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Volume XXXIII, No. 2
On Middle East Affairs
March/April 2014
Telling the Truth for More Than 30 Years… Interpreting the Middle East for North Americans
■
Interpreting North America for the Middle East
THE U.S. ROLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE 8 Kerry Lowers His Sights as Netanyahu Creates More Obstacles—Rachelle Marshall 11 On the “Jewish State of Israel”—John V. Whitbeck 12 Filmmaking as Resistance: Hany Abu Assad Works To Build a Palestinian Film Industry—Jonathan Cook 14 Despite Scarce Resources, Gaza Offers Refuge to Palestinians From Yarmouk—Pam Bailey 15 Gaza Government Workers Wonder, “When Will We Get Paid?”—Mohammed Omer 16 In Memoriam: Dr. Eyad El Sarraj (1943-2014) —Nancy Murray 18 U.S. Media Coverage of Palestine/Israel: Fair and Balanced?—George S. Hishmeh
19 Critics of Israeli University Boycott Need to Go Back to School—Delinda C. Hanley 20 UNRWA’s Margot Ellis on the Precarious Position of Palestinians in Syria and Gaza—Dale Sprusansky 22 Ariel Sharon (1928-2014)—Two Views —Jonathan Cook, Uri Avnery 26 Some in Congress Seem Bent on Scuttling Iran Negotiations With New Sanctions—Shirl McArthur 28 Despite Outcome, Ban Was Right to Invite Iran to Syria Talks—Ian Williams 38 Prolonged and Repeated Crises—UPA Fills Gaps in The Humanitarian Safety Net—Marla R. Schrader
SPECIAL REPORTS 30 U.S. “Dismantling” Rhetoric Ignores Iran’s Nuclear Proposals—Gareth Porter 32 Yemen’s Insecurity Dilemma—Khaled Fattah 34 As in Much of Europe, Kosovo’s Roma Face Uncertain Future—Peter Lippman 36 In Bangladesh, a Pyrrhic Victory for the Ruling Party—John Gee
ON THE COVER: A Syrian refugee family cooks food on firewood during rainfall in a refugee camp in the Lebanese village of Ketermaya, southeast of Beirut, Dec. 11, 2013. MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFT/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 1-888-881-5861.)
Other Voices
Compiled by Janet McMahon
Judge Leon and the Shocking Scope of the NSA’s Surveillance Program, David Cole, http://justsecurity.org 5 Better Ways to Enlist U.S. Muslims in the Fight Against Terrorism, Salam Al-Marayati, Los Angeles Times Recognizing Israel as a Jewish State Is Like Saying the U.S. Is a White State, Juan Cole, www.juancole.com
OV-1
Report: U.S. Furious at Israel Equipment Transfer to China, Tova Dvorin, www.israelnationalnews.com
OV-9
OV-2
AIPAC’s Fed Candidate Stanley Fischer on a Warpath Against Iran, Grant F. Smith, www.irmep.org
OV-9
OV-3
The Red-Dead Seas Canal: A Zionist Victory, Jamal Kanj, www.redressonline.com
OV-12
Declaring Muslim Brotherhood “Terrorists” Has Far-Reaching Implications, Emile Nakhleh, Inter Press Service
OV-13
Americans’ Isolationist Instincts Are Sound, William Pfaff, www.truthdig.com
OV-4
The Enemy of Our Enemy, Patrick J. Buchanan, Creators.com
OV-5
Intermarriage Rorschach Test, Editorial, The Forward
OV-14
Return of al-Qaeda, Eric Margolis, http://ericmargolis.com
OV-6
“Gaming” Obama on Afghan War, Gareth Porter, Inter Press Service
Is Appropriating a Name Necessarily Disrespectful?, Jack G. Shaheen, The National
OV-14
OV-7
Netanyahu’s Secret Peace Plan: Do Nothing, Roy Isacowitz, Haaretz
OV-8
Israel, Palestine, Pinochet... And a Soccer Jersey?, Dave Zirin, www.thenation.com
OV-15
DEPARTMENTS 5 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 7 PUBLISHERS’ PAGE 37 CHRISTIANITY AND THE
46 ISRAEL AND JUDAISM:
Ambassador of Qatar Mohamed
Israel Driving Youth Away From
Bin Abdulla Al-Rumaihi Bids
Organized American Jewry
Farewell
—Allan C. Brownfeld
MIDDLE EAST: Having Hope in the Holy Land
—Jeffery M. Abood, KCHS 40 NEW YORK CITY AND
64 DIPLOMATIC DOINGS:
Growing Intolerance, Focus on
48 ARAB AMERICAN
66 THE WORLD LOOKS AT THE MIDDLE EAST — CARTOONS
ACTIVISM: Mayoral Candidate Andy Shallal Takes a “Peace Walk” 49 MUSLIM AMERICAN
TRI-STATE NEWS: No Separate
ACTIVISM: American Muslims for
Justice Launches Human Rights
Palestine Hosts 6th Annual
Campaign—Jane Adas
Conference
67 OTHER PEOPLE’S MAIL 69 BULLETIN BOARD 70 BOOK REVIEW: Advise & Dissent: Memoirs of an Ex-Senator (revised)
42 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA CHRONICLE: Extraordinary Speakers Inspire Audience at CAIR-SV 11th Annual Banquet
—Elaine Pasquini
50 MUSIC & ARTS: Al-Azza’s Photographs “From These Streets”
71 NEW ARRIVALS FROM THE AET BOOKSTORE
52 HUMAN RIGHTS: Senate Hearing Addresses Syria’s Refugee Crisis
44 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHRONICLE: MPAC Marks “25
—Reviewed by Andrew I. Killgore
54 WAGING PEACE:
Years on a Road Less Traveled”
Journalists Reflect on Trips to
—Pat and Samir Twair
Iran
72 2013 AET CHOIR OF ANGELS 25 INDEX TO ADVERTISERS
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Publisher: Managing Editor: News Editor: Assistant Editor: Book Club Director: Finance & Admin. Director: Art Director: Executive Editor:
ANDREW I. KILLGORE JANET McMAHON DELINDA C. HANLEY DALE SPRUSANSKY ANDREW STIMSON CHARLES R. CARTER RALPH U. SCHERER RICHARD H. CURTISS (1927-2013)
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (ISSN 8755-4917) is published 8 times a year, monthly except Jan./Feb., March/April and June/July combined, at 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-1707. Tel. (202) 939-6050. 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 non-profit 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 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, selfdetermination, 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 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: P.O. Box 53062, Washington, DC 20009-9062 Phone: (202) 939-6050 • (800) 368-5788 Fax: (202) 265-4574 E-mail: wrmea@wrmea.org bookclub@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
MARCH/APRIL 2014
LetterstotheEditor Time to Reassess Thank you so much for setting up the National Summit to Reassess the U.S.-Israel “Special Relationship” on March 7. The fact you all had the idea and are now implementing it proves to me and others progress for peace and justice is real. I think you are wonderful! Judith A. Howard, Norwood, MA We think you are wonderful for contributing toward the cost of the summit as well as renewing your membership in the AET Choir of Angels (see our next issue for 2014 members). As the inside back cover notes, the summit is being co-sponsored by the Washington Report, Council for the National Interest, If Americans Knew and Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep). We have an impressive line-up of speakers who dare to tell their fellow citizens about the enormous price we are paying for our passionate attachment to a foreign country. We hope to see you March 7 in Washington, DC at the National Press Club! The Beauty of Truth I am a long-time subscriber to the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Posted on my website at <www.thebeauty oftruth.com> is a non-copyrighted booklet titled Torah, Zionism and Palestine, written by Edwin M. Wright. Dr. Wright is well known to Washington Report folks, as evidenced by publisher Andrew Killgore’s “Personality” tribute in the magazine’s Oct. 7, 1985 issue, p. 11. When, as president of Americans for Middle East Peace, Inc. (AMEP), which I and two others founded as a non-profit organization, Dr. Wright gave me permission to publish Torah, Zionism and Palestine, I specifically asked him if he wanted it copyrighted, and he replied: “No, I want it read as widely as possible.” As Torah, Zionism and Palestine was never copyrighted, I believe that the Washington Report or AET is free to print, under either’s own auspice, any number of uncopyrighted Torah, Zionism and Palestine booklets for use, for instance, at the upcoming summit on March 7. I know Edwin had high regard for the Washington Report and hence AET, and believe he would feel honored that his work was being used constructively to help settle an issue such as the one confronting the March 7 summit. I wish I could attend the upcoming summit sponsored by such outstanding four groups, but at my age of 84 and in my conTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
dition, it simply would not be wise. I’ll be pulling for your collective success. Pitman Buck, Jr., Texas City, TX We thank you for your moral and financial support, and for all you have done over the years in service of the truth. We will miss your presence at the national summit, but your work has helped make it possible.
Apply Mandela’s “Lessons” In his eulogy, President Obama praised Nelson Mandela’s willingness to take risks for justice and equality. And he asked, “How well have I applied his lessons in my own life?”
Perhaps Obama should reflect on these words Mandela uttered in 1997: “Having achieved our own freedom, we can fall into the trap of washing our hands of difficulties that others face...When in 1977 the United Nations passed the resolution inaugurating the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people, it was asserting the recognition that injustice and gross human rights violations were being perpetrated in Palestine...But we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians…” Here is a situation that cries out for Mandela’s “lessons” to be applied. Has Obama done so? After five years he has revived the moribund “peace process,” but he has invested little political capital—taken little risk—in the matter, leaving it to his overextended secretary of state. Few expect much to come of the negotiations, during which Israel keeps expanding its illegal settlements and Obama remains quiet. He has done little to publicize the human rights violations Mandela decried, treating the issue as a dispute between two parties with competing claims to the same land. He fails to, as he said, pay the price to stand up to injustice. He does not practice what he preaches. But it’s not too late to do so. Madiba might smile down on him if he would. Gregory DeSylva, Rhinebeck, NY Talk is cheap, as the saying goes, but the 5
lte_5-6_March/April 2014 LTE 1/30/14 4:04 PM Page 6
words of the American president carry more weight than that of others. Imagine if President Obama reiterated Mandela’s words—then backed them up with deeds (such as ending U.S. aid to Israel)!
Keep Those Cards and Letters Coming! Send your letters to the editor to the Washington Report, P.O. Box 53062, Washington, DC 20009 or e-mail <letters@wrmea.org>.
An Unanswered Question One question that needs to be answered is why is it acceptable to impose sanctions on Iran, Cuba, North Korea, apartheid South Africa and many other countries but then not acceptable to support sanctions against Israel for its discriminatory policies toward Palestinians and other non-Jews and its illegal occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, the Golan Heights and even parts of Jordan since 1967. Israel has also illegally occupied part of Lebanon since 1982. Why is it not possible to use boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel? The World Jewish Congress implemented a boycott against Nazi Germany for its discrimination against German Jews in the 1930s. BDS helped end apartheid in South Africa. What would those who oppose nonviolent tactics of protest have the world do when Israel ignores international law, world opinion and over 60 United Nations resolutions, not to mention its apartheid-like policies toward the Palestinians and the well-documented Israel human rights abuses of the Palestinians? Nothing? Then we should ask who is being racist? Ed Corrigan, Barrister & Solicitor, Ontario, Canada It’s becoming increasingly clear that the North American public is miles ahead of its elected “representatives” on this question. As news editor Delinda C. Hanley reports on p.
19 of this issue, professional organizations as well as ordinary citizens increasingly are taking matters into their own hands. Perhaps this year’s U.S. congressional elections will see the will of the people begin to be expressed on Capitol Hill.
Failure for Whom? The Middle East peace process is doomed to failure. The current Israeli policy of land expropriation and marginalizing the Palestinians both inside and outside the Israeli borders is increasing its isolation. Building hundreds of Israeli settlements and rewarding Jewish settlers from around the world to live and establish “beachheads,” largely with government largesse, is intensifying hostilities and losing international support. Releasing a few “terrorists” in return for building more settlements is a failed policy. Israel can easily capture more Palestinians on trumpedup charges with complete impunity. What is disturbing is the growing practice of local letter writers to stifle dissent by accusing dissenting opinion writers as being anti-Semites. Jagjit Singh, Los Altos, CA Perhaps the never-ending process is not a failure after all—for Israel. As you note, it continues with its illegal settlement building and wall construction on Palestinian lands. And its increasing isolation may serve to confirm its founding belief that the non-Jewish world—more than 99 percent of humanity—
Other Voices is an optional 16-page supplement available only to subscribers of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. For an additional $15 per year (see postcard insert for Washington Re port subscription rates), subscribers will receive Other Voices with each issue of their Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Back issues of both publications are available. To subscribe telephone 1 (888) 881-5861, fax (714) 226-9733, e-mail <circulation@wrmea.org>, or write to P.O. Box 91056, Long Beach, CA 90809-1056. 6
THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
is inherently anti-Semitic. We can only wonder why so many Jewish Israelis are leaving the country for the U.S. and Europe.
A Searcher for Truth I am Jewish, but I enjoy your magazine immensely. It tells me the TRUTH of what is going on in the Middle East. I enjoy every article in your magazine. I am a Holocaust Survivor, but I search for truth. Sincere thanks, Henry Farber, Van Nuys, CA We are very glad to count you among our subscribers. Without the support of you and other like-minded truth seekers, we would not be here today—so please accept our sincere thanks as well! An “Other Voices” Fan I’m one of your most appreciative (87 years old) readers of “Other Voices” and keep admiring all this terribly important material by such perceptive and courageous authors. One of the greatest scandals I’m still waiting to be officially exposed is the 9/11 false-flag enterprise, as exposed in Solving 9/11 by Christopher Bollyn and other books. I’m wondering if you see any chance?!? Ingrid VaBuse, Honolulu, HI We thank you for your kind words, and hope you’ll enjoy the articles in this issue’s “Other Voices” supplement as well (see second “Table of Contents” page). With regard to 9/11, we’re not too encouraged by the fact that most Americans seem to accept official government explanations that are improbable at best, but there are many Americans who reject the official version. The AET Bookstore will continue to offer accounts pointing out inconsistencies and asking important questions for readers to ponder. Holy Land Foundation Case Some time ago, you published an article about Mr. Shukri Abu Baker and the Holy Land Foundation and what the Bush government did to him and his foundation. I lost that article. Is it possible that you can send me that if you have it? And send me an invoice for its cost and mailing. I will mail you a check. It is very important that I have it. It does have lots of information that I need. Abdalla Sulelman, Denver, CO We are happy to send you a replacement copy of the Jan./Feb. 2013 issue of the Washington Report, which featured the article “Why All Americans Should Care About the Holy Land Foundation Case” by attorneys Stephen Downs and Kathy Manley. If only the Kafkaesque treatment he has experienced— and the Supreme Court failed to address—had ended with the Bush administration! See the article by Jane Adas on p. 40 of this issue. ❑ MARCH/APRIL 2014
publishers_7_March-April 2014 Publishers page 1/30/14 7:16 PM Page 7
American Educational Trust
Publishers’ Page
The State of the World…
The State of the Union:
Be sure to tell your elected officials that the Guantanamo Bay detention facility must close. As the postcard in this issue notes, most of the individuals at the prison have been cleared for release and were arrested under dubious premises at the beginning of the ill-conceived war on terror. As President Obama said in his State of the Union address, it is time for us to close Guantanamo and return to our constitutional ideals.
COURTESY ELECTRONIC INTIFADA
Is looking a bit better each day—thanks to Washington Report readers, writers and supporters, avid news junkies, students, professors and activists around the world. Yes, Syrians, Iraqis, Egyptians, Yemenis, Afghans and Americans are still suffering. We can’t do enough to help each other make it through the day—alive, fed and sheltered. To paraphrase and take liberties with the president’s words in…
Our First President...
George Washington, warned “Sometimes we stumble; we in his 1796 farewell address make mistakes; we get frus- An artist’s collage juxtaposes the real-life conditions Palestinian workers face that “a passionate attachment trated or discouraged,” but in the occupied West Bank with Scarlett Johansson’s role as SodaStream of one nation for another produces a variety of evils.” when we place our collective spokesmodel. Washington Report subscribers shoulder to the wheel of progress and work together we can suc- American Studies Association members, who know all too well that the U.S.-Israel “special ceed. We can promote justice, fairness, and voted Dec. 16 to endorse a resolution to boy- relationship” has indeed produced a “variety equality under the law. “If we summon cott Israeli institutions. As Noura Erakat, ad- of evils.” We also know that our readers are what is best in us, with our feet planted junct professor at Georgetown University, frustrated every time they turn on the TV, firmly in today but our eyes cast towards wrote in a letter to The Washington Post, the radio, or computer and listen to a well meantomorrow,” we can make the world a better BDS movement is not a panacea to the Pales- ing but ignorant person defend Israel and its tinian’s condition, but it is a call for interna- relationship with the U.S. place for our children. tional solidarity. “By heeding it, the ASA did Another BDS Win. not single out Israel; it listened to Palestinians It’s Time to Reassess. Working together, the US Campaign to End who demand equality,” Erakat explained. For this reason, the Washington Report,
the Israeli Occupation, CODEPINK, Jewish Voice for Peace, Christian Peacemakers Teams, the US Palestinian Community Network and other coalition members succeeded—with the perhaps unwitting help of a certain “starlet”—in a recent boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign against SodaStream, which has a production plant in the illegal West Bank settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim. After immense pressure from these groups, Scarlett Johansson, SodaStream’s new spokesperson, officially stepped down Jan. 30 from her eight-year position as global ambassador for the charity Oxfam. Johansson’s role promoting SodaStream is incompatible with the goals of Oxfam, which believes that businesses such as SodaStream that operate in settlements further the ongoing poverty and denial of rights of the Palestinian communities we work to support. Oxfam is opposed to all trade from Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law.
Another Success: ASA Vote BDS also received powerful backing from MARCH/APRIL 2014
Despite a Strong Backlash…
along with The Council for the National Interest, the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy and If Americans Knew, have been working tirelessly over the past few months to organize the firstever “National Summit to Reassess the U.S.-Israel ‘Special Relationship.’” The daylong event, which will be held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on March 7, will reveal the detrimental impact of the U.S.-Israel relationship on American citizens and taxpayers, and feature a wide range of notable experts on the topic.
By Israel and its congressional fifth column, President Barack Obama remains committed to reaching a peaceful resolution to the Iranian nuclear dispute. The pro-war lobby is losing this battle, and we must do all we can to keep it that way. Be sure to contact your senators and tell them to oppose S. 1881—a dangerous bill that would impose new sanctions on Iran and effectively destroy the ongoing diplomatic process.
Thus, we encourage you to invite your neighbors, friends, family and fellow concerned citizens to visit <www.natsummit.org> and register for this important event. We look forward to seeing you and your concerned friends and neighbors in Washington, DC on March 7 so that, together, we can continue to work for justice and peace and…
While You’re At It...
Make a Difference Today!
Another Washington Report Activist, Carole C. Burnett, points out that “while even more oppressive situations exist on this planet, the United States is not pouring some $3 billion a year into those regimes, as it does for Israel. The symbolic cultural boycott by the American Studies Association will not harm Israel as long as Congress keeps its (that is, our) wallet open. Let the scholars express their sympathy with the sufferings of the Palestinians.”
THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
Be There or Be Square.
7
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Kerry Lowers His Sights as Netanyahu Creates More Obstacles SpecialReport
KHALIL MAZRAAWI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
By Rachelle Marshall
Outside the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan, activists demonstrate against U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his peace proposal, Jan. 29, 2014. s talks between Israel and the Pales-
Atinians passed their halfway point,
each participant was following a different agenda. With chances of a peace agreement fading, Secretary of State John Kerry tried desperately to maintain a show of optimism; Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was determined to see that the talks failed and that Palestinians bore the blame; and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had no illusions about the outcome but was determined to stick it out. At Camp David in 2000 Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered the Palestinians a ministate in the West Bank composed of separate enclaves surrounded by Israeli territory. Nearly 14 years later, Netanyahu is offering even less. His stipulations at the start of negotiations included Israeli sovereignty over all of Jerusalem, the stationing of Israeli troops in the Jordan Valley, and no right of return for Palestinian refugees. All run contrary to the Palestinians’ demands for a return to the pre-June 1967 borders, a capital in East Jerusalem, and implementation of U.N. Resolution 194 affirming the Palestinians’ right to return to their homes. Rachelle Marshall is a free-lance editor living in Mill Valley, CA. A member of Jewish Voice for Peace, she writes frequently on the Middle East. 8
Palestinian negotiators led by Saeb Erekat nevertheless remained at the table. When the talks were well under way, Netanyahu came up with a deal breaker by announcing that Israel’s “minimal requirement” was that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state. This was “an essential condition,” he said, although Israel had made no such demand when negotiating peace with Egypt and Jordan. Netanyahu knew no Palestinians could accept this demand, since doing so would mean legitimizing the second-class status of Palestinian Israelis, nullifying the refugees’ right of return, and denying the Palestinians’ long history in Palestine and their unjust expulsion from their land in 1948. “It’s my narrative, it’s my story,” Erekat said. “I’ve never heard in the history of mankind that others must participate in defining the nature of others. It’s ridiculous.” Even an Israeli cabinet member, Yair Lapid, objected, saying, “My father did not come to Haifa from the Budapest ghetto in order to get recognition from Mr. Abbas.” Jews elsewhere in the world might also object to conflating the Israeli nation with Judaism in view of Israel’s violations of Judaism’s most basic principles, with their emphasis on justice, compassion and respect for law. These objections seemingly had no effect on Kerry, who suggested that Abbas THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
recognize Israel as a Jewish state in exchange for Israel’s acceptance of the 1967 borders as the basis of future talks. In other words, he was asking Palestinians to trade their historic rights merely for a chance to discuss the 1967 borders as the boundaries of their future state, with no guarantee that Israel would accept those boundaries in the final agreement. In fact, Israel’s intent was clear. On Jan. 6, four days after Kerry had visited Israel, the government gave final approval to building 272 new apartments deep inside the West Bank in the settlements of Ofra and Karnei Shomron. A week later the government announced plans to build 1,400 new units, including 600 in East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed after the 1967 war, and the rest in the West Bank. “A government that is seeking a two-state solution would not further entrench the conflict by building in the settlements,” Lior Amihai of Peace Now said. Kerry had lured the Palestinians back to the negotiating table without a settlement freeze but with the promise of future economic benefits and Israel’s agreement to release 104 long-term prisoners. So far there has been no sign of economic benefits, and with each release of prisoners Israel announced plans to construct more settlement housing. The trade-off angered both sides. Rightwing Israelis complained that linking the release of murderers with settlement construction was immoral, and a furious mob of right-wing protesters surrounded Netanyahu’s office and had to be dispersed by police. As more new construction was announced, the Palestinians renewed their threat to seek redress from U.N. agencies, including the International Criminal Court—and they are likely to do so when the talks end. All but overlooked in the discussion was Netanyahu’s statement referring to “the protection of settlements in the land of Israel” as a “vital interest.” It was in effect a declaration that the West Bank is an integral part of Israel—and will remain so. The Knesset already is considering a bill to annex the settlements in the Jordan Valley, where 60,000 Jews occupy some of Palestine’s most fertile land. A Labor-backed bill to prohibit the government from annexing West Bank land unless it was authorized in a peace treaty was voted down. Still Kerry struggled on and came up with a new plan. If there was not to be the comMARCH/APRIL 2014
prehensive peace agreement he and President Barack Obama had envisioned at the beginning of the talks, there would at least be what administration officials called a “framework” accord by the end of April. The object, Kerry said, was to achieve enough of “a convergence on core issues that the two sides can make headway toward an agreement leading to an independent state.” The framework would not be signed and would contain reservations by both sides. Palestinians could rightly conclude that this meant another set of vague promises, like the Oslo accords and George W. Bush’s “roadmap,” that Israel has no intention of fulfilling. “It is buying time without a solution, extending the negotiations for a year,” said Zakaria al-Qaq of Al Quds University. Hanan Ashrawi, veteran negotiator and official of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, called the proposal a sham. “I can’t believe how naive, or disingenuous and complicit the Americans are,” she said. As if to underline her words, Vice President Joseph R. Biden delivered an effusive eulogy at former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s funeral on Jan. 13. Sharon, who was knicknamed variously as “Butcher” and “Bulldozer,” and denounced by some human rights groups as a war criminal, was the architect of the rapid expansion of settlements that enabled Israel to cement Israel’s hold on the West Bank (see pp. 2225). “He left us too soon,” Biden said, and reiterated America’s “unflagging” commitment to Israel. As hopes for a peace agreement dwindled, Netanyahu and his ministers blamed Palestinian “incitement” as a prime obstacle to peace. When Kerry arrived in Jerusalem on Jan. 2, Netanyahu complained, “In the six months since the start of peace negotiations, the Palestinian Authority continues its unabated incitement against the State of Israel.” Like an antiphonal chorus, Yuval Steinitz, minister of strategic affairs, charged, “They are poisoning Palestinian children with deep hatred of Israel and the Jewish people,” and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman accused Abbas of “diplomatic terrorism.” Israel’s accusations would seem ludicrous if they were not backed up by a powerful Washington lobby and a Congress eager to do Israel’s bidding. Common sense suggests that a population suffering under 47 years of oppressive military occupation, theft of their land, and destruction of their economy doesn’t need inciting to arouse their hatred. Children who see their parents humiliated at checkpoints, whose homes are broken into at night and vandalized by soldiers, who themselves have been yanked from their beds, handcuffed and dragged off to jail, and bullied into incriminating their neighbors do not MARCH/APRIL2014
HAZEM BADER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
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Jewish settlers from the illegal settlement of Maaon take photos of an elderly Palestinian shepherd after they pushed him to the ground near the village of Umm el-Kheir, in the southern Hebron hills, Jan. 25, 2014. need textbooks to tell them to hate Israel. During the current round of peace talks, Israeli forces increased their raids on villages and refugee camps, killing more than 23 Palestinians in 2013. Said Jasir, 85, died on Jan. 2 when soldiers fired excessive amounts of tear gas into his home in Kafr Qaddum while they were dispersing a rally commemorating the founding of the Fatah movement. Palestinians also had to contend with more than 1,100 attacks by armed settlers in 2013. Israeli soldiers seldom intervene. A typical attack reported by B’Tselem on Jan. 8 took place when masked settlers invaded Urif, a village near Nablus, and pelted the local school with stones. When students threw the stones back, soldiers fired tear gas at them. Last year the army was filmed driving through Urif in the middle of the night with sirens blaring, throwing stun grenades and shouting, “Good morning, Urif!” The nightly torment went on for two weeks. The ordeal that tens of thousands of Palestinians endure every day was illustrated in all its horror on Jan. 4, when Muhammed Yakoub, the father of seven children, was crushed to death in the crowd at the Ephraim/Taybeh checkpoint near Tulkarem. Every morning some 10,000 Palestinian workers are herded into a pen at the checkpoint, where they wait to get to jobs in Israel, and every morning guards process them with deliberate slowness. On the day Yakoub died the treatment of Palestinians like cattle bound for slaughter proved fatal. In only a few places on earth are the hardships greater than in Gaza, where the people are enduring one of the longest sieges in THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
history. Israel’s frequent closing of the one commercial border crossing means residents often go without heat or light for 18 hours a day because there is no fuel. Meanwhile, Israeli guards continue to shoot and often kill Palestinians who come too close to the border fence, whether to check on their crops or collect gravel for building material. Perhaps the cruelest aspect of Israel’s occupation policy is that it has forced the formerly self-sufficient territories to depend on foreign aid to survive. The World Bank’s 2013 report concluded that “The most significant impediment to economic viability in Palestinian Territories is the multilayered system of restrictions imposed by the Israeli government.” Border closings prevent farmers from exporting their produce, and import restrictions on building materials and machinery have left 70,000 construction workers without work. Israel recently blocked installation of a high-tech cargo scanner donated by the Netherlands to be installed at the crossing from Gaza into Israel to facilitate exports. Israeli officials gave no explanation. By now Obama and Kerry must surely have learned what four U.S. presidents and secretaries of state learned before them: that Israel will gladly negotiate forever while building more settlements and refusing to allow the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. After the failure of the Camp David negotiations in 2000, Yasser Arafat was widely accused of not wanting peace because he had turned down Barak’s seemingly generous offer. The response by the late columnist Charley Reese in this magazine is still relevant. 9
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“It was, in fact, an offer that no Palestinian could have accepted,” Reese wrote. “First, Palestinians would have had to kiss goodbye to West Bank and Gaza land already confiscated by the Israelis. They would have had no control over their borders or the water under their feet. They would have had to write off the rights of Palestinian refugees, acknowledge Jewish ownership of the land underneath the third holiest site in Islam, and they would have gotten in return a non-viable country cut into giblets at the mercy of the Israelis.” (See Aug./Sept. 2001 Washington Report, p. 13.) As for the charge that Palestinians are terrorists, Reese wrote in the same column: “It is not they who have used tanks, advanced war planes and helicopter gunships against civilians; it is not they who use death squads and assassinations; it is not they who imposed collective punishments on innocent human beings.” In view of recent happenings in the region, it seems all the more remarkable that the Palestinians have remained pro-democratic and free of the religious and tribal conflicts that are plaguing the region. In Egypt, a referendum in mid-January endorsed a constitution that gives added power to a military that has outlawed all dissent, shut down the opposition media,
and jailed thousands of members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Anyone who campaigned for a no vote was arrested. In Syria the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad has turned into a regionwide war between al-Qaeda and other Sunni factions against Shi’i, with secular groups that originally protested the Assad government’s denial of human rights now outnumbered by militant religious groups. Sunni militants in Syria have attacked Hezbollah sites in Lebanon and move freely in and out of Iraq, where they have joined forces with Sunnis fighting the government of Shi’i Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. AlMaliki’s mass arrests of Sunnis, and neglect of Sunni communities, have boosted recruitment by al-Qaeda and contributed to its growing strength in Iraq. The city of Falluja, which was largely destroyed by the Americans, again came under siege, with local tribes as well as al-Qaeda fighting the army. Residents of Fallujah, Ramadi and other Sunni cities are reportedly more sympathetic to al-Qaeda than to the government. Having invested 4,000 American lives and a trillion dollars in Iraq, the U.S. is reluctant to see the government displaced by extremists, and Obama has accordingly agreed to send the Iraqis Hellfire missiles and other weapons. But the sectarian violence is not
likely to end as long as al-Maliki maintains the oppressive policies that provoked it. Kerry was able to persuade the more moderate rebel groups in Syria to attend a conference in Geneva on Jan. 22 to discuss an orderly transition once Assad is ousted, and Tehran asked to attend the meeting. The request was backed by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.N. special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, but despite Iran’s importance as a regional power, the U.S. said no (see story p. 28). Meanwhile, as Iran complies with its recent agreement to freeze nuclear activities in return for the easing of sanctions, a Congress more responsive to Israel’s wishes than to the White House is threatening to impose new sanctions. Robert M. Gates, former defense secretary under George W. Bush and Barack Obama, writes in his new book Duty that when Bush was under pressure to take military action against Iran or support an Israeli attack on that country, Gates warned him, “We must not make our vital interests in the entire Middle East, the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia hostage to another nation’s decisions—no matter how close an ally.” Israel’s obstruction of Kerry’s recent peace efforts and its threats to attack Iran indicate how damaging to America’s interests that alliance is. ❑
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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
MARCH/APRIL 2014
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On the “Jewish State of Israel” SpecialReport
By John V. Whitbeck ews reports continue to suggest that
agreement in the current round of IsraeliPalestinian negotiations is the understandable Palestinian refusal to accept the Israeli demand that Palestine explicitly recognize Israel as a or the “Jewish State”—a legally and intellectually bizarre demand clearly intended to make any agreement impossible while facilitating Israel’s post-failure public relations campaign to assign to the occupied Palestinians responsibility for Israel’s latest success in producing failure. Palestinian acceptance of this Israeli demand would constitute explicit Palestinian acquiescence in permanent second-class status for Palestinian citizens of Israel and in the liquidation of the rights of millions of Palestinian refugees, as well as implicit Palestinian acceptance that the ethnic cleansing of Palestine was morally justified, which in turn would require conceding that Palestinians are sub-humans not entitled to fundamental human rights. No Palestinian leadership could accept this demand and survive. Israelis know that. That is why the demand is being made. While few anticipate that the current round of negotiations (which, according to Israeli press reports, Binyamin Netanyahu now wants to extend for a further year beyond their end-April deadline so as to kill more time while building more settlements) will produce anything, the State of Palestine could and should take constructive action now to disarm the “Jewish State” gambit, which the Israeli prime minister appears to view as his best hope for shifting blame, at least in Western eyes, to the Palestinians. The State of Palestine could and should reiterate that Israel’s self-identification is a matter for Israelis (not Palestinians) to decide and then publicly announce that, should Israel choose to change its official name from “State of Israel” to “Jewish State of Israel,” the State of Palestine, while preferring democracy as a matter of principle and hoping that Israel will in the future become a fully democratic state, according equal rights, without any discrimination based on race or religion, to all its John V. Whitbeck is an international lawyer who has advised the Palestinian negotiating team in negotiations with Israel. MARCH/APRIL 2014
MUSA AL-SHAER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
None of the primary roadblocks to any
A Jewish settler (unseen at left) places the Israeli flag on a road sign as Israeli troops encircle Palestinian villagers protesting the army’s cutting branches off olive trees on a road leading to the illegal Jewish settlement of Tekoa, south of Bethlehem, Nov. 25, 2013. citizens, would persist in its efforts to end the Israeli occupation of the State of Palestine and would enter into any agreements which might subsequently be reached with the relabeled Jewish State of Israel. Subject only to the one exception noted below, all states are free to determine and embellish their “official names” as they please. There are four official “Islamic Republics”: the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Some official names are eccentric, such as the Oriental Republic of Uruguay (so named because the country is located on the eastern side of the Uruguay River) and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (so named, relatively recently, because Simon Bolivar was Hugo Chavez’s personal hero) and, until recently, the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. Some official names are counterintuitive to the point of absurdity, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea…or, potentially, the “Jewish and Democratic State of Israel.” THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
Two official names suggest a status akin to family-owned businesses, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (the Hashemite ruling family of the Hejaz having been driven out of their ancestral fief by the all-conquering Al-Saud family from Nejd and subsequently accorded territorial consolation prizes by their former Western allies while the Al-Saud affixed their family name to Arabia). In one case, a state’s official name has been imposed on it by the United Nations as a condition for U.N. membership and is rejected and not used by the state itself—the “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,” which prefers to call itself the “Republic of Macedonia” but whose right to use the name “Macedonia” is disputed by Greece. By choice, the State of Palestine is listed in the U.N.’s alphabetical listings among the R’s and S’s, respectively, while the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is, involuntarily, listed among the F’s. If a relabeled Jewish State of Israel wished to emphasize its Jewish character by being listed among the J’s (as the State of Palestine has emphasized its state status by being listed among the S’s), its wish Continued on page 47 11
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Filmmaking as Resistance: Hany Abu Assad Works to Build a Palestinian Film Industry TheNakbaContinues
By Jonathan Cook want my films to put fear into Israelis. My job is to “I disturb their dreams, to wake
PHOTO BY ANDREW H. WALKER/GETTY IMAGES FOR DIFF
in the U.S. “I learnt more in Hollywood in those four years than I did in the previous 25 years of filmthem from the fantasy that there making,” he said. “Success is no occupation,” says Hany Abu makes you blind, complacent. Assad, the Palestinian filmmaker But in Hollywood I had to reconwhose new movie, “Omar” (see struct my talent, my vision, my Jan./Feb. 2014 Washington Rehumanity. It taught me a lot.” port, p. 34), will be competing for In the darkest days of working an Oscar at the Academy Awards on “The Courier,” Abu Assad ceremony in March. came up with the idea for It is a surprising assertion from “Omar,” a tragic love story and a director who says he considers thriller set in the shadow of the only human drama, not politics, mammoth wall erected by Israel when he makes films. But when across the occupied territories the drama is inspired by Palestinthat has exacted a terrible ian experiences under Israel’s ochuman cost on Palestinians livcupation, the political is always ing on opposite sides. close at hand. Its claustrophic, paranoid stoWe meet in Abu Assad’s sparyline is based on his expericious apartment in a building for ences filming “Paradise Now” in his extended family in Nazareth’s the Palestinian city of Nablus. city center, a town of 80,000 Every time they chose a location Palestinians in Israel’s north. to shoot, he says, he would find Around him live his elderly the Israeli army there, apparmother and several uncles, while ently waiting for them. Abu the floor below has been conAssad was soon fearful that he verted into an editing studio. had a mole in his crew. He deIt seems an incongruous setting for a 52-year-old director who Hany Abu Assad holds his award for Arab Feature Best Direc- scribes his mounting suspicion nearly eight years ago was head- tor at the 10th Annual Dubai International Film Festival, Dec. of everyone around him as “living in hell.” ing off to Hollywood with dreams 13, 2013. While Abu Assad is clearly of conquering Tinsel Town. satisfied with his artistic achievement in The invitation came following the unex- mas of his homeland. The decision to return to Nazareth, the “Omar,” he is prouder still that the movie pected success of “Paradise Now,” his 2005 film about the final hours of a pair of sui- effective capital of the 1.4 million Pales- marks a turning point in the evolution of cide bombers. That film won a Golden tinians who live inside Israel, has paid off. the Palestinian film industry. Despite several notable recent movies Globe for best foreign-language film and “Omar” has been well received by critics, reached the final nominations for an Oscar. including winning the Un Certain Regard from Palestinian directors, their impact and Instead of the expected fame and glory, Jury Prize at Cannes last year. It has also success have tended to be undercut by dehowever, Abu Assad found his plans foiled impressed audiences on the festival circuit, bates about the films’ pedigree. Ela Suleiman’s “Divine Intervention,” for by a writers’ strike and the U.S. economic and finally gets a U.S. release in February. Hopes of a proper theatrical release have example, reportedly was overlooked for crisis of the late 2000s. He was soon trapped into directing a B-movie pot- been substantially boosted by its nomina- consideration in the 2002 Oscars because tion as one of the five films up for this the Academy refused to recognize Palestine boiler, “The Courier.” But that apprenticeship taught him not year’s best foreign-language award at the as a state. And the achievements of last only about Hollywood’s harsh realities, but Oscars. It was the official submission for year’s anti-occupation documentary “5 clarified to him that his artistic inspiration Palestine, beating a similarly themed Israeli Broken Cameras” were overshadowed by was best found in the intense human dra- film, “Bethlehem,” into the final selection. criticism that it had received substantial IsIt also makes Abu Assad a rare thing: a raeli funding. “Omar,” by contrast, is undisputedly a Jonathan Cook is a journalist based in foreign filmmaker twice nominated for an Palestinian movie, the first of its kind. ToNazareth and a winner of the Martha Gell- Oscar. Abu Assad ascribes his latest success at gether with Waleed Zuaiter, an Emmyhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His most least in part to his desultory years laboring winning actor and the star of “Omar,” Abu recent book is Disappearing Palestine. 12
THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
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Assad founded a Palestinian-American production company, Zbros. The new film was made by a Palestinian crew, shot in the Palestinian cities of Nazareth and Nablus, and its $2 million budget financed solely by Palestinian investors—although, as Abu Assad notes, post-production money was provided by the Dubai International Film Festival’s Enjaaz fund. “Omar”’s submission to the Oscars as a film from Palestine, meanwhile, follows the Palestinian leadership’s victory in late 2012 in securing recognition of Palestinian statehood at the United Nations. Abu Assad and his movie appear to be riding high on the zeitgeist. But he is only too aware of the need for “Omar” to be a financial as well as a critical success. “I didn’t intend ‘Omar’ to be a one-off,” he says, sipping an herbal tea in his living room, the walls stuffed with his huge library of DVDs. “As Palestinians, we need a viable, creative and thriving film industry, and that’s only going to be possible if investors see that they can get a return on their money.” Much is at stake. “We have to create a situation where Palestinians can rely on themselves, give voice to their unique stories, create jobs and market themselves and their cause,” Abu Assad insists. “Israel is very good at doing that with its ‘Brand Israel’ campaigns. We can’t afford to let them have a clear field.” Palestinians’ current reliance on foreign funding weakens the local industry, he adds. After his experiences in Hollywood, he is sure producers there would deny money to any project seen as “pro-Palestinian.” But even European money, though available, comes with strings attached. “You have to employ Europeans on your crew, and their salaries, flights and hotels eat into the budget,” he explains. “The money isn’t there on the screen.” Abu Assad hopes “Omar”’s success marks the first step in his efforts to establish a Palestinian version of Zoetrope, the private studios set up by U.S. filmmakers Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas in the late 1960s. Over decades, it has made dozens of movies by top-name directors outside the Hollywood system. Abu Assad has already taken a number of young Palestinian directors under his wing, to nurture their talent, give them technical assistance and help them find funding. “The goal is to assemble a stable of Palestinian directors over the next 10 years who MARCH/APRIL 2014
will collaborate and create a healthier Palestinian industry. We’ll always be a small player,” he acknowledges, “but we can maximise our influence and ensure our creative independence.” Nazareth may appear to be a strange place to start a home-grown Palestinian film industry, but the minority inside Israel already has produced a number of internationally acclaimed directors in addition to Abu Assad, including Suleiman, Scandar Copti, Tawfik Abu Wael and Mohammed Bakri. That record, says Abu Assad, reflects the particularly intense and intimate oppression suffered by Palestinians inside Israel. “We lost everything. We don’t control our land, our lives, the borders, the economy, politics. All we have control over is our knowledge, our talents, our minds. When you lose something important like your right to self-determination,” he says, “you concentrate on what you have: your imagination.” According to Abu Assad, the decision to turn his back on Hollywood and return to Nazareth was a natural one. “In different stages of our lives we have different priorities,” he points out. “Right now, I want to
build an industry, and one that is a form of resistance, a nonviolent one, to the occupation. “I am a storyteller and I want to tell stories that remind Israelis that I am here and that my rights cannot be ignored. They want to forget. If they can avoid seeing the occupation, then they don’t need to do anything about it.” But to be most effective, he needs to reach audiences. And that is one reason— in addition to his love of the genre—why his next project will be a romantic comedy, inspired by an incident at a recent wedding party. “It will make people laugh and have fun,” promises Abu Assad. “After all, that’s what makes us want to go to the cinema.” ❑
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Despite Scarce Resources, Gaza Offers Refuge to Palestinians From Yarmouk SpecialReport
MOHAMMED YOUSEF
By Pam Bailey
Demonstrating in front of the UNRWA office in Gaza, young Palestinian refugees from Syria hold signs reading, “I’m from Yarmouk and I want to live like any child in the world” and “I have the right to live in dignity.” o be a Palestinian is to be a lifelong
Trefugee. But for more than 140,000
Palestinians who had found refuge in the Yarmouk camp of Syria, history is repeating itself yet again. Home since 1957 for more than 160,000 Palestinians whose families were forced out of Israel, the dense community of less than a square mile became the focus of conflict last September. Factions on opposing sides of the civil war in Syria used Yarmouk in southern Damascus as a staging ground, causing all but around 20,000 of the residents to flee to relative safety elsewhere. Today, the focus is on the starving residents who remain in Yarmouk, under siege by the Syrian army and its allies. But little to no attention is given to just where the other 140,000 Palestinians are now, and how they are managing to eke out a living. More than 1,500 of them—about 280 famPam Bailey is a freelance journalist and activist who has lived and worked in the Gaza Strip. She blogs at <paminprogress.tumblr. com>. 14
ilies—have gone from one deeply troubled hot spot to another: the Gaza Strip. And although they were welcomed with open arms despite the high unemployment and tight restrictions on movement and trade imposed by Israel, they must now cope with calamity of a different sort. Fareed and Suad Yousef, along with their five sons and daughter, lived all their lives in Syria. Their parents were natives of what is now Haifa, Israel, but were forced to make a new home elsewhere after Israel was created in 1948. They longed to return to their ancestral home, but conditions in Syria—in Yarmouk in particular— were relatively good. And although Syria withheld full citizenship from the 540,000 Palestinian refugees sheltering within its borders, “we were treated pretty much the same,” says Mohammed, the second-eldest son, now 28. Yarmouk’s streets were lined with shops and filled with taxis and buses. Residents were primarily professionals—including Fareer, a civil engineer, and Mohammed, who followed in his footsteps and studied THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
electrical engineering. In his spare time, Mohammed volunteered at the Jafra Foundation, helping youths learn about and celebrate their Palestinian heritage, lest they forget. That peace and semblance of prosperity came to an end, however, with the eruption of the civil war. “Most of the people who lived in Yarmouk were against [President Bashar] Assad, but they had no weapons,” Mohammed said. “They didn’t take up arms, and we did not want anyone from either side of the fighting to come in.” That proved to be a futile hope, however, and Yarmouk became “ground zero” for pitched fighting between pro- and antigovernment forces. In December 2012, with Russian MiGs shelling their community, the Yousefs fled along with most of the other residents. They heard later that their house was bombed shortly after. About 2,000 Yarmouk residents found shelter at a nearby school operated by the United Nations where they spent the next four months—30 persons to a room. The school was near an army base, however, and the fighting continued around them. The families felt their only choice was to flee Syria altogether. For Mohammed, there was an extra incentive: Although not official Syrian citizens, Palestinian refugees nevertheless were expected to serve in the army. And since Mohammed had completed his education, he had been living on borrowed time. If he stayed any longer, he most certainly would have been conscripted into the military. At the time, Egypt was one of the few countries in the area that would accept the refugees without a visa, and in March of 2013 many of the former residents of Yarmouk, including the Yousefs, fled to a country they thought would welcome them. The family left behind their oldest son, Hussein (now 30), and Mohammed’s fiancée, Alaa. The Yousefs didn’t have enough money to bring the entire family, and they had no way of knowing that just four months later, the Egyptian military would take advantage of widespread unhappiness with President Mohammed Continued on page 29 MARCH/APRIL 2014
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Gaza Government Workers Wonder, “When Will We Get Paid?” Gazaon the Ground
By Mohammed Omer rom his post by the wall of the Gaza
Commitee of the Red Cross, a policeman watches what’s happening across the street. Today he sees a long line of Palestinian Authority (PA) employees waiting to collect their salaries in cash—a typical sight in the early days of every month. While those in line will get their money, the policeman will not. The difference is that the Ramallahbased PA is subsidized by American and European interests, and thus can afford to pay its workers. The de facto Hamas government in Gaza, however, which employs the local police force and other agencies, has long been out of favor with the West. As a result, Hamas receives no money from Western governments to help with government expenses, including wages. Until recently, taxes levied on goods smuggled into Gaza from Egypt via the network of tunnels provided much of the government’s revenue. Iran, with its estimated contribution of $200 million per year, made up the difference. But the tax revenue disappeared when Egypt’s military government closed the tunnels, as punishment for Hamas’ support of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. Assistance from Iran evaporated when Hamas turned against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad for the alleged atrocities committed by his government in that country’s ongoing civil war, and with Tehran’s entry into negotiations with Western powers. For the thousands of Hamas government employees, the result has been catastrophic. The policeman, for example, received only half his salary in October. He was paid only half his November salary as well—but didn’t receive it until January. He received nothing at all in December and January, and now must try to support his family on what remains of his November salary. Fatima Subhi of Rafah, one of more than 55,000 employees of the de facto Hamas Award-winning journalist Mohammed Omer reports from the Gaza Strip, where he maintains the Web site <www.rafahtoday.org>. He can be reached at <gazanews@yahoo. com>. Follow him on Twitter: @MoGaza. MARCH/APRIL 2014
PHOTO M. OMER
FCity headquarters of the International
Gaza policemen train, even though they are not getting paid. government, works in education. “I am aware that there is no money coming in, so the government is not to blame,” she says. Still, at the end of the day, the grocer must be paid the tab she has run up since October. Subhi is one of thousands of government employees who have created a Facebook page to try and determine “When will we get paid?” Mahmoud Abdelrahman, 30, who is married with two children, says he has not been paid for two months. He doesn’t have enough money to buy food for his family, and can’t afford to take on more debt. This month his water and electricity bills went unpaid. “As much as I need cash to run my family errands,” he says, “I also ask myself where can they get our money from?” On the other hand, his downstairs neighbors did receive their salaries in January and were able to pay all their bills. They are laid-off teachers and security police who get paid by the PA even when they sit at home. According to Ayoub Abu Shaar, Palestinian police spokesman for the Gaza police force, his officers are still coming to work, despite having to wait to be paid, because of incentives for those who do and cuts for those who don’t show up for work. THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
The Haves and the Have Nots Gaza has become a tale of two camps—divided by the international community, favoritism, politics and the Israeli siege. In one camp, Palestinian Authority employees receive wages paid by American and European benefactors. In the other, those employed by the current governing body receive none. Both sides are affected, however, because the lack of income which only some experience is accompanied by inflation, which no one can escape. Additional challenges are posed by Israel’s continued siege of Gaza, now entering its eighth year, coupled with Egypt’s military activities along the Gaza-Egyptian border. Following the July 2013 military coup, Egypt began closing the tunnels used to transport into Gaza the supplies and materials banned or limited by Israel. Tens of thousands of tunnel workers were laid off, plunging them into poverty. Supplies of such basic necessities as soap, cooking oil, paper, medicine and food, as well as raw materials for construction, became scarce, causing prices to rise as demand skyrocketed. Taxes and revenues to run the government vanished. Continued on page 17 15
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Dr. Eyad El Sarraj (1943-2014) InMemoriam
RUBEN BITTERMANN/PHOTOFILE
By Nancy Murray
Dr. Eyad El Serraj at a 1993 press conference in East Jerusalem denouncing Israel’s use of torture. r. Eyad El Sarraj, who died on Dec. 17
Dat the age of 70, was intimately ac-
quainted with trauma and what cycles of violence do to the human psyche and society. The founder of the Gaza Community Mental Health Program in 1990, he made helping people move beyond their personal and collective trauma to recognize the basic humanity of all human beings his life’s work. Human rights and mental health went hand in hand for a man who, as a 4-yearold, was forced to flee with his family from Bir al-Saba’ (now Beersheva) to Gaza when the state of Israel was established. After Gaza and the West Bank came under Israeli occupation in 1967, his father and brother were among the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were arrested and faced torture under interrogation. Nancy Murray is the author of Palestinians: Life Under Occupation (1991) and many articles on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 2001, she co-founded the Gaza Mental Health Foundation (www.gazamentalhealth. org) in Boston to raise funds for mental health work in the Gaza Strip. This remembrance was first posted on <http://mondo weiss.net>, Dec. 18, 2013. Copyright © 2013 Mondoweiss. 16
As he told the Boston Globe in April 1997, when he was in Boston to receive the first human rights award given by the Physicians for Human Rights, “I started as a physician in Gaza and did not want to be involved in politics. But many of my patients were victims of torture and I became drawn into advocacy. Defending human rights is my major obsession.” Eyad El Sarraj studied medicine in Alexandria, Egypt in 1971, and in 1973 went to London to study psychiatry. He became the Gaza Strip’s first psychiatrist when he returned there in 1977. I first met Eyad when I went to Gaza in 1988 as part of a fact-finding delegation soon after the first intifada began. I will never forget the shock of seeing hospitals full of young men and children who had endured the “force, might and beatings” that then Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin had ordered to put down an unarmed uprising of the entire population, and of hearing the screams, gunshots and the wailing of ambulances all night long. In 1988 and for the next five years, a 7 p.m. curfew was imposed upon Palestinians—sometimes they would endure house arrest for days or even weeks at a time, but every night they had to be off the streets by 7 p.m. THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
The driver of one small white Renault was not about to abide by this military order. Instead, every evening Eyad would go where he was needed, giving solace and medical attention. He made no attempt to avoid the IDF convoys, but instead would purposefully go his way, sometimes with me in the passenger seat. So brazen was he in breaking the rules that the soldiers must have assumed he had a special permit—which he did not. What he did have was the determination to live in open, nonviolent defiance of occupation, both as an assertion of his own humanity, and in recognition of the humanity of others, Israelis as well as Palestinians. There was a feature story about Eyad in the Canadian magazine Equinox, published in February 1995, which illustrates this quality: “He was once stopped during the intifada and ordered by an Israeli soldier to extinguish flames from a burning tire with his bare hands. He refused the order. When the soldier threatened to take his identification card, El Sarraj didn’t protest. ‘Go ahead, take it, I don’t care,’ he said. And when the soldier threatened to beat him, El Sarraj said, “Go ahead, but before you do, I know there is a real human being behind that uniform, and I would like you to show me that person.’ The soldier got tears in his eyes, and then he just walked away.” How was it possible to maintain sanity under the dehumanizing conditions of occupation? While the first intifada was at its peak, Eyad set about creating a center that would work to overcome the stigma attached to mental illness, and provide family- and community-based treatment on a huge scale. I well remember a discussion we had in 1989 about his ideas for the Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP). It sounded to me like it would be a project of many years in the making. But the very next year when I visited Gaza, the headquarters was already built and the staff was being trained. Soon, the GCMHP had clinics in the refugee camps, and had established a range of training programs, crisis intervention programs, special projects that worked with children and empowered women, and a training and education department offering courses for teachers and nurses, as well as a postgraduMARCH/APRIL 2014
murray_16-17_In Memoriam 1/30/14 4:50 PM Page 17
ate diploma in Community Mental Health and Human Rights. [See June 1995 Washington Report, p. 47.] By the mid-1990s, Dr. El Sarraj had become the commissioner general of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens’ Rights. When, in 1995 and then again in 1996, he criticized the human rights practices not just of the Israeli occupiers, but of the Palestinian Authority, he was arrested on three occasions, and severely beaten in prison. He later ended up giving counseling to the guards who had participated in his beating, and who had themselves been tortured in Israeli prisons. As the situation in Gaza grew ever more desperate following the onset of the second intifada in 2000, Eyad attempted to awaken the conscience of the world with his writings, published research, media appearances and in powerful speeches which he gave in Boston and countries across the globe. And as the bloodletting intensified, so did his appeals for urgent international intervention to bring an end to Israel’s occupation and the endless cycle of violence: “The people who are committing the suicide bombings in this intifada,” he stated, “are the children of the first intifada—people who witnessed so much trauma as children.” His courage, decency, independence of mind and vision of a better world made him a beacon of moral conscience and hope for those Israelis seeking peace with Palestinians and Palestinians struggling with both the occupation and their own ruinous political divisions. These qualities earned him respect across the political spectrum (as evidenced by the film “The Gatekeepers”) and considerable international recognition. In addition to the 1997 Physicians for Human Rights Award, he received the Martin Ennals Award for human rights defenders in 1998. In 2010, when he was already ill with multiple myeloma, he was awarded the Olof Palme Prize for his “self-sacrificing and indefatigable struggle for common sense, reconciliation and peace between Palestine and Israel” and the Juan Jose Lopez-Ibor Prize in Psychiatry. When hope was in short supply, an early morning walk on the beach, an afternoon playing with his young son Ali or an evening spent with friends among the flowers of his garden in Gaza City would rejuvenate Eyad’s spirits and faith in the basic goodness of human beings. He even found something positive to say about the cancer which was finally to take MARCH/APRIL 2014
his life: “It is just another form of life,” he wrote me, “different, but it can have good sides to it. You rest, you enjoy the things you always wanted to do, you enjoy life even more. I consider it a blessing because it made me appreciate so many things I took for granted, like the green color of my plants, or enjoying the pleasure of helping Ali to wash his bottom!” Dr. Eyad El Sarraj leaves behind a bereaved Palestine, a grieving family and friends around the world who will miss him deeply. ❑
Gaza on the Ground… Continued from page 15
While acknowledging the squeeze on its financial resources, Gaza’s de facto government expressed confidence that it would overcome the crisis. Critics believe otherwise, however. They include de facto Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who insists that the only way out is through national reconciliation, a united stand by Gaza and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority. As a demonstration of good will, Haniyeh took the unprecedented step of releasing Fatah prisoners held in Gaza jails.
Vanishing Sources of Revenue Hamas relies for its funds on donations from abroad and pledged deductions from the salaries of Hamas members—generally amounting to 2.5 percent. When there are no salaries, however, there are no pledges. The annual governmental budget for Gaza is in excess of $700 million, with $260 million allocated to operating costs. Part of this money—about 40 percent, according to Economy Minister Ala Al Rafati, but unofficial estimates are as high as 70 percent—came from taxes levied on tunnel activity. With no tunnel activity, that source of revenue has vanished as well. Nor have outside donations filled the gap as they once did. Today financial assistance is scarce, even from neighboring Arab states. Qatar assists with infrastructure and other reconstruction projects by sending Gaza building supplies and materials. Through the U.N., the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is building 1,700 housing units in Rafah. These housing units are replacements for the homes Israel has destroyed in its military attacks. Neither country is believed to provide Hamas with direct cash assistance, however. And as a result of the monitoring of and embargos on bank transfers by the U.S. and the international community, Hamas is unable to THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
secure other foreign donations. Observers contend that the majority of Hamas’ finances from abroad were carried in suitcases through the now-closed tunnels. According to Nabil Abu Moaelq, chairman of the Union of Palestinian Contractors in Gaza, government sources estimate that prior to July 2013 an average of 3,500 tons of cement and 1 million liters of gas entered Gaza daily through the tunnels. Taxes of $5.74 per ton of concrete and 46 cents per liter of gas were imposed, said a tunnel owner who wished to remain anonymous. With the closing of the tunnels, these revenues are now gone. According to a report published by the de facto government, the tunnel closures have stifled economic growth, causing Gaza’s economic indexes to plummet 500 percent. In June 2013, the Gaza Strip experienced an economic growth rate of 15 percent. By this past January, that had fallen to 3 percent. The lack of supplies continues to affect private industry as well. Gaza’s de facto Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that the destruction of the tunnel trade resulted in the shutting of 13 flagstone factories, 30 concrete factories, 145 marble factories and 250 brick factories, resulting in the loss of more than 3,500 jobs. Many of these factories have been put up for sale—though few buyers exist. Economy Minister Al Rafati estimates that 90 percent of Gaza’s tunnels now have been shut down, destroyed or closed, resulting in a loss of $460 million to Gaza’s economy since last June. The United Nations estimates that 80 percent of Gaza’s population now relies on foreign aid to survive—a percentage that is only expected to rise.
Wedged Between Two Enemies The beleaguered and besieged Gaza Strip with its 1.8 million people now finds itself wedged between two hostile governments: Israel and Egypt. Egypt’s new government, highly suspicious of anything to do with the Muslim Brotherhood, which it has outlawed in its own country and of which Hamas is an offshoot, has accused Hamas of supporting rebels in the Sinai—allegations Hamas denies. Israel, of course, accuses Hamas of being a terrorist organization and is intent on destroying it. As a result, all of Gaza’s land, sea and air borders have been sealed by Israel and Egypt, the tunnel business is nearly destroyed, Gaza’s municipal coffers are virtually empty—and the people of Gaza wonder, once again, how things could possibly get any worse. ❑ 17
hishmeh_18_Special Report 1/30/14 4:06 PM Page 18
U.S. Media Coverage of Palestine/Israel: Fair and Balanced? SpecialReport
By George S. Hishmeh little over 40 years ago, I landed a job at
Athe foreign desk of The Washington
Post, a leading American newspaper, just about four years after returning to the United States to settle in Washington for good, since I was returning with my American wife in the wake of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. My success was due to meeting the paper’s deputy opinion page editor, the late Stephen S. Rosenfeld, an American Jew. I called him the morning after I had read his very long column critical of Sen. William J. Fulbright (D-AR), who was then head of the prestigious Senate Foreign Relations Committee and was believed to be understanding, if not sympathetic, to the Palestinian people in their conflict with Israel. I was surprised by Rosenfeld’s reaction when I told him that the Post did not carry the senator’s remarks which he decried. He was shocked and promised to call me back, wondering whether the coverage appeared in a later edition of the paper. But when he returned my call he admitted, rather embarrassed, that I was correct, as the paper failed to carry the speech. The excuse was that it came too late for the deadline…but not for his commentary. “At least you and I think it was an important speech,” I said, laughingly. He went along with me, and later revealed that he was a subscriber to the bi-monthly magazine that I had edited then but folded a few weeks earlier due to lack of sufficient funding. The magazine, called Amideast, was published by the American Friends of the Middle East (AFME), a non-profit organization, which was very popular among its readers who followed the news of the turbulence, as always, in the Middle East. He then suggested we have lunch together. I was then free-lancing for some papers in the Arab world, including The Daily Star of Lebanon, which I had edited before coming to the U.S. He wondered about my future plans. I replied, half-jokingly, that I would like to work for The Post. He took my response seriously and said he would look into it. That evening I started my first day at The Post, but regrettably my stay did not last for long. One evening, my immediate editor at the foreign desk, also an American Jew, came George S. Hishmeh is a Washington-based columnist. He is the former editor-in-chief of The Daily Star of Lebanon. 18
to my desk wondering whether I could translate the letter he was carrying in his hand. But on checking, it turned out it was written in French, not Arabic as I had thought it would be. He looked at me saying, rather grudgingly, “How come you, a Lebanese, do not know French?” My response was that I am not Lebanese. And when he pressed me, I revealed that I was a Palestinian who lived in Beirut after we lost our homeland to the Israelis in 1948. He took a small step backward in amazement, if not shock. I then knew that my days at The Post would be numbered. A few weeks later I succeeded in getting another job. (Job security at American private enterprises is not usually secure.) The presence of American Jews in several American media outlets has always baffled many Americans and disappointed several Arab Americans, and certainly the Arab world. Revealing my personal experience was prompted by the recent recommendations of Clyde Haberman, a veteran American Jewish correspondent for The New York Times who left the paper last December. He told all in a “sharp interview” with Haaretz, the liberal Israeli daily, according to Philip Weiss, founder and co-editor of Mondoweiss.net, (Advertisement)
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which describes itself as “a news website devoted to covering American foreign policy in the Middle East, chiefly from a progressive Jewish perspective.” Haberman first declared that The New York Times should assign non-Jews to report from Israel, explaining that in the four years he was there he never got a letter that said “nice job.” He continued, ”This was the lot of most New York Times reporters in Israel, as well as other prominent American journalists who have agreed to an Israel posting.” When asked by Weiss whether sending a Jewish reporter is hence a good or bad idea, Haberman replied, “It is probably better to send a non-Jew rather than a Jew—just as I would probably prefer to send a non-Indian to India. It is better to avoid that extra component.” Weiss added: “Because of such concerns, years ago, in its non-Zionist days, The Times used to insist that non-Jews be assigned to Jerusalem. Also note that Max Blumenthal (author of Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel, available from the AET Bookstore) while not counting Jews, said that the Times bureau is thoroughly inside the Zionist narrative.” Adding insult to injury is the announcement by CNN of the appointment of Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to the United States who had to abandon his American citizenship before assuming his post, as analyst and contributor. Oren, who now lives in Tel Aviv, has told The Jerusalem Post that he saw his new position as an opportunity to give “balanced but insightful commentary on pressing Israeli and Middle East issues.” But on his Facebook page, Oren declared, “I look forward to continue serving the people of Israel in the future and further strengthening the historic U.S.-Israeli alliance.” Incidentally, the leading anchor at CNN is Wolf Blitzer, a German-born Jew who early in his career was a Washington correspondent for The Jerusalem Post. Prior to that, in the 1970s, he wrote for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) Near East Report newsletter (see July 2007 Washington Report, p. 16). Does this mean that the Arab world, and more directly the Palestinians, would now have a better chance to tell their side of the story in the U.S. media? Your guess is as good as mine! ❑ MARCH/APRIL 2014
hanley_19_Special Report 1/30/14 5:10 PM Page 19
Critics of Israeli University Boycott Need to Go Back to School SpecialReport
By Delinda C. Hanley ne stated aim of U.S. institutions of
Ohigher education is to promote criti-
cal thinking. Some members of Congress, journalists such as Charles Krauthammer and New York Times and Washington Post editorial writers, not to mention presidents of U.S. colleges, need to go back to school. Their ferocious criticism of the American Studies Association’s resolution (see box) and Dec. 16 decision to endorse a boycott of Israeli academic institutions includes the usual charges of anti-Semitism and other clichéd denunciations. Did they take the time to even read the resolution? This resolution, and others, have been “a long time coming.” The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) was launched in Ramallah in April 2004 by a group of Palestinian academics and intellectuals. PACBI issued a statement of principles, addressed to their colleagues in the international community, urging them to boycott all Israeli academic and cultural institutions until Israel withdraws from the lands it occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem; agrees to U.N. resolutions relevant to the restitution of Palestinian refugees rights; and dismantles its system of apartheid. The Palestinian Campaign was inspired by the historic role played by international scholars who fought injustice and abolished apartheid in South Africa through diverse forms of boycott. Didn’t we all just take a refresher course, following the Dec. 5 death of Nelson Mandela, on the effects of South African trade union strikes and international solidarity actions and divestment? With more than 4,000 members worldwide, the ASA, America’s oldest and largest association devoted to the interdisciplinary study of American culture and history, first began to debate the possibility of joining a boycott of Israel in 2007. For the past year the ASA’s Executive Committee considered a resolution to boycott Israeli academic institutions. After lengthy and careful deliberations, the resolution was revised to reflect the concerns of some members. The new resolution to boycott Israeli academic institutions was openly discussed, endorsed by ASA’s members, Delinda C. Hanley is news editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. MARCH/APRIL 2014
and agreed upon by a 2 to 1 vote. The president of the ASA, Curtis Marez, emphasized that the ASA supported a boycott “limited to institutions and their official representatives” and did not intend to “target individual academics.” The ASA resolution does not prevent ASA members from engaging with or collaborating on research and publications between individual scholars. In fact, the ASA plans to bring Israeli and Palestinian academics to its 2014 national convention in Los Angeles. The Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) immediately voted to join the ASA’s boycott of Israeli universities. The Association of Asian American Studies (AAAS) unanimously passed its own boycott resolution on April 20, 2013. Its resolution focused on the impact of Israeli policies on Palestinian students and scholars— including restrictions on travel and the forced closure or destruction of schools as a result of Israeli military actions. The 27,000-member Modern Language Association (MLA) passed a resolution on Jan. 11 criticizing Israel for restricting the right of U.S. scholars to enter the West
Bank to work at Palestinian universities. Israel is paying close attention. Haaretz has reported that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of a “boycott campaign on steroids” if current “peace talks” with Palestinians fail. Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said that if Israel doesn’t respond to the boycott, it will turn itself into “a lone settlement in the world.” Some U.S. college presidents came under pressure from alumni and donors to take a stand against the ASA, Elizabeth Redden writes in the online magazine Inside Higher Ed. A campaign launched by StandWithUs urged supporters to contact their alma maters to ask the presidents to withdraw as institutional members of the ASA and publicly denounce the organization. To date, more than 200 university presidents have complied, condemning the ASA vote–mostly without discussion or input from their own faculty. The presidents would like to stop the academic boycott movement “while it’s still in its infancy,” said Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, president emeritus of George Washington University. Continued on page 31
American Studies Association Resolution on Academic Boycott of Israel Whereas the American Studies Association is committed to the pursuit of social justice, to the struggle against all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism, discrimination, and xenophobia, and to solidarity with aggrieved peoples in the United States and in the world; Whereas the United States plays a significant role in enabling the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the expansion of illegal settlements and the Wall in violation of international law, as well as in supporting the systematic discrimination against Palestinians, which has had documented devastating impact on the overall well-being, the exercise of political and human rights, the freedom of movement, and the educational opportunities of Palestinians; Whereas there is no effective or substantive academic freedom for Palestinian students and scholars under conditions of Israeli occupation, and Israeli institutions of higher learning are a party to Israeli state policies that violate human rights and negatively impact the working conditions of Palestinian scholars and students; Whereas the American Studies Association is cognizant of Israeli scholars and students who are critical of Israeli state policies and who support the international boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement under conditions of isolation and threat of sanction; Whereas the American Studies Association is dedicated to the right of students and scholars to pursue education and research without undue state interference, repression, and military violence, and in keeping with the spirit of its previous statements supports the right of students and scholars to intellectual freedom and to political dissent as citizens and scholars; It is resolved that the American Studies Association (ASA) endorses and will honor the call of Palestinian civil society for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. It is also resolved that the ASA supports the protected rights of students and scholars everywhere to engage in research and public speaking about Israel-Palestine and in support of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement. THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
19
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UNRWAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Margot Ellis on the Precarious Position of Palestinians in Syria and Gaza SpecialReport
By Dale Sprusansky For the refugees, Ellis explained, Lebanon is simply a less bad option. Their lives there certainly are not easy. Having escaped war in Syria, Palestinians find lit-
Palestinians throughout the Levant are suffering. Some are battling apartheid, occupation and harassment, others suffer from hunger and the impact of war. All are waiting for justice and are in desperate need of humanitarian and diplomatic assistance. The tall task of meeting the needs of displaced Palestinians falls on the shoulders of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). During her December visit to Washington, DC, UNRWA deputy commissionergeneral Margot Ellis sat down for an exclusive interview with the Washington Report. In her meetings with this publication, as well as with Congress, the White House and the State Department, Ellis shed new light on the suffering of Palestinians, particularly those in Syria and UNRWA deputy commissioner-general Margot Ellis. Gaza. Many Palestinian refugees in Syria, originally displaced from their tle opportunity in Lebanon, where they homeland in 1948, are now fleeing war- have no work or property and have very torn refugee camps, becoming twice-dis- few legal rights. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Palestinians live a very placed persons, Ellis explained. The flood marginal existence in Lebanon,â&#x20AC;? Ellis of Palestinians evacuating Syria are reliv- noted. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a very good option.â&#x20AC;? Palestiniansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; lives in pre-war Syria were ing a 65-year-old nightmare. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is like a second Nakba, a second catastrophe,â&#x20AC;? they more dignified and meaningful. Before the uprising began in 2011, the 540,000 Paleshave told Ellis. An estimated 235,000 Palestinians are tinian refugees living in the country ennow internally displaced within Syria. An- joyed many rights and had access to land other 10,500 have sought refuge in Jordan, and employment. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was a community which, according to Amnesty Interna- that was well integrated into Syrian socitional, has begun forcibly returning some ety,â&#x20AC;? Ellis recalled. A Dec. 23 report issued by the United of them to Syria. Most Palestinians, however, have sought Nations Office for the Coordination of Hurefuge in Lebanon. An estimated 50,000 manitarian Affairs (OCHA) outlines the Palestinian refugees from Syria are now dramatic differences between life in Syria living in the country, Ellis said, and 150 and Lebanon. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Unemployment is very more arrive each day. By the end of 2014, common here,â&#x20AC;? Ibrahim, who recently up to 100,000 Palestinians could be living crossed the border into Lebanon, told OCHA. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In Syria, I never felt different, and in Lebanon. Palestinians had access to the same jobs Dale Sprusansky is assistant editor of the and services as Syrians,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Lebanon, Palestinians are not allowed to 20
THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
work. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very hard for us to adapt.â&#x20AC;? For many, the decision to leave Syria was difficult. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We really wanted to avoid leaving,â&#x20AC;? Palestinian refugee Mahmoud told OCHA. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We had heard many stories about refugeesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; struggles in Lebanon.â&#x20AC;? After fleeing Damascus for Hama, his family ultimately decided that remaining in Syria was not feasible. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It became too dangerous,â&#x20AC;? Mahmoud explained. Mahmoud was one of many Palestinians living in Damascus. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The epicenter of Palestinian life in Syria,â&#x20AC;? the capital city was home to 83 percent of Palestinians in Syria, Ellis noted. The cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Yarmouk camp alone housed 160,000 Palestinians. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A real turning point came in December 2012 when the fight came to Damascus,â&#x20AC;? Ellis said. Because of its strategic location, Yarmouk became engulfed in intra-Syrian fighting. Palestinians fled en masse, and now only 20,000 remain in the camp. According to UNRWA, Yarmoukâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current residents are â&#x20AC;&#x153;trappedâ&#x20AC;? in the camp and have no access to aid. The agency reported in late December that at least 15 Palestinian residents have died from starvation since last September. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The humanitarian conditions in STAFF PHOTO DELINDA HANLEY
hether in the West Bank, Gaza, Is-
Wrael, Jordan, Lebanon or Syria,
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the besieged refugee camp of Yarmouk are worsening dramatically, and we are currently unable to help those trapped inside,â&#x20AC;? UNRWA commissioner-general Filippo Grandi warned in a Dec. 20 statement. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If this situation is not addressed urgently, it may be too late to save the lives of thousands of people, including children.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;The army monitors movements in and out of the [Yarmouk] camp,â&#x20AC;? Sleiman, who fled the camp with his family in early 2013, told OCHA. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They often prevent people from leaving, telling them that it is too dangerous.â&#x20AC;? Prevented from leaving the camp with their possessions, Yarmouk residents are forced to discreetly flee with only a handful of personal items. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you are really on your way out of Syria, you should not be seen carrying trunks and suitcases,â&#x20AC;? Sleiman noted. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We left with a purse and a backpack.â&#x20AC;? Not all Palestinians have been able to safely flee Syria. In January, UNRWA reported that 1,873 Palestinian refugees have been killed since the start of the conflict. To those refugees UNRWA is able to reach, Ellis said, the agency is providing cash, food, health care, schooling and various social services. Because many schools, clinics and other facilities have been destroyed in the war and the Palestinian refugee population is now scattered, the relief agency has established mobile assistance units. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Going to where the refugees are and providing services to them is critical,â&#x20AC;? Ellis noted. In total, Ellis said, 440,000 Palestinian refugees from Syria currently are in need of humanitarian assistance.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Gaza Will Become Uninhabitable.â&#x20AC;? The need for humanitarian assistance is also high in the Gaza Strip, which is crippled by Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s draconian seven-year blockade. Ellis noted that 44 to 56 percent of Gazaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s households are food insecure, while another 14 percent are vulnerable to food insecurity. Jobs are also few and far between in Gaza, with five out of six young people unemployed. Among young women, the jobless rate is 87 percent. These bleak numbers are a direct result of Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s blockade, according to Ellis. In 2000, only 10 percent of Gazaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residents depended on humanitarian aid, she noted. Today, a whopping 70 percent of the Stripâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 1.2 million inhabitants rely on humanitarian assistance. â&#x20AC;&#x153;These numbers emphasize the impact of the blockade,â&#x20AC;? Ellis stressed. While the situation in Gaza is bleak, Ellis MARCH/APRIL 2014
SAID KHATIB/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
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Palestinians gather during a protest in front of UNRWA headquarters in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, against the agencyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision to reduce aid, Jan. 26, 2014. believes the solution to the crisis is not complicated. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The solution is actually pretty simple: open the economy and allow exports,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is a man-made humanitarian crisis.â&#x20AC;? It appears unlikely that Israel and its allies will heed Ellisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; advice any time soon. Throughout 2013, Egyptâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s military destroyed nearly all of Gazaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s smuggling tunnels. Only 10 to 20 remain open, while 150 have been destroyed. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They were a lifeline for Gazaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residents,â&#x20AC;? Ellis said of the tunnels. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Their closure has pushed up the cost of commodities in the Gaza Strip.â&#x20AC;? With the tunnels closed, fuel is scarce, making such basic services as electricity unavailable. As Washington Report Gaza correspondent Mohammed Omer has reported, access to electricity is extremely limited, sewage is piling up on the streets and the Stripâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s water treatment facility is unreliable. If an August 2012 United Nations report titled â&#x20AC;&#x153;Gaza in 2020: A Livable Place?â&#x20AC;? is correct, the situation in Gaza will only get worse. Ellis noted that the reportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s authors expect Gazaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population to grow by 500,000 by 2020. In six years, half of Gazans will be under 18, and demand for electricity in the Strip is expected to double. Limited access to water is also expected to be an issue by 2020. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The aquifer is just about depletedâ&#x20AC;ŚGaza will become uninhabitable [based on current projections],â&#x20AC;? Ellis said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a recipe for disaster.â&#x20AC;? After an exhausting 2012, Ellis thought the situation in Gaza could not get any worse in 2013. Much to her dismay, she was incorrect. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The situation is only deteTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
riorating further,â&#x20AC;? she lamented. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d say this last year has seen a deepening povertyâ&#x20AC;Ś.We thought things couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get worse, but they have.â&#x20AC;? As the New Year dawns, hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hoping the same words will not be said at the end of 2014. â?&#x2018; (Advertisement)
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views_22-25_Two Views - March/April 2014 1/30/14 4:08 PM Page 22
Two Views Ariel Sharon (1928-2014) The Territorial Legacy of Ariel Sharon
bution squad,” Unit 101. In Israel’s early years, the unit carried out reprisals against Palestinian fighters across the armistice lines, in an attempt to deter future enemy raids into Israeli territory. In practice, however, the price was paid as much by civilians as fighters. In 1953
allies—an atrocity for which even an Israeli inquiry found him “personally responsible.” Today, Sharon’s military philosophy is reBy Jonathan Cook flected in the Israeli army’s Dahiya docriel Sharon’s death, following eight trine—its policy in recent confrontations to years in a vegetative state, evoked send Israel’s neighbors in Gaza and Lebanon surreal eulogies from world leaders and “into the dark ages” through massive dediplomats. He was a “courastruction of their physical ingeous warrior” and “knowlfrastructure. edgeable farmer,” according But his military thinking to Aaron David Miller, vetchiefly served political ends. eran U.S. Middle East adviser. The late Israeli sociologist He was a “bold, unorthodox” Baruch Kimmerling famously statesman, said Quartet reprecoined a term for Sharon’s sentative and former British policy: politicide. According Prime Minister Tony Blair. He to this view, Sharon’s goal was a leader who tried to was to create conditions that “bend the course of history “lower Palestinian expectatoward peace,” averred Secretions, crush their resistance, tary of State John Kerry. isolate them, make them To Israelis, he was simply submit to any arrangement “The Bulldozer,” a general suggested by the Israelis, and who refused to let the law, eventually cause their ‘volunethics or diplomacy stand in tary’ mass emigration.” the way of his goals. To PalesIn this regard, he saw no tinians, he was “The Butcher,” territorial distinction bea man responsible for the tween Israel and the occupied deaths of countless men, territories. women and children. In lowlier government poIn any fair historical recksitions, Sharon devised everoning, he will one day be recmore inventive and racist ognized as an inveterate war land-grabbing schemes to criminal. ensure Israel’s own large Sharon was laid to rest Jan. Palestinian minority was 13 in a grave close to his vast barred from living in most ranch in the Negev, built apareas of the country. Exclupropriately on the ruins of a sive Jews-only communities Palestinian village, Houg, became part of a renewed whose inhabitants were forced “Judaization” program in the to flee to Gaza during the 1948 Ariel Sharon’s deliberately provocative visit to Jerusalem’s Haram alGalilee and Negev. Sharif on Sept. 28, 2000, as he was campaigning for Israeli prime miniswar. A proposal revealed by With the possible excep- ter, sparked the second Palestinian intifada. Sharon in 2003 to dispossess tion of David Ben-Gurion, the Bedouin of their ancestral Israel’s first prime minister, no Israeli leader Sharon’s unit blew up 45 homes and a lands in the Negev was the genesis of the has over their lifetime left such an influence mosque in the village of Qibya in the then- Prawer plan, adopted by the current Israeli on the country’s policies—and certainly Jordanian-controlled West Bank, killing at prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, if none has left such a stain on its reputation. least 69 civilians. temporarily on hold, to force tens of thouAccording to Menachem Klein, a politics As defense minister, he was the moving sands of Bedouin from their homes. professor at Bar Ilan University, near Tel force behind the decision to invade Lebanon Sharon also established similarly excluAviv, Sharon’s influence began early. He es- in 1982, as a bloody means to expel the sive Jewish communities, known as the tablished Israel’s modern “military norms” Palestinians from their strongholds there star points, along the so-called “1967 lines” through his founding of a secretive “retri- and destabilize a northern neighbor. as a way to erase any physical distinction Along the way, and in the spirit of Unit between Israel and the West Bank. Jonathan Cook is a journalist based in 101, his commanders oversaw the horrific After years of helping to establish settleNazareth and a winner of the Martha Gell- massacre of hundreds, and more likely thou- ments in the occupied territories, Sharon horn Special Prize for Journalism. His most sands, of Palestinian refugees in the Sabra vigorously opposed the signing of the Oslo recent book is Disappearing Palestine. and Shatila camps by Israel’s Phalangist peace accords in 1993. AFP PHOTO/AWAD AWAD
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Five years later, as the final-status talks neared, he urged young settlers to “run and grab as many hilltops as they can” in an attempt to foil any hope of a Palestinian state being conceded. His injunction spawned more than 100 so-called “outposts,” whose fanatical inhabitants—known in his honor as the hilltop youth—are today responsible for the campaign of terror, the so-called “price-tag attacks,” that are slowly driving Palestinians out of most of the West Bank, concentrating them into the cities. Later, as prime minister, Sharon more directly reversed Oslo by launching Operation Defensive Shield, a reinvasion in 2002 of areas that were supposed to have been passed to the control of a Palestinian government-in-waiting, the Palestinian Authority. He would finally pen the Palestinians into a series of enclaves by approving and starting construction of a 700-kilometer steel-and-concrete “separation barrier” across the West Bank. The wall he began has dramatically swollen in subsequent years to become a series of fortifications—from new wallbuilding ventures like the recent one separating Israel from Egypt to missile defense systems like Iron Dome—designed to turn Israel into an invulnerable “Jewish fortress.” And more so than any other mainstream Israeli politician, Sharon sought to turn the most sensitive holy place in the region, the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, into a symbol of Jewish national unity. His famously provocative visit to the site in 2000, surrounded by more than 1,000 armed guards, triggered the second Palestinian uprising, or intifada, that took years of brutal Israeli military repression, most of it overseen by himself, to quell. Yet, in the months before he fell into a long-term coma in early 2006, many analysts were all too ready to revise their assessments of Sharon. In death, he is again being feted as the military hawk who ended his days a “man of peace.” Nothing, however, could be further from the truth. The reason cited for reassessing Sharon’s legacy is his decision to withdraw some 7,000 Jewish settlers, as well as the soldiers protecting them, from the Gaza Strip, in the so-called “disengagement” of 2005. This move was widely interpreted as Sharon’s first brave step in a process intended to end the occupation so that a Palestinian state could be born. In reality, however, it represented something equally dramatic but far more cynical. Sharon’s thinking was partly explained by Dov Weisglass, his trusted adviser. The MARCH/APRIL 2014
disengagement, he said in a 2004 interview, “is actually formaldehyde. It supplies the amount of formaldehyde that is necessary so there will not be a political process with the Palestinians.” Negotiations would not be possible “until the Palestinians turn into Finns.” During the course of the second intifada, Sharon had come reluctantly to accept that his traditional military strategy for crushing all signs of Palestinian independence or resistance—the Bulldozer strategy—was outmoded, expensive and damaging to Israel’s international image. His initial decision in 2002 to let Israeli soldiers retake the Palestinian-controlled areas of the occupied territories, acting as policemen as much as troops, soon became a massive drain on Israel’s military budget. It also exposed the army—to the objections of an increasingly risk-averse Israeli public—to the constant danger of Palestinian reprisals. The relatively free movement historically favored by Israel’s right wing—allowing the settlers entry to the occupied territories, and Israeli employers the opportunity to exploit Palestinians in menial jobs both in the territories and in Israel—also was becoming a liability. Suicide attacks in Israeli cities were taking their toll on both Israeli morale and the economy. Even more significantly, Sharon appeared to have been persuaded by his deputy, Ehud Olmert, that there was an additional obstacle to the right’s dream of creating a “Greater Israel,” in which Israel would unabashedly rule over the whole territory between the Mediterranean and Jordan. Direct control over the Palestinian population threatened to irrevocably damage Israel’s image in the eyes of the world. Sharon understood the gravest danger was that such rule would be seen as a new, Israeli version of apartheid, especially as the Palestinians teetered through the 2000s on the edge of becoming a demographic majority in the region. He came up with a solution—and Gaza was the testing ground. The advantages of disengagement were numerous and obvious. Sharon appreciated, says Klein, that it was a boon to Israel’s image—looking, as it did to many outsiders, like an end to the occupation of Gaza and a prelude to similar moves in the West Bank. It moved settlers and soldiers out of harm’s way. It cut adrift Gaza’s 1.5 million Palestinians from the “Greater Israel” demographic equation, silencing—at least for a time—critics who wanted to compare Israeli rule to apartheid. It also reduced costs to the army, while helping to develop a lucrative new field for THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
Israel’s hi-tech industry. Israel quickly devised cutting-edge technologies it could market abroad as intended to imprison, control and surveil a hostile population. The occupation was moved to arm’s length, with new remote-controlled and unmanned weaponry taking the place of boots on the ground. Today, drones patrol the skies above Gaza, robotic boats and vehicles secure the “borders,” and joystickwielding teenagers direct gunfire from watch-towers using technologies with game-like names such as “Spot and Shoot.” But it did more than thrust the peace process into deep freeze. It also carved out a new conception of an illusory Palestinian statehood. Avi Primor, a senior Foreign Ministry official dealing with Africa in the early 1980s, recalled a visit to South Africa he made with Sharon. The latter showed most interest in the Bantustans, the series of pseudo-homelands for the black population to strip them of rights in most of their native country. Twenty years later, as Primor watched Sharon plan the disengagement, he commented: “At best he’ll give 60 percent of the territory and split it up, with each part surrounded by Israeli territory, and we will control the entrances and exits.” Not only would the disengagement wreck any hopes of meaningful Palestinian statehood, but it would destroy the great anathema of Palestinan nationalism. By withdrawing from Gaza, Sharon entrenched its physical separation from the West Bank. Parallel moves, banning the Palestinian Authority and Hamas from East Jerusalem, would further isolate the Palestinians into three disconnected territories. The physical separation, observes Klein, has usefully divided the Palestinian national movement, with the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority nominally in charge of the West Bank, Gaza run by the Islamic movement Hamas, and an orphaned East Jerusalem struggling under Israeli rule. Today Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem are increasingly losing a sense of an overarching national project, and are instead developing along different political trajectories. In the meantime, the greatest prize for Sharon, control of most of the West Bank, has been achieved. Israel has direct control over two-thirds of the West Bank, while the rest—the Bantustans—are being run on its behalf by the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas, acting as a sub-contractor. Unless the Palestinians can find a way to reverse these Israeli strategic gains, it looks as though Sharon’s plan for politicide is still unfolding. ❑ 23
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The Imperator By Uri Avnery
n the middle of the 1970s, Ariel Sharon Ia meeting asked me to arrange something for him— with Yasser Arafat. A few days before, the Israeli media had discovered that I was in regular contact with the leadership of the PLO, which was listed at the time as a terrorist organization. I told Sharon that my PLO contacts would probably ask what he intended to propose to the Palestinians. He told me that his plan was to help the Palestinians to overthrow the Jordanian monarchy, and turn Jordan into a Palestinian state, with Arafat as its president. “What about the West Bank?” I asked. “Once Jordan becomes Palestine, there will no longer be a conflict between two peoples, but between two states. That will be much easier to resolve. We shall find some form of partition, territorial or functional, or we shall rule the territory together.” My friends submitted the request to Arafat, who laughed it off. But he did not miss the opportunity to tell King Hussein about it. Hussein disclosed the story to a Kuwaiti newspaper, Alrai, and that’s how it came back to me. Sharon’s plan was revolutionary at the time. Almost the entire Israeli establishment—including Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Defense Minister Shimon Peres—believed in the so-called “Jordanian option”: the idea that we must make peace with King Hussein. The Palestinians were either ignored or considered arch-enemies, or both. Five years earlier, when the Palestinians in Jordan were battling the Hashemite regime there, Israel came to the aid of the king at the request of Henry Kissinger. I proposed the opposite in my magazine: to aid the Palestinians. Sharon later told me that he, a general at the time, had asked the General Staff to do the same, though for a different end. My idea was to create a Palestinian state in the West Bank, his was to create it in the East Bank. (The idea of turning Jordan into Palestine has a generally unknown linguistic background. In Hebrew usage, “Eretz Israel” is the land on both sides of the Jordan River, where the ancient Hebrew tribes settled according to the Biblical myth. In Palestinian usage, “Filastin” is only the land on the west side of the river. Therefore it is quite natural for ignorant Israelis to ask the PalesUri Avnery, a former member of the Israeli Knesset, is a founder of Gush Shalom, <www.gush-shalom.org>. 24
tinians to set up their state beyond the Jordan. For Palestinians, that means setting up their state abroad.) At the time, Sharon was in political exile. In 1973 he left the army, after realizing that he had no chance of becoming chief of staff. This may seem odd, since he was already recognized as an outstanding battlefield commander. The trouble was that he was also known as an insubordinate officer, who despised his superiors and his peers (as well as everybody else). Also, his relationship with the truth was problematical. David Ben-Gurion wrote in his diary that Sharon could be an exemplary military officer, if only he could abstain from lying. When he left the army, Sharon almost single-handedly created the Likud by unifying all the right-wing parties. That’s when I chose him the first time as Haolam Hazeh’s Man of the Year and wrote a large biographical article about him. A few days later, the Yom Kippur War broke out, and Sharon was drafted back into the army. His part in it is considered by many as pure genius, by others as a story of insubordination and luck. A photo of him with his head bandaged became his trademark, though it was only a slight wound caused by hitting his head on his command vehicle. (To be fair, he was really wounded in battle, like me, in 1948.) After the Yom Kippur war, the argument about his part in that war became the center of “the battle of the generals.” He started to visit me at my home to explain his moves, and we became quite friendly. He left the Likud when he realized that he could not become its leader as long as Menachem Begin was around. He started to chart his own course. That’s when he asked for the meeting with Arafat. He was thinking about creating a new party, neither right nor left, but led by him and “outstanding personalities” from all over the political landscape. He invited me to join, and we had long conversations at his home. I must explain here that for a long time I had been looking for a person with military credentials to lead a large united peace camp. A leader with such a background would make it much easier for us to gain public support for our aims. Sharon fitted the recipe. (As Yitzhak Rabin did later.) Yet during our conversations it became clear to me that he had basically remained a right-winger. In the end Sharon set up a new party called Shlomtzion (“Peace of Zion”), which was a dismal failure on election day. The next day, he rejoined the Likud. The Likud had won the elections and Begin became prime minister. If Sharon had hoped to be appointed minister of defense, he was soon disabused. Begin did not trust him. Sharon looked like a general who THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
might organize a coup. The powerful new finance minister said that if Sharon became commander-in-chief, he would “send his tanks to surround the Knesset.” (There was a joke making the rounds at the time: Defense Minister Sharon would call for a meeting of the General Staff and announce: “Comrades, tomorrow morning at 06.00 we take over the government!” For a moment the audience was dumbfounded, and then it broke out into riotous laughter.) However, when Begin’s preferred defense minister, the former Air Force chief Ezer Weizman, resigned, Begin was compelled to appoint Sharon as his successor. For the second time I chose Sharon as Haolam Hazeh’s Man of the Year. He took this very seriously and sat with me for many hours, in several meetings at his home and office, in order to explain his ideas. One of them, which he expounded at the same time to the U.S. strategic planners, was to conquer Iran. When Ayatollah Khomeini dies, he said, there will begin a race between the Soviet Union and the U.S. to determine who will arrive first on the scene and take over. The U.S. is far away, but Israel can do the job. With the help of heavy arms that the U.S. will store in Israel well before, our army will be in full possession before the Soviets move. He showed me the detailed maps of the advance, hour by hour and day by day. This was typical Sharon. His vision was wide and all-embracing. His listener was left breathless, comparing him to the ordinary little politicians, devoid of vision and breadth. But his ideas were generally based on abysmal ignorance of the other side, and therefore came to naught. At the same time, nine months before the Lebanon War, he disclosed to me his Grand Plan for a new Middle East of his making. He allowed me to publish it, provided I did not mention him as the source. He trusted me. Basically it was the same as the one he wanted to propose to Arafat. The army would invade Lebanon and drive the Palestinians from there to Syria, from whence the Syrians would drive them into Jordan. There the Palestinians would overthrow the king and establish the State of Palestine. The army would also drive the Syrians out of Lebanon. In Lebanon Sharon would choose a Christian officer and install him as dictator. Lebanon would make official peace with Israel and in effect become a vassal state. I duly published all this, and nine months later Sharon invaded Lebanon, after lying to Begin and the cabinet about his aims. But the war was a catastrophe, both militarily and politically. Militarily it was a demonstration of “the Peter principle”—the brilliant battle comMARCH/APRIL 2014
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mander was a miserable strategist. No unit of the Israeli army reached its objective on time, if at all. The Israeli-installed dictator, Bashir Gemayel, was assassinated. His brother and successor signed a peace treaty with Israel, which has been completely forgotten by now. The Syrians remained in Lebanon for many years to come. The Israeli army extricated itself after a guerrilla war that lasted 18 full years, during which the despised and downtrodden Shi’i in Israelioccupied south Lebanon became the dominant political force in the country. And, worst of all, in order to induce the Palestinians to flee, Sharon let the barbarous Christian Phalangists into the Palestinian refugee camps Sabra and Shatila, where they committed a terrible massacre. Hundreds of thousands of outraged Israelis protested in Tel Aviv, and Sharon was dismissed from the Defense Ministry. At the height of the Battle of Beirut I crossed the lines and met with Yasser Arafat, who had become Sharon’s nemesis. Since then, Sharon and I did not exchange a single word, not even greeting each other. It looked like the end of Sharon’s career. But for Sharon, every end was a new beginning. One of his media vassals, Uri Dan (who had started his career in Haolam Hazeh) once coined a prophetic phrase: “Those who don’t want him as chief of staff will get him as minister of defense. Those who don’t want him as minister of defense will get him as prime minister.” Today one could add: “Those who did not want him as prime minister are getting him as a national icon.” An ex-general, Yitzhak Ben-Israel, told me: “He was an Imperator!” I find this a very apt description. Like a Roman imperator, Sharon was a supreme being, admired and feared, generous and cruel, genial and treacherous, hedonistic and corrupt, a victorious general and a war criminal, quick to make decisions and unwavering once he had made them, overcoming all obstacles by sheer force of personality. One could not meet him without being struck by the sense of power he emanated. Power was his element. He believed that destiny had chosen him to lead Israel. He did not think so—he knew. For him, his personal career and the fate of Israel were one and the same. Therefore, anyone who tried to block him was a traitor to Israel. He despised everyone around him—from Begin down to the last politician and general. His character was formed in his early childhood in Kfar Malal, a communal village which belonged to the Labor party. His mother, Vera, managed the family farm with an iron will, quarreling with all the neighMARCH/APRIL 2014
bors, the village institutions and the party. When little Arik was injured in a fall on a pitchfork, she did not take him to the village clinic, which she hated, but put him on a donkey and led him for several kilometers to a doctor in Kfar Saba. When rumor had it that the Arabs in neighboring villages were planning an attack, little Arik was hidden in a haystack. Later in life, when his mother (who still managed the farm) visited his new ranch and saw a low wall with holes for irrigation, she exclaimed: “Ah, you have embrasures! Very good, you can shoot through them at the Arabs!” How could a poor army officer acquire the largest ranch in the country? Simple: he got it as a gift from an Israeli-American billionaire, with the help of the finance minister. Several dubious large deals with other billionaires followed. Sharon was the most typical Israeli one could imagine, embodying the saying (to which I modestly claim authorship): “If force does not work, try more force.” I was therefore very surprised when he came out in favor of the law dispensing with the military service of tens of thousands of Orthodox youngsters. “How can you?” I asked him. His answer: “I am first of all a Jew, and only after that an Israeli!” I told him that for me it was the other way round. Ideologically, he was the pupil and successor of David Ben-Gurion and Moshe Dayan, leaders who believed in military force and in expanding the territory of Israel without limit. His military career started for real in the 1950s, when Moshe Dayan put him in charge of an unofficial outfit called Unit 101, which was sent across the border to kill and destroy, in retaliation for similar actions committed by Arabs. His most famous exploit was the massacre of Qibya village in 1953, when 69 innocent villagers were buried under the houses which he blew up. Later, when requested to put an end to “terrorism” in Gaza, he killed every Arab who was caught with arms. When I later asked him about killing prisoners, he answered: “I did not kill prisoners. I did not take prisoners!” At the beginning of his career as commander he was a bad general. But from war to war he improved. Unusual for a general, he learned from his mistakes. In the 1973 war he was already considered the equal of Erwin Rommel and George Patton. It also became known that between the battles he gorged himself on seafood, which is not kosher. The main endeavor of his life was the settlement enterprise. As army officer, politician and successively chief of half a dozen different ministries, his central effort was always to plan and set up settlements in the occupied territories. THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
He did not care whether they were legal or illegal under Israeli law (all of them, of course, are illegal under international law, for which he did not give a damn). He planned their location, with the aim of cutting the West Bank into ribbons which would make a Palestinian state impossible. Then he rammed it through the cabinet and the ministries. Not for nothing was he nicknamed “the Bulldozer.” The “Israel Defense Army” (its official Hebrew name) turned into the “Settlers Defense Army,” sinking slowly in the morass of the occupation. However, when settlements obstructed his plans, he had no compunction about destroying them. When he was in favor of peace with Egypt, in order to concentrate on the war with the Palestinians, he destroyed the entire town of Yamit in North Sinai and the adjacent settlements. Later he did the same to the settlements in the Gaza Strip, attracting the enduring hatred of the settlers, his erstwhile protégés. He acted like a general who is ready to sacrifice a brigade to improve his overall strategic position. When he died Jan. 11, after lying in a coma for eight years, he was eulogized by the very people he despised, and turned into a shallow folk hero. The Ministry of Education compared him to Moses. In real life he was a very complex person, as complex as Israel. His personal history is interwoven with the history of Israel. His main legacy was catastrophic: the scores of settlements which he implanted all over the West Bank—each of them a landmine which will have to be removed at great risk when the time comes. ❑
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Some in Congress Seem Bent on Scuttling Iran Negotiations With New Sanctions CongressWatch
By Shirl McArthur
mmediately following the Nov. 24 inagreement freezing key parts of IIran’sterim nuclear program in exchange for easing some sanctions on Iran, speculation grew in Congress and in the media that new sanctions legislation or legislation laying down unlikely conditions for any Iran agreement would soon be forthcoming. In an effort to head off such action, Secretary of State John Kerry launched a strong diplomatic effort on Capitol Hill to convince a sufficient number of members of Congress that new sanctions legislation would likely scuttle any chance of reaching a final agreement with Iran. Speaking at the Brookings Institution, President Barack Obama pointed out that major U.S. allies could start lifting current sanctions if they felt that Washington was not showing “good faith in trying to resolve this issue diplomatically.” Giving every indication that scuttling the agreement is exactly his intent, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, dutifully echoed by AIPAC and other hardline Jewish American groups, continued a strident barrage of public statements criticizing the interim agreement and calling for new, punitive sanctions on Iran. The opposing lobbying efforts resulted in countless congressional statements in press releases, op-eds, media appearances, or in the Congressional Record. Several members, mostly Democrats, supported the interim agreement and opposed new sanctions. But many more members, mostly Republicans, opposed the agreement and supported more sanctions. New York Times columnist Tom Friedman’s Nov. 19 column has been widely reported, in which he said, “never have I seen more lawmakers—Democrats and Republicans—more willing to take Israel’s side against their own president’s. I’m certain this comes less from any careful consideration of the facts and more from a growing tendency by many American lawmakers to do whatever the Israel lobby asks them to do in order to garner Jewish votes and campaign donations.” Shirl McArthur is a retired U.S. foreign service officer based in the Washington, DC area. 26
“N
ever have I seen more lawmakers— Democrats and Republicans—more willing to take Israel’s side against their own president’s.” Eight Republicans and six Democrats on Nov. 21 issued a “statement,” originated by leading Iran hawk Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), saying that “Iran presents a grave threat to the national security interest of the U.S. and its allies,” and that they will work “to pass bipartisan Iran sanctions legislation as soon as possible.” Nine Republican senators, led by Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN), on Nov. 26 wrote to Foreign Relations Committee chairman Menendez and ranking Republican Bob Corker (R-TN) urging them to request a report from the secretary of state on the verifiability of the interim agreement. And, more responsibly, on Dec. 6 Senate Intelligence Committee chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Banking Committee chairman Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD), and Armed Services Committee chairman Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) wrote to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper requesting that they receive periodic briefings on whether Iran is acting consistent with its obligations under the interim agreement, and a report on the effects on both Iran and U.S. allies of actions by Congress relative to new sanctions while negotiations with Iran are ongoing. Legislatively, the results were mixed. In the House, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (RVA) was preparing a measure setting forth strict conditions for any agreement with Iran, but he withheld the measure after Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) withdrew his support. However, other resolutions were introduced, but with limited support (see below). Previously this column reported that AIPAC and congressional Iran hawks were concentrating most of their efforts on trying to convince the Senate to pass H.R. 850 “to impose additional human rights and economic and financial sanctions with reTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
spect to Iran,” which the House passed overwhelmingly on July 31. These efforts foundered when Senate Banking Committee chairman Johnson said he had no plans to move the bill out of the committee and, during a Dec. 12 hearing, explicitly endorsed a pause in any new sanctions efforts. Meanwhile, efforts were underway in the Senate to attach Iran sanctions amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act, which is considered “must pass” legislation. These efforts failed when the committee to reconcile the House and Senate versions produced a compromise bill, H.R. 3304, without any Iran sanctions provisions. Obama signed it on Dec. 26. The first significant measure to be introduced was S. 1765, the “Iran Nuclear Compliance” bill, introduced by Corker on Nov. 21. Among other things, it would condition any waiver of sanctions during the ongoing negotiations with Iran on a presidential certification that Tehran is “in full compliance with the terms” of the interim agreement. Significantly, the bill does not include any new or expanded sanctions. However, it has only four co-sponsors, including Corker. The Senate’s long-awaited, far-reaching, and problematic Iran sanctions bill, S. 1881, was introduced on Dec. 19 by Sens. Menendez and Mark Kirk (R-IL). The bill would impose a long list of additional sanctions on Iran’s petroleum, engineering, mining and constructions sectors unless the president certifies to Congress that a list of 10 conditions has been met—only one of which is that Iran is in full compliance with the interim agreement. The presidential “suspension” of the sanctions would be valid for 180 days, and renewable for another 180 days. The only positive provision is Section 405, which says, “Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this Act shall be construed as a declaration of war or an authorization of the use of force against Iran.” It has 59 cosponsors, including Menendez and Kirk. On Dec. 19 a White House spokesman said that Obama would veto the bill if it reaches his desk, and 10 Senate committee chairs, including Feinstein and Levin, wrote to Senate Majority Leader Harry MARCH/APRIL 2014
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Reid (D-NV) opposing the bill, saying it would “only play into the hands of those in Iran who are most eager for negotiations to fail.” Three new, non-binding resolutions were introduced. On Dec. 5 Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) introduced H.Res. 431, plaintively “calling on the U.S. Senate to increase sanctions against Iran.” It has 62 Republican co-sponsors, including Scalise. And on Dec. 12 Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) introduced H.Res. 445, which reportedly is similar to the measure Cantor was considering introducing. It would urge negotiators “to only accept a final nuclear agreement with Iran that definitively prevents Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability, ceases Iran’s construction of advanced missiles and warheads, suspends Iran’s support for terrorist organizations, and reduces human rights violations within Iran.” The measure has four cosponsors, including Roskam. On Jan. 6 Senate gadfly Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), with three co-sponsors, introduced S.Res. 328 “expressing the sense of the Senate on steps the government of Iran must take before further bilateral negotiations between the government of Iran and the U.S. government occur.” The other previously reported Iran-related measures have gained no support.
New Bill Would Keep Aid to Egypt Flowing The previously reported measures regarding aid to Egypt in the wake of last summer’s military overthrow of Egypt’s elected government have gained no support, thanks in large part to AIPAC’s urging that aid to Egypt continue. As this column reported in the previous issue, citing an Oct. 30 Washington Post report, the administration was seeking “legislative flexibility” to continue aid to Egypt, considering earlier provisions of law that prohibited aid to governments that came to power through a “coup.” The White House worked with Menendez to develop a measure to provide such “flexibility,” with the result being S. 1857, the “Egypt Assistance Reform Act,” introduced by Menendez on Dec. 18 and reported out by his Foreign Relations Committee the same day. This long, comprehensive bill would allow the U.S. government to maintain ties with strategically important countries like Egypt while imposing strict restrictions on any financial or military aid to them. It would require the U.S. administration to make a coup determination after a democratically elected MARCH/APRIL 2014
government was deposed by force, but still give the White House the flexibility to decide whether and how to maintain aid. According to a Menendez office handout, “to receive assistance, the Egyptian government must meet certain security and economic benchmarks like adherence to the Israel-Egypt peace treaty, cooperating on counterterrorism, and taking steps to consolidate their democratic transition.”
Defense Authorization Act Triples Obama Request for Israel Military Aid While the National Defense Authorization Act referred to above did not include additional Iran sanctions, it unsurprisingly did include provisions tripling the administration’s request for military aid to Israel, from $96 million to $284 million. Among the items authorized are funds for Israel’s Arrow 3 long-range missile defense system, the David’s Sling medium-range missile defense system, and the Iron Dome short-range missile defense system. Most of the previously reported measures concerning Israel have gained little support. However, one measure passed the House, and a few new measures were introduced. As expected, on Dec. 11 the full House passed, under “suspension of the rules,” H.R. 1992, the “Israel QME Enhancement” bill, introduced in May by Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), which would update the criteria for maintaining Israel’s “qualitative military edge” to include cyber warfare. When passed the bill had 34 co-sponsors, including Collins. The two “U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership” bills described in previous issues— H.R. 938, introduced in March by leading Israel-firster Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (RFL), and S. 462 introduced in March by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA)—have gained no additional co-sponsors and still rest in various committees. Both bills would, among other things, authorize increased U.S. “cooperative activities” in various fields, expand U.S.-Israel cyber-security cooperation, and extend authority to add to “foreign-based” defense stockpiles and transfer “obsolete or surplus” Department of Defense items to Israel. H.R. 938 now has 352 co-sponsors, including Ros-Lehtinen, and S. 462 still has 54 co-sponsors, including Boxer. Of the previously described measures urging continued U.S. efforts to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict through a negotiated two-state solution, only H.Res. 365, introduced in September by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), has gained co-sponsors. With 16 new co-sponsors it now has 110, including Schakowsky. THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
H.R. 2846, “to transfer to Jerusalem the U.S. Embassy located in Tel Aviv,” introduced in July by Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), has gained no co-sponsors and still has 12, including Franks. However, on Dec. 2 he introduced an expanded version, H.R. 3629, the “Israel Sovereignty and Security Recognition” bill. It would express the “sense of Congress” not only that the U.S. should move its embassy to Jerusalem, but also that Washington “should recognize Israel’s sovereignty and legal rights to its lands, including the Golan Heights and Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.” It would also eliminate the presidential waiver authority included in the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995. It has nine co-sponsors, including Franks. S. 1491, introduced in September by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) to “amend the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 to improve U.S.-Israel energy cooperation,” was reported out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Dec. 19 and placed on the Senate calendar. It has gained two co-sponsors and now has five, including Landrieu. In the House on Dec. 9 Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) with four co-sponsors introduced the similar H.R. 3677. Then, the next day he and six co-sponsors introduced the identical H.R. 3683. Of the previously reported “Iron Dome Support” bills, only H.R. 2717, introduced in July by Roskam, has gained co-sponsors. It now has 50, including Roskam. In addition to authorizing Iron Dome support, it would authorize “cooperation” on the David’s Sling, Arrow, and Arrow 3 anti-missile defense systems. On Nov. 21 Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) introduced S.Con.Res. 27 “expressing the sense of Congress that the U.S. should ensure that Israel is able to adequately address an existential Iran nuclear threat and to support Israel’s right to respond to the potential threat of a Syrian S-300 air defense system.”
Syria, Benghazi Get Scant Congressional Attention None of the previously described Syria-related measures have received further support. Probably because the Senate Intelligence Committee’s Jan. 15 report on the tragic September 2012 attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, found no evidence of an attempted Obama administration “cover-up,” the previously described efforts by congressional Republicans to embarrass the adminstration have stalled. Only H.Res. 36, introduced in January by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), has gained cosponsors. It now has 182, all Republicans, including Wolf. ❑ 27
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Despite Outcome, Ban Was Right to Invite Iran to Syria Talks
United Nations Report
PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
By Ian Williams
U.N. and Arab League envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi (l) and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the Jan. 22 press conference closing the Geneva II peace talks on Syria. eorge Orwell invented “non-persons”
Gin his novel 1984—people so politi-
cally incorrect they were treated as if they did not exist. He also invented the “Two Minutes Hate,” in which crowds were worked into paroxysms of rage at the mention of Big Brother’s political opponent. Today it is not Big Brother but the Dog’s Tail which decides which is a non-country or a non-person, and identifies which countries are so unfit that they can only be ritually vilified. In Washington, the powers that be seem to blithely forget the years in which the old China lobby persuaded them to ignore Beijing, and the sore loser faction bade them to boycott Hanoi—or how, until recently, no one could talk to the Palestinians. Even now, we can only talk to some Palestinians. In a recent example of this selective and consciously directed amnesia, Norway’s permanent representative to the U.N. told the Security Council that his country was “deeply concerned about the deteriorating economic and humanitarian situation in Gaza. We call for the lifting of the restrictions in compliance with Security Council Ian Williams is a free-lance journalist based at the United Nations who blogs at <www. deadlinepundit.blogspot.com>. 28
Resolution 1860 in all its elements, including the need for security for all the civilian populations.” Compared with what comes out of mealy-mouthed Washington, this sounds like a strong statement. But readers accustomed to the sound of silence will note the absence of names in this otherwise resounding declaration by Norway in the first Security Council meeting of 2014 on the Middle East situation. In what perilously approached Orwell’s Doublethink, Norway could not bring itself to name Israel as the country maintaining the restrictions its diplomat was deploring in defiance of previous resolutions. In contrast, Iran did not disguise its favorite target the way it used to, since the former “Zionist Entity” has now graduated to become “The Israeli Regime”—which, the Iranian envoy pointed out, “is the only one in the region that possesses all types of Weapons of Mass Destruction but is not a party to any of the treaties banning them.” He added that it “should also be compelled to join such treaties, in particular to accede to the NPT, without any further delay and precondition, and place all its nuclear activities under the IAEA comprehensive safeguards, in order to remove the only obstacle for the establishment of a nuTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
clear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East proposed by Iran in 1974.” One might not totally appreciate the messenger, but the message is spot on! Despite, or perhaps even because of, such eminently good common sense, Washington banned Tehran from the peace talks in Geneva, to which U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon very sensibly had invited it. As Ban recognized, you do not make peace by refusing to talk to opponents, and vetoing Iran’s involvement makes it more difficult to achieve peace. The whole debacle suggests that the Obama administration is acting from the Clinton-era script when its dealings with the U.N. are concerned. It is not surprising that SecretaryGeneral Ban has quipped that SG stood for “Scape Goat,” but this debacle, unfairly, had him dubbed as Washington’s poodle— for taking a step with the full knowledge of the State Department and U.S. administration, but which the U.S. then expediently repudiated. Despite being the victim of poison gas attacks itself, it is true that Iran has not exactly covered itself with ethical or humanitarian glory during the Syrian tragedy. But then, neither has Russia, which has supplied the bulk of the weaponry for the regime. And yet no one has suggested banning Moscow from the talks, or even the Assad regime itself. Additionally, after that regime, among the major obstacles to a rational and democratic solution are the fundamentalist fighters bankrolled by major Arab oil states—with whom the U.S. maintains the closest and most amicable relations. The problem is that in some quarters— including these armers and bankers of war criminals—Iran is a non-country, which leads to palpably nonsensical acrobatics by Washington and others. The U.S. can have bases in countries bankrolling “terrorist” groups, but because those profoundly undemocratic regimes do not like Iran, the U.S. must be careful about talking to Tehran. So Israel could sell the ayatollahs weapons in the course of Iran-Contra, during which the U.S. itself was using Tehran to arm right-wing terrorists in Nicaragua. The U.S. and Iran can both support the Iraqi government in defeating Sunni insurgents and terrorists in Iraq, and indeed colluded to comMARCH/APRIL 2014
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bat the Taliban in Afghanistan. But because President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry were, quite correctly, talking to Iran on the nuclear issue, they were on a short leash from AIPAC on Iranian entanglements. This time the dog had more than one tail: There was external pressure from Arabs and Israel, and of course the internal pressure from Congress being whipped up by AIPAC. Clearly in the real world, it is to everyone’s advantage to have at the table a major player in the conflict—if you want it to end. But diplomacy is often best orchestrated to the sound of silence. Not mentioning issues is often crucial to getting parties to agree to talks, and so Iran’s invitation to the peace talks involved eliding the issue of whether Iran explicitly accepted the Geneva Communiqué on which the talks were based. It had not, but showed signs that it could be nudged that way. So Ban, with the full knowledge of the U.S., invited Iran to the talks, despite the fudge on whether or not Tehran had signed off on the communiqué. He was taking a bold risk. He rightly believed that Iran should be there, but the talks were the property of the participants, each of which had an implicit veto. It was a delicate operation, depending on complicity and discretion from all parties. Someone somewhere blew enough to bring the house of cards down. The U.S. side seems to have demanded explicit guarantees of Iranian acceptance of the communiqué, which precipitated an explicit repudiation of them by Tehran. That led to Washington demanding that Ban withdraw the invitation to Iran. American briefers immediately began to castigate Ban’s incompetence, even though it was U.S. diplomatic ineptitude that seems to have precipitated the collapse. Was it the usual Iran haters who blew the structure down, or did someone in the administration do it so that they could appease AIPAC for defeating it on the sanctions issue? There were so many places such a complex operation could be toppled, it would be difficult to tell. It could be that one part of the administration knew what was happening, and another didn’t. Clearly, Ban also, justifiably, feels let down by the Iranians for rising to the American bait so quickly. They should have just shut up and turned up. But the name-calling cannot disguise the inalienable truth that if the talks are to be successful then Iran should be involved in MARCH/APRIL 2014
them, that Ban was right to invite them and the U.S. foolish to disinvite them. As a corollary, if the U.S. had a coherent foreign policy it would build on its common ground with Iran—in Iraq, in Afghanistan and, increasingly, on the nuclear issue, to persuade Tehran that there were advantages in working with Washington to force Assad to the negotiating table. Indeed, the U.S., as its own hydrocarbons bubble up out of the ground, could persuade the Arab Iran-haters to cease their pernicious activities in backing terrorist bands that tend to make Assad look good, even as they open a fifth column in the opposition’s ranks. Washington could have expressed its regrets at the Iranian invitation, and let it stand. It is not in the longterm interests of the U.S., or any other responsive great power, to diminish the appearance of independence by the United Nations. In the end, the Geneva Talks epitomize the U.N.’s dilemma. The organization is needed to provide a neutral space, an arena for the negotiations. But it also needs the active collaboration of its most powerful and involved members to produce results. A secretary-general can only play the hand he is dealt, and in this case Ban’s two aces turned to jokers. He should not let it dissuade him from trying to do the right thing in the future. ❑
Palestinian Refugees… Continued from page 14
Morsi and stage a coup. Palestinians were perceived as sympathetic to Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood, and Egypt slammed its doors shut. Visas are now required for Palestinian refugees—and they aren’t being granted. “I can only afford to communicate with my fiancée by text message,” Mohammed
said. “I have no idea when I will ever see her again.” In Egypt, the Yousefs stayed with friends for a week, but anti-Palestinian sentiment was running high and no help was offered. In desperation, they crossed into Gaza on April 1. “The people here have opened their arms and said welcome,” Mohammed said. “But there are no jobs for us, and we don’t know how we will survive.” Omar Mansour, one of Mohammed’s new neighbors, agrees. “We welcome them. They came with nothing other than their documents. We know how they feel, because most people here are refugees themselves. But we don’t have many resources of our own.” And while Gaza is quieter than Syria these days, the Palestinians there also know what it is like to live in fear. Even as we chatted over Skype, the connection was lost at one point when the sound of Israeli bombing in the distance grew louder. Although the Hamas-led government has pledged to give the newly arrived refugees free accommodation in an apartment complex under construction with funds from the Qatar Foundation, Mohammed is skeptical that the gift will ever materialize for the mostly secular families from Yarmouk. The family that has taken in the Yousefs has not yet insisted on rent, but he does not know how long their generosity can last. Meanwhile, Fareed has injured his back and requires surgery. The uncertainty and fear is enough to cause Fareed and Suad to think about returning to Syria no matter what the conditions. But for Mohammed, there is no turning back. The Syrian military is not an option he could accept. And at the end of the year, his Syrian ID will expire—making it even more difficult for him to return, even if peace somehow was achieved. ❑
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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
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U.S. “Dismantling” Rhetoric Ignores Iran’s Nuclear Proposals SpecialReport
KAZEM GHANE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
By Gareth Porter
Unidentified International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors and Iranian technicians (wearing masks) disconnect the connections between the twin cascades for 20 percent uranium production at the nuclear power plant at Natanz, Jan. 20, 2014. ran’s pushback against statements by
ISecretary of State John Kerry and the
White House that Tehran must “dismantle” some of its nuclear program, and the resulting political uproar over it, indicates that tough U.S. rhetoric may be adding new obstacles to the search for a comprehensive nuclear agreement. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a Jan. 22 interview with CNN’s Jim Sciutto, “We are not dismantling any centrifuges, we’re not dismantling any equipment, we’re simply not producing, not enriching over 5 percent.” When CNN’s Fareed Zakaria asked President Hassan Rouhani, “So there would be no destruction of centrifuges?” Rouhani responded, “Not under any circumstances. Not under any circumstances.” Those statements have been interpreted by U.S. news media, unaware of the basic Gareth Porter, an investigative historian and journalist specializing in U.S. national security policy, received the UK-based Martha Gellhorn Prize for journalism for 2011 for articles on the U.S. war in Afghanistan. His latest book is Manufactured Crisis: the Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare (available from the AET Bookstore). Copyright © 2012 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. 30
technical issues in the negotiations, as indicating that Iran is refusing to negotiate seriously. In fact, Zarif has put on the table proposals for resolving the remaining enrichment issues that the Barack Obama administration has recognized as serious and realistic. The Obama administration evidently views the rhetorical demand for “dismantling” as a minimum necessary response to Israel’s position that the Iranian nuclear program should be shut down. But such rhetoric represents a serious provocation to a Tehran government facing accusations of surrender by its own domestic critics. Zarif complained that the White House had been portraying the agreement “as basically a dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program. That is the word they use time and again.” Zarif observed that the actual agreement said nothing about “dismantling” any equipment. The White House issued a “Fact Sheet” Nov. 23 with the title, “First Step Understandings Regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Nuclear Program” that asserted that Iran had agreed to “dismantle the technical connections required to enrich above 5 percent.” That wording was not merely a slight overstatement of the text of the “Joint Plan THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
of Action.” At the Fordo facility, which had been used exclusively for enrichment above 5 percent, Iran had operated 4 centrifuge cascades to enrich at above 5 percent alongside 12 cascades that had never been operational because they had never been connected after being installed, as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had reported. The text of the agreement was quite precise about what Iran would do: “At Fordo, no further enrichment over 5 percent at 4 cascades now enriching uranium, and not increase enrichment capacity. Not feed UF6 into the other 12 cascades, which would remain in a non-operative state. No interconnections between cascades.” So Iran was not required by the interim agreement to “dismantle” anything. What Zarif and Rouhani were even more upset about, however, is the fact that Kerry and Obama administration spokespersons have repeated that Iran will be required to “dismantle” parts of its nuclear program in the comprehensive agreement to be negotiated beginning in February. The use of the word “dismantle” in those statements appears to be largely rhetorical and aimed at fending off attacks by pro-Israel political figures characterizing the administration’s negotiating posture as soft. But the consequence is almost certain to be a narrowing of diplomatic flexibility in the coming negotiations. Kerry appears to have concluded that the administration had to use the “dismantle” language after a Nov. 24 encounter with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News. Stephanopoulos pushed Kerry hard on the congressional Israeli loyalist criticisms of the interim agreement. “Lindsey Graham says unless the deal requires dismantling centrifuges, we haven’t gained anything,” he said. When Kerry boasted, “centrifuges will not be able to be installed in places that could otherwise be installed,” Stephanopoulos interjected, “But not dismantled.” Kerry responded, “That’s the next step.” A moment later, Kerry declared, “And while we go through these next six months, we will be negotiating the dismantling, we will be negotiating the limitations.” After that, Kerry made “dismantle” the MARCH/APRIL 2014
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objective in his prepared statement. In testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Dec. 11, Kerry said the U.S. had been imposing sanctions on Iran “because we knew that [the sanctions] would hopefully help Iran dismantle its nuclear program.” White House spokesman Jay Carney dismissed Zarif’s comment as “spin” on Iran’s commitments under the Joint Plan of Action “for their domestic political purposes.” He refused to say whether that agreement involved any “dismantling” by Iran, but confirmed that, “as part of that comprehensive agreement, should it be reached, Iran will be required to agree to strict limits and constraints on all aspects of its nuclear program to include the dismantlement of significant portions of its nuclear infrastructure in order to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon in the future.” But the State Department spokesperson, Marie Harf, was much less categorical in a press briefing Jan. 13: “We’ve said that in a comprehensive agreement, there will likely have to be some dismantling of some things.” That remark suggests that the Kerry and Carney rhetoric of “dismantlement” serves to neutralize the Israel loyalists and secondarily to maximize U.S. leverage in the approaching negotiations. Kerry and other U.S. officials involved in the negotiations know that Iran does not need to destroy any centrifuges in order to resolve the problem of “breakout” to weapons-grade enrichment once the stockpile of 20 percentenriched uranium disappears under the terms of the interim agreement. Zarif had proposed in his initial power
Israeli University Boycott… Continued from page 19
The American Jewish Congress boasted that 134 members of the House of Representatives have signed a letter opposing the vote. New York State Senator Jeff Klein introduced legislation to withhold funding from any public or private university affiliated with the ASA. According to Fox News, William Jacobson, a professor of law at Cornell Law School, plans to ask the IRS to look into whether the ASA’s conduct violates the group’s 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status pertaining to its educational classification. The good news is that this controversy has forced Americans to hold long-avoided conversations. They’re bringing up previously unmentionable subjects like the fact that Israel refuses to let Gazan students study in the West Bank, let alone leave to accept scholarships overseas. Or that students at Al-Quds MARCH/APRIL 2014
point presentation in October a scheme under which Iran would convert its entire stockpile of 20 percent-enriched uranium into an oxide form that could only be used for fuel plates for the Tehran Research Reactor. U.S. officials who had previously been insistent that Iran would have to ship the stockpile out of the country were apparently convinced that there was another way to render it “unusable” for the higher-level enrichment necessary for nuclear weapons. That Iranian proposal became the central element in the interim agreement. But there was another part of Zarif’s power point that is relevant to the remaining problem of Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium: Iran’s planned conversion of that stockpile into the same oxide form for fuel rods for nuclear power plants as was used to solve the 20 percent stockpile problem. And that plan was accepted by the United States as a way of dealing with additional low-enriched uranium that would be produced during the six-month period. An element included in the Joint Plan of Action which has been ignored thus far states: “Beginning when the line for conversion of UF6 enriched up to 5 percent to UO2 is ready, Iran has decided to convert to oxide UF6 newly enriched up to 5 percent during the 6-month period, as provided in the operational schedule of the conversion plant declared to the IAEA.” The same mechanism—the conversion of all enriched uranium to oxide on an agreed time frame—could also be used to ensure that the entire stockpile of low-enriched ura-
nium could no longer be used for “breakout” to weapons-grade enrichment without the need to destroy a single centrifuge. In fact, it would allow Iran to enrich uranium at a low level for a nuclear power program. The Obama administration’s rhetoric of “dismantlement,” however, has created a new political reality: the U.S. news media have accepted the idea that Iran must “dismantle” at least some of its nuclear program to prove that it is not seeking nuclear weapons. CNN anchor Chris Cuomo was shocked by the effrontery of Zarif and Rouhani. “That’s supposed to be the whole underpinning of moving forward from the United States perspective,” Cuomo declared, “is that they scale back, they dismantle, all this stuff we’ve been hearing.” Yet another CNN anchor, Wolf Blitzer, who was an official of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee before becoming a network journalist, called Zarif’s statements “stunning and truly provocative,” adding that they would “give ammunition” to those in Congress pushing for a new sanctions bill that is clearly aimed at sabotaging the negotiations. The Obama administration may be planning to exercise more diplomatic flexibility to agree to solutions other than demanding that Iran “dismantle” large parts of its “nuclear infrastructure.” But using such rhetoric, rather than acknowledging the technical and diplomatic realities surrounding the talks, threatens to create a political dynamic that discourages reaching a reasonable agreement and leaves the conflict unresolved. ❑
University in East Jerusalem are often injured during Israeli raids on their Abu Dis campus, dissected by Israel’s apartheid wall. In the past there has also been an eerie silence when pro-Palestinian professors (Arab and Jewish Americans and even Israelis) have been subjected to death threats, harassment or loss of jobs in both Israel and the U.S. Israeli Prof. Ilan Pappé was hounded out of the University of Haifa in 2007 due to his support for BDS. Dr. Norman Finkelstein lost his tenure in 2007 at DePaul University’s political science department for his speeches and books on Israeli policies and the “Holocaust industry.” A Jew, he has been denied entry into Israel. The Columbia University office of the late Prof. Edward Said was firebombed in 1985. A propaganda film funded by an Israel advocacy organization, the David Project, launched a witch hunt against Columbia University’s Joseph Massad. But, according to syndicated columnist
Charles Krauthammer, the ASA’s decision has nothing to do with human rights. His Jan. 9 column, “How to Fight Academic Bigotry,” in which he warned that anti-Semitism, “that most ancient of poisons,” is back, created a firestorm of letters to the editor in every newspaper in which it appeared. “Change came to the Jim Crow South not through academic dialogue, but through protest and, in some cases, through boycotts of the institutions that fostered segregation,” Prof. Alex Lubin wrote from the American University of Beirut before the ASA’s vote. “Change came to South Africa’s apartheid system not through academic dialogue, but through protest, resistance, and an international boycott. Those of us who value academic freedom must always struggle to ensure that the world surrounding academia provides the basic human rights that enable academic life.” Professors still have a thing or two they could teach politicians and writers.❑
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Yemen’s Insecurity Dilemma SpecialReport
MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
By Khaled Fattah
Smoke rises from the site of a suicide car bombing at the Yemeni Defense Ministry building in the capital of Sana’a, Dec 5. 2013. he brazen Dec. 5 attack which rocked
Tthe Defense Ministry in the Yemeni
capital of Sana’a, killing 52 people, including women, children and doctors at the ministry’s hospital, is yet another reminder of the country’s growing insecurity. Even before the dust of the attack had settled the usual suspects were named: al-Qaedaaffiliated militant jihadists. However, tabloid-style sensationalism and the narrow fixation on al-Qaeda’s rhetoric and tactics obscure the fact that the biggest source of insecurity in Yemen’s post-Arab Spring climate is not the active presence of al-Qaeda, but rather the power struggles and lethal factionalism within the military and state security entities. It is a strategic misperception to attribute the country’s ongoing political violence to ideological, sectarian, tribal or regional motives. On the ground, everything seems to inKhaled Fattah is a nonresident scholar at the Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Center, where his research focuses on Yemen and state-tribe relations in the Arab Middle East. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of Carnegie Middle East Center. 32
dicate that the Yemeni state is caught in a spiral of elite-orchestrated systematic chaos which is threatening to push the fragile country over the brink. Seasonal militant jihadists, mobile sectarian outfits, elite defectors, autonomists, criminal networks and armed militias under the patronage of different local and external patrons all have stepped up their activities— either to settle accounts, maintain material interests, expand their political power and territory, or hamper efforts aimed at a postArab Spring renegotiation of Yemen’s social contract. Old rules and networks are being rejected, but new rules and networks are not yet formulated. Dangerous uncertainty is the name of the game. Since President Rabbo Mansour al Hadi assumed office in February 2012, the country has been plunged into large-scale violence targeting the military-security apparatuses. Three months after Hadi took office, a suicide bomber wearing a Yemeni army uniform killed about 100 soldiers during a rehearsal for a National Unity Day parade. In addition to attacks on military installations and checkpoints in various parts of the country, “shoot and scoot” attacks against military, intelligence and security ofTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
ficers have become common. In the first half of 2013 alone, more than 85 middle- and high-ranking officers were assassinated. Another vital sector under attack in Yemen’s post-Arab Spring climate is the country’s energy infrastructure. Acts of industrial sabotage and the resulting shutdowns of oil fields have become as regular as clockwork. In the first seven months of last year, more than 115 attacks on the country’s main oil pipelines, electricity grid and fiber-optics network were reported. Although Yemen is not a major hydrocarbon producer, its oil and natural gas resources account for over 90 percent of the country’s exports, finance up to 70 percent of national budget spending, and, above all, are the main machinery of patronage and the regime’s politics of survival. Securing the country’s pipelines and other critical energy infrastructure is a stated goal of Yemen’s current president. The 34-member transition government cabinet, sworn in in December 2011, has adopted a “Transitional Program for Stabilization and Development” which aims to enhance security and ease poverty. Paralyzed by partisan gridlock, however, the transition government is in no position to take serious measures to enforce its authority, control and protection. In the northeastern province of Marib, where the heart of Yemen’s energy infrastructure is located, there is a newly emerging popular saying which goes: hit a pipe (pronounced “peep” by locals), get a jeep. The saying refers to the government’s distribution of jeeps to local figures in return for their cooperation in stopping the sabotaging of energy infrastructure in the province. Responding to the string of assassinations in Yemen’s southern, central, eastern and northern provinces, the central government could only implement a temporary two-week ban on motorbikes in the capital city. The Interior Ministry described the ban as a step aimed at “preserving security and stability.” Yemen’s security crisis is compounded by a sharp overall rise in poverty, exacerbated by a large budget deficit and soaring unemployment—as well as economic stagnation, high inflation, misdirection of resources and a decline in public development expenditure in real terms. These factors have led to an increase in human misMARCH/APRIL 2014
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ery and grievances in Yemen’s urban, rural, coastal and tribal communities. After three years of Yemen’s version of the Arab Spring, an estimated 13.1 million Yemenis, of a total population of 24.5 million, require humanitarian aid. According to the World Food Program, about 5 million Yemenis are suffering from severe hunger, and an additional 5 million have insufficient access to food. Child labor has increased dramatically, while school attendance has decreased. More than half of Yemen’s population does not have access to clean water and sanitation, and 6 million lack access to basic health care, including life-saving reproductive health services. Contributing to the country’s vulnerability is the fact that, in the past six months, Saudi Arabia has deported some 200,000 Yemeni expatriate workers, with the number expected to reach at least 600,000 in the coming months, according to the Yemeni government. Remittances of Yemeni expatriates in the Saudi kingdom, estimated at $3 billion a year, are one of the backbones of Yemen’s fragile national economy. The convergence of these crises has taken its toll on the entire range of livelihood strategies open to the Yemeni population. Even social cohesion and resilience, which has always been Yemen’s strongest social capital, has been damaged.
National Dialogue: Particularities and Shortcomings In stark contrast to the distinction of being one of the most heavily armed societies on earth, and home to one of al-Qaeda’s deadliest branches, Yemen is the only Arab Spring state in which youth-led peaceful popular protests resulted in a negotiated solution. This is due in part to the convergence of Washington, Riyadh, Brussels and Moscow’s interests in the southwestern corner of Arabia; Yemen’s deep-rooted cultural acceptance of third-party mediation; and a delicate balance of power among domestic elites. One of the milestones in the country’s political transition is the National Dialogue Conference (NDC), which brought together 565 delegates representing a wide array of parties and social groups as diverse as Yemen itself. Launched on March 18, 2013, the NDC is part of a power transfer deal brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that paved the way for the exit of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who ruled Yemen for 33 years. The NDC structure was based on creating nine main channels of discussions, in the form of thematic working groups, with the aim of drawing up blueprints for state building and a new MARCH/APRIL 2014
constitution under the U.N.-facilitated transition plan. Although plagued by would-be spoilers, in comparison with the Syrian and Libyan scenarios Yemen’s NDC is undoubtedly a noteworthy accomplishment. But no national dialogue or reconciliation among the elites can help Yemeni society move from a divided violent past to a shared peaceful future without tangible positive changes in the economic and security spheres. In the case of Yemen, the steady and rapid deterioration of security and living conditions during the transitional process has turned the mixture of expectations, ambitions and fears into a toxic trigger of violence. Sadly, in the current context of an internally divided fragile polity, polarized security forces, and a balkanized and demoralized military with tens of thousands of “ghost soldiers” on the payroll, halting violence, creating a peaceful platform for negotiation, and protecting the strategic interests of the Yemeni state is just wishful thinking. No military in the region has such a massive number of ghost soldiers and officers than in Yemen. Some experts estimate that more than one-third of the country’s 100,000 soldiers exist only on paper. Commanders with tribal influence and political connections not only pocket the salaries of these ghosts, but also sell guns and munitions on the black market. Nor is Yemen’s ghost worker syndrome limited to the military and security agencies. The syndrome exists across all tiers of government, causing massive leakages from the national budget. In the public sector, for instance, the tens of thousands of “ghosts” on the payroll include dead people, retired civil servants and purely fictitious names. Another pitfall in Yemen’s current transition is the overwhelming focus on formal political parties as the main partners of the international community. Such a focus misses the fact that many of Yemen’s political parties are neither institutional expressions of citizen interests nor tools for nation-building and political modernization, but patronage parties with close ties to economic elites and the military-tribal establishment. The competition between Yemen’s political parties is one among tribal, military and economic elites. To complicate an already complicated situation, since the beginning of the U.N.’s relentless efforts at facilitating the transition process, the number of U.S. drone strikes has escalated. In 2011, for example, the U.S. launched 18 strikes; in 2012, 53; and last year it launched a reported 30 strikes. The strikes have killed many innocent civilians, including women and children, in tribal THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
and rural areas of the country. One such fatal mistake took place on Dec. 12, 2013, when a U.S. strike killed more than a dozen people in a wedding convoy in the village of Qaifa, in Yemen’s central al-Bayda province. These tragic incidents are war crimes which not only stir anti-U.S. sentiments and boost militant jihadism, but also provoke resentment toward the weak central government and outrage against the entire transition process.
Breaking the Vicious Cycle For decades Yemen has been trapped in a poverty-conflict cycle which has made it vulnerable to shocks and crises. Its population is scattered, remote, and largely isolated from state services. In local communities throughout the country, and across the socio-political spectrum, there is increasing frustration and a collective loss of patience with the dysfunctional transition government. One of the most dangerous potential outcomes of a prolongation of the current chaos would be government paralysis, and the implosion rather than explosion of structures of power and authority in the vast rural and tribal areas, where more than 70 percent of the population reside. This bleak scenario would surely plunge the country into further atomization and a destructive war among political elites, warlords and sectarian groups, with dire regional and international repercussions. It is imperative that Washington step back and reconsider the results of its controversial and counterproductive war on terror in Yemen. After more than a decade of a narrow fixation on militarized and hardcore security solutions, it has become clear that the U.S. still struggles to understand Yemen’s larger socio-cultural, historical, political and developmental environment. As in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Somalia, there can be no effective counterterrorism policy in Yemen without a radical and deep change in the current U.S. strategic mindset. As for the GCC countries in general and Saudi Arabia in particular, they should not view Yemen simply as an incubator of security nightmares. Yemen is an ancient civilization which has contributed much to the shaping of history and culture of the Arabian Peninsula. It is both strategic and moral to launch a GCC Marshall Plan consisting of a comprehensive financial-aid package aimed at improving the basic quality of life of its citizens during Yemen’s painful transition process. Removing obstacles to Yemen’s economic and human development is the key to security and stability in the southwestern corner of Arabia. ❑ 33
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As in Much of Europe, Kosovo’s Roma Face Uncertain Future SpecialReport
By Peter Lippman
ARMEND NIMANI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
The Romani Experience in Kosovo
Leonarda Dibrani (c), holding her sister Medina, sits next to her father, Resat, in their home in Mitrovica, Kosovo after learning that a French court upheld the Oct. 9 expulsion of the 15-year-old Roma student, her parents and six siblings to Kosovo, Sept. 28, 2014. iscrimination against the Roma popu-
Dlations throughout Europe and the
forced migration of their communities have been as common in the last few decades as they ever were. Where human rights and standard of living are concerned, the Roma are at or near the bottom of society in every European country where they reside. Kosovo, where the Romani population is primarily Muslim, is no exception. Any discussion of Romani history in Europe should note that the biggest disaster to that group took place during World War II. Romani communities throughout Nazi-occupied lands were forced into ghettoes, and many of these people were sent to concentration camps or simply murdered where they had lived. While it is difficult to cite accurate figures, one report holds that of Europe’s pre-war Roma population of one million, approximately 20 percent perished. In contemporary times, life has been particularly difficult for the Roma in central Europe, in such countries as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania, where there are sizable Romani populations. There discrimination is widespread, Peter Lippman is an independent human rights activist based in Seattle. 34
with periodic incidents of violence against the Roma. In August of 2012, a thousand neo-Nazis descended upon a mixed Romani and Hungarian village in western Hungary, shouting at Romani inhabitants, “You are going to die here.” A particularly notorious violation of Roma rights took place in France in 2010, when then-President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered Bulgarian and Romanian Roma—that is, fellow EU citizens—to leave France. Police raids on Roma communities prompted the eviction and expulsion of nearly 15,000 Roma from France in 2010 and 2011. Sarkozy’s law permitted French authorities to expel people from the country if they were suspected of immigration simply for the purpose of “benefiting from the social assistance system.” In early 2005, with the encouragement of the European Union, eight Eastern European governments—Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, and the Slovak Republic—launched the “Decade of Roma Inclusion,” in a bid to promote national action plans that would help end discrimination against the Roma populations. In the same period, however, evictions of Roma were ongoing in the UK, Lithuania, Albania, Greece, Ireland, Kosovo and Italy.
Over the last century, Kosovo has been marked by periodic conflict between the (erstwhile) Serbian regime and the majority Albanian population, with Belgrade holding the upper hand until the regime’s defeat and expulsion in 1999 at the hands of NATO. And as in the rest of Europe, over the decades the Roma in Kosovo were at the bottom of society, often subject to discrimination both from the Albanian and Serbian populations. In the 1990s, under the increasingly harsh rule of the Milosevic regime, many Roma tended to identify with the Albanians in their struggle for independence. However, to their great misfortune, during and after the 1998-99 war Roma were caught between two parties in a fight that was not really theirs. Romani men were sometimes abused, and sometimes drafted to fight, by both sides. It happened that relatives even found themselves looking through their gunsights at each other. In 1998 and up through the 78-day NATO intervention in the spring of 1999, as many as 800,000 Albanians were driven out of Kosovo. In an attempt to rid Kosovo of a large proportion of the Albanian population, Serbian forces destroyed hundreds of their villages, and killed at least 10,000 Albanians. It was the disaster of Kosovo’s Roma community that its members were caught in an impossible position, not only during the war, but afterward as well. Immediately upon the end of the NATO intervention, hundreds of thousands of Albanians came streaming back from exile to their (often destroyed) homes. For the first time since Serbia had taken over the province upon the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, Albanians had relative freedom and self-determination in Kosovo, and they were bound to use that self-determination to set up a new state that was free of Serbian domination. Unfortunately, there were Albanians who wished to take revenge for their brush with genocide, and these people were not particular about their targets. Those Serbs, Roma and other minorities who had not fled Kosovo were at risk. As Human Rights Watch reported in 2010, “The armed confrontation of the MARCH/APRIL 2014
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Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) with Yugoslav government forces and Serbian police and paramilitary units, the subsequent NATO bombing and mass expulsion of ethnic Albanians by Yugoslav and Serb forces, and the wave of retaliatory ethnic violence by Albanians at the start of international rule in Kosovo in 1999, resulted in large numbers of RAE [Roma, Ashkali and ‘Egyptians’] fleeing and being forcibly expelled from Kosovo.” The UNHCR estimated in 2010 that some 28,000 displaced Roma from Kosovo were still taking refuge in Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia. As the United Nations established a protectorate in Kosovo following the 1998-1999 war, several camps for displaced persons were set up to receive those Roma who had not left the province. A large number of Roma found themselves in four camps near Mitrovica, in the north of Kosovo. They were out of the frying pan, but into the fire: these camps were terribly polluted by contamination from a former lead smelter. Tests in 2005 revealed that residents of the camps were subject to lead concentration levels upward of 20 times the recommended tolerance. People in the camps were dying from lead poisoning, according to a report by (Advertisement)
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Paul Polansky for the Society for Threatened Peoples. The report states, “Despite repeated appeals to help the Gypsies [sic], especially those living in the three camps in the area of north Mitrovica, the U.N. did just the opposite. All food aid was suspended in 2002 [with the U.N.] saying it was time for the Gypsies to find their own supplies…In the summer of 2004, WHO made a special investigation of lead poisoning in the three camps after Jenita Mehmeti, a four-year-old girl, died of lead poisoning. She was not the first. Up to that point 28 people (mainly children and young adults) had died in the three camps, but Jenita was the first one to be treated for lead poisoning before she died. New blood samples taken by WHO showed that many children, the most vulnerable to lead poisoning, had lead levels higher than the WHO analyzer could register.” The camps were maintained for a decade, with one shut down in 2010, and another only in late 2012. Residents were moved to newly constructed houses near Mitrovica. These foreboding conditions discouraged those thousands of Roma who had taken refuge abroad from returning. However, a percentage of them did come back to Kosovo. Some returned voluntarily, but many were deported from Europe, especially from Germany. Estimates of the prewar Roma population in Kosovo vary wildly, ranging from 100,000 to 300,000. The Human Rights Watch report cited above estimated that the population of Roma remaining in Kosovo by 2010 was approximately 38,000. In the summer of 2013 I asked Džafer Buzoli, a Roma rights activist based in Gračanica, Kosovo, what conditions confronted the displaced Roma who returned to Kosovo from abroad. “It is difficult,” he replied. “If they are coming back from Macedonia, Serbia or Montenegro, then THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
there is a support package for their return. But if they are coming back from Europe, there is no support. And it is a problem when the children who have spent much of their young lives elsewhere do not know the local language. “In Germany, in advance of sending Roma back to Kosovo, the German government does not undertake any research, for example, as to whether the people being returned even have a place to live; whether they have a family or other people to receive them; whether there is health coverage for them in Kosovo; and what kind of treatment generally they will receive in Kosovo. Conditions in Kosovo for returning Roma are such that some come back, and then they leave again after two or three weeks. “We want to make sure that everyone, all the Roma in Germany who are potential targets of deportation, are informed about the possible scheduling of their return,” Buzoli said. “To date, this has not been happening. For example, there was one man who had been in Germany since he was 6 months old, and he lived there until he was 20. Then he was deported to Kosovo. “People simply do not have advance notice about their deportations,” he continued. “If they had this, it would help them to avoid bad treatment by the police. There are times when the deportations happen and people are not even allowed to collect their belongings. Recently there was a girl, about 16, who arrived in Kosovo with her family. She was still wearing her pajamas, and she was obviously traumatized by an eviction in the middle of the night. “Furthermore, there is little or no economic development taking place in Kosovo, and there is very little work here for the Roma.” Referring to his activism on behalf of his people, Buzoli concluded, “We have to be optimistic—but not too optimistic.” ❑ 35
gee_36_Islam and the Near East in the Far East 1/29/14 1:35 PM Page 36
In Bangladesh, a Pyrrhic Victory for the Ruling Party
Islam and the Near East in theFar East
MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
By John Gee
Bangladesh’s main opposition leader, Bangladesh National Party (BNP) chair Khaleda Zia, holds a Bengali newspaper while addresssing a rally in Dhaka on Jan. 20, 2014. She thanked supporters for rejecting the country’s “farcical” Jan. 5 general election. f the attitudes of Bangladeshi migrant
Iworkers in Singapore are anything to go by, there’s a high degree of skepticism toward politicians of any party among the population at large. Asked whether they support the Awami League or the opposition Bangladesh National Party (BNP), they split roughly half and half—but without enthusiasm. Bangladesh’s political elite are seen as being unconcerned about poorer citizens and remote from their day-to-day lives. Their attitudes were highlighted by the April 2013 building collapse, in which more than 1,100 textile workers were killed. There was a flurry of activity by the government and employers, and promises to ensure better safety standards, but their main preoccupation seemed to be to retain the custom of the Western main street companies that buy most of the texJohn Gee is a free-lance journalist based in Singapore, and the author of Unequal Conflict: The Palestinians and Israel. 36
tile goods that comprise four-fifths of Bangladesh’s exports. Looking after the well-being of their own citizens appeared to be a lower priority. Stories of official corruption and abuse of power are common among the workers. They pay substantially more to middlemen to secure placements in Singapore and the Gulf countries than do their counterparts in India or Sri Lanka—almost the equivalent of a full year’s salary—and they complain about the connections the labor recruiters have with officials and politicians, but feel that they have little power to change anything for the better by voting: neither the two major political parties nor any of the smaller ones are seen as being above corruption and truly committed to the wellbeing of the people. The attitudes of these workers put in perspective the conflicts surrounding Bangladesh’s Jan. 5 general election. While the international media reported on the sickening violence inflicted by rival party supporters on each other, what didn’t come over was THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
the disenchantment of most Bangladeshis with political leaders in general. After the election date was announced, the BNP and 20 other opposition parties called for the appointment of an independent caretaker government to oversee the electoral process, saying that the Awami League government could not be trusted to allow a fair election. They called for general strikes and staged a series of demonstrations in the month and a half before the election in support of that demand. The BNP declared that it would boycott the election unless the government complied with its call. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina rejected this demand and the BNP and its allies carried out their threat. Troops were deployed across the country to help ensure that the election would go ahead. The BNP claimed that its leader, Khaleda Zia, had been placed under virtual house arrest, but police said that she had only been given “enhanced security” around her home, though a number of opposition leaders had indeed been arrested. On election day itself, opposition supporters attacked polling stations, wrecking or burning some 600 of them. At least 26 people were killed, mostly by police fire. During the entire run-up to the elections, more than 300 people were killed. Even before the first vote was cast, the outcome of the election was known. With 300 parliamentary constituencies at stake, the Awami League faced no opposition in 153. The final result gave the Awami League 232 seats. Prime Minister Hasina was jubilant, but independent observers worried that Bangladesh might be about to endure an extended period of instability. Less than one in four of the electorate voted, compared to over 80 percent in the previous election. No one can say for sure how well the Awami League might have performed in an election with full opposition participation. Though a poll suggested it would have lost, it would still have achieved a very credible percentage of the vote. It was the party that led Bangladesh to independence in 1971, and Sheikh Hasina is the eldest child of its leader at the time of independence, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Continued on page 65 MARCH/APRIL 2014
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Having Hope in the Holy Land By Jeffery M. Abood, KCHS
Christianity and the Middle East
hristians in the Holy Land have a say-
experienced resurrection, so we always have hope.” Despite increasing Israeli restrictions on their communities and their freedom to worship, that hope lives in a church persevering, strong and unbent, while quietly bearing the yoke of oppression. The churches have been clear as to the reason for their difficulties in the Holy Land. In a statement by all the Heads of all the Churches in Jerusalem they declared, “The occupation remains the root cause of the conflict and of the continued suffering in the Holy Land” (Patriarchs Statement on the Wall, 2003). Furthermore, Bishop Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church says that Christian emigration is a consequence of Israeli policies against Palestinians. The Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and the discriminatory policies within Israel itself affect the lives of the churches and the people who worship there in a number of ways.
Denial of Freedom of Worship A basic requirement for the freedom to worship is the freedom to assemble. Since Israel has cut off East Jerusalem from the rest of the Palestinian territories, Christians have been required to obtain special permission to even enter the city. The situation has only grown worse with continued settlement construction and the building of the wall. These developments make it even more difficult for Christians and Muslims alike to reach their holy sites in Jerusalem. For Christians living in the West Bank and Gaza, freedom to worship has become a privilege, rather than a right. Israel also imposes closures during Jewish holidays, so that permits are automatically canceled and even people who have them are not able to cross the checkpoints. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Sir Jeffery M. Abood, KCHS has been knighted in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. He has also received a certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for his leadership in working with the Palestinian Christian communities in the Holy Land. He can be reached at <jabood@ att.net>. The views expressed reflect only those of the author and may not reflect the views of any organization to which he belongs. MARCH/APRIL 2014
YOUTUBE
Cing: “We live in a land that has already
Israeli police prevent a Coptic priest from worshipping at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Easter weekend 2013. other crucial religious sites are rendered “off limits for Christians through a complex network of walls, checkpoints, and security apparatuses” (Kairos Palestine). According to a statement issued this past Easter by all the Heads of all the Churches in Jerusalem (Statement Regarding Israeli Police Measures, May 2013), “It is not acceptable that under pretext of security and order, our clergy and people are indiscriminately and brutally beaten, and prevented from entering their churches, monasteries and convents.”
ities for assistance with this. At the beginning of 2003—more than a decade ago— government authorities promised to discuss new procedures, but still little has changed. Fr. Jaeger of the Franciscan Order said, “The situation here is really amazing, Kafkian, to say the least. We are dealing with a very serious problem indeed, one which is getting worse by the day” (AsiaNews). The impact of all these policies has contributed to the steady emigration of Christians from the Holy Land.
Denial of Visas for Religious Workers
Attempts to Remove the Church’s Tax-Exempt Status
Religious workers are increasingly being deprived of visas allowing them to live and work in the Holy Land. The crisis has affected the work of hundreds of clergy and religious. Ministers, pastors and members of all religious denominations were once granted long-term multiple-entry visas. Then, about the same time the Family Reunification Laws began to assume more draconian limitations, so did the visa requirements for religious workers. Many of these people have been ministering in Israel or Palestine for years. Church leaders, bishops from the Holy Land and abroad, even the Archbishop of Canterbury have all turned to Israeli authorTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
The heads of Christian Churches in Jerusalem have expressed grave concern over renewed moves by the Israeli authorities to tax church buildings and properties. Once again, according to an April 2011 statement by the Heads of all the Churches in Jerusalem: “The abrupt imposition of unprecedented new taxation on the Christian Churches can only come at the expense of their ability to maintain their presence in the Holy Land and to continue their ministries of pastoral care, education, welfare and health…this would also be in direct contradiction of the mandate of the United Continued on page 74 37
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Prolonged and Repeated Crises—UPA Fills Gaps in the Humanitarian Safety Net SpecialReport
PHOTOS COURTESY UPA
By Marla R. Schrader
UPA’s Children’s Fund fosters the potential of children in vulnerable communities. Partnering with vibrant, local organizations like the YWCA of Ramallah, which operates a preschool in Jalazone refugee camp, is key. t’s inevitable, isn’t it? After 65 years of
Iprolonged and repeated humanitarian
crises, the safety net for the Palestinian people has worn dangerously thin. This net was never strong to begin with; nor was it envisioned to serve this many years, to withstand ongoing displacement and unexpected tragedies. Humanitarian organizations are not simply responding to a one-time tragedy. Whereas their original mandate was to fill a temporary gap, their work and programs have necessarily shifted back and forth between relief and development depending on the harshness of the political and economic situation at any given time. Donors and beneficiaries alike often are discouraged by the lack of progress toward the development of a sustainable Palestine. The current status is untenable for a plethora of reasons. From a relief and development perspective, in 2014—after all these years—Palestinian communities should no longer be challenged by dilapidated infrastructure, inadequate services Marla R. Schrader is director of communications at United Palestinian Appeal. 38
and severely restricted access to markets as well as to natural resources such as water, fishing areas, grazing land and land to accommodate natural growth. These factors inhibit economic growth, which in turn decreases funds that otherwise would be allocated to strengthening the education and health sectors. Moreover, regionally, Palestinian refu gees are becoming re f u ge e s a l l ove r again. During the past two years, more than half the Palestinian refugees in Syria have fled violence in their host country. Scared and traumatized, these people
need more than just food and shelter. Their displacement means negative repercussions for generations to come. In the absence of a comprehensive solution that guarantees human and political rights, new crises will continue to erupt. The inevitable result: an increasing number of vulnerable populations left in jeopardy. United Palestinian Appeal (UPA) has thought long and hard about how to make a significant improvement in the lives of the Palestinian people, especially among the most vulnerable. UPA was established 35 years ago by Palestinian Americans as a non-profit organization to partner with grassroots organizations in support of relief for and development of Palestinian communities. UPA has since striven to leverage limited resources for the greatest good within an ever-changing context. “We help those Palestinians who have fallen through the humanitarian safety net to help themselves, to live in dignity, and be active members of their communities,”
Al Quds University students walking on campus with Israel’s separation wall in the background.
THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
MARCH/APRIL 2014
schrader-38-39_Special Report 1/29/14 8:49 PM Page 39
A UPA University Scholarship Program recipient from Hebron said, “To study in my own country with a scholarship was a miracle for me; I feel there are people around the world who wish me to have this opportunity. You offered your trust in me. Honestly, you changed my life!” explained Saleem Zaru, UPA’s executive director. “Our goal is to transition those who are at-risk to achieve independence and sustainably nourish and grow. Our projects reflect this goal by building capacity, providing start-up support [to] and strengthening services that are desperately needed, and reaching out to the underserved.”
UPA prioritized the elderly, people with disabilities, vulnerable refugees, students, children and other layers of Palestinian society not adequately serviced by development projects or by national services in the West Bank, Gaza Strip or other countries hosting Palestinian refugees. In its efforts to accelerate sustainable development and restore economic independence and dignity UPA funded the construction in 1985 of the Nursing College at Makassed Hospital on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. For the past 27 years UPA has partnered with leading Palestinian universities to provide need-based scholarships for promising young Palestinians to pursue higher education while also giving back to their communities through volunteerism. To date, UPA has helped more than 2,200 Palestinians obtain undergraduate and graduate degrees, thereby contributing to their society’s economic viability. UPA also dedicates substantial resources to children. Its Children’s Fund has equipped schools with assistive technologies to allow children with disabilities to access education and learning; supported quality early childhood education in refugee camps; and ensured nutritional health through education and hot meal programs. Most recently, UPA enabled the building of a public children’s library in the Bethlehem district and afterschool reading remediation programs in southern Gaza. In south Lebanon, UPA funding of a kidney dialysis center servicing three different
At-risk senior citizens from Nahr el Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon harvest crops in their community garden and receive nutritious daily meals at the Active Aging House thanks to UPA’s Food Program. MARCH/APRIL 2014
THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
Mimi Sakhnini, a Palestinian refugee from Yarmouk camp, had a kidney transplant in Syria, but after fleeing to Lebanon she could no longer afford post-transplant medication. As a result, she experienced kidney failure and now depends on free dialysis sessions at the UPA-funded Kidney Dialysis Center at Al-Hamshari Hospital in Saida, Lebanon. high-risk Palestinian refugee populations has literally ensured that life continues for those so often forgotten: the impoverished and double refugees coping with chronic illness. In northern Lebanon, UPA’s Food Program promotes sustainable gardening to supply a senior citizen center with healthy and affordable fresh food. This innovative center specializes in meeting the needs of the underserviced and often neglected population of Palestinian grandparents who were displaced from their agricultural lands in 1948. Through partnerships with vibrant local Palestinian organizations, development can be more responsive to needs while simultaneously building the capacity of Palestinian civil society. UPA’s partners range from early childhood centers to eight major universities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to senior centers in Lebanon. UPA partners include libraries, hospitals, schools for the visually challenged, and centers for youth with developmental disabilities. New partners are carefully vetted and projects rotated in response to changing community needs. The more people reach out through UPA, the more UPA can engage in transformative humanitarian work which builds a stronger, more inclusive Palestinian society. To learn more about UPA’s programs and opportunities to support UPA, please visit <www.helpupa.org>. ❑ 39
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No Separate Justice Launches Human Rights Campaign
New York City and Tri-StateNews
STAFF PHOTOS J. ADAS
By Jane Adas
TOP (l-r): Jeanne Theoharis, Liliana Segura and Faisal Hashmi; ABOVE (l-r): Sarah Khasawinah, Sonali Sadequee and Tamer Mehanna. o Separate Justice, an important
Nnew public education initiative, was
launched in New York on Jan. 7. On one of the coldest nights on record, scores turned out to hear a panel discussion about a most pressing human rights issue: the treatment of Muslim Americans in the U.S. federal criminal justice system. Because of government secrecy and media neglect, few Americans are aware of what is happening to their fellow citizens. Hence the urgent necessity for this campaign. Jeanne Theoharis, political science professor at Brooklyn College, chaired the panel discussion. When Fahad Hashmi, Jane Adas is a free-lance writer based in the New York City metropolitan area. 40
one of her former honors students, was arrested in 2006, she recalled, the faculty was “instructed not to say anything.” Gradually family members, colleagues and friends did begin talking and writing about individual cases, but it was lonely work. A year ago they decided to join together to build a bigger campaign in order to put the issue before the public. Noting that most of the greatest injustices in American history have been legal—dispossession of American Indians, slavery, and the internment of Japanese Americans during WW II—Theoharis stressed that it is time to say, “what has happened within the law needs to be changed.” Liliana Segura facilitated a first step to open up the media when The Nation, where she was an editor, began a monthly THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
column on “America After 9/11” in order to “provide a systematic look at the patterns of civil rights abuses in the United States’ domestic ‘war on terror.’” To further reach the public, No Separate Justice will stage monthly vigils outside the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in lower Manhattan, “our local site of inhumanity.” In a restrictive section of the MCC, Muslim terror suspects are kept in solitary confinement, often for years, while awaiting trial. They are never allowed outdoors and are not allowed outside contact, even with their lawyers. Pardiss Kebriaei, a lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights, described another detention site, the U.S. Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colorado (ADX Florence). It is surrounded by fields and a duck pond, but inside, two flights down, some 400 people are kept in tiny cells 22 hours a day, with human contact only when they are being shackled. No journalist, she continued, has ever been able to visit ADX Florence, nor may the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan Mendez. Family members and friends continue the struggle year after year. The heart of the evening was when they described what happened to someone they love.
Fahad Hashmi The Hashmi family moved from Pakistan to Queens in 1982, when Faisal was four and Fahad was three. 9/11 happened when Fahad was a political science student at Brooklyn College. He decided to write his senior honors thesis on the treatment of Muslims in America. Faisal warned his brother against the topic, but Fahad replied, “I am an American and I have these rights.” Upon graduating in 2003, Fahad went to London to pursue a master’s degree in international relations. While there, Faisal explained, a Pakistani acquaintance, Mohammed Junaid Babar, stayed for two MARCH/APRIL 2014
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weeks in Fahad’s student apartment. Fahad did not know that Babar had been arrested in the U.S. two years earlier, charged with providing material support for terrorist organizations, and had agreed to cooperate with the government for a reduced sentence. In 2006, having completed his M.A., Fahad was arrested at London’s Heathrow airport under U.S. indictment. The charges were for material support—in Babar’s luggage had been ponchos and waterproof socks to be delivered to Pakistan. In 2007, Fahad was the first U.S. citizen to be extradited under the new post-9/11 laws. He was immediately placed in solitary confinement in the MCC in lower Manhattan and held there for three years before his trial. In the sixth month, Fahad was placed under Special Administrative Measures (SAMs), designed to intensify isolation by, for example, monitoring even attorney/client communications and placing anyone having any contact with the prisoner under gag orders. The original intent of SAMs was to prevent a prisoner from ordering organized crime hits, but these days the majority of prisoners under SAMs are Muslims accused of terrorism-related charges. In 2010, the day before his trial was set, Fahad made a plea bargain to reduce the charges from four to one. He was sentenced to 15 years in ADX Florence. Initially he was under SAMs, but those were lifted in 2011. Thus attorney Kebriaei can now report that Fahad, after six years in solitary, has trouble concentrating, and that the man in the next cell hanged himself.
Ahmed Abu Ali Sarah Khasawinah described her friend Ahmed Abu Ali’s ordeal. An American of Palestinian heritage born in Texas, Ahmed grew up in Falls Church, Virginia, where he was valedictorian of his high school graduating class. He began studying at the University of Maryland, and then his dream came true when he received a scholarship for the University of Medina in Saudi Arabia. While taking his final exam on June 6, 2003, Saudi security agents arrested him. His family learned about Ahmed’s arrest days later when the FBI raided their MARCH/APRIL 2014
home in Virginia. During 20 months in Saudi prisons, Ahmed Abu Ali allegedly was tortured, denied a lawyer, and forced to sign a confession. In May 2004, the FBI told the Abu Ali family that there was no active investigation against Ahmed. But the following February, Ahmed was transferred to U.S. custody and charged with nine counts of terrorism, including conspiring to assassinate President George W. Bush. When the charges were read in court, Ahmed’s friends and family laughed, but the court disallowed any mention of torture and ruled that his confession was voluntary. On March 3, 2006, after allowing secret evidence and unidentified witnesses, the court sentenced Ahmed Abu Ali to 30 years. The family appealed, but the appellate court converted his sentence to life. Like Fahad Hashmi, Ahmed is under Special Administrative Measures in ADX Florence. Prisoners under SAMs are allowed eight books a month, but some books are forbidden as threats to national security, including President Barack Obama’s Dreams of My Father. Khasawinah concluded by saying, “Ahmed has been silenced. WE must be his voice.”
Shifa Sadequee The Sadequees are a BangladeshiAmerican family. Shifa and his older sister Sonali both we re b o r n a n d raised in the U.S. Sonali and other family members came from Atlanta, Georgia for the launching of No Separate Justice. In 2006, Shifa, then 19, and his father were in Bangladesh for Shifa’s wedding. Two weeks later, eight men stopped the newly-wedded couple in their car and took Shifa away. The family did not know who took him or why. His father went to the Bangladeshi press. Then Sonali, in Georgia, received a call at 3 a.m. from Alaska. It was from a lawyer assigned to Shifa, who he said was being extradited on terrorism charges. “Brace yourself,” he told her. “You’re in for a long journey.” The FBI accused Shifa of making false statements during an FBI interview, but that charge was apparently only to convince Bangladesh to extradite him. It was later dropped and replaced by four terrorism charges, including photographing THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
monuments in Washington, DC and going to a paintball park in Georgia. Shifa was placed in pre-trial solitary confinement in a prison in Atlanta for three years. At his trial in 2009, no mention was allowed of his capture, rendition, or pre-trial detentions in Bangladesh or the U.S. He was convicted of providing aid to terrorist groups and sentenced to 17 years, which he is now serving in a Communication Management Unit (CMU) in the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana (see May/June 2007 Washington Report, p. 12).
Tarek Mehanna On Oct. 21, 2008, Tamer Mehanna dropped his brother Tarek at the airport. Fifteen minutes later FBI agents threw Tarek on the ground and arrested him. The two brothers were born in the U.S. Tamer described how Tarek as a boy used to think that Egypt, where his family originated, was dirty and primitive. But then Tarek began studying his own culture and religion. By his twenties, Tarek had become a leader in the Boston Muslim community. In 2004 he took a trip to Yemen. This, Tamer said, was the spark for the powder keg. Upon Tarek’s return and for four years thereafter, the FBI tried to recruit him as an informant, but he always refused. Both brothers earned doctorates in pharmacology. Tarek was en route to a prestigious appointment at the King Fahad Medical City in Saudi Arabia when FBI agents tackled him at the airport. Tarek spent four months in solitary confinement while his family mortgaged everything to get him out on $1.25 million bail. A year later he was again arrested at 4 a.m. in his family home in Sudbury, Massachusetts as a “threat to the community.” There were no new charges and this time bail was denied. Tarek spent two years in pre-trial solitary confinement, then in 2011 was convicted of material support for terrorism, including translating an ancient Arabic text and sharing it on the Internet. His trial lasted 35 days. Most of those days, Tamer related, his brother was not even mentioned; it was all Osama bin Laden. Like Shifa Sadequee, Tarek is in the CMU in Terre Haute. Tamer asked the audience to think of somebody they loved, then to Continued on page 47 41
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Extraordinary Speakers Inspire Audience at CAIR-SV 11th Annual Banquet
Northern California Chronicle
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By Elaine Pasquini
ABOVE: Mehdi Hasan (l) and Wajahat Ali speak at CAIR-SV’s fund-raising banquet in Sacramento. INSET: Glenn Greenwald addresses the CAIRSV audience by video from Rio de Janeiro. he Council on American-Islamic Relations, Sacramento Valley chapter (CAIR-SV), drew some 1,000 guests to its 11th annual banquet held Nov. 23 at the McClellan Convention Center on the outskirts of California’s capital city. Mehdi Hasan, political director of the Huffington Post UK, delivered the highly anticipated keynote address, inspiring audience applause a half-dozen times and a standing ovation. Noting that many Americans are disappointed in President Barack Obama for such failures as not closing Guantanamo prison, increased drone strikes and NSA spying, Hasan opined that no one would disagree with Obama’s statements in his second inaugural address that: “What makes America exceptional are the bonds that hold together the most diverse nation on earth. The belief that our destiny is shared; that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future generations.” A British citizen, Hasan travels to the U.S. about four times a year and is a big fan of American democracy and the U.S. Constitution—which “embodies Islamic ethics,” he pointed out. “It embodies values that Muslims admire, defend and promote. Upholding and protecting human
T
Elaine Pasquini is a free-lance journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. 42
rights are our shared values. Being a citizen in a democracy gives you freedom and rights, but it also includes duties and obligations to others in our communities.” Although Islamophobia worldwide is not receding, “America has probably the least issues about expressing your Islamic faith in the public sphere,” he told the predominantly Muslim audience, adding that Sacramento is one of the most integrated cities in the United States. “We all need to make a moral case for the equal dignity of all people, regardless of race, gender, or sexuality,” he asserted. “Fighting for people’s dignity and mutual respect, refusing in the words of the late Edward Said to ‘denigrate, demonize or dehumanize.’ What we have to do is fight hate and bigotry wherever we see it, wherever we find it, and no one should be demonized or attacked because they are gay in exactly the same way that we should not be demonized or attacked because we are Muslims. Let’s reach out to fellow minority communities and let’s stand with others who have been on the receiving end of hate, bigotry and discrimination. This is what tonight is all about—supporting and standing with those who fight for justice, equality, human rights, and civil liberties for all human beings.” THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
Former Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald, now an investigative journalist in a new media organization co-founded by eBay creator Pierre Omidyar, addressed the audience via video recording from Brazil. The journalist, possibly best known for his reports on National Security Agency spying based on documents provided by former contractor Edward Snowden, praised CAIR’s human rights work. The evening’s other speakers included Wajahat Ali, co-host of Al Jazeera America’s daily talk show “The Stream,” and Mark Gonzales, social entrepreneur and impact speaker. Encouraging the audience to donate generously in order for the human rights organization to continue its important activities, CAIRSV executive director Basim Elkarra led the fundraising effort.
Service and Media Awards Ceremony Honoring the outstanding service of individuals and organizations in the Sacramento Valley area is a highlight of every annual CAIRSV banquet. Ossama Kamel, a student of international relations and business management at Cosumnes River College, received the Outstanding Youth Service Award in recognition of his activism and leadership in service to his community. Currently, the 19year-old serves on the City of Elk Grove Multicultural Committee, developing awareness campaigns, educating and empowering communities, and providing guidance to the city council on issues relating to diversity. He is the assistant youth director of the Muslim American Society Youth Sacramento and regularly leads halaqas (educational events on Islam) at the Muslim Community and Youth Center in Elk Grove. A life-changing experience, said the Egyptian-born Kamel, was returning to his homeland during the revolution, documenting the election process and interviewing Egyptians. Ras Siddiqui, a writer and journalist based in Placer County, California, was given the Fairness and Integrity in Media Award for his unwavering commitment to journalistic values and excellence in coverMARCH/APRIL 2014
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Through various events held in Marin County, 14 Friends of Palestine has raised funds to support humanitarian and human rights projects for the Palestinian people, including helping 14year-old Khitam Qanoo’, who lives in a refugee camp in Gaza and attends the Atfaluna School for the Deaf. Fund-raisers held in 2013 included a performance by vocalist Soha Al-Jurf and Sing We Enchanted, a talk by attorney and activist Steve Bingham, a screening of the film “Where Should the Birds Fly,” a performance by satirical songster Dave Lippman, and a memorial for Rachel Corrie featuring Middle Eastern music, dance and a talk by Greta Berlin (see June/July 2013 Washington Report, p. 43). In nine years the group has raised some $125,000 to support Palestinian causes. The afternoon culminated with the auction of artist George Kosinski’s watercolor painting “Jerusalem.” Commissioned by a resident of the holy city in 1997, when Kosinski was living and working in the region, the artwork recreates the dramatic view from an apartment in Abu Tor of the
Boycott Israeli Goods, Say Women in Black During their Nov. 29 peace vigil in San Francisco’s Union Square, members of Women in Black, Jewish Voice for Peace, Northern California Friends of Sabeel and Students for Justice in Palestine distributed flyers to shoppers urging them not to purchase products produced by companies opMARCH/APRIL 2014
erating in illegal Israeli settlements on the occupied Palestinian West Bank. Such companies include SodaStream, whose plant is in Mishor Adumim Industrial Park in the illegal settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, built on land stolen from Palestinian villages. Recognizing that the international boycott against the apartheid government of South Africa resulted in the dismantling of its racist policies, Women in Black joins with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee of Palestine to call for a boycott to end the racist practices of the state of Israel.
14 Friends of Palestine Celebrates
George Kosinski’s painting “Jerusalem.”
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ing community events. For over two decades the veteran journalist has written for the Pakistan Link newspaper, in addition to contributing articles to Siliconeer Magazine, India Currents, India West and TwoCircles.net. In the late 1990s, Siddiqui reported for this magazine, including covering a conference hosted by the Sacramento chapter of the American-Muslim Alliance in observation of Pakistan’s 50th anniversary featuring the late executive editor of the Washington Report, Richard H. Curtiss, as one of the speakers. (See June/July 1997 Washington Report, p. 119.) The non-profit Ar-Razzaq Food Bank, operated solely by volunteers to provide food assistance to the needy, received the Distinguished Service Award for its commitment to offering vital social services to Sacramento Valley residents. Volunteers at the food bank mainly comprise community members and representatives from local mosques and Islamic organizations. Its financial support is derived primarily from charitable contributions, along with some in-kind donations. The organization’s outreach program includes food and financial assistance to the homeless and monthly stipends to students at the Mustard Seed School. The volunteers also send food supplies to the Loaves & Fishes Soup Kitchen during the month of Ramadan.
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ABOVE: CAIR-SV award recipient Ossama Kamel. RIGHT (l-r): CAIR-SV president Wazhma Mojaddidi and executive director Basim Elkarra present the Fairness and Integrity in Media Award to journalist Ras Siddiqui.
Founder Jane Jewell.
Nine Years of Activism San Rafael-based 14 Friends of Palestine celebrated its ninth anniversary with a Dec. 8 luncheon hosted and prepared by co-founder Jane Jewell and her husband, Christopher. THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
Old City, which includes the Dome of the Rock. The painting was subsequently donated to 14 Friends to raise money for Palestinian humanitarian causes. A San Diego-based Palestinian supporter submitted the winning bid for the painting. The $1,000 will go toward the Gaza’s Ark project, a peaceful action to challenge Israel’s blockade of Gaza, stimulate the economy and encourage trade. To achieve these goals, local Palestinians will build a boat using existing resources, which on completion will sail out of Gaza with a crew of internationals and Palestinians to deliver Palestinian products to international businesses and NGOs. Presently, Israel prohibits Palestinian boats from going beyond three nautical miles from the Gaza coast. This arbitrary restriction has caused incredible hardship on local fishermen, as the limited coastal area has been overfished. ❑ 43
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MPAC Marks “25 Years on a Road Less Traveled”
Southern California Chronicle
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By Pat and Samir Twair
wenty-five Years on the Road Less was the appropriate theme of the 13th annual convention of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) on Dec. 14 in the Long Beach Convention Center. Nearly 1,000 delegates were on hand for the daylong agenda of panel discussions and presentations, culminating with a banquet tribute to Dr. Maher Hathout and talk by scholar John Esposito. Plaudits to Dr. Hathout, who has served MPAC as its senior adviser since it was founded in 1988, were launched by Syrian-American hip-hop artist Omar Offendum. Recalling his recent conversations with Dr. Hathout, he recited lines of poetry written by the mentor of MPAC over the years. Hoda Elshishtawy of MPAC’s Washington, DC office described the many talks Dr. Hathout had with the youths of the Southern California Islamic Center. “When it was the time to be married,” she added, “he would be there with profound advice.” Dr. Rev. Ed Bacon, rector of All Saints Church of Pasadena, commented that whenever there was a crisis facing the interfaith community, Dr. Hathout spoke with wisdom that fortified the central mission of Jews, Christians and Muslims to make peace.
“TTraveled”
Pat and Samir Twair are free-lance journalists based in Los Angeles. 44
By the time the curtains parted and Dr. Hathout appeared in a wheelchair, the audience rose to give him a standing ovation. Occasionally his voice was weak, but his trademark sense of humor brought laughter at times—although his message was heartfelt and serious. Under his counsel, MPAC has created a national voice for American Muslims in government, the media, entertainment industry, interfaith and civic society. “I’m grateful to God for your support of MPAC and for your clarity of vision,” stated Dr. Hathout, who in the fall disclosed publicly that his physicians are treating him for a form of liver cancer. The retired cardiologist urged Muslims to work together with one voice. God doesn’t have needs, he continued, but we must take care of the environment and of the poor. “We need to turn things around and work together for all people to be equal and under the mercy of God,” he concluded. Dr. Esposito, founding director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, discussed Dr. Hathout’s legacy. “In the 1970s and ’80s, ethnic mosques in the U.S. lived in denial,” he said, “with worshippers planning to return to their country of origin. Dr. Maher Hathout transcended all this at the multicultural Islamic Center of Southern California, where the only spoken language was English.” THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
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MPAC banquet speakers (l-r) Judge Halim Dhanidina, Salam al-Marayati and Haris Tarin.
Dr. Maher Hathout. Esposito concluded by citing Dr. Hathout’s often-expressed belief that “Home is not where our grandparents are buried, but where our grandchildren will be raised.” Continuing MPAC’s traveling “Let’s Be Honest” forums, the convention drew together American Muslim artists who use their talents as a tool for building awareness and change for its mid-day panel, entitled “The Arts, Identity and Activism.” Special performances by Offendum and the Reminders, a hip-hop duo of Big Samir and Aja Black, opened the session. The entertainers then joined Sheikh Yassir Fazaga, the religious leader of Orange County Islamic Foundation in Mission Viejo, in a discussion about how Muslims are viewed by others. The afternoon forum was titled “Fast Forward: Innovators Shaping Our Future.” Participants were Khadijah Abdullah, founder of Reaching All HIV + Muslims in America (RAHMA); Salima El-Moslimany, a photographer and activist in the Saudi campaign for allowing women to drive; Nadeem Mazen, member of the Cambridge, MA, city council; Nadia Roumani, founder of the Muslim Giving Project and MARCH/APRIL 2014
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the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute; and Amir Sulaiman, Defjam poet and recording artist. The closing panel explored the question “Is There a Future for Political Islam?” Discussants were Esposito, Dr. Hamid Mavani, author of Religious Authority and Political Thought in Twelver Shi’ism: From Ali to Post-Khomeini, and Haroon Moghul, a fellow at the New America Foundation.
MARCH/APRIL 2014
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Who Was Jesus? “The one thing I’ve discovered is that when it comes to Jesus, people have a lot to say,” quipped scholar Reza Aslan at the start of his Jan. 12 discussion of his bestseller, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. He was addressing a packed audience in Pasadena’s Pacific Asia Museum sponsored by the Pakistan Arts Council. “To research the life of Jesus is a daunting task,” said Aslan, also the author of There Is No God But God, “because so little was written about what he actually did and said during his brief life.” He went on to comment: ”The images of Jesus are filtered through the artist’s conception, so he appears to be blond and fair-skinned to Europeans, Negroid to Africans, Asian to those in the Far East or East Indian in the sub-continent. “The Christ of faith was whatever the worshipper expects of him—a man of peace, a philosopher—even in some instances, a warrior,” stated Aslan, who teaches at the University of California, Riverside. “The Jesus of history was a Jew with 72 Jewish followers mostly in Galilee.” To understand Jesus, Aslan continued, one must know about His world, which was dominated by the temple priesthood of the Jews, the Herodian landholding elite, and the military that protected both. The question is, was He Christ with an utterly unique, innovative religion, or Jesus, a man whose vision was in line with Judaism? An audience member asked if there is evidence Jesus existed, to which Aslan replied that there is a slim reference written by a Roman in 94 A.D. that James, the brother of the one they called “messiah,” was killed. In a society where people had no last names, Aslan considered this pretty good evidence that this James was the one of Jesus’ four brothers who preached His message for 40 years. James followed the laws of Moses and was opposed to the ideas of Paul, who revered Jesus as the creator of a new religion: Christianity. Paul was an educated Roman citizen who never met Jesus, but was fascinated with his resurrection and envisioned his function as introducing the teachings of Jesus to the
TOP: Author Reza Aslan. ABOVE: Razan Ghazzawi (l) and Raed Fares. gentiles. The early Christians, Aslan pointed out, had scant luck in persuading Jews to accept Jesus as the messiah.
Kafr Nabel Satire Just as the villagers of the West Bank village of Bil’in infuriate Israel with their wickedly witty weekly demonstrations taunting the Israeli army for encroaching on their land with the apartheid wall, so the cartoons and slogans of Raed Fares that lampoon Syria’s regime poke a finger in the eye of Bashar Assad. A cartoon that’s become a Fares classic depicts Vladimir Putin as Leonardo DiCaprio embracing Assad in a dress as Kate Winslet on the prow of the Titanic. A caption is unnecessary, since any Syrian over the age of eight is aware of Russia’s role in protecting Assad. Fares’ slogans tend to be in English because he wants the world to be aware of his messages, which can be accessed on his website, <http://kafranbelposters.tumblr.com>. At a Dec. 21 program in the Levantine Cultural Center, Fares was introduced as THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
the spirit of the Syrian revolution. Kenan Rahmani of the Syrian American Council (SAC) Washington, DC office served as an English translator for Fares, who now lives incognito in Syria. He and Razan Ghazzawi were in the U.S. on a SAC-sponsored tour. Ghazzawi is a feminist and blogger who received the Front Line Defenders Award in 2012 after she, her boss and coworkers at the Syrian Center for Media Freedom were arrested and imprisoned by the government when the center was raided on Feb. 16, 2012. She was released after three weeks, but her boss remains behind bars. Her blog can be accessed at <http://razan ghazzawi.org>. According to Rahmani, Fares put his small town of Kafr Nabel (“village of arrows”) on the map as the creative voice against the Assad regime for his biting political cartoons and sarcastic slogans. In the early days of the Arab spring, Rahmani explained, he and Fares asked each other how they in Kafr Nabel, located in Idlib province, could effectively demonstrate for democracy. Fares’ first banner calling for the downfall of Assad was displayed publicly in January 2011. Fares kept churning out his caustic messages until the army entered the town in July 2011. Houses were burned and destroyed. Activists fled and lived nearby in tents. In August 2012, Kafr Nabel was liberated, but the government continued to shell and bomb it. “Every shop and house was hit,” Fares said, “but the resistance never stopped.” Expatriates send about $1,000 a month to enable Fares to open a media center which broadcasts radio news of the resistance and a children’s educational program, prints a magazine, turns out Fares’ provocative art work, and broadcasts short films aimed at informing the world of the town’s desperate situation. Eventually al-Qaeda-type foreign fighters infiltrated the area. “The people resent Islamists who order our women to cover up and fight the Free Syrian Army (FSA) instead of the government,” Fares said through his interpreter. Fares’ secularism and his poster addressed to Islamists stating, “To all of those not Syrian, please leave our country,” has made him a target of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). ““The people are confident they can drive out the foreigners. They have tasted independence from tyranny, but they know a long struggle is ahead,” said Fares, who was shot twice Jan. 28 after returning to Syria from the U.S. ❑ 45
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Growing Intolerance, Focus on Israel Driving Youth Away From Organized American Jewry Israel andJudaism
By Allan C. Brownfeld
s the organized American Jewish com-
Amunity has made identification with
the State of Israel the centerpiece of its activities, more and more young people, as well as others, have withdrawn from participation. Israeli flags are to be found in many synagogues, aliyah, or emigration to Israel, is promoted as a virtue, and young people are told that Israel is their “homeland” and that they are in “exile” in their own country. This is hardly a message which resonates with them. At the same time, we are witnessing increased limitations upon free and open debate within the Jewish community and a growing intolerance of diversity which are alienating an increasing number of men and women of all ages, but particularly the young. In an article headlined “The American Jewish Thought Police On Patrol,” Marshall Breger, a professor at Catholic University, writes in the Nov.-Dec. 2013 issue of Moment that the organized American Jewish community has imposed “increased pressure for conformity and ‘orthodoxy’ in political views: recent bans on the use of Hillel facilities by Jewish students who support the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement; efforts to cancel Jewish Federation funding of theater groups that mount controversial plays drawn from conflicts in Israeli society; and efforts to deny a communal voice to Jews who oppose settlements on the West Bank. This is trouble for anyone who cares about the American Jewish community and the future of Israel.” The desire to project a picture of “Jewish unity” with regard to Israel, argues Breger, now “encompasses the rejection of controversial political positions even when they are held by a substantial number...of Israel’s population. It is passing strange that even where 35, 40 or 49 percent (let alone 51 or 55 percent) of the Israeli population is prepared to criticize specific actions of the Israeli government, the American Jewish thought police will censor similar discussion. Even more absurd, any semblance of the robust political debate one can see daily in Israeli ºAllan 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. 46
newspapers and Israeli plays, books and movies is verboten in the American Jewish establishment’s vision of a Jewish polity.”
he younger genera“T tion of Jews demands a new paradigm for engaging with Israel.” The examples of such efforts to stifle free speech are many. The Jewish Student Union at the University of California, Berkeley, rejected the membership application of the student arm of J Street, J Street U. Thus, the student branch of an organization whose annual conference is attended by Israeli ministers and members of the Knesset, including Likud members, was deemed outside the Jewish consensus. According to the Dec. 29, 2013 New York Times, “Hillel’s...staff members on more than a dozen campuses have refused to allow J Street U...to co-sponsor events. The explanation was that donors to Hillel do not support J Street, which supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but is critical of Israeli settlement building and the occupation of the West Bank.” Recently, there was an effort to have the Boston Jewish Federation cut its ties with Leonard Fein, the co-founder of Moment, a columnist for The Forward and a Labor Zionist leader. His crime was writing a column advocating that American Jews not visit Ariel, a settlement 15 kilometers into the West Bank whose location makes territorial contiguity for any future Palestinian state virtually impossible. Leading Israeli intellectuals, including Amos Oz, David Grossman, actors of the Israeli National Theater Habima, as well as many average Israelis, have refused to visit or perform in Ariel for the same reason. In Washington, DC, a group calling itself Citizens Opposed to Propaganda Masquerading as Art sought to force the local Jewish Community Center’s highly regarded Theater J to cancel a performance of a controversial play by the award-winning Israeli playwright Motti Lerner. Citizens Opposed claimed that the script of his play “The Admission” defamed Israel by drawing on disputed claims of a 1948 massacre of Palestinians. The group urged THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
Washington Jews to withold their contributions to the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington unless the Federation canceled its grant to Theater J. On American college and university campuses, Hillel, the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, has attempted to sharply limit debate about Israel. At Binghamton University, a Hillel student leader was forced to resign after showing a film about Palestinians and inviting the filmmaker’s brother to speak. At Harvard in November 2013, Avraham Burg, the former speaker of the Israeli Knesset, spoke in an undergraduate dormitory after being barred from speaking at Harvard Hillel. Burg, a critic of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and of the increasingly authoritarian policies of Israel’s right wing, was allowed to attend an invitation-only dinner at the Hillel building, but was forbidden from hosting the event there since it was co-sponsored by the Harvard College Palestinian Solidarity Committee.
Harvard Hillel’s Lack of Solidarity “It’s such a shame that Harvard Hillel would not allow an open discussion about Israel to take place within its walls,” said Sandra Korn, who helped organize Burg’s talk. “Hillel should be a space for students to engage with Jewish issues, regardless of religious or political beliefs.” Yoav Schaefer, a Harvard student and an Israel Defense Forces veteran, wrote in the Dec. 17, 2013 edition of Tablet: “The Jewish community in general and Hillel International in particular need to recognize that the younger generation of Jews demands a new paradigm for engaging with Israel that reflects both their deep commitment to the Jewish state and their awareness...of the very real problems of the ongoing occupation and settlement growth. These are policies that many young Jews see as both morally indefensible and inimical to Israel’s future...I have often been disappointed by the one-dimensional discourse about Israel among my American peers...If the Jewish community and Hillel do not promote a more sophisticated conversation about Israel they risk alienating a growing number of young Jews who want to be engaged but who are frustrated or simply turned off by the tenor of the existing debate.” In an article written for the Jewish TeleMARCH/APRIL 2014
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graphic Agency and published in Jewish newspapers across the country, Lex Rofes, a senior at Brown University and a student representative on the board of Hillel, and Simone Zimmerman, a senior at the University of California at Berkeley and president of the J Street U National Student Board, write that, “While we both found in Hillel a supportive community, when it came to our relationship with Israel, Hillel was not always as welcoming. One of us often avoided expressing political views in Hillel board meetings for fear of losing credibility. The other openly expressed her political views, which was met at times with harsh criticism.”
No Pluralism on Israel While Hillel strives to ensure religious pluralism, they point out that “On Israel, the same pluralism is lacking. Students who express ambivalence toward Zionism, or support boycotts of Israeli products, often feel they are not welcome in their campus Jewish community.” While the Hillel guidelines state that the organization will not host programs that deny Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state with secure borders, Rofes and Zimmerman report that ”Some Hillels have hosted speakers that reject the possibility of compromise with the Palestinians, rendering that future unfeasible. Meanwhile, proposed events with former Israeli combatants critical of their service are often met with requests to keep the event ‘private,’ requirements that a less critical voice ‘balance’ the presentation or outright refusals to host the discussion. Such requests are rarely made of more right-leaning speakers.” The authors conclude: “Too many of our friends left Hillel because they felt alienated and stifled in raising questions or voicing their views on Israel. Too many have opted to disengage entirely rather than conforming to a community that tells them they do not fully belong.” Early in 2013, the Progressive Student Alliance at Harvard launched an effort, called Open Hillel, to challenge Hillel’s guidelines. Its petition was signed by 800 Jewish students from diverse perspectives and was presented at a recent Hillel International board meeting. In December, Swarthmore Hillel declared itself to be the first “Open Hillel”—that is, the first Hillel to reject the guidelines established by Hillel International concerning discussions about Israel. These guidelines, students at Swarthmore asserted in a resolution passed Dec. 8, 2013, present a “monolithic face pertaining to Zionism and stifle healthy debate around Israel.” In response, Eric Fingerhut, CEO of Hillel International, declared that “anti-Zionists will not be permitted to speak using the MARCH/APRIL 2014
Hillel name or under the Hillel roof, under any circumstances.” One wonders if he knows anything about the long tradition of Jewish opposition to Zionism—by Orthodox and Reform Jews alike. Hillel was established to promote Judaism—not Zionism, but its mission seems to have changed dramatically. What the organized Jewish community is presenting, and what young people are increasingly rejecting, is not Judaism, but something quite different. Making Israel the virtual object of worship, focus and attention is a form of idolatry. This has corrupted Judaism. As one of the leading Jewish theologians of the 20th century, Abraham Joshua Heschel, said: “Judaism is not a religion of space and does not worship the soil. So, too, the State of Israel is not the climax of Jewish history, but a test of the integrity of the Jewish people and the competence of Judaism.” As a result of its commitment to free speech, Swarthmore Hillel appears to be thriving. One student, Hanna Kipnis-King, says that, “Hillel is attracting significant new Jewish membership as a result of its resolution.” Another student, Jacob Adenbaum, said: “Swarthmore has a definite and distinct community of very, very progressive Jews. A lot of these people weren’t interested in being part of Hillel because of the fact that they didn’t feel their political views were welcome.” In a Jan. 2 letter to The New York Times, Michele Sachar, whose grandfather, Abram Sachar, originally built Hillel, and whose father, the historian Howard Sachar, was a leading scholar of American Jewish history, writes that, “For centuries, the strongest [Jewish] communities...have been those that encouraged discussion and debate. Our willingness to engage dissenters rested on logic and morality. I fear that the trend to stifle legitimate criticism of Israel comes from a collective fear: that the occupation of the West Bank has forced Israel and those who unquestionably support it to cede the moral high ground. For Israel’s sake and our own, we must re-embrace the tradition of open discussion of any topic with intellectual rigor.” ❑
“Jewish State of Israel”… Continued from page 11
would presumably be granted. If formalizing the status of Israel as a “Jewish State” were a genuine concern of the Israeli government or a deeply felt need of the Israeli people, and not simply a cynical gambit to achieve and excuse failure in negotiations, and if the Israeli government wished to proclaim this status officially to THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
the world, the road is open and nothing is stopping Israel from achieving this on its own. However, Israel’s preferred self-identification and official name are not matters in which the State of Palestine has any role to play. If the Israeli government does not dare to proclaim its state officially “Jewish” (and accept the concomitant risks of doing so), how can it demand that those whose country has been conquered and colonized, and whose people have been dispossessed and dispersed, to make the State of Israel possible do so on its behalf? Whether or not the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah has any hope (or fear) that the current round of negotiations will produce anything, it should make the artificiality of the Israeli government’s demand and the reasonableness of the Palestinian refusal to accept it emphatically clear, in terms that the international community, and particularly Western governments and peoples, can understand. ❑
No Separate Justice… Continued from page 41
imagine never being able to see him except maybe once a month behind a glass screen, never again being able to hug him. (For Tarek’s sentencing statement, see June/July 2012 Washington Report, p. 29.) These are just four of the more than 500 cases of Muslims who, since 9/11, are in the federal justice system, which likes to boast of a 99 percent conviction rate. Tarek Ismail, a Human Rights Fellow at Columbia University Law School, described the pattern present in all of these prosecutions. The investigative phase is often initiated by infiltrators into Muslim communities, leading to sting operations, especially on vulnerable young Muslim men. There are now 15,000 informants on the FBI payroll, Ismail added, a tenfold increase since the days when informants were mostly used in cases against organized crime. During pre-trial, the defendant can spend years in solitary, often under SAMs, making for a difficult attorney/client situation. At trial prejudicial evidence such as news sites visited is allowed, by concealed, anonymous witnesses. Faisal Hashmi calls it a “rigged game. Arabs are guilty until proven innocent.” No Separate Justice is an initiative of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Amnesty International USA, Educators for Civil Liberties, and CUNY Law School’s Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsibility. Its website is <no-separatejustice.org> and its Facebook Community page can be found at <www.facebook. com/NoSeparateJustice>. ❑ 47
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Arab American Activism Mayoral Candidate Andy Shallal Takes a “Peace Walk”
Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. Holding up “Andy” signs, they carried Shallal’s campaign banner. The Peace Walk program featured community leaders who urged people to get more involved in efforts to improve their neighborhoods, educate their children and protect their cultural heritage. Shallal advised the audience to be wary of career
sadors and high-ranking officials from the World Bank, Congress and the State Department, celebrated distinguished ArabAmerican artists and photographers whose work promotes the power and beauty of their community and culture in the United States. Sameh Alfonse, who heads the Arab League’s Congressional and Media Affairs office in Washington, DC, welcomed attendees on behalf of hosts the Arab League and the Council of Arab Ambassadors, and introduced Andrew Gelfuso, vice president of the Office for Trade Promotion at the International Trade Center. Gelfuso said he was honored to host this important celebration. The Arab League’s Ambassador to the United States Mohammed Al-Hussaini AlSharif reminded listeners that the previous Arab-American Day celebrated past accomplishments of the Arab and Muslim world. This year’s reception, he noted, highlighted the achievements of more than 30 Arab-American artists who participated in the spectacular art and photo exhibit. Looking out into the sea of Arab-American dignitaries, Ambassador Al-Sharif said, “Today, Arab Americans are an important component of the diverse social, ethnic and religious mosaic of this great nation. Their achievements are reflected in the leadership positions many of them have acquired as senators, congressmen, ambassadors, generals, mayors [referring to Busboys & Poets restaurateur Andy Shallal, who is running for DC mayor] and scientists, to name just a few.” Arab Americans provide a hint of this country’s diversity, Ambassador Al-Sharif added. “You play an important role in America’s melting pot. You’re a valued part of the American mosaic.” Speaking on behalf of the Council of Arab Ambassadors, the Sultanate of
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PHOTO COURTESY ANDY SHALLAL 4 MAYOR CAMPAIGN
Iraqi-born social entrepreneur Andy Shallal hit the ground running after his Nov. 8 announcement that he’d run for mayor of the nation’s capital. Shallal is the founder of Busboys & Poets (which now has four locations in the Washington, DC metropolitan area) and Eatonville Restaurant. He says he was motivated to create a restaurant with a space where “racial and cultural connections would be uplifted, a place where arts, culture, and politics would indeed come together and collide…A place that people would come to, and take a deliberate pause, and feed their Mayoral candidate Andy Shallal (c) at a “Peace Walk” on Martin Luther, Jr. King Ave. in Washington, DC. mind, body, and soul.” He has worked to change parts of DC, and now he’s hoping voters politicians who disrespect people living east of the Anacostia River, the poorest part will help him change the city itself. “I found out I really love campaigning,” of the city. “They get your votes. They Shallal told the Washington Report. “I sim- raise your hopes. Then you don’t see them ply love being on the streets of DC talking for another four years,” he said. “That won’t happen when I’m elected, because I to people.” Thanks to his network of high-profile don’t have to answer to big corporate long-time activist friends, Shallal also has donors. I only answer to my conscience and many celebrities endorsing his campaign. to you—the people. It’s time for fresh lead“Lethal Weapon” star and fellow activist ership and a new vision!” For more information visit <www. Danny Glover joined Shallal on Jan. 11 for —Delinda C. Hanley a fund-raiser and public forum. At a Jan. andy4dc.com>. 14 fund-raiser, bestselling author George Pelecanos, writer/producer of HBO hits League of Arab States Holds Second “The Wire” and “Treme,” read excerpts Arab-American Day from his latest crime novel, The Cut. Folk Somehow the League of Arab States manmusician Peter Yarrow, of the trio Peter, aged to top its first Arab-American Day rePaul and Mary, promised to perform at a ception, which followed a private viewing Jan. 30 fund-raiser. of the award-winning exhibition “1001 InShallal attended Dr. Martin Luther King, ventions” at the National Geographic Jr. Sunday Jan. 19 at All Souls Church, building in Washington, where the pastor, Rev. Robert Hardies, DC. That exhibit celebrated joked about seeing so many members of his scientific and technological church at Busboys & Poets restaurants that contributions of Muslim they could be declared “another office.” and Arab civilizations in Hardies’ sermon included an urgent call to the past thousand years. resist racism, and he announced that All The second Arab-AmeriSouls was launching a “campaign of resis- can Day reception, on Dec. tance” to counter voter suppression laws 5, 2013, transformed the that would make it harder for people of Ronald Reagan Building color and students to vote. “We can and and International Trade must resist this trend of voter suppression, Center in Washington, DC this new Jim Crow,” he declared. into an exquisite art Shallal and his team of young volunteers gallery, curated by Dagmar joined Southeast Washington, DC residents Painter and Sylvia Ragheb. in a “Peace Walk” on Jan. 20, the official More than 400 guests, in- Arab Americans, including artists and dignitaries, gathered federal holiday celebrating Dr. Martin cluding 12 Arab ambas- for a group photo. 48
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Muslim American Activism American Muslims for Palestine Hosts 6th Annual Conference At least 2,000 people gathered at the Crowne Plaza O’Hare in Rosemont, IL on Nov. 28 for American Muslims for Palestine’s (AMP) sixth annual U.S. conference. Along with a celebration of Palestine’s rich heritage and an in-depth analysis of the issues surrounding the cause of Palestine, the conference offered attendees a full proMARCH/APRIL 2014
gram of panels, workshops, film screenings and a colorful bazaar. The theme of the threeday event, “A Blessed Land: a Noble Cause,” brought together more than 40 national and international speakers who discussed topics affecting Palestinians and the Palestinian Diaspora. Although those issues can be a source of pain, the conference created a sense of hope, optimism and vigor. “There’s an aspect of sadness when gathering for AMP national board member Dr. Osama Abu Irshaid (at a cause that still seems dis- podium) and AMP chairman Dr. Hatem Bazian inspire tant,” acknowledged AMP supporters of Palestine. chairman Dr. Hatem Bazian. “Palestinians all over the world are still gathering for this blessed cause…AMP is 100 percent committed to the cause of Palestine.” Main sessions broke down the religious, political and economical components of the Palestinian cause and featured some of the most well-known activists and scholars of these The audience enjoyed lively Palestinian folk dancing. topics. Israeli historian Dr. llan Pappe; Dr. Rashid Khalidi, the Edward borhood of Arab East Jerusalem. AMP beSaid Chair of Arab Studies at Columbia stowed upon Um Kamel the prestigious Al University; AMP chairman Bazian; expert Quds Award for her courage and bravery. In smaller, more focused workshops, political analyst and national AMP board member Dr. Osama Abu Irshaid; AMP conference-goers learned practical tools for media director Kristin Szremski; the Rev. affecting change in their own communities Donald Wagner, executive director of and schools. From leadership training to a Friends of Sabeel North America; Jewish workshop on influencing elected officials Voice for Peace representative Daniel Ka- to how to introduce Palestine into the plan; and community activists Dr. Manal classroom, participants engaged with panFakhoury and Lamis Deek were just a few elists who answered questions and proof the presenters at this year’s conference. vided useful materials. An advanced writTopics ranged from the religious signifi- ing workshop was part of the media traincance of Jerusalem to the ethnic cleansing ing offered during the Campus Activism of Palestine, from a cooking demonstration track as well. Highly anticipated book signings by of recipes from Gaza to U.S. foreign policy and how Jerusalem should be accessible to world-renowned authors Josh Ruebner, all people. The conference opened with an Laila El-Haddad, Pappe, Max Blumenthal analysis of the 1993 Oslo accords, 20 years and Khalidi drew long lines of people eager later, taking a closer look at the outcomes to get their books signed and photos taken and possible steps to take to reach Pales- with the authors, as well as a chance to chat about their work. tine liberation and statehood. While people learned about the Holy People were brought to tears by the gripping presentation via Skype of Um Land, they also celebrated the ancient and Kamel Al Kurd, as she told the tale of her resilient Palestinian history and culture. family living in a tent on their property The bazaar featured booths full of olive oil after being forced out of their home in the and honey as well as traditional Palestinian middle of the night by Israeli soldiers and clothing and jewelry. Participants feasted Jewish settlers in the Sheikh Jarrah neigh- on exquisite Palestinian cuisine and were PHOTOS COURTESY AMP
Oman’s Ambassador to the U.S. Hunaina Al-Mughairy, who has spent eight years in DC, described meeting Arab Americans making a difference in every field. “I have met with distinguished artists, great politicians, talented athletes, brave soldiers, activists, and business leaders, many of whom are among us here tonight retelling the story of success and achievement.” Ambassador Richard J. Schmierer, acting principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, also emphasized the “political, cultural, artistic, educational and scientific contributions that these communities have made to the American fabric.” Speaking on behalf of Secretary of State John Kerry, Schmierer said the State Department meets with Arab Americans across the country and values their insights. He also described increased cooperation between the U.S. and the Arab League, pointing out that “Under the Memorandum of Understanding between the State Department and the Arab League signed last year, we have launched a number of innovative cooperative efforts, including in the areas of humanitarian response and education. Our partnership with the Arab League has also been important in our efforts to achieve Middle East peace.” Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said he will always be proud that he was an Arab American serving in President Barack Obama’s cabinet. As an American of Lebanese descent, he noted the caring nature of Arab Americans. “We help each other, help other communities— that’s the way we are....We are a proud people who accomplish much for America. We care about our country. We give back.” Guests enjoyed traditional Arabic instrumental music and a selection of Arabic food and pastries. Twenty of the thirty Arab-American artists, representing 12 Arab countries, met and exchanged views with a very appreciative audience. —Delinda C. Hanley
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sharpshooters, he is helping the next generation to powerfully resist occupation without throwing a single stone. —Delinda C. Hanley
enchanted by an entertainment line-up, which included Palestinian folk dancing and songs and a riveting play put on by AMP volunteers. —Leen Jaber
Nabila Hilmi, A Retrospective
Music & Arts
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Mohammad Al-Azza’s stunning work documents challenges faced by refugees in Aida Camp. Al-Azza showed a short documentary, “Everyday Nakba” (2011), that has been screened at numerous festivals. It describes a refugee family’s unbelievable struggle to keep water in tanks on their roof. “The nearby settlement has fresh water 24 hours a day. Some summers we have one week with no water,” Al-Azza told viewers. That film mobilized an international movement to improve access to clean water in Aida Refugee Camp and other Palestinian communities. Al-Azza showed photos from three different exhibits he’s produced in Aida Camp. His work depicts poverty and intense military pressure, but it also celebrates the vitality of this community. His first documentary, “Ali Wall,“ won the Global Jury Prize of the “It Is Apartheid Film Contest” (2010). Al-Azza’s award-winning photography focuses international attention on refugee rights and popular protests. By teaching young Palestinians to pick up a camera and film their oppressors, including Israeli tanks and
COURTESY JERUSALEM FUND
The Jerusalem Fund in Washington, DC and the DC Palestinian Film and Arts Festival co-hosted an event called “From These Streets: A Photography and Film Presentation” by Mohammad Al-Azza on Dec. 17. Al-Azza, who teaches young people about photography and documentary production in Aida Refugee Camp’s Lajee Center, shared photos and stories that deeply stirred his audience. Al-Azza’s family fled Beit Jibreen, north of Hebron, in 1948. He was born and grew up in Aida Refugee Camp near Bethlehem. Al-Azza said 5,000 people (half of them youths) from 27 different villages live in Aida. He is rooted in his community, where, he admitted, “it’s difficult to live and hard to leave.” Al-Azza’s images show Palestinian homes packed like sardines, hemmed in by Israel’s illegal Gilo settlement and separation wall. Israel’s wall was built in the camp’s only free space, where kids used to play, AlAzza said. Palestinians protested every day, trying to stop its progress. “More than 100 Palestinians were shot, 400 arrested and 5 children killed, but they built the wall anyway,” he said. When Al-Azza was a child, he threw stones every day like his friends. Then he discovered another way to resist: he began filming Israeli soldiers harassing Palestinians, dangerous watchtowers, cemeteries—”the real story of prisoners in this camp”—to show people on the outside. Al-Azza discussed the challenges journalists face recording demonstrations and clashes. He said his mother begs him not to go, but he tells her he has to, explaining, “I’m the only one who can film it.” He showed amazing photos that captured his own injury, when he was shot in the face by a rubber bullet on a quiet day—no stones—by an Israeli soldier who aimed and fired into his apartment window—all captured on film! Al-Azza spent 17 days in the hospital and another two months hiding, because Israeli soldiers kept searching for him in his house. On his first day back, Al-Azza was beaten and arrested. His crime? Filming, even though he has a journalist’s card. After 11 days in jail and a $500 fine, Al-Azza was released.
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Al-Azza’s Photographs “From These Streets”
The Jerusalem Fund in Washington, DC exhibited a retrospective of watercolors, pastels, ink, collages and mixed medium by Jerusalem-born Nabila Hilmi (19402011) from Jan. 17 to March 7. Like many in the Palestinian Diaspora, much of Hilmi’s life was spent moving and educating herself. She grew up in Egypt, and lived in Jordan and Lebanon before moving to the United States. After earning two law degrees in Lebanon, Hilmi studied art at Beirut University College (BUC), now known as Lebanese American University. She then studied at the Art Students League in New York and the Barnes Foundation in Merion, PA. Before her death, Hilmi reflected on her life and work, writing: “Through the years, I have come to realize that my work reflects the many places I had lived and what these places mean to me. I paint my world, a world tamed by me to embrace my visual memories, past experiences and aspirations. I paint people’s motion in time and space, their constant emotional migration and their search for close, secure relationships within loose boundaries and their own free space. “Having moved to the U.S., a big country, too big, too green for me, I related best to the people. We shared the same human feelings and emotions. I came to understand that they were the tools that connected me to my past and the present. They are also the anchors; the roots that help me step into the future.” Hilmi, one of the most distinguished Palestinian artists in the United States, left a treasure trove of superb art. Her work has been exhibited in national and international venues alike, including the groundbreaking shows “Forces of Change: Artists of the Arab World” at the Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC and “In/Visible” at the inauguration of the Arab American National Museum. Much of her work now resides in Amman, at the Jordan National Gallery and Darat al Funun. —Delinda C. Hanley
Detail, “Motion and Emotion,” 2002. THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
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Des Moines Theater Stages “My Name is Rachel Corrie”
STAFF PHOTO M. GILLESPIE
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“We had a long-term conversation, off Best New Play, and Best Solo Performance and on, with [Chief of Staff] Col. Lawrence for actress Megan Dodds. Wikipedia now Wilkerson, who was our contact when lists well over 50 different productions of Des Moines Onstage presented “My Name [Secretary of State Colin] Powell was in of- “My Name is Rachel Corrie” in the U.S., Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Australia is Rachel Corrie,” the award-winning one- fice,” said Craig Corrie. “Somebody from the family, Cindy’s sis- and South America. —Michael Gillespie woman play composed from the writings of Rachel Corrie, before a sold-out house ters, visited every office on the Hill in both for all three performances on Jan. 10, 11 the Senate and the House over the ensuing Jerusalem Fund’s Souk Is a Holiday couple of years,” he added. “Talking, you Season Favorite and 12. Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American get to know not only members but college student, left her home and school in staff, which is sometimes more imOlympia, WA to work with the Interna- portant. Over the years, some of tional Solidarity Movement (ISM) in Gaza those staffers have gone on to the as part of her senior-year college assign- State Department or the White ment to connect her hometown with Rafah House, so we’ve had contact inside in a sister cities project. On March 16, 2003, the White House, most recently, and less than two months after her arrival, continuing contact with the State while she and seven other ISM volunteers Department.” Craig and Cindy Corrie have made were protecting the home of the Nasralla family, which was threatened with demoli- their daughter’s cause—a just resotion by an Israeli military Caterpillar D9 ar- lution of the on-going humanitarian mored bulldozer, Corrie, wearing an orange crisis in Palestine—their own, while vest and clearly visible to the bulldozer dri- continuing to press for the “thorough, credible, and transparent in- Kylie Hilali plays the qanoun. ver, was run over and crushed to death. In the decade since her killing, Corrie has vestigation” that Israeli Prime Minisbeen widely recognized as a martyr and, ter Ariel Sharon promised President along with other young, nonviolent ISM George W. Bush in the days after the activists targeted and killed by the IDF, has IDF bulldozer killed Rachel. “We’ve been at this long enough become a powerful and enduring symbol of nonviolent international resistance to Is- now,” said Cindy Corrie, “that it has rael’s illegal occupation of Palestinian lands, been interesting to see how people ethnic cleansing, collective punishment, move within the government. That and other Geneva Conventions war crimes actually has been very helpful to us, not particularly [with the litigation and crimes against humanity. Craig and Cindy Corrie, Rachel’s parents, against Israel], but pertaining to the traveled to Des Moines to attend all three situation in Gaza.” The Corrie family’s lawsuit is now performances of the play. During the question-and-answer period following the Sun- under consideration by Israel’s (L-r) Former Jerusalem Fund board member Will day matinee, they responded to questions Supreme Court. The Des Moines Onstage produc- Youmans, executive director Yousef Munayyer and about the play and about the progress of the civil lawsuit they brought against the gov- tion featuring Emily Stavneak as his wife, Dena, sell olive oil and za’atar. Rachel was directed by David A. ernment of Israel for Rachel’s death. VanCleave. Sam Bates-Norum The Jerusalem Fund held its annual souk served as stage manager, Meredith and olive harvest festival on Saturday, Dec. Toebben as sound designer/com- 7. Shoppers enjoyed the atmosphere of a poser, and Tanner Wetzel as Middle Eastern bazaar, set up only steps graphic designer. away from such Washington, DC landProducer Maria Fillipone, co- marks as the Kennedy Center and the Wafounder of Des Moines Onstage tergate. Each year families enjoy an educaand Des Moines Onstage Chil- tional outing, not to mention a perfect opdren’s Theater and a guest at a portunity to buy Christmas gifts from Jan. 11 Fire House reception for Palestine, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey and the Corrie family, donated all the many other countries. Visitors admired proceeds of her theater’s produc- jewelry, pottery, glass, textiles, art, plus tion of the play to The Rachel Cor- the finest organic made-in-Palestine olive rie Foundation. oil, keffiyehs, and a special 2014 calendar. Alan Rickman first staged “My People of every age enjoyed Middle EastName is Rachel Corrie” in April ern food, live music, and henna painting. The American Educational Trust loaded (L-r) Cindy Corrie, Craig Corrie, Maria Fillipone, 2005 at London’s Royal Court TheDavid A. VanCleave and Emily Stavneak respond to atre. That production subse- its tables with the latest books, DVDs and audience questions following the Des Moines perfor- quently won the Theatregoers’ solidarity items, which are always on sale mance of “My Name is Rachel Corrie.” Choice Awards for Best Director, both at its Adams Morgan bookstore, and MARCH/APRIL 2014
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online at <Middleeastbooks.com>. Shoppers snapped up meaningful gifts including Middle East cookbooks, children’s books, thought-provoking DVDs and delightful pottery to put under the Christmas tree. —Delinda C. Hanley The American Educational Trust’s Middle East Bookstore held a fun open house on Dec. 14. Supporters and shoppers sampled olive tapenade, honey and sundried tomato spreads and voted for their favorite olive oil. Canaan Fair Trade’s Nabali Tree variety received the most votes, closely followed by Al‘Ard Organic Extra Virgin olive oil. Juliet Francisco introduced visitors to Zaytona’s premium organic olive oil skin care products and creams. Zaytona has developed an exclusive line of creams and soaps that blend olive and black seed oils from the western Galilee. The products were so popular that AET’s Bookstore has decided to carry them year round. Visitors to the Middle East Bookstore, housed below the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs offices on 18th St. in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC, browsed bookshelves full of the latest hit movies, books and CDs, and selected last-minute gifts of Palestinian pottery, keffiyehs and embroidery. Even after the apple cider, cookies and sample olive oil products were consumed, and the holidays wound down, the AET Bookstore’s sales continued to soar throughout January (with many shoppers buying online at <www.middleeastbooks.com>). That’s when people buy what they wanted all along for themselves after the holidays. —Delinda C. Hanley
Human Rights Senate Hearing Addresses Syria’s Refugee Crisis The Senate Committee on the Judiciary’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights held a Jan. 7 hearing at the Hart Senate Office Building to discuss Syria’s worsening refugee crisis. Representatives from the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of Homeland Security discussed their agencies’ efforts to assist Syrian refugees.
The Slow Path to Asylum Subcommittee chairman Dick Durbin (DIL) opened the hearing by saying that the U.S. has “a moral obligation to assist Syr52
STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY
AET Bookstore Holds Open House
Middle East Bookstore director Andrew Stimson (l) conducts an olive oil taste test, while Juliet Francisco (c) introduces Zaytona’s amazing skin care products. ian refugees.” He expressed concern that the U.S. granted asylum to only 31 Syrian refugees last fiscal year. This, he said, is due to an immigration law that states individuals cannot receive refugee status if they have supported any rebel group, even those backed by the U.S. government. The senator urged his colleagues to revisit this law, and asked the officials testifying at the hearing to fast-track the applications of Syrian asylum seekers. Ranking member Ted Cruz (R-TX) also expressed concern about the refugee crisis. Noting that he is the descendant of a Cuban refugee, the senator said refugees have helped make the U.S. a more prosperous country. At the same time, Cruz cautioned, the U.S. must be sure to thoroughly vet all Syrians seeking refugee status. The congressman stated his fear that members of alQaeda may be hiding among the refugees. Molly Groom, acting deputy assistant secretary of the Office of Policy at the Department of Homeland Security, assured Cruz that all refugees receive extensive background checks before they are permitted to enter the U.S. “The refugee vetting process in place today employs robust security measures to protect against risks to our national security,” Groom said. “DHS is committed to both preventing terrorists who may pose a threat to the United States from coming here, and honoring our tradition of protecting deserving individuals who do not pose a threat to our security.” Anne Richard, assistant secretary of the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, said Syrian refugees should not be viewed with suspicion. “Most refugees are law-abiding civilians that are just shattered by what’s happening inside Syria,” she testified. “I don’t want Americans to equate refugees with terrorists.” THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
The U.S. is working diligently to accept more Syrian refugees, Richard stated, noting that the U.S. expects to accept referrals for several thousand Syrian refugees in 2014. “We are working very quickly now to respond to referrals from UNHCR [the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees],” she said. Richard noted that it’s not unusual for it to take several years for individuals to be granted refugee status. “Most of the refugees that the United States has admitted in recent years have been caught up in protracted refugee situations for five, ten or even twenty years,” she said. Groom told Senator Durbin that S.744, the Senate-passed immigration bill that faces an uphill battle in the House, would help speed up the application process for Syrian refugees. “It would make those claims move more quickly,” she noted. Groom also pointed out that the heads of the State Department, Homeland Security and the Department of Justice can issue case-by-case exemptions for those who do not meet the official criteria for asylum.
Regional Humanitarian Crisis Syria’s neighbors, particularly Jordan and Lebanon, are beginning to crumble under the weight of countless Syrian refugees, Richard warned. “The impact on many communities across the region is overwhelming,” she said. “Schools have moved to double-shifts to accommodate Syrian children. Hospital beds are filled by Syrian patients. Rents have risen and wages have fallen as a result of the competition for housing and jobs.” Jordanian and Lebanese citizens are becoming frustrated with the overwhelming presence of Syrian refuges, Richard added. “As time has progressed and the number of refugees has increased, the welcome has started to wear thin in some places, and anMARCH/APRIL 2014
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(L-r) Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) question government officials at a hearing on the Syrian refugee crisis.
American Activist Launches Petition To Free Mordechai Vanunu Eileen Fleming has written countless articles and letters describing whistleblower MARCH/APRIL 2014
Mordechai Vanunu’s plight, as well as a book, Imagine Vanunu’s Wait for Liberty, available from the AET Bookstore (<www. middleeastbooks.com>). Inspired by Dorothy Day, the devout Catholic social justice activist and journalist, and in response to Fleming’s June 2005 trip to Israel/Palestine—the first of eight—Fleming founded WeAreWideAwake.org. Fleming has written powerful letters about Vanunu to Pope Francis, Archbishop Carlos Maria Vigano, Israeli President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, President Barack Obama, Stephen Colbert of “The Colbert Report,” and “The Daily Show’s” Jon Stewart, to name just a few. Many of Flemings letters note that in 1986 Vanunu told London’s Sunday Times everything he knew from his work as a technician in Israel’s secret Dimona nuclear
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tagonism toward refugees has grown in the region,” she said. “Tensions have built and the internal sectarian tensions are also on the rise.” Reaching refugees in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan can be difficult, Richard told the subcommittee. Contrary to popular perception, she said, 80 percent of refugees do not live in camps. “Urban refugees are often invisible and dispersed among local people in poor communities,” she explained. “It can be difficult to identify them, particularly those who are most vulnerable.” Within Syria, said Nancy Lindborg, assistant administrator of the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance at USAID, checkpoints and closed roads make it difficult to deliver aid. “Most concerning,” she added, “an estimated 250,000 people have been completely and deliberately cut off from humanitarian assistance for many months, the majority of whom are in areas besieged by the regime in an unconscionable campaign of starvation.” Lindborg said the international community must pressure the Syrian government to allow aid to reach these individuals. “The Syrian regime has the power to enable life-saving assistance to reach more than 200,000 people in need—and all international pressure must be applied toward this end,” she said. In addition to the human tragedy, Lindborg said, Syria has been physically decimated. “A report issued by the United Nations last summer found that Syria has lost 35 years of development as a result of two years of conflict,” she noted. Added Richard: “In a sense, it’s the suicide of Syria.” —Dale Sprusansky
Mordechai Vanunu in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral in East Jerusalem on Nov. 24, 2013. THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
weapons facility. His revelations were published just as Israeli Mossad agents kidnapped Vanunu in Rome. A few weeks earlier Vanunu, a former Orthodox Jew turned atheist, was baptized at a social justice Anglican church in Sydney, Australia. Vanunu, who spent 18 years behind bars in Israel, many of them in solitary confinement, told Fleming, “In prison, I really began to feel like Jesus and Paul. When Jesus threw the moneychangers out of the temple, it was like me in Dimona, exposing the Israelis’ dirty secrets. I felt like Paul, being thrown in prison for speaking the truth.” Flemings letters explain that while Vanunu was released from prison on April 21, 2004, he has spent the past decade far from free, living under 24/7 surveillance, and has been prevented from leaving Israel. “It was not ever easy,” Vanunu told Fleming, adding that he finds it especially astounding because “in Israel, a life sentence [for Jewish Israelis] is 25 years. Even murderers go free after 17.” But Vanunu has had the Palestinian treatment: “They imposed the same restrictions on me that Palestinians receive: no human rights at all; no phone; no visitors, except family, and only through an iron grill; no vacation; no holidays; and no gifts. Even murderers get out for vacations! I was locked up for 18 years and still cannot go on vacation; I cannot leave, and that is all I am asking for—just to leave here. “The United States needs to wake up and see the truth that Israel is not a democracy, unless you are a Jew,” Vanunu said. “Israel is the only country in the Middle East where America can right now find nuclear weapons. America can also find where basic human rights have been denied to Christians: right here in Israel.” Fleming has launched a petition to ask Israel to free Vanunu. Her petition begins with an update: “On Dec. 25, Mordechai Vanunu’s 7th Israeli Supreme Court appeal for his right to leave ‘the only democracy in the Middle East’ was heard. On Dec. 29, Supreme Court Justice Asher Grunis denied Vanunu’s appeal, stating, ‘The restrictions are intended to prevent future dissemination of classified material.’” In addition to the unusual restrictions placed upon Vanunu’s movements, Israeli courts have restricted his right to interact with other people, particularly foreigners and the press. Vanunu’s lawyer, Avigdor Feldman, has argued that his client’s secret information is so dated it could no longer threaten the state, adding, “This man is not allowed to leave a country that does not 53
want him in it and in which he does not want to be.” Feldman told the Jerusalem Post that Vanunu merely wanted to leave Israel to marry his girlfriend and live out his life quietly. All Vanunu’s secrets were published in 1989 in a book by nuclear physicist Frank Barnaby, The Invisible Bomb: The Nuclear Arms Race in the Middle East. In 1986, Barnaby was hired by the Sunday Times to vet Vanunu’s story, and he testified at Vanunu’s closed-door Israeli trial. Fleming records Barnaby’s words: “I found Vanunu very straightforward about his motives for violating Israel’s secrecy laws. He explained to me that he believed that both the Israeli and the world public had the right to know about the information he passed on. He seemed to me to be acting ideologically. “Israel’s political leaders have, he said, consistently lied about Israel’s nuclearweapons program, and he found this unacceptable in a democracy. The knowledge that Vanunu had about Israel’s nuclear weapons, about the operations at Dimona, and about security at Dimona could not be of any use to anyone today. He left Dimona in October 1985.” Fleming’s ongoing petition, <www. causes.com/actions/ 1765266-a-petition-toworld-media-and-israel-we-are-not-freeuntil-vanunu-is-free>, aims to shame Israel with bad PR until the state allows Vanunu to leave. More than 3,000 internationals signed the petition in its first week. With enough pressure from Fleming and other supporters, on April 21, 2014, the 10th anniversary of Vanunu’s “open-air captivity,” the Israeli state might just relent and permit Vanunu to leave, returning to a life interrupted 27 years ago. —Delinda C. Hanley
Waging Peace Journalists Reflect on Trips to Iran U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) scholar Robin Wright and Washington Post columnist David Ignatius appeared at USIP’s Washington, DC headquarters on Jan. 9 to offer insight from their recent trips to Iran. Ambassador William Taylor, USIP vice president for the Middle East and Africa, moderated the event, titled “Inside Iran.” Wright said she departed Iran with the impression that the country’s leaders and citizens genuinely want to reach a final nuclear deal with the West. “There is a real public mood in favor of a deal,” she explained. “I think they’re really ready to 54
move on from the nuclear issue.” Iran has many domestic and regional issues that it would like to prioritize over the nuclear issue, Wright noted. Improving its economy, dealing with its environmental crises, tackling issues of drug and alcohol addiction among its population and addressing instability in neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan are among (L-r) David Ignatius, Ambassador William Taylor and Robin the pressing issues facing Wright believe Iran is willing to reach a nuclear deal. Iran, she said. Elaborating on this latter point, Wright to turn the page, many in Washington are pointed out that “Iran suddenly finds itself stuck in 1979, Wright said. “They [Iran] encircled by the Salafis, by al-Qaeda mili- have moved on [from the 1979 view], but tants and by Sunnis.” Fearing that Iraq and I’m not sure we [the U.S.] has moved on.” post-U.S.-occupation Afghanistan will fall Both countries must move past the fear facapart, Tehran “is going through a strategic tor and do what is right, she emphasized. “Everything the United States would recalibration,” she said. As part of this recalculation, Wright stated, Tehran no like to see in Iran is on the line in the nulonger sees the U.S. as a significant threat. clear deal,” Wright stressed, noting that a Ignatius added that Tehran also is wor- nuclear deal would help President Hassan ried about Pakistan. “The biggest reason Rouhani advance democratic and liberal Iran needs a nuclear weapons program is reforms. More sanctions, she cautioned, Pakistan,” he recalled an Iranian official could destroy America’s goals in the region and the country. telling him. Ignatius lamented that the U.S. has not Regarding Syria, Wright expressed her view that Iran might be willing to remove had a more dynamic approach toward nuPresident Bashar al-Assad if it means that clear negotiations. While talking with his Ba’ath party remains in power. She Tehran, Washington should have been siadded that she does not envision Iran multaneously working to redouble its relaabandoning Hezbollah and that the Pales- tions with Sunni allies, he opined. Unlike tine-Israel conflict “does not have the pro- the U.S., Ignatius noted, Iran has successfully collaborated with several of its stratefile that it once did” in Iran. Both Ignatius and Wright expressed gic partners while speaking with the West. skepticism that international sanctions He described Iran as “increasingly adept at have crippled Iran’s economy. “The econ- riding several horses at once.” —Dale Sprusansky omy, when you’re on the streets, seems to be thriving,” Wright said. She noted that Tehran’s grand bazaar was bustling with Prospects for Peace with Iran activity during her visit and that many The RAND Corporation held a Jan. 22 conhigh-tech businesses are operating in the gressional briefing at the Rayburn House capital. Office Building on Capitol Hill to discuss “This does not look like a country hob- the ongoing U.S.-Iran nuclear talks. The bling on its knees about to fall over dead,” event was titled “Making Sense of Nuclear Ignatius agreed, saying that Iranian busi- Negotiations with Iran: A Good Deal or a nesses have found innovative ways to op- Bad Deal?” erate around the sanctions. “What the RAND senior policy analyst Alireza sanctions have done is cripple Iran’s fu- Nader began by noting that Iran is adherture,” he said, speculating that Iran will ing to the terms of the temporary nuclear not gain economic or political clout as long agreement it signed in November. “Iran as sanctions remain in place. has taken positive steps to limit its nuclear Further U.S. sanctions would crush on- program,” he said. going nuclear talks, Wright warned. InDaryl Kimball, executive director of the deed, she identified the U.S. Congress as Arms Control Association, called Iran’s acperhaps the greatest impediment to peace. tions “a very important step forward for While Tehran is showing a willingness nonproliferation.” The Islamic Republic, THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
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agreement is “very much in Israel’s interests,” he said, noting that such a deal would stabilize the region. With this increased stability, Pillar added, the U.S. would be able to more efficiently manage and execute its Middle East policy. —Dale Sprusansky
Getting it Right in Afghanistan (L-r) Alireza Nader, Daryl Kimball and Paul Pillar agree that new sanctions would have a devastating effect on ongoing nuclear talks.
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dismissing the idea that Tehran is desperate for a deal. New sanctions would not be the “final blow” many in Congress make them out to be, he said. Georgetown University professor Paul Pillar speculated about the potential longterm implications of a U.S.-Iran nuclear deal. With the nuclear dispute no longer at front and center, Pillar believes there would be the potential for improved IranGulf relations. All countries involved share common interests, he pointed out, and would benefit from increased cooperation. Noting that Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif recently had a positive trip to four GCC states, Pillar speculated that a rapprochement between the Gulf and Iran is not unreasonable. Nevertheless, Pillar acknowledged, the Gulf countries and the Iranians would still have their areas of disagreement. For instance, he said, there’s no reason to expect that Iran would change its position vis-àvis Syria if a nuclear deal is reached. At the same time, Pillar said, if Iran improves its relations with the Gulf, Syria will become a less valuable strategic partner for Tehran. Pillar concluded by arguing that a nuclear deal would have positive ramifications for Israel and the U.S. A final nuclear
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he said, has delayed its ability to produce a nuclear weapon by at least several months. Despite the positive progress, however, Kimball noted, several major obstacles still must be overcome before a final nuclear deal is reached with the West. First, he said, the West must acknowledge Iran’s right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes—Tehran will not agree to any deal that calls for zero enrichment. The Fordo nuclear facility will be another point of contention between Iran and the West, Kimball predicted. The West wants the plant closed, while Iran adamantly maintains that it has the right to keep the facility open. Both sides also have to reach agreements concerning the Arak heavy water plutonium reactor and more intrusive International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections, Kimball added. Noting that these obstacles are significant, Kimball strongly discouraged Congress from passing another sanctions bill. Doing so would complicate an already difficult process, he warned, and would likely kill any chance of peace between Iran and the U.S. Nader agreed with Kimball’s assessment. New sanctions would weaken President Hassan Rouhani, give legitimacy to Iranian extremists, affirm Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s suspicions that the U.S. is only interested in regime change, and cause Iranian moderates to lose confidence in Washington’s sincerity, he cautioned. Those who argue that new sanctions would put additional pressure on Tehran overestimate the impact sanctions have on Iranian decision-making, Nader argued. While sanctions can in part explain Tehran’s decision to enter nuclear talks, he said, Iran’s new posture is also a result of Rouhani’s ability to convince the ayatollah that a nuclear deal is in the country’s interest. “The Iranian government is not on its knees at this point,” Nader pointed out,
The U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) held an event titled “Getting it Right in Afghanistan” on Jan. 16 at its Washington, DC headquarters. Scott Smith, director of the Afghanistan and Central Asia program at USIP, moderated the discussion. Steve Coll, dean of the Columbia School of Journalism, began by saying Afghan President Hamid Karzai is unlikely to sign a bilateral security agreement (BSA) with the U.S. before the April 2014 presidential election. “He seems quite secure in his conviction that the time is not right for him to do it,” Coll explained. The U.S., he added, should not be overly concerned with Karzai’s timeline. “It’s not necessary for the United States to force this issue before April,” Coll said. Omar Samad, former Afghan ambassador to Canada and France, said Karzai believes he has leverage over the U.S. “He’s convinced the Americans need Afghanistan more than the Afghans need the U.S.,” Samad stated. The West, he explained, has given Karzai the impression it wants to remain in Afghanistan “at all costs.” Samad blamed the confusion surrounding the BSA on years of mismanaged bilateral relations between Washington and Kabul. Afghanistan’s presidential candidates have remained largely silent on the BSA issue, Samad noted. This, he speculated, is likely because the candidates desire Karzai’s endorsement and do not want to
(L-r) Steve Coll, Omar Samad and Moeed Yusuf assess the future of the U.S.-Afghanistan relationship. THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
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Turkey’s Corruption Scandal The December arrests of several officials close to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on corruption charges have rocked Turkish politics. Once viewed as a model for democracy in the region, many are now questioning the viability of Turkish democracy under the now scandal-plagued Erdogan. To discuss the ongoing corruption scandal and its ramifications for the country, two think tanks held events in Washington, DC in January. At a Jan. 10 Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars event titled “Of Plots and Corruption Scandals: The Crisis 56
(L-r) Ihsan Dagi and Henri Barkey believe Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has mishandled the corruption scandal plaguing his government. suffers from a confidence deficit, Barkey said. He described the scandal as “really a crisis of confidence….It’s still a very fragile, very unsure political party and leader.” At a Jan. 17 Emerging Democracies Institute (EDI) event titled “Beyond the State: Turkey’s Political Crisis and Challenges to Democracy,” National Endowment for Democracy senior program officer Richard Kraemer urged Turkish civil society to use the corruption scandal as an opportunity to advocate for constitutionalism and the separation of powers. Turks “need recognition that citizens don’t exist for the state, it’s the other way around,” he stated. According to Kraemer, Turkey’s problems have more to do with its political culture than with Erdogan himself. “The problem is not the driver if the car is broken,” he opined. On an international level, Barkey said, Turkey is likely to suffer from the crisis. Its use of anti-Western rhetoric will likely complicate relations with the West, he cautioned, and the U.S. in particular. If Ankara continues to hurl unsubstantiated claims of interference at the West, Barkey predicted it “will have a serious price to pay.” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace visiting scholar Bayram Balci, speaking at the EDI event, noted that Turkey is also likely to see its soft power diminish as a result of the battle between the AKP and the Gulen movement. Once partners, the AKP and the Gulen movement (which, among other activities, manages highly touted schools across the world) are now (L-r) Bayram Balci, Joshua Hendrick and Richard Kraemer dis- bitter enemies. Accucuss the domestic and international ramifications of Turkey’s po- sations that the Gulen movement gained inlitical scandal. of Turkish Politics,” speakers agreed that the current scandal is part of a wider political battle taking place in Turkey. “Democracy is still not the only game in town,” said Ihsan Dagi, a professor at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara. Those with power in the country want to change the rules in order to ensure their perpetual victory, he stated. Democracy and the rule of law “are tolerated to the extent that they perpetuate the authority of the government,” Dagi charged. By firing public prosecutors and police officers investigating the corruption scandal, Dagi said, Erdogan revealed his true authoritarian colors. An open, transparent government, he reasoned, would take accusations of corruption seriously and vow a full investigation. Instead, said Lehigh University professor Henri Barkey, Erdogan and members of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) have accused everyone from the United States government to the German airline Lufthansa to Pennsylvania resident Fethullah Gulen (founder of Turkey’s powerful Gulen religious movement) of creating the scandal in an effort to weaken Turkey. The AKP’s refusal to take ownership of the scandal is an indication that the party
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anger or betray the president. For his part, Samad said Karzai is doing what he can to not lose power in the waning months of his presidency. “President Karzai does not want to become prematurely, in his mind, a lame duck,” he said. While Karzai has promised not to interfere in elections, Samad said most Afghans don’t believe he will remain loyal to this vow. “I don’t think many people are buying it,” he explained. In the build up to the election, Samad said Kabul is “tense.” Locals, he noted, have concerns about political gamesmanship and fear the country could backslide into instability after the elections. Samad concluded by offering advice to Washington. The U.S., he said, should remain committed to the region once its troops pull out of the country. Quick decision-making “should be avoided at any costs,” he added. Instead, Samad said the U.S. should show strategic patience and seek long-term coordination with the countries of the region. Coll urged the U.S. to help Afghanistan find a sustainable place in the international community. The U.S. can help facilitate this by signaling a broader sense of commitment instead of contentiously debating Kabul on specific issues, he said. Moeed Yusuf, director of USIP’s South Asia Program, discussed the future of Afghan-Pakistan relations. Pakistan, he said, will not play the role of spoiler in Afghanistan, as it wants to see al-Qaeda defeated and does not want to lose economic opportunities. Pakistan hopes a broader Afghan peace process will continue after the presidential election, Yusuf noted. He reminded his audience that successful elections, while important, do not ensure a future of peace and stability. “The really hard work is still to come after the elections,” he noted. —Dale Sprusansky
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fluence within the Turkish judiciary in order to target the AKP are likely to make other countries, particularly those in Central Asia, suspicious of it, Balci said. If countries begin to ban or restrict the activities of the Gulen movement, Turkey will in turn lose its best soft power tool, he explained. “It’s a sort of political suicide for both parties,” Balci said of the Gulan-AKP feud. Neither side, warned Loyola University Maryland professor Joshua Hendrick, will leave this battle unharmed. “Both are going to lose,” he told the EDI audience. “The question is, which one is going to lose more?” Barkey predicted that Turkey’s crisis would not end any time soon. “This is the beginning of a very nasty story,” he said, adding that Erdogan’s attack on the police and the judiciary is likely to increase hostilities between Turkish institutions. “This crisis has highlighted the weaknesses of Turkey’s democratic political system,” Dagi said, noting that politics in the country is now seen as an existential battle. Turkey’s March municipal elections will provide a good indication of where the country is politically, Barkey said. While he believes Erdogan is prepared to see his party’s performance decline, he said the prime minister nevertheless expects a close election. He believes Erdogan will work hard to consolidate his base of support between now and the March elections. —Dale Sprusansky
Georgetown Conference Encourages Personal and Global Reflection The Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for MuslimChristian Understanding at Georgetown University held its 20th annual conference on Nov. 21 in Washington, DC. While the event explored “Muslim-Christian Relations in the 21st Century: Challenges & Opportunities,” it also offered a stimulating and profound assessment of the current state of humanity. South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States Ebrahim Rasool and acclaimed religious historian Karen Armstrong—the event’s keynote speakers—wowed the audience with their probing remarks and observations.
A World in Transformation Ambassador Rasool began his comments by noting several transformations taking place throughout the world. In this era of globalization, the West is beginning to understand it cannot dictate global affairs, he observed, saying, “The West for the first MARCH/APRIL 2014
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Karen Armstrong said the West must not allow itself to become emotionally detached from the rest of the world. time is seeing the limits of its power.” This, he added, has led to Western citizens losing their desire to enter wars. The ambassador also noted that while providing more opportunities for interaction, globalization has increased income inequality and led to xenophobic backlash against immigrants and others perceived as “outsiders” or “infiltrators.” He described globalization as “a double-edged sword.” The concept of citizenship also is being redefined throughout the world, Rasool said, especially in post-uprising Arab countries. While this is a source of hope for many, he noted, it is also a time of great fear and uncertainty. “The old has not yet died and the new has yet to be born,” he explained, which is why transitions are scary and dangerous. Rasool urged his audience not to buy into the outdated notion that the West and Islam are in conflict. Doing so, he warned, plays into the hands of those looking to stir unrest. Instead of simplifying extremists as actors in an eternal struggle between good and evil or Islam and the West, Rasool stressed the importance of addressing the underlying causes of extremism. Those with fundamentalist or extremist mindsets fear their deeply held beliefs are becoming irrelevant in a changing world, Rasool observed. “The more uncertain people are, the more dogmatic they become,” he added. Unable to interact with or relate to the modern world, extremists believe violent coercion is the only way they can protect that which they hold sacred, Rasool stated. “They fight because they can’t engage,” he elaborated. “They are willing to die for their cause because they have not found a way to live for their cause….They hark back because they don’t know how to look forward.” Rasool also criticized extremists on the THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
left. People such as television personality Bill Maher, who passionately denigrate people of faith, heighten tensions and further close the minds of those with extreme right-wing views, he said. In Rasool’s opinion, extreme secularism is becoming as dangerous as extreme Islam. “The one has become almost as fundamental as the other,” he noted. This is particularly the case in Egypt, he said, where “we’ve allowed secularists to use the army to push back a democratic experiment.” The ambassador, who is himself a Muslim, stressed the importance of always fighting for the rights of minorities. This, he added, is especially important for those who find themselves in the majority. “If you want a mosque in Cape Town, you’ve got to fight for a church in Saudi Arabia,” Rasool emphasized. While it’s important for minorities to play active roles in their communities, Rasool stressed that they must not lose their beliefs and culture in an effort to fit in. Unity and respect can be achieved without everyone becoming the same, he argued. “To collapse differences is not what we fought for in South Africa,” he said. Rasool concluded by warning that the world is experiencing a global leadership crisis, with politicians who are “far too scripted and trained to say the right things.” This means that topics that must be raised are often ignored, he lamented.
Sharing the Pain Throughout her remarks, Karen Armstrong stressed the importance of empathizing with those who are suffering around the world. Instead of distancing ourselves from the world’s problems, she believes we must force ourselves to be emotionally stricken by the pain we observe (and often cause). “Somehow we have to let that pain break our hearts and do something about it,” Armstrong stated. “We should be uncomfortable about the state of the world….It should be keeping us awake at night.” In addition to the phenomenon of sympathy fatigue, Armstrong noted, new technologies allow us to selectively choose our news sources and thus restrict our access to painful or inconvenient information. Emotional separation makes it easier to kill, she warned. “It’s easier to kill people if you don’t see them,” she added, citing studies that show people experience less guilt with distance. The ongoing drone war is evidence of the dangers of detaching emotions from 57
the killing of human beings, Armstrong contended. In the era of drones, innocent civilians are simply collateral damage, lives given little to no value by individuals half a world away. “We’re giving the impression that some lives are more important than others,” she warned. This callous detachment is further evidenced by the fact that the families of drone victims receive no apology, Armstrong said. “What are people to think?” she asked. “Where is the outcry? Why is there no sustained outcry about these deaths?” Those in the West must “realize that [they] are implicated in this pain and take responsibility to solve it,” she stated. The devaluing of innocent human life is nothing new, Armstrong added, noting that the phenomenon has been growing for a century. In World War I, she pointed out, 5 percent of those killed were civilians, while today civilians constitute 90 percent of war deaths. In order to break the cycle of violence, Armstrong said, we must begin listening to one another. Because people today tend to dismiss or talk over those who disagree with them, she noted, “As a result we are talking in parallel lines.” According to Armstrong, listening allows us to understand each other’s pain. It also allows victims to productively release their emotions and realize that they are not alone in their suffering, she noted. This process ultimately builds relationships based on the common human experience and re-establishes emotional connections. “We become most Godlike when we realize that our enemies also have pain,” Armstrong commented. Armstrong also urged the West to stop behaving selfishly. Despite the interconnected nature of the modern world, the West still behaves as if it is “special,” she said. The resulting self-interested policies “have blown up in our face” and caused a generation of individuals to resent the West, she noted. “It’s no longer in our interests to be selfish,” she concluded.
Politics, Religion and the Media Roland Schatz, founder and CEO of Media Tenor International, began the “Politics, Religious Pluralism and the Media” panel by noting that negative coverage of Muslims is pervasive throughout the media. “Eighty percent of all reports on Muslims and Islam are negative,” he stated. By comparison, Schatz pointed out, 70 percent of the coverage on North Korea is negative. The media are only interested in stories that tie Islam and Muslims to terror58
ism, he lamented. This bias is not present only in the right-wing media, Schatz cautioned, pointing out that CBS and NBC air more negative stories about Islam than does Fox News. According to Dalia Mogahed, chairman and CEO of Mogahed Consulting, how Americans perceive (L-r) Anne-Marie Slaughter, Najib Ghadbian, Jeremy Shapiro and Muslims is deter- Nader Hashemi offer solutions to the Syrian civil war. mined by domestic politics rather than international affairs or pled the very foundation of one of the acts of terror. As evidence, she pointed to world’s oldest civilizations. As the fighting polls showing that views of Muslims did continues and intra-Syrian political, milinot deteriorate immediately after 9/11 or tary and societal divides grow, the the Boston Marathon bombings. prospects for peace appear to be disapViews of American Muslims do, how- pointingly low. ever, tend to deteriorate during election With this in mind, two lively events on season, Mogahed noted, because politi- the current situation in Syria were held in cians (mostly extreme Republicans) deni- Washington, DC in January, prior to the grate Islam in an effort to rally their base. opening of the Geneva II peace talks. ImRepublicans “have steadily increased in passioned panelists, some of whom have their hostility and negative views of Mus- been personally affected by the war, oflims and Islam,” she went on to observe. fered a wide range of opinions on the conAs a result, she said, negative views of flict and how the global community should Muslims among Republicans increased by move forward as it attempts to solve the 10 percent during the last election cycle. ongoing humanitarian crisis. On the other hand, she added, Democrats have steadily grown more tolerant of Mus- The Case for Intervention lims. University of Denver professor Nader In order to improve interfaith relations, Hashemi opened a Jan. 15 event at the Mogahed said, dialogue is essential. She 14th and V Busboys & Poets restaurant by cited an example from her own life as evi- arguing that President Barack Obama dence that dialogue works. should have acted on his threat to carry When her family moved from Cincinnati out a limited military intervention against to Pittsburgh shortly after 9/11, Mogahed the Assad government last year. said, she feared how they would be re“I think we are seeing the consequences ceived in their new community. “I felt of not getting involved,” Hashemi said, cittruly afraid for my physical safety,” she re- ing the decimation of Syrian society, the called. destabilization of Lebanon and Iraq, and Mogahed’s fears were eased when she ar- the rise of al-Qaeda as the most serious rived at her new mosque for Friday prayer. repercussions of American inaction. Anticipating anti-Muslim demonstrators Expanding on this latter point, Hashemi and heightened security, she was pleased warned that Syria is becoming “a mini verto discover that “half of the congregation sion of what Afghanistan was in the late was people of other faith communities” 1980s,” and pointed to security analyst who had come to show their solidarity Peter Bergen’s recent statement that alwith Muslims. Qaeda now controls territory stretching This is the beauty of interfaith dialogue, more than 400 miles across the heart of the Mogahed said: “It makes sure that when Middle East. there is a spark, it does not catch fire.” Speaking at the New America Founda—Dale Sprusansky tion on Jan. 15, the think-tank’s president and CEO Anne-Marie Slaughter speculated Debating Policy Options for Syria that al-Qaeda’s rejuvenation in the region Entering its third year, the Syrian civil war could have severe national security reperhas claimed at least 110,000 lives and crip- cussions for the U.S. Without U.S. interTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
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trine….We destroy the Assad vention, she predicted, the reregime, yada yada yada, there’s gion “will be an al-Qaeda stability in Syria.” Such a menheaven for the foreseeable futality, he said, “yada yada yada’s ture.” Slaughter warned that the over the most important part”— terrorist organization could the treacherous path to stability. carry out an attack on the U.S. Responding to Ziadeh’s argubetween 2016 and 2021 if it is ment that the U.S. should interpermitted to use Syria as a trainvene because it’s the moral thing ing ground. National security concerns are Radwan Ziadeh (l) and Marc Lynch disagree about U.S. policy to- to do, Lynch stressed the importance of acting based on reason, a good enough reason for Wash- ward Syria. not compassion. “Trying to do ington to put the use of force back on the table, Slaughter argued. “I the Syrian dilemma seriously,” Ziadeh the right thing when it’s not going to work think there has to be a credible threat that charged. “Secretary [of State John] Kerry is is not a moral action,” he stated. History more interested in having peace between and social science, Lynch adamantly mainwe will return to that posture,” she said. Najib Ghadbian, special representative the Israelis and Palestinians than focusing tained, simply show that intervention in to the United States for the National Coali- on Syria.” With each day of inaction and Syria is not the correct thing to do—stratetion of Syrian Revolution and Opposition indecision, Ziadeh warned, the crisis only gically or morally. Lynch used this same logic to argue that Forces, agreed that the Assad regime worsens. the U.S. should not arm the Syrian opposishould once again be threatened with the tion. “When you start arming political prospect of international military inter- The Case Against groups…it generally makes wars longer, vention. The September diplomatic deal Intervention that prevented a forceful intervention and Those arguing for intervention or the bloodier and harder to resolve,” he pointed permitted Syrian President Bashar al- threat of force were unable to convince out. With external support, he elaborated, Assad to destroy his chemical weapons was anti-intervention panel members, however. opposition groups are strong enough to not “a message to the Assad regime that you At the Busboys & Poets event, George be defeated, but too weak to prevail, thus can kill by other means,” Ghadbian told Washington University professor Marc prolonging the conflict. Lynch added that the New America audience. Lynch expressed his belief that there was these groups also become dependent on Ghadbian did acknowledge that relin- nothing the U.S. could have done to make and subservient to external backers, givquishing the threat of an attack facilitated the situation in Syria better. At best, he ing them little incentive to compromise. the removal of chemical weapons. How- said, military action would have kept the ever, he argued, this diplomatic success is status quo—but, more than likely, an at- Proposals for Peace proof that threatening an intervention de- tack against Syria would have worsened While the panelists agreed that the livers favorable results—thus reinstating the conflict. prospects for peace are low, they neverthethe credible threat of force would propel “All they [the U.S.] would have done was less offered proposals to end the conflict. the regime to agree to a political accord. escalated the violence…while getting the According to Shapiro, the Syrian con“Try it again and you would get a political U.S. ever more embroiled in the fighting,” flict cannot be resolved until disputes besolution,” he stated. Lynch argued. He also dismissed the idea tween regional powers are settled. Turkey, Hashemi interpreted the ramifications of that the U.S. would have been able to make Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar and Iraq are futhe September agreement somewhat differ- a few targeted strikes and leave. “Once you eling the war through their support of varently, saying Assad’s willingness to agree start one of these things, it’s extraordinar- ious factions within Syria, he stated. This to the deal shows that he is weak. “I don’t ily hard to stop it,” he noted. makes it nearly impossible to solve divides think Assad is as powerful and strong as “There’s also the question of capability,” within the opposition, Shapiro noted, let some of the newspapers and analysts sug- pointed out Brookings Institution visiting alone the chasm between the rebels and gest he is,” he added. Instead of allowing fellow Jeremy Shapiro at the New America the regime. Assad to make a concession, the U.S. event. Washington, he argued, must realSlaughter said the international commushould have capitalized on his weakness ize it does not have the ability to solve nity must revisit the idea of using the reand taken action to push him out of power, every conflict. “We have often made the sponsibility to protect (R2P) as the basis Hashemi argued, thereby decisively turn- situation worse. It’s not just a matter of for intervention. This does not mean ing the fate of the war. saying it should be resolved and it will be deadly force has to be used, she emphaIn the opinion of Radwan Ziadeh, execu- resolved….We have to say, ‘What are we sized. Instead, she said, “I think it should tive director of the Syrian Center for Politi- capable of?’” be brought back in a non-military framecal and Strategic Studies, intervention is Those who argue for intervention are work. What [R2P] means is if you want to necessary for purely humanitarian reasons, somewhat naïve, Shapiro added. Toppling govern your country, you cannot slaughter rather than strategic or national security Assad does not magically guarantee a sta- your own people.” reasons. “Syria is not unique. What has ble Syria, he reminded his audience, notGhadbian called for the Assad regime to happened there has happened in many ing that a viable transition plan from Assad immediately implement confidence-buildcountries,” he told the Busboys & Poets au- to stability has not been presented. ing measures to demonstrate that it seridience, lamenting that the world has not Shapiro referenced a popular line from ously desires peace. Such measures should learned from history. Syrians, he added, feel the television sitcom “Seinfeld” to solidify include the guarantee of immediate huabandoned by the international community. his point. He called the pro-intervention manitarian access to areas under siege and “The U.S. administration has not taken approach the “the yada yada yada doc- the release of political prisoners, he said. MARCH/APRIL 2014
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Hashemi endorsed a three-point peace proposal centered on Syrian self-determination presented by former President Jimmy Carter and former American University professor Robert Pastor in a December Washington Post op-ed. First, the two men wrote, an election must be held to determine Syria’s leader. Second, a peacekeeping force should be sent to Syria to ensure the results of the election are respected. Finally, they said, all parties must agree to respect minority rights. In order for this to happen, Hashemi said President Obama must “make the political and moral case for why Syria matters….None of this can happen until there is a shift in policy in the United States, here in Washington.” He added that the administration must avoid characterizing the conflict as the result of ancient sectarian hatreds. In addition to being inaccurate, Hashemi said this portrayal feeds the idea that there is no political solution to the war. Hashemi also expressed concern that Assad has been able to change the narrative of the Syrian revolution. What originated as a demand for more freedoms has turned into a militarized battle, allowing Assad to claim he is fighting al-Qaeda and terrorism, he noted. “This is what Assad wanted,” Slaughter added, noting that Assad has successfully heightened and manipulated religious tensions. All plans for peace aside, Lynch said history suggests the Syrian conflict is likely to continue for several more years. “This is likely to continue…these tend to last in the ballpark of seven to ten years,” he noted. —Dale Sprusansky
Rania Abouzeid: Telling Their Story Leila Hilal, director of the Washington, DC-based New America Foundation’s Middle East Task Force, held a conversation with award-winning free-lance journalist Rania Abouzeid on Dec. 3. Abouzeid has had 15 years experience reporting on the Middle East, and is one of the few reporters who have covered Syria from inside the country since the uprising against the Bashar al-Assad government began in March 2011. Since then more than 118 journalists have been killed and at least 60 are counted as detained, abducted or missing. Abouzeid has provided critical breaking news on the insurgency, while also capturing the human side of the conflict. Abouzeid began by describing the trajectory of the conflict, which started as a popular revolt with small candlelight vigils and has now become an armed insur60
gency joined by outside actors. Those early protests were full of gaiety, energy and musical chants, she recalled. When the bullets started to fly, few protesters even flinched, Abouzeid said. “Syrian men, women and children were steadfast even in the beginning.” It was clear that this is Leila Hilal (l) and Rania Abouzeid discuss the challenges jouran existential fight for nalists face reporting in Syria. both sides—a fight for Some Islamist fighters in Syria have told survival. Hilal asked how the conflict became mil- her they weren’t always so religious. They itarized. In the beginning military defec- believe that God is the only thing that can tors didn’t want civilian assistance in the save them in this dangerous environment. fight, Abouzeid replied. Later, people There is no atheist in a fox hole, Abouzeid changed, men formed battalions that coa- concluded. In August 2013, her Jabhat al-Nusra lesced around their localities and then ideologies. According to Abouzeid, the Free guides told her that if Islamic State of Iraq Syrian Army never had leaders who con- fighters came for her, they couldn’t help. trolled the opposition. It was more of a That was her last trip inside Syria. —Delinda C. Hanley loose camaraderie. Fighters disagree with each other’s ideology and vision for Syria, she said, but it’s a marriage of convenience. PeaceGame Exercise Looks at Best They need each other. Lately there are Outcome for Syria deep rivalries between insurgents, assassi- In order to examine what “the best possinating each other’s commanders and over- ble peace for Syria” might look like, the running their checkpoints. U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) and the ForThe appearance of foreign fighters has eign Policy (FP) Group organized their first disillusioned many Syrians, who feel PeaceGame simulation—the softer version caught between the regime and radical ex- of a wargame—on Dec. 9 at USIP’s Washtremist fighters. They are sitting out the ington, DC headquarters. As FP CEO David fight, which is now seen as dirty, and feel Rothkopf explained, the exercise brought abandoned by the West, Abouzeid said. together 43 foreign policy specialists who Hilal asked Abouzeid to provide “moral played the roles of international and Syrclarity” to listeners who no longer know ian stakeholders in the ongoing conflict. whom to support. “It’s not for me to say. USIP experts Steven Heydemann and I’m a journalist. I’m not taking sides,” George Lopez assumed the roles of the Free Abouzeid emphasized. “I can just say what Syrian Army and the Syrian Military I saw.” There are millions of Syrian civil- Council; Middle East Institute’s Randa Slim ians suffering, some of them in areas with- played Hezbollah; Iran was played by out electricity or water resources. Inflation Daniel Brumberg of USIP and the Brookis rampant—many have been out of work ings Institution’s Kenneth Pollack (whose for years. The randomness of shelling books include 2002’s The Threatening makes it sheer luck if artillery fire destroys Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq); and the your home. Assad regime was played by National DeAsked how she was able to enter Syria, fense University professor Murhaf Jouejati Abouzeid said she had to go in with a rebel and former U.S. Ambassador to Syria escort or a regime visa—until the govern- Theodore Kattouf. ment blacklisted her. As the daughter of The exercise began with establishing a Lebanese immigrants who grew up in baseline: “Syria is not Iraq” repeated many Australia, Abouzeid added, she looks and participants, including Manal Omar, who speaks like a Syrian and doesn’t need a role-played for Syria civil society. But “fixer” or “translator.” ”I can’t do my work Syria and Iraq do share challenges in diswithout the extreme generosity of Syri- armament, specialists argued. Even if ans,” she acknowledged. A 6-foot-blond PeaceGame participants agreed that emmale reporting from inside Syria would powering local governance councils was have a quite different experience. important, they disagreed on the sequencTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
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would happen if Syrian Opposition Protests at Sofitel Assad ran and won? When word spread that Syria’s AmbasBetween sessions, sador to the United Nations Bashar Jaafari the PeaceGame polled was going to speak in November at a audience members on closed program in the Anaheim Hilton which economic pri- Hotel, members of the Syrian American orities needed more opposition voiced their objections to the attention, infrastruc- hotel, the Anaheim mayor and police deture or rebuilding partment. The venue for the Dec. 28 event trade, and possible re- was then changed to the Pasadena Hilton. construction time- Once more, a barrage of complaints was dilines. Sixty percent of rected to that hotel, the police chief and the audience believed city council. On the night of Dec. 27, undisclosed The U.S. Institute for Peace and Foreign Policy Group organized that “fragmentation” among Syrians would sponsors of Jaafari’s speech changed the an inaugural PeaceGame simulation. be the most likely sce- venue to the Sofitel Hotel in Beverly Hills. ing of how and when to disarm. Stepping nario compared to the 40 percent who be- Undaunted, the opposition notified media out of his FSA role-play, Heydemann lieved a “power-sharing arrangement and police that they would demonstrate stated that “‘Best Possible Peace’ depends within ten years” was possible. Despite of- against the presence of a representative of on where emphasis is given. Finding a bal- fering innovative approaches to brokering the Syrian regime. TV cameras recorded ance between those two things [best and a peace deal, at the conclusion of the simu- the noisy 200-plus protesters carrying possible] is critical” in protecting vulnera- lation only 16 percent of the audience re- anti-Assad posters as invited guests pulled ble populations while empowering local sponded that a lasting peace is more likely. up to the entrance of the posh Sofitel. The U.S. Department of Degovernance councils. Pushback emerged, not just during the fense contracts with computer role-players’ simulation, but from those fol- developers to design computerlowing the PeaceGame online and through ized war simulations. In 2003, the social media meme “#PeaceGame.” On- Consolidated Analysis Centers, line feedback showed a big divide between Inc. (CACI) in Arlington, VA people who believed that a Syria settle- was paid between $30 million ment must come from those outside the to $60 million to develop a comcountry versus those who were against puter game for just one exercise. Other governments spend outside participation of any sort. What would a lasting peace in Syria look millions of dollars and many like? None of the experts saw large-scale in- hours in wargame exercises. For ternational intervention as a possibility. example, on Nov. 11 Tel Aviv Halfway through the simulation, the play- University hosted a five-hour ers leaned toward a back-channel inroad wargame simulation which through the “Royal Flush,” where Russia, began with coordinated cyber Syrian-American demonstrators at Sofitel Hotel in BevIran and a critical mass of Alawite support- and terrorist attacks on Israel. erly Hills. ers backed Bashar al-Assad’s removal—but That simulation soon spiraled could still move forward with two out of into a two-front air war on Iran and Syria, Local TV broadcasts featured protesters three. Representing the “Jihadist,” the cyber attacks on U.S. financial systems, that night, but no event attendees who Stimson Center’s Mona Yacoubian pointed and nearly dragged the U.S. and Russia tried to dodge cameras as they exited from to war profiteering and deeply vested eco- into a Mideast war, according to Defense their cars. —Samir Twair News. nomic interests for the jihadists. A grant from the Embassy of the United Panel Discusses Ethnic Media Even after reaching a political settlement, the simulation walked through the Arab Emirates helped fund this PeaceGame Orange County, California is home to large factors that could reignite conflict. Issues event. UAE Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef communities originally from Vietnam, like disarmament and reintegrating fight- Al Otaiba said the PeaceGame “promises to Latin America, Arab countries, Korea and ers invited more comments from the “Syr- change the way we think about war and the Philippines. Each has produced its own ian Civil Society,” with Omar emphasizing peace….It will change and raise our game media, and their concerns were the topic that “women need to be equal in peace- in helping us chart a nonviolent path.” of a Jan. 16 panel discussion, sponsored by FP and USIP plan to conduct a the Orange County Press Club and the building.” Even a good deal could fall apart with donor fatigue, added Esther Brimmer, PeaceGame twice a year, alternating be- Asian-American Journalists Association, in former assistant secretary of state for inter- tween the United States and the Middle Hoiles Auditorium of the Orange County national organizations, who played the East. While the first PeaceGame may not Register in Santa Ana. U.N. According to the PeaceGame hosts, have outlined a comprehensive plan from Discussants included Ann Lee of JMnet Syria’s reconstruction costs will total more settlement to reconstruction, attendees USA’s The Korean Daily, Christine Anh Tho than $80 billion. Also, noting that Syria’s agreed that simulating peace negotiations of Saigon Broadcasting TV Network, Mapresidential election is scheduled for invites more opportunities to practice con- helda Rodriguez of KMex Univision 34, —Mehrunisa Qayyum Steve Angeles of ABS-CBN/the Filipino Spring 2014, participants wondered what flict resolution. STAFF PHOTO S. TWAIR
PHOTO COURTESY M. QAYYUM
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(L-r) Ethnic press panelists Steve Angeles, Ann Lee, Samir Twair and Christine Anh Tho at the Orange County Register. Channel, and Samir Twair, Southern California correspondent for the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Twair talked about the success of the publication as a respected source of news and events of the Middle East and also touched on the Syrian revolution as a major story in 2013. He predicted the focus of 2014 will be the Syrian tragedy and Israel’s ongoing brutal occupation of Palestine. The moderator was Jeffrey Brody, a professor of communications at California State University, Fullerton. The event was organized by the Orange County Register’s Mike Reicher, who is vice president of the Orange County Press Club. —Pat Twair
Thinking Outside the Box
Palestine Center’s Annual Conference Provokes Debate
locally and globally. Professor Lustick outlined some of the points he made in “Two-State Illusion,” an article recently published by The New York Times. Describing the “peace process” as a merry-go-round to nowhere, he said negotiations are a phony creation of the “peace process” industry, including Middle East consultants, pundits, academics and journalists. Diplomacy under the two-state banner is no longer a path to a solution but an obstacle itself, Lustick charged. Supporters keep saying that when all the stars are aligned, Israelis and Palestinians will finally be able to make peace, Lustick continued. Negotiations are “like throwing dice over and over—eventually you’ll throw snake eyes.” But Israeli settlers don’t allow their government to throw the dice, Lustick said, adding that Israel can never be a stable country as long as it has settlers. Lustick urged peacemakers to think of the end product they want and plan a route for how to get there. Agreeing with Lustick, Professor Galtung, the founder of peace and conflict studies, urged people to start with a solution and then hold dialogues with both sides, maybe by Skyping with each other,
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The School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (S-CAR) at George Mason University and the Middle East Policy Council cosponsored a creative dialogue on Nov. 13 at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC. George Mason visiting scholar Diane Perlman convened an “outside-the-box” discussion about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with Ian Lustick, professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, and Johan Galtung, a Norwegian sociologist and
to decide how to get there. “How does the Middle East look where you would like to live?” Galtung asked. “Start with the future and work backwards. If you look at the present and the past it looks hopeless,” he added. “The two-state solution is a non-starter,” Professor Galtung stated. “It will be manipulated by Israel on Day One.” Instead, think of a land where you can have breakfast in Tiberias, lunch in Jerusalem and enjoy the nightlife in Aqaba. Then think about how to get there, he concluded. —Delinda C. Hanley
founder of TRANSCEND International. Prof. Kevin Avruch, the dean of S-CAR, welcomed attendees, noting that for the last 30 years S-CAR has established itself as the pre-eminent institution of higher education in the field of conflict resolution. Training students in this field is vital, he said, as future scholars and diplomats address challenges in the 21st century, both
(L-r) Prof. Ian Lustick, Johan Galtung, Diane Perlman and Dean Kevin Avruch. 62
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The 2013 Palestine Center Annual Conference in Washington, DC on Nov. 15 featured a panel discussion entitled “Sectarianism Spinning out of Control: The Drivers and Victims of Hate.” The panel included Randa Slim, an adjunct research fellow at the New America Foundation’s Middle East Task Force; Yvonne Haddad, a professor of the history of Islam and Christian-Muslim relations at Georgetown University; Daoud Khairallah, an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University; and Ussama Makdisi, a professor of history at Rice University. The discussion focused on the role of ethnic and religious tensions in Middle Eastern political conflicts. Khairallah defined sectarianism as the “promotion and exploitation of religious and denominational affiliation for the purpose of achieving political objectives.” He described it as an effective strategy for political actors seeking to destabilize society and government. Makdisi agreed that sectarianism is on the rise in the Middle East, but cautioned that regional ethno-sectarian struggles are diverse and should be analyzed on a caseby-case basis. He argued that each Middle Eastern country has a unique sociopolitical and economic history which affects its sectarian relations. “The sectarian problems we are dealing with today are a function of the nation state form....These are modern conflicts about resource allocations, about citizenship rights, about state policies of discrimination, about Western intervention—of course about the map that the Western countries, the British and French, drew,” Makdisi said, referring to the Sykes-Picot Agreement, which created the borders of the modern Middle East. According to Slim, the rise of sectarianism is an inevitable byproduct of the upheaval and instability of the post-Arab MARCH/APRIL 2014
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suggest now that they should Spring Middle East. She arsomehow develop an indegued that Middle Eastern govpendent strategy, when their ernments are manipulating entire strategy all along the sectarian conflicts to stifle way has been to rely on the change by distracting attenArab states,” Dr. Khalil said. tion away from their authoriThanks to Oslo, Palestinians tarian regimes. are dependent on U.S. and EuHaddad discussed specific ropean money, tax revenues sectarian schisms between from Israel, and diplomatic Christians and Muslims in the support from Arab states, Dr. Middle East. A relatively Khalil continued. “It makes it modern concept of Christians (L-r) Dr. Manal Jamal, Dr. Osamah Khalil and George Hishmeh. very, very difficult to become as a distinct minority in need an independent, viable naof protection has caused them tional movement.” to be viewed as a Western Turning to the crisis for aligned “fifth column,” she Palestinian refugees in Syria, noted, and this has conDr. Jamal said, “As of right tributed to their persecution. now we have approximately Slim—the only Shi’i pansix million refugees. In Syria elist—sparked some controalone, there are 460,000 Palesversy when she decried Syr(L-r) Paul R. Pillar, Trita Parsi and Drs. Shibley Telhami, Toby C. tinian refugees. Of those ian Christians’ support of the Jones and Yousef Munayyer. 460,000 refugees, about 65,000 Assad regime as “political stupidity.” ments,” Dr. Jamal argued. By now Arab have left, and most of them right now are in Countered Khairallah, “When you have states are exhausted by providing contin- Lebanon....42,000 when last I checked.” The official Palestinian position is neutral, seen your priests and your churches de- uous support, she observed. stroyed, and when you see a fatwa from Dr. Jamal described Gaza’s relations with Dr. Jamal continued. Mahmoud Abbas has Jabhat al-Nusra that allows the expropria- its Egyptian neighbor by focusing on the said he is against intervention, and has tion of any Christian property...I think tunnels. Hamas was operating approxi- asked Palestinians, wherever they may be, there will be good reason for the Christians mately 1,200 tunnels to bring construction in Lebanon or Syria, not to intervene. Dr. Jamal noted that Abbas appealed to to feel the way they feel.” materials, food and luxury items into Gaza, Haddad added that attacks by various she reminded the audience. Even under Ban Ki-moon to help move Palestinian rebel groups on churches have led many the Muslim Brotherhood, when President refugees from Syria to the West Bank. IsSyrian Christians to seek protection from Mohamed Morsi was in power, Egypt rael countered by requiring that whoever the Assad regime, and Makdisi objected to began closing down hundreds of these comes waive their right of return, and beSlim’s characterization of the entire Syrian tunnels, Dr. Jamal said. Relations between cause of this Abbas refused. Christian community as a monolithic entity. Hamas and the Brotherhood were “not as The panel concluded that there are no rosy as many anticipated.” The security Great Powers and Regional Players easy answers to sectarianism in the Middle apparatus was unchanged under Morsi, The final panel, “A Return To The Cold East, and that regional instability will only Dr. Jamal noted, and after his removal War? The Foreign Policies of Great Powers increase ethno-sectarian divisions. “things have deteriorated, and most of the and Regional Players,” looked at American, —John Stafford tunnels have been closed.” Israeli and Saudi interests in Iran. “It is no secret,” Dr. Khalil added, “that Trita Parsi, founder and president of the The Effects of Regional Conflicts on Egyptian authorities have played a role in National Iranian American Council, Palestine maintaining the siege of Gaza.” One of the launched the discussion by asking panAnother Palestine Center conference panel key gatekeepers was Mubarak’s chief of in- elists if they agreed that Iran with a nuon Nov. 15, moderated by Washington Re- telligence, Omar Suleiman. Every NGO that clear weapon is more dangerous to Israel port columnist George Hishmeh, looked at operates in Gaza has to bribe Egyptian au- and Saudi Arabia than an Iran that cuts a “Palestine in the Middle: Effects of Regional thorities to get into Gaza to do their work, deal with and improves relations with the Conflict on the Future of Palestine and its Dr. Khalil said. “Palestinians have been United States. Paul R. Pillar, a senior fellow at the Politics.” Osamah Khalil, assistant professor forced to rely on the Arab states, but the of history at Syracuse University, and Arab states have not often been the great Brookings Institution, observed that the Manal Jamal, assistant professor of political supporters of the Palestinians that we would impact of an Iranian nuclear weapon has been overstated. “A nuclear weapon for science at James Madison University, both like to pretend them to be,” he stated. Asked if Palestinians could become less Iran would be useful as a deterrent against said they were discouraged or pessimistic about short-term progress toward peace, but dependent on other Arab states, Dr. Khalil Israel striking the Iranian homeland, and responded, “Palestinians have no state ac- it’s not very useful to much of anything hopeful about long-term prospects. Palestine sits in the middle of a turbulent tors, we have no state,” in spite of recent else,” he said. “The U.S.-Soviet Cold War atregion and is dependent on its Arab neigh- gains in the U.N. Because of Palestinian re- mosphere has been replaced by a U.S.-Iran bors for support and safe havens, panelists liance on other states, he added, they’ve Cold War, and that has not worked to anyagreed. “Palestinians have allowed them- been dragged into local affairs, like the civil one’s advantage,” Pillar added. Americans selves to be used by different govern- war in Lebanon. “So it is very difficult to can manage, if not resolve, this Cold War. MARCH/APRIL 2014
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sador Al-Rumaihi said. Palestine Center’s executive direcTurning to Qatar’s Education City, tor Dr. Yousef Munayyer asked Toby Al-Rumaihi said the unique facility C. Jones, associate professor of hiswill attract students from the entire tory at Rutgers in New Jersey, what region because “you can’t build a key interests and goals Saudi Arabia tower in a village. It would be has in the region. “The Saudis have a strange. You have to build up the number of anxieties that both previllage and improve everybody’s date the Arab uprisings and that surroundings,” he said. “We need to were magnified by them,” Dr. Jones train and empower the next generaresponded. These include geopolitition to run the future.” cal anxieties and fears about Iranian Mayor Gray described the work hegemony ambitions as well as the Ambassador Al-Rumaihi and his specter of democratic aspirations (L-r) NUSACC president David Hamod, awardee Amcountry have put into planning and across the region, to name just a few. bassador Mohamed Al-Rumaihi and DC Mayor Vincent arranging the “lion’s share of financUniversity of Maryland’s Prof. ShiGray. ing” for DC’s new City Center. Eight bley Telhami noted that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states have increased their turn to Doha the following week to begin a years after the City Center project was influence in the region. The Arab world’s new assignment as assistant minister for launched on the site of the old convention political order has changed: Iraq is gone as a foreign affairs. Mohammed Jaham Al- center in Northwest Washington, DC, conmajor player, Syria is in turmoil, the wild Kuwari has been appointed Qatar’s new struction was paralyzed by the economic downturn. In 2010 Qatar pumped $650 card of Colonel Qaddafi is gone, and Egypt ambassador to the United States. David Hamod, NUSACC’s president and million into the $1 billion project. Now is, in the short term, a state dependent on handouts. Gulf influence is manifesting it- CEO, described Ambassador Al-Rumaihi as tenants are beginning to move in, with 40 self, especially in Syria where they help the “a straight-shooter,” who will travel “half- shops opening in the fall. Gray presented opposition, and in giving money to other way around the globe” to keep a commit- the “unflappable” ambassador with a monarchies, particularly Morocco and Jor- ment. More than 200 business and govern- photo of the two of them walking through dan. All Arab states support a non-prolifer- ment leaders gathered to show their appre- the mud with hard hats. “You leave a lot of ation agreement that is region-wide and in- ciation of the ambassador, including DC friends in this city,” Gray said. “See you in Doha.” —Delinda C. Hanley Mayor Vincent C. Gray. cludes Israel, Telhami added. Looking back on his tenure in WashingParsi argued that Saudi Arabia is concerned that if the U.S. strikes a deal with ton, Ambassador Al-Rumaihi said, “I Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Calls for Iran, the U.S. will no longer automatically learned that ambassadors always have Reconciliation, U.S. Assistance oppose everything Iran does in the region. problems to solve. These problems may “They view that, I think, as the final nail have to do with global security, strategic, in the coffin: The U.S. is leaving, the agree- political or economic issues, and sometimes ment with Saudi Arabia is gone and the they deal with public relations issues. In Saudis are left alone.”—Delinda C. Hanley the United States, there is no ‘one-stop shop’ for tackling these problems...As ambassadors, we never know from one day Diplomatic Doings to the next what issues we may face, but we always do our best to find solutions,” he said. Ambassador of Qatar Mohamed Bin “This has been a remarkable experience, and Abdulla Al-Rumaihi Bids Farewell I am grateful for the opportunity to do The National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Com- my part to strengthen the relationship bemerce (NUSACC) held an award luncheon tween our two nations.” Asked about Qatar’s preparations to host for Ambassador of Qatar Mohamed Bin Abdulla Al-Rumaihi on Dec. 10 at the Ritz- the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Ambassador Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-MutCarlton Hotel in Washington, DC. Ap- Al-Rumaihi said that his country expects laq urges the U.S. to provide his country with pointed ambassador in February 2012, Al- to be ready. He described the honor of military support. Rumaihi was named “2013 Ambassador of hosting the event as a “win for the whole the Year.” He previously had served as as- Arab world,” which will benefit from Speaking at the U.S. Institute of Peace in sistant foreign minister for follow-up af- worldwide exposure. Preparations have Washington, DC on Jan. 14, Iraqi Deputy fairs, organizing high-level conferences in become a catalyst for economic develop- Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq lamented Doha since 2003. Prior to that he was ment in Qatar, which is expected to spend that terrorism and “the disease of sectariQatar’s ambassador to France, and at the more than $150 billion on infrastructure anism” are crippling his country. same time non-resident ambassador to Bel- projects, including upgrades in roads, hoWhile bolstering the Iraqi army is vital gium, the Swiss Federation, Luxembourg, tels and housing, a $35 billion rail and to winning the war against al-Qaeda, the and the EU. Al-Rumaihi is a member of the metro line, expansion of the new Hamad deputy prime minister said, he cautioned board of directors of Georgetown Univer- International Airport, and a $7 billion sea- that only a national reconciliation process sity in Qatar. Luncheon guests learned that port. Qatar’s population will benefit from would bring true and lasting peace to the Al-Rumaihi’s award presentation was also these projects and continue to enjoy social, country. Until this occurs, he warned, tera goodbye luncheon, and that he would re- cultural and educational progress, Ambas- rorists will be able to travel from one disil-
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Bangladesh… Continued from page 36
The legacy of the struggle for independence was one key factor in the turbulence of the pre-election period. Prior to 1971, Bangladesh was part of Pakistan, which was created as a predominantly Muslim state in 1947, with the partition of India. West Pakistan, consisting of western Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan and the NorthWest Frontier Province, was separated from East Pakistan, carved out of Bengal, by 1,000 miles of northern India. Islam was to be its unifying factor, but the Bengalis of East Pakistan came to feel that they were second-class citizens in a state of which they formed the majority of the population. The administration and army were top-heavy with West Pakistanis and the west was prioritized in state spending. From the start, Urdu, the majority language in the west, was declared Pakistan’s national language—a particular bone of contention with Bengalis, who demanded equal status for their language. The Awami League, founded in 1949, campaigned for equality for Bengalis within Pakistan. In the 1970 elections it won 167 of the 169 seats in East Pakistan, giving it a majority of all seats (313) within MARCH/APRIL 2014
Iraq,” he stated. “Iraq was a united country…you destroyed the country, not only the regime.” Al-Mutlaq believes the U.S. should provide Iraq with the weapons it needs to battle terrorists. At the same time, he said, Washington should work with its allies within Iraq to foster reconciliation. “The external power is needed to rearrange things,” he argued, “especially those who were given more Bahrain’s Ambassador Al-Khalifa welcomes guests to [power by the U.S. after the oc- his country’s National Day celebration on Dec. 13. cupation] than they should have been given.” —Dale Sprusansky ing the Asia Cooperation Dialogue forum held recently in Bahrain. Photos also highBahrain’s New Ambassador Opens lighted the heritage and civilization of the Doors to Embassy Kingdom. U.S. officials, including diploAmbassador of Bahrain Abdulla bin Mo- mats, military officers and members of hammed bin Rashid Al-Khalifa hosted a Congress, as well as community leaders, three-day event, Dec. 11 to 13, at the King- dropped in to meet the ambassador, who dom’s Embassy in Washington, DC to mark presented his credentials on Nov. 28, 2013, his country’s 42nd National Day. “Man- replacing Ambassador Ezra Ebrahim ama, the Capital of Asian Tourism 2014,” Nonoo, who served from 2008 to 2013. A was the theme of a photography exhibition former F-16 pilot, Colonel Al-Khalifa on display, referring to the naming of Man- served for many years as defense attaché in —Delinda C. Hanley ama as Asian Tourism Capital for 2014 dur- Washington, DC. STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY
lusioned region of the country to another, undermining the efforts of security forces. “Arming Iraq is important, but national reconciliation is equally as important,” alMutlaq said. “Al-Qaeda and ISIS [the Islamic State of Iraq]…represent danger, but the greatest danger is when the society steps aside and does not fight terrorism.” Iraqis must come to see an attack on one of their countrymen as an attack against themselves, he stressed. “When people feel they are equal,” he explained, “they don’t care what region or sect people are from.” Noting that Iraq has a long history of Shi’i and Sunnis living peacefully side-byside, al-Mutlaq blamed the U.S. occupation and Iraqi politicians for the current sectarian strife. “The politicians use sectarianism just before the elections to get votes,” al-Mutlaq noted. While this tactic has short-term benefits for leaders, it is destroying the country, he warned. “That [sectarian political rhetoric] cannot go on. They cannot run a country with such dimensions,” he said. The foreign minister also had strong words for U.S. policymakers. “I think you have a moral and legal obligation toward
the whole of Pakistan. It could have formed a national government on its own and promoted Bengali rights through it, but political and military leaders in West Pakistan were aghast at the prospect, seeing it as a step toward the dissolution of Pakistan. Ironically, their response ensured the very result they’d feared. Pakistan’s army launched a brutal crackdown in the east, and the Awami League’s leaders, along with millions of Bengalis, were forced to seek refuge in India. The army soon found itself facing a guerrilla war, and when India intervened its resistance rapidly collapsed. The former East Pakistan was proclaimed independent Bangladesh. Following the war there was a settling of accounts. Two constituencies supported the maintenance of a united Pakistani state and were accused of joining in the repression of Bengali resistance. One was the Bihari minority, Muslims who had fled to East Pakistan in 1947 from the nearby Indian state of Bihar during partition: they did not identify with Bengali nationalism at all. The other was the Islamist groups, the chief of which was the Jamaat-e-Islami. They were accused of organizing a militia that hunted down and killed thousands of supporters of independence, including prominent intellectuals. They were inTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
tensely unpopular at independence in 1971, but survived as organizations. In 2010, a war crimes commission was established to investigate crimes committed during the war of independence. Some saw it as a tool of the ruling Awami League to crush its opponents, rather than an impartial body seeking to see that justice was done. Had those Jamaat-e-Islami activists and others involved in the pro-Pakistan militias been tried and convicted closer to the time when they committed their crimes, it probably would have produced little adverse reaction, but the passage of time made their prosecution seem politicized, and in the meantime, given the faults of the Awami League in government, the Jamaate-Islami had picked up some political support. Jamaat-e-Islami members, most of them too young to remember the horrors of 1971, protested against the trials of their leaders, and especially against the death sentences passed on four of them, one of which, against 65-year-old Abdul Quader Mollah, was carried out on Dec. 13. The government had already branded his group as a terrorist organization and it was banned from taking part in the January election. Allied to the BNP, the party threw its weight behind the calls to boycott an election from which it was barred. ❑ 65
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THE WORLD LOOKS AT THE MIDDLE EAST
Morning Herald, Sydney
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Daily Star, Beirut
The Economist, London
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The Khaleej Times, Dubai
The Muslim Observer, Farmington, MI
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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NY Times Syndicate, NY
MARCH/APRIL 2014
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Other People’s Mail Compiled by Dale Sprusansky Sharon’s Devastating Legacy To The Washington Post, Jan. 15, 2014 Regarding The Post’s obituary of Ariel Sharon [“Warrior Sharon defended Israel,” front page, Jan. 12]: I was a nurse in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut in 1982. The tragedy of the massacre at these camps is part of the legacy of Sharon, who was Israel’s defense minister at the time. The enemy of the Palestinians was allowed to enter the camps, and terrified residents were stopped from leaving. Sharon did not end this atrocity when he became aware of it. The Israelis hailed him as a hero; accolades were bestowed upon him. He was buried in a place of honor in Israel. The Palestinians will not mourn him. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of Palestinian refugees, including many women and children, lie in an unmarked mass grave in Shatila. While we are remembering Sharon, let us also remember the victims. Ellen Siegel, Washington, DC
Academic Boycott Justified To The [Cleveland] Plain Dealer, Jan. 17, 2014 In the Jan. 11 PD Forum, we are treated to a screaming headline charging anti-Semitism that introduces an article by Charles Krauthammer (“How to fight academic bigotry”). Krauthammer’s aim is to discredit the growing academic boycott of Israeli universities that was started in response to Israel’s internationally condemned occupation of Palestinian lands. He talks deceptively and fraudulently of Israel’s “freedom and democracy” as if he’s befuddled by the reason for the boycott. Krauthammer, in his position, would have to be deaf and blind to not know about the savage subjugation of the Palestinians in their millions who, if they raise even a finger of resistance, are met with massive bombing and destruction, and we’re told it’s just “self defense.” But he never even mentions it. Instead, he claims that the boycott movement is anti-Semitic because it applies a “double standard” to Israel. The only double standard regarding Israel is the blind eye given to its daily, suffocating, murderous, humiliation of the indigenous Palestinian population. There is MARCH/APRIL 2014
nothing anti-Semitic or religious about the boycott. In fact, given that the U.S. is the financial sponsor of the Israeli occupation, we in this country have a special responsibility to expose it and oppose it. David Singerman, Cleveland Heights, OH
False Charges of Anti-Semitism To the Austin American-Statesman, Jan. 13, 2014 Charles Krauthammer brings out the squelcher of all logical conversation on Israel and Palestine: Anyone who criticizes Israel is anti-Semitic. It’s a lazy way to address real issues. Semitic equals Jewish, in this context. (Aren’t Arabs Semites, too?) Who is a Jew but a member of the Covenant who seeks to follow the Torah? The Torah says not to covet; Israelis covet all the land they can possibly get their hands on. The Torah says not to steal; Israelis are slowly stealing all the land that Palestinians live on in the West Bank and East Jerusalem; their houses are demolished, their olive groves bull-dozed down, Israeli settlers harass their children hoping to force them to move on. The Torah says not to kill; Israelis have massacred Palestinian men, women and children for more than 60 years. How can Mr. Krauthammer call anyone who seeks justice in the Middle East anti-Semitic? Moneta S. Prince, Austin, TX
Israel Right to be Singled Out To The Wichita Eagle, Jan. 15, 2014 Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer trotted out some familiar but ridiculous arguments to attack the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israeli institutions that support the occupation. He said Israel is not as bad as China. That’s the standard he wants us to judge Israel by? He also claimed we single out Israel for criticism when there are other terrible regimes. But any issue by definition is singling something out. Should we have ignored South African apartheid just because bad things were happening elsewhere? Krauthammer also forgot to mention that Israel is singled out all the time for praise. Our government sends more than $3 billion a year in aid to Israel and vetoes every United Nations resolution that criticizes Israel. In contrast, when is the last time the THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
United States vetoed a U.N. criticism of China? Our politicians and media constantly swear allegiance to the wonderfulness of Israel. Our Congress gives standing ovations for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu despite the war crimes he leads. So excuse me if many people think it is time to stand up for Israel’s victims, the Palestinians, and, secondarily, Jews like me whose name Israel besmirches every time it claims to speak for “the Jews” while taking over more Palestinian orchards, destroying more Palestinian springs, demolishing more Palestinian homes, and maiming or killing more nonviolent Palestinian protesters. Laura Tillem, Wichita, KS
Israel Jeopardizing Own Future To The Sacramento Bee, Jan. 24, 2014 Re: “Kerry’s ‘obsession’ with Palestinian peace talks worries Israeli right” (sacbee.com, Jan. 20). Israel needs to learn that Ariel Sharon’s statement “We have the U.S. Senate in our back pocket” has made many Americans angry. The detrimental influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee has gone on for too long. The committee and the hawks in Israel have a delusion of re-establishing a virtual “Solomon’s Empire,” at the expense of both Palestinians and the United States. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and the European Union won’t cause Israel’s downfall, but those hawks and AIPAC just might. John T. Johnston, Sacramento, CA
Gaza Is Drowning To the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Dec. 26, 2013 Gaza is drowning. Palestinians locked in the Gaza Strip have nowhere to go. The situation is dire. Greatly reduced access to electricity, as a result of the tightening of a seven-year blockade by Israel and Egypt, cause power plants and water pumps to shut down. A media blackout, unusually heavy rain, flooding and cold exacerbate the illegal siege. And Israel’s response: Israeli authorities opened dams east of the Gaza Strip, flooding numerous residential areas in nearby villages. And the United States response: As the U.S. cuts or reduces safety net programs such as food stamps and unemployment 67
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benefits, the House moves to increase U.S. aid to Israel. In addition to the $3.1 billion in military assistance that Washington provides annually, the U.S. Congress has authorized $284 million to fund Israel’s missile systems program, triple the amount the Obama administration had requested. Are these appropriate responses to the state of emergency in Gaza? Where is the outrage from the mainstream media? Where is our Nelson Mandela? Joyce F. Guinn, Germantown, WI
Thus, this attempt to strengthen the administration’s hand might instead scuttle any progress. One wonders why the administration itself did not settle on the terms of the bill. The bill also supports an Israeli attack on Iran should Israel believe it necessary. But most U.S. and Israeli experts doubt an attack would set Iran back much, and would certainly leave Iran more determined. SB 1881 is a bad idea. Todd Buchanan, Eldora, CO
Palestinian View on Talks
Further Sanctions Dangerous
To The New York Times, Jan. 14, 2014 In “The Ticking Mideast Clock” (editorial, Jan. 4), you rightly praise the dedication of Secretary of State John Kerry in bringing an end to a conflict that has divided Palestinians and Israelis for more than 60 years. Where I take issue with your editorial is in the moral equivalence it implies between the Palestinian government’s position and that of the Israeli government. In 1988, Mahmoud Abbas, now the Palestinian president, and others, including me, played a critical role in the decision made by his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, to agree to a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders. In stark contrast, the Israeli government continues actively to build settlements throughout the occupied West Bank, diminishing the chances for a twostate solution. Moreover, your editorial implies a false symmetry between Israeli settlement expansion and Palestinian threats to take this issue to the World Court if negotiations fail. Both international law and longstanding United States policy consider settlement activity to be illegal. If the World Court is the only forum left to us, we will surely turn to the courts to prevent actions that undermine any hope for a peaceful solution to our conflict with the Israelis. Munib R. Masri, Nablus, West Bank
To the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Jan. 23, 2014 Thank you for the excellent Saturday Op/Ed column by Jeffrey Goldberg of Bloomberg News that explains the risk accompanying Senate Bill 1881, the “Nuclear Weapon-Free Iran Act of 2013.” In the midst of the promising denuclearization negotiations under way with Iran, this bill sponsored by Sens. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) would impose additional sanctions on Iran. Iran has been sanctioned repeatedly since 1979. The country has endured hardships for years as the U.S. and other countries add sanctions. Reports from Iran say the Iranian people want to be out from under the
New Sanctions a Bad Idea To The Denver Post, Jan. 26, 2014 Re: “Risky meddling in deal with Iran,” Jan. 15 editorial. Sen. Michael Bennet is a co-sponsor of Senate Bill 1881, which threatens tougher sanctions on Iran. SB 1881 is an attempt to ratchet up the pressure on Iran, but may overestimate what behavior modification can accomplish in international politics. With progress in the negotiations thus far, Iranian moderates have gained strength; meanwhile, hardliners look for ways to portray the West as insincere. 68
WRITE OR TELEPHONE THOSE WORKING FOR YOU IN WASHINGTON President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. Washington, DC 20500 (202) 456-1414 White House Comment Line: (202) 456-1111 Fax: (202) 456-2461 Secretary of State John Kerry Department of State Washington, DC 20520 State Department Public Information Line: (202) 647-6575 Any Senator U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510 (202) 224-3121 Any Representative U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 (202) 225-3121
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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
sanctions that so affect their lives and economy. The new leadership in Iran is, apparently, responding to the sanction fatigue. As Goldberg wrote, finally, Iran is at the negotiating table. Then why on earth would the U.S., at this fragile moment, even think of threatening with additional sanctions as the Menendez/Kirk bill would add? The scary part reminds me of what my mother advised me about parenthood: Don’t make too many rules because then you just have to enforce them. So, if negotiations collapse as a result of the bill supported now by 58 senators—including our own Sen. Mark Warner—and the Iranians give up on nuclear limitations, we will have done just what my mother warned not to do. The result? We would have to do something and it wouldn’t be pretty. If the U.S. pulls out of the negotiations or makes them so impossible that it is senseless for the Iranians to stay at the table, who could be accused of not being trustworthy? Sen. Tim Kaine has it right: Stick with the negotiations, give them a chance to work. Our experience, you may recall, with “red lines” is not good. Nancy Finch, Richmond, VA
Report Drone Victims To the Portland Press Herald, Jan. 1, 2014 At the dawn of the New Year, we are accustomed to hearing prayers for world peace. An important step the U.S. government could take toward peace and good will in 2014 would be to reveal the names of civilians and “combatants” killed by drones in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. This transparency would show the world that we care about the loss of life from drones, particularly when innocents are killed, as was the recent case in Yemen when 17 members of a wedding party were struck by drones. As a Yemeni man said who lost relatives from that drone strike: “You cannot continue to behave as if deaths in my family are irrelevant. Your silence only makes matters worse.” Alas, Sen. Susan Collins voted in the Senate Intelligence Committee against the reporting of those killed by drones. In order for the Senate to pass this legislation, it’s crucial for Senator Collins to change her vote. On Dec. 30, Codepink Maine and other activists presented a petition to Senator Collins urging her to change her “no” vote to a “yes” vote on reporting drone casualties. Pat Taub, Codepink Maine, Portland, ME ❑ MARCH/APRIL 2014
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Upcoming Events, Announcements & —Compiled by Andrew Stimson Obituaries Upcoming Events The 2014 Islamic Games—the largest Muslim sports and athletic event in the United States—will take place in South Brunswick, NJ during Memorial Day weekend, May 17 through 19. For more information call (800) 670-7901, or visit <www.islamic-games.com>. The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation and St. Mary Catholic Church will facilitate the June 15-25 Living Stones Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, including visits to sites in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Ramallah and Nazareth. Rev. Dr. William J. Turner will lead the pilgrimage. Deposits of $750 must be received by March 15, and full payment by April 28. For more information visit <www.hcef.org>.
Announcements Applications for the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations 2014 Washington, DC Summer Internship Program are now being accepted. The program offers students a valuable 10-week professional, academic and career opportunity internship. Application deadline for the June 2Aug. 8 program is Feb. 10. For more information visit <www.ncusar.org>. The Arab American National Museum is now accepting submissions for the 2014 Arab American Book Awards, honoring significant literature by and about Arab Americans. Deadline for submission is Feb. 15. Information on guidelines is available at <www.arabamericanmuseum. org/bookaward>. The National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations’ 2014 Summer Intensive Language Program at the Arab-American Language Institute in Morocco will take place from June 3 to July 12. Students will participate in daily four-hour Modern Standard Arabic classes, along with optional Moroccan darija dialect classes and plenty of opportunities to explore Morocco through day excursions, local outings, workshops and demonstrations. Applications are due April 10. For more information visit <www. ncusar.org> or call (202) 293-6466. MARCH/APRIL 2014
The American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR), in partnership with the Carnegie Corporation of New York, is seeking qualified applicants for the Council of American Overseas Research Centers 2014 Arab Regional Workshop and Fellowship Program. Selected fellows will join international scholars from across the Middle East to participate in a research capacity-building workshop in Amman, Jordan from Oct. 18 to 21. The fellowship is for those currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program or who have completed their Ph.D. in the past 10 years. Funding will be provided for six- to eight-week research affiliations with an overseas research center. Applications are due by May 15. For more information, visit <www.acorjordan.org>.
Obituaries Ahmed Fouad Negm, 84, an Egyptian poet whose work was embraced by three generations of protesters, died in Cairo Dec. 3. Known as “the poet of the people,” he specialized in colloquial verse, using common Egyptian vernacular rather than formal Arabic. His poems are renowned for their accessibility, biting sarcasm and satire, as well as an intense love of his country. After becoming a public figure, he continued to wear a simple galabiyya, the loose Egyptian robe, while living in a crowded apartment in the poor Cairo neighborhood of Mokkatam. He was a harsh critic of several Egyptian regimes and was jailed by presidents Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak. He spent a total of 18 years in prison. Born into an impoverished family, Negm was one of 17 siblings, and spent most of his childhood in an orphanage following his father’s death. Educated in religious schools, he found work as a shepherd, house servant, postal worker, clerk and mechanic, prior to achieving fame as a poet. He first received attention for his poetry in 1959, when he won first place in a competition organized by the country’s Supreme Council for the Arts. At the time he was serving a three-year sentence for forging a document. Shortly thereafter, he published his first work, Pictures from Life and Prison, to great acclaim. Following his release from prison, Negm was appointed to serve on the board of the THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
BulletinBoard
Afro-Asian Peoples Solidarity Organization, where he met political cartoonist Ahmed Hegazy, who, along with others at the organization, played an important role in shaping Negm’s political views. He received praise and increased popularity for his poems on the 1967 Six-Day War, as well as for his satirical verse attacking Sadat’s signing of the 1979 peace treaty with Israel. In 1962, Negm began collaborating with blind musician and composer Sheikh Imam Issa. The two men put several of his poems into song, many of which were patriotic and revolutionary. These quickly became popular in coffee houses frequented by students eager for change. His works were widely sung during riots in 1977 and resurfaced during the 2011 revolution, chanted by crowds of protesters in Tahrir Square. Negm remained politically independent after the revolution, unflinchingly criticizing the short-lived government of President Mohamed Morsi as well as the current military-backed regime. Suheila Ajluni, 79, a Palestinian-American activist and philanthropist, died Dec. 29 in Bloomfield Hills, MI. Born and raised in Ramallah during the British Mandate of Palestine, she attended college in Beirut and returned to her hometown as a preschool teacher. She emigrated to the U.S. with her husband, Karim Fred Ajluni, in 1957, eventually settling in the Beverley Hills community near Detroit, MI. There she organized fund-raising for several important projects, including the Arab American National Museum, American Federation of Ramallah, as well as for Wayne State University’s Arabic Cultural Room, which she also helped design. The room displays traditional textiles, embroidery, artifacts and literature from across the Arab world. Ajluni also played a pivotal role in organizing the first Arab World Festival in Detroit’s Hart Plaza. She co-founded the Michigan chapter of Friends of Birzeit University after visiting the school’s West Bank campus in 1977. She hosted several philanthropic events for the organization in support of scholarships and extended her work to raising funds for the Quaker Friends School in Ramallah on its 100th anniversary. ❑ 69
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Books
Advise & Dissent: Memoirs of an Ex-Senator (revised) By James G. Abourezk, University of Nebraska Press, 2013, paperback, 275 pp. List: $19.95; AET: $17. Reviewed by Andrew I. Killgore Former Congressman and U.S. Senator from Rapid City, South Dakota James (Jim) Abourezk mulls over his life and career with special praise for some and harsh words for others. The balance comes out about even, but Jim’s summing up of people and events leaves a tart taste in the mouth. Jim’s Advise is the autobiography of a brilliant man born 82 years ago into an immigrant family of Lebanese/Syrian descent in Wood, South Dakota. Conditions there at the time were hardscrabble, with American Indians being at the bottom of the barrel. In his early days Jim, like the others, looked down on them, but a social consciousness erupted one day. A bunch of boys were bullying another boy from an unusually poor family, the Zinemas, whose mother was overweight and eccentric.
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Suddenly Jim shouted out that they should pick on him instead. The bigger boy beat Jim up, but Jim inflicted some damage himself. That early fight says something true about Jim Abourezk. He simply cannot abide or tolerate injustice. Jim spent a hitch in the U.S. Navy and went to Japan, where Japanese girls taught him a semi-fluent version of Japanese. When he got out he met the erudite Dr. Joseph Studenberg, who introduced him to great writers and liberal journals such as The Nation and The New Republic. When all the doctors in Wood decided to charge $5 for an immunization, Studenberg said he would charge only $1. The $1 charge stuck. With a burst of energy Jim earned a degree in engineering but found it hard going, with not much money coming in. He then earned a law degree from the University of South Dakota. If one has a vision of a slick lawyer making lots of money, Jim had done everything before he became a lawyer: a bouncer, bartender and traveling salesman trying to make a living. But he met and became friends with fellow South Dakota Congressman and Senator George McGovern, who inspired him with his sky-high principles and personal grace. McGovern’s battles with conservative Sen. Karl Mundt were gripping. Then Jim ran for Congress and won. Serving only one term, he then ran for the Senate and won. But he became disillusioned with the culture of the Senate and decided well before his term expired that he would not seek re-election. A compelling reason for reading Advise is that it contains the South Dakota tales of Jim Abourezk, a master storyteller. It’s simply full of the most delightful recollections. Jim took up the cause of the mistreated Indians both in Congress and afterward. At Wounded Knee he dealt with Indian leaders Russell Means and Dennis Banks. The 70-day drama of Wounded Knee was a mixture of tragedy with an overlay of humor. THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
As Jim looks back on his career he does not claim to have climbed the mountain. But he is in fact a lion of Arab America—I would say The Lion. He is by all odds a great American. He successfully created the important AmericanArab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) to fight off Arab and Muslim denigration by Zionists and by the media. He lists the 15th century’s Sir Thomas More, St. Joan of Arc, Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King and the boxer Muhammad Ali as people who valued their souls and their principles over their own lives. Then he lists George McGovern and Mahmoud Ali Dieb (the father of his present and third wife) in the same category. The two men had something in common. Jim describes a driving tour of South Dakota with McGovern, who tells him of the Food for Peace program which McGovern had headed. As McGovern describes it, the program enabled poor African girls of ages 11 or 12 to avoid marriage simply to provide support of their families. Jim’s father-in-law, Mahmoud Dieb, had been left on his own at age 6. But he was a hustler and slowly became well off. When he married in Syria he insisted on educating his daughters, including Jim’s wife. Jim concludes his epilogue with these words: “The conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court unleashed the moneyed class with their Citizens United, which allowed unlimited amounts of money, most of it untraceable, to be dumped on federal candidates for office.” He says democracy will not be advanced. The now not-so-young lion is despondent at the end of his epilogue. “There will be fewer and fewer George McGoverns—and others like him—who will be willing to challenge the moneyed class. There will be less and less democracy, until finally we will be confronted with another Great Barbecue [the titanic corruption at the end of the Civil War]. Money will be the only thing that counts, and men and women with principles and morals will only be available to read about in the history books.” Jim Abourezk is a great man admired by many thousands, and many of these, including this writer, feel a real affection for him. ❑ Andrew I. Killgore is publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. MARCH/APRIL 2014
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Winter 2014 Gaza Writes Back: Short Stories From Young Writers in Gaza, Palestine, by Refaat Alareer, Just World Books, 2014, paperback, 203 pp. List: $20; AET: $18. This captivating collection of short stories introduces Englishspeaking audiences to the voices of young writers in Gaza. Representing a generation that matured under Israel’s draconian siege and blockade, the stories in Gaza Writes Back are admirable acts of resistance, powerful reminders of a creative force that refuses to be silenced, and well-crafted works of longing and hard-won wisdom.
Hollow Land: Israel’s Architecture of Occupation, by Eyal Weizman, Verso, 2012, paperback, 318 pp. List: $24.95; AET: $18.50. Architect Weizman takes readers on a tour of Israel’s visible and invisible edifice of occupation, spanning the massive settlements in Jerusalem, to Jewish-only roads in the West Bank and the imposing black one-way mirrors of the Allenby border crossing. Hollow Land sketches in compelling detail the Byzantine structures of settlements and security constructed by concrete, rebar, and convoluted, self-deceiving justifications.
Advise & Dissent: Memoirs of an Ex-Senator (revised), by James G. Abourezk, University of Nebraska Press, 2013, paperback, 275 pp. List: $19.95; AET: $17. First published in 1989, this welcomed reissue of former Senator Abourezk’s memoirs, with a new foreword and epilogue, recounts his journey from the son of Lebanese immigrants in South Dakota to the halls of Congress. As a U.S. senator, Abourezk refused to compromise his beliefs and was often a lone voice in the chamber demanding the need for an independent Palestinian state.
An Enemy We Created: The Myth of the Taliban-Al Qaeda Merger in Afghanistan, by Alex Strick van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn, 2012, paperback, 560 pp. List: $24.95; AET: $20. Authors van Linschoten and Kuehn have conducted research from their homes in Kandahar since 2006. Through vigorous data collection and one-onone interviews with Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders, An Enemy We Created blows away the false equivalence drawn between the two organizations and underlines the dangers posed by the confusion willingly stoked by Western media and policymakers.
Killing Machine: The American Presidency in the Age of Drone Warfare, Lloyd C. Gardner, The New Press, 2013, hardcover, 289 pp. List: $26.95; AET: $24. Professor emeritus of history at Rutgers University, Gardner uncovers the disastrous choice made by the Bush administration and expanded by President Obama to use drone warfare to counter failing counterinsurgency campaigns and buttress the ambiguous aims of the War on Terror. Killing Machine documents how the use of drones has backfired, inspiring stronger insurgencies, alienating allies, and weakening our constitutional democracy.
Gate of the Sun, by Elias Khoury, translated by Humphrey Davies, Picador, 2007, paperback, 544 pp. List: $20; AET: $17. This prodigious and groundbreaking novel is an epic retelling of the 1948 Nakba through the voices of individual Palestinians connected to each other through the life and death of a refugee camp midwife, Umm Hassan. Khoury, a Lebanese Christian, based his tale on extensive visits to Palestinian refugee camps throughout the Middle East, where he interviewed survivors of the 1948 dispossession.
The Last Resistance, by Jacqueline Rose, Verso, 2013, paperback, 142 pp. List: $25.95; AET: $23. The author, a professor of English at the University of London, draws on a deep well of literature, psychoanalysis and politics to fiercely probe the trauma of Zionism as it has been inflicted on Palestinians and Jews alike. Her highly literary exploration exposes the delusions at the heart of the Zionist project, as well as the harmful fantasies that afflicted the U.S. and U.K. after 9/11 and many other thought-provoking topics.
Palestinian Christians in the West Bank: Facts, Figures and Trends, edited by Rania al Qass Collings, Rifat Odeh Kassis and Mitri Raheb, Diyar Publishing, 2012, paperback, 119 pp. List: $29.95; AET: $24. This comprehensive and up-todate database, complete with analysis, details the presence of Christians in the West Bank as well as external Christian missions intended to support this community. With ample statistics and charts, Palestinian Christians also includes an invaluable directory of all church-related organizations and institutions in the West Bank.
Love Wins: Palestinian Perseverance Behind Walls, by Afzal Huda, Olive Branch Press, 2013, paperback, 224 pp. List: $22; AET: $18. Award-winning photographer and filmmaker Huda’s visual chronicle of Israel’s separation wall in Palestine is a powerful reminder of the occupation’s hardships as well as the resilience of ordinary Palestinians. Its beautiful collection of photographs is enhanced by a compelling foreword by Phyllis Bennis, as well as interviews, statistics and and exquisite layout design by Waleed Abu-Ghazaleh.
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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
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AET’s 2013 Choir of Angels Following are individuals, organizations, companies and foundations whose help between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2013 is making possible activities of the tax-exempt AET Library Endowment (federal ID #52-1460362) and the American Educational Trust, publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. All 2014 donations will be acknowledged in the next issue. We are deeply honored by their confidence and profoundly grateful for their generosity.
HUMMERS ($100 or more) Americans for a Palestinian State, Oakland, CA Catherine S. Aborjaily, Westfield, MA Rizek Abusharr, Claremont, CA Dr. Salman Abu-Sitta, Carlsbad, CA Miriam & Stephen Adams, Albuquerque, NM Michael & Jane Adas, Highland Park, NJ James C. Ahlstrom, Stirling, NJ Bulus Paul Ajlouny, San Jose, CA Dr. & Mrs. Salah Al-Askari, Leonia, NJ Joe & Siham Alfred, Somerset, NJ Tammam Aljouni, Saint Louis, MO Arthur Alter, Goleta, CA Dr. Bishr Al-Ujayli, Troy, MI Hamid & Kim Alwan, Milwaukee, WI Mustafa Amantullah, Los Angeles, CA Nabil & Judy Amarah, Danbury, CT Dr. Nabih Ammari, Cleveland, OH* Sylvia Anderson de Freitas, Phoenix, AZ Huwaida Arraf, Macomb, MI Dr. Robert Ashmore Jr., Mequon, WI Mr. & Mrs. Sultan Aslam, Plainsboro, NJ Mazen Awad, Gainesville, FL Ahmed & Afaf Ayish, Arlington, VA Donna Baer, Grand Junction, CO Dr. & Mrs. Roger Bagshaw, Big Sur, CA Tarik Bakry, New York, NY Alma Ball, Venice, FL Robert E. Barber, Parrish, FL Jamil Barhoum, San Diego, CA Stanton Barrett, Ipswich, MA Mona A. Bashir, Reston, VA Allen & Jerrie Bartlett, Philadelphia, PA Mohammed & Wendy Bendebba, Baltimore, MD James Bennett, Fayetteville, AR Linda Bergh, Syracuse, NY Robert E. Billings, Walterville, OR Kate Bisharat, Carmichael, CA Syed & Rubia Bokhari, Bourbonna, IL Michael K. Boosahda, Worcester, MA Robert A. Boyd, Binghamton, NY George Buchanan, Gaithersburg, MD Mr. & Mrs. H.B. Bullard, Guilford, CT Sam & Nora Burgan, Falls Church, VA Thomas D. Cabot, Shelburne, VT John Carley, Pointe-Claire, Quebec Rev. Ronald C. Chochol, St. Louis, MO Patricia Christensen, Poulsbo, WA Robert Chubb, High Spire, PA James Cobey, Washington, DC 72
Joan & Charles Collins, Willard, MO Dr. Robert G. Collmer, Waco, TX Robert & Joyce Covey, La Cañada, CA Mrs. Walter Cox, Monroe, GA Darcy Curtiss, Herndon, VA* Hanna Danfoura, San Francisco, CA Amb. John Gunther Dean, Paris, France Robert & Tanis Diedrichs, Cedar Falls, IA Lee & Amelia Dinsmore, Elcho, WI John Dirlik, Pointe Claire, Quebec* Dr. David Dunning, Lake Oswego, OR Mervat Eid, Henrietta, NY Mansour El-Kikhia, San Antonio, TX Barbara Erickson, Berkeley, CA M.R. Eucalyptus, Kansas City, MO Dr. & Mrs. Hossam Fadel, Augusta, GA Albert E. Fairchild, Bethesda, MD Renee Farmer, New York, NY Yusif Farsakh, Arlington, VA Mr. & Mrs. Majed Faruki, Albuquerque, NM P. Michele Felton, Winton, NC Douglas A. Field, Kihei, HI Bill Freij, Plymouth, MI Friends of Mu’mina, Abiquiu, NM Robert Gabe, Valatie, NY Joseph & Angela Gauci, Whittier, CA Linda George, Louisville, KY Graeme Goodsir, Mechanicsburg, PA Sam Gousen, Arlington, VA Peter Grasso, Bernardston, MA Raymond E. Haddock, Spotsylvania, VA Dr. Wasif Hafeez, W. Bloomfield, MI Theodore Hajjar, Venice, CA Allen Hamood, Dearborn Heights, MI Erin K. Hankir, Ottawa, Ontario Shirley Hannah, Argyle, NY Dr. Walid Harb, Dearborn Heights, MI Robert & Helen Harold, West Salem, WI Prof. & Mrs. Brice Harris, Los Angeles, CA Angela Harter, Cambridge, MA Dr. Steven Harvey, Manchester, NH Mr. & Mrs. Sameer Hassan, Quaker Hill, CT Mr. & Mrs. John Hendrickson, Tulsa, OK Robert Herrmann, Rancho Santa Fe, CA Dr. & Mrs. Sam Holland, North Eastham, MA M.D. Hotchkiss, Portland, OR William C. Hunt, Somerset, WI Mustafa Issa, Montreal, Quebec Hala Deeb Jabbour, Herndon, VA Rafeeq Jaber, Palos Hills, IL Mustafa Jamal, Hyde Park, NY Ronald Jaye, Watsonville, CA THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
Anthony Jones, Jasper, Alberta Omar & Nancy Kader, Vienna, VA Timothy Kaminski, Saint Louis, MO Carl & Deanna Karoub, Northville, MI Mary Keath, Dayton, MD Michael J. Keating, Olney, MD* Dr. M. Jamil Khan, Bloomfield Hills, MI Majid Khan, Bloomfield, MI Rehan Khan, Jersey City, NJ Eugene G. Khorey, West Mifflin, PA Samir Khoury, Hasbrouck, NJ Tony & Anne Khoury, Danville, CA Omar Khwaja, Irvine, CA Ernestine King, Topsham, ME Loretta Krause, Wayne, NJ Ronald Kunde, Skokie, IL John Lankenau, Tivoli, NY Mary Lou Levin, Mill Valley, CA Josie Toth Linen, Richmond, VA Robert Listou, Falls Church, VA Sherif Lotfi, New York, NY Barbara Lubin, Middle East Children’s Alliance, Berkeley, CA J. Robert Lunney, Bronxville, NY Anthony Mabarak, Grosse Pointe Park, MI Robert L. Mabarak, Grosse Pointe Park, MI Richard Makdisi & Lindsay Wheeler, Berkeley, CA Dr. Asad Malik, Rochester Hills, MI John B. Malouf, Lubbock, TX Ted Marczak, Toms River, NJ Amal Marks, Altadena, CA Melinda Mason, Lubbock, TX Carol Mazzia, Santa Rosa, CA Tom & Tess McAndrew, Oro Valley, AZ Peter Pranis, McAllen, TX Shirl McArthur, Reston, VA Kenneth McDonald, Houston, TX Bill McGrath, Northfield, MN Jim McGraw, Dacula, GA Nijad Mehanna, Roseville, MI Robert Anton Mertz, Bethesda, MD Tom Mickelson, Madison, WI Lynn & Jean Miller, Amherst, MA John & Ruth Monson, La Crosse, WI Evemarie Moore, Chicago, IL Maury Keith Moore, Seattle, WA Mr. & Mrs. Jan Moreb, Gainesville, FL Charles Murphy, Upper Falls, MD Raymond & Joan Musallam, Wilton, CA Mohamad Nabi, Union, KY William and Nancy Nadeau, San Diego, CA Joseph Najemy, Worcester, MA Sara Najjar-Wilson, Reston, VA MARCH/APRIL 2014
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Mrs. David Nalle, Washington, DC Jacob Nammar, San Antonio, TX Neal & Donna Newby, Mancos, CO Mary Neznek, Washington, DC Marianne Nuseibeh, Aurora, IN Kamal Obeid, Fremont, CA William Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Grady, St. Petersburg, FL Carol Gay Olson, Lafayette, CA John L. Opperman, Ridgecrest, CA Edmund Ord, Oakland, CA Beverly Orr, Washington, DC Khaled Othman, Riverside, CA Edmond & Lorraine Parker, Chicago, IL Phil & Elaine Pasquini, Novato, CA Amb. Ed Peck, Chevy Chase, MD Jim Plourd, Monterey, CA Barbara A. Porter, Boston, MA* Mr. & Mrs. James G. Porter, Takoma Park, MD* M. Habib Quader, Harrisburg, PA Cheryl Quigley, Toms River, NJ Dr. Amani Ramahi, Lakewood, OH Mr. & Mrs. Duane Rames, Mesa, AZ Marjorie Ransom, Washington, DC Nayla Rathle, Belmont, MA Vivian & Doris Regidor, Pearl City, HI Mr. & Mrs. Edward Reilly, Rocky Point, NY Paul Richards, Salem, OR Neil Richardson, Randolph, VT Amb. Christopher Ross, Washington, DC Nuhad Ruggiero, Bethesda, MD Amb. Bill Rugh, Garrett Park, MD Hameed Saba, Diamond Bar, CA Maud Ulla Sabbagh, McLean, VA* Dr. Ahmed M. Sakkal, Charleston, WV Kazi Salahuddin, San Jose, CA Ramzy Salem, Monterey Park, CA Anis & Rhonda Salib, Huntsville, AL James Santagata, Brooklyn, NY Walter & Halina Sasak, Northborough, MA Dr. Dirgham Sbait, Portland, OR Robert M. Schaible, Maine Voices for Peace, Buxton, ME Irmgard Scherer, Fairfax, VA Genevieve Scott Bell, Davis, CA Dr. Abid Shah, Sarasota, FL Rifqa Shahin, Apple Valley, CA Richard J. Shaker, Annapolis, MD Aziz Shalaby, Vancouver, WA Lewis Shapiro, White Plains, NY Lt. Col. Alfred Shehab, Odenton, MD Kathy Sheridan, Mill Valley, CA Dr. Mostafa Sherif, Tinton Falls, NJ David Shibley, Santa Monica, CA Zac Sidawi, Costa Mesa, CA Anthony Sisto, Neeham, MA Lucy Skivens-Smith, Dinwiddie, VA Deborah Ann Smith, Durham, NC Edgar W. Snell, Jr., Schenectady, NY Jean Snyder, Greenbelt, MD P. & J. Starks, Greensboro, NC Gregory Stefanatos, Flushing, NY MARCH/APRIL 2014
Dr. William Strange, Fort Garland, CO Mubadda Suidan, Atlanta, GA Beverly Swartz, Sarasota, FL Mushtaq Syed, Santa Clara, CA Ayoub & Ghada Talhami, Evanston, IL Dr. Joseph Tamari, Chicago, IL Dr. Yusuf Tamimi, Hilo, HI Doris Taweel, Laurel, MD J. Tayeb, Shelby Township, MI Charles Thomas, La Conner, WA Ned Toomey, Bishop, CA Mr. & Mrs. Raymond Totah, Fallbrook, CA Thomas Trueblood, Chapel Hill, NC Charles & Letitia Ufford, Hanover, NH Tom Veblen, Washington, DC Peter & Liz Viering, Stonington, CT Rev. Hermann Weinlick, Minneapolis, MN Richard Wetzel, Amherst, VA Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Whitman, Auburn, ME Edwina White, Sacramento, CA Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Whitman, Auburn, ME Nabil Yakub, McLean, VA Elizabeth Yates, Salem, IL Raymond Younes, Oxnard, CA Dr. & Mrs. Fathi S. Yousef, Irvine, CA Bernice Youtz, Tacoma, WA Munir Zacharia, La Mirada, CA I. William Zartman, Silver Spring, MD Fred Zuercher, Spring Grove, PA Elia K. Zughaib, Alexandria, VA
ACCOMPANISTS ($250 or more) Patricia Ann Abraham, Charlston, SC Dr. M.Y. Ahmed, Waterville, OH Michael Ameri, Calabasas, CA Louise Anderson, Oakland, CA Anace & Polly Aossey, Cedar Rapids, IA Rev. Dr. Lois Aroian, Willow Lake, SD Dr. & Mrs. Issa Boullata, Montreal, Quebec Mr. & Mrs. Rajie Cook, Washington Crossing, PA William Coughlin, Brookline, MA Mr. & Mrs. John Crawford, Boulder, CO Joseph Daruty, Newport Beach, CA Dr. Rafeek Farah, New Boston, MI Elisabeth Fitzhugh, Mitchellville, MD Eugene Fitzpatrick, Wheat Ridge, CO Dr. William Fuller, Valdosta, GA Ken Galal, San Francisco, CA Sherna Gluck, Topanga, CA Ray Gordon, Venice, FL H. Clark Griswold, Woodbury, CT Delinda Hanley, Kensington, MD Alan and Dot Heil, Alexandria, VA* Dr. Colbert & Mildred Held, Waco, TX* Salman & Kate Hilmy, Silver Spring, MD Islamic Center, Westbury, NY Fahd Jajeh, Lake Forest, IL Mohamed Kamal, North York, Ont. THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
Martha Katz, Youngstown, OH Wendy Kaufmyn, Berkeley, CA Gloria Keller, Santa Rosa, CA Faisal Kutty, Valparaiso, IN* Michael Ladah, Las Vegas, NV Sandra La Framboise, Oakland, CA Kendall Landis, Media, PA John Lankenau, Tivoli, NY Joe & Lilli Lill, Arlington, VA Nidal Mahayni, Richmond, VA Amb. Clovis Maksoud, Washington, DC Joseph A. Mark, Carmel, CA Martha Martin, Paia, HI Jean Mayer, Bethesda, MD Dr. Charles McCutchen, Bethesda, MD Daniel A. McGowan, Geneva, NY Gerald & Judith Merrill, Oakland, CA Robert S. Miller, Winter Springs, FL Corinne Mudarri, Cambridge, MA Mary Norton, Austin, TX Arthur Paone, Belmar, NJ Hertha Poje-Ammoum, New York, NY Sam Rahman, Lincoln, CA Doris Rausch, Columbia, MD Frank & Mary Regier, Albany, CA Dr. M.H. Salem, Amman, Jordan James & Lisa Sams, Bethesda, MD Russell Scardaci, Cairo, NY* Carl Schieren, New York, NY Henry & Irmgard Schubert, Damascus, OR*** Thomas Shaker, Poughkeepsie, NY David Shibley, Santa Monica, CA David J. Snider, Airmont, NY Mae Stephen, Palo Alto, CA William Strange, Fort Garland, CO Michel & Cathy Sultan, Eau Claire, WI Thomas & Carol Swepston, Englewood, FL Zuhair Thalji, Willow Springs, IL Jon B. Utley, Freda Utley Foundation, Washington, DC Joseph Walsh, Adamsville, RI Dr. Harry Wendt, Minneapolis, MN David R. Willcox, Harrison, AR Hilary Wise, London, England Ziyad & Cindi Zaitoun, Seattle, WA Vivian Zelaya, Berkeley, CA Rafi Ziauddin, West Chester, PA
TENORS & CONTRALTOS ($500 or more) Dr. Abdullah Arar, Amman, Jordan Kamel Ayoub, Hillsborough, CA Donna Baer, Grand Junction, CO Graf Herman Bender, North Palm Beach, FL Gary L. Cozette, Chicago, IL Richard Curtiss, Boynton Beach, FL Shuja El-Asad, Amman, Jordan Paul Findley, Jacksonville, IL 73
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Eileen Fleming, Clermont, FL Ronald & Mary Forthofer, Longmont, CO Amb. Holsey Handyside, Bedford, OH “Helen,” Ann Arbor, MI**** Richard Hoban, Cleveland Heights, OH* Brigitte Jaensch, Carmichael, CA Curtis Jones, Chapel Hill, NC Zagloul & Muntaha Kadah, Seattle, WA Dr. Muhammad Khan & Fatimunnisa Begum, Jersey City, NJ David & Renee Lent, Woodstock, VT* Jack Love, San Diego, CA Anees Mughannam, Petaluma, CA Audrey Olson, Saint Paul, MN Patricia & Herbert Pratt, Cambridge, MA Ruth Ramsey, Blairsville, GA Gabrielle Saad, Oakland, CA Dr. Mohammed Sabbagh, Grand Blanc, MI Betty Sams, Washington, DC*,** Yasir Shallal, McLean, VA David Solomon, Orange, CA Mae Stephen, Palo Alto, CA Linda Thain-Ali, Kesap Giresum, Turkey**** John Van Wagoner, McLean, VA John V. Whitbeck, Paris, France Dr. Robert Younes, Potomac, MD*
BARITONES & MEZZO SOPRANOS ($1,000 or more) Paula Allen, Vanderbilt, FL Drs. A.J. and M.T. Amirana, Las Vegas, NV Asha A. Anand, Bethesda, MD Estate of Joseph Bailey, Valley Center, CA Branscomb Family Foundation, La Jolla, CA G. Edward & Ruth Brooking, Wilmington, DE Rev. Rosemarie Carnarius and Aston Bloom, Tucson, AZ* Luella Crow, Eugene, OR Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Curtiss, Herndon, VA* Thomas D’Albani & Dr. Jane Killgore, Bemidji, MN Dr. & Mrs. Rod Driver, West Kingston, RI Shuja El-Asad, Amman, Jordan Linda Emmet, Paris, France Dr. & Mrs. Clyde Farris, West Linn, OR* Gary Richard Feulner, Dubai, UAE Evan & Leman Fotos, Istanbul, Turkey Dr. & Mrs. Hassan Fouda, Berkeley, CA Hind Hamdan, Hagerstown, MD George Hanna, Santa Ana, CA Nicholas Hopkins, Washington, DC Judith Howard, Norwood, MA* Mary Ann Hrankowski, Rochester, NY Sufian & Barbara Husseini, Salem, OR Shafiq Kombargi, Houston, TX Dr. Muhammad M. Kudaimi, Munster, IN Vincent & Louise Larsen, Billings, MT * William Lightfoot, Vienna, VA 74
Rachelle Marshall, Mill Valley, CA John McLaughlin, Gordonsville, VA Ralph Nader, Public Citizen, Washington, DC Bob Norberg, Lake City, MN* John Parry, Chapel Hill, NC Yusef & Jen Sifri, Wilmington, NC* Dr. Imad Tabry, Fort Lauderdale, FL Norman Tanber, Dana Point, CA
CHOIRMASTERS ($5,000 or more) Reza Amin, Los Angeles, CA Siobhan C. Amin, Los Angeles, CA Henry Clifford, Essex, CT Estate of Frank Collins, Woodbridge, VA Donna B. Curtiss, Kensington, MD* John & Henrietta Goelet, New York, NY Andrew I. Killgore, Washington, DC William & Flora McCormick, Austin, TX* Drs. Ali & Samia Moizuddin, Birmingham, AL Mahmud Shaikhaly, Hollywood, CA *In Memory of Richard H. Curtiss **In Honor of Andrew I. Killgore ***To Free Palestine ****For Helen Thomas Internship program
Hope in the Holy Land… Continued from page 37
Nations Organization in General Assembly Resolution 181.” While such previous taxation moves have ended in failure, the Israeli authorities have continued to persist in their efforts to impose an arnona (property tax) on properties owned by the various churches. One such example involved tax claims made by the Israeli Tax Department which put Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem, along with other services of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), at great risk. These organizations provide non-profit, humanitarian services to refugees and those living in poverty in the Palestinian territories. Augusta Victoria is the main hospital for providing cancer care to Palestinian children. Even so, the government of Israel demanded a change to its tax status, including a request for retroactive taxes back to 1967. Following a lengthy court battle, demands for back taxes from 1967 until 2008 were dropped, thereby allowing continued operation of Augusta Victoria Hospital and the LWF as a whole. It was determined, however, that the LWF would begin paying partial taxes as of 2009. THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
“Price Tag” Attacks Over the past three years, at least 17 Chris tian sites in the Holy Land have been reported vandalized according to Search for Common Ground—a nongovernmental group that monitors press reports of attacks on religious sites. These are referred to as “Price Tag” attacks, as extremist Jewish settlers want to show there is a “price” to pay when dealing with them. Among sites targeted in recent “price tag” attacks have been the Monastery of the Cross; a Baptist Church in central Jerusalem; and various other churches, monasteries, convents, mosques and even graveyards. At the Trappist monastery in Latrun, outside Jerusalem, vandals burned a door and spray-painted anti-Christian graffiti on the century-old building. The Latin Patriarchate has condemned such acts of vandalism, saying, “Such an act of violence is a despicable attempt to undermine coexistence between believers.” They further add, “These acts of violence are an expression of anger against the dismantlement of an illegal Jewish settlement.” In addition, clergymen often speak of being spat upon while wearing frocks and crosses or during religious processions by ultra-Orthodox religious students in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Appropriation of Church Lands Large parts of Israel’s West Bank barrier have already been built. From the Cremisan valley, the high concrete wall continues to be built on land taken from both churches and Christian families. A recent action alert put out by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops warns, “More than 50 Palestinian families and two Salesian convents [near Beit Jala] will lose their lands and livelihoods. The convent and school that provides education to more than 400 children in the adjacent villages will be surrounded by a military presence and inhibit many children from going to school.” Says Father Ibrahim Shomali, “When people suffer the Church must be near them. This is not politics. This is human rights…Here, 57 Christian families will lose their land. Losing the land means losing their hope.” These are some of the many difficulties for the Christians living in the Holy Land today. Yet despite these obstacles, it is the perseverance of the people, and the ongoing presence of and continuing work by the churches, that remain a sign of hope for a different type of resurrection that is yet to come. ❑ MARCH/APRIL 2014
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American Educational Trust The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs P.O. Box 53062 Washington, DC 20009
March/April 2014 Vol. XXXIII, No. 2
A Yemeni boy walks past a mural depicting a U.S. drone and asking, “Why did you kill my family?” in the capital city of Sana’a, Dec. 13, 2013. MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/Getty Images