the PalestinAfter Fatah won the first elections held for the Palestinian Naian Authority, which was duty bound under its agreements with Israel tional Authority, the confusion over the identity of Fatah increased to scuttle and prevent such activities. since Arafat was the head of Fatah, the Palestinian Authority, and After the death of Arafat, and with the increasingly disappointing the PLO, to boot. The introduction of Fatah activists, who returned lack of progress of the “peace process” and the eventual suspension with Arafat into the political life of the West Bank, as prominent of the negotiations with Israel, a new situation arose. Activists in members of the new administration, or commanders of security Fatah, who included former prisoners as well as returning PLO fightforces further increased this confusion. In the security services, ers, were getting jobs and positions within the Palestinian Authority, while leaving the actual opposition to the occupation to the PA in the form of negotiations with Israel. The rank and file were increasingly Jonathan Kuttab is a Palestinian human rights lawyer and peace activist. He is the co-founder of the human rights organizations Al Haq, dissatisfied both with the conduct of the “national struggle” and with the Mandela Institute for Political Prisoners, and the Jerusalemthe corruption of reserving powerful positions for the older Fatah based Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence. He is also a leadership. Yet the culture of viewing positions in government as reboard member of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center wards for loyalty, rather than positions of service to the people of in Jerusalem. His latest book, beyond the two-state solution, is available from Middle East Books and More. Palestine was becoming part of the culture of Fatah, even though 18

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there was also a continuing disappointment and critique of such a culture as corrupt. Calls for internal reforms and internal elections within Fatah finally resulted in holding Fatah internal elections in a party conference that was held in Bethlehem—the first in over 13 years. But the results were disappointing. Intensive behind-the-scenes lobbying led to lists that were predetermined by the existing leadership, and which reenforced and retrenched existing power centers. Local district elections for Fatah groups, which led to alternative lists, were ignored and only those who were favored by the existing leadership took positions. Factions in the inner circle of Mahmoud Abbas began forming, perhaps in anticipation of the power struggle that would take place when he either succumbed to his health problems, or old age. No “heir apparent” was either appointed, selected or identified. Apart from the issue of corruption and factional loyalties, two substantive issues

dominated the discussion within Fatah as well as the wider Palestinian population. One was the need for national reconciliation with Hamas and the second was the need to take effective action in confronting the occupation. The rank and file of Fatah, the prisoners, as well as the general population were adamant about the need to achieve reconciliation and a stronger unified position toward Israel. They also clamored for an end to “security coordination” with Israel, but the established leadership was reluctant to end the “security coordination.” Security coordination with Israel was viewed as vital by Israel in preventing what it considered acts of terrorism against it and was viewed as the essential element in the whole agreement between Israel and the PLO, which led to the creation of the PA in the first place. Also, while it repeatedly stated it was in favor of reconciliation with Hamas, many within the Fatah leadership often acted as if Hamas was a greater

The Killing of Nizar Banat By Asya Abdul-Hadi

IT TOOK THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY one month to apologize and confess to the June 24 killing of activist and political opponent Nizar Banat. Palestinian Minister of General Authority of Civil Affairs, Hussein al-Sheikh, described the incident as “very unfortunate” and a “tragedy,” and offered an apology on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. He stressed that “what happened can never be accepted even in a time of chaos, but it may happen in any country in the world. A mistake can be made. Incidents like this can happen in America, France and any other country in the world,” al-Sheikh asserted. In response, Banat’s brother Ghassan, said a mistake may be made in a traffic accident or a medical error, but not by several people beating and torturing his brother to death. Two days before his assassination, Banat criticized the PA and its Ramallah government for its Pfizer vaccination deal with the Israeli occupation. In June the Israeli authorities revealed an agreement with the PA to transfer one million doses of the Pfizer vaccine that were due to expire over to the Palestinians, in exchange for the same number of new doses the Palestinians would receive in the upcoming months. On his Facebook page video, Banat said, “The PA leadership is mercenaries and trades with everything at the expense of the Palestinian cause.” According to Banat’s family, a Palestinian security force of more than 20 broke into the house in the southern district of Hebron, which is an area exclusively under Israeli control; which means that the Palestinian Authority had to coordinate in advance with the Israelis. However, the Palestinian Authority underestimated the local and international reactions to Banat’s assassination. Protests throughout the West Bank called for the departure of Abbas and his government. The PA security forces, including some in plainclothes, cracked down on OcTOber 2021

enemy to it than Israel itself. This state of internal confusion and paralysis came to a head with the recent call for general elections—after a 14-year hiatus. Jibril Rajoub, with Egyptian support, made great steps in obtaining understandings with Hamas that paved the road for the elections to proceed. These included a promise by Hamas not to run a candidate for president, and to agree to holding the elections for the Legislative Council first, rather than simultaneously with the elections for president, as was their previous demand. Presidential decrees were issued which outlined the procedures for elections. Lists began to form. As the elections drew closer, lists had to be filed with the elections board, and those lists revealed the loyalties of many influential members of Fatah as three separate lists associated with Fatah were fielded, and not just one official Fatah list. One list was associated with Mohammad Dahlan, a second with

protesters in Hebron and Ramallah. They assaulted political activists, journalists and human rights activists, and arrested others. The assassination of Banat, who was running under the Al-Karama candidate list for the Legislative Council elections, was the last straw after the PA’s delay of the long-awaited legislative elections. According to a poll last June, 84 percent of Palestinians believe that the Palestinian Authority is corrupt. In an interview with the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi daily, former member of the PLO executive committee, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, criticized the Palestinian political system for not tolerating criticism or disagreement. She said that the prevailing political discourse is negative and does not carry a vision for the future or a path to salvation. In an interview with Al Jazeera, General Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, denounced the Banat killing and described the incident as “a murder and a political assassination of a political opponent and a parliamentary candidate.” He demanded the immediate dismissal and punishment of the perpetrators as well as a date for holding democratic presidential and legislative council elections. The Palestinian Authority has been viewed by most Palestinians as an extension of the Israeli occupation. Both commit human rights violations and arrest political activists. The PA is perceived as the main obstacle to Palestinian popular resistance against the continued Israeli violations against Palestinians in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, as well as the 14-year siege on the Gaza Strip. The questions now are will Palestinian protests lead to the departure and dissolution of the PA and who or what is likely to replace it? ■

Asya Abdul-Hadi, a Palestinian-American translator and interpreter living in Maryland, was born in Gaza. She worked for Newsweek, Al-Hayat, The Independent and ABC News before becoming a Gaza bureau chief for the Jerusalem Media Communications Center.

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While Mahmoud Abbas felt that he was secure as long as the U.S. and the donor countries were pleased with him and his political line, his standing among his own people was constantly sinking, and his legitimacy now rested either on the money of the donors or the good will of Israelis, who granted permits and could ease travel and other restrictions. It did not help that the Israelis openly stated that their policy was to strengthen the PA and that they were giving work and travel permits specifically to strengthen the PA and weaken Hamas. Not only that, but as the PA felt the anger and resentment of many, and that its influence among the population was weakening, it asked Fatah activists to go into the streets, with weapons, and demonstrate a popular support which it no longer had. This created a major dilemma for many Fatah activists who were now totally uncomfortable not only with their sinking popularity, but with a real existential dilemma as to the nature and identity of their movement. Whether they liked it or not, they were now being totally identified with the PA and the security forces, and the failures of these bodies was reflecting directly on them. Yet many of them felt the same disappointment with the PA that the general pop(Advertisement) ulation felt. They also wanted to see elections and democratization, and a prominent role in the fight against the occupation. At the same time, they felt the rivalry of Hamas and the other factions and did not want Palestinian Medical Relief Society, a grassroots to give up the positions, jobs community-baseddPalestinian health organization, founded in and privileges that came with 1979 by Palestinian doctors, needs your support today. being the “ruling party.” Visit www.pmrs.ps While these subterranean trends dominate the thinking of Visit our Website <friendsofpmrs.org> to see our work in action and donate. Fatah activists, few expect any real changes until elections Mail your U.S. Tax-Deductible check to our American Foundation: are held, if at all, or until the passing away of Mahmoud Friends of PMRS, Inc Abbas brings into the open the PO Box 450554 • Atlanta, GA 31145 inevitable struggle for leadership both within Fatah, and the For more information call: (404) 441-2702 or e-mail: fabuakel@gmail.com PA itself. ■

Marwan Barghouti, who is in an Israeli prison, but whose wife headed this second list, together with Nasser al-Qudwa, Yasser Arafat’s cousin, and the third was the official list associated with Abu Mazen himself. No ideological distinctions were apparent between the three lists, and the lists seemed to rest on personal connections, and buying influence. However, all these efforts came to a grinding halt when Abu Mazen cancelled the elections, blaming Israel’s refusal to allow East Jerusalemites to participate in the elections. Most observers, however, think the real reason was his fear that elections may lead to advantages for Hamas over a still fragmented Fatah movement, particularly as it appeared that all three lists combined could not assure a Fatah majority in the upcoming elections. The cancellation of elections was soon followed by the incidents in Sheikh Jarrah, and the attacks on Gaza. The combination of these events led to a plummeting in the reputation of the PA, which was seen as largely ineffectual if not collaborationist as it failed to offer any leadership, guidance, or participation in defending Jerusalem and the al-Aqsa mosque, while Hamas, even from its distant location in Gaza was

able to claim participation in the struggle by shooting its largely ineffectual missiles toward Israel and sustaining heavy losses from the massive Israeli bombardment. The fact that the youths of Jerusalem acted on their own to defend al-Aqsa and Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighborhoods, and that the PA could not provide them with overt support, further deepened the crisis for Fatah, although some of its members doubtlessly joined the protest activities in Jerusalem, though not under the Fatah banner. As criticism of the PA increased, its security forces in the West Bank committed yet another blunder. They came at night into an Israeli-controlled area (with obvious coordination with Israeli forces) and dragged a prominent critic of the PA, Nizar Banat, from his home and beat him to death. In the demonstrations that followed this crime, the PA sent into the streets massive numbers of its security forces, some in civilian clothes, who physically manhandled many prominent Palestinians, including women, and arrested and beat up others. They also fired into the air massively in a show of force. The effort was clearly intended to intimidate opponents, yet it led to even more anger and protests.

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Israel and Judaism

PHOTO CREDIT TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Israel’s Nature Increasingly Alienates American Jews By Allan C. Brownfeld

Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, shows how detainees held at Guantanamo Bay prison were sometimes abused by having a gun held to their head as he holds a copy of his group’s detailed report at a news conference on Aug. 4, 2004 in New York. Ratner’s posthumous memoir describes his reluctant realization that Israel, a country he once loved, was an apartheid state.

AMERICAN JEWS are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that Israel does not share their values, particularly with regard to religious freedom and to judging men and women as individuals, regardless of race, religion or ethnic origin. This is leading to increased alienation from Israel and to a rejection of the idea that it is, somehow, a Jewish “homeland” or a repository of Jewish values. The evidence of shifting views is all around us. Consider a few of the many examples of Jewish Americans who once identified with Israel and no longer do so, as well as evidence on a wider scale of growing separation from the Zionist worldview. The New York Magazine, of June 23, 2021, featured an article by staff writer Abraham Riesman about his grandfather, a lobbyist for Israel who, he says, covered up war crimes such as the massacre and imprisonment of Palestinians. The critical, but loving, article, “My Grandfather the Zionist: He Helped Build Jewish American Support for Israel. What’s His Legacy Now?” says his grandfather,

Allan C. Brownfeld is a syndicated columnist and associate editor of the Lincoln Review, a journal published by the Lincoln Institute for Research and Education, and editor of Issues, the quarterly journal of the American Council for Judaism. OCTOBER 2021

Robert Riesman (1919-2004), was active in promoting Israel in Rhode Island and lobbying that state’s representatives in Washington, DC. The author declares that he no longer believes the myths that the Israeli lobby spreads in the media, and notes that neither do many other younger Jewish Americans. The pro-Israel consensus, he writes, “is in decline.” The mistreatment of Palestinians, he argues, is in violation of Jewish moral and ethical values, and “keeps me up at night.” Riesman, 35, writes: “In my grandfather’s day, Israel was the great unifier of the American Jewish community. Now it is the great divider, both inside our own community and in cleavages with other ones. Bring up Israel with any American Jew and you can feel the atmosphere tighten. There is no topic that incenses us more, whether the emotions are pride or shame, defensiveness or hatred, fear that not enough of our coreligionists support the Jewish state or rage that they support it too much. The left is done with Israel, particularly since the last Gaza assault, which heralds disaster and disunity.” In Riesman’s view, “Jews and Gentiles who had previously betrayed no interest in the topic have taken up the cause of the Palestinians who are governed and besieged and, in many cases, killed,

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by an occupying state. In recent years, I’ve developed a level of fixation of the place that rivals even that of my grandfather. The conclusions we have come to, however, are worlds apart.” His grandfather’s defense of Israel, even covering up its misdeeds, was, Riesman writes, “…sincere based on his assessment of Jewish safety. In his eyes, Israel was always under mortal threat and if his people lost their citadel in the Middle East, who knew what other dominoes might fall.” His grandfather, he notes, could dismiss the expulsion of Palestinians to make way for Israel in 1947-’49 because Jews had been victims of genocide in Europe. Even his grandfather’s attitude was complicated: “Grandpa held no particular affection for the country (Israel). As he put it, it was really like a relative you had to support, whose company you didn’t particularly enjoy, who gave you no excitement, no stimulation. He said, ‘It was because Israel was threatened that it became precious. When it wasn’t threatened it was an inconvenient relative….’” Riesman concludes: “I retain a sliver of hope that he (my grandfather) could understand that I, like him, want to save the Jews. I have chosen to see them as my family, for better or worse, and I believe that backing the status quo in Israel is not just immoral and wrong, but a recipe for disaster. I am not alone in this—Israel’s own politicians and security officials have long said the occupation makes Israel less safe. I believe Jews should have free access to the Holy Land. I do not in any way want to see them driven into the sea or killed. But nor do I want to see Palestinians massacred and imprisoned. I don’t think my grandfather wanted to hurt Palestinians, but their concerns didn’t keep him up at night. For me, they do. They are part of my family too. Until they are safe, the Jews will not be safe.”

DISILLUSIONMENT WITH THE ISRAEL NARRATIVE

Around the world, men and women who value democracy and human rights are raising their voices in criticism of Israel’s behavior. Over 1,106 scholars, many Jewish and Israeli, as well as artists and intellectu22

als, including Nobel Peace Prize laureates, from more than 45 countries signed a declaration made public on July 5, 2021, calling for the dismantling of the “apartheid regime” set up “on the territory of historic Palestine” and “the establishment of a democratic constitutional arrangement that grants all its inhabitants equal rights and duties.” The statement declares: “Israel has established an apartheid regime on the entire territory of historic Palestine...Israel itself no longer seeks to hide its apartheid character, claiming Jewish supremacy and exclusive Jewish rights of self-determination in all of historic Palestine through the adoption in 2018 by the Knesset of a new Basic Law.” It concludes: “The endorsers of this document call for the immediate dismantling of this apartheid regime and the establishment of a democratic constitutional arrangement that grants and implements on all the inhabitants of this land equal rights and duties, without any discrimination relative to race, ethnicity or gender… We call for the establishment of a national commission of Peace, Reconciliation and Accountability to accompany the transition from apartheid Israel to a governing process sensitive to human rights and democratic principles and practices. In the interim, until such a process is under way, we issue a call for the International Criminal Court to launch a formal investigation of Israeli political leaders and security personnel guilty of perpetuating the crime of apartheid.” (For the full text and signatories see https://www.aurdip.org/declaration-onthe-suppression-and.html) Michael Ratner, a prominent human rights lawyer who was president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, died in 2016 at the age of 72. His posthumous memoir, Moving The Bar: My Life As A Radical Lawyer, was published in May 2021. In it, he details his one-time commitment to Zionism and Israel and his growing alienation as he came to understand the manner in which Palestinians were being treated, which he characterized as “apartheid.” In his legal career, he filed the first lawsuit in Rasul v. Bush, challenging wartime detentions at Guantanamo Bay. He was co-

WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

counsel representing the Guantanamo Bay detainees in the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled for the detainees’ right to test the legality of their detention in U.S. courts. Discussing his memoir on July 8, Philip Weiss writes, “It offers an intimate narrative of his own transformation on the Palestinian question. His difficult emotional path—-from unbound love of Israel to the reluctant understanding in his 60s that Israel was an apartheid state from its early history of ethnic cleansings…and he ought to pursue Israeli crimes in the memory of his own relatives who had died in the Holocaust—is one that other Americans, particularly Jews should endeavor to walk.” Ratner was shaped by Jewish tradition. His family was committed to Zionism and to Israel. His family was engaged in fundraising for Israel and invested in several Israeli projects. On his first trip to Israel in 1956, he writes, he fell in love with “the intoxicating country…I thought of Israel as the home of my people. I had my bedroom ceiling painted with the seven wonders of the world and a huge map of Israel. I had no idea how my view of Israel would change later in life.” He visited Israel a second time as a young man and confessed that he had no idea “that the land I was walking on had just a few years earlier been populated by another people. I knew nothing about Palestinians.” He recalled that no one in his world said a word about Palestinians. He regarded Israel “as the last refuge of a besieged Jewish minority fighting for its survival. I fundraised for Israel in the wake of the 1967 war without a second thought.” The Holocaust played an important part in this understanding: “Two months after my birth, Nazi soldiers destroyed the ghetto in my father’s hometown of Bialystok.” More than ten members of his family were killed. Slowly, his view of Israel began to change. In 2009, when the U.N.’s Goldstone Report detailed Israel’s onslaught in Gaza, Ratner was stunned by its findings. He set about to commission a book on the landmark report, and he flew with his family to Egypt to join the Gaza Freedom March. When he was prevented from entering Gaza, Ratner went on to visit Israel and the West Bank in 2010. OCTOBER 2021

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Ratner recalls that, “Deep down, like many American Jews, I still had a powerful emotional tie to Israel. That changed forever when at 66 years old, I finally saw the reality on the ground for myself.” On his return, he spoke at Judson Memorial Church in New York and recounted his visit to Ma’ale Adumim, the huge settlement several miles east of Jerusalem and described the fountains, swimming pools and the transplanted ancient olive trees taken from the Palestinians. He contrasted it with the ghettoized neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem and the frightening military checkpoints. He finally understood, “There was never going to be a Palestinian state. Israel had made that determination.” In his memoir, Ratner says he was shocked to see an apartheid state: “It was all so intentional, so cruel…what I still don’t understand is how anybody, whether Jewish or not, can defend these illegal, brutal policies. To truly honor and remember the lessons of the Holocaust would be to end the apartheid system that is the Israel of today.”

SHIFTING BELIEFS

A survey of American Jewish voters taken after the Israel-Gaza conflict finds that many believe some of the harshest criticisms of Israel, including that it is committing genocide and apartheid. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports: “Among respondents to the survey commissioned by the Jewish Electorate Institute, a group led by prominent Jewish Democrats, 34 percent agreed that ‘Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is similar to racism in the United States.’ 25 percent agreed that ‘Israel is an apartheid state’ and 22 percent agreed that ‘Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians.’” Among younger Jewish voters included in the survey, agreement with those statements was higher. The poll found that 9 percent of voters agreed with the statement, “Israel doesn’t have a right to exist.” But among voters under 40, that proportion was 20 percent. A third of younger voters agreed that Israel is committing genocide, “a position that even human rights lawyers who are critical of Israel say is extreme.” More than a third agreed that Israel is an apartheid state. OCTOBER 2021

According to JTA, “The findings are striking as mainstream pro-Israel organizations struggle to make the case that Israel is central to Jewish identity and that criticism of it often veers into anti-Semitism. They suggest that many American Jews agree with statements by some of Israel’s harshest critics…Asked if they felt emotionally attached to Israel, 62 percent of respondents said they did, and 38 percent said they did not.” Asked about the two-state solution, 61 percent said it was their preferred outcome. But 19 percent said they preferred annexation of the West Bank that would deny Palestinians the right to vote in national elections, while 20 percent said they preferred “establishing one state that is neither Jewish nor Palestinian” and encompassing Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. A substantial majority of respondents, 71 percent, said it was “important” to provide financial assistance to Israel, a smaller majority, 58 percent, said it would be appropriate to restrict aid to Israel so it could not use U.S. money on settlements. A majority, 62 percent, support President Biden’s reversal of Donald Trump’s policy of cutting aid to the Palestinians.

STRUGGLES BETWEEN ZIONISM AND JUDAISM

In July, ice cream manufacturer Ben and Jerry’s set off a controversy when it announced that it would no longer sell ice cream in “occupied Palestinian territory.” Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called the decision “a shameful surrender to antiSemitism.” Daniel Sokatch of the New Israel Fund declared that “Attacking people who try and distinguish between sovereign and non-sovereign Israel by calling them anti-Semitic is to evade a matter of fact, abuse the meaning of ‘anti-Semitism’ and ultimately gaslight those who would try and work towards a future of equality and justice for Israelis and Palestinians alike.” Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield cofounded the ice cream chain in 1978 and sold it to the British conglomerate Unilever in 2000. Writing in The New York Times, on July 28, 2021, they praised the actions of the company they founded: “We are proud

Jews…It’s possible to support Israel and oppose some of its policies, just as we’ve opposed policies of the U.S. government… We unequivocally support the decision of the company to end business in the occupied territories, which the international community, including the United Nations, has deemed an illegal occupation.” They noted that they no longer have control over the company’s operations but praised Ben and Jerry’s for the “especially brave decision” and said that the company is “on the right side of history.” They noted that, “Ending the sales of ice cream in the occupied territories is one of the most important decisions the company has made in its 43-year history…That we support the company’s decision is not a contradiction nor is it anti-Semitic. In fact, we believe this act can and should be seen as advancing the concepts of justice and human rights, core tenets of Judaism. We fundamentally reject the notion that it is anti-Semitic to question the policies of the State of Israel.” In July, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) announced that it would not hold its annual policy conference in 2022. It cited concerns over COVID as the reason, but many speculated that it did not want to make the growing disillusionment of American Jews with Israel and its rejection of Jewish moral and ethical values even more evident. That growing alienation, whether AIPAC meets or not, is now clear for all to see. In its early years, Zionism was a minority movement among Jews both in the United States and Europe. It gained strength only as a response to the growth of anti-Semitism in Russia and Eastern Europe and, later, the rise of Nazism and the Holocaust. Now, Zionism is in the process of once again becoming a minority movement in the Jewish community. This will, hopefully, return Judaism to its moral and ethical prophetic tradition, something which has been obscured in recent years. Making the State of Israel, rather than God, “central” to Judaism, which the organized Jewish community has done, is a form of idolatry, similar to the story of the Golden Calf in the Bible. That era may be coming to an end. ■

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By Rev. Alex Awad

Israeli forces attack thousands of Palestinians gathered to perform Friday prayers on Aug. 13, 2021 with tear gas canisters and sound bombs at the al-Haram al-Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, West Bank. THE SHEMA is the title given to the prayer that is most frequently used by devout Jews when they worship in synagogues or at homes. To religious Jews, it has similar significance as the Lord’s Prayer to Christians and the Fatiha to Muslims. The Shema gets its name from the first Hebrew word of the prayer in Deuteronomy 6:4, “hear.” The prayer calls on ancient Israel to acknowledge the oneness of God and calls on those who believe in God to love him: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (NIV) Muslims have a compatible view with the Shema since it emphasizes the oneness of God, a theme that is of great importance in Islam. It resonates equally with Christians. When Jesus was asked which is the greatest commandment, he said:

Rev. Dr. Alex Awad is a retired United Methodist Missionary. He and his wife, Brenda, served in Jerusalem and in Bethlehem for more than 25 years. Rev. Awad served as pastor of East Jerusalem Baptist Church, dean of students at Bethlehem Bible College, and director of the Shepherd Society. Awad has written two books, Through the Eyes of the Victims and Palestinian Memories. Rev. Awad is a member of the Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace (PCAP). 24

“…This is the most important: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31 (NIV) With the events of the last months, it seems important to focus on the principles within this prayer and in specific, the phrase “Hear O Israel” and what it might mean in today’s world. While the Shema initially addressed ancient Israelites, it continues to be a call to all who believe themselves to relate to the God of Abraham. The call to acknowledge the oneness of God, to love God and to love one’s neighbor is never meant to be exclusive to a particular group. The Shema is God’s call on all people to acknowledge him, love him and love our neighbors. As such, the Shema is also addressed to: ● people in power and authority who are making decisions that affect the lives of millions of people. ● religious leaders of all faiths and calls on religious leaders to stand on the side of godliness, fairness, justice and racial equality. ● and, is a call to the corporate giants and the billionaires, who control most of the wealth and who have the power to influence the

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“Hear O Israel”

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distribution of food, water, medicine and other essential commodities. The Shema begins with the word “hear.” In our modern-day world, saturated with distractions, activities and various forms of media, all incessantly competing for our attention, can we distinguish and tune in to the true voice of God? The question is perhaps more significant for us today, in our fast-paced and frenzied world, than it was in ancient Israel’s days. Can we hear what God is saying to us above all the noise? The use of the word “hear” or “listen” reflects the human tendency to ignore God. Thus comes God’s plea with humans to listen to him. If God were to run a spiritual “diagnosis” on humanity today, our spiritual ears would surely be diagnosed as “hard of hearing.” This is evident in the way we are handling the most pressing issues of our day including climate change, the COVID pandemic, migration and racial tensions. The chaos and mishandling evident in these and many more issues facing us, demonstrates that we are not listening to God’s call to believe in him and to love our neighbor. The Shema is primarily a call to love God. The New Testament emphasizes that it is impossible to love God, whom we cannot see, without loving the neighbor whom we do see. (1 John 4:20). While the Shema’s call is universal, it certainly addresses the State of Israel. For one, the state has chosen to call itself Israel. Even before its establishment in 1948, it conflated itself with ancient Israel and continues to do so. Israeli leaders are known to brag about their unbroken connection with ancient Israel, the land of the Israelites, the prophets, and the kings of the tribes of Israel. For this reason, the State of Israel should be the first to heed the Shema’s call. What, then—and who—do the people and leaders of the State of Israel need to “hear?” At the most basic level, Israel needs to listen to its friends who reside both within and outside of Israel. Israel is often criticized by supporters for its degrading measures against Palestinians. Many of these friends of Israel are Jews, who call on Israel to steer away from unjust policies and to deal OCTOBER 2021

with its neighbors justly. For example, actress Natalie Portman declined to accept the esteemed Genesis Prize in Israel in 2018 due to her “distress” at recent events in the country; expressing that she could not move forward with the ceremony “in good conscience.” The same year, Hagai El-Ad, executive director of the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, spoke critically of Israel’s policies before the U.N., saying Israel is “splitting up an entire people, fragmenting their land and disrupting their lives.” El-Ad said, “You will never silence us—nor the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who reject a present founded on supremacy and oppression, and stand for a future built on equality, freedom and human rights.” Israel needs to open its ears to its critics. Some of them were born in Israel and served in the Israeli army; others are children or grandchildren of Jews who suffered or were gassed to death during the Holocaust. These are men and women who are committed to peace and justice for both Israelis and Palestinians. These are people like the late Uri Avnery, Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, Peter Beinart, Ilan Pappe, Miko Peled, Amira Hass, Gideon Levy, Jeff Halper and scores of others. Unfortunately, many Israelis label such Jews as “self-hating” or even brand them as antiSemites. Yet as Gideon Levy said, “A real friend does not pick up the bill for an addict’s drugs: he packs the friend off to rehab instead. Today, only those who speak up against Israel’s policies—who denounce the occupation, the blockade and the war—are the nation’s true friends.” Who else does the Shema point Israel to listen to? Certainly, modern Israel needs to listen to God. The bloody history of Israel over the past seven decades does not demonstrate a nation which truly loves God and loves its neighbor. Israel also needs to listen to world leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, Ban Ki-moon and many others who for years have been in support of Israel as a country and yet simultaneously called on Israel to change its discriminatory ways.

Israel needs to hear the prophetic voices of Jewish theologians and rabbis who are calling on Israel to listen to the voices of the ancient prophets calling the nation, “…To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8 (NIV) And, most of all, Israel needs to listen to Palestinians who have lived under its occupation for seven decades as well as Palestinians who have lived in refugee camps within and outside of the borders of the State of Israel for three or four generations, all the while futilely longing to return to their homes. It needs to hear the cry of the people of Gaza and the West Bank who suffer day in and day out from its oppressive measures. Despite Israel’s technological, military and economic achievements and prosperity, Israel will never gain the respect of the world’s citizens and leaders if it continues to close its ears to the voice of God, its friends and its critics. The Shema is a call for Israel to heed the calls for truth and justice and to snap out of its self-engineered apartheid. ■

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Special Report

Tent of Nations Farm Under Attack

By Ida Audeh

PHOTO COURTESY GIED TEN BERGE, VIA WIKIMEDIA COM-

during the British Mandate; they updated their land documents in a Bethlehem court in 1987 and 2000. In light of the family’s obvious care to ensure that their documentation is up-to-date, it is hard to believe that since 1991, the farm has been at risk of confiscation and demolition. The Israeli government demands that the family re-register the property, and the family has tried to do so since 2006, but the process gets stalled and they are told they must start all over again. And they do. In 2019, the family was Daoud Nassar describes the arson attack on his farm, which destroyed a thousand new and mature olive, almond and grape trees on May 20, 2021. finally told that the application was complete, and so WHY WOULD ISRAEL bring state muscle to bear on Palestinian they waited for a response. Two years later, they are still waiting. In farmers who are not engaged in anything remotely resembling milthe meantime, the farm has been attacked; arson destroyed around itary activity? All farmers have felt, to varying degrees, the effect of 1,000 fruit trees in May 2021, and the Israeli military has brought Israeli policies on their ability to farm their land and take their produce bulldozers to the farm and destroyed trees in the process. to market, but the Nassar family has been cast in a nightmarish sitThe harassment of the Nassar family by the Israeli military and uation since 1991, the threat of confiscation looming over their nearby settlers seems designed to encourage the family to give up heads. They ask for international intervention to resolve their and leave the area; the farmland would then be taken over by a dilemma, and we have a moral obligation to offer it. nearby settlement, used to create roads and checkpoints, or put to some other purpose benefiting Israel’s Jewish citizens. The state THE NASSAR FAMILY’S LEGAL BATTLES was not counting on the tenacity of the Nassar family, which has no Daoud Nassar’s farm is located six miles southwest of Bethlehem, intention of being stripped of its patrimony. in what is referred to as Area C. It has been a family farm for more ATTACKS ON THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR than 100 years. The peace project Tent of Nations is located on The legal battles faced by the Nassar family are a variation on a the 100-acre farm; it is a center where internationals visit and local theme to which all Palestinian farmers have been subjected over empowerment programs for women and girls are run. The family the years. The threats take different forms, but the bottom line is registered the property during the Ottoman period and again the same. Israel deliberately undermines the ability of Palestinians Ida Audeh is an editor who lives in Centreville, VA. to feed themselves. 26

WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

OCTOBER 2021

To get a sense of the relentlessness of Israel’s attacks on Palestinian farmers, I looked at the chronology of events compiled by the Institute for Palestine Studies in October 2020, <https://www.palestinestudies.org/en/digital-projects>, a time when farmers are anticipating the olive harvest. Farmers with large olive tree orchards rely on that harvest to see them through the following year. In Gaza, during that month, Israeli forces opened fire on agricultural lands east of al-Fukhari, al-Maghazi, Khuza‘a (at least six times), al-Qarara (at least twice), and al-Shawka. Repeated Israeli bombardment lays waste to farmland; the closure of border crossings means that produce rots before it can be transferred to markets outside the Strip. The glut of produce in local markets brings the price down so much that farming is not cost effective. In the West Bank, during the same month, farming communities in at least 26 towns and villages were attacked—through vandalism and arson of olive trees, uprooting trees, preventing harvest, stealing equipment and emptying wastewater on agricultural land. All of this in a single month. In the West Bank, farmers find themselves living a Catch-22 scenario: Israel stipulates that farmland that is not tended for a certain number of years can be confiscated by the state, and it then implements measures to ensure that Palestinian farmers cannot access their farms, which makes the lands candidates for confiscation. This is all done in accordance with a legal system that serves Israeli settler-colonial designs. A casual cruelty informs these measures. The Israelis, who take the time to dream up, put in writing, and then execute these decisions, are determined to cause maximum ruin on the indigenous population. It is not hard to imagine them chuckling as they devise the sadistic hoops they can force farmers to jump through.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

The Nassar family needs to have its property rights acknowledged as soon as posOCTOBER 2021

PHOTO COURTESY DAOUD NASSAR

audeh_26-27r2.qxp_Special Report 8/26/21 4:48 PM Page 27

A photo taken on May 24, 2021, shows some of the damage to the Nassar family’s farm. Family members and nearby villagers spent seven hours fighting the fire and smoke to try to save some of the trees.

sible; for as long as that is delayed, the land is subject to bulldozing and confiscation and the family is subject to expulsion. Completion of the re-registration process settles the issue and provides formal acknowledgment of the Nassar family as the owners of the farm. Friends of the Tent of Nations ask that supporters exert pressure on Israel to stop issuing demolition and eviction orders and to complete the re-registration of the land. You can take the following actions right now: 1. Sign a petition in support of the Nassar family, which will be delivered to the U.S. Secretary of State and the U.S. Embassy in Israel. <https://fotonna.org/petition-savetent-of-nations/> 2. Contact your senators and representatives. Urge them to ask the State Department to question the Israeli government about the Israeli military’s recent acts of destruction of Nassar property and the delays of the re-registration. Be sure to reference re-registration Case Nos. 3714/2 and 3715/2. 3. Visit Friends of Tent of Nations North America, <https//fotonna.org/july-2021save-the-tent-of-nations-update/>, to

download scripts to guide your phone calls and emails and a one-page backgrounder. Palestinian farmers need ongoing support. Please help expose Israeli lawlessness and the obstacles faced by these farmers, who are struggling to feed their communities. Demand that your local media cover these stories and publicize them through your social media networks. ■

ADVERTISE! Put the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs to work for you! Have you thought about advertising your company, charity, book, craft, skills or personal service with us—but have never gotten around to it? For information on prices and deadlines, please visit wrmea.org/advertise or e-mail advertising@wrmea.org or call (202) 939-6050 ext. 1105. We will help make your advertising effective. (We offer a 30 percent discount on combinations of print and online banner advertising!)

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From the Diaspora

“Blood for Blood”: On Jenin and Israel’s Fear Of an Armed Palestinian Rebellion

Ashraf Ahmed stands in front of a wall lined with posters of “martyrs” from the two past Palestinian uprisings (intifadas) that raged from 1987-93 and again from 2000-2005, in the Jenin refugee camp in the north of the occupied West Bank on May 17, 2021. THE KILLING OF four young Palestinians by Israeli occupation soldiers in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, on Aug. 16, is a consequential event, the repercussions of which are sure to be felt in the coming weeks and months. The four Palestinians—Saleh Mohammed Ammar, 19, Raed Ziad Abu Seif, 21, Nour Jarrar, 19, and Amjad Hussainiya, 20— were either newly born or mere toddlers when the Israeli army invaded Jenin in April 2002. The objective, then, based on statements by Israeli officials and army generals, was to teach Jenin a lesson, one they hoped would be understood by other resisting Palestinian areas throughout the occupied West Bank.

Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of palestine chronicle. His latest book is these chains Will be broken: palestinian stories of struggle and defiance in israeli prisons (available from AET’s Middle East Books and More). Dr. Baroud is a non-resident senior research fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA) and also at the Afro-Middle East Center (AMEC). His website is <www.ramzybaroud.net>. 28

In my book, Searching Jenin, published a few months after what is now known as the “Massacre of Jenin” or the “Battle of Jenin,” I tried to convey the revolutionary spirit of this place. Although, in some ways, the camp was a representation of the wider Palestinian struggle, in other aspects it was a unique phenomenon, deserving of a thorough analysis and understanding. By the end of that battle, Israel seemed to have entirely eliminated the armed resistance of Jenin. Hundreds of fighters and civilians were killed and wounded, hundreds more arrested, and numerous homes destroyed. Even voices sympathetic to the Palestinian struggle have underestimated Jenin’s ability to resurrect its resistance under seemingly impossible circumstances. Writing in the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, on June 10, 2016, Gideon Levy and Alex Levac described the state of affairs in the small camp. “Jenin, always the most militant of the refugee camps, was battered and destroyed, suppressed and bloodied, by Israel. These days its spirit seems to be broken. Every person is dealing with his own fate, his own private struggle for survival,” they wrote. The title of their article was “Jenin, Once the Most Mil-

Washington RepoRt on Middle east affaiRs

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PHOTO BY JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP

By Ramzy Baroud

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and attempt to capture young Palestinian The Israeli military understands that the itant of Palestinian Refugee Camps, fighters; and second, because of the May war and uprising have triggered an Waves a White Flag.” growing number of youth enlisting in varunwelcomed transition in Palestinian sociBeing suppressed and shattered by an ious resistance groups. According to ety. Long-suppressed, occupied Palestinioverwhelming force, however, is entirely Daghlas, the rifles carried by these youth ans are ready to rebel, eager to move on, different from “raising the white flag.” In are purchased by the young men thembeyond octogenarian Abbas and his corfact, this truism does not just apply to selves, as opposed to being supplied by rupt clique, past the stifling factionalism and Jenin but to the entirety of occupied a group or a faction. self-serving political discourses. The quesPalestine, where Palestinians, at times, “Blood for blood, bullet for bullet, fire for tions are how, where and when. find themselves fighting on multiple fire,” were some of the chants that echoed This is precisely why Israel is back in fronts—Israeli occupation, armed illegal in the Jenin town and its adjacent refugee Jenin, once more trying to teach the nearly Jewish settlers and the co-opted Palescamp, when the Palestinian residents car12,000 refugees there a lesson, one that tinian Authority. ried the bodies of two of the four killed is also meant for Palestinians throughout However, May 2021 changed so much. youth, before burying them in the everthe West Bank. Israel believes that if the The Israeli attempt at ethnically cleansing crowded martyrs’ graveyard. nascent armed resistance in Jenin is supPalestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah The fact that Jenin is, once more, openly pressed now, the rest of the West Bank will neighborhood in East Jerusalem, the subchampioning the armed struggle option is remain “quiet.” sequent war on Gaza and the unprecesending alarm bells throughout occupied According to Palestinian journalist, Atef dented uprising of unity, bringing all PalesPalestine. Israel is now worried that an Daghlas, the Israeli occupation forces tinians, everywhere, together, lifted Jenin armed intifada is in the making, and Abbas killed ten Palestinians during their freand other Palestinian areas from their state knows very well that any kind of intifada quent nightly raids on Jenin. Eight of the of despondency. The stiff resistance in would spell doom for his Authority. victims have been killed since the end of Gaza, in particular, had a direct impact on It is obvious that what is currently taking the Gaza war alone. There are two main the various fighting groups in the West place in Jenin is indicative of something reasons behind the increased number of Bank, which were either disbanded or marmuch larger. Israel knows this; thus the excasualties among the Palestinians in the ginalized. aggerated violence against the camp. In last few months: first, the increased An unprecedented scene in Ramallah, fact, two of the bodies of killed Palestinians number of Israeli raids—where occupaon May 17, tells the whole story. Tens of are yet to be returned to their families for tion soldiers, often disguising themselves fighters, belonging to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs proper burial. Israel often resorts to this tactic as Palestinians, enter the camp at night Brigades, which is affiliated with the Fatah as a bargaining chip, and to movement, the political increase the psychological party that dominates pressure on Palestinian Mahmoud Abbas’ PA, communities, especially marched on the streets of those who dare resist. Ramallah, where the AuIt might be relevant to thority is situated, in a relnote that the Jenin atively calm environment. refugee camp was offiThe fighters chanted cially formed in 1953, a against the Israeli occufew years after the Nakba pation and their “collaboof 1948, the year when rators” before clashing historic Palestine was dewith Israeli soldiers, who stroyed, and the State of were manning the QaOrder Online Israel was created. Since landiya military checkNonﬁction • Literature • Cookbooks then, generation after point. Children’s Books • Arabic Books • Films generation, Jenin’s youth This event was quite Greeting Cards • Palestinian Solidarity Items Pottery • Olive Oil • Food Products continue fighting and unusual, for it ushered in dying for their freedom. the return of a phenomeVisit our store Tuesday-Thursday: 12 p.m.-5 p.m. It turns out that Jenin non that Israel, with the Friday-Saturday: 11 a.m.-7 p.m. never waved the white help of its “collaborators,” flag, after all, and that the had crushed during the 1902 18th St. NW • Washington, DC 20009 bookstore@wrmea.org battle which began in Second Palestinian in(202) 939-6050 ext. 1 2002—in fact in 1948— tifada—or uprising—bewas never truly finished. ■ tween 2000-2005.

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Special Report

Israeli Defense Forces fire tear gas at Palestinian protesters during confrontations with Israeli settlers at a previously evacuated Israeli army camp that was taken over by settlers, at Tayasir checkpoint east of Tubas in the north of the occupied West Bank, on July 24, 2021. SINCE ITS FOUNDING in 2004, the Israeli peace organization Breaking the Silence (BtS) has established itself as a seemingly limitless well of primary source material. In This is How We Fought in Gaza, anonymous Israeli soldiers narrated their experience of the 2014 Gaza war firsthand, describing bombing operations and deadof-night raids. In 2017, the group collaborated with American writers Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman on Kingdom of Olives and Ash, a compilation of essays about the Israeli occupation. Alongside these, BtS has disseminated about 14 other booklets and collections of interviews, all translated into English and available free of charge. The organization’s latest publication, On Duty: Settler Violence in the West Bank, Soldiers’ Testimonies 2012-2020, is not a catalogue of military actions as much as it is a reflection on profound inaction. On Duty collects some 36 edited testimonies of anonymous Israeli veterans, discussing the relationship between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Jewish settlers in the West Bank. Settlers and soldiers alike, the booklet reveals, operate under the assumption that

Max Saltman, a former editorial intern at the Washington Report, is now a freelance journalist based in Brooklyn, NY. 30

the Israeli military is there to protect the settlements at any cost. Thus, when soldiers contradict that assumption (for example, asking a settler to stop throwing stones at a Palestinian child), settlers in turn react violently toward the former, who in turn usually decline to respond in any meaningful way. “I don’t have the authority to do much,” says a first sergeant, when asked what they would do if a settler acted “dangerously” toward them. “According to how I was trained...I wouldn’t try to stop him. I would protect myself, defend myself...then [I would]...try to talk to him.” The interviewer then asked, “What would happen if a Palestinian did that?” “Suspect arrest procedure right away,” the sergeant responds. “Cock the weapon toward him, fire in the air if necessary, call forces immediately.” Other testimonies are similar, with every soldier interviewed maintaining that the IDF has the “authority” to do with Palestinians whatever they will. Yet this authority does not extend to settlers who assault IDF officers, threaten them with rifles or smash the windows of their military Jeeps.

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PHOTO BY JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Breaking the Silence Provides Testimonies of Israeli Violence: To What End? By Max Saltman

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On Duty is only about 70 pages, but it is not an easy read. After only a few pages, the anonymous accounts begin to blur into each other. This monotony generates disturbing questions: In a media landscape that routinely censors Palestinian voices, is it harmful to devote so much time to reading Israeli soldiers’ guilty recount of what their victims have persistently maintained since 1948? What’s the point of all this testimony?

A CENTURY OF IGNORED TESTIMONIES

This is an old issue, far older than Breaking the Silence. Witness testimony has a long history of inefficacy in Palestine. For more than 20 years, after each episode of widespread violence between Jews and Arabs under the British Mandate, British administrators would take down pages and pages of witness transcripts for Royal Commissions of Inquiry. In the words of one such report, the Shaw Commission of 1929, the commissions aimed to “enquire into the...causes and make recommendations as to the steps necessary to avoid a recurrence” of violence. Examining each commission report, one after the other, one notices the British government gradually coming to an exasperated conclusion: that despite the many detailed pages of evidence and testimonies, their investigations were futile. Irrespective of their insistence on faithfully cataloguing every “disturbance,” violence continued to take place in Palestine, and in fact grew worse. By the time of the Peel Commission of 1937, at the height of the Arab Revolt and General Strike, the appointed commissioners resolved to reduce time-consuming witness testimony altogether and declined to discuss violence in detail in their final report. “If there are claims and counterclaims arising out of these events,” said Lord Peel, the namesake of the 1937 commission, “They are matters for the courts or for the administration, but we have to deal, I believe, with wider issues.” True to Lord Peel’s promise, the published witness testimony for the Peel Commission focused on agricultural issues and immigration quotas, with pages of detailed OCTOBER 2021

dialogues on the “absorptive capacity” of Palestine. Nowhere does it cover the convulsions of rioting and terror experienced by Arabs and Jews in Palestine. In the end, Peel and his colleagues in London failed to understand that the witness testimonies were not the cause of inefficiency. The problem was the recommendation of each final report, which kept the Balfour Declaration in place. The Peel report recommended that Palestine be split into three states: one Arab, one Jewish and one (Jerusalem) governed by the League of Nations as a corpus separatum. It was a solution guaranteed to be rejected by the Palestinians, who wanted an end to the Balfour Declaration, and made their opposition to settler colonialism very clear in every public and private audience with their British interlocutors. All of which leads back to Breaking the Silence and the utility of testimonial collections like On Duty. If each Royal Commission sought to maintain Balfour’s promise through the collection of witness testimony, Breaking the Silence aims to undo Israel’s violent occupation of Palestinian land. The organization seeks to end the occupation by compiling the voices of its enforcers and sending them back into Israeli society, much in the way that the Vietnam War reached American living rooms through gritty, mostly uncensored television broadcasts. On Duty is difficult to read, and this is the point. The blurry sameness of each interview is a nauseating symptom of the occupation’s grasp on both the Palestinians it subjugates and the Israeli teenagers carrying out its program on the ground. The forced anonymity of the interviewees themselves indicates Israeli society’s intolerance of dissent. But, of course, the revelation that the IDF is abusive—that the whole damn system is abusive—isn’t much of a revelation at all. Indeed, some might even find themselves put off by some of BtS’ stated positions (or lack thereof). The organization notably distances itself from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and declines to take a stance on draft resistance

in Israel. The group’s heavy focus on the territories also doesn’t seem to jive with the recent findings of human rights organizations that an apartheid regime exists across the entirety of Israel proper. BtS seems affected by the notion, common in liberal Israeli circles, that the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza are somehow different from Zionism’s original aims. But political disagreements should not undermine how powerful the work of Breaking the Silence is, particularly when it comes to elucidating the IDF’s role within the media. The popular image of the IDF soldier is as a kind of superhuman: lithe as a ninja, dangerous as James Bond, attractive as a super model and more moral than a normal soldier could possibly be—a member of “the most moral army in the world,” in fact. Israeli propaganda has promoted this image since Leon Uris wrote Exodus, and in the interviews collected in On Duty, it is revealed to be a pathetic fiction. The power of the Israeli military lies not only in the firepower of its soldiers, but in the way it ignores the violence of its civilian combatants; the settlers. Therein lies the importance of books like On Duty— there is no redemption in the IDF, there is only silence. ■

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Gaza on the Ground

Gazans Endured COVID-19 and May Attacks. Now They Face a Shortage of Nitrogen Gas

Caretakers carry the body of Samira Helles, a senior 58-year-old physician in the maternity department at Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, during her funeral in Gaza City on April 26, 2021. She died after being infected with COVID-19. PALESTINIAN HEALTH OFFICIALS warned that all vulnerable patients, who need surgical intervention, in government-run hospitals are in danger of dying unnecessarily. Gaza’s health care system has been collapsing from the weight of the occupation and repeated crises. Now, there is a critical shortage of nitrogen gas in Gaza, used as anesthesia in surgeries and emergency care for severe pain and procedural sedation. For patients who need a general anesthetic to resolve any routine or life-threatening illness and doctors who rely on nitrogen gas in the operating theater, the consequences of delay could be devastating. In mid-August, Dr. Mahmoud Hamada, head of administration at Gaza’s health ministry, said that he only had 10 days’ worth of nitrogen gas available. His ministry was in touch with aid organizations requesting Israel to allow surgical nitrogen to enter Gaza. So far, no one has replied. These types of requests often face severe delays because of Israel’s special Gaza application of a “dual use” list that prohibits the transfer of many goods, including gas tanks, chemicals, medical equipment and even concrete. The procedure for receiving

Award-winning journalist Mohammed Omer reports regularly on the Gaza Strip. 32

clearances is known to be cumbersome and frustrating. Dr. Hamada indicated that the Gaza hospitals need 120 or more 27-kilogram gas cylinders per month. He warned, “running out of gas means definite death for many, especially to those in need of urgent lifesaving operations.” These are unnecessary deaths. The Gaza Strip—home to 2 million people—faces a chronic humanitarian crisis, impacting many livelihoods and access to essential services. This crisis has been driven not only by Israel’s longstanding blockade, but also an internal Palestinian political divide, and exacerbated by recurrent escalations between Israel and Palestinian armed groups. According to health ministry data, on average Gaza hospitals perform around 5,000 operations monthly. Some are urgent, others are scheduled operations and most rely on nitrogen gas for the anesthesia. “This is not a game,” asserted Umm Fathi, a 65-year-old, whose grandson is scheduled to have kidney surgery mid-September, falling just beyond the 10 days’ notice, which the ministry announced. “Not only we have been waiting long for this surgery, but not to get the surgery done would be tragic,” she declared. Yet she knows nothing is in her control. Gaza doctors are finding it extremely difficult to triage incoming medical cases. She knows if the gas does not

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PHOTO BY MAJDI FATHI/NURPHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES

By Mohammed Omer

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come in, then some will unnecessarily die. It's not just medicine and gas that are in short supply. With Gaza’s power grid too intermittent to rely on, fuel for the generators that power Gaza’s hospitals is also running out.

RUSTED EQUIPMENT, DAMAGED BUILDINGS

A recent study released by the U.N.’s World Health Organization (WHO) on trauma, emergency and surgical care has focused on the physical damage caused to Gaza’s health sector infrastructure, adding a new layer crippling hospital capacity. “Some of Gaza’s health care buildings, facilities and essential infrastructure were damaged,” says the report, which recognized that the last military escalation in May caused extensive damage to roads and obstructs ambulance access and movement. Those attacks killed more than 260 people and injured more than 2,200 Gazans. “Lack of electricity, high fuel costs, and the destruction of water and sanitation structures place strain on an already overwhelmed health system that is still respond-

ing to COVID-19,” the WHO report stated. Prolonged electricity blackouts, around 12 hours a day, negatively affect the delivery of essential medical services. In addition, unresolved divisions between Hamas and the Fatah-led PA, undermine the payment of salaries to civil servants, as well as hinder the local authorities’ ability to meet the needs of Gaza’s population in general, says a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). “Combined, these factors have increased unemployment, which reached an historical high of over 49 percent, in the second quarter of 2020, while further reducing the already low labor force participation rate.” The World Bank estimates that the easing of dual use restrictions could bring additional 11 percent growth in Gaza by 2025, compared to a scenario with continued restrictions. It could also go a long way to ease shortages in the health sector. Right now, Gaza hospitals ration limited medical supplies in case new supplies never arrive. The ministry reports 277 types of medication are unavailable out of the 516

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medications needed. This amounts to a 53 percent failure rate, while 67 other types of medications are expected to run out in the next three months. Doctors, nurses and other health professionals, interviewed by Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) report feeling isolated, anxious, under-prepared and under-appreciated during the COVID-19 response. Already working under decades of Israeli occupation and blockade, healthcare workers revealed how shortages of medicines and personal protective equipment, restrictions on movement and witnessing the suffering of patients, has left them physically and mentally exhausted. “Clinical staff worked despite heavy shelling and concerns absout insecurity,” adds the U.N. World Health Organization report. Yet, there is one magic word that describes Gaza’s medical workers: “resilience.” They may not have fancy equipment to help their people but they use their ingenuity. However, a bandage can stretch only so far and not mend deeper wounds. Sometimes pain lasts longer—but that’s a reality Gaza can’t beat. ■

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Last year friends of Palestinian farmers gifted 37,800 olive and almond saplings to over 350 farmers. Farmers who have lost land due to the occupation, young farmers, and women farmers are given priority in Trees for Life.

www.landofcanaanfoundation.org

info@landofcanaanfoundation.org The Land of Canaan Foundation 19215 SE 34th Street • #106-122 • Camas, WA 98607 OCTOBER 2021

WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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Helping Hands

Holy Family Hospital of Bethlehem: The Birthplace of Hope By Delinda C. Hanley

PHOTOS COURTESY HFH

wall, annexed Rachel’s Tomb and made other district lands inaccessible. During Ambassador Bowe’s trip, only grocery stores, bakeries and pharmacies were open due to COVID. With only 7 percent of Bethlehem’s population fully vaccinated and 90 percent of the workforce unpaid since mid-March 2020, residents aren’t doing much shopping, she explained. “They have run through their savings and depend on extended family to survive. Bethlehem has the highest poverty rate, unemployment and food insecurity in Palestine after Gaza,” Bowe said. “The lives of even Bethlehem’s middle class have permanently changed.” “When you enter the Holy Family Hospital (HFH) of Bethlehem, you leave that world behind,” Bowe continued. The ambassador represents the Sovereign Order of Malta, a lay religious order of the Catholic Church since 1113. Its hospitals and social projects care for people in need in 120 countries. Her face glows when she talks about the HFH hospital, just 1,500 steps from the birthplace of Christ in Bethlehem. “The maternity hospital is an oasis of peace, with a green garden and 191 employees who can support their families and actually have pensions. You see such joy all around you,” she observed. “What could be more hopeful than a new baby and a good job?” The hospital and its mobile outreach clinics serve the entire Bethlehem region, including refugee camps and Proud parents in Bethlehem are ready to go home with their child. What could be remote desert areas. Since 1990, more than 93,000 more hopeful than a new baby? babies have been born there. It’s the only hospital in the area with a state-of-the-art—maybe not shiny new, “TODAY YOU COULD PLAY FOOTBALL in the empty streets of Bowe admits—but excellent equipment. The neonatal intensive Bethlehem,” lamented Ambassador Michele Burke Bowe, as she care unit can deliver and care for babies born before 32 weeks. described her recent visit to the West Bank city, which has deEven though the most challenging medical cases are sent to HFH, pended on pilgrims, tourists and merchants visiting the Holy Land its infant survival rate is nearly 100 percent, and even better than since the Ottoman Empire. The people of Bethlehem fell on hard Washington, DC’s. times after Israel encircled Bethlehem with its illegal separation The original HFH, which opened in 1895 as a general hospital, was forced to close in 1985. Palestinians asked the Order of Malta for help. Thanks to funds from the European Union and the United Delinda C. Hanley is the executive editor of the Washington Report. States, HFH reopened one wing as a 28-bed maternity hospital. Ambassador Michele Burke Bowe, the president of Holy Family The first baby was born in the new facility in February 1990, and the Hospital in Bethlehem, Palestine, sat down for an in-depth interview with our staff on Aug. 4, 2021. hospital has added beds each year. 34

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Initially, the first midwives traveled to Ireland for training, and the Irish government funded the jointly opened mid-wifery school in Bethlehem. HFH invests in its all-Palestinian staff, Bowe emphasized. They also provide training for resident doctors, nurses and midwives encouraging continuing education. HFH is the second largest employer in Bethlehem, and its 191 person staff are both Muslim and Christian, 71 percent women and 20 percent refugees themselves. HFH mobile units reach rural villages and communities to serve poor women who are unable to travel to the hospital, some of whom live without sanitation, electricity, heat or clean water. The clinic provides pre- and post-natal exams, lab tests, and gynecological/cancer screenings, all from within a mobile van. A pediatrician examines young children and newborns, and another doctor sees postmenopausal women, a severely underserved population in Palestine. Palestine has a limited national health care system, and not all patients can pay hospitalization costs. As the economic situation deteriorates, HFH provides financial assistance for a growing number of patients from its Poor Case Fund. HFH social workers assess the need, and the Poor Case Fund may cover from 51 to 100 percent of the costs. These days, “we can’t saddle a family with extra debt,” Bowe said. “We never let a family walk out without their dignity.” In January 2020, around 500 tour buses rolled into Bethlehem each day, Bowe recalled. The mayor encouraged investment and the refurbishment of hotels and roads. “Palestinian kids were OCTOBER 2021

“Today you could play football in the empty streets of Bethlehem,” lamented Ambassador Michele Burke Bowe, president of HFH.

The dedicated Holy Family Hospital staff provide newborns with state-of-the-art care.

coming back from the diaspora and working as entrepreneurs. The city was looking great,” Bowe said. Then, in one day, COVID shut down tourism and the entire city closed. Today no one can afford to buy chicken, and mothers say they can eat only one meal a day. They are having smaller babies due to poverty and stress. In fact, there are fewer babies and weddings, because most young people can’t afford to get married. Bethlehem’s churches, restaurants and guest houses have reduced their staff. There is no social net outside the family to help the unemployed. People in Bethlehem say things are worse than during the Nakba. Nonetheless, Bowe said, “the hospital finds little crates of fruit left at our front door, because Palestinians share what they can with strangers and each other.” If Christians in Bethlehem give up and emigrate, the rich mosaic of Palestinian pluralism may be at risk, she warned. “Bethlehemites are devoted to their homeland,” Bowe added. “Emigration is traumatic.” With an annual budget of $5.3 million, “the birthplace for hope in Bethlehem” delivers more than 4,600 babies a year, cares “for over 430 premature and fragile babies and provides 150,000 healthcare services annually. Bowe, who was touring the U.S. to raise money for the hospital’s Poor Case Fund, concluded by saying, “We are counting on diaspora donors to keep HFH in Bethlehem and its mobile clinics running. For information about how to help the Holy Family Hospital of Bethlehem visit <https://birthplace ofhope.org>. ■

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Special Report

Israel’s Energix Uses U.S. Tax Credits to Install Toxic Solar Panels in Virginia and Palestine ENERGIX Renewable Energies, Ltd. is an Israeli company accustomed to building out its business on the back of huge subsidies. Overseas, the subsidies take the form of free or Israeli controlled foreign territory, solar and wind resources. In the U.S., Energix is absorbing tens of millions in federal solar energy tax credits. Unfortunately for populations neighboring Energix sites overseas and in Virginia, the Israeli company has contractually locked itself into using solar panels containing toxic heavy metals, rather than the mostly inert silicon panels used by 95 percent of the world. Energix built its Meitarim solar utility in the Israeli occupied West Bank using 104,000 solar panels provided by the Arizona based company, First Solar. In April 2019, Energix executed a series of agreements with First Solar for the purchase of panels totaling approximately USD 120 million for the years 2019-2021 for projects in the United States and in Israel. The primary reason for the purchase was locking in the maximum amount of U.S. solar energy tax credits. The solar energy investment tax credit was gradually to be reduced from 30 percent, at that time, to zero by 2022. Energix declared in its financial statements that the First Solar panel order locked in the maximum rate as “systems in development.” Energix clarified that, “It should be noted that in accordance with United States law, the purchase of equipment that is at least 5 percent of the cost of construction of any project by 2019 will allow that project to maintain the tax benefit rate of 30 percent (hereinafter: “ITC”), provided that the construction of the project

Additional research provided by Jeanne Trabulsi and Jennifer Timmons, Virginia Coalition for Human Rights. Grant F. Smith is the director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy in Washington, DC. Smith’s latest book, The Israel Lobby Enters State Government: Rise of the Virginia Israel Advisory Board, is available at Middle East Books and More. 36

By Grant F. Smith

is completed by 2023. Accordingly, due to this purchase, Energix has panels worth approximately USD 65 million that are expected to be used to maintain the ITC tax benefit rate of 30 percent.” In 2020, Energix converted investment tax credits into $48 million in cash with the help of its tax partner Morgan Stanley. Whatever revenue shortfalls are created by Energix subsidies will either be offset by American taxpayers or added to the ballooning budget deficit. Or, put another way, Americans are subsidizing the private profits and infrastructure buildout of an Israeli company operating in Israeli occupied territories. In 2020, Energix occupied slot number 32 on the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights list of companies profiting from Israel’s illegal occupations. One of the reasons Energix selected First Solar (est. 1999) as a key supplier is that the company exclusively manufactures cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar panels, which it claims are 21.5 percent more efficient than multi-crystalline silicon-based panels and cost less than $0.43-$0.46 per watt. According to the U.S. Department of Energy and HIS Markit, CdTe solar cells made up only about 5 percent of world production in 2020, which is dominated by crystalline silicon. One reason for this low market penetration is that unlike silicon, CdTe is a toxic heavy metal. Several studies have shown that CdTe is toxic to mammalian cells and can cause severe pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis. Solar panels exposed to the elements over decades of solar generation are vulnerable. A study by the EU Ministry of Economic Affairs found that water can wash contaminants out of solar panels in a matter of months. Leaching also occurs when CdTe panels are sent to landfills, where one test found that “over the course of 30 days, 73 percent of the Cd and 21 percent of the Te were released.” The release of CdTe into the environment surrounding active solar utilities is not a purely hypothetical matter. In 2015, a single

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tornado destroyed 170,000 CdTe panels at the Desert Sunlight 550-megawatt facility in the Mojave Desert. Rather than building solar facilities in remote areas, Energix frequently locates its Virginia solar plants on prime agricultural lands and near residential areas and even close to major tourism and recreation facilities. Under Virginia state law, counties must give the final permitting approval for large scale solar utilities. Most counties have little regulatory guidance through local solar zoning laws or experience with large projects. Fortunately for communities surrounding non-Energix solar sites, companies in the U.S. SunPower, Violet Power and Merlin Solar and other such companies, manufacture and supply competitive silicon solar panels. But manufacturers like SunPower, with its extensive commitment to U.N. human rights principles, would likely reject an operation like Energix, given its violations of international human rights and Israel’s own plummeting human rights record. Even as First Solar funds studies refuting potential harm from its panels, some Vir-

ginia jurisdictions remain unconvinced. In 2020, Prince George County altogether banned toxic heavy metals mandating, “All solar energy facility structures, racks and associated facilities shall have a non-reflective finish or appearance. Silicon based, or similar, panels shall be used; cadmiumbased panels are prohibited.” Spotsylvania County—without passing an outright ban— appeared to approve an Apex Energy site permit on the condition that the panels had to be silicon rather than CdTe panels purchased from First Solar. Unfortunately, by the time Prince George County passed the regulation, the 20megawatt Energix Rives Road site was already fully permitted. Most neighboring communities, in counties surrounding the estimated 20 sites in the Energix Virginia pipeline, do not ban CdTe or have much awareness about the issue. The Israeli company and its engineering and landowner partners continue to successfully— and mostly from behind the scenes—ram through permit applications to harvest the maximum amount of federal tax credits and

megawatts generated by installing the toxic solar panels that 95 percent of the world market rejects. News about Energix’s use of CdTe panels is spreading quickly across Virginia since this article was first published by the Washington Report on the web on Aug. 2. In Louisa County, Energix was forced to perform soil and groundwater testing on an annual basis as a condition for maintaining its newly granted permit. In Westlake, the Smith Mountain Lake community is organizing to keep toxic panels out of their community. Due to growing opposition in Virginia to greenfield projects, built on vacant sites, Energix has been forced to acquire a North Carolina based company, NCRE, in order to have enough of a portfolio of already permitted sites to satisfy its stockholders. However, many of NCRE’s sites obtained permits and community support on the basis of their use of crystalline silicon panels, so it remains to be seen whether Energix can continue using CdTe panels. ■

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OTHER VOICES F R O M T H E M I D D L E E A S T C L I P B OA R D Compiled by Janet McMahon

The Great Washington Ponzi Scheme in Afghanistan Comes Crashing Down

iban in city after city by taking out the few military vehicles the Taliban had. All the forces were poorly equipped. The Northern Alliance forces took Mazar-i Sharif on horseback, with U.S. special operations guys in tow, painting lasers on Taliban targets for the airstrikes. Some of the spec ops guys didn’t know how to post when riding, and boy were they sore the next day.

VOL. 24 ISSUE 6—OCTOBER 2021

BY JUAN COLE

he United States lost the Afghanistan war a long time ago, as is quickly becoming apparent as the Taliban take city after city. After 2002, it was never clear what the U.S. war aim was. You can’t win a war if you don’t have a clear objective. The war is lost before it begins. The initial U.S. military action against the Taliban government of Mullah Omar in fall 2001 was based on the refusal of Kabul to hand over Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda terrorists who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks. There is no reason to believe that the Taliban leadership was aware of what al-Qaeda was planning. The Taliban are Pushtuns, al-Qaeda was Arab expatriates. Pushtuns were known to get sick and tired of the Arabs lording it over them and occasionally to stick a shiv between their ribs on the march. Al-Qaeda was not, however, just a “guest” of the Taliban. It was their 55th Brigade. The al-Qaeda fighters were the best in the country and were the only ones who could take on the Northern Alliance remnants in the country’s northeast with any success. Mullah Omar would never have turned them over to the U.S. For one thing, he needed them at the home front. But O THER V OICES

not only the Taliban but many in alQaeda felt deeply betrayed by Bin Laden’s use of their hospitality to stage a brazen attack on a superpower, bringing the full weight of the international community down on them. The U.S. gave the Northern Alliance (fundamentalist Sunni Tajiks, Shi’i Hazaras and secular Uzbeks) air support, and enabled them to roll up the Tal-

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TABLE OF CONTENTS The Great Washington Ponzi Scheme in Afghanistan Comes Crashing Down, Juan Cole, www.juancole.com OV-1 Like it or not, Taliban Is Afghanistan’s True Independence Movement, Eric S. Margolis, www.ericmargolis.com OV-3 Now Is the Time for a Foreign Policy Overhaul, Gary Sick, www.responsiblestatecraft.org OV-4 Israel’s Lapid Was Right. AntiSemitism Is a Form of Racism, Editorial, Haaretz OV-5 Sports Apartheid: Israel’s Olympic Team Did not Include a Single Palestinian Citizen of Israel, James North, http://mondoweiss.net OV-5 He Won Olympic Gold for Israel, But the State Still Wouldn’t Give Him Equal Rights, Mickey Gitzin, Haaretz OV-6 WASHINGTON R EPORT

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Evangelical Support for Israel Is Neither Permanent nor Inevitable, Walker Robins, www.theconversation.com OV-7 After Ohio Primary, Democrats Prepare for More Israel-Related Battles, Ben Samuels, Haaretz OV-8 The African Union, Israel and The Futility of Appeasement, Marwan Bishara, www.aljazeera.com OV-10 Biden Isn’t Withdrawing Troops From Iraq, He’s Relabeling Their Mission, Annelle Sheline, www.responsiblestatecraft.org OV-11 U.S. Foreign Policy Adrift: Why Washington Is no Longer Calling the Shots, Ramzy Baroud, www.ramzybaroud.net OV-12 Europe’s Self-Inflicted Irrelevance On the Iran Nuclear Deal, Eldar Mamedov, www.responsiblestatecraft.org OV-14 How Not to React to Incidents in The Gulf of Oman, Paul R. Pillar, www.nationalinterest.org OV-15 O CTOBER 2021 OV-1

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The Northern Alliance were fighting for their lives, and they defeated the Taliban in the field. The Taliban are genocidal toward Shi’i Hazaras, some 22 percent of the population, clustered in the center of the country. The Persian-speaking Tajiks, their Islam inflected with Sufism or Muslim mysticism, deeply feared the Taliban and their Saudi-influenced ideology. Many Uzbeks, influenced by the industrialization in the north and the proximity to the former Soviet Union, were urbane and relatively secular-minded, and hated the hyper-fundamentalism of the Pushtun Taliban. By spring of 2002, the Taliban were roundly defeated. Opinion polls showed that their favorability rating was good only among 5 percent of the population. George W. Bush, who spearheaded the invasion, was never very interested in Afghanistan, though maybe he saw that old Gary Cooper film “The Lives of a Bengal Lancer” on TV, because he once spoke of the “romance” of the fighting in Afghanistan. As long as I live, I’ll never get over W. He gave a brave speech about nationbuilding and spending all this money in Afghanistan. The vast majority of the money the U.S. spent on that country in the subsequent 20 years was to pay for the bombs they dropped on it. The money spent on building the place up was tiny in comparison. And much of it was lost to corruption. By spring of 2002, congressmen visiting Centcom head Tommy Franks were bluntly told that Afghanistan was no longer the mission, and the Bush crime gang had clearly decided to set up Iraq as a fall guy for 9/11 and break the country’s legs. The U.S. in 2002-2003 had a good outcome in Afghanistan. We should just have left then. I can’t imagine why we didn’t. I think then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld wanted to surround Russia so it couldn’t re-emerge as a peer power. It had nothing to do with Afghanistan. The U.S. lost Afghanistan in part by trying to occupy it militarily. In 2005 U.S. troops used flamethrowers to burn OV-2 O CTOBER 2021

poppy crops of Afghan farmers, who had nothing else to live on. One in seven as a result had to sell a daughter. I doubt they have forgiven the U.S. If you occupy a country, you have to suppress insurgents. Insurgents come from towns and villages and have friends and relatives there. When insurgents hit a U.S. outpost, the U.S. troops had to go into the nearby village and shake it down, looking for the guerrillas. They’d go into Afghan homes at night, with the women folk rustled from their sleep and standing there bare-faced and in their bed clothes before 18-year-old strangers from Alabama and South Carolina. After a

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thing like that, the men of the family would have had at least to try to kill some Americans. Search-and-destroy missions gradually turned people against the U.S., just as had happened in Vietnam. One U.S. officer who had served in Afghanistan got upset with me for saying this, insisting that the troops always brought along a local in these home invasions. I suspect some of these “locals” were Hazara Shi’i or Tajiks, standing there in Pushtun homes with the Americans. That if anything would have made it worse. Only 2 percent of the Afghanistan National Army stood up by the U.S. was from the southern Pushtun provinces. The Afghanistan National Army had trouble keeping recruits. There was extremely high turnover as soldiers deserted after a few months. Many of those who remained had poor morale and allegedly smoked a lot of pot. The U.S. was sometimes not very serious about training them. It farmed out rifle practice to a private firm that could not improve their accuracy when firing U.S. rifles. It turns out that you have to use the sight, and the firm wasn’t teaching the troops that. The central government stood up by the U.S. was corrupt on a galactic scale. Freighter airplanes full of U.S. dollars in hard cash regularly took off for Dubai from Kabul International Airport. The new Afghan elite fleeced the people and bought fancy islands around Dubai with the money, even embezzling from the Da Kabul Bank. In 2008 the island resorts became worthless and Da Kabul Bank collapsed, leaving people in long lines before its branches seeking to recover their life savings. They did not. The new elite in Kabul was weighted toward Tajiks, many of whom had close ties to India and Indian intelligence (which had supported them in the lean years of Taliban rule). This development was absolutely unacceptable to the black cells of nationalist or Muslim fundamentalist officers in the Pakistani army and the Inter-Services Intelligence, who took revenge by backing a Taliban resurgence. Pakistan and India

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have fought three wars and a smaller border skirmish, and Pakistan is a much smaller country with fewer allies. Islamabad feels it cannot afford to have a government in Kabul that tilts to New Delhi, lest Pakistan be surrounded. U.S. officials sent out to Afghanistan knew that it was a Washington Ponzi scheme. Billions were disappearing into the pockets of contractors and warlords. Only the arms manufacturers were happy. The U.S. was massively bombing the country every year, the only reason that it was still able to be there. U.S. officials confessed as much to government watchdogs, and The Washington Post managed to get those interviews and publish them in 2019. Nobody believed in the mission. There was no mission. There was a morass of corruption and incompetence. Many of the regional warlords under the new government were not easier on women or minorities than the Taliban had been, and were fundamentalists of a different stripe. Joe Biden knew all this. He is the consummate insider. He was the one who decided to blow the whistle on the Ponzi scheme. Of course, when such a scheme is revealed, a lot of institutions collapse and a lot of people get hurt. But actually the institutions were already in collapse, they just didn’t know it, and the people had already lost all their investments, they just hadn’t yet come to that realization. The Northern Alliance in fall of 2001 defeated the Taliban with U.S. air support, because they had esprit de corps and were fighting for what they believed in. The Afghanistan National Army seems to be unwilling to fight in the same way, presumably because they don’t ultimately want to risk their lives for their government. It is a sad, tragic development, and many urban people and women and minorities will suffer. But once a Ponzi schemer has already stolen all the money, it is not possible to keep up the pretense of normality forever.

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan and the author of, among many other O THER V OICES

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books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook page. This article was first posted on <www. juancole.com>, Aug. 13, 2021. Copyright © 2021 Informed Comment. Reprinted with permission.

Like it or not, Taliban Is Afghanistan’s True Independence Movement BY ERIC S. MARGOLIS “Oh! wherefore come ye forth, in triumph from the North, With your hands, and your feet, and your raiment all red? And wherefore doth your rout send forth a joyous shout?” —“The Battle of Naseby,” By Thomas Macaulay

fter 20 years of B-52 carpet bombing of Afghanistan, murderous drone strikes, 350,000 puppet soldiers, 20,000 mercenaries, nearly two trillion dollars in U.S. spending, destruction of countless Afghan villages, the killing of up to one million Afghans, spreading the opium trade around southeast Asia and Europe, abetting wide scale torture….after all this the U.S.-run Afghan’s puppet “president” and his drug-dealing cronies have fled embattled Kabul like thieves in the night. Taliban—more accurately the Islamic Movement of Afghanistan—has been slandered by almost every Western news outlet and wrongly called a terrorist movement linked to the late Osama bin Laden. Heavily-propagandized Americans, Canadians and British have been inundated by this torrent of government lies against Afghanistan’s Pashtun (Pathan) people. I was in Afghanistan with the newly created Taliban in the early 1990s. I

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walked from Pashtun village to village and had tea with the local chiefs, known as “maliks.” The Pashtun treated me as an honored guest and welcome visitor. These rough mountain warriors were the descendants of the fighters who had defeated four British invasions the previous century. My book War at the Top of the World examines the beginning of our Afghan War. The fathers of these Pashtun fighters were the men who formed the anti-Soviet “mujahidin” (holy warriors) that defeated the mighty Soviet Red Army with the secret help of U.S., British and most of all Pakistani intelligence. Everyone in south Asia knew better than to mess with the Pashtun Afghans, including their blood enemies, Afghanistan’s ethnic Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazara. An old Hindu prayer goes, “Beware of the fang of the cobra, the claw of the tiger, and the vengeance of the Pathan (Pashtun).” Taliban had just been created when I was visiting the usually off-limits frontier Tribal Territories on the PakistanAfghan frontier and the Khyber Pass leading into Afghanistan. After the hurried Soviet pullout, Afghanistan fell into civil war or anarchy. Armed gangs attacked caravans and raped many Afghan women, mostly in the Pashtun region. In Islam, rape is a grave, intolerable crime. As chaos spread, a one-eyed village preacher, Mullah Omar, a maimed veteran of the anti-Soviet struggle, organized a group of his young religious students, known as “Talibs,” to protect the local village women and defend the caravans. As the late Benazir Bhutto told me, she ordered Pakistan’s Home Ministry to arm the Talibs. At that time, the Afghan Communists were waging a war to keep control of the countryside and, most important, the nation’s lush opium fields, which financed the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance and Communist Party. Once Taliban defeated the Tajik-Communist alliance, opium production in Afghanistan fell by over 90 percent. Until then, Afghanistan was the O CTOBER 2021 OV-3

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world’s leading producer and exporter of opium. This narcotic was then exported with full Communist approval to the Soviet Union/Russia, Iran, Central Asia and onward to northern Europe. Afghanistan’s ethnic Tajiks, many Communist-dominated, ran most of the drug trade. Taliban crushed the Afghan drug trade and ended some of the attacks on women. But its members were mostly rough-hewn mountaineers of the ver y old school. They often treated women badly, as was the custom, but certainly far less brutally compared to the often-murderous way girls and women were mistreated or murdered in India, a U.S. ally, or by U.S. air raids on Afghan towns and villages. Afghanistan’s urban education system was heavily infiltrated by the Afghan Communist Party, which used female education as a way of infiltrating government. A major reason for Taliban’s hostility to female education was that it was viewed as a Communist plot. Today’s Taliban is a younger generation of mountain people, better educated and less narrow-minded than their rustic elders. I was invited by its leadership to attend peace talks in Doha. Meanwhile, one hopes that American right-wingers do not get the U.S. to stage new military operations against Afghanistan to prolong this 20-year conflict. Let the Afghans sort out their own messy ethnic issues without interference by their neighbors. A new coalition government that includes non-Taliban leaders like former President Hamid Karzai, Abdullah Abdullah and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar should be encouraged and supported. War criminals like Uzbek warlord Rashid Dostum should be prosecuted. We have to stop drinking our own Kool-Aid over Afghanistan, stop believing our own Western and Communist propaganda, and try to accept that what we are so far seeing is the liberation of this war-ravaged land from four decades of first Soviet, then U.S. occupation. OV-4 O CTOBER 2021

Eric S. Margolis is an award-winning, internationally syndicated columnist. This article was first posted on <www.ericmargolis.com>, Aug. 17, 2021. Copyright © Eric S. Margolis 2021. Reprinted with permission.

Now Is the Time For a Foreign Policy Overhaul BY GARY SICK

he Biden administration missed its chance to undertake a fundamental re-evaluation of U.S. Middle East policy in its early honeymoon period. There were urgent domestic priorities, there was a world of repair work to be done on U.S. alliances, there was no national consensus on almost anything, and there was a raging global pandemic. Getting out of Afghanistan looked like an easy call. Three presidents in a row had proclaimed it necessary, the American public agreed, and the Trump administration had negotiated the equivalent of a surrender to the Taliban. All that was left was to follow through. The catastrophe came faster and harder than almost anyone predicted. Now that it is here, and with America’s attention focused even briefly on the policy failures of the past two decades in the Middle East region, perhaps the Afghan moment provides an opportunity to go back to basics and undertake a zero-based analysis of U.S. Middle East policy. At least since the catastrophe in Iraq, and the vast expenditure of treasure and (mostly non-American) blood, U.S. policy has been based on an absurdity. The benefits of the policy have been outlandishly at odds with its many costs. But because of domestic politics, it was never possible to just call a spade a spade, to simply admit the limits of U.S. power to transform the politics of the region, and to reduce our military footprint to a level consonant with our national responsibilities and interests. Instead,

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one administration after another adopted a sort of stealth policy: try to reduce U.S. responsibilities without attracting undue attention or admitting defeat. Challenging the existing status quo is costly. Typically, it takes a fundamental crisis or disaster to muster the will to take a fresh look at reality. That means a genuine inquiry with an open mind, not just positing a political or ideological outcome and contorting the analysis to that end. The process begins with a clear-eyed understanding of U.S. national interests. Experienced hands know that the review process can be skewed by an expansive definition of national interests. So the discussion of national interests should be subject to several questions: (1) is this “interest” truly critical to the United States, or is it actually an interest of one or more states friendly to Washington? (2) if it is uniquely relevant to the United States, can it be dealt with by a friendly coalition of states inside or outside the region? (3) can it be “diplomatized”? (4) is quality intelligence sufficient to close the gap? (5) if it requires a military dimension, consider the optimum size, force structure and need for a permanent regional presence versus a more mobile “overthe-horizon” presence with the necessary infrastructure available on the receiving end. American interests in the region have changed over time. Facts on the ground have also changed. When Nixon and Kissinger were pondering their choices, as the British were withdrawing from the region in the early 1970s, Washington relied almost entirely on an “over the horizon” presence, with little or no permanent military infrastructure in the region except the former British anchorage in Bahrain. There was no Central Command and no Fifth Fleet and no AlUdeid airbase, to name a few. The answer is not to renounce all that, but rather to consider how to use these resources more efficiently and effectively. The existence of facilities should not be

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like an open vessel that must be kept filled at all times. One objective worth keeping in mind in such a review is whether and how the U.S. might contribute to a selfregulating regional balance of power. I think we are actually closer to such a status quo than we seem to be willing to acknowledge. Is there really a serious danger that one regional state will dominate all the others? Are regional states powerless to prevent such an outcome? Must we lie awake nights worrying that one or more regional states will refuse to sell their oil? Will one or more of them mount a sustained and effective attack against energy lines of communication? Is the very large U.S. military presence making things better or worse? This is not a binary issue. The appropriate level of U.S. involvement is a spectrum, not a switch. One administration after another has been slowly moving the needle, but all too often the process has been hit and miss. Although there is ample reason to suspect that Washington and its friends are ill-equipped to develop and carry out a coherent strategy, that is not a reason to ignore the problem. One way to deal with it might be to just tell the truth: the United States is over-extended, and its Middle East policy costs more than it’s worth; cut the denial and consider what practical steps we might take to improve the region on our way out. If we were waiting for the proper moment to undertake a thorough overhaul of U.S. policy in the Middle East, this is it.

Gary Sick is the executive director of Gulf/ 2000, an international online research project on political, economic and security developments in the Persian Gulf, being conducted at Columbia University since 1993. He served on the National Security Council staff under Presidents Ford, Carter and Reagan, and was the principal White House aide for Iran during the Iranian Revolution and the hostage crisis. This article was first posted on <www.responsible statecraft.org>, Aug. 17, 2021. Copyright © 2021 Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. O THER V OICES

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Israel’s Lapid Was Right. AntiSemitism Is a Form of Racism BY HAARETZ

n his address to the Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said antiSemitism isn’t just hatred of Jews. “The anti-Semites weren’t only in the Budapest Ghetto,” he said. “AntiSemites were also slave traders who threw people bound together with chains into the sea. Anti-Semites were the extremist Hutu in Rwanda who massacred Tutsis.” He is right, and it’s good that he said it. The right-wing attacks he has suffered over these remarks merely underscore their validity. The Holocaust was a unique event in human history. There was no precedent for a program of genocide so systematic and satanic. Nevertheless, we have to recognize the fact that hatred of Jews is essentially no different than hatreds of other nationalities and races—and history is full of such hatreds. The fact that the Jewish people were the victim of the cruelest, most systematic manifestation of all these hatreds doesn’t make Jew-hatred different from displays of hatred toward other peoples. The nationalist right in Israel was outraged that Lapid dared to compare anti-Semitism to its sister hatreds. But the claim that anti-Semitism is unique conceals another claim that is much worse: Jews are the chosen people, an exalted people, and therefore, hatred of Jews is worse than any other national hatred, perish the comparison. This is an outrageous nationalist claim that puts the Jewish people at the center of human existence and downgrades all other victims of racism to secondary importance. Yes, victims of the Armenian genocide and the massacre in Rwanda were victims of national hatreds similar to

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anti-Semitism. Jews’ blood is no redder, and attacks on them are no worse than other hate crimes. Islamophobia in the West is no less ugly than anti-Semitism, and it must be fought with the same determination. None of this has any connection to the uniqueness of the Holocaust. It’s also impossible to avoid another discussion that’s no less important, about the use Israel makes of antiSemitism to repulse criticism of its policy of occupation. All such criticism is automatically labeled anti-Semitic. Israel thereby not only rejects legitimate and necessary criticism of the occupation, but also criminalizes it. This strategy has so far been crowned with success. In Europe, it’s much harder than it used to be to criticize the Israeli occupation due to Europeans’ fear of being accused of anti-Semitism. The attacks on Lapid also conceal a desire not to lose this useful tool, which silences all criticism of Israel. Anti-Semitism is indeed similar to other forms of racism, as Lapid rightly said. The world must mobilize for a shared and determined battle against all these ugly manifestations. And Israel, which arose from the ashes of the Holocaust, must participate in every front of this battle.

Sports Apartheid: Israel’s Olympic Team Did not Include a Single Palestinian Citizen of Israel BY JAMES NORTH

his report in the respected Israeli daily Haaretz is astonishing. It turns out that Israel’s 90O CTOBER 2021 OV-5

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member delegation to the Tokyo Olympics did not include a single Palestinian citizen of Israel—even though they constitute one-fifth of the country’s population within the 1967 borders. Let’s pause for a moment, and let this sink in. Black Americans make up about 12 percent of the U.S. population. But even in the terrible days of U.S. segregation, African-American athletes had at least been stars on our national teams. Runner Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, angering Adolf Hitler. (Another black medal winner that year, Ralph Metcalfe, went on to a distinguished political career in Chicago.) In the 1960 Rome Olympiad, Wilma Rudolph won the 100-meter, the 200meter, and anchored the gold medalwinning 4×100-meter relay. A brash young boxer named Cassius Clay won gold in the light heavyweight division that same year, before turning pro and becoming better known as Muhammad Ali. In the Haaretz article, reporter Jack Khoury, himself a Palestinian citizen of Israel, said he is not arguing “for the inclusion of Arabs just because they are Arabs.” But he goes on to explain: No Arab community has the infrastructure for any sport that could provide local athletes the basis they need to progress to an international level. If an Arab athlete wishes to reach this standard, he or she must move to a Jewish community and depend on their family’s financial support, since there is no sponsor or organization that would support them. Many talented athletes in Arab communities have given up their dreams due to the costs involved. Khoury says there is another problem: Palestinian citizens of Israel “are not migrants, but their loyalty and citizenship are often viewed with suspicion. This is why an Arab athlete can sometimes excel on a soccer team, but the Olympics, the Mount Olympus of sports, is closed to them.” Khoury raises an even more delicate point: It is also worth remembering that if an Arab citizen were to join the [Olympic] delegation and win a medal, they would have OV-6 O CTOBER 2021

to decide whether they could receive it against the backdrop of a flag and anthem that represents only the majority of this country, rather than all its citizens. “Sports Apartheid” is the correct term for preventing 20 percent of your fellow citizens from competing internationally. What’s also amazing is that until now, no one in the U.S. mainstream press has even bothered to report on this injustice. Finally, Roger Cohen at The New York Times did recently start describing the discrimination that Palestinian citizens of Israel experience, but he and his colleagues have plenty more reporting to do. Jack Khoury ends his article: “Arab citizens are only watching the Games on television, and will apparently continue to do so for many more years.”

James North is a Mondoweiss editor-at-large, and has reported from Africa, Latin America and Asia for four decades. This article was first posted on <https://mondoweiss.net>, Aug. 8, 2021. Copyright © 2021 Mondoweiss. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

He Won Olympic Gold for Israel, But the State Still Wouldn’t Give Him Equal Rights BY MICKEY GITZIN

rtem Dolgopyat’s gold medal victory at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday was unprecedented. However, everything that transpired afterwards was actually very much expected, following ready-established protocol: There was joy over the win, excitement among immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union over the glory that they had won for the country, and recognition of the huge contribution that they have made to Israeli society; there was the euphoria that was quickly met with the troubling recognition of the tough road that Artem has traveled

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and his status as a second-class citizen whose Jewish identity is at best called into question; and, of course, there was the humane decision to go beyond the letter of the law and accept him into the ranks of the Jewish people, with all the attendant privileges. He’s an Olympic champion, after all. An interview on 103 FM radio with Dolgopyat’s mother, Angela, provided a good example of the mistaken assumptions Israelis make regarding immigration from Russia and other former Soviet republics. “[His] grandmother is Jewish and from our standpoint, he’s completely Jewish,” Ben Caspit, who was interviewing Dolgopyat’s mother, quickly remarked after she explained that her son can’t marry the woman who is his partner in Israel. But without noticing, Caspit was twice mistaken. The first mistake was in not recognizing that the problem is not only Dolgopyat’s religious status but that of his non-Jewish partner. The second mistake was in deciding that Artem Dolgopyat was entitled to equal rights by virtue of his being Jewish—and not, for example, by virtue of being an Israeli citizen. The strong response prompted by Dolgopyat's mother’s comments, even if well intended, misses the point. Even if the rabbinate considered Artem Jewish, neither he nor any other Jewish Israeli would be able to marry a non-Jewish partner, whether they are tenth generation in the country or new immigrants whose partners were considered ineligible to marry or who preferred to marry outside the rabbinate. The problem is not that of immigrants from the former Soviet Union but rather of any Israeli, whoever they may be, who doesn’t live their life in accordance with Jewish religious law, halakha, as interpreted by the Chief Rabbinate. A lot has already been said about the hypocrisy in the inclination to fully accept Soviet Jewish immigrants into Jewry only when they bring us honor or endanger their lives in battle. It’s as if Jewry is an award reserved only for those who prove themselves through

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their patriotism or their excellence. The problem begins long before that, with the official discrimination that the state practices against its citizens. This doesn’t involve a halakhic debate over declarations of religiosity, connections to the Jewish people or the age-old question of who is a Jew. The only question that needs to be asked is what someone’s rights are from the moment that the State of Israel has decided to grant them citizenship. More than any wave of immigrants, those originating from the former Soviet Union (FSU) continue to suffer from prejudice when it comes to their degree of Jewishness and their connection to the state. As the son of parents who immigrated to Israel from the Soviet Union shortly before I was born, I have personally experienced this. The insufferable disparity between the Law of Return, which confers Israeli citizenship, and the Chief Rabbinate’s laws, which mostly harm FSU immigrants, is just part of the issue. This is a bigger story that affects us all. There are those who would propose resolving cases such as Dolgopyat’s by making it easier to convert to Judaism than it is under the rabbinate. This doesn’t involve the important disagreement, important in and of itself, between Orthodox and secular Jews or the need for state recognition of various streams in Judaism. Opening the marketplace to various kinds of conversion and to liberal interpretations of halakha, as is proposed in these contexts, is not a substitute for the state’s obvious duty to provide its citizens the rights to which they are entitled, without regard to their religion or level of religiosity. In general, every government needs to be expected to advance this change. That’s certainly the case when it comes to the current government, which has been dubbed a “government of change.” A government of change doesn’t only mean “just not Bibi” but a democracy and equal rights for all citizens. The solution is a civil agenda in Israel that permits every citizen to marry, to divorce and to lead their lives in accordance with their own consciences, O THER V OICES

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without regard to religion. And that goes for new immigrants, native-born Israelis, Olympic champions and just regular folks who haven’t won medals.

Evangelical Support for Israel Is Neither Permanent nor Inevitable BY WALKER ROBINS

srael’s former ambassador to the U.S., Ron Dermer, made waves in May 2021 when he publicly suggested that Israel should prioritize its relationship with American evangelicals over American Jews. Dermer described evangelicals as the “backbone of Israel’s support in the United States.” By contrast, he described American Jews as “disproportionately among [Israel’s] critics.” Dermer’s comments seemed shocking to many because he stated them in public to a reporter. But as a historian of the evangelical-Israeli relationship, I didn’t find them surprising. The Israeli right’s preference for working with conservative American evangelicals over more politically variable American Jews has been evident for years. And this preference has in many ways paid off.

CHRISTIAN ZIONISM IN THE TRUMP ERA American Christian Zionists are evangelicals who believe that Christians have a duty to support the Jewish state because the Jews remain God’s chosen people. During the Trump years, Christian Zionists were crucial allies for former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s government. They helped NeWASHINGTON R EPORT

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tanyahu lobby Trump for the relocation of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, as well as the withdrawal of the U.S. from the “Iran Deal”—the international nuclear arms control agreement with Iran. These evangelicals also backed Trump’s recognition of Israel’s 1981 annexation of the Golan Heights, as well as cuts of more than US$200 million to American funding for the Palestinian Authority in 2018. Coming after this string of policy victories for the Israeli-evangelical alliance, Dermer’s comments made sense. However, the alliance’s future may be in doubt. Recent polling shows dramatic declines in support for Israel among young American evangelicals. Scholars Motti Inbari and Kirill Bumin found that between 2018 and 2021, rates of support fell from 69 percent to 33.6 percent among evangelicals ages 18-29. While these polls speak most immediately to the current context, they also underline a larger historical point: Evangelical support for Israel is neither permanent nor inevitable.

SOUTHERN BAPTISTS AND ISRAEL The Southern Baptist Convention— long the denominational avatar of white American evangelicalism—offers an example of how these beliefs have shifted over time, which I examine in my book Between Dixie and Zion: Southern Baptists and Palestine before Israel. Southern Baptists are broadly supportive of Israel, and have been for much of the past half-century. Baptist leaders like W.A. Criswell and Ed McAteer helped organize Christian Zionism in the U.S. The Southern Baptist Convention itself has passed a number of pro-Israel resolutions in recent decades. More recently, Southern Baptist support for Israel was highlighted when the Trump administration invited Robert Jeffress, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, to lead a prayer at the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem in 2018. However, Southern Baptists were not always so unified in support for Israel, O CTOBER 2021 OV-7

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or the Zionist movement that led to its creation. This was evident only days after the establishment of Israel in 1948, when messengers to the convention’s annual meeting repeatedly and overwhelmingly voted down resolutions calling for the convention to send a congratulatory telegram to U.S. President—and fellow Southern Baptist— Harry Truman for being the first foreign leader to recognize the Jewish state.

ZIONISM WAS “GOD’S PLAN”—UNLESS IT WASN’T This seems shocking today, after years of seemingly unanimous evangelical support for Israel. However, as I document in my book, Southern Baptists had diverse views on Zionism and “the Palestine question” in the decades leading up to Israel’s birth. While some did argue that support for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine was a Christian duty, others defended the Arab majority’s rights in the Holy Land. During this era, the Southern Baptist Convention published books, pamphlets and other materials reflecting both sides. In 1936, its press published a work by missionary Jacob Gartenhaus, a convert from Judaism to evangelical Christianity, arguing that to be against Zionism was “to oppose God’s plan.” The following year, however, the press published a mission study manual by J. McKee Adams contending that “by every canon of justice and fair-play, the Arab is the man of first importance.” Adams was one among a coterie of professors at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary who spoke out against what they sometimes derided as “Christian Zionism”—then an unusual term. Even evangelicals who believed the Bible anticipated the return of Jews to Palestine disagreed on whether the Zionist movement was part of God’s plan. The influential Baptist leader J. Frank Norris of Fort Worth, Texas, who broke away from the mainstream Southern Baptist Convention in the 1920s, argued in the 1930s and 1940s that OV-8 O CTOBER 2021

Christians had a duty to God and civilization to support the Zionists. But there was no widespread sense that being a Baptist—or an evangelical Protestant—entailed support for Zionism. John R. Rice, a prominent disciple of Norris’, rejected his mentor’s arguments outright. “The Zionist movement is not a fulfillment of the prophecies about Israel being restored,” Rice wrote in 1945. “Preachers who think so are mistaken.” Regarding the political question of whether Arabs or Jews should control Palestine, most evangelicals were unconcerned. The Southern Baptists focused on other priorities in the Holy Land, such as the growth of their missions in Jerusalem and Nazareth. Even those Baptists who supported the establishment of a Jewish state did not organize politically around the issue.

THE FUTURE OF CHRISTIAN ZIONISM In the decades after the establishment of Israel, however, motivated evangelical and Jewish activists—as well as the Israeli government—worked to stitch together the interfaith relationships, build the institutions and spread the ideas underpinning today’s Christian Zionist movement. These efforts have been remarkably effective in making support for Israel a defining element of many evangelicals’ religious and political identities. However, as the latest polling of young evangelicals shows, there is no guarantee this will be permanent. This diverse and globally connected generation of evangelicals has its own ideas and priorities. It is more interested in social justice, less invested in the culture wars and increasingly weary of conservative politics. Young evangelicals remain to be convinced of Christian Zionism. And they very well may not be.

Walker Robins is a lecturer in history at Merrimack College in North Andover, MA. This article was first posted on <www.the conversa tion.com>, July 19, 2021. This work was published under a Creative Commons— Attribution/No derivatives license. Reprinted with permission.

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After Ohio Primary, Democrats Prepare for More Israel-Related Battles BY BEN SAMUELS

ollowing pro-Israel Shontel Brown’s surprise victory over progressive Nina Turner in Ohio’s 11th congressional district primary last week, Democrats are trying to determine what the results portend for the 2022 mid-terms and what role Israel plays in the future of the party. Establishment Democrats are heralding the come-from-behind victory as a validation of the mainstream and an indication that voters hew to the Biden agenda. For progressives, it is further evidence of an asymmetrical power dynamic where they face a near-impossible task of matching the deep pockets of megadonors and super PACs. In several ways, the hotly contested Brown-Turner battle was unique and not necessarily a neat case study for electoral battles to come. First, the primary was for a rare open seat (by all accounts, it is more difficult to unseat an incumbent). Second, both Turner’s initial ascendance in the race and the resulting outside involvement were largely due to her outsized reputation as an anti-establishment firebrand, dating back to the 2016 Democratic primary. For a district that heavily supported Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders, Turner— who refused to say whether she had voted for Clinton and compared voting for Biden to eating half a bowl of s**t— was an undoubtedly polarizing figure whom the opposition successfully consolidated against. Bearing this in mind, pro-Israel Democrats are claiming the decisive victory is worth celebrating and instructive on future races to come.

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TURNING UP THE HEAT Jewish Democratic Council of America CEO Halie Soifer says Brown’s victory was both “a win for establishment Democrats and a rejection of the far-left wing of our party.” She also notes the importance of the Jewish vote moving forward, and how it has a disproportionately higher impact on the outcome of elections because of turnout. “This is a big takeaway in terms of the importance of the Jewish vote in determining the outcome of the elections, but also the importance of Democratic candidates in terms of aligning with Jewish values,” she says, adding that Jewish voters are largely driven by domestic policy issues and not Israel, which is a threshold issue for most voters. Perhaps the most lasting takeaway from the Ohio campaign is how closely Turner and Brown have become linked to their respective backing organizations: Justice Democrats, a progressive political action committee, and Democratic Majority for Israel, which describes itself as “the voice of pro-Israel Democrats.” These groups, for better or worse, have become the avatars of the dueling wings of the party—a dynamic that will only become more pronounced as the 2022 mid-terms approach. Indeed, Democratic Majority CEO Mark Mellman believes last week’s results will only turn up the temperature. “The other side is very angry about this race, and I think it will be a real motivation for them to find even more anti-Israel candidates and do an even better job of funding and guiding them,” he says. Mellman anticipates a set of critically important primaries, whether caused by redistricting or other local issues or candidates, “where pro-Israel candidates are running against really problematic opponents.” Waleed Shahid, communications director of Justice Democrats, says that because all of their candidates back ending Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, “there are anti-Palestinian lobbies and hawkish foreign policy O THER V OICES

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groups like DMFI and Republicanfunded organizations that are pouring millions of dollars into stopping the number of Democrats in the House who support having constraints on aid to the Israeli government.” He adds that he finds it “pretty astounding—given how small of a group of Democratic elected officials support the idea of strings attached to aid to Israel—the disproportionate amount of money spent to stop them growing from 30,” referring to the number of lawmakers currently co-sponsoring Rep. Betty McCollum’s bill on U.S. aid to Israel. “It’s something we’re expecting and have overcome before.” He points to recent polling showcasing how a majority of Democratic voters advocate for strings attached to the foreign aid provided to Israel. “That number has only grown since the recent conflict [in May between Israel and Hamas]. Those voters aren’t represented by the majority of their elected officials in Congress,” he says. Following the Ohio battle, Mellman believes that campaigns will need to prioritize resources, allyship and the ability to reach voters through various mediums. “Campaigns these days are very expensive propositions, and if you want to have influence on the outcome, you have to have the resources to match your ambitions. It’s also vitally important to start early when it’s strategically important,” he says. He adds that “having the ability to work with disparate individuals and organizations makes a difference. There are also broader campaign lessons about the need to be on multiple channels and to meet voters in various places.”

“NEGATIVE ATTACK ADS” For Shahid, the Democratic battles of recent times highlight the fact that each race is different. “Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush and Marie Newman were able to show that you can still stand up for Palestinian rights and still win,” he says, referring to the progressive representatives who won primaries in New York, Missouri and Illinois, respectively. “What Mellman and DMFI are trying WASHINGTON R EPORT

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to prove is that there is no path to power in the Democratic Party if you’re a candidate and support freedom and dignity for all Israelis and Palestinians,” he says. “That’s what we’re up against.” Shahid further notes that Justice Democrats are typically outspent in all the races in which they are involved. “It’s a difficult subject to talk about, because there’s not really a counterweight or a donor-equivalent to DMFI on the antioccupation side,” he says. “Any nurse, principal, immigration attorney or bartender who wants to run for Congress should expect millions of dollars in negative attack ads— sometimes funded by Republicans— and we’ll have to work twice as hard to establish a relationship with voters,” Shahid adds, decrying what he believes this says about America’s campaign finance system. He doesn’t anticipate Israel-Palestine to always be a major issue like it was in Ohio, but “I expect money from antiPalestinian super PACs and lobbying groups to be an issue. I don’t expect the substance of the issue to be debated.” (Turner raised $4.5 million during the race, while Brown received over $536,000 from the Pro-Israel America PAC in the last months of the race and DFMI spent a further $2 million on her campaign.) Shahid is calling for more public scrutiny of Mellman’s organization moving forward. “DMFI is rarely running ads about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They are essentially an AIPAC front group, dedicated to protecting the status quo on the occupation, but almost none of their ads are about the issue they’re primarily organized around,” he says. “It shows that either most voters don’t care about this, or that the status quo is unpopular with voters.” Mellman rejects the characterization of his group as an AIPAC front group. “We are an independent organization with our own board of directors. We make our own decisions. It would not be surprising that there are people on our board who have been involved in AIPAC—almost everyone who cares about Israel in this country has been to, O CTOBER 2021 OV-9

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or spoken at, an AIPAC event at some point,” he says. “People who are active on issues are active on those issues in a variety of venues,” Mellman adds. “Speaking at an event doesn’t make you a pawn of the host. We have also done and said things that AIPAC really would not say or do.” Shahid also takes issue with DMFI’s emphasis on supporting the Biden agenda when its CEO was vocally opposed to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. “It’s very ironic that the primary counterweight to progressives, who attacks them for being anti-Biden, was himself one of the leaders in the opposition to the Obama administration’s biggest foreign policy achievement,” he says. Mellman says his thinking at the time was that a better agreement could have been obtained. “I still think that’s true, but we have been very clear in saying that Trump made a terrible mistake in withdrawing from the deal,” he adds. Shahid also highlights how DMFI board member Archie Gottesman previously called for all of Gaza to be burned in a June 2018 tweet. “That came out and it was treated as just another day. People should scrutinize the group itself, its positions, the people associated with it, the money it gets and hold them accountable,” he charges. Gottesman apologized for her tweet this April, and Mellman and DMFI board co-chairs Ann Lewis and Todd Richman issued a statement saying, “Archie has made perfectly clear that those words in no way reflect her values; and we are making clear they do not represent the views or values of DMFI.” They also highlighted the context of her tweet, writing: “Hamas terrorists in Gaza were literally burning thousands of acres in Israel with firebombs, threatening her family there, along with millions of others.” Justice Democrats is currently backing four candidates in primaries, three of which will likely attract scrutiny over the candidates’ respective views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: New York’s 12th district with Rep. Carolyn OV-10 O CTOBER 2021

Maloney and Rana Abdelhamid; Tennessee’s 5th district, featuring Rep. Jim Cooper and Odessa Kelly; and Texas’ 28th district rematch between Rep. Henry Cuellar and Jessica Cisneros. “Races are never defined by IsraelPalestine, but increasingly because of super PACs like DMFI, that is how the independent expenditures are being defined,” Shahid says. “It should galvanize people who care about human rights, at home and abroad, to think about these primaries in a different way.”

The African Union, Israel and The Futility of Appeasement BY MARWAN BISHARA

or decades, African countries have supported the Palestinian liberation struggle against Israel, seeing in it parallels with their own anti-colonial movements. Likewise, the African Union has not hesitated to criticize Israeli international law violations and occupation of Palestinian lands. Most recently, Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat condemned Israel’s war on Gaza and its violent attacks against Palestinians in Jerusalem. So why on earth did the commission grant Israel the privilege of an observer status at the AU just two months later? It is not like Israel has had a change of heart in its treatment of Palestinians. If anything, Israeli leaders have doubled down on what international human rights organizations have called war crimes and have persisted in their colonial policies, despite African condemnation. As South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has argued, Israel is erect-

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ing an apartheid system in Palestine akin to apartheid South Africa as colonization, in the form of illegal, exclusively Jewish settlements, goes on unabated. Some South African and Israeli observers have deemed Israel’s racist regime “far worse” than South Africa’s pre-1994, given the large-scale ethnic cleansing that has taken place in Palestine. All of this begs the question: Why would Mahamat, a seasoned politician, allow such a questionable and grave decision to be made without consultation with the member states? This is especially disturbing considering that an absolute majority of African states have only recently renewed their trust in Mahamat’s leadership, re-electing him for another fouryear term! Already, some major countries from Algeria to South Africa have flatly rejected Israel’s admission to the Union, in any form, as incompatible with the values and principles of the AU charter, demanding an explanation and outright reversal. Now, I realize that a number of African and Arab leaders have appeased Israel as a way to reach out to the United States. They reckon that Israel has major sway in Washington and may be of help to influence the decisions of the world’s superpower in their favor. Indeed, such pragmatism—read opportunism—may have worked for the likes of Sudan in getting U.S. sanctions lifted after it began normalizing relations with Israel. In other words, U.S. leaders have encouraged such malpractice, no less the present administration, which claims to put human rights at the center of its foreign policy. Mahamat’s own impoverished and embattled home country, Chad, has stepped up its relations with Israel over the past four years for military and strategic gain. But how does that relate to the African Union Commission? And why should the Palestinians always pay the price?

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After all, the Ethiopia-based AU Commission is not a state; it is a continental organization that represents all 55 member states, most of whom have suffered terribly at the hands of the same type of repressive colonialism that is besieging Palestine. Africa’s inter- and intra-state politics are too complicated to address in one article, but there is certainly a unique shared history and a certain commonality among African states that cannot be forgotten or ignored. Not long ago, Israel was directly implicated in supporting Western colonial enterprises in Africa. And it armed and trained some of the worst African regimes during the Cold War. Even when Western nations distanced themselves from apartheid South Africa, Israel remained the racist regime’s best friend, praising apartheid and cooperating with Pretoria in nuclear weapons development. Worse still, it never apologized for it. Ever. And while Israel did try to improve relations with African countries by providing various types of aid and technical assistance over the past two decades, it has also armed some of the continent’s unsavory regimes. Still, there is nothing that Israel can offer Africa that it cannot purchase on the world market or obtain from the various world powers vying for influence on the continent. In other words, pragmatism does not justify appeasing racism. It is not a coincidence that the late Nelson Mandela, who led reconciliation in South Africa, never reconciled with apartheid Israel and persisted in his support for the Palestinian struggle while vehemently opposing anti-Semitism. I remember his words all too clearly when I attended the Durban World Conference Against Racism 20 years ago where my book, Palestine/Israel: Peace or Apartheid, was launched. Mandela urged the thousands of attendees to fight against the “racism contagion,” which he described as a “disease” not unique to any people or continent, but an ailment of the human mind and soul. O THER V OICES

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Indeed, racism knows no nationality or religion. But Israel, with the help of the U.S. and other Western countries, sought to undermine the conference, fearing a condemnation of Zionism and Israeli racism and demands of Western repatriations for African nations. A week later, al-Qaeda’s despicable 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington unleashed a global barrage of racism against Muslims and Arabs, including Palestinians. And it has not stopped since, even though Muslims have been the foremost victims of terrorism. Today, as Africans continue to suffer from discrimination and prejudice, Africa must be at the forefront in the fight against racism in all its forms, including religious bigotry, national chauvinism and settler colonialism. The African Union Commission has a moral and political responsibility to lead such a fight against racism, not undermine it through cynical appeasement and empty declarations. Granting an apartheid regime the privilege to “observe” the African Union legitimizes it and empowers Israeli leaders to carry on with their colonial enterprise in Palestine.

Marwan Bishara, senior political analyst at Al Jazeera, writes extensively on global politics and is widely regarded as a leading authority on U.S. foreign policy, the Middle East and international strategic affairs. He was previously a professor of International Relations at the American University of Paris. This column was first posted on <www.aljazeera.com>, Aug. 4, 2021. Copyright © 2021 Al Jazeera Media Network. Reprinted with permission.

Biden Isn’t Withdrawing Troops From Iraq, He’s Relabeling Their Mission BY ANNELLE SHELINE WASHINGTON R EPORT

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raqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and President Biden announced this week that Washington will end its combat mission in Iraq by the end of the year. However, these long-serving U.S. soldiers are not coming home: many of the 2,500 American service members are expected to remain in the country for “training and advisory” purposes. The United States and Iraq had issued a joint statement in April that the U.S. combat mission would be ending, but the timeline remained unclear. The timing of the recent announcement appears intended to boost Kadhimi’s prospects in October’s parliamentary elections—he faces domestic demands to oust U.S. forces, yet remains dependent on American support to maintain some semblance of control. Many of the militia groups he now struggles to control initially assembled to fight the so-called Islamic State, or Daesh, starting in 2014. The Popular Mobilization Forces, or al-Ḥashd ashShaʿbī, many of whose fighters are Iraqi Shi’i, were supported by both the U.S. and Iran to defeat the Islamic State. The mobilization of these militias would not have been necessary if Paul Bremer and the Pentagon had not made the foolish decision to disband Iraq’s military following the U.S. invasion in 2003, as Iraq would still have possessed a functional army. Washington clearly bears significant responsibility for the ongoing instability and dysfunction in Iraq, a fact that the announcement of $155 million in additional humanitarian aid for Iraq seems implicitly to acknowledge. Yet the U.S. military has consistently botched its missions in Iraq—keeping them in the country is in the interests of neither Americans nor Iraqis. Renaming the stated goal of U.S. troops in Iraq will have little effect on their vulnerability to attack. Iraqi militia groups determined to evict U.S. troops from their country are increasingly acting without or against orders from Tehran. Ironically, Iran’s control of Iraqi militia groups unraveled following the assassination of Quds Force Commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani. O CTOBER 2021 OV-11

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Attacks on American forces have increased at a time when Tehran and Washington are attempting to negotiate a mutual return to the 2015 nuclear deal. Announcing a troop withdrawal when no troops are in fact to be withdrawn reinforces a broader alarming trend in the forever wars—finding ways to keep American soldiers perpetually deployed, despite the public’s desire for the United States to prioritize investment at home over violence abroad. Even more concerning are the expanding budget and scope of Pentagon’s “127e” programs, created after 9/11 to provide “support to foreign forces, irregular forces, groups, or individuals engaged in supporting or facilitating authorized ongoing military operations by United States special operations forces to combat terrorism.” These “exceptional” and highly secretive counterterror deployments operate with very little public, congressional or DOD oversight. The budget of 127e programs has quadrupled since 2005, from $25 million to $100 million annually. These funds are exempt from U.S. human rights conditions, like the “Leahy laws,” which bar the United States from backing foreign units credibly accused of gross abuses. As became evident with the death of four U.S. soldiers in Niger in October 2017, these unauthorized 127e advisory operations pose a serious risk that combat-equipped U.S. forces will become involved in firefights. The takeaway should be that, although a U.S. “advisory” mission in Iraq may sound harmless, it maintains the strong likelihood that U.S. forces will be shot at and will shoot back. When Prime Minister al-Kadhimi came to power in May, he was seen as representing the rejection of overt Iranian influence over Iraq, a sentiment also expressed in widespread protests throughout Iraq starting in October 2019 that demanded an end to both Iranian and American intervention, as well as rampant government corruption. He faces a nearly impossible task, OV-12 O CTOBER 2021

which is made more difficult by the ongoing attacks that are likely to continue as long as U.S. forces remain in his country’s territory—relabeled, or not.

Annelle Sheline is a research fellow at the Quincy Institute. Her research focuses on religious authority in the Middle East, specifically the intersection of religious and national identities in the Arab monarchies. This article was first posted on <www.responsible statecraft.org>, July 27, 2021. Copyright © 2021 Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

U.S. Foreign Policy Adrift: Why Washington Is No Longer Calling the Shots BY RAMZY BAROUD

onah Goldberg and Michael Ledeen have much in common. They are both writers and also cheerleaders for military interventions and, often, for frivolous wars. Writing in the conservative rag The National Review months before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Goldberg paraphrased a statement which he attributed to Ledeen with reference to the interventionist U.S. foreign policy. “Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business,” Goldberg wrote, quoting Ledeen. Those like Ledeen, the neoconservative intellectual henchman type, often get away with this kind of provocative rhetoric for various reasons. American intelligentsia, especially those who are close to the center of power in Washington, DC, perceive war and military intervention as the foundation and baseline of their foreign policy analysis. The utterances of such statements are

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usually conveyed within friendly media and intellectual platforms, where equally hawkish, belligerent audiences cheer and laugh at the warmongering muses. In the case of Ledeen, the receptive audience was the hardline, neoconservative, pro-Israel American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Predictably, AEI was one of the loudest voices urging for a war and invasion of Iraq prior to that calamitous decision by the George W. Bush administration, which was enacted in March 2003. Neoconservatism, unlike what the etymology of the name may suggest, was not necessarily confined to conservative political circles. Think tanks, newspapers and media networks that purport—or are perceived—to express liberal and even progressive thought today, like The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN, have dedicated much time and space to promoting an American invasion of Iraq as the first step of a complete U.S. geostrategic military hegemony in the Middle East. Like The National Review, these media networks also provided unhindered space to so-called neoconservative intellectuals who molded American foreign policy based on some strange mix between their twisted take on ethics and morality and the need for the U.S. to ensure its global dominance throughout the 21st century. Of course, the neocons’ love affair with Israel has served as the common denominator among all individuals affiliated with this intellectual cult. The main—and inconsequential— difference between Ledeen, for example, and those like Thomas Friedman of The New York Times, is that the former is brazen and blunt, while the latter is delusional and manipulative. For his part, Friedman also supported the Iraq war, but only to bring “democracy” to the Middle East and to fight “terrorism.” The pretense “war on terror,” though misleading if not outright fabricated, was the overriding American motto in its invasion of Iraq and, earlier, Afghanistan. This mantra was readily utilized whenever Washington needed to “pick up some small crappy

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little country and throw it against the wall.” Even those who genuinely supported the war based on concocted intelligence—that Iraqi President Saddam Hussain possessed weapons of mass destruction, or the equally fallacious notion that Saddam and al-Qaeda cooperated in any way—must, by now, realize that the entire American discourse prior to the war had no basis in reality. Unfortunately, war enthusiasts are not a rational bunch. Therefore, neither they, nor their “intellectuals,” should be expected to possess the moral integrity in shouldering the responsibility for the Iraq invasion and its horrific consequences. If, indeed, the U.S. wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan were meant to fight and uproot terror, how is it possible that, in June 2014, an erstwhile unknown group calling itself the “Islamic State” (IS), managed to flourish, occupy and usurp massive swathes of Iraqi and Syrian territories and resources under the watchful eye of the U.S. military? If the other war objective was bringing stability and democracy to the Middle East, why did many years of U.S. “state-building” efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, for example, leave behind nothing but weak, shattered armies and festering corruption? Two important events have summoned up these thoughts: U.S. President Joe Biden’s “historic” trip to Cornwall, UK, in June, to attend the 47th G7 summit, and, two weeks later, the death of Donald Rumsfeld, who is widely depicted as “the architect of the Iraq war.” The tone struck by Biden throughout his G7 meetings is that “America is back,” another American coinage similar to the earlier phrase, the “great reset”—meaning that Washington is ready to reclaim its global role that had been betrayed by the chaotic policies of former President Donald Trump. The newest phrase—”America is back”—appears to suggest that the decision to restore the U.S.’ uncontested global leadership is, more or less, an exclusively American decision. MoreO THER V OICES

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over, the term is not entirely new. In his first speech to a global audience at the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 19, Biden repeated the phrase several times with obvious emphasis. “America is back. I speak today as president of the United States, at the very start of my administration, and I am sending a clear message to the world: America is back,” Biden said, adding that “the transatlantic alliance is back and we are not looking backward, we are looking forward together.” Platitudes and wishful thinking aside, the U.S. cannot possibly return to a previous geopolitical standing simply because Biden has made an executive decision to “reset” his country’s traditional relationships with Europe— or anywhere else, either. Biden’s actual mission is to merely whitewash and restore his country’s tarnished reputation, marred not only by Trump, but also by years of fruitless wars, a crisis of democracy at home and abroad, and an impending financial crisis resulting from the U.S.’ mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately for Washington, while it hopes to “look forward” to the future, other countries have already staked claims to parts of the world where the U.S. has been forced to retreat, following two decades of a rudderless strategy that is fueled by the belief that firepower alone is sufficient to keep America aloft forever. Though Biden was received warmly by his European hosts, Europe is likely to proceed cautiously. The continent’s geostrategic interests do not fall entirely in the American camp, as was once the case. Other new factors and power players have emerged in recent years. China is now the European bloc’s largest trade partner, and Biden’s scare tactics warning of Chinese global dominance have not, seemingly, impressed the Europeans as the Americans had hoped. Following Britain’s unceremonious exit from the EU bloc, the latter urgently needs to keep its share of the global economy as large as possible. The limping U.S. economy will hardly make the substantial WASHINGTON R EPORT

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deficit felt in Europe. Namely, the China-EU relationship is here to stay—and grow. There is something else that makes the Europeans wary of whatever murky political doctrine Biden is promoting: dangerous American military adventurism. The U.S. and Europe are the foundation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) which, since its inception in 1949, was almost exclusively used by the U.S. to assert its global dominance, first in the Korean Peninsula in 1950, then everywhere else. Following the Sept. 11 attacks, Washington used its hegemony over NATO to invoke Article 5 of its Charter, that of collective defense. The consequences were dire, as NATO members, along with the U.S., were embroiled in their longest wars ever, military conflicts that had no consistent strategy, let alone measurable goals. Now, as the U.S. licks its wounds as it leaves Afghanistan, NATO members, too, are leaving the devastated country without a single achievement worth celebrating. Similar scenarios are transpiring in Iraq and Syria, too. Rumsfeld’s death on June 29, at the age of 88, should serve as a wake-up call to American allies if they truly wish to avoid the pitfalls and recklessness of the past. While much of the U.S. corporate media commemorated the death of a brutish war criminal with amiable noncommittal language, some blamed him almost entirely for the Iraq fiasco. It is as if a single man had bent the will of the West-dominated international community to invade, pillage, torture and destroy entire countries. If so, then Rumsfeld’s death should usher in an exciting new dawn of collective peace, prosperity and security. This is not the case. Rationalizing his decision to leave Afghanistan in a speech to the nation in April 2021, Biden did not accept, on behalf of his country, responsibility over that horrific war. Instead, he spoke of the need to fight the “terror threat” in “many places,” instead of keeping “thousands of troops grounded and concentrated in just one country.” O CTOBER 2021 OV-13

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Indeed, a close reading of Biden’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan— a process which began under Trump— suggests that the difference between U.S. foreign policy under Biden is only tactically different from the policies of George W. Bush when he launched his “pre-emptive wars” under the command of Rumsfeld. Namely, though the geopolitical map may have shifted, the U.S. appetite for war remains insatiable. Shackled with a legacy of unnecessary, fruitless and immoral wars, yet with no actual “forward” strategy, the U.S., arguably for the first time since the inception of NATO in the aftermath of World War II, has no decipherable foreign policy doctrine. Even if such a doctrine exists, it can only be materialized through alliances whose relationships are constructed on trust and confidence. Despite the EU’s courteous reception of Biden in Cornwall, trust in Washington is at an all-time low. Even if it is accepted, without any argument, that America is, indeed, back, considering the vastly changing geopolitical spheres in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, Biden’s assertion should, ultimately, make no difference.

Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the editor of The Palestine Chronicle. The author of five books, his latest is These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons. Dr. Baroud is a nonresident senior research fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA) and also at the Afro-Middle East Center (AMEC). His website is <www.ramzybaroud.net>. This commentary was first posted on <www. palestinechronicle.com>, Aug. 6, 2021. Copyright © 1999-2021 PalestineChronicle.com. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

Europe’s Self-Inflicted Irrelevance on the Iran Nuclear Deal BY ELDAR MAMEDOV OV-14 O CTOBER 2021

he European signatories of the 2015 JCPOA, Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3, issued a statement on July 6 in which they responded to the IAEA’s latest report on Iran’s enrichment activities. While, on the face of it, the statement looks like just another expression of “grave concern,” its timing makes it different. The talks in Vienna on reviving the JCPOA are on hold due to the transition of power in Iran from the Rouhani to the Raisi administration. E3 warned that “time is on no-one’s side” and that Iran’s recent steps “threaten a successful outcome of the talks.” What, however, is so striking is how irrelevant the E3 has made itself in ensuring that outcome. Although there are objective reasons for this, this irrelevance is, to a large extent, self-inflicted. The main stumbling blocks—lifting of U.S. sanctions against Iran, Iran’s return to full compliance, and reassurances that Washington won’t unilaterally withdraw from the agreement in the future—are all for Washington and Tehran to sort out. That’s mostly due to the fact that it was the U.S. that introduced the secondary sanctions that prevented Iran from enjoying the economic benefits that were expected to accrue to it by signing and abiding by the JCPOA. On the other hand, however, the E3/EU’s failure to effectively shield trade with Iran from Washington’s long reach exposed its inability or unwillingness to sustain the JCPOA. Had the Europeans been more effective and resolute, the question of U.S. participation would not have been so central. Unwittingly, it has sent the message that, should a future Republican president withdraw from or otherwise violate a restored deal in 2024 or later, the E3/EU cannot be counted on to meaningfully save it. That provides a fodder to the JCPOA skeptics in Tehran: why make concessions if the other side can’t be trusted to respect its own commitments? The E3’s failure to stand up to Trump was compounded by a series of miscal-

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culations in the six months since Biden took office. At its root lay a conviction that Iran was sufficiently cornered by Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign that it would seize any opportunity to strike a deal with Biden. The E3 estimated that Iran’s weakness gave the West leverage to force Tehran to accept additional concessions. This explains why the German foreign minister spoke of a need for a “JCPOA plus” that would also address Iran’s ballistic missiles, while French President Emmanuel Macron suggested that Saudi Arabia had to be included in the talks. These ideas were never going to work, as Iran has repeatedly ruled out unilateral concessions on its means of deterrence—missiles and regional alliances. The Biden administration understood that and focused on a resumption of the JCPOA in its original scope and format. Whatever the message the E3 intended to convey with its “tough line” on Iran, it ended up being seen as unhelpful by other parties in the talks. A second major E3 miscalculation was to underestimate the shifting political mood in Tehran. The signs that Trump’s pressure was undermining the moderates were long apparent. The parliamentary elections in 2020 produced a heavily conservative-dominated legislature. In June 2021, the hard-liners recaptured the one institution of the state they didn’t control— the presidency—by stage-managing the election of their fellow conservative, Ebrahim Raisi. As recently as mid-March, the outgoing Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, warned the Europeans that a transition of power in Tehran would complicate negotiations. These shifts, however, failed to instill any sense of diplomatic urgency within the E3. The calculation was that, given the country’s dire economic straits, any Iranian government will be keen on getting the sanctions removed. What, however, it didn’t take into account was that a new administration might seek its own version of a “stronger, better deal.”

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Just as Trump sought to increase U.S. leverage over Iran through sanctions, so the Iranian hard-liners seek to do the same through an expansion of the nuclear program. They would prefer that sanctions be lifted, but they also believe that turning to Russia and China would provide them with economic relief and security arrangements. Some “turned to East” out of an ideological anti-Westernism, others as a perceived means of insurance against the West’s broken promises. What matters here is not how realistic or sensible that turn is, or what consequences it will have for the Iranian people, but that this is how the nowdominant faction in Iran assesses the country’s options. All of this was not only predictable, but also predicted. The current impasse exposed the folly of those who argued against “rushing” to restore the JCPOA while the Rouhani administration was still in charge. Instead of entertaining illusions of a “better” deal, the E3 should have lobbied the Biden administration to rejoin the JCPOA from day one. Valuable time was lost. As a result, the E3 faces an unpalatable choice: accept Iran’s nuclear advances, some of which may be irreversible, particularly in the R&D field, or revert to a policy of sanctions, perhaps by referring the matter to the U.N. Security Council. The latter route, however, is unlikely to succeed, as history suggests that Iran’s response to escalating pressure is an escalation of its own—both on the nuclear and regional fronts. The hopes that the severity of the sanctions would ignite an internal uprising are also groundless. Although upheavals due to poor economic conditions are likely, the regime has both enough resilience and determination to crush them, as it did in ruthless fashion in 2018 and 2019. This bleak scenario may yet be avoided if Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei throws his weight behind the resurrection of the JCPOA in coming weeks or months. And if the deal ends up dying for good, Washington and Tehran, in that order—but not O THER V OICES

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London, Paris and Berlin—will bear primary responsibility. Yet it’s critical to understand the E3’s miscalculations and mistakes. At stake are not only Europe’s relations with Iran—sufficiently important in themselves—but its ability to remain a globally influential strategic player.

Eldar Mamedov has worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia and as a diplomat in Latvian embassies in Washington, DC and Madrid. He has served as a political adviser for the social-democrats in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (EP) since 2007 and is in charge of the EP delegations for inter-parliamentary relations with Iran, Iraq, the Arabian Peninsula and Mashreq. This article reflects the personal views of the author and not necessarily the opinions of the S&D Group and the European Parliament, and was first posted on <www. responsiblestatecraft.org>, July 21, 2021. Copyright © 2021 Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

How Not to React To Incidents in The Gulf of Oman BY PAUL R. PILLAR

trange things have happened over the past several days in the Gulf of Oman. Some crews reported that they temporarily had lost control of their ships for undetermined reasons. Another ship experienced what the British Navy called a “potential non-piracy-related hijacking” when unidentified armed men boarded it and then just as mysteriously left the ship. Most attention was focused on yet another ship that was attacked by a drone that killed two crew members. This ship, a tanker called Mercer Street, is managed by an Israeli company, although the Liberian-flagged vessel is owned by a Japanese firm and the dead crew members were British and Romanian. Choruses of denunciation were immediately directed at Iran. As usual

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with anything involving Iran, Israeli officials were the loudest in denunciating and the quickest to rattle sabers. Israel’s deputy prime minister and defense minister, Benny Gantz, declared that “the world needs to deal with Iran, the region needs to deal with Iran, and Israel also needs to do its part in this situation.” Gantz said, in response to reporters’ questions, that Israel was ready to strike Iran and that others ought to join in the military action. A statement from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was somewhat less bellicose, using the words “strong condemnation” but promising only to consult with other governments about an “appropriate response.” “We are confident that Iran conducted this attack,” he said. It is not apparent what gives Blinken such confidence. As always, those people outside the corridors of government do not have access to whatever restricted information is available inside those corridors. But well-founded attribution of responsibility for this type of attack may be elusive. In the absence of any supporting evidence being made public, one must ask the question cui bono? Iran has just inaugurated a hard-line president who needs to repair Iran’s sick economy fast. Accordingly, he, along with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, aspires to find relief from U.S. sanctions through reinstatement of the agreement that restricts Iran’s nuclear program. There is no longer a moderate Iranian president for hard-liners to undermine, and risking a military confrontation right now does not serve the agenda of the hard-liners who have the power. Iran has denied involvement in the attack, in terms that sound stronger than if the regime were trying to send a message through such an operation. The denials should not be taken at face value, but neither should it be ruled out that the instigator of the attack was someone who would welcome military action in the Persian Gulf, with all the diplomatic damage that would entail, more than the regime in Tehran would have any reason to. O CTOBER 2021 OV-15

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THE OTHER PARTY TO THE CONFLICT Even if the Iranian regime was responsible—and if the Israeli connection to the Mercer Street underlays its selection as a target—the incident would be only the latest data point in a clandestine Israeli-Iranian contest in which Israel has been at least as aggressive and at least as much the initiator as Iran has been. The Israeli record of sabotage, assassinations, and other damaging and aggressive actions against Iran is extensive. It includes acts of sabotage inside Iran that are unlike anything Iran has done inside Israel. Many targets have been connected to Iran’s nuclear program, but other facilities have been hit as well, such as warehouses and petrochemical plants. And that is in addition to attempted attacks that Iranian authorities claim they thwarted. The clandestine nature of the sabotage does not yield smoking guns, but the Israeli hand in the attacks is at least as convincing as the alleged Iranian hand in what took place in the Gulf of Oman. The Israeli attacks have extended to ships on the open seas. The maritime targets have been not only military but also commercial, including—just like the Mercer Street—oil tankers. Israel has targeted at least a dozen Iranian ships bound for Syria, most of them have been oil tankers. Added to all this has been a sustained Israeli campaign of airstrikes in Syria, which have been aimed mostly at targets associated with Syria’s ally Iran and have caused untold human casualties. In any prolonged contest that includes tit-for-tat reprisals, it is easy to lose sight of how it all started and hard to determine which actions are tit and which are tat. But examination of the Israeli-Iranian exchanges shows Israel to be the initiator and Iran the responder at least as much as the other way around. For example, the Israeli serial assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists several years ago were unlike anything Iran has done against Israel—notwithstanding how OV-16 O CTOBER 2021

what Israeli nuclear scientists are generally believed to have clandestinely accomplished goes far beyond, with military implications, what Iran has done. When Iran subsequently perpetrated some not very successful attacks against Israeli diplomatic targets overseas, it clearly was an attempt to respond to the killings of the scientists, even to the point of mimicking the methods of attack. On assassinations of Iranians, Israel more recently has been at it again. Another prominent scientist was rubbed out last November. It is hard to see how this was a reprisal for anything. If the Biden administration wants to uphold free and peaceful navigation of the seas and to oppose damaging and destabilizing actions in the Persian Gulf region, then it does no good to single out one party to a contest while ignoring the damaging and destabilizing actions of the other party. Doing so reveals U.S. policy to be based not on respect for norms of international behavior but rather on favoritism that exists for other reasons. Additionally, the party being singled out will continue to retaliate for damage inflicted upon it.

A TALE OF TWO GULFS So far, the response to what happened in the Gulf of Oman has several resemblances to an incident in another gulf 57 years ago. In each case, there was a murky encounter at sea, with an eagerness to jump to conclusions about the evil intentions of a local power. The conclusion jumped to about a happening in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964 was that North Vietnamese vessels had attacked, on Aug. 4, an American destroyer, the USS Maddox, in international waters. No such attack occurred. The jump to the erroneous conclusion rested on political eagerness in Washington to ascribe aggressiveness to North Vietnam and on misinterpretation by keyed-up sailors of the fuzzy images they saw on nighttime ocean waves and on their oscilloscopes. Another similarity is that the local power getting blamed had been re-

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peatedly provoked by another state in the region that had Washington’s favor. One reason that sailors on the USS Maddox were keyed up is that North Vietnamese patrol boats really had fired at the destroyer two days earlier—when the USS Maddox was in North Vietnamese territorial waters. Not only that, but the USS Maddox was near an island that only three days before had been attacked by South Vietnamese commandos— one of a series of raids by South Vietnam that U.S. warships like the USS Maddox supported by identifying targets. A forceful response by North Vietnam was thus quite understandable. But yet another similarity between the two episodes is that North Vietnam in 1964 had no more reason to want a wider war with the United States—in which the North Vietnamese would sustain enormous costs—than Iran does in 2021. The similarity probably will not go so far as to result in Congress enacting a Gulf of Oman Resolution comparable to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which became the congressional authorization for the Vietnam War. But that is hardly reassuring, given the looseness with which authorizations for the use of military force have been treated in recent times. Today some congressional Republicans are resisting repeal of the 2002 authorization for war in Iraq—a war to overthrow Saddam Hussain, an arch-enemy of Iran— because, in the words of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), repeal would be used “as justification for continuing to go soft on Iran.”

Paul Pillar retired in 2005 from a 28-year career in the U.S. intelligence community, in which his last position was national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia. He also served in the National Intelligence Council as one of the original members of its Analytic Group, and is a contributing editor for this publication. This article was first posted on <www.nationalinterest.org>, Aug. 11, 2021. Copyright © 2021 Center for the National Interest. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

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Israel-Hamas Fighting, Iran Nuclear Agreement Draw Less Congressional By Shirl McArthur Attention

A child holds a placard during a pro-Palestine demonstration at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg, on May 21, 2021. On June 24, 73 representatives signed a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to reverse “damage done under the previous administration and realign our current posture with longstanding U.S. policy” in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

AFTER THE FLURRY of congressional actions in May and June addressing the May 9 to 21 fighting between Israel and Palestinians, brought about by Israel’s provocations in the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, demolitions of Palestinian homes in the Jerusalem Old City, and eviction of Palestinians in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, the subject seems to be no longer getting much congressional attention, possibly because members of Congress are occupied with other matters. Even the two measures introduced on May 13 “condemning” Hamas’ actions have received no further support. H.Res. 394, introduced by Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), still has 88 cosponsors, and H.Res. 396, introduced by Rep. Jefferson Van Drew (R-NJ), still has 121 cosponsors. Even the draconian S. 1899, introduced May 27 by Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), which would prohibit any direct

Shirl McArthur is a retired foreign service officer. He lives in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. OCTOBER 2021

or indirect U.S. funding for Gaza unless certain unlikely conditions are met, still has only three cosponsors. Of the bills introduced in the House and the Senate to shift funding for Gaza instead to Israel for the Iron Dome short-range rocket defense system, only H.R. 3706, which was introduced on June 4 by Rep. Michael Guest (R-MS) and 22 cosponsors, now has 33. Meanwhile, S. 1751, introduced May 20 by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), still has five cosponsors. On July 1, after introducing H.J.Res. 54, titled the “Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Resolution,” which would provide $1 billion to Israel to resupply the Iron Dome system, House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) tried an outrageous legislative ploy to bring the measure immediately to the House floor for a vote, without any discussion or committee consideration. Unsurprisingly, his motion was ruled out of order. Immediately the Twitter universe erupted with Israel’s members of Congress proclaiming that Democrats were blocking funding for Israel to resupply the Iron Dome.

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Given the timing, it is likely that scoring partisan points was McCarthy’s original intention. The measure has four cosponsors. The previously described H.R. 261, introduced in January by Rep. Brian Mast (RFL), which would sanction any person or organization that has anything to do with “Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and any affiliate or successor groups,” now has 55 cosponsors. However, the Senate version, S. 1904, introduced in May by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), still has 22 cosponsors. The similar H.R. 3685, introduced on June 4 by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), now has 75 cosponsors. Three new anti-Hezbollah measures were introduced. On June 22, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) introduced H.R. 4073 “Countering Hezbollah in Lebanon’s Military,” which would restrict security assistance to Lebanon. It has four cosponsors. On June 29, Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) introduced H.R. 4230 “to support the full implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, reduce Hezbollah’s influence in Lebanon, and address security threats to Lebanon.” It has three cosponsors. Then, on July 26, Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) introduced H.Res. 558 “Urging the European Union to designate Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization.” It has 17 cosponsors.

PRO-ISRAEL BILLS MAKE PROGRESS, AND NEW ONES INTRODUCED

The companion bills “to encourage the normalization of relations with Israel” have gained support. S. 1061, introduced in March by Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), which was reported out to the full Senate by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) on June 24, now has 65 cosponsors. Its companion bill, H.R. 2748, introduced in April 21 by Rep. Bradley Schneider (D-IL), now has 205 cosponsors. Companion anti-Palestinian and antiUNRWA bills were introduced on July 27 “to withhold U.S. contributions to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).” S. 2479, introduced by Sen. James Risch 40

(R-ID), has 13 cosponsors, and H.R. 4721, introduced by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), has 28 cosponsors. They would target Palestinian refugees and the “right of return” and they would equate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. Another bill would again try to equate Israel’s colonies on the West Bank or Gaza with Israel. S. 2489, introduced July 27 by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), would “require the maintenance of the country of origin markings for imported goods produced in the West Bank or Gaza.” It has eight cosponsors. H.R. 2374, “to require the Secretary of State to submit annual reports reviewing the educational material used by the PA,” introduced in April by Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), now has 25 cosponsors.

HOUSE LETTER URGES BIDEN TO “REVERSE HARMFUL TRUMP-ERA ISRAEL POLICY”

On June 24, 73 representatives, led by Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Peter Welch (D-VT) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), signed a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to reverse the “damage done under the previous administration and realign our current posture with longstanding U.S. policy.” Specifically, they call on him to withdraw the so-called “peace plan,” insist that Hamas stop rocket attacks against Israel, reopen the consulate in East Jerusalem, make clear that the U.S. considers settlements to be inconsistent with international law, oppose the forced evictions of Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem and throughout Palestine, make sure that relevant U.S. documents consistently refer to the status of the West Bank and Gaza as occupied, and consistently issue public condemnations of specific actions that violate the rights of either party or undermine the prospects for peace. H.R. 2590, the “Palestinian Children and Families” bill, introduced in April by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN), has gained cosponsors and now has 29. It is “to promote and protect the human rights of Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation and to ensure that U.S. tax-

WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

payer funds are not used by the government of Israel to support the military detention of Palestinian children, the unlawful seizure, appropriation, and destruction of Palestinian property, and forcible transfer of civilians in the West Bank, or further annexation of Palestinian land in violation of international law.”

NEW BILL WOULD RECLAIM CONGRESSIONAL NATIONAL SECURITY POWERS

Although some of the measures to repeal individual Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMF) have made some progress, as described below, a far-reaching new bill, S. 2391, was introduced on July 20 by Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT), Mike Lee (RUT) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Titled “A bill to provide for clarification and limitations with respect to the exercise of national security powers,” the bill would, among other things, give Congress a more active role in approving arms sales, AUMFs and declaring national emergencies. It would define what kinds of hostilities would require the president to seek congressional approval before committing U.S. resources, set expiration dates for national emergencies and AUMFs and automatically stop funding for any operation a president continues without congressional support. A major impetus behind the introduction of the bill came during the Israel-Hamas fighting, when Congress was notified of the sale of $735 million of munitions to Israel too late to stop or modify the sale. Since it is so broad and far reaching, it is unlikely that S. 2391 will pass in its present form, but it may provide fodder for more discussions of presidential vs. congressional authorities. The other measures to curtail the use of the War Powers Act have made scant progress. H.R. 1457, the “Reclamation of War Powers” bill, introduced by Rep. James Himes (D-CT) in March still has only four cosponsors, and H.R. 2108 introduced in March by Sherman “to prohibit the use of federal funds in contravention of the War Powers Resolution,” now has 34 cosponsors. OCTOBER 2021

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BILLS TO REPEAL AUTHORIZATIONS FOR USE OF MILITARY FORCE (AUMF) MAKE PROGRESS

On June 29, the House passed, under “suspension of the rules” (providing for no debate) two bills to repeal two obsolete authorizations for military force. The first, H.R. 3283, introduced May 17 by Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI), would repeal the Cold War resolution of 1957. When passed it had 36 cosponsors. The second, H.R. 3261, to repel the AUMF against Iraq of 1991, was introduced May 14 by Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA). When passed, it had 35 cosponsors. Both bills were sent to the Senate where they rest with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC). Also, H.R. 256, to repeal the AUMF against Iraq of 2002, introduced in January by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), which was passed by the full House in June, still sits with the SFRC. On Aug. 4, the SFRC took up and reported out to the full Senate S.J. Res. 10, introduced in March by Sen. Tim Kaine (DVA), to repeal the AUMFs against Iraq of

OCTOBER 2021

1991 and 2002. The measure has 36 cosponsors. It is likely that the full Senate will take up and pass S.J. Res. 10, which would incorporate both H.R. 3261 and H.R. 256. Most of the other measures to repeal authorizations of military force have made no progress. H.R. 255, introduced by Lee in January to repeal the AUMF of 2001, now has 74 cosponsors.

THE IRAN NUCLEAR AGREEMENT DRAWS LESS CONGRESSIONAL ATTENTION

Most of the previously described bills and resolutions regarding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Iran nuclear agreement’s official name, have received little support. Of the bills that would impose conditions on reentering the JCPOA, only H.R. 3966, introduced in June by Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) has gained cosponsors. It now has 14. The perhaps significant new bill, S. 2030, introduced in June by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), which would “declare that any (Advertisement)

agreement reached by the president relating to the nuclear program of Iran is deemed a treaty that is subject to the advice and consent of the Senate,” still has 24 cosponsors. None of the previously described Iran sanctions bills have gained support. But a new one, S. 2374, was introduced July 15 by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), with 16 cosponsors. It would “impose sanctions with respect to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Ebrahim Raisi who was elected president of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the 2021 presidential election.” Another new bill, H.R. 4592, was introduced July 21 by Reps. J. French Hill (RAR) and Al Lawson (D-FL). It would require a report on “financial institutions’ involvement with officials of the Iranian government.” The non-binding H.Res. 214, expressing the sense of the House “that Iran must cease enriching uranium to 20 percent purity and abandon its pursuit of a nuclear weapon,” introduced in March by Luria, now has 20 cosponsors. ■

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Talking Turkey

Raging Fires Ignite Political Uproar in Turkey

Firefighters battle a wildfire near Milas, Mugla, Turkey, on Aug. 6, 2021. Turkey fought massive wildfires that erupted in southern and southwestern coastal resort towns. The blazes claimed eight lives. WITH THE WORST forest fires in years sweeping thousands of acres of southern and southwestern Turkey in late July and early August, climate change, red in tooth and claw, clearly stalked some of the country’s most beautiful regions. With daily temperatures routinely soaring above 100F after months of drought, the conflagrations ran from Mugla, in the country’s southwest, to Manavgat in its southeast. They also came amid a sequence of other environmental catastrophes hitting Turkey. Major floods in the northern Black Sea coast region left 57 dead by Aug. 15, while in June, the country’s northwestern seas had been inundated by “sea snot”—mucus from billions of tiny marine organisms, boosted into out-of-control populations by fertilizer runoff and untreated sewage. At the same time, one of the country’s greatest natural wonders, the giant Toz Golu, or Salt Lake, in central Anatolia, largely dried up. Thousands of its annually resident flamingos were killed, along with many other creatures which depend on its shallow waters for their

Jonathan Gorvett is a free-lance writer specializing on European and Middle Eastern affairs. 42

survival. As for the drought, Anatolia has been suffering from this for many months, with 2019 seeing little rain and 2020 being the driest in five years. Into this came the fires, which, as of Aug. 9, had devastated more than 395,369 acres of forest and killed eight people. Some towns on the Aegean coast had to be evacuated by sea, at the height of the tourist season. The heat intensity of the fires, measured by the European Union (EU) atmospheric monitoring service, was “off the scale,” according to Mark Parrington, the service’s senior scientist, while Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan admitted to reporters that, “The fires that happened this year have never happened before in our history.”

LOCAL ISSUES

Yet, while the fires underscored recent dire warnings about the global climate crisis, they also highlighted some more specifically Turkish issues. On July 30, Erdogan asserted that the country did not have any usable firefighting planes in its inventory, prompting opposition calls for the government to step down. Mursel Alban, a lawmaker for the main opposition Republican People’s Party,

WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

OCTOBER 2021

PHOTO BY XINHUA VIA GETTY IMAGES

By Jonathan Gorvett

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said, “There is a 300-room summer palace in Marmaris, but no planes to extinguish fires in Marmaris. The president and all his ministers should resign.” According to Al-Monitor, on Aug. 31 Erdogan ignited further controversy when he traveled to Marmaris under heavy police escort and threw packets of black tea at locals lining the roadside from a slowly moving bus. Critics drew parallels with U.S. President Donald Trump flinging rolls of paper towels at hurricane evacuees in Puerto Rico. Erdogan pledged to provide financial assistance to victims and to rebuild damaged homes. “While many realized that Turkey would see more fires because of climate change,” Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkey Research Program at the pro-Israel Washington Institute told the Washington Report, “what’s really shocking has been the government’s remiss response to all this.” Indeed, many were astonished at the inadequacy of the services available to combat the inferno. According to an AP article, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of Turkey’s main opposition party, accused Erdogan of lacking a “master plan” against forest fires and of ignoring warnings concerning global warming. The most notorious example of this was the fact that Turkey possessed no functional firefighting planes. These have long

been the responsibility of the Turkish Aeronautical Association (THK), a foundation financed by Islamic tithes, raised from sale of the skins of animals sacrificed during the Eid al-Adha festival. When the fires struck, however, the THK’s entire firefighting fleet turned out to be grounded, due to lack of maintenance rendering its aircraft unairworthy. “I saw their planes,” Yunus Kilic, chair of the Turkish parliament’s agriculture, forestry and rural affairs committee, told journalists on Aug. 3. “They became a place where chickens make coops…and mice nest.” The funds to maintain the aircraft properly, however, were not there because the government—of which Kilic is a part—had diverted those Islamic tithes to other progovernment Islamic institutions. With the THK’s machines grounded, the government was obliged to lease firefighting planes from other countries—principally Russia and Iran. Reportedly, however, this was at a cost five times greater than the money needed to repair the THK’s own fleet, while several of the leased machines also promptly broke down on arrival.

POINTING THE FINGER

Meanwhile, pro-government media—which largely ignored the THK story—blamed a range of popular bogeymen for the blazes instead.

The number one target was the Kurdish separatist Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK). “Arson-loving PKK prime suspect, as forest fires hit Turkey,” was the headline in government mouthpiece the Daily Sabah. Alarmed by such news, some Turkish villagers in fire-threatened regions began setting up checkpoints, with a near lynching of two ethnic Kurds in Manavgat on Aug. 1. The two, however, it later turned out, had come to help put out the fires, rather than start them. At the same time, other pro-government media channels pointed the finger at international forces. “A match was lit to set Turkey ablaze,” wrote Ibrahim Karagul in the newspaper Yeni Safak. “A project is launched in the U.S., Europe and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).” Suspicions of particular foreign forces also lay behind Turkey’s refusal to accept an Israeli offer of fire-fighting planes although, when a consortium of local Turkish businessmen then chartered the same planes, they were praised by the government for their public-spirited action. Meanwhile, Vice President Fuat Oktay, himself once chief of Turkey’s EU-affiliated Disaster Management Agency (AFAD), did not request any assistance from Brussels— which had planes and crews at the ready— until six days into the fires. Indeed, government supporters stressed

Help make sure that the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs will be here for the next generation. By remembering the Washington Report in your will, you can: • Make a significant gift without affecting your current cash flow; • Direct your bequest to a vital purpose—educating readers about U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East; • Receive a charitable estate tax deduction & Leave a legacy for future generations. Bequests of any size are honored with membership in the American Educational Trust’s “Choirmasters,” named for angels whose foresight and dedication ensured the future of the Washington Report and Middle East Books and More. For more information visit www.wrmea.org/donate/bequests.pdf, contact us at circulation@wrmea.org, write: American Educational Trust, PO Box 91056 • Long Beach, CA 90809-1056, or telephone our new toll-free circulation number 888-881-5861 • Fax: 714-226-9733 OCTOBER 2021

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throughout the crisis that Turkey had no need for Western help—although Moscow, Tehran and Baku were given fulsome thanks for their assistance. At the same time, unofficial pleas for help on social media by residents of the fire-afflicted regions—such as the #helpturkey campaign—were countered by the government’s #StrongTurkiye campaign, which accused those asking for help of spreading misinformation and panic. President Erdogan also hit back at opposition party criticism of the government’s handling of the fires, accusing them of spreading “lies.”

PUBLIC SERVICE

With heroic efforts by firefighters and much needed rain extinguishing most of the blazes by mid-August, many in Turkey are now counting the cost. Some are also looking at the lessons. After nearly 20 years in power, Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) has

radically reorganized much of Turkey’s civil and public services. According to an Aug. 6 report in the Economist, “Mr. Erdogan, an authoritarian leader admired by his supporters as a capable manager, has not shone. He has increasingly seemed overwhelmed by the crises roiling his country.” The switch to a presidential system of government in 2018 also accelerated a process of centralization that has meant the shuttering or gutting of many independent or semi-independent agencies and institutions. This has been done in favor of a smaller, very powerful circle around the presidential palace. This has also given rise to allegations from the opposition of incompetence and even corruption. One example is the budget for the forestry department, which has responsibility for equipment to fight forest fires. The blazes led to the revelation that the department had spent only 2 percent of its budget allocation during the first six months of 2021, with a plan to buy 26 fire-

fighting helicopters but receiving just YTL1,000 ($116.00). Meanwhile, some YTL40 million ($4.6 million) had been allocated to build a hangar for planes and helicopters, but no hanger had ever been built. “Our country had always taken pride in its good public administration and institutions,” says Cagaptay. “Now, these are sorely missing.” While the fires were largely confined to areas that already vote for opposition parties—and elections are still two years away—the political fallout may yet be wider, too. As the “sea snot” and Salt Lake disasters, as well as flash floods and mudslides caused by torrential rain, demonstrate, the environmental crisis is a nationwide, as well as international, issue. Climate change, then, may yet prove a more inflammable political challenge for which Turkey’s powerful ruler and his supporters seem unprepared, so far. ■

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WaShingTon REpoRT on MiddlE EaST aFFaiRS

ocTobER 2021

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Special Report

Climate, Water, Peace and Security in the Middle East By Dr. M. Reza Behnam

COURTESY WORLD ATLAS

NATIONAL SECURITY fronts the problems brought can no longer be defined on by population growth, solely in terms of military heat waves, severe threats but must be seen in drought, over exploitation, the uncertainty of a warmpoor water management ing planet. Global warming and years of economic is the most pressing issue sanctions and war. facing countries of the Security and survival Middle East and North depend on access to clean Africa (MENA). water. The people of the This already arid region is Middle East rely upon four fast becoming the hardest main water sources: preciphit area in the world. Global itation, aquifers, rivers and warming is driving already desalinized sea water. The soaring summer temperaregion’s three major river tures into record, life-threatbasins—the Nile, Tigris-Euening highs. In July of this phrates and the Jordan— year, for example, Iran hit have nourished the soil of 123.8 degrees Fahrenheit the Middle East for cenand Iraq reached 125.2. turies. The August 2021 Sixth Ethiopia, Sudan and Assessment Report by the A map of the rivers in the Middle East and North Africa. Egypt share the Nile River, United Nations Intergovernwith 85 percent of the Blue mental Panel on Climate and White Nile controlled Change (IPCC), entitled “Climate Change 2021: The Physical Sciby Ethiopia and Sudan, respectively. The Tigris-Euphrates rivers ence Basis,” stated unequivocally that human influence has warmed flow from Turkey through Syria then into Iraq. The River Jordan the planet’s atmosphere, oceans and land and that climate change originates in Lebanon and empties into the Dead Sea. Its riparian is already affecting weather and producing climate extremes across countries include Israel, the occupied Palestinian Territories, the globe. Jordan and Syria. The 234 international scientists, who authored the report, also Competition for control and allocation of shrinking water resources concluded that Southwest Asia is among the regions with the is an important factor in transboundary conflicts. Transboundary strongest projected increase in heat extremes. The report was exwater tensions dominate in an area where only 43 percent of surface plicit that “higher temperatures with less precipitation will likely result water originates within a single country. The region’s river systems in higher risks of desertification, wildfire and dust storms…with conare shared by two or more countries and each country can control sequent effects on human health.” the amount of water that flows downstream. Water is the world’s most precious and indispensable resource. The extensive growth in dam construction in the Middle East is a It is, unfortunately, one of the scarcest natural resources in the oilsymptom of how water has become, for many countries, a nationalist rich Middle East. With about six percent of the world’s population, and national security issue, a political tool and a short-term solution it has only one percent of the earth’s renewable freshwater reto a long-term problem. sources. Water has become even more vital as the region conAcross the MENA, waters that once coursed clean and strong are fast disappearing. Dam construction continues, albeit impractical in arid countries, since much of the water stored in reservoirs is lost Dr. M. Reza Behnam is a political scientist specializing in the history, to evaporation. politics and governments of the Middle East. OCTOBER 2021

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Sistan-Baluchestan Province of Iran. For now, both countries have agreed to abide by the commitments they made in 1973 on the division of water from the Helmand.

A child who was displaced due to the ongoing war stands beside a tank to collect water at an internally displaced camp on Feb. 21, 2021 on the outskirts of Sana’a, in Yemen.

THE NILE RIVER

One of the region’s most controversial dams is the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam—a hydroelectric mega-dam built on the Blue Nile. Despite objections from downstream states, Sudan and Egypt, and without a final distribution agreement among the three countries, Ethiopia completed the second filling of the Renaissance Dam reservoir this year. For decades, Ethiopia has suffered from droughts, food insecurity, water scarcity and energy deficits. Ethiopia sees the dam as central to the country’s economic and energy future. For water-scarce Sudan and Egypt, dependent on the Nile, the dam is seen as an existential threat. The Renaissance Dam also threatens Egypt’s historic dominance and monopoly over the River Nile.

TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES RIVERS

The Tigris-Euphrates river system is a continuing source of strife among the countries that share it. The headwaters originate in the mountainous region of southeastern Turkey—an area largely populated by Kurds. Turkey’s extensive dam system (some 1,000) has created water shortages in parts of Syria, Iraq and Iran. The controversial Ilisu Dam—the largest 46

in Turkey’s network of 22 dams on the Tigris and Euphrates—has reduced downstream water flows. Syria, Iraq and Iran are concerned that the Ilisu will lead to further soil erosion, increased salinization and water refugees.

SOCIAL UNREST

“Protests of the Thirsty” continue to flare up across the region. In July 2021, protests over water shortages erupted in Khuzestan, an oil-rich Iranian province on the border with Iraq. The province suffers from drought and severe water shortages, exacerbated by Iran’s dam construction on the Karun River. As the river and wetlands dry up, farmers have fled to overcrowded cities in search of employment. Water scarcity has led to social unrest, conflict and, as the world witnessed in 2011, civil war in Syria. Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan are frequently at loggerheads over water insecurity. Iran’s dams on two main rivers in the region—the Sirwan and the Little Zab— have created water shortages for Iraq and an environmental crisis in the Kurdistan region of that country. Afghanistan’s Kamal Khan Dam built on the Helmand River has raised concern in Tehran over the loss of wetlands in the

WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

PHOTO BY MOHAMMED HAMOUD/GETTY IMAGES

ISRAEL’S CONTROL OF WATER

In Palestine, the water is controlled and usurped by Israel. For 54 years, Israel has determined water policies, controlled the water infrastructure and groundwater resources in the occupied Palestinian Territories to its advantage. To secure its hold on the land and water, the Israeli government has strategically expanded the construction of Zionist settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israelis left Gaza when its natural aquifers became brackish from the plundering of them. Israel’s Zionist founders knew that acquisition of the land meant control of the water that flowed above and beneath it. They stated as much at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference at the end of World War I. A future Jewish state, they said, depended upon hegemony over the Naqab/Negev Desert, Syrian Golan Heights, Jordan Valley, what is now the West Bank and the Litani River in Lebanon. Water was also largely behind the 1967 war that yielded to Israel the present occupied Palestinian Territories. In 1953, Israel unilaterally began construction on a water diversion project, known as the National Water Carrier (NWC). The NWC would transport water from the Upper Jordan River to planned Jewish settlements in the Naqab Desert and coastal areas. In 1963, Israel began pumping water from the Sea of Galilee into the NWC, gravely threatening the water resources of Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. In 1964, Syria reacted by attempting to divert water into its own territory. Ariel Sharon, Israeli general and former prime minister, revealed in his memoirs that the 1967 war was launched in response to Syria’s plan to reroute the headwaters of the Jordan River, and was set off when Israel attacked construction sites inside Syria. OCTOBER 2021

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At the end of the war, Israel declared the water resources and water infrastructure of the Golan Heights, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip all the property of the State of Israel, putting them under complete military control. By annexing the Golan Heights in 1981, Israel secured dominance over the headwaters of the Jordan River, fulfilling earlier Zionist designs. The Litani River was not among the spoils of the 1967 war. Israel’s determination to capture the Litani and retain control over the Shebaa Farms in south Lebanon continues to inflame conflict with Lebanon. As West Bank aquifers run dry, Israel confiscates Palestinian land with natural springs. Israel continues to dig more wells and develop the infrastructure to provide a plentiful supply of water to its Zionist settlements for domestic, agricultural and industrial purposes. Israel and the settlements take about 80 percent of the West Bank’s aquifer flow. Palestinians living in the West Bank are denied access to the Jordan River and freshwater springs. They are denied drilling rights and are even blocked from harvesting rainwater. Israeli settlers and soldiers demolish Palestinian rainwater collection cisterns. And as Palestinian farms wither, Israel’s agricultural sector is allowed unlimited water, often to produce such water-guzzling crops as tomatoes, oranges and cotton. In the Gaza Strip, two million Palestinians suffer from a constant shortage of water because of the Israeli blockade. The coastal aquifer, Gaza’s only water source, is polluted and non-potable. More than 96 percent of Gaza’s water is unfit for human use. In the water-rich Syrian Golan Heights, Israel has enacted a number of laws that give it exclusive rights to the Golan’s water resources, denying Syrian farmers access to the water originating from their own land. The Zionist scheme to build a Jewish state in Palestine has proven to be unsustainable in the arid, water-scarce Middle East. To secure and preserve a Jewish maOCTOBER 2021

jority in Palestine, Israel continues, as it has always done, to incentivize Jewish immigration. The large influx of millions of Jewish colonists to a fragile land would inevitably beckon conflict.

ARAB GULF STATES

Like Israel, the Arab Gulf states continue to build despite shrinking water systems. The Gulf states have turned the deserts into massive building sites. They appear to be in continuous competition to see who can build ever-grander cities, lavish resorts, towering skyscrapers and other water-intensive and air-conditioned attractions. The Gulf states increasingly rely on expensive air conditioning for their cities as well as desalination plants for drinking water instead of focusing on climate resilient development.

VIOLENCE CAUSE AND EFFECT

Years of violence have inflicted an enormous economic and environmental cost, especially on the region’s water infrastructure. In the 1970s, Iraq had one of the most developed water and electrical networks in the Arab world. Successive wars and decades of U.S. sanctions have wrecked the country’s water, sanitation and power grid. The war in Syria, begun in 2011, is an example of how climate change, water scarcity, drought and poor management have contributed to that war, and how those factors could trigger future disasters in the region. In Yemen, the 2015 Saudi-led war has caused a severe water crisis in an already water-exhausted country. Nature and war have left more than 90 percent of the population struggling daily to find or buy clean water to drink or to grow food. Saudi bombs have destroyed 1,488 water installations. According to Yemen’s Ministry of Water and Environment in Sana’a, the Saudi blockade, supported by the United States, may lead to complete paralysis of government water services. Yemen and Syria are exemplars for other countries in the Middle East of how global warming can devastate a country

that lacks the resources, leadership and wisdom to adapt. The people of the Middle East have suffered profoundly from years of civil unrest, U.S. economic sanctions, invasions and wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen and Iran, as well as from America’s unwavering support of Israel’s apartheid policies in Palestine. The effects of global warming are making this already war-scarred region all the more desolate. Water scarcity and its many ills could be the catalyst for bringing parties together, toward moving the region from conflict to much needed peace and prosperity. In the Middle East, however, water has been a zero-sum game. The people of the region have been the losers because of this antiquated, corrupt thinking. The only “winners” have been the global oil and gas companies, military financiers and corrupt political leaders. If the findings of the IPCC are not heeded, armed conflict and war are inevitable. ■ (Advertisement)

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Canada Calling

Canadian Government Holds Virtual Summits On Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism

Shahina Siddiqui, the voluntary director with Islamic Social Services Association (ISSA) in Winnipeg, is skeptical about the outcome of the Islamophobia summit. AT TWO VIRTUAL SUMMITS held just days apart this past summer, one on Islamophobia and the other on anti-Semitism, Canada’s Liberal Government pledged to dismantle White supremacist groups, monitor hate groups and engage with Muslim and Jewish communities on the government’s next Anti-Racism Action Plan. At the Emergency Summit on Islamophobia, on July 22, the government pledged to spend $6 million on 150 projects to support communities at risk of hate crimes. Part of the funding focuses on the Security Infrastructure Program (SIP), which will allow communities at risk to apply

Candice Bodnaruk has been involved in Palestinian issues for the past 14 years through organizations such as the Canadian BDS Coalition and Peace Alliance Winnipeg. Her political action started with feminism and continued with the peace movement, first with the No War on Iraq Coalition in 2003 in Winnipeg. 48

for funding to install alarm systems and lighting as well as to complete renovations in community centers. The federal government also announced eight specific projects that address Islamophobia. In June, Members of Parliament (MPs) from all parties gave their unanimous consent to a New Democratic Party (NDP) motion, in the House of Commons, for an Emergency Summit on Islamophobia, after three generations of the Afzaal family, who were originally from Pakistan, were killed in a brazen hit and run in London, Ontario. Talat Afzaal, 74, her son Salman Afzaal, 46, his wife Madiha Salman, 44, as well as the couple’s 15-year-old daughter Yumna, were killed at an intersection in London. The family had been out for an evening walk at the time of the attack. The only survivor was a 9-year-old boy. Nathaniel Veltman, 20, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted mur-

WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

PHOTO COURTESY WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

By Candice Bodnaruk

der and associated terrorism charges. It was an NDP MP for London, Lindsay Mathyssen, who originally proposed the summit, saying that the Federal Liberal government needs to go beyond just expressing condolences when Islamophobic attacks happen in Canada. Mathyssen stressed the Liberal government needs to do more. “The Muslim leaders in my community have insisted that we must address all forms of hate and we must insist that we confront all forms of racism with substantial change,” Mathyssen said in an emailed statement. She came to focus on Islamophobia specifically in her role as the NDP critic for Diversity, Inclusion and Youth. “This was brought to me by my very strong and vocal Muslim organizations and constituents and of course I have built relationships with incredible folks in my community,” she said. Meanwhile, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) had been demanding an emergency summit about anti-Semitism, after former Green Party MP, Jenica Atwin, left the party in the spring to join the governing Liberals. Atwin has been a strong critic of Israel and has recently challenged Green leader Annamie Paul’s position on Palestine. CIJA and other Israel supporters have been critical of the Liberal government’s decision to welcome Atwin, who has denounced Israel as an apartheid state.

CANADIAN MUSLIMS HAVE BEEN SOUNDING AN ALARM SINCE 9/11

Canadian Muslims wonder what kind of long-term impact the Islamophobia summit will have. Shahina Siddiqui, the voluntary director with Islamic Social Services Association (ISSA) in Winnipeg, said she wished the warnings that she and others were raising after 9/11 had been OCTOBER 2021

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heard and taken seriously, but they were not. She said it was avoidance and indifference that kept escalating the level of Islamophobia, until it became mainstream and acceptable, which has now led to deadly violence. “I am heartbroken to say we will not see the end of these attacks any time soon, if no concrete actions are taken,” she said. Siddiqui acknowledged Islamophobia is not only growing in Canada, but it is also becoming more violent, brazen and deadly. “The demonization of Islam continues and so does the dehumanization of Muslims,” she asserted. She explained that xenophobic language and characterizations fuel Islamophobia. She said the government has acknowledged that Islamophobia is real but what is not being acknowledged is that it is here to stay. Siddiqui commented that Canada has a history of learning nothing from the past. People had come to believe that anti-Asian discrimination in Canada had been defeated and then “suddenly,” in 2020, COVID-19 came along, and it is rampant again. She explained that her organization, ISSA, does not waste its time on those who choose hate, and who are funding hate groups for their own political, economic or ideological interests. “Our focus is on the majority of Canadians who are asking to know about Muslims and help,” she said, adding that the young people who join hate groups are also victims that need help as well. Speaking in the days leading up to the Emergency Summit on Islamophobia, Hassan Guillet, an imam who is also a retired lawyer and engineer, said the June hitand-run in London was a terrorist attack on innocent people, as was the 2017 mosque attack in Quebec City. “For me, it’s like seeing a horror movie for the second time. For many Canadians, it’s the same feeling as it was after Quebec City. It’s tragic for sure; it’s painful,” he said. Guillet said that, after the mosque attack everybody believed it was an isolated act. “We had all these excuses, and here we are seeing it again and it is not isolated,” he said, noting that Canadian Muslims have OCTOBER 2021

endured other attacks, including when a man was killed in front of a mosque in Toronto in September 2020. Guillet said the proposal to hold the summit was a “good thing,” but that people must stop playing politics with Islamophobia which, he said, is playing politics with people’s lives. He added that having the motion adopted unanimously in the House of Commons, to hold the summit, is encouraging. “I hope this summit will be meaningful, it should be fruitful,” he said. He recalled that, after the 2017 mosque attack, it took the government four years to declare Jan. 29 a National Day of Remembrance and Action Against Islamophobia. Guillet pointed out that Canadians are now hearing the same words they heard in January 2017. “We want to see these words transformed into actions,” he said, adding that he hopes the summit brings progress and stops the cycle of violence and murder. He added that action is not only required at the federal government level, but that all levels of government, including provincial and municipal, should be involved. He remarked that London Mayor, Ed Holder, came out right after the attack and was quick to label the London hit and run as an Islamophobic attack. “I wish and I hope that other politicians on all levels follow his example,” Guillet said.

JEWISH CANADIANS REGRET ANTISEMITISM SUMMIT WAS A PLATFORM FOR PRO-ISRAEL AGENDA

Meanwhile, Corey Balsam, national coordinator for Independent Jewish Voices Canada, called the July 21 National Summit on Anti-Semitism “a missed opportunity.” He went on to say that such a gathering could have been a chance to engage in an open discussion about anti-Semitism in Canada and how it might be addressed. “Sadly, the federal government allowed it to be used as a platform for pro-Israel lobby groups to advance their agenda of equating criticism and protest of Israel and Zionism with anti-Semitism, and for advancing the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of anti-Semitism,” Balsam said.

He added that IJV was initially invited to take part in the summit by a friendly Liberal MP but that the actual invitation never materialized. He pointed out that the government organizers of the summit explicitly sought to exclude IJV representatives and others who hold critical views of Canadian government policy, including the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism. Over 1,500 people emailed the federal government to insist that IJV be given a seat at the table. He said that Bardish Chagger, the federal minister who oversees the federal Diversity and Inclusion portfolio, pledged to use the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism as a tool to enhance policies and laws around regulation of anti-Semitic hate crimes. The IHRA definition also proposes that criticism of Israel should be labelled anti-Semitic. In a press release, the Government of Canada stated that part of its work to combat anti-Semitism does include adopting the IHRA into Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy 2019-2022. Balsam said the government “really shouldn’t have bothered” with the summit, adding that it was just a performative exercise to win votes and please powerful lobby groups. “People see through it—that it’s not genuine,” he said. Despite the disappointment in the two virtual conferences and skepticism of any tangible action, for NDP MP Mathyssen, it is vital that Canada examine its institutions, laws, behaviors and actions when addressing hate crimes. “Of course, Canadians need to be on board for this to be successful, but if we come together, we can truly move forward in a collective way, respectful of everyone and to the benefit of everyone,” she said. Considering how many commissions, inquiries and summits Canada has already held to address colonial brutality inflicted on Canada’s Indigenous Nations, there is reason for skepticism. However, as Siddiqui concluded, “We must atone for our past and then dream for a future that we all aspire for—indigenous, settlers, newcomers, refugees and immigrants, coming together with shared values and mutual respect to work together for a more just nation.” ■

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Ideological Underpinnings of The War on Terrorism By Scott Horton

state. But the new regime was still seen as acceptable, and as people the Americans could work with. And, of course, the Israelis never broke with the Iranians after the revolution. When America backed the Iraqi side in the Iran-Iraq War throughout the 1980s, the Israelis famously backed the Iranian side. Where the cutout is, in fact, is during Iran-Contra, when America switched sides and started backing the Iranians. They sold extra weapons to the Israelis, and then the Israelis sold their stocks on to the Iranians for deniability. It wasn’t really until the 1990s, when Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin wanted to change the strategy, the overall Israeli posture in the region. WASHINGTON REPORT YOUTUBE CHANNEL

AS PROBABLY anybody familiar enough with these topics knows, the big problem started in 1979, when the popular revolution in Iran overthrew the government of the shah, Reza Pahlavi, that the Americans had reinstalled as dictator in a coup in 1953. He was dying of cancer and his regime was falling apart. The Carter government actually gave the French the green light, on bad advice from the CIA and State Department, to let the Ayatollah Khomeini get on a plane and go back to Iran [from Paris] to inherit the revolution. And he did. I think this is really important, and it almost always goes unsaid. Popular memory blurs the Iranian Revolution together with the hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy, which, of course, was the disaster that destroyed Jimmy Carter’s presidency and the rest. But, in fact, the original revolution was in February of 1979. All throughout 1979, the Americans were actually still talking with the Iranian ayatollah’s government. They were passing them intelligence about threats from Iraq and from the Soviet Union, as well as working with them on projects in Afghanistan. But then what happened was David Rockefeller convinced Jimmy Carter to let the shah into the United States for cancer treatment in November. That was seen in Iran as a signal that they were going to essentially do another coup and cancel the revolution and overthrow the new government. That, of course, caused the riot and the seizing of the hostages. It goes to show that the Americans had lost their client

The Washington Report and the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep) cosponsored a two-day web-based conference titled “End U.S. Support for Israeli Apartheid?” on April 17 and April 24, 2021. In this issue, as well as the past June/July 2021 and Aug./Sept. 2021 Washington Report issues, we have edited and condensed for clarity some of these talks. For complete transcripts, including the lively Q&A, please visit: https://www.israelapartheidcon.org or watch the proceedings on the Washington Report’s YouTube channel. Reserve your seat for the March 3-4, 2022 “Transcending the Israel Lobby at Home and Abroad,” conference in Washington, DC.

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Scott Horton: Ideological Underpinnings of the War on Terrorism

In trying to deal with the Arabs, he decided to reverse the periphery strategy and go ahead and target Iran. And also for public relations reasons, so that when people complained that he was giving up the West Bank, he could say, yeah, but the threat from Iran means we have to deal with the Arabs. But then a settler killed Rabin. The Israelis came to the Clinton administration in early ’93, and they’re saying, “OK, well, we hate Iran now and we want you to hate Iran, too.” The Clinton government was considering starting to warm up to Iran. [Akbar Hashemi] Rafsanjani was already the new president by then, who was seen as more moderate and could be negotiated with. The Clinton administration guys were just laughing and incredulous, and said, “What! Are you guys kidding?” Because it was such an obvious cynical turn on a dime. It wasn’t anything the Iranians had done; it was just a change in strategy in Tel Aviv, that was all. Then Iranian support for Hamas, for example, comes later. Now, on the question of war with Iran: from the very beginning it was pretty much out of the question that even the U.S. would attack Iran after the revolution. But when the war on terrorism began after 9/11, Ariel Sharon told George W. Bush, “don’t go to Iraq, go to Iran first.” And Bush said, “no, I don’t want to; I want to go to Iraq.” And Sharon said, “OK, well, go to Iran next, then.” And Bush said, “we’ll see.” But the major point I’m trying to make here is, you can’t attack Iran. It’s just too big. Now, we could have some kind of air war, but we’d have to be willing to lose a lot of planes to their anti-aircraft and a lot of Special Operations Forces in any attempt to take out all that anti-aircraft. No one is ever even talking about beginning to consider a land invasion like Normandy or anything like that. But you can’t get regime change from the air, and you can’t have a successful air war with Iran without them retaliating against the United States. So, ultimately, could the United States defeat Iran in a war, if it came to a real war? Yes, of course. But the point being, only at a very high cost, and a cost the Americans are not willing to pay, for a very good reason: because they’ve got no real reason for war in the first place. In 1996, when Netanyahu came to power, the very influential neoconservative David Wurmser wrote two papers and a book, all in concert with Richard Perle. The first one is a white paper titled, “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm.” It was written for an Israeli think tank as advice to Netanyahu. The follow-up is “Coping with Crumbling States: A Western and Israeli Balance of Power Strategy for the Levant [sic].” Basically, the neoconservatives are as foolish as they are deadly in their will to power. They had essentially been convinced of this hare-brained scheme that if they would get rid of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, who was the Ayatollah’s enemy who

just fought an eight-year war and was a Sunni minority dictator ruling over the super majority, 60 percent, Shi’i Arab population of his country—if they got rid of him, that would weaken Iran, because the king of Jordan, either he or his cousin, would then become the king of Iraq, like in the ’20s under the British. The Hashemite Kingdom would be restored. Well, this whole thing is completely crazy and stupid, right? These were the very same men who were the ringleaders of the neoconservative movement in the George W. Bush government that got us into Iraq War 2 in 2003 through 2011. David Wurmser, Richard Perle and Douglas Feith were very prominent among them. But this was essentially the plan. Ahmed Chalabi assures us it’s going to be great. Then, of course, his group were the same ones who furnished the lies to get us into the war about the weapons of mass destruction. So everybody knows that Iraq War 2 was a mess and a lot of people got killed. Whatever it was supposed to achieve, it didn’t work. But it’s pretty complicated about what really was the result. But what essentially had happened was Bush put America on the side of Iran in the great schism in the Middle East. The American Sunni axis of power is the United States and Israel, with Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab states. Anyway, so what Bush did in that whole messy war was raze that entire society to the ground. Bush moved Baghdad from the Sunni side of the ledger to the Iranian side. By that, I mean he helped the Shi’i accomplish a massive sectarian cleansing campaign where they turned [Baghdad] from an extremely mixed city into something like an 85 to 90 percent Shi’i one and achieved total dominance not just for the Shi’i— in fact not for the Shi’i, the people of the country—but for certain political parties and factions, most notably the Supreme Islamic Council and the Dawa Party, both of which were the closest to Iran. To go back to 1991, in the aftermath of Iraq War 1 [following the invasion of Kuwait], when the massive Shi’i uprising took place, the Bush, Sr. government encouraged it and then betrayed it. The reason why is because these same groups have been coming across the border: the Supreme Islamic Council, their militia, the Badr Brigade, were coming to take charge of the revolution. They said, “oh no, we just supported Saddam Hussein for eight years to contain the Iranian revolution; now we’re importing it.” They called it off, and 100,000 people were massacred in Hussein’s successful crushing of the insurrection. Now, 12 years later, W. Bush is just picking up exactly where his father left off, and put those same groups of people in power. Of course this, also meant pushing the Sunnis into a terrible insurgency against the American and Shi’i alliance at the time, and into the arms of the newly created al-Qaeda in Iraq.

You can’t

attack Iran. It’s just too big.

October 2021

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PHOTO BY PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

In 2006, neoconwestern Iraq and servative policy adthey essentially viser Zalmay Khal seized all of it—all ilzad, along with Elof predominantly liott Abrams and a Sunni western Iraq couple of others in and created a the government, escaliphate. Their sentially came to new leader, BaghBush and said, “lisdadi, declared himten, we really have self the Caliph screwed up here. Ibrahim and deAnd we really have clared that the taken the side of Sykes-Picot border these parties who between Syria and are going to be Iraq was hereby closer friends with abolished and Iran than they are erased. And this going to be with us was the new at the end of all of U.S. President George Bush boards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in caliphate. this. We really Washington, DC, on June 12, 2006. Bush traveled to Camp David to meet with his top So Obama let messed up.” him stew for a coumilitary and civilian war advisers to plan the U.S. role in Iraq’s future. So what happened ple of months and was they launched a policy called “The Redirection.” I encourlet them beg and come to us. Again, still trying to split them off age everyone to read this great 2007 New Yorker article by from Iran and make the Iraqi government feel like they need Seymour M. Hersh. The story is that they are doing a big baitus more than they need the Iranians, which never works and and-switch. The enemy is no longer bin Laden and Zarqawi. certainly didn’t again. Then the Iranians themselves came Now the problem is Iran. across the border to help in the effort. You know what? Forget Sunni and Shi’i. Forget who are So now they say we can’t leave Iraq or Syria because our America’s enemies and who are Israel’s enemies. You know, men are standing at the Al-Tanf military base there on the borthe problem here is moderates versus extremists—this is der. They are standing guard at the land bridge, as they call [Secretary of State] Condoleezza Rice talking. So now they it—otherwise known as a road—that runs essentially unbrocan just use finger paint and smear all of these concepts token now from Tehran through Baghdad and through to Damgether and make a mess out of it all and confuse the issue. ascus and onto Beirut. And so we just can’t let the Iranians So this was the policy that Obama picked up. have all this free rein. In fact, it was published in March or April of 2012, in an AtSo now we’re right back where we started from. Only, inlantic interview with Barack Obama where Jeffrey Goldberg stead of having Saddam Hussein standing as the big roadsays, “Isn’t it true, don’t you think that if we got rid of Bashar block here, now the Americans and the Israeli-inspired stratal-Assad in Syria, that that would be a great way to weaken egy here to do all of this has only increased their power and Iran?” And Obama says, “absolutely.” So Goldberg says, influence in the region that much more. “well, what can we do to hurry that process along?” And But let me talk about [Iran’s] nuclear program here real Obama says, “well, I can tell you, but I’d have to kill you.” He’s quick. If you want to be as cynical as you can about it, be charessentially admitting that they already had a covert operation itable to the hawks here, OK? It’s a latent nuclear deterrent, underway to help supply these militants. right? Just like Japan has. We’re not making nukes, but everyThe problem with that is that by 2013 the Iraqi-dominated body knows we know how to make nukes, and everybody faction of al-Qaeda in Iraq split from the Syrian-dominated knows we know how to enrich uranium and have the capability faction of al-Qaeda in Iraq and decided that, rather than foto do so. So don’t try us and then we won’t escalate to that cusing all of their forces on moving west toward Damascus, next step. That’s essentially what they have been attempting that instead they’d go ahead and carve out a state there in the to achieve this whole time, and they have achieved it. So in east of Syria—eventually including Kurdistan and Syria’s truth they have a civilian-safeguarded nuclear program. northeast there. They seized the city of Raqqa. It’s really kind The Iranians have been members of the Nuclear Non-Prolifof central north located, but they call it the east because the eration Treaty all along, since during the shah’s days. I guess vast majority of the cities in Syria are in the west. it was [Presidents Lyndon B.] Johnson and [Richard] Nixon Anyway, they seized essentially half of the country and who got them to sign it. Under the NPT, that means they have carved out a state. Then, one year later they rolled right into to have a deal called the Safeguards Agreement with the In52

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Scott Horton: Ideological Underpinnings of the War on Terrorism

ternational Atomic Energy Agency which allows it to inspect all nuclear facilities to guarantee the non-diversion of nuclear material to any military or other special purpose. They’ve had that deal all along. But as they steadily increased their nuclear program, the Israelis, especially, and their “amen corner” in America have hyped up this threat of an Iranian nuclear weapons program. In the Bush years especially, they made it sound as though they never heard of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, they’ve never heard of the IAEA and these inspections at all. They would just say that the civilian nuclear program is a nuclear weapons program. Or alternatively, they’d say, “well, there is a secret nuclear weapons program, an illicit one. The one that we all know about and that’s inspected, that doesn’t count, because there must be another one somewhere, because we say so.” That really lasted through the Obama years, even though the CIA had debunked that in 2007 and the Israeli Mossad had agreed that it is true, we do agree with the CIA’s assessment that they’re really not making nukes. Of course, political leaders on both sides ignored those conclusions. But the intelligence agencies conceded that they had not made the decision to begin to pursue a nuclear weapon. But the narrative, in large measure, still held. The idea was that there was a real threat that the Israelis could get us into a war. They had a massive assassination campaign in the early Obama years against Iranian scientists, including even killing a graduate student. They were essentially threatening to start a war and drag America into it. I think this is probably really just to feint, but Obama took it seriously enough that he decided the NPT wasn’t good enough. He was going to get John Kerry to agree to this deal with the Iranians. It’s called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the JCPOA—the Iranian nuclear deal. Essentially what it does is, on America’s side, it promises to lift the sanctions and it gave Iran some of its own money back. All those pallets of cash that Trump and all his people went on and on about, that was Iranian money that Jimmy Carter had stolen back in 1979. And I hate to give John Kerry credit, but John Kerry’s deal was, we’ll give you your own money back that we took, but not one red cent more than that. And Iran accepted that. That’s pretty good. And sanctions relief. So what America had to give up on our side of the deal was nothing, OK? What the Iranians had to give up was they had to pour concrete into their Arak heavy water reactor, essentially ruining it, destroying it, disabling it forever. And they had to reduce the number of centrifuges they were spinning at their Natanz facility. They had to convert their Fordow aka Qom facility there, under the mountain, into strictly a research

facility, with no actual production of uranium enrichment going on there. They had to expand their inspections far beyond any other inspection regime in world history, to include their mines and the facilities where they actually make the centrifuges and everything else. In other words, locking down their program, guaranteeing its civilian nature, and then promising essentially to back off only on the other side. That’s why Donald Trump and his partisans said this is the worst deal ever. They never said why. They can only say, well, because it doesn’t include missiles and it doesn’t include stopping financing Hezbollah, or something like that. But of course, that’s not what it was about. It was just about supposedly the threat of nuclear weapons. In fact, one side issue here is about Yemen, the Obama government said this is why the U.S. helped the Saudis start the war in Yemen: it was to make up for the fact that we were passing this nuclear deal, that we were negotiating with the Iranians. It made the Saudis feel very threatened that they were going to lose their place in our order, that maybe America will start tilting back toward Iran again—which was never in the cards. This was just taking the threat of war off the table. That’s all it was. But they said, you know what? To reassure you that you are still number one to us, Saudi Arabia, we’ll help you launch a war of genocide against these people in Yemen just because a Shi’i group came to power, that were friends—not even, at that time, really—allies with Iran. Again, this is another policy that, after six years, has only increased Iran’s power and influence in Yemen far more than ever before, at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives. Now there is currently a threat at the Biden administration. They came into power with all these sanctions that the Trump government had put on. They thought they have this position of leverage and the Iranians are going to do what they say. But that never works. But at least the Biden people were smart enough to realize that by spring. So they start having these meetings in Vienna. As of right now the Americans are insisting on holding on to the sanctions. It seems like they quite possibly are sabotaging their project here. I mean, after all, these are all men from Obama’s government that are leading Biden’s government, right? This is their nuclear deal and they are threatening to destroy it. They are threatening to ruin the thing. That really could lead to war. And you have the Israelis also doing a sabotage campaign inside Iran to try to make it politically difficult for them. So even though we really don’t have anything to fight about, those are all negatives that could really lead to a crisis. It’s possible, yes. ■

They were essentially

threatening to

start a war and drag America into it.

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WAGING PEACE Ten years after becoming the best hope for democracy in the Arab world, many now fear Tunisia is in the midst of a return to authoritarian rule. In July, President Kais Saied granted himself full executive powers, dismissed the prime minister and suspended parliament, among other moves. Saied maintains he has no desire to become a strongman and that his draconian moves were necessary, constitutional mechanisms to combat rampant corruption. Speaking at an Aug. 5 webinar hosted by the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED), Amna Guellali, deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, noted that most Tunisians approve of Saied’s decrees. “They were met with a lot of joy and celebration in the streets of Tunisia because people were fed-up with the status quo, because they were completely disenchanted with the democratic process and they felt the need for something different,” she said. “It doesn’t mean that most people are against the democratic process itself, just that they see it as totally perverted by a corrupt political elite and that Kais Saied is going to give it a new impetus.” Those opposed to Saied’s moves also share this frustration with the status quo, but believe the president has shoved a dagger into Tunisia’s political system. “However dysfunctional, ineffective and flawed the process was, it was considered by many as the only way forward,” because it was centered around negotiation and consensus-building, Guellali said. “For many, the decisions of Kais Saied are the antithesis of this process because it’s going back to the concentration of power into the hands of one man.” In remarks to the Middle East Institute (MEI) on Aug. 11, Tunisian civil society activist Henda Fellah expressed sympathy for Saied’s bold actions, but said the onus is now on the president to show he has an effective and democratic plan to tackle cor54

Rached Ghannouchi, the speaker of Tunisia’s suspended parliament, gives an interview at his office in the capital of Tunis, on July 29, 2021. The leader of the Islamist Ennahda Party says his group is the victim of a coup. Many Tunisians support President Kais Saied’s decision to suspend parliament, viewing Ennahda and other parties as deeply corrupt and ineffectual. ruption. “If Saied is really serious about fighting corruption, it is now the moment to open this fight and go in depth,” she said. However, thus far Saied’s moves have appeared arbitrary and unfocused, and Fellah fears that “there are no clear steps for what is next.” Guellali shares this worry. “As the days go by, the lack of a clear roadmap becomes a source of concern for many in the country,” she said. Achref Aouadi, the founder of IWatch, an anti-corruption group founded shortly after the 2011 Tunisian revolution, told POMED that there are simply too many unknowns to predict how Saied’s initiatives will unfold, though he is skeptical the president has the gumption to truly tackle corruption. “I have as many questions as you guys, and to me I’m not really that optimistic that there will be a fight against corruption in the upcoming days and months,” he said. William Lawrence, a non-resident scholar at MEI, told the think tank’s virtual audience that he doubts both Saied’s sincerity and ability to renew Tunisian democracy. “One thing that Saied has proven so far is that he’s very good at sloganeering and firing people and putting people on house arrest, but he’s not really building up alliances for systemic reform,” he said. “Yet,” he noted, “the Tunisian revolution and the Tunisian civil society has given him incredible power that he can either wield in-

WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

telligently or not, but so far so bad.” In Lawrence’s opinion, Saied’s recent moves constitute a coup. His actions “look to long-time watchers of politics as highly problematic,” he said. “These moves don’t often lead to democratic outcomes.” The ultimate test is whether Saied pushes a self-serving agenda or one that is dispassionately oriented toward the common good, Lawrence said. “If Saied is sincere, he would say ‘we’re going to invent a system for the president after me.’ I think if he’s insincere, he’ll try to have a reform by decree that gives him the power to make the changes now…Then you’re talking about an autocratic approach toward reform.” —Dale Sprusansky

Lebanon in the Midst of an Economic and Political Spiral

One year after a deadly blast ripped through Beirut’s port, Lebanon is in a state of disarray. The country has been without an official government for more than a year, and its economy is in shambles, with a critical lack of fuel and food leaving Lebanon’s citizens in a state of desperation and exasperation. On Aug. 5, the American Task Force on Lebanon held a virtual event to discuss the deteriorating situation in the country. U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea noted that Washington recently reOCTOBER 2020 2021 JUNE/JULY

FETHI BELAID/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Has Authoritarianism Returned to Tunisia?

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The Need for Economic and Political Reforms in Jordan

Amid a blackout, a barber uses the flashlight on his phone to shave a customer at his shop in Beirut's Hamra district, on Aug. 20, 2021. Lebanon’s lengthy power cuts are making it difficult for people to find essentials, such as fresh air, lighting, medicine, a working refrigerator or fuel.

leased $98 million in new humanitarian assistance to the country and is working to foster political and economic breakthroughs. However, she emphasized that only so much can be done by the international community in the absence of a functioning government in Beirut. Lebanon’s leaders must “stop putting the interests of their party or sect ahead of those of the Lebanese people,” Shea implored. The citizenry, she added, is united in wanting “a government that is responsive to the needs of the people…[and] addresses the root causes of the economic collapse: corruption.” With poverty skyrocketing, time is of the essence, the ambassador said. Hyperinflation is “making it impossible for those who are living on fixed incomes, let alone those who have lost their jobs, to provide for their families,” she noted. While U.S. humanitarian assistance in Lebanon has traditionally gone to the country’s large refugee population, a majority of the aid is now going to Lebanese citizens. This, Shea said, shows that “the situation is dire.” U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka noted that the average household’s food bills now cost five times the monthly minimum wage. Resources are also scarce. “There now are severe shortOCTOBER 2021

ages of fuel, medicine and electricity—of which [blackouts] now exceed 18 hours per day,” she noted. This impacts “the food supply and the ability of hospitals to function,” she added. The tragedy of this situation is its long-metastasizing, man-made nature, the Polish diplomat noted. “None of this is due to war or a natural disaster. The people are paying the price for their leaders’ inaction,” she said. Dr. Michel Mawad, president of the Lebanese American University, noted the dire medical and social implications of the crisis. An estimated 15-20 percent of the senior physicians at his university’s hospital have relocated outside of Lebanon over the past year, he noted. “Their loss really represents a major blow to the quality of our teaching and the quality of our patient care,” especially in the midst of a pandemic, he said. All across Lebanon, the flight of the educated is jeopardizing the future of the country, Mawad warned. “The brain drain threatens to deprive our country of its most important asset, making the herculean task of rebuilding the country’s economy and reforming its broken politics even more daunting,” he said. Meanwhile, those who can’t flee “almost feel trapped in an imposed state of helplessness,” he noted. —Dale Sprusansky

Amid political instability and economic decline in Jordan, President Joe Biden held his first meeting with King Abdullah II at the White House on July 19. On the same day, the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) hosted a panel to explore how the Biden administration and Congress can assist its longtime ally in resolving the country’s pressing issues. Arwa Shobaki, managing director of POMED, contended that the more than $1.5 billion annual U.S. aid to Jordan should provide Washington with leverage in regard to needed reforms in Jordan. However, “so far, the Biden administration has not shown any interest in pressing the king to change course,” she said. Sean Yom, associate professor of political science at Temple University, argued that since Jordan needs U.S. support to survive, particularly in terms of its military budget, the United States should condition aid on the country meeting “meaningful democratic targets” and reducing corruption and human rights abuses. Yom pointed out, however, that the U.S. is in the process of massively expanding its military presence in Jordan, which he described as “basically a larger version of [the U.S. military presence in] Bahrain.” The expansion includes, “a giant terrestrial aircraft carrier and a bonafide major logistical base and staging ground, or a lynchpin, for any future war-making in the region.” From bases in Jordan, the U.S. could “wage war within essentially an 800mile radius around Amman.” Because of this, he argued, the United States has very little incentive to promote political reforms in the Hashemite Kingdom. Considering Jordan’s 25 percent unemployment rate and 50 percent youth unemployment, University of Waterloo professor Bessma Momani hoped that Biden and the king would focus on jobs. “If the Americans really want to help, I would like to see American companies taking a true interest and benefiting from the demographic Jordan has of young, educated, hyper-connected pro-Western workers,” she said.

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Yom noted, “Jordan is now one of the three worst countries in the world for getting a job if you happen to be between the ages of 16 and 28. The only two countries with higher youth unemployment rates are Libya and South Africa.” Yom believes the Jordanian government should focus on “economic reforms that engage in broader redistributions of wealth, political reforms that broaden the scope of democratic rights and personal and public freedoms, making citizens have more of a stake in how their country is governed and making them feel like their voice counts.” Curtis Ryan, professor of political science at Appalachian State University, said, “There are a lot of Jordanians who feel economically left behind.” Corruption, he added, “is the single most common complaint in Jordanian public life and has been for a really long time.” The establishment of personal rights to political activism, freedom of speech and posting on social media without fear of retribution is also important, Ryan added. “We have seen…more restrictions on protests and freedom of speech.” Shobaki added that King Abdullah’s previous attempts at reforms had changed nothing for the common Jordanian. Prices, she noted, keep increasing and “the wealthy seem to get wealthier, while everyone else is just suffering.”—Elaine Pasquini 56

Exploring Drivers of Middle East Interventions

Soon after it began on July 28, a Quincy Institute virtual panel on the Middle East meandered into a debate on the merits and harms of intervention. The catalyst for discussion was “No Clean Hands: The Interventions of Middle Eastern Powers, 20102020,” a recent paper jointly authored by Matthew Petti, a reporter for the institute’s Responsible Statecraft journal, and its executive vice-president Trita Parsi. “Americans love a heroes and villains story,” said Petti, “especially when it comes to the Middle East.” A dearth of empirical data within public debates about Middle

Eastern interventions drove him to write the report, which notes that “five of the six most interventionist powers in the Middle East are armed by the United States—and also enjoy significant political support from Washington.” In the last decade, continued Petti, the “lion’s share of interventions were done by U.S. allies and partners.” However, Petti emphasized that “No Clean Hands” is true to its title. The datadriven report argues against the common “argument that regional instability is primarily caused by a single ‘malign actor’” like Iran or the United States. Rather, write Petti and Parsi, the data show that “regional instability appears to drive interventions more often than interventions cause instability.” Ultimately, argued Petti, the United States should strive to seriously reduce its interventions, including those carried out through proxies like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, or Israel. Diplomatic options like conditioning aid offer more practical alternatives than sanctions or military force, the reporter said. Since most of the interventions in the region emerge from America’s allies, “we have a lot more leverage than if the instability was coming from our enemies.” Disagreement arrived in the form of guest panelist Shadi Hamid, a writer at The Atlantic and a self-styled “interventionist.” Hamid swiftly pushed back against Petti and Parsi’s characterization of conditional aid as an alternative to intervention, which he argued requires the U.S. to “take a step towards the Middle East” and engage fur-

A Turkey-backed Syrian fighter shoots a turret during military drills in the district of Sheikh Hadid, in the Afrin region of northwestern Syria, on Aug. 5, 2021.

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President Joe Biden (r) meets with King Abdullah II of Jordan at the White House, on July 19, 2021.

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ther with it rather than pull back. Additionally, Hamid stated his belief in the overall moral value of intervention, especially with regards to “atrocities,” which he said the United States has a “moral imperative” to prevent through engagement with its allies and enemies. Parsi emphasized that diplomacy is more akin to “doing no harm” than “letting things be.” “Doing no harm does not mean continuing to sell all these weapons to all these countries,’” said Parsi. “It’s not some laissez faire approach of letting it be as it is—it’s not supporting the status quo.” Tufts University professor Monica Duffy Toft agreed with the paper’s conclusion that “there are no heroes” when it comes to intervention in the Middle East, but took time to “quibble” with the framing of “No Clean Hands.” Its focus on the decade after the Arab Spring is rather narrow, she argued, and lacks an emphasis on the “great power” politics that she views as critical to understanding instability in the Middle East. Overall, however, Toft accepted the paper’s analysis of America’s role in the region’s interventions. “The United States systematically and systemically overestimates its influence” in the Middle East, she opined. Petti concurred, and remarked that in American foreign policy, “it’s considered a kind of default setting that some countries get blank checks while others get unending hostility….We have no problem having moral clarity about our enemies but we get bogged down in nuance when it comes to our friends.” “I agree that certain interventions are worse than other ones,” Petti concluded. “But this is the point of the paper—just like we can call out evil when our enemies do it, we should be able to say that what our friends are doing is really bad.” —Max Saltman

Historic View of Iranians in Bahrain

Migration from Iran to Bahrain in the early decades of the 20th century was the focus of a July 15 webinar co-hosted by the Iranian Studies Unit of the Arab Center for ReOCTOBER 2021

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The Qal'at al-Bahrain, also known as the Bahrain Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Manama, Bahrain. Photo taken on Nov. 30, 2020.

search and Policy Studies and the Arab Center Washington DC. While travel around the shores of the western Indian Ocean and Gulf was commonplace for centuries, migration after 1900 “impacted the formation of a new political geography in the region and changed people’s perceptions of who they were, where they were from and the meaning of the spaces that they were moving around in,” said Lindsey Stephenson, co-producer of the Ajam Media Collective’s Indian Ocean Series podcast. Over the centuries, there were overlapping territorial claims between Iranians and Ottomans in the region, but this had little impact on those navigating between the territories via ship. “The ports—representing economic imperatives—were more relevant to the people in this space than were political geographies,” Stephenson noted. In the first half of the 20th century, new import and export taxes levied by the Iranian central government precipitated the migration of tens of thousands of Iranians from southern Iran to the opposite shores. “To avoid the extreme taxes, merchants just moved to the other side because that is what people had been doing for centuries and the other side was familiar to them,” she stated. Arabs and Turkmen from Shiraz and Fars Province were among the dominant

ethnic groups that migrated from Iran. “There were a number of people speaking different dialects and from different cultures coming from the region known as Lorestan, which is very diverse,” Stephenson said. Although people from opposite shores sometimes come from very different cultural, religious and linguistic backgrounds, their lives are primarily oriented toward the water so they have much more in common with each other than they do with people further into the interior, she added. As migration dramatically increased, so did British involvement, causing tension in the region. While the United Kingdom had been intervening on behalf of Europeans or subjects of British India for several decades, now their intervention took an imperialistic aim, as they sought to expand their power in this strategic region. In 1909 the United Kingdom began treating Iranians in Bahrain as foreigners in need of British protection, although the Iranians never requested this assistance. This was the first step in infusing a new official and legal understanding of belonging that was bound up with territorialization in the Gulf. “This was the British stepping in and defining space in new ways,” Stephenson stated. The courts the British created brought about a kind of new “spatial awareness in the region and forced

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upon people territorialized identities,” rather than previous identities based on who your family is and not necessarily where you are from. The Sheikh of Bahrain, she noted, considered the Iranians “as part of his flock,” whereas the British did not. “I haven’t come across any record of the Sheikh of Bahrain being upset or caring at all [about migrants],” Stephenson explained. “Probably, as long as they were bringing him revenue, he didn’t mind.” In 1937, Bahrain changed course and issued a nationality and property law that prevented foreigners from owning property. This was in response to Iran threatening to claim sovereignty over Bahrain due to the large number of Iranians residing on the island. “The only way for Iranians who had been there for generations to remain local and to acquire this local belonging in the space was for them to become Bahrainis,” Stephenson noted. Today, there are more people of Iranian heritage on all shores of the Gulf than there have ever been at any point in history. “At the same time the meaning of what it is to be Iranian, or Ajam, has expanded significantly beyond the regions adjacent to the Gulf that we saw in the premodern period,” Stephenson said. —Elaine Pasquini

HUMAN RIGHTS Journalists Reflect on Uyghur Crisis

The Atlantic Council’s Strategic Litigation Project hosted a July 28 online discussion with BuzzFeed’s Megha Rajagopalan, recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting on the Uyghur atrocities, and Berlin-based independent journalist Ben Mauk, who received the inaugural Jamal Khashoggi Award for Courageous Journalism for his coverage of the persecution of minorities in Xinjiang. Based on her interviews, Rajagopalan learned that most people taken to Chinese internment camps in Xinjiang never go through any legal process whatsoever. “Many people have described being given 58

A Uyghur spokeswoman addresses China’s persecution of Uyghurs, at a rally across from the White House in Lafayette Park, on March 17, 2021. a knock on their door in the middle of the night. There is no arrest paperwork, no trial, no access to a lawyer,” she said. According to a January 2021 report by Human Rights Watch, 1.2 million Uyghurs of East Turkistan are being forcibly held in camps. Satellite images show the government has constructed large security facilities over the past two to three years. “I don’t think anyone would build compounds like that if they did not have the intent to incarcerate people for a long period of time, because these compounds look to be specifically built for that purpose,” Rajagopalan observed. “I think that tells you something about the government’s intentions” for the future, she added. The digital and physical surveillance in the city of Kashgar was what really stood out to Rajagopalan on her 2017 trip to Xinjiang. “I have been to North Korea and Myanmar, and even compared to places like that it was just unlike anything I had ever seen anywhere,” she said. “Walking down the street and not hearing any sound—no music coming out of stores or restaurants like you would hear in any other city in China,” was disconcerting, Rajagopalan recalled. “The surveillance cameras were everywhere. There were checkpoints where Uyghurs and Han Chinese got into two different lines. Minorities would have their cell phones scanned with a device, but Han Chinese people wouldn’t.” Unfortunately, “there is still so much happening there that we don’t know about,” she lamented. “The ways that we have to get

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information about what is happening on the ground there are more limited than they were two years ago,” she noted. In addition, many journalists have lost their accreditation and access to the region. In 2018, while covering China’s Belt and Road Initiative on the border between Kazakhstan and Xinjiang, Mauk was astonished to learn there was a “tremendous amount of fear, concern and self-censorship around China’s policies” on both sides of the border. In the past, ethnic Kazaks and Uyghurs crossed freely from one country to the other to visit family members and conduct economic activity. The information Mauk collected from survivors and witnesses of the extrajudicial detention drive in Xinjiang formed the basis of his article, “Inside Xinjiang’s Prison State” for The New Yorker and the documentary “Reeducated” that he co-developed. Moderator Rayhan Asat, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Strategic Litigation Project and a Uyghur human rights attorney, posed a question on China’s agenda to export its surveillance techniques to other nations. “Private companies, state-owned companies and companies that take subsidies from the state” are all involved in the surveillance regime, Rajagopalan noted. “It’s important to look at how multinationals from the U.S., Japan, Israel and various countries in Western Europe are also developing surveillance technologies…with very few legal controls on how those products can be sold and used.” OCTOBER 2021

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The surveillance in Xinjiang is not unique to China, Mauk added, although in Xinjiang there is no civil society or non-governmental check on the Chinese government’s ability to act on the information gathered via surveillance technologies. “I think at this point everyone knows that the Chinese state is carrying out a genocide against Uyghurs, Kazaks and other groups indigenous to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,” Asat stated. “While China is the ultimate perpetrator of these terrible crimes, the silence of global bystanders, including the vast majority of world leaders, has allowed this genocide to continue. China’s economic might coupled with its influence in the world has created a permissive environment for atrocity crimes.” —Elaine Pasquini

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Activists Push Rep. Paul Tonko on Palestinian Rights

The event came shortly after lawmakers sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling for the appointment of a special envoy to monitor and combat Islamophobia, similar to the one for fighting anti-Semitism. In addition, the letter requests that state-sponsored anti-Muslim violence be included in the State Department’s 2022 annual human rights reports. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) noted the disturbing rise in the number of anti-Muslim hate crimes this year, as documented in a just-released report by the Council on

Lawmakers Request Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia

On July 21, members of Congress held a press conference on Capitol Hill to denounce rising anti-Muslim hate crimes. OCTOBER 2021

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Social justice activists in Albany, NY rallied on Friday, Aug. 12, urging their local member of Congress, Rep. Paul Tonko, to support H.R. 2590, a resolution that would bar American tax money from being employed for the detention and torture of Palestinian children. Rep. Tonko, a Democrat in a largely Democratic district, has been cautious on the issue, promising only to look at the resolution when it gets out of committee, if it ever does. Local activists, led by the Palestinian Rights Committee of Upper Hudson Peace Action, have lined up support from a growing range of Jewish, Muslim, Christian and secular groups to appeal to Tonko, using H.R. 2590 as a tool to educate both him and the public about Israel’s oppression of Palestinians in the occupied territories. Spirit is running high for this effort, though record heat and humidity kept attendance at the rally to a minimum. —Carl Strock

MUSLIM AMERICAN ACTIVISM

Activists gather in Townsend Park in Albany, NY on Aug. 12, 2021 to urge their member of Congress to support legislation protecting the rights of Palestinian children. American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). The group investigated 500 complaints since January 2021 involving harassment, discrimination, hate speech, school bullying and attacks on mosques. With violence against Muslims rising around the world, along with bombings of churches, the desecration of synagogues and racially motivated crimes, Omar called on fellow lawmakers “to treat these problems as interconnected and global. We will not defeat hate with more hate,” she averred. “We will defeat it with solidarity.”

(L-r) CAIR’s Nihad Awad, Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Rep. André Carson (D-IN) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) speak about the proliferation of anti-Muslim hate crimes across the U.S. WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) stated that as a Jewish American, she cannot look past anti-Muslim bigotry. “We must do everything that we can to combat this hatred and push for policies that fully respect human rights and dignity and the religious rights and cultural freedom of the Muslim people, and we must urge our counterparts abroad to do the same,” she said. California Democratic Reps. Judy Chu and Sara Jacobs reiterated the need for a special envoy to combat Islamophobia. “None of us are free unless we are all free,” Jacobs, one of the newest members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, commented. Rep. André Carson (D-IN) urged the U.S. intelligence community to take the threats facing Muslims more seriously. “It’s a matter of human rights, religious freedom and a matter of life and death,” he stated. “We must act now.” Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR’s national office, called for unity in combating Islamophobia. “Many Muslims around this country and around the world have started to feel that Islamophobia is part of normal life,” he said. “It should not be, and we should not accept it. Islamophobia is a danger and threat not only to Muslims, but to the peace of our communities.” —Elaine Pasquini

CAIR Helps Secure Release of U.S. Government-Seized Religious Tiles

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) confiscated almost 750 pounds of Iranian religious tiles sent to decorate the mihrab (niche) of a new Manassas, VA mosque in June, claiming the gift violated U.S. economic and trade sanctions imposed on Iran. Customs and Border Control contacted the mosque on June 21, after the tiles arrived at Dulles Airport, saying they must be “reexported or destroyed.” The custom-made gift was shipped from a mosque in the Iranian city of Qom and included verses from the Qur’an, such as: “Indeed, We see you [O Prophet Muhammad] turning your face toward heaven. Now We will make you turn toward a direction of prayer that 60

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(L-r) CAIR’s Ibrahim Hooper and Nihad Awad, Imam Abolfazl Nahidian (at the podium) and Rafi Uddin Ahmed, president of Prince William County’s Dar Al-Noor mosque and the Muslim Association of Virginia, call for the release of tiles seized by the U.S. government, at an Aug. 10, 2021 press conference. will please you. So turn your face towards the Sacred Mosque in Mecca—wherever you are, turn your faces towards it.” Former President Donald Trump reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran in 2018 when he unilaterally left the Iranian nuclear deal that was negotiated with world powers. The U.S. continues to impose stiff penalties for violating the complex laws governing those sanctions. The tile controversy and a subsequent news conference on Aug. 10, hosted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and community leaders, were covered by TV news stations and other media. Muslim leaders urged the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Department of the Treasury to release the tiles. CAIR’s national deputy director Edward Ahmed Mitchell stated, “Confiscating these Qur’anic tiles simply because they came from Iran was unwarranted and destroying them would be absolutely unacceptable. Forcing this Virginia mosque to send the tiles out of the country would be just as unacceptable; it would also send a negative message to the American Muslim community and Muslims worldwide.” Imam Abolfazl Nahidian of the Manassas Mosque said, “We respectfully ask the Biden administration to order the release of these specially-designed religious items to our mosque so that we may use them in our religious services. Destroying items with

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verses from a sacred text should be objectionable to all Americans, regardless of their faith.” On Aug. 16, the Treasury Department decided to release the tiles to the mosque. “We welcome the decision as a reaffirmation of our nation’s respect for religious freedom and diversity,” Mitchell said in a news release. “Americans of all religious backgrounds should have access to the symbols of their faith, whatever the origin of those symbols.” —Delinda C. Hanley

AMP Launches New Lobbying Group for Palestine

American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) announced in August that the organization is launching a new affiliate, Americans for Justice in Palestine Action (AJP Action), to lobby for Palestinian rights on Capitol Hill. As a tax-deductible 501 (c) (3) group, AMP is limited in its ability to engage in lobbying, but as a 501 (c) (4) entity, AJP Action will be unrestrained in its lobbying activities. “AJP Action will work in a boundless capacity to oppose legislation and policy that furthers Israeli oppression, and to support legislation and policy that upholds and advances Palestinian rights,” the group said in its announcement. “In the near future, we’ll be endorsing candidates for office who stand with the Palestinian people to achieve their rights,” they added. OCTOBER 2021

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ARAB AMERICAN ACTIVISM Zogby Discusses Dark Money in Elections

Arab American Institute Foundation president Jim Zogby’s “Coffee and a Column,” on Aug. 11, took a close look at the role now played by the Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) in U.S. elections. Zogby’s Zoom discussion focused on his column, “The Troubling Role of ‘Dark Money’ in Elections,” which examined the recent special congressional election in Ohio’s 11th district. DMFI, a pro-Israel political action committee (PAC) spent almost $3 million in “dark money” to defeat Ohio State Senator Nina Turner, who has criticized Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights and stated that she would support legislation that would condition U.S. aid to Israel based on its human rights behavior. The pro-Israel DMFI and similar PACs avoid legal limits on how much an individual can contribute to a candidate’s campaign. Their expenditures are referred to as “dark money” because unlike contributions given directly to a campaign, which must be reported to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), money given to these separate enOCTOBER 2021

tities is not public. These PACs are not required to publically acknowledge donors or the amounts they give because they aren’t directly working with campaigns and political parties. As a result they can blanket the airwaves with dishonest attack ads and a few wealthy donors can directly influence the outcome of elections. Investigative reporters from the Intercept discovered that much of the $3 million raised by DMFI for this election came from corporate executives and even Trump supporters. One donor gave $900,000 and a Trump supporter donated $300,000$400,000 to defeat Turner, Zogby said. While DMFI fundraising focused on Turner’s support for Palestinian rights, the attack ads DMFI actually ran caricatured her personality, painting her as an irrational, angry, hysterical extremist—and never mentioned Israel. That’s because the Democratic Party increasingly supports justice in Israel/Palestine, according to Zogby. If DMFI had run pro-Shontel Brown ads that

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“As people living in the United States, we have a special obligation to lobby for Palestinian rights because it is our government that provides Israel with nearly unconditional and unlimited diplomatic and military support to entrench Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people,” AJP Action notes on its new website, <ajpaction.org>. AJP Action’s first official event will be the “7th Annual Palestine Advocacy Days,” which in the past was organized by AMP. This year’s event, which engages Congress on Palestine, will be held virtually, from Sept. 27-Oct. 1. —Dale Sprusansky

stated, “Shontel Brown will do everything for Israel,” she would have lost, Zogby contended. DMFI is playing a dishonest game, Zogby emphasized. They never raised the Israel/Palestine issue publically in Ohio, but they used anti-Palestinian scare tactics to raise money and pat themselves on the back when their candidate won. Zogby called for a strategy to support candidates who call for more even-handed Arab/Israeli policies. Dark money is now a serious threat in U.S. elections. It was a problem addressed by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, known as the McCain-Feingold Act, passed in 2002, to prohibit soft money in elections. Sadly, eight years later, the Supreme Court’s decision on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission granted corporations, nonprofit organizations, trade unions and other associations the ability to spend money independently on federal campaigns, either supporting or opposing candidates. That decision opened the door to super PACs and made it hard for the Washington Report, AAI and others to track political contributions by deep-pocketed donors or pro-Israel organizations like DMFI. (But that doesn’t stop us from trying! See <https://www.wrmea.org/ congress-u.s.-aid-to-israel/pro-israel-paccontributions-to-congressional-candidates. html>.) —Delinda C. Hanley

(L-r) Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, congressional candidate Nina Turner, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and (behind) Dr. Cornell West march with supporters after a “Get Out the Vote” rally on July 31, 2021 in Cleveland, OH. A special election was triggered after former Rep. Marcia Fudge joined the Biden administration to become the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) held the “September 11th 20th Anniversary Virtual Symposium,” a multi-paneled event throughout the month of August. The panels discussed post-September 11th changes in national security measures, immigration, media portrayals of Arabs, Muslims and Asians, mobilization and organizing within the Arab American community, the effects of discrimination on this community, and more. On Aug. 16, a panel looked at “Media Portrayals of Arab and Muslim Americans After 9/11,” moderated by veteran journalist Ali Younes of ADC’s Research Institute. Adrienne Mahsa Varkiani, program director at ReThink Media, observed that a majority of Americans don’t know an Arab or Muslim, meaning they get most of their knowledge from the media. It is vital for us to know “how many people in a newsroom are identifying as Muslim or Arab and who is telling our story properly,” she said. There have always been repercussions in the newsroom for criticizing Israel, Varkiani pointed out. The Associated Press (AP) fired Emily Wilder for her prior involvement in the campus activist group Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). Her termination had nothing to do her reporting. “A lot of people found that outrageous,” Varkiani said, adding, “That gives me some hope.” After 9/11 or any terror attack, the way stories are told impacts public opinion. When an attack is by an Arab, Muslim or a vaguely brown perpetrator, that attack will likely get more coverage than if the perpetrator is a white man. But there is a growing shift of attention on terror committed by white supremacists, she noted. Radio talk show host Ray Hanania, an Arab News columnist and author, said 90 percent of reporters in the mainstream media are doing a great job, but when it comes to the Middle East, it’s a minefield. He discovered that lots of Jewish reporters 62

(Clockwise) Adrienne Mahsa Varkiani, Ali Younes, Adam Elmahrek and Ray Hanania reflect on the post- 9/11 world.

at the Chicago Sun-Times could write about Israel or their Jewish American culture but he, as the only Palestinian American, was not given a similar opportunity. In fact, Hanania was looked at with suspicion. Editors told him “nobody cares about Palestinians” and warned him not to write about them in a positive way. In addition, Hanania said Arab families have always encouraged their children to become engineers, lawyers and doctors, not journalists. “That has to change in order for Arab Americans to tell their stories,” he declared. After the attacks on 9/11, Hanania recalled, there was anger and animosity toward Arabs and Muslims, but on the other hand there was also opportunity. “A lot of editors as well as the public wanted to know who we were.” There are not enough Arab journalists in newsrooms, he emphasized. Adam Elmahrek, an investigative reporter specializing in corruption working for the Los Angeles Times, agreed that there is room for improvement in hiring more Arab and Muslim American journalists. He reckoned, “The election of Donald Trump was one of the biggest gifts to Arabs and Muslims in this country in terms of how we were portrayed in the media.” When Trump vilified Muslims and “wanted to ban us from the country, we became another one of his victims, like black and brown people,” Elmahrek said. On the left, people rallied to support underserved minority communities, including Arabs and Muslims. “That’s when

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I noticed a turning point,” Elmahrek argued. He, too, agreed with the others that more Arab and Muslim Americans need to gravitate toward the journalism profession so their stories are told better, with more nuance than they’ve been told in the past. —Delinda C. Hanley

MUSIC & ARTS Oman’s Beauty, Culture Defined in Photos

As cultural institutions in Washington, DC re-opened their doors to visitors this summer, the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center hosted the exhibition “Omani Culture Through Craftsmanship.” Photographs from the National Museum of Oman by award-winning photographers Saleh Al-Ruzaiqi and Ahmad Altoqi were the cynosure of the exhibition. Through their works, the photographers convey the defining aspects of Omani cultural identity, rich history and everyday life. Altoqi’s image of a fisherman surrounded by seagulls stunningly portrays the centuries of intermingling of Omanis with the sea along the country’s 1,300-mile pristine coastline on the southeastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula. The Sultanate’s preeminence in the culture of scent is portrayed in Al-Ruzaiqi’s photograph of a Boswellia tree, from which frankincense is harvested. The Dhofar governorate in western Oman is a leading OCTOBER 2021

YOUTUBE SCREENSHOT

Media Portrayal of Arabs and Muslims After 9/11

source of frankincense, dating back 4,000 years when the city of Salalah was the center of the lucrative trade. Complementing the focus on scent were examples of majmars, the traditional ceramic Omani incense burners decorated with colorful designs. Photographs of fashion from the 19th and 20th centuries showcased the diversity of the small country, where the inhabitants of the mountain region have a traditional dress that differs greatly from those living along the sea or in the inland desert region. Lovely images by Al-Ruzaiqi showed women in colorful elaborately embroidered Omani dresses and gold headbands of exquisite filigree designs. An Islamic country since 630 CE, Oman’s spirituality was represented by Altoqi’s photographs of the interior and exterior of the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Muscat. Celebrations are a major facet of Omani life and the joy of these jubilant events were captured in Altoqi’s photos of children

STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI

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Saleh Al-Ruzaiqi’s photograph of traditionally decorated majmars (frankincense burners) displayed at the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center’s “Omani Culture Through Craftsmanship” exhibition. during Qaranqasho (a festive mid-Ramadan celebration) and of men performing a traditional Omani dance. Opened in 2016, the National Museum (Advertisement)

of Oman in Muscat holds an extensive photography collection that depicts the history, culture and creative elements of the people of the Sultanate. —Elaine Pasquini

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Middle East Books Review All books featured in this section are available from Middle East Books and More, the nation’s preeminent bookstore on the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy. www.MiddleEastBooks.com • (202) 939-6050 ext. 1101

Mythologies Without End: The U.S., Israel, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 19172020

By Jerome Slater, Oxford University Press, 2020, hardcover, 515 pp. MEB $28

Reviewed by Walter L. Hixson

As the masters of propaganda Israel and its lobby have long promoted the myth that the Zionist state has always sought to settle the “Middle East conflict,” only to be rebuffed by the ever-recalcitrant Palestinians. Jerome Slater explodes this and other mythologies in a comprehensive study traversing more than a century of the history of the struggle for Palestine. In 1973 the Israeli diplomat Abba Eban famously quipped, “The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity” for peace, but Slater’s meticulous research finds the precise opposite to have been the case. “Unwilling to make territorial, symbolic, or other compromises, Israel has not merely missed but sometimes even deliberately sabotaged repeated opportunities for peace with the Arab states and the Palestinians.”

Contributing editor Walter L. Hixson is the author of Architects of Repression: How Israel and Its Lobby Put Racism, Violence and Injustice at the Center of US Middle East Policy and Israel’s Armor: The Israel Lobby and the First Generation of the Palestine Conflict (available from Middle East Books and More), along with several other books and journal articles. He has been a professor of history for 36 years, achieving the rank of distinguished professor. 64

A long-time political science professor and the author of numerous previous studies, Slater bears no inherent animus toward Israel, where he has previously lived and lectured widely. He empathizes with the tragic plight of Jewish history and suffering but he also empathizes with the displaced Palestinians. In the final analysis, his study is an indictment of the Zionist policies of dispossessing Palestinians while at the same time mendaciously blaming the Arabs for supposedly undermining the “peace process.” Assessing the sweep of history—from the beginning of the conflict over Zionism in World War I to the end of the Binyamin Netanyahu era—Slater leaves little doubt that Israel has worked assiduously to preclude a settlement. He goes beyond the focus on Israel, however, to critically assess the role of the United States, which has provided “close to unconditional” support “despite serious arguments that it jeopardizes not only U.S. national interests but Israel’s true interests as well.” Slater joins a growing chorus of analysts

and commentators who see through the obvious disinformation campaign that has perpetuated the highly destabilizing Palestine conflict for decades. The book is full of clear and well-grounded analysis that unpacks and refutes one Israeli myth after another—including the canard that Israel is the “sole democracy” of the Middle East even as it systematically and inhumanely undermines the rights of Palestinian citizens as well as those living in the illegally occupied territories. The author declares that the “American Jewish community” is “morally obligated” to reassess the uncritical U.S. support that has enabled Israeli land expansion and repression of Palestinians for decades. Overall, however, Slater’s analysis of the role of the Israel lobby is limited. For greater understanding of the crucial role of AIPAC and other lobby organizations, readers will have to consult my recent book or the works of Grant F. Smith or the now somewhat dated account of the lobby’s role by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt. Slater’s book is a devastating refutation of the long history of American-backed Israeli obstructionism. He calls on Israel to reverse the unrelenting course of Zionist history and engage in serious negotiations toward achieving “some kind of compromise peace settlement with the Palestinians.” For that to occur, Slater argues, American Jewish supporters as well as Israelis will have to abandon the long-prevailing mythologies and face up to the history of repression and stonewalling of peace efforts. Contrary to mythology, Slater argues, a peace accord would legitimize Israel in Arab eyes rather than delegitimize the Zionist state. Mythologies Without End is based on a lifetime of study of a vast secondary literature on the Palestine question rather than an original history based on primary documents. The book is well organized if somewhat plodding and methodical. Slater offers a useful 48-page “Summary and Conclusions” chapter that emphasizes the main— and ultimately highly compelling—arguments that characterize this important study. OCTOBER 2021

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N E W L I T E R AT U R E

Dear Palestine: A Social History of the 1948 War

By Shay Hazkani, Stanford University Press, paperback, 2021, 332 pp. MEB $30

Reviewed by Max Saltman

Like any popular genre, historical writing about Palestine often holds to cliches: jejune allusions to an epic “fight over real estate”; Hebrew school mythmaking about American volunteers Krav Maga-ing their way up the Temple Mount; vivid images of Ben Gurion, the wizened political Einstein, scribbling manifestos of (this part depends upon your politics) ethnic cleansing and/or national liberation by lamplight. Even when scholars appear conscious of the inadequacy of stories told solely from above (see Ilan Pappe’s A Modern History of Palestine), they cling to their political histories like grandpa with the keys to his Cadillac. The reason is clear enough: the stuff of true subaltern history often proves elusive. All told, “normal people” aren’t usually as solipsistic as activists, artists or politicians. Their record-keeping isn’t as tidy or as easily available for mass consumption. In the introduction to his new social history of the 1948 War, Dear Palestine, Shay Hazkani readily addresses the issue, quoting Benny Morris’ assertion that “for all intents and purposes, the masses were silent” in the records of the Nakba. No, Mr.

Max Saltman, a former editorial intern at the Washington Report, is now a freelance journalist based in Brooklyn, NY. OCTOBER 2021

My First and Only Love: A Novel by Sahar Khalifeh, Hoopoe, 2021, paperback, 400 pp. MEB $20. Nidal, after many decades of restless exile, returns to her family home in Nablus, where she had lived with her grandmother before the 1948 Nakba that scattered her family across the globe. She was a young girl when the popular resistance began and, through the bloodshed and bitter struggle, Nidal fell in love with freedom fighter Rabie. He was her first and only real love—him and all that he represented: Palestine in its youth, the resistance fighters in the hills, the nation as embodied in her family home and in the land. Many years later, Nidal and Rabie meet, and he encourages her to read her uncle Amin’s memoirs. She immerses herself in the details of her family and national past and discovers the secret history of her absent mother. Filled with emotional urgency and political immediacy, Sahar Khalifeh spins an epic tale reaching from the final days of the British Mandate to today with clear-eyed realism and great imagination. The Magnificent Conman of Cairo by Adel Kamel, Hoopoe, 2020, paperback, 190 pp. MEB $16. Available in English for the first time, this rediscovered classic tells a story of fathers and sons, scoundrels and innocents, set in 1930s Cairo. Khaled, the spoiled idle son of a pasha, meets Mallim, carpenter’s apprentice and son of a scoundrel, when he comes to fix a broken window. Mallim stumbles across a stash of money and dutifully hands it in. Khaled cooks up an overly elaborate plot to see that his dastardly father pays Mallim his due, but the plot backfires and Mallim is thrown in jail. Khaled breaks ties with his cruel and tyrannical father, and leaves behind the lifestyle he finds so suffocating. Years later, Khaled meets Mallim again and is drawn into joining Mallim’s cadre of eccentrics and failed artists living in a derelict Mamluk citadel. With a sharp satirical voice, Adel Kamel’s masterful novel is filled with compelling drama, vivid characters and subtle humor. The Heart of Lebanon by Ameen Rihani, University of Syracuse Press, 2021, paperback, 544 pp. MEB $40. When celebrated writer Ameen Rihani returned to his native Lebanon from his long stay in New York, he set out on nine journeys through the Lebanese countryside, from the rising mountains to the shores of the Mediterranean, to experience and document the land in intimate detail. Through his travelogue The Heart of Lebanon, Rihani brings his readers along by foot and by mule to explore rural villages like his childhood home of Freike, the flora and fauna of massive cedar forests, and archaeological sites that reveal the history of Lebanon. Meeting goatherds, healers, monks and more along the way, Rihani offers more than vivid descriptions of the country’s sweeping scenery. His candid and often humorous narration captures what he sees as the soul of Lebanon and its people. This fluid translation transports readers to an early 20th century rural Lebanon. WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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N E W L I T E R AT U R E A Shimmering Red Fish Swims with Me by Youssef Fadel, Hoopoe, 2019, paperback, 426 pp. MEB $17. As his wife delivers their child in the next room, a man wakes from the nightmare of a teenage girl’s body lying beneath his bed. In this twilight before birth, Fadel’s epic novel catches us in the confusion between exaltation and despair. The girl, Farah, once dreamed of being a singer in Casablanca, a city standing in the shadow of the tallest minaret in the world. Illuminating the aspirations of those just struggling to make a living, A Shimmering Red Fish Swims with Me is a tour-deforce, a novel of power plays and petty jealousies, deceit and corruption, love and loss, written with Fadel’s masterful, narrative control and searing, historical insight. Hot Maroc: A Novel by Yassin Adnan, University of Syracuse Press, 2021, paperback, 424 pp. MEB $28. With an infectious blend of humor, satire and biting social commentary, Yassin Adnan gives readers a portrait of contemporary Morocco told through the eyes of the hapless Rahhal Laâouina, a.k.a. the Squirrel. Painfully shy, Rahhal discovers the online world of email, YouTube, Facebook and the news site Hot Maroc. Enamored of the internet and the thrill of anonymity it allows, Rahhal opens the Atlas Cubs Cyber Café, where patrons mingle virtually with politicians, journalists, hackers and trolls. However, Rahhal soon finds himself mired in the dark side of the online world. Longlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2017, Hot Maroc is a vital portrait of the challenges Moroccans, young and old, face today. With government-controlled press, heavy-handed police and traditions that both anchor and stifle creative production, Morocco’s online world provides an alternative for the young and voiceless. In this revolutionary novel Adnan fixes his lens on Rahhal and his contemporaries as they navigate the perilous and changing landscape of the real and virtual worlds they inhabit. The Lady of Zamalek by Ashraf El-Ashmawi, Hoopoe, 2021, paperback, 398 pp. MEB $18. Spanning 20th century Egyptian history and opening with the true story of a prominent Cairo businessman’s murder, this rags-to-riches story wondrously combines real-life events with fiction, told by a “magical storyteller.” Cairo’s attention was captured by the shocking murder of prominent businessman Solomon Cicurel in his Nile-side villa in the upscale Zamalek district in 1927. It was a burglary that went wrong, and four culprits were arrested, tried and punished. In Ashraf El-Ashmawi’s telling, there was a fifth accomplice, Abbas, who hid until the murder trial blew over, and kept stolen documents from Cicurel’s villa, that he imagined would lead him to a hidden safe. Abbas hatched a plan to return to the capital, find the safe, and make his fortune. Abbas’ rags-to-riches story unfolds as a tale of modern Egypt, spanning the 1920s to the 1990s, as El-Ashmawi deftly weaves together history with fiction in this intriguing English-language debut. 66

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Morris, Hazkani insists in turn: the masses were incredibly talkative. In Dear Palestine, the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Arab Liberation Army (ALA) are revealed as prolific diarists and letter writers, with astonishing opinions about their experiences as volunteers and conscripts. Morris’ claim makes more sense when one considers that the primary sources for Dear Palestine arrived in the archives as spoils of war: voyeuristic reports of Israeli military censors, and letters taken from Arab POWs and corpses toward the end of the War of 1948. These archives were only recently declassified, making Hazkani’s history among the first of its kind. Indebted to and appreciative of Palestinian oral histories of the Nakba, Dear Palestine is a fascinating success, and will likely set an example for further work in subaltern histories of the 1948 War. Certainly, he leaves room for future researchers: Hazkani declines to recount the maneuvers of each army day-byday, making his history rather slim, just over 300 pages with notes. Letters and surveys taken of Diaspora Jews who volunteered with the IDF during the 1948 War reveal a group of idealists, most of whom were shocked at the brutality and cronyism they witnessed in the nascent Jewish State. Reviewing a 1949 poll of American Jewish Mahal volunteers in the IDF, Hazkani states that after the war some 55 percent of volunteers “had negative views of Israel and its citizens.” The historian quotes one South African soldier, Richard, who wrote to his family to say: I do not want to fight for the territorial and imperialist ambitions of the Zionist effendis, even if they call themselves socialists. The Zionist leadership is instigating war in order to expand the borders of Israel. They create the war-like atmosphere on purpose...I don’t want to take part in this game anymore. Likewise, Jewish volunteers from North Africa found their time in the Holy Land marred by racism. According to statistics surreptitiously recorded by Israel’s postal censor, “over 70 percent of Moroccan soldiers...wanted to return to Morocco because of Ashkenazi racism.” OCTOBER 2021

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The findings within Dear Palestine hold an eerie relevancy to the ongoing screaming match within North American Jewry over Israel and Zionism. A Pew Research Center survey published in May 2021 revealed that a majority of Jewish Americans aged 18-29 have little to no emotional attachment to Israel, and that some twothirds of all American Jews do not believe that the Israeli government is making sincere attempts at peace with the Palestinians. Far from the uniform block featured in propaganda pieces like Leon Uris’ Exodus, the Jews who fought for Israel were as diverse on the issue of Zionism as they are today. Only through viewing history from below, however, is this at all clear.

N E W A R R I VA L S Unsilencing Gaza: Reflections on Resistance by Sara Roy, Pluto Press, 2021, paperback, 304 pp. MEB $26. Gaza, the center of Palestinian nationalism and resistance to the occupation, is the linchpin of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the key to its resolution. Since 2005, Israel has deepened the isolation of the territory and has deliberately shattered its economy, transforming Palestinians from a people with political rights into a humanitarian problem. Sara Roy unpacks this process, looking at U.S. foreign policy toward the Palestinians, as well as analyzing the trajectory of Israeli policy toward Gaza. Roy also reflects on Gaza’s ruination from a Jewish perspective and discusses the connections between Gaza's history and her own as a child of Holocaust survivors. This book, a follow up from the renowned Failing Peace, comes from one of the world’s most acclaimed writers on the region. Bread and Freedom: Egypt’s Revolutionary Situation by Mona El-Ghobashy, Stanford University Press, 2021, paperback, 390 pp. MEB $28.

Places of Mind: A Life of Edward Said By Timothy Brennan, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021, hardcover, 464 pp. MEB $30

Reviewed by Max Saltman

In Timothy Brennan, author of Places of Mind, we might have found Edward Said’s Boswell: a colleague worthy of profiling the most significant Palestinian intellectual of the 20th century. The only question is whether we ought to have a Said biography at all. For how can one write about Edward Said better than Edward Said wrote about himself? From “Reflections on Exile” to Out of Place, the critic and scholar wrote so masterfully of his life that any secondary attempt at description seems crude in comparison. Brennan’s biography certainly is what it claims to be (“A Life of Edward OCTOBER 2021

Bread and Freedom offers a new account of Egypt’s 2011 revolutionary mobilization, based on a documentary record hidden in plain sight—party manifestos, military communiqués, open letters, constitutional contentions, protest slogans, parliamentary debates and court decisions. A rich trove of political arguments, the sources reveal a range of actors vying over the fundamental question in politics: who holds ultimate political authority? The revolution’s tangled events engaged competing claims to sovereignty made by insurgent forces and entrenched interests alike, a vital contest that was terminated by the 2013 military coup and its aftermath. Now a decade after the 2011 Arab uprisings, Mona El-Ghobashy rethinks how we study revolutions, looking past causes and consequences to train our sights on the collisions of revolutionary politics. She moves beyond the simple judgments that once celebrated Egypt’s revolution as an awe-inspiring eruption of people power or now label it a tragic failure. The Sacking of Fallujah: A People’s History by Ross Caputi, University of Massachusetts Press, 2019, paperback, 232 pp. MEB $25. The Iraqi city of Fallujah has become an epicenter of geopolitical conflict, where foreign powers and non-state actors have repeatedly waged war in residential neighborhoods with staggering humanitarian consequences. Unlike dominant military accounts that focus on American soldiers and U.S. leaders and perpetuate the myth that the U.S. “liberated” the city, Caputi argues that Fallujah was destroyed by coalition forces, leaving public health crises, political destabilization, and mass civilian casualties in their wake. This meticulously researched account cuts through the propaganda to uncover the lived experiences of Fallujans under siege and occupation, and contextualizes these events within a broader history of U.S. policy in the Middle East. WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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Said”), but in his quest to merge the many critical evaluations of Said’s work with Said’s life story, he has produced something too biographical to be pure criticism and too focused on ideas to be simply a biography. The result is a book in between, what Farrar, Straus and Giroux have advertised as “the first comprehensive biography” of Said, and what delivers as a rather literary CV. Yet Places of Mind is a truly impressive example of biographical research. Brennan, a humanities professor at Minnesota and former Said Ph.D. advisee at Columbia, provides a large appendix tabulating the interviews he conducted between 2015 and 2019 with relatives, friends and rivals. With access to numerous archives, the author even included meditations on Said’s unpublished fiction and poetry, including two novel drafts and a short story submitted to (and rejected by) The New Yorker in the late ‘60s. But what really drives Places of Mind is Said’s vast oeuvre of scholarship; nearly all of the selected bibliography consists of published articles and books by Said. In this sense, Places of Mind is aptly titled. Brennan’s primary focus is on Said’s scholarly achievements rather than his personal life, charting his academic career from his student days at St. George’s School in Jerusalem to his Parr Professorship at Columbia. Thick portions of each chapter discuss the substance of Said’s work as an academic. Lengthy explanations of Said’s thoughts on French theory or Marxism often interrupt the biography’s narrative curve. Likewise, its most fluid sections recount Said as a public intellectual, sparring with detractors and writing his variegated array of reviews, monographs, lectures and polemics. Even in those more narrative sections, Brennan is careful to tread around some of Said’s more public debates, especially with those on the political right. While he devotes a few pages to a notable 1986 debate between Said and Bernard Lewis, Brennan directs particular spleen toward the betrayal of former friends like Christopher Hitchens, who publicly criticized Said while he was dying of leukemia. Likely, Brennan was concerned with giving Said’s rightist critics more air; Said was the victim of countless smears and slanders throughout the latter half of his 68

career, with Commentary magazine’s “Professor of Terror” cover story one of the most prominent examples of conservative hysteria over his activism for Palestine. That said, apart from a detailed discussion regarding Arab criticisms of Orientalism, Said’s critics are either absent from Places of Mind or derided into voicelessness. Being a personal friend of Said and a former student, Brennan at some points appears to lack the critical distance needed to separate biographer from hagiographer. All of this is not to say that Places of Mind is not a successful book. Brennan has produced an eminently lettered review of Said’s philosophy, writings and life. He deftly deflates the stereotypical image of Said as a Montblanc-wielding combatant for the PLO, depicting him instead as the serious thinker, devoted instructor, and passionate son of Palestine he was. But is anyone who reads a 464-page biography of Edward Said going to believe any of the former in the first place?

The Emperor’s Clothes: The Naked Truth About Western Sahara

By Katlyn Thomas, Ingram Spark, LLC, 2021, paperback, 218 pp. MEB $15

Reviewed by Ian Williams

I was a newly arrived correspondent at the U.N. in 1990 when the U.N.’s special representative, Johannes Manz, held a press conference about the agreement on Western Sahara, and announced it would all be over in a year, because the 1974 Spanish census listed all the voters, including the children who would now be of an age to vote. “Have you asked King Hassan?” I

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queried. Over 40 years on, the referendum is still held up because no one will hold Morocco to the Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, let alone to its oftbroken promises. Over these years Western Sahara is up there with Palestine as a focus for hard work by international lawyers—and sadly down with it as well as a testimony to the inefficacy of international law when the states and international institutions cannot be bothered to give effect to it. Katlyn Thomas’ book is a dense compendium and narrative of the collective effects of global jurisprudence about Western Sahara, which has clarified legal concepts on so many issues: decolonization, the right to self-determination, the right to a democratic process for the people of a territory and how that right belongs to the indigenous inhabitants and not to incoming settlers. (So, no vote for West Bank settlers!) It has led to interpretations of whether occupying states can exploit the resources of occupied territories and adjacent seas. The case is overwhelming. Morocco does not have legal thread to its tailoring, but its clothes have nonetheless proved effective in getting undue diplomatic courtesies from France, the King’s patron, and the U.S., culminating in President Trump’s betrayal of decades of international law when he accepted Moroccan occupation with none of the internationally mandated strictures about self-determination. Of course, law is a reflection of real-politik. Principles notwithstanding, French settlers in New Caledonia did vote in their thousands against independence since no one would stand up to Paris. Morocco continues to export Sahrawi phosphates, sell fishing rights and oil exploration licenses. And just as the Israelis expand illegal settlements in the occupied territories, Morocco garrisons its separation wall, the Berm, with the help of U.S. military aid. Thomas details the legal victories of the Sahrawi case and some of the practical ef-

U.N. correspondent Ian Williams is the author of UNtold: the Real Story of the United Nations in Peace and War (available from Middle East Books and More). OCTOBER 2021

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fects where disinvestment and trade treaties have been modified in the light of the law. It perhaps skimps on the broader philosophy. It would appear from the cases that the Sahrawis were “blessed” by being colonized by a distant European power before Moroccan occupation and thus eligible for decolonization and self-determination. Kosovo, occupied by neighboring Serbia, or for that matter Tigray, occupied by Ethiopia, did not benefit legally, and self-determination is a tougher juridical argument. As it is, Western Sahara has amazingly few supporters in the Arab world. This despite Morocco’s role as a consistent stalking horse for Israel in the Arab world, culminating in Trump’s trade of territory for recognition of Israel. Even more amazing is the lack of Palestinian support for another people, living under occupation or in refugee camps, denied recognition and vilified as terrorists. Thomas details the Dramatis Personae of this saga, mentioning otherwise unsung heroes, like USG for legal affairs Hans Corell, Frank Ruddy and even John Bolton, who have emulated the little boy who said Morocco had no clothes and defied immense institutional pressures from the U.N. and the U.S. State Department and France to bury the dispute. She overlooks when Perez de Cuellar tried to smuggle a Moroccan resolution through the Security Council as his last act as U.N. Secretary General over the Christmas break in 1991—which of course had nothing to do with his directorship of Moroccan owned companies in France. On that occasion the smaller, principled members of the Security Council, defended the Western Sahrawi cause. Which highlights the dilemma, none of the bigger powers has a dog in the fight so France gets its way as does Morocco’s champion, Israel in Washington. Thomas lists the rogues’ gallery of senior politicians in the U.S. who have pushed for Morocco, but does not dwell on the very salient detail that these, Madeleine Albright, Hillary Clinton, Elliott Abrams and Tom Lantos, all share a predilection for selling the Palestinians down the river as well. ■ OCTOBER 2021

N E W A R R I VA L S God’s Property: Islam, Charity, and the Modern State by Nada Moumtaz, University of California Press, 2021, paperback, 304 pp. MEB $35. Up to the 20th century, Islamic charitable endowments provided the material foundation of the Muslim world. In Lebanon, with the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the imposition of French colonial rule, many of these endowments reverted to private property circulating in the marketplace. In contemporary Beirut, however, charitable endowments have resurfaced as mosques, Islamic centers and nonprofit organizations. A historical anthropology in dialogue with Islamic law, God’s Property demonstrates how these endowments have been shaped by the modern state and modern understandings of charity and property. Although these transformations have produced new kinds of loyalties and new ways of being in society, Moumtaz’s ethnography reveals the endowment practices that perpetuate older ways of thinking of one’s self and one’s responsibilities to family and state. The Endurance of Palestinian Political Factions: An Everyday Perspective from Nahr El-Bared Camp by Perla Issa, University of California Press, 2021, paperback, 186 pp. MEB: $35. Perla Issa provides an ethnographic study of Palestinian political factions in Lebanon through an immersion in daily home life. Through an examination of the daily, mundane practices of refugees in Nahr el-Bared camp in particular, this book shows how intimate, interpersonal and kin-based relations are transformed into political networks. He offers a fresh analysis of how those networks are in turn metamorphosed into political structures. He examines how political factions remain the center of political life in the Palestinian camps in the face of mounting criticism. By providing a detailed and intimate account of this process, this book reveals how factions are produced and reproduced in everyday life despite widespread condemnation. Sinews of War and Trade: Shipping and Capitalism in the Arabian Peninsula by Laleh Khalili, Verso, 2021, paperback, 384 pp. MEB $24. On the map of global trade, China is now the factory of the world. A parade of ships full of raw commodities—iron ore, coal, oil—arrive in its ports, and fleets of container ships leave with manufactured goods in all directions. The oil that fuels China’s manufacturing comes primarily from the Arabian Peninsula and much of the material shipped from China is transported through Gulf ports. China’s “maritime silk road” flanks the Peninsula on all sides. Sinews of War and Trade is the story of what the making of new ports and shipping infrastructures has meant not only for the Arabian Peninsula itself, but for the region and the world beyond. The ports that serve maritime trade, logistics, and hydrocarbon transport create racialized hierarchies of labor, engineer the lived environment, aid the accumulation of capital regionally and globally, and carry forward colonial regimes of profit, law and administration. WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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Compiled by Dale Sprusansky LOOK AT THE COMPLETE PICTURE ON AFGHANISTAN

To The Baltimore Sun, Aug. 20, 2021 In 2010, I traveled to Afghanistan to find out for myself what was really going on, a “fact-finding” mission on behalf of Peace Action. I interviewed as many people as I could from all walks of life. What I found there was quite different from the narrative that we were being fed in the U.S. The people I talked to often named their three enemies: the Taliban, the Afghan government and the United States. No one I met liked the Taliban, which they viewed as ruthless and primitive. They hated the Afghan government, which consisted of war criminals with violent pasts at least as horrible as the Taliban. As for the U.S., no one viewed the country favorably. Our bombing campaign was killing civilians in huge numbers and Kabul was overrun with internally displaced refugees living in the most horrible conditions. No one believed that the U.S. was in Afghanistan for benign reasons. They believed, with good evidence, that the U.S. presence was due to its desire for new bases that could threaten Iran, Pakistan and China, all of which have common borders with Afghanistan. Or, they believed that it was to protect a new pipeline being built across Afghanistan, one that would benefit the West, but not Afghanistan. It is only those of us in the U.S. who seemed to believe that we were there to help the Afghan people—they certainly didn’t see it. All the pundits and U.S. government leaders are explaining the American defeat by saying that Afghan soldiers didn’t fight for their country. Well, some 70,000 Afghan soldiers and police have already died in the fighting (more than the number of Americans who died in the Vietnam War), and really, why should those still alive be willing to die for a corrupt and venal government that was put in place by the U.S.? There were some clear winners of the 72

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American war in Afghanistan: the U.S. weapons manufacturers and contractors who made a fortune off it. The editorial mentions the number of Americans killed there (2,448), and the amount of money that was spent on the war (over $1 trillion, most of which went to the contractors and weapons manufacturers), and that is a terrible price that was paid. But too often the American media neglect to mention what the people of Afghanistan suffered: at least 47,000 civilians killed (thousands more indirectly), hundreds of thousands displaced, the country in ruins. This war was first of all waged for revenge (on people who were not to blame for 9/11), and for the very geopolitical reasons that the people of Afghanistan believed from the start. Women’s rights? Please. Like the people of Afghanistan, we should be very angry about this war, and it is time that we as a people stopped allowing the weapons manufacturers and contractors who donate so heavily to members of Congress—our own form of deep corruption—to continue the militarization of foreign policy that has cost us so much and that has destabilized so much of the world. Can we not summon the political will to stop this murderous cycle? Jean Athey, Baltimore, MD. The writer is executive director of Maryland Peace Action.

A NECESSARY, BUT TRAGIC WITHDRAWAL

To the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Aug. 21, 2021 Afghanistan, my heart is broken by the tragedy, but the decision to end the “Forever War” of my generation was the right one. I’m torn by saying that. In 2003-04, the Army put me in Bagram, and soon after my platoon was patrolling the Pech River Valley and earning our combat badges. Later, in

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Ghazni, a colleague died, more were badly wounded. Are we disrespecting them by leaving now? I struggle to answer. But the cost is too high and the mission impossible. Since 9/11, about 2,448 American service members’ lives were lost in Afghanistan, more if you count those who died after, some by their own hand, some right here in Bozeman. And over the last 20 years, the U.S. has spent $2 trillion in Afghanistan, authorized by Democrats and Republicans. It didn’t do us much good. For years the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, and my own friends who went back again and again, reported that the government and security forces were corrupt and ineffective from top to bottom. And a few more years were not going to fix it, nor destroy al-Qaeda, or prevent the Taliban from sacking Kabul. We have learned again that we should not try to rebuild nations. But all of this isn’t to suggest we turn our backs completely. The U.S. should continue evacuating those Afghans we can, whether they have helped us directly or are seeking asylum in fear for their lives. Troy Carter, Bozeman, MT

A VETERAN REFLECTS ON POLITICIANS AND WAR

To the Tulsa World, Aug. 22, 2021 Many Afghanistan War veterans, including myself, have complicated feelings as the war finally comes to a close with the collapse of the Afghan government. We continue to mourn for our brothers and sisters in arms who gave their lives to the cause, yet we are left to wonder whether that cause was ever worthy. To those of us who participated in the long-running and mostly futile “Advise and Assist” mission to get the Afghan military to function independently, we have known the answer to that question for a long time. Given the ineptness of the Afghan miliOCTOBER 2021

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tary, few Afghanistan War vets would argue we should have stayed the course, and far fewer would say we should have escalated American involvement to thwart the recent gains made by the Taliban. Nevertheless, I’m angry that senior officers lied about progress in Afghanistan for years when it was obvious to anyone on the ground that we were failing. I’m angry that politicians are trying to score political points on Afghanistan’s collapse after years of ignoring scathing reports from independent monitors. I’m angry that the American public was duped into believing that continuing the war indefinitely was necessary for national security. When I ask myself what was it all for, my only consolation is that I know our dead and wounded fought for what our servicemembers always have throughout our long history of warfare—each other. Kit McVay, Tulsa, OK

WISE WORDS ON FOREIGN ENTANGLEMENTS

To The San Diego Union-Tribune, Aug. 13, 2021 I’ve seen a lot of articles decrying our withdrawal. To me there is an air of “present bias” to them. This is not the first time. Might be well to have heeded our founding fathers’ advice regarding all of them. John Quincy Adams: “Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication.” George Washington said as much in his farewell address in 1796…“beware of foreign entanglements.” John Blair Sr., Vista, CA

TO PREVENT WAR, INVEST IN DIPLOMACY

To The News & Observer, Aug. 16, 2021 President Biden is right that another year or two or 10 would not have changed the outcome in Afghanistan. But he fails to understand how the U.S. can prevent another such disaster. His 2022 budget request asOCTOBER 2021

signs $765 billion to the military and only $59 billion to international affairs. Former Defense Secretary James Mattis aptly summed it up in 2013: “If you don’t fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition ultimately.” Increased war spending only sets us up for more military conflicts. More funding for the State Department is needed to prevent future Afghanistans. Betsy Crites, Durham, NC

FOCUS ON DEVELOPMENT AND DIPLOMACY, NOT WAR

To The Daily Gazette, July 31, 2021 After reading the column titled “PRO: We need to beef up our military—and then some,” I felt the need to respond despite the article being a tad old. The author argues that the United States needs to bolster military defenses. However, I argue that the United States does not need to do so. The U.S.’ 2015 discretionary spending shows that 54 percent of federal spending went toward the military. Contrary to popular belief, increasing the military is not the only way to improve national security. In fact, solely relying on the military to improve national security is actually more detrimental than it is productive. This is especially important to consider, since direct military action has shown to destabilize governments and cause the very issues that the United States is concerned about. Instead we should be allocating resources and funding to increase foreign aid. Many people believe that the U.S. spends most of its money on foreign aid, when in reality, less than one percent of federal spending went toward foreign aid in 2015. Furthermore, foreign aid decreases the need for military spending by facilitating worldwide economic growth, which only helps the United States in the long run. By providing foreign aid, the influence of terrorist groups is mitigated as countries become more stable and people have greater access to education and basic needs. It is important that the United States shift away from brute military strength and focus on development and diplomacy. Farah Katadeen, Schenectady, NY

KUDOS TO BEN & JERRY’S

To The Day, July 28, 2021 Re: The great ice cream crusade, “Israel vows to ‘act aggressively’ against Ben &

Jerry's,” (July 21). Ben & Jerry’s, a socially conscious brand, is facing backlash after announcing it will stop selling ice cream in occupied Palestinian territories where Israel has seized land from the locals and proceeded to build upon it. Kudos to Ben & Jerry’s for standing for the principles of the United Nations. The U.N. Human Rights Council in 2020 said, “The annexation of occupied territory is a serious violation of the Charter of the United Nations and the Geneva Conventions, and contrary to the fundamental rule affirmed many times by the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly that the acquisition of territory by war or force is inadmissible.” It appears that this U.N. rule does not apply to the State of Israel! And the government of our United States of America sees no interest in trying to enforce it. But now we see that a little ice cream company has stood up for the rule of law among nations espoused by the U.N. Christopher Mullaney, Old Lyme, CT

U.S. AID TO ISRAEL IS ILLEGAL

To the Rockford Register Star, Aug. 7, 2021 When they wrote in support of U.S. aid to Israel (“Israel signs in the area are meant to mislead,” July 11, 2021), the authors neglected to mention one pesky little fact: all U.S. aid to Israel is illegal and has been since 1976 and 1977. That’s when Congress enacted the Symington and Glenn amendments to the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act to ban all aid to states that were not signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and had nuclear weapons programs. Israel has been building nuclear weapons since the 1960s, has a substantial nuclear arsenal and has never signed the NPT. Nevertheless, every Congress and every presidential administration since 1976/77 has refused to enforce this federal law, in effect embezzling approximately $230 billion from U.S. taxpayers to fund illegal foreign aid to nuclear-armed Israel. In all the many years that this amazing example of bipartisan and collective contempt for the rule of law has been going on, not one reputable news organization in this country has bothered to investigate, publicize and challenge it. Our democratic institutions have been compromised on behalf of a foreign power, and they have ignored it. John Stassi, Machesney Park, IL ■

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October 2021 Vol. XL, No. 6

Women take part in a local chess championship in Yemen’s capital Sana’a on Aug. 25, 2021. (Photo by MohAMMED hUWAIS/AFP vIA GEtty IMAGES)