Washington Report - November/December 2015 - Vol. XXXIV, No. 8

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TOTAL U.S. DIRECT AID TORUSSIA ISRAEL: ALMOST BILLION THE U.S. AND IN$138 SYRIA

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On Middle East Affairs

Volume XXXIV, No. 8

November/December 2015

Telling the Truth for More Than 30 Years…

Interpreting the Middle East for North Americans

■

Interpreting North America for the Middle East

THE U.S. ROLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE 8 Lack of Hope, Worsening Oppression Spur Young Palestinians to Act—Rachelle Marshall 12 Israel Ratchets up Its Violence Against a New Generation of Palestinians—Four Views

—Jonathan Cook, Samah Jabr, Mohammed Omer, John V. Whitbeck 17 Sabra and Shatila 33 Years Later— A Personal Account—Ellen Siegel 20 Egypt Floods Its Border With Gaza —Mohammed Omer 27 Iran Nuclear Agreement Clears Biggest Legislative Hurdle, but More Remain—Shirl McArthur

SPECIAL REPORTS

Israeli occupation forces frequently prevent Muslim and Christian Palestinians from worshipping at their holy places in Jerusalem, the al-Aqsa mosque (ABOVE) and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (BELOW).

22 Morocco’s Occupation of Western Sahara Parallels Israel and Palestine—Ian Williams 24 The U.S. and Russia in Syria—Two Views —Patrick J. Buchanan, Robert Parry 71 In Memoriam: Dr. Jamal Barzinji (1939-2015) —Sami Al-Arian

2016 Calendar and Holiday Book List Inside!

ON THE COVER: Israeli occupation troops fire tear gas as they walk toward Palestinian protesters following a demonstration against the Israeli army in the West Bank city of Hebron, Oct. 27, 2015.

HAZEM BADER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

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(A Supplement to the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs available by subscription at $15 per year. To subscribe, call toll-free 1-888-881-5861.)

Other Voices

Compiled by Janet McMahon

Palestinians Are Fighting for Their Lives; Israel Is Fighting For the Occupation, Amira Hass, Haaretz

OV-1

Israeli Colonization Is at the Root of the Violence, Ilan Pappe, www.aljazeera.com

OV-2

American Hypocrisy: Against Muslim Shariah Law at Home, But Calls It “Moderate” in Syria, Juan Cole, www.juancole.com

OV-8

Politics versus Policy: Follow-up to the Iran Nuclear Agreement, Paul R. Pillar, http://nationalinterest.org/blog/paul-pillar

OV-9

OV-11

Recasting the Rules Over Palestine: An Intellectual Intifada in the Offing, Ramzy Baroud, www.counterpunch.org

OV-3

The Disappearing Prince of Darkness, Jim Lobe, www.lobelog.com

Why Binyamin Netanyahu’s Defense of Hitler Is So Wrong—and Matters So Much, J.J. Goldberg, The Forward

OV-4

Israel May Be Taking First Steps Toward Becoming a Halakhic State, Editorial, Haaretz

Haim Saban Leaves Pro-Israel Coalition Over Sheldon Adelson’s Right-Wing Push, Nathan Guttman, The Forward OV-12

OV-5

A Reminder of Root Causes of Our Political Violence, Rami G. Khouri, Agence Global U.S. Caught Faking It in Syria, Thomas S. Harrington, www.counterpunch.org

OV-6

The Right-Wing Americans Who Made a Documentary About Argentina, Eli Clifton & Jim Lobe, www.lobelog.com

OV-14

OV-7

Erdogan and the Ankara Bombing, Graham E. Fuller, www.consortiumnews.com

OV-15

DEPARTMENTS 5 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 7 PUBLISHERS’ PAGE 30 NEW YORK CITY AND TRI-STATE NEWS: Bassem Tamimi: “To Liberate Palestine, We Must Have Free Women”—Jane Adas 32 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA CHRONICLE: CAIR-CA, Community Groups Thank Governor for Signing Racial Profiling Bill—Elaine Pasquini

40 ARAB-AMERICAN ACTIVISM:

William Yale: Witness to

Voters—and Vice Versa

Partition in the Middle East, World War I-World War II

41 HUMAN RIGHTS:

—Allan C. Brownfeld

Modernizing Saudi Arabia

Global Refugee Crisis

—Reviewed by Kevin A. Davis

43 MUSLIM AMERICAN ACTIVISM: CAIR Celebrates

44 MUSIC & ARTS: Funds for Gaza Children 45 WAGING PEACE: NCUSAR Policymakers Conference Tackles Middle East’s Pressing Issues

Francis Challenges Congress to Advance Peace, Human Dignity

Honored at 2015 Arab Music Festival and Conference in Cairo

—Pat and Samir Twair

69 ‘TIS THE SEASON FOR CHARITABLE GIVING: A WASHINGTON REPORT COMPENDIUM 72 OBITUARIES 73 2015 AET CHOIR OF ANGELS 33 INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

64 DIPLOMATIC DOINGS: Pope CHRONICLE: Dr. Nabil Azzam

67 MIDDLE EAST BOOKS AND MORE

Champions for Justice

37 OTHER PEOPLE’S MAIL 39 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

—Reviewed by Randa A. Kayyali

Syria and Beyond: Assessing the

Simon Shaheen Helps UPA Raise 34 ISRAEL AND JUDAISM: Will a Freed Pollarld Become a Hero and Role Model for Israel And Its American Friends?

66 BOOK REVIEWS:

Candidates Woo Arab-American

65 THE WORLD LOOKS AT THE MIDDLE EAST — CARTOONS

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Publisher: Managing Editor: News Editor: Assistant Editor: Middle East Books and More Director:

ANDREW I. KILLGORE JANET McMAHON DELINDA C. HANLEY DALE SPRUSANSKY KEVIN A. DAVIS

Advertising/Outreach: RINA ABD EL RAHMAN Communications Dir.:

SUHAIB KHAN

Finance & Admin. Dir.: CHARLES R. CARTER Art Director: Executive Editor:

RALPH U. SCHERER RICHARD H. CURTISS (1927-2013)

Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (ISSN 8755-4917) is published 8 times a year, monthly except Jan./Feb., March/April and June/July combined, at 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-1707. Tel. (202) 939-6050. Subscription prices (United States and possessions): one year, $29; two years, $55; three years, $75. For Canadian and Mexican subscriptions, $35 per year; for other foreign subscriptions, $70 per year.

Periodicals, postage paid at Washington, DC and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, P.O. Box 91056, Long Beach, CA 90809-1056.

Published by the American Educational Trust (AET), a non-profit foundation incorporated in Washington, DC by retired U.S. foreign service officers to provide the American public with balanced and accurate information concerning U.S. relations with Middle Eastern states. AET’s Foreign Policy Committee has included former U.S. ambassadors, government officials, and members of Congress, including the late Democratic Sen. J. William Fulbright and Republican Sen. Charles Percy, both former chairmen of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Members of AET’s Board of Directors and advisory committees receive no fees for their services.

The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs does not take partisan domestic political positions. As a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli dispute, it endorses U.N. Security Council Resolution 242’s land-for-peace formula, supported by nine successive U.S. presidents. In general, it supports Middle East solutions which it judges to be consistent with the charter of the United Nations and traditional American support for human rights, selfdetermination, and fair play.

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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.org bookstore@wrmea.org circulation@wrmea.org advertising@wrmea.org Web sites: http://www.wrmea.org http://www.middleeastbooks.com Subscriptions, sample copies and donations: P.O. Box 91056, Long Beach, CA 90809-1056.

Phone: (888) 881-5861 • Fax: (714) 226-9733 Printed in the USA

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

LetterstotheEditor Plus Ça Change…

Surprise! Surprise! “Washington Plans Up to $1 Billion Hike in Military Aid to Israel,” reads a headline in the Oct. 21 edition of Haaretz.

And at the same time Barack Obama and John Kerry are urging Palestinians to “restore calm,” i.e., to return to their cages and submit to their fate—permanent occupation and oppression.

Of course, there is a certain logic to the American position. If even the “world’s sole superpower” kneels and grovels before the Zionist State, why shouldn’t the poor, weak and helpless Palestinian people recognize and accept the inevitability of their own subservience?

John V. Whitbeck, Paris, France As you note on p. 16 of this issue, “Palestinians Need Hope, not Calm.” And this country could certainly invest that $1 billion—not to mention the $3 billion in U.S. tax dollars Israel already receives every year—in eduction, infrastructure, health care and countless other needs currently not being addressed. In fact, we’d love to see Americans engage in an “electoral intifada” next November by refusing to vote for any candidate who puts the interests of a foreign country above their own. It’s time to “shake off” these nogoodniks!

Sound Bites, No Lie It’s frustrating to listen to Palestinian leaders when they get in front of the cameras and mics. Enough with the “diplomacy” and soft-pedaling! They seem to need coaching in how to reach American and Western minds: sound bites, slogans, catch words and stark images repeated over and over. Whatever else one may think of Netanyahu, he’s master of the craft. Having heard them enough, most Americans will believe lies like, “Iran has threatened many times to wipe out Israel and America.” But the Palestinians don’t have to lie—just pound away at facts like, “Israel steals our land, demolishes our homes, destroys our crops, imprisons us in our own land, kills our sons and daughters, etc. All of this is made possible by America’s massive backing of Israel. And you have the gall to call us terrorists when we resist!”

Asked to elaborate, any Palestinian leader worth his or her salt should be able to give innumerable lurid examples of these abuses.

Such phrases and instances need to be repeated loud and clear ad nauseum until people finally get it. And under no circumstances should Palestinian leaders pose THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

smiling and shaking hands with the ravening Zionist wolves.

Gregory DeSylva, Rhinebeck, NY Even though the thought of emulating Binyamin Netanyahu in any way whatsoever is quite repellent, perhaps we can console ourselves with the thought that once Americans finally learn the truth about Israel’s vicious occupation of Palestine and its hold on the U.S., they will begin to insist on “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” We hope to continue to be there to help.

Death by Metadata One of the most secretive military campaigns in U.S. history has come under intense scrutiny by investigative reporters of the Intercept. “The Drone Papers” has documented the highly flawed U.S. military assassination program in Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The intended targets are based on unreliable “signals intelligence”—signals from cellphones. The Taliban are well aware of this flawed strategy and often plant cellphones on their enemies, with predictable results. A staggering 90 percent of these drone assassinations miss their intended targets and kill innocent civilians.

The rage of the victims’ families has served to be excellent recruitment for the Taliban.

Another broad brush approach is being used to increase the kill count. For example, all foreign males in a target zone are regarded as militants and blown apart by stealth drones, contrary to official accounts of “surgical strikes.” This should be a final wakeup call for all Americans to demand an immediate halt to this madness. Amnesty International is calling for an independent congressional inquiry to determine “whether the USA has systematically violated international law by classifying unidentified people as ‘combatants’ to justify their killings.”

Jagjit Singh, Los Altos, CA As killing increasingly seems to resemble a video game—except on the streets of many American cities, where the murder rate is soaring—we worry that the killing of inno5

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cents is becoming little more than an abstraction. The effect of that distance on basic human empathy is, we fear, yet another casualty of our long-distance wars—and one that may have terrible repercussions.

Keep Those Cards and Letters Coming!

Send your letters to the editor to the Washington Report, P.O. Box 53062, Washington, DC 20009 or e-mail <letters@wrmea.org>.

Pollard, Israel Unrepentant Jonathan Pollard, a Zionist spy and traitor, is scheduled for release from federal prison in November after serving a 30-year sentence.

Like his traitorous predecessors who sold or communicated Top Secret atomic documents to the Soviet Union during the Cold War [1945-1991], Pollard is unrepentant.

Newsweek’s May 6, 2014 article “Israel Won’t Stop Spying on the U.S.” published what most people already knew but were afraid of proclaiming in America for fear of being called “anti-Semitic.”

Because of Washington Report’s clarity and unbiased reporting on the Middle East I have renewed my subscription for two additional years.

Michael J. O’Neill, Derby, KS As Allan C. Brownfeld details on p. 34 of this issue, much of the information Pollard transferred to Israel did not stay in Israel.

Citing Seymour Hersh’s 1999 New Yorker article, Brownfeld writes: “Senior officials told Hersh that Pollard’s handlers had asked him to get certain types of documents that seemed of little use to Israel but of great value to the Soviet Union.”

What’s in a Name?

Before becoming a subscriber, I had seen your magazine Washington Report several times but never gave it a second look. Why? Because what Washington reports on Middle East affairs is determined by Israel.

In other words, the name of your magazine misled me. You do provide a strong voice for Palestine—even though it sometimes sounds timid, as if to make sure you are adhering to some ideal of impartial reporting.

Seems to me, calling it Report on Middle East Affairs would be better already. Or just Palestine Report on Middle East Affairs (no matter that your headquarters are not there but in Washington).

What has been since the early 1900s the biggest story in the Middle East, and will remain so for the foreseeable future, is what Israel is doing in Palestine, and somehow that should be reflected in its title.

I am not in a position to make much of a donation, so it is just $10 I am enclosing.

Of course, I will continue as a subscriber.

Andrés Steinmetz, Eureka, CA Thank you so much for your donation and continued support, both of which are greatly appreciated.

If, as we have believed, our cover photos and headlines do not sufficiently convey our non-official Washington perspective, perhaps a move is in order. Since we focus on the U.S. role in Israel’s occupation of Palestine, we probably shouldn’t relocate overseas. What would you say to the Peoria Report on Middle East Affairs?

The Time Has Come It’s long past time I joined the ranks of “Hummers” for all the great and valuable service you’ve provided over the years.

Other Voices is an optional Enclosed is my 16-page supplement availmodest gift.

Rev. Darrel Meyable only to subscribers of the ers, Burbank, CA Washington Report on P.S. Any chance Middle East Affairs. For an of getting another additional $15 per year (see copy of the “Lobby” supplement? postcard insert for Wash Many thanks— ington Re port subscripand welcome to our tion rates), subscribers will AET Choir of Anreceive Other Voices inside gels, without whose support you might each issue of their Washington Report on Middle East not be reading these Affairs. words. We went Back issues of both publications are available. To out on a limb to subscribe telephone 1 (888) 881-5861, fax (714) 226print the special supplement on “The 9733, e-mail <circulation@wrmea.org>, or write to Israel Lobby” conP.O. Box 91056, Long Beach, CA 90809-1056. ference, but because we consider it to be an essential re-

6

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

source, we printed more than 10,000 extra copies. You can order them through AET’s Middle East Books and More (see p. 67 for contact information).

A Story to Tell I have been imprisoned for 30 years, in multiple countries across the globe, including Pakistan and the United States. I was a participant in the hijacking of Pan Am 73 as a member of the Abu Nidal organization at Karachi International Airport on Sept. 5, 1986. Despite being heavily wounded in the incident, I survived and was imprisoned and tried in Pakistan for my role in the plane hijacking. I received a death sentence but it was later commuted to life imprisonment. I spent 15 years in a Pakistani prison, and after some negotiation I tried to get myself back to Jordan, my family’s home. However, fate decided that I would be arrested by the United States government and tried in the U.S. for the same exact crime. I escaped the death penalty once again but was given a life sentence, which I began in the infamous “Supermax” prison in Florence, CO. After some years I was moved to the CMU in Terre Haute, IN [see May/June 2007 Washington Report, p. 12].

For a time, I have been contemplating writing a book about all these experiences.

I finally began writing in the middle of September of this year. My goal is to help shed some light on what transpired during this whole ordeal, and also to aid younger people in seeing the consequences of what can happen when youth are manipulated and used by older people with political agendas.

I wish to use my saga as a warning, but also as a call to all the factions in the PalestinianIsraeli conflict that violence and bloodshed has run its course, and that true peace is the only solution for our respective peoples. I pray that maybe my words and sentiments can serve as one spark to help light and illuminate the torch of peace and prosperity in Palestine/Israel, and beyond, to the greater Middle East and the world in general.

I am trying to find someone who might be willing to look at my writing and review my story, and maybe help in publishing a book. Any suggestion as to which publishers might be interested would be of great help. I am able to e-mail and correspond by telephone, so if anyone wants to contact me, they can also send me this information. I patiently wait for your blessed and sincre response.

Zaid Safarini, Terre Haute, IN Because our readers are very resourceful, we invite any who have suggestions to either write you at #14361-006, USP Terre Haute, PO Box 33, Terre Haute, IN 47808, or contact Middle East Books and More director Kevin A. Davis (see p. 67). ❑ NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

pubs_7_September 2015 Publishers page 10/29/15 8:28 PM Page 7

American Educational Trust “Palestinian Incitement.”

A new wave of violence has broken out across Israel and Palestine—beyond the everyday violence of Israel’s occupation— and to no one’s surprise, Congress has pinned blame for the unrest on the Palestinians. On Oct. 22, while most of Washington was focused on Hillary Clinton’s appearance before the Benghazi Committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing to defame Palestinians. As usual, it was led by the House’s most pro-Israel members and featured three “expert” witnesses from pro-Israel think tanks. Following the hearing, the committee unanimously passed a resolution condemning Palestinians for inciting violence against Israel.

The Good News Is… That at multiple conferences held across Washington, DC in October, such pro-Israel propaganda was viewed as meritless. As readers will probably notice, we have dedicated ample pages of this issue to covering these important conferences. And that’s for a reason. If the Washington Report were not working tirelessly to report on these events, they would go unreported—or, perhaps worse, misreported. More often than not, we are the sole reporters in the room at Middle East-related events being held in Washington, DC, New York, California, Iowa and elsewhere. Other times, the only other reporters are from pro-Israel “media” outlets (such as Campus Watch) hell-bent on misrepresenting the event’s proceedings.

We believe it is our responsibility to share the truth about what is being said at these events with the American people, because we know they will rarely hear valuable information about the Middle East from…

The Biased Mainstream Media.

During the Oct. 28 Republican debate, the candidates regularly complained about a liberal media bias. We’ll let you decide on your own how valid these complaints are, but we know you’ll agree with us that the American mainstream media fails to tell the truth about the Middle East. That’s why we were pleasantly surprised on Oct. 15, when MSNBC aired a map showing the Palestinian loss of land from 1948 to the present.

Not surprisingly, the network’s decision to share the truth with the American people outraged the Israel lobby. Still even less shocking, the network quickly succumbed to lobby pressure and apologized for airing NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

Publishers’ Page

the map. Despite this unwarranted retraction, we nonetheless hope the airing of the map provided…

Vital Context to Americans.

We are certain that when Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu visits Washington on Nov. 9, the media will give him ample coverage. (Even the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank close to the Obama administration, has agreed to provide a forum for Netanyahu to speak, despite his clear contempt for President Barack Obama and his attempt to destroy the president’s vital Iran deal.) We are confident that, as usual, the media will fail to place the prime minister’s remarks in the context of Israel’s decades-long occupation. Will Netanyahu’s comments be matched by facts about Israeli settlement expansion, home demolitions or child detainment? Will Americans be reminded that Netanyahu and many of his fellow Likudniks have publically disavowed the peace process and passed racist antiPalestinian laws? It’s unlikely.

Election 2016: In Jerusalem?

As if traversing 50 states and 5 U.S. territories was not overwhelming enough for presidential candidates, several pro-Israel groups thought it would be a wise idea to host a presidential forum in Jerusalem. As we go to press, the Family Research Council, the International Leaders Summit and the National Religious Broadcasters are boasting of their plans to host “the firstever U.S. presidential candidates’ forum held abroad” on Nov. 3 and 4 in Jerusalem.

All candidates from both parties have been invited, and several unnamed candidates have apparently confirmed their participation. Should these plans come to fruition, it will serve as just another example of Israel’s tight grip over our nation. Does Israel think of itself, at least symbolically, as the 51st state with voting rights?

Syria Showdown.

At last the world is paying attention to the crisis in Syria. It took Russia’s entry into the quagmire, as well as thousands of refugees pouring into Europe, to force leaders to take serious steps to try to end the war. Nearly 20 nations attended talks in Vienna, including the U.S., Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Syria’s neighbors. Here’s to our end-of-the-year wish that 2016 will bring peace to that—as well as other—shattered nations.

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Save the Date: March 18, 2016!

With the important 2016 election just a year away, we are happy to announce the theme of our 2016 conference: “Israel’s Influence: Good or Bad for America?” This all-day event will take place March 18, 2016 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Once again, we will be co-hosting the event with the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep). Just as we did with our 2015 “Israel Lobby” conference, we promise to invite riveting speakers and broach topics that most think tanks and news outlets don’t dare discuss.

To receive updates on the conference, visit our new conference website:

<www.IsraelsInfluence.org>.

Meanwhile, enjoy your 2016 calendar inserted into this issue, and put the Washington Report’s charitable giving list (see p.

69) and book order form to good use. In the next few weeks you will receive our own bi-annual donation appeal. There are so many ways you can help....

Make a Difference Today!

Save the Date: March 18, 2016

National Press Club For more information, to purchase tickets, or to make a donation, please visit <www.IsraelsInfluence.org>.

Co-Sponsored by:

7

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Lack of Hope, Worsening Oppression Spur Young Palestinians to Act SpecialReport

AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

By Rachelle Marshall

Israeli police escort ultra-Orthodox and other religious Jews on a visit to the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, Oct. 27, 2015. rime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu

Psees Israel as a country at risk, be-

trayed by the world and under attack by enemies at home and abroad. During his speech at the opening session of the U.N. General Assembly this fall he scowled at the audience for 45 seconds to symbolize the world’s failure to speak out against what he asserted were Iran’s threats to destroy Israel.

Calling the nuclear agreement with Iran “a very bad deal,” he lamented, “we see a world rushing to embrace and do business with a regime openly committed to our destruction.” He described Iran as “a dark theocracy that conquers its neighbors... Unleashed and unmuzzled, Iran will go on the prowl, devouring more and more prey.” He accused the United Nations of taking “obsessively hostile” positions toward Israel.

Turning to Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians, he lashed out at Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for refusing to negotiate a peace agreement based on “two 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

states for two peoples in which a demilitarized Palestinian state recognizes the Jewish state.” It is a charge he frequently makes, knowing full well that no Palestinian leader would agree to legitimize secondclass citizenship for an Arab population inside Israel that has lived on the land since long before Israel existed.

Abbas in his speech to the U.N. the previous day had pointed out that Israel had systematically violated its agreements with the Palestinians. He cited Israel’s continued settlement expansion and its refusal to release a fourth group of prisoners as it had agreed to do. Successive Israeli governments have effectively annulled the 1993 Oslo accords by increasing the number of settlements and failing to open a free passage between Gaza and the West Bank.

Ignoring that history, Netanyahu called Israel “civilization’s front line against barbarism,” and declared that Jewish ownership of historic Palestine is “enshrined for eternity by the great prophets of the Bible,” making it clear there would be no independent Palestinian state in the West Bank as long as he remained in office. Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben Dahan sent the same message a few days later when he said on Israeli TV, “PalesTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

tinians have to understand they won’t have a state and Israel will rule over them.”

Such statements come at a cost. Having once again asserted Israel’s historic claim to all of Palestine, Netanyahu returned to a country that, far from being a frontier against barbarism, resembled a primitive battleground. Young Palestinians in revolt against an oppressive occupation there was no hope of ending had begun taking out their anger and frustration with random stabbing attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers.

By the third week in October the toll was 10 Israelis dead and more than 20 wounded, mostly in random stabbings; more than 52 Palestinians were dead, including 25 who had attacked Israelis, and more than a thousand wounded. Many Palestinians were shot while taking part in protests.

On Oct. 21,UNESCO adopted a resolution condemning what it called “Israeli aggressions and illegal measures against the freedom of worship and Muslims’ access to their holy site, al-Aqsa Mosque.” The resolution deplored “the continuous storming of the mosque compound by Israeli extremists and uniformed forces.” UNESCO also called on Israel “to cease the persistent excavations and works in East Jerusalem particularly around the Old City.” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon added his voice two days later by expressing his concern “at the repeated provocations at the holy sites in Jerusalem, which have fueled the current outbreak of violence.”

The confrontations began in late September with incursions onto the Noble Sanctuary by Israeli religious zealots aiming to replace al-Aqsa mosque with a Third Temple. The Israeli intruders included several members of the cabinet, including Netanyahu’s agriculture minister, who has joined fringe groups in calling for a new Jewish temple on the site. The scores of Palestinians who came to protest the incursions were beaten back by police, but the protests continued to grow, and eventually spread throughout East Jerusalem and to the West Bank and Gaza (see pp. 12-16).

The willingness of a vast majority of Palestinians to refrain from violence, and the rarity of attacks on Israelis, are worth noting in view of what residents of Gaza and the West Bank are enduring under occupation. For nearly a half-century, Palestinians have lived at the mercy of soldiers and armed settlers who are prone to vioNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

lence but immune from punishment. The Israeli incursions onto ground sacred to Muslims sparked a Palestinian reaction that was long in coming.

The mounting turmoil at al-Aqsa eventually prompted Jordan, which has jurisdiction over the site, to warn that “Any more provocations in Jerusalem will affect the relationship between Jordan and Israel.” Instead of seeking to defuse Palestinian anger, however, the Israeli government inflamed it. The cabinet authorized police to fire live ammunition at rock throwers and banned all Muslim men under 50 from worshiping at al-Aqsa. Concrete barriers and checkpoints were erected around Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, obstructing travel in a part of the city Israel illegally annexed in 1967.

Anger on the West Bank had been simmering ever since the burning to death of 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khdeir in 2014, and the more recent arson attack on the Dawabsheh family that left two young parents and a toddler dead, and a badly burned 4-year-old struggling to survive.

Both crimes have gone unpunished. The Palestinians’ anger increased on Sept. 22, when 18-year-old Hadeel al-Hashlamoun was shot to death at a checkpoint by Israeli police who claimed she had threatened them with a knife.

A European visitor at the scene said he saw no knife, and that the young woman was only trying to show the police the contents of her purse when one of the guards shouted, “Stop, move back! Move back!”

When Hadeel continued to approach, the guard shot her in the abdomen. Several other soldiers also fired at her. A witness explained that Hadeel did not understand the order to stop because she spoke no Hebrew.

She was left bleeding on the ground for 40 minutes before an Israeli ambulance arrived.

During the same week, another young Palestinian, Ahmad Izzat Khatatbeh, was shot to death at an Israeli checkpoint near Nablus, and an Israeli website showed soldiers shooting a Palestinian youth who was leaning against a wall. A statement on the screen read, “You throw a rock, you get a bullet,” but there was no evidence he had thrown a rock. During the first 8 months of 2015, 28 Palestinians were killed by Israeli police or soldiers. That number has rapidly increased.

Even foreign journalists were not safe from Israel’s security forces. Two correspondents for Agence-France Presse, wearing clearly marked vests, were attacked by soldiers in late September and badly beaten as they were filming the funeral of a Palestinian killed by the army. The soldiers seized the reporters’ cameras and a mobile phone as they lay on the ground. The army suspended the officer in charge only after NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

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Residents of the Arab East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal Mukaber squeeze through concrete blocks installed by Israeli police, Oct. 20, 2015.

Agence-France Presse threatened to file suit.

In another seemingly senseless act, an Israeli soldier shot to death 13-year-old Abdul Rahman Obeidallah as he was standing outside a community center after school. A classmate standing next to him said afterward, “None of us were throwing stones. We were watching the others.” Military officials later said he had been shot “by mistake.” A few days later, 19-year-old Fadi Alloun was shot in the back and killed by police while he was running away from a mob shouting “Death to Arabs!”

An equally indefensible crime took place on Oct. 1, this time by Palestinians, when an Israeli couple from the West Bank settlement of Neria, Eitam and Naama Henkin, were shot to death while driving their car near the village of Beit Furik.

Their four children in the back seat were not hurt. Two days later a Palestinian in the Old City stabbed to death an Israeli soldier, Aharon Benita, and a rabbi, Nehemia Lavi, who came to his aid. Several more random stabbings followed, almost all resulting in minor injuries.

“We are facing a terrorist onslaught,” Israeli President Reuven Rivlin declared after the Israeli deaths, and on Oct. 2 the military sent 4 infantry battalions into the West Bank to search for the Henkins’ killers and set up additional roadblocks. A military spokesman said the troops would remain in place to “arrest people who could plan or carry out attacks,” a description that could fit any young Palestinian male.

Three days later Israel announced that five members of Hamas had confessed to killing the Henkins and would soon be THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

brought to trial. No such effort has been made to catch the men who firebombed the home of the Dawabsheh family. The three Israeli men suspected of burning to death Mohammed Abu Khdeir have yet to be convicted. When an Israeli security official was asked to explain the contradiction between the authorities’ fast action on the Henkin case and the time it is taking to solve the Dawabsheh case, he said, “the two could not be compared.”

Slow as the Israeli authorities are when it comes to punishing Jewish Israelis for crimes against Palestinians, retribution for the Israeli deaths was swift and severe.

Just after the government declared “an allout war on Palestinian terrorism,” hundreds of Palestinians were arrested, and at least six killed. More than two dozen Palestinians were wounded in a pre-dawn military raid on the refugee camp in Jenin, and at least a dozen were wounded at the Qalandia checkpoint near Ramallah, including a man shot in the spinal cord, and a woman in the neck.

In the coming weeks more Palestinian deaths followed, many of them of children under 16. But despite the mounting number of casualties, the demonstrations continued, along with the stabbings. The Palestinian attacks were as yet too random to be called an intifada, but Israel’s minister of transportation, Yisrael Katz, warned that Israel’s response would soon resemble Operation Defensive Shield, Israel’s massive invasion of the West Bank in 2002 during the second intifada. In that operation, giant tanks filled with soldiers rolled through West Bank cities and towns, crushing cars, 9

marshall_8-11_Special Report 10/29/15 6:02 PM Page 10

War Crimes On Oct. 3 an American air strike demolished a hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz run by Doctors Without Borders, killing 12 medical staff members and 10 patients, and wounding 37 others.

Several staff members were missing, and many were feared dead.

The bombing was carried out by an American AC-130 gunship that over the course of an hour and 15 minutes made repeated runs at the hospital’s main building, strafing the emergency room, intensive care unit, blood lab and X-ray area.

The Taliban had captured Kunduz on Sept. 28, only to be driven back from most of the city by U.S. air strikes. No combat was taking place near the hospital when the attack took place, and the Doctors Without Borders representative in Afghanistan, Guilhem Molinie, described the atmosphere as calm.

Molinie said the hospital was hit repeatedly even after the staff had reached U.S. officials in Kabul and Washington to tell them what was happening. Doctors Without Borders had earlier given the army the GPS coordinates of its location in order to avoid any errors. The American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John F. Campbell, at first said the air strike had been requested by the Afghans, but later admitted to a congressional committee that the attack was “a U.S. decision made within the U.S. chain of command.”

President Obama apologized to Doctors Without Borders and promised an investigation by NATO, Afghan officials, and the Pentagon into what Christopher Stokes, the group’s general director, described as “a grave violation of international humanitarian law.”

The president has refused to consent to the demand by Doctors Without Borders for an independent investigation.

Meanwhile, another humanitarian tragedy was taking place in Yemen, and there, too, the U.S. is complicit. A coalition composed of Gulf emirates and led by Saudi Arabia has been bombing Yemen since March, in an effort to drive back the Houthis, an allegedly Iran-backed rebel group from the north. Coalition planes were bombing “indiscriminately,” according to human rights observers, destroying markets, factories and densely packed neighborhoods. The Saudis have also imposed a blockade that has caused a severe shortage of food, fuel and medicine. The U.S. is providing intelligence and logistical support for the Saudi bombing campaign, and has stationed warships in the area.

On Sept. 28, coalition warplanes bombed a wedding party on Yemen’s Red Sea coast and killed at least 130 people, bringing the power lines and sewer systems, and damaging public buildings, schools and clinics.

On Oct. 6, Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of the PLO, called for international intervention to protect Palestinians from “relentless attacks by Israeli military forces and terrorist settlers.” Riyad Mansour, Palestinian ambassador to the U.N., wrote to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon charging Israel with assaulting medical emergency teams and preventing them from rescuing the wounded.

When several soldiers were wounded while carrying out a raid on the Shuafat refugee camp on Oct. 8, Netanyahu spread the blame. The attacks on the soldiers, he said, “are all the result of wild and mendacious incitement by Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, several countries in the region, and—no less and frequently much more— the Islamic movement in Israel.” He did not name the “several countries” that were to 10

total of civilian casualties since March to more than 7,000, including 460 children. The day before, helicopters flying from Saudi Arabia killed 30 people in a village near the Yemen border.

In late September, the Netherlands submitted a resolution to the U.N. Human Rights Commission calling for an international investigation of abuses by both sides, and urging that the blockade be lifted. But after a vigorous lobbying campaign by the Saudis, the resolution was dropped in favor of a substitute resolution calling for an investigation by Yemen’s Saudi-backed government in exile, headed

by President Abdu Mansour Hadi. Hadi was driven out of Yemen by the Houthis and returned from Saudi Arabia in September.

The switch was “a huge victory for Saudi Arabia, protecting it from scrutiny over laws-of-war violations which will probably continue to be committed in Yemen,” said the deputy director of Human Rights Watch in Geneva, Philippe Dam. The Saudis have so far successfully headed off missions to Yemen by international human rights investigators, and are under no pressure from the U.S. to give up their opposition.

At this point the public has a right to ask why the U.S. continues to take part in two distant conflicts that have nothing to do with promoting democracy or protecting our national security, but instead bring shame on America. A report in October by The New York Times revealed that high-ranking Afghan officers routinely subject small boys to brutal sexual abuse, a crime that was banned by the Taliban. American soldiers were told “to look the other way,” and those who intervened were disciplined.

Cases of torture and murder by Afghan security forces as well as theft and extortion have also been documented by human rights groups but U.S. officials ignore them for fear of undercutting the fight against the Taliban. Washington has spent upwards of $65 billion on training the Afghan army, yet today the Taliban control more territory than at any time since the U.S. invasion in 2001.

On Oct. 16, two weeks after the destruction of the hospital in Kunduz and 9 months after declaring an end to the U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan, Obama announced that thousands of American troops would remain in Afghanistan until after 2017. It was a decision to perpetuate what has proved to be a costly folly for the U.S. and an endless tragedy for the people of Afghanistan.

Like the people of Yemen, they desperately need help from America, but not in the form of bullets and air strikes.

—R.M.

blame or say what he meant by the “Islamic movement in Israel.”

As the death toll on both sides increased, a young West Bank resident expressed the feelings of many Palestinians when he said, “I don’t want demonstrations, I want an agreement with Israel.” But if members of the current Israeli government have their way, there will be no agreement, only continued provocations. Education Minister Naftali Bennett recently demanded that Netanyahu ”free the bound hands of the army,” and rearrest all Palestinians released in past prisoner exchanges. He proposed that Israel build a new settlement after each Palestinian attack.

Bennett also wants to take advantage of the chaotic situation in Syria to build more settlements on the occupied Golan Heights.

Israel invaded and captured the territory from Syria in 1967 and has since annexed it. The U.N. Security Council condemned THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

as illegal both Israel’s continued occupation of the Golan and its annexation, but President Bashar al-Assad, who is battling to retain his position against Western-backed rebels, the Islamic State and several other Islamic groups, is in no position to demand its return.

As millions of Syrians were fleeing their war-torn cities, Bennett announced he would soon introduce a plan to spend “hundreds of millions of shekels” on building new Jewish settlements on the Golan. “We’re in a whole new strategic situation,” he said. “Given the storm we’re in that can go on for the next 5 or 50 years, we need some constants, and one big constant is for the big mountain of the Golan to be Israeli.” Another constant, of course, is that American taxpayers are certain to bear much of the cost.

Although Israel is eager to maintain its hold on Syrian territory, it refuses to acNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

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cept any Syrian refugees. The country founded by refugees from Europe has barred the door to the those from Syria, even though Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s less affluent neighbors, Jordan and Lebanon, have together taken in nearly 2 million refugees.

To make sure the unwanted stay out, Israel is building a wall along its border with Jordan, and has already placed security fences along its borders with Lebanon and Syria. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We must control our borders against both illegal immigrants and terrorism,â&#x20AC;? Netanyahu said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;To the extent that it is possible we will encompass Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s borders with a security fence and barriers.â&#x20AC;?

To those with long memories, the prime ministerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s statement was the fulfillment of a prophecy. Non-Zionist Jews warned early on that establishing a Jewish state on land inhabited for centuries by Palestinians was an invitation to violence. They predicted that in an effort to survive, Israel would become a garrison state, dependent on walls for its security. As Israel encloses itself behind fences, that day has arrived, although the only danger Israel faces is an influx of desperate refugees.

The Center for Constitutional Rights and Palestine Legal recently issued a report covering 65 college campuses in the U.S. and documenting some 300 incidents of

suppression of free speech and other activities on behalf of Palestinian human rights.

This means that in large parts of the U.S. Israel and its supporters are free to dominate debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while Americans are denied the right to hear the other side.

This is not solely a civil liberties issue.

With Israel adamantly refusing to agree to share the land of Palestine and the Palestinian people refusing to acquiesce in their continued subjugation, only outside pressure can break the impasse. The longer the American people are denied the truth, the longer our government will be able to ignore what is happening and take no action. â?&#x2018;

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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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Israel Ratchets up Its Violence Against a New Generation of Palestinians

Young Palestinian demonstrators prepare to confront Israeli occupation troops in Beit El, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Oct. 8, 2015.

A New Intifada?

By Jonathan Cook

oshe Yaalon, Israel’s defense minis-

Mter, gave an interview to Israeli army

radio on Oct. 15, after more than a fortnight in which the occupied territories, and most especially Jerusalem, had been rocked by continual unrest.

The man who 13 years earlier, during the height of the second intifada, had called for his troops to “burn into [the Palestinians’] consciousness” their defeat, now spoke of the challenges Israel faced in “managing” the conflict.

“We have to know how to deal with this and not get scared, and understand that there’s a long struggle there and mainly act in our own interests,” he said. Israelis had to concentrate on living a “normal life” while “around us there’s a culture of death.”

The change of emphasis more than a decade later almost certainly reflected the views of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu too, and attests to a tentative realization by the Israeli right that the PalesJonathan Cook is a journalist based in Nazareth and a winner of the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. He is the author of Blood and Religion and Israel and the Clash of Civilisations (available from AET’s Middle East Books and More).

12

tinian craving for justice cannot simply be defeated.

It also indicates a new awareness of the challenges of maintaining “normality” in a Greater Israel—a single state of Israel and the occupied territories—that Netanyahu has been crafting for the past six years he and the hard right have been in power.

In the first three weeks of October, 52 Palestinians were killed and more than 5,000 injured in a wave of continual protests in the occupied territories—including the highest casualty figures recorded in the West Bank for a decade, according to the United Nations. There were 10 Israeli fatalities.

Belatedly, the main international actors, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, hurried to the region, in an indication that “managing” the wave of protests may be harder than Israel believes.

The epicenter of the unrest has been occupied East Jerusalem, which has been close to the boiling point since last summer, when Israeli Jews kidnapped 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khdeir and burned him alive.

Unique conditions in East Jerusalem have for many years made tensions there especially acute.

Israel long ago barred the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas from the city THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

and its environs, turning the Palestinian residents into much-abused political orphans.

East Jerusalem has been further isolated

by Israel’s so-called separation barrier, which seals off much of the city from its hinterland of the West Bank. Since then, the main political organizations have had to operate largely underground, with activists risking expulsion from the city.

The goal has been to cement Israeli control, entrenching the idea of Jerusalem as Israel’s “eternal, undivided capital” rather than a city under belligerent occupation.

Israel’s walls carve up the eastern city into three main zones: Jewish settlements are being integrated into West Jerusalem; Palestinian neighborhoods inside the wall are subject to Israel’s hostile control; and Palestinian neighborhoods outside the wall have become a no-man’s land, separated from “inner” Jerusalem but not under Palestinian control.

Slowly Israel has been turning the screws on both Palestinian zones to encourage the residents to leave. The Haaretz daily reported on Oct. 26 that Netanyahu was considering stripping Palestinians outside the wall of their Jerusalem residency.

Symbolizing the Palestinian predicament is the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City. It is being surrounded

by Jewish settlers on all sides, while the Israeli government is allowing ultra-nationalist Jews to gain an ever greater foothold in the compound. At the same time, Palestinian worshippers face severe restrictions on prayer there.

For Palestinians, events at al-Aqsa are like watching the mass dispossession of 1948 play out again in slow motion. But Jerusalem’s Palestinians feel an added responsibility because, unlike their compatriots in the West Bank and Gaza, they are in a position to struggle against the takeover.

These factors contributed to the eruption of the angry protests of the past few weeks in Jerusalem. The unrest has spread in varying degrees to the West Bank, Gaza and among the large Palestinian minority in Israel.

The focus on East Jerusalem, however, attests to two further, related factors.

First, the Palestinian leaderships in both the West Bank and Gaza are in their different ways maintaining order on Israel’s behalf.

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The PA’s security services have continued to repress signs of discontent in the West Bank cities it polices, both to avoid a confrontation with Israel and to avert the danger of violent protests among the youth targeting the PA itself.

Similarly, Hamas—its power eroded by Israel’s repeated attacks on Gaza and its disastrous relations with the Egyptian dictator Abdel Fattah el-Sisi next door—is fearful of offering Israel a pretext for another round of hostilities.

Only in East Jerusalem are Palestinians not being kept in check by self-interested Palestinian leaders; and only there is it clear that one party alone—Israel—is enforcing the occupation.

Israel’s efforts to “manage” Jerusalem, which it annexed illegally decades ago, have been slowly unravelling. Instead, Netanyahu’s government has been forced in recent weeks to import into Jerusalem aspects of the military regime of the West Bank.

Palestinian stone-throwers now face livefire from police, as well as lengthy prison terms if caught. Soldiers are augmenting the work of the Israeli police in the city. Roadblocks and checkpoints are springing up in Jerusalem’s Palestinian neighborhoods.

Israel is erecting additional barriers to deepen the physical separation between Palestinian and settler neighborhoods, and considering movement restrictions to prevent Palestinians visiting Jewish West Jerusalem.

Netanyahu has also sought to isolate Jerusalem from the support of Israel’s large minority of 1.6 million Palestinian citizens.

On Oct. 20, in a step “vital for Israel’s security,” Netanyahu announced he was drafting a bill to outlaw the northern Islamic Movement of Sheikh Raed Salah, which has been trying to bolster the efforts of Jerusalem’s Palestinian residents by bringing Palestinian citizens to worship at al-Aqsa, in a step “vital for Israel’s security.”

Watching these events from afar, Europe and the U.S. have grown increasingly nervous, especially about Israeli provocations at al-Aqsa.

France lobbied to place international monitors in the compound as a way to “restore calm.” Israel objected, but appears to have been forced by Kerry to accept cameras around the mosque, although the fear is they will be used by Israel to identify and arrest Palestinian activists there, further cementing Israeli control. Israel is also reported to have quietly promised to stop Jews praying at al-Aqsa.

Israel, Europe and the U.S. are now heavily invested in getting King Abdullah of NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

Jordan, the official guardian of the mosque, to state that Israel is not changing the so-called status quo there.

But managing the unrest will almost certainly require more than tinkering. Israeli military commanders have signaled that they recognize this.

In an interview with Channel 2 TV in late October, the military chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot admitted: “There is no focused and definite military solution to a challenge of this kind.”

Amos Harel, Haaretz’s military correspondent, reported that Udi Dekel, of the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, had written on its website that events in Jerusalem “upended the government’s basic assumptions” about keeping order.

Israel’s troubles have been highlighted by a debate about how to characterize the past few weeks. Netanyahu’s right-wing government, worried that its policy of relentless force against the Palestinians risks being exposed as ineffectual, has been keen to play down talk of a third intifada.

Certainly, there are notable differences from the first and second uprisings.

Most significantly, Palestinian populations are now separated into enclaves, with hardly any contact. Organizing in such circumstances is extremely difficult.

Also, the “security cooperation” of the Palestinian leadership—in the PA’s case formal and overt, in Hamas’ more concealed—has radically changed the political environment.

Previous uprisings pitted ordinary Palestinians or their armed factions against a clear enemy—the occupying Israeli army— and were guided by a political vision and an organized strategy.

None of these conditions precisely fits the current violence.

The latest clashes, note analysts, are occurring in a new reality: Palestinian society has been atomized by separation walls, checkpoints and an expanding network of settlements and military bases.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian national movement is deeply divided, the Arab world is in disarray, the West is focused on its own economic and social troubles, and Israel is adamantly opposed to negotiations.

The clearest manifestation of the chaotic nature of events has been what Israel terms “lone-wolf” attacks: individuals with no Israeli security record suddenly taking the weapon nearest to hand—a knife, screwdriver or car—and attacking Israeli soldiers, settlers or civilians.

Jerusalem-based analyst Jeff Halper describes the current events as a kind of “lashing out.” “Palestinians see no political THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

process. They are being locked into their prison cells. They feel they have nothing to lose,” he said.

Similarly, Menachem Klein, of Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv, argues that the protests are less about organized resistance than a struggle for survival against the growing stranglehold the settlers exert both on the ground and on government policy.

“There are now so many settlers that there is now zero distance between Palestinian communities and the settlements,” he said. “That ensures constant friction.”

Nonetheless, as was true in the first and second intifadas, the Palestinian youths at the heart of these protests are a new generation testing the extent of their power to oppose their oppression.

The two previous intifadas led to concrete changes by Israel, even if on both occasions the benefits proved to be illusory.

The first intifada resulted in the Oslo peace process, although it became clear Israel had no intention of conceding Palestinian statehood.

The second intifada ended in Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, though the occupation there continued, Israel’s destructive rampages intensified, and the separation among Palestinian populations entrenched.

The new protests—led by what some are referring to as the Oslo generation—appear to be marked by a deeper disillusionment and hopelessness. Some of that is manifesting itself in the largely futile knife attacks.

But Palestinians also appear to be entering a new phase, in which the next generation slowly redefines its goals and refines its strategies.

Israel’s dependence on maintaining its security with the help of the Fatah-led PA in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza is becoming ever more apparent. That is likely to lead to ever greater friction between Palestinian youths and their compromised leaders.

Where things may head as the Palestinian leadership becomes more ineffective has been highlighted in the repeated efforts by hundreds of Palestinians to make their way to the fence around Gaza that imprisons them.

Israel’s leadership has watched uneasily repeated breaches of the barrier for the first time in many years. Israeli generals have admitted that their nightmare scenario is a mass march by Palestinians from Gaza to tear down the fence. Israel has no operational plan to deal with a large-scale uprising of that nature.

Israel’s long-term hopes of “managing” Gaza look even less credible when one considers that the U.N. and other international 13

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bodies have declared Gaza will soon be uninhabitable. Unemployment already hovers at 44 percent, one of the highest in the world.

Without interference by Israel, a new, young leadership would emerge to meet these changed circumstances. But based on past form, it is certain that Israel will crush any real leaders.

More likely the protests will eventually turn against the current Palestinian leaderships, forcing Israel to rule the Palestinian populations of the West Bank and Gaza directly again, as it does in East Jerusalem.

Over the coming months and years, Palestinians will have little choice but to embrace a strategy of resistance dictated by the reality of the single apartheid state established by Israel.

The current protests may go into temporary remission, but, as Eisenkot notes, there is no obvious long-term cure as long as the occupation continues. Harel has observed that the army’s “top brass is preparing for a long confrontation.”

A civil rights struggle by Palestinians would be able to identify the primary source of their suffering—an ethnic state run to preserve Jewish privilege on the Palestinians’ homeland—and unify the various enclaves Israel has created in which to imprison them.

Meanwhile, the disorganized nature of the Palestinian protests has exposed Israel’s own limitations.

Israel has little more than stopgap measures: its intelligence agencies cannot predict the lone wolf, its guns cannot deter the knife, its military might cannot subdue the craving for justice and dignity.

Strangely, in the face of all this, there have been signs of a parallel breakdown of order and leadership on the Israeli side— exposed in the steady trickle of phone videos making it on to the Internet.

Mobs of Jews patroling Jerusalem and Israeli cities can be seen calling out “Death to the Arabs!” Human rights groups have decried footage of Palestinians being shot

by Israeli police, often egged on by bystanders, even while posing no threat to security forces. Israeli Jews have been stabbed and killed by other Israeli Jews simply because they looked “Arab.”

In the most notorious incident on film, an innocent Eritrean asylum seeker was shot by a security guard during an attack because he did not look “Jewish.” He was then savagely beaten by a lynch mob that included a soldier and two prison guards.

Israeli politicians and police commanders have stoked the fear, calling on citizens to take the law into their own hands.

Thousands of Israelis have queued for guns as permit rules have been eased.

Some of this reflects a hysteria, a height14

ened sense of victimhood among Israelis, fueled by the knife attack videos. But the mood dates to before the current upheavals. It is also a sign of the gradual leaching of the settler’s lawlessness into the mainstream.

After six uninterrupted years of the extreme right in power, Israelis don’t blame their government’s policy of relentless force for the backlash. They demand yet more force against the Palestinians.

Polls show Avigdor Lieberman, the former Moldovan bouncer who became the head man of the Israeli right, is most favored to lead the nation out of the crisis.

When a fully fledged Palestinian civil rights struggle emerges, Israel’s leadership is going to look even more culpable than it does now.

Whether it is called a third intifada or not, Israel is getting a taste of things to come.

Yet Another Battle in the Fight For National Liberation

By Samah Jabr lthough the West perceives the struggle over the sanctuary at al-Aqsa as being fueled by fanatical Islam, Palestinians perceive it as just another battle in their fight against a colonial occupation, with its relentless injustices and violations of basic human rights.

Many of us, of course, regard al-Aqsa as holy and sacred—although our president seems to regard security coordination with Israel as sacred! But even those Palestinians who do not view al-Aqsa as holy see it as a beautiful historical national monument, holding memories of the picnics we used to have with our grandmothers when we were young and a vast resource for children who otherwise are deprived of a place to play. Al-Aqsa sanctuary continues to be a place of warm attachment, a home and psychological sanctuary for Palestinians— whether or not they are practicing Muslims—forced to live under an apartheid system that turns Palestinians into aliens in their own city.

In the midst of the fight to maintain the identity of the mosque and sanctuary as Muslim and Arab-Palestinian, Palestinians are increasingly isolated from the failing Arab and Muslim regimes and institutions in the larger region. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi just reopened the Israeli Embassy in Cairo and called from the podium in the United Nations for expanding the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty

A

Samah Jabr is a Jerusalemite psychiatrist and psychotherapist who cares about the well-being of her community—beyond issues of mental health.

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

to include other Arab countries.

Meanwhile, Israeli alterations to the status of al-Aqsa have included the imposition of separate visiting times for Muslims and Jews and the expansion of secretive excavation work underneath the mosque.

These changes are in violation of the 1994 peace agreement between Jordanian and Israeli authorities giving the former control over the sanctuary, among other Islamic sites. Amman’s reluctance to respond to these violations is simply an invitation for further Israeli appropriations. Israel already is in violation both of international law and of seven Security Council resolutions condemning its attempted annexation of East Jerusalem—including Resolutions 476 and 478, which condemn Israel’s 1980 unilateral declaration of Jerusalem as its “complete and united” capital.

It is no longer only Jewish Israeli extremists who are pushing for the appropriation of the sanctuary and mosque complex, characterizing Islamic sites as pagan and demanding the rebuilding of the Temple Mount in its place. Ministers and Knesset members such as Minister of Internal Security Gilad Erdan, Minister of Agriculture Uri Ariel, and Knesset Member Miri Regev now call for changing the status quo to allow Jews to pray in the Sanctuary. Knesset Member Tzipi Hotovely marked her last day as an unmarried woman with a visit to the sanctuary, where she took a photo in front of the Dome of the Rock and referred to it as “Judaism’s most sacred site.” Moshe Feiglin, then Likud deputy speaker of the Knesset, declared a year ago: “I’m not asking for equality at the Temple Mount; there is no equality—it’s ours and ours alone.” In addition, a rapidly growing religious movement enjoys Israeli governmental, political and financial support—as well as the support of the Israeli military forces.

Meanwhile, Israeli authorities do whatever they can to prohibit Muslim Palestinian groups and institutions, like the Murabiteen, Murabitat and the Islamic movement in Israel, from taking legal and peaceful action to protect the Muslim identity of al-Aqsa.

Palestinian fears about the mosque are not imaginary. In 1967, within two days of Israel’s occupation of Arab East Jerusalem, the Israeli military hurriedly demolished the Old City’s Moroccan Quarter and the Sheikh Eid Mosque, which was built over the Afdaliyyah School, one of the oldest Islamic schools, to make way for the plaza near the Wailing Wall. More than 100 Palestinian families were ordered to leave their houses, and those who refused were buried under their own homes as bulldozers razed the quarter.

In 1994, the assertion of Jewish significance claimed for the Ibrahimi Mosque in NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

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Hebron resulted in the massacre of Palestinian worshippers by American Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein and the division of the mosque into Muslim and Jewish areas. Soon after, Israeli authorities closed 520 businesses around Hebron’s Old City and closed the main road through town to Palestinians to secure a road for the exclusive use of illegal Jewish settlers.

Palestinians’ fears are based on the rapid Jewish expansion in East Jerusalem—the construction of shopping malls and the “Tolerance Museum” on the historical Islamic cemetery Mamilla (see October 2015 Washington Report, p. 23), the appropriation of homes in the Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhoods, and the establishment of the light train and the teleferik projects on Palestinian land in order to make the Old City more accessible to Jewish settlers. Meanwhile, Palestinians are treated like temporary residents in their own city and punished with home demolition and revocation of their residency permits for being related to anyone who dares defy the occupation.

Pervasive Islamophobia has made the international community—which loudly decried the destruction of ancient ruins and temples by the Taliban and ISIS—blind to Israeli destruction. Israeli authorities give a free hand to fanatic religious groups and gangs of settlers to appropriate all of Jerusalem while denying millions of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza access to their capital city and its holy sites. Even Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem are restricted by gender and age when they wish to visit the mosque and forced to relinquish their identity papers at the gate, to be picked up later at a police station.

Israel has done all it can to break Palestinians’ spiritual and emotional connection to Jerusalem. But their policies instead have only strengthened that bond. The fight over the mosque that is taking place in every city, town and village in Palestine today is evidence of our awareness that this is not simply about religion or the freedom to worship—it is about resisting Israel’s illegal occupation that is tightening its grip on East Jerusalem, taking over what is most precious to all Palestinians— Christians and Muslims alike.

A New, Fearless Generation

By Mohammed Omer

he atmosphere in Gaza is very tense,

Tand everyone knows the young people demonstrating here now could be killed.

Still they come, however, to protest against Israeli occupation, the provocation of Jewish settlers and Israel’s economic blockade of Gaza.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

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Mail your U.S. Tax-Deductible check to our American Foundation: Friends of PMRS, Inc PO Box 450554 • Atlanta, GA 31145 For more information call: (404) 441-2702 or e-mail: fabuakel@gmail.com “Either we live in dignity or die,” says 18-year-old Mamoun Alkhatib.

It is Alkhatib’s first time taking to the street to demonstrate with hundreds more young people to express their frustration and anger at the deteriorating situation in occupied Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.

“It cannot continue like this,” says a sweaty young man whose white T-shirt is covered in blood from trying to rescue injured people around him. “Either we live in freedom and dignity or we die standing and defending our human rights.”

Despite the risks they are taking, this young generation of Palestinians appears fearless. They are nationalists refusing to live under more occupation, of course—but they also refuse to live under the factional umbrellas of Fatah or Hamas.

Israeli military forces shot and killed 62 Palestinians and injured more than 6,500 in both Gaza and the West Bank in the first four weeks of October. According to Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, a Geneva-based human rights group, most were killed along Gaza’s fenced-off borders with Israel. Among them were children aged between 12 and 15, said Palestinian medics at Shifa hospital.

The first two weeks of bloodshed, in which 11 Israelis and 52 Palestinians were killed in Jerusalem, other Israeli cities, and the West Bank and Gaza, have raised concerns about a new Palestinian intifada, or “shaking off.”

According to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, violent provocations by Jewish settlers, including the fatal burning of the Dawabsheh family home in the West Award-winning journalist Mohammed Omer reports from the Gaza Strip, where he maintains the Web site <www.rafahtoday.org>.

His book Shell-Shocked: On the Ground Under Israel’s Gaza Assault is available from AET’s Middle East Books and More.

Follow him on Twitter: @MoGaza.

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Bank, caused the Palestinian reaction and retaliation.

“Israel created this situation, so it should take the consequences,” Alkhatib says.

“We have only known war, destruction, separation, homelessness, blockade, agony, and the pain or death of our loved ones and neighbors,” he adds, as grenades continue to fall and live bullets hit the crowds of protesters nearby.

His sandals have disappeared as he crawls along the ground with a Palestinian flag, stained with the blood of 13-year-old Marwan Barbakh, who was shot dead Oct. 16.

“Is there really such a place as Washington, DC—beacon of freedom and democracy—or is it all just TV fantasy and propaganda?” Alkhatib wonders.

“If the American ethic of democracy is real, how can they observe this and be so heartless, watching a nation and its children trapped between the military occupation of Israel and divided by factions such as Fatah and Hamas, and still keep silent for so long?” he asks, crying after watching Barbakh die.

The shooting got more heated in eastern Khan Younes. More wounded young people are evacuated to the hospital, replaced by others heading to the front line. They throw stones at the heavily armed Israeli soldiers and snipers manning the separation fence.

Ambulance crews were unable to reach the bodies of injured protesters, lying in open fields, because of the constant shooting.

“All we have are these stones, but we also have our hopes and dreams of freedom,” says Ahlam Al-Sharief, a 20-year-old female protester.

Protesting by young women is a new phenomenon. It started in the West Bank, but is spreading now to Gaza. Hands— many displaying brightly colored nails— grasp at stones, and the air is filled with the black smoke of burning tires.

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“For so long we have been frustrated that nothing is being done to help us, while Israel is turning Gaza, with its 1.8 million citizens, into an island prison surrounded by military fences. The coast is patrolled by Israeli warships and the sky fenced off by fighter jets and drones over our heads,” says Ahlam, her sharp, kohllined eyes visible through her kefffiyeh.

Euro-Med Human Right Monitors said there was evidence that Israeli soldiers “practiced deliberate shooting at the upper parts of protesters’ bodies.”

Deputy Health Minister Dr. Medhat Mouhsen said Israeli soldiers have been using live ammunition to hit mostly unarmed young protesters, and many of those injured and taken to the hospital have had wounds to the head or upper part of the body.

But that does not change matters much for Ahlam and the hundreds of other demonstrators here, who know they may not return to their families alive.

Ahlam wants the world to recognize that Palestinians are not just victims or heroes.

“We are also human beings, like everyone else,” she said. “What would you do if made to tolerate this punishment?”

In another departure from the norm, these protests have not been inspired by Palestinian political parties. These young people do not seem to need partisan nudges to take to the street to voice their indignation.

With high unemployment and few future prospects, even Fatah and Hamas can only stand by and watch ordinary Palestinians confront the Israeli military occupation, expanding Jewish settlements and their pervasive oppression.

Ahlam admits that everyone knows the probable short-term outcome for young Palestinian civilians throwing stones against heavily armed Israeli troops.

“Israel might have the United States, a world military Goliath, behind them,” she acknowledges, “but we have our faith, determination, national identity and aspiration.”

The U.S. has never been sympathetic to the Palestinian struggle for democracy and freedom, she adds, as she looks around at the wounded being rushed to the hospital on motorcycles.

“The voice of truth in the USA is being gradually silenced. But we can’t and won’t be silenced,” Ahlam vows, “because our lives, our homes and our identity all depend on us making that choice—to live free or die.”

Palestinians Need Hope, not Calm

By John V. Whitbeck

ince the current upsurge of violence in

SIsrael and occupied Palestine began, numerous foreign leaders, as well as the 16

U.N. Security Council, have cited the urgent need to restore “calm.” It is not calm, a euphemism for Palestinian submission, that is urgently needed but, rather, genuine and credible hope for freedom and some measure of justice.

The Israeli government will not provide hope, and the Palestinian Authority cannot provide it.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu pledged during his re-election campaign that there would never be an independent Palestinian state on his watch, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, after promising that he would drop a “bombshell” in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly in September, dropped a damp squib instead. Those whose entire lives have been characterized by a “peace process” intended to maintain the status quo, a metastasizing settlement program that devours their land and a full range of daily humiliations have ample cause for despair.

While numerous obstacles to Israeli-Palestinian “peace” can be cited, the most fundamental obstacle to ending the occupation, now in its 49th year, is simple human nature. People rarely support a significant change in their lives unless they believe that the change will produce a significant improvement in the quality of their lives.

How can Jewish Israelis be brought to perceive ending the occupation as likely to improve the quality of their lives?

In recent years, Jewish Israelis have, understandably and rationally, viewed the status quo as the best of all possible worlds.

They have been enjoying peace, prosperity, unwavering Western economic and military support and unconditional American diplomatic protection, while Palestinians, out of sight and out of mind, have been suffering occupation, oppression, impoverishment and frequent, often lethal violence at the hands of the Israeli military and Israeli settlers.

This comfortable situation for Jewish Israelis, with the occupation being essentially free of costs and even inconvenience, must change. It could change either through nonviolent economic and political pressure sustained by the Western world, or through violent insecurity sustained by the occupied Palestinian people.

European states could apply meaningful and intensifying economic sanctions to Israel until it complies with international law and relevant U.N. resolutions and withdraws fully from occupied Palestine. Simultaneously, European states could apply John V. Whitbeck is an international lawyer who has advised the Palestinian negotiating team in negotiations with Israel.

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

strict visa regulations to all Israelis, requiring those seeking to visit Europe to provide clear documentary evidence that they neither live nor work in occupied Palestine.

In light of the years that the European Union has spent agonizing over even properly labeling the produce of illegal settlements sold in Europe, there can be scant optimism that European politicians will soon see it as in their personal interests to play such a principled and constructive nonviolent role.

Unfortunately, that leaves only violent insecurity. While one cannot advocate violence against civilians, one can nevertheless hope that such violence as does occur is limited in nature and produces constructive results. The current low-tech, knives-andscrewdrivers violence, producing a great deal of fear and anxiety but relatively few Jewish Israeli fatalities, may be the most effective and lowest-cost form of violence capable of producing the essential change in Jewish Israeli perceptions of their own interests.

If seemingly random and unpredictable attacks on Jewish Israelis were to continue for a significant period of time, they just might cause a critical mass of Jewish Israelis to conclude that perpetual occupation and oppression are not, in fact, the best of all possible worlds for them and that the quality of their lives would be enhanced by ending the occupation and permitting the Palestinian people to enjoy the same freedom and human dignity—whether in two states or in one— that Jewish Israelis demand for themselves.

It is a sad reality that, unless Jewish lives are lost, Jewish Israelis and the Western world tend to feel that the occupation is not a problem. Now that Jewish lives—and many more Palestinian lives—have been lost, with every likelihood that more will be lost in the weeks and months ahead, it is essential to take advantage of the world’s attention and promote new perceptions of future possibilities so that all these lives are not lost in vain.

If the current violence continues long enough to qualify as an “intifada,” it might appropriately be called the “Children’s Intifada.” Despairing of ever having meaningful lives, young people and even children are choosing, on their own initiative, to seek what they perceive as a meaningful death. This tragic despair can only be assuaged by hope.

When the violence ends, it must not be because the Palestinian people have been returned to their cage and forced to resume a fraudulent “peace process” leading nowhere.

It must be because young Palestinians finally have good reason to feel a genuine and credible hope that their freedom and some measure of justice are achievable. ❑ NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

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Sabra and Shatila 33 Years Later— A Personal Account SpecialReport

By Ellen Siegel his past September marked the 33rd

Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut.

On June 6, 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon and surrounded its capital, Beirut. One aim was to end the control of Beirut by the PLO. The city was under siege, blockaded, and repeatedly bombed, resulting in extensive casualties. On Aug. 21, the U.S. negotiated an agreement which would end Israel’s assault and allow for the safe evacuation of the PLO fighters. Western nations guaranteed that the refugees and civilian residents of the Palestinian camps would be protected by a multinational force (MNF) once the PLO left.

By Sept. 1, the PLO fighters had been evacuated from Beirut under the supervision of the MNF. Remember that this evacuation was conditional on the MNF providing security for the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. On Sept. 11, however, the MNF departed Lebanon. On Sept. 14 Lebanon’s newly elected president was assassinated. Within days, Israeli forces surrounded the Sabra and Shatila camps, preventing anyone from leaving.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), under the leadership of Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, gave permission for the Phalangists (a Lebanese Christian political party and militia, and avowed enemy of the Palestinians) to enter the camps in order “to rid the camps of any fighters left behind and to prevent chaos.” From Sept. 16 to 18 hundreds, possibly thousands, of innocent civilians living in the camps, including many women and children, were brutally slaughtered by this militia under the watchful eye, and with the aid, of the IDF. During this time, I was working as a nurse at the Gaza Hospital inside Sabra camp and bore witness to much of what happened. I subsequently testified before the Israeli Commission of Inquiry into the Massacre.

Every September I return to the camps to commemorate the massacre—and each year Ellen Siegel, an American Jewish nurse, is a peace activist who has focused her activism on bringing awareness of the situation of the Palestinian refugees in the camps in Lebanon to others. She volunteered her medical services in 1982 during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. She was working at Gaza Hospital in Sabra Camp during the massacre.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

PHOTOS BY SIRKKU KVISTO

Tanniversary of the massacre at the

ABOVE: The author (r) with Bahaa Tayyar, BAS director and senior social worker at the Ein el-Helweh Camp Center. RIGHT: A fourth-generation Palestinian refugee in Beirut. the situation for the Palestinians deteriorates. The 12 UNRWA camps in Lebanon with 455,000 registered Palestinian refugees are extremely overcrowded, and now house refugees from Syria as well. Most living spaces consist of two very small rooms: a bedroom, where the entire family sleeps, and a living room of sorts with a chair or two, maybe a sofa; in addition, there will be a small bathroom and an even smaller kitchen. There is no ventilation, and hardly any electricity. Most families use batterypowered lighting provided by American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Drinking tap water is prohibited, as it is full of bacteria and very salty—it actually corrodes pipes. Narrow alleyways—some with sewage running through—wind through the camps. When it rains these small paths become muddy.

Electrical wires hang from dwellings.

When I first went to Lebanon I noticed those wires. Over the years, I see that they have been strung lower and lower, so that now the top of your head can actually brush up against them. Walk through any THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

camp on any day: you can see young men connecting and re-connecting wires. From time to time, someone is electrocuted.

Foul odors emanate from those crowded conditions. Illness is rampant. In Nahr elBard, in the north, there is an impetigo epidemic (a highly contagious skin infection that mainly affects children) due to poor sanitary conditions; some camps have clinics which specialize in treating lice. Nahr elBard is in the process of slowly being rebuilt after being leveled in 2007. The construction produces dust and debris which blow into homes and affect those living there. Medications for all illnesses are in short supply.

This year, I noticed a few families living in very small spaces made entirely of tin.

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In Nahr el-Bard some refugees are still living in containers once meant to serve as temporary shelters.

To add to an already difficult situation, this year a sandstorm hit the Middle East.

The air was thick when I arrived; people could hardly see what was in front of them. Most wore masks. In the north, hundreds of people were admitted to the hospital with respiratory complications. A number of them died.

September was hotter than usual. Due to an ongoing trash strike, garbage was piled high in the streets. Almost everyone in my delegation had some sort of intestinal problem.

The Not to Forget Sabra and Shatila Commemoration is organized by the excellent NGO Beit Atfal Assumoud (BAS), the National Institution of Social Care & Vocational Training, directed by Kassem Aina. Our program was full and productive. This year we were joined by a delegation from Palestine representing NGOs in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. This delegation made our visit even more interesting as its members shared stories of their own day-to-day lives. They were appalled by the conditions in Sabra and Shatila, and remarked that they “were worse than in Gaza.” The leader of the delegation reminded all of us—visitors and camp residents alike—that “the Palestinians are one people no matter where they are…whether they are in the West Bank, Jerusalem, Gaza, Lebanon, Jordan, or in the diaspora. It is one struggle. And the Right of Return must be recognized.”

We visited many camps and broke bread with those living in them. One of the high points for me, always, is the visits with the survivors. I have known many of them for years. I am aware of their aging (as well as my own). I watch as they hold the frames containing faded pictures of those they lost so long ago. The survivors have grown old, their faces lined with wrinkles. Yet they remember their loved ones as they looked way back then—promising young boys, handsome husbands—all looking forward to a future which ended horribly and tragically in September of 1982. A small group of us visited the sparsely furnished home of one of the survivors, who now lives in what was once the hospital and is now a run-down shelter where hundreds of displaced live. She shared with us her story of what happened to her during the massacre.

The re-telling of those days during the massacre is important to me. It allows me to remember the events with her and with the translator (also a survivor). It verifies the moments, the past; it is a way of sharing. It is 18

a means for me, as a non-Palestinian, to deal with what happened. It re-affirms my commitment not to forget the event and to keep that part of Palestinian history alive. At the end of our visit I asked to see pictures of her grandchildren—she remarried after her husband was killed. This small request made her smile. Sharing talk of her grandchildren was a lovely way to end the visit.

Annually, we have lunch with a group of survivors. It allows us to share a delicious home-cooked Arabic meal prepared by BAS in a relaxed atmosphere. These people are our heroes; we want them to feel honored and special. As we’ve come to know them over the years, we share not only their sorrow and resignation, but their steps toward healing. One woman, who in years past was very tearful and sad, and seemed in poor health, looked wonderful this visit. She has lately been receiving excellent health care, and she was smiling and upbeat. One gentleman used to carry a book about his murdered son and always seemed anxious. This year he did not bring the book to the lunch.

Instead, he seemed in good spirits and joyfully sat with some of the delegation.

We traveled south to Rashidiyeh camp, on the edge of the Mediterranean, for a special visit. The residents say they like living there because it is “close to Palestine.” We were entertained with a lovely concert by the Assamoud band, debke dance, and poetry readings. For some reason, I always have tears in my eyes when I watch the young generation carrying on their tradition. No matter what the Israelis do, they cannot kill a culture!

The Closing Ceremony The commemoration program closes with a ceremony that includes survivors, those living in camps, including youth groups, guests and dignitaries at a cultural center close to the cemetery. After several speeches, the participants march from the center to the mass grave. Wreaths are laid, survivors place pictures of those lost close to the wreaths, prayers are said. It is a time to greet friends who come every year, to grieve alongside those who remain.

When I reflect on my visit, I am reminded that there are now four generations of Palestinians in these camps. It is a painful thought. I have had conversations with many of the elderly who came in 1948. At first, these refugees truly believed they would be returning within days to their homes, their groves and orchards in Palestine. They left with just the clothes on their backs. Most had lived quite comfortably, tending crops, working their farmland, raising animals, producing goods. Now THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

they are impoverished. Never did they imagine that 67 years later they would be living in such harsh conditions. The lack of basic essentials that most of us take for granted has become a way of life for them.

The generations that were born there are not aware of how comfortable and profitable their ancestors’ lives were; they know nothing better than their daily reality. Through no fault of their own, these Palestinians have lived out their lives in deplorable refugee camps. I always wonder why Israel has never taken any responsibility for this tragedy.

I have been asked, “Why is this massacre different from other atrocities the Palestinians have suffered? Why is so much attention paid to this one?” I am not sure I can answer. All I know is that the barbarity of what happened is unprecedented and that Israel played a direct role. The U.S. did not “provide safety and security” once the PLO left, despite the promise by President Ronald Reagan’s envoy Philip Habib. The Lebanese who participated were and never will be charged. All parties went free. Israel, America and Lebanon all played a role.

Justice has not been done.

A great deal of attention is paid to Gaza.

Most organizations are focused on the situation there, and that is understandable. But the conditions in the camps in Lebanon are ignored altogether. Why is this? One organization says that “its goal is to change U.S. policy.” Fine, but what about the decades of day-to-day suffering in the camps in Lebanon? Peace is not at hand; military occupation and violence are not compatible with peace. The conflict will not be resolved soon. Let us help those in need. No doubt, a fifth-generation Palestinian child will be born before long in Sabra and Shatila. Let us make life more tolerable for families and give youths the tools to further educate themselves, to improve their skills—let us allow them to hope for a better future.

The situation of the refugees in Lebanon was created decades ago for political objectives—yet today the refugees remain. They are not abstract political concepts, but individual human beings, generation upon generation, forced to live in conditions that are barely livable. This is the immediate question you can ask yourself, in whatever way works for you, without waiting for others to “solve” the “problem” of the refugees. What can you do?

You can join me for the 34th Commemoration next September. In the interim, you can support the work of ANERA. I am on its Medical Committee and have visited its proContinued on page 21 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

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Egypt Floods Its Border With Gaza Gazaon the Ground

SAID KHATIB/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

By Mohammed Omer

A Palestinian walks in a pool of water next to the entrance of flooded tunnels in Rafah, Sept.

18, 2015. or the second day in a row, the rooster

Fbelonging to one Gaza resident did not

greet daybreak at 5 a.m. Not because its poor and hungry owner had to eat it, but because Gaza’s border with Egypt no longer is peaceful. The incessant bombing had silenced the rooster.

In the sky above Rafah, the buzz of Israeli F16s and drones is, as always, present.

Now, however, one can’t tell if the fighter jets overhead are Israeli or Egyptian, or which neighboring country is sending its weaponized drones near the perimeter of the widening segregation fence that surrounds Gaza’s 1.8 million residents.

Already struggling to survive Israel’s constant assaults on their homes and livelihoods, they now can only watch as Egypt constructs a water barrier in the form of a canal along its 9-mile-long border with Gaza in an attempt to destroy any remaining smuggling tunnels on the Gaza side.

Award-winning journalist Mohammed Omer reports from the Gaza Strip, where he maintains the Web site <www.rafahtoday.org>.

His book Shell-Shocked: On the Ground Under Israel’s Gaza Assault is available from AET’s Middle East Books and More.

Follow him on Twitter: @MoGaza.

20

For the decade since Israel imposed its blockade and launched its war of attrition against Gaza, its residents have relied on such tunnels—just like the Polish Jews trapped in the Warsaw Ghetto—as the only way to obtain basic necessities. For some, the tunnels were a way to defend themselves and make a living. Soon, however, this lifeline will be gone, as Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has ordered his military to destroy all of Gaza’s tunnels. His intention is to sabotage the budgets and function of Gaza’s de facto Hamas government to the point where it no longer can pay its employees. The government used to earn $230 million a month from taxes on tunnel traffic, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Economy. Now there is nothing.

In September Egyptian troops began gradually preparing the water barrier by flooding the area with seawater. This made Gazans fear that their already fragile homes would suffer even more structural damage and become infested with more mold as the pumped-in seawater seeped through the craters and cracks left by Israel’s bombs.

Ala’a Nasser from East Rafah is concerned that the Egyptian canal will destroy what’s left of her family home.

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

“We have no peace or stability left, because of this pumped seawater under our feet,” she laments. “We are more fearful every day.”

People have no way to resist the water once it floods into their homes, says Nasser, who is afraid that soon the whole area will be flooded, affecting the lives of everyone in Rafah.

Agriculture will be drastically hit as well, threatening farmers who depend on their produce to survive Israel’s siege, according to local officials.

As Rafah Mayor Subhi Radwan told the Washington Report, Rafah has long been known as the “vegetable basket” of Gaza, as its soil is conducive to growing all types of vegetables.

“Pumping sea water will ruin the freshwater irrigation,” Mayor Radwan said, “and our drinking water will be salty and unhygienic.”

According to Egypt’s pro-government newspaper Al-Bawaba, the project is about 80 percent complete, and the canal will soon be used for farming fish.

When the canal is complete, warns Nizar Al-Wahidi, water expert and director of the Land and Irrigation Department at Gaza’s Ministry of Agriculture, clean water from Gaza’s natural aquifer will be 20 times saltier than its present levels. Egypt’s project threatens at least 3,000 natural aquifer wells, he says, by saltwater infiltrating into the natural underground system.

Mazen Al Banna, head of the Palestinian Water Authority, said some samples of pumped water examined in laboratories have shown 28 milligrams of salt per liter—the equivalent of seawater.

Because Israel has bombed and destroyed its water treatment plants and electricity network, Rafah is totally reliant on water from its aquifer. This means that if Egypt continues its project, there will be no clean water to drink in Rafah.

Should this happen, Al-Wahidi anticipates families being forced to move from their homes in Rafah.

An Egyptian security official who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that not only Gaza’s water will be affected, because its aquifer is connected to one in the Negev.

Meanwhile, says Mayor Radwan, “the seawater pipes are about 100 meters away from the Gaza border and will be connected to the water canals 20 meters under water.” He fears that the foundations of sewage treatment plants will be destroyed NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

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by leaking water underneath them.

“It is going to be catastrophic for all 230,000 inhabitants of Rafah,” adds their mayor.

By daylight, Egyptian soldiers can be seen actively working to connect water pipes from the sea, into the far east of Rafah city. In the dark of night, the sounds of shots fill the air as Bedouin clans and radical Islamist groups in Sinai clash with Egyptian troops.

Radwan admits he does not have direct contact with Egyptian authorities, but must rely instead on the international media to pass the message to Egypt to examine its conscience and reconsider the canal project, given the ramifications.

Mahmoud Qishta, a 45-year-old farmer living near the Egyptian border, says he can see seawater coming from the ground, as the level rises.

“We fear what will happen underneath us, in tunnels which will collapse, threatening the structure and standing of our homes, on top of possible mudslides and sinkholes,” he says.

Qishta says he is presently unable to irrigate his seawater-flooded land—and knows there is nowhere safe to run to when homes are flooded.

Qishta was separated from his cousins, who were living on the Egyptian side of Rafah, where their homes were among the hundreds destroyed by Egyptian troops to create a buffer zone along the border. Now, he believes, it’s Gaza’s turn.

As Qishta sits outside his home, he can only expect the worst to happen any day.

“I can’t live with constant war,” he says, “and we are given no peace, day or night, in the land where I was born and have raised my six children.”

Prior to Israel’s 2005 unilateral disengagement from Gaza, the Israeli military attempted to dig a canal between Gaza and Egypt. It halted the project, however, when local experts warned that the damage to natural aquifer waters could extend to Israeli border cities.

From Ramallah, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas claimed it was he who told Egyptian authorities to flood the tunnels between Gaza and Egypt with Mediterranean seawater.

Meanwhile, Qishta and his fellow farmers can only wonder how long they have before Gaza is made unlivable. A United Nations report warns that Gaza will be uninhabitable by 2020. But that prediction may turn out to be too optimistic. ❑

Sabra and Shatila…

Continued from page 18 grams in Lebanon. It does excellent work.

ANERA describes its mission as to “advance the well-being of people in the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon. Through partnerships and close consultations with local groups and communities, ANERA responds to economic, health and educational needs with sustainable solutions and delivers humanitarian aid during emergencies.” I encourage you to visit its website, <www.anera.org>, and consider becoming a donor.

BAS, which organizes our annual commemoration, has many projects in Lebanon— all professionally run and with ongoing training for those who provide services. Some of its programs include sponsorship for children and the elderly, social services for families and children, vocational training, literacy classes, computer training, embroidery production, mental health counseling, dental clinics, reproductive health clinics, and cultural and social activities. The kindergartens in the camps are fantastic—a lovely respite from camp life, giving children some sense of normalcy. One way of supporting BAS is to sponsor a child, a family or an elderly person through its website, <www.socialcare.org>. ❑

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

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Morocco’s Occupation of Western Sahara Parallels Israel and Palestine

United Nations Report

EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

By Ian Williams

Demonstrators display the flag of the Polisario Front during a march at the conclusion of the 2015 World Social Forum in Tunis, March 28, 2015. ctober 2015 was the 70th anniversary

Oof the United Nations—and one of

the problems it inherited from the League of Nations was the Mandate for Palestine.

It has not really been off the agenda since then, and last month saw meetings of the Quartet and numerous references to the Middle East in the halls of the U.N. But that month also saw another anniversary, which has haunted, rather than stalked, the corridors of the U.N. It was 40 years ago that the International Court of Justice overwhelmingly dismissed the Moroccan monarchy’s claim to suzerainty over Western Sahara and determined that the people of the territory had a right to selfdetermination.

In complete defiance of the Court—and the U.N. Security Council—Morocco invaded the territory and occupied it. Edited out of Moroccan history is that the invasion and occupation were initially in conjunction with Mauritania, which occupied the Ian Williams is a free-lance journalist based at the United Nations who blogs at <www. deadlinepundit.blogspot.com>.

22

southern part of the territory until Polisario drove them out. The Moroccans then occupied the former Mauritanian bloc and asserted their claim to the whole of Western Sahara. Since 1991, Morocco has refused to allow the referendum it agreed to until it was assured of a satisfactory result—and, in a rare concession to realism, Rabat realizes it has lost the hearts and minds battle.

All these decades later, the Moroccan occupation is still unrecognized internationally. Moreover, in a parallel to the recognition of the Palestinian state, many countries, particularly in Africa, have diplomatic relations with the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic—which, unlike the PA, at least controls some territory free of occupational incursions. Sadly, with few exceptions, such as Algeria, which has its own self-interest, Arabs generally have ignored Sahrawi struggles, despite the uncanny similarities with Palestine—even including a separation wall and settlers!

Bereft of Arab solidarity, and with formerly fervent support from former Cold War and non-aligned allies now smoldering at best, the Sahrawis languish in THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

refugee camps or under foreign occupation. The occupier has powerful allies, so most countries that could exert any pressure at the United Nations or elsewhere prefer to just ignore the continuing illegality, even if they have enough residual sense of shame to avoid condoning it or recognizing its results.

That has not stopped the occupier Morocco being “elected” to several terms on the Security Council, whose resolutions it has perennially flouted. Rabat has chosen its friends well. Despite being very favorably regarded by Washington, its main U.N. sponsor is France, whose establishment has often found the Moroccan relationship to be very profitable. That saves Morocco from being accused of stoogery for the West. The language is reminiscent of Palestine, and indeed of the Balkans, with the victim and the perpetrator equally exhorted not to rock the boat.

Equally in parallel with the resort to international legal remedies, the Sahrawis scored a legal victory of sorts in the English High Court, when it ruled that the Western Sahara Campaign UK’s case against the British government should go to the European Court of Justice. Highly relevant to the campaigns against imports of Israeli settlement produce, the case claims that London is allowing imports from the Western Sahara under trade agreements with Morocco. The plaintiffs argued, as others have done with settlement exports, that the occupying power has no legal jurisdiction over occupied Western Sahara and its territorial waters.

The former U.N. Under Secretary-General for legal affairs, Hans Corell, in 2002 responded to a question from the U.N. Security Council with a ruling that exploitation of Western Sahara’s resources, particularly off-shore oil and gas, was illegal.

Several oil companies took this seriously enough to drop out. There are some penalties for law-breaking, after all.

However, while some oil companies took fright, under pressure from France, EU fisheries agreements have been fudged to allow looting of Sahrawi fisheries—which is one of the occasions for the lawsuit.

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In the great shaggy dog take of hypocrisy, France’s unqualified support for Morocco highlights its otherwise noble initiative.

France pioneered a Code of Conduct on Security Council action against genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes which has already attracted over 90 supporting countries.

The strength of the Responsibility to Protect initiative is that countries like the UK and U.S. in Iraq cannot unilaterally invade other countries on a whim—at least legally. However, that is also its weakness.

Any one of the five permanent members can veto any attempt to intervene, no matter how necessary or desirable it might seem to the other countries.

The French initiative is a pledge by countries not to use its veto in such a case.

It is great PR, since neither France, nor for that matter Britain, are really in a position of power to use a real world veto any more.

However, France has consistently used its implied veto to protect Morocco, both in the U.N. and the EU, just as the Russians protected Serbia and Syria and the U.S. Israel. The anti-veto pledge is a good initiative nonetheless, but might take decades to have any cumulative effect. To hasten it, one hopes that the next time France tries to protect Morocco, other members will be impolite enough to point out the seeming contradiction.

Israel Contemptuous but Visible Still waiting for those legal effects to accumulate are the Palestinians. It is ironic that the current Israeli government is more visible at the U.N. than ever before, not least since its members are so contemptuous of the organization. Ambassador Danny Danon, whose political career in Israel has been built on forswearing U.N. resolutions and agreed peace plans like the two-state solution, has now arrived at the U.N. and made his “maiden” speech at the Security Council in order to denounce yet another French initiative, which is to put international forces on the Haram Al Sharif/Temple Mount.

Denouncing it, Danon said, “No nation represented in this chamber would accept the presence of international forces in their capital.” It did not seem to cross his mind that no one in the U.N. accepts Jerusalem as Israeli territory, let alone its capital! Indeed, the room he vituperated in had hosted innumerable meetings declaring the city to be occupied territory from which Israeli forces should withdraw!

But with considerable chutzpah, the ambassador declared that “Israel opposes any NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

change in the status quo on the Temple Mount. The place where the status quo needs to change is here at the U.N.” He followed that with a moment of inadvertent perspicacity. “If the U.N. is truly interested in calming tensions and bringing peace to the region, it must change its default settings. The U.N. must end its usual practice of calling on both sides to show restraint, and state clearly: there is one side that is instigating a wave of terror.”

That is indeed a perfect description of the anodyne Quartet statement made the same week, which blithely ignored the demolitions and deaths at the hands of the IDF, the expansion of settlements and the state-supported Brownshirt violence of settlers, and called for both sides to calm down. Ban Ki-moon went to Ramallah and to Israel to talk to the leaders.

But like everyone else, even as Ban referred piously to the two-state solution, he was too polite to mention that Binyamin Netanyahu and his ministers have repeatedly dismissed any intention of allowing any viable Palestinian state.

Ban did actually go beyond the customary pablum of visitors, telling reporters, “When there is confrontation or violence, I have been urging the Israeli side to please exercise maximum restraint, maximum restraint. You are a regular army. These are young children. Please use your political wisdom and maximum restraint.

“And I have urged Prime Minister Netanyahu to take urgent action, not to give any impunity, perception of impunity, and take a thorough investigation into those killings, including the families of settlers

whose families were brutally murdered.”

Even with that last balancing phrase, that is closer to a condemnation of settler violence than Secretary of State John Kerry and the White House have so far contrived.

Resigned but not Forgotten His resignation from the Quartet sinecure means that so far we have not had occasion to be rude about former Prime Minister Tony Blair. To compensate, we should consider the news that Blair was admitting that he made some degree of mistakes in Iraq, and that the course followed by himself and his chum George W. Bush helped lead to ISIL. This was not so much a heartfelt confession as pre-emptive spin. The release of missives from Colin Powell, proving that Blair supported invasion well before he has since admitted, played a part in augmenting public demand for results from the Chilcot Inquiry that has been looking into the origins of British involvement in the war. Blair has had an advanced copy and is preparing spin for public relations. His excuse is like Jack the Ripper admitting that he had made “mistakes“ while eviscerating all those women in London, but was simply using the best surgical techniques he was aware of at the time.

It is perhaps too much to hope, even surveying the toxic ruins of the Levant that resulted from his acts, that Blair will be indicted soon. But surely he will now be joining the select group of leaders from Henry Kissinger to General Pinochet who now consult their lawyers as well as their travel agents before venturing abroad. ❑

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Two Views The U.S. and Russia in Syria

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the president to go to war with Syria?

When last Obama requested such authority—in 2013, when chemical weapons were used—the American people arose as one to say no to U.S. intervention. Congress backed away without even voting.

Unprovoked air strikes on Syrian government forces would represent an unauthorized and unconstitutional American war. Does the Party of the Constitution no longer care about the Constitution?

Is a Republican Congress really willing to give Barack Obama a blank check to take us to war with Syria, should he choose to do so?

Is this what America voted for in 2014?

A no-fly zone means U.S. warplanes downing Syrian planes and helicopters and bombing anti-airFollowing a two-year siege, members of the Al Nusra Front, al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, sit on a former craft defenses at Syrian airfields.

To Damascus this would mean the Syrian army MiG-21 fighter jet after seizing the Abu Duhur military airport, the last government-held Americans have committed to the military base in northwestern Idlib province, Sept. 9, 2015. defeat of their armed forces and downfall of their regime.

War Party Targets Putin and bring down Russian planes. Not only could The Syrians would fight—and not only Assad this lead to a U.S.-Russia clash, but U.S.- the Syrian army. For Russia, Hezbollah and

By Patrick J. Buchanan backed Syrian rebels have a record of trans- Iran are all allied to the Damascus regime, aving established a base on the Syrian ferring weapons to the al-Qaeda affiliate. as all believe they have a vital interest in its coast, Vladimir Putin on Sept. 30 The end result of McCain’s initiative, survival. began air strikes on ISIS and other rebel sending Stingers to Syria, could be airliners How would Russia, Iran and Hezbollah forces seeking to overthrow Bashar Assad. blown out of the sky across the Middle East. respond to U.S. air strikes on their ally?

A longtime ally of Syria, Russia wants to Hillary Clinton wants the U.S. to create a Would they pack it in and leave? Is that preserve its toehold on the Mediterranean, no-fly zone. And the Oct. 2 Wall Street our experience with these folks? help Assad repel the threat, and keep the Journal endorsed the idea: Today, the U.S. is conducting strikes on Islamic terrorists out of Damascus.

“Mr. Obama could make Mr. Putin pay ISIS, and the al-Qaeda affiliate. But if we Russia is also fearful that the fall of a price....In Syria the U.S. could set up a begin to attack the Syrian army or air Assad would free up the Chechen terrorists no-fly zone to create a safe haven for force, we will be in a new war where the in Syria to return to Russia. refugees against...Mr. Assad’s barrel entire Shi’i Crescent of Iran, Baghdad, In intervening to save Assad, Putin is bombs. He could say U.S. planes will fly Damascus and Hezbollah, backed by doing exactly what we are doing to save wherever they want, and if one is attacked Russia, will be on the other side. our imperiled allies in Baghdad and Kabul. the U.S. will respond in kind.”

We will have taken the Sunni side in the Yet Putin’s intervention has ignited an U.S.-Russian dogfights over Syria are Sunni-Shi’i sectarian long war. almost berserk reaction. just fine with the Journal.

How long such a war would last, and John McCain has called for sending the On Oct. 3 The Washington Post seconded how it would end, no one knows.

Free Syrian Army surface-to-air missiles to the motion, admonishing Obama: “Carve Whatever one thinks of Putin’s policy in out safe zones. Destroy the helicopter fleet Syria, at least it makes sense. He is supportPatrick J. Buchanan is the author of the new Mr. Assad uses for his war crimes.” ing an ally, the Assad regime, against its enbook The Greatest Comeback: How Richard Has the War Party thought this through? emies, who seek to overthrow that regime.

Nixon Rose From Defeat to Create the New Establishing a no-fly zone over Syria, It is U.S. policy in Syria that makes no Majority. Copyright © 2015 Creators Syndi- which means shooting down Syrian sense. cate, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Patrick fighter-bombers and helicopters, is an act We train rebels at immense cost to fight J. Buchanan and Creators Syndicate, Inc. of war. But when did Congress authorize Assad who cannot or will not fight. We

H

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attack ISIS, which also seeks to bring down the Assad regime. And we, too, want to bring down Assad.

Who do we think will rise if Assad falls?

Do we have a “government in a box” that we think we can fly to Damascus and put into power if the Syrian army collapses, the regime falls and ISIS approaches the capital?

Have we forgotten the lesson of Animal Farm? When the animals revolt and take over the farm, the pigs wind up in charge.

For months, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia has called on Congress to debate and decide before we launch any new war in the Middle East.

One wishes him well. For it is obvious that the same blockheads who told us that if the Taliban and Saddam and Qaddafi fell, liberal democracy would arise and flourish, are now clamoring for another American war in Syria to bring down Assad.

And who says stay out? Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, both of whom also opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

There is something to be said for outsiders.

Should U.S. Ally With al-Qaeda In Syria?

By Robert Parry

he key sentence in The New York

TTimes’ Sept. 30 lead article about Russ-

ian airstrikes against Syrian rebel targets fell to the bottom of the story, five paragraphs from the end, where the Times noted in passing that the area north of Homs where the attacks occurred had been the site of an offensive by a coalition “including Nusra Front.”

What the Times didn’t say in that context was that Nusra Front is al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, an omission perhaps explained because this additional information would disrupt the righteous tone of the article, accusing Russia of bad faith in attacking rebel groups other than the Islamic State.

But the Russians had made clear their intent was to engage in airstrikes against the mélange of rebel groups in which alQaeda as well as the Islamic State played prominent roles. The Times and the rest of the mainstream U.S. media are just playing games when they pretend otherwise.

Plus, the reality about Syria’s splintered rebel coalition is that it is virtually impossible to distinguish between the few “moder-

ate” rebels and the many Sunni extremists.

Indeed, many “moderates,” including some trained and armed by the CIA and Pentagon, have joined with al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front, even turning over U.S. weapons and equipment to this affiliate of the terrorist organization that attacked New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001. Lest we forget, it was that event that prompted the direct U.S. military intervention in the Middle East.

However, in recent months, the Israeli government and its American neoconservative allies have been floating trial balloons regarding whether al-Qaeda could be repackaged as Sunni “moderates” and become a de facto U.S. ally in achieving a “regime change” in Syria, ousting President Bashar al-Assad, who has been near the top of the Israeli/neocon hit list for years.

A key neocon propaganda theme has been to spin the conspiracy theory that Assad and the Islamic State are somehow in cahoots and thus al-Qaeda represents the lesser evil. Though there is no evidence to support this conspiracy theory, it was even raised by Charlie Rose in his “60 Minutes” interview Sept. 27 with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The reality is that the Islamic State and al-Qaeda have both been leading the fight to destroy the secular Assad government, which has fought back against both groups.

And, if these two leading terror groups saw a chance to raise their black flags over Damascus, they might well mend their tactical rifts. They would have much to gain by overthrowing Assad’s regime, which is the principal protector of Syria’s Chris-

tians, Alawites, Shi’i and other “heretics.”

The primary dispute between al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, which began as “alQaeda in Iraq,” is when to start a fundamentalist caliphate. The Islamic State believes the caliphate can begin now, while al-Qaeda says the priority should be mounting more terrorist attacks against the West.

Yet, if Damascus falls, the two groups could both get a measure of satisfaction: the Islamic State could busy itself beheadings the “heretics” while al-Qaeda could plot dramatic new terror attacks against Western targets, a grim win-win.

One might think that the U.S. government should focus on averting such an eventuality, but the hysterical anti-Russian bias of The New York Times and the rest of the mainstream media means that whatever Putin does must be cast in the most negative light.

The Anti-Putin Frenzy On Oct. 1, one CNN anchor ranted about Putin’s air force attacking “our guys,” i.e., CIA-trained rebels, and demanded to know what could be done to stop the Russian attacks. This frenzy was fed by the Times’ article, co-written by neocon national security correspondent Michael R. Gordon, a leading promoter of the Iraq-WMD scam in 2002.

The Times article pushed the theme that Russians were attacking the white-hatted “moderate” rebels in violation of Russia’s supposed commitment to fight the Islamic State only. But Putin never restricted his military support for the Assad government to attacks on the Islamic State.

Indeed, even the Times began that part of the story by citing Putin’s quote that

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Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s.

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Russia was acting â&#x20AC;&#x153;preventatively to fight and destroy militants and terrorists on the territories that they already occupied.â&#x20AC;?

Putin did not limit Russiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s actions to the Islamic State.

But the Times article acts as if the phrase â&#x20AC;&#x153;militants and terroristsâ&#x20AC;? could only apply to the Islamic State, writing: â&#x20AC;&#x153;But American officials said the attack was not directed at the Islamic State but at other opposition groups fighting against the [Syrian] government.â&#x20AC;?

Unless The New York Times no longer believes that al-Qaeda is a terrorist group, the Timesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; phrasing doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make sense.

Indeed, al-Qaedaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Nusra Front has emerged as the lead element of the socalled Army of Conquest, a coalition of rebel forces which has been using sophisticated U.S. weaponry including TOW missiles to achieve major advances against the Syrian military around the city of Idlib.

The weaponry most likely comes from U.S. regional allies, since Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and other Sunni-led Gulf states have been supporting al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and other Sunni rebel groups in Syria. This reality was disclosed in a Defense Intelligence Agency report and was blurted out by Vice President Joe Biden.

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On Oct. 2, 2014, Biden told an audience at Harvardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kennedy School: â&#x20AC;&#x153;our allies in the region were our largest problem in Syriaâ&#x20AC;Śthe Saudis, the emirates, etc., what were they doing? They were so determined to take down Assad and essentially have a proxy Sunni-Shiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;i war, what did they do?

They poured hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of tons of military weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad, except the people who were being supplied were Al Nusra and alQaeda and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world.â&#x20AC;?

Al-Qaedaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Nusra Front also has benefited from a de facto alliance with Israel which has taken in wounded Nusra fighters for medical treatment and then returned them to the battlefield around the Golan Heights.

Israel also has carried out airstrikes inside Syria in support of Nusraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s advances, including killing Hezbollah and Iranian advisers helping the Syrian government.

The Israeli airstrikes inside Syria, like those conducted by the United States and its allies, are in violation of international law because they do not have the permission of the Syrian government, but those Israeli and U.S. coalition attacks are treated as right and proper by the mainstream U.S. media in contrast to the Russian airstrikes, which are treated as illicit even though they are carried out at the invitation of Syriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recognized government.

Obamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Choice Ultimately, President Barack Obama will have to decide if he wants to cooperate with Russia and Iran in beating back alQaeda, the Islamic State and other jihadistsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;or realign U.S. policy in accord with Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s obsession with â&#x20AC;&#x153;regime changeâ&#x20AC;? in Syria, even if that means a victory by al-Qaeda. In other words, should the United States come full circle in the Middle East and help al-Qaeda win?

Preferring al-Qaeda over Assad is the Israeli positionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;embraced by many neocons, too. The priority for the Israeli/neocon strategy has been to seek â&#x20AC;&#x153;regime changeâ&#x20AC;? in Syria as a way to counter Iran and its support for Lebanonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hezbollah, both part of Shiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;i Islam.

According to this thinking, if Assad, an Alawite, a branch of Shiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;i Islam, can be removed, a new Sunni-dominated regime in Syria would disrupt Hezbollahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s supply lines from Iran and thus free up Israel to act more aggressively against both the Palestinians and Iran.

For instance, if Israel decides to crack down again on the Palestinians or bomb Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nuclear sites, it now has to worry about Hezbollah in southern Lebanon raining down missiles on major Israeli cities.

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However, if Hezbollahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s source of Iranian missiles gets blocked by a new Sunni regime in Damascus, the worry of Hezbollah attacks would be lessened.

Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s preference for al-Qaeda over Assad has been acknowledged by senior Israeli officials for the past two years, though never noted in the U.S. mainstream media.

In September 2013, Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren, then a close adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, told the Jerusalem Post that Israel favored the Sunni extremists over Assad. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The greatest danger to Israel is by the strategic arc that extends from Tehran, to Damascus to Beirut. And we saw the Assad regime as the keystone in that arc,â&#x20AC;? Oren told the Jerusalem Post in an interview. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We always wanted Bashar Assad to go, we always preferred the bad guys who werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t backed by Iran to the bad guys who were backed by Iran.â&#x20AC;? He said this was the case even if the â&#x20AC;&#x153;bad guysâ&#x20AC;? were affiliated with al-Qaeda.

And, in June 2014, then speaking as a former ambassador at an Aspen Institute conference, Oren expanded on his position, saying Israel would even prefer a victory by the brutal Islamic State over continuation of the Iranian-backed Assad in Syria. â&#x20AC;&#x153;From Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perspective, if thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s got to be an evil thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s got to prevail, let the Sunni evil prevail,â&#x20AC;? Oren said. [See Consortiumnews.comâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Al-Qaeda, Saudi Arabia and Israel.â&#x20AC;?]

So, that is the choice facing President Obama and the American people. Despite the misleading reporting by The New York Times, CNN and other major U.S. news outlets, the realistic options are quite stark: either work with Russia, Iran and the Syrian military to beat back the Sunni jihadists in Syria (while seeking a powersharing arrangement in Damascus that includes Assad and some of his U.S.-backed political rivals)â&#x20AC;&#x201D;or take the side of al-Qaeda and other Sunni extremists, including the Islamic State, with the goal of removing Assad and hoping that the mythical â&#x20AC;&#x153;moderateâ&#x20AC;? rebels might finally materialize and somehow wrest control of Damascus.

Though Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m told that Obama privately has made the first choice, he is so fearful of the political reaction from neocons and their â&#x20AC;&#x153;liberal interventionistâ&#x20AC;? pals that he feels he must act like a tough guy, ridiculing Putin and denouncing Assad.

The danger from this duplicitous approach is that Obamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s penchant for talking out of multiple sides of his mouth might end up touching off a confrontation between nuclear-armed America and nuclear-armed Russia, a crisis that his verbal trickery might not be able to control. â?&#x2018; NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

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Iran Nuclear Agreement Clears Biggest Legislative Hurdle, but More Remain CongressWatch

By Shirl McArthur he nuclear agreement with Iran was

Tsigned by all parties on July 14 and, in

accordance with the “Nuclear Agreement Review Act,” S. 615, passed in May and previously described in this column, agreement documents were delivered to Congress on July 19, beginning the 60-day congressional review period. Under S. 615, Congress could pass either a resolution of disapproval, which would effectively kill the agreement, or a resolution of approval, in which case sanctions relief under the agreement could go forward. If neither resolution were passed, sanctions relief under the agreement could also go ahead.

Many congressional actions on the agreement took the form of measures regarding the agreement’s “Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action” (JCPA), which set forth the timeline of events to implement the agreement. The only serious effort to scuttle the agreement came in the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) took up a measure previously passed by the House, H.J.Res. 61, and amended it by replacing its text with a resolution of disapproval. That effort failed on Sept. 10, when a cloture motion to end debate, requiring 60 yes votes, failed by a vote of 58 to 42. McConnell tried again with a very slightly modified amendment on Sept. 17, the last day of the congressional review period. Its cloture motion also failed by 56 to 42.

All Republican senators voted to approve the resolution of disapproval. All but four Democrats opposed the resolution.

Those four were Sens. Ben Cardin (MD), Joe Manchin (WV), Bob Menendez (NJ) and Chuck Schumer (NY).

The House proceedings were a circus.

Since it was obvious that no resolution of disapproval would pass the Senate, retiring House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) resorted to bringing up three measures designed to let Republicans grandstand and appease their Likudnik donors and supporters. No actual resolution of disapproval was voted on. The first measure was the nonbinding H.Res. 411, introduced Sept. 9 by

Reps. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) and Lee Zeldin (R-NY), which claims that President Barack Obama has not complied with the Nuclear Agreement Review Act because he did not deliver all agreement documents. This claims that the agreements between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are part of the agreement, which they are not. The House passed the measure Sept. 10 on a party line vote of 245 to 186.

pponents do not O seem prepared to admit defeat.

Boehner then let opponents of the agreement explicitly show their disapproval.

On Sept. 11 he brought up H.R. 3461, which he had introduced two days earlier. It would approve the JCPA. It failed by a vote of 162 (all Democrats) to 269.

The third measure taken up by the House was H.R. 3460, introduced Sept. 9 by Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL), which would suspend the president’s authority to waive Iran sanctions until Jan. 21, 2017 (the day after the next president is inaugurated). It was passed on a vote of 247 to 186.

Another measure designed to scuttle the agreement and passed by the House was

H.R. 3457, introduced by Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-PA) on Sept. 9. It would prohibit waiving Iran sanctions until Iran has paid judgments brought against it. The House passed it on Oct. 1 by a vote of 251 to 173. An identical bill, S. 2086, was introduced in the Senate on Sept. 28 by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA). It has five co-sponsors, including Toomey.

As with the earlier Affordable Care Act, opponents do not seem prepared to admit defeat. Efforts to scuttle the agreement or hamper its implementation take different forms. The first to be taken up in the Senate may be the previously described S. 1682, introduced in June by leading Iran hawks Sens. Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Menendez “to extend the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 and to require the Secretary of the Treasury to report on the use by Iran of funds made available through sanctions relief.” The bill would extend the 1996 act through Dec. 31, 2026. While Kirk and Menendez argue that the bill is necessary to be able to “snap back” sanctions if Iran violates the terms of an agreement, that is not true, because the 1996 act doesn’t expire until the end of 2016. The bill has four co-sponsors, including Kirk and Menendez.

When Cardin announced that, after consulting with his rabbi, he would oppose the

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A PProject roject of Middle East Children’s Children’s Alliance

Shirl McArthur is a retired U.S. foreign service officer based in the Washington, DC area.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

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Status Updates S. 1617, introduced in June by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), “to prevent Hezbollah and associated entities from gaining access to international financial and other institutions,” has gained 6 co-sponsors and now has 26, including Rubio.

H.J.Res. 57, introduced in June by Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI), a “constitutional” authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) against ISIS, still has no co-sponsors.

S. 1587, introduced in June by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), AUMF against ISIS, still has two co-sponsors, including Kaine.

H.Res. 209, introduced in April by Rep. Jackie Walorski (RIN), deploring “the actions of the Palestinian Authority to join the International Criminal Court,” still has 32 cosponsors, including Walorski.

H.Res. 270, introduced in May by Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), expressing “the sense of Congress regarding the Palestinian Authority’s purported accession to the International Criminal Court,” still has 12 co-sponsors, including Franks.

H.R. 1489, introduced in March by Rep. Joe Crowley (DNY) urging “the president to make every effort, in conjunction with the government of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and the international community, to establish an International Fund for Israeli Peace,” still has two co-sponsors, including Crowley.

BILLS TO MOVE THE U.S. EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM H.Con.Res. 62, introduced in July by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), has gained 6 co-sponsors and now has 32, including Blackburn.

JCPA, he also said he would work to produce a bill that could get bipartisan support. However, his S. 2119, introduced Oct. 1, which would “provide for greater congressional oversight of Iran’s nuclear program,” was apparently too moderate for the current crop of congressional Republicans in that it would provide no new sanctions but merely restate Congress’ right to reinstate sanctions should Iran violate the aggreement. Its 12 co-sponsors, including Cardin, are all Democrats.

Beyond those two measures, there has been some discussion of naming Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organization. The problem with this tactic is that the Executive Branch, not Congress, designates terrorist organizations. So, identical bills were introduced on Sept. 29 in the House and Senate directing “the Secretary of State to submit to Congress a report on the designation of Iran’s IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization.”

H.R. 3646 was introduced by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), with 15 co-sponsors, and S. 2094 was introduced by Sen. Ted. Cruz (R-TX) with no co-sponsors. On Oct. 6 Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) introduced the similar H.R. 3693.

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H.R. 114, introduced in January by Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ), now has 23 co-sponsors, including Garrett.

S. 117, introduced by Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) in January, still has eight co-sponsors, including Heller.

BILLS OPPOSING THE BDS MOVEMENT H.Res. 318, introduced in June by Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL), has gained 7 co-sponsors and now has 32, including Curbelo.

H.R. 2645, introduced in June by Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA), still has no co-sponsors.

H.R. 825, introduced in February by Peter Roskam (R-IL), still has 70 co-sponsors, including Roskam.

S. 619, introduced in March by Sens. Benjamin Cardin (DMD) and Rob Portman (R-OH), has gained one co-sponsor and now has eight, including Cardin and Portman.

H.R. 1572, introduced in March by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO), still has 12 co-sponsors, including Lamborn.

BILLS TO CUT U.S. AID TO THE PALESTINIANS S. 34, introduced in January by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), still has no co-sponsors.

H.R. 277, introduced in January by Rep. Alcee Hastings (DFL), still has three co-sponsors, including Hastings.

H.R. 364, introduced in January by Rep. Curt Clawson (R-FL), still has five co-sponsors, including Clawson.

S. 633, introduced in March by Senator Paul, still has no co-sponsors.

—S.M.

While at least 15 other measures were introduced, few, if any, of them are likely to be acted on. Two resolutions disapproving the JCPA were introduced. H.Res. 367 was introduced by Roskam on July 16.

Since it is a non-binding resolution, introduced before the agreement documents were delivered to Congress, its sole purpose was to publicly announce that all 221 Republican co-sponsors would oppose the agreement, regardless of what it says. A straightforward resolution, H.J.Res. 64, disapproving the JCPA was introduced by Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) and 12 co-sponsors on Aug. 4.

Two resolutions similar to H.Res. 411 described above, claiming that Obama had not provided the texts of the “side deals” with the IAEA, were introduced. Cruz, on July 30, with no co-sponsors, introduced S.Res. 238, and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), with four co-sponsors, on Sept. 10 introduced S.Res. 251.

Similarly, two measures were introduced claiming that the agreement is a “treaty” and must get the “advice and consent” of the Senate. H.R. 3199 was introduced on July 23 by Rep. Dave Brat—the Virginia Republican who upset former Majority THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Leader Eric Cantor, then the only Jewish Republican in the House—with 10 cosponsors. H.Res. 410 was introduced on Sept. 8 by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) with 11 co-sponsors.

Three resolutions were introduced that would grant an authorization for the use of military force against Iran if it fails to comply with the JCPA. H.J.Res. 62 was introduced by Rep. John Larson (D-CT) on July 29 with no co-sponsors; H.J.Res. 65 was introduced by Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) on Sept. 8 with no co-sponsors; and H.J.Res. 66 was introduced by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) with five co-sponsors on Sept. 9.

Two U.N.-related resolutions were introduced. On July 23 Cruz introduced S. 1853, which would limit contributions to the U.N. if the arms embargo on Iran is lifted in accordance with the U.N. resolutions of July 20 approving the JCPA. Also on July 23 Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ) and 15 co-sponsors introduced H.Res. 379, whining that the U.N. acted on the JCPA before Congress.

Other Iran-related measures included H.R. 3662, introduced Oct. 1 by Rep. Steve Russell (R-OK) and 20 co-sponsors NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

mcarthur_27-29_Congress Watch 10/29/15 6:20 PM Page 29

to improve congressional oversight over the â&#x20AC;&#x153;administration of sanctions against Iranian terrorism financiers.â&#x20AC;? The nonbinding H.Res. 454 was introduced the same day by Russell and 13 co-sponsors, expressing the sense of the House that presidential waivers of â&#x20AC;&#x153;certain sanctionsâ&#x20AC;? against Iran â&#x20AC;&#x153;shall not be recognized by Congress.â&#x20AC;? On July 29 Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) introduced H.R. 3273, prohibiting assistance to Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nuclear program. The previous day Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) introduced the truly remarkable H.R. 3259, which would authorize the president to detain non-diplomatic Iranian officials as hostages until U.S. citizens held in Iran are released!

McGovern (D-MA) with two co-sponsors on Sept. 8.

Leading Israel-firster Rep. Ileana RosLehtinen (R-FL) on Oct. 1 introduced H.R. 3667 â&#x20AC;&#x153;to promote transparency, accountability, and reform within the U.N. system.â&#x20AC;? Her previous such efforts have focused on eviscerating the U.N. Relief and Works Agency because of its unforgivable sin of helping Palestinian refugees.

Meanwhile, Ros-Lehtinenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s H.Res. 293, which she introduced in June, â&#x20AC;&#x153;expressing concern over anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incitement within the Palestinian Authority,â&#x20AC;? has gained 50 co-sponsors and now has 58, including Ros-Lehtinen.

Bills Introduced to Limit Arms to Bahrain, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Reformâ&#x20AC;? U.N.

New Measure Introduced Opposing â&#x20AC;&#x153;BDSâ&#x20AC;? Actions Against Israel

Identical House and Senate bills were introduced prohibiting the U.S. from selling or transferring to Bahrain specified weapons and crowd control items until Bahrain has implemented all 26 recommendations in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry report.â&#x20AC;? S.2009 was introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden (DOR) and two co-sponsors on Aug. 6, and H.R. 3445 was introduced by Rep. Jim

On July 29 Royce with four co-sponsors introduced the non-binding H.Res. 402, â&#x20AC;&#x153;expressing the sense of the House regarding politically motivated acts of boycott, divestment from, and sanctions against Israel.â&#x20AC;? This is a â&#x20AC;&#x153;feel-goodâ&#x20AC;? measure, with little effect, because, as opposed to other previously described measures aimed at the BDS movement in response to Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s activities in its colonies, this measure does

not equate Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s colonies with Israel. European countries are not boycotting Israel and havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t indicated they plan to, but they do impose restrictions on dealing with Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s colonies, and it has long been U.S. policy to oppose boycotts of Israel, but this has not included Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s colonies on the West Bank.

The other anti-BDS measures, which do equate Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s colonies with Israel, have made little progress (see â&#x20AC;&#x153;Status Updatesâ&#x20AC;? box).

Bill Promoting Cooperation With Jordan Progresses As previously reported, S. 1789, the Senate version of the House-passed U.S.-Jordan Defense Cooperation bill, was introduced

by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) in July. It is intended to help Jordan in the fight against ISIS and in dealing with the Syrian refugee crisis. Among other provisions, it would authorize the State Department to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding to increase military cooperation, including joint military exercises and support for international peacekeeping missions. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee ordered it favorably reported on Oct. 8, with 18 co-sponsors, including Rubio. â?&#x2018;

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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adas_30-31_New York City and Tri-State News 10/28/15 9:37 PM Page 30

Bassem Tamimi: “To Liberate Palestine, We Must Have Free Women”

STAFF PHOTO J. ADAS

By Jane Adas

Bassem Tamimi. e’ve all heard people ask, regretfully or accusingly: Where is the Palestinian Gandhi? Mandela? Martin Luther King? They exist. One of them spoke at the New School in New York on Sept. 15. Like his models, Bassem Tamimi has spent time in his oppressors’ prisons—a dozen times so far, mostly in administrative detention. Like them, he is committed to nonviolent struggle.

Tamimi, born in 1967 in Nabi Saleh, grew up under Israeli occupation. He witnessed settlers burning Palestinian fields, destroying water wells, and cutting olive trees while guarded by Israeli soldiers. Armed struggle did not succeed. Tamimi rued “the mistake of suicide bombing that led to a poor image of Palestinians.” Negotiations failed. Under the peace process Palestinians “lost more land and got more settlers.”

While in prison, Tamimi and his fellow detainees analyzed the situation and concluded that a third alternative of unarmed resistance is the most moral and effective means to combat injustice. They began demonstrating in December 2009 and have continued ever since. Tamimi admitted he was wary at first when Israelis began joining them, but they have since become family. He “cannot accept settlers in the same

W

Jane Adas is a free-lance writer based in the New York City metropolitan area.

30

way,” he acknowledged, although they cannot provoke him to hate them because their minds are also occupied by Zionism.

Tamimi proudly asserted, “We have the mentality to have women participate. To liberate Palestine, we must have free women.” His own family is a model. You can see them in an Aug. 28 video that went viral (YouTube Nabi Saleh): an Israeli soldier has captured and is assaulting a 12year-old boy whose arm is in a cast, then women and girls struggle with the soldier and manage to free the boy. The abashed soldier tosses a tear gas canister at them as he slouches off. The Palestinians are Tamimi’s son, Mohammed, his wife, Nariman, and his 14-year-old daughter, Ahed.

When Diplomacy Succeeds: The Iran Agreement The Princeton Middle East Society hosted a Sept. 16 panel on “When Diplomacy Succeeds: The Iran Agreement.” Dr. Zia Mian, a physicist and expert on fissile materials, introduced himself as the “token scientist.”

He described the Iran agreement as the biggest achievement in reducing the danger of nuclear weapons since the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) went into effect in 1970. Iran has gone far beyond NPT requirements, Mian explained, by accepting an enormous range of restrictions and intense inspections, including 24/7 monitoring of enrichment facilities.

However, Mian also sees some “dark sides.” First is the issue of Israel’s nuclear weapons. The 190 signatories of the NPT (all nations except for North Korea, India, Pakistan, Israel and South Sudan) meet every five years. At the most recent meeting this past spring, they were unable to agree on a joint statement because the U.S., joined by Great Britain and Canada, would not accept a conference on a nuclear weapons-free Middle East. Thus the opportunity to embed the Iran agreement in a larger process was lost.

Second, to assuage opponents of the agreement, the U.S. will give to Israel and sell to Saudi Arabia the most advanced weapons, the kind that kill in Syria, Yemen and Gaza, including new ammunition to replace used inventory. Mian described this as “shameful.” Third, although one aspect of the NPT is for nuclear states to move toward disarTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

New York City and Tri-StateNews mament, even Barack Obama, “the most anti-nuclear weapon president ever,” has committed to a $1 trillion plan to upgrade the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

Seyed H. Mousavian, the spokesman for Iran during the 2003-05 nuclear negotiations, is now a research scholar at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School. When the Iranian nuclear crisis began, he explained, three options were on the table: diplomacy, sanctions, and war. Diplomacy failed because the Bush administration insisted on zero Iranian enrichment. It succeeded 10 years later, according to Mousavian, because the U.S. changed its demand to zero nuclear bombs.

From 2006 to 2013, Iran was subjected to the second option: the world’s most comprehensive sanctions. However, rather than forcing Iran to give up enrichment, Tehran accelerated its program with many more advanced centrifuges. By 2013, Mousavian said, Iran was an estimated three months from producing a weapon. This left war, which all agreed was a bad option.

After Obama won re-election in 2012 and Hassan Rouhani won the Iranian presidential election the following year, negotiations resumed. Twenty months of talks produced the comprehensive agreement, one that Mousavian believes will enhance security in the region. He expressed hope that increased cooperation between Iran and the U.S. will help in settling other crises, as in Syria and Yemen, and will reduce tension between Iran and Israel.

Philip Weiss, co-editor of Mondoweiss, described himself as the “token journalist, therefore more superficial and optimistic.”

He spoke about opposition to the agreement from the Israel lobby, which he defined as groups that aim to maintain the special relationship between Israel and the U.S. and to preserve Israel’s immunity at the U.N. and among human rights bodies.

Weiss observed that some of the Israel lobby’s core principles were broken in this debate. Disagreements should be private, but in this case the lobby split publicly between the traditional hard right that supports Israel right or wrong, and liberal Zionists who supported the agreement. The lobby wants to be seen as receiving bipartisan support, but Republicans arranging for Netanyahu to criticize the agreement before both houses of ConNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

gress was â&#x20AC;&#x153;staggering overreach.â&#x20AC;? This, Weiss concluded, killed potential Democratic opposition to the deal, augmented by the important role played by the Congressional Black Caucus, who â&#x20AC;&#x153;came together in real anger.â&#x20AC;? The issue of dual loyalty over U.S. versus Israeli interests even became a topic of conversation in the media.

Within the Jewish community, Weiss sees a generation concerned with European persecution of Jews giving way to one more aware of the persecution of Palestinians. He sees a civil war coming among American Jews, not between left and right, but between liberal Zionists, such as J-Street, who believe in separation and occupation on a racial basis, and non-Zionists who respect human rights for all.

Dr. Husam Zomlot: Peace, Justice Not Yet Synonymous Dr. Husam Zomlot is a roving ambassador for Palestine, teaches public policy at Birzeit University, and was involved in the peace process as a senior diplomat representing the Palestinian Authority. En route to give a talk about Palestinian politics and strategy at Princeton University on Sept.

21, he read the brochure of the sponsoring organization, The Mamdouha Bobst Center for Peace and Justice. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Peace AND Justice,â&#x20AC;? he asked, â&#x20AC;&#x153;the two words together?â&#x20AC;?

Zomlot explained that in the Palestinian context, the words are different. Justice for Palestinians would be a sort of liberation with the Right of Return for refugees, a sort of defeat of Zionism and its exclusivism, and one state in the whole land with real equality. This was the PLO platform until 1988. Peace, however, is about only what is possible, a compromise based more on the balance of power than on rights, Zomlot said. This was behind the 1988 Palestinian initiative offering the twostate solution: peace for 22 percent justice.

This was followed by the Oslo peace process during which time settlements have tripled, cutting the arteries of what would have been a Palestinian state, and violence has risen, with a bloody Palestinian intifada and three Israeli wars on Gaza. PA President Mahmoud Abbas then tried internationalization. Zomlot described the U.N. recognition of the state of Palestine as â&#x20AC;&#x153;symbolic, but vital,â&#x20AC;? yet conditions have not improved.

What went wrong? Zomlot sees four NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

STAFF PHOTOS J. ADAS

adas_30-31_New York City and Tri-State News 10/28/15 9:37 PM Page 31

TOP (l-r): Zia Mian, Seyed H. Mousavian and Philip Weiss. ABOVE: Dr. Husam Zomlot. main factors. First, the premise that only the two sides can resolve the conflict through bilateral negotiations disregards the asymmetry of power, leaving a â&#x20AC;&#x153;might makes rightâ&#x20AC;? situation. The Iran nuclear negotiations succeeded, he added, because the parties involved truly were international; moreover, Israel would never have been created without an international system.

Second, the peace process became permanent, as though designed to prevent any outcome in order to allow for an irreversible expansion of colonization. This came about, Zomlot suggested, because the U.S. could not afford for the process to succeed or to fail. Zomlot cited as the third factor the related false assumption that the U.S. can deliver Israel. Peace between Israel and Palestine is in the best strategic interests of the U.S. The issue is a high priority for the personal ambitions of presidents and secretaries of state. Zomlot noted that President Obama has already received an advance from the Nobel Prize committee. But, he added, U.S. policies and ambitions are not supported by U.S. politics. A final factor is change. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Palestinian equilibrium that produced the offer is gone,â&#x20AC;? he explained, â&#x20AC;&#x153;and Israeli society has moved to the right.â&#x20AC;?

On where to go from here, Zomlot recommended that Palestinians re-explain their 1988 offer, which was based on a starting THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

point of 1948, not 1967, as Israeli settlers who aim to establish two states within the West Bank seem to infer. The PA should re-organize, since much of what it has doneâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;revising its charter, security cooperationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;has been in the service of the peace process. It should now reshape itself according to Palestinian needs.

One step would be to find a formula whereby groups such as Hamas can participate. Zomlot described himself as secular to the bone, but insisted Hamas is not an external phenomenon, but is rather part of the national fabric. As such, it is a Palestinian concern, and not Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s or Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s.

He urged Palestinians to produce a bloodless, nonviolent sense of crisis through internationalization, sanctions, and peaceful resistance on the ground in order to â&#x20AC;&#x153;unlimboâ&#x20AC;? the situation. Israelis are comfortable and have no incentive to change, so Palestinians must convince them the status quo is not sustainable. He proposed giving Israel a choice: either a military occupation subject to the Geneva Conventions, or a big, grey, one-state reality with half the population denied civil rights.

Zomlot sees signs of hope. Within Israeli society there is fear of a loss of ethos, reflected in the increasing number of Israeli youths among protesters. He sees real change, in part due to the transparency of social media, both in international public opinion and within Jewish communities in America. The Iran agreement may open up regional opportunities. And, although they only have one year left, it is enough time for people as capable as President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to negotiate a solution that combines peace and justice. â?&#x2018; (Advertisement)

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pasquini_32-33_Northern California Chronicle 10/29/15 7:40 PM Page 32

CAIR-CA, Community Groups Thank Governor for Signing Racial Profiling Bill

Northern California Chronicle

CAIR-SV executive director Basim Elkarra speaks at a Sacramento rally in support of the Racial Profiling and Identity Act. he California Chapter of the Council on

TAmerican-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CA)

joined the Communities United Coalition and other community groups in thanking California Gov. Jerry Brown for signing the Racial Profiling and Identity Act (AB953) on Oct. 3.

“The safety and security of all communities is paramount, which is only possible when there is trust between those communities and law enforcement,” said CAIR-CA chair Safaa Ibrahim. “This legislation will make data on racial and identity profiling by law enforcement available. It will also lead to transparency and accountability where there is an issue of profiling and highlight law enforcement agencies that can be examples to others.”

On Sept. 2 the Sacramento Valley (SV) chapter of CAIR joined some 1,000 protesters for a march and rally at the Sacramento state Capitol to call for the passage of the bill, which will update the state’s definition of racial and identity profiling and mirror federal recommendations by including gender and sexual orientation.

California law enforcement agencies will now be required to collect and report data on stops, frisks and other interactions with the communities they serve, and establish an advisory board to analyze the data and develop recommendations to address policing problems.

Elaine Pasquini is a free-lance journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

32

Noting that passing AB953 was just the beginning, he averred, “Tomorrow we will try to pass it on the federal level with ERPA. This is going to be a victory, but the next victory is ERPA.” Following the outdoor program, which featured the testimonials of many family members of loved ones killed by law enforcement officers, Rev. Ben McBride, regional director of clergy development for the California chapter of PICO (People Improving Communities Through Organization), led the large crowd into the Capitol, where they held a vigil outside Governor Brown’s office. Since Brown was not there, they asked to speak to him by phone, but were unsuccessful. “We have brought the power of nonviolent energy to the Capitol,” the reverend said. “We are calling on all of our legislatures to do what is right.”

On Oct. 8, Governor Brown also signed into law SB 178, the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act, that protects privacy of electronic communications such as e-mails and texts from warrantless searches.

“The last few months have been a difficult journey to get bills through this house that really respond to the tragedies and challenges we face in the streets of California,” Assembly member Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), who introduced the bill, told the Egyptian Americans Meet New crowd on the steps outside the Capitol. “As Consul General I have said consistently to my colleagues, I am tired of the vigils. I am tired of the prayer sessions. I am tired of people feeling sorry for us. I want action. And we have the ability to do that as elected officials.

We will not stop until we achieve the goal that we have so that every Californian and every person in this nation feels the sense that they have purpose, that they are respected, that they Ambassador Lamia Aly Hamada Mekhemar, Egyptian consul genhave dignity and they eral to the Western United States. can hand to their children a future that is better than the present.” The Egyptian American Society for the San Dressed casually in a black T-shirt with Francisco Bay Area (EAS) and the Bay Area the words, “I must be popular, I’m stopped Egyptians (BAE) hosted an Oct. 3 reception at airports,” CAIR-SV executive director at the Foster City Community Center welBasim Elkarra drew enthusiastic applause coming Ambassador Lamia Aly Hamada when he told the crowd: “For over a decade Mekhemar to Northern California. Last CAIR has gone to Washington every year to month Mekhemar became Egypt’s consul lobby for the ERPA act [End Racial Profil- general to the Western United States, based ing Act of 2013]. Every year we lose, but in Los Angeles. She had previously served as Egypt’s ambassador to the Holy See. we go back.”

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

STAFF PHOTO E. PASQUINI

STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI

By Elaine Pasquini

pasquini_32-33_Northern California Chronicle 10/29/15 8:32 PM Page 33

the Israel Defense Forces.

Many carried homemade signs criticizing the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and the killing of innocent civilians. Speaking to passersby one protester declared, “Zionism is a criminal enterprise!”

The activists were protesting the most significant escalation of violent attacks against Palestinians by the IDF since June 2014.

Between Sept. 29 and Oct. 10, Israel military forces A poster of executed Iranian political prisoners. killed four Palestinians in East Jerusalem, including 13-year-old Bay Area Iranian-American community ralAbdul Rahman Obeidallah, and injured lied in San Francisco’s Union Square con794 in the occupied West Bank and East demning the death penalty in Iran. “In the Jerusalem. In Gaza on Oct. 9, the IDF shot last two years over 2,000 people have been and killed Shadi Hussam Dawla, 20; executed in Iran—an average of one execuAhmad al-Harbawi, 20; Abed al-Wahidi, tion every seven to eight hours,” said 20; Muhammad al-Raqeb, 15; Ziad Nabil Hamid Azimi, communications director of Sharaf, 20; Adnan Moussa Abu Elayyan, the Iranian American Community of North22, and Jihad Salim al-Ubeid, 22, and in- ern California.

IACNC’s main goal is to promote a demojured 145 Palestiniansduring demonstracratic government in Iran. “We want a retions near the border checkpoint.

On Oct. 10, Israeli police killed 16-year- public where there is a separation of church old Ishaq Badran near the Damascus Gate and state,” Azimi stated. The IACNC urges entrance to the Old City. On the same day, Washington to engage with the people of the IDF shot and killed Ahmad Salah, 24, Iran who are seeking a true democracy, and not the regime. ❑ in Shu’fat Refugee Camp.

The number of Palestinians arbitrarily arrested skyrocketed in September. Some 94 children in East Jerusalem and at least 14 adults and three children in Silwan Abusharar & Associates . . . . . . . . . . 25 were arrested on Oct. 5. During the first Alalusi Foundation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 week of October there were 130 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination For two days during the Jewish holiday Committee (ADC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 of Sukkot, Israeli officials barred all PalesAmerican Friends of Birzeit tinians from entering Jerusalem’s Old City, University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 except for those who live or work there. IsAmerican Near East Refugee Aid raeli authorities also disallowed Palestinian (ANERA) . . . . . . . Inside Back Cover males under the age of 50 from worshipping at the al-Aqsa mosque, located in the Folk Art Mavens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Old City. The Palestine Red Crescent SociHoly Land Principles. . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 ety declared a state of emergency following Israel’s Influence: Good or Bad for 14 attacks by Israeli military forces and setAmerica? Conference. . . . . . . . . . . 7 tlers against its ambulances and staff in the Kinder USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 three days preceding the crackdown.

Due to the brutal crackdown, restriction Mashrabiya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 of movements and rising tensions, the AlMiddle East Children’s Alliance. 23, 27 Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art in Muslim Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 the Old City cancelled its opening exhibition Northern California International of Wihdeh by Naqsh Design House. LikeSolidarity Movement . . . . . . . . . . 11 wise, Sunbula, located in East Jerusalem, postponed its Home Décor and Furniture Palestinian Medical Relief Society . 15 Show.

Persian Heritage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Purasati . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Iranian-Americans Condemn Executions in Iran United Palestinian Appeal (UPA) . . . . . . . . . Inside Front Cover On Oct. 11, in support of World Day Against the Death Penalty, members of the STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI

The Egyptian Americans in attendance had many issues to discuss with the ambassador. Simplifying the voting procedure for Egyptians living in Northern California was one of the main concerns guests brought up in the meeting. Currently, Egyptians must travel to the consulate in Los Angeles to cast their vote. The suggestion was made to use an absentee ballot system as is used in California elections.

To address concerns of Egyptians living abroad, Egypt’s recently sworn-in cabinet created a new Ministry for Immigration and Expatriate Affairs, headed by Nabila Makram Abdel-Shaheed. This department will provide a conduit for communication with expatriate Egyptians.

All of the guests enthusiastically supported one community member’s idea of “investing the brain power of Egyptians in the Bay Area to benefit Egypt.”

Activists Protest IDF “Gala”

STAFF PHOTO E. PASQUINI

IndextoAdvertisers

A human rights supporter protests the Israel Defense Forces killing of innocent Palestinians.

More than 50 passionate human rights supporters chanting, “IDF you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide!” greeted guests arriving at San Francisco’s posh Palace Hotel on Oct. 11 to attend a gala dinner honoring soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces hosted by the organization Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. Members of CODEPINK, World Can’t Wait and Occupy SF Action Council loudly decried the ongoing and escalating brutal treatment of Palestinians living in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem by NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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brownfeld_34-36_Israel and Judaism 10/29/15 7:56 PM Page 34

Will a Freed Pollard Become a Hero and Role Model for Israel and its American Friends?

Israel andJudaism

By Allan C. Brownfeld

THOMAS COEX/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Navy’s Sixth Fleet, recording all their observations of Soviet planes, ships and submarines in the Mediterranean Sea. He turned over documents on how Navy intelligence was tracking Soviet submarines, and material revealing that one of America’s most highly classified photo-reconnaissance satellites could take pictures not just straight down but from an angle. Foreign navies might think they could take a missile out of hiding once a satellite passed over but, in fact, it was still snapping pictures. Because of Pollard, they now knew this.

Thus, the material Pollard provided would be of use to many other countries besides Israel. Writing in the Jan. 18, 1999 New Yorker, Seymour Hersh quoted senior U.S. intelligence officials saying that some of these documents made their way to Moscow, perhaps through a KGB Esther Pollard (c), wife of the American spy for Israel Jonathan Pollard, speaks at a July 29 press mole in the Mossad, who was later conference on a street in downtown Jerusalem. arrested. The material may have been shared with Moscow, writes Hersh, onathan Pollard, the convicted Ameri- ments List, which revealed which commu- “Perhaps by Israeli officials who gave the can spy for Israel who has served 30 nications channels of which military pow- Soviet Union the documents in exchange years of his life sentence, is scheduled to be ers, in which regions, the National Security for letting more Jews emigrate to Israel.” Sereleased from prison on Nov. 21. It seems Agency (NSA) was intercepting, in what nior officials told Hersh that Pollard’s hanlikely that, upon his release, he will be order of priority. It would indicate to the dlers had asked him to get certain types of hailed as a hero in Israel as well as by many reader where and what actions the U.S. documents that seemed of little use to Israel of Israel’s friends in the U.S., particularly military might take. but of great value to the Soviet Union. those who have worked actively for his reContrary to claims by Pollard supporters Joseph diGenova, the prosecutor in lease and argued that, despite his own that he had only stolen classified documents charge of the Pollard case, said that the guilty plea, he was, somehow, a “political dealing with Arab military strength in order damage he did to U.S. security was “beprisoner” and the victim of religious dis- to help Israel stave off an invasion and that yond calculation.” Defense Secretary Cascrimination. none of his actions harmed American secu- par Weinberger told Israeli Ambassador What Pollard did is not open to ques- rity, the facts tell a far different story. M.E. Meir Rosenne that Pollard should have tion. He was working as a civilian intelli- “Spike” Bowman, a senior counterintelli- been executed. gence analyst for the U.S. Navy when he gence officer who was working the Pollard Originally, Israel disavowed Pollard, but was recruited by the Israeli Defense Min- case, has since confirmed that the item in has now embraced him. He was granted Isistry in the mid-1980s. He delivered suit- question was a NSA manual called RASIN, raeli citizenship in 1995. By 2013, he becases full of military intelligence to Israel, short for “Radio Signal Notations” (see Sep- came the focal point of a protest movement including satellite photos. Among the tens tember 2015 Washington Report, p. 23). The in Israel. An online petition demanding of thousands of secret documents that Pol- RASIN was a guide to the physical parame- clemency quickly attracted 175,000 signalard stole for the Israelis was The National ters of every radio signal that the NSA was tures. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu SIGINT [Signals Intelligence] Require- intercepting, a guide on how the NSA was has repeatedly called for Pollard’s release, as tracking military communications—not just has former President Shimon Peres. When Allan C. Brownfeld is a syndicated colum- Israel’s but any and every country’s, in- Pollard’s November release was announced, nist and associate editor of the Lincoln Re- cluding the Soviet Union’s. Pollard gave his Israeli Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel, who view, a journal published by the Lincoln In- Israeli handlers every single page of the 10- headed the Knesset’s Pollard caucus, welstitute for Research and Education, and edi- volume RASIN. comed the news with the Shehecheyanu tor of Issues, the quarterly journal of the Pollard also provided a year’s worth of prayer that Jews utter on a monumental ocAmerican Council for Judaism. memos by intelligence officers in the U.S. casion. He declared: “After 30 years too

J

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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

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many, I bless Jonathan and his family…I am waiting with love for him to land here.”

Danny Ayalon, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., expressed opposition to the fact that Pollard would not be permitted to leave the U.S. for five years: “It’s important that he be allowed to come to Israel immediately on his release...It’s the basic right of every Jew to return to his or her ancestral homeland, the land of Israel.” The Jerusalem City Council changed the name of the square near the official prime minister’s residence from Paris Square to Freedom for Jonathan Pollard Square.

Shortly after Pollard’s sentencing, a strange campaign was launched calling for his immediate release, suggesting that he was a “political prisoner,” and a victim of anti-Semitism. Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, president of the Synagogue Council of America, wrote, “Virtually every major American Jewish organization has asked for [Pollard’s] release.” Full-page advertisements appeared with the support of such leaders as Rabbi Norman Lamm, president of Yeshiva University, and Rabbi Gerald Zelizer, president of the Rabbinical Assembly. The New York and Chicago Board of Rabbis called for Pollard’s release.

In 1989, the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) called upon the entire

Reform Jewish movement to express support for Pollard. In a resolution passed unanimously by its executive board, the CCAR urged Jewish and Christian organizations to “encourage the U.S. Government to re-evaluate the Pollard case.” Rabbi Mark Golub, a spokesman for the CCAR, declared, “All the images about Pollard by the press turned out to be a terrible slander.”

On April 25, 1989 a group of 15 rabbis participated in a Passover “freedom Seder” in front of the maximum security federal prison in Marion, Illinois in support of Pollard. The Seder, led by Rabbi Avi Weiss of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, New York, began with a brief ceremony on the front steps of the historic Old Courthouse in St. Louis, where the landmark Dred Scott case was argued in 1846. Rabbi Weiss referred to Pollard as “a Jewish political prisoner.”

Shortly after the conviction of Pollard and his first wife, Anne, a Justice for the Pollards Committee was organized. It portrayed Pollard as a victim of a vindictive and anti-Semitic Justice Department. “We have before us a new Dreyfus affair,” said a newsletter put out by the committee.

Discussing this ahistorical analogy at the time, Richard Friedman, writing in The Village Voice, noted that, “Unlike Dreyfus, who was framed by the French Army, Pol-

lard is an avowed spy.”

In defending Pollard, American Jewish organizations are no more representative of those in whose name they claim to speak than they were in opposing the nuclear agreement with Iran. They have been widely criticized by many prominent Jewish Americans for embracing a convicted— and admitted—spy.

Raising the Dual Loyalty Issue According to the neocon Michael Ledeen, who was a consultant to the national security adviser to the president and the undersecretary for political affairs at the State Department, and to the secretary of defense from 1982 to 1986: “American Jews who are mounting an impassioned campaign on behalf of Jonathan Pollard are making a mistake, a big mistake. The man deserves everything he got, and more, both for the despicable acts he committed and for the damage he did to the American Jewish community...Actions in support of Pollard only reinforce the deadly stereotype of the Jew as an unreliable citizen. So let the Israelis worry about Pollard...Pollard should be considered one of their men. He’s certainly not one of ours.”

Former Director of Naval Intelligence Admiral Sumner Shapiro declared: “We

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work so hard to establish ourselves and to get where we are, and to have somebody screw it up...and then to have Jewish organizations line up behind this guy and try to make him out a hero of the Jewish people, it bothers the hell out of me.”

Former New Republic editor Martin Peretz, ordinarily an adamant supporter of Israel, said that, “Jonathan Pollard is not a Jewish martyr. He is a convicted espionage agent who spied on his country—a spy, moreover, who got paid for his work. His professional career, then, reeks of infamy and is suffused with depravity.” He called Pollard’s supporters “professional victims, mostly brutal themselves, who originate in the ultra-nationalist and religious right.

They are insatiable. And they want America to be Israel’s patsy.”

Dov Zakheim, who served as the Defense Department’s undersecretary when the Pollard case broke, says Pollard’s acts made him “very, very angry,” but he also found the organized Jewish community’s reaction troubling. “Pollard seems to have infatuated the Jewish community, and especially the Orthodox community, that he is somehow a prisoner of Zion.”

Professor Noah Feldman of the Harvard Law School writes: “...what relieves me is that, once [Pollard is] freed, we’ll be spared 36

the spectacle of respectable American Jewish leaders calling for his early release. Those requests have been harmful to the principle that American Jews can be totally loyal Americans and also care about Israel....It remains stunning to me that anyone outside Israel would think Pollard was unfairly treated...For anyone holding a U.S. passport to seek Pollard’s release was, in my view, a serious moral and political error...A loyal American should—and must—react to such a betrayal with horror...For American Jews to ask that Pollard’s sentence be shortened is to call into question the capacity of all American Jews to remain loyal to their country when the possibility of conflict arises.”

Former Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, in his book Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide, recalls that, “One senior member of the National Security Council told me over breakfast, ‘As an American Jew, I believe Jonathan Pollard should get out of prison...’ He paused and said, ‘In a coffin.’”

The contempt of the neoconservatives for Pollard may spring from their own fear of charges of dual loyalty because of their embrace of Israel’s right wing and their eagerness to do its bidding. In their view, it seems, a case like Pollard’s might result in a closer examination of their own role and motives.

Jonathan Pollard is not a victim of political persecution or anti-Semitism but a product of the Zionist philosophy he learned as a boy, which told him that Israel was his real ‘“homeland” and that he was in “exile” in America. This is Israel’s message to Jews in every country. After anti-Semitic attacks in Denmark and France, Prime Minister Netanyahu urged Danish and French Jews to leave their countries and return to their “real home, Israel.” To the extent that Jewish institutions in the U.S. fly Israeli flags in synagogues and tell students in religious schools that Israel, not God, is “central” to their faith, they are promoting a philosophy which alienates young Americans from their own country. It is also a form of idolatry which flies in the face of Judaism’s moral and ethical tradition.

Most young Americans who are exposed to this Zionist refrain recognize how little it has to do with truth or with the reality of their lives. Jonathan Pollard evidently believed it all and acted on it. He paid a heavy price, but not an unreasonable one.

He may merit release after all this time, but it should be made certain that he can do us no further harm. And the motives of those who have so eagerly embraced him are certainly a legitimate subject for future examination. If he is welcomed as a hero, it will tell us a lot more about those who embrace him than it does about the flawed figure of Pollard himself. ❑ THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

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Hass writes, “That we notice there’s a war on only when Jews are murdered does not cancel out the fact that Palestinians are being killed all the time.”

Months of incitement by the Israeli government in Jerusalem and decades of occupation, institutionalized discrimination and displacement have led to this point. As a member of Jewish Voice for Peace, I have chosen to support the international, nonviolent boycott, divestment and sanctions movement as one way to pressure the Israeli government to take the steps necessary to end the violence it has started. I urge others to join me.

Ellen Brotsky, Berkeley, CA

The Occupation Is the Problem Palestinians at Breaking Point To the Los Angeles Times, Oct. 22, 2015 From the Times’ editorial, it would appear that Palestinian-Israeli violence is a recent phenomenon, whereas the fact is that Israelis have been perpetrating violence on Palestinians on almost a daily basis, not only for the last few weeks but going back at least to the original ethnic cleansing in 1948.

That’s not to say that the random knifing of Israelis isn’t deplorable, only that it is occurring within a context of the often brutal oppression of a native people by their colonial masters. Needless to say, the natives never take well to settlers, especially when they attempt to permanently occupy the natives’ homeland, as is happening right now in Palestine.

Resistance is the inevitable response by a people to the loss of homeland, and the magnitude and type (nonviolent or violent) of resistance depends mostly on the amount of oppression that can be endured before striking back. Obviously, the Palestinians have reached their limit.

Jack Kent, Huntington Beach, CA

Palestinians Face Daily Trauma To the San Francisco Chronicle, Oct. 16, 2015 I mourn both Palestinian and Israeli civilian lives lost in the current violence in Israel/Palestine. When will Israel learn what more and more American Jews are beginning to understand? There will be no peace in Israel/Palestine until Palestinians achieve full human rights and equality and the right to live peacefully in their land.

Israeli peace activist Amira Hass recently wrote a piece in the Haaretz newspaper titled, “Palestinians are fighting for their lives; Israel is fighting for the occupation.”

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

To The Oregonian, Oct. 25, 2015 You would think after 48 years of military occupation, the Israeli government would have learned that an apartheid policy toward Palestinians is not working. Diplomacy and reconciliation—not walls and military solutions funded by the United States—are the only answers to stopping renewed violence.

Robert D. McNeil, Happy Valley, OR

Israel Is not Morally Superior To The Bergen Record, Oct. 11, 2015 Re: “Too much hate among Israelis.”

The letter writer wrote, “There is one important difference between the sides. With very few exceptions, Israeli mobs have never killed innocent civilians. And Israeli Jews generally regret the loss of life on both sides.”

I was also raised Jewish, and like the writer, I was taught about the alleged moral superiority of the Jewish people. However, Israel has conducted three attacks on Gaza in the last seven years, which can only be described as massacres, with massive loss of civilian life, and minimal Israeli casualties.

And West Bank settlers have degenerated into an extremist cult, committing acts of random violence on a near daily basis, with the Israeli authorities protecting them instead of their victims. And the victims are all too often innocent children.

Here are just two of the recent attacks committed by Jewish settlers against Palestinians.

Molotov cocktails were thrown into the Dawabsheh family home as they slept, burning an 18-month-old to death. Both parents died later from their burns. Also, a 16-year-old was abducted, beaten and burned to death.

I have friends whose children were killed in Israel, one by Israeli Border Police while walking home from school and another THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

who was shot dead while walking down the street after participating in a peaceful demonstration.

A slogan is now often seen and heard around Israel, “Hating Arabs is not racism, it’s values.” I am just not seeing the moral superiority that the writer is talking about.

Rich Siegel, Teaneck, NJ

Money for Israel or Highways?

To the Orlando Sentinel, Sept. 25, 2015

It’s nice to see the “Stop the Blank Check” billboard on Interstate 4. For decades, our Congress has poured billions of U.S. taxpayers’ monies into Israel, while Israelis daily terrorize the Palestinian people by bulldozing their homes, shooting them and indiscriminately arresting them.

Our Congress has no problem committing to a 10-year multibillion-dollar military-aid deal for Israel, but it struggles to pass a 10-month highway spending deal in this country. As one politician has said: Capitol Hill is an occupied territory of Israel. How spot on.

Bob Horner, Orlando, FL

Germany, the U.S. and Refugees To the Contra Costa Times, Sept. 28, 2015 Yes, we should help the refugees escaping into Europe for multiple reasons.

The United States destabilized the Middle East and we have a political obligation to help the refugees. We also have a moral imperative to help our fellow human beings.

The refugees are fleeing because they want a better life.

It is also worth pointing out that Germany is taking in 500,000 refugees, which is approximately 0.67 percent of its population. If the United States were to match those numbers, we would be taking in approximately 2 million people.

Jacob A. Bushard, San Ramon, CA

Prejudice and Syrian Refugees To The Florida Times-Union, Oct. 16, 2015 Where is the empathy?

A recent letter regarding Syrian refugees and Muslims blew me away.

I am the sponsor of the Muslim Student Association at the high school where I teach.

Membership is not limited to Muslims— the purpose is to unite students through service projects. And to give local people some exposure to Muslims outside of the only context that gets coverage in American news—ISIS and other terrorists who falsely affiliate themselves with Islam.

After debasing the Syrian refugees as likely to include many terrorists the writer 37

opm_37-38_Other People's Mail 10/29/15 6:24 PM Page 38

said, “This is not a crisis of our making, and we have no obligation to take refugees.”

We don’t?

We have definitely contributed to the instability in the Middle East. And it is a fundamental part of these United States to provide refuge for the persecuted.

Teryn Romaine, Jacksonville, FL

The Immigrant Struggle To The Wichita Eagle, Oct. 20, 2015 I am reminded of my parents’ experience immigrating to Canada from Bolshevist Ukraine in 1923 when I read about the masses of people today looking to escape their homeland for a new home and their hoped-for destinations hesitant to let them in. At the time, thousands of German-Russians wanted to leave a country torn apart by the Russian Revolution and the anarchy, famine and pestilence that followed.

People singly or in family groups struggled about whether to go or to stay, even as I imagine those leaving Syria or Mexico struggle today. For my parents, there was only one answer when Dad’s brother rushed home after seeing the head of a school friend spiked on a gatepost. They left for Canada as soon as doors opened.

The United States’ borders were closed out of fear some immigrants might be tainted with communism.

Mother and Dad arrived in Saskatchewan with what they could carry. Dad had 25 cents in his pocket with which he bought soap, unavailable where they had come from. In Canada, their adopted land, my parents had to learn a new language, get used to new currency, new customs, new weather and more. Life was hard.

My father became a lay preacher and storekeeper, and served on the town council for many years. He and my mother reared us five children, all of whom earned advanced degrees in various areas.

As long as there is war and revolution, the master narrative will remain the same.

Only the characters change.

Katie Funk Wiebe, Wichita, KS

Iran Deal Was the Right Move To the Morrison County Record, Oct. 8, 2015 Rep. Rick Nolan wrote on his website, “The Iran nuclear agreement gives peace and diplomacy a chance. The opposite may be an option we can ill-afford—another war in the Middle East costing us trillions of dollars in treasury—costing us blood, and creating the prospect of a conflagration that is unimaginable and unacceptable. Diplomacy first deserves a chance.”

I agree with Nolan, because I believe this 38

is a strong deal. Joseph Cirincione of Georgetown University, an expert in nuclear non-proliferation, stated on C-SPAN Sept. 8, “This is the strongest non-proliferation agreement I’ve ever seen.”

The truth is that the leading experts studying nuclear non-proliferation overwhelmingly support this deal because of the cuts it makes to Iran’s nuclear program and the fact that we still have a military option if they don’t comply.

Once I saw former Vice President Cheney and his cronies tearing down the Iran deal I knew we needed this agreement. Remember the Iraq war propaganda he sold? We were misled. We can no longer afford this war-first mentality. Nolan has it right, “Diplomacy first deserves a chance.”

Ginger Pendo, Aitkin, MN

The Cause of Suffering in Yemen To The Washington Post, Oct. 2, 2015 The Sept. 30 World article “Death toll at Yemen wedding rises to 131” mentioned that the nearest hospital, in Mokha, had been closed because of the lack of drugs, fuel, electricity, etc., but failed to mention the cause of those shortages.

According to a statement from the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, the coalition naval blockade of Yemen’s main seaports is “greatly exacerbating the extremely dire humanitarian situation affecting almost all of Yemen.” Stephen O’Brien, the U.N. undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, announced in August that “a shocking four out of five Yemenis [some 21 million people] require humanitarian assistance and nearly 1.5 million people are internally displaced.”

In the past six months, 2,355 civilians have been killed and 4,862 wounded. The U.N. High Commissioner’s statement noted that “by the end of the 12-month period covered by [a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council], almost two-thirds of reported civilian deaths had allegedly been caused by coalition airstrikes, which were also responsible for almost two-thirds of damaged or destroyed civilian public buildings.”

Marjorie Ransom, Washington, DC. The writer was a U.S. foreign service officer in Yemen.

told Congress that the Doctors Without Borders field hospital in Kunduz was “mistakenly struck,” but the question is what kind of mistake.

If the mistake was that the military knew that the building was a hospital, as Doctors Without Borders has said, but believed that the Taliban were using it or its grounds for military purposes, the attack was still unjustified under the Geneva Conventions without prior warning and efforts to minimize harm to civilians.

Believing that the Taliban were present at a known hospital is no excuse for the deaths and destruction the U.S. caused.

The United States has been a leader in international forums to end the global scourge of attacks on hospitals and health personnel. That leadership is now in jeopardy, and if the facts show that the United States military knew of the location of the hospital but did not warn and seek to minimize civilian harm, prosecution of those responsible for the attack is imperative.

Leonard S. Rubenstein, Alexandria, VA. The writer is director of the Program on Human Rights, Health and Conflict at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and chairman of the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition.

U.S. Staying in Afghanistan To The New York Times, Oct. 16, 2015 “A Grim Decision on Afghanistan” (editorial, Oct. 16) should read “Capping a Long List of Grim Decisions on Afghanistan.” The only “key to ending” wars like those in Afghanistan and Iraq is to not start them in the first place.

Mel Minthorn, Wilton, CT ❑

U.S. Attack on Afghan Hospital To The New York Times, Oct. 9, 2015 Re “Obama Issues Rare Apology Over Bombing” (front page, Oct. 8): The president’s apology is welcome but insufficient. Gen. John F. Campbell, the United States commander in Afghanistan, THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

twair_39_Southern California Chronicle 10/29/15 6:26 PM Page 39

Dr. Nabil Azzam Honored at 2015 Arab Music Festival and Conference in Cairo

Southern California Chronicle

By Pat and Samir Twair ord has reached Los Angeles that Dr.

Christian-Muslim Unity Common goals were shared by the expatriate Syrian Christian and Muslim communities Sept. 17 at the Bardoni restaurant in Duarte. A special guest was Waleed Mouhammad Al Zoubi, who chatted among the 80 assembled guests hosted by Ayman Abdel Nour of Syrian Christians for Peace.

Topics were the future of Syria, the refugee crisis and ways to send relief to displaced Syrians. The dinner program included representatives of other ArabAmerican organizations, including Leba nese, Palestinians and Jordanians.

Eid Celebrations When Eid al-Adha began in Southern California on Sept. 24, record numbers of worshipers attended local mosques large and small. The Islamic Center of Southern California selected the Los Angeles Convention Center for its traditional 7 a.m. Eid observance, attended this year by more than 7,000 Muslims. More than 1,000 faithful Pat and Samir Twair are free-lance journalists based in Los Angeles.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

Dr. Nabil Azzam leads the Multi Ethnic Star Orchestra (MESTO). gathered for Eid prayers and breakfast at the Burbank Islamic Center, Southern California’s fastest growing mosque.

Sept. 27 was a special children’s Eid day, and many communities celebrated with picnics. The Syrian American Council-Los Angeles (SAC-LA) sponsored a picnic in Irvine’s Mason Park, while AlAwda for Palestinian Right of Return had its picnic in El Dorado Park in Long Beach. The SAC-LA picnic drew more than 700 people, and some 500 people attended the Al-Awda picnic, its 9th annual picnic and Eid celebration.

with red paint on Oct.10, the latest defilement in a series of attacks since it was raised.

Odeh’s daughter Helena, 37, said on the 30th anniversary of her father’s assassination, “His work was his life and he was a man of peace.” ❑

Odeh Statue Defaced When Alex Odeh opened the door to his office at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) on Oct.11, 1985, a pipe bomb exploded, killing him immediately. His murderers have yet to be named and tried in a court of law. The prime suspects are members of the Jewish Defense League (JDL) who took refuge in the illegal West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba.

Since 1993 a statue of Odeh, sculpted by Khalil Bendib, has stood on the lawn of the Santa Ana public library. It was defaced

STAFF PHOTO S. TWAIR

tor of the Multi Ethnic Star Orchestra (MESTO), was honored by the prestigious 2015 Arab Music Festival and Conference at its Nov. 1 opening ceremonies at the Cairo Opera House.

Dr. Azzam, who received his Ph.D. in music from UCLA in 1990, founded MESTO—which includes non-Arab professional musicians from all parts of Southern California—in 2000. Over the past 15 years Maestro Azzam has trained many of these musicians to perform Arabic music.

While the purpose of MESTO is to preserve Arabic music in the U.S., the orchestra also has performed in response to invitations from such major cities as Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Cairo, Amman, Beirut and Nazareth.

MESTO includes 50 musicians, some of whom are members of the CBS orchestra.

Dr. Azzam was honored for playing an important role in bringing Arabic music into the mainstream American culture.

STAFF PHOTO S. TWAIR

WNabil Azzam, founder and conduc-

Muslims celebrate Eid al-Adha at the Burbank Islamic Center on Sept. 24.

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activismsr_40-64_November/December 2015 Activisms 10/28/15 2:11 PM Page 40

Arab American Activism

40

Joe Hadeed (c) receives the Outstanding Community Service Award.

Peter T. King (R-NY). Davis also introduced legislation for the 2001 postal stamp to commemorate Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr, holidays celebrated by millions of Muslim Americans. A posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award went to former chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Jack Herrity for his mentorship of and service to the Arab-American community.

Joe Hadeed, CEO of Hadeed Carpet Cleaning Company, was presented with an Outstanding Community Service Award.

Launched by his father and uncle in 1955 as a small family business cleaning Oriental rugs, Hadeed Carpet Cleaning now has more than 120 employees. Joe Hadeed credited his parents with instilling in him the spirit of giving back to his community. He enjoys his community service calling and supports

local schools, dogs on deployment and families who are victims of domestic violence.

He also runs coat drives and mentors at detention centers.

Another Outstanding Community Service Award was presented to Ghaith “Joey” Musmar, managing partner of MillerMusmar, a tax, accounting and advisory CPA service in Reston and Manassas, VA, who also gives back to the community. He urged this “nation of immigrants” to take in more refugees because the “immigrants, as you and I know, are talented.”

—Delinda C. Hanley

ArabEidFest Entertains and Informs Washington, DC-area Muslims and friends headed out to Bull Run Regional Park in Centreville, VA on Sept. 26 and 27, right after Eid-al-Adha, to enjoy two full days of

STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY

More than 70 candidates for public office in Virginia attended the non-partisan 27th Annual Virginia Candidates’ Night Dinner on Sept. 28 at the Tysons Corner Marriott Hotel. Arab-American voters listened to candidates for the State Senate, House of Delegates, mayor, county and city councils and other local offices, who briefly introduced themselves and explained why Arab Americans should vote for them in November’s statewide elections.

“Our community is more excited about foreign policy than domestic issues,” admitted Saba Shami, president and treasurer of the New Dominion PAC (NDPAC), a state PAC founded in 2001 to serve as a “voice for the Arab-American community in Virginia.”

Although state governments aren’t involved in foreign policy, politicians sometimes try to curry favor with constituents on international issues. Shami angrily recalled the Virginia General Assembly’s controversial nonbinding resolution praising Israel and calling it “a national home for the Jewish people,” which passed this past March, after stripping out language referring to Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem. Shami urged voters to reward the 20 Democrats who abstained by walking out during the vote and remember those who supported the resolution.

The more than 150,000 Arab Americans who live in Virginia need to appreciate and support their local candidates, Dr. Shami maintained. He asked voters to increase their engagement and pay more attention to local issues and budgets that affect schools, parks, health care, transportation and crime, as well as racism and Islamophobia. NDPAC supports candidates who are committed to protecting civil liberties and the constitutional rights of all Americans, including Arab Americans. Every speaker and candidate—Democrats, Republicans and Independents—encouraged the audience to stay engaged, increase their activism and vote— and encourage neighbors, friends and colleagues to do the same. They were also asked to get on the ballot themselves and run for office.

A Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to former Congressman Tom Davis (R-VA) who, along with former Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA), voted to allow Dubai Ports World control of operations at six U.S. ports. The UAE firm subsequently sold off its stake to a U.S. firm to end the controversy stirred up by Islamophobe Rep.

STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY

Candidates Woo Arab-American Voters—and Vice Versa

(L-r) Middle East Books and More director Kevin Davis, Rina Abd El Rahman, Samira Kalla and Suhaib Khan.

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

uals avoid registering as refugees in order to avoid detection by hostile governments or other potential adversaries.

The recent onset of violence in places such as Syria, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Ukraine has caused global refugee populations to surge, Martin explained. “Displacement is now at levels not seen since the end of World War II,” she stated.

Making matters worse, Martin noted, is the fact that many long-standing conflicts remain seemingly intractable. As a result, refugees now are displaced from their homes for 25 years, on average, whereas several years ago the average length of exile was 17 years.

Equally concerning is the lack of reA booth sells Baladi (“my country”) shirts and hoodies. They come in every size, with maps sources available to refugees, Martin said. of Afghanistan, Algeria, the Arab world, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Mexico, Mo- The U.N. is struggling to respond to the rocco, Nigeria, Oman, Palestine, Spain, Syria, Canada, USA, California, Texas and other multiple crises, she explained, and many places “to show your country pride.” Five percent of profits are donated to Amaanah Refugee humanitarian efforts are severely underfunded. She cited as an example the World Services. For more information visit <www.baladishirts.com>.

Food Program, which recently cut its food rations for Syrians by 30 percent. Syrians entertainment and family time. Sudanese, Human Rights now receive just $14 a month from the proEgyptian, Lebanese, Iraqi, Moroccan and gram, an amount that does not go far in the Palestinian singers, dancers and musicians urban areas where many refugees reside. performed as festival-goers sat on the grass Syria and Beyond: Assessing the Rochelle Davis, a professor at Georgeor at picnic tables overlooking the stage. Global Refugee Crisis Moroccan superstar Mohamed Reda and Georgetown University’s Mortara Center town’s School of Foreign Service, outlined other singers wowed their fans, who for International Studies held an Oct. 5 the desperate situation faced by Syrian braved unseasonably cool and dreary roundtable discussion in Washington, DC refugees, many of whom have lost everyweather to celebrate their musical heritage. to provide an update on the many refugee thing—including family members, their “I drove and drove. I felt like I was dri- crises plaguing the Middle East and other ability to practice their profession, and access to their money. ving to Woodstock,” said Warren David, regions of the world.

While some in the West with xenophopresident of Arab America, comparing Susan Martin, professor of international ArabEidFest to the legendary ‘60s music migration at Georgetown, began by plac- bic attitudes portray Syrian refugees as economic migrants, Davis pointed out that festival. He and others, including the ing the Syrian refugee crisis in context.

Washington Report’s Middle East Books “There is a [refugee] crisis globally, it’s many Syrians are hesitant to leave their and More, staffed a windy tent city of not just in specific regions,” Martin noted. homeland. Most refugees typically leave booths offering food, clothes, opportuni- At the end of 2014, she pointed out, there Syria after having already relocated within ties to donate aid to humanitarian organi- were more than 60 million registered the country several times, she noted, until zations, and political and cultural informa- refugees and internally displaced persons they are left with no option other than tion.

(IDPs) across the world. These numbers are fleeing.

According to Davis, older Syrians tend to Kids enjoyed games, slides and bounces— likely higher, she added, as many individstay in neighboring not to mention cotton candy, popcorn and countries such as Jordan fried oreos—as parents caught up with their and Lebanon with the friends and families. Islamic Relief USA intention of returning raised awareness and donations for Arab home when the approrefugees in the Middle East. priate time comes. Mem“ArabEidFest is a celebration of Arab bers of the younger genculture in the United States,” said orgaeration are more likely to nizer Marwan Ahmad. “Our goal is to venture further away in bring people from all walks of life to enjoy the hopes of establishing a day of Arab heritage. We strive to introa better life, she said. duce the Arab community in the U.S. Davis noted that through festive food, music, art, culture, many families split from dance and entertainment. We believe that each other upon leaving these types of events can encourage more Syria in a effort to propositive interaction among people.”

As you can see, this reporter enjoyed— Profs. Rochelle Davis (l) and Daniel Kelemen discuss the Syrian vide themselves with multiple options should shopping!

—Delinda C. Hanley refugee crisis.

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the ‘secret prison’ and feared something go wrong in one logoing back there. As she cation. Many families pool peered through the curtain their resources to send young looking for an escape route, men out of the country, she one of the soldiers saw her and added, because young men are panicked, shouting, ‘The pristargeted by fighting forces, oner is free!’ According to making them “the most vulAafia, he then took out his nerable” members of society. sidearm and shot her twice in Asked for solutions to the the stomach.” global refugee crisis, Martin Siddiqui was then flown by emphasized that there is no the FBI to New York and inholistic solution to this issue. dicted in New York federal disShe nonetheless offered some trict court in September 2008 suggestions: increasing assison charges of assault and attance to countries on the front lines of refugee crises; permit- A Homeland Security officer looks on as Mauri’ Saalakhan conducts a tempted murder of a U. S. Army captain in the police stating refugees to participate in rally for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. tion in Ghazni. No charge of the labor market and thus allowing them to become more self-reliant; headquarters in Washington, DC on Sept. terrorism, however, was included in the indeveloping a more realistic international 25 in support of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, the Pak- dictment.

After 18 months in detention, she was plan for sharing the burdens caused by istani neuro-scientist who is serving an 86refugees’ migration; global cooperation year sentence following a 2010 conviction tried and convicted Feb. 3, 2010, despite the against human trafficking; and finding so- for attempted murder of FBI agents, U.S. sol- forensic and scientific evidence presented lutions to the conflicts that create refugees. diers and interpreters in Ghazni, during the trial proving that Siddiqui could Daniel Kelemen, a professor of political Afghanistan while she was being interro- not have committed the crimes for which science at Rutgers University, emphasized gated for allegedly having ties to terrorists. she was charged.

At the Sept. 25 rally, Saalakhan, director that Europe, which has been flooded with Her supporters believe the MIT-educated refugees in recent months, must develop a mother of three was falsely accused, of the Peace Thru Justice Foundation, discogent refugee policy, something he said wrongly arrested, denied due process and played a large poster chronicling Siddiqui’s case and speaking to passersby. the continent has lacked for many years. unjustly imprisoned.

“It’s a shame she got caught up in the He noted that some European countries, Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark such as Slovakia and Hungary, have been has described Siddiqui’s case as “The worst paranoia after 9/11,” one gentleman comparticularly unwelcoming of Syrian case of individual injustice I have ever mented. “I’ll write to my congressman.”

Siddiqui’s supporters are requesting refugees. Hungary’s government has been seen.” on an authoritarian track for several years, Siddiqui’s ordeal began in March 2003, that she be allowed communication with he said, and has used the refugee crisis as when she and her three children were kid- her family and also receive urgently an opportunity to gain support from the napped by unknown assailants in Karachi, needed medical care, as her health has secountry’s hard right. This tactic has been Pakistan. Later that month she was trans- verely deteriorated at the Federal Medical mostly successful, he noted, and has em- ferred to U.S. representatives. According to Center, Carswell in Ft. Worth, Texas, boldened other European governments to Steve Downs, an attorney and co-founder of where she is serving her sentence. They adopt similar anti-Syrian attitudes.

Project SALAM, “The American govern- also are calling for her repatriation to PakMartin criticized the U.S. for not accept- ment asked Pakistani authorities to arrest istan. For more information see p. 58 of ing more Syrian refugees, but acknowl- Siddiqui based on false information. She the March/April 2015 and pp. 55-56 of edged that the convoluted U.S. immigra- was then sent as a ghost prisoner to a black the May 2013 Washington Report.

—Elaine Pasquini tion system couldn’t possibly process more site.” than the 10,000 Syrians President Obama Siddiqui was held for five years and then has already pledged to accept. Since 9/11, released in Ghazni, where she was arrested Ehud Barak Sued in California for Role in Mavi Marmara Raid she noted, it takes 18 months to two years by Afghan police. for most refugee applications to be In p. 36 of the December 2010 Washington In the years following Israel’s deadly 2010 processed.

Report, Mauri’ Saalakhan described the raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, This, she explained, is because multiple events as follows: part of a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid security agencies must sign-off on each ap“The U.S. government claims that shortly to Gaza, there have been numerous atplication. “It’s really a mess,” she said of after American soldiers and FBI agents ar- tempts to bring Ehud Barak, Israel’s dethe system, adding that this broken rived at the compound to take Dr. Siddiqui fense minister at the time of the raid, to process makes it impossible for the U.S. to into their custody, she charged through a justice. The family of one of those victims, respond swiftly and humanely to humani- curtain, grabbed a soldier’s M-4 rifle off the 19-year-old American citizen Furkan tarian crises.

—Dale Sprusansky floor, removed the safety and fired it at the Dogan, has joined a team of attorneys from U.S. personnel in the room while screaming around the world to file a civil suit against Human Rights Group Calls for expletives. Aafia’s version is dramatically Barak over Dogan’s death.

Justice for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui different, however. She testified that when In the early hours of May 31, 2010, the The Peace Thru Justice Foundation held a she heard the voices of Americans entering Israel Defense Forces stopped the Mavi rally outside the U.S. Bureau of Prisons the room, she immediately thought about Marmara in international waters and 42

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Women visit the Mavi Marmara, which was part of the flotilla of aid ships raided by Israel. boarded the ship. During the raid, 10 people were killed, and many others were arrested. Dogan was shot five times, with four bullets in his back and one in his forehead.

According to Dan Stormer, one of the attorneys representing Dogan’s family, Barak was served his papers following an Oct. 20 speech he gave as part of a Distinguished Speaker Series near Los Angeles.

The lawsuit, filed the previous Friday in a California federal court, was initiated by an international team that has attempted to seek justice through the International Criminal Court and through several national jurisdictions in order to launch both criminal and civil proceedings. The case ended up in the United States because Barak was traveling to U.S. soil, thereby providing an opportunity for him to be served, explained Rodney Dixon, an international human rights attorney also on the Dogan family’s team.

“He was served yesterday,” Dixon said during an Oct. 21 telephone press conference, “which is a watershed moment in a long case. Victims have waited for many years to achieve this breakthrough. Now they have a real possibility for justice in the courts of California.”

According to Dixon, the team’s legal work has a line of international precedent in Nuremberg, Tokyo, Yugoslavia and Rwanda tribunals, all of which have consistently held that military and political leaders are not beyond the law, nor are they entitled to randomly and indiscriminately target civilians, as happened on the Mavi Marmara.

“It is essential for the victims to obtain justice,” Dixon said, “but it is also imporNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

tant for the wider community that the message goes out there that these actions are not to be tolerated, and hopefully this will be a deterrent to future violence of this kind.”

Because this is a civil lawsuit, the family’s potential success would likely result in Barak’s being forced to pay compensation, according to Haydee Dijkstal, another team attorney. Although proceedings have not yet begun, Stormer said that in the event of a win, the scale of compensation likely would be in the tens of millions of dollars.

The case, Dogan v. Barak, will be heard in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

—Suhaib Khan

Muslim American Activism CAIR Celebrates Champions for Justice The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, held its 21st annual banquet on Oct. 17 at the Marriott Crystal Gateway hotel in Arlington, VA. In a year marked by a string of tragedies that have rocked Muslim Americans, nearly 1,000 community members, interfaith activists and diplomats gathered to celebrate Muslim “Champions for Justice” who have spoken up, showing the true face of Islam in America.

One highlight of the evening was when Texas teenager Ahmed Mohamed, “The Clockmaker,” received the American Muslim of the Year award. (His award was fitting: a lovely engraved clock!) “I just want to stop discrimination for everyone, not just THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

for religions, but for all races as well,” Mohamed, the son of Sudanese immigrants, said at the event. His father, Mohamed Elhasan Mohamed, has his own success story.

After earning a philosophy degree in Khartoum, he emigrated to the U.S., selling hotdogs in Manhattan, delivering pizza and launching his own taxi service, before embarking on other business ventures in Irving, TX. Mohamad sang a ghazal (poem, a kind of Sufi rap), half in English and Arabic, standing beside his son, for the amazed audience.

The following night, having accepted President Barack Obama’s earlier invitation, the 14-year-old inventor—who was handcuffed and suspended for creating a clock teachers mistook for a bomb—attended the White House’s Astronomy Night where, along with other students, teachers and scientists, he chatted with the president and astronauts.

Another special moment at the CAIR banquet was the presentation of its Humanitarian Award to Turkish Ambassador Serdar Kilic for his nation’s role in taking in and assisting more than 2.2 million Syrian refugees and 200,000 Iraqi refugees since 2011. Turkey has welcomed more Syrian refugees this year than America has in the past 30 years, Ambassador Kilic noted, and “we’ll keep our doors open regardless of ethnic or religious identities.” Turkey has allocated $7.6 billion for refugees since the war broke out four years ago in Syria, he added, “while the international community has performed miserably.”

Other banquet highlights included recognition of the families of “Our Three Winners,” Deah Shaddy Barakat, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, who were “murdered in cold blood” in Chapel Hill, NC earlier this year.

Still grieving the shooting death of his two daughters, Mohammad Abu-Salha told the crowd that he and his wife didn’t only raise proper Muslim children, teaching them good manners and what is halal. They also raised good American Muslims, who volunteered in their community and modeled American values. Abu-Salha said he still can’t bear to look at his daughter’s wedding photos, which arrived after she, her new husband, and her younger sister were killed.

CAIR presented its Lifetime Achievement Award to American Islamic leader and scholar Dr. Hisham Altalib. Omar Suleiman of the Bayyinah Institute, a strong advocate of community service, interfaith dialogue and social justice, gave the keynote address.

Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkol Karman called for justice in her homeland 43

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(L-r) Master of Ceremonies Imam Johari Abdul-Malik stands with CAIR-National board members, awardees and relatives, including Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, Ahmed Al Shehab, Mohammad Abu-Salha, Farris Barakat (Deah’s brother, at podium), Ahmed Mohamed and Masoud Nassimi. RIGHT: Ahmed Mohamed accepts his award as Muslim of the Year. and other Arab Spring countries. “There is no peace without justice,” she declared.

CAIR’s national executive director Nihad Awad announced the launch of <www.

Islamophobia.org>, which lists Islamophobic organizations and individuals in alphabetical order, and various potential or current presidential candidates’ views on Islam and their connections with the U.S. Islamophobia network. “We’re going to call them out,” Awad promised. CAIR’s goal is to sign up 20,000 new voters before the November 2016 elections, and to show that “in November we remember.” The Islamophobia website also provides tools to fight prejudice because, Awad emphasized,“Our response to hate mongering is peace.”

“We appreciate the unwavering support the community has shown and continues to show for our important work promoting justice and equality in a climate of increasing Islamophobia,” Awad concluded. “We thank the banquet speakers and everyone who turned out to stand with CAIR’s civil rights mission.”

Author and comedian Dean Obeidallah concluded the exciting evening.

—Delinda C. Hanley

the huge audience and explained that profits from the concert will help launch “Healing Through Feeling,” a school-based program in Gaza to support the emotional well-being of its children. Palestinian mental health practitioners will provide kindergartners traumatized by war and subsequent dire living conditions with a special program to help them heal and cope.

Simon Shaheen and the Qantara Ensemble filled the exquisite venue with showstopping music. Shaheen is a PalestinianAmerican oud and violin virtuoso who performs a fusion of traditional and classical Arabic music along with a cross-cultural Latin blend. Bassam Saba played both the nay and flute, Najib Shaheen the oud, Tareq Rantisi percussion, and Amer Atallah sang.

After a standing ovation, the audience

toured “Gaza Through a Child’s Eyes,” a heart-wrenching exhibit of drawings by Gaza kids aged 5-14 who have been traumatized by Israel’s Operation Protective Edge. The exhibit was curated by Susan Johnson, McDaniel College associate professor Sara Raley, and Laila El-Haddad, author of The Gaza Kitchen.

—Delinda C. Hanley

Music & Arts

The United Palestinian Appeal (UPA) hosted “Music for Healing,” a well-attended benefit concert for the children of Gaza at the Saints Peter and Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church in Potomac, MD on Oct. 24. UPA’s Deena Faruki welcomed 44

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Simon Shaheen Helps UPA Raise Funds for Gaza Children

Simon Shaheen plays his violin to raise funds for Gaza’s children, whose drawings (above) show they’ve experienced trauma no child should endure.

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Leila Abdelrazaq, author of the acclaimed graphic memoir Baddawi (available from AET’s Middle East Books and More), attended Small Press Expo (SPXPO), North America’s premiere independent cartooning and comic arts festival, on Sept. 19 and 20 at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in Bethesda, MD. The Chicago-based artist/storyteller was one of 4,000 cartoonists and comic arts enthusiasts who attended the yearly gathering. Her gripping graphic memoir recounts stories her father told her about his childhood growing up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.

Attendees plied the 22-year-old recent graduate of DePaul University with questions as they examined or purchased copies of Abdelrazaq’s book. A question on the mind of everyone who reads Baddawi is, “When will you write about the next phase of your father’s life?” —Delinda C. Hanley

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Palestinian-American Graphic Artist a Hit at SPXPO

Leila Abdelrazaq sells her book, Baddawi, published by Just World Books, at SPXPO. political leaders, as well as panel discussions on a wide range of issues affecting the Middle East. NCUSAR founding president and CEO Dr. John Duke Anthony presided over the two-day affair.

Chas Freeman Talks U.S. Militarism, Future of U.S.-GCC Relationship

More than 200 spectators attended the first Syrian American Council-Los Angeles youth talent show on Sept.19 at Curtis Theater in Brea. Performers (pictured below) displayed their talents in music, traditional dance and acting. —Samir Twair

Per custom, the conference began with a keynote address by former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Chas Freeman. He used this year’s remarks to criticize Washington’s inability to formulate and carry out a comprehensive and sustainable Mid-

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Syrian Youth Talent Show

Waging Peace NCUSAR Policymakers Conference Tackles Middle East’s Pressing Issues The National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations (NCUSAR) held its 24th annual ArabU.S. Policymakers Conference Oct. 14 and 15 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC. The conference featured keynote addresses by prominent Gulf business and NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

dle East policy.

Freeman pointed to a decision made by President Bill Clinton in 1993 as the beginning of what he calls “America’s misadventures in the Middle East.” Clinton, he noted, replaced the policy of “balancing” Iraq and Iran against each other with a strategy of “dual containment.” This new strategy “created an unprecedented requirement for a large, long-term U.S. military presence in the Gulf,” Freeman said.

“That in turn stimulated the birth of antiAmerican terrorism with global reach. One THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

result: 9/11.”

Since 9/11, he pointed out, America has spent $6 trillion on two wars that have destabilized the region, and embraced practices such as kidnapping and torture.

In Freeman’s opinion, America’s sins don’t end there. The U.S. has helped perpetuate injustice in the Holy Land, he said, wrongfully turned its back on leaders such as Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak by mistaking “mob rule in the streets of the Middle East for democracy,” multiplied its enemies in the region through the “promiscuous use of drone warfare,” and mismanaged the Iran nuclear issue by adopting a sanctionsfirst policy.

Despite decades of mismanagement, Freeman believes the U.S. has not learned from its mistakes. “Our many bruising encounters with the inconvenient realities of the Middle East should have taught us a lot about how to conduct—or not conduct— diplomacy and war, as well as the limitations of purely military solutions to political problems,” he said. “But, for the most part, American politicians and pundits have been more comfortable reaffirming ideological preconceptions and tendentious partisan narratives than facing up to what the policies and actions they have advocated have actually produced.”

The U.S. must finally come to understand that military power is only effective when it is buttressed by diplomacy, Freeman emphasized. “We have learned the hard way in Afghanistan and Iraq that wars do not end until the defeated accept defeat and stand down their resistance,” he said.

“Translating military outcomes into lasting adjustments in the behavior of those we have defeated is the job of diplomats, not warriors,” Freeman continued. “For the most part, we have not called on our diplo45

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Chas Freeman urges the United States to place more importance on diplomacy and less emphasis on military might. mats to do that job. Judging by the plague of incompetent campaign gerbils and carpetbaggers we appointed to manage Iraq and Afghanistan after we occupied them, our government lacks the diplomatic professionalism, expertise and skills, as well as the politico-military backing and resources, needed to craft or sustain peace.

We have no war termination strategies and no one who would know how to implement them if we did, so America’s wars never end.”

America’s follies in the region have negatively impacted its relationship with the Arab Gulf states, Freeman argued. As a result, he said, the Gulf nations “want to reduce dependence on America for their protection as much as they can” and are thus reaching out to Europe, China, India and Russia.

Ultimately, however, Freeman believes the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations will be forced to rely on the U.S. “Sadly for the GCC, there is no great power other than the United States with power projection capabilities and an inclination to protect the Gulf Arab states from external challenges,” he stated. “So there is no escape from GCC reliance on America.”

The question, Freeman said, is will the U.S. and its Gulf allies reconcile their many differences? “The United States now asserts objectives in the region that do not coincide with those of most GCC members.” These U.S. policies, he noted, “include support of the Shi’i-dominated Iraqi government against its Sunni opposition and assigning priority in Syria to the defeat of Da’ish over the ouster of President Assad. U.S. support for the Kurds disturbs our Arab friends as well as our Turkish ally. America supports the GCC’s military operations in Yemen less out of conviction than the perceived need to sustain solidar46

ity with Saudi Arabia.”

Continued Freeman: “Where a common ideology of anti-communism once united us or caused us to downplay our disagreements, passionate differences between Americans and Arabs over Salafism, Zionism, feminism, religious tolerance, sexual mores, and democratic vs. autocratic systems of governance now openly divide us.

Neither side harbors the sympathy and affection for the other that it once did.....But the ultimate sources of mutual discomfort are the strategic conundrums of what to do about Syria and how to deal with Iran.”

Going forward, Freeman believes the U.S. and its Arab Gulf allies must devise a strategy for Iran. “There is no such strategy or agreed policy for dealing with Iran now that its nuclear program has been constrained and sanctions will be lifted,” he noted. “The United States seems to have no clear idea of what it now wants from Iran, and Iran just wants America to go away.

The GCC would like Iran isolated and contained….But there is no GCC strategy with any prospect of achieving this result.”

He also emphasized the strategic and moral importance of reaching a resolution to the Syrian conflict. “The world is moving toward the conclusion that any outcome in Syria—any outcome at all—that can stop the carnage is better than its continuation,” he said. “The ongoing disintegration of the Fertile Crescent fuels extremism; empowers Iran; drives Iran, Iraq, Russia and Syria together; weakens the strategic position of the GCC; vexes Turkey; and leaves the United States on a strategic treadmill. The region seems headed, after still more tragedy and bloodshed, toward an unwelcome inevitability—the eventual acknowledgment of Iran’s hegemony in Iraq and Syria and political influence in Bahrain, Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen. That is not where Americans and our Gulf Arab friends imagined we would end up 25 years after liberating Kuwait from Iraqi aggression. But it is where protracted strategic incoherence has brought us.”

Freeman concluded by warning that “the 70-year-old partnership between Americans and Gulf Arabs has never faced more or greater challenges than at present.” The two sides, he cautioned, will not surmount these challenges if they do not both “learn from their mistakes and work together to cope with the unpalatable realities they have created….There are new realities in the Middle East. It does no good to deny or rail against them. We must now adjust to them and strive to turn them to our advantage.”

—Dale Sprusansky THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

U.S.-Arab Energy Cooperation The conference’s first panel analyzed the future of energy production and cooperation between the West and the Arab world, particularly as it pertains to changing oil prices, the rise of renewable energy, and the relationship between energy and geopolitical issues.

“All the projections are that demand for [oil] will increase,” said Molly Williamson, a scholar at the Middle East Institute and former senior policy adviser to the U.S. Department of Energy. Almost 53 percent of the oil the world consumes is produced by five countries, she noted: Russia, Saudi Arabia, Canada, the United States and China.

Richard Westerdale, director of the Energy Resources Bureau’s Policy Analysis and Public Diplomacy Office in the State Department, argued that the U.S. could play a transformative role in global energy markets. “Just to be clear, no matter how much energy we produce, the United States neither has the desire nor the ability to uncouple from global energy markets,” he said.

Sarah Ladislaw, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, discussed the role of alternative and renewable energies and the new set of challenges they will create for energy policy.

Ambitious solar energy targets are proliferating across the globe, she said, in places such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the U.S. Herman Franssen, director of the Energy Intelligence Group, spoke about the role of alternative energy sources in the future. He was less optimistic than Ladislaw, arguing that fossil fuels will remain dominant for decades to come, that it was crucial to take regional turmoil into account in energy calculations, and that consumption is likely to rise along with growing global population figures.

—Suhaib Khan

Saudi Prince Turki Al Faisal Calls for Unity, Stability and Responsibility Saudi Arabia’s former Ambassador to the U.S. Prince Turki Al Faisal used his annual keynote address to highlight the strategic challenges his country has faced since the so-called Arab Spring rocked the Middle East in 2011. In responding to the new regional reality, the Kingdom has structured its foreign policy around three principles: unity, stability and responsibility, Faisal said.

Regarding unity, Faisal said, “the Kingdom has made a great effort to prioritize the oneness of the Gulf and its shared interests.” This effort has paid dividends in Yemen, he argued, where the Saudis are NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

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Prince Turki Al Faisal discusses Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Egypt. currently leading a GCC military intervention. “In Yemen, the Kingdom has succeeded in forging a coalition of the GCC countries and likeminded Arab and nonArab countries to…prevent the usurpers of power, the Houthis and the forces of the deposed president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, from forcing themselves on the Yemeni people,” he said.

Turning to Iraq and Syria, Faisal called for an end to the sectarianism that is currently crippling both nations. While Faisal strongly condemned Da’ish’s sectarianism and violence, he pinned blame for the group’s emergence on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “[Da’ish] is the symptom of the disease of anarchy in Syria and Iraq,” he said. “The disease lies in Damascus, where Bashar al-Assad continues to murder his people with poison gas and barrel bombs.”

Russia’s decision to initiate military operations in Syria is “a most unwelcome addition to an already combustible situation,” Faisal said, arguing that “[Russia] and the U.S. are ignoring the father of all terrorists in Syria—his name is Bashar alAssad.”

On the strategic front, Faisal said Riyadh is committed to supporting its allies in the region. He hailed Tunisia for its successful elections and democratic transition, expressed optimism that President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is retuning stability to Egypt, and expressed his belief that the Bahraini government has pursued valuable reforms.

Addressing the principle of responsibility, Faisal said Saudi Arabia is determined to share its experience when it comes to combating terrorism, advocate for the welfare of all Muslims, continue to support Syrian refugees and attempt to mend relations with its neighbors, particularly Iran.

“Saudi Arabia welcomes the opportunity for further discussion of Iran’s nuclear program and the benefits it could bring to NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

the Gulf,” Faisal said. He seemed hesitant to fully embrace dialogue with Tehran, however. “Diplomacy with Iran poses unique difficulties,” he cautioned. “The world must understand that Saudi Arabia has boundaries that cannot be crossed and loyalties that cannot be betrayed. The Kingdom cannot let the fight against [Da’ish] draw attention away from the atrocities of the Assad regime. A friend to Bashar al-Assad is an enemy of the Syrian people and to those who would help them.

Unfortunately, Iran, and now Russia, have aligned themselves with Assad against the Syrian people. This is not just politically unwise, it is morally wrong….The more than 300,000 Syrian souls who perished because of Assad will continue to haunt [Ayatollah] Khamenei and [Vladimir] Putin.

The one billion and a half Muslims of the world will carry that grievance forever.”

—Dale Sprusansky

Panel Voices Support for Arms Deals A panel titled “U.S.-Arab Defense Cooperation” featured representatives from two major defense contractors who argued that close military-to-military relations between the U.S. and the Arab world are beneficial to all involved.

According to Jeffrey B. Kohler, a former Defense Department official who currently is Boeing’s vice president of international sales and marketing for defense, space and security, weapons transfers play a central role in strengthening the bonds between nations. These transfers, he explained, often necessitate the creation of common training programs that in turn help nations develop decades-long relationships and more open and honest dialogues.

Ronald L. Perrilloux, Jr., a former defense attaché to Saudi Arabia and the current director of the Middle East and Africa region for Lockheed Martin, noted the common interests shared by the U.S. and the Gulf: energy, counterterrorism and resisting Iranian influence. He complained that, despite these unifying realities, many in the U.S., and Congress in particular, are distrustful of Arab nations. This in turn, he said, has caused U.S. allies in the region to grow dissatisfied with America’s lack of appreciation for their long-time loyalty.

In Perrilloux’s opinion, the U.S. has inconsistently applied its human rights laws to the detriment of Arab nations. Other countries, such as China, he argued, are not held to the same standards as those in the Arab world. He cited recent U.S. decisions to ease restrictions on the transfer of military equipment to Bahrain and Egypt THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

as positive developments.

Christopher Blanchard, a specialist in Middle East affairs at the Congressional Research Service, said that greater dialogue, transparency and coordination is needed in the U.S.-Arab military relationship. Both sides need to be clear about their intentions, honest about their constraints and red lines, and work to develop a common strategy, he concluded.—Dale Sprusansky

The Future of the GCC NCUSAR president and CEO Dr. John Duke Anthony opened the “Gulf Cooperation Council: Role in Regional Dynamics” panel with an insightful comparison between the EU and the GCC models of regional cooperation. The EU was always a model for the GCC, he said. However, the GCC has always faced complex difficulties due to a lack of pre-existing institutions that the EU benefited from when it was founded. Yet, according to Anthony, it has still made great advancements as a regional organization.

Khaled Almaeena, a Saudi journalist and founder of the NAAM organization, highlighted the diversity within GCC countries, while also noting their shared aspiration for the betterment of their peoples. Almaeena spoke passionately about the youth demographic in the GCC, sharing their calls to be stakeholders in the future of their nations. Speaking from his experiences in his native Saudi Arabia, he affirmed that young people want very basic things, including a pathway to public sector job security and the ability to establish institutions that allow their voices to be heard.

Youth unemployment in the GCC is on the rise, Almaeena lamented, because citizens don’t have the necessary technical skills, leading to reliance on foreign labor.

At the same time, he praised the late King Abdullah’s reforms that focused on women and youth, calling them positive changes that cannot be reversed.

Dr. Richard J. Schmierer, a NCUSAR fellow and former U.S. ambassador to Oman, followed Almaeena’s remarks with a discussion on the Obama administration’s involvement with the GCC. He focused on Obama’s intent to engage with Iran since the first days of his presidency. Although most of the GCC has been critical about these developments, he believes the engagement with Iran is good for the U.S. and the region.

Dr. Abdullah AlShayji, professor of international relations at Kuwait University, claimed that the GCC had been unfairly at47

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Syria, Lebanon remained livable during its period of conflict. Warring factions within the country began internal negotiations early in the conflict, he noted, which facilitated an agreement to be reached in the end. With this in mind, Salem argued that Iraq had a greater chance of survival than Syria, as it has maintained a sense of constitutional order as well as an internal process of negotiation, whereas Syria continues to have no feasible domestic negotiation. “[Da’ish], to my mind, is a symptom of the collapse of political order, not the cause,” Salem said. “After the state collapsed in Syria, non-state actors came to play an increasing role in Syria; one of those actors was al-Qaeda, which then rebranded as [Da’ish]...I think [Da’ish] is a symptom of a phenomenon in which when state order collapses, and we have ungovernable spaces, all kinds of non-state actors emerge.”

Because of this, Salem said, the solution to the problem of Da’ish is to reconstruct state power, which requires both a political The Future of Lebanon, Iraq and Syria deal and military force. In Iraq, this would involve making the central government in Baghdad more inclusive, while the military aspect would involve the Kurdish Peshmerga, the Iraqi army and the Shi’i militias. Syria’s future, on the other hand, is more difficult to discern, according to Salem, as Russia’s military involvement has solidified the division in Syria. Until the fighting between the non-Da’ish rebels and the Assad forces ceases, Salem argued, there are no forces to adequately confront Da’ish.

Human rights attorney Bassel Korkor discussed the role of the United Nations in the end game of the Syrian conflict.

Groupings of countries, including the U.S. and Russia, should come together to Paul Salem shares his views on Lebanon, discuss paths to de-escalation, he argued.

Iraq and Syria.

Additionally, working groups from the Syrian opposition groups should return Moderated by Dr. Michael Hudson, profes- to the negotiating table with the Syrian sor emeritus at Georgetown University, the government for negotiations that address “Geopolitical Dynamics: Syria, Lebanon the grievances of the millions of Syrian and Iraq” panel discussed Da’ish, sectarian people. The end goal of such measures conflicts, foreign intervention in the ongo- should be to stop the violence between the ing Syrian war, the refugee crisis, and the government and the opposition, Korkor said, but added that easing the broad interviability of the three countries.

Paul Salem, vice president for policy and national tension is a necessary prerequisite research at the Middle East Institute, used for this to be feasible. He also laid out a few Lebanon as a model to compare the current additional crucial measures to ease the sitsituations in Iraq and Syria, and whether uation: ending Assad’s use of barrel lessons could be learned from Lebanon’s bombs, increasing humanitarian aid to Syrfraught history. He began by stressing that ian refugees before they leave the country, although there are similarities between accelerating refugee resettlement in the Lebanon and contemporary Iraq and U.S., and encouraging reform with the opPHOTO COURTESY NCUSAR

tacked by many in the West and that the work of NCUSAR is important in providing balanced coverage of the GCC countries. He also stressed that Operation Decisive Storm, the ongoing GCC military operation in Yemen, was a pivotal starting point for continued GCC cooperation and indicative of a shared vision of the future of the region.

AlShayji was critical of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, an event that he argued led to many competing foreign projects in the region. This was also the main event that led to Iran’s increased strength in the region. The GCC operation in Yemen is the first pan-Arab project that marks the beginning of further regional cooperative action, he said.

He further discussed the consequences of emboldening Iran, arguing that the nuclear deal already is proving devastating for the region, as evidenced by Iran’s involvement in Yemen, though he provided no concrete evidence to back up these claims.

—Kevin A. Davis

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position.

Dr. Elias Samo came to the conference from Damascus, and used this fact to establish credibility. “I decided I’d come stand here and speak to you,” he said, “although I’m a faculty member, I’m a professor of international relations at American universities and Syrian universities. I wanted to come here and just speak my heart, not my mind; think out loud and tell you how I feel.”

Although Dr. Samo accurately described Syria’s tragic current situation as a place without law and order, much of the rest of his talk played into questionable notions of Islamism vs. secularism without addressing Syria’s contemporary history. He argued that although the Arab Spring began as a genuine revolution, it had been hijacked by the Islamists. He outlined three threats to the future of Syria: the emigration of the elite, the emigration of Christians, and the lack of schools and education.

“I wish I could tell Mr. Obama that in decision making, we have to prioritize our interests. If you were to prioritize your interests in Syria, fighting terrorism has to be first,” Samo said. “Refugees to Europe has to be down second, and dealing with Russia has to be third. Bashar al-Assad is not a big deal.”

—Suhaib Khan

Ambassador Lukman Faily on the U.S.-Iraq Relationship and Da’ish Lukman Faily, Iraq’s ambassador to the U.S., used his remarks on Oct. 15 to encourage Washington to double down on its fight against Da’ish. “Step up your efforts to defeat Da’ish,” he urged American leaders. “We must defeat Da’ish and we must do it together.”

Unity and cooperation are critical in the battle against the group, Faily emphasized.

Differences between various countries such as Russia and the U.S. must not interrupt the goal of defeating the terrorist group, he argued. Noting the international nature of Da’ish’s recruitment and appeal, Faily said Iraq is incapable of defeating the group on its own.

For this reason, the ambassador said, Iraq is willing to accept assistance from any country committed to defeating Da’ish. “We are not in a position to turn away potential allies,” he commented.

Nonetheless, he emphasized that the U.S. is Iraq’s partner of choice.

However, he also noted the important relationship Iraq shares with its neighbor Iran. The two nations, by virtue of sharing a border, have many common strategic goals and concerns. Despite the poor U.S.NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

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to provoke, instigate and incite Muslims in the hope of pushing this situation to the point where it is today. So this didn’t happen in vacuum.” Israel’s goal, he said, is to turn a political conflict into a religious one.

Areikat expressed little optimism about the possibility of a political settlement, especially given the extremely flawed current bilateral approach sponsored by the U.S. “A more international multilateral approach in which the U.S. will be an important party, but not the only party,” is needed to reach an agreement, he argued.

This new approach is necessary, he said, because “this Israeli government believes that the status quo can continue forever.”

Zogby pointed out that although Israel was dealt a blow with the signing of the Iran nuclear deal, it still controls the debate in Washington. American perceptions of Palestine and Israel, he argued, “are shaped by one of three things: ignorance, willed ignorance, or ideology.” Ideologues, he explained, simply refuse to analyze situations outside of their fixed narratives of good and evil. Those with willed ignorance generally know the truth, he said, “but when they do their political calculation, it just doesn’t pay to be smart on Israel-Palestine.” Thus they repeat pro-Israel rhetoric in order to remain out of trouble.

Given this reality, Zogby doesn’t see the possibility of a change in the U.S. approach

Iraqi Ambassador Lukman Faily says his country is committed to working with both the U.S. and Iran to defeat Da’ish.

Iran relationship, Faily said, Iraq hopes the two nations do not let their differences hinder the fight against Da’ish. “We think we need both and we hope both appreciate each other, at least on Iraqi turf,” Faily said.

Turning to the U.S.-Iraq bilateral relationship, Faily said the two nations must strengthen their cooperation and engagement, arguing that this will help ensure the emergence of a strong and self-reliant Iraq. A reduction in American support to the country would hinder Iraq’s development, he cautioned, and force the country to look elsewhere for assistance. “Vacuums will always be filled by others,” he noted.

—Dale Sprusansky

must be given a semblance of hope for a better tomorrow.

Zogby called on Palestinians to revise their approach to end the status quo. While he said he is “loath” to call on the Palestinians—the weakest actor in the conflict—to change their ways, he believes it’s all but certain neither the Israelis nor the U.S. will ever willingly change their mentalities. The new Palestinian approach must be centered on a massive nonviolent movement, he said. “What nonviolence does is it turns the equation and mobilizes larger numbers of people. Would the press be able to ignore it? The press could not ignore it.”

Reynolds described what it means to be a Palestinian refugee today. In the West Bank, it means dealing with the daily injustices of a military occupation; in Gaza it entails bearing the brunt of a suffocating blockade; in Syria it means being surrounded by violence; in Lebanon it means continued uncertainly and frustration about the future. Despite these realities, he said, UNRWA has been able to offer quality education and resources to Palestinian refugees. “[UNRWA] has created human capital that many countries in the world would today envy the Palestinians for,” Reynolds stated.

Harb commented on how some Palestinian youths have resorted to extremism during recent weeks. “Extremism is not merely

The panel on the future of Palestine included Ambassador Maen Areikat, the chief representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to the U.S.; James Zogby, founding president of the Arab American Institute; Matthew Reynolds, UNRWA’s North American representative; Imad Harb, a distinguished international affairs fellow with NCUSAR; and Thomas Mattair, executive director of the Middle East Policy Council.

Areikat began by addressing the media’s portrayal of the recent hostilities between Israelis and Palestinians. He accused the media of covering Palestinian violence without providing context that explains the extreme frustrations of the Palestinians.

The whole episode started more than a year ago, the ambassador said, “when Israel started allowing extremists to enter the al-Aqsa mosque compound…allowed members of its cabinet, members of its elected parliament, the Knesset, to go there NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

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What is the Palestinian Future?

(L-r) Thomas Mattair, Jim Zogby, Ambassador Maen Areikat and Randa Fahmy Hudome suggest a more international approach on Israel-Palestine. toward Israel—which, he believes, will therefore remain the spoiled child that does whatever it wants, while Palestinians will continue to act out like abused children looking for attention. This hopeless and volatile Palestinian dynamic is the result of years of mistreatment and neglect, Zogby explained. “Suicide is not a normal human activity, it only comes when death appears to be a better option than life,” he said, emphasizing that young Palestinians THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

a response to self-interest and jihadi recruiters…but specifically, the brainchild of lost hopes and aspirations for a good life and a good future. In absence of avenues for changing the dire conditions on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip,” he warned, “extremism is likely to flourish to the detriment of everyone’s security and peace.”

Mattair expressed doubt that the U.S. has the ability to push Israel toward making the necessary conditions for peace. As 49

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evidence, he cited a remark about the U.S. Binyamin Netanyahu made in 2001. “I know what America is,” Netanyahu said.

“America is something that can be moved easily.”

Even if the U.S. were to make another attempt to forge peace, Mattair believes domestic political pressures would handicap the effort. The U.S. has a history of appointing incompetent or biased individuals to work on the peace process, he noted.

“Because of our domestic politics, I don’t think we pick the best people to represent us and fight for this outcome that we say is in our national interests,” he said.

Given this reality, Mattair suggested the U.S. get out of the way so that other international actors can attempt to forge peace.

—Rina Abd El Rahman and Dale Sprusansky

Khalaf Habtoor Gives Keynote Address In his keynote speech, chairman of the Al Habtoor Group Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, a successful self-made businessman in the United Arab Emirates, said the GCC is at a turning point and becoming a vital resource for global stability. He blamed the U.S. for turning the “cradle of civilization” into a “cradle of terrorism” and turning a blind eye to the continuing Palestinian tragedy. Israel is murdering Palestinians on a daily basis, he said, and America refrains from condemning Israeli violence.

Turning to Syria and Iraq, Habtoor described the tragic flow of refugees a tsunami of desperate people. He called Bashar al-Assad a butcher who should face charges in the International Criminal Court, and not be given an easy exile to another land.

Habtoor expressed great interest in the ongoing U.S. presidential race because, he said, America’s choice of president affects the whole world. He suggested the next leader should be shrewd in business and create jobs, because the world needs a healthy economy.

—Delinda C. Hanley

Yemen’s Ambassador Discusses His Country’s War The ambassador of Yemen’s government-inexile and former chair of the National Dialogue Conference, Ambassador Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak, briefly addressed the conference.

He began by highlighting the humanitarian consequences of the war in Yemen, focusing on the southern city of Taiz that has been victim to some of the worst of the conflict. The war receives little media attention, 50

despite the loss of more than 7,000 lives.

“How did Yemen get off track?” he asked.

The answer for him was the alliance between former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the Houthis, a rebel movement from the north of the country. His criticism of the Houthis was perhaps justified by his recounting of his own kidnapping, when he was taken hostage by the Houthis while carrying a draft of the new Yemeni Constitution.

Bin Mubarak claimed there was no alternative to calling on the GCC to offer military assistance in stabilizing Yemen and restoring its government. For him, the roadmap to the future still lies in the outcomes of the concluded National Dialogue Conference and the GCC Initiative signed in 2011 that accompanied the end of Saleh’s rule.

In the end, Bin Mubarak argued, there is no military solution to Yemen’s crisis, and U.N. Resolution 2216 is the only way to negotiate a diplomatic settlement. He failed to explain, however, how the resolution, which calls on the Houthis to turn in all their weapons and retreat from all areas of Yemen, could possibly be taken seriously as a pathway to a peaceful solution.

—Kevin A. Davis

Saudi Arabia, the U.S. and the Devastating War in Yemen Since March 25, Saudi Arabia and its fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members—with the exception of Oman—have been carrying out an intense military campaign in Yemen. The stated goal of the intervention is to push back the advance of the Houthi rebels, a group the coalition claims is a tool of the Iranian regime.

While Arab Gulf officials have defended the war effort (see p. 46), many outside observers have expressed concern about the humanitarian consequences of the campaign. Others have questioned the efficacy of the coalition’s tactics.

Speaking via Skype at an Oct. 20 event co-hosted by the Forum on the Arms Trade and the Security Assistance Monitor, Tariq Riebl, Oxfam’s response and resilience team program coordinator, outlined the current reality in Yemen.

“The situation on the ground is absolutely catastrophic,” said Riebl, who recently returned from a three-month assignment in Yemen. More than 80 percent of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance, he noted, as both food and water are scarce. More than 1.5 million Yemenis are internally displaced, while another 100,000 are believed to have sought refuge in Djibouti and Somaliland.

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Riebl outlined three causes of the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen: ground fighting, airstrikes and the Saudi-imposed blockade.

The ground fighting has been heavily concentrated in the southern cities of Aden and Taiz, he said, noting that the humanitarian impact outside of these areas is minimal.

The air campaign has been expansive, Riebl continued, and has affected all of Yemen’s 22 governorates. No official documentation on airstrikes is being kept, but Riebl estimates that 100 to 150 strikes are carried out every day. These strikes have not been surgical, he stated, and have resulted in the destruction of hospitals, schools, water and power plants, roads, ports and refugee camps.

According to Riebl, the blockade of Yemen is the most significant factor contributing to the dire humanitarian situation. Yemen imports 80 percent of its food and 90 percent of its fuel, he pointed out, and the blockade has effectively cut off these resources to many parts of the country.

At a Sept. 17 event hosted by Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Yemeni-American lawyer Lara Aryani argued that the coalition is committing war crimes in Yemen. She pointed to the example of Saudi Arabia declaring the entirety of Sa’ada, the northwest region that is the stronghold of the Houthis, a military target. In her view, this was a blatant and open admission that the Saudis view civilians in this conflict as legitimate targets. She also was not shy about putting significant blame on the U.S. for its complicity in the ongoing bombing campaign and its failure to push for a political settlement.

At the Oct. 20 event, William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy, also was critical of the U.S. role in the conflict, noting that Washington has provided ample weaponry, intelligence and logistical support to the war effort.

Since assuming office in 2009, the Obama administration, under the Pentagon’s Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, has agreed to send $195 billion in military equipment to its allies, according to the Security Assistance Monitor. This is the highest amount approved by any administration since World War II. More than half of these arms have gone to governments in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, Hartung noted, with Saudi Arabia purchasing $49 billion worth, more NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

ties to the fullest ex- the Yemen issue has been discussed in the tent possible,” they West. Most commentators have offered either problematic or irrelevant frameworks wrote.

Martin Butcher, a for understanding the conflict, she inpolicy adviser on sisted. She also criticized the notion of arms and conflict at Yemeni exceptionalism, which abandons Oxfam, said his orga- nearly all means of real analysis by claimnization has called on ing that Yemen is a uniquely complicated the international com- country. Both of these analytical failures munity to suspend are due to the influx of so-called “experts” the delivery of all that seem to appear during any major arms intended for use world event, she observed.

Tariq Riebl noted that the blockade has in Yemen until agreements on the proper made it difficult for international media use of those weapons and human rights organizations to enter (L-r) Dr. Osama Abi-Mershed introduces panelists Ambassador are reached. and report from Yemen. This has resulted Barbara Bodine, Dr. Sheila Carapico and Lara Aryani.

For now, though, in minimal coverage of the war, he said, the war effort labors and a lack of understanding about the conon. As the months go flict across much of the Western world.

—Kevin A. Davis and Dale Sprusansky by, some may wonder why Saudi Arabia and its allies remain so Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize Winner committed to the mil- Tawakkol Karman Visits Washington itary campaign. For- The U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) in Washmer U.S. Ambassador ington, DC hosted 2011 Nobel Peace Prize to Yemen Barbara Bo- Winner and Yemeni human rights activist dine, speaking at the Tawakkol Karman on Sept. 8. After a brief Georgetown event, of- introduction by Colette Rausch, USIP’s actfered three reasons for ing vice president of governance, law, and Saudi Arabia’s in- society, and Mohamed Elsanousi, the U.S. volvement in Yemen: director of the Network for Religious and a long history of inter- Traditional Peacemakers, Karman gave a ference in the country 30-minute overview of the situation in based on cycles of sta- Yemen.

William Hartung (l) and Martin Butcher note the military support bilization and destabiKarman began with a recap of the 2011 the U.S. provides to Saudi Arabia. lization; an unhealthy uprising which led to the overthrow of obsession with Iran’s long-time dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh. She than any other country. The U.S. has sold influence in the region; and a GCC consen- described the revolution as entirely peacea wide variety of weapons to the Kingdom, sus (excluding Oman) on the need for mil- ful, even though high-ranking members in her own Al-Islah party declared war on the he added, including cluster bombs that are itary force in Yemen.

At that same event, Richmond University former president, which led to violent conillegal under the U.N.’s Convention on Cluster Munitions. Neither the U.S. nor Saudi political science professor Dr. Sheila Cara- flict throughout the country. In the end, pico discussed the role of former Yemeni an agreement was reached that “the whole Arabia has signed the U.N. treaty.

Hartung believes the U.S. can exert more President Ali Abdullah Saleh, whose forces world agreed on,” she claimed, referring to influence over its Gulf allies and make the have allied with the Houthis. She asserted the November 2011 GCC Initiative that netopic of human rights more than a sideline that, contrary to many media reports, there gotiated Saleh’s resignation.

In the GCC agreement, which Karman issue. Until certain human rights criteria is no such thing as a Saleh “loyalist,” and are met, the sale of U.S. weapons must be that his militia recruits are simply paid mer- considers a legitimate political roadmap for halted, he argued, saying “It is long past cenaries, not passionate ideologues. She also Yemen, the only point of contention was time for these sales to be subjected to pointed to the Houthi advance on Aden as the granting of immunity to Saleh. This clear evidence that Saleh is pulling many provision has had catastrophic consecloser scrutiny.”

The war in Yemen has begun to raise strings, as the Houthis some concerns on Capitol Hill. Reps. Deb- themselves have no bie Dingell (D-MI), Keith Ellison (D-MN), real interests in that Ted Lieu (D-CA) and 10 other House mem- city. Saleh, on the bers sent a letter to President Barack other hand, has a long Obama in October urging him to review history of conflict the issue of civilian casualties. “In order to with the south, and protect innocent lives and reduce the po- with Aden in particutential for backlash against U.S. interests, lar.

Lara Aryani, mean- Yemeni human rights activist Tawakkol Karman urges the U.S. to we urge your administration to work with our Saudi partners to limit civilian casual- while, addressed how take a larger role in Yemen.

PHOTO COURTESY U.S. INST. OF PEACE

STAFF PHOTO D. SPRUSANSKY

STAFF PHOTO K. DAVIS

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quences, she said, and is a central cause of Houthis retreat from all cities and turn in ment will simply serve as a rubber stamp for the violence Yemen it witnessing today. For their arms as a prerequisite to negotiations. authoritarian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

While Karman’s remarks at the USIP She said her party is also concerned about Karman and many other Yemenis, “there were informative, for those familiar with the government’s targeting of many of its can be no peace without justice.”

The immunity issue aside, Karman de- Yemen, her stances and involvement in the young members. “We have been targeted clared the transition a great success, saying transitional process are problematic. A throughout the past two years,” she that the GCC Initiative laid the ground- great spokesperson for human rights and charged, “by detaining, imprisonment and work for the National Dialogue Conference especially women’s rights in the region, her putting our young members to trial.”

Sally Toma, a contributor to Mada Masr, (NDC), a nine-month meeting of all parties sectarian rhetoric continues to be an obstain Yemen to form a new political reality for cle for peace—although at this point her a progressive online independent news the country. Among the outcomes of the audience is likely larger in Washington, DC source, voiced even deeper objections to the —Kevin A. Davis Sisi regime. “We have a big brother,” she NDC she cited were equality, peace, good than in Yemen itself. said, “and big brother is watching us all the governance, and decentralization. time.” Describing Egypt as an Orwellian Karman claimed that despite the involve- Egypt’s Economic, Security and state, she noted that it has many laws inment of all parties in the NDC, including Political Challenges Saleh and the Houthis, the transition col- The Middle East Institute held its annual tended to suppress free expression, both onlapsed due to a secret agreement among Egypt conference Sept. 30 at the Ritz-Carl- line and on the street.

Toma considers Egypt’s security chalSaleh, the Houthis and Iran to stage a coup ton hotel in Washington, DC. The theme of in Sana’a in September of 2014. It is here this year’s gathering was “Egypt: Reducing lenges in part a result of the government’s repressive and heavy-handed tactics. “If that, despite being one of Yemen’s most in- Risks, Unlocking Potential.” ternationally recognized voices for peace, The conference took place several weeks you’re still continuing to tag me as a terrorist Karman’s version of history is highly con- before Egypt held its first round of parlia- every time I speak just because I’m oppositroversial. She failed to acknowledge the mentary elections in October. According to tion, then you are also breeding the viohistorical marginalization of the Houthis or government figures, just under 27 percent lence within the society toward me,” she the assassination of their leaders by mem- of voters turned out for the much-delayed said.

In the face of repression, bers of her own party throughEgyptian civil society has out the NDC process, leading to largely gone underground and their withdrawal from the diadecentralized in an effort to surlogue. In addition, the NDC’s vive, according to Toma. “The decentralization component way we tried to survive before sought to divide up traditional was all of us being in one ship Houthi power centers, limiting trying to get to the shores of their ability to partake in local freedom. I think we decided it’s governance. not possible anymore, because Karman nevertheless was they’re going to bomb us all and highly critical of Iran’s involvewe’ll all sink. So we decided to ment in Yemen and what she go into little boats—different described as its attempts to esboats, you know, but with the tablish a so-called “Persian Emsame goal, heading toward the pire” spanning from Sana’a to shore of freedom, working on Beirut to Tehran. These redifferent things, so we can work marks, which are debatable, were nonetheless welcomed by (L-r) Gameela Ismail, Ezzat Ibrahim Youssef, Sally Toma and Prof. on health, we can work on education, on police reform, on the American audience, reflect- Nathan Brown. ing Washington’s perspective on Iran and election, which initially had been scheduled whatever it is, while trying to survive and its involvement in the region. for 2014. A second and final round of vot- not be seen that much by big brother.”

Ezzat Ibrahim Youssef, managing editor Karman concluded by discussing the ing will take place Nov. 22 and 23. current Saudi-led military campaign in The paltry turnout among Egyptian vot- of the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper, was Yemen, generally expressing her support ers comes as no surprise in light of com- less pessimistic in his remarks. He predicted for the Saudis while trying to maintain her ments made by members of the conference’s Egypt’s new 596-member parliament will be filled with self-serving members and will status as a simple messenger of peace. first panel.

“People like me still belong to the peaceful According to Gameela Ismail, a founding thus be a burden on Sisi.

George Washington University political revolution,” she declared. member of the Al-Dostour party, Egyptian During the discussion period, Karman society is in a fragile state. After years of science professor Nathan Brown said there answered numerous questions and spoke confrontation between the government and is truth to Youssef’s viewpoint. Because pobriefly on the importance of the role of the Muslim Brotherhood, she noted, many litical organizing is not possible in the curwomen in Yemen, the prevalence of ordinary Egyptians are loyal to neither side rent political environment, many of the new parliamentarians are going to be serving counter-revolutions across the region, and and simply want a better future. the role dialogue can play in resolving the Ismail said her party, which is popular personal rather than party agendas, he precurrent conflict. Despite these uplifting among liberal Egyptians, chose to boycott dicted. This means the parliament could be words, Karman has herself endorsed the the election over concerns about the elec- hard to control. “You’re going to have basiproblematic requirement that Yemen’s tion law and its belief that the new parlia- cally a lot of individuals who are there be52

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going to be only military. There has to be an economic component. These people have very genuine grievances,” she said. The historical chasm between Sinai and the rest of Egypt must be bridged, she stressed.

“Everyone on the panel is talking about Sinai versus the rest of Egypt. That’s not really a helpful framework if you’re trying to be inclusive and improve the lives of these people. They should be considered as Egyptians, not Sinai Bedouin.”

Putnam said her office is concerned about the repressive environment in Egypt.

“We’re concerned about how the domestic political repression is increasing radicalization, not just within the Brotherhood members, but society across the board,” she explained. “We keep encouraging an opening of political space, a way to lift the pressure, to let out steam, to allow people to express themselves. We think that will contribute to the larger security situation.”

The conference’s final panel featured two young Egyptian entrepreneurs who provided an assessment of the country’s economic potential.

Seif Abou Zaid, CEO of Tahrir Academy, said the entrepreneurial environment in Egypt is improving. “The ecosystem is growing, slowly, but definitely surely,” he said.

Many challenges nonetheless remain for entrepreneurs, Zaid noted. His company closed down several months ago, he said, because the legal environment in Egypt is not supportive of non-profits. The company thus was forced to evolve into a for-profit enterprise in order to continue its operation.

Mohamed Zaazoue, founder of Healthy Egyptians, a nonprofit dedicated to improving health education in schools, shared similar frustrations.

When Zaazoue produced a health education film to be shown in schools, he surprisingly received a backlash from government officials. “The department in the Ministry of Education that deals with the non-profits or the social enterprises had someone [who] was absolutely ridiculous in the way he replied to me,” Zaazoue recalled. “He said, ‘how do I make sure that these cartoons do not have hidden political messages to the students in the primary schools?’ So he refused the proposal. So he took the cartoons and he said that he would send them to the security agencies in Egypt, the state security, for them to revise it and he would get back to me, and for a year now he has never STAFF PHOTO D. SPRUSANSKY

cause of their individual standing, but who Exeter, noted that the Egyptian government are going to be very difficult to herd in any is intent on cracking down on dissent. “The narrative used by the state…is that if you’re particular direction,” he predicted.

This lack of cohesion limits the possibility not with us, you’re against us. And if you’re of a strong anti-Sisi opposition bloc forming not with us and cheering for us enthusiasin parliament, Brown said. At the same tically, if you’re less enthusiastic, then time, it will likely be hard for Sisi to orga- maybe this is also a problem,” he noted. “So nize strong support in the body. “I think it’s very much about controlling the narrawhat you’re likely to see is a parliament in tive and closing the ranks.”

Ashour characterized the well-armed which you will have individuals who will become experts at making noise…but very, northern Sinai insurgency as the most pervery poor at making legislation. And so the ilous security threat facing Egypt. Neverphrase ‘a burden on the presidency’ is, I theless, he said, the Egyptian military ought think, how the political leadership of the to be able to defeat this enemy. “If you look country will come to see it,” he said. “This at the power ratio, we’re talking at least 500 parliament will be a pain to deal with, it will to one. Five hundred soldiers to one insurgent,” he noted. “If you look at the geograbe this non-ideological body.”

According to Brown, Sisi is not interested phy, this is not a rugged geography. This is in forming a state party in the vein of Hosni mostly happening in the north coastal areas, Mubarak’s National Democratic Party which is flat….When you have this situa(NDP). “I think what we’ll see instead will tion, you should think after two years of exbe a parliament that’s regarded as an annoy- tremely brutal tactics, this would end. But ance to deal with, but one in which the it’s not ending, it’s escalating.”

According to Gregory Aftandilian, an aspresidency still has enough tools, and key state institutions have enough insulation sociate at the University of Massachusettsfrom the parliament, that they’ll probably keep on doing what they’ve been already doing before the election of the parliament unless a parliament shows some kind of backbone, which would surprise most observers.”

Brown expressed concern at the Muslim Brotherhood’s exclusion from the political process.

“There’s no inclination right now in the Brotherhood to participate in politics, none,” he stated. “I mean, they would say that the door has been slammed in their face, they’ve been banned, they’ve been tortured, they’ve been exiled…they are Seif Abou Zaid (l) and Mohamed Zaazoue. now dedicated to what they’re Lowell’s Middle East Center, Cairo must calling a revolutionary path.”

There is much debate within the Brother- focus more of its attention on addressing the hood as to the proper path forward, Brown grievances of the Sinai’s long disaffected noted. The older generation is more inclined population.

“I think in the Sinai, the problem is the to accept compromise in the interest of survival, while the younger generation is more government is just using kind of brute dedicated to a revolutionary path, he said. force, and it really needs to think more creCalm will not return to Egypt until a rec- atively about how to help the disaffected onciliation process takes place, Brown cau- young Bedouin in those areas to get some altioned. “You have a society, from what I can ternative than to join [insurgent] groups,” see, in which various parts of it are…blind, Aftandilian said. “Every counter-insurabsolutely blind, to trauma experienced by gency expert in the world will tell you that other parts of society,” he said. Egypt needs unless you get the local population on your psychiatrists more than political scientists, side, you’re not going to be able to defeat an insurgency.” he quipped.

Candace Putnam, director of the State DeThe conference’s second panel focused on security issues. Omar Ashour, a senior lec- partment’s Office of Egypt Affairs, echoed turer in security studies at the University of this sentiment. “The solution in Sinai is not

53

got back to me. We went to him twice during this year and he said they have not replied yet to him.”

Zaazoue shared another story of the unhelpful state bureaucracy. “Getting a grant from any international agency is the dream of any entrepreneur,” he explained. “But in Egypt this would be perceived as foreign funding, and it would be blocked in your bank account until the security agencies would provide you permission to spend it.

According to the constitution it should be within 90 days, but I have a grant that sat in the bank account for two years. And the donor who gave me the grant was expecting results within a certain timeline.”

To resolve these hindrances to entrepreneurial success, Zaazoue believes different stakeholders must sit together and collaborate. This, he said, would allow all sides to reach common sense solutions on various issues.

Egypt’s hypersensitive security environment must also be eased, Zaazoue said, adding that the international community can assist in this effort. “I would really hope that I would see the Gulf countries and the Western countries invest more in our schools, in our universities, in scholarships,” he commented.

“This would definitely benefit the country more than sending weapons,” Zaazoue argued. “I have a very strong belief in investing in people and in developing the communities, and this would definitely solve the terrorism problem and any other problem more than the weapons.”

Zaid said that entrepreneurship must be democratized in Egypt by teaching students that they can have their voices heard in an atmosphere free of repression. “Breeding democracy starts in nonpolitical realms,” he stressed.

He concluded by offering his hopeful vision of Egypt’s future. “I see an inclusive Egypt where everyone has the chance to go up the ladder, socially, politically, economically…[and] a government that harnesses the energy of all the non-state actors.”

—Dale Sprusansky

Chomsky, Pappe, Roy, Walt Among Speakers at Biblical Studies Conference More than 150 people from more than 20 states and three foreign countries gathered in Lexington, MA Sept. 17 to 19 for the Society for Biblical Studies’ annual national conference, titled “Christians and the Holy Land: What Does the Lord Require?” The Arlington, MA-based non-profit, which specializes in socially responsible travel to 54

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Prof. Noam Chomsky addresses the Society for Biblical Studies conference.

Israel, Palestine and Jordan, examined aspects of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and U.S. foreign policy in the broader Middle East. Organizers aimed to present points of view that are either deliberately suppressed or ignored by the mainstream American media.

While attendees were almost uniformly enthusiastic about the conference, a handful represented the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA). Frustrated by their inability to disrupt the conference, at least one left the conference voicing threats to this writer, a United Methodist minister and the executive director of The Society for Biblical Studies. In advance of the conference, local rabbis tried to pressure and intimidate the pastor of the church where the conference was held. One warned of protests that did not materialize. Instead, he placed Zionist propaganda on the windshields of cars in the church parking lot.

Noam Chomsky, professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), gave the keynote address, entitled “The Iran Nuclear Deal: Some Critical Questions.” He reminded the audience that Iran and the U.S. have a long history of antagonism dating back to the CIA’s 1953 overthrow of Iran’s democratically elected government and the installation of the shah. Chomsky pointed out that, while Iran might not be a model of humanitarian governance, it is far less repressive and more democratic than such stalwart U.S. allies as Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

In my own remarks, I pointed out that while the phenomenon of so-called Christian Zionism is usually associated with fundamentalist Christians, Christian support for the State of Israel is far more prevalent among liberal, progressive Christians.

Against the Zionist canard that criticism of Zionism and of Israel is a new form of antiTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Semitism, Christian Zionists in fact outnumber Jewish Zionists by at least 14:1— therefore, Christian criticism of Zionism is a critique of other Christians.

Christian critiques of Christian Zionism tend to focus on fundamentalist Christian Zionists represented by the likes of John Hagee or the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem. Indeed, if we assume conservatively that only half of all fundamentalist Christians in America (ca. 28 million) are Christian Zionists and all Jews in the world (ca. 14 million) are Zionists, which we know is an overestimate, then a conservative ratio of Christian Zionists to Jewish Zionists is 2:1.

However, once Christian Zionism is more correctly understood to include mainstream Christians, then the ratio of Christian to Jewish Zionists increases to 14:1 worldwide. So unless we factor in the mainstream Christians who are active Zionists, we cannot fully comprehend the support for the Zionist enterprise in the U.S. Christian support for Zionism is especially strong among Christian clergy involved in Jewish-Christian dialogue, where Christian support for Israel is a precondition for the dialogue. Reinhold Niebuhr and Robert Drinan are prime examples of liberal Christian Zionism.

Jean Zaru, a Palestinian Quaker from Ramallah, is the only woman leader of a church in Palestine. She spoke movingly of the daily indignities to which Palestinians are subjected and of the deeper, systemic violence of the Israeli occupation. She reminded listeners that Israel’s military occupation of the Palestinian territories includes restrictions on travel, expropriation of land and denial of basic human rights.

Against the claim that Christians in the Holy Land are treated better by Israel than they are anywhere else in the Middle East, she pointed out that Christian schools were currently on strike in Israel and that Christian churches in Israel have been desecrated by right-wing Jewish extremists.

Israeli historian and University of Exeter Prof. Ilan Pappe called for a redefinition of standard terms associated with Israeli occupation. Insisting that the term “occupation” be replaced with “colonization,” Pappe explained that “military occupation” as it is understood in international law is presumed to be a short-term expedient, but that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories has lasted nearly 50 years. He further stated that from its beginning, the Zionist enterprise included plans to remove the indigenous population.

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Americans who had taken a sity’s Kennedy School of GovernKTH trip.) ment, a co-author of The Israel Anne-Elisabeth Giuliani, Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, chaplain at Georgetown Univerdiscussed the history of failed sity, received the HCEF PresiU.S. policies in the region, spandent’s Award. She described her ning Democratic and Republican pilgrimage in January to Palesadministrations alike. In partictine and staying with a Christian ular, he pointed out that U.S. family in Birzeit who had no blunders in the region exacerheat or electricity because the bate regional tensions and, in occupier had turned off the utilfact, as Chomsky had also stated, ities. Her hosts had no idea have destabilized the region and when it would be turned back paved the way for ISIS. According to Walt, the threat from ISIS Chiara Cardone (r) receives the Know Thy Heritage Youth on. Their neighbors across the is grossly exaggerated in the Achievement Award from HCEF President/CEO Rateb Rabie (c). hill in a fancy Jewish settlement appeared to have no gas or elecmainstream media, and is a retricity issues. gional affair that should be At 10 p.m. there was a knock treated as such. at the door, Giuliani recalled.

Dr. Sara Roy, a leading expert Five Muslim students were livon the political economy of Gaza ing in her Christian hosts’ baseand a researcher at Harvard Uniment. They all stayed up talking versity’s Center for Middle East by candlelight, describing their Studies, spoke autobiographianguish and fear. “I knew the cally of how her Jewish uppeople on the hill were just as bringing informed her profesfrightened,” she said. When sional journey and of her expeGiuliani went to Mass she couldriences in Gaza. She spoke pointn’t utter the word “peace”—she edly of the personal attacks she could not find it inside her. has endured for the positions “That is prayer to me. It’s work.” she has taken, especially in a reBishop Barry Knestout, auxilcent attack about her participa- Anne-Elisabeth Giuliani (c) accepts the HCEF President’s Award. iary bishop of the Archdiocese of tion in the Society for Biblical Studies National Conference. dation (HCEF) held its 17th annual interna- Washington, offered words of welcome on Dr. Roy also spoke about Israel’s deliber- tional awards dinner and conference Oct. behalf of Archbishop Donald Cardinal ate targeting of schools, mosques and hos- 16 and 17 at the Georgetown Marriott in Wuerl, who was unable to attend the dinner pitals in Gaza during operation Protective Washington, DC. The theme of the confer- due to previous obligations in Rome. The Edge during the summer of 2014. ence, “Our Faith Is Commitment to Justice, bishop reflected on Pope Francis’ SeptemDr. Mark Braverman, executive director Peace, and Coexistence,” attracted more ber visit to the U.S. and urged everyone to of Kairos USA, told his personal story of than 300 participants to the dinner from embrace the pontiff’s call to reach out to “conversion” from a Zionist upbringing to across the country, as well as from Chile, those in the margins (see p. 64).

Palestine’s Christians are often marginalhis rejection of the Israeli military occupa- Jordan, Palestine and Israel. tion of Palestine and its challenge to Jewish The evening began after an invocation ized by those in the West, Knestout continidentity. In particular, he criticized the ex- by Dr. David Renwick, senior pastor at the ued, and particularly by political elites in ploitation of Christian feelings of complic- National Presbyterian Church. Master of Washington, DC. This explains why ity in and guilt for the Holocaust to pro- Ceremonies Stephen Corbin, an elder at the HCEF’s many projects and initiatives on the mote Zionism, and described Zionism as a Living Faith Lutheran Church in Rockville, ground in Palestine are so vital, he said.

Sayyid Syeed, national director of the threat to Jewish identity. Reminding the MD, welcomed attendees and introduced audience of earlier church actions to con- Rateb Rabie, HCEF’s president, who high- Office for Interfaith and Community Affront Nazism and apartheid in South lighted the historical and ongoing relation- fairs at the Islamic Society of North AmerAfrica, he called for a new church-wide re- ships Palestinian Christians—described as ica (ISNA), received the Faith and Tolersponse to Israeli military occupation, along Living Stones—have with their Muslim ance Award. He spoke of the importance of interfaith cooperation within the United the lines of the 1985 South Africa Kairos brothers and sisters. proclamation. He identified churches as a The banquet honored five awardees. States. A new paradigm must be estabpotential force to effect positive change Chiara Cardone, Palestinian youth advocate lished to ensure a culture of tolerance and and expressed his wish that churches and consultant of the Know Thy Heritage love prevails in this country, he emphawould respond to the 2009 Kairos Palestine (KTH) Program, received the KTH Youth sized. “We will need to build alliances and document, “A Moment of Truth.”

Achievement Award. She heads the popu- pool resources to do this.”

The evening concluded with Raffoul —Rev. Peter J. Miano lar summer leadership program which takes diaspora Palestinian youths from Rofa, president of the Society of St. Yves HCEF Conference Explores the Future around the world to explore Palestine. (the Catholic Center for Human Rights in of Christianity in the Holy Land (The following day, conference attendees Jerusalem), accepting the Living Stones The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foun- heard moving testimonies from young Solidarity Award on behalf of his organizaNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

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Where Do Palestinian Christians Stand?

The Oct. 17 conference opened with two panels focusing on the challenges faced by Palestine’s Christian community.

Bethlehem University professor Mazin Qumsiyeh urged those who provide relief and support to the Holy Land’s Christian community to redouble their efforts. Despite their admirable assistance, he noted, Palestinian Christians are still leaving in large numbers. “What we are doing is clearly not enough,” he said.

Qumsiyeh also expressed his disbelief in the two-state solution, arguing that history proves that colonial struggles end in one of three ways: the elimination of the native population (à la Australia); the removal of the colonial population (as was done in Algeria); or through integration and compromise (as was the case in South Africa). This third model, he believes, is the best approach for the Palestinians.

The professor concluded by urging the West to offer more than tepid support for the Palestinian cause. He quoted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” to emphasize his point.

“I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate,” King wrote in 1963. “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says, ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action’; who paternalistically feels that he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by the myth of time; and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a ‘more convenient season.’ Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more 56

tians in the Middle East. Conservatives bewildering than outright rejection.”

Fr. Michael McDonagh, international ad- have said little about the devastating imviser to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, pact of President George W. Bush’s Iraq lamented the role that pro-Israel revisionist war on that country’s Christian population, history has played in misleading the Amer- but have used ISIS’ assaults on Christian ican public about Israel and Palestine. communities as an opportunity to attack “The propaganda narrative that has been the Obama administration, Zogby noted. sold to the West for over 60 years is a It’s these same individuals, he said, that fraud,” he said. “The propaganda has been portray Islam as the sole persecutor of bought and drunk and has inebriated all Christians, but don’t acknowledge the suffering of Christians perpetrated by Israel. who have taken it.”

Zogby condemned Israel for attempting The acceptance of this false narrative has resulted in many Americans dismissing the to stir up religious tensions on the Temple suffering of the Holy Land’s Christians, Mount, saying the issue is not that PalesMcDonagh argued. “The Palestinian Chris- tinians won’t let Jews pray, but rather that tians have been betrayed…by the West,” Israel doesn’t let Palestinians live. Zogby he said. This is particularly true of right- noted that Palestinians fear that Jerusalem wing evangelical Christians, he added, could look like the settler-riddled West whose erroneous theology teaches that Bank town of Hebron if Israel gains control God demands unconditional support for of the al-Aqsa mosque. Israel controls the the modern nation of Israel. He described Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron, he pointed such Christians as “fundamentalists with- out, and uses its authority to dictate the terms of Palestinian access to the site. out listening to the fundamentals.”

McDonagh also expressed a degree of “That is the future that Palestinians in frustration with his flock in the Holy Jerusalem see for themselves,” Zogby said.

—Dale Sprusansky Land. Too many Palestinian Christians, particularly the youth, have become intellectually and spiritually lazy, he said. Mc- Human Rights Violations Donagh called on the region’s Christian Shadia Sbait, co-founder of the Iqrit Comcommunity to grow in their faith and to munity Center and media specialist at the become more devout in prayer. God will MOFET Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel, denot magically bring justice and peace to scribed human rights violations in the Palestinian Christians just because they are Holy Land from an ethical perspective, in Christians, he cautioned. a panel moderated by this writer. Sbait deWhile all Christians must fight injustice, scribed the village of Iqrit as a clear examMcDonagh warned against reflexively— ple of Israeli human rights violations. Iqrit and unproductively—resorting to com- villagers expected to return in two weeks plaining every time an injustice is commit- after they were driven out in 1948, Sbait ted. Noting Jesus’ suffering on the cross, said. They have not been permitted to rehe reminded his audience that suffering is turn to their homes despite an Israeli to be expected in life.

Supreme Court ruling, governmental James Zogby, president of the Arab promises, and Israeli ministerial committee American Institute, expressed annoyance recommendations. with the American approach toward the Meanwhile parents have passed on their current unrest in Israel and Palestine. The love of their land to their children. “Iqrit U.S., he noted, continually urges all sides villagers can pray in their church, get marto exercise restraint in an effort to halt violence. Such an approach may sound diplomatic and evenhanded, but does little to resolve the problems that drive people to protest or commit acts of violence.

The U.S. must focus less on surface discourse, Zogby said, and more on the cancer that is the Israeli occupation.

Zogby also scolded Republicans for their incon- Raffoul Rofa (l) and Shadia Sbait describe Israel’s selective sistent rhetoric about Chris- democracy.

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tion. St. Yves provides free legal assistance, counsel and advocacy to Palestinians and manages some 700 legal cases per year, while assisting 2,000 people annually. Dr. Saliba Sarsar, chair of the HCEF research and publication committee and professor of political science at Monmouth University, received the HCEF Award for his unstinting work.

—Dale Sprusansky and Delinda Hanley

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raeli rhetoric in the Maryland schools she attended, and having debates on the Palestinian right of return that turned into shouting matches, 20 against 1. “I’m no 13year-old now,” she said. “Today I wear my Palestinian heritage on my sleeve.”

Dr. Rana Shouman, Profs. Mazin Qumsiyeh (l) and Khalil Jahshan. a pharmacist, agrees ried and buried there but in between they that Palestinian American women are miscan’t live there,” Sbait stated. There are no understood. After her KTH trip, she orgaaccess roads but nonetheless the commu- nized an informational session to share her nity holds a monthly mass there as well as experiences at Mercy Hospital, Baltimore conferences and football games. One young where she works. Palestinians are conactivist insists on sleeping on his grandpar- nected to politics and terror. “We need to ents’ land so he lives in the church and advertise ourselves,” Shouman concluded.

Jorge Daccarett, from the Bank of Palescommutes to college each day.

There is selective democracy in Israel, tine in Santiago, Chile, explained that the but it’s only for Jews, Sbait said. Palestini- young (60 percent of Palestinians are under ans inside Israel are unequal and face dis- 24) represent a strong entrepreneurship crimination and many are displaced. spirit. One way to bring the 7.2 million “Rumor has it that Christians have it good Palestinians living outside Palestine in the in Israel,” Sbait concluded. “We don’t feel diaspora community together is through business, Daccarett said. “Palestinians are like VIPs—we are all Palestinians.”

Raffoul Rofa, director of the Society of among the richest peoples of the Middle St. Yves, spoke of Israel’s systematic policy East because we are multicultural—we are of discrimination from a legal perspective. all over the world, we speak different lanHe offered examples, such as “the lack of guages, but we all have Palestine in our planning rights for Palestinians resulting blood,” Daccarett said.

He urged investment in Palestine, only in the issuance of demolition orders against their structures in East Jerusalem and area half-jokingly adding that diaspora PalesC of the West Bank. Israel confiscates pri- tinians who cannot get their name on a vately owned Palestinian lands and de- Palestinian passport will have no problem clares them state land and then turns getting their name on a Bank of Palestine around and designates large tracts of these debit card.

The panelists agreed that Palestinian lands for settlement expansion. Rofa also described legal challenges Palestinians face women and youths are mobilizing as active as far as residency rights, family unifica- champions of justice, peace, and coexistence. tion and child registration.

St. Yves has been working to protect the Cremisan Valley, fighting Israeli annexa- Western Policy Toward Palestine tion of one of the last green areas in the The fifth and last panel on “Western Policy Bethlehem district—home to a monastery, toward Palestine” was moderated by Dr. convent, school, and a well-known win- Sarsar. Bethlehem University professor ery—under the pretext of security. Both Mazin Qumsiyeh summarized the 140-year speakers concluded by indicating the need history of Western meddling in the Arab for global cooperation in order to protect world and described how that interference Palestinian rights, especially through the has fragmented the Arab region and creimplementation of international law. ated the current mayhem. He expressed optimism that the path of “might makes The Role of Women and Youth right” is nearing an end. The suffering of A panel on “The Role of Women and the last few years might escalate further, he Youth in Building the State of Palestine” warned, because colonialism and imperialwas moderated by Noor Shayeb, who ism never give up power easily.

Professor Khalil Jahshan, executive diworks at Chemonics and is a KTH alumna.

Rami Ayyub, a former analyst at Lockheed rector of the Arab Center in Washington, Martin, also a KTH alumni, recalled pro-Is- DC, asked if Western policy toward PalesNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

tine is part of the problem or part of the solution. During this conference several Palestinians have been killed in this current uprising, he noted, “It’s shocking but not surprising,” he said but still the U.S. media is confused about why Palestinians are upset. “It’s the occupation, stupid,” Jahshan said, “the longest military occupation in history.” The West appears to be unable to implement a foreign policy based on human rights instead of biased support for Israel.

Jahshan urged Palestinian leaders to take these steps: 1. Declare Palestinian parliamentary and presidential elections within 90 days; 2. Reiterate Palestinians’ commitment to peace based on international law and U.N. Resolutions; 3. Demand U.N. protection; 4. Resume negotiations with all Palestinian factions; and 5. Empower and improve Palestinian government institutional building. The result would be “the most difficult crisis in the world will be liquidated in front of our eyes,” Prof. Jahshan concluded.

—Delinda C. Hanley

Palestinian Christian Leaders Call for Unity, Resistance, Global Action Two prominent Palestinian Christians appeared at Georgetown University’s AlWaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in Washington, DC on Sept. 25 to discuss the many challenges facing the Holy Land’s Christians.

Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek, co-founder of the Jerusalem-based Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, began by noting that it’s difficult to isolate Palestine’s Christians from the larger Palestinian society.

Regardless of their religious beliefs, he explained, Palestinians are equally targeted by the Israeli occupation and thus share common dilemmas and struggles. “The land confiscation does not differentiate between Muslims and Christians,” he said.

Members of both faiths have been able to preserve a sense of unity despite efforts by the Israeli government to spark a chasm, Ateek added. To prevent such a divide from happening, he stressed the continued importance of interfaith efforts.

Jonathan Kuttab, co-founder of Al-Haq, a Ramallah-based human rights organization, pointed out that some also seek to frame the Israel-Palestine conflict as a battle between Islam and Judaism. “There are those who would very much like to turn the struggle into a religious war between Judaism and Islam, between the Jewish 57

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Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek (l) and Jonathan Kuttab call for increased Palestinian nonviolent resistance. state and the Muslim world, which is why what is happening now at Haram el-Sharif in Jerusalem is so incendiary, so dangerous and so pernicious,” he said.

“The fight is not a religious fight and should not be allowed to become a religious fight,” Kuttab stated. “It is a political fight. It is a human fight, and nobody wins, no advantage can be taken by turning it into a religious war.”

As a lawyer, Kuttab believes the law, not religion, ought to be the focus of anti-occupation efforts. After World War II, he noted, the world came to appreciate the importance of international law and realized that “you cannot have chaos, you cannot have force alone rule.”

Despite this, Israel has long operated outside internationally accepted norms, Ateek pointed out. “Israel does not want to abide by international law,” he said. “I think Israel today is committing murder and nobody is able to stop Israel.”

In Ateek’s opinion, President Barack Obama made a genuine effort at peace in his first term but was unable to overcome Washington’s overwhelmingly pro-Israel orientation. “I think he was hit hard and he stopped,” he said of the president.

The Obama administration is simply another example of the U.S. inability to act as a neutral broker of peace, Ateek argued, noting that many Palestinians have lost hope in the U.S. and are looking elsewhere for assistance. “America is not able to champion justice,” he commented. “Our people are beginning to look toward Europe.”

Both Ateek and Kuttab expressed a sense of urgency, noting that Palestinians are becoming increasingly desperate. The Palestinian fight for human rights and international law is no longer theoretical or academic, Kuttab stressed, but rather a matter of practical daily survival.

Kuttab believes it should not be contro58

versial to call Israel an apartheid state given the discriminatory nature of its laws and actions. “If a law is discriminatory, if a law is racist, if a legal system grants rights to one particular portion of the population and denies it to other portions of the population on the basis of religion, or race, or creed,” he said, “then it has a name, it’s

called apartheid.”

Those fighting against apartheid in South Africa weren’t taken to task for calling it unjust, improper and evil, Kuttab noted. “You didn’t have to be pro-black, you didn’t have to be anti-white to say that these laws are wrong.” The same ought to be true of Israeli apartheid, he said.

Kuttab noted, however, that Israel has historically been able to skirt such criticism. “Israel was given a pass, the Zionist movement was not called to task when it established a political and legal system that granted rights to Jews which were denied to the indigenous population whether they were Muslim or Christian,” he pointed out.

Giving Israel a pass for its discrimination may have made sense to some following the trauma of the Holocaust, he said, but Israel must not be given the same pass today.

Both speakers encouraged increased efforts at nonviolent resistance going forward.

Ateek called for a third, nonviolent intifada, saying, “I wish that President [Mahmoud] Abbas would start it himself.” Such an uprising would force Israel to understand that Palestinians will not accept the status quo, Ateek argued.

Kuttab agreed, but cautioned that a nonviolent intifada would be met with Israeli aggression and the loss of many Palestinian lives. Nonetheless, he believes that nonviolence is not only moral, but also practical.

“I’d hate to think of the amount of firepower you’d need to out-violence the Israeli army,” he commented. “Nonviolence is the way to go.”

Asked for their views on the future of the two-state solution, Ateek and Kuttab emphasized the importance of human rights over political borders. Ateek said that Israel has killed the two-state solution by creating one apartheid state. Ateek added he is comfortable with one or two states, but said the present reality of one racist state must not be legitimized.

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Kuttab said he no longer engages in the two-states vs. one-state debate, citing his belief that people of goodwill are really powerless to address this issue. Those outside of the political elite can, however, work to address specific issues, he argued.

“We can talk about human rights, we can talk about equality, we can talk about racism and discrimination, we can talk about violence and nonviolence, we can talk about sending less rather than more weapons there to either party, we can talk about justice,” he said. “I think that’s where our efforts need to go.”

These efforts are beginning to pay dividends in the U.S., Kuttab believes. Americans of all different backgrounds, including Jews and evangelical Christians, are increasingly sympathetic to the Palestinian struggle, he said. “If we haven’t reached the tipping point yet, we’re very close to it.”

“Ultimately, people are not stupid,” Kuttab opined. “People can see and people can realize what’s going on here.”

—Dale Sprusansky

The Future of Bipartisanship on Israel The Institute for Palestine Studies in Washington, DC hosted a discussion on the issue of American partisan politics and foreign policy toward Israel on Oct. 15. Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi moderated the panel, which featured Prof. Paul Pillar of Georgetown University, Maya Berry executive director of the Arab American Institute, Dr. Yousef Munayyer executive director of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation as well as policy analyst at the Arab Research Center, and Nihad Awad executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Former CIA analyst Pillar reviewed the history of U.S. foreign policy toward Israel, citing President Barack Obama’s four interests in the Middle East: confronting external aggression, maintaining a free flow of energy, dismantling terrorist networks, and preventing development of the use of weapons of mass destruction. The third interest is where the Israeli government plays a role, Pillar said, as it has presented itself as being a partner in this fight against terrorism.

“But what Israel today handles as a terrorist threat, so-described, is really not a threat to the American people,” Pillar noted. “The group they’re most concerned with is Hamas, and the only Americans Hamas has killed happened to be on the wrong street corner at the wrong time when it was conducting terrorist attacks inside Israel.”

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(L-r) Prof. Paul Pillar, Dr. Yousef Munayyer, Maya Berry and Nihad Awad.

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“Within the Democratic party, there’s also this group that’s saying, ‘look, there are maybe a dozen members of Congress that are super-duper hardcore pro-Israel supporters, but the rest of us follow because it is the path of least resistance,’” she said. She also discussed the shifts in the American Jewish community, with the rise of groups such as J Street and Jewish Voice for Peace as alternatives to AIPAC. Awad, the final speaker, described the networking of funding behind Islamophobia in Congress. He cited a recent report called Fear, Inc. which details such networks and their relationship to the pro-Israel machinery in the U.S. “The findings from all these institutions looking at who is behind Islamophobia in the United States,” he stated, “found that the majority of the organizations that are actively working to misinform the public are mainly pro-Israel organizations.”

—Suhaib Khan

Coleen Rowley and Ray McGovern Host Edward Snowden in Iowa City

An audience of approximately 800 greeted former CIA employee and NSA contractor Edward Snowden with spontaneous cheering and a standing ovation in Iowa City on Sept. 28, when the whistleblower appeared live via Skype from Moscow.

In June 2013 Snowden was charged under the Espionage Act with theft of government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information, and willful communication of classified intelligence to an unauthorized person.

Sharing the stage at the Englert Theatre with Snowden were retired FBI agent Coleen Rowley and retired CIA analyst Edward Snowden speaks via Skype in Iowa City with Coleen Ray McGovern, mem- Rowley (r) and Ray McGovern.

STAFF PHOTO M. GILLESPIE

The United States does not share many of Israel’s religious and nationalist objectives, Pillar argued. On the contrary, he said, Israel’s continued military occupation actually works against the interests of the United States. In this way, Washington’s continued informal alliance with Israel results in the loss of life, denial of self-determination to a whole population, and shows the U.S. to be hypocritical.

Munayyer took a critical perspective on the apparent defeat of the Israel lobby on the Iran nuclear agreement deal. While the lobby was not able to sink the deal, he argued, it managed to accomplish a lot in the process.

“In my view, military aid to Israel continues to be the single most important metric of the U.S.-Israel relationship,” Munayyer explained. “In the aftermath of the passage of the Iran deal, reports indicate that the Obama administration is preparing a consolation prize for Israel: a new memorandum of understanding between both states that would see $45 billion worth of military aid going to Israel over a 10-year period, or $4.5 billion per year, which is $1.5 billion more per year than previously.”

The Israel lobby therefore gained influence, pushed public opinion, and created conditions where bilateral negotiations resulted in an even larger military aid package, Munayyer said.

Berry made the case that American attitudes toward both Israel and Arabs/Muslims are increasingly partisan, with a sizable portion of Americans having no opinion. Support for Israel was no longer an issue that had bipartisan support, she noted, as the Republican and Democratic parties have evolved in two different directions. For example, according to figures Berry cited, Republicans polled say they prefer Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to President Obama by 67 percent to 16 percent, whereas Democrats surveyed prefer President Obama by 76 percent to 9 percent.

bers of the steering committee of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) and the delegation that presented the organization’s Sam Adams Award for integrity in intelligence to Snowden.

Snowden spoke at length about abuses of government powers before an audience comprised mostly of students at the University of Iowa.

“We are losing in modern times the ability to enforce accountability for abuses of these powers,” Snowden warned. “We saw extraordinary abuses of the war-making power under the last administration and no one was held accountable, no one went to jail, no one was even prosecuted for things that are quite clearly war crimes.

We’re talking about things that are unambiguous no matter which side of the aisle you are on.”

When this stops being a one-off, when it becomes a precedent that becomes a process that becomes a policy that becomes a status quo that we all accept, and the media recognize it and stop castigating the powers that be…Step by step we move down a path and begin to realize that we have lost control over what the government is doing, said Snowden.

“Things that in the previous era, the Cold War, we used as clear bright lines of separation between the ‘us’ and the ‘them,’ ‘truth, justice and the American way’ versus the evil adversary, are beginning to dissipate. Those bright lines are no longer so bright,” Snowden added.

Rowley, now retired, earned her whistleblower status after the 9/11 terror attacks by exposing lapses and organizational issues within the FBI that contributed to intelligence failures.

“If we don’t tell the truth, how in the heck are we going to fix these mistakes?” she asked.

Rowley and two other whistleblowers,

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Sherron Watkins of Enron and Cynthia Cooper of WorldCom, were awarded Time magazine’s Person of the Year award in 2002. Rowley also was the first recipient of the Sam Adams Award in 2002.

McGovern, a CIA senior analyst who chaired National Intelligence Estimates and prepared the President’s Daily Brief, served the agency for 27 years. Upon his retirement in 1990 he received the Intelligence Commendation Medal, which he returned in 2006 to protest the CIA’s use of torture.

“With 52 years in Washington, I have seen a lot of change,” he said. “But there is one change that dwarfs all the others in significance, and that is that we no longer have in any real sense a free media. That is big. The Fourth Estate is dead, folks.”

McGovern also decried the corruption of the intelligence profession, the legal profession, and the American Psychological Association in the years following 9/11.

Rowley and McGovern, escorted by members of Iowa’s three chapters of Veterans For Peace, toured Iowa the last week of September seeking to raise the level of Iowans’ understanding of current national security issues. Highlighting the state’s unique first-in-the-nation election primary status, they urged Iowans to ask tough questions of presidential candidates. In addition to the event in Iowa City, the speaking tour included stops in Dubuque, Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls, Waterloo, Davenport, Parnell, Ames and Des Moines.

—Michael Gillespie

Gaza Teach-In at Georgetown The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University held an Oct. 17 teach-in on the history, politics and economics of Gaza. Speakers included Ph.D. student Seraj Assi, George Mason University professor Noura Erakat, and Harvard University professor Sara Roy. Erakat discussed how Israel justified its military operations in the Gaza Strip within the framework of international law. Israel claims that it is fighting a counterinsurgency in Gaza and that its innovations in the law are a function of this situation. Because it steadily has been expanding the buffer zone in the Gaza Strip, any attack on the already densely populated strip would be an attack on the entire population.

Erakat cited five Israeli justifications that made the level of death and destruction in Gaza possible, the first being that Israel has shrunk the category of civilians.

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Prof. Sara Roy describes the collapse of Gaza after Operation Protective Edge. carry arms,” she said. “And what Israel says is that it doesn’t matter if a member of Hamas is a political member, or a volunteer, or somebody who provides cookies to the soldiers...anybody who supports Hamas or is a member of Hamas is a legitimate target, and this is quite radical.”

Israel identifies no civilian architecture, she continued, whereas international law requires that in order to attack a building, it must first be determined whether its primarily purpose is civilian or military, and whether the damage caused to the building would be proportionate to the harm it would cause civilians. Thirdly, the warnings Israel provided to the residents of Gaza before airstrikes caused fear among the residents, as many had nowhere to flee.

Israel subsequently labeled those who stayed following a warning as legitimate targets. Fourth, Israel argued that its soldiers’ lives were equivalent to those of Palestinian civilians, justifying the destruction of entire neighborhoods in order to save a single Israeli soldier, as was seen in the destruction of Shuja’iyya during Operation Protective Edge. Lastly, Israel argues that proportionality is forward-looking, meaning that it needed to cause as much destruction as needed to prevent destruction in the next five years.

Regarding Hamas, Erakat argued that Israel didn’t see Hamas as a genuine threat, as it saw the PLO, until it adopted a nationalist agenda in 1988.

“To say that this is a fight against Hamas without considering that Israel had occupied Gaza since 1967, has fought against it, has fought against Palestinians displaced for that many decades—and Hamas wasn’t established until 1989—would bely its history,” she said.

Roy described contemporary life, politics and economics in Gaza. Israel’s destruction in Operation Protective Edge has THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

had a negative social and economic impact, she said, with 60 percent of Gazans having suffered home destruction, homelessness reaching unprecedented levels, families splitting up, and increased suicide rates.

“In a society where people traditionally help each other, this appears to be less and less the case,” she said. “There is simply too much loss, too much fear, too much uncertainty, and too little possibility.”

The lack of sufficient space to house relatives was resulting in the breakdown of Gaza’s extended family structure. Amplifying these pressures, she said, was the destruction of many of Gaza’s neighborhoods, such as Khuzaa, Beit Hanoun, and Shuja’iyya.

“With Operation Protective Edge, Gaza’s economy has effectively collapsed, with recovery expected to take decades,” Roy said. “Significantly, the assault, which alone imposed a total direct cost of $3.045 billion, eliminated most, if not all, signs of Gaza’s living economy.”

According to Roy, about 43 percent of Gazans wish to emigrate, and those who have actually managed to emigrate generally belong to the educated/skilled class.

The reconstruction of Gaza is always planned within an unchanging and unchallenged political framework, she noted, rendering it essentially difficult to translate into practical reconstruction.

“Never mind that Gaza’s recent devastation, met largely by silence from Western states, is completely unprecedented,” she said. “The agreed-upon plan for addressing the situation clearly prioritizes limited, short-term gains at the cost of long-term entrenchment of Israel’s destructive blockade and occupation.”

—Suhaib Khan

ANERA Dinner Raises Funds for Humanitarian Needs “Promoting Health and Well-Being” was the theme of American Near East Refugee Aid’s (ANERA) annual fund-raising dinner at Washington, DC’s Washington Marriott Wardman Park on Oct. 2. Dena Takruri, host and producer for Al Jazeera’s digital news channel “AJ+,” was the engaging and professional master of ceremonies.

Joe Saba, ANERA’s chairman of the board, described the unfolding tragedies Palestinians living in refugee camps have endured, undergoing multiple displacements and feeling abandoned by the international community. ANERA shows Palestinian families they are not forgotten, and its staff, who work in their own local communities, provide hope, dignity, resilience, perseverance and a “can-do spirit,” he said. ANERA staff NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

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ANERA’s president and CEO Bill Corcoran describes his organization’s successes and future plans.

Hebron Children Bring Pinwheels, Hope for Peace to Capitol Hill

Rebuilding Alliance brought Palestinian doesn’t “parachute in during a crisis,” children and their parents from the villages ANERA’s president and CEO Bill Corcoran of Susiya and Umm Al Kheir in the South emphasized. They live there and know Hebron hills—both under demolition orders from Israeli occupation authorities— which of their neighbors need help.

Last year ANERA raised funds for pro- to a briefing in the Rayburn Building on grams focusing on women. Actors portray- Capitol Hill on Sept. 21. Joining kids ing a few of those beneficiaries shared in- around the world, these Palestinian chilspiring stories about how those donations dren and a local Montessori school had celhelped families improve their lives. In the ebrated International Peace Day that day over-stretched refugee camps in Lebanon by making “pinwheels for peace,” writing and impoverished communities of Palestine, down what peace means, or drawing what ANERA supplied battery-operated lights, peace looks like to them.

Rebuilding Alliance assistant project manager Kelly Leilani Main told the Capitol Hill gathering that Israeli settlements are expanding in Area C. Israel has demolished more than 48,000 homes in the Palestinian territories, especially in Area C, where it’s nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits.

Although villagers hold Speakers and children hold pinwheels for peace after the briefing. title to their private land, they are constantly quilts, clothes, food parcels and hygiene kits urged to leave their homes and move elsepurchased from local businesses. ANERA where, and are threatened with demolition continues to expand pre-schools and restore orders. Susiya and Umm Al Kheir are examples of small rural villages in Area C that are war-damaged water systems.

This year’s focus on health and well-being currently under the threat of destruction.

With help from European professionals, will improve Palestinians’ access to healthy food, water and warm clothes, as well as villagers drafted and filed five master plans health professionals and medical supplies, for Susiya. Each time those plans have been Corcoran said, adding, “Good health care submitted, however, they are rejected by the Israeli Army’s Civil Administration, shouldn’t be a luxury.”

ANERA honored three major supporters, making it illegal to construct anything. “It’s including Charles Maria (1926-2014), whose a bureaucratic nightmare,” Main said.

With help from Rabbis for Human Rights, parents came from Tripoli, Lebanon. Maria worked for the San Diego Water Authority Susiya’s master plan has reached the High and lived a humble, simple life devoid of Court of Israel and is under reconsideration.

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For now, more than 13,000 demolition orders are pending. These include schools, water cisterns, barns and homes.

Naima Hthaleen, an English teacher in Umm Al Kheir and a mother of two, described the trauma that children in Area C face. A home demolition can happen at any time, with only 10 minutes warning. Children are in constant fear of returning from school to a demolished home. Hthaleen urged the audience to tell the Israeli government to “stop demolishing our homes and to end the suffering of our families.”

“We ask Americans to hear our story and urge their members of Congress to press Israel to recognize our right to plan our future on the land we own,” Fatma Nawaje said.

She described the uncertainty as devastating. “We never know if it’s our neighbor’s house or our home today...we want security and a safe life for our children and community. Please save our village.”

Americans can play a significant role in the future of these villages. Last year, pressure from constituents pushed Congress to intervene, saving the village of Al Aqaba.

Pressure from Americans stopped the Israeli army from demolishing homes in Susiya this past July.

By calling the Israeli Embassy, senators and members of Congress, Main said, we show that Americans care about these places, thus “the Israeli army will think twice” before taking action.

—Rina Abd El Rahman

material possessions. His generous $1.8 million bequest to ANERA helped so many. The United Methodist Committee on Relief and Zakat Foundation of America were also honored for funding and helping ANERA deliver vital humanitarian relief.

—Delinda C. Hanley

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Building the BDS Movement for Justice in Palestine The Jerusalem Fund in Washington, DC hosted a talk on Sept. 14 by Christopher Hedges, a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and former Middle East bureau chief for the New York Times, on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Hedges delivered an impassioned argument

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Author and journalist Chris Hedges.

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“the last, best hope to save the Palestinian people” because he has “no hope left that we are ever going to be able, through the formal mechanism of politics [or] perhaps even the press, to bring justice to the Palestinian people.” He spoke of justice being carried out through churches and universities rather than the irreparably corrupt political mechanisms upon which the movement for justice in Palestine has hitherto been concentrated.

BDS is “the only language [the Israeli state] will understand” that will “force it to sit down and negotiate with the Palestinians” toward justice at last. Hedges concluded with a condemnation of the American far religious right, saying that as the BDS movement grows, Israel will unabashedly ally itself with these forces, which he believes to be a fascist contradiction to the very fabric of American democratic and free society.

—Lana Gura

Dr. Cornel West Describes the Legacy of Edward Said

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for the BDS movement, a global campaign that moves to advance the rights of Palestinian citizens and end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory through economic and political pressure.

Hedges called on political philosopher Sheldon Wolin to describe the current state of American politics as one of “inverted totalitarianism,” which expresses its regime through “the anonymity of the corporate state” rather than a fascist ruler. According to Hedges, the American corporation has utterly seized power from the citizen to render ordinary political expression such as electoral participation powerless against moneyed influential interests. Under such a system, the Democratic and Republican parties in the U.S. have aligned to serve corporate interests, with the former of these parties paying lip service to empathy for the common people while repealing the legislation that served to protect them. A particularly galling decision to Hedges, made during the Clinton administration, is the deregulation and monopolization of the mainstream media, rendering it merely another media stream to serve the powerful elite.

“I think we forget that the so-called Israeli lobby does not serve the interests of Israel, it serves the interests of the neo-cons and the neoliberal mandarins who speak to their own citizens and to the rest of the world exclusively in the language of austerity and violence,” said Hedges. “And these people are frightening because they are culturally, historically, and linguistically illiterate.”

Hedges named General Dynamics, Raytheon and Halliburton as “the only people who profit from [the wars in the Middle East]” and accused them of working alongside “our war machine, the Pentagon and the military” to perpetuate profitable endless war. He challenged the label assigned to the conflict, saying, “When you attack a population that has no army, no navy, no mechanized units, no air force, and no command and control, that is not a war—that is murder.”

Due to the monopolization of the media, the fact that a population under attack has the right to defend itself is not being conveyed, contributing further to the negative portrayal of Middle Eastern nations in the American public eye. “When the message is so at odds with the indiscriminate use of high explosives, it sends a message to the Palestinian people that says, ‘Your truth is utterly irrelevant.’”

Hedges stressed the BDS movement as

Dr. Cornel West presented the Edward Said memorial lecture.

The Jerusalem Fund and Palestine Center’s executive director Zeina Azzam, and chairman of the board Dr. Subhi Ali welcomed a huge audience who had come to hear Dr. Cornel West give the annual Edward Said memorial lecture on Oct. 1, at the First Congregational United Church of Christ. So many people wanted to hear Dr. West, who teaches philosophy and Christian practice at Union Theological Seminary, that organizers had to move to a larger venue—and that auditorium was soon filled to capacity.

Dr. Edward Said, who wrote more than 20 books, was a passionate advocate for Palestine until his death. Dr. West has also written more than 20 books, edited another 13, appeared in over 25 documentaries and films, and has made three spoken word albums.

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Dr. West began to “talk about a close friend who happened to be the greatest public intellectual in the American Empire in the latter part of the 20th century, who happened to be Palestinian, too.” West lambasted “the vicious Israeli occupation of precious Palestinians,” calling it “a crime against humanity,” a moral and spiritual issue, as is any occupation—like Tibet under the Chinese. We live in a world in which Palestinian, red, black and poor people’s lives matter so little, Dr. West lamented. It was this common ground that brought the two together in 1977, when West was 23 and Said was 42.

After hearing Said give a lecture, West approached him saying, “My brother, we need to spend some time together. I’m a Cognac man, what are you drinking?” and from there they became fast friends.

West discussed the challenges Said faced, of being Palestinian in the Ivy League— Princeton, Harvard and Columbia University—and having friends and mentors like the Jewish literary critic Lionel Trilling and others who could facilitate Said’s tenure, while at the same time maintaining solidarity with his own suffering people and being true to himself. “It’s so easy to be assimilated outsiders—Palestinian, black, brown, red, women—and love everybody but your own people,” West said.That might guarantee some success, but Said was never satisfied with being successful. He used his success to speak frankly and fearlessly and to tell the truth on behalf of the oppressed, regardless of the cost.

“I could speak for hours about the depth and scope of his courage,” West said, recalling Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, and the death threats and “bodyguards because they’re trying to kill him in his office at Columbia University!...It was the dark ages, and Edward was a Socratic and a prophetic light.”

Visit <www.thejerusalemfund.org> to hear Dr. West’s fascinating lecture in its entirety.

—Delinda C. Hanley

Southern Californians Protest Israeli Oppression Palestinian Americans and their supporters expressed their frustration with increasing Israeli oppression in the West Bank and Jerusalem, holding two sizeable protests on Oct. 16 and Oct. 18. The first, called by AlAwda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, was at the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles, CA while the second, another peaceful but angry “Day of Rage” with a large turn-out of community members, took place in Anaheim’s Little Arabia neighborhood.

—Samir Twair NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

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Protesters outside Israel’s Consulate General in Los Angeles.

The Israel Lobby and the Iran Nuclear Deal Dale Sprusansky, assistant editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, spoke at the Al-Hewar Center in Vienna, VA on Sept. 16, 2015. He began by providing an overview of what is in the Iran nuclear deal, “especially since so much money (tens of millions of dollars) have been spent by pro-Israel groups to mislead Americans about this agreement.” Israel “injected itself into the debate surrounding the deal,” Sprusansky noted, “and has, through the years, managed to raise international alarm and tensions by assassinating Iranian scientists, engaging in warmongering and fear-inducing rhetoric. But ul-

timately, Israel is like that child at Thanksgiving dinner who has to sit at the kids’ table and spends the entire meal whining and complaining about not being able to sit with the adults. Israel, like that child, tried to spoil the occasion to get what it wanted—Washington’s ear on Iranian policy and more U.S. weapons—but ultimately was ignored by the wiser adults in the room.”

This agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is the result of intense global negotiations that involved Germany, France, the U.K., China, Russia, the U.S. and Iran. Europeans began this diplomatic push to prevent war in 2003, without the Americans, who were

guided by neocons and had no interest in talking to Tehran at the time.

It is ironic, Sprusansky said, that the U.S., late to enter the diplomatic game, was the country whose legislative body—Congress—posed the greatest threat to breaking up the deal. Europeans treated the nuclear deal as a security debate rather than a political one. After all, their continent’s proximity to Iran and the Middle East means that they would be in jeopardy if Iran developed a nuclear weapon or if a war broke out between the West and Iran over the nuclear issue.

Europeans were not going to risk Iran becoming a nuclear threat, but they also knew the Iranians well enough to understand that Tehran would not completely capitulate. So they engaged in principled, but smart and respectful diplomacy to make a deal that would ensure that Iran is verifiably incapable of producing nuclear weapons—and they got it.

“I’m not a nuclear scientist, but I can tell you that the overwhelming majority of arms control experts eagerly—not hesitantly—but eagerly endorse this deal. So have former diplomats, regional experts, religious leaders, and military experts (including several retired Israeli intelligence and military officials),” Sprusansky said.

After listing the technical details of the Iran nuclear deal, Sprusansky briefly discussed other aspects of the agreement—including sanctions relief. “The idea that Iran is getting some kind of a bailout in the form of sanctions relief is just not true,” he stated. “Iran is simply being allowed to access its own money in return for making major nuclear concessions. That seems like a pretty good deal for the West to me,” he concluded.

—Delinda C. Hanley

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Protest Outside Israeli Consulate In San Francisco Draws Large Crowd

Dale Sprusansky speaks to audience member Lujain Al-Khawi following his talk at the AlHewar Center.

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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Some 250 Palestinian supporters rallied outside the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco Oct. 15 to protest Israel’s escalating aggression against Palestinians over the past three weeks. Organized by the San Francisco chapter of the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS), the rally drew a large number of young people in addition to older Palestinians now living in the Bay Area, but still closely bound to their homeland.

According to Quds Press, more than 620 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem had been arrested in the first half of October, half of them minors. Some 400 of those arrested have never been charged with a crime. More than 30 Pales63

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The pope did not mince his words as he challenged Congress to reassess its role in the global arms trade. “Why are deadly weapons being sold to those who plan to inflict untold suffering on individuals and society?” he asked. “Sadly, the answer, as we all know, is simply for money: money that is drenched in blood, often innocent blood. In the face of this shameful and culpable silence, it is our duty to confront the problem and to stop the arms trade.”

Here’s hoping Congress responds to Pope Francis’ challenge.

—Dale Sprusansky

Guests Celebrate Saudi National Day

Activists protest outside the Israeli Consulate in downtown San Francisco.

Pope Francis Challenges Congress to Advance Peace and Human Dignity Although Pope Francis did not specifically discuss the Middle East during his Sept. 24 speech to a joint session of Congress, he nonetheless addressed critical issues impacting the region. Among other things, he discussed how to confront religious extremism, the global refugee crisis and the virtues of diplomacy.

With regard to religious fundamentalism, the pontiff encouraged political leaders not to corrode individual freedoms in an effort to combat terrorism. He also warned that attempts to fight extremism often lead countries down immoral and troublesome paths. “We know that in the attempt to be freed of the enemy without, we can be tempted to feed the enemy within,” Francis said. “To imitate the hatred and violence of tyrants and murderers is the best way to take their place.”

The response to fundamentalism “must instead be one of hope and healing, of peace and justice,” the pontiff urged. “Our efforts must aim at restoring hope, righting wrongs, maintaining commitments, and thus promoting the well-being of individuals and of peoples.”

On the refugee issue, Francis reminded Congress that the U.S. is a land of immigrants. ”We, the people of this continent, are not fearful of foreigners, because most of us were once foreigners,” said Francis, who hails from Argentina and is the first pope from the Americas.

Francis called on all Americans to view refugees as real people. “We must not be 64

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Diplomatic Doings

taken aback by their numbers, but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their situation,” he said. “We need to avoid a common temptation nowadays: to discard whatever proves troublesome. Let us remember the Golden Rule: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’”

Francis voiced strong support for the diplomatic process. “When countries which have been at odds resume the path of dialogue—a dialogue which may have been interrupted for the most legitimate of reasons—new opportunities open up for all,” he said. “This has required, and requires, courage and daring, which is not the same as irresponsibility. A good political leader is one who, with the interests of all in mind, seizes the moment in a spirit of openness and pragmatism. A good political leader always opts to initiate processes rather than possessing spaces.”

Khalid, 8, enjoys Saudi Arabia’s National Day celebration.

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tinians, most under the age of 30, had been killed by Israeli military forces since Sept.

29.

—Elaine Pasquini

Nearly 1,000 invited guests, including children wearing national dress, celebrated National Day on Sept. 30 at the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington, DC. The embassy is awaiting the arrival of Saudi Arabia’s new ambassador, Prince Abdullah bin Faisal bin Turki bin Abdullah Al Saud, to replace Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir, who was promoted to foreign minister in April.

—Delinda C. Hanley

UNRWA USA staff (minus executive director Abby Smardon) and San Francisco volunteers hold up a banner listing sponsors (one of which, we are proud to say, is the Washington Report) on Oct. 17 at the Lake Merced Park 5K walk/run fund-raiser in San Francisco. In the past four years 4,400 participants across the U.S. raised more than $634,000 for UNRWA’s Community Mental Health Program (CMHP), much of it from Gaza 5K walk/runs.

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CWS/CARTOONARTS INTERNATIONAL www.cartoonweb.com

The Economist, London

www.OtherWords.org

CWS/CARTOONARTS INTERNATIONAL www.cartoonweb.com

CWS/CARTOONARTS INTERNATIONAL www.cartoonweb.com

Landsmeer, Netherlands

The Economist, London

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

Al Balad, Beirut

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

65

bookreview_66_Book Review 10/28/15 9:41 PM Page 66

Books William Yale: Witness to Partition in the Middle East, World War I-World War II

By Dr. Janice Terry, Rimal Books, 2015, paperback, 278 pp. List: $20; MEB: $18.

Reviewed by Randa A. Kayyali Dr. Janice Terry’s recently published book, W i l l i a m Ya l e : Witness to Partition in the Middle East, World War I–World War II sheds a bright light on the machinations of American foreign policy and intelligence after World War I into the late 1940s. Its main value lies in Terry’s close inspection of the shifts and tensions between the British, French and American diplomats with Arab leaders and early Zionists.

Using Yale’s memoirs, reports and correspondence, Terry offers readers commentary and eyewitness accounts of the political maneuvering surrounding the Sherif Husayn-McMahon agreement, Sykes-Picot Agreement, the King-Crane Commission and Paris Peace conference, among other developments in the Middle East.

Although a timeline of the historical events would have been helpful, the book’s personal angle provides historians—armchair and professional alike— with insights into the roots and causes of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Terry offers comparisons to the present-day status quo and many details that diverge from common perceptions of the region’s history. For example, Emir Feisal signed an addendum to his 1919 agreement with Chaim Weizmann, head of the World Zionist Organization, that voided his assent to the national home for Jews in Palestine as laid out in the Balfour Declaration. The chapter on the King-Crane Com-

mission is particularly informative in understanding why and how its conclusions were blithely ignored, to the detriment of all.

The book centers on the figure of William Yale, who first went to the Middle East in 1913, as an employee of the Standard Oil Company (SOCONY). As an oil scout, he was tasked with writing long and detailed reports on conditions in the Ottoman Empire. His reports were also sent to the Department of the Navy and the State Department. Unsurprisingly, Yale was later offered a position as an intelligence agent for the U.S. Department of State, then as a military officer on assignment to observe British Gen. Edmund Allenby’s campaign in Palestine. As he approached old age, Yale reflected on the U.S. role in the conflict and wished to “bring about a cooperative effort of Jewish leaders who are pro-Israel with nonJewish Americans who want to see a reconciliation between Israel and the Arab States and see that something positive will be done for the Arab refugees.”

Terry follows Yale’s long career through meticulous research into collections of his papers at the U.S. Department of State and in special collections at four libraries: Yale, Harvard, Boston University and the University of New Hampshire, where he taught for many years. Terry also incorporates additional primary-source materials on the KingCrane Commission located at Oberlin College’s library, as well as Yale’s contribution to the Oral History Project at Columbia University. In an interesting

Randa A. Kayyali is the author of The Arab Americans and a postdoctoral research fellow at George Mason University. She recently received her Ph.D. in Cultural Studies.

66

twist, Terry writes four narratives from Yale’s life in the first person, drawing from his memoirs and letters.

Yale, who died in 1974, never published his memoir, and his superiors at the State Department and White House marginalized his recommendations and reports. Terry partially corrects that oversight by providing her readers with Yale’s critical examination of the historical roots and motivations behind U.S. foreign policy toward the Arab-Israeli conflict over the past 100 years.

Modernizing Saudi Arabia

By Samar Fatany, Createspace Publishing, 2013, paperback, 171 pp. List: $15.95; MEB: $14.

Reviewed by Kevin A. Davis This important book outlines the steps the Saudi Arabian government has taken to balance reform and progress in a challenging new age. The author, a j ournalist and commentator, provides a detailed historical account of the ways in which the country, led by the previous King Abdullah, has implemented reform to make Saudi Arabia a respected member of the international community and a prosperous nation.

Fatany pays special attention to the way in which King Abdullah took certain advice from sectors of his citizenry even when this advice was sometimes critical or ran contrary to the will of other powerful forces in the country. It also demonstrates the way in which the Saudi monarchy coupled reforms with an active project to shape the international image of Saudi Arabia, a campaign that has been critical in shaping other nations’ views.

Modernizing Saudi Arabia covers a wide range of positive developments in the Kingdom, from anti-terrorism measures to civil activism. It also focuses t h ro u g h o u t o n t h e ro l e o f women in Saudi reforms.

Kevin A. Davis is the director of Middle East Books and More.

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

book_catalog_67_November/December 2015 10/28/15 9:43 PM Page 67

Middle East Books and More Literature

*

Films

*

Pottery

*

Solidarity Items

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More

Winter 2015 Golda Slept Here by Suad Amiry, Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation, 2015, paperback, 201 pp. List: $16; MEB: $15. Suad Amiry’s latest book is a unique exploration of Jerusalem, detailing the houses of Jerusalem that were depopulated in 1948 and given to various groups of Jewish Israeli immigrants.

Amiry explores the stories of Palestinians trying to reclaim those houses and their land, and the absurdity of what she calls one of the world’s greatest real estate thefts.

Better Than War by Siamak Vossoughi, University of Georgia Press, 2015, hardcover, 131 pp.

List: $24.95; MEB: $20. Winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, this collection of short stories explores Iranian immigrant life in the United States. Vossoughi’s stories center on such themes as family, friends and community, with characters experiencing triumph and hardship while suggesting the importance of Iranian culture and roots in the diaspora.

The Bamboo Stalk by Saud Alsanousi, Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation, 2015, hardcover, 377 pp. List: $27; MEB: $22. This controversial but brilliant novel traces the stories of foreign workers in Kuwait, including Josephine, a young Filipina woman working as a maid, and Jose, a young migrant worker trying to find his way. Its Kuwaiti author deals frankly with such issues as migration, human rights and identity that have become a feature not just of the Arab Gulf, but of much of the world. The Bamboo Stalk, winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, has been translated into English by Jonathan Wright.

Before the Next Bomb Drops: Rising Up From Brooklyn to Palestine by Remi Kanazi, Haymarket Books, 2015, paperback, 100 pp. List: $16; MEB: $14. The author’s latest book is a stunning collection of poetry that builds upon his previous works detailing themes of Palestinian life, from struggle to occupation to displacement. Here, he switches the focus of his poetry to Palestinian life in America, exploring topics like racism, police brutality, Islamophobia and the general struggles of Arabs in America, eloquently capturing connections between the Palestinian struggle at home and abroad.

This Muslim American Life: Dispatches from the War on Terror by Moustafa Bayoumi, NYU Press, 2015, paperback, 309 pp. List: $19.95; MEB: $16. The civil rights abuses of the Arab and Muslim population of the United States since 9/11 have been well documented.

Bayoumi has experienced many such abuses himself, both subtle and explicit, from being typecast as a terrorist in his acting career to being asked by a U.S. citizenship officer to drop his middle name. This timely and eloquent book adds faces and names to the struggles we all know to be happening and sheds light on the continued plight of post-9/11 America.

Shell-Shocked: On the Ground Under Israel’s Gaza Assault by Mohammed Omer, OR Books, 2015, paperback, 301 pp. List: $20; MEB: $20. In this insightful firsthand account of Israel’s 2014 Operation Protective Edge, the Washington Report’s Gaza correspondent details the terrors and horrors of life under Israeli bombs. Omer meticulously describes the death and destruction left in the wake of Israel’s air and ground assault with chilling detachment, illustrating the plight of the people of Gaza and the brutal effects of Israel’s continued siege and collective punishment.

The Blue Between Sky and Water: A Novel by Susan Abulhawa, Bloomsbury, 2015, hardcover, 294 pp. List: $26; MEB: $22. In her latest work, the critically acclaimed author of My Voice Sought the Wind and Mornings in Jenin (both available at AET’s Middle East Books and More) tells the story of a Gazan family in a refugee camp.

Abulhawa’s novel focuses on the matriarchal figures in the family, beautifully illustrating the hardships and triumphs of life as a female Palestinian refugee.

Erased From Space and Consciousness: Israel and the Depopulated Villages of 1948 by Noga Kadman, Indiana University Press, 2015, paperback, 256 pp. List: $32; MEB: $24.

After the 1948 war, Israel razed hundreds of Palestinian villages.

Others were simply depopulated and appropriated into the new Israeli landscape. In this groundbreaking study, Noga Kadman explores how, even though such villages are present and often well-preserved in Israel, there is little or no acknowledgement of their histories or origins. These village histories can help illuminate how we understand contemporary Israeli narratives of history and place.

The Automobile Club of Egypt: A Novel by Alaa Al Aswany, Alfred A. Knopf Publishers, 2015, hardcover, 475 pp. List: $27.95; MEB: $22. Set in 1940s Cairo, Al Aswany’s latest novel tells the story of an Egyptian family forced into difficult work at the Automobile Club, a private organization for wealthy Europeans. As the family becomes increasingly intertwined with work at the Club, many members begin to question their roles and desires for the future. This masterpiece of a novel offers an in-depth glimpse into the social and political transformations of post-war Egypt.

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.middleeast books.com). All payments in U.S. funds. Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express accepted. Please send mail orders to Middle East Books and More, 1902 18th St. NW, Washington, DC 20009, with checks and money orders made out to “AET.” 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 $15 for the first item and $3.50 for each additional item.

International shipping charges: Please add $15 for the first item and $6 for each additional item. We ship by USPS Priority unless otherwise requested.

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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 Middle East Books and More at 800-368-5788 ext. 2 to order. Our policy is to identify donors unless anonymity is specifically requested.

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

67

holy_land_principles_ad_47_Holy Land Principles Full Page Ad 9/17/15 3:45 PM Page 68

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charities_69-70_charities 10/29/15 6:30 PM Page 69

’Tis the Season for Charitable Giving: A Washington Report Compendium SpecialReport

Compiled by Suhaib Khan Addameer – Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association: 3 Edward Said

St., Sebat Bldg, 1st Floor, Suite 2 • PO Box 17338 • Ramallah, Palestine • +972-02960446 • www.addameer.org • Supports Palestinian political prisoners through visits, aid, advocacy and the media.

Alalusi Foundation: 1975 National Ave. •

Hayward, CA 94545 • (510) 887-2374 • www.alalusifoundation.org • Iraq Orphans Project provides support to more than 3,025 orphaned children in Iraq and aid to marginalized peoples in various countries. ($)(R) Amaanah Refugee Services: 10333 Harwin

Dr., Suite 675 • Houston, TX 77036 • (713) 370-3063 • www.refugeelink.com • Collects food, clothes, furniture and funds for refugees being resettled in Houston. ($)(R) American Friends of Birzeit University:

1416 N. Utah St. • Arlington, VA 22201 • www.fobzu.org • For more than half a century Birzeit University has provided an excellent education for Palestinian men and women.

American Friends of UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East):

1666 K St. NW • Washington, DC 20006 • (202) 223-3767 • www.unrwausa.org • Supports the humanitarian work of UNRWA through outreach, fund-raising, and advocacy. ($)(R) American Refugee Committee: 615 1st

Ave NE, Suite 500 • Minneapolis, MN 55413-2681 • (800) 875-7060 • www. arcrelief.org • Provides emergency support, clean water, shelter and health care to refugees from Syria, South Sudan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere. ($)(R) American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA): 1111 14th St. NW, Suite 400 •

Washington, DC 20005 • (202) 266-9700 • www.anera.org • Sponsors ongoing programs in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon and Jordan, and provides emergency relief. ($)(G)(L) (R) AMIDEAST: 2025 M St. NW, Suite 600 •

Washington, DC 20036-3363 • (202) 7769600 • www.amideast.org • Provides scholarships to deserving Arab youth, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

Key: $ = Tax exempt G = Includes Gaza relief L = Includes Lebanon relief R = Includes refugee aid including Hope Fund scholarships for Palestinian college students. ($) Ashoka-Middle East/North Africa Program: 1700 N. Moore St., Suite 2000 •

Arlington, VA 22209 • (703) 527-8300 • www.ashoka.org/mena • Provides grants to social entrepreneurs who propose ideas and projects offering innovative solutions to humanitarian and human rights issues.

Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children: 72 Philisteen Street • PO Box 1296 • Gaza, Palestine • +972-8282-8495 • www.atfaluna.net • Provides education and training to deaf and hearing-impaired individuals and their families in the Gaza Strip. (G) The Bethlehem Association: PO Box 1192 N. Garey Ave. • Pomona, CA 91767 • (650) 740-3119 • www.bethlehemassoc. org • An organization of the Bethlehemite Diaspora, collects donations to support well-established charities and clinics around Bethlehem. ($) Catholic Charities USA:

PO Box 17066 • Baltimore, MD 21297 • (800) 919-9338 • www.catholiccharitiesusa.org • Helps the homeless, hungry, sick, and vulnerable in American communities, including refugees and asylum-seekers already in U.S. ($) Four Homes of Mercy: The Arab Orthodox Invalid’s Home Charitable Society:

PO Box 19185 • Jerusalem, Palestine 91191 • +972-02-627-4871 • www.fourhomesofmercy.com • Provides specialist residential services and respite care for people with congenital and acquired neurological disorders.

The Free Gaza Movement: 405 Vista

Heights Rd. • El Cerrito, CA 94530 • (510) 232-2500 • www.freegaza.org • Challenges the Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip by boat, bringing symbolic humanitarian aid. (G) THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Friends of UPMRC (Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees): PO Box

450554, Atlanta, GA 31145 • (404) 4412702 • A grassroots community-based Palestinian health organization, founded

by Palestinian doctors, to support the Palestinian Medical Relief Society. (G)($) Fund for Armenian Relief: 630 Second Ave. • New York, NY 10016 • (212) 8895150 • www.farusa.org • Supports Armenian communities, including in Lebanon, where Armenian villages give shelter to refugees of recent wars. (L) Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP): PO Box 1049 • Gaza

City, Palestine • +972-08-264-1511 • www.gcmhp.net/en • Provides urgently needed mental health care for residents of the Gaza Strip.

Gaza Mental Health Foundation, Inc.: PO

Box 380273 • Cambridge, MA 02238 • (617) 661-9000 • www.gazamental health.org • Supports mental health providers and programs in the Gaza Strip by raising funds for grants to programs like GCMHP and other service providers. ($)(G) Hands Along the Nile Development Services, Inc. (HANDS): 1601 N. Kent

St., Suite 1014 • Arlington, VA 22209 • (800) 564-2544 • www.handsalong thenile.org • Promotes U.S.-Egyptian cultural exchange and helps to empower local communities through a variety of development projects. ($) Hidaya Foundation: PO Box 5481 •

Santa Clara, CA 95056 • (866) 2-HIDAYA • www.hidaya.org • Sponsors educational, social welfare and charitable projects in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, West Africa, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the U.S. and Canada. ($) Helping Hand for Relief and Development: 12541 McDougall St., Suite 100 •

Detroit, MI 48212 • (313) 279-5378 • www.hhrd.org • Responds to human suffering in emergency and disaster situations around the world, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, class, religion, color, cultural diversity and social background. ($) Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF): 6935 Wisconsin Ave., 69

charities_69-70_charities 10/29/15 6:30 PM Page 70

Suite 518 • Bethesda, MD 20815 • (866) 871-HCEF • www.hcef.org • Sponsors ongoing education, child sponsorship and housing programs for Palestinian Christians, as well as an emergency fund to supply medication, medical supplies, food and services. ($)

www.maysoon.com • Palestinian-American comedienne Maysoon Zayid personally travels to nine different Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank providing humanitarian assistance and sponsoring programs for disabled, wounded and at-risk children. ($)

International Orthodox Christian Charities:

Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders: 333 7th Ave. • New

110 West Rd., Suite 360 • Baltimore, MD 21204 • (410) 243-9820 • www.iocc.org • Provides emergency relief and development programs to those in need worldwide, without discrimination. ($) Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) Relief/Helping Hand: 166-26 89th Ave.

• Queens, NY 11432 • (718) 658-1199 • www.icna.org • Repairs infrastructure and sponsors educational and nutritional programs.

York, NY 10001-5004 • (212) 679-6800 • www.doctorswithoutborders.org • Global organization providing emergency medical relief around the world. ($)(R) Mercy Corps: PO Box 2669, Dept. W •

Portland, OR 97208 • (888) 747-7440 • www.mercycorps.org • Global organization that provides emergency medical relief in times of crisis, including helping victims of the Ebola epidemic. ($)

Islamic Relief USA: PO Box 22250 •

Alexandria, VA 22304 • (855) 447-1001 • www.irusa.org • Provides education, food, health aid, water and sanitation programs to communities facing floods, wars and other disasters. ($)

Middle East Children’s Alliance: 1101

Eighth St., Suite 100 • Berkeley, CA 94710 • (510) 548-0542 • www.meca forpeace.org • Promotes peace and justice in the Middle East, focusing on Palestine, Israel, Lebanon and Iraq. ($)

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD): PO Box 8118 •

Nazareth Project Inc.: 237 North Prince

New York, NY 10116 • (646) 308-1322 • www.icahdusa.org • Rebuilds Palestinian homes demolished by Israel, sometimes several times, in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Israel. ($)

Street • Lancaster, PA 17603 • (717) 290-1800 • www.nazarethpro ject.org • Raises funds to support the Nazareth Hospital in Israel and St. Luke’s Hospital in Nablus, West Bank. ($)

The Jerusalem Fund: 2425 Virginia Ave. NW • Washington, DC 20037 • (202) 338-1958 • www.thejerusalem fund.org • Provides grants for humanitarian and cultural projects in Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan, as well as for educational projects in the U.S. ($)(L)

Near East Foundation: 230 Euclid Ave.

KinderUSA: PO Box 224846 • Dallas,

TX 75222 • (888) 451-8908 • www.kinderusa.org • Supports health and development programs for Palestinian children in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon and Jordan. ($)(G)(L)

• Syracuse, NY 13210 • (315) 428-8670 • www.neareast.org • Supports community development and provides humanitarian and emergency assistance in more than 16 countries. ($) Palestine Children’s Relief Fund: PO Box 1926 • Kent, OH 44240 • (330) 6782645 • www.pcrf.net • Sponsors free medical care in the U.S. for children who cannot be adequately treated in the Middle East; trains local doctors and sends medical supplies to Lebanon, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. ($)(G)(L)

Life for Relief and Development: PO Box

236 • Southfield, MI 48037 • (248) 4247493 • www.lifeusa.org • Provides medicine and medical equipment, and supports infrastructure development, in Afghan istan, Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine. ($)(L) Lutheran World Relief 700 Light St • Baltimore, MD 21230 • (410) 230-2800 • www.lwr.org • Specializes in international development and disaster relief and seeks to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice.

Maysoon’s Kids: 447 Lawton Ave. • Cliff-

side Park, NJ 07010 • (917) 803-9111 • 70

Pilgrims of Ibillin: 1541 Comanche Glen • Madison, WI 53704 • (608) 241-9281 • www.pilgrimsofibillin.org • Supports Palestinian children in Israel through Archbishop Elias Chacour, promoting education and interfaith understanding. ($) Project Hope: 29 An-Najah Al-Qadim St. • Nablus, Palestine • +972-9-2337077 • www.projecthope.ps • Provides educational and recreational activities, medical and humanitarian relief, and practical training to residents of Nablus and its neighboring Askar and Balata refugee camps. (R) THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

T’ruah, The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights (formerly Rabbis for Human Rights): 266 W. 37th St. • New York,

NY 10018 • (212) 845-5201 • www.truah.org • In addition to advocacy, provides humanitarian assistance to Palestinians, including those in Israel’s unrecognized villages. ($) Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice: 203 East Fourth Ave., Suite

402 • Olympia, WA 98501 • (360) 754-3998 • www.rachelcorriefounda tion.org • In memory of Rachel Corrie, the Corrie Family Foundation promotes educational programs in the U.S., and economic, environmental and social justice in Rafah, Gaza, where Rachel was killed by an Israeli soldier. ($)(G) The Rebuilding Alliance/Rebuilding Homes Campaign: 178 South Blvd. •

San Mateo, CA 94402 • (650) 325-4663 • www.rebuildingalliance.org • Raises funds to rebuild Palestinian homes and bring peace to the Middle East through strategic Palestinian and Israeli cooperation. ($) René Moawad Foundation: 1732 Connecticut Ave. NW, 3rd Floor • Washington, DC 20009 • (202) 338-3535 • www.rmf.org.lb • Promotes social, economic, agricultural and rural development, and democracy and human rights in Lebanon. ($)(L) Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center: PO Box 9186 • Portland, OR

97207 • (503) 653-6625 • www. fosna.org • Provides a variety of community programs, particularly to Palestinian Christians in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Israel. ($) United Palestinian Appeal: 1330 New

Hampshire Ave. NW, Suite 104 • Washington, DC 20036 • (202) 6595007 • www.helpupa.org • Sponsors health, education and community development programs in the West Bank, Gaza and refugee camps throughout the Middle East. ($)(G)(R) World Vision: 1 World Drive • Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5T 2Y4 • (905) 565-6100 • www.worldvision. ca • Global Christian humanitarian organization providing relief in many countries in the Arab and Muslim world. ($) The Zakat Foundation of America: PO

Box 639 • Worth, IL 60482 • (708) 2330555 • www.zakat.org • Sponsors programs in 10 countries for emergency relief, orphan sponsorship, education, development and health. ($) ❑ NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

al-arian_71-72_In Memoriam 10/28/15 9:48 PM Page 71

Dr. Jamal Barzinji (1939-2015): The Muslim American Community Is Orphaned InMemoriam

By Sami Al-Arian here is an old Arabic

Tmaxim that describes a

PHOTO COURTESY S. AL-ARIAN

particularly remarkable person as “a nation in a man.”

Such men and women are rare in history. But this description is truly the best portrayal of Dr. Jamal Barzinji, who passed away on Sept. 26, the second day of the Muslim feast of sacrifice, at the age of 75.

I’ve had the honor and privilege of knowing Dr. Barzinji since 1976. He left his native Iraq in the late 1950s, as his life was threatened by the regime because of his student activism. He subsequently received his bachelor’s degree from Eng- Dr. Jamal Barzinji land in 1962 and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the U.S. in 1968 academic dean at the International Islamic University in Malaysia. and 1974 respectively.

As a senior officer of IIIT, Dr. Barzinji Dr. Barzinji was one of the most extraordinary people I’ve ever encountered. He was raised millions of dollars establishing enan intellectual, an educator, a community dowed chair positions and centers in some of builder, a brilliant strategist, a humanitarian, the most prestigious universities in the U.S. a loving family man, and for countless oth- and around the world, including Georgeers a problem solver. His personal attributes town University, Harvard University, Hartof intellect, spirituality, compassion, pa- ford Seminary, George Mason University, tience, kindness, generosity and decency en- Cambridge University, California State University and many others. He also oversaw the deared him to everyone who knew him.

As an intellectual Dr. Barzinji co-founded sponsorship of thousands of educational in 1981 the International Institute of Islamic scholarships for deserving and committed Thought (IIIT), an institute dedicated to the students regardless of race, gender, or faith.

In 1983, I witnessed first-hand when Dr. pursuit of knowledge, high quality research, and serious dialogue between Mus- Barzinji and IIIT offered full university lim and Western scholars. During this pe- scholarships by sponsoring more than 150 riod he oversaw the publication of over 600 Palestinian students who had scholarships titles, including some of the best books and from the UAE that were cut off after one manuscripts ever produced in the last three year of study in the U.S. when a new minisdecades in the fields of Islamic disciplines, ter of education in the UAE was appointed social sciences and the humanities. As an and abruptly and without warning witheducator, he served for many years as an drew the support. These students, who became successful professionals and have been Dr. Sami Al-Arian is a Palestinian academic serving the Palestinian people in Gaza, the and intellectual. He lived for four decades in West Bank and the diaspora for over 30 the U.S. before relocating to Turkey earlier years, would not have been able to complete this year. Because of his long activism for the their graduate degrees had it not been for Palestinian cause and for defending human the compassion, commitment and foresight and civil rights, he was a political prisoner of Dr. Barzinji and his colleagues at IIIT. As a community builder, Dr. Barzinji was in the U.S. and spent over a decade in prison and under house arrest until the charges were involved in the establishment of every major dropped in 2014.

Islamic organization in the United States NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

over the past four decades, where he either headed the organization, served on its board, or helped in building its programs and outreach, including the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Muslim Students’ Association (MSA), the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), the Association of Muslim Scientists and Engineers (AMSE), the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS), The World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), The American Muslim Council (AMC), the American Muslim Alliance (AMA), Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences (GSISS), The Fairfax Institute, and the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID). Many other organizations and institutions from all over the world, big and small, Muslim and non-Muslim, sought his counsel and support because he was a resourceful intellectual, a brilliant strategist, and an effective leader who cared deeply about education, justice, humanity, women’s rights and empowerment of the weak. He counted among his many friends and colleagues hundreds of scholars and clergy, including Christian, Jewish, and people of other faiths who loved his company and respected him deeply.

Upon hearing the devastating news, my wife, Nahla, sadly but reflexively said, “Today, the American Muslim community has been orphaned.” Her comment truly summarizes the void that is left by, and the impact of, the departure of Dr. Barzinji, who spent over 50 years in the West empowering his fellow Muslims and integrating them into the society at large with full recognition and respect.

But the state of the American Muslim community before and after the tragic attacks of 9/11 can best be illustrated by two powerful but contrasting events, one of them involving Dr. Barzinji.

In June 2001, leaders of the major American Muslim organizations were invited to the White House to discuss then-President George W. Bush’s faith-based initiative. The 71

al-arian_71-72_In Memoriam 10/28/15 9:48 PM Page 72

Muslim community at the time felt empowered, as it stood united and firm against the use of secret evidence employed against Arab and Muslim immigrants by former President Bill Clinton’s Justice Department.

Even though by the end of 2000 all victims of secret evidence had been freed through the collective and sustained efforts of many individuals and organizations, the American Muslim community supported Bush during the 2000 presidential elections based on his promise to oppose and ban this unconstitutional practice. When Bush won Florida, and with it the presidency, due credit was given to the American Muslim community. At the June White House meeting in appreciation of their support—just a few months before 9/11—community leaders insisted that those promises be kept.

The meeting was disrupted, however, when a high-level Zionist in the National Security Council asked the Secret Service to eject my son (because of his last name), who was 21 years old at the time and interning with Congressman David Bonior (then the House Minority Whip). Within seconds the leaders of the American Muslim community immediately ended the meeting in protest and were united in their stand against this exclusionary politics utilized by some government officials in their

attempts to divide American Muslims.

They held an impromptu news conference in front of the White House and demanded an official apology. Within hours, the White House press secretary apologized in public, the Secret Service apologized to my son and offered him a guided tour of the West Wing, and President Bush personally sent a written apology to the family.

Contrast this event with another one in the fall of 2010, under a supposedly friendlier White House, to which a delegation of American Muslim leaders was invited. This time another individual was also excluded from the meeting and not allowed to enter the White House, though sadly the other members of the delegation shamefully proceeded as if nothing had happened. The person who was excluded this time was none other than Dr. Barzinji, who could fittingly be called the father of the American Muslim community. So when the American Muslim leaders stood with a 21-year-old intern, the community was respected and admired.

When they abandoned a 71-year-old intellectual and leader, however, the community could be ignored—or, worse, insulted— with impunity. After 9/11 Dr. Barzinji and IIIT were targeted by anti-Muslim and racist government prosecutors for many years in order to silence them, marginalize their ac-

Obituaries

complishments, and break up their institute.

But they kept fighting, building institutions and alliances, and expanding their efforts until the government finally abandoned its futile pursuit, even though at great cost to their families, friends, finances and work.

Leaders like Dr. Barzinji and Dr. Agha Saeed (who led the efforts to unite and empower the community for many years) represent the best examples of Muslim leaders in the West who built institutions across cultures, races and ethnicities that were based on shared principles and common interests without compromising core values or sacred causes such as Palestine. The American Muslim community, but especially its youth, who have since 9/11 been suffering enormously from societal alienation, government overreach, xenophobic attacks and Islamophobia, must follow in the footsteps of Dr. Barzinji, and learn about his life and sacrifices.

We offer our deep condolences and sympathies to Dr. Barzinji’s family, his kind wife, Souzan, his children Suhaib, Fadwa, Iman, Firas, Zaid and Ghaida, his many grandchildren, his brother Fakhri and the rest of the Barzinji family, his IIIT colleagues, and countless friends across the globe. May God’s mercy, grace and blessings be on his soul. He was truly loved and will be terribly missed. ❑

—Compiled by Kevin A. Davis

Bouteldja Belkacem, 67, an Algerian raï singer, died Sept. 1 in Oran, Algeria of cancer. He began singing at 15 and went on to revolutionize pop raï during the 1960s and 1970s, along with Cheb Khaled, Cheb Mami and Cheb Sahraoui. He was the first raï to use the accordion and synthesizer instead of drums and the flute.

Eastern Studies. In 2005, he began teaching at Harvard University in Islamic Studies and in the law school. His work was widely celebrated and he was viewed as a rising star in academia. His first book, What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic, is scheduled to be released in December by Princeton University Press.

Suheil Badi Bushrui, 85, a Palestinian-American intellectual, died Sept. 2 in Ohio. Born in Nazareth, he earned his B.A. from Alexandria University and his Ph.D. from the University of Southampton.

He was a specialist in Irish literature as well as the foremost scholar of Lebanese author Kahlil Gibran. In 1968, Bushrui became the first Arab to hold the Chair of English at the American University of Beirut. He also held the Baha’i Chair for World Peace and the Kahlil Gibran Chair for Values at the University of Maryland.

Ali Salem, 79, an Egyptian playwright and political commentator, died Sept. 22 in his home in Cairo after a long illness. His diverse repertoire of plays, most incorporating strong political commentaries, included School of the Troublemakers and Comedy of Oedipus, both seminal works in Egyptian theater. He was best known for his controversial memoir My Drive to Israel, which received much criticism in Egypt for its condemnation of Hamas, and led to the banning of his books and his expulsion from the Egyptian Writer’s Union. Despite its poor reception at home, it gained him a following in the U.S. and England, and he won Britain’s Civil Courage Prize in 2008.

Renée Marie Moorad, 31, an attorney and activist, died Sept.

15 of cancer in New York City. She received her Bachelor’s degree and J.D. from the University of Oklahoma and a Master’s in International and comparative law from The George Washington University. She joined the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in 2012, serving as staff attorney and Kahlil Gibran Fellow. Moorad was known for her dedication to serving the Arab-American community and her legal activism.

Shahab Ahmed, 49, a well-known Islamic scholar, died Sept. 17 in Boston of a rare form of leukemia. Born in Singapore, he quickly rose to prominence after studying first in Malaysia, then in Cairo, then at Princeton University, where he earned his Ph.D. in Near 72

Henning Mankell, 67, a Swedish novelist, died Oct. 5 of cancer in Gothenburg, Sweden. He was a pioneer of Scandanavian noir writers, completing 10 mystery novels throughout his career.

He was also the artistic director of Teatro Avenida in Mozambique, where he spent much of his time. Mankell was known for his political views, which included fierce criticism of Israel and any two-state solution. He called for “the fall of this disgraceful apartheid system” in a 2009 interview and was a member of the 2010 Gaza flotilla aimed at breaking Israel’s blockade of the Mediterranean enclave. ❑

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

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AETâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2015 Choir of Angels Following are individuals, organizations, companies and foundations whose help between Jan. 1, 2015 and Oct. 9, 2015 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. Some Angels helped us co-sponsor the April 10 conference, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Israel Lobby: Is It Good for the U.S.? Is It Good for Israel?â&#x20AC;? We are deeply honored by their confidence and profoundly grateful for their generosity.

HUMMERS ($100 or more) Anonymous, San Diego, CA Catherine Abbott, Edina, MN Fatima Abdulla, Oak Hills, CA Jeff Abood, Silver Lake, OH Rev. Fahed Abu-Akel, Atlanta, GA Rizek & Alice Abusharr, Claremont, CA Shukri Abu Baker, Beaumont, TX Miriam & Stephen Adams, Albuquerque, NM James C. Ahlstrom, Stirling, NJ Sohail & Saba Ahmed, Orland Park, IL Christopher Ake, San Diego, CA Dr. & Mrs. Salah Al-Askari, Leonia, NJ Sakker Al-Joundi, Milton, Canada Mazen Alsatie, Fishers, IN Dr. Bishr Al-Ujayli, Troy, MI Hamid & Kim Alwan, Milwaukee, WI Nabil & Judy Amarah, Danbury, CT Edwin Amidon, Charlotte, VT Abdulhamid Ammuss, Garland, TX Louise Anderson, Oakland, CA Emile Arraf, Calgary, Canada Dr. Robert Ashmore, Jr., Mequon, WI Mr. & Mrs. Sultan Aslam, Plainsboro, NJ Ahmed Ayish, Arlington, VA Dr. & Mrs. Roger Bagshaw, Big Sur, CA Zaira Baker, Garland, TX Dr. Sami Baraka, Wyandotte, MI Nader Barakat, Moorpark, CA Jamil Barhoum, San Diego, CA Carolyn Barrani, The Tapis-Tree, Salt Lake City, UT Allen & Jerrie Bartlett, Philadelphia, PA Joseph Benedict, Mystic, CT Frances Buell, Lincoln, NE John Carley, Pointe-Claire, Canada Lynn & Aletha Carlton, Norwalk, CT Roger W. Carpenter, Denver, CO Ouahib Chalbi, Coon Rapids, MN Patricia Christensen, Poulsbo, WA Dr. Robert G. Collmer, Waco, TX Robert & Joyce Covey, La Canada, CA Lynn Ellen Dixon, Woodward, PA Robert Dobrzynski, Alexandria, VA Dr. George Doumani, Washington, DC Dr. David Dunning, Lake Oswego, OR Kassem Elkhalil, Arlington, TX Dr. Mohamed Elsamahi, Marion, IL NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

M.R. Eucalyptus, Kansas City, MO Dr.& Mrs. Hossam Fadel, Augusta, GA Albert E. Fairchild, Bethesda, MD William Fairchild, Nolensville, TN Family Practice and Surgery, Eatonton, GA Renee Farmer, New York, NY Elisabeth Fitzhugh, Mitchellville, MD Claire Bradley Feder, Atherton, CA Sylvia Anderson de Freitas, Paradise Valley, AZ John Freitas, Fresno, CA Donald Frisco, Wilmington, DE William Gefell, Turnbridge, VT Richard Gentilcore, Ft. Lauderdale, FL David C. Glick, Fairfax, CA Dr. Fawwaz Habbal, Cambridge, MA Nabil Haddad, North Wales, PA Allen Hamood, Dearborn Hts., MI Delinda C. Hanley, Kensington, MD Shirley Hannah, Argyle, NY Prof. Hugh R. Harcourt, Portland, OR Robert & Helen Harold, West Salem, WI Mr. & Mrs. Sameer Hassan, Quaker Hill, CT Dr. Colbert & Mildred Held, Woodway, TX Alexander Humulock, Jr., Romulus, NY Rafeeq Jaber, Oak Lawn, IL Janis Jabrin, Washington, DC Anthony Jones, Jasper, Canada

Dr. Jamil Jreisat, Temple Terrace, FL Mr. & Mrs. Basim Kattan, Washington, DC Akbar Khan, Princeton, NJ Dr. M. Jamil Khan, Bloomfield Hills, MI Dr. Mohayya Khilfeh, Chicago, IL Rafik Khoury, Adamstown, MD Ernestine King, Topsham, ME Paul N. Kirk, Baton Rouge, LA Loretta Krause, Little Egg Harbor Twp., NJ Ronald Kunde, Skokie, IL Sandra La Framboise, Oakland, CA John Lankenau, Tivoli, NY William Lawand, Mount Royal, Canada Tony Litwinko, Los Angeles, CA J. Robert Lunney, Bronxille, NY Anthony Mabarak, Grosse Pointe Park, MI Robert Mabarak, Grosse Pointe Park, MIâ&#x20AC; â&#x20AC; â&#x20AC; Allen J. MacDonald, Washington, DC Dr. & Mrs. Gabriel Makhlouf, Richmond, VA Dr. Asad Malik, Rochester Hills, MI Tahera Mamdani, Fridley, MN Aida Mansoor, Berlin, CT Ted Marczak, Toms River, NJ Amal Marks, Altadena, CA Nabil Matar, Minneapolis, MN Carol Mazzia, Santa Rosa, CA Tom & Tess McAndrew, Oro Valley, AZ

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Shirl McArthur, Reston, VA Gwendolyn McEwen, Bellingham, WA Janet McMahon, Washington, DC*** Darrel Meyers, Burbank, CA Lynn & Jean Miller, Amherst, MA Earl Murphy, Fallbrook, CA Elizabeth Murray, Poulsbo, WA Jacob Nammar, San Antonio, TX Hadeel Naqib, Baltimore, MD Neal & Donna Newby, Las Cruces, NM John & Judy Nicholson, Waukee, IA Susan Nicholson, Gloucester, MA Shirley O’Neil, Cleveland Hts., OH Nancy Orr, Portland, OR Khaled Othman, Riverside, CA Amb. Edward & Ann Peck, Chevy Chase, MD Dr. Bashar Pharoan, Timonium, MD Jim Plourd, Monterey, CA Phillip L. Portlock, Washington, DC Peter P. Pranis, Jr., McAllen, TX Dr. Humayun Quadir, Saint Louis, MO Mr. & Mrs. Edward Reilly, Rocky Point, NY Amb. Christopher Ross, Washington, DC Dr. Wendell E. Rossman, Phoenix, AZ Brynhild Rowberg, Northfield, MN Dr. Mohammed Sabbagh, Grand Blanc, MI Antone Sacker, Houston, TX Leyla Schimmel, Andover, MA Henry Schubert, Damascus, OR Dr. Abid Shah, Sarasota, FL Dr. Ajazuddin Shaikh, Granger, IN Richard J. Shaker, Annapolis, MD Dr. Najah Sharkiah, Atherton, CA Gretchen K. Sheridan, Mill Valley, CA Kathy Sheridan, Mill Valley, CA Dr. Mostafa Hashem Sherif, Tinton Falls, NJ Zac Sidawi, Costa Mesa, CA Lucy Skivens-Smith, Dinwiddie, VA David J. Snider, Bolton, MA Jean Snyder, Greenbelt, MD Robert Snyder, Greenbelt, MD William R. Stanley, Lexington, SC Gregory Stefanatos, Flushing, NY Edward Stick, Phoenix, MD Dr. William Strange, Fort Garland, CO Vincent Stravino, Bethlehem, PA Mushtaq Syed, Santa Clara, CA Eddy Tamura, Moraga, CA Doris Taweel, Laurel, MD Dr. & Mrs. M.A. Thamer, Woodbridge, VA Michael Tomlin, New York, NY Thomas Trueblood, Chapel Hill, NC Charles & Letitia Ufford, Hanover, NH United Muslims of America Interfaith, South San Francisco, CA Paul Wagner, Bridgeville, PA Joseph Walsh, Adamsville, RI Thomas C. Welch, Cambridge, MA Sara Najjar-Wilson, Reston, VA William A. Wood, Newtown, PA Nabil Yakub, McLean, VA Darrell & Sue Yeaney, Scotts Valley, CA Mashood Younes, Eagan, MN Raymond Younes, Oxnard, CA Dr. Robert Younes, Potomac, MD 74

John Zacharia, Vienna, VA Munir Zacharia, La Mirada, CA Mahmoud Zawawi, Amman, Jordan Fred Zuercher, Spring Grove, PA

ACCOMPANISTS ($250 or more) Dr. M.Y. Ahmed, Waterville, OH Robert Akras, N. Bay Village, FL Mohamed Alwan, Chestnut Ridge, NY Louise Anderson, Oakland, CA Anace & Polly Aossey, Cedar Rapids, IA Geoffrey W. Atwell, Akron, PA Dr. & Mrs. Issa Boullata, Montreal, Canada Andrew & Krista Curtiss, Herndon, VA† Joseph Daruty, Newport Beach, CA Robert & Tanis Diedrichs, Cedar Falls, IA John Dirlik, Pointe-Claire, Canada Eugene Fitzpatrick, Wheat Ridge, CO Ray Gordon, Bel Air, MD Erin K. Hankir, Ottawa, Canada Indiana Center for Middle East Peace, Fort Wayne, IN Abdeen Jabara, New York, NY Fahd Jajeh, Lake Forest, IL Omar & Nancy Kader, Vienna, VA Matt Labadie, Portland, OR Kendall Landis, Wallingford, PA Nidal Mahayni, Richmond, VA Joseph A. Mark, Carmel, CA Stanley McGinley, The Woodlands, TX Maury Keith Moore, Seattle, WA Charles Murphy, Upper Falls, MD Dr. Eid B. Mustafa, Wichita Falls, TX William & Nancy Nadeau, San Diego, CA Michel Nasser, Beirut, Lebanon Mary Norton, Austin, TX Mr. & Mrs. W. Eugene Notz, Charleston, SC Hertha Poje-Ammoumi, New York, NY Sam Rahman, Lincoln, CA Neil Richardson, Randolph, VT Fred Rogers, Northfield, MN Ramzy Salem, Monterey Park, CA Lisa Schiltz, Barbar, Bahrain Henry & Irmgard Schubert, Damascus, OR†† Shahida Siddiqui, Trenton, NJ Yusef & Jennifer Sifri, Wilmington, NC Mae Stephen, Palo Alto, CA Michel & Cathy Sultan, Eau Claire, WI J. Tayeb, Shelby Township, MI J. Peter van der Veen, Bellingham, WA

TENORS & CONTRALTOS ($500 or more) Kamel & Majda Ayoub, Hillsborough, CA Mr. & Mrs. John P. Crawford, Boulder, CO Richard H. Curtiss, Boynton Beach, FL* Gregory DeSylva, Rhinebeck, NY Mr. & Mrs. L.F. Boker Doyle, New York, NY Edouard C. Emmet, Paris, France Gary Richard Feulner, Dubai, UAE Ronald & Mary Forthofer, Longmont, CO Dr. Wasif Hafeez, W. Bloomfield, MI THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Salman & Kate Hilmy, Silver Spring, MD Brigitte Jaensch, Carmichael, CA Louise Keeley, Washington, DC** Gloria Keller, Santa Rosa, CA Joe & Lilly Lill, Arlington, VA† George & Karen Longstreth, San Diego, CA Joan McConnell, Saltspring Island, Canada William & Flora McCormick, Austin, TX Donald McNertney, Sarasota, FL Gerald & Judith Merrill, Oakland, CA Mary Norton, Austin, TX Audrey Olson, Saint Paul, MN Gennaro Pasquale, Oyster Bay, NY Mary H. Regier, El Cerrito, CA Gabrielle Saad, Oakland, CA Dr. M.F. Shoukfeh, Lubbock, TX

BARITONES & MEZZO SOPRANOS ($1,000 or more) Asha A. Anand, Bethesda, MD Graf Herman Bender, North Palm Beach, FL Wilhelmine Bennett, Iowa City, IA G. Edward & Ruth Brooking, Jr., Wilmington, DE Rev. Rosemarie Carnarius & Aston Bloom, Tucson, AZ Rev. Ronald C. Chochol, St. Louis, MO Forrest Cioppa, Moraga, CA Luella Crow, Eugene, OR Linda Emmet, Paris, France Dr. & Mrs. Clyde Farris, West Linn, OR Evan & Leman Fotos, Istanbul, Turkey Dr. & Mrs. Hassan Fouda, Berkeley, CA Hind Hamdan, Hagerstown, MD George Hanna, Santa Ana, CA Judith Howard, Norwood, MA William Lightfoot, Vienna, VA Jack Love, San Diego, CA John Mahoney, AMEU, New York, NY Mr. & Mrs. Hani Marar, Delmar, NY Sahar Masud, Mill Valley, CA Bob Norberg, Lake City, MN Dr. Wendell E. Rossman, Phoenix, AZ John Van Wagoner, McLean, VA

CHOIRMASTERS ($5,000 or more) Donna B. Curtiss, Kensington, MD John & Henrietta Goelet, New York, NY Andrew I. Killgore, Washington, DC Vince & Louise Larsen, Louvin Foundation, Billings, MT *In Memory of Richard H. Curtiss **In Loving Memory of Bob Keeley ***In Memory of Donald Neff †In Honor of ADC’s Rachel Corrie Award ††Free Palestine †††Helen Thomas Internship Fund NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015

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November/December 2015 Vol. XXXIV, No. 8

Pakistani earthquake survivors gather around their destroyed homes in the village of Usiak, Oct. 28, 2015. Three months after the area was devastated by floods, residents of the northwest district of Chitral cannot afford to wait for government help.

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