Washington Report on Middle East Affairs | January-February 2012

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THE MET’S GLORIOUS NEW ISLAMIC ART GALLERIES

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On Middle East Affairs Volume XXXI, No. 1

January/February 2012

Telling the Truth for 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 The High Cost of U.S. Subservience to Israel —Rachelle Marshall 11 The Bottom Line—George S. Hishmeh 12 Drumbeat for War on Iran—Two Views —Patrick Seale, Patrick J. Buchanan 14 U.S. Reaction to Palestinian Membership in

16 The Man of Zakat Exemplified Appeal of Hamas’ Human Face—Mohammed Omer 18 Dennis Ross: “More Israeli Than the Israelis”— Two Views—Rashid Khalidi, Alex Kane 21 Israel’s Members of Congress Continue to React to Palestinians’ U.N. Bid—Shirl McArthur

UNESCO Damaging at Home and Abroad—Ian Williams

SPECIAL REPORTS

26 Rejecting Apology, U.S. May Hasten End of Pakistan as Client—Gareth Porter

28 Myanmar: On the Road to Democracy?—John Gee 34 Splendid Islamic Art on View in Glorious Galleries at Metropolitan Museum of Art—Elaine Pasquini

Among the treasures to be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s newly renovated galleries of Islamic art are (l-r) a Mihrab (prayer niche), Iran, Isfahan 1354-55, mosaic of polychromeglazed cut tiles on stonepaste body set into mortar; copper Palanquin Finials with Lotuses, India, Deccan, Golconda, ca. 1650-80; and a bronze Throne Leg in the shape of a griffin, Iran, Umayyad period (661-750), late 7th-early 8th century. See story p. 34.

ON THE COVER: A Palestinian girl picks flowers as, nearby, Israeli troops clash with demonstrators following a protest against Israel’s expropriation of Palestinian land.

RAMALLAH/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

STAFF PHOTOS PHIL PASQUINI

23 As First Post-Mubarak Elections Begin, Egyptians Express Concern—and Hope—Joseph Mayton

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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 1-800-368-5788, and press 1.)

Other Voices

Compiled by Janet McMahon

Israel Faces $250 Million Slash in Aid, Nathan Guttman, The Forward

OV-1

The Real Cost of Israel’s Occupation of The Palestinians, Amira Hass, Haaretz

Will Washington Thump the Syrian Domino?, Philip Giraldi, www.antiwar.com

OV-8

Women Push Back Into Public Space, Pierre Klochendler, IPS-Inter Press Service

OV-10

Fort Dix Five: “If They Did Something, Punish Them. But They’re Innocent Kids,” Paul Harris, The Guardian

OV-11

OV-2

Chutzpah: AIPAC’s Newest Iran Sanctions Bill Will Prohibit Diplomacy, MJ Rosenberg, Foreign Policy Matters

OV-3

A Slip of the Tongue Betrays Israel’s Hard-line Propaganda, Tony Karon, The National

OV-4

Erdogan Most Popular Leader by Far Among Arabs, Jim Lobe, IPS-Inter Press Service

OV-5

Turkey’s Domestic Issues, Wendy Kristianasen, Le Monde diplomatique

OV-7

Iraq Reminds Us Why Accountability Matters, Rami G. Khouri, Agence Global OV-12 Iraq Is Not a Model for Libya, Mike Lofgren, www.truth-out.org

OV-13

Assassination Backlash, Andrew Cockburn, Los Angeles Times

OV-14

Q&A: New NBC Correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin, Dave Marash, Behind the News

OV-15

DEPARTMENTS 5 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 7 PUBLISHERS’ PAGE

42 ISRAEL AND JUDAISM:

49 WAGING PEACE:

Growing Concern About Israeli

HCEF Adds Another E, for Econ-

Behavior Exposes Limited

omy, to Its Name

Appeal of American Jewish 30 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA CHRONICLE: Youthful

Groups—Allan C. Brownfeld

Jordanian Ambassador

Creativity, Exuberance Dominate Annual Arab Film Festival

—Elaine Pasquini

60 DIPLOMATIC DOINGS:

44 ARAB-AMERICAN ACTIVISM:

Addresses American Students

ATFP Gala Features Prime Minister Fayyad

61 BULLETIN BOARD

32 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHRONICLE: Tarzan and Arab See Their First Movie Show at Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse Ritz—Pat and Samir Twair

44 MUSLIM-AMERICAN ACTIVISM: CAIR Chicago Commemorates Arab American Heritage Month

36 NEW YORK CITY AND TRISTATE NEWS: Palestinian Ambassador Riyad H. Mansour Discusses U.N. Moves—Jane Adas

62 BOOK REVIEW: Divide and Perish: The Geopolitics of the Middle East

—Reviewed by Andrew I. Killgore 63 NEW ARRIVALS FROM THE

45 HUMAN RIGHTS:

AET BOOK CLUB

Peaceful Palestinian Freedom Ride Ends in Arrests

64 2011 AET CHOIR OF ANGELS

39 OTHER PEOPLE’S MAIL 47 MUSIC AND ARTS: 41 THE WORLD LOOKS AT THE MIDDLE EAST — CARTOONS

Royal Opera House Shines Spotlight on Music in Oman

43 INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

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ANDREW I. KILLGORE Executive Editor: RICHARD H. CURTISS Managing Editor: JANET McMAHON News Editor: DELINDA C. HANLEY Book Club Director: ANDREW STIMSON Circulation Director: ANNE O’ROURKE Administrative Director: ALEX BEGLEY Art Director: RALPH U. SCHERER

LetterstotheEditor

Publisher:

Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (ISSN 8755-4917) is published 9 times a year, monthly except Jan./Feb., May/June and Sept./Oct. 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.

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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 seven 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.

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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.com bookclub@wrmea.com circulation@wrmea.com advertising@wrmea.com Web sites: http://www.wrmea.com http://www.middleeastbooks.com Subscriptions, sample copies and donations: P.O. Box 53062, Washington, DC 20009-9062 Printed in the USA

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

The West Should Support Palestinian Diplomatic Efforts The recent admission of Palestine as a full member of UNESCO was a wonderful victory for the peaceful diplomatic efforts of the Palestinian Authority. The lack of support by several Western nations, notably Australia, Canada, Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands and the USA, was a disgrace.

These nations are effectively giving the Palestinians no choice. All nations who are attempting to thwart the peaceful, diplomatic bid for Palestinian statehood are telling the Palestinians: (i) Palestinians cannot use terrorism, and (ii) Palestinians cannot use peaceful diplomacy.

Well, what strategy should the Palestinians then use? These nations are putting the Palestinians in an impossible situation, effectively demanding that the Palestinians must do it all Israel’s way, or nothing. Such a demand would never be acceptable to any nation in Palestine’s place, particularly at a time when nations stand idly by while Israel—again—breaks international law by accelerating settlement building in spiteful protest.

This situation would be comical if it were not so serious. The Palestinians should be praised and supported for adopting a peaceful diplomatic approach to obtaining statehood.

Dr. Rory E. Morty, Giessen, Germany The Palestinians certainly can’t win as far as Israel and its international accolytes are concerned. That’s why such nonviolent campaigns as the boycott, divest and sanctions (BDS) movement are so crucial—and why Israel is so afraid of them.

Alone Again, Unnaturally As I listened to the announcement re Palestine’s membership in UNESCO on the BBC yesterday, I felt a great sense of joy, especially when the assembly broke into cheers. Then, unfortunately, the U.S. had to make me feel like a spoil sport and a big bully by announcing that ıt would withdraw its support from UNESCO. A State Department representative went on to say that all of this would damage the chances for peace and more such blah, blah. Well, from now on definitely it is the U.S. and Israel that will be isolated. There has been so little gained by playing the U.S.-Israel game, so the threats only show the U.S. to be once more supporting a policy that means further loss of face for the U.S. While U.S. actions and words make me THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

very sad and frustrated, I am proud the Palestinians have stuck it out and are showing the world that bullies do not always win.

Linda Thain-Ali, via e-mail The situation is somewhat analagous to a parasite killing the host that gives it life. It raises the question of what causes a parasite to be suicidal—for in the end, both die.

An Uninfluential Superpower The U.S., the only superpower, as we are told, can only really gain 12 or 13 votes in the entire world! And look at the nations that did not vote “for us”—the United

Kingdom, France and Italy—as well as Afghanistan, Iraq, and the country we just “liberated,” Libya......all because of the strength of the U.S. Israel lobby and upcoming national elections.

The U.S. has worked itself into a terrible corner because of Israel…now all the American people must suffer. This situation is hard to believe from groups of diplomats all with their many degrees and experience who at heart are really ward politicians!

If Palestine joins other international organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency, will the U.S. refuse to pay dues and lose voting rights? Why does such a tiny nation many time zones away have such sway in Washington??

Keep Up the Good Fight!

Rick Curtiss, via e-mail Our U.N. correspondent Ian Williams ponders the implications of the UNESCO vote, and Washington’s response, on p. 14 of this issue.

December’s Back Cover Last week we received the December issue.

I’m writing to say that the photos of Ellen Siegel and Ghada Karmi on the back cover are great! They attest to the old adage “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Bravo 5

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for publishing these pictures. I hope you will promote them in other places.

Kathryn Habib, via e-mail We sent out a special action alert entitled “Two Anniversaries” on Nov. 15, the 23rd anniversary of President Yasser Arafat’s 1998 declaration of Palestinian independence, and also noting the approaching 63rd anniversary on Dec. 11 of U.N. Resolution 194 guaranteeing Palestinians the right to return to their homes. To join our e-mail list (and read our previous action alerts), visit our Web site, <www.wrmea.com>. For the story behind Siegel and Karmi’s friendship and commitment to justice, see managing editor Janet McMahon’s article “A Friendship Based on a Common Struggle Survives the Test of Time” (Aug./Sept. 1992 Washington Report, p. 35), written the year of their second demonstration outside the Israeli Embassy in London.

to Hamas’ actions entrenches pro-Israeli propaganda which is already re-writing this history.

Karin Brothers, Toronto, Canada The photo to which you refer showed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh’s Gaza City office building after a March 2011 attack by Israeli warplanes. As we recall, we did confirm that there had been prior Palestinian rocket attacks, but we take your point that those attacks undoubtedly were in response to Israeli actions. We shall redouble our efforts to tell the complete story in our photo captions as do the articles they illustrate.

The Kennedy Assassination On Nov. 21, Marquette University Prof.

John McAdams was a guest on Joy Cardin’s Wisconsin Public Radio talk show.

The topic was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Although I tuned in late, I suspect that there was one theory A Phony Justification concerning the assassination that he chose In “The Myth of Israel’s Insecurity” by Ira not to discuss.

Chernus in the May/June 2011, a horrific That theory was cited by a 22-year vetphoto of the Hamas office in Gaza includes eran former Republican congressman from words in the caption “…after it was tar- Abraham Lincoln’s old district in Illinois. geted by Israeli warplanes, along with In March 1992 he said in the Washington three other sites in the Gaza Strip, in re- Report on Middle East Affairs: sponse to Palestinian rocket attacks on Is“It is interesting—but not surprising— rael.” to note that in all the words written and As we all know, Israel’s 22-day attack on uttered about the Kennedy assassination, Gaza of 2008-2009 had nothing to do with Israel’s intelligence agency, the Mossad, missiles from Gaza: Israel had ignored its has never been mentioned.” obligations under its cease-fire agreement President Kennedy was adamantly opwith Hamas from the beginning of the posed to Israel’s becoming a nuclear power.

June 2008 agreement. Israel then violated Israel’s Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion the cease-fire by killing Palestinians on was adamantly determined to obtain nuNov. 5, 2008, then refused Hamas’ offers to clear weaponry. renegotiate a cease-fire!

In his last letter to President Kennedy, Supporting the phony justification that Prime Minister Ben-Gurion wrote: the vicious Israeli attacks were in response “Mr. President, my people have the right to exist, and this existence is in danger.”

Other Voices is an optional 16Washington Jew ish Week editorialpage supplement available only ized on Oct. 9, to subscribers of the Washington 1997: “Israel need not Report on Middle East Affairs. apologize for the For an additional $15 per year assassination or (see postcard insert for Wash destruction of those who seek to ington Re port subscription destroy it. rates), subscribers will receive “The first order of business for Other Voices bound into each any country is the issue of their Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. protection of its Back issues of both publications are available. To subpeople.”

In light of the scribe telephone 1 (800) 368-5788 (press 1), fax (202) 265fact that Ben-Gu4574, e-mail <circulation@wrmea.com>, or write to P.O. rion and Zionists felt that Israel had Box 53062, Washington, DC 20009. to become a nu6

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

clear power, Israel too had an interest in removing President Kennedy from office with bullets?

It is certainly within the realm of possibility that Israel’s Mossad had the means, motive and the opportunity to lethally dispose of President Kennedy and anyone else deemed a threat to Israel’s existence. It benefited with President Johnson’s lavish foreign aid and also the cover-up of the USS Liberty attack by Israel which no one in the White House believed was an accident.

William Gartland, Rio, WI In his article written in response to the release of Oliver Stone’s movie “JFK,” former Rep. Paul Findley (whose memoir, Speaking Out, is available from the AET Book Club) cites theories attributing the Kennedy assassination to the FBI, CIA, LBJ “henchmen,” Cuba and the Mafia, and concludes: “Am I accusing the Mossad of complicity? Absolutely not. I have no evidence of such. My point is simply this: on this question, as on almost all others, American reporters and commentators cannot bring themselves to cast Israel in an unfavorable light—despite the obvious fact that Mossad complicity is as plausible as any of the other theories.”

Certainly Israel has shown itself to be not averse to taking American lives, we might add.

A Demand for Balance In your November issue, p. 19, you accuse MEMRI, a pro-Israel organization, of “selectively spotlighting.” I’m glad the Washington Report never does that. For example, when you show a photo of a Palestinian injured by an Israeli, as you did on p. 16, I know the reason you never show Israelis/Jews maimed or killed by Palestinians/Arabs/Muslims is that these photos don’t seem to come to your attention or across your desk. Otherwise, you would show them, of course, since your magazine is, as you say every issue (on p. 5), “balanced.”

Jerry Axelrod, Huntingdon Valley, PA We’re sure you’ve sent countless letters over the years to The New York Times, The Washington Post and other mainstream media outlets asking why they always feature front-page photos of Israelis/Jews maimed or killed by Palestinians/Arabs/ Muslims, and rarely the other way around.

But perhaps “All the News That’s Fit to Print” doesn’t actually promise balance, so maybe not.

At any rate, let us refer you to our Web site <rememberthesechildren.org>, which lists every Israeli and Palestinian child under 18 killed since September 2000. Through August 2011, the totals were 125 Israeli children killed and 1,470 Palestinians. ❑ JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

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American Educational Trust 30 Years and Counting.

As we wrap up our first issue of 2012—and begin our 30th year publishing the Washington Report—please indulge us in a little introspection. Thirty years ago, after retiring from the Foreign Service, our founders Ambassador Andrew I. Killgore, Richard Curtiss and British Ambassador Edward Henderson decided to try and inform Amricans about this country’s deeply biased foreign policy in the Middle East by creating this publication. Early articles in what began as an…

Eight-Page Newsletter…

Unlike Any Other Publication…

online video streaming, e-mails, tweets, blogs and more. How does a publication like the Washington Report, dependent upon the generosity of its readers (not to mention the vagaries of the post office, including price hikes and slowdowns) survive? In this age of iPads and tablets, what does the future hold for a small Middle East bookstore, also selling Palestinian crafts— virtually at <www.middleeastbooks.com> or in a shop located beneath our magazine offices?

As a Result of These Trends…

And the current economic downturn, donations and subscriptions to the Washington Report have dropped dramatically. Perhaps, with Congress blocking humanitarian aid to people we care deeply about in occupied Palestine, Lebanon, Pakistan and other troubled lands (including the United States!), donors are choosing to contribute to humanitarian charities instead of to this magazine.

MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Could have been written today, including “Camp David Fairy Tale,” “The Middle East Muddle”and “Humiliation for U.S.”—in which we chronicled a “pattern of contempt by Israel for U.S. actions and statements—and a failure by the U.S. to insist openly that it meant what it said.” The launch of our newsletter coincided with Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, and we’ve covered every armed conflict and endless peace talks since.

Publishers’ Page Newt Gingrich’s (Nonmarital) Vow… To appoint über-neocon John Bolton secretary of state should Gingrich be elected the next president is a clear statement that—despite such disasters as the Iraq war and Washington’s increasing irrelevance as a diplomatic power—the Israel-firsters have no intention of changing their loyalties. But the Republican game of musical candidates—not to mention the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street movements—are clear signs that Americans are dissatisfied with their current leadership. They just…

Don’t Know Where to Turn.

Especially in an election year, Americans crucially need the information they can get only from the Washington Report: who gets how much from pro-Israel PACs, congressional voting records on Middle East-related issues, and articles exposing the behind-the-scene maneuvers by AIPAC and other Israel-firsters.

Americans don’t want another war for Israel, but that doesn’t seem to matter to their elected representatives.

Voters need to know why they’re not being heard—and we’re convinced they are prepared to hear the explanation. But if the neocons aren’t giving up…

The Washington Report also exNeither Are We. amines why U.S. foreign policy is dead on arrival—spotlightWe’ll have to make adjustments, ing the unrelenting role played however. So, given our reduced by the domestic pro-Israel income, we have decided to lobby, AIPAC (which we covpublish eight instead of nine ered in our very first issue) and issues of the Washington Report Christian Zionists. For decades A Palestinian medical worker wheels a wounded woman on a stretcher in 2012. We’ll still provide the we’ve been compiling pro-Israel into al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City following a Dec. 8, 2011 Israeli air information on which our readPAC contributions to elected strike on a car that killed at least two Palestinians and wounded two. ers depend, and plan also to representatives and documentfocus more on making our Web ing the outrageous votes those funds have site, <www.wrmea.com>, a superlative goBut if U.S. Foreign Policy… purchased from politicians who accept… to place for news.

And the domestic pressures that form it do “Cash With a Catch.” not change, the United States will continue But We Urgently Need Your Help,…

We’ve provided crucial information the to lurch from one war to the next, and Israel Feedback, ideas and donations to make mainstream media doesn’t want you to will continue to oppress and dispossess sure the Washington Report gets in voters’ know—about the cost of Israel and the fact Muslim and Christian Palestinians and hands, as well as on lawmakers’ desks and that U.S. aid and tax-free donations pour- threaten its neighbors throughout the library and bookstore shelves—and, of ing into that foreign country are just the tip region. Unfortunately, if the Republican course, in your mailboxes or computers for of the iceberg. We also show what Israel’s candidates on stage at the Dec. 7 Republican another decade or two. We hope you’ll dig government and illegal settlers do with Jewish Coalition Presidential Candidates deep in your pockets and make as generous Forum in Washington, DC are the harbinger an end-of-year donation as you can. Let’s their American loot. of the upcoming presidential contest, Amer- all renew our dedication to liberty and jusToday, News Junkies Like Us… icans again will be asked to vote for candi- tice for all as we continue to…

Are easily overwhelmed and overloaded dates who take their cues from Israel instead Make a Difference Today! with round-the-clock TV and radio news, of their own constituents.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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The High Cost of U.S. Subservience to Israel SpecialReport

ABBAS MOMANI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

By Rachelle Marshall

Palestinian Hamas MP Ahmed Attoun passes through the Qalandia checkpoint into the West Bank city of Ramallah on Dec. 6, 2011, after the Israeli Supreme Court upheld a June 2010 decision revoking the Jerusalem residency permits of Attoun, fellow Hamas MP Mohammad Abu Teir and former Palestinian Authority minister Khalid Abu Arafa. Arrested after Hamas won the 2006 parliamentary elections, Attoun was released from an Israeli prison in 2009, along with five other Palestinian lawmakers. He was rearrested last September in front of the Jerusalem offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross, where he and his fellow Jerusalemites had taken shelter following Israel’s deportation orders. he hundreds of billions of dollars the

TU.S. has poured out to Israel since it be-

came a state are only part of the price America has paid for what President Barack Obama refers to as our “unshakable commitment” to the Jewish state. That commitment has also entailed 60-plus years of complicity in Israel’s violations of international law and in an illegal military occupation that has robbed three million Palestinians of their basic rights.

The U.S. has stood alone in vetoing more than 40 U.N. Security Council resolutions 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

critical of Israel, including those condemning Israel’s annexation of Jerusalem, its confiscation of Palestinian land for illegal settlements, its repeated attacks on Lebanon, and most recently its war crimes against civilians during its 2008-09 assault on Gaza.

In 1990, Israel’s routine use of torture, as testified to by Israeli and international human rights groups, prompted the Security Council to call for an investigation of Israel’s abuses of Palestinians under occupation. A U.S. veto made sure there would be no investigation.

The policy of unqualified support for Israel forces U.S. officials to go before the world and defend actions that run directly counter to American principles. The rights of freedom of speech, association and asTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

sembly are guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, yet Palestinians have no such rights, and Israelis are seeing theirs steadily eroded. Israel recently shut down four Palestinian civic organizations in Jerusalem without explanation, and closed a radio station jointly run by Israeli and Palestinian peace activists for “inciting” against Israel.

Bills currently before the Knesset would limit the ability of Israeli human rights and civil liberties groups to raise money abroad.

Most of the world is aware that the weapons Israel uses to subdue the Palestinians are produced in the the U.S., including the tear gas Israeli soldiers fire at villagers holding peaceful protests against the separation wall. The giant tanks and F-16s that carried out Israel’s devastating assault on JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

Gaza in 2009 were made in America, as were the Apache helicopters that constantly roar overhead.

Hamas has observed an informal truce for two years, but an Israeli air strike in late October that killed several members of a militant group provoked a week-long exchange of violence that left 1 Israeli and 12 Palestinians dead. Since then sporadic Israeli air strikes and tank incursions have continued, with targets seemingly chosen at random.

A pre-dawn attack by an F-16 on Nov. 6 destroyed Sufyan Musaa’s home and all 40 of his olive trees. “It’s like the farm was hit by an earthquake,” he said. “Now there is nothing; no farm, no yield, no point.”

Ibrahim Alean and a fellow farmer were picking strawberries in a field 500 yards from Gaza’s border on Nov. 6 when they were shot by Israeli police and then killed by fire from an Apache helicopter.

A Nov. 14 raid by Israeli warplanes destroyed the compound of Gaza’s coastal police, killing an officer and wounding 7 others.

Severely injured in the attacks were the French consul in Gaza, Majdi Jameel Shaqqoura, his two children, and his wife, who suffered a miscarriage. All were sleeping when the shells exploded next to their house.

Such crimes make no dent in America’s unlimited support for Israel, however. That support reached the point of absurdity in early November, when the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) voted 107 to 14 to admit the Palestinians. Despite the overwhelming international support for the measure, the U.S. immediately stopped all funding of UNESCO, costing the agency $80 million—22 percent of this year’s budget.

Like most U.S. policy toward Israel, punishing UNESCO runs directly counter to American interests. UNESCO’s mission is to promote literacy, science, clean water, and equal treatment of girls and women, as well as preservation of historical sites—all objectives the U.S. claims to support. Yet according to UNESCO’s Director General Irina Bokova, the loss of U.S. dues will require severe cuts in these programs and a freeze on new ones.

The programs affected include improving access to clean water in Iraq, conducting ground water surveys in the droughtstricken sub-Sahara, and providing literacy training to Afghan soldiers. Washington’s withdrawal of support became especially embarrassing when tiny Gabon offered to add an extra $2 million to its UNESCO dues this year.

According to White House spokesman Jay Carney, UNESCO’s decision to admit the JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

ABBAS MOMANI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

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A Palestinian Bedouin from the Abu Mansor family despairs after Israeli forces demolished his family home in Arab East Jerusalem’s Beit Hanina neighborhood, Nov. 24, 2011.

Palestinians would “undermine efforts to achieve a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace.” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the agency’s decision “inexplicable.”

What is in fact inexplicable is how membership in a U.N. educational and scientific body could undermine Middle East peace efforts, or why the U.S. does not cut off funds to Israel for continuing to build illegal settlements.

The two officials would be unable to explain such inconsistencies without confessing to the powerful role played by Israel and its Washington lobby in shaping U.S. foreign policy. A law passed by Congress in 1994 requires the president to refuse funding to any U.N. organization that admits the Palestinians. Like similar laws on behalf of Israel that undermine U.S. credibility in the world, it was undoubtedly written and passed under the guidance of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which serves the interests of Israel’s right-wing leaders, not those of ordinary Americans and Israelis.

Israel punished the Palestinians for their admission to UNESCO by hastening their dispossession from the land and suspending the turnover of tax and customs payments it collects for the Palestinian Authority. The Netanyahu government immediately announced plans to build 2,600 housing units between East Jerusalem and Bethlehem, which when completed will completely isolate the two major Palestinian communities from each other. The Israeli watchdog group Peace Now called the new settlement “a game changer that sigTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

nificantly changes the possible border between Israel and Palestine.”

To make room for steadily expanding settlements, Israel is destroying Palestinian homes in Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley, and elsewhere in the West Bank, along with water tanks, irrigation systems and even a solar plant built by a Spanish NGO near Hebron. Meanwhile Palestinians face constant harrassment from soldiers and settlers. The army makes almost nightly arrests, seizing 64 Palestinians during a single week in late November. At least five of the detainees were among the prisoners Israel released in October in exchange for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

The government’s relentless punishment of the Palestinians, together with the tripling of settler violence recently reported by the U.N., is obviously a greater threat to the peace process than Palestinian membership in UNESCO. Even more threatening to peace, however, is Israel’s four-week delay in turning over the $100 million in tax revenues it owed the Palestinian Authority. According to the International Monetary Fund and the U.N., the Palestinians under President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad have established the institutions essential to an independent state. If the Authority is unable to provide the services Palestinians depend on, or pay its tens of thousands of employees, those institutions could collapse.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who represents the Middle East peace group composed of the U.S., U.N., Russia and the 9

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European Union—and who rarely criticizes Israel—said, “Only those who oppose peace and Israeli-Palestinian cooperation benefit from the withholding of PA funds.” The Israelis relented in the face of international pressure, claiming their intent was to warn the Palestinians not to pursue U.N. membership or reconciliation with Hamas. “We are trying to send a clear message,” an aide said.

Nevertheless, having defied the U.S. and Israel by going to the U.N., Abbas did so again by meeting with Hamas leaders in late November for the purpose of forming a national unity government. In addition to a cabinet and prime minister acceptable to both sides, the new government would be largely composed of technocrats who, according to Fatah official Nabil Shaath, would be pledged to nonviolence.

As usual, Washington reacted in lockstep with Israel, denouncing the Palestinians’ effort at reconciliation and threatening to cut its already dwindling contributions to the Palestinian Authority. With Egypt and Syria increasingly in turmoil, the U.S. should welcome the oasis of stability a united Palestine would provide. It has chosen instead to act against its own interests and to the detriment of peace.

The Palestinians’ bid for full U.N. membership reached a dead end in early November when, after relentless U.S. lobbying, it failed to receive the requisite nine

votes in the Security Council’s membership committee. But no sooner had Washington’s concern over that issue died down than rumors arose of an imminent Israeli attack on Iran. Shortly before the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran may be working on a possible nuclear warhead, reports emerged in Israel that Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak were urging a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The Israeli air force held widely publicized practice drills in the Mediterranean using simulated missiles designed to reach Iran.

Given the reluctance of some Israeli military officials, however, and the Pentagon’s fear of a war that would endanger thousands of Americans in the area, the rumors appeared to be largely a ploy aimed at pressuring the U.S. and its allies to impose tougher sanctions on Iran. Such an assumption seemed even more justified when a mysterious explosion at an Iranian military base in mid-November killed the founder of Iran’s missile program, Gen. Hassan Terhani Moghaddam and 16 members of the Revolutionary Guard. Israel neither denied nor admitted responsibility, but the “accident “ caused a serious setback to Iran’s nuclear program without risking retaliation by Iran.

With Russia and China opposed to further sanctions, the Israelis proceeded to put pressure on other U.N. members, suggesting

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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

that if they did not punish Iran economically and diplomatically, Israel would be forced to take military action. The U.S. and its major allies accordingly agreed to impose a new round of sanctions designed to discourage foreign investment in Iran’s oil and gas industry and limit the transactions of the central bank.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee, ever responsive to AIPAC, went even further, with a bill called the Iran Threat Reduction Act, which would be likely to increase rather than reduce threats to U.S. security. In addition to imposing tougher sanctions, the bill would forbid U.S. government employees from having any contact with Iranian officials unless the president could convince Congress that U.S. security was at stake.

Two former diplomats who served in the Reagan administration, Thomas R. Pickering and William H. Luers, called the proposed bill self-defeating. “Ignorance of this powerful adversary,” they wrote, “dangerously weakens our ability to know how to achieve U.S. objectives and protect U.S. interests.” Foreign affairs analyst Fareed Zakaria agreed, saying more diplomacy aimed at Iran is needed, not less. “Iran sits astride a crucial part of the world,” he pointed out.

“It cannot be sanctioned and pressed down forever. We need a strategy that combines pressure with a path to bring Iran in from the cold.”

Israel’s bellicose warnings, whether or not they were bluffs, were designed to have the opposite effect, securing international cooperation in isolating Iran from the rest of the world. The danger of such a policy is that putting Tehran on the defensive is certain to intensify the Iranians’ efforts to produce a bomb, and increase the tensions that can lead to war. This possibility will be even greater if the Republican candidates for president have their way.

Mitt Romney would seek “increased military coordination with Israel in order to make clear to Iran that the military option is very much on the table.” Newt Gingrich would not “second guess” an Israeli prime minister. Rick Perry would support Israel “in every way...whether it’s overt or covert operations up to and including military support.”

The possibility that America could be drawn into a war instigated by Israel is therefore not out of the question. Wars have begun under more trivial circumstances.

But the fact that serious candidates for president are considering such a possibility suggests that the costs of U.S. support for Israel may eventually be far greater than we imagine. ❑ JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

hishmeh_11_Special Report 12/7/11 5:50 PM Page 11

The Bottom Line SpecialReport

By George S. Hishmeh t was fortuitous that three prominent

IAmericans spoke within days of each

other to full-house audiences at three different think tanks in Washington, blasting Israeli policies and the blatant favoritism of American administrations toward Israel, failing to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, now at the beginning of its 64th year. Shockingly, the U.S. media had neglected the harsh criticisms voiced within a radius of one mile from the White House.

The prominent American speakers were James A. Baker III, secretary of state during the Reagan administration (1989-1992); Chas W. Freeman, Jr., a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia and President Barack Obama’s nominee as chairman of the powerful National Intelligence Council but whose abrupt withdrawal from his appointment, in the view of Politico, “show[ed] Obama’s reluctance to signal a change to U.S. policy in the Middle East that centers on standing beside Israel”; and Dr. John Mearsheimer, professor of political science at the University of Chicago and co-author of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, a New York Times best seller [available from the AET Book Club].

Speaking at the U.S. Institute of Peace, Baker noted that the Arab Spring has “the potential to rearrange the political and social landscape in the Middle East in unpredictable ways.” But in the short-term, he cautioned, it may be quite problematic, making it harder for Arab leaders to engage in peace talks with Israel. However, in the future the Arab Spring should “benefit the region, particularly if it leads to the spread of democracy, human rights, economic stability and social justice.”

As for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the former secretary said “we are far from agreement” although the general outline of a Palestinian-Israeli two-state solution is “relatively” clear. “The peace process may not be dead,” he observed, “but it is clearly on life-support.” Here, he took a shot at the U.S. for the lack of both “leadership and will” vis-à-vis the Palestinian issue which, he pointed out, has been the case in both the Republican and Democratic administrations.

George S. Hishmeh is a Washington-based columnist. He can be contacted at <Hishmehg@aol.com>.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

“The window for a two-state solution continues to narrow,” Baker warned, “as [Israeli] settlers keep moving on the occupied [Palestinian] territories.” He stressed the need “to kick-start the peace process before time runs out [because] with each new settler, it becomes harder for the Israeli government to make the compromise needed for peace.”

he American-led “T ‘peace process’ is over.

We blew it.”

Here, he advised that the Palestinians must be united in supporting negotiations for peace, but, he continued, “the Israeli government must be the one that is prepared to lean forward for peace as [the late Israeli Prime Minister] Yitzhak Rabin was.” He then threw the gauntlet: “The current Israeli government fails that test.”

But Baker sounded adamant, feeling that nothing much can happen between now and next year’s American election, saying “there is no chance of breakthrough...”

Speaking at the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations in late October, Ambassador Freeman turned over almost every stone that outlined the one-sided relationship between the U.S. and Israel.

His punch line in the over 5,000-word statement: “The American-led ‘peace process’ is over. We blew it.”

Here’s what the forceful former ambassador advocated: “The United States must now let the international community do for [Binyamin] Netanyahu what [former President] Jimmy Carter did for [Israeli Prime Minister] Menachem Begin—make Israel an offer of peace it will not let its prime minister refuse.” He elaborated: “This means ceasing to block the diplomatic tough love for Israel that only nonAmericans can provide, and it means withdrawing U.S. funding and other support for Israeli policies and programs that harm U.S. interests or constitute obstacles to peace.

The combination of international pressure and diminishing U.S. support is necessary to concentrate Israeli minds on the longterm choices before their country.”

Freeman recalled that it was Carter who “put the squeeze on Begin to accept what [Egypt’s President] Anwar Sadat had THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

bravely offered,” adding that “there is no prospect that any elected or appointed American official could now act toward an Israeli leader with the determination that President Carter showed in September 1978 at Camp David.”

Conversely, he continued, “as long as the United States fawns on Israel and uses drones and hit teams to carry out extrajudicial executions in an expanding list of Arab and Muslim countries, no president will have any credibility with the Palestinians, other Arabs, or the broader Islamic community.”

The former ambassador reminded his audience that Israel has once again demonstrated “its hold on domestic U.S. politics remains unbroken.” He recalled that in recent months Israel “was able to compel our president to swear allegiance to expansive Zionism and to repudiate policies endorsed by his own and previous administrations as well as the international community.”

No-Confidence Votes He stressed that by “contemptuously overriding the views and interests of the United States, Israel and its American claque debased and discredited American international prestige and regional credibility.” He pointed to a series of ever firmer votes of no-confidence by other nations in U.S. leadership and diplomacy on the Palestinian-Israeli dispute. This was obviously evident in the large vote that Palestinians received for their admission to UNESCO. He recalled: “The spectacle of members of Congress bouncing up and down like so many obsequious yo-yos as Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke to them last May is irrefutable evidence of Israel’s hammerlock on U.S. policy.” However, he underlined that U.S. policy now “no longer decides what happens politically or economically in the Middle East.”

Dr. Mearsheimer also voiced a similar concern when he told The Palestine Center on Nov. 12 that the United States is now “obviously in deep trouble” in the Middle East and the situation is unlikely to change; “if it does, it will be for the worse.”

He added that the Arab Spring that is now engulfing the region represents “a sea change” because of the consequences for Continued on page 66 11

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Two Views

AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Drumbeat for War on Iran

Iranian students, one holding a picture of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, form a human chain outside the Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility during a Nov. 15, 2011 protest in support of Iran’s nuclear program and against military threats by Israel.

Is Iran the Enemy of the Arabs?

By Patrick Seale

he United States and some of its EuroT pean allies, notably Britain and France, are piling the pressure on Iran, claiming that its behavior “constitutes a grave and urgent threat to peace,” as the Elysée Palace in Paris put it in a November communiqué. The charge is that Iran is seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.

Sanctions are being stiffened, trade crippled, financial ties severed, isolation enforced: Indeed, a range of punitive measures are being put in place which are just short of all-out war against Tehran.

But the latest report on Iran by the International Atomic Energy Agency contains no hard evidence that Iran has decided to manufacture atomic weapons. It Patrick Seale is a leading British writer on the Middle East. His latest book is The Struggle for Arab Independence: Riad elSolh and the Makers of the Modern Middle East (Cambridge University Press). Copyright © 2011 Patrick Seale. Distributed by Agence Global.

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contains suppositions and speculations that Iran is concealing part of its nuclear activities, but few new facts. Even if Iran were to acquire a nuclear capability, most experts agree it could only be for defensive purposes.

Nevertheless, the United States and Israel have chosen to portray the Islamic Republic as a deadly threat to the world.

Iran, in response, has thrown the accusation back at them. Washington sees Iran as a challenge to U.S. control of Middle East oil, while Tel Aviv sees Iran as a threat to Israel’s military supremacy and to its nuclear weapons monopoly. In blatant violation of the U.N. Charter, Israel repeatedly threatens to strike Iran and destroy its nuclear facilities, while doing its utmost to incite—or indeed blackmail—the United States into doing the job for it.

Following the U.S. lead, the British government in late November rashly ordered UK banks and financial institutions to cut all ties with Iran. They have been ordered “to cease business relationships and transactions with all Iranian banks, including the Central Bank of Iran.” In response, the Iranian Majlis has called for the expulsion of the British ambassador, while British THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

trade with Iran has slumped by nearly 50 percent this past year. France is also calling for a halt of all purchases of Iranian oil and a freeze of the assets of Iran’s Central Bank.

The Arabs are being urged to join in this hostile campaign against the Islamic Republic, largely stirred up by Israel and the United States. But is making an enemy of Iran in the Arabs’ interest?

The Saudi Kingdom and the Islamic Republic are often considered to be rivals for regional influence. This, however, is a relatively new development. In the past, when the shah ruled in Tehran, the two countries were partners, working jointly to ensure the security and stability of the Gulf region.

More recently, under the Iranian presidencies of Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (1989-1997) and Muhammad Khatami (1997-2005), Riyadh and Tehran were on reasonably good terms. It was only with the advent of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005 that relations have soured.

I would argue that Riyadh and Tehran should be partners, not rivals. Good relations between them are essential to protect the region from the many dangers threatening it and from the intrigues and ambitions of external powers. The U.S.-Iranian quarrel has nothing to do with the Arabs.

They should resist being dragged into it.

Iran well remembers America’s role in overthrowing the democratically elected government of Mouhammad Mossadegh in 1953, as well as its support for Saddam Hussain in his eight-year war of aggression against Iran, 1980-1988. The U.S. Navy shot down an Iranian civil airliner in the final stages of that war. For its part, the United States has not forgotten the holding hostage of its Tehran embassy staff in 1979, and the attack on a U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 by Iran-backed guerrillas.

It would be wise for the Arab states to look to their own interests in this matter, rather than follow the bellicose lead of the Western powers and Israel. The Arabs must surely be aware that a military clash between Iran and the United States or Israel could be disastrous for the Arab Gulf region. Sensitive installations such as oil terminals and desalination plants could come under fire. The achievements of recent decades could be wiped out.

Looked at positively, Iran and the Gulf states—notably Dubai—have been natural JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

views_12-13_Two Views 12/7/11 5:51 PM Page 13

trading partners for many years. The Arab and Iranian shores of the Gulf are linked by a great many financial, commercial and family ties. Iran and Oman have long been strategic partners in ensuring the security of the Straits of Hormuz, a vital choke point for much of the world’s oil trade.

Rather than allowing the enemies of the Arabs to exploit tensions between Sunnis and Shi‘i, bridges should be built across the sectarian divide.

It is worth remembering that Iran has no history of aggression. It has never attacked another country in modern times. The international commission headed by Cherif Bassiouni, which investigated the quelling of the protests in Bahrain, failed to discover any Iranian role in the unrest. No evidence has been found of an Iranian hand in the Zaydi revivalist movement led by the al-Huthi family in North Yemen. The Shi’i in Bahrain and the Huthis in Yemen deny any link with Iran and proclaim their loyalty to their own states.

Saudi-Iranian relations have been severely strained by the American claim to have uncovered an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington.

But few experts believe the American accusation. No convincing evidence in its support has yet been produced. The plot—if there really was a plot—reeks of a “sting” operation by America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), or of a “false flag” operation by a third party, designed to set Riyadh against Tehran.

Rather than demonizing Iran and severing links with it, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf partners would be well advised to draw Iran into the security architecture of the region.

Iran and its Gulf neighbors share a common interest in the security of the region and a common responsibility for ensuring it.

Rather than being unduly influenced by anti-Iranian propaganda, the Arabs should take note of the sensible views expressed in a joint communiqué on Nov. 24 by the BRICS—Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. These five powerful countries “stressed the necessity to build a system of relations in the Gulf region that would guarantee equal and reliable security for all states.” They “emphasized that imposing additional and unilateral sanctions on Iran is counterproductive and would only exacerbate the situation.” They advocated “settling the situation concerning Iran’s nuclear program only through political and diplomatic means and establishing dialogue between all the parties concerned.…”

A Saudi-Iranian strategic dialogue is an urgent necessity to dispel mutual fears JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

and misunderstandings and to agree on common security policies. This would be the best way to protect the Gulf region from what could, at any moment, escalate into a catastrophic clash of arms. ❑

Return of the War Party?

By Patrick J. Buchanan

vote for the Republican Party in 2012 IaIss avote for war? a vote for Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich a vote for yet another unfunded war of choice, this time with a nation, Iran, three times as large and populous as Iraq?

Mitt says that if elected he will move carriers into the Persian Gulf and “prepare for war.” Newt is even more hawkish.

America should continue “taking out” Iran’s nuclear scientists—i.e., assassinating them—but military action will probably be needed.

Newt is talking up über-hawk John Bolton for secretary of state.

Rick Santorum has already called for U.S.-Israeli strikes: “Either we’re going to stop them…or take the long-term consequences of having a nuclear Iran trying to wipe out the state of Israel.”

But if Iran represents, as Bibi Netanyahu is forever reminding us, an “existential threat,” why does not Israel itself, with hundreds of nuclear weapons, deal with it?

Bibi’s inaction speaks louder than Bibi’s words.

He wants the Americans to do it.

For the retired head of Mossad, Meir Dagan, calls attacking Iran “the stupidest thing I have ever heard of.” He means stupid for Israel.

Why? Because an Israeli attack would be costly in planes and pilots and only set back Iran’s nuclear program. And such a pre-emptive strike would unify Iranians behind the regime.

Moreover, Israel would be inviting Tehran’s ally Hezbollah to rain down rockets on Israel, igniting another of the bloody Lebanon wars that Israel was desperate to end the last time.

As for the United States, the only way we could eliminate Iran’s nuclear program would be days of air and missile strikes.

Iran could retaliate by cutting off oil exports and mining the Strait of Hormuz, tripling the world price of oil, and hurling the European Union and United States into recession.

Patrick J. Buchanan is a nationally syndicated columnist. Copyright © 2011 Creators Syndicate, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Patrick J. Buchanan and Creators Syndicate, Inc. THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Iran could also turn Hezbollah loose on Americans in Lebanon and urge Shi’i to attack U.S. troops, diplomats and civilians in Bahrain, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and here in the United States.

No one knows how this would end. A U.S.-Iran war could force us to march to Tehran to remove the Islamic regime and scour that huge country to ensure that it was shorn of weapons of mass destruction—for an Islamic regime that survived a U.S. war would be hellbent on acquiring the bomb to pay us back. Yet we lack a large enough army to occupy Iran.

And why should thousands more Americans have to die or come home to be fitted for metal limbs so Israel can remain sole proprietor of a nuclear weapon from Morocco to Afghanistan?

And where is the hard evidence Iran is acquiring nukes?

The U.S. intelligence community declared in December 2007, with “high confidence,” that Iran was no longer seeking nuclear weapons. It has never rescinded that declaration.

And there is no conclusive evidence in that media-hyped report in November from the International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran is for certain building nuclear weapons. Indeed, that report was exposed as the work of incompetents within hours.

Relying on intelligence agencies, the IAEA said a top Russian nuclear weapons scientist had been instructing Iranians for years. The scientist turns out to be V.I. Danilenko, who has no expertise in nuclear weapons, but is a specialist in using conventional explosives to produce nanodiamonds for the manufacture of lubricants and rubber.

Are we being lied and stampeded into yet another war by the same propagandists who gave us the yellowcake-from-Niger forgeries?

Bibi calls Mahmoud Ahmadinejad another Hitler and says we are all in 1939 again. But is this credible?

True, Ahmadinejad hosted a Holocaust conference featuring David Duke and said Israel should be wiped off the map [editor’s note: see March 2007 Washington Report, p. 19, where author and journalist Jonathan Cook describes this as “a calculatedly mischievous mistranslation of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech”], but he does not control Iran’s military, has lost favor with the ayatollah, and has been threatened with impeachment. Ahmadinejad is a lame duck with less than two years left in his term. Is Continued on page 66 13

williams_14-15_United Nations Report 12/6/11 9:29 PM Page 14

U.S. Reaction to Palestinian Membership in UNESCO Damaging at Home and Abroad

MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

By Ian Williams

United Nations Report

Delegates applaud following the 107-14 vote at UNESCO headquarters in Paris admitting Palestine as a full member, Oct. 31, 2011 . here’s an old Indian tale about an army

Tof Brahmins who overwhelmed their

enemies by threatening to commit suicide.

Their lower-caste opponents were so horrified at the karmic burden of having all those dead Brahmins laid to their account, they allegedly capitulated. The story was clearly propaganda written by Brahmins—but one wondered whether the Obama administration had cast itself in the fictitious army’s role for the UNESCO vote on Palestinian membership and Washington’s subsequent vindictive reaction.

After all, the immediate and reflexive U.S. withdrawal of funding, from both UNESCO and the Palestinian Authority once UNESCO members voted 107-14 (with 52 abstentions) to let Palestine join them, was a form of diplomatic self-immolation. With no attempt at prevarication, the administration took the most literal reading of previous congressional legislation and withdrew funding from the U.N. agency. There were Ian Williams is a free-lance journalist based at the United Nations who blogs at <www.deadlinepundit.blogspot.com>.

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numerous opportunities for President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to argue that it was not the PLO being recognized, that Palestine was indeed more generally recognized than Taiwan or Kosovo, and possibly even more so than the Vatican, that the Oslo agreements superseded the legislation’s original meaning and intent—or indeed that the American legislators were interfering in presidential prerogatives on foreign policy.

But no. The administration was far more concerned at showing reflexive loyalty to Israel than it was about the international repercussions of its actions. Firstly, of course, it hammered yet another nail in the coffin of honest brokerdom—but that particular smelly cadaver should long ago have been buried at the crossroads with a stake through the gap where a heart should have been. It ruined Obama’s international reputation that he had so sedulously cultivated on taking office.

Amusingly, membership in UNESCO also makes Palestine a member of related organizations such as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the international THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

guardian of copyrights, trademarks and patents. If Washington sticks to its guns and also pulls out of WIPO there will be a lot of very upset U.S. multinationals and Hollywood entertainment moguls.

However, in yet another example of weaseling, the administration has not actually pulled out of UNESCO—it is just withholding cash. So we will see some attempt to retain membership while refusing to fulfill its most basic obligations: payment of dues.

This political grandstanding did not impress most of the UNESCO member states, who greeted the Palestinian victory with the same sort of targeted jubilation, directed at Israel and its ally, which they used to applaud President Mahmoud Abbas’ unaccustomedly moving speech at the General Assembly when he announced the Palestinian membership bid. Interestingly, while in the past members have sometimes recklessly voted and disregarded the consequences, this time states promptly began looking for ways to fill the financial gap caused by the Obama decision. And original threats to follow the U.S. example from, for example, Germany and Canada were quickly called JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

williams_14-15_United Nations Report 12/6/11 9:29 PM Page 15

into question by more sensible forces in their capitals.

A more acute diplomatic team than Washington’s might have wondered what they had been doing wrong when revolutionary Libya, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq, among other ungrateful recipients of U.S. “liberation,” all voted solidly for Palestinian membership—not to mention the clear majority of the U.N. member states.

The voting line-up was indicative. Paris, much more diplomatically adroit than the U.S., and mindful of its global standing, supported membership. Even subservient Britain could not bring itself to vote with the U.S. and pusillanimously abstained, along with far too many West European states who could not bring themselves to offend Washington by doing the right thing.

To be fair, if Palestine were accepted into U.N. membership, it would indeed have consequences for legally minded Europeans, who under the U.N. Charter would have stronger obligations to do something about the Israeli occupation. One only has to think of the consequences the last time a member state—Kuwait—was occupied by a foreign power.

Of course the French practiced typical Gallic quantum diplomacy—by voting for Palestinian membership in UNESCO, while simultaneously announcing that they would not support Palestinian U.N. membership with a favorable vote in the Security Council. There, Washington’s prospects for avoiding having to cast a diplomatically suicidal veto depended on the duplicity and cowardice of its permanent and rotating member states. Since it takes nine positive votes to pass a resolution in the Council, enough abstentions would leave the resolution in limbo.

Apart from the Europeans, the success of what passes for U.S. diplomacy hung on Colombia—whose current government is a pro-U.S. anomaly with views totally at variance from the Latin American group it ostensibly represents in the Council—and Bosnia & Herzegovina. Saddled with Richard Holbrooke’s disastrously precarious compromise with the genocidal Slobodan Milosevic at Dayton, the poor Bosnians stand out among the beneficiaries of recent U.S. liberations. It is even more shameful for the U.S., which ends up on the same side as Radko Mladic’s political heirs even as the latter faces genocide charges in The Hague.

Despite the heavy pressure from Washington, the Bosnian government would have liked to support Palestine—but was blocked by the Serb successor regime in Republika Srpska which has a veto in foreign JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

affairs under Holbrooke’s Rube-Goldberg constitution, designed to soothe Milosevic’s pride as the genocidal forces he unleashed faced total military defeat. At least the former Yugoslav president did not get standing ovations in Congress and fawning attention from the U.S. president.

Ironically, Serbia itself supports the Palestinian UNESCO bid, but the Bosnian Serbs decided that they hate Muslims, and thus Palestinians, even more than they resent the Americans whose military and diplomatic support to the Croats and Bosniaks had foiled their plans for a Muslim-free state.

Even though the Palestinian bid for admission to the U.N. as a member state is now stuck in committee in the Security Council pending a majority, and Abbas seems to have agreed to suspend the Long March of Palestinian membership through the U.N. agencies, opportunities for mischief remain.

If Palestine applied to join, for example, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the U.S. pulled out, it would defuse the whole American-Israeli campaign against Iran. Were these not such serious and important issues, it would be difficult not to snigger at the diplomatic mudhole the U.S. is wallowing in, digging deeper daily.

But the damage is not only international.

Back in Washington, the decision to withhold funds has excavated the lunatic fringe

from the crypt where they have been lurking for the last decade or so, and given them a new lease on life. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), who combines a Likudnik support of Israel with a recidivist hatred of the U.N., has been trying to de-fund the U.N. and its agencies in her capacity as chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Indeed, one of her particular targets has been UNRWA, the relief organization for Palestinian refugees.

Her zeal in this outmatches that of the Israeli government itself, since UNRWA has, for more than four decades, been meeting the expenses for which under international law the occupying power is responsible.

Ironically, it was under the much—and deservedly—reviled George W. Bush administration that Washington repaired much of its formal relations with the U.N. and its agencies, when the consequent realities of that administration’s bold experiment of cutting taxes and fighting two wars at the same time began to sink in. Under both Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, the State Department tried to pursue a more rational policy, despite aberrations like the Iraq war and John Bolton.

It has taken a Democratic, professedly multilateralist administration like Obama’s to sacrifice anew a rational American foreign policy on the altar of AIPAC. ❑

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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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The Man of Zakat Exemplified Appeal of Hamas’ Humanitarian Face

Gazaon the Ground

PHOTO MAHMOUD OMER

By Mohammed Omer

Fatima Hamdan sits next to her makeshift home east of Gaza City. Her family home was destroyed three years ago in Operation Cast Lead. he death in November from natural

Tcauses of 84-year-old Sheikh Mohammed Abed Khattab Al Najjar in Khan Younis inspired many tributes, not only in Gaza but in several Arab states where the Muslim Brotherhood is active. All of Gaza’s Hamas leaders took part in his funeral, and de facto Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh himself carried Al Najjar’s body. “I never met with him in person,” said exiled Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal in a phone call from Damascus during the sheikh’s Nov. 13 memorial service, “but his autobiography brought him close to our heart.”

Meshal described Sheikh Al Najjar as being as significant as Imam Hassan alBanna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, from which Hamas emerged, and Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, with whom Al Najjar worked closely.

Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Egypt expressed condolences for Al Najjar’s death. According to Mahmoud Izzat, the Award-winning journalist Mohammed Omer reports on the Gaza Strip, and maintains the Web site <www.rafahtoday.org>. He can be reached at <gazanews@yahoo.com>.

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Brotherhood’s Cairo-based deputy supreme guide, the sheikh remained “patient, mujahid, considerate, and a defender of the truth and poor people” until the last moments of his life. Izzat called for the government in Gaza to continue in Al Najjar’s footsteps.

Hamas’ network of affiliated Islamic charitable organizations also lamented the loss of this admired leader. Sheikh Al Najjar was known for his kindness to the “poor, disadvantaged and needy,” said legislator Dr. Fouad Al Nahal, and his life was “filled with examples to be proud of.”

Indeed, it was Al Najjar who was the secret to Hamas’ success. Many referred to him as the “glory of Dawwa” for leading Hamas to victory in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the 2006 Palestinian elections. Before it became a political party, the organization was portrayed by the Western media as primarily a military one, with a record of violence and retaliation against the state of Israel. No mention was made of the millions of dollars Hamas collected and distributed in charitable works. This, in fact, was Sheikh Al Najjar’s assignment.

The sheikh is credited with being the first THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Islamic leader to organize charitable aid to poor people, providing them with education and health care and sponsoring orphaned children. During the first intifada he worked in both the West Bank and Gaza—not under the auspices of Hamas, however, but under the name of the Zakat Committee.

The impact of the charitable work by such Hamas-affiliated organizations as Zakat has been largely ignored by the international community. Their significant success was attributable not only to the corruption in Fatah, but also to the dedication of people like Al Najjar, who represented a different image of Hamas through social and chartable work—thereby winning the loyalty of millions of jobless Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

Umm Said is a widow who lives in the Rafah refugee camp. Having lost her husband in the first month of the current AlAqsa intifada, for more than 10 years she has been raising her four children on her own.

Umm Said has faith in the Islamic charitable organizations that sponsor two of her children and provide sacks of food to the family on a regular basis. She doesn’t really care much about political Islamic groups, but the care and support she received prompted her to vote for Hamas rather than Fatah.

During the early years of the intifada, the Islamic Association, which gave her a monthly allowance, had its bank accounts frozen by the Palestinian Authority. Nevertheless, an envelope containing a few hundred shekels, along with a few sacks of food, were delivered to Umm Said toward the end of each month. This way the Islamic charities were able to avoid working through official PA channels. Today, however, the Islamic charities are working openly in Gaza, and Umm Said can simply go to the Islamic Association and collect her monthly child-sponsor allowance and, at times, food coupons.

Under the pressure of Israel’s draconian siege of Gaza, however, with its devastating economic and social consequences, Hamas’ behavior has changed—a change of which Gazans are well aware. The de facto Hamas government has been heavily criticized for violating human rights: arresting Fatah-affiliated journalists and activists—in response to similar actions by the Ramallah-based PA against Hamas-affiliated members and jourJANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

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age is a staggering 45.2 percent—one of the highest in the world, according to UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees. In the second half of 2010 alone, the Gaza economy lost more than 5,900 jobs, down to just 190,365.

Then, of course, there is Washington’s long-standing hostility to deal with. In 2010, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on two Palestinian companies—the Islamic National Bank and Al Aqsa Satellite TV station—it accused of being close to Hamas.

Meanwhile the numbers of people in need, like Umm Said, are increasing. With the third anniversary of Operation Cast Lead approaching, thousands of families remain homeless, living if not with relatives, then in makeshift huts constructed of nylon and cloth—many providing no protection from the extremes of winter or summer.

Immediately after Israel’s 2008-09 attack, however, the Hamas government provided each homeless family 4,000 euros, and 2,000 euros to those families whose homes were partially destroyed.

In addition, each injured Gazan received 500 euros, and families were given 1,000 euros for each member who was killed during the three week-assault.

This may explain why, even though her family of five is among the 80 percent of Palestinians living below the poverty line, Umm Said says they will always support the “face that you know, more than a face that you never met.”

If, as the Muslim Brotherhood’s Izzat urges, the face of Hamas known in Gaza and the West Bank is the face of Sheikh Al Najjar, the result of the next Palestinian elections may be the same as it was in 2006. Perhaps this time the world will understand why. ❑

The late Sheikh Mohammed Abed Khattab Al Najjar. nalists in the West Bank—and barring members of Fatah from traveling outside of Gaza. Fatah has consistently accused Hamas of favoritism in handing out Security Forces jobs and in the distribution of aid. Several hundred youths have also expressed their dissatisfaction with the status quo—including the division between Fatah and Hamas.

Adding to its unpopularity, the government has begun collecting taxes. In November the Gaza attorney general’s office demanded that the Bank of Palestine pay $99 million in taxes, which the bank has not paid since 2005. Eleven of the bank’s board members have been prohibited from traveling outside of Gaza until the account is settled.

Furthermore, the unemployment rate among Gazans of working

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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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MATTY STERN/U.S. EMBASSY TEL AVIV VIA GETTY IMAGES

Dennis Ross: “More Israeli Than the Israelis”

A handout image provided by the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv shows Dennis Ross, then special assistant to the president and director for the Central Region at the National Security Council, with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak after their Aug. 5, 2010 meeting in Tel Aviv.

Ross’ Departure

By Rashid Khalidi ennis Ross has finally left the building.

D Since the Carter administration, Ross has played a crucial role in crafting Middle East policies that have prolonged and exacerbated the more than six-decade conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. His efforts contributed significantly to the growth in the number of Israeli settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories from well under 200,000 in the 1980s to nearly 600,000 today.

It is in no small measure due to him that the two-state solution is all but dead.

Ross’ tenure during the administrations of five presidents over parts of five decades was Rashid Khalidi is the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University and the author of six books on Middle Eastern history, including Palestinian Identity, Resurrecting Empire, and Sowing Crisis. Khalidi is a former adviser to Palestinian negotiators at the Madrid and Washington peace talks and is the editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies. This article was first posted Nov. 15, 2011 on <thehill.com>.

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marked by a litany of failures. And yet he went from success to bureaucratic success in Washington. His ability to flourish despite these failures reflects the degree to which obsequious support for Israel has become the norm in American politics, even when it contradicts U.S. national interests. My most telling memory of Ross came in 1993 when, during an impasse between Palestinian and Israeli negotiators, he offered an American “bridging proposal.” When we read it, members of the Palestinian delegation (to which I was an adviser) were shocked: in important respects, it represented a harder line than the Israeli position.

Ross’ obvious lack of impartiality revealed that this was not an honest broker, but a man who was more Israeli than the Israelis themselves. Throughout, Ross imperiously claimed that his own (highly flawed) estimate of what was acceptable to Israel was the absolute ceiling of U.S. policy, rather than standards based in established U.S. policy, or international law, or Palestinian legal and human rights.

This is just one example of why his former colleague, Aaron David Miller, wrote that American negotiators often act like “Israel’s

lawyer.” Ross’ actions should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed his career.

Prior to joining the first George H.W. Bush, Clinton and Obama administrations, Ross was co-founder, along with Martin Indyk, of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), a think tank established by the Israeli lobby group the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). He is now reportedly returning to WINEP, where at least he does not have to maintain any pretense to impartiality.

Ross’ approach to making peace—appeasing Israel while pressuring the Palestinians, the weaker party, to acquiesce to Israeli demands—was doomed to failure from the start. The notion that Israel’s leaders will be willing to make the painful “concessions” necessary for peace if given enough money, weapons and diplomatic cover has repeatedly proven itself bankrupt. Today, almost 20 years after the beginning of negotiations at Madrid, thanks in large measure to this approach, the realization of a truly independent Palestinian state in the occupied territories is more distant than ever, and the reality of the apartheid regime Israel has created there is ever clearer.

An egregious example of the failure of Ross’ tactics was the Obama administration’s attempt to get Israel to agree to a partial freeze on settlement growth in November 2010. In exchange for a commitment to limit some settlement construction (which is illegal according to the Fourth Geneva Convention) for a mere 90 days, the administration reportedly offered the Israelis 20 F-35 fighter jets worth $3 billion, a promise that the U.S. would veto any U.N. Security Council resolution critical of Israeli policies, and—remarkably—a promise not to ask for another freeze after the three months expired. Taken at face value, this last clause would mean that the United States would no longer ask Israel to abide by international law and what has been official American policy since 1967.

Even many of Israel’s American supporters were shocked. Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer slammed the offer as a “reward for Israel’s bad behavior” and “a very bad idea.” In the end, it was all for naught, as members of Netanyahu’s extremist coalition government turned down the offer.

Over 20-plus years of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations Ross’ presence in some capacity or another, inside or outside of government, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

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was a near constant, as was the continuous frustration of Palestinian aspirations for selfdetermination and an end to over 44 years of military occupation and colonization. Now that Ross is no longer at the center of power, those aspirations may stand a better chance of someday being fulfilled.

Experts Weigh In: What Dennis Ross’ Departure Means for Iran and the “Peace Process”

By Alex Kane

t’s been three days since Dennis Ross, the Iannounced Israel lobby stalwart in the White House, his resignation, and what his departure means remains unclear. What, if any, are the implications of Ross’ departure on the moribund “peace process” and the steady drumbeat of an attack on Iran?

Issandr El Amrani at the Arabist blog recently raised some good questions: • Why did Ross make the announcement at a gathering of Jewish leaders? Is it linked to the recent comments by Obama and Sarkozy about Netanyahu? Ross was often said to be, among other things, a key liaison to the lobby writ large—in a sense, their man inside the White House of a president that Zionists never fully trusted.

• As a corollary: does this mean that major Jewish organizations are likely to dump Obama for re-election? This is what Elliott Abrams suggests (perhaps wishful thinking on his part, and not representative in any case of the wider average JewishAmerican electorate which remains pretty Democratic and mostly concerned about other issues than Israel—even if the major Jewish organizations have significant fundraising clout).

• Is it linked to Obama’s Iran policy, including his reluctance to beat the war drums?

Ross was supposed to be the key pointman on Iran—was he pushed out of that role or frustrated because he could not get his way?

• Is it simply that with the peace process going nowhere (Ross having made sure of that), he is no longer needed or no longer feels useful?

• Is it that, ahead of the presidential election, the Obama administration will not engage in any major new initiatives, and thus Ross feels like he would be twiddling his thumbs waiting for an uncertain second term?

• Or maybe it’s just the promise to his wife—but if so, how come we didn’t know earlier that he would leave in December 2011?

Alex Kane is a staff reporter for Mondoweiss, <http://mondoweiss.net>, where this article was first posted Nov. 14, 2011.

Copyright © 2011 Mondoweiss.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

No one but the Obama administration knows the answers to these questions. But other experts have weighed in, and have offered interesting takes.

Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator, told reporters last Friday that the departure of Ross will have no effect on Israel/Palestine. Levy said the departure may have more implications for the debate over Iran: I worry...[that] Dennis Ross leaving now and on the same day of making the announcement of rejoining the Washington Institute for Near East Policy...[sends a signal] to a part of that pro-Israel community, a signifigant part of that pro-Israel community in the United States, that all is not well with

Iran policy, and that more external pressure [is necessary].

John Mearsheimer, co-author of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy [available from the AET Book Club], had a slightly different take in an e-mail: My sense is that Ross’ departure will have little effect on either the peace process or the likelihood of an attack on Iran. Ross is just one small cog in the lobby machine, which will continue to make Israel’s case in effective ways with or without him in the White House. The lobby does not need Ross’ departure to understand that it is not making much headway on getting Obama to attack Iran.

The verdict is still out on Ross’s departure. ❑

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Israel’s Members of Congress Continue to React to Palestinians’ U.N. Bid CongressWatch

By Shirl McArthur lthough none of the previously described, ill-considered congressional A measures responding to the Palestinians’ bid to gain expanded U.N. recognition have made any further progress, one new bill, S. 1860, was introduced on Nov. 14 by Sen. Daniel Coats (R-IN). It would “clarify prohibitions for any U.N. entity that admits Palestine as a member state.” In addition, following the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Oct. 31 vote to admit the PLO as a full member, Israel’s members of Congress continued to seek to punish the Palestinians for their efforts by, especially, threatening to cut off all aid to the Palestinians. (Note that UNESCO granted the PLO, not the Palestinian Authority, full membership status. Similarly, it is the PLO that has observer status in the U.N. General Assembly.)

Prior to UNESCO’s vote, several congressional letters were sent opposing the action.

On Oct. 5 Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) wrote to UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova urging that she cancel the vote. Similarly, Rep. Steven Rothman (D-NJ), joined by all the members of the House foreign aid appropriations subcommittee except Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), wrote to Bokova saying that “any recognition of Palestine as a Member State would…endanger future financial contributions to UNESCO by the U.S.” And on Oct. 28 Reps. Steve Israel (D-NY) and Tom Cole (ROK), joined by four others, wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton applauding “the administration’s efforts to block full membership of the PA in UNESCO.” Interestingly, the letter makes the case against withholding U.S. funds to UNESCO by citing UNESCO’s “many projects that the U.S. believes strongly in,” but ends by urging Clinton to “hold firm against” the Palestinians’ request.

Indeed, UNESCO’s vote triggered provisions in laws passed in 1990 and 1994 prohibiting U.S. contributions to it. According to the 1990 law, PL 101-246, no funds “shall be available for the U.N. or any specialized agency thereof which accords the PLO the same standing as member states.” The 1994 law, PL 103-236, bars U.S. contributions “to Shirl McArthur, a retired U.S. foreign service officer, is a consultant based in the Washington, DC area.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

any affiliated organization of the U.N. which grants full membership as a state to any organization or group that does not have the internationally recognized attributes of statehood.” Neither provision includes presidential waiver authority. Having no choice, Clinton announced that the U.S. was withholding the $60 million payment to UNESCO scheduled for this fall.

There is nothing to stop Congress from amending the earlier laws prohibiting payments to the U.N., however, and on Nov. 14 the State Department sent a long memo to key members of Congress urging that this be done. But that won’t happen, given the approaching election year and many members’ reliance on donations from pro-Israel PACs and individuals.

Resistance to Cutting Aid to the Palestinians—Including From Israel?

Momentum is building in Congress to cut off all aid to the Palestinians. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said that Congress is poised to cut aid to the PA, although “I don’t think that’s in our near-term or long-term interest, but that’s what’s going to happen.” Previously, Congress’s most reliable Israel-firster, House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), was blocking about $200 million of the $400 million allocated in the FY ‘11 continuing appropriations bill. But after receiving extensive documentation from the State Department, RosLehtinen on Sept. 2 released $50 million for the Palestinian Security Forces, and in late October released the $148 million for law enforcement assistance. Sen. Mark Kirk (RIL) said that he and others were planning to add Palestine-related amendments to the foreign aid portion of the “minibus” (consolidating FY ’12 appropriations for agriculture and water, foreign affairs and financial services) when it comes to the Senate floor.

However, some resistance is building against cutting PA aid. The State Department is arguing strongly against cutting the aid. “If we are no longer their partner, who will fill the void?” asked Assistant Secretary of State Andrew Shapiro. And on Nov. 7, 44 House Democrats, led by Reps. David Price (D-NC) and Peter Welch (D-VT), signed a letter to the chair and ranking Republican of the House foreign aid appropriations subTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

committee saying that maintaining aid to the PA is “in the essential strategic interest of Israel and the U.S., independent of current policy disagreements,” and urging them “to ensure that essential U.S. assistance to the PA is maintained.” Perhaps more telling, there are some reports that the Israeli government has been lobbying lawmakers to continue aid to the PA, fearing that if the PA collapses, Hamas will replace it.

“Palestinian Accountability,” Jerusalem Bills Make Little Progress, Supreme Court Hears Jerusalem Case The other anti-Palestinian measures described in previous issues have made little progress. H.R. 2457, the “Palestinian Accountability Act,” introduced in July by Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL), has gained two cosponsors, and now has 41, all Republicans.

Its stated purpose is “to restrict funds for the Palestinian Authority.” Unless certain unlikely conditions are met, it would prohibit U.S. government documents from referring to areas controlled by the PA as Palestine; would prohibit U.S. funds to the PA; would prohibit U.S. funds to the U.N. or any U.N. entity if it declares or recognizes statehood for the Palestinian territories; and would bar U.S. funding for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which aids Palestinian refugees, unless it meets similar conditions to those imposed on the Palestinians.

However, the AIPAC-promoted, previously described H.R. 1006, introduced in March by Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN), which would, among other things, recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, has made no progress and still has 51co-sponsors, including Burton.

On Nov. 7 the Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of Zivotofsky v. Clinton, in which Menachem Zivotofsky’s parents are suing to overturn the State Department’s ruling that U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem cannot have their passports list Israel as the place of birth. At issue is a provision in a larger 2002 law which says that American citizens born in Israel may list Israel as place of birth in their passports. However, in a signing statement, President George W. Bush essentially said that he would ignore the provision as an infringement of the president’s constitutional power to conduct for21

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eign affairs. This view was subsequently echoed by President Barack Obama. Depending on how the Supreme Court rules, the case may settle the question of to what extent Congress can impose its will on the executive branch in foreign policy matters.

Meanwhile, AIPAC’s Web site reported on Nov. 11 that Reps. Howard Berman (DCA) and Gary Ackerman (D-NY), joined by 34 other representatives, wrote to Clinton and FBI Director Robert Mueller urging them to update “all relevant terrorist databases” by adding the names of the Palestinian prisoners released in the deal to release captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

HFAC Marks up and Amends Iran, Syria Sanctions Bills On Nov. 2 Ros-Lehtinen’s House Foreign Affairs Committee marked up, amended and passed H.R. 1905, introduced in May by Ros-Lehtinen, titled the “Iran Threat Reduction Act of 2011,” and H.R. 2105, introduced by Ros-Lehtinen in June, titled the “Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation and Reform And Modernization Act of 2011.” For each Ros-Lehtinen introduced a new text further strengthening the bills. Of the two, H.R. 1905 does the most damage to U.S. national interests. One of the new provisions says that “no person employed with the U.S. government may contact in an official or unofficial capacity any person that (1) is an agent, instrumentality, or official of, is affiliated with, or is serving as a representative of the government of Iran; and (2) presents a threat to the U.S. or is affiliated with a terrorist organization.” If allowed to become law, this provision effectively would prohibit diplomacy with Iran and set a precedent that the Congress could dictate to whom the executive branch may talk. It will not, of course, pass the House and the Senate and be signed by the president.

Another problematic amendment, offered

by Ros-Lehtinen and Berman and approved by the full committee, would require unilateral sanctions on Iran’s central bank, with no presidential waiver authority. (Kirk has said he plans to introduce a similar amendment to the minibus on the Senate floor.) There is serious concern within the Obama administration over this provision, because it could seriously impact foreign banks doing legitimate business with Iran and have an impact on world oil markets. Furthermore, since a central bank is considered a sovereign entity of a state, this could be considered an act of war (which might be just fine with the likes of Ros-Lehtinen, Berman and Kirk). As with other outrageous Ros-Lehtinen initiatives, this has little chance of becoming law.

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Then, on Nov. 16, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and one co-sponsor introduced a bill that would avoid directly sanctioning Iran’s Central Bank. H.R. 3439 instead would “require the president to impose sanctions on foreign financial institutions that conduct transactions with the Central Bank of Iran if the president determines that [it] has engaged in certain transactions relating to the proliferation of chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons or support for acts of international terrorism.” While it includes a 180-day grace period for oil-related transactions, it still could impact world oil markets.

Added to H.R. 2105 is a new provision excluding from the U.S. persons “who have aided proliferation relating to Iran.”

With AIPAC’s strong backing, H.R. 1905 has gained 55 co-sponsors and now has 353, including Ros-Lehtinen. H.R. 2105 has gained four co-sponsors and now has 10, including Ros-Lehtinen. Its Senate counterpart, S. 1048, introduced in May by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), has gained 6 cosponsors and now has 81, including Menendez.

Of the other previously-reported Syriarelated bills, only H.R. 2106, also introduced by Ros-Lehtinen in June, and S. 1472, introduced in August by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), have gained support.

The former would “strengthen sanctions against the government of Syria, enhance multilateral commitment to address the government of Syria’s threatening policies, and establish a program to support a transition to a democratic government in Syria.” It has gained 1 co-sponsor and now has 36, including Ros-Lehtinen. S. 1472 would direct the president to impose a wide range of sanctions aimed at Syria’s petroleum sector.

It has gained 2 co-sponsors and now has 13, including Gillibrand.

Also, on Oct. 25, four senators, led by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), wrote to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice expressing concern over the continuing violence in Syria and commending her efforts “to encourage the Security Council to condemn the Syrian actions.”

U.N. Reform Bills Gain Support The “UN Transparency, Accountability, and Reform” bill, H.R. 2829, introduced by RosLehtinen in August, which would condition U.S. funding of the U.N on its treatment of Israel and the Palestinians, has gained support. Among its many harsh measures are ones that would “withhold U.S. contributions from any U.N. agency or program that upgrades the status of the PLO Palestinian observer mission”; withhold funding for THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

UNRWA; call for the U.S. to lead a high-level U.N. effort for “the revocation and repudiation of the Goldstone Report;” shift U.S. contributions to the U.N. to a voluntary basis; and halt new U.S. contributions to U.N. peacekeeping missions until reforms are implemented. It has gained 29 co-sponsors and now has 142, including Ros-Lehtinen.

Its Senate companion bill, S. 1848, was introduced on Nov. 10 by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) with three co-sponsors.

Some Congressional Resistance to Arms Sales to Bahrain and Turkey On Sept. 14 the State Department notified Congress of its intention to sell some $53 million worth of military equipment to Bahrain.

This prompted objections from some members of Congress and non-governmental organizations because of Bahrain’s alleged human rights violations during protest demonstrations. On Oct. 12 five senators, led

by Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), wrote to Clinton urging “the administration to delay its proposed arms sale to Bahrain in light of the country’s ongoing repression of peaceful demonstrations.” The government of Bahrain has established the “Bahraini Independent Commission of Inquiry” to look into allegations of abuse, and on Oct. 14 the State Department replied to Casey saying that the sale would be put on hold pending evaluation of the commission’s report, scheduled for Nov. 23, and the Bahraini government’s response.

On Oct. 28 the administration notified Congress of its intention to sell Turkey $111 million worth of Cobra helicopters, including parts, maintenance and training. But some lawmakers’ problems with Ankara have more to do with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan’s daring to stand up to Israeli arrogance than with the proposed arms sale. On Sept. 19 six senators, led by Kirk, wrote to Obama urging him “to mount a diplomatic offensive” to reverse Turkey’s “policy of confrontation, if not hostility, towards our allies in Israel.” Similarly, on Nov. 2 seven House members, led by Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), wrote to Obama expressing their concern “about Turkey’s drift toward confrontation with our closest friends and allies in the Eastern Mediterranean.”

On Nov. 3—too late to stop the sale— Rep. Shelley Berkley (R-NV), with 12 cosponsors, introduced H.J.Res. 83 “disapproving” the proposed sale.

Senate Measures Would “Congratulate” Tunisia, Libya, While Bill to Cut Lebanon Aid Gains Some Support In the Senate on Nov. 15, Sens. John Kerry Continued on page 66 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

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As First Post-Mubarak Elections Begin, Egyptians Express Concerns—and Hope CairoCommuniqué

By Joseph Mayton s Egyptians flocked to the polls on

burying their loved ones, killed by police and the military junta the week before in the largest street protests seen in the country since the ousting of former President Hosni Mubarak. Tear gas, rubber bullets and Molotov cocktails marked the lead-up to the country’s first free election. It was these same young revolutionaries who had fought and battled police in January and February to give Egypt a chance at democracy. They achieved their goals, to a degree, when millions of Egyptians began the voting process.

The worries of an Islamist takeover, however, were high on the minds of many of the young activists, who criticized the conservatives’ campaign tactics. The Islamists were not part of the revolution to oust their former dictator, they argued, but instead were taking advantage of the newfound freedoms granted them because of the sacrifices of the young generation, who spilled blood for change. A small minority called for an election boycott, but the vast majority of Egyptians, left or right, went to the polls, casting what for many was their first-ever vote.

Egypt’s three successive weeks of voting means results are unlikely until the end of December, but the lead-up to the vote saw divergent political groups battling for their constituencies’ approval. The campaign period, while less than a month long, nevertheless was contentious, pitting conservative Islamists against left-wing liberals. In many ways the elections are a turning point for the country, coming as they do only 10 months after the ousting of the former regime.

In the opinion of candidate Dalia Ziada, a 29-year-old longtime human rights activist, the Egyptian people are not so naïve as to fall for the rising Islamists’ promises of divinity and an Islamic state. “I believe the people will not trade autocracy for theocracy,” she told the Washington Report a few weeks before the initial Nov. 28 vote.

“They are both dictatorship.”

Ziada is one of the thousands of youth activists who took to the streets last JanuJoseph Mayton is a free-lance journalist based in Cairo, where he administers the Web site <http://bikyamasr.com/wordpress>.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

ODD ANDERSEN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

ANov. 28, many families were still

Egyptian soldiers and police (at left) guard the entrance to a school in the Cairo neighborhood of Zamalek where voters lined up to cast their ballots in the run-off of the first round of voting, Dec. 5, 2011. ary and February to force out Mubarak, ending some three decades of his iron-fist rule. Now, she is running for public office.

“I felt that as a human rights activist for years, the best place for me to ensure human rights are part of the new constitution was to be one of the ones making it,” she explained, referring to the new parliament’s number one purpose: to draft a new constitution.

At the same time, the conservative Islamists are likely to take a solid percentage of seats, leaving many secular liberals to wonder what Egypt will look like in six months’ time and beyond. The fear is real, Ziada agreed, but she considers it unwarranted.

“People are religious,” she acknowledged, “but at the same time we all have lived through governments who refuse to support personal rights and freedoms, so I am confident that we will not give in to ultra-conservatism.”

Amr Derrag, head of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP)—the offshoot political party of the Muslim Brotherhood—in the Giza governorate, agrees with Ziada, but for much different reasons. He argued that the THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

future of Egypt lies not in radicalism, but in listening to the people—which, he claimed, is exactly what his party has been doing.

“We are a party for the people,” he said, “and our goal is to create a society and political sphere that listens and works for the people. The FJP is a social party,” Derrag added, “and as such our goal is to help the people have a better way of life.”

The problem facing the FJP is that their platforms are vague and full of slogans, usually tempered with an Islamic tint, meant to appeal to the rural areas of Egypt, where the party receives much of its popular support.

At the same time, there are worries that the conservatives, including the Brotherhood’s FJP, are not telling the entire truth, which is largely what has made the campaign season so full of promises and expectations. While the liberal parties are pushing for more personal freedom, including Ziada’s more moderate Justice Party, conservative parties like the FJP are pushing an agenda that often scares people, especially women.

“I am so scared of what can happen if the Salafists and Brotherhood take power,” 23

mayton_23-24r1_January/February 2012 Template 12/7/11 1:45 PM Page 24

Mubarak government.

“So now we are supposed to just sit back and watch as these people take power and make Egypt more and more like Saudi Arabia and Iran?” she asked.

Derrag, however, insists that this is not what his party wants to see in Egypt.

Women’s role is to maintain the family, he said, arguing that much of society’s ills are a result of women working after having children.

“We have many studies that show that because women are in the workforce, chil-

said Rania Ghanem, a 20-year-old university student in Cairo. She fears that an electoral victory for the FJP and its allies would mean a turn toward conservatism previously unknown in modern Egyptian history. “They would do so much to force women to do this and that,” she said. “It just isn’t right.”

Ironically, it was women just like Ghanem who made it possible for the FJP and other conservative parties to exist, putting themselves in harm’s way during the 18 days of protests that forced out the

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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

dren are not getting the proper parenting,” he added, “and as a society, we feel that this is a major role for women in Egypt.

Children are very important,” he explained.

But statements on women’s rights by other conservative Islamic leaders have not shown a willingness to compromise. Possible presidential candidate Hazem Saleh Abu Ismail made two fiery comments referring to Egyptian women and how he would govern the country as president.

In a November interview, the popular Abu Ismail said he supports “Islamic dress,” suggesting that women should be forced to cover and be barred from public beaches.

If elected, he said, he would demand “modest” dress—meaning veils for women—and forbid two-piece swimsuits.

Calling for Egypt to “embark on a conservative dress campaign,” he even went so far as to state that if a woman was caught in a bikini, “she would be arrested.”

Then, only days later, appearing on popular TV host Reem Maged’s “Biladna bil Masr” program, Abu Ismail lashed out at Maged and all non-veiled Egyptian women.

Abu Ismail told Maged, who is not veiled, that “al-Tabarouj”—wearing makeup and not covering one’s hair—is a “mortal sin” and that he would make such actions “criminal,” citing his interpretation of Islamic law.

While the election has largely not focused on women’s rights, the reality, said Egyptian author Nawal al-Saadawi, the region’s foremost feminist thinker, is that “women are more than half of society and you can’t have a revolution without women. You can’t have democracy without women.”

To al-Saadawi, the future of Egypt runs directly through the role of women in society. “We have to push and support women’s role in Egypt,” she argued, “whether it is through education, work or demanding her rights. Without women, we will not be able to advance and maintain the revolution. The revolution was fought by women,” she stated.

While Ziada agrees with Saadawi, her solution to ensure women are not pushed aside is for the millions to go to the polls and cast their ballots. According to Ziada, any concern over Egypt’s future can be easily dispelled by millions of its citizens voting.

“A lot of people worry about women’s rights, human rights and the power of the military, but the fact is that if we can get over 80 or 90 percent of people voting, this will give the diverse Egyptian society a chance to surprise people,” she explained, “and I think we will be really surprised at the results.” ❑ JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

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porter_26-27_Jan-Feb 2012 Template 12/7/11 1:49 PM Page 26

Rejecting Apology, U.S. May Hasten End Of Pakistan as Client SpecialReport

FAROOQ NAEEM/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

By Gareth Porter

Said Beguan (l) and Muhammad Nasir, the mother and uncle of Mumtaz Hussain, one of 24 Pakistani soldiers killed in a Nov. 26 NATO airstrike, during an interview in their village of Ghagwal, some 75 miles southeast of Islamabad, Dec. 2, 2011. Furious with the Pakistani government and fed up with the American alliance, bereaved families of soldiers killed in NATO airstrikes are demanding an end to the war. resident Barack Obama has sided with

PU.S. military and Defense Department

officials in rejecting a proposal by the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan for a U.S. apology for the Nov. 26 attack on two Pakistani border posts, and approving an investigation into the attack that won’t be completed until Dec. 23 at the earliest.

The White House and the military bloc are gambling that the lengthy investigation into the attack that killed 25 Pakistani troops will defuse popular Pakistani anger and that the final report will allow the Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist specializing in U.S. national security policy. The paperback edition of his latest book, Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam, was published in 2006. Copyright © 2011 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved.

26

Obama administration to return to a more aggressive policy toward Pakistan in 2012.

But the course Obama has chosen is likely to further aggravate the anti-U.S. sentiment in Pakistan that has boiled over in response to the violation of Pakistani sovereignty and unprecedented number of deaths of Pakistani troops. U.S. diplomats in Pakistan and State Department officials are seriously concerned that the rejection of any acknowledgement of U.S. responsibility for nearly three weeks will push Pakistan further toward a potentially irreversible break in relations with the United States.

Pakistan has vowed to close “permanently” the U.S.-NATO logistics routes through which more than half of the supplies needed for the war in Afghanistan must pass. Despite the development of an alternative set of routes through Central THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Asian republics, that closure will seriously constrain the U.S. ability to wage war in Afghanistan within four to six weeks, according to Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, who usually reflects the latest thinking of Pentagon and CIA officials.

Although Washington hopes that decision will be reversed in the coming weeks, some U.S. officials warn that the closure could harden under popular political pressure.

Serious concern about rapidly rising anti-U.S. sentiment forcing the hand of the Pakistani government led the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Cameron Munter, to urge the White House to move quickly to assuage Pakistani anger, according to The New York Times and the CNN security blog “Security Clearance.”

Munter reportedly told a group of White JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

porter_26-27_Jan-Feb 2012 Template 12/7/11 1:49 PM Page 27

House officials that if the United States has evidence that Pakistani troops had actually fired at U.S. troops first, it should provide it to Pakistan, but that if it has evidence that U.S. forces were at fault, the White House should issue a formal apology in order to prevent far more serious deterioration of relations.

Defense Department officials argued, however, that no statement on the attack should be issued by the White House until the formal investigation is completed, and that the expression of condolences by the White House press secretary and cabinet officials was sufficient until then, according to a report in The New York Times first published Nov. 30.

The investigation launched by CENTCOM commander Gen. James N. Mattis is to be completed and a report submitted by Dec. 23, but the letter from Mattis states that the officer in charge may request additional time to complete it.

At the daily State Department briefing by spokesman Mark Toner on Dec. 2, a reporter referred to “concern expressed by U.S. officials in this building…that the window is rapidly closing for the United States to come up with some kind of explanation for the Pakistanis.”

The Defense Department argument that the United States can keep the Pakistani government and population waiting for more than three weeks for the results of the investigation is based in part on the longstanding assumption that the Pakistani military will be forced to accommodate U.S. interests, because of its dependence on U.S. assistance.

Decades of patron-client relations between the Pakistani military and their U.S. military and CIA counterparts have created a widespread belief in the military and CIA that Pakistan is too dependent on the United States for assistance to cut loose completely from U.S. policy.

A Dec. 1 column by The Washington Post’s Ignatius shows that the notion of Pakistan as client state remains intact among Pentagon officials.

Ignatius suggested that the Pakistani military will soon have to wake up from its gestures of opposition to U.S. policy—especially the cutoff of NATO supplies for Afghanistan.

“Continued Pakistani reprisals make sense only [if] Islamabad is heading toward a real and lasting break with Washington,” he wrote, adding, “I don’t get the sense that’s what Pakistan’s leaders really want.”

So the Pakistanis “will need to figure out how to climb down the hill,” he wrote, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

“now that they have forcefully planted the flag.”

The justification for the military and DOD officials to oppose the admission of responsibility for those deaths and to express regret for it is not based on a conviction that U.S. troops were innocent in the Nov. 26 attack. The Nov. 30 New York Times report said DOD officials “did not deny some American culpability in the episode….”

That private admission suggests that the real reason for rejecting an apology is that it would shift the focus of media attention away from the Pakistani policy of allowing insurgents to have safe havens in Pakistan from which to carry out operations in Afghanistan.

U.S. military and Defense Department officials desperately need to make the case that Pakistani complicity in Taliban insurgent attacks across the border in Afghanistan is the primary obstacle to the success of the 10-year U.S.-NATO war in Afghanistan.

That interest can only be served if the investigation ordered by CENTCOM concludes that there is no reason for the United States to apologize, because of the threat to U.S. troops from insurgents who have been protected by the Pakistani army.

The investigation would have to give credibility to the claim by the U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) unit and its Afghan counterpart that they pursued the insurgents who attacked them across the border to a location close to, if not inside, an encampment that turned out to be a Pakistani border post.

A series of news media stories in the days after the incident reported just such accounts from members of the SOF commando unit, but the Pakistani army command provided details that refuted it. The U.S. military has denied that the attack on the border posts was deliberate, but it has

also acknowledged privately to The New York Times that U.S. troops were culpable in the deaths of the Pakistani troops.

The U.S. military investigation is supposed to be open to Pakistani participation, though not as an equal partner. But Pentagon spokesman George Little confirmed on Dec. 2 that Pakistan has elected not to participate in it.

Maj. Gen. Ashfaq Nadeem, the Pakistani army’s director general of military operations, has pointed to earlier “joint investigations” of U.S. violations of Pakistani sovereignty as having “come to naught.” He referred to “joint investigations” with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) into the three U.S.-NATO attacks on Pakistani troops on June 10, 2008, Dec. 30, 2010 and July 17, 2011.

The reports generated by those inquiries “give a version not based on facts as we know them,” Nadeem said.

The appointment of Brig. Gen. Stephen Clark to carry out the investigation of the attack on the Pakistani border posts raises yet another issue: whether the investigation will hold the SOF unit involved and the helicopter pilots attached to it fully accountable.

Clark has spent virtually his entire military career in the Air Force Special Operations Command.

The helicopter pilots who made crucial decisions during the assault on the border posts were almost certainly affiliated with the Air Force Special Operations Command.

Even more than other branches of the military, Special Operations Forces officers are known for protecting other SOF personnel against any legal challenge. When he was commander of ISAF in 2010, SOF veteran Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal used two separate investigations to deflect charges that an SOF unit had covered up the killings of two pregnant women in a February 2010 night raid gone bad. ❑

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gee_28-29_Islam and the Near East in the Far East 12/7/11 4:28 PM Page 28

Myanmar: On the Road to Democracy?

Islam and the Near East in theFar East

SAUL LOEB/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

By John Gee

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (l) walks with Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the garden of Suu Kyi’s residence in Yangon following their meeting there, Dec. 2, 2011. n a three-day visit to Myanmar (still

Ocalled Burma in official U.S. state-

ments) at the beginning of December, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with President Thein Sein in the political capital of Naypidaw. She announced that some of the restrictions on international financial assistance and development programs would be loosened, and the two sides agreed to discuss the possible upgrading of diplomatic relations. Clinton called on the government to release political prisoners, end its military campaigns against minority nationalities, respect the rule of law and improve human rights conditions, according to agency reports.

On Dec. 1, Clinton flew down to Yangon, still Myanmar’s commercial capital and largest city, to meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Clinton delivered letters from President Barack Obama to both Suu Kyi and the Myanmar president.

Washington’s official position is that the U.S. is responding positively to a process of reform in the country and wishes to encourage steps toward genuine democracy, but this has raised a number of questions: Are there other reasons for the U.S. moves—in John Gee is a free-lance journalist based in Singapore, and the author of Unequal Conflict: The Palestinians and Israel.

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particular, a desire to contain China? Is this the time to be conciliatory to a regime that, as recently as March 2011, launched a major military offensive in the Shan area of the country, displacing over 30,000 people?

How genuine is the reform process?

The U.S. tends to be selective about the repressive regimes it keeps at arms length, but Myanmar’s regime was one of those it took to task. Its repressive policies toward minority nationalities and denial of democratic rights to its citizens have been welldocumented, and the regime did nothing to improve its international standing by the flagrant character of its behavior.

In 1990, when relatively fair elections were held, the opposition National League for Democracy won 60 percent of the votes and 81 percent of the parliamentary seats.

The regime simply ignored the result and clamped down on the opposition. In 2002, it relaxed restrictions on the movement of NLD leader Suu Kyi, who began to travel the country, meeting supporters. On May 30, 2003, a gang of regime-backed thugs attacked the convoy in which she was traveling, killing and injuring supporters. The incident was caught on camera and widely reported, but the regime ignored international condemnation. In 2007, protests against a fuel price increase turned into a mass protest against the regime. DemonTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

strations were often led by Buddhist monks, which conferred some protection on participants. Despite intense efforts to hide what was going on from the outside world, videos and images captured on mobile phones were sent out on a daily basis.

The image of the military leadership— grim, corrupt and repressive, entrenched in the new capital of Naypidaw where it was better insulated from popular protest— contrasted with the figure of Suu Kyi. The daughter of Gen. Aung San, who led the country to independence in 1948, she is a slightly built, quiet spoken, principled yet conciliatory woman who has won an international standing.

Unfortunately, there is a tendency abroad to view these opposing elements as the be all and end all of Myanmar politics, so that progress can be measured according to the amount of space given to Suu Kyi and the NLD. The opposition is broader among the majority Burman people, however, and very different in character among the 32 percent of the population that belong to minority nationalities.

In fact, the acid test for progress toward a stable democracy in Myanmar is likely to be the establishment of a durable solution to the national conflicts that have persisted for most of the post-independence period—a fact perhaps acknowledged by Suu Kyi when she said to Clinton, “All hostilities must cease within this country as soon as possible.” Living primarily in the border regions of Myanmar, the larger minorities such as the Shan and Karens have variously demanded independence or autonomy and taken up arms to win them. The country’s inability to resolve these conflicts peacefully resulted in the growth of an army focused on internal repression and with great clout in the country, which Gen. Ne Win used to take power in 1962. The military has been in the driver’s seat ever since.

Given this background, there are reasons to be skeptical about claims of reform in Myanmar. These reservations seemed to be borne out by the 2010 elections, in which the great majority of seats were won by the regime-sponsored Union Solidarity and Development Party, under a constitution that reserves 25 percent of parliamentary seats to military appointees. Nevertheless, there has been a shift in perceptions among some opposition members and critical observers. Suu Kyi has been released from house arrest, the JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

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NLD has decided to re-register as a political party and plans to take part in the next elections, and censorship has been relaxed somewhat. People inside the country are hopeful that this time there will be real change, but they can remember previous occasions when repression was relaxed, only to be resumed at the first signs of regime opponents gaining ground, and so they remain wary.

Various reasons have been suggested for why the regime would have launched a reform initiative at this time. One is that reform was the price to be paid for establishing better relations with the U.S. and other Western states, necessary to secure investment and aid. The regime was said to be uncomfortable about its excessive reliance on Chinese diplomatic support and business ties and wanted to gain a counterweight.

Two other factors should not be discounted. Myanmar is a member of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has generally had little to say about violations of human rights in member states. The Philippines and Indonesia have democratized since ASEAN was formed and there has been some relaxation in Malaysia and Singapore, which has shifted the climate of thought in ASEAN somewhat. It is gradually moving toward

greater cooperation and the establishment of a human rights mechanism, and this accounts for its members’ uncharacteristic outspokenness toward Myanmar, compared to other states. Myanmar will assume the chairmanship of ASEAN in 2014.

Popular resistance also had an impact. The broadly based, widespread and persistent protests in 2007 eventually were put down, but served notice on the military that things could not go on as they were. It perhaps seemed prudent to start a controlled process of reform from a position of strength, rather than sit tight and continue as before. This might be helped by a generational devolution of power within the military.

There is no reason to discount the Obama administration’s stated reasons for improving relations with Myanmar: it’s just that there’s a bigger picture.

The rise of China and the growth of the Asian economies already seemed set to refocus U.S. global strategic thinking at the beginning of the 21st century, but 9/11 brought a detour, from which the Obama administration has returned. In his Nov. 17 address to the Australian parliament, President Obama highlighted the importance of Asia in determining whether this century will be one of “conflict or cooperation.” He went on

to say, “I have, therefore, made a deliberate and strategic decision that, as a Pacific nation, the U.S. will play a larger and long-term role in shaping this region and its future.”

The move was already well under way.

Relations with Indonesia have been repaired since the acrimony over the manner of its 1999 withdrawal from East Timor, and in July 2010 Washington announced that it would resume cooperation with Kopassus, the special forces behind the militias responsible for the mayhem that resulted when the East Timorese voted for independence. The U.S. Navy uses facilities in Malaysia, despite occasional exchanges of barbs, and who would have imagined 30 or 40 years ago that in 2010, Vietnam and the U.S. would be holding their first joint naval exercise? Myanmar is one element in the beefing up of relations with countries in this part of the world and in Washington’s careful construction of closer ties to the states neighboring China.

“If we move forward together, I am confident that there will be no turning back on the road to democracy,” Suu Kyi told Clinton. “We are not on that road yet,” she added cautiously, “but we hope to get there as soon as possible with the help and understanding of our friends.” ❑

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pasquini_30-31_Northern California Chronicle 12/6/11 9:38 PM Page 30

Youthful Creativity, Exuberance Dominate Annual Arab Film Festival

By Elaine Pasquini

Northern California Chronicle

STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI

Kurdistan, Jap- appearances to the contrary, this 14-minute an, 2009, Fea- jewel resonated strongly with filmgoers, ture Fiction); both young and old, as well as the AFF Shakir Abal, jury.

Tim Langford, Last June, at the Palm Springs Interna“Richard III, an tional ShortFest—North America’s largest Arab VIP” (Ku - showcase for short films—“Bahiya…& wait, 2010, Fea- Mahmoud” took the Best of Festival award, ture Documen- which qualified it to be considered for a tary); Annalisa 2011 Academy Award nomination.

Vozza, “Jalla, To the crowd’s delight, the film’s associGirls!” (Italy, ate producer, Mike Chaanine, announced 2009, Short Doc- that the DVD is available for purchase or umentary); and rental online through iTunes.

Zaid Abu HamBorn in Jordan of Lebanese and Jordandan, “Bahiya… ian heritage, Abu Hamdan recently began & Mahmoud” shooting his first feature film, “Nostalgia,” (Lebanon, 2010, in Amman. Passionate about creating charShort Fiction). acters and bringing them to life through Egyptian direc- films, the 29-year-old is involved with Zaid Abu Hamdan (c), winner of the Arab Film Festival’s Best Short tor Ibrahim El every aspect of his productions and is Fiction award for “Bahiya…& Mahmoud,” with AFF president Jess Batout received meticulous in even the smallest details of Ghannam (l) and executive director Michel Shehadeh. the Honorable his work. he Arab Film Festival (AFF) kicked-off Mention Award for his feature film “Majid” its highly anticipated 15th season Oct. “Hawi.”

From Oct. 13 through 13 with a celebratory gala, awards presentation and a screening of “Egyptian Maid- 23, audiences in San Franens” at San Francisco’s famed Castro The- cisco, Berkeley, San Jose atre. This year’s festival screened some 45 and Los Angeles enjoyed films from 20 countries with subjects rang- the best of Arab cinema ing from the challenges facing a Palestinian from Egypt, Iraq, Leb girls soccer team to war and revolution anon, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Palesacross the Arab world.

“In less than a year we have seen a radi- tine, Algeria, Morocco, cal and massive transformation in North Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Africa, the Middle East and the Arab Qatar, Syria, Jordan, world, and I am proud to say that the Arab Tunisia, the United Arab world is leading the vanguard of democra- Emirates, United Kingdom tic reforms,” AFF president Jess Ghannam and the USA. For more information, visit the AFF told the opening night audience.

“It seems whenever there is hope from a Web site at <www.arab Mike Chaanine (l), associate producer of “Bahiya…& Mahpopular uprising the first things to benefit filmfestival.org>. moud,” and Nassim Abassi, director of “Majid.” are the arts and culture,” said AFF executive director Michel Shehadeh, “because “Bahiya…& Mahmoud” people want to express themselves—and AFF audiences enthusiastically embraced “Majid,” a feel-good movie by Nassim doing so through films is one of the best the charming comic drama “Bahiya…& Abassi with an unforeseen twist, was an ways.”

Mahmoud,” about an elderly married cou- unabashed favorite of the AFF audience.

Awards were presented to the directors ple’s seemingly contentious relationship. The Moroccan filmmaker incorporates the of the best films in four categories: The popular Lebanese actors Leyla Hakim right amount of psychological drama, acShawkat Amin Korki, “Kick Off” (Iraqi- and Faek Homaissi portray the title char- tion and suspense—along with dabs of acters, who were based on Abu Hamdan’s humor—in his tale of a 10-year-old orElaine Pasquini is a free-lance journalist grandparents. With its universal message phan seeking his identity in a sometimes based in the San Francisco Bay Area. that love conquers all at any age despite cruel environment on the streets of Mo30

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI

T

STAFF PHOTOS PHIL PASQUINI

pasquini_30-31_Northern California Chronicle 12/6/11 9:38 PM Page 31

(L-r) Palestinian filmmaker Muayad Alayan; Annalisa Vozza, winner of the Arab Film Festival’s Best Short Documentary award for “Jalla, Girls!”; and Egyptian filmmaker Ibrahim El Batout (with his wife, Riham), who received Honorable Mention for his feature film, “Hawi.” hammedia and Casablanca. In his first feature film, Abassi subtly plays with the audience’s sensibilities and throws in a few unresolved mysteries which remain in viewers’ minds long after the theater lights come on. Ironically, using the power of big-screen filmmaking, he hones in on the equally potent significance of a small still photo, which is the centerpiece of the film.

Looking for non-professional actors for the roles of the two young main characters, Abassi discovered Brahim Al Bakali performing acrobatics in the street and Lotfi Saber in an orphanage. The youngsters’ camaraderie, tenaciousness and youthful optimism grabs the heartstrings of filmgoers right from the start.

“Majid” was the winner of the best screenplay award at the Moroccan National Film Festival 2011 and has been selected for the International Competition at CINEKID Film Festival in Amsterdam, the largest international film festival for children.

“Here is someone with a bright future and who might really make a difference,” one filmgoer said about Abassi upon leaving the theater after the San Francisco screening, which was the film’s U.S. debut.

Palestinian Kids are Heroes in “Mute” Muayad Alayan’s 20-minute short narrative “Mute” enjoyed a well-received screening Oct. 20 at Berkeley’s California Theater as part of the AFF’s Festival of Schools program.

The film’s story revolves around 10-yearold Shadi who, upon the death of his mother, suddenly suffers muteness. BeJANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

friended by his 14-year-old neighbor, Dima, the two travel on foot to nearby Mar Elias Monastery, renowned for its spiritual importance and for answering the prayers of ailing children, but the visit is unsuccessful. On the way back home, however, Dima accidently discovers the dark secret behind Shadi’s affliction and enlists help from the neighborhood children.

Well-acted by its young Palestinian stars Dima Mu’alem and Nicholas Jarad, and with the natural beauty of the Bethlehem area as a backdrop, the engaging film moved at a quick pace to an unexpected and emotionally satisfying ending.

“I decided to produce and direct ‘Mute’ to represent Palestinian children as heroes in their own society and to address them as an audience as well,” Alayan said from Jerusalem. “The film is influenced by the traditional Palestinian stories that I grew up listening to from my grandmother. It’s a children-empowering short film which sheds light on a child’s right of protection and salutes children’s earned rights of creative collective participation.”

The award-winning 26-year-old Palestinian filmmaker teaches cinematography and lighting at Dar Al Kalima College in Bethlehem and is co-founder of Palcine for Creative Arts, a nonprofit focusing on advancing creative film and media production in Palestine.

“Jalla, Girls!”

“Jalla, Girls!” by Annalisa Vozza and Lorenzo Face explores the struggle of Palestinian women from Bethlehem to play soccer in international competition. Facing not only gender issues—since the sport THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

traditionally has been dominated by men—the young women also confront religious, political and geographical ones that are specific to residents of the occupied Palestinian territories.

Through candid interviews with two players, the Italian filmmakers illuminate the courage, pride and determination of the young women to reach their dream.

Their film was co-presented by the Global Fund for Women.

“Gaza Hospital” In the 1980s, Beirut’s Gaza Hospital was a world-class medical center on the outskirts of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camp that treated displaced Palestinians living in the camp, as well as Lebanese civilians.

In his powerful feature documentary “Gaza Hospital,” Marco Pasquini presents the storied and troubled history of this once-great facility run by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, including the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the massacre of Palestinian refugees in the Sabra and Shatila camp by the Israeli-backed Lebanese Phalanges militia, and the Lebanese civil war. Skillfully juxtaposing graphic archival film footage with emotional testimonies of former international medical workers, as well as current residents of the building, the Italian filmmaker exposes the acts of unsurpassed savagery and extreme inhumanity committed upon defenseless refugees (see December 2010 Washington Report, p.55).

Today, the historic 10-story building is a residence—sometimes called “a vertical refugee camp”—for Palestinian refugees whose tragic plight continues to be ignored. ❑ 31

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Tarzan and Arab See Their First Movie Show At Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse Ritz

By Pat and Samir Twair

STAFF PHOTO S. TWAIR

Alamo Drafthouse’s annual Fantastic Festival in September. Herculean tasks lay ahead before the twins could exit Gaza—let alone enter the U.S. A limited knowledge of English and lack of travel documents didn’t discourage the twins, who had a paid invitation to the U.S. When a window of opportunity opened in late September to exit through the Rafah gate, the brothers made a beeline for Cairo, where they Gaza artists and filmmakers Tarzan (l) and Arab Abu Nasser. left their papers with the American Embassy.

That’s when their troubles began. Visas ifficult as it may be for an Angeleno to grasp, there are award-winning artists were not forthcoming to the long-haired, and filmmakers who have never been able bearded twins who wear beads and neckto visit an art gallery or movie theater—or laces, jeans, athletic shoes and might be deeven view their exhibitions or accept prizes scribed by your grandmother as hippie terrorists. As their money dwindled, they awarded them.

This is the confinement to which twins increasingly stayed indoors, marking their Ahmed (Tarzan) and Mohamed (Arab) Abu 24th birthday alone in a Cairo hotel.

Thanks to a congressman who answered Nasser are subjected in their hometown of Gaza City. In March, Israel refused to allow the pleas of Alamo Drafthouse, the twins’ them to travel to London, where their war visa finally was expedited, and on Oct. 20 movie posters were exhibited in London’s they arrived in Austin. Six days later their Mosaic Rooms gallery. In May they were dream came true when they saw their first prevented from attending the Cannes Film full-length film on a giant screen of the Festival, where their short film “Colorful Alamo Drafthouse Ritz. It also marked the Journey,” earned a positive response. Israel U.S. premiere of their six-minute-long even banned them from traveling to the “Colorful Journey.”

Texans quickly came under the spell of West Bank city of Ramallah to pick up first prize at an A.M. Qattan Foundation film the twins’ charisma. Within minutes of meeting these free spirits it is clear that competition.

In August, Britain’s Guardian newspaper they were nurtured in a creative environwrote about the brothers’ determination to ment. Their father, a school headmaster create movies despite the challenges of liv- who painted in his spare time, encouraged ing under such draconian restrictions. The his sons, who as toddlers he nicknamed article and photo of the twins editing and Tarzan and Arab, to experiment in every producing films in their one-room rooftop artistic medium.

Gaza City’s last remaining film theater sleeping quarters/studio captured the imagination of Henry Mazza, chief creative was blown up during the first intifada, two officer of Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, years before the boys were born, but they loved to watch DVDs on the family TV. As headquartered in Austin, TX. Mazza wanted the twins to attend the youngsters, they sneaked into the theater’s ruins and gazed at film posters moldering Pat and Samir Twair are free-lance journal- on the crumbling lobby walls. They decided to create their own film posters, ists based in Los Angeles.

D

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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Southern California Chronicle naming them after Israeli military operations: ”Operation Cast Lead,” “Defensive Shield,” ”Summer Rain.” In all, they created 20 faux war movie posters.

In 2010, the two graduated from AlAqsa University, Tarzan with a degree in fine arts and theater, Arab in fine arts and painting. They then began creating “Colorful Journey,” which depicts two men in combat gear facing one another—symbolizing the insanity of brothers (Hamas and Fatah) killing each other as an enemy helicopter hovers overhead.

Commented Los Angeles-based screenwriter Elana Golden: “‘Colorful Journey’ offers brilliant imagery that carries out an indelible message: Every war is a civil war between brothers as well as an inner war between the creative and the destructive. The camera work, sound, music and editing make it a cohesive work without dialogue.”

Producing films under their Gazawood label has been costly and daunting. Permits were required to rent a camera from Israel—for $700 a day. Hamas only grudgingly gave the twins permission to use combat uniforms, helmets and mock automatic weapons.

Earlier, Arab and his computer hard drive had been detained by Hamas on the suspicion that he consumed alcohol. Why? His poster, entitled “Field of Dreams,” depicted him drinking in an imaginary bar he’d created on his laptop.

On the last days of their one-month visa to the U.S., the twins visited relatives in Southern California. At a Nov. 11 fundraiser in the Covina Women’s Club, the twins also showed their film “Masho Mashook” (“Something Sweet”). They returned to Gaza Nov. 19.

The twins hope they somehow will be able to attend film school in the West.

Readers who would like to contribute to a fund for Tarzan and Arab, or keep up on their progress, are asked to e-mail <amanijabsheh@yahoo.com>.

CAIR/LA Hosts 15th Gala Comedian Aasif Mandvi and Syrian composer/musician Malek Jandali were headliners at the 15th annual fund-raiser of the Council on American Islamic Relations/ Greater Los Angeles Chapter. “Making Democracy Work” was the theme of the JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

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STAFF PHOTOS S. TWAIR

capitalism, had a fraying Nov. 15 gala in the Anaheim social safety net and a deHilton Hotel. mographic time bomb of a In accepting the CAIR/LA huge unemployed popula2011 Courage in Media tion under age 30. In Award, Mandvi looked at the Egypt, for instance, where audience of more than 2,000 the price of wheat doubled, guests and remarked that the angry youths took to the only time he’d hung out with streets because they couldso many Muslims was in the n’t vote the leadership out. holding area of JFK Airport.

Gelvin proceeded to group According to the comethe Arab states in clusters. dian, who appears on Jon Tunisia and Egypt, he said, Stewart’s “The Daily Show,” have a functioning military shariah law scares Amerithat survived the overthrow cans—but it scares Muslims, of their autocrats. Yemen and too. Noting that the shariah Libya are fragmented, with penalty for dishonesty is to the former struggling between cut off the hand of a thief, Mandvi northern and southern divisions, observed that this would mean and the latter torn between eastthat in the U.S. there would be ern and western tribes ruled by a many handless politicians. personalized dictator who had His advice to Islamaphobes who weakened all institutions. call for an end of Muslim immigraAnother group comprises Algetion to the U.S. is to wrap bacon ria, Syria and Bahrain. Algeria has around the U.S. borders. On a seria state apparatus, Gelvin noted, ous note, he stated that al-Qaeda’s Syria is coup-proofed by a ruling greatest enemy is moderate MusAlawite kinship, while Bahrain’s lims. “In an age of fundamentalism, Sunni monarchy rules its Shi’i mafear wins,” Mandvi concluded. jority with an imported Sunni Internationally acclaimed conarmy. Gelvin divided the seven cert pianist Jandali received the remaining monarchies into the oilCAIR/LA Freedom of Expression Award for circumstances sur- TOP: Comedian Aasif Mandvi (l) and composer/musician rich and oil-poor.

According to Cole, who visited rounding his song “Watani Ana” Malek Jandali. ABOVE: Middle East historians Juan Cole (l) Tunisia and Egypt this past sum(“My Homeland”). Even though and James Gelvin. mer, the uprisings in both counthe lyrics do not mention Syria or the Arab Spring revolutions, the song’s civil rights cases, met with 86 congres- tries were led by youth revolutionaries themes of liberty have incensed some sional offices and been quoted or men- whose shock troops were 20-year-olds.

Egyptian uprisings were non-sectarian, he forces. The song’s lyrics include: “Oh my tioned in the media 33,000 times.

“CAIR no longer is solely about serving said, spearheaded by progressive youths homeland, when will I see you free? When the land is watered with blood of the mar- the Muslim community,” he said. “We’ve who had sympathy for the working class, tyrs and the brave and all the people matured into a community that sees its with the Muslim Brotherhood remaining place as carrying the torch of advocacy and largely inactive. shout: Freedom to mankind.”

As an aside, Cole noted that these revoOn July 28, Jandali’s parents were at- justice with others who struggle to make lutions are being treated differently by the tacked in their Homs residence. As the as- democracy work.”

U.S. media. “The massive demonstrations sailants beat his elderly mother, Linah, they around Sept. 4 in Tel Aviv weren’t publishouted: “we’re going to teach you how to UCLA Talk on Arab Uprisings raise your son.” Less than four months later, “Taking Stock: The Arab Uprisings on the cized much,” he said, “but Israeli youths however, his parents and wife were in Ana- Eve of Their First Anniversary” was the topic are fed up by being stiffed by high rents heim to hear him perform “Watani Ana” addressed by historians James Gelvin of while the rich are getting richer. On excluand see him receive his award.

UCLA and Juan Cole of the University of sive Rothschild Avenue, campers’ chants of CAIR/LA executive director Hussam Ay- Michigan at Ann Arbor, who spoke Nov. 10 “walk like an Egyptian” were an allusion loush told the huge audience that one thing at the University of California at Los Angeles. to Tahrir Square.”

Regarding Syria, Cole opined that the he’s learned from the Arab uprisings is that Gelvin began by objecting to the term change is possible. And now, he noted, “Arab Spring,” which he called an abomi- Assad regime can survive uprisings in seekers of change are in the streets of New nation. The uprisings would better be de- cities such as Homs, Hama and Daraa—but York, Oakland and Los Angeles demanding scribed as a “wave,” he said. Arab states not massive protests in Damascus, which an end to economic greed, social and eco- undergoing upheaval share similar charac- would threaten the heart of Alawite power.

“There’s a tipping point,” Cole elabonomic injustice and political corruption. teristics, he observed, in that the governSince 1994, CAIR has served 24,000 vic- ments initially offered free health care, ed- rated. “If the opposition gets 42 percent of tims of discrimination, Ayloush stated. ucation and food subsidies in exchange for the people actively behind it, it probably Over the past year, it has worked on 2,900 complacence. They also practiced crony will win.” ❑ JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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pasquini_34-35_Special Report 12/6/11 9:43 PM Page 34

Splendid Islamic Art on View in Glorious Galleries at Metropolitan Museum of Art SpecialReport

STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI

By Elaine Pasquini

A Safavid tile panel, “Reciting Poetry in a Garden,” Iran, probably Isfahan, Safavid period (1501-1722), first quarter of the 17th century; stonepaste; painted and polychrome glazed (cuerdaseca technique).

lamic art from the 7th through the 20th centuries finally are on public view again at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum’s former Islamic gallery reopened Nov. 1, renamed the Galleries for the Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia. That these priceless treasures from the Islamic world re-emerged in 2011—the year of the Arab Spring which brought hope, as well as an unknown future, to regions which produced some of these works—has not gone unnoticed and is a subject of animated discussion among lovers of Islamic art.

Some 1,200 exquisite items of ceramics, carpets, textiles, jewelry, glassware, sculptures, metalwork, calligraphy and paintings from the museum’s 12,000-piece collection—one of the world’s most extensive—are now presented chronologically in 15 galleries covering 19,000 square feet, Elaine Pasquini is a free-lance journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

34

providing visitors with a more rewarding museum experience. In an effort to create a beautiful and authentic setting for its treasures, the museum brought in 14 skilled craftsmen from Fez, Morocco to

STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI

ollowing a massive eight-year renova-

Ftion, world-class masterpieces of Is-

10th century bowl with Arabic inscription from Nishapur, Iran, Samanid period (8191005), earthenware, white slip with black slip decoration under transparent glaze. The calligraphic decoration on this bowl reads: “Planning before work protects you from regret; prosperity and peace.”

construct a courtyard based on 14th century Maghribi design. A cadre of scholars and planners, including Islamic department head Sheila R. Canby and associate curator and gallery coordinator Navina Haidar, contributed to the immense renovation and expansion.

“These items are all displayed in these galleries because they are connected by Islamic culture,” research associate Marika Sardar told reporters during a gallery tour.

“The objects are from regions that were either ruled by Muslims, or had a majority population that were Muslim. The art is not always religious in nature, but is connected by this common culture.”

Highlights of the collection from each of the galleries are displayed in the introductory gallery, including a 10th century Iranian earthenware bowl of white slip with black slip decoration under a transparent glaze from the Nishapur gallery. Iran is well represented in the collection, due, in part, to the Met’s excavations there from 1935 to 1947. The styles, themes and motifs presented in the introductory gallery occur throughout the other rooms.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

Section from a Qur’an manuscript, Iraq, Baghdad, Abbasid period (750-1258), 119293, ink, gold, and opaque watercolor on paper.

STAFF PHOTOS PHIL PASQUINI

pasquini_34-35_Special Report 12/6/11 9:43 PM Page 35

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s newly renovated Islamic art galleries are a visual delight, from the masterpieces on view to the rooms in which they are displayed.

Tughra (official signature) of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (r. 1520-66), Turkey, Istanbul, Ottoman period (ca.1299-1923), ca. 1555, ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper.

Large incense burner of Amir Saif al-Din Muhammad al-Mawardi, Iran, Seljuq period; bronze, cast, engraved, chased, and pierced.

On view in the area focusing on the Umayyad period (661-750), which was headquartered in Damascus, and the Early Abbasid period (750-1258) based in Baghdad, are outstanding examples of manuscripts and early Qur’an pages in Kufic script, some written on paper in ink, gold and opaque watercolor.

During the Abbasids’ reign, the outlying regions of their massive empire became more independent, and the far-reaching artistic achievements in northeastern Iran and Central Asia under the 12th century Seljuq sultans were brilliant and inventive.

An outstanding example is the monumental bronze incense burner of Amir Saif al-Din Muhammad al-Mawardi in the shape of a lion. Exceptional for the refinement of its engravings, the Arabic calligraphic bands JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

inscribed on its body provide a wealth of information, including the artist’s name and date of creation. The head is removable so that coal and incense could be placed inside, and the body and neck are pierced to allow scented smoke to escape.

The Damascus Room is a reception chamber from the home of an upper-class Damascene family and an important example of early 18th century familial Ottoman architecture.

In each of the galleries, the floors and wall colors relate to the architecture of the region that is being represented. For exTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

ample, the marble flooring in the Ottoman room came from Turkey.

“The opening of these extraordinary new galleries provides a unique opportunity to convey the grandeur and complexity of Islamic art and culture at a pivotal moment in world history,” said Metropolitan Museum director Thomas P. Campbell.

“The public will find galleries filled with magnificent works of art that evoke the plurality of the Islamic tradition and the vast cross-fertilization of ideas and artistic forms that has shaped our shared cultural heritage.” ❑ 35

adas_36-38_New York City and Tri-State News 12/6/11 9:46 PM Page 36

Palestinian Ambassador Riyad H. Mansour Discusses U.N. Moves

STAFF PHOTO J. ADAS

By Jane Adas

Palestinian Ambassador to the U.N. Riyad Mansour. ix weeks after Palestine applied for

Smembership in the U.N. and the day

after it was granted membership in UNESCO, Palestine’s permanent observer to the U.N., Ambassador Riyad Mansour, spoke at New York University’s Global Leaders Forum. He described the preparations for the application as a huge effort that proceeded along two tracks. Two years ago, he said, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, with the support of the international community, began building the institutions of state. This was completed by August, when the World Bank, IMF and U.N. pronounced the Palestinian people ready to govern themselves. During the same period, Mansour continued, Palestinian representatives sought and gained the support of 131 U.N. member countries—more than enough for a two-thirds majority in the General Assembly. In order for the application to reach the General Assembly, however, the Security Council must first vote on recommendJane Adas is a free-lance writer based in the New York City metropolitan area.

36

ing it, and there some—the Palestinian diplomat did not name names, but undoubtedly it was the U.S.—tell the Palestinians, “you have to wait because Israel is not ready.” If Palestine fails to gain a Security Council recommendation, he added, it would not be the first to fail on an initial application. It took Israel, Jordan and Italy, among others, several attempts.

Mansour questioned how Palestine could threaten or cause harm to anyone by being in UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Yet two parties were unhappy with Palestine’s successful bid to become a member, and both have imposed “a price tag as punishment.” Mansour noted that congressional resolutions requiring the U.S. to withhold payment to any U.N. organization that accepts Palestine were passed at a time when Washington labeled the PLO a terrorist organization. This being no longer the case, Mansour hoped the U.S. would find a way to continue paying its assessment. Israel retaliated at once by announcing the building of 2,000 new illegal settlement units and “hijacking $100 million of our tax money.”

Even when it does not withhold the money, Mansour added, Israel takes 3 percent of the total collected for providing a service that Palestinians would rather do themselves.

Asked about Hamas and its alleged desire “to liquidate Israel,” Mansour first pointed out that failure to achieve peace produces extremists on both sides—for example, Israel’s Soviet-born Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who lives in an illegal West Bank settlement. The ambassador then observed that Hamas not only has agreed to elections on all levels within the year, but has accepted a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders. Within a Palestinian state, Mansour said, Israeli settlers would have two options: they can return to Israel, or would be welcome to remain as Palestinian citizens. Because Palestinians are sensitive to the fact that Israel trusts no one, he said, they have agreed to have up to 150,000 NATO, EU or U.N. soldiers on their side of the border—but no Israeli soldiers.

Whatever happens at the U.N., Mansour assured the audience that Palestine is committed to peace with Israel and to negotiating the final status issues. Pointing out that neither the U.S. in 1776 nor Israel in 1948 THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

New York City and Tri-StateNews asked anyone’s permission to declare their independence, Mansour insisted that the only issue not up for negotiation is Palestine’s right to self-determination.

Jenin Freedom Theatre Performs Adaptation of “Waiting for Godot” “Waiting for Godot,” Samuel Beckett’s challenging minimalist play in which nothing happens, is not an obvious choice for an acting school’s graduation project, but it perfectly fit the needs of the students at the Jenin Freedom Theatre. Its founder, Juliano Mer-Khamis, was mysteriously murdered last April in a case that remains unsolved.

Israeli soldiers subsequently raided the premises twice, arbitrarily arresting some staff members and students.

Mer-Khamis’ colleague, Israeli filmmaker Udi Aloni, adapted Beckett’s play under the title “While Waiting,” and an Oct. 18 performance at Columbia University received an enthusiastic standing ovation. Afterward, Aloni told the audience that he and the students chose the play as a way “to put ourselves together out of an almost meaningless place,” to mourn Mer-Khamis while celebrating his vision.

At an informal gathering at All Souls Unitarian Church on Oct. 27, the young actors told how Mer-Khamis had changed their lives. All were born during the first intifada and grew up during the second, when the Israeli army destroyed much of Jenin refugee camp, home to 16,000 people within 2 square miles. The students described themselves as “angry dead bodies walking in the street.” Mer-Khamis arrived in 2006 to establish a theater in a place where people used to fight and die, changing the camp from a destination for “death tourism” into one for “art tourism.”

Eyad Hurani said he had thought the occupation was tanks, jeeps, soldiers, the wall.

After he joined the Jenin Freedom Theatre and found acting to be a way out of “self-oppression,” he realized that Israeli occupation of the mind is worse, because, he explained, it’s about depressing the community and deleting Palestinian identity and history.

“They want us as workers, not as thinkers,” he said. Mo’min Swetat told how he nearly became Pakistani at the airport in New York because “Palestine” is not in the computer.

It took three hours to sort that out—yet anJANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

STAFF PHOTO J. ADAS

adas_36-38_New York City and Tri-State News 12/6/11 9:46 PM Page 37

Udi Aloni (second from left) with cast and crew of “While Waiting” at Columbia University’s Miller Theater.

Tree of Life Conference Examines Role of Journalism At the Tree of Life’s second New York City conference, held Oct. 29 at the Broadway UCC/Advent Lutheran Church, panelists addressed the topic, “Journalism: How Can We Know the Truth?” The Rev. David Good, chairman of Tree of Life’s board of directors, described the media as monolithic—and therefore misleading—on the issue of justice and human rights in Israel/Palestine. “Because the media ignores Palestinian and Israeli voices of conscience,” Good noted, the Tree of Life brings them to the U.S. The first panel comprised three such voices.

Jeff Halper, coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions and author of An Israeli in Palestine (available from the AET Book Club), addressed the issue of the two-state solution, which, he noted, has long been U.S. policy and is the position many Israeli peace groups support.

The American-born Halper pointed out that giving 78 percent of the land to the half of the population that is Jewish is “unjust and a super pro-Israel solution.” Nevertheless, in 1988 Palestinians accepted 22 percent of their historic land divided between Gaza and the West Bank. This was affirmed by the Arab League in 2002, and adopted by 53 members of the Islamic Conference.

Why, Halper asked, did Israel not accept this too generous offer to have peace, recognition and integration into the region in exchange for giving up less than a quarter of the area it now controls? In Halper’s view, the answer lies in Zionism’s claim of exclusivity based on two sources, each of which is understood differently in Israel and in JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

the West: the Bible and nationalism. American Jews base their definition of Judaism on the prophets, he explained, but Jews in Israel focus on the Torah and the book of Joshua—stories of tribal conquest that Halper described as genocidal. Nationalism in the U.S. and Western Europe is civic, he elaborated, meaning a country belongs to all its citizens. Zionism, by contrast, is rooted in 19th-century pan-Germanic and Slavic nationalism in which a country belongs to its dominant population—ethnocracy rather than democracy. Halper noted the irony that such nationalism was the basis for German anti-Semitism. Because of its claim of exclusivity, Halper maintained

and registered it. The Nassars have documents proving they paid property taxes to the Ottomans, Great Britain, Jordan and Israel. For the past 20 years Israel has been trying to take the land through legal, physical and financial pressure. The family took their case to court in 1991, when Israel declared their property “state land.” It has cost the Nassars $150,000 so far and the case is not yet resolved. The Israeli army erected a roadblock on the farm’s only access road, and armed Israelis from the surrounding settlements repeatedly uproot olive trees and even tried to build a road on the property itself. Zionist agents have offered the family a blank check and free exit, but the

STAFF PHOTOS J. ADAS

other example of why “While Waiting” is so apt for the Palestinian situation. The graduating students plan to open Palestine’s first acting company, because “it’s impossible to stop what we and Juliano started.”

Tree of Life conference participants (l-r) Daoud Nassar, Laila El-Haddad and Philip Weiss. there is no space in Zionism for Palestinians, either on an ideological level or in facts on the ground. The only way to peace, he concluded, is for Israel to de-Zionize itself.

As one example of how facts on the ground work, Daoud Nassar, a Palestinian Christian farmer, described what has happened to his family’s land near Bethlehem.

His grandfather bought the land in 1916 THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

family refused. “For us,” Nassar explained, “the land is our mother and it is not for sale.”

The natural responses to such aggression, Nassar observed, are violence, resignation or emigration. But he decided to create a fourth option: creative resistance in a positive way by refusing to be enemies—or victims. No access to water, electricity or 37

adas_36-38_New York City and Tri-State News 12/6/11 9:46 PM Page 38

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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

building permits? Collect water in cisterns, set up a solar power system, soon to be supplemented by a wind turbine, renovate existing caves for living quarters. Nassar established the Tent of Nations on his property where he offers summer camp for traumatized children, instituted an exchange program for international volunteers, and launched a tree-planting campaign, because “if you plant an olive tree, you believe in the future.”

Laila El-Haddad, a free-lance journalist who writes for Al Jazeera, maintains the blog Gaza Mom and is author of a book by the same title (also available from the AET Book Club), described Gaza under siege. The “no-go zone” in the north where farmland has been completely cleared, Israel’s constant monitoring by drones, F-16s, and helicopter gunships, the shoot-to-kill buffer zones along the border—all have turned Gaza into “a hamster cage,” she said. Even though the goal of Israel’s siege on Gaza is “no development, no prosperity,” El-Haddad insisted that for Palestinians in Gaza, the issue is neither about food nor a humanitarian crisis. Rather, it is about rights—for fishermen to fish, farmers to farm, and students to travel for their studies.

The second panel of American journalists opened with Washington Report managing editor Janet McMahon, who noted that among the ways the mainstream media misleads us are by choice of words and by what is excluded. A “relative calm,” for instance, refers to periods when there are no Israeli casualties, no matter how many Palestinians have been wounded or killed.

She also cited a Sept. 14 Washington Post article that reported the National Building Museum’s cancellation of an award ceremony for Caterpillar because it was likely to be disrupted by protesters headed by the Rachel Corrie Foundation. But the article never mentioned Israel.

Ashley Bates, currently assistant editor at Tikkun, once received a message from an editor rejecting an article she had written: “No budget to keep running first-person hardship stories from Gaza.” She concluded that humanitarian stories don’t sell. Philip Weiss gave up a career as a “privileged Jewish journalist” at the New York Observer to set up the invaluable blog, Mondoweiss (<http://mondoweiss.net>). Freed from the mainstream media’s pretense of objectivity, Weiss said the transparency of an Internet blog allows the journalist a personal view. The move “demolished my income,” Weiss said, but concluded that social media as a means of breaking the media blockade is a boon for society. ❑ JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

opm_39-40_Other People's Mail 12/7/11 1:58 PM Page 39

Other People’s Mail Compiled by Jean-Pascal Deillon and Dale Sprusansky

Israel and Apartheid To The New York Times, Nov. 2, 2011 Re: “Israel and the Apartheid Slander,”

by Richard J. Goldstone. Mr. Goldstone and I knew apartheid in South Africa. We knew apartheid as a discriminatory, repressive system accompanied by the seizure of land belonging to blacks for the use of whites.

We know something about Gaza, as we investigated Israel’s actions there in 2009 and concluded that Israel had committed war crimes. I know the West Bank better than Mr. Goldstone, as from 2001 to 2008, I was special rapporteur to the Human Rights Council, a United Nations body, on human rights in the Palestinian territories and visited there regularly.

There are distinctive similarities between apartheid in South Africa and Israel’s practices in the West Bank. Israel discriminates against Palestinians in favor of settlers. Its restrictions on freedom of movement resemble the pass laws of apartheid South Africa.

Israeli practices in the Palestinian territories are repressive. Torture of Palestinians is rife; houses are destroyed, and there are more political prisoners in Israeli jails than there were in South Africa under apartheid.

Israel seizes Palestinian land for settlements and for the construction of the wall.

There are sufficient similarities between the two systems to justify an investigation into whether or not Israel commits the crime of apartheid in the Palestinian territories.

Israel refuses to accept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. In these circumstances, the Russell Tribunal on Palestine should examine the question of whether or not Israel should be held accountable for the crime of apartheid.

John Dugard, Cape Town, South Africa (The writer is a jury member in the London session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine and a witness for the South African session.)

Israel Has Lost High Ground To The Tennessean, Nov. 25, 2011 Nour Joudah’s op-ed on Nov. 16 concerning Palestinian lack of real freedom brought out the usual “Palestinians are the bad guys, and the state of Israel are the good guys” responses.

Mark S. Freedman’s op-ed states the neJANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

cessity of the security fence and the checkpoints. My resources, which come from at least four church denominations, give different facts.

Checkpoints control Palestinians economically. At checkpoints, childbirth is increasingly a casualty, because Palestinian women are often refused passage to get medical care. If you marry someone from the opposite side of a checkpoint, there is no guarantee you can later automatically cross on grounds of marriage.

Israel is the side that needs to readjust its thinking and realize that Palestinians are also children of God. William McDermet III, Pleasant Hill, TN

Free Speech and the Mideast To The Washington Post, Nov. 30, 2011 As Israel now proposes [“Israel’s shot at stifling speech,” editorial, Nov. 21], Egypt sought to control the flow of money from foreign governments to civil-society groups under the regime of Hosni Mubarak. This continues today, and it is one of the many swords of Damocles that hang over the heads of Egyptian organizations. This control was used as a basis to charge and jail American University of Cairo human rights leader Saad Eddin Ibrahim 10 years ago.

The Post was right to sound the alarm about Israel following Egypt’s practice on constraining groups by cutting off funding lifelines. But The Post should also urge, as it has in the case of Egypt, that the U.S. use the considerable leverage of its immense foreign aid to get Israel to drop its plan.

Douglas J. Clark, Woodbridge, VA

Drones vs. Assassinations To The Seattle Times, Oct. 24, 2011 I am puzzled by the level of scrutiny given to the manner and method of Muammar Qaddafi’s death compared with that given to the routine extrajudicial assassinations carried out via missile from unmanned drones.

Perhaps the level of brutality and illegality is deemed to be inversely proportional to the distance between perpetrator and victim.

Carl M. Milner Jr., Edmonds, WA

Apply Iraq’s Lessons to Libya To the Los Angeles Times, Oct. 24, 2011 THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

I agree with the Times about rebuilding Libya. But I would like to remind the Times that much of the turmoil in Iraq was a result of how the U.S. handled things once Saddam Hussain was overthrown.

Instead of being liberators, we were occupiers. We disbanded the Iraqi armed forces and lost the trust of the Iraqi people.

This time, let’s help the people by building bridges between tribes and fostering education and public works projects. No Halliburtons. No U.S. soldiers. Build bridges, literal and otherwise.

Paul L. Hovsepian, Sierra Madre, CA

Assessing Iraq’s Future To the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Oct. 25, 2011 President Obama says he is getting troops out of Iraq by year’s end. At last! I hope he follows soon with a withdrawal from Afghanistan. However, I have several questions about Iraq that I haven’t even heard mentioned, much less discussed. We need information, not just patriotic rhetoric.

• How many mercenaries will stay in Iraq?

How much will they cost? They are hated by the Iraqis because of their abuses of power, and they are at least twice as expensive as regular soldiers.

• Will the U.S. scale down our embassy?

We have built the largest, most expensive embassy complex in history—as big as a small city. We don’t need that large a facility if we aren’t going to continue to control the destiny of Iraq.

• To what extent have we rebuilt the shattered infrastructure that our invasion destroyed, as we promised to do? Are we leaving the Iraqis without basic services?

• Will our media report on these and other important matters or continue to get most of their information from official sources?

Myra Jones, Bradenton, FL

How Iraq Was Actually Lost To the Los Angeles Times, Oct. 31, 2011 If Frederick W. Kagan and Kimberly Kagan don’t like it that the sovereign nation of Iraq wants America to honor its agreements, what do they suggest? Should we stay in Iraq when we are clearly not wanted? What about invading Iraq to ensure safety for Americans?

Oh, we already did that and failed.

This war was doomed from the beginning.

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The administration that started this debacle and handed Iran its victory is the one to call a failure. Many smart analysts advised against military action against Iraq; if memory serves, these astute people were called unpatriotic.

Obama did not fail; he is honoring the agreement set by Bush.

Stephanie Georigeff, Redlands, CA

A Promise Kept To The Washington Post, Nov. 8, 2011 Regarding Charles Krauthammer’s oped, “Who lost Iraq?”: There is little wonder when a president elected on a promise to get U.S. forces out of Iraq gets U.S. forces out of Iraq. It is even less a wonder when he does so on the schedule outlined in an agreement negotiated and signed by the author of the war and president from the opposing party— bipartisanship at its best, we can say.

More important, however, Mr. Krauthammer was wrong on the cure for the problems in Iraq. After suggesting— erroneously—that the United States could sustain a deployment of troops that mimics deployments in South Korea, Japan and Germany, he (inadvertently?) admitted the truth: The “risibly small” force proposed by some (3,000 to 5,000 troops) would spend “all its energies” on force protection. We are hardly welcome in Iraq.

I have been advocating for this course since my retirement from the Air Force in 2005. Mr. Krauthammer was right about the resistance to a U.S. presence in Iraq, and that is exactly why we should not stay. Beyond the danger it posed to U.S. troops, the fighting against the U.S. occupation led to a spiral of increasingly destructive violence in Iraq.

Alan Howe, Arlington, VA

No Gain in Iraq War To the Cincinnati Enquirer, Nov. 11, 2011 Charles Krauthammer is in the small minority of Americans who think we should keep 20,000 American troops in Iraq to “save the Bush Iraq war gains” (“Obama has blown lasting gains in Iraq,” Nov. 4).

I am not sure what the Iraq war gains are or were.

I know that no American would have agreed to go to war in Iraq if you told them that there were no WMDs, it would cost $800-plus billion, that it would cost over 4,000 American lives and over 400,000 Iraqi lives, that gas would go from $1 per gallon to more than $3, and that Iraq would wind up with a shariahbased constitution and political chaos.

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Getting our troops out by the end of this year is the best news this country has had concerning Iraq in years. We must learn from our mistakes or we will be destined to repeat them.

Bob Letourneau, West Chester, OH

Peril of Afghan Wars To The Kansas City Star, Nov. 14 2011 From 1979 to 1988 there were more than 13,000 Soviet soldiers killed and more than 35,000 wounded in a Mideast war. Where you ask? Afghanistan.

Now the United States, thanks to President George W. Bush, is attempting to break that ignominious record.

The Russians invaded Afghanistan and lost. The British did it twice, the Muslims, the Mongols have all tried. Alexander the Great tried more than 2,300 years ago.

Don’t we ever learn anything?

President Barack Obama says we are getting out of Iraq by the end of the year. We had no business going in there to start with. It’s the idiotic Vietnam War all over again.

We have no right to decide which country embraces our style of government

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 Hillary Clinton 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

E-MAIL CONGRESS AND THE WHITE HOUSE E-mail Congress: visit the Web site <www.congress.org> for contact information.

E-mail President Obama: <president@whitehouse.gov> E-mail Vice President Joe Biden: <vice.president@whitehouse.gov>

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

and/or our choice of religion. The Middle East is not ours to control. We have no rights in any other sovereign country.

Why do we keep trying? President Obama, get us out of Afghanistan as well before we break the Russian record. Don’t we ever learn anything?

George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Our leaders don’t have trouble remembering the past. They just ignore it.

Luke Edwards, Olathe, KS

Room for Iran Dialogue To the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Oct. 29, 2011 Fareed Zakaria of The Washington Post is exactly correct that President Obama should “test the Iranians to see if there is any room for dialogue and agreement.” Iran does not threaten our national interests and we should not be threatening Iran with harsher sanctions or, even worse, military action.

Unfortunately, the U.S. does not have its own foreign policy. It has one dictated to our lapdog politicians by Israel and the powerful pro-Israel lobby, who have been trying to provoke a U.S. war with Iran for years. Israel does not want U.S. diplomacy with Iran; it wants a U.S. attack on Iran in order to remove a regime unfriendly to Israel.

Presidential candidate Ron Paul, who was right when he opposed the disastrous Iraq war, says that if we go to war in Iran, it will destroy the U.S. dollar (and our economy). We cannot allow this to happen.

Ray Gordon, Venice, FL

National Priorities To Chicago Tribune, Nov. 25, 2011 The situation in the Middle East is both a tinderbox and a quagmire.

Our misguided foreign policy has produced the bitter fruits of thousands of lost American lives, billions of dollars that are capsizing our economy and, in many countries, hatred of the United States. In that troubled area, we preach “self-determination,” but instead, we meddle, threaten, sell arms and try to buy friendships.

We citizens are soon to elect leaders who will define our national priorities.

Now is the time! Now is when we have the chance to remember history, search our souls and refashion our goals of strength, independence and peace.

What party or which of the candidates will have the wisdom and guts to return America to what it was?

Arnie Clark, Oak Bridge, IL ❑ JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

cartoons_41_Jan-Feb 2012 Cartoons 12/7/11 4:34 PM Page 41

CWS/CARTOONARTS INTERNATIONAL www.cartoonweb.com

CWS/CARTOONARTS INTERNATIONAL www.cartoonweb.com

THE WORLD LOOKS AT THE MIDDLE EAST

Al Ahram, Cairo

KHALIL BENDIB

CWS/CARTOONARTS INTERNATIONAL www.cartoonweb.com

National Post, Toronto

Al-Mustaqbal, Lebanon

CWS/CARTOONARTS INTERNATIONAL www.cartoonweb.com

CWS/CARTOONARTS INTERNATIONAL www.cartoonweb.com

The Muslim Observer, Livonia

Lexington Herald-Leader, Lexington

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

New York Times Syndicate, New York

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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Growing Concern About Israeli Behavior Exposes Limited Appeal of American Jewish Groups Israel andJudaism

MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

By Allan C. Brownfeld

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men throw and smash television sets during a Dec. 6, 2011 protest in front of the Israeli TV compound in Jerusalem against “indecency” on all secular television channels. oncern is growing on the part of re-

Cspected Jewish voices both in Israel

and the U.S. about Israel’s future as a democratic society given its pursuit of additional settlements rather than moving toward peace with the Palestinians.

At the same time, Jewish extremism and terrorism appears to be on the rise. In its Oct. 7-12 edition, The International Jerusalem Post reported that, “The attack against the mosque in the Galilee on Oct. 2 [see December 2011 Washington Report, p.

14] is a clear escalation, and if proven to have been carried out by right-wing extremists it will be just the latest sign that terrorism is gathering steam...While attacks on mosques in the West Bank have sadly become something of the norm in recent years, an attack on a mosque in an Israeli town is quite rare, particularly in a Bedouin village like Tuba Zangariya, Allan C. Brownfeld is a syndicated columnist and associate editor of the Lincoln Review, a journal published by the Lincoln Institute for Research and Education, and editor of Issues, the quarterly journal of the American Council for Judaism.

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whose residents serve in the IDF.” This attack, declared the Post, “needs to serve as a long-overdue wakeup call...In recent months, the Shin Bet (Israel Security agency) has recorded a growing number of so-called ‘price tag’ attacks, amounting to several dozen over the past year. These include attacks on mosques, the uprooting of olive trees, the puncturing of tires on military vehicles, and the harassment of leftwing activists, IDF officers and Shin Bet officials and others...In most cases no one is arrested and those detained are let off without charges.”

In the Oct. 14, 2011 Forward, columnist Leonard Fein lamented that, “the ship of the Israeli state and, for that matter, of its people lists rightward...things that were unthinkable 20 years ago and unspeakable 10 years ago are now part of daily discourse, are now proposed as legislation by Knesset members; that survey after survey shows a coarsening of attitudes regarding Palestinians, whether Israelis or not...”

In their recently published book, Israel’s Palestinians: The Conflict Within (Cambridge University Press), Profs. Ilan Peleg and Dov Waxman write that Palestinians THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

“suffer from numerous inequities, tacit discrimination, government neglect and social prejudices. They are largely excluded from the country’s public life, they have not been integrated socially or economically, and they are generally treated with suspicion by the state and by Israeli Jewish society. As such, collectively, Arabs are very much second-class citizens in Israel.”

More and more Jewish voices are being heard in criticism of the direction in which Israel is now moving. New York Times columnist Roger Cohen wrote on Aug. 21, 2011 that “Jews with their history cannot become the systematic oppressors of another people. They must be vociferous in their insistence that continued colonization of Palestinians in the West Bank will increase Israel’s isolation and ultimately its vulnerability.”

It is becoming increasingly clear that American Jewish organizations, which tend to support and promote whatever policies the Israeli government pursues, “do not speak for most American Jews,” argued Forward columnist Jay Michaelson on Oct. 14, 2011. Citing a “peculiar dynamic” in American Jewish organizations, Michaelson continued: “These institutions are inherently to the right of most American Jews. People who, facing a wide range of philanthropic options, choose to devote considerable resources to Judaism and to Israel fund them. This is laudable. But it also selects for those philanthropists who tend toward more nationalistic and particularistic points of view. Non-particularist Jews give more to non-Jewish causes. Jewish particularists fund Jewish causes.”

In Michaelson’s view, “Most progressives have less interest in Jewish particularism, and are more likely to be found at The New Yorker or Amnesy International than at specifically Jewish institutions...

Because of this ‘liberal drain,’ what’s left in our Jewish communal institutions tends naturally to the right.”

Michaelson went on to describe the views perpetuated by much of the Jewish establishment as “bad for both America and Israel.” He explained: “I think they are self-fulfilling: Treat others as enemies and they will be your enemies. This has now come to pass in Israel, as its ostensible partner has given up on the peace process (which has been neither peaceful nor a JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

brownfeld_42-43_Israel and Judaism 12/6/11 9:51 PM Page 43

process) and gone to the U.N. instead...The Palestinians did so because Netanyahu’s negotiating/delaying tactics left them no other visible option.”

A new study by the Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) by demographer Stephen Cohen shows a generation gap among rabbis with regard to Israel. The study found that older ones tend to identify more closely with AIPAC, while younger ones favorably view J Street, the more liberal lobbying group.

According to Cohen, a professor of Jewish social policy research at Hebrew Union College, “It is a major shift in a Zionist worldview—a movement toward a more progressive Zionist position.”

Cohen surmised that younger rabbis identify as more liberal because “they grew up at a time when Israel’s relationship with its Arab neighbors was more complicated than the binary relationship that the older generation grew up with.” Because the rabbis are closer and more exposed to “real life” in Israel because their rabbinical programs require them to spend a year there, Cohen suggested, they are “more willing to adopt views critical of the Israeli government.”

The survey of JTS-ordained rabbis and JTS rabbinical students found that 58 percent of students and 54 percent of rabbis ordained since 1994 view J Street favorably, while 42 percent of students and 64 percent of rabbis view AIPAC favorably. In the older group—rabbis ordained between 1980 and 1994—80 percent view AIPAC favorably but only 32 percent had a favorable view of J Street. The survey also found that students and younger rabbis were more concerned than their elders about social issues in Israel, such as the treatment of Arab citizens, women and Palestinians in the occupied territories.

The organized American Jewish community has been so concerned about the falling away of support for and connection to Israel on the part of younger Jewish Americans that, beginning in 1999, the Birthright Israel program was established to send young people on free trips to Israel.

Thus far, it has sent 260,000 young Jews to Israel at a cost of almost $600 million.

The goal, in the words of co-founder Charles Bronfman, is “the selling of Jewishness to Jews.” His founding partner in Birthright, Michael Steinhardt, who describes himself as an atheist, described the program as “a substitute for theology.”

In fact, argues Kiera Feldman, who participated in Birthright, it is largely a propaganda enterprise tied closely to Israel’s JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

right-wing and to the settler movement.

In an article, “The Romance of Birthright Israel,” in the July 4-11, 2011 Nation, she pointed out that far-right casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, a supporter of West Bank settlements, is the largest individual donor, having given Birthright $100 million over the past five years. The Israeli government provided Birthright $100 million during the program’s first decade and Prime Minister Netanyahu recently announced another $100 million in government funding.

Barry Chazan, a Hebrew University professor emeritus and the architect of Birthright’s curriculum, explained in a 2008 book, Ten Days of Birthright Israel, that the trip is designed so travelers “are bombarded with information.” The goal is to produce “an emotionally overwhelming experience.”

Wrote Feldman: “’Welcome home’ is a predominant message, a reference to the promise of instant Israeli citizenship for diaspora Jews under the 1950 Law of Return.

(About 17,000 Birthright alumni now live in Israel, according to The Jerusalem Post.)

It serves as a pointed riposte to the right of return claimed under international law by the 700,000 Palestinians expelled in l948 upon the creation of the Jewish state, and their descendants.”

The stimulus for the Birthright program, she reported, were the findings of the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey, which found that 52 percent of Jews were marrying outside the faith. Yitz Greenberg, an Orthodox rabbi and educator, was named to direct the foundation that would incubate Birthright. “I felt I’d been asleep at the switch as this disaster was coming,” he said, hoping Birthright trips would shore up a social order in decline.

“Today, at a time of rising criticism of Israel, the program has taken on a different meaning,” Feldman noted. “No longer is it simply a project to shore up Jewish identity. Birthright has joined the fight for the political loyalties of young Jews.”

Beyond this, it is an effort to promote what Feldman described as “flings among participants, or between participants and soldiers. ‘No problem if there’s intimate encounters,’ an Israeli Outdoors employee told American staffers during training. ‘In fact, it’s encouraged.’ Birthright boasts that alumni are 51 percent more likely to marry other Jews than nonparticipants.”

Birthright participants receive a onesided view of the Israeli-Palestinian question, Feldman wrote: “Birthright’s boosters seem strangely unaware of the...more visiTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

ble woes, the 44-year illegal occupation of Palestinian lands and the racism and legal discrimination that underpins Israel’s ethnocracy...Our guide was Schachar PelegEfroni...Several times a day he...used ‘Palestinian’ interchangeably with ‘terrorist’...A new era is dawning for Birthright.

What began as an identity booster, has become an ideology machine...”

In January 2011, J Street announced plans to sponsor a Birthright trip. “Shortly thereafter,” Feldman noted, “Birthright said a miscommunication had occurred— as a ‘political’ organization, J Street was ineligible. Yet a Birthright trip run by AIPAC, the far more conservative Israel lobby group, has been renewed for years...Several Birthright donors, including family foundations operated by the Gottesmans, Grinspoons, Steinhardts and Schustermanns, have financially supported illegal Jewish settlements...On my trip we were given maps of Israel that referred to the West Bank as ‘Judea and Samaria’— biblical terminology typically favored by settlers and their sympathizers.”

One senses an element of desperation on the part of the Jewish establishment concerning the fact that young people—and many others—are drifting away from their embrace of Israel’s current government and its policies. That drift, it seems clear, will continue as Israeli policies and traditional Jewish values appear to be in conflict. It is less than clear who these groups really speak for—other than themselves. ❑

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more than 650 people, including numerous the Arab Spring isn’t about overthrowing dignitaries, 17 foreign ambassadors, senior dictatorship, but a demand for accountadministration officials and key members ability…And that’s what Occupy Wall ATFP Gala Features Prime Minister of the diplomatic corps, Washington for- Street is all about,” he continued. The Fayyad eign policy community, think tank and sheer force of the events that took place in academic figures, and noted Cairo’s Tahrir Square moved the American journalists. people and really began to dispel many Ambassador David Hale, U.S. myths that people had about Arabs. And special envoy for Middle East this, in turn, created a positive space of dypeace, presented a letter to ATFP namism, Saud explained. from Secretary of State Hillary Ahmed Rehab, CAIR Chicago’s executive Rodham Clinton, who wrote, director, who witnessed the revolution in “Palestinians deserve an inde- Egypt firsthand, recalled: “We saw the pendent state, Israelis deserve Egyptian people taking ownership and the security, and Palestinian and Is- real fabric of the Egyptian people, standraeli children deserve the oppor- ing side by side [with each other].” But the tunity to pursue their dreams work left to be done in Egypt is far from and fulfill their God-given po- over, he added. The removal of President (L-r) Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Dr. tential with dignity and peace.” Hosni Mubarak has left uncertainty about The gala, emceed by noted Egypt’s future, leaving a lot of room for the Ziad Asali and Ambassador David Hale.

Palestinian-American comedian rise of different political forces and special Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Dean Obeidallah, also featured a concert interest groups. But regardless of the instaSalam Fayyad delivered the keynote ad- by internationally renowned oud and vio- bility Egypt is experiencing now, Rehab dress at the Sixth Annual Gala of the lin virtuoso and composer Simon Shaheen said, one thing is for sure—and that is that people are demanding democracy. “While American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) and his ensemble, Qantara.

ATFP honored four outstanding Pales- there is fear and uncertainty now,” he said, on Oct. 19 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington, DC. While Fayyad empha- tinian Americans: Maha Freij, deputy ex- “people are serious about a change for sized the achievements of its institution- ecutive director of ACCESS (which built democracy.”

According to Cook County Judge the building program, he added that the Pales- the first Arab American National Museum tinian Authority (PA) has more work to do in Dearborn), for Distinguished Service in Hon. William J. Haddad, as we Americans to develop and reform state institutions. It Philanthropy; Hanan Karaman Munayyer, see a shift taking place throughout the is “only a matter of time” before a Pales- whose new book Traditional Palestinian Middle East, we must also be attentive to tinian state is established, Fayyad Costume: Origins and Evolution, is available the concerns and wrongdoing there as promised. He called on Israel to stop illegal from the AET Book Club, for Excellence in well, and be ready to combat it. “We are settlement activity and incursions into PA- Arts Scholarship; calligrapher Nawaf Soli- now dealing with a new concern,” he controlled areas of the West Bank, and to man for Excellence in the Fine Arts; and warned. “Muslims are being blamed for vicurb settler violence. He also thanked the comedienne Maysoon Zayid for Excellence olence in the Middle East against ChrisU.S. government for financial aid for insti- in Performing Arts. —Delinda C. Hanley tians.” Although these incidents are happening on the fringe and do not represent tution-building, saying that the PA was the true feelings of the majority of the peoworking to become independent of such Muslim-American Activism ple in that part of the world, he added, it foreign aid in the future. remains a concern.

“All we Palestinians are looking for is a Haddad asserted that political zealots in viable, sovereign state on 22 percent of the CAIR Chicago Commemorates Arab America are ready to criticize Muslims at land,” Fayyad insisted. “That’s what we American Heritage Month want. All we want is freedom from Israel, The Chicago Chapter of the Council on the first opportunity. Human rights connot freedom to vote in Israel. That’s what American Islamic Relations (CAIR) com- cerns about Christians in the Middle East, we really want. If it doesn’t happen, who memorated Arab American Hercan prevent it from becoming a struggle itage Month with a Nov. 13 panel for equal voting rights?” discussion on the Arab Spring and While stating that negotiations with Is- its momentous effects on not just rael are the only path to a lasting peace, the Middle East, but also the Fayyad concluded by saying, “Let me be United States. frank with you: My own assessment is that Aptly entitled, “From Arab conditions are not ripe at this juncture for Spring to American Autumn,” the a meaningful resumption of talks.” discussion focused on the afterATFP president Dr. Ziad Asali promised math of the revolutions in Egypt, Fayyad: “We will never tire of supporting Tunisia and Libya and the current Palestine till it reaches independence and “Occupy Wall Street” movement we will continue to support the state once here at home. “The Arab Spring it is established.” was a source of human inspiration (L-r) Cook County Judge the Hon. William J. Haddad, The Gala, entitled “Honoring Heritage, to Americans,” explained DePaul Prof. Laith Saud and Ahmed Rehab discuss the Arab Embracing Originality,” was attended by University Prof. Laith Saud. “But Spring and American Autumn.

PHOTO L. JABER

PHOTO COURTESY ATFP

Arab-American Activism

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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

protecting the integrity of Muslims and Islam, and the possibility of backlash against Arabs and Muslims in the U.S. and overseas are just a few of the reasons why Arab and Muslim communities should be aware of the atrocities that are taking place against Christians abroad.

Ultimately, the potential of the Arab Spring is one of beauty and possibility that will, inevitably, reach Americans and inspire them to demand accountability and transformation for their own people.

—Leen Jaber

Human Rights Peaceful Palestinian Freedom Ride Ends in Arrests The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) held a Nov. 15 press briefing to provide context to the arrest that same day of six Palestinian “freedom riders” who attempted to ride a bus headed to occupied East Jerusalem from the West Bank.

Inspired by the U.S. civil rights movement of the 1960s, the Palestinian Freedom Rides “is an initiative to challenge Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies by boarding Jewish-only buses from colonized West Bank territory to occupied Jerusalem.” According to Palestinian Freedom Rides organizer Hurriyah Ziada, the bus system was chosen as a symbol that could speak to the international community to expose the racism of the occupation.

Ziada spoke on behalf of her fellow Palestinian Freedom Riders whom she watched earlier the same day attempt to board several buses with signs saying “Freedom” and “Dignity”—and were turned away. Eventually the Palestinian protesters boarded a bus to East Jerusalem, at which point IDF soldiers and Israeli police arrived and forcibly removed them when they refused to get off the bus. All the Freedom Riders were arrested, as well as 28-year-old activist Fajer Harb, who was not on the bus but was participating nearby. Harb was released during the press briefing.

According to Ziada, the peaceful movement only turned violent when the protesters refused to leave the bus. As the events continued to unfold during the day Mya Guarnieri, a reporter blogging the event for +972 Magazine and tweeting under the name @myaguarnieri, tweeted, “As Israeli forces removed one #freedomrider today, I heard his head thump on the stairs.” She continued to report on Twitter JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

PHOTO BY DENA ELIAN

activisms_44-60r_Jan-Feb 2012 Activisms 12/7/11 3:20 PM Page 45

Freedom Riders on the bus, including Huwaida Araf, holding sign. that Palestinian journalist Mohamed Jaradat had possibly been arrested in conjunction with the Freedom Riders movement.

Four of the riders were Palestinians from the West Bank with Green ID cards, which permit travel only within the West Bank or Gaza—but not both. American citizen Huwaida Arraf, coordinator of the Freedom Flotilla and the Free Gaza Movement, was among those arrested. At the time of the press briefing there had been no word, to Ziada’s knowledge, as to whether the U.S. would become involved on behalf of its citizens. She described the riders as being “from very different backgrounds who want to send one message that we want to stop this racism against the Palestinians and we want justice and freedom and dignity.”

According to the group’s Facebook page, the arrested Riders included 54-year-old Prof. Mazen Qumseyeh [a U.S. citizen], 28year-old activist Basel Al-a’raj, Fadi Quraan, a 23-year-old graduate student, 38-year-old Badi’ Dweik, and Nadeem Al Sharbate. At the time of the briefing they were being held in Israel’s Atarout prison.

Also participating in the IMEU press briefing was Bill Fletcher, Jr., a senior scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, editorial board member at BlackCommentator.com, and co-author of Solidarity Divided. Asked to compare the American civil rights movement and the Palestinian Freedom Rides, Fletcher replied that for the Palestinians, as was true for the activists in the U.S. sit-ins and freedom rides, the message is about “dramatizing the violence…of the oppression that is being faced by the respective population…dramatizing the system of blatant racial oppression.” The violence of Israel’s occupation is largely missed in the mainstream media, he noted, because often it is the resistance to the occupation that is described as violent. “The occupation itself is almost THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

never described as a form of violence,” he pointed out.

Asked to comment on the U.S. stance that Palestinians should use peaceful protests and nonviolence, Fletcher compared the Palestinians with Native Americans, who also were encouraged to use nonviolence in response to the settlers— and were met with broken treaties. “Palestinians have been told not only to be peaceful,” said Fletcher, “but to roll over and play dead.” He advocated continued peaceful activism on behalf of the Palestinians, saying, “the Palestinian resistance, whether they are using tactics used by the African-American freedom movement or by others, is basically saying the occupation itself is the problem, it’s not the response of those who are occupied. That is what they should keep holding out in front of the American public. It’s that they are the ones who have to roll over, they are the ones who have to keep making concessions.”

Ziada lightly dismissed the inevitable comparison to the “Arab Spring,” noting though that nonviolent resistance is nothing new to the Palestinian cause. While agreeing with the comparisons between the American civil rights movement and the Palestinian Freedom Rides, she added that “in the past they fought against racism, but today we fight because we want to exist.”

To listen to “Putting the Palestinian Freedom Rides in Context” go to: <www.blogtalkradio.com/imeu/2011/11/ 15/putting-the-palestinian-freedom-ridesin-context>. For a visual chronology of the Freedom Rides visit <http://smpalestine. com/2011/11/16/a-visual-chronology-ofthe-freedom-rides/>.

—Alex Begley

Visual Impact: B’tselem’s Camera Distribution Project The Israeli-based human rights organization B’Tselem held a Nov. 7 special event at Busboys and Poets in Washington, DC featuring two Palestinian filmmakers and some clips that they and other Palestinians have taken in the West Bank and Gaza to document and expose Israeli human rights violations.

Moderator Uri Zaki, the Israeli director of B’Tselem USA, began by explaining that B’Tselem works to expose the Israeli public to human rights violations committed against the Palestinian people. One of its strategies is to give hundreds of cameras to Palestinians to record these human rights violations—thereby creating citizen journalists. Palestinians often use these cameras 45

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(L-r) Arafat Kanaan, Uri Zaki, Yoav Gross and Awatif Aljadili discuss B’Tselem’s use of cameras to document Israeli human rights abuses. to film protests, military checkpoints, or other situations where they might come in contact with Israeli soldiers or settlers.

Panelist Arafat Kanaan, 18, who is from the West Bank town of Ni’lin, described the camera as “a good tool to resist the occupation.” His sister filmed the notorious incident when Lt. Col. Omri Borberg held a handcuffed and blindfolded Palestinian while another Israeli soldier shot the detainee in the foot. It was this documentation, which led to the prosecution of an Is-

raeli soldier, which persuaded Arafat to use a camera himself. Since then, he has been arrested twice for filming protests in which he himself was not participating.

Yoav Gross, director of B’Tselem’s video department, explained that it’s necessary to show the films to the Israeli public in order to get them to pay attention to the Palestinian situation. As someone who grew up in West Jerusalem and served in the Israeli army intelligence unit for the mandatory three-year military service,

Gross said he had never met Palestinians before, much less understood them as a people. This lack of knowledge, he explained, is common among Jewish Israelis and is what convinced him to work with B’Tselem. In addition to using their cameras to document human rights violations, Palestinians have also used them to express their narratives.

Awatif Aljadili, a filmmaker from Gaza, explained that her goal is to show a different aspect of Gaza: the humanity of the people there. She does this, Aljadili said, by showing the “part of life never seen,” which to her is “the daily life of the people in Gaza”—something most people, specifically Israelis, never see. In her opinion, a camera is more powerful than a rocket because it shows Israelis who the people in Gaza really are—ordinary civilians, not just fighters, as has been typically assumed. Aljadili compared the struggle of the people of Gaza as shifting from a Che Guevara mindset to one more similar to Mohandas Gandhi.

According to moderator Zaki, when it comes to the Israel-Palestine issue, “human rights dialogue here in the U.S. is absent from the political debate.” In Israel, on the other hand, their program is working to foster a stronger culture of human rights and social justice by making Israelis aware of the realities of occupation in the Palestinian territories. —Jean-Pascal Deillon

STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY

Iqraa' Runs for Palestinian Education

DC Riders for Peace, a coalition of nine pro-justice, pro-human rights organizations in the greater Washington, DC region, launched DC’s “Be on Our Side” campaign on Nov. 17 at Freedom Plaza, the nerve center of the Occupy DC movement. The fourweek campaign posted advertisements inside Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Metrorail trains urging an end to U.S. military aid to Israel.

The “Be on Our Side” campaign promotes a U.S. policy toward Israel and Palestine based on peace, justice, security, human rights and equality for Israelis and Palestinians. Campaign organizers point out that more than $64 billion in U.S. military aid given to Israel since 1949 has not brought peace any closer, but instead has fostered a hopeless cycle of wars, military occupation and unchecked Israeli settlement-building on land where the international community has long envisioned a Palestinian state.

For more information visit <www.TwoPeoplesOneFuture.org>. —Delinda Hanley 46

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Iqraa’, a D.C. running club, participated in the Oct. 15 Baltimore marathon and in the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC Oct. 30 to raise money for Palestinian education. Iqraa’ means “read” in Arabic and is an appropriate name for the running group, as it was founded in 2008 to raise funds for educational projects in Gaza and the West Bank.

Each runner found sponsors to contribute to the United Palestinian Appeal (UPA), a DC-based NGO founded in 1978 to help improve Palestinian lives amid occupation and economic stagnation.

According to UPA, this year Iqraa’ raised $10,500, with additional funds still to come in from those who volunteered to cheer the runners and help at the marathons. It is estimated that the final total will be about $12,000.

Half of the funds will go toward scholarships for Palestinian students to attend Gaza universities, including the University of Palestine, the Islamic University of Gaza, the University College of Applied Sciences, and Al-Azhar University; the other half JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

Kirk Campbell (l) with Iqraa’ runners. will support after-school tutoring for special education students at the Spafford Children’s Hospital in East Jerusalem’s Old City.

Iqraa’ is part of the Marathon Charity Cooperation, a group of 14 charities that operate for varying causes, including the Burma Humanitarian Mission, the Faith Alliance Against Slavery and Trafficking, and the Association for India’s Development.

The runners begin training in the spring of each year. Those interested in donating money, volunteering at this coming year’s marathons, or joining the Iqraa’ team are invited to contact club organizer Kirk Campbell at <kirkcruachan@yahoo.com>, or to visit UPA’s Web site at <www.help upa.org/iqraa>.

—Deena Zaru

Music & Arts

which he said will enrich lives through diverse artistic, cultural, and educational programs and also serve as a “center of excellence in global cultural engagement.” Located in the Shati AlQurm district of Muscat, Oman’s capital, the opera house reflects contemporary Omani architecture, and can accommodate 1,100 people.

Majid Al Harthy, assistant professor of music/musicology at Sultan Qaboos University, discussed African influences on Omani music. Anne K. Rasmussen, associate director of the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings at the Smithsonian’s Folklife and Cultural Heritage Center, shared video clips of Omani musicians she’d taken during festivals in Salalah and other Omani cities.

Speakers discussed the timing of ROHM’s opening in the midst of the Arab Awakening. Will the music center inspire audiences, nurture creativity, and promote cultural tourism and diplomacy, or will it widen the gap between the haves and have nots? Will traditional Omani musicians and audiences find a place in the ROHM? —Delinda C. Hanley

Amulet in Spirit Exhibit Showcases Yemeni Jewelry

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Suad Raja exhibited a fabulous collection of Yemeni-inspired silver jewelry from Royal Opera House Shines Spotlight Nov. 11 to Dec. 6 at the Jerusalem Fund On Music in Oman Gallery in Washington, DC. Inspired by The Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center (SQCC) her Yemeni roots, Raja started collecting teamed up with Georgetown University’s traditional Yemeni silver jewelry, amulet Center for Contemporary Arab Studies for cases, tobacco boxes and famous curved a Nov. 15 colloquium at Georgetown on daggers years ago. She enjoyed finding and “Music in Oman.” The Royal Opera House preserving old pieces and exploring the seMuscat (ROHM) officially opened on Oct. crets of Yemeni silver craftsmanship. After 12, 2011 with a production of the opera graduating from Georgetown University “Turandot,” conducted by Spanish tenor and embarking on a career teaching Engand Washington Opera director Plácido lish as a Foreign Language and training Domingo. Dr. Nasser al-Taee, director of other teachers, in 1993 Raja started making education and outreach at ROHM, de- jewelry as a hobby.

By 1997, she had opened the Sheba scribed the mission of the Opera House, Gallery in Cairo, Egypt, featuring her contemporary jewelry creations—a product line she called Sheba jewelry, named for the Queen of Sheba—as well as other fine artwork by international artists. Now her jewelry can be found in (L-r) Dr. Nasser al-Taee, Professors Majid al-Harthy and Anne galleries and excluRasmussen discuss the new Royal Opera House Muscat (ROHM). sive hotel and mall JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

PHOTO MICHAEL KEATING

PHOTO COURTESY UPA

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Jerusalem Fund Gallery curator Dagmar Painter (l) looks on as Suad Raja places a necklace on a shopper. boutiques throughout the Middle East.

Many of her pieces were sold within hours of the gallery’s opening reception on Nov. 11. Raja’s bold designs have a contemporary, eye-catching appeal, but her use of traditional intricate patterns also celebrate the timeless glories of Arab art and culture.

—Delinda C. Hanley

New York Film Festival Spotlights Israel’s Minorities To New Yorkers, especially on the Upper West Side, Zabar’s means bagels and lox.

But five years ago, Carole Zabar served up a cinematic banquet called “The Other Israel Film Festival” with surprising ingredients.

This year, eight days of screenings and discussion—from Nov. 10 to 17—explored Israel’s non-Jewish population (about 25 percent), including Christians, Muslims, Bedouins and Druze.

“I want the New York community to experience an Israel that is not the monolithic state implied in the words ‘Jewish homeland,’” says Zabar about her festival’s goals. “Israel’s many ethnic groups also consider the land they live in to be their homeland.”

That was especially true of the documentary “Homecoming” (2011) by Israeli filmmakers Orna Ben Dor and Noa Maiman. They interviewed three teenagers born of Filipino, Peruvian and Congolese parents, who reflect on what it means to be “Israeli.” Maiman was on hand to discuss Israel’s recent attempts to deport foreign workers and their children.

Screening opening night to a capacity crowd at the Jewish Community Center was the powerful “Dolphin Boy” (2011).

Filmmakers Dani Menkin and Yonatan Nir tell the harrowing story of Palestinian teenager Morad, who suffers trauma and amnesia after being beaten by his schoolmates. He is saved by the hydrotherapy 47

COURTESY OTHER ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL

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A New York film festival explores Israel’s non-Jewish population, with films including (l-r) “Dolphin Boy,” “The Shout” and “The Promise.”

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his life as a soldier in British Mandate Palestine. Eitan Tzur’s “Naomi (Hitpartzut X)” (2010) takes place in the racially mixed city of Haifa, where a 58-year-old professor devoted to his young wife discovers that she has a lover. Based on a Jewish Moroccan folk tale, Marco Carmel’s “My Lovely Sister” (2011) narrates the rivalry between superstitious Rahma and her sister Mary, who marries an Arab man.

Contributing to the discussion of social awareness and political realities were panels of scholars, actors and filmmakers. One such panel, called “Under One Tent,” posed the question: is it possible to talk about social justice in Israel without addressing Arab rights?; another, on “Palestinian Cinema in Israel” featured actor Mohammad Bakri and NYU Prof. Ella Shohat.

“Speak Up!” offered open forums to converse with filmmakers and festival partners like The New Israel Fund and Givat Haviva. Films and conversations are available at <www.otherisraelondemand.com>.

—Lisa Mullenneaux

ARCE Lecture on Ancient Egypt Iconoclasm PHOTO COURTESY JOHNS HOPKINS SCHOOL OF ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

techniques of Dr. Ilan Kutz and the love and support he finds in Eilat. After four years, Morad is sufficiently healed to testify against his attackers and return to school.

“He was healed by the water,” explained Kutz to the audience, “and is now studying hydrotherapy to help heal others.”

Rabbi Joy Levitt, who welcomed guests on opening night, stressed the need for cultural tolerance. “This festival enables us to open our minds and hearts to all citizens of the state of Israel,” she said. “Healthy dialogue makes us more compassionate.”

Among many on-screen examples of Arab-Jewish cooperation was “The Human Turbine,” Danny Verete’s 2010 portrait of the Arab families of Susia, who live in tents and caves, and a few extraordinary individuals who bring them renewable energy.

Director Ibtisam Mara’ana traces the risks and rewards of her decision to leave her Arab village for Tel Aviv in “77 Steps” (2010). Her mother can’t forgive her, her Jewish-Canadian boyfriend cannot understand her anger, and her Jewish neighbors accept her as long as she uses the surname “Ben Dor.” Sigal Emanuel’s “A Place of Her Own” documents another misplaced Arab woman, Reut, who marries a Palestinian man at 18 but ends up at the mercy of Jerusalem’s chaotic, unforgiving streets.

Jerusalem is also the setting of Kikuo Kawasaki’s “David and Kamal” (2010), in which a Jewish-American and an Arab boy defy cultural barriers to become buddies.

Friendship is the theme of “Shout” (2010), Sabine Lubbe Bakker’s tale of two Palestinian friends who leave the Golan Heights to study in Syria. “Torn” (2011) is the apt title of Ronit Kertsner’s portrait of Polish Catholic priest Romuald Waszkinel, who discovers 12 years after he is ordained that he was born to Jewish parents. He decides to move to Israel but will not convert, and becomes “a man without a country.”

Outstanding feature films included “The Promise” (2011), a BBC production by Peter Kosminsky. A young British woman reacts to Israel for the first time as she reads her grandfather’s diary describing

Dr. Betsy Bryan speaks about Hatshepsut and Akhenaten.

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

The Washington, DC chapter of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) presented an Oct. 18 lecture on “Episodes in Iconoclasm in New Kingdom Egypt” at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in the nation’s capital. Dr. Betsy Bryan, a specialist in the history, art and archaeology of Egypt’s New Kingdom, ca. 1600-1000 B.C., from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, spoke about two of her favorite iconoclasts, Hatshepsut and Akhenaten.

Bryan began by remarking on how new audiences are taking an interest in this subject as people note the similarities between ancient iconoclasm and modern fundamentalism that tries to shut down the religious expression of others. For ancient Egyptians, the mutilation and destruction of images often focused on decapitation and dismemberment, as seen in the remains of both predynastic mummies and statues of 18th Dynasty pharaohs like Hatshepsut and Akhenaten. These attacks were motivated in part, Bryan explained, by the belief that removing the head, hands and feet would impede your enemies from coming after you even after death.

In some cases it was strikingly clear that these acts were not ordinary looting. Bryan showed a slide of a mummy with its head removed but a valuable necklace left untouched. The destruction of statues of Hatshepsut took place late in the reigns of Thutmose III and his son. Bryan showed a slide of Hattie’s Hole, the nickname for the less prominent site where most artifacts related to her ended up. In the case of Akhenaten, his autocratic methods of eliminating other gods and imposing the worship of Aten paved the way for his successors to try to eradicate his legacy and revert to the old traditions..

ARCE is a national nonprofit educational organization that supports archaeology and preservation in Egypt and works closely with the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) within the Egyptian Ministry of Culture.

—Anne O’Rourke JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

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To apply for next summer’s program contact <kth@hcef.org.>.)

Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of HCEF Adds Another E, for Economy, Washington, addressed the Awards BanTo Its Name quet before receiving the Key to the Holy Land for his continued diligence More than 500 participants atand outstanding support of the tended the Holy Land Christian Christians in the Holy Land and Ecumenical Foundation for his efforts as an advocate for (HCEF)’s 13th International peace and reconciliation. CardiConference at the National Presnal Wuerl said HCEF’s “internabyterian Church in Washingtional conference promotes an ton, DC from Oct. 28 to Oct. 30. explicit call to peace in the MidThis year’s theme, “Investing in dle East and in our world by Our Community; Building Our providing a platform for interreFuture,” was also the goal for ligious dialogue...” two conferences held at the HCEF’s 2011 Awardees inWashington Marriott Hotel in cluded Path of Peace recipient conjunction with the HCEF Dr. James Zogby, president of conference—an IT sector forum the Arab American Institute; on Oct. 28 and an investment and business conference on Oct. Cardinal Donald Wuerl (c), archbishop of Washington, receives the Living Stones Solidarity 30. Those forums focused on Key to the Holy Land from Sir Rateb Rabie (l), HCEF president, awardees The Ajram Family supporting investment as well and Hashim Shawa, chairman and general manager of the Bank of Foundation; HCEF Award, Raja Khoury, president of Pillar Conas a highly educated IT work- Palestine. struction; and HCEF President’s force in the occupied territories, which can offer competitive and reliable IT seeing and touching the separation wall,” Award to Sir Elias and Lady May Shomali, others were deeply moved by meeting rel- KCHS/LCHS. services to the global market.

—Delinda C. Hanley Ammar Aker, the CEO of Paltel, or Pales- atives for the first time. “It felt like home,” tinian Telecommunication Group, the the young people repeated. As they left, largest private-sector company in the the travelers were interrogated, one by Christians in the Holy Land Palestinian territories, and Hashim Hani one, for seven hours by Israeli authorities The first panel at the Holy Land Christian Shawa, chairman of the board of the Bank who couldn’t believe that Muslim and Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF)’s conferof Palestine, joined Dr. Jihad al Wazir, the Christian youths, who, after all, are “all ence on Oct. 29 addressed the current state governor of the Palestine Monetary Au- Palestinians,” were traveling together. (For of Christians in Palestine and Jordan. Fathority, to describe how creating jobs in more information visit <www.hcef.org>; ther Drew Christiansen, editor-in-chief of the business sector can help bring peace and prosperity to Palestinians.

HCEF has even more reason than usual to be proud of its accomplishments in 2011. At the Oct. 28 Awards Banquet in the Marriott Hotel, HCEF programs manager Anthony Habash joked that HCEF should add another “E” for “Economy” to its acronymn, because its recent activities are helping the economy by providing jobs, especially in Bethlehem (where 23 percent of the population is unemployed—second only to Gaza).

Banquet guests watched a film featuring (L-r) Father Drew Christiansen, Rev. Samer Azar and Bishop William Shomali. (Below, lthe new HCEF inn, with 25 bedrooms as r) Rabbi Arthur Blecher, Imam Yahya Hendi and Rev. Fahed Abu Akel address the current well as dining, conference and meeting status of Christians in Palestine and Jordan. rooms, which opened on March 9 at Bethlehem’s new Ecumenical Center for Research and Development. In July 2011, the new Center partnered with Paltel and Reach Communications Services to open a call center, creating 100 jobs in Bethlehem.

Guests also enjoyed a film documenting HCEF’s first “Know Thy Heritage” trip to Palestine this past summer. The visit included 33 Palestinian American youths, aged 18 to 25, of all faith backgrounds, who have at least one Palestinian parent.

The young people, who were responsible for only airfare and personal expenses, returned transformed by their experience.

While some said they were “devastated by

PHOTO MICHAEL KEATING

STAFF PHOTO D. SPRUSANSKY

PHOTO MICHAEL KEATING

Waging Peace

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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the Catholic weekly America Magazine, moderated the discussion.

Auxiliary Bishop William Shomali, Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, began by decrying the “hatred and ignorance of the other” that occurs in the Holy Land. Discussing the main difficulties facing Palestinians, Bishop Shomali noted that in order to travel internationally, Palestinians must travel out of the Amman, Jordan airport, as Palestine has no functioning passenger airport. In addition, Bishop Shomali pointed out, despite comprising one-third of Jerusalem’s population, Palestinians receive only 8 percent of the city’s building permits. Christians today make up fewer than 1.5 percent of Jerusalem’s population, the bishop noted, compared to 24 percent of the city’s population in the 1920s. There currently are more Christians from Bethlehem living in Chile than in Bethlehem, he lamented.

Rev. Samer Azar, pastor of Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Amman, Jordan, discussed the position of Christians in Jordanian society. He cited as the biggest issues facing Christians in the Holy Land the rise of political Islam, the impasse of the peace process, the lack of religious freedom and the region’s unstable political situation. Despite the fact that Christians make up only 2.5 percent of the Jordanian population, Azar noted that their rights are well respected and that they “coexist with Muslims at all levels of Jordanian society.” Christmas is recognized as a national holiday in Jordan, he pointed out, and building permits for churches are easily granted. Azar also said that Christians are well represented in military and diplomatic positions, and hold 10 percent of the seats in parliament.

—Dale Sprusansky

Building Interfaith Peace Featuring representatives of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the Oct. 29 “Peace Building/Interfaith Voices of Peace” panel at the HCEF conference addressed the need for building peace and understanding among the Abrahamic faiths. Claudette Habesch, secretary-general of CARITAS Jerusalem, moderated the discussion.

Rev. Dr. Fahed Abu Akel, executive director of Atlanta Ministry with International Students (AMIS), and pastor of Peachtree Presbyterian Church, began by lamenting the fact that many Americans fail to recognize the Holy Land’s religious diversity, mistakenly believing that all Arabs are Muslims. “Palestinian Christians do not exist in the minds of the American people,” said Abu-Akel, who served as 50

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(L-r) Dr. James Zogby, Dr. Shibley Telhami and Ambassador Maen Areikat.

Moderator of the 2.5-member Presbyterian Church USA in 2002-2003, the first Palestinian to lead a major American denomination. Akel concluded his remarks by urging the U.S. to exercise tough love with its Israeli ally, pointing out that “if you have a brother who is a drunk, you do not give him money and alcohol.”

Rabbi Arthur Blecher of Beth Chai, The Greater Washington Jewish Humanist Congregation, emphasized that global acceptance and universal peace are the two preconditions necessary to achieve world peace. Furthermore, the rabbi stated, it is everyone’s responsibility to make choices that advance universal cooperation.

“We are called the children of Abraham because we have yet to grow up,” quipped Imam Yahya Hendi, the Muslim chaplain at Georgetown University, the first U.S. university to hire a full-time Muslim chaplain.

Criticizing the Abrahamic faiths for their inability to achieve interfaith peace, Imam Hendi said that all faiths must embrace “the spirit of bridge building” and “reclaim the spirit of love.” In order to achieve greater peace, he stressed, it is essential for all people to “master the art of listening to one another.” Emphasizing that engaging in conversation is not simply enough, Hendi stated that individuals “need not only to speak, but to act.”

—Dale Sprusansky

The Long Overdue State of Palestine The final panel of the 13th Annual Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF) conference on Oct. 28 examined the current situation in Israel and Palestine. Dr. Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland, opened the panel by observing that there are two issues preventing a viable solution: the fact that there is no incentive for the Israeli government to make hard choices to change the status quo, and a Palestinian government that remains divided between Hamas and Fatah. As a result, Dr. Telhami said, there is little support for the two-state solution among PalestiniTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

ans, so external elements are needed to instill peace. President Barack Obama inspired fresh optimism when he made Palestine a priority in his agenda early on, Telhami noted, but unfortunately the president’s term was quickly burdened with economic struggles and poor approval ratings from the American public. This meant there was “no incentive for the president to change [his] views” about the Palestinian issue, especially if it meant risking even lower approval ratings.

Ambassador Maen Areikat, chief of mission at the General Delegation of the Palestinian Liberation Organization to the U.S., agreed with Dr. Telhami that if the president wants to be a “two-term president, he will not do anything for Palestinians.” Unfortunately, the ambassador stated, the current “U.S. position goes against fundamentals this country is based on.” If the U.S. vetoes the Palestinian bid for admission to the U.N. as a member state, he added, Palestinians have other options, since there are other venues that they can turn to.

Dr. Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, addressed the occupation’s cultural impact on Palestinians. Culture, as seen through the works of Palestinian artists depicting their current condition, has turned into “what we’ve been made into,” he said, “not who we are.” Sadly, he added, for Palestinians the peace process is about “trying to keep [their] culture alive”—because if the vision of a state dies, then the hope to preserve culture dies with it.

Zogby expressed his concern that in the international community, specifically the West, the Arab-Israeli conflict is viewed as the “Israeli people versus a Palestinian problem”—a narrative that is not representative of the Palestinian struggle for justice and peace. On the other hand, he noted, the Palestinian issue is of major concern throughout the Middle East. More specifically, he explained, “if the Palestinian issue is a priority in Arab countries, it is with the U.S. in mind.”

—Jean-Pascal Deillon JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

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Sabeel DC Metro Hosts Rev. Ateek

he’d have been “a dead man.” He described six 5- or 6-year-old children who were playing with toy guns during Ramadan. Six Israeli soldiers “slammed them against the wall” while they “inspected” their little guns. Abuata said he wasn’t sure who was the biggest victim of Israeli oppression, the six 5-year-olds or the six 18-year-old soldiers. The man on the floor with a foot on his neck can’t move, Abuata pointed out, but neither can the Prince Turki Al-Faisal skewers U.S. and Israeli policies. guy holding him down.

Noting that Jesus preached nonviolent of Syria seems to be bent on continuing its resistance, Abuata, who is not a Christian, merciless and bloody attack on its own said, “He taught us to turn the other cheek people.” With regard to Bahrain, Prince but not to turn our eyes away. If I look Turki maintained that Saudi Arabia dethem straight in the eye I become a mirror ployed troops to the small island nation in to their actions,” he explained. “If we con- March 2011 solely to ensure the protection nect our souls it can transform us both,” of that nation’s infrastructure. He rejected Abuata concluded. —Delinda C. Hanley the popular theory that Saudi Arabia’s actions in Bahrain were intended to quell Saudi Prince Turki Al-Faisal Delivers and suppress demonstrators.

Address at NCUSARs 20th PolicyTurning to Iraq, Prince Turki stressed makers’ Conference that it is critical to establish the legitimacy The National Council on U.S.-Arab Rela- of that country’s borders, stating that the tions kicked off its 20th annual policy- U.S. must push for a Security Council resomakers’ conference on Oct. 27-28 at the lution that affirms and “protects the terriRonald Reagan Building in Washington, torial integrity of Iraq.” Specifically, Prince DC with a keynote address by Chas W. Turki expressed concern that Iran, which Freeman, former U.S. ambassador to Saudi has long had tense relations with Saudi Arabia and current chairman of the board Arabia, will begin to challenge Iraq’s sovat Projects International, Inc. (See p. 11 ereignty upon the complete withdrawal of and visit our “cut for space” section of our American troops on Dec. 31, 2011.

Describing Palestine as an “open Web site <www.wrmea.com>.)

Prince Turki Al-Faisal, former Saudi am- wound,” Prince Turki affirmed the territobassador to the U.S. and currently chair- ries’ right to statehood, and was highly man of the King Faisal Center for Research critical of U.S. policy. The Palestinians are and Islamic Studies, delivered the keynote “a people who are still occupied, who are luncheon speech at the National Council still colonized, whose territory is still being on U.S. Arab Relations conference Oct. 28. stolen day by day by an occupation force Speaking just hours after attending Crown that defies all of the United Nations ResoPrince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud’s fu- lutions and international law, and without neral in Saudi Arabia, Prince Turki’s un- account to anybody,” he noted. The amwritten and straightforward speech ad- bassador, who currently teaches at the dressed the current state of the Middle Georgetown University School of Foreign East, with a particular emphasis on the on- Service, said he was taken aback by going Israel-Palestine saga. Binyamin Netanyahu’s “lecturing” of PresAfter noting that there is ident Barack Obama during the Israeli “not much to be humorous prime minister’s May 2011 White House about” in the Middle East, visit, adding that he “was flabbergasted by Prince Turki offered his the audacity of the man.”

Criticizing the U.S. for rejecting Palestinthoughts on several of the region’s politically unstable ian statehood, Prince Turki pointed out nations. He lambasted the that “it is the whole global community that Syrian and Yemeni govern- accepts Palestine as a state, and only the ments for allowing pro- U.S. that objects to that.” Prince Turki reitlonged bloodshed to occur erated that a U.S. veto of Palestinian state(L-r) Prof. Richard A. Horsley and CPTers Tarek Abuata within their borders, stat- hood “will affect relations between Saudi ing that “The government Arabia and the U.S.” Nevertheless, he said, and Jennifer Svetlik.

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STAFF PHOTO D. SPRUSANSKY

Sabeel DC Metro, the Friends of Sabeel chapter in the Washington, DC region, held a one-day conference, “Jesus, Justice, Palestine-Israel: Challenging the Politics of Empire,” on Oct. 29 at Ravensworth Baptist Church. This reporter, along with other participants, weathered snow and ice to race from the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation’s annual conference in Washington, DC to suburban Virginia for Sabeel’s event.

Noted biblical scholar Prof. Richard A. Horsley, Ph.D., author of Jesus and the Powers: Conflict, Covenant and the Hope of the Poor (2011) and a score of outstanding books, spoke about Jesus’ message in an age of political and economic oppression not unlike the Palestine and Israel of today.

Much-acclaimed founder of the international Sabeel Palestinian Christian peaceand-justice movement the Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek, author of A Palestinian Christian Cry for Reconciliation, as well as Justice and Only Justice, [both available from the AET Book Club] spoke about nonviolence as the means to achieve a just and lasting peace for Palestinians and Israelis.

Ecumenical volunteers returning from peace-building assignments in the occupied Palestinian West Bank this year shared their deeply moving first-hand experiences. Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) representative Jennifer Svetlik was part of an international presence in Atwani, a Palestinian town with Jewish settlements on both sides, in the southern Hebron hills, the traditional site of the battle between David and Goliath. Palestinians who have lived there since before the Ottoman Empire face Israeli settlers who, Svetlik said, poison their land, put dead chickens in their water and burn their wheat fields—or take their crops for themselves.

Fellow CPTer Tarek Abuata said it was hard not to smack settlers who spat in his face or called him a Nazi for helping “terrorist children,” but if he had responded

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challenges in front of us,” Aujali stressed that Libya currently needs the support of the international community. He identified security and the promoAmbassador Discusses Libya’s tion of democratic values Challenges as areas where internaLibyan Ambassador to the U.S. Ali tional assistance would be Suleiman Aujali addressed the National of particular value to (L-r) Michael Markland, Ambassador Joseph LeBaron and Council on U.S. Arab Relations conference Libya, and concluded with Dr. John Duke Anthony focus on business. on Oct. 28, less than one week after the the observation that, after death of former Libyan leader Col. Muam- years of isolation, Libyans want their coun- look. “The flow of foreign direct investmar Qaddafi. Aujali resigned in February try to be an active member of the interna- ment from the United States and elsewhere —Dale Sprusansky in the world into the Arab world after the 2011 saying, “I resign from serving the tional community.

Arab spring”—an accurate measure of current dictatorship regime. But I will risk—”is declining,” he pointed out, as is never resign from serving our people until Policymakers Discuss U.S.-Arab the expected growth rate in the region as their voices reach the whole world, until Business their goals are achieved.” Aujali spent the Day two of the National Council on U.S.- projected by the IMF. Among the suggesmajority of his time discussing the chal- Arab Relations Policymakers Conference, tions LeBaron offered to policymakers were lenges facing Libya as it emerges from the on Oct. 28, began with panels focused on taking out more insurance premiums Qaddafi era, and expressed deep gratitude business. Dr. Tamara Wittes, State Depart- against “political risks” to encourage intoward the U.S., NATO and the Arab ment deputy special coordinator for Mid- vestment, and cooperation by the GCC League for their assistance in helping the dle East transitions, and formerly with the states to “fund and administer assistance Libyan rebels oust Qaddafi from power.

Brookings Institution’s Saban Center for programs to countries such as Egypt and Addressing his country’s current situa- Middle East Policy, provided “A View from Tunisia.”

Instead of dwelling on the region’s distion, Aujali identified education, infra- the U.S. Department of State.” She focused structure and security as Libya’s most on the recent events in Libya and offered a mal unemployment projections, Danny Sepressing challenges. The ambassador was general outlook on U.S. policy in the Mid- bright, president of the U.S.-UAE Business Council, recommended policy changes in especially concerned about the territorial dle East this past year. integrity of Libya’s borders, noting that The first panel, “Business, Investment leadership and education to inspire ecoQaddafi allowed many mercenaries to cross and Financial Development,” was chaired nomic growth. The demographic challenge into the country during the civil war. Ex- by Michael Markland, vice president for “presents an opportunity for U.S. and forplaining that there are now “unfortunately private wealth management at Morgan eign firms to provide leadership, educaarms everywhere,” Aujali emphasized that Stanley in Dubai, and featured self-de- tion, training, and occupational developLibya must immediately initiate an effort scribed “professional bridge builders” in ment for the region’s future leaders,” he pointed out. Sebright listed seven sectors “to remove arms from the street.” the international finance world.

Despite Libya’s many challenges, Aujali Ambassador Ford Fraker, senior adviser as “pillars” for American commercial partwas confident that Libyans are “ready to and chairman for the Middle East and nership with the UAE: commercial aeroestablish a new democratic country,” main- North Africa Group at Kohlberg Kravis space and defense; energy, including retaining that “it is not impossible” for Roberts & Co. LP, outlined his experiences newables, civilian nuclear and oil and gas; Libyans to put aside tribal hostilities and during two big “economic booms” in infrastructure development and green unite. Indeed, Aujali stated proudly, for Saudi Arabia, in the late 1970s and again in buildings; tourism and culture; education; “the first time in 42 years, [Libyans] are the late 2000s. “If you were an interna- media; and healthcare.

Last to speak was Lionel C. Johnson, proud of [their] country” and have hope tional business with aspirations for growth for the future. internationally and you weren’t looking at vice president of Middle East and North Acknowledging that “there are so many the market in the Gulf, then you were Africa affairs with the U.S. Chamber of missing the opportunity of the Commerce. While he encouraged investdecade, if not the next three ment in the transitioning countries, he decades,” he stated. According cautioned that the full transition of the to his calculations, said Fraker, Arab Awakening still has a long way to go.

—Alex Begley who served as U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 2007 to 2009, Riyadh has invested a stag- Geopolitical Dynamics gering trillion and a half dollars An afternoon panel at the National Counin new programs in the past 10 cil on U.S.-Arab Relations Policymakers’ years. He strongly encouraged Conference on Oct. 28, moderated by new investors to “buy a ticket Yousef Munayyer, executive director of the and come to the region.”

Palestine Center, focused on the issue of Ambassador Joseph LeBaron, Palestine. Michelle Steinberg, editor of Exa senior adviser at Patton Boggs, ecutive Intelligence Review, a publication LLP, offered a more somber out- founded by Lyndon LaRouche, began by Libyan Ambassador Aujali is confident of the future.

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the Arab world “truly wants the Americans to fix this [the Israel-Palestine conflict].”

Transcripts or C-SPAN clips from Prince Turki’s speech and others are available at <www.ncusar.org>. —Dale Sprusansky

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Iran, and differing views of expressing her concern that its regional power and influthe “U.S. [has] failed to stand ence. up for justice repeatedly” in Kenneth Katzman, a Midrecent times, especially dle East affairs specialist at under President Barack the Congressional Research Obama. Washington failed to Service, and Afshin Molavi, condemn Israel’s Operation senior fellow at the New Cast Lead, she pointed out, America Foundation, argued as well as the killing of an that Iranian power is on the American onboard the Mavi decline, noting that sancMarmara, the Turkish ship tions have had a profoundly that sailed as part of the Free (L-r) Dr. Ghada Karmi, Dr. Norton Mezvinsky and Michelle Steinberg. negative effect on Iran’s Gaza flotilla.

“In the last 30 years America has never result of the recent, “entirely logical” economy. Katzman cited Kuwait, which has missed an opportunity to miss an opportu- Palestinian application to the U.N. for ad- stopped selling gas to Iran, and the UAE, nity to move peace forward,” Steinberg mission as a member state. Washington’s which has placed restrictions on Iranian stated. The U.S. has not always been this blatant partisanship with Israel has mobi- banking activity within the Emirates, as way, she said, noting that during President lized people, if not their governments, to examples. Molavi pointed out that, despite having the second largest gas reserves in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency, when support the Palestinian cause, she said.

Dr. Karmi cited three incorrect assump- the world, Iran currently is exporting gas George Marshall served as secretary of state, the U.S. believed in anti-colonialism tions on which she said the peace process only to Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Turning to the domestic sphere, Katzand anti-imperialism. If that were true is based: 1. The conflict is about the territories man stated that Iran’s political system is today, Steinberg said, America would “treat the Palestinian people with honor captured in 1967, settlements, land swaps losing its legitimacy among its citizens. In and Jerusalem. (It’s actually about what his opinion, the authority of Ayatollah Ali and dignity.”

Dr. Norton Mezvinsky, president of a happened in 1948, she reminded listeners, Khamenei is now being “questioned regunew educational think tank, International including the expulsion of the majority of larly.” Referring to the Green Movement of 2009, he said that a “large segment of the Council for Middle East Studies, elabo- Palestinian inhabitants.); 2. Israel must remain as it is today—in- Iranian public [is] openly dissatisfied” rated on the “Zionist character of the state of Israel,” which he identified as the cen- cluding its exclusivist, supremacist ideol- with the regime. “As the Arab world modernizes its politics,” Katzman added, Iran tral problem of the Israeli-Palestinian con- ogy—with border modifications; and 3. Palestinian refugees cannot return to remains “mired in its outdated [and] backflict. Dr. Mezvinsky provided a history of wards political system,” resulting in Iran Zionism, starting with Theodor Herzl, the Israel.

All those assumptions are wrong, Dr. becoming weak and “misplaced in its refather of modern political Zionism, who envisioned a secular Jewish nationalism— Karmi said, adding that the only reason gion.”

Providing a vastly different perspective, something vigorously opposed by religious Palestinians support a two-state solution is Jews. After the Holocaust, he said, Ortho- that they are willing to take what is possi- Dr. Flynt Leverett, senior research fellow at dox Jews added their own religious ele- ble and not demand what is just. In reality, New America Foundation, argued that Iran she said, the situation on the ground re- is seeing its strength in the Middle East inments to Zionism.

Zionists today, including Christian Zion- mains: Israel is unwilling to accept any crease. Tehran has greatly benefited from ists, believe that Jews need to have a state meaningful viable version of a Palestinian “American incompetence” in the region, he said, arguing that the U.S. war in Iraq has of their own to prevent anti-Semitism, state.

Palestinians need to face up to the fact been a victory for Iran. Attributing the Mezvinsky continued. Because the Jewish state must be demographically Jewish, that today Israel/Palestine is one state—a common perception of a declining Iran to Jews all over the world, even those who Jewish Zionist state, an oppressive “analytic malfeasance” on the part of the have no previous ties to Israel, can auto- apartheid state, which controls non-Jews. U.S., Leverett opined that “U.S. elites do matically become citizens, he noted, while Dr. Karmi recommended converting Israel not want to be bothered with facts where non-Jews must apply for citizenship. Not into a democratic, pluralistic state that re- Iran is concerned.”

With regard to Iran’s controversial 2009 only does this privilege individuals who spects the rule of law. Everyone should be have no ties to the land, he explained, but clear that the end result has to be a new presidential election, Leverett dismissed it excludes Palestinians displaced during state with a democratic framework in the popularly held notion that President the 1948 war from the right of return. which the people who live there and those Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole the election Ironically, Israel uses the “Jewish right of who were expelled can live together with from his opponent Mir-Hossein Mousavi. return” to the land of Israel to support the equal civil rights. “This will end the con- Although the “U.S. clung to the fraud narrative,” Leverett said, there is no evidence existence of Israel today. The two-state so- flict,” Dr. Karmi concluded.

—Jean-Pascal Deillon to support claims of fraud. Polls conducted lution is not a viable option as long as Isby credible Western organizations prior to rael keeps its Zionist character, Mezvinsky Panel Debates Iranian Power the elections, he pointed out, indicated concluded.

Jerusalem-born Dr. Ghada Karmi, a lec- The Oct. 28 “Geopolitical Dynamics: Iran” that Ahmadinejad would win with twoturer at Exeter University’s Institute of panel at the 2011 National Council on U.S. thirds of the vote. In Leverett’s opinion, Arab and Islamic studies, described a “sea Arab Relations conference provided a wide the Green Movement “did not represent change in public opinion in Europe” as a range of opinions on the current state of anything close” to the majority of Iranians, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

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New American Foundation fellows Afshin Molavi (l) and Dr. Flynt Leverett discuss Iran. and accused the U.S. of a “romanticization of the Green Movement.”

Jane Nolan, director of nuclear security programs with the American Security Project, addressed the issue of Iran and nuclear weapons. Decrying what she classified as the “politicization of the intelligence debate,” Nolan warned that the debate over Iranian nuclear weapons is being perpetuated in order to create a new postCold War enemy. “Smart diplomacy is not for wimps,” she added, suggesting that military force is not always the most efficient way to resolve a dispute.

—Dale Sprusansky

Arab Attitudes Toward Syria

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At an Oct. 19 press conference at the Arab American Institute (AAI) in Washington, DC, AAI president Dr. James Zogby released the results of an opinion poll on Arab attitudes toward Syria. The poll, conducted between Sept. 14 and Oct. 3, interviewed 4,000 people in six countries (Mo-

Dr. James Zogby releases a poll examining Bashar Al-Assad’s standing in the Arab world.

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tematically alienated himself from the Arab world just in the last three years. His regime has done this through its violent behavior, Zogby said, and because the Arab Spring has created a “different set of expectations and a different tolerance level for this kind of behavior.” Even though the opposition may not be clearly defined in Syria, Zogby noted, “whether you are a reformer or a non-reformer, you are outraged.”

The outcome of the Arab Spring in various countries is important, Zogby said, because “each one of these situations as they unfold speak to others”—Tunisia in this case playing a positive role. On the other hand, he warned, the aftermath of the situation in Libya is worrisome because the rampant violence is “not showing a commitment to democracy and rule of law.”

The Syrian regime may use the outcome in Libya as a way to propagate its message that “If it’s not us it’s chaos and more bloodshed.”

The poll also examined the U.S. role in the region. As in previous polls, the question of whether the U.S. is playing a positive or negative role in Syria came out drastically negative. The reason for the poor scores, Zogby stated, is “because almost anything involving the U.S. in the Middle East comes out low”—even the previous polls regarding the U.S. performance in the Arab-Israeli conflict and the U.S. interference in the region. People in the Middle East believe that the situation in Syria today “is an issue best solved in the region; there is no tolerance for a U.S. role,” Zogby concluded.

—Jean-Pascal Deillon

rocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the UAE).

Asked whether Syrian President Bashar Al Assad can continue to govern, the highest affirmative ratings were 15 percent in Morocco and 14 percent in Egypt. These numbers are in stark contrast to a similar poll AAI conducted in 2008 in which Assad was identified as one of the Middle East’s top three most popular leaders. In the new poll, the lowest percentage of respondents who sided with the protesters in Syria were in Morocco at 83 percent; the highest were in Jordan, where 100 percent of respondents supported the protesters.

While the numbers across the Middle East show the people’s sympathies with the Syrian protesters, in Lebanon the numbers are especially instructive, Zogby said.

The numbers are telling because they are consistent in other areas relating to Syria, such as 62 percent of Lebanese seeing Hezbollah as having a positive role in Syria. Also, a majority of Shi’i Lebanese—55 percent—view Iran’s role in Syria as also being positive. With regard to Assad, however, 98 percent of Lebanese re- An Overview of Syria’s Revolution spondents sympathize with the anti-gov- As part of its Progressive Conversations seernment demonstrators. These numbers ries, the Levantine Cultural Center hosted a clearly demonstrate that “people’s sympa- Nov. 6 talk by Samir Twair on “Syria’s thies are with the demonstrators,” Zogby said, and that “the floor has fallen out under Bashar Al Assad.” If Hezbollah and Iran keep supporting the Syrian regime, Zogby said, their favorable ratings may decrease even more in the region.

According to Zogby, the reason the numbers are so consistent across the Middle East is that, like Libya’s Muammar (L-r) Jordan Elgrably, speaker Samir Twair, emcee Dick Qaddafi, Assad has sys- Platkin and Tony Litwinko at the Levantine Cultural Center.

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to protect Syria from resolutions in the U.N. are troubling. We believe the Assad dictatorship has only a few remaining months,” he concluded.

Twair also spoke to the Cousins Club of Orange County on Nov. 15.

—Pat McDonnell Twair

“Egypt the Revolution” Conference Some 200 Egyptian Americans gathered at the Crystal City Marriott in Arlington, VA Oct. 21 to 23 to attend a conference on “Egypt the Revolution.” The conference provided a forum for the Egyptian-American community to interact, exchange ideas, and develop action plans on how they can help support Egypt as it emerges from decades of authoritarian rule.

Throughout the weekend, a variety of panels discussed topics ranging from the future of U.S.-Egypt relations to the role Egyptian Americans can play in supporting Egypt economically and politically.

Conference attendees and panelists alike were deeply engaged and highly passionate, resulting in at times highly emotional exchanges. The future of Christian-Muslim relations, the leadership of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), Egypt’s economic development, and the voting rights of Egyptian Americans were among the issues of most concern.

Those who flew in from Egypt to attend the conference included youth activists Ahmed Maher, Waleed Rashed, Asmaa Mahfouz and Esraa Abdel Fattah, founders of the April 6 Youth Movement that helped organize the Jan. 25 Tahrir Square protests.

Also in attendance was Zahraa Kassem Said, sister of the late Khaled Said, a young man whose death at the hands of Egypt’s secret police in 2010 inspired a popular online movement (see November 2010 Washington Report, p. 38). Independent presidential candidates Medhat Khafagy and Bothaina Kamel were conference panelists,

while Mohamed ElBaradei spoke via a recorded video.

Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA) addressed the conference Friday night, but declined to deliver a prepared speech, saying he instead preferred to listen to those attending the conference, whom he described as “people who speak from the mind and the heart.”

James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute (AAI), noted that, according to his polling results, Arabs currently see Turkey as the region’s leader, but want Egypt to assume that role. “Turkey leads, but is a surrogate for Egypt, who they [Arabs] want to lead,” Zogby explained. Zogby concluded by stressing the importance of Egyptian Americans supporting Egypt economically. “Egypt needs your investment, your ingenuity,” he emphasized.

Many conference speakers emphasized the importance of a unified EgyptianAmerican voice. Akram Elzend, a member of the Egyptian-American Cultural Association, pointed out that Egyptian Americans send about $2 billion a year to Egypt—more than the $1.3 billion the U.S. government sends to Egypt’s military on an annual basis as a reward for Cairo’s peace treaty with Israel. Thus, Elzend maintained, if Egyptian Americans begin to act collectively, they could have significant weight in Egypt’s politics and economy. However, he lamented, EgyptianAmericans are “successful as individuals, but not as a group.”

Among the other economic issues addressed were the need to get Egypt’s tourism business back up and running, and the need to attract foreign investment.

According to Dr. Ibrahim Oweiss, professor of economics at Georgetown University, Egypt must establish “transparency and respect of the law” before companies will feel comfortable investing there.

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Spring: Factors and Forces.” Sponsoring the event were Friends of Sabeel, L.A. Jews for Peace and Jewish Voice for Peace.

Twair, a native of Syria and member of the Southern California Syria Emergency Task Force, outlined the nation’s serial coups from its 1946 independence from France to the takeover by Gen. Hafez Assad in November 1970. Upon declaring himself president, Assad imprisoned the government leadership and declared emergency martial law, which meant anyone could be arrested as an enemy of the state and never heard from again.

In 1980, Syrians launched uprisings against the Assad dictatorship in Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor. These were followed by a massive government assault on the restive city of Hama in 1982 that resulted in the deaths of 10,000 to 30,000 Syrians.

It took almost two generations for the Syrian people to recover from the Assadled massacre at Hama and shake off their fear, Twair noted, and join in the Arab Spring. The first 2011 uprising against the regime that ruled Syria for 40 years, which Twair described as an “Assad family business,” was in the southern city of Dara’a in mid-March. It was led by mothers of young boys who had been jailed by the government for three months for writing antiAssad graffiti on school walls. The women were attacked and many were jailed.

From then on, anti-regime demonstrations broke out weekly in cities after Friday prayers. Government forces and paramilitary shabiha thugs shot and beat unarmed protesters, according to Twair. Opposition leaders organized at a grassroots level and established three unbreakable principles: The revolution would include all Syrians regardless of religion, class, sex, age; it would be nonviolent; and would ban all foreign military intervention.

As the death toll and disappearance of thousands of Syrians soared, the opposition finally announced the formation of the Syrian National Council in Istanbul in midSeptember. The SNC has grown to 230 members representing all groups in Syria.

Forty-eight percent of participants live abroad.

During the question-and-answer period, Twair was asked his prognosis for the revolution. So long as it remains nonviolent, he said, the opposition has the sympathy of the world. “Defections are growing in the army,” he said, “as soldiers are sickened by shooting civilians and shelling towns. Syria is isolated as sanctions mount and its economy sinks. Iran is Assad’s chief supporter, but vetoes by Russia and China

(L-r)Youth activist Waleed Rashed, presidential candidates Medhat Khafagy and Bothaina Kamel, and youth activist Esraa Abdel Fattah.

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Regarding the future of U.S.-Egypt relations, panelists including Michele Dunne, director of the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, argued that “the U.S. and Egypt need to totally reconstruct their relationship.” Specifically pointing to the Israel-Palestine conflict, Georgetown University Prof. Samer Shehata noted that Cairo no longer can be expected to unquestionably uphold U.S. interests. Dina Guirguis, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) [an AIPAC spin off,] stated that the Pentagon is demonstrating “willful blindness” in the SCAF’s ability to maintain order in Egypt. Furthermore, Guirguis said, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent vote of confidence in the SCAF is eerily reminiscent of her affirmation in the first days of the January uprising that Hosni Mubarak’s regime was stable.

Analyzing the progress of the revolution, panelists were overwhelmingly critical of the SCAF. “If the military continues to stand in the way of the people, the street is our way,” vowed Egyptian presidential candidate Khafagy. Youth activist Rashed questioned the notion that the military is on the side of the Egyptian people, saying that “if not for the revolution, they [SCAF] would still be saluting Mubarak.”

WINEP’s Guirguis stressed that the revolutionaries must present “a vision for the transition [of power into civilian hands],” noting that Egyptians are wrongly allowing the SCAF to control the process.

Khaled Elgindy, visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, expressed concern about the process by which Egypt’s new constitution will be created. Before a new constitution is adopted, he noted, parliamentary elections will first take place.

Once elected, parliament will select a 100member constitutional committee to construct Egypt’s new constitution. This process “makes the constitution a function of the political process,” Elgindy cautioned, and jeopardizes the establishment of a constitution that protects Egyptians’ civil rights.

—Dale Sprusansky

Assessing Tunisia’s Elections George Washington University’s Project on Middle East Political Science hosted a Nov. 2 panel discussion titled “After Tunisia’s Elections” at the university’s Elliott School of International Affairs in Washington, DC. The panel, which featured three experts on Tunisian politics, dissected and analyzed the results of Tunisia’s Oct. 23 parliamentary elections. Marc Lynch, a professor at George Washington University, moderated 56

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(L-r) Profs. John Entelis, Chris Alexander and Melani Cammett discuss Tunisia’s elections. the discussion.

In his introductory remarks, Lynch commented that Tunisia “beat the odds” by conducting “astonishingly successful elections.” Melani Cammett, a professor at Brown University, pointed out that the voting process was carried out in an overwhelmingly orderly manner.

Turning to the election results, Prof.

Cammett noted that, as expected, the Muslim Ennahda Party won the most votes, gaining 89 of the Tunisian parliament’s 217 seats. Nevertheless, she pointed out, Ennahda received only 30 percent of the popular vote and did not gain enough seats to form a majority in parliament. The presence of more than 100 political parties on the ballot resulted in an extreme fragmentation of the votes, Cammett explained.

The party that finished closest to Ennahda was The Congress for the Republic (CPR), she said, which won 29 parliamentary seats. The Democratic Modernist Pole, the most secular party running, won only 5 seats. Fellow panelist Chris Alexander, a professor at Davidson College, noted that the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), which was expected to have a decent showing, performed rather poorly, winning only 16 seats.

Cammett attributed Ennahda’s success to its strong grassroots presence and well-established informal social networks.

Alexander added that Ennahda was by far the party with the greatest monetary resources. Parties that demonstrated a willingness to enter into a coalition with Ennahda performed better than parties that expressed an unwillingness to do so, Cammet observed. Alexander agreed that Tunisians “share a commitment to working together in coalition,” and blamed the PDP’s poor showing on the party’s highly polarized politics. Fordham University Prof. John P. Entelis concurred, commenting that the PDP “went totally over the top in [its attacks] against Ennahda.”

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on Tunisia’s political institutions, Entelis stressed the importance of people and personalities, emphasizing that parties cannot substitute for individuals. Despite the popular image of Tunisia as a homogeneous nation, he added, the country is home to a wide array of cultural, religious and ideological views.

Addressing Tunisia’s challenges as it moves forward with its democratic experiment, Entelis noted that the country’s political parties must work to capture the interest of its youth. Many currently view political parties as being “boring and useless,” Lynch elaborated.

While emphasizing that no accurate analysis on the strength of Tunisia’s democracy can be given until at least after the next parliamentary elections, Alexander did state that he believes Ennahda is genuine in its democratic pledge, saying that the party sees no reason to “ram Islam down the country’s throat.”

—Dale Sprusansky

San Francisco Activists Rally for Egypt Answering the plea of Egyptian revolution leaders who called for an “International Day to Defend the Revolution,” some 400 human rights activists rallied and marched in San Francisco Nov. 12 to show solidarity with Egyptians still struggling to change their country and bring down the interim military government that has ruled Egypt since the Feb. 11, 2011 ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. Chanting “From Cairo to the Bay, Solidarity All the Way,” the group left the Occupy San Francisco encampment in Justin Herman Plaza and headed down the Embarcadero with a police escort of some 60 uniformed officers.

Many protesters carried signs reading “End Military Rule in Egypt,” “Hands off Tahrir,” and “Solidarity w/Egyptian People.” Activists also carried a banner reading “Free Alaa,” referring to Egyptian blogger Alaa Abd Fattah, who is being JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

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Human rights activists march in San Francisco on Nov. 12. held in prison by the military for allegedly instigating violence during a march toward the Maspero state television building in October.

Bay Area activists also protested Nov. 22, after some 41 protesters were killed and more than 1,000 injured by Egyptian security forces in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

—Elaine Pasquini

Youth Leader Assesses Egypt’s Future

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Ahmed Maher, co-founder of the April 6 Youth Movement, an organization that played a vital role in the overthrow of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, spoke at the Arab American Institute’s (AAI) Washington, DC headquarters on Oct. 18. Maher and a friend had launched a Facebook group to promote a strike planned

Ahmed Maher insists that Egypt’s revolutionary goals will be realized.

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for April 6, 2008 that attracted 70,000 members. Although Maher was arrested that May, and also in July 2008, he and his organization only gained more followers.

The 30-year-old Egyptian explained that he first became involved in politics in 2005, when he helped organize antiMubarak protests prior to that year’s presidential elections. These protests ultimately failed to remove Mubarak from power, he acknowledged, but provided Egypt’s opposition movements with valuable experience in organizing.

His group began planning the Jan. 25 protests on Dec. 30, Maher said. While social media did indeed play an important role in the revolution, he was quick to explain that online organizing was only a small focus of his group’s efforts. Given that most Egyptians do not have access to the Internet and get their news only from state television, Maher explained that his group’s main goal was to “change the mentality in the street” by spreading news of demonstrations via word of mouth.

While many may think the Egyptian revolution occurred spontaneously without much planning, Maher emphasized that his group spent a significant amount of time planning how to execute a successful revolution and studying post-revolutionary societies, citing Poland, Serbia and Romania as just a few of the case studies the April 6 group examined. Nevertheless, Maher did credit Tunisia with providing Egyptians a significant amount of their revolutionary appetite. Following the Tunisian uprising, he recalled, many Egyptians began commenting on Facebook that “the answer [to Egypt’s problems] is Tunisia.”

Looking forward, Maher said he envisions the April 6 Youth Movement as playing an advocacy and watchdog role in Egypt. In advance of Egypt’s parliamentary elections, from Nov. 28, 2011 to March 2012, he added, his group is holding educational sessions, and informing voters of the criteria by which they should evaluate candidates. In Maher’s opinion, it is of particular importance that former members of Mubarak’s National Democratic Party (NDP) not win seats in parliament.

Following the elections, Maher stated, his group intends to hold elected individuals accountable by monitoring and making public their voting records. He described his group’s emerging role as a watchdog as a vital step toward ensuring representative and transparent government in Egypt.

While Maher made it clear that “the revolution isn’t finished yet” and that there are still many challenges for Egyptians to THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

overcome, he was unquestionably optimistic regarding Egypt’s future. Indeed, in response to a question about what he saw as the greatest obstacle to achieving democracy in Egypt, Maher replied, “nothing.” While many are expressing uncertainty regarding the direction of Egypt’s revolution, Maher was insistent that its goals will be realized. For more information visit <www.aaiusa.org>.

—Dale Sprusansky

Occupy Des Moines Confronts Anti-Muslim Activist Occupy Des Moines protesters confronted anti-Muslim activist Tom Trento of The United West outside a Des Moines church on Nov. 19 as six Republican presidential candidates addressed Christian fundamentalists gathered inside at a “Family Thanksgiving Forum” sponsored by the controversial conservative group The Family Leader.

“It’s the type of bigoted group that some Republicans welcome,” said Des Moines Catholic Worker Frank Cordaro, referring to Trento’s organization, which claims to be “uniting Western civilization to defeat shariah Islam.”

“We just called him out for being a bigot,” said Cordaro, after Trento and his video camera crew sought to interview Occupy Des Moines activists.

Occupier Ross Grooters said Trento attempted to split Occupy activists off from the group and goad them to “spread a message of hate against Jewish and Islamic people, which is not what Occupy is about.”

“Trento was trying to get statements that he could use for his propaganda,” said Cordaro. “We surrounded him and told him that we don’t support bigotry. We shouted him down and shamed him.”

Some 2,000 conservatives came to the event organized by Bob Vander Plaats, president of The Family Leader, to see Fox News pollster Frank Luntz moderate a discussion among Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum. In the sanctuary of the evangelical First Federated Church in Des Moines, the candidates declared their views on religious issues including abortion and gay marriage while repeatedly attacking liberals and President Barack Obama.

Gingrich told the crowd inside the church that his message to the Occupy movement is, “Go get a job right after you take a bath.”

“It’s pretty clear that we are having an effect. When Newt Gingrich is speaking to 57

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Well-Attended Iowa Conference on U.S. Policy in Palestine-Israel

An Oct. 14-15 conference on “PalesOccupy Des Moines press committee member Ross Grooters speaks tine-Israel: Engagto the crowd outside of Hy Vee Hall. ing Faith Communities in Pursuit of a his supporters about Occupy and the Oc- Just Peace,” held at Our Lady’s Immaculate cupy movement, that’s a win for us,” said Heart (OLIH) Catholic Church in Ankeny, IA, attracted a large and diverse audience Grooters.

Late in the day, Occupy Des Moines ac- over the weekend. Organized by Joe tivists rallied again and marched from Aossey of Cedar Rapids and Kathleen McNollen Plaza to the Hy-Vee Hall, site of one Quillen and Samar Sarhan of American of the Iowa Democratic Party’s largest Friends Service Committee’s Iowa Middle fund-raisers of the year, the Jefferson Jack- East Peace Education Project, the event feason dinner, to protest the appearance of tured 16 speakers and workshop leaders keynote speaker Chicago Mayor Rahm from across the U.S. and the Middle East.

Phyllis Bennis, of the Institute for Policy Emanuel.

“Rahm Emanuel, in my mind, isn’t too Studies and the U.S. Campaign to End the much different from the GOP right now,” Israeli Occupation, delivered one of two said Grooters. “He is the definition of a keynote addresses. “The Arab Spring has corporatist Democrat. He, too, takes money challenged the existing order in ways that from big banks and big corporations, and nothing else in recent history has,” she said.

“We have seen enormous change in how he, too, is essentially bought.”

Outside Hy-Vee Hall, a group of about people think about these issues, in how peo50 Occupiers chanted, “Banks got bailed ple talk about these issues, and that is the out! We got sold out!” and castigated starting point for change in policy.”

Bennis credited two books, Jimmy Emanuel for having Occupy Chicago protesters jailed. Several speakers demanded Carter’s Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid and that the former congressman and chief of staff for President Obama stand up for human rights and support First Amendment speech.

Bill Stansbery of Ames, a member of Veterans for Peace, was among a group of antiwar Occupiers protesting at Hy-Vee Hall.

His placard bore the message, “Slash Money for Military!”

“It’s obvious that we are spending too much money on the military and too much money on war,” he said. “We could use the money for other things here at home.” It’s also important to get the big money, including the defense corporations, out of politics, he added.

Wearing a lapel tag with the message, “Ask An Occupier,” Occupy Des Moines press committee spokesperson Stephen Toothman said the group’s actions at the Phyllis Bennis delivered a keynote address at Republican Family Thanksgiving Forum the “U.S. Policy in Palestine-Israel” conferand the Democratic Jefferson Jackson Din- ence in Ankeny, IA. 58

STAFF PHOTO M. GILLESPIE

STAFF PHOTO M. GILLESPIE

ner are part of its ongoing campaign of nonviolent educational protests and occupations in advance of the Iowa Caucuses. — Michael Gillespie

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer’s The Israel Lobby, with breaking the longstanding taboo against serious criticism of Israeli policy. “They were able to do that because the discourse was already beginning to change,” she said, “and they were able to push that change much further.”

During Israel’s 2008-2009 assault on Gaza, polls showed for the first time that American opinion was evenly split on the question of whether Israel or the Palestinians were responsible for the violence, Bennis pointed out.

“The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign...has seen enormous victories,” she added.

Bennis compared the nascent Occupy Wall Street movement to the Palestinian Intifada, noting that the word “intifada” means to shake up or shake off. “It’s shaking up our assumptions about what ordinary people can do,” she said.

“Israel is more isolated than ever, not because people don’t think Israel has a right to exist...Countries don’t have rights; people have rights. Peoples have rights to exist; Israelis like everyone else have a right to exist in safety and security… Israel is losing the war for legitimacy because of its policies of apartheid, forced separation, ethnic cleansing, because of its policy of occupation, because of its policy of denying the right of return to refugees,” stated Bennis.

“The U.S. and Israel are losing the moral high ground,” she added. “It is no longer political suicide to criticize Israeli policy, but the politicians don’t know that.

“Our job is to make clear to members of Congress, the president, and the Senate, and the city councilors, and the governors, and the mayors, and the county boards of supervisors, and the university administrations that it is now political suicide to support Israeli policies, and if they continue to do so, that’s when they will lose their positions, their power,” said Bennis to sustained applause.

“Political discourse has changed and it is no longer on their side. They are the ones who are out of step with the public, not us.

That is what has changed, and our job is to figure out how to galvanize the new public opinion and make it operative. It means reclaiming our democracy,” Bennis concluded.

Laila El-Haddad, a Palestinian freelance journalist, author, political analyst and mother of two from Gaza, presented the Oct. 15 keynote address. Plenary and workshop presenters included Yaser Abu Dagga, Jennifer Bing, Dr. Jeremy Brigham, Mohammed Fahmy, Mahmoud Hamad, Remi JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

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POMED Panel on Moroccan Politics

STAFF PHOTO D. SPRUSANSKY

Kanazi, Liz Knott, Pat Minor, Rachel Orville, Lynn Pollack, Josh Ruebner, Ron Stone, Rev. Don Wagner and Rev. David Wildman. —Michael Gillespie

STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY

While there has been much attention to events occurring in Egypt, Libya, Syria and other Arab nations, Morocco’s recent political developments have re- (L-r) Charles Dunne, Anouar Boukhars, Marina Ottaway and Ahmed Benchemsi discuss Morocco’s ceived relatively little publicity. recent reform efforts, including its new constitution.

Seeking to rectify that situation, the Project on Middle East Democracy faced and perverse,” he argued that it was olutionary movements throughout the (POMED) hosted a Nov. 18 panel discussion “just rewritten in a very smart way” and Middle East and highlighted the challenges titled “Beyond Morocco’s Elections: does nothing to diminish the king’s ab- facing each country. Participants emphaProspects for Genuine Reform?” at the Ser- solute power. Benchemsi also showed a sized how the relationship between the vice Employees International Union Con- YouTube video that allegedly captured poll people and their governments in the region ference Center in Washington, DC. Panelists workers stuffing a ballot box, and accused has permanently changed, despite various discussed Morocco’s 2011 constitutional re- the Moroccan government of “massive efforts to override revolutionary demands. forms and the status of the nation’s opposi- fraud” in the referendum voting.

Dr. Michelle Dunne, director of the AtDescribing the new constitution as an lantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the tion group, the February 20 Youth Movement. Moderating the discussion was “extremely ambiguous document,” Ott- Middle East, described the revolutions as Charles Dunne, director of Freedom House’s away pointed to a provision that grants the an attempt at “redefining the citizen in the king exclusive authority regarding deci- state.” The revolutionary fervor will evenMiddle East and North Africa Programs.

According to Marina Ottaway, senior as- sions of strategic importance. That “can tually reach Palestine, Dr. Dunne presociate at the Carnegie Endowment for In- mean anything,” she pointed out, and dicted, and could result in demands of acternational Peace’s Middle East Program, the “creates a huge loophole.” countability from the Palestinian leaderIn Benchemsi’s opinion, Morroco’s polit- ship. Georgetown University’s Adel Iskanyouth movement, which organized February protests that attracted between 100,000 to ical situation is not as stable as it appears, dar highlighted the importance of sustain200,000 people, has failed to gain momen- and it remains possible that another “wave ing the revolutionary momentum. tum. The movement has been “too democ- [of popular discontent] will surface.” The The second panel focused on “Palestinian ratic for its own good,” she said, explaining major question regarding Morocco’s fu- National Strategy: Evaluating and Re-Evalthat its failure to develop a leadership struc- ture, Ottaway concluded, is if there will be uating.” Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, secretaryture has resulted in a lack of a cohesive strat- another round of protests that demand fur- general of the Palestinian National Initiative, egy. As her fellow panelist Anouar ther constitutional changes. speaking via Skype, said that the U.S.-bro—Dale Sprusansky kered peace process has essentially acted as Boukhars, assistant professor of political science and international studies at McDaniel a cover for Israel’s expansionist policies. He College, pointed out, the group “has not Palestine Center Annual Conference: called upon Palestinians to continue using Consequences of Revolutions been able to articulate what it wants.” popular, nonviolent resistance as their naAhmed Benchemsi, visiting scholar at The Palestine Center’s annual conference tional strategy. If the two-state solution fails, Stanford University’s Program on Arab Re- drew a standing-room-only crowd to its he added, it will be as the result of Israeli form and Democracy, added that the swift conference room Nov. 4 to hear panels dis- expansionism and not a failure on the part and “smart” response to the February pro- cuss “A Turning Point: For Palestine and of the Palestinian national strategy. tests by Morocco’s King Mohammed VI also the Region.” The first panel, “Revolution: Dr. Salim Tamari, sociology professor at served to quell opposition activity. By imme- Where It Came From and Where It Is Head- Birzeit University and senior fellow at the diately proposing constitutional reforms, Ot- ing,” addressed the current state of the rev- Institute for Palestine Studies, emphasized taway agreed, the king managed to take “the wind out of [the opposition’s] sails.”

On June 17 King Mohammed released a draft copy of a new constitution, followed by a July 1 national referendum on the document. Although Western officials such as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the new constitution—which, according to the Moroccan government, was approved by 98.5 percent of the voters—as “a step towards constitutional democracy,” Benchemsi characterized it as “a very elab- (L-r) Philip “P.J.” Crowley, Dr. Shibley Telhami and Dr. John Mearsheimer examine the U.S. orate smokescreen.” Calling it “double- response to the uprisings in the Middle East and recent events in Palestine.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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Diplomatic Doings Jordanian Ambassador Addresses American Students

Dr. Alia Hatoug-Bouran, Jordan’s ambassador to the United States.

Dr. Alia Hatoug-Bouran, ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to the United States, spoke to students at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs on Nov. 17. Ambassador Bouran, Jordan’s first female ambassador, discussed the Arab uprisings, Syria, the Israel-Palestine conflict, and youth unemployment in Jordan. The event was hosted by Delta Phi Epsilon, the Professional Foreign Service Sorority.

Describing the Arab uprisings as a “wake-up call” to Jordan’s government, Ambassador Bouran emphasized that her country’s leaders are actively pursuing political reforms. The ambassador specifically pointed to Jordan’s election law, which she described as lacking inclusiveness, as one “gap” in the law that the government is seeking to rectify. She also told her student audience that Jordan’s King Abdullah II “understands the mentality of the youth,” and believes that the Arab world must see democratic governments that are accountable and free of corruption.

While Ambassador Bouran identified youth unemployment as Jordan’s greatest challenge, she added that the country’s youth provide “great potential for the future.” Commending Americans for their entrepreneurial spirit, she said that creating a similar innovative spirit among young Jordanians is a central focus of the government’s long-term economy strategy.

Jordan has a big stake in the final status negotiations between Israel and Palestine, AmTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

bassador Bouran pointed out, and encouraged both sides to think out of the box for a solution to the ongoing conflict. While stating that Jordan’s ability to speak to all of its neighbors is a “strength of [the] small country,” the ambassador did urge Israel to “look all around [the Middle East]” and understand that the political climate is changing.

Responding to questions regarding the continuing violence in Syria, Ambassador Bouran noted that Jordan was one of the first countries to condemn the Syrian regime’s “unacceptable” violence. The ambassador also noted that the Syrian conflict directly affects Jordan, as 62 percent of Jordan’s exports and imports travel through Syria. Moreover, she said, the Jordanian government is preparing for a flood of refugees across its northern border, and pointed out that there are currently several thousand Syrian refugees residing in Jordan. Additionally, the ambassador stated Jordan’s good relationship with Hamas and Hezbollah makes dealing with Syria “complicated.” Regarding Syria’s future, the ambassador lamented that Jordan believes that the violence in Syria “is for the long haul.”

—Dale Sprusansky

Turkish Republic’s 88th Year

STAFF PHOTO S. TWAIR

table. His audience, however, did not agree.

For transcripts or to watch a video of the conference visit <www.thejerusalemfund.org>.

—Delinda C. Hanley

PHOTO BY ELISE KEARNEY

that security collaboration with Israel delegitimizes the Palestinian Authority (PA).

“The hands of Israel are felt but not seen” due to Israeli-PA security collaboration, he explained. Riham Barghouti, founding member of Adalah-NY, highlighted the importance of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign as a broad-based international strategy against the Israeli policy of apartheid.

The third panel, “Covering the Uprisings: Perspectives, Biases and the Role of the Media,“ examined media coverage of the recent Arab uprisings and of events in the Palestinian occupied territories. Joseph Dana, a West Bank-based writer for +972, discussed the importance of grassroots social media in countering the Israeli narrative on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Pro-expansionist views have become so entrenched in Israel’s media, he said, that even the populist J14 protests in Israel made no mention of the illegal occupation in Palestine. Dana challenged social media platforms to change the narrative.

Dr. Abderrahim Foukara, Al Jazeera’s Washington, DC bureau chief, highlighted the importance of the media in disseminating revolutionary information throughout the Middle East. George Hishmeh, journalist and Jerusalem Fund board member, discussed the lack of informed discourse in U.S. media outlets. He also called for a new class of privately owned media to counter state-financed media in the Arab world.

The final panel, on “U.S. Foreign Policy Toward a Revolutionary Region: Opportunities and Responsibilities,” focused on the U.S. and how it has responded to the uprisings in the Middle East and recent events in Palestine. Dr. Shibley Telhami, professor at the University of Maryland, concluded that the West was “confused” in its response to the revolutionary changes. Despite its ties to Hosni Mubarak’s regime, Washington could not oppose the Egyptian people, particularly after the uprisings took hold of the “imaginations of the American public,” Telhami said.

Dr. John Mearsheimer, professor at the University of Chicago, stated that regardless of who wins the U.S. presidential race in 2012, U.S. influence in the Middle East will continue to decline due to its unparalleled special relationship with Israel.

Philip “P.J.” Crowley, former assistant secretary of state for public affairs, argued that in order for the Palestinians to gain from the recent upsurge in international support for a Palestinian state, President Mahmoud Abbas must take his newfound political capital back to the negotiating

Turkey’s Consul General to Los Angeles Aydin Topku and his wife, Ayse.

Turkey’s consul general to Los Angeles, the Hon. Aydin Topcu, and his wife, Ayshe, welcomed guests Oct. 28 to their Hancock Park residence for the celebration of the 88th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkey. More than 1.000 notables and well-wishers dined in the tennis court area of the June Street mansion. The consul general announced that Turkey’s economy ranks 16th in the world and thanked the American people for their relief and reconstruction efforts to earthquake victims in the city of Van. —Pat McDonnell Twair JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

bull_board_61_Jan-Feb 2012 Bulletin Board 12/7/11 4:29 PM Page 61

Upcoming Events, Announcements & —Compiled by Alex Begley Obituaries Upcoming Events Global Ministries is hosting a Jan. 4-14 tour to Palestine as one of its “People-to-People Pilgrimages” which provide participants an eye-opening view of the current situation in Palestine. The visit includes three nights in Bethlehem, including one staying with a Palestinian family, two nights in Nazareth and three nights in Jerusalem. Participants will also visit holy sites, cultural centers and refugee camps. For more information visit <www.globalministries.org/mission/ group-trips/>.

The Sacramento chapter of Friends of Sabeel–North America will host a conference entitled “A Time for Justice Supporting Human Rights in Palestine-Israel,” March 16 and 17 at First United Methodist Church, 21st and J Sts., in Sacramento, CA. Speakers will include Riad Bahhur, professor of history at Sacramento City College, Anna Baltzer of the U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation, and Laila El Haddad, author of Gaza Mom: Palestine, Politics, Parenting, and Everything In Between (available from the AET Book Club). The children’s art exhibit called “A Child’s View” will also be on display. For more details call (916) 451-1515, email <SabeelSacramento@gmail.com>, or visit <www.FOSNA.org>.

Announcements The Arab American Women’s Business Council (AAWBC) in Dearborn, MI has selected Dr. Anan Ameri to receive its Arab American Businesswoman of the Year Award. Dr. Ameri, the founding director of the Arab American National Museum (AANM), located in Dearborn, was cited for her success both as a businessperson and community leader. Since its creation in 2005, the AANM has filled the unique role of being not just the first, but the only museum in the country dedicated to celebrating Arab-American history and culture. Dr. Ameri, a Palestinian American, is also a highly regarded scholar who travels the globe to spread the museum’s message of cultural understanding. For more information visit <www.aawbc.org>.

The American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR) in Amman, Jordan announces the following fellowships for 2012-2013. Unless otherwise noted, the deadline for all applications is Feb. 1, 2012.

For more information about fellowship s JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

and qualifications visit <www.acorjordan.org> and <www.bu.edu/acor>; email <acor@bu.edu> or <acor@acorjor dan.org>; or call (617)353-6571.

The ACOR Publication Fellowship, a fourmonth opportunity offered to two senior scholars or advanced graduate students pursuing a publication project in the fields of Jordanian archaeology, anthropology, cultural resource management, or history with the goal of completing a final publication. The fellowship is open to all nationalities and the maximum award of $19,000 includes residency at ACOR in Amman. This research must be undertaken in Jordan.

The Jennifer C. Groot Fellowship, two or more awards of $1,800 each to support beginners in archaeological fieldwork who have been accepted as team members on archaeological projects with ASOR/CAP affiliation in Jordan. Open to undergraduate or graduate students of U.S. or Canadian citizenship.

The Bert and Sally de Vries Fellowship, one award of $1,200 to support a student for participation on an archaeological project or research in Jordan. It is open to enrolled undergraduate or graduate students of any nationality except for Jordanians and senior project staff whose expenses are being borne largely by the project.

The Pierre and Patricia Bikai Fellowship, either two awards of one month each or one two-month award for residency at ACOR in Amman. It is open to enrolled graduate students of any nationality, except Jordanian, participating in an archaeological project or conducting archaeological work in Jordan. The fellowship includes room and board at ACOR in Amman and a monthly stipend of $600.

The James A. Sauer Fellowship, a $1,000 award to a Jordanian graduate student, in Jordan or elsewhere, to advance his or her academic career in the field of archaeology, anthropology, conservation or related areas. The award may be used for participation on an archaeological project, for research expenses, academic tuition, or travel to scholarly conferences.

The Kenneth W. Russell Annual Tawjihi Prize, an annual prize given to the top-scoring male and female student from Umm Sayhoun (Petra Region) on the yearly THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

BulletinBoard Tawjihi examination. The award for each student is 200 Jordanian Dinars ($280).

The Frederick-Wenger Jordanian Educational Fellowship grants one Jordanian student $1,500 to assist with the cost of his or her education. Eligibility is not limited to a specific field of study, but preference will be given to study related to Jordan’s cultural heritage. Candidates must be Jordanian citizens who are currently enrolled as undergraduate or graduate students at a Jordanian university.

The ACOR Jordanian Graduate Student Scholarship, four awards of $3,000 each to assist Jordanian graduate students with the annual costs of their academic programs. Candidates must be Jordanian citizens currently enrolled in either a master’s or Ph.D. program at a Jordanian university. Eligibility is limited to students in programs related to Jordan’s cultural heritage like archaeology, anthropology, history, linguistics/epigraphy, conservation, museum studies, and cultural resource management-related issues.

ACOR will also host one of the 2012 Critical Language Scholarship Program’s Intensive Summer Arabic Language Institutes. Those interested in applying to the CLS Program to study advanced beginning, intermediate, or advanced Arabic in Amman, Jordan should visit <www.

CLSscholarship.org> for deadlines.

Obituaries Scott Kennedy, 62, died of a heart attack Nov. 19 in Santa Cruz, CA. The former mayor of Santa Cruz was a long-time supporter of the Palestinian cause and in 1976 founded the Resource Center for Nonviolence. In 2010, he was awarded the Pfeffer Peace Prize by the Fellowship of Reconciliation for his work as a human rights activist. After spending time in the Middle East during his freshman year of college, Kennedy became an outspoken advocate for a nonviolent end to the Arab-Israeli conflict. For years he led trips to the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem hoping to promote understanding in America of the Palestinian struggle. He had returned from a two-week trip to the Gaza Strip just one week before his death. ❑ 61

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Books Divide and Perish: The Geopolitics of the Middle East

By Curtis F. Jones, AuthorHouse, 2010, paperback, Second Edition, 542 pp. List: $20.49; AET: $16.

Reviewed by Andrew I. Killgore I have often been asked to name the one book that an interested newcomer to the Middle East should read to acquire some feel for that fascinating/tortured area of the world. But I have never been able to provide a satisfactory answer—until now. Divide and Perish by intelligence analyst/historian/diplomat Curtis F. Jones comes awfully close to being that book. Because it is really written for those who already have some scholarly knowledge of the area, however, Divide would be too deeply analytical for a beginner. So it still is not the one book.

After a brilliant 30-year career as a U.S. foreign service officer, author Jones spent another 30 years lecturing and writing for the Department of State and the Triangle Institute for Security Studies (consisting of three great North Carolina universities). At the Department he was for several years the director of Intelligence and Research (INR) for the Near (Middle) East and South Asia. (When former Under Andrew I. Killgore, a retired foreign service officer and former U.S. ambassador to Qatar, is publisher of the Washington Report.

62

Secretary of Defense Douglas Feith was fabricating “intelligence” to get the United States into war with Iraq, he deliberately avoided going through INR—the secretary of state’s intelligence service—because it surely would have found his “intelligence” to be false.)

More than 500 pages long, Divide consists of 16 chapters: The Dictates of Geopolitics; The Middle Eastern Geopolity; Demography; Too Much Oil; Not Enough Water; The Curse of Communalism; Frontiers of Conquest; Who Owns Palestine?; Iraq; The Most Difficult State; The Cycle of Empire; Stages of Government; Islamic Fundamentalism; The Rise of Israeli-American Diarchy; The Wraith of Arab Nationalism; Occupation: American Aims Versus Iraqi Reality; and Through a Glass Darkly: A Policy Prescription. Each is closely knit and sweeping in its conclusions.

Since the focus of his book is on the Middle East, not the science of geopolitics, Jones explains, Chapter One’s purpose is “To present a summary plausible enough to serve as a conceptual matrix into which Middle East events can be instructively integrated.” This formulation suggests that Divide and Perish is complex and intellectually challenging. It is.

But if read carefully and thoughtfully, any reader will come away with a profounder knowledge of the region.

Retired foreign service officer Jones learnedly describes the Middle East in Chapter Two with what he calls a “European misnomer” which has even been adopted by the Arabs (“Al-Sharq al-Ausat” in Arabic). It contains four major languages—Arabic, Turkish, Persian and Kurdish—and is separated by five seas: the Mediterranean, Black, Caspian, Arabian and Red. But because it is impermeable enough to admit only the most keenly motivated (Hannibal crossing the Alpine passes into Italy with an army and elephants), but hard enough to be somewhat spared from intrusion, Jones writes, “it has crystalized into political and cultural frontiers.”

In Chapter Eight, “Who Owns Palestine?,” Jones notes that more than 100 governments have recognized the “figurative” state of Palestine although no such state has ever existed. Israel “owns” Palestine now, but there are several restraints on THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

it, overwhelmingly the demographic. Israel’s ambition is to restore the ancient Kingdom of David, but to do so it must win regional acceptance of a Jewish state and assure against an Arab majority in that state.

In the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, Israel conquered 80 percent of Palestine but did not take the remaining 20 percent because of Britain’s defense treaty with Jordan. The United States required Israel to evacuate the Sinai and Gaza Strip after its 1956 Suez invasion. Nor was Israel allowed to keep its hold on the south bank of Lebanon’s Litani River.

Jones terms U.S.-Israeli polices toward the Middle East a diarchy. From Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama, American presidents one after another have acquiesced in Israeli policies—with one exception: Dwight Eisenhower, when he insisted that Israel divest itself of the Sinai and the Gaza Strip in 1957.

To achieve its goals of regional acceptance and a Jewish majority, Israel has practiced what the author calls “desperation measures.” But its “acceptance” by Egypt and Jordan is closely tied to generous American subsidies to maintain their validity. And all efforts to persuade Palestinians to emigrate have failed—in 2000 there were 5.26 million Jewish residents to 5.02 million non-Jewish in greater Israel, according to PalestinianAmerican commentator Ali Abunimah.

In Divide’s last chapter, Jones presents his profoundly searching and pessimistic conclusion. Describing the attempted “two-state solution” as “threadbare” and America’s commitment to Israel’s well-being as visceral, Jones considers inconceivable any American solution that goes against Israel’s perceived self-interests.

Instead he sees a viable solution in a unified Palestine which will come about only by infinitesimal degrees. By an ironical fate, he observes, this process was begun by Israel’s seizure of the occupied territories in 1967.

Only as Israel edges toward greater equality for its citizens and greater opportunity for its stateless Arab subjects in the West Bank will America be able to anticipate the ultimate pacification of the Middle East.

Meanwhile, in Jones’ view, the U.S. must suffer for its inability to arrange a settlement.

He compares this with the despondancy over the loss of faith by the 19th century poet Matthew Arnold in his magnificent poem “Dover Beach”: “Ah love, let us be true to one another for the world/which seems to lie before us like a land of dreams.…And we are here as on a darkling plain swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight where ignorant armies clash by night.”

Divide and Perish is a monumental book on the Middle East written by a most distinguished scholar and diplomat. ❑ JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

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AET Book Club Catalog Literature

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Music

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Film

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Monographs

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More

Winter 2012 Islamic Pacifism: Global Muslims in the PostOsama Era by Arsalan Iftikhar, CreateSpace, 2011, hardcover, 301 pp. List: $27.99; AET: $23. International human rights lawyer and activist Iftikhar offers people of all colors and religions a nonviolent antidote to many of the social and political issues affecting the world today. Islamic Pacifism dispels common Western misperceptions of Islam and the Muslim world by examining the community’s response to Sept. 11 and exploring the contributions of contemporary and historical Muslim pacifists.

A Tale of Two Cultures: A Personal Account by Ibrahim M. Oweiss, Vellum New Academia Publishing, 2011, paperback, 220 pp. List: $24; AET: $19. Tale of Two Cultures is the story of Georgetown economics professor Ibrahim Oweiss, an Egyptian statesman, international economic adviser, and instructor to many influential students, including President Bill Clinton.

Covering a life lived in two different cultures—Egyptian and American—this is an engaging autobiography that serves witness to an important period in U.S. relations with the Middle East.

Israel's Palestinians: The Conflict Within by Ilan Peleg & Dov Waxman, Cambridge University Press, 2011, paperback, 272 pp. List: $27.99; AET: $21. Arguing that a comprehensive and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict depends on a resolution of the Jewish-Palestinian conflict within Israel as much as on resolving the conflict between Israel and Palestinians living in the occupied territories, this timely book explores the causes and consequences of the growing conflict between Israel’s Jewish majority and its growing Palestinian-Arab minority.

Palestinian and Israeli Public Opinion: The Public Imperative in the Second Intifada by Jacob Shamir and Khalil Shikaki, Indiana University Press, 2010, paperback, 224 pp. List: $24.95; AET: $21. Based on polling data compiled since 2000 by the Joint Israeli-Palestinian Poll (JIPP), Shamir and Shikaki examine how the Israeli and Palestinian publics’ assessments, expectations, mutual perceptions and misperceptions, and overt political action affect policy and international negotiations.

The book also includes a valuable discussion of the study’s implications for policymaking and the strategic framing of future peace agreements.

Divide and Perish: The Geopolitics of the Middle East by Curtis F. Jones, Author House, 2010, paperback, second edition, 542 pp. List: $20.49; AET: $16. Divide and Perish is the product of the author’s 60 years of specialization in Arabic and the Middle East—30 years with the U.S. State Department and another 30 years of lecturing on Palestine, terrorism, and American Middle East policy for the Department and the Triangle Institute for Security Studies, and of writing for AmericanDiplomacy.Org.

The Arabs and the Holocaust: The Arab-Israeli War of Narratives by Gilbert Achcar, Picador, 2011, paperback, 400 pp. List: $20; AET: $14. In this paperback edition of an AET Book Club bestseller, Achcar traces the Arab-Jewish conflict from the 19th century to today. Investigating a wide range of sources, he reviews how opposition to Zionism became central to Palestinian identity and Arab nationalistic consciousness by World War I. Rather than being a xenophobic reaction, Achcar argues, Palestinian Arab opposition to Jewish settlements was a form of resistance against European colonization.

The Political Culture of Leadership in the United Arab Emirates by Andrea B. Rugh, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, paperback, 286 pp. List: $30; AET: $25. Political Culture describes the impact of cultural perceptions on rulers’ behaviors in the United Arab Emirates. Despite differences in size, economic resources and external political pressures, the seven emirates’ rulers utilized very similar cultural expectations to gain the support of others. Rugh also documents what previous works have only touched upon: the significant but largely “invisible” roles women and marriage play in the political process of tribal societies.

Hamas and Civil Society in Gaza: Engaging the Islamist Social Sector by Sara Roy, Princeton University Press, 2011, hardcover, 336 pp.

List: $35; AET: $29.15. Author of the groundbreaking work Failing Peace, Roy returns with a much needed comprehensive study of Hamas. Her latest book shows how the social service activities sponsored by the Islamist group foster community development and civic restoration, not political violence. Hamas and Civil Society in Gaza argues for more enlightened policies that reflect Hamas’ proven record of nonviolent community building.

Teaching the Literature of Today's Middle East by Allen Web, Routledge, 2011, paperback, 240 pp. List: $39.95; AET: $32. Providing a gateway into quality literature emerging from the Middle East, this book shows teachers how to make the topic authentic, powerful and relevant.

Web offers a tremendous diversity of teachable texts and materials by Middle Eastern writers and includes stories from his own classroom, sharing student insight and reactions. Educators and students alike will benefit from this much needed resource that encourages deep and critical thought about the politics and culture of the Middle East through literary engagement.

Shipping Rates Most items are discounted and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Orders accepted by mail, phone (800-368-5788 ext. 2), or Web (www.middleeastbooks.com). All payments in U.S. funds. Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express accepted. Please make checks and money orders out to “AET.”Contact the AET Book Club for complete shipping guidelines and options.

U . S . S h i p p i n g R a t e s : Please add $5 for the first item and $2.50 for each additional item. Canada & Mexico shipping charges: Please add $11 for the first item and $3 for each additional item. International shipping charges: Please add $13 for the first item and $3.50 for each additional item. We ship by USPS Priority unless otherwise requested.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

L i b r a r y p a c k a g e s (list value over $240) are available for $29 if donated to a library, or free if requested with a library’s paid subscription or renewal. Call the Book Club at 800-368-5788 ext. 2 to order. AET policy is to identify donors unless anonymity is specifically requested.

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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AET’s 2011 Choir of Angels Following are individuals, organizations, companies and foundations whose help between Jan. 1 and Nov. 28, 2011 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. We are deeply honored by their confidence and profoundly grateful for their generosity.

HUMMERS ($100 or more) Americans For a Palestinian State, Oakland, CA Ahsen Abbasi, Leesburg, VA Catherine Abbott, Edina, MN Jeff Abood, Silver Lake, OH Miriam & Stephen Adams, Albuquerque, NM Diane Adkin, Camas, WA Frank Afranji, Tigard, OR Dr. M.Y. Ahmed, Waterville, OH Emeel & Elizabeth Ajluni, Farmington Hills, MI Raji Akileh, Tampa, FL H.R. Alalusi, Moraga, CA Haroune Alameddine, Canton, MI Dr. & Mrs. Salah Al-Askari, Leonia, NJ Hamid & Kim Alwan, Milwaukee, WI Nadir Amra, Rochester, MN Louise Anderson, Oakland, CA Dr. Nabih Ammari, Cleveland, OH Sylvia Anderson de Freitas, Paradise Valley, AZ Dr. Abdullah Arar, Amman, Jordan M. Arefi, West Bloomfield, MI David & Kathryn Asfour, Vallejo, CA Dr. Robert Ashmore, Jr., Mequon, WI Gilad Atzmon, London, UK Prof. & Mrs. Bilal Ayyub, Potomac, MD Fuad Baali, Bowling Green, KY Donna Baer, Grand Junction, CO Alma Ball, Venice, FL Dr. Sami Baraka, Wyandotte, MI Rev. Robert Barber, Parrish, FL Jamil Barhoum, San Diego, CA Stanton Barrett, Ipswich, MA William Battistoni, Dickinson, TX Mohammed & Wendy Bendebba, Baltimore, MD Joseph Benedict, Mystic, CT Mireya Camurati, Williamsville, NY John Carley, Pointe-Claire, Canada George Cave, Silver Spring, MD Ouahib Chalbi, Coon Rapids, MN Patricia Christensen, Poulsbo, WA Donald Clarke, Devon, PA Joan & Charles Collins, Willard, MO Dr. Robert Collmer, Waco, TX Mr. & Mrs. Rajie Cook, Washington Crossing, PA William Coughlin, Brookline, MA Robert & Joyce Covey, La Cañada, CA Walter Cox, Monroe, GA Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Curtiss, Herndon, VA 64

Taher & Sheila Dajani, Alexandria, VA Dr. Hassan Dannawi, Macon, GA Glenn Davenport, Corvallis, OR Amb. John Gunther Dean, Paris, France Lee & Amelia Dinsmore, Elcho, WI Dr. George Doumani, Washington, DC Gloria El-Khouri, Scottsdale, AZ Kassem Elkhalil, Arlington, TX Osamah Elkhatib, Dubuque, IA M.R. Eucalyptus, Kansas City, MO Dr. & Mrs. Hossam Fadel, Augusta, GA Dan Farah, Ventura, CA Mr. & Mrs. Majed Faruki, Albuquerque, NM P. Michele Felton, Winton, NC Barbara Ferguson & Tim Kennedy, Arlington, VA Paul Findley, Jacksonville, IL Patrick Flynn, Yorba Linda, CA Mr. & Mrs. Fawzi Freij, Vienna, VA Robert Gabe, Valatie, NY Ken Galal, San Francisco, CA Joseph & Angela Gauci, Whittier, CA Ahmad & Shirley Gazori, Mill Creek, WA Dr. & Mrs. Frederick Guenther, Newtown, PA Joyce Guinn, Germantown, WI Raymond Haddock, Spotsylvania, VA Dr. Wasif Hafeez, West Bloomfield, MI Dr. Marwan Hajj, Towson, MD Allen Hamood, Dearborn Heights, MI Erin Hankir, Ontario, Canada Shirley Hannah, Argyle, NY Robert & Helen Harold, West Salem, WI Prof. & Mrs. Brice Harris, Los Angeles, CA Mr. & Mrs. David Harrison, San Antonio, TX Masood Hassan, Calabasas, CA Albert Hazbun, El Dorado Hills, CA Alan Heil, Alexandria, VA Dr. Colbert & Mildred Held, Waco, TX Rich Hoban, Cleveland Heights, OH Veronica Hoke, Hillcrest Heights, MD Edmund Hopper, Hilton Head Island, SC Dr. Sami Husseini, Ithaca, NY The Said Jibrin Family, Bethesda, MD Anthony Jones, Alberta, Canada Omar & Nancy Kader, Vienna, VA Akram Karam, Charlotte, NC Mr. & Mrs. Basim Kattan, Washington, DC Martha Katz, Youngstown, OH Amb. Robert Keeley, Washington, DC THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Gloria Keller, Santa Rosa, CA Rev. Charles Kennedy, Newbury, NH Edwin Kennedy Jr., Bethesda, MD Susan Kerin, Gaithersburg, MD Dr. Mazen Khalidi, Grosse Point Farms, MI Akbar Khan, Princeton, NJ Dr. M. Jamil Khan, Bloomfield Hills, MI Majid Khan, Bloomfield Heights, MI Dr. & Mrs. Assad Khoury, Potomac, MD N. Khoury, Pasadena, CA Ernestine King, Topsham, ME Paul Kirk, Baton Rouge, LA John Kliewer, Vienna, VA Joseph Korey Jr., Reading, PA Donald Kouri, Quebec, Canada Ronald Kunde, Skokie, IL Kendall Landis, Media, PA William Lawand, Mount Royal, Canada Fran Lilleness, Seattle, WA J. Robert Lunney, Bronxville, NY Helen Mabarak, Ann Arbor, MI Robert Mabarak, Grosse Pointe Park, MI A. Kent MacDougall, Berkeley, CA Peter MacHarrie, Silver Spring, MD Farah Mahmood, Forsyth, IL Dr. Asad Malik, Rochester Hills, MI Joseph Mark, Carmel, CA Trini Marquez, Beach, ND Martha Martin, Paia, HI Tom & Tess McAndrew, Oro Valley, AZ Ken Megill, Washington, DC Darrel Meyers, Burbank, CA Robert Michael, Sun Lakes, AZ Ben Monk, St. Paul, MN John & Ruth Monson, La Crosse, WI Maury Keith Moore, Seattle, WA Robert Moran, Richmond, VA Ahmed Mousapha, Madinah, Saudi Arabia Adil Mohyuddin, Tullahoma, TN Liz Mulford, Cupertino, CA John & Gabriella Mulholland, Alpharetta, GA Charles Murphy, Upper Falls, MD Joseph Najemy, Worcester, MA Mr. & Mrs. David Nalle, Washington, DC Jacob Nammar, San Antonio, TX Philip Nemy, Monroeville, PA Neal & Donna Newby, Mancos, CO Mr. & Mrs. W. Eugene Notz, Charleston, SC Michio Oka, El Sobrante, CA John Pallone, Rapallo, Italy Edmond & Lorraine Parker, Chicago, IL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

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Jim Plourd, Monterey, CA Patricia & Herbert Pratt, Cambridge, MA Catherine Quigley, Annandale, VA Cheryl Quigley, Toms River, NJ Dr. Amani Ramahi, Lakewood, OH Mr. & Mrs. Duane Rames, Mesa, AZ Nayla Rathle, Belmont, MA Vivian & Doris Regidor, Pearl City, HI Frank & Mary Regier, Strongsville, OH Dr. William Reid, Glen Allen, VA Mr. & Mrs. Edward Reilly, Rocky Point, NY Kyle Reynolds, Cypress, TX Neil Richardson, Randolph, VT Sean Roach, Washington, DC Rose Foundation/Wheeler and Makdisi Fund, Oakland, CA Dr. Wendell Rossman, Phoenix, AZ Brynhild Rowberg, Northfield, MN Edward & Alice Saad, Cheshire, CT Gabrielle & Jalal Saad, Oakland, CA Nadia Saad, Chevy Chase, MD Hameed Saba, Diamond Bar, CA Denis Sabourin, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Ma-moun Sakkal, Bothell, WA Dr. Yahya Salah, Amman, Jordan Mr. & Mrs. Samuel Salem, Laurel, MD Anis Salib, Huntsville, AL Betty Sams, Washington, DC Dr. H.I. Sayed, Charlottesville, VA Elizabeth Schiltz, Kokomo, IN Dr. Abid Shah, Sarasota, FL Rifqa Shahin, Apple Valley, CA Mahmud Shaikhaly, Hollywood, CA Richard Shaker, Annapolis, MD Theodore Shannon, Middleton, WI Lewis Shapiro, White Plains, NY Lt. Col. Alfred Shehab, Odenton, MD Kathy Sheridan, Mill Valley, CA Shahida Siddiqui, Trenton, NJ Lucy Skivens-Smith, Dinwiddie, VA James Smart, Keene, NH Glenn Smith, Santa Rosa, CA Edgar Snell Jr., Schenectady, NY John Soderberg, Foley, AL Gregory Stefanatos, Flushing, NY Philip Stoddard, Bethesda, MD Mubadda Suidan, Atlanta, GA Beverly Swartz, Sarasota, FL Thomas & Carol Swepston, Englewood, FL Mr. & Mrs. Ayoub Talhami, Evanston, IL Dr. Joseph Tamari, Chicago, IL Dr. Yusuf Tamimi, Hilo, HI Cheryl Tatum, Owensboro, KY Doris Taweel, Laurel, MD † John Theodosi, Lafayette, CA Charles Thomas, La Conner, WA Charles & Letitia Ufford, South Bristol, ME Tom Veblen, Washington, DC Paul Wagner, Bridgeville, PA JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

Joseph Walsh, Adamsville, RI Carol Wells & Theodore Hajjar, Venice CA Arthur & Marianne Whitman, Auburn, ME Nabil Yakub, McLean, VA Raymond Younes, Oxnard, CA Bernice Youtz, Tacoma, WA Munir Zacharia, La Mirada, CA Dr. Henry Zeiter, Lodi, CA Hugh Ziada, Garden Grove, CA Elia Zughaib, Alexandria, VA †

ACCOMPANISTS ($250 or more) Michael & Jane Adas, Highland Park, NJ Khaled Al-Maeena, Jeddah, Saudia Arabia A.R. Armin, Troy, MI Heidi Beck, Cedarville, CA Elizabeth Boosahda, Worcester, MA Michael Boosahda, Worcester, MA Dr. & Mrs. Issa J. Boullata, Montreal, Canada Prof. & Mrs. George Wesley Buchanan, Gaithersburg, MD William Carey, Old Lyme, CT William Coughlin, Brookline, MA Mr. & Mrs. John Crawford, Boulder, CO Mohamed Dabbagh, Mahwah, NJ Ron Dudum, San Francisco, CA Dr. Rafeek Farah, New Boston, MI Elisabeth Fitzhugh, Mitchellville, MD Eugene Fitzpatrick, Wheat Ridge, CO Ronald & Mary Forthofer, Longmont, CO E. Patrick Flynn, Carmel, NY Bill Gartland, Rio, WI Ray Gordon, Venice, FL H. Clark Griswold, Woodbury, CT Fahd Jajeh, Lake Forest, IL Sandra La Framboise, Oakland, CA Matt Labadie, Portland, OR Barbara Leclerq, Overland Park, KS Joe & Lilli Lill, Arlington, VA Jack Love, Escondido, CA Anthony Mabarak, Grosse Pointe Park, MI John Malouf, Lubbock, TX Jean Mayer, Bethesda, MD Bill McGrath, Northfield, MN Alice Nashashibi, San Francisco, CA Howard & Mary Norton, Austin, TX Dr. Ibrahim Oweiss, Kensington, MD John Parry, Chapel Hill, NC Hertha Poje-Ammoumi, New York, NY Sam Rahman, Lincoln, CA Henry Schubert, Damascus, OR Yusef & Jennifer Sifri, Wilmington, NC David Snider, Airmont, NY Michel & Cathy Sultan, Eau Claire, WI THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Joan Tanous, Boulder, CO Linda Thain-Ali, Kesap, Turkey Union of Arab American Journalists, Dearborn, MI John Van Wagoner, McLean, VA James Wall, Elmhurst, IL John V. Whitbeck, Paris, France Nigel Wright, Delmar, NY Dr. Robert Younes, Potomac, MD Mashood Yunus, Eagan, MN Ziyad & Cindi Zaitoun, Seattle, WA****

TENORS & CONTRALTOS ($500 or more) Mohamed Alwan, Chestnut Ridge, NY Michael Ameri, Calabasas, CA Drs. A.J. and M.T. Amirana, Las Vegas, NV Dr. Lois Aroian, Willow Lake, SD Kamel Ayoub, Hillsborough, CA Graf Herman Bender, North Palm Beach, FL Rev. Ronald C. Chochol, St. Louis, MO Lois Critchfield, Williamsburg, VA Richard Curtiss, Boynton Beach, FL Douglas A. Field, Kihei, HI Michael Habermann, Hackettstown, NJ Salman & Kate Hilmy, Silver Spring, MD Brigitte Jaensch, Carmichael, CA Issa & Rose Kamar, Plano, TX Amb. Clovis Maksoud, Washington, DC Eric Margolis, Toronto, Canada Paul Meyer, Iowa City, IA Bob Norberg, Lake City, MN William O’Grady, St. Petersburg, FL Gennaro Pasquale, Oyster Bay, NY Phil & Elaine Pasquini, Novato, CA Amb. Ed Peck, Chevy Chase, MD*** Ruth Ramsey, Blairsville, GA Dr. Mohammed Sabbagh, Grand Blanc, MI Mae Stephen, Palo Alto, CA Mr. & Mrs. Donn Trautman, Evanston, IL David Willcox, Harrison, AR

BARITONES & MEZZO SOPRANOS ($1,000 or more) Asha Anand, Bethesda, MD Dr. Joseph Bailey, Valley Center, CA The Estate of Pascal Biagini, Drexel Hill, PA Aston L. Bloom & Rev. Rosemarie Carnarius, Tucson, AZ G. Edward Brooking, Jr., Wilmington, DE Joe Chamy, Colleyville, TX Luella Crow, Eugene, OR Do Right Foundation, Las Vegas, NV Dr. & Mrs. Rod & Carole Driver, West Kingston, RI Linda Emmet, Paris, France 65

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Dr. & Mrs. Clyde Farris, West Linn, OR Gary Richard Feulner, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Evan & Leman Fotos, Istanbul, Turkey Dr. & Mrs. Hassan Fouda, Berkeley, CA Hind Hamdan, Hagerstown, MD Amb. Holsey G. Handyside, Bedford, OH Judith Howard, Norwood, MA Mary Ann Hrankowski, Rochester, NY**

Vincent & Louise Larsen, Billings, MT William Lightfoot, Vienna, VA Rachelle Marshall, Mill Valley, CA John McLaughlin, Gordonsville, VA Luella Moffett, Virginia Beach, VA Ghulam Qadir, MD & Huda Zenati, Ph.D., Dearborn, MI Mark Sheridan, Alexandria, VA James Skovron, Washington, DC

Congress Watch…

that Israel is planning to grab all the remaining Palestinian land and establish a “Greater Israel,” claiming that Prime Minister Netanyahu was elected on a platform that ruled out a Palestinian state. He added that he doubts the U.S. will continue to pressure Israel to accept a two-state solution.

The university professor continued that the “special relationship” between the U.S. and Israel was “unprecedented...in fact, it has no parallel in modern history, in recorded history.” The U.S. aid to Israel is “unconditional” and no matter what Israel does it continues to get full American support. Here he pointed out that every American president since 1967 has voiced opinions against continued Israeli settlement building but Israel has never been punished for its continued expansion into the Arab areas.

The bottom line came from a Frenchman, as when President Nicolas Sarkozy, who apparently did not realize that his telephone was live, confided to President Barack Obama

CHOIRMASTERS ($5,000 or more) Caipirinha Foundation, San Francisco, CA

Continued from page 22

(D-MA), Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and John McCain (R-AZ), joined later by Rubio, jointly introduced S.Res. 316, which would “congratulate the people of Tunisia for holding on Oct. 23” free elections, and S. Res. 317, which would “congratulate the people of Libya” for “liberating themselves from the despotic regime of Muammar Qaddafi.”

But H.R. 2215, the “Hezbollah AntiTerrorism Act” introduced in June by Berman, has gained 2 co-sponsors and now has 14, including Berman. It would “prohibit assistance from being provided to or for the benefit of a Hezbollah-dependent government of Lebanon.” ❑

Bottom Line…

Continued from page 11

the United States, especially if democracy spreads in the region. “What matters here is that public opinion in the Arab world is going to have a much larger impact than it has had in the past,” implying that Arab leaders will no longer be able to insulate themselves from their peoples. He then noted that the Arabs, by and large, tend to be “hostile” to the United States.

Dr. Mearsheimer expressed the belief that Iran will pursue its nuclear enrichment program and the United States would not attack Iran if it does. He then went on to describe the continued talk in the U.S. capital about a two-state solution for the Palestinians and Israelis as “laughable.” He argued 66

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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Henry Clifford, Essex, CT Dick & Donna Curtiss, Kensington, MD*† John & Henrietta Goelet, Meru, France Andrew I. Killgore, Washington, DC* *In memory of Grace Perolio **In memory of John Hrankowski ***In honor of the marriage of Marianne Tralewski and Harry Dennis ****In memory of Rachel Corrie † In memory of Said Jibrin that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu was “a liar.” The American president, who was attending G-20 meeting in Cannes, France, replied, “You’re fed up with him, but I have to deal with him every day.”

Obama was reportedly complaining that Sarkozy had failed to tell him that he was planning to vote in favor of the Palestinians’ UNESCO membership bid. ❑

War on Iran…

Continued from page 13

mighty Israel afraid of this man?

Told that the IAEA said Iran was actively pursuing nuclear weapons, Ahmadinejad laughed: “The Iranian nation is wise. It won’t build two bombs against 20,000 [nuclear] bombs you [Americans] have.”

Does he not have a point? How would an Iranian bomb secure Iran, when Israel’s nuclear arsenal would be put on a hair trigger, and Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt would then rush to get their own bombs?

In that South Carolina debate, Ron Paul, the one person there proven right on Iraq, was given less than 90 seconds to speak.

Under the Constitution, said Paul, no president has the right to launch an unprovoked attack on Iran without congressional authorization.

Before America goes to war with Iran, let Congress, whose members are forever expressing their love for the Constitution, follow it, and vote on war with Iran. And before we go to the polls in 2012, let’s find out if the GOP is becoming again the same old War Party that bankrupted the nation. ❑ JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

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United Palestinian Appeal Transforming lives, empowering communities

Do you remember the joy of reading as a child?

Of immersing yourself in stories about the Itsy-Bitsy Spider and other adventuresome creatures? The spark of curiosity you felt flipping through the pages of great art, maps of the world and photos of the natural world?

Children in the Gaza Strip deserve to feel the same sense of wonder and exploration through books. Local partners in Gaza have helped us assemble a shipment of 11,000 donated books for their libraries. We need to raise $10,000 to ship and distribute them.

Each dollar donated to this campaign will pay for one book to reach Gaza. A donation of $20 will send a complete set of the World Book encyclopedia. To ensure that children in Gaza receive these books, and other in-kind donations, send a donation marked “Book Campaign” to the address below or visit our website and donate online:

helpupa.org United Palestinian Appeal, Inc. ◆ 1330 New Hampshire Ave NW ◆ Suite 104 ◆ Washington, DC 20036 helpupa.org ◆ contact@helpupa.org ◆ Telephone: 202-659-5007 ◆ Toll-free: 855-659-5007 UPA is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Donations are deductible to the extent allowed by law.

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American Educational Trust The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs P.O. Box 53062 Washington, DC 20009

January/February 2012 Vol. XXXI, No. 1

Members of the 25th Infantry Division returning home from Iraq greet family, friends and loved ones at a redeployment KENT NISHIMURA/Getty Images ceremony at Wheeler Gulch, Wheeler Army Airfield in Wahiawa, Hawaii, Dec. 6, 2011.