Washington Report on Middle East Affairs | July 2011

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COMPARING ISRAEL’S AND IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAMS

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On Middle East Affairs Volume XXX, No. 5

July 2011

Telling the Truth for 29 Years…

Interpreting the Middle East for North Americans

■

Interpreting North America for the Middle East

THE U.S. ROLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE 8 The American President and the Zionist Prime Minister—Two Views

—Pierre Klochendler, Phillip Weiss 10 On an Old Anniversary, a New Sense That Change Is Possible—Jonathan Cook 11 Palestinians Unite and Move Toward Statehood —Rachelle Marshall 14 The Death of Osama bin Laden—Four Views —Rami G. Khouri, William Pfaff, Gareth Porter, Ghada Karmi 18 Justice, Israeli-Style—Barbara Erickson 22 The Palestinian Unity Deal: Déjà Vu All Over Again?—Mohammed Omer

24 Third Time’s a Charm: Israel Admitted as U.N. Member in 1949—Donald Neff 25 Can Supreme Court Overrule U.S. Treaty Obligations to the U.N.?—Ian Williams 27 NATO Bombing in Libya Leads to Drawn-Out War, More Civilian Deaths—Rachelle Marshall 30 Congress Finally Passes Bill to Fund Government Through Current Fiscal Year—Shirl McArthur 32 The New Kahane Social Network—The D.C. Investigative Journalism Collective 34 Comparing Israel’s and Iran’s Nuclear Programs —John Steinbach 40 Israel-Palestine: The Consequences of the Conflict—Amb. Chas Freeman

SPECIAL REPORTS 37 Many Still Question Megrahi Conviction in Bombing of Pan Am 103

—Andrew I. Killgore 38 “Dis[Locating] Culture Brings New Ideas, Style to Islamic Art in America—Elaine Pasquini 42 Significance of Bin Laden’s Death Seen as More Symbolic Than Strategic—Lucy Jones

Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany

ON THE COVER: Palestinian youths take part in a May 16 bicycle rally in the West Bank city of Jenin to mark the anniversary of the 1948 nakba, or catastrophe, of the dispossession of Palestinians and establishment of the Zionist state of Israel.

SAIF DAHLAH/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 1-800-368-5788, and press 1.

For other options, see page OV-3 in this issue.)

Other Voices

Compiled by Janet McMahon

Khalidi Says Palestinian Humiliation Is at

Afghanistan: Obama’s Chance, Gwynne Dyer, Arab News

OV-1

Egypt’s Moves Raising Anxiety in Washington, Jim Lobe, Inter Press Service (IPS)

The Heart of the Arab Revolutions, Philip Weiss, http://mondoweiss.net

OV-2

OV-10

Arab Dissidents’ Strange Bedfellows, Maidhc Ó Cathail, www.maidhcocathail.wordpress.com OV-11

U.S. Report Details Rights Abuses, Josh Nathan-Kazis, The Forward

OV-3

All the WikiLeaks Fit to Print, Robert Scheer, www.truthdig.com

JNF Challenged On Discrimination, Josh Nathan-Kazis, The Forward

OV-5

OV-12

Court Vindicates Prisoners in Right to Challenge Federal Experimental Isolation

A New Nakba?, Mya Guarnieri, www.counterpunch.com

Units Restricting Communication,

OV-6

The Center for Constitutional Rights What’s in it for Us, Mr. Obama?, Philip Giraldi, www.antiwar.com

OV-7

Of Tea and Snow Leopards, Shafqat Hussain, www.counterpunch.com

Ehud Barak’s Disappearing Request for $20 Billion Aid Increase to Israel, Ali Gharib, www.lobelog.com

OV-13

OV-14

Headscarf Is Also a Scarf Over the Head, OV-9

Sabine Clappaert, Inter Press Service (IPS)

OV-14

DEPARTMENTS 5 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

52 ARAB-AMERICAN ACTIVISM:

67 OTHER PEOPLE’S MAIL

AAIF’s Kahlil Gibran Gala 7 PUBLISHERS’ PAGE

Celebrates Youths of Arab

69 THE WORLD LOOKS AT THE

Spring 44 NEW YORK CITY AND TRISTATE NEWS: Finally Allowed Into the U.S., Omar Barghouti Discusses Increasingly Popular BDS Campaign —Jane Adas 46 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHRONICLE: USC Hosts Panel On “The Shamrock and the Olive Tree: From Belfast to Bethlehem”

—Pat and Samir Twair

MIDDLE EAST — CARTOONS 54 MUSLIM-AMERICAN ACTIVISM: CAIR Offers Muslim-American Reactions to Death of Bin Laden 54 HUMAN RIGHTS:

70 BOOK REVIEW: Refusing to be Enemies,

by Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta

—Reviewed by Andrew Stimson

Syrian Americans Demonstrate 71 NEW ARRIVALS FROM THE 55 MUSIC & ARTS:

AET BOOK CLUB

FUNATICAL Comedy Tour 48 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA CHRONICLE: Islam Awareness Week Features Diverse Program Of Film, Photography, Lectures

—Elaine Pasquini 50 ISRAEL AND JUDAISM: Knesset Investigation of J Street Another Case of Israeli Interference in U.S. Jewish Community—Allan C. Brownfeld

Hits DC

72 BULLETIN BOARD

59 WAGING PEACE: Salman Abu Sitta: Mapping the

73 2011 AET CHOIR OF ANGELS

Historical Geography of Palestine 66 DIPLOMATIC DOINGS: Ambassador Joseph LeBaron Honored at NCUSAR Luncheon

47 INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

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

LetterstotheEditor

Publisher:

Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (ISSN 8755-4917) is published 9 times a year, monthly except Jan./Feb., May/June and Sept./Oct. combined, at 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-1707. Tel. (202) 939-6050. Subscription prices (United States and possessions): one year, $29; two years, $55; three years, $75. For Canadian and Mexican subscriptions, $35 per year; for other foreign subscriptions, $70 per year.

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

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

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CONTACT INFORMATION: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs Editorial Office and Bookstore: P.O. Box 53062, Washington, DC 20009-9062 Phone: (202) 939-6050 • (800) 368-5788 Fax: (202) 265-4574 E-mail: wrmea@wrmea.com bookclub@wrmea.com circulation@wrmea.com advertising@wrmea.com Web sites: http://www.wrmea.com http://www.middleeastbooks.com Subscriptions, sample copies and donations: P.O. Box 53062, Washington, DC 20009-9062 Printed in the USA

JULY 2011

A Mutual Friend As a longtime subscriber to your magazine may I draw your attention to yet another scandal happening today in East Jerusalem: Mr. Munther Fahmi was born in East Jerusalem in 1955 and went to the U.S. in 1978. He lived there until 1986, when he returned to East Jerusalem. He then opened an English-language bookshop in the courtyard of the American Colony Hotel in East Jerusalem, which is now well known and considered one of the best bookshops in the Middle East. He runs his shop although he was only allowed to enter Israel on a tourist visa and therefore had to leave the country and re-enter every three months, as Israel revoked his residency due to his long stay in the U.S. In the past two years it became increasingly difficult for Mr. Fahmi to get this tourist visa, and he has now lost the final appeal in his legal battle to regain his right to live in his city of birth. He is threatened with deportation within the next few weeks. His last chance is another letter to the Ministry of Interior asking to reinstate his residency on humanitarian grounds. This is a terrible scandal and of course happens in the context of the Israeli policy of depopulating East Jerusalem of Arab inhabitants. There are a growing number of well-known signatories to an international petition on his behalf, but the result of the ministerial decision remains uncertain.

Munther Fahmi has been a friend of mine for many years and I actually came to know your magazine through his bookshop!

I want to ask you to follow the development of his case and to report about it on your Web site and in the next issue of your magazine. For further information you just search “Munther Fahmi Deportation” in any search machine and you will find a huge list of Internet articles on his cause.

Best, although very worried, regards, Ms. Damaris Koehler, M.D., Heidelberg, Germany We, too, have been following Mr. Fahmi’s case with great concern. Nor is he the only Jerusalem-born Palestinian we know who can only visit the city of his or her birth as a tourist. As we went to press in late May, the Interior Ministry had yet to decide on Mr. Fahmy’s appeal, despite the support of writers and human rights supporters around the world, not to mention Israeli novelists Amos Oz and David Grossman—and despite the THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

fact that such Jewish Israelis as Yuval Rabin, son of the assassinated prime minister who moved to the U.S. in 1998, will retain their citizenship no matter how long they live abroad, or that Jews born anywhere in the world can become Israeli citizens the first time they set foot in Jerusalem. When it comes to Israel, apparently you do have to be Jewish!

WikiLeaks Exposes Guantánamo The latest exposé on the WikiLeaks whistleblowing Web site has been the appalling abuse of prisoners at Guantánamo.

The documents show that the vast majority of prisoners are innocent or very low-level

operatives, not the high-level detainees that the Pentagon has repeatedly asserted. As an example of the complete absence of any meaningful justice, it turns out that a single informer was granted his freedom by incriminating at least 123 others—which makes his “testimony” highly suspect.

The trove of documents also shows how an Al Jazeera employee was abducted and imprisoned for six long years merely because his employer had broadcast embarrassing video clips showing U.S. forces abusing civilians and prisoners. This is the same Al Jazeera that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke of in glowing terms as a trend setter in journalism, in contrast with the U.S. networks’ repetitious 24 news cycle babble. Other examples of egregious misconduct were the arrests of an 89year-old Afghan villager suffering from dementia and a 14-year old boy who was kidnapped and subsequently dumped by proTaliban forces. Others prisoners were turned in by ransom seekers.

It is time for President Barack Obama to follow through on his campaign promise and close this hell-hole.

Jagjit Singh, Los Altos, CA We, too, were bemused by Secretary Clintons remarks about Al Jazeera. Of course, she lives in Washington, DC, one of the three 5

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Let Bin Laden’s Death Close a Chapter On May 2, the Washington Report sent out the following action alert on the death on Osama bin Laden. We reprint the alert below, along with some of the responses to it. To receive future action alerts, simply sign up at our Web site, <www.wrmea.com>.

On May 1 President Barack Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden, the man held responsible for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The Washington Report hopes that bin Laden’s death will bring an end to the so-called “war against terrorism”—a war perceived by many Muslims around the world, and here at home, as a war against them.

Much depends on how the American media treat the killing of bin Laden. Will media pundits and think tank experts seek to grab headlines and frighten Americans as they describe an ever-increasing worldwide threat of terrorism? Will the “experts” continue to carelessly generalize and purposefully antagonize a billion and a half Muslims around the world? Or can the world finally close the door on the tragedy of 9/11 and get back to, once and for all, finding a solution to the international problems behind the attacks: ending the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, as well as the growing economic, educational, health and political concerns of everyday citizens in this country and around the world?

We call upon all Americans to reject the mainstream media-fed campaign to vilify our Muslim- and Arab-American neighbors and co-workers.

We ask President Obama to visit an American mosque or publicly call for an end to Islamophobia, which did not begin 10 years ago on Sept. 11, but which can end today.

This is spot on and a great statement. It makes me sick to see our country rejoicing and our president saying “the achievement is a testament to the greatness of our country.” It is more a testament to how lost we are as a country to once again perpetuate the never-ending death spiral of violence and retaliation where everyone loses in the end. Bin Laden went to his death knowing he had largely succeeded in his mission to have the United States self-destruct by taunting us into bringing his war on us to his turf where he could bleed us to death morally, financially, and physically. Is there no sanity left inside the Beltway??

Jay Tapp, via e-mail Why should we believe the mass media which does not tell the truth, and whose journalists are paid to tell lies? We, who seek to find the truth, know that the 9/11 destruction of the towers did not occur as the media tell it, and want us to believe. For all that we know bin Laden is a mythical figure, an invention of the

media, which are owned dominated and controlled by the real, secret rulers of America, the financial oligarchs behind the “throne.”

But the myth of bin Laden is still very much alive in the metaphorical sense. Why don’t they want to try the people in a civilian court who, they claim, caused the destruction of the towers. Because they know what these people will say. They will say that they had nothing to do with destruction, that it has all been a pack of lies, and that they did not confess to anything truthfully, as the media claim.

Cassian d’Ornellas, via e-mail It’s only an opening chapter, since there’s never been any proof given that bin Laden was materiallly linked to the 9/11 events—something the Taliban asked for in order to justify a U.S. extradition request—and that the murder of bin Laden was in complete contravention of Pakistani sovereignty and international law.

Mark Richie, via e-mail

U.S. locales where it can be viewed, so unlike most Americans she has the opportunity to form her own opinion. Perhaps Clinton and her fellow administration members will recommit themselves to work on securing not only freedom of the press, but the other principles—such as innocent until proven guilty—on which this country was founded.

objects, and you continue to beat him until he is silent—it does not mean he then agrees with you. He is subjugated!

So we should not condemn the Palestinian negotiators out of hand.

However, it really is amazing how quickly the Western media has reacted to to the leaked Palestine papers to inform us that “the peace deal is off.”

The Leaked Palestinian Papers This, we are informed, is due to the inIf you beat a man to enforce a view, and he transigence of the sides not agreeing to share the former mandated country.

However the Other Voices is an optional 16truth is that Israel, page supplement available only the all-powerful to subscribers of the Washington military power, Report on Middle East Affairs. which is completely backed by For an additional $15 per year the U.S. super(see postcard insert for Wash power, sees no reaington Re port subscription son to relinquish rates), subscribers will receive any of the PalestinOther Voices bound into each ian occupied land.

In fact, it continissue of their Washington Report ues, year on year, on Middle East Affairs. to swallow up even Back issues of both publicamore of the Palestions are available. To subscribe telephone 1 (800) 368-5788 tinian West Bank (press 1), fax (202) 265-4574, e-mail <circulation@wrmea.com>, and Jerusalem.

We see the conor write to P.O. Box 53062, Washington, DC 20009. tinuing long-term 6

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

farce of various intergovernmental organizations, governments, statesmen and diplomats being involved in “facilitating the two parties to finding peace”! However, when we then hear of the continuing Israeli inflexibility, these groups just wring their hands as though nothing more can be done!

But what of the international responsibility?

When, back in 1947/8, the international community was faced with the natural opposition of the Palestinians to the division of their country, they didn’t just stop! The international community didn’t say “there is nothing more we can do without the agreement of the Palestinians.” There was no wringing of hands back then!

No! The international community just went ahead and divided the country, granting a huge part of Palestine to the Zionists, and giving recognition to the new Israeli state!

It should therefore be for the international community to bring pressure to resolve the issue, not just the “two sides”!

Barry M. Watson, Scarborough U.K. We are looking forward to September, when the international community, in the form of the U.N. General Assembly, is expected to have the opportunity to recognize Palestine as a U.N. member state. ❑ JULY 2011

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American Educational Trust Manner Up, Bibi. It’s Not OK… For a foreign leader who is a guest in the Oval Office to arrogantly lecture the president of the United States as if he were a recalcitrant schoolboy who hadn’t done his history homework. (Although perhaps Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu feels more entitled than most to dictate U.S. policies—after all, as a dual U.S./Israeli citizen he also felt entitled to use U.S. federal loans to pay his education costs at MIT.*)

Nor Is it OK… For AIPAC policy conference delegates— Americans, presumably—to boo the president of the United States and cheer the leader of a foreign country. (AIPAC President Lee Rosenberg specifically warned delegates not to boo President Barack Obama, but apparently in vain.) In fact…

Until Bill Clinton Came Along…

No sitting American president had ever considered it appropriate to accept an invitation to speak at the Israel lobby’s annual meeting. Today, apparently, it’s de rigueur.

Finally, It’s Disgraceful Behavior…

For members of Congress to wildly applaud a foreign leader who has just done his best to embarrass their president, trash U.S. foreign policy—not to mention international law— and who is heedlessly leading Israel toward national mass suicide. And let there be no mistake, Israel will drag Americans down with it. Every time the world sees the United States veto a U.N. resolution supported by all other U.N. members (except Israel, natch) or hears a U.S. president promise to support Israel’s actions no matter how vile, it not only strengthens our enemies but weakens our nation and democracy.

We’ve Had Enough.

Prime Minister Netanyahu created much ado about nothing regarding Obama’s Arab Spring speech on May 19 and his speech to AIPAC on May 22. Most Americans saw his histrionics for what it was—pandering to *See our Web site, <www.wrmea.com>, for “From the Washington Report’s Archives,” which spotlights articles published over the past nearly 30 years that are relevant to news events today. The article on Binyamin Netanyahu currently being featured is from our October 1996 issue.

JULY 2011

Publishers’ Page

his right-wing supporters both here and back home in Israel. Netanyahu and AIPAC do not represent the views of most mainstream Jews. Instead the entire world, minus those crazies, is eager for Israelis and Arabs to reach a just and lasting peace.

Obama Did Not Take the Easy Road.

As the president said in his speech to AIPAC, “I know very well that the easy thing to do, particularly for a president preparing for reelection, is to avoid any controversy...but...I believe that the current situation in the Middle East does not allow for procrastination. I also believe that real friends talk openly and honestly with one another.” He emphasized that delay will only undermine Israel’s security and prospects for peace. Finally the president warned that Israel will face growing isolation without a credible Middle East peace process, and emphasized that we cannot afford to wait yet another decade to achieve peace.

Bibi’s Reply: It Ain’t Gonna Happen.

Referring to Palestinians’ right of return, Netanyahu said, “Everybody knows it’s not going to happen. And I think it’s time to tell the Palestinians forthrightly it’s not going to happen.” But we beg to differ. As Philip Weiss emphasized in a recent blog, the Arab Spring applies to Palestinian refugees, too.

“Now the Palestinian Diaspora is rising,” he wrote, “and no one will be able to shut them out, and the world’s abandonment is…

Coming to an End.” But Now That the World Hasn’t Come to an End… Let’s join together—Arab and Muslim Americans, peace activists, leaders, movers and shakers—and work strategically. In order to solve the Arab/Israeli conflict Israel-firsters must go. Let’s start with Dennis Ross, the president’s special assistant and senior director of the Central Region at the National Security Council. Ross has made a career out of undermining Arab-Israeli peace negotiations during both Republican and Democratic administrations, ever since Jimmy Carter.

Thanks to Ross’ Interference…

President Obama’s special envoy for Middle East peace, George Mitchell, quit in exasperation. Ross and then-Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz were directly responsible for getting the U.S. into the war in Iraq and worked like hell to start anTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

other with Iran. Unlike Wolfowitz, however, Ross is still operating under the radar— and with impunity—in the White House.

No Energy Shortage Here!

Recently we’ve attended some amazing and inspiring conferences that will be a challenge to describe using mere words and pictures in our next issue. We’d better do it, though, because you won’t learn about any of them from the mainstream media. The May 21-24 Move Over AIPAC conference in Washington, DC, timed to coincide with AIPAC’s annual policy conference, energized the hundreds of participants who want the U.S. government to stop pandering to the pro-occupation lobby. Profs. John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt’s keynote speech, as well as a standing-room-only panel about how the Israel lobby works, featuring Washington Report managing editor Janet McMahon and frequent contributors Jeffrey Blankfort, Grant Smith and Alison Weir, should be seen by every American voter. Now is the time to…

Start Planning for 2012.

We hope everyone will post video clips or invite these speakers to address forums across the country and help this information go viral. Because some day soon, when Americans see just how AIPAC works, legislators will be forced to defend their actions on behalf of a foreign government. Only then will America’s elected representatives have to decide whether they represent the constituents who put them in office or the…

Agents of a Foreign Government.

Another inspiring gathering was the National American Arab Journalists Association (NAAJA)’s 6th Annual Journalism Conference held April 29-May 1 in Dearborn, MI. We were thrilled to receive an award for “dedicated pursuit of truth and accuracy through professional journalism.” The fact that it came from our peers made it even more meaningful. And the fact that your contributions have made it possible for us to continue publishing for almost three decades makes us exceedingly grateful.

So Let’s Harness…

All the energy and determination that’s out there and…

Make a Difference Today!...

7

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Two Views The American President and the Zionist Prime Minister

PHOTO BY SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES

that provoked the ire of the Israeli premier? After all, as a disconcerted U.S. State Department official stressed, Obama’s speech was “good for Israel—and, certainly good for Netanyahu’s vision of Israel.”

Didn’t the president go out of his way to firmly reject the Palestinian endeavor for U.N.-endorsed recognition of statehood without negotiations as a de-legitimization campaign of Israel that “won’t create an independent state”? He demanded that the Palestinians explain the recent reconciliation agreement between the nationalist Fatah movement and Hamas and provide “a credible answer” to “the legitimate questions” raised by the Islamic Jewish demonstrators in New York City protest in front of the Israeli Consulate on May 20, 2011 to de- movement’s refusal to recognounce President Barack Obama’s speech the previous day in which he called for Israel’s 1967 borders to be nize Israel’s right to exist.

Obama also adopted the a starting point for negotiations with the Palestinians.

Netanyahu security doctrine of a “non-militarized” Obama Peace Vision Sparks Reports abounded in the Israeli media of Palestine and a “phased withdrawal” from New Disputes a new crisis of confidence in U.S.-Israel re- the occupied territories. And, he embraced lations, of the rekindled flames of mutual Netanyahu’s old-new credo of a “Jewish

By Pierre Klochendler dislike between the two leaders, of a “furi- State.” he borders of Israel and Palestine ous” telephone exchange between NeBesides, what Obama didn’t spell out should be based on the 1967 lines tanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary was also good for the Israeli leader. He with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure Clinton on the eve of the summit. The didn’t demand a renewed freeze on settleand recognized borders are established for body language at the meeting at the Oval ment construction in the occupied West both states.” The seemingly neutral and Room was also painstakingly dissected.

Bank in the first place. He actually menquasi-consensual principle laid out by U.S. Defense Minister Ehud Barak tried to tioned the settlement issue in one quick President Barack Obama in his May 19 strike a more reassuring and optimistic sentence while construction of 1,500 houspolicy address on the current state of af- note when declaring that the May 20 meet- ing units was officially approved in occufairs in the Middle East and North Africa ing “was a lot less dramatic than it ap- pied East Jerusalem.

(MENA) region was all the more harmless peared,” while stressing that the gaps beAnd, he didn’t even mention the Israeli that it was buried in the last quarter of his tween the two leaders were smaller than Left’s peace advocacy credo, the 2002 Arab speech. they seemed. Barak added, “I think the Peace Initiative that proposes an end to the Yet, Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Ne- Americans know well the nuances of our Arab-Israeli conflict in exchange for the Istanyahu immediately took to the stage— positions.” raeli withdrawal from all occupied territoeven before his arrival in Washington for The Netanyahu statement from his ries (the 1967 lines), a recognition of an inhis much anticipated meeting at the White spokesman in the U.S. reiterating that “the dependent Palestinian state in the West House—and bluntly dismissed the 1967 differences of opinion are among friends” Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its borders as “indefensible.” didn’t assuage Israeli concerns back home. capital, as well as a “just solution” for the With such allies who needs enemies, caus- Palestinian refugees.

Copyright © 2011 IPS-Inter Press Service. All tically noted Israeli commentators.

So what was wrong with Netanyahu, rights reserved.

What are those “nuances of positions” asked some Israelis, flabbergasted at the

“T

8

JULY 2011

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prospect of increasing alienation, what’s more, from their country’s strongest ally?

Netanyahu seems to have wanted to create an artificial dispute, purposefully ignoring the Obama “land swap” and “Jewish State” principles of peace. What are borders based on the pre-1967 ceasefire lines with territorial swaps if not the realization that, in any future agreement, Israel will retain major settlement blocs that have taken hold in the West Bank over the past 40-plus years?

And, if Israel is to be recognized “as a Jewish State and the homeland of the Jewish people,” it signifies to the Palestinians that their refugees will return to Palestine, not to Israel, a key Israeli demand.

“I don’t think that the president said it was necessary to return to the 1967 lines, but rather that we need to start the discussion based on the 1967 borders,” said Barak.

The real problem for Netanyahu—and for his centrist opposition—lies precisely in the synchronization of the elements of a peace deal. Obama suggested that future negotiations should grapple first with the security and territorial dimension of the conflict. Other core issues, “the future of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees,” should be broached at a later stage.

Israelis fear that these principles will create a de facto interim agreement with no end of conflict and demands in sight. “Instead of presenting the 1967 borders as the end of the process, Obama made them its start. Instead of tying them to the end of demands and the end of the conflict, they were tied to greater demands and continued conflict,” columnist Ari Shavit bemoaned in the liberal daily Haaretz.

Netanyahu outflanked his right-wing coalition by implying that he stands further to the right. Wrapped in the flag of national dismay, with the right firmly united behind him, he’s trying to hamstring the Obama peace principles by testing the limitation of their effectiveness.

It’s a laborious enough task to present a coherent U.S. doctrine in the face of the indecisive upheaval convulsing the Arab world. And, with raising expectations of recognition of Palestine, with or without U.S. approval, it might prove even harder to establish a coherent peace vision—especially if no clear plan of action is advanced by the U.S. before September as a basis for Israeli-Palestinian peace-making and Palestinian state-building. That’s what Netanyahu is counting on.

It is often said that attack is the best form of defense. Netanyahu went a step JULY 2011

further in implementing the proverbial adage. He tackled his host on his own home turf. The almost offensive conduct was designed to neutralize the broad U.S. vision of national and individual self-determination for all the peoples of the region in the hope that he will eventually reduce the vision of Palestinian self-determination to mere tactical maneuvering.

An Angry Obama Warns the Lobby That the “World Is Moving Too Fast” [to Preserve A Jewish State]

By Philip Weiss

arack Obama’s May 22 speech to B AIPAC was an historic speech, maybe the most remarkable speech he has ever given. For a masked and calculating man, it was incredibly sincere. For just below the politically hogtied phrases and praises for the Israel lobby that controls his future, it was filled with rage. When he spoke over and over of a Jewish democratic state and then said that the world was changing, and spoke about that Jewish state upholding universal values that Americans also share, I heard vicious irony: You want a religious state, you have the power to demand it of me, because you are the Israel lobby, well time is running out on you.

And when he finished his speech by reminding the Jews before him that we are fellow Americans, I thought it was a jab at their dual loyalty.

The Israel lobby has never been so naked. Walt and Mearsheimer’s estimations of its character six years ago look meager now when the Wall Street Journal writes openly of “Jewish donors,” something Walt and Mearsheimer refuse to say, and when Obama begins his speech by reminding AIPAC of what a good boy he was back in Chicago 2004, when he reached out to “Rosey” when he thought about running, Lee Rosenberg, the slightly cadaverous media executive who brought Obama to the podium today, and is surely hated by many in the room for doing so.

And all the boilerplate of the speech, the endless celebration of the deep ties between Israel and the U.S., came off as so much boilerplate, lobby speak. I know I have to say this, and you know it, too, Obama is saying, but it is boilerplate.

He is angry. I thought he wasn’t going to mention the word 1967 or the controversy A version of this article was first posted on Mondoweiss, <http://mondoweiss.net>, May 22, 2011. Reprinted with permission.

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

it set off the other day. But he surprised me by saying it three or four times and going right into the controversy. So he is angry at being shown up by Netanyahu, whom he mentioned only once, in passing. He is angry that as John Mearsheimer said the previous day at Move Over AIPAC, Netanyahu has taken on Obama three times and defeated him three times.

The beauty of the speech for me was about the Arab spring and the impatience of history.

Obama said that time is running out on the endless peace process. I was abusing him through most of the speech but when he said, “The world is moving too fast,” I cried out in pleasure. Obama knows that because of the Arab spring and the millions on the Arab street whose demands he dignified today, and because of the disgust of peoples everywhere with the Americanled peace process—in Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Arab world, as he reminded the lobby—the world is sick of a Jim Crow state. When I go to Europe this week, this is all people will ask me about, he said, veiling anger.

And when Obama spoke twice of the “demographic” realities west of the Jordan, he was only echoing what Mearsheimer said the day before, there is a majority of Palestinians between the Jordan and the sea, and this is your last chance to gerrymander a Jewish majority on the vast majority of the land that you already ethnically cleansed. I believe he spoke these words about demography with rage—how can an anti-racist say racist phrases without rage? And when he said that Israel and the U.S. share the background of claiming their freedom against overwhelming powers—the British, the Arabs—I think he was offering an ironical history lesson. Obama doesn’t believe in a Jewish democracy any more than he believes in a white or a Christian democracy.

He will say these words over and over, in bitterness, to the lobby that has got him politically hogtied because he depends on, according to the Wall Street Journal, Jewish money, and he may well believe in partition for the same reason Mearsheimer does, to head off violent cataclysm in Israel and Palestine, but he is on our side in his heart. On the side of the world moving forward with progressive ideals.

And when he talks about the world’s impatience with an absurd peace process it is his own impatience. The lobby has been exposed and Barack Obama is doing all that he can to open up the American discourse to a discussion of its values. So I’m grateful for the speech. ❑ 9

cook_10_Special Report 5/23/11 12:12 PM Page 10

On an Old Anniversary, a New Sense That Change Is Possible SpecialReport

JACK GUEZ/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

By Jonathan Cook

Demonstrators cross from Syria into the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights near the Druze town of Majdal Shams on the 63rd anniversary of the creation of the Zionist state and the dispossession of 750,000 Palestinians, known as the Nakba, or catastrophe, May 15, 2011. hey are extraordinary scenes. Film shot

Ton mobile phones captured the mo-

ment on Sunday, March 15 when at least 1,000 Palestinian refugees marched across no-man’s-land to one of the most heavily protected borders in the world, the one separating Syria from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Waving Palestinian flags, the marchers braved a minefield, then tore down a series of fences, allowing more than 100 to run into Israeli-controlled territory. As they embraced Druze villagers on the other side, voices could be heard saying: “This is what liberation looks like.”

Unlike previous years, this Nakba Day was not simply a commemoration of the catastrophe that befell the Palestinians in 1948, when their homeland was forcibly reinvented as the Jewish state. It briefly reJonathan Cook is a free-lance journalist based in Nazareth and the author of Blood and Religion and Israel and the Clash of Civilizations, both available from the AET Book Club. This article first appeared in The National, May 17, 2011. Copyright © 2011 Abu Dhabi Media Company.

10

minded Palestinians that, despite their long-enforced dispersion, they still have the potential to forge a common struggle against Israel.

As Israel violently cracked down on Sunday’s protests on many fronts—in the West Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem and on the borders with Syria and Lebanon—it looked less like a military superpower and more like the proverbial boy with his finger in the dam.

The Palestinian “Arab Spring” is arriving and Israel has no diplomatic or political strategy to deal with it. Instead on that day Israel used the only weapon in its current arsenal—brute force—against unarmed demonstrators.

Along the northern borders, at least 14 protesters were killed and dozens wounded, both at Majdal Shams in the Golan and near Maroun al-Ras in Lebanon.

In Gaza, a teenager was shot dead and more than 100 other demonstrators wounded as they massed at crossing points. At Qalandiya, the main checkpoint Israel created to bar West Bank Palestinians from reaching Jerusalem, at least 40 protesters were badly injured. There were THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

clashes in major West Bank towns, too.

And inside Israel, the country’s Palestinian minority took their own Nakba march for the first time into the heart of Israel, waving Palestinian flags in Jaffa, the oncefamous Palestinian city that has been transformed since 1948 into a minor suburb of Tel Aviv.

With characteristic obtuseness, Israel’s leaders identified Iranian “fingerprints” on the day’s events—as though Palestinians lacked enough grievances of their own to initiate protests.

But, in truth, Israeli intelligence has warned for months that mass demonstrations of this kind were inevitable, stoked by the intransigence of Israel’s right-wing government in the face of both Washington’s renewed interest in creating a Palestinian state and of the Arab Spring’s mood of “change is possible.”

Following in the footsteps of Egyptian and Tunisian demonstrators, ordinary Palestinians used the new social media to organize and coordinate their defiance—in their case challenging the walls, fences and checkpoints Israel has erected everywhere to separate them. Twitter, not Tehran, was the guiding hand behind these demonstrations.

Although the protests are not yet a third intifada, they hint at what may be coming.

Or, as one senior Israeli commander warned, they looked ominously like a “warm-up” for September, when the newly unified Palestinian leadership is threatening to defy Israel and the United States and seek recognition at the United Nations of Palestinian statehood inside the 1967 borders.

Ehud Barak, the Israeli defense minister, alluded to similar concerns when he cautioned: “We are just at the start of this matter and it could be that we’ll face far more complex challenges.”

There are several lessons, none of them comfortable, for Israel to draw from the weekend’s clashes.

The first is that the Arab Spring cannot be dealt with simply by battening down the hatches. The upheavals facing Israel’s Arab neighbors mean these regimes no longer have the legitimacy to decide their own Palestinian populations’ fates according to narrow self-interest.

Continued on page 13 JULY 2011

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Palestinians Unite and Move Toward Statehood SpecialReport

PHOTO BY PPM VIA GETTY IMAGES

By Rachelle Marshall

Exiled Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal (r) speaks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas May 4 in Cairo, where the two rival political factions signed a reconciliation agreement after reaching common ground against Israeli occupation and for peace efforts.

“We gave the occupation a great opportunity to expand the settlements because of this division. Today we turn this page and open a new page.”—Hamas member Moussa Abu Marzouk, after negotiating a unity pact with Fatah on April 27, 2011. ith President Obama embroiled in

Wvarious wars, facing anti-govern-

ment Republicans in Congress, and, not incidentally, embarked on a re-election campaign, achieving Middle East peace has disappeared from his agenda. The Palestinians had no choice but to go it alone, and they have accordingly begun laying Rachelle Marshall is a free-lance editor living in Mill Valley, CA. A member of A Jewish Voice for Peace, she writes frequently on the Middle East.

JULY 2011

the groundwork for an independent Palestinian state.

Recognizing that Palestinian unity is essential to statehood, Fatah and Hamas ended their four-year estrangement and on May 4 signed an agreement in Cairo to form an interim government composed of neutral technical experts, with parliamentary and presidential elections to be held next year. More than a dozen other factions, including those more militant than Hamas, also signed on to the deal.

The reconciliation agreement was a welcome achievement, but a fragile one. According to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, all of the signers agreed to honor an unofficial truce with Israel, but there were reports from the West Bank that the commanders of the Palestinian security forces that cooperate closely with Israel THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

had rejected the agreement and were continuing to arrest Hamas members in the West Bank.

Instead of welcoming the pact as the first step toward achieving a peace settlement that all Palestinians can accept, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu denounced it as “a great victory for terrorism,” and the Obama administration threatened to end its contributions to the Palestinian Authority. A spokeman for the president’s National Security Council echoed the Israelis’ charge that “Hamas is a terrorist organization that targets civilians.”

Israel refused to turn over to the Palestinian Authority more than $89 million in taxes and other fees it collects for the Palestinians, an act of blackmail in clear violation of its legal obligations. Netanyahu jus11

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tified the decision to freeze money that makes up a large portion of the Palestinian Authority’s budget by saying, “The Palestinian Authority must choose between peace with Israel and peace with Hamas.”

Netanyahu’s warning might have carried more weight had he not done everything possible in the past five years to avoid serious peace talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is pledged to nonviolence.

Instead the Netanyahu government has speeded up illegal settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and insisted that Israel retain East Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley, meanwhile legalizing the scores of unauthorized outposts in the West Bank put up since 1996 by rightwing settlers. Several members of the current cabinet favor Israel’s annexation of the entire West Bank.

The Obama administration’s veto last February of an otherwise unanimous resolution by the U.N. Security Council condemning Israeli settlements as violating international law finally convinced the Palestinians they would get no help from Washington. Accordingly, Fayyad announced in early April that his government had established a capital fund of more than $28 million, and was “in the home stretch of state building.” The next step will be to propose recognition of the new state by the U.N. General Assembly in September. Dozens of countries already have gone on record as favoring the proposal, including America’s European allies.

Obama’s retreat from the issue is undoubtedly what recently prompted Britain, France, and Germany to propose an agreement that would encompass the principles of two states for two peoples “based on 1967 borders with equivalent land swaps; security arrangements that protect Israel while respecting Palestinian sovereignty by ending the occupation; a fair, realistic and agreed solution for refugees; and Jerusalem as the capital of both states.”

When the three countries suggested that the text be read at an upcoming meeting of Quartet members Russia, the U.N., the European Union and the U.S., the Obama administration turned down the idea. “It isn’t the right time,” an official said. Germany, Britain and France are now urging the U.N. to draw up a plan for a final settlement rather than wait for the U.S. Recent studies by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the U.N. have found the Palestinian Authority to be fully capable of running an independent state. The U.N. report endorsed the 12

Authority’s oversight of education, health, social protection, infrastructure and water; and the IMF and World Bank credited the Authority with establishing structural reforms and careful budgeting that led to a 9 percent growth in the economy.

All three groups stressed, however, that the current growth rate could not be sustained unless Israel eased its political, physical and economic restrictions in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel has full control of 60 percent of the West Bank, and the system of Jewish-only roads and numerous checkpoints give it virtual control over the entire territory. In Gaza, the one commercial crossing to and from Israel is open only sporadically, and the entry of construction materials strictly limited.

Despite the government’s opposition, Palestinian statehood has significant support within Israel. In early April, on the same spot where Israel declared its independence in 1948, several dozen prominent individuals from the fields of security and business issued a statement called the Israeli Peace Initiative that contained a detailed plan for a two-state solution. They were followed two weeks later by more than 60 artists, scientists and scholars who also declared their support for Palestinian independence.

The latter group deliberately chose the week of Passover to make their announcement. “This is a holiday of freedom and independence,” said Yaron Ezrahi, a professor of political theory at Hebrew University. “We don’t want to pass over the Palestinian people.” Their statement endorsed a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders and asserted that an end to Israel’s occupation “will liberate the two peoples and open the way to lasting peace.”

Turkish President Abdullah Gul added an eloquent voice to supporters of a Palestinian state in an April 24 op-ed for The New York Times titled “The Revolution’s Missing Piece.” Gul called on Israeli leaders to take a strategic approach to the Middle East peace process and give serious consideration to the Arab League’s 2002 peace proposal calling for Israel’s return to its 1967 borders in exchange for peace and diplomatic recognition by its Arab neighbors. In light of the protests taking place across the Middle East, he warned, “Israel cannot afford to be perceived as an apartheid island surrounded by an Arab sea of anger and hostility.”

Gul offered Turkey’s wholehearted assistance in facilitating constructive negotiations, and commented that “the United States has a long-overdue responsibility to THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

side with international law and fairness when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.” Like many pro-Israel peace activists, Gul pointed out that “securing a lasting peace in the Middle East is the greatest favor Washington can do for Israel.”

Ideology vs. Reason Such hardheaded reasoning is certain to be dismissed by an Israeli government whose policies are based on primitive ideology and territorial expansion. Israel’s President Shimon Peres traveled to New York on April 7 to warn U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon against imposing a Palestinian state on Israel, saying it was unwise at a time of widespread unrest in the Middle East. The changes taking place in the region in fact suggest the contrary: that Israel’s rejection of an independent Palestinian state will only deepen its isolation from its neighbors.

Menha Bakhoum, speaking for the new Egyptian Foreign Office, has made it clear that the Israelis can no longer count on Egypt as a compliant ally. Calling Egypt’s enforcement of the blockade on Gaza “shameful,” she said the new government will open the Rafah gate “completely,” and allow the free flow of goods and people.

Egypt has recognized Hamas and is in the process of normalizing relations with Iran.

A recent poll showed that 54 percent of Egyptians favor annulling the 1979 peace agreement with Israel.

Israel’s current leaders are firmly opposed to Palestinian independence under any circumstances. The bi-monthly report of the Foundation for Middle East Peace cites a recent interview in the magazine Besheva with Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon in which Ya’alon says, “Our intention is to leave the situation as it is: autonomous management of civil affairs. If they want to call it a state let them call it that. If they want to call it an empire, by all means. We intend to keep what exists now.” (Italics added.)

The government’s rejection of a just solution to the conflict is reflected in its crackdown on Palestinian peace activists who favor nonviolence. Scores have been convicted of “incitement,” and their prison terms renewed perodically. One of the most prominent advocates of nonviolence, Bassam Tamiri, recently had his sentence extended indefinitely.

Peres’ second purpose in meeting with Ban Ki-moon in April was to urge the U.N. to revoke the Goldstone report, issued by the U.N. Human Rights Council, on war crimes committed by Israel and Hamas JULY 2011

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during Israel’s assault on Gaza in 2008-09.

In doing so Peres knew he could count on the full support of the Obama administration. WikiLeaks has revealed that U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice had assured Israel’s far right-wing Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman that the U.S. was doing its best to “blunt the effects” of the report and prevent a further investigation by the Security Council. Rice also warned the International Criminal Court against opening a criminal investigation of Israel’s actions during that offensive.

Attempts to repudiate the 500-page report were given new life on April 1, when its chief author, Justice Richard Goldstone, published an op-ed article in The Washington Post saying he was mistaken in claiming that Israel had deliberately targeted Gaza civilians. Goldstone, an observant Jew and a Zionist, had been subject to brutal verbal attacks for his role in preparing the report, including proposals that he be barred from his grandson’s bar mitzvah ceremony in Israel.

Goldstone’s statement in the Post was neither a recantation or a repudiation of the report, but this did not stop Israel’s supporters, including many in Congress, from using it as an excuse to call the whole report a set of lies. Far less attention was given to the disavowal of Goldstone’s afterthoughts by the three other members of the investigating panel. In a statement published in The Guardian, they wrote that they, too, had been subjected to pressure, but unlike Goldstone they had not yielded.

Had they done so, the group said, “we would be doing a serious injustice to the hundreds of innocent civilians killed during the Gaza conflict, the thousands injured, and the hundreds of thousands whose lives continue to be deeply affected by the conflict and the blockade.” In response to Goldstone’s claim that Israel had undertaken 400 investigations of alleged abuse of civilians, his colleagues pointed out that only 3 cases were prosecuted, and only 2 resulted in punishment. In both cases the Israeli military court imposed only minor penalties.

Absent from the clamor around Goldstone’s statement was a realistic definition of the word “deliberate” as it applied to Israel’s actions. Israel’s five-year blockade of Gaza could have no other purpose than to punish civilians. The same is true of Israel’s use of 1,000-pound bombs and weapons containing white phosphorus in one of the most densely populated places on earth. Finally, Goldstone did not explain why, if JULY 2011

not to destroy a civilian society, the Israelis demolished public buildings, schools, hospitals, sewage and water systems, thousands of homes, and a major food storage warehouse. The lopsided casualty figures that showed 1,400 Gazans and 13 Israelis killed during Operation Cast Lead suggests Israel’s motive was not self-defense.

The punishment of Gaza civilians did not begin with Israel’s attack, of course, nor has it yet ended. After the Israeli army closed one of the two gates on the border, even the small amount of food, medicine, and other supplies allowed into Gaza was reduced. Israeli soldiers have continued to shoot Gaza residents who come within several hundred meters of the border. Despite these incidents, Hamas observed its twoyear-long cease-fire with Israel until late March, when Israeli planes attacked a training center and killed two Hamas members.

Hamas responded by launching rockets into Israel, one of which hit a school bus and fatally injured a 16-year-old schoolboy.

That incident triggered a series of Israeli air and ground attacks that in one week killed 19 Gazans and wounded at least 45, besides again damaging Gaza’s electrical system. Repairing the electrical system will be additionally difficult because of Israel’s recent imprisonment of Dirar Abu Sisi, the engineer in charge of Gaza’s main power plant (see May/June 2011 Washington Report, p. 18). The fact that Sisi was crucial to the functioning of Gaza’s infrastructure suggests that the Israelis were more intent on punishing Gazans than with protecting their citizens from rockets.

Israel has made every effort to eliminate Hamas, but the Palestinian Authority alone cannot negotiate peace. As Norwegian diplomat Jonas Gahr Store writes in the April 7 issue of the New York Review of Books, Hamas is a social, political, religious and military reality that governs 1.5 million Palestinians—and was elected by Palestinians in the West Bank as well as Gaza—and has considerable support. “It will not simply go away as a result of Western isolation,” Store asserts.

Hamas leaders repeatedly have expressed a willingness to endorse a peace agreement with Israel that is approved by a majority of Palestinians. If the reconciliation agreement fails to lead to productive negotiations, Islamic groups that reject coexistence with Israel are certain to replace Hamas. The result will be a continuing cycle of violence, with civilians on both side the victims, and Israel free to pursue its unlimited and illegal expansion. ❑ THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

On an Old Anniversary…

Continued from page 10

Just as the post-Mubarak government in Egypt is now easing rather than enforcing the blockade on Gaza, the Syrian regime’s precarious position makes it far less able or willing to restrain, let alone shoot at, Palestinian demonstrators massing on Israel’s borders.

The second is that Palestinians have absorbed the meaning of the recent reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah. In establishing a unity government, the two rival factions have belatedly realized that they cannot make headway against Israel as long as they are politically and geographically divided.

Ordinary Palestinians are drawing the same conclusion: in the face of tanks and fighter jets, Palestinian strength lies in a unified national liberation movement that refuses to be defined by Israel’s policies of fragmentation.

The third lesson is that Israel has relied on relative quiet on its borders to enforce the occupations of the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza. The peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, in particular, have allowed the Israeli army to divert its energies into controlling the Palestinians under its rule.

But the question is whether Israel has the manpower to deal with coordinated and sustained Palestinian revolts on multiple fronts. Can it withstand such pressure without resorting to mass slaughter of unarmed Palestinian protesters?

The fourth is that the Palestinian refugees are not likely to remain quiet if their interests are sidelined by Israel or by a Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations in September that fails to address their concerns.

The protesters in Syria and Lebanon showed that they will not be pushed to the margins of the Palestinian Arab Spring.

That message will not be lost on either Hamas or Fatah as they begin negotiations to develop a shared strategy over the next few months.

And the fifth lesson is that the scenes of Palestinian defiance on Israel’s borders will fuel the imaginations of Palestinians everywhere to start thinking the impossible— just as the Tahrir Square protests galvanized Egyptians into believing they could remove their dictator.

Israel is in a diplomatic and strategic dead end. On the weekend of May 15 it may have gotten its first taste of the likely future. ❑ 13

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Four Views The Death of Osama bin Laden

AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

First, bin Laden, al-Qaeda and many smaller copy-cat organizations it spawned in recent decades are small, clandestine, cult-like movements that have gained no traction among the masses of citizens in the Arab-Asian region that is the heartland of Islamic societies. Arabs, Asians and other Muslims have regularly repudiated bin Laden and his deputy Ayman Zawahiri’s repeated attempts to rally public opinion to their cause. Bin Ladenism and associated terrorist groups must be fought with the police tools used to fight cults and gangsters, not the global ideological and military weapons that waged the battle against Communism or Fascism. The death of the charismatic leader will diminish al-Qaeda even further, given its top-heavy cult-like nature, the fact that it never connected widely with its preferred Arab-Islamic audiences, and has been hit hard by coordinated counter-terrorism actions around the world.

Second, bin Laden’s death should force us to remember Pakistani boys ride a bicycle near the final hideout in Abbottabad of slain al-Qaeda chief Osama bin the reasons for al-Qaeda’s birth.

This movement crystallized Laden, May 9, 2011. and expanded in the decade from 1991 to 2001 primarily as Work to Be Done in a Postintelligence and operational success. Tens a reactionary response to policies by three Bin Laden World of thousands of families around the world, principal parties—Arab autocrats, Israel in the Islamic and Western realms, have and the United States—that angered it to

By Rami G. Khouri suffered the pain of al-Qaeda’s criminal at- the point of feeling that Islam itself was sama bin Laden is dead, a killer has tacks, and now they will feel a small but under assault and needed to be protected been killed, and justice has been vital sense of relief. We should all rejoice at through a defensive military holy war, or done—but bin Ladenism persists, because their satisfaction. jihad. The vast majority of Muslims the conditions that created it remain prevaThe celebrations, though, should not thought the bin Laden response was nonlent in much of the Arab-Asian region. The cause us to repeat the same mistake on bin sense. But, much more importantly, clearly United States and allies will justifiably Laden’s death that many around the world documented majorities of Arabs (Muslims enjoy a sense of political vindication, and made during his life—to exaggerate the and Christians alike) and many other Musman and the institution of al-Qaeda, and to lims around the world shared the basic Rami G. Khouri is editor-at-large of The Daily downplay the operational political dynam- grievances that bin Laden articulated.

Star, and director of the Issam Fares Institute ics that have consistently defined his world These were mainly about three inter-confor Public Policy and International Affairs at and ours. When we again explore policy nected issues that al-Qaeda defined as: the American University of Beirut, in Beirut, options to address the terrorism phenome- predatory American and other Western Lebanon. Copyright © 2011 Rami G. Khouri. non that al-Qaeda crafted into a global en- policies that sought to dominate the IsDistributed by Agence Global. terprise, we should act upon two key facts. lamic world with their armies, economies

O

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and culture; Israel’s assault on Palestinian, Lebanese and other Arab rights, with full Western backing; and the abusive, un-Islamic conduct of autocratic or dictatorial Arab police states that were structurally supported by the United States and other Western powers. The politically important aspect of this is not about bin Laden’s complaints. It is the fact that these same grievances—the Arabs’ and Muslims’ “humiliation and contempt” that he spoke of often—have been and remain very widely shared across the entire Arab-Islamic world, which keeps open the door for bin Ladenism to persist.

In the post-bin Laden world, therefore, moving toward a safer, more stable world requires focusing on the legitimacy of these important and pervasive grievances, and then working sensibly to resolve them. It is worth recalling that foreign armies in Islamic societies were the two principal catalysts for al-Qaeda’s initial birth and expansion—the Soviets in Afghanistan and the Americans in Saudi Arabia. So removing American, British and other foreign armies from wars they wage in Islamic-majority societies would seem to be a pivotal factor in moving toward the total defeat and disintegration of al-Qaeda and its clones.

Bin Laden has left behind a legacy of many smaller cult-like movements that allow discontented, disoriented and disenfranchised young men to find empowerment and meaning in life through terror campaigns that they justify through wildly distorted readings of Islamic texts and traditions. These dead-end fringe cults will be defeated mainly by their own societies, as evidenced by the fact that such groups can only operate these days in remote desert, mountain or other lawless areas. The overwhelming majority of Arabs, on the other hand, are demonstrating at the risk of their lives to address their grievances through populist transitions to democracy, citizenship rights and human dignity.

As the Islamic and Western world ponders next steps toward a more secure world after the death of Osama bin Laden, we should focus more on policies than personalities, especially on why mass discontent prevails in so many Arab-Islamic-Asian countries. This requires acknowledging who has a hand in causing this condition, and how we can all work together more effectively to redress the ideological distortions, corruption and abuse of power, militarism, and aggressive state policies that fertilize the fields of discontent that remain so widespread and vibrant.

JULY 2011

A Fork in the Road: Where the U.S. Goes From Here

By William Pfaff

illing Osama bin Laden leaves the K United States facing two doors that open two ways into the future. The choice made could determine the eventual place the U.S. occupies in contemporary history.

One door—less likely to be chosen, I fear—leads toward greater international and national security, and lessened conflict in the Middle East and Asia. Taking it, the U.S. government would make known that, having settled its account with the terrorist movement that attacked New York and Washington a decade ago, it now will remove American forces from Afghanistan, and from Iraq as well—as promised by Barack Obama during his presidential campaign in 2008.

Its quarrel with the Taliban in Afghanistan originated in the support it gave al-Qaeda in 2001. That matter is now settled. The future of Afghanistan is now for the Afghan people themselves to determine, which eventually they will do, whatever the interference of foreigners.

The U.S. should declare that it wishes Afghanistan well, has no designs on its resources and looks forward to reciprocal relations of friendship with any Afghan government that can plausibly claim a national mandate, is at peace with its neighbors and wishes good relations with the U.S. The U.S. would generously assist in the country’s reconstruction, after its many years of suffering and war. It would willingly participate in an international effort

by Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and their Central Asian neighbors to find constructive permanent resolution to existing conflicts of interest and policy, and would in particular seek and support a just settlement of the violence that has been suffered

by Kashmir.

The other door—I fear, the one more likely to be entered—leads toward more conflict, by way of such sentiments as those expressed at the May 2 White House news conference that dealt with the bin Laden operation. Reporters battered John O. Brennan, the president’s counterterrorism adviser, and other officials, with questions about Pakistan’s knowledge, or lack of knowledge, of Osama bin Laden’s presWilliam Pfaff is the author of The Irony of Manifest Destiny, his 10th and culminating work on international politics and the American destiny. Visit his Web site at <www. williampfaff.com>. Copyright © 2011 Tribune Media Services, Inc. THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

ence in Abbottabad, an army town near Islamabad harboring three regiments and a military academy. Is Pakistan ally or enemy? Pakistanis are asking the same question about the U.S. No one who follows Asian affairs can be ignorant of the ambiguity in Pakistan’s position in the American war against the Taliban, al-Qaeda’s supposed protectors inside Afghanistan but also clients of the Pakistan intelligence service. It is an inevitable ambiguity because Pakistan is caught between American demands for unconditional cooperation in the war against the Taliban, as well as its Pakistani tribal allies now under drone bombardment by the CIA in the northwest frontier territories, and the Pakistan army’s long-standing complicity with at least a part of the Taliban. This is also motivated by America’s new ally, India, with its interest in maintaining a base for strategic intervention against Pakistan from Afghanistan, in the event of another conflict.

The Obama administration came to office with a belief that the real danger in the region was Pakistan, a nuclear-weapons nation seen as endangered from within by Islamic fanaticism. In the aftermath of the May 1 nighttime Osama bin Laden raid, there will be pressure in Washington to punish Pakistan for its links with the Taliban. There will quite possibly be efforts to find the opportunity, and complicit politicians, to stage a governmental coup in Islamabad.

Instead of leaving this central Asian imbroglio, about which Washington knows little and understands nothing, and in which Washington has few direct interests that go beyond the (unhappily growing) militarist and imperialist impulse to impose American control over geopolitically strategic regions—wherever they may be—the Obama administration is under pressure to stay and even deepen its involvement in the Islamic world.

Anatol Lieven, of King’s College London and the New America Foundation, one of the most experienced and intelligent Western experts on Pakistan, recently wrote that current efforts by the U.S. and NATO to make Pakistan conform to Western wishes could produce dire consequences for Pakistan going so far as to “destroy Pakistan as a state and produce a catastrophe that would reduce the problems in Afghanistan to insignificance by comparison....”

“To put it at its bluntest, most Pakistanis see our presence in Afghanistan as closely akin to that of the Soviets from 1979 to 1989, and resistance to us as closely akin to the resistance of those days, 15

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and equally legitimate. These feelings are held not just by Islamists but by those Pakistanis—the great majority of the population—who have no desire to see a Taliban-style regime in their country....It is this ethno-religious solidarity, more than continuing support by the Pakistani state, that is providing the Afghan Taliban with their bases inside Pakistan. This support from large elements of the Pakistani population will continue as long as Western soldiers are present in Afghanistan.”

The choice before Washington is essentially the same one that has to be made in the Arab Middle East, where American support for tyrannical regimes now is discredited policy. Yet already there are American officials and experts working to identify and establish alliances with younger leaders who might provide the U.S. with a new crop of political protégées and clients to replace those leaders being ousted by the Arab Spring. The instincts of the American foreign policy class are intervention and control. These have consistently damaged the nation in the past and will, if indulged, continue to damage it.

The true interest of the U.S. is best served at home. Look around at the state of the nation!

U.S. Refusal of 2001 Taliban Offer Gave bin Laden a Free Pass

By Gareth Porter

hen George W. Bush rejected a TalW iban offer to have Osama bin Laden tried by a moderate group of Islamic states in mid-October 2001, he gave up the only opportunity the United States would have to end bin Laden’s terrorist career for the next nine years.

The al-Qaeda leader was able to escape into Pakistan a few weeks later, because the Bush administration had no military plan to capture him.

The last Taliban foreign minister, Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, offered at a secret meeting in Islamabad Oct. 15, 2001 to put bin Laden in the custody of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), to be tried for the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States, Muttawakil told the Inter Press Service (IPS) in an interview in Kabul last year.

The OIC is a moderate, Saudi-based organization representing all Islamic countries. A trial of bin Laden by judges from OIC member countries might have dealt a more serious blow to al-Qaeda’s Islamic creGareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist specializing in U.S. national security policy. Copyright © 2011 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved.

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dentials than anything the United States would have done with bin Laden.

Muttawakil also dropped a condition that the United States provide evidence of bin Laden’s guilt in the 9/11 attacks, which had been raised in late September and reiterated by Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef on Oct. 5—two days before the U.S. bombing of Taliban targets began.

There had been sketchy press reports at the time that the Taliban foreign minister had made a new offer in Islamabad to have bin Laden tried by one or more foreign countries. No Taliban or former Taliban official, however, had provided details of what had actually been proposed until Muttawakil’s revelation.

Muttawakil, who was detained at Bagram airbase for 18 months after the ouster of the Taliban regime and now lives in Kabul with the approval of the Hamid Karzai government, told IPS he had also offered a second alternative—a “special court” to try bin Laden that Afghanistan and two other Islamic governments would establish.

Muttawakil was believed by U.S. officials to have had the trust of Taliban leader Mullah Omar. A December 1998 cable from the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said he was “considered Omar’s closest adviser on political issues” and that he had become Omar’s “point man” on foreign affairs in 1997.

The new Taliban negotiating offer came almost immediately after the U.S. began bombing Taliban targets on Oct. 7, 2001.

The fear of the bombing—and what was likely to follow—evidently spurred the Taliban leadership to be more forthcoming on bin Laden.

But Bush brusquely rejected any talks on the Taliban proposal, declaring, “They must have not heard. There’s no negotiations.”

Bush rejected the Taliban offer despite the fact that U.S. intelligence had picked up reports in the previous months of deep divisions within the Taliban regime over bin Laden. It was because of those reports that Bush had authorized secret meetings by a CIA officer with a high-ranking Taliban official in late September.

Former CIA director George Tenet recalled in his memoirs that the CIA station chief in Pakistan, Robert Grenier, met with Mullah Osmani, the second-ranking Taliban official, in Baluchistan province of Pakistan.

But Grenier was only authorized to offer Osmani three options: turning bin Laden over to the United States; letting the Americans find him on their own; or a third option, as Tenet described it, to “administer justice themselves, in a way that clearly THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

took him off the table.”

Osmani rejected those three options, as well as a subsequent proposal by Grenier on Oct. 2 that he oust Mullah Omar from power and publicly announce on the radio that bin Laden would be handed over to the United States immediately.

On Oct. 3, Bush publicly ruled out negotiations with the Taliban. They had to “turn over the al-Qaeda organization living in Afghanistan and must destroy the terrorist camps,” he said, adding, “There are no negotiations.”

Milton Bearden, the former CIA station chief in Pakistan during the mujahideen war against the Soviets, observed to The Washington Post two weeks after Bush had rejected Muttawakil’s new offer that the Taliban needed a face-saving way of resolving the issue consistent with its Islamic values.

“We never heard what they were trying to say,” Bearden said.

The Bush refusal to negotiate with the Taliban was in effect a free pass for bin Laden and his lieutenants, because the Bush administration had no plan of its own for apprehending bin Laden in Afghanistan. It did not even know what level of military effort would have been required for the United States to be able to block bin Laden’s exit routes from Afghanistan into Pakistan.

The absence of any military planning to catch bin Laden was a function of Bush’s national security team, led by Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, which had firmly opposed any military operation in Afghanistan that would have had any possibility of catching bin Laden and his lieutenants.

Rumsfeld and the second-ranking official at the Pentagon, Paul Wolfowitz, had dismissed CIA warnings of an al-Qaeda terrorist attack against the United States in the summer of 2001, and even after 9/11 had continued to question the CIA’s conclusion that bin Laden and al-Qaeda were behind the attacks.

Cheney and Rumsfeld were determined not to allow a focus on bin Laden to interfere with their plan for a U.S. invasion of Iraq to overthrow the Saddam Hussain regime.

Even after Bush decided in favor of an Afghan campaign, CENTCOM commander Tommy Franks, who was responsible for the war in Afghanistan, was not directed to have a plan for bin Laden’s capture or to block his escape to Pakistan.

When the CIA received intelligence on Nov. 12, 2001 that bin Laden had left Kandahar and was headed for a cave complex in the Tora Bora Mountains close to the Pakistani border, Franks had no assets in place to do anything about it. He asked Lt. JULY 2011

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Gen. Paul T. Mikolashek, commander of Army Central Command (ARCENT), if he could provide a blocking force between alQaeda and the Pakistani border, according to Col. David W. Lamm, who was then commander of ARCENT Kuwait.

But that was impossible, because ARCENT had neither the troops nor the strategic lift in Kuwait required to put such a force in place.

Franks then had to ask for Pakistani military help in blocking bin Laden’s exit into Pakistan, as Rumsfeld told a National Security Council meeting, according to the meeting transcript in Bob Woodward’s book Bush at War. But Rumsfeld and other key advisers knew it would be a charade, because bin Laden was a long-time ally of the Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI, and the Pakistani military was not about to help capture him.

Franks asked President Pervez Musharraf to deploy troops along the Afghan-Pakistan border near Tora Bora, and Musharraf agreed to redeploy 60,000 troops to the area from the border with India, according to U.S. Ambassador Wendy Chamberlin, who was present at the meeting.

But the Pakistani president said his army would need airlift assistance from the United States to carry out the redeployment. That would have required an entire aviation brigade, including hundreds of helicopters, and hundreds of support troops to deliver that many combat troops to the border region, according to Lamm.

Those were assets the U.S. military did not have in the theater.

Osama bin Laden had been effectively guaranteed an exit to Pakistan by a Bush policy that had rejected either diplomatic or military means to do anything about him.

In an implicit acknowledgment that the administration had not been seriously concerned with apprehending bin Laden, Bush declared in a March 13, 2002 press conference that bin Laden was “a person who’s now been marginalized,” and added, “You know, I just don’t spend that much time on him.”

Bin Laden and the Palestinians

By Ghada Karmi

ondering Osama bin Laden’s killing on P May 1, I found myself linking that event to another that took place 63 years ago in Palestine. It was not that Palestinians ever supported bin Laden significantly, although some of his messages resonated with them. For example, in October 2010 he wrote to French citizens, “How is it right for you to occupy our countries and JULY 2011

kill our women and children and expect to live in peace and security?”

Any oppressed Palestinian suffering under Israel’s occupation in the West Bank or Gaza could have written that too—without ever endorsing any of bin Laden’s crimes. Bin Laden took on the cause of Palestine in the 1980s, but especially after the 1991 Gulf war. However, it was not this but rather the parallels I saw between the two situations that struck a chord.

For those in New York and Washington who were jubilantly celebrating in the wake of bin Laden’s killing, the issue had nothing to do with Palestine. For them, a man who had masterminded the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001—that came to be known simply as 9/11—and caused such pain and suffering had received his just desserts.

None of the revelers paused to ask whether this was a legal action commensurate with the much-vaunted U.S. promotion of democracy and the rule of law. It was not.

The killing was no less than a summary execution in which the U.S. played judge, jury, executioner and funeral director, with no accountability to anyone. The hasty disposal of bin Laden’s body in the sea before anyone could see it or verify what had really happened was neither Islamic nor lawful. Pakistan, which was the theater where America’s battle with bin Laden was played out, and which should have been the main actor, was relegated to the role of incompetent bystander instead, unable to resist American demands.

For many Arabs, who neither supported nor approved of bin Laden, the operation nevertheless came across as a shocking display of U.S. arrogance and high-handedness, no matter how understandable the history behind it. From the start, it had been American imperatives alone that drove the campaign against bin Laden, irrespective of the cost to the countries alleged to be implicated in his activities.

After Sept. 11, 2001 the U.S. fixation with him launched devastating wars on Afghanistan and Iraq from which those countries may never recover.

Thanks to this policy, three major Islamic states have now been destabilized and the lives of their citizens lost or blighted. In Pakistan, terrorism-linked fatalities shot up from 200 in 2003 to a current 35,000, and in Iraq hundreds of thousands have died since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 and more are still dying. No citizen of these shattered countries if asked would consider this a price worth paying for a U.S.-inspired “war on terror.” Nor is it likely that U.S. President Barack Obama’s patronizing assertion in his May 1 speech after announcing bin Laden’s death that the fight was not with Islam did anything THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

to reassure Muslims.

Killing bin Laden might have been sweet revenge and given a boost to President Obama’s re-election chances, but when the glow is over its aftereffects in terrorist retaliation will likely strike many countries, including the U.S. itself. Yet none of this deflected America from its obsession with bin Laden and its thirst for retribution.

And it is precisely this assertion of primacy, where Western needs have precedence over anyone else’s, in total disregard for the consequences to others, that recalls the Palestinian example to mind.

A Western decision to resolve Europe’s problem with its Jews led in 1948 to the creation of Israel in my homeland, Palestine. We were never consulted or involved, but we paid an exorbitant price for Israel’s establishment in lost lives, land, property, and even history. The underlying premise for this act was truly astounding: that another party, the Jews, no matter how tragic their sufferings, had a superior claim to my country than I did, that Jews had primary rights over my homeland because of their history in Europe which I, a native, could not challenge.

The effects of this on me and the millions of other exiles apparently counted for nothing. That is the basis of Israel’s rejection of the right to Palestinian return from an exile caused by Israel itself. Growing up in England, I was shocked at how my story was consistently ignored or denied, as if I were lying or hallucinating. In America, where blind support for Israel is de rigeur, this rejection of my story was even more extreme.

How refreshing it would be if, after all this bloodshed, America were to turn over a new leaf: to study the causes of conflicts, not just their effects on the U.S. and its allies. Following Sept. 11, 2001, Obama, then an obscure senator, commented presciently about the need to raise the hopes of “embittered children” around the globe.

As a powerful president today, he must revisit that sentiment and introduce a new paradigm: that injustice is the basis of conflict, especially in Palestine, and to address it is the only way to world peace. This plea will probably fall on inattentive ears, but if he can help me and my fellow Palestinians go home, he will have ended the bitterest conflict of all. ❑ Ghada Karmi is co-director of the European Center for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter, and the author of In Search of Fatima and Married to Another Man (both available from the AET Book Club). This article was first posted on The Electronic Intifada, <http://electronicintifada.net>, May 6, 2011.

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Justice, Israeli-Style SpecialReport

PHOTO COURTESY NORCAL FRIENDS OF SABEEL

By Barbara Erickson

Daoud Nassar meets with visitors in a cave on his family’s land.

University of California law school

Amade history this spring when it

hosted the first ever U.S. conference to explore the Palestinian search for legal justice. Not surprisingly, it was an event that drew fierce opposition. After an emergency closed session that lasted until midnight on the eve of the gathering, the board of directors bowed to pressure and agreed to remove the school’s name “and brand” from conference literature.

Nevertheless, “Litigating Palestine: Can Courts Secure Palestinian Rights?” took place March 25 and 26 at the San Francisco-based Hastings College of the Law, attracting human rights attorneys and activists from across the country, including a number of us who had just returned from visiting Israel and the West Bank. We already knew that, while conference organizers had faced an uphill battle, the odds against Palestinians in Israeli courts are even worse.

During nearly three weeks of travel, our Barbara Erickson is a journalist living in the San Francisco Bay Area and a member of Northern California Friends of Sabeel.

18

group heard from human rights attorneys, defendants, and family members of political prisoners, as well as plaintiffs in civil cases fighting to hang onto their land.

There, as at the Hastings conference, we often heard that the struggle for justice is growing more difficult, with Israel’s current government bent on stifling dissent and increasingly racist in tone.

A case in point is that of Ameer Makhoul, an internationally renowned human rights activist. His attorney, Hussein Abu Hussein, spoke to us in Nazareth and told how, in May of last year, police and members of Shin Bet arrested Makhoul after midnight at his Haifa area home, confiscating mobile phones, laptops and computer hard drives.

Abu Hussein and two lawyers from the Adalah legal aid society were soon on the case, but faced overwhelming obstacles. If democracy “fights terrorism with one hand tied behind its back,” as former Israeli Supreme Court Justice Aharon Barak said, Makhoul’s attorneys had to fight for him in handcuffs and shackles.

They were not allowed to speak to Makhoul or even be in the courtroom THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

when he was present. The charges against him were held in a secret file, and state witnesses were forbidden to disclose any details in cross-examination. His attorneys were not allowed to see Makhoul for nearly two weeks, and then only after repeated petitions, a boycott of court proceedings, and public protests.

On their first encounter with Makhoul, he could not look them in the eye, Abu Hussein said. He huddled in a heavy overcoat, shivering with cold, even though it was May. He asked them how long he had been in jail, and said that he couldn’t remember the faces of his wife and daughters. Makhoul had been interrogated for 48 hours without being allowed to sleep— and this came on top of 24 hours of travel.

He had faced his interrogators shackled in a cramped position to a tiny chair.

During the two weeks he was held incommunicado, Makhoul confessed to meeting a foreign agent and revealing state secrets. But he had signed under duress, and in court he entered a not guilty plea. Now he had to prove that he had not harmed state security. The burden was on him; there was no presumption of innocence.

For four months, Makhoul’s lawyers had to speak to him through a glass barrier and via telephone, and they managed to win private meetings only after fighting for the right in court. Then they secured another small victory. Under Abu Hussein’s questioning the police investigator admitted that, although he had monitored 30,000 telephone calls and examined the hard drives of five computers, he had found no evidence that Makhoul ever met with a foreign agent.

Nevertheless, the charge stood, and now Makhoul’s attorneys faced a strategic decision: go to trial or plea bargain. A Palestinian defendant on security charges faces a nearly 100 percent chance of conviction.

Knowing this and the record of decadeslong prison sentences, they chose to plea bargain. “All bad options,” Abu Hussein acknowledged, “but there is bad and there is worse.”

The state dropped a charge of assisting the enemy in wartime, and in December Makhoul was sentenced to nine years for meeting with a foreign agent (Hassan Jaja, JULY 2011

erickson_18-20_Special Report 5/19/11 12:05 PM Page 19

an environmental activist living in Jordan) and revealing state secrets (the locations of a well-known prison, a munitions factory and a security service headquarters, all sites easily found on the Internet).

Although Abu Hussein and his team had a chance to appeal, the chances of winning not only were minimal, but risky: the court is known to increase sentences when defendants appeal. But the attorneys also know that Makhoulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s case has outraged many in the international community, who see it as pure harassment of a well-known activist, and there may be a way to capitalize on this support.

Makhoul is an Israeli citizen. If he lived in the West Bank, which has been under military occupation since 1967, he could have faced administrative detention, with even fewer rights to due process. More than 200 Palestinians are currently held under this procedure, without trial or access to the charges against them, rarely allowed family visits, and facing the possible renewal of their detention orders every six months. Some have spent four or more years under administrative detention.

visited him this year, â&#x20AC;&#x153;and they immediately postponed the case because they had no case.â&#x20AC;? After a lull, the court came up with a series of demands. As Nassar met each one, the court came up with another.

He had to resurvey the land because the 1922 map was done by hand. He had to get his neighbors to sign the new map. He needed eyewitness accounts from people

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Dismal Prospects In civil cases, Palestinians who go to court over land or settlement issues also face dismal prospects, whether they are citizens of Israel or live under occupation.

Daoud Nassar owns 100 acres of land near Bethlehem, in the West Bank. From his farm, 3,000 feet above sea level, he can see the white buildings of fortress-like settlements encroaching on confiscated Palestinian land. These are part of the Gush Etzion bloc, developed by Israel in violation of international lawâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and only Nassarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s land stands in the way of completing the bloc as planned.

The Nassar family has owned the farm since Ottoman times. Unlike many Palestinians in former times, Daoudâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grandfather and father wisely registered their holding with each successive change of government. Thus, in 1991, when Nassar heard through the grapevine that Israel had declared his property state land, he hired a lawyer and appealed to the courts.

The farm is in Area C of the West Bank, which is under full control of the Israeli military, so Nassar went to military court with his papers: ownership documents from the Ottoman, British and Jordanian governments, and proof of tax payments from Israel, which refused to register Palestinian land after the 1967 invasion. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Israeli military judge was shocked to see these papers,â&#x20AC;? Nassar said when we JULY 2011

who had worked on the farm. He had to do another survey, this time with an Israeli firm, because the court would not recognize any other.

It has cost him $140,000 and Nassar is still in court, still clinging to his land with the help of international supporters who help pay for his legal battles and come as volunteers to work on the farm. The prop-

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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

19

erickson_18-20_Special Report 5/19/11 12:05 PM Page 20

erty has been named the Tent of Nations and dedicated to peace work, bringing children from refugee camps to summer programs and other projects.

While the court case drags on, settlers have invaded, uprooting trees, damaging the water tank and attempting to build a road. Israeli authorities refuse to grant Nasser building permits, forcing him to meet international visitors in a cave, and threatening to destroy even his cisterns for collecting water.

Farther to the south, thousands of Bedouins are facing a similar fight for their land. Like Makhoul, they are citizens of Israel, residing in the Negev Desert. Israel is determined to drive them from their villages and into townships, forcing them to leave their herds of sheep and goats, their olive groves and fields.

Dozens of Bedouin villages are facing mass demolition orders, which they are fighting with the help of a regional council, but they have the weight of the state against them. Often it is a single volunteer lawyer on their side against three or more well-paid attorneys on the other. Recently settler groups have formed NGOs to sue in the courts for more demolitions.

Most Bedouins lack documents, and the courts reject other proofs of ownership.

For the residents of El Araqib, which has

been demolished and rebuilt some 18 times in the past 10 months, it is not enough, for instance, that the village cemetery dates back to the early 20th century.

Recently, Oren Yiftachel of Ben-Gurion University in the Negev discovered a map in London showing El Araqib settled with tent dwellers in 1945. He also has aerial photographs that prove the land was widely cultivated. Presented with this evidence, the court should recognize the Bedouins’ ownership, Yiftachel told us, but he was doubtful. “I don’t think they will do that,” he said. “They will probably impose some kind of an emergency law or something else.”

Palestinians, including the Bedouins, do manage to win an occasional concession from the courts. Judges may agree to remove a checkpoint between Palestinian villages or dismantle an “illegal outpost” in the West Bank, but these decisions leave in place hundreds of checkpoints and hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers.

Nimer Sultany, a Palestinian human rights attorney now pursuing a doctor of laws degree at Harvard, addressed this topic at the Hastings conference. The Israeli Supreme Court fragments reality, he said, and conceals the general context of the occupation by avoiding, for instance, the issue of settlements overall or the pol-

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20

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

icy of checkpoints.

If a case is said to involve security, the court cedes its responsibility to the army or intelligence services. Thus, the Israeli Supreme Court has upheld the legality of the separation wall because it is ostensibly for security, even though it snakes well inside the West Bank borders. In this it defied a decision by the International Court of Justice that the wall is clearly illegal.

Just this spring the Supreme Court upheld a policy requiring Palestinians to have permits to access their own land beyond the wall. The decision expresses concern for the hardships this creates and asks the army to “do everything possible to reduce the harm to the residents.” But the court also knows that the military regime continues to add to the confiscated land behind the wall and will easily ignore the directive to “do everything possible.”

Also for alleged security reasons, Israeli justice has given its imprimatur to extrajudicial executions, deportation without trial, home demolitions, and the wholesale confiscation of land from indigenous residents. Because of loopholes in a 1999 Supreme Court decision on torture, “moderate physical pressure” is allowed, and applied even to non-militant detainees like Ameer Makhoul.

Apologists for the Israeli courts cite as evidence that justice is served that the courts hear cases from a broad scope of civil litigants, Palestinians and Jewish Israelis alike; offer statements in support of human rights; and hand down the occasional decision to punish a member of the military or move the separation wall a few meters. But a court that never uses the word “occupation” in its decisions, that obscures the context of Palestinian grievances, is putting a spin on Israeli justice.

As Sultany said at Hastings, Israeli court decisions “present a narrative of defensive democracy and well-meaning occupier that is faced with irrational, incomprehensible rage and violence.” Incomprehensible because, in their view, there is no occupation and therefore resistance is nothing but terrorism. Well-meaning because court decisions give lip service to human rights.

Reports at the conference painted such dismal prospects that one audience member asked if it wouldn’t be better to boycott the courts altogether. But it is clear that individual defendants and plaintiffs will continue to look for redress in Israel’s courts, even if it is to restore a few dunams of farm land beyond the separation wall or sign a phony plea bargain to avoid a life behind bars. ❑ JULY 2011

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omer_22-23_Gaza on the Ground 5/23/11 2:45 PM Page 22

The Palestinian Unity Deal: Déjà Vu All Over Again?

Gazaon the Ground

By Mohammed Omer

suscitated the same old excuses as justification for not working with the unity government. They describe the united stand of Palestine’s leading political parties as a “tremendous blow to peace”—although few Gazans agree that a united voice expressing clear-cut goals and purpose can hurt the cause of peace. Historically, consensus between the two factions has always helped negotiations, as decisions are made more quickly, actions implemented expediently, and resolutions readily achieved. As Al-Faranji pointed out, the only blow to peace posed by a unified Palestinian voice is “the absence of the ability to stall, derail and redirect, thus prolonging resolution due to internal conflict and cross-purposes.”

Perhaps that explains Bibi’s dissatisfaction.

For the first time in four years Fatah’s yellow flags flapped happily in the streets of Gaza, and the green flags of Hamas in the West Bank. The jubilation in the streets was evidence of Palestinians’ approval of reunification and optimism for the future, while the brokering of the agreement by Egypt’s emerging new government heralds that nation’s return to its historic role of leadership in the region.

“The next phase is difficult, God help us, and the Palestinians should also help themselves,” a high-ranking Egyptian intelligence official involved in brokering the deal told the Washington Report.

Recent history supports his cautious

Similar in most respects to the Mecca agreement of four years ago, the Cairo agreement differs on the integration of Hamas and Fatah security forces. Details had not been made available by late May, but were expected be addressed in the second round of negotiations. According to a high-ranking aide to President Mahmoud Abbas, there is still disagreement on who will be prime minister. “One thing we want to do is to create a government of technocrats,” he said, where Hamas and Fatah are not in leading positions. Fatah has proposed Salam Fayyad, the former IMF official whom it appointed prime minister in 2009 and who is seen as more favored by the West, but Hamas insists on new names.

Palestinian youth in Gaza and the West Bank, who on March 15 launched a campaign for national unity, prompting Abbas to say he was ready to meet with Hamas, expressed their satisfaction with the agreement. Bader Zamareh, 30, who leads the Sharek Youth Forum, whose members include Palestinian youths in both Gaza and the West Bank, vowed that “Youth groups will continue to work around the clock to pressure both sides to follow up the deal, and we are expecting and waiting for more.”

A major challenge lies in the separation of the two Palestinian territories, with Israel in between. Many Gazans believe Israel will continue to block the way to rec-

PHOTO IMAD OMER

Young Gazans celebrating the national unity agreement between Fatah and Hamas signed on May 14 wear T-shirts in support of the Egyptian youth who succeeded in removing Hosni Mubarak from power in January.

words. Three months after Fatah and Hamas signed an agreement in Mecca in February 2007, a vicious bloody military confrontation resulted in the murder and maiming of scores of Palestinians.

“Such memories are unlikely to just be buried by signing a piece of paper,” agreed Al-Faranji. However, both sides vow that this time they are serious and that there is “no chance for failure.” Meanwhile, Cairo continues to lobby on behalf of the Palestinians to secure international recognition for a Palestinian state set for U.N. ratification in September, the Egyptian official said. Israel, of course, is lobbying internationally to prevent precisely that—despite the fact that the U.N.’s 1947 partition resolution, which Israel lauds itself for having immediately accepted, is premised on the existence of a Palestinian state as well as a Jewish one.

he proverbial “winds of change” have

Tbeen blowing steadily through the

Middle East—originating in Tunisia, spreading to Egypt, then Yemen, Bahrain, Syria and even Saudi Arabia. Dubbed the Arab Spring (but including Persians and other non-Arabs), it erupted when a single spark of protest ignited years of latent desires mixed with frustration. Surely it’s no surprise that all people, regardless of their religion, yearn to be free.

In the West Bank and Gaza, residents celebrated the national unity deal between Fatah and Hamas with “justified joy, flagwaving on the ground and honking their car horns,” exulted Reem Al-Faranji, a 30year-old Gaza mother of two.

Four years in the making, the agreement between the most prominent of Palestine’s 13 political factions, in the presence of all but two of them, was signed on May 4.

Many Palestinians consider the resulting reunification “an historical shift.” United, Palestinians now speak with one voice. As a people, internal differences have been resolved and objectives and goals agreed upon.

Predictably, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and others determined to maintain the status quo have reAward-winning journalist Mohammed Omer reports on the Gaza Strip, and maintains the Web site <www.rafahtoday.org>. He can be reached at <gazanews@yahoo.com>.

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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Mechanics of the Unity Agreement

JULY 2011

omer_22-23_Gaza on the Ground 5/23/11 2:45 PM Page 23

onciliation, and that the solution is for Israel to reopen the “safe passage” between Gaza and the West Bank as called for in the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, signed September 1995 in Washington.

Meanwhile, Israel demonstrated its opposition to a unified Palestinian government by refusing to transfer to the Palestinian Authority nearly $100 million in taxes paid

by Palestinians for Palestinian public services. These taxes pay the wages of nearly 130,000 public employees, including teachers, police and fire personnel, medical workers, and public utility administrators. Israeli Knesset member Dr. Ahmed Tibi described Israel’s action as evidence of “double standards…in a time when Israel praised Israeli national unity between factions, while banning it for Palestinians.” The time has come, he added, for the United States to consider its best interests and support Palestinian self-determination, given that “peace with a united strong Palestinian nation leads to a more solid peace” regionally.

According to the new arrangement, however, Hamas will forgo handling finances, thus undercutting the argument that funds to the PA will be used to sup-

port “terrorism.” Thus, argued political analyst Khalil Shahin, “Israel’s position is weaker in marketing the justifications for such embargo, than it was” following the 2007 Mecca agreement. Nevertheless, the party vows to compensate its current employees, including teachers, policemen and municipal workers, from its budget.

Hamas not only has accepted Abbas as liaison with Israel regarding security issues in the West Bank, it has pledged to allow Fatah political activity in Gaza as well.

This is a cause for hope among many average Gazans. And as a result, the credibility of the Palestinian president will be significantly stronger in September, when he addresses the U.N. General Assembly as the representative of all Palestinians.

While Arab states praised the reunification, the European Union said on May 12 that it still needs to “study the details” of the agreement.

Fellow Quartet member Russia, which lately is taking a more active role, meeting with both Fatah and Hamas officials, welcomed the agreement between the two parties. “We have heard of this important step with great satisfaction,” stated a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, adding that

Moscow hopes the agreement will help bring stability to the region.

As a result of the agreement, “We are all one family,” said Al-Faranji. “Fatah and Hamas are under the same roof, in one house.” Her optimism, however, was tinged with a bit of trepidation. “As much as we are happy about national unity,” she explained, “how does that solve our problems, right now, with limited electricity, gas and water in Gaza? That is the thorny question.”

Indeed, as the end of May approached, Palestinian Authority employees in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip had yet to receive their monthly salaries. Many Gazans recalled a similar situation five years ago when, following the Hamas victory in January 2006 parliamentary elections, there was no cash available for several months.

The Ramallah-based government of Salam Fayyad promises that cash machines will be dispensing funds as soon as Israel delivers the taxes due the PA. In the meantimes, the Bank of Palestine’s Gaza branch has agreed to provide partial payments in the form of loans. To many Gazans, however, the nonpayment of their salaries is an indication that the new government may not hold on for much longer. ❑

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JULY 2011

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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Third Time’s a Charm: Israel Admitted as U.N. Member in 1949 SpecialReport

By Donald Neff

tionally, which Israel preferred, or confine internationalization to that part of the city containing most of the religious shrines. day after it declared its independence.

On refugees, Eban said their problem However, the admissions committee conwas a direct result of the Arab states’ war cluded it did not have “the requisite into try to defeat the U.N. partition plan. He formation” proving Israel was a viable said Israel had done its best to state, and its application was stem the exodus of the Palesignored by the Security General Assembly Resolution 273, May 11, 1949 tinians and now resettlement Council instead of being forHaving received the report of the Security Council on the apwould have to take account of warded to the General Assemplication of Israel for membership in the United Nations, the changes that had since ocbly for action.

Noting that, in the judgment of the Security Council, Israel is a curred. He added Israel would According to the U.N.’s peace-loving State and is able and willing to carry out the obligamake compensation for abanRules of Procedure, if the Setions contained in the Charter, Noting that the Security Council has recommended to the doned lands, and did not recurity Council recommends General Assembly that it admit Israel to membership in the ject the return of those an applicant state for memUnited Nations, refugees willing to live in bership, two-thirds of the Noting furthermore the declaration by the State of Israel that peace. But he also said resetGeneral Assembly members it “unreservedly accepts the obligations of the United Nations tlement of the refugees outmust then approve the appliCharter and undertakes to honor them from the day when it beside of Palestine should be excation. comes a Member of the United Nations,” plored. Eban concluded by On Dec. 17, 1948, Israel’s Recalling its resolutions of 29 November 1947 and 11 Desaying Israel was ready to help second application for U.N. cember 1948 and taking note of the declarations and explanasolve the problem but at this membership was denied by tions made by the representatives of the Government of Israel stage it was reluctant to make the Security Council by a vote before the Ad Hoc Political Committee in respect of the implea commitment for or against of 5-1, with 5 abstentions. mentation of the said resolutions, any particular formula.

Syria cast the lone vote against On borders, Eban said there Israel’s admittance, while the The General Assembly might be some changes but he U.S., Argentina, Colombia, the Acting in discharge of its functions under Article 4 of the Charpromised they would not be Soviet Union and Ukraine ter and rule 125 of its rules of procedure, imposed and would be made voted in favor. Belgium, 1. Decides that Israel is a peace-loving State which accepts the obligations contained in the Charter and is able and willing to through agreements freely neBritain, Canada, China and carry out those obligations; gotiated.

France abstained, on grounds 2. Decides to admit Israel to membership in the United NaOn U.N. obligations, Eban that the fighting continued in tions. said Israel held no views and Palestine and that Israel had pursued no policies at varifailed to establish a demilitaBernadotte. Scandinavian countries com- ance with the U.N. Charter or the resolurized zone in the Negev.

Following the Security Council‘s March plained that Israel’s report to the United tions of the General Assembly or Security 4, 1949 vote of 9-1, with 1 abstention, to Nations on Bernadotte’s assassination had Council. He said Israel favored increasing recommend Israel’s third application for been unresponsive and failed to show a se- the compelling moral force of General AsU.N. membership, the General Assembly on rious effort to apprehend the culprits. Is- sembly resolutions and, after admission, May 11, 1949 voted 37 to 12, with 9 absten- rael’s U.N. delegate Abba Eban addressed would attribute to them wide validity. He said it was the Arabs who had defied the tions, to admit Israel to the United Nations. each issue before the General Assembly.

On Jerusalem, he said Israel’s actions in General Assembly’s decisions on Palestine.

The United States and the Soviet Union On Bernadotte, Eban said Jewish terrorthe city had not been taken in order to crewere in favor, while Britain abstained.

In joining the U.N., Israel vowed that it ate new political facts but to help Jerusalem ism had emerged as a reaction to British would pursue “no policies on any question recover from the ravages of war. He said Is- policy during the Mandate, and unfortuwhich were inconsistent with...the resolu- rael accepted the principle that Jerusalem nately some terrorists operated in wanton tions of the Assembly and the Security should be accorded separate treatment defiance of the authority of the government Council.” There had been five major points under U.N. control, but he noted the U.N. of Israel. These groups were small and ophad not yet pronounced on the precise ju- erated secretly, and as a result no exact Donald Neff is author of the Warriors tril- ridical status of Jerusalem and he hoped identification of Bernadotte’s assassins had ogy about Israel’s 1956, ‘67 and ‘73 wars, that when it did it would take into account been possible and therefore those responsiand 50 Years of Israel, all available from the changes since November 1947, when the ble had not been able to be arrested.

Surely, 62 years later, the Palestinians deAET Book Club; and of Fallen Pillars: U.S. partition plan had been adopted. Eban sugPolicy towards Palestine and Israel since gested internationalization might be ap- serve to make their own case for recogni1945, currently out of print. plied to the whole city but restricted func- tion. ❑ srael first applied for admittance to the

IUnited Nations on May 15, 1948—the

24

of concern about Israel’s admission: its position toward internationalization of Jerusalem, its position on refugees, its stand on borders, its willingness to observe U.N. resolutions, and its failure to apprehend the assassins of Count Folke

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

JULY 2011

williams_25-26_United Nations Report 5/23/11 8:26 AM Page 25

Can Supreme Court Overrule U.S. Treaty Obligations to the U.N.?

United Nations Report

WWW.NKUSA.ORG

By Ian Williams

Orthodox Jewish members of the anti-Zionist Neturei Karta organization demonstrate outside the U.S. Supreme Court April 22, 2011, as it decided to hear the case of Zivotofsky v.

Clinton, demanding that the U.S. officially recognize Jerusalem as part of Israel. fair rule of thumb for Palestinian ne-

Agotiators has to be that the suggested

bid for full U.N. membership is the right thing to do, if only because of the amount of hypocritical bluster it has provoked from Israel.

In a broad ethical context, it is the spirit of the law that is being applied. In a pettifogging way, the U.S. and Israeli approach to international law has been to claim adherence to the law—but then claim that it means the opposite of what everybody else says.

For example, Israel claims that the territories regarded as occupied by the international community are in fact “disputed.” It refuses to allow any impartial tribunal to adjudicate the “dispute,” however, because it knows what any such resolution would be.

The power of the law and of United Nations decisions among the more scrupulous was demonstrated recently when Deutsche Bahn, the German rail company, pulled out from work on a high speed railway the Israelis are building from Tel Aviv to Ian Williams is a free-lance journalist based at the United Nations and has a blog at <www.deadlinepundit.blogspot.com>.

JULY 2011

Jerusalem which will cut through the West Bank. The German government advised the company that the project was against international law. Similarly, a French company pulled out from involvement in building a light rail transit connection from Jerusalem to adjacent settlements.

As a constant, galling reminder to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, not one single embassy is based in Jerusalem since the bribe money ran out in the few banana republics that had been persuaded to relocate there.

The diplomats in question probably missed the cocktail circuit in Tel Aviv, where the rest of the diplomatic corps were based, and moved to join the others—but perhaps that is too cynical. It could have been that the governments concerned realized that they were in breach of international law!

Now, in a tangential way, the U.S. Supreme Court is going to consider the issue reflecting U.S. views of international law.

Year after year, AIPAC sponsors congressional bills demanding that the U.S. Embassy to Israel be moved to Jerusalem, but the legislation leaves wiggle room for the president and State Department to honor U.N. decisions and international law on the THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

status of Jerusalem—which, according to the only legally recognized boundaries, is a “corpus separatum” which was intended to be under U.N. control. Other resolutions have complicated the issue by referring to “the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem.” Of course, no state, including the U.S., has recognized Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem since, after all, the U.N. Charter’s fundamental principles restate general international law on “the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war.”

However, when George W. Bush signed a law passed by Congress that mandated U.S. passport officers to put Israel as the nation of birth on passports issued to American citizens born in Jerusalem who requested it, he issued one of his signature signing statements, disavowing what he considered to be interference in the White House’s constitutional prerogatives.

But two American-born Jews whose seven-year-old son was born in Jerusalem have been litigating against the State Department policy, which is to put Jerusalem as the birthplace. One wonders how interested young Menachem Zivotofsky himself is in the issue, but can see why many others would have an interest.

The case was dismissed by lower courts, but the Supreme Court has agreed to hear it.

It promises to be interesting on many levels, domestic and international. If the court’s conservative majority overturns President Bush’s signing statement, it will call into question many of his “signing statements” which in effect promoted a conservative agenda.

Beyond that, if it approves the congressional legislation on the issue, it defies that part of the Constitution which declares that “all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.”

In ratifying the U.N. Charter, the U.S. agreed to abide by it, and thus accept its decisions. Of course, this has often been honored more in the breach than the observance—as, for example, over payment of U.N. dues—but a core principle of the “inadmissibility of territory by force goes beyond administrative details,” should inform 25

williams_25-26_United Nations Report 5/19/11 9:26 PM Page 26

any consideration of the case. Simply by accepting the case, however, the Supremes— three of whom are Jewish and the rest Roman Catholic—might have indicated which way they are going. With a majority that is intensely partisan, the issue is fraught with peril, since the conservative majority might go with the flow of the Republican party—which is, of course, hostile to international law and the United Nations and overwhelmingly favorable to Israel no matter what it does.

The Issue of Borders Which brings it round by a circuitous way to Palestine’s admission to the United Nations. It would be on the nearest thing to recognized boundaries—the pre-1967 Green Line, which is the reason for Israel’s upset.

Some Israelis have argued that it is wrong for a country to join the U.N. without internationally accepted boundaries. In fact, Israel joined in precisely that way (see p. 43), when the most explicit international boundaries were those of the partition resolution and the Green Line was just a cease-fire line.

In joining, Abba Eban’s equivalent of a signing statement promised to abide by U.N. decisions—but of course he was only kidding.

In any case, it is not an issue that it is wise for Israel to raise on a legalistic basis. The wiggling about “disputed territories” would have to stop. Israel’s arguments were based on Jordanian occupation of the West Bank and Egyptian occupation of Gaza not being recognized by the international community, which indeed they were not, as a general rule. In the absence of a recognized Palestinian state, Israel implies a principle of finders’ keepers—which, once again, was not recognized by the rest of the world.

U.N. acceptance of full Palestinian membership puts the whole case on another footing, one which not even a joint team of Talmud scholars and Jesuits would weasel out of. It means that Israeli action against Gaza or the West Bank would be an explicit act of aggression, and thus the responsibility of the Security Council.

In the face of Israeli obduracy, the “swing states” at the U.N., the Europeans and their coterie, seem increasingly inclined to support the Palestinian application. If they did, then any U.S. veto in the Security Council not only would deal—yet another—blow to U.S. standing in the Middle East and the world, but would be humiliatingly over-ridden by the General Assembly with a guaranteed two-thirds of the vote.

The message is clearly for President Mahmoud Abbas to go ahead, unless he really believes that Netanyahu wants any type of 26

negotiated settlement that is acceptable to the Palestinian side rather than an imposed Bantustan solution.

Here, of course, the Palestinian unity agreement, no matter how fragile, is important. Israel previously said there was no partner because the territories were split, and is now saying there is no partner if Hamas is involved. It is worth noting that by welcoming the deal, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has implicitly broken with the policy Washington imposed on the Quartet of excluding Hamas. Since it was never a U.N. policy, Ban’s implicit endorsement of a Palestinian deal that brings Hamas into the fold is actually quite significant.

Meanwhile, over in the Human Rights Council, the Arab and Asian states are following in the footsteps of the African group in undermining the Council’s standing to criticize Israel. When the new Council was being formulated, human rights NGOs and supportive states worked hard to ensure genuine elections for its members, to avoid the previous practice of the most egregious human rights-offending states packing the body to protect themselves. Increasingly the regional groups have reverted to the traditional practice in U.N. bodies of drawing up rosters and only nominating as many candidates as there are regional seats.

This year Syria was on the Asia list, backed by the Arab group. There could hardly have been a better way to devalue the work of the Council. In the end, Syria backed down, under pressure from neighbors and also, perhaps, because the results must go to the General Assembly for ratification, which in the case of a regime engaged in shooting its own citizens for demonstrating was far from assured.

Needless to say, the odious U.N. Watch, which has THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

never found an Israeli deed it cannot applaud and whose entire watch on the U.N. is from a vantage point in the eastern Mediterranean, is claiming credit for the withdrawal. Amusingly, it suggested the Pacific Island states as suitable replacement candidates, without mentioning that they tend to be dominated by fundamentalist Christian groups at home who support Israel, and also tend to be totally dependent on the U.S. Congress for funding. It was a good try, but more susbtantial and impartial NGOs and countries had a larger part.

But the Arab awakening also has awakened the consciences of the many democratic states, and the example of Egypt and Tunisia has spurred them into activity, not least since it has broken the solid Arab phalanx of “omerta” that used to cover for each other. Like Ban Ki-moon, the new government in Cairo supports Palestinian unity, opposes the blockade of Gaza, and opposes Israeli aggrandizement.

The United Nations in the person of the secretary-general is showing in his statements that he is aware of the changes. Is the United States, in the person of the president? The coming months will show. ❑ (Advertisement)

JULY 2011

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NATO Bombing in Libya Leads to Drawn-Out War, More Civilian Deaths SpecialReport

By Rachelle Marshall he U.S. is now actively at war in four

tions in Yemen and Pakistan, and maintains a sizable army in Iraq. All of these wars, like those of the past, were begun for purportedly noble purposes such as combatting terrorists, spreading democracy or protecting civilians. After 10 years of continuous warfare, however, only one of these aims has been accomplished—the killing of master terrorist Osama bin Laden—and meanwhile the U.S. has gained an expanded military presence in the region that is likely to become permanent.

NATO’s expanded interpretation of a U.N. mandate to intervene in Libya to protect civilians has increased, not lessened, the number of civilian deaths. An intensive bombing campaign directed at Col. Muammar Qaddafi’s army enabled his opponents to maintain a foothold in the city of Misurata, which Qaddafi’s forces then subjected to constant shelling, with hundreds more deaths as a result. Qaddafi has repeatedly offered a cease-fire only to be turned down.

President Barack Obama’s prediction of a bloodbath if NATO did not intervene was disputed by Prof. Alan J. Kuperman of the University of Texas, who wrote in the April 14 Boston Globe that until Misurata came under siege, Libyan soldiers were targeting only rebel fighters. His statement was backed up by Human Rights Watch, which found that no bloodbaths or arbitrary killings took place in the cities recaptured by Qaddafi’s troops.

In any case, bombing populated areas is hardly a way to prevent civilian casualties.

NATO’s repeated bombing of Qaddafi’s family compound in Tripoli in late April killed Qaddafi’s son and three grandchildren, all under 4, and angered even Qaddafi’s enemies. Administration officials said the intent was not to kill the Libyan leader but to “change his calculus” and force him to surrender.

Whatever their intent, the allies agreed that Qaddafi had to go. “It’s a non-negotiable demand,” said State Department Rachelle Marshall is a free-lance editor living in Mill Valley, CA. A member of A Jewish Voice for Peace, she writes frequently on the Middle East.

JULY 2011

SAEED KHAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Tcountries, counting the covert opera-

A Libyan vendor waits for customers at an open-air market in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, May 8, 2011. The economic situation there and in other rebel-held areas is steadily worsening, with costs of basic commodities skyrocketing. spokesman Mark Toner in rejecting a proposal by the African Union for a cease-fire and the promise of reforms to Qaddafi’s regime. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stressed that nothing could be resolved without “the departure of Qaddafi from power and from Libya.”

The administration has yet to suggest a possible successor to Qaddafi. A State Department official praised his opponents as “a group of disparate individuals that has formed in the face of Colonel Qaddafi’s onslaught and oppression and has done a good job at coalescing, at forming a leadership, at creating certain values, and communicating those values and ideals.”

But in the same week, New York Times reporters in Benghazi described the rebels as “a ragtag, undisciplined force,” prone to firing high-explosive munitions repeatedly and indiscriminately, causing numbers of unnecessary casualties. The rebels could THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

not even agree on which of two squabbling generals was their top officer. One of the rival generals, Abdul Fattah Younes, only recently defected from the Qaddafi regime.

The other, Khalifa Hifter, returned from exile in suburban Virginia, where he was in frequent communication with the CIA. Both claimed to be in charge.

“I control everybody, the rebels and the regular army forces,” Hifter said on April 18. “I am the field commander.” A member of the rebels’ civilian leadership, the Transitional National Council, disagreed, saying, “This is not true. General Younes is over him for sure, and General Hifter is under him.” There is no way to check. The Council is self-appointed, and most of its members’ names are kept secret for security reasons.

The U.N.’s limited mandate, the rebels’ disorganization, and Qaddafi’s ability to resist indicate that there can be no military 27

marshall_27-28_Special Report 5/23/11 1:07 PM Page 28

solution. NATO’s policy of waiting until Qaddafi weakens is ill-advised, according to Tomas Valasek, a defense expert at the Center for European Reform.“It may take everyone longer to realize that this is as far as military force takes us,” he said. ”Unless we want a divided Libya we need to sit down and negotiate.”

Given NATO’s recent decision to escalate the bombing, negotiations are likely to be a long way off.

As the Obama administration wages war in Libya ostensibly to protect civilians, it continues to send arms to Bahrain, where King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa clamped down on peaceful protests by placing the country under martial law and calling in a 2,000-man army mobilized by Saudi Arabia. Over a thousand people in Bahrain, including dozens of medical workers, have been jailed and reportedly tortured, and clinics that serve the poor forced to close.

Criticism of the government is grounds for shutting down newspapers and political parties and arresting journalists.

Bahrainis who call for moderate reforms are prosecuted for incitement. By midApril at least four people had died in police custody, their bodies found covered with bruises. Others have disappeared.

More Difficult Challenges Obama faces still more difficult choices in his war against the Taliban, who are deeply entrenched in large areas of Afghanistan.

The more than 10 -year hunt for al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden ended on May 1, when U.S. commandoes, acting on information obtained from a prisoner in one of the CIA’s “black sites,” cornered him in a compound deep inside Pakistan and shot him to death. But a war launched in 2001 to eliminate the perpetrators of 9/11 has since taken on more amorphous goals, and obstacles to a NATO victory have multiplied rather than decreased.

Night raids that killed at least 80 civilians last year continue to enrage villagers and gain recruits for the Taliban. The escape in late April of nearly 500 prisoners from Afghanistan’s largest prison was evidence that the Taliban had infiltrated even the prison guards. In the past two years 48 NATO troops have been killed by Afghan soldiers.

A major source of anti-American resentment both in Afghanistan and Pakistan are the drone missile attacks that have greatly increased since Obama took office. Geoff Simons in the April-May issue of The Lind cites a 2009 study by Daniel Byman, senior fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East 28

Policy, that concluded that an average of 10 civilians to one Taliban fighter were being killed by drones. On April 22, just after top Pakistani military officials again pleaded for a halt in the attacks, a U.S. missile killed five children and four women.

The fact that bin Laden was found living in Pakistan is certain to deepen U.S. mistrust of the Pakistani military, and increase existing tensions between the two countries. Obama’s recent appointment of Gen. David Petraeus to head the CIA, which controls the drone flights, is hardly likely to please the Pakistanis, who resent the CIA’s presence in their country and, unlike Petraeus, favor efforts to achieve reconciliation with the Taliban and its allies in the border region. Both groups have worked closely with the Pakistani military in the past and could be counted on for help in a conflict with India.

Pakistan’s leaders also have reason to fear that continuation of an unpopular war could bring on the kind of revolts that have occurred in Arab countries. Huge income disparities, the lack of government services, and official corruption that have caused upheavals elsewhere are even more severe in Pakistan.

“We don’t know what the Americans’ endgame is,” a Pakistani security official once complained. It is now evident that Washington’s endgame is to withdraw some 33,000 troops from Afghanistan starting in August, but keep others permanently in the country. The administration has begun talks with the Afghan government on forming a Strategic Partnership Declaration that would allow American soldiers to remain indefinitely. Mrs. Clinton described the proposed arrangement as “a long-term framework for our bilateral cooperation.” Others might call a military agreement between the world’s most powerful nation and one of its poorest, a plan for permanent occupation.

“There was a time when the Americans were struggling to find one base in Central Asia,” a regional diplomat noted. “Here is a place where they can have all the bases they want, and Afghanistan is a place between two potential nuclear Islamic powers, Iran and Pakistan.” Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee last March that “It’s important to stay engaged in a region in which we have such vital interests.” He failed to say what those interests are.

A NATO victory in Afghanistan has long been out of the question.The Partnership Declaration is likely to put peace out of reach as well. There is no way the Taliban will accept a permanent American presence THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

as part of any peace agreement. The potential impasse is especially disturbing in view of a recent report published by New York University that suggests the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan was unnecessary.

The authors of the study, Profs. Alex van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn, say the Taliban had had no advance knowledge of the 9/11 attacks, and would have been more than willing to renounce al-Qaeda in return for guarantees of security. They offered to do so in 2002, as well as to take part in a process of political engagement and reconciliation. The Afghan government showed no interest, and arrested the Taliban member who came to Kabul to discuss the offer.

Still a Presence in Iraq Americans will also remain in Iraq for the foreseeable future. Baghdad is the site of the largest U.S. embassy in the world, which the State Department plans to staff with 16,000 employees plus an army of civilian contractors to protect them. Military commanders are reportedly also looking into “creative ways” to keep at least 10,000 soldiers in Iraq indefinitely to promote stability and guard Iraq’s border with Iran.

One potential obstacle to this plan is Moqtada al-Sadr, a principal partner in the ruling government coalition who has vowed to renew insurgent warfare if any U.S. troops remain. What should worry Obama even more, however, is the nature of the Iraqi regime American forces will be protecting.

Gates recently called Iraq “an extraordinary success story,” saying, “It’s new and it is a democracy.” The “democracy” Gates referred to is run by an autocrat, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who oversees the army and police and whose personal security force runs secret prisons where prisoners have been found brutally tortured.

Maliki has assumed the roles of minister of interior and defense, and recently took control of the agencies that run the central bank, conduct elections, and investigate corruption. Aliya Nasaif, an opposition member of parliament, commented, “This is the beginning of dictatorship. We are regressing by centuries.”

The “success” achieved by the U.S. in Iraq so far has consisted of replacing one tyrant with another, and transforming a modern state into a society plagued by unemployment, a shortage of electricity and clean water, and sectarian violence. Instead of spending more resources maintaining an occupation army, Obama would do better to help the Iraqi people repair the damage that war and occupation have brought to their country. ❑ JULY 2011

dish_network_c2_Dish Network July 2011 5/19/11 2:37 PM Page 29

mcarthur_30-31_Congress Watch 5/19/11 12:28 PM Page 30

Congress Finally Passes Bill to Fund Government Through Current Fiscal Year CongressWatch

By Shirl McArthur fter months of non-productive partisan haggling, Congress on April 14 fiA nally passed H.R. 1473, the Continuing Resolution appropriating funds to run the government through the end of September 2011. President Barack Obama signed it the next day as P.L. 112-10. The measure cuts about $38.5 billion from Obama’s FY ’11 budget request, including about $8 billion from foreign affairs funding, of which $1.8 billion comes from the “economic support fund” (foreign economic aid).

The bill still includes the requested amounts for Israel, Egypt, and Jordan, however. For Egypt the bill earmarks $1.3 billion in military aid and “up to” $250 million in economic aid “for activities that support democratic elections, promote representative and accountable governance, protect human rights, strengthen civil society and the rule of law, reduce poverty, promote equitable economic development, and expand educational opportunities for disadvantaged Egyptian youth, including through scholarship programs.” For Jordan the bill earmarks $300 million in military aid.

Not only does it also earmark the expected $3 billion in military aid for Israel, but the Defense Department portion of the bill includes a provision earmarking $415.115 million for “Israeli cooperative programs.” These include the Iron Dome short-range rocket defense system ($205 million), the Short-Range Ballistic Missile Defense program ($84.722 million), an upper-tier component to the Israeli Missile Defense Architecture ($58.966 million), and the Arrow System Improvement program ($66.427 million, of which $12 million “shall be for producing Arrow missile components in the U.S. and Arrow missile components in Israel”).

Monies for other Middle East countries, including Lebanon, Tunisia, and the West Bank and Gaza, are not specified; however there is nothing preventing the administration from using parts of the remaining amounts for economic and military aid in those countries.

Libya Strikes Needed Congressional Approval, Some Argue Prior to the congressional Easter recess, the budget negotiations consumed so much time that the expected debate about actions in Libya did not take place. However, Shirl McArthur, a retired U.S. foreign service officer, is a consultant based in the Washington, DC area.

30

several members seemed upset that Obama committed U.S. forces to the international military intervention in Libya without specific congressional approval.

At least some members, especially Sens.

Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Rand Paul (RKY), flatly oppose U.S. involvement. But others, including Sens. John Cornyn (RTX), John Kerry (D-MA), Carl Levin (DMI), John McCain (R-AZ) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), favor even stronger U.S. involvement in Libya.

s the U.S. action in Libya I“war” or merely the “use of military force” short of war?

Legislatively, most of the congressional action involved the War Powers Resolution of 1973 (see May/June 2011 Washington Report, p. 15). H.Con.Res. 31, introduced in March by Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) and described in the previous Washington Report, would give the “sense of Congress that the president is required to obtain in advance specific statutory authority for the use of U.S. Armed Forces” in Libya. It has gained three co-sponsors and now has 11, including Paul. Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI), with 14 co-sponsors, on March 29 introduced H.R. 1212, which would “direct the president to cease the use of force in, or directed at, Libya by U.S. Armed Forces unless a subsequent Act specifically authorizes such use of force.” Similarly, H.Con.Res. 32, introduced on March 31 by Reps.

Thomas Rooney (R-FL) and Dave Camp (RMI), says “the president should adhere to the War Powers Resolution and obtain specific statutory authorization for the use of U.S. Armed Forces in Libya.”

Dueling opinion pieces appeared in The Washington Post and the Capitol Hill publication Roll Call regarding whether congressional approval is required for the use of force in Libya. Apparently the argument centers around whether U.S. action in Libya is “war” or merely the “use of military force” short of war. In the Post op-ed, two former Justice Department officials argued that there is ample precedent for the limited use of force without congressional approval. In the Roll Call article, two former members of Congress argued that the military action in Libya is clearly an act of war, requiring congressional approval.

To clarify the matter, Reps. Peter DeTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Fazio (D-OR) and Walter Jones (R-NC) on April 7 introduced H.J.Res. 55, amending the 1973 act by replacing it with a completely new resolution. The amended resolution would “ensure that the collective judgment of both the Congress and the president will apply to: (1) the introduction of the Armed Forces into hostilities, (2) the continued use of the Armed Forces in hostilities, and (3) the participation of the Armed Forces in certain military operations of the United Nations.”

Other Libya-related resolutions included H.Res. 188, introduced by Rep, Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), with no co-sponsors, expressing the sense of the House that “the regime of Muammar al-Qaddafi is no longer the legitimate government of Libya,” and supporting Obama’s strategy in Libya. On April 14 Sen. John Ensign (RNV) and two co-sponsors introduced S.Res. 146, expressing the sense of the Senate that it is not in the U.S. vital interest to intervene in Libya, and calling on NATO to ensure that member states dedicate the resources necessary to ensure that the objectives outlined in U.N. Resolutions 1970 and 1973 are accomplished. Also on April 14, Cornyn, with five co-sponsors, introduced S.Res. 148, “calling on the president to submit to Congress a detailed description of U.S. policy objectives in Libya, both during and after Muammar Qaddafi’s rule, and a plan to achieve them, and to seek congressional authorization for the use of military force against Libya.”

Events in Egypt and Syria Also Get Congressional Attention There was less of a congressional response to events in other parts of the Middle East.

Regarding Egypt, S. 618, the previously described, far-reaching bill introduced in March by Sens. Kerry, Joe Lieberman (ICT) and McCain “to promote the strengthening of the private sector in Egypt and Tunisia,” has received no further support.

One new Egypt bill, H.R. 1514, was introduced on April 13 by reliable Israel-firster Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV). It would “limit U.S. assistance to Egypt unless Egypt is honoring its commitments under the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.” While no measures were introduced regarding events in Syria however, Sens. Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ), and House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) chair Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), all of whom follow a pro-Israel agenda— and have the pro-Israel PAC contributions JULY 2011

mcarthur_30-31_Congress Watch 5/19/11 12:28 PM Page 31

to show for it—took the opportunity to criticize the Obama administration’s lack of a strong response to events in Syria. Sens.

Lieberman, McCain and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on April 28 issued a statement calling for Obama to “state unequivocally” that it’s time for President Bashar Al-Assad to go and to “take tangible diplomatic and economic measures to isolate and pressure the Assad regime.”

The only congressional attempt to view events in the Middle East broadly was the April 13 hearing held by the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Middle East subcommittee chair Steve Chabot (R-OH) on “Shifting Sands: Political Transitions in the Middle East, Part 1.” In Chabot’s opening statement, his primary objective seemed to be to attack the Obama administration’s handling of events. “It is unclear today whether the administration’s foreign policy is in reality adapting” to the changing circumstances, he said. “Over the past months the administration has dithered and vacillated,” charged Chabot. “Missing is a clear strategic vision for the Middle East as a whole.”

The statement by ranking Democrat Gary Ackerman (D-NY) was more thoughtful. Recalling how President Harry Truman and Secretary of State George Marshall dealt with the situation in Europe after World War II, he said that, while the circumstances then and now are different, “one challenge does seem to be the same, and that is to convey to the American public and to the Congress, distant from the troubles abroad, and already fed up with the costs of war and the burden of assisting others, why it is so critical to not falter in this moment.” Concluded Ackerman: “Amid all this chaos and change I am certain of one thing: Now is not the time for America to go wobbly, or withdraw, or turn inward.”

Bills Urging Withdrawal from Afghanistan Make Scant Progress Of the previously described bills urging the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, only H.R. 651, introduced in February by Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), has made progress. It would direct the president to “seek to enter into a bilateral status of forces agreement with the government of Afghanistan” that would, among other things, provide that within one year of the agreement coming into effect U.S. Armed Forces, Department of Defense civilian personnel and contractors would be redeployed from Afghanistan. It has gained 24 co-sponsors and now has 67, including Woolsey. S. 186, introduced in January by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), has gained no co-sponsors and still has five, including Boxer; H.J.Res. 49, introduced in March by Amash, has gained two co-sponsors and now has seven, including Amash, and H.R. 780, introduced JULY 2011

by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) in February, has gained three co-sponsors and now has 60, including Lee.

Israel Continues to Receive U.S. Congressional Fealty Responding to reports that the Palestinian Authority plans to seek U.N. recognition of a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state, Reps. Berkley and Eliot Engel (D-NY) on April 15 introduced H.R. 1592, which says that “no funds made available for assistance to the Palestinian Authority may be obligated or expended if the president determines and certifies to Congress that the Palestinian Authority has unilaterally declared a Palestinian state.”

Two letters were sent dealing with socalled Palestinian “incitement” against Israel. On March 29, 27 senators, led by Sens. Kirk and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging her “to redouble your efforts to impress upon the Palestinian leadership that continuing to condone incitement is not tolerable.” The March 31 House letter to Obama was signed by 46 representatives, led by Reps. Steven Rothman (D-NJ) and Steve Austria (R-OH). The signers expressed their “hope that an independent Palestinian state can be realized, living in peace with Israel.” But, without mentioning any steps that Israel should take, it concludes by requesting “that you and your administration do all in your power to insist that President [Mahmoud] Abbas reenters peace talks, without preconditions, and demand that President Abbas eliminate all vestiges of incitement coming from his government.”

In the previous issue, this column reported that 67 of the 87 new Republican House members signed a February letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) saying that they support reducing government spending, but that it is more important to maintain the full commitment of aid to Israel. In March it was the Senate Republican freshmen’s turn. Eleven of the 13 new Republican senators signed an April 1 letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) saying that “we campaigned on the need to restore fiscal responsibility to our government,” but “we believe that security assistance to Israel will continue to be a key national security interest,” and “we recommend fully honoring America’s commitment to Israel.”

The two new senators not signing were Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Paul.

Goldstone Op-Ed Draws Predictable Congressional Over-Reaction On April 1 The Washington Post published an op-ed piece by Justice Richard Goldstone, one of the authors of the U.N.’s “Goldstone Report” on Israel’s December ’08-January ’09 assault on Gaza, which THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

criticized Israel and Hamas and said they were both probably guilty of war crimes.

Goldstone’s op-ed essentially retracted the report’s claim that Israel had intentionally targeted civilians. However, Goldstone said the rest of the report stands. He also said that he regretted that Israel had refused to cooperate with the commission’s investigation, preferring instead to boycott the commission and then criticize the results.

But many members of Congress took the opportunity to score points with their Zionist supporters. Ackerman, in a press release, said that he had met with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and urged him to “use all his authority” to have the report withdrawn. On April 8 Senator Gillibrand introduced non-binding S. Res. 138 “calling on the U.N. to rescind the Goldstone report.” The full Senate passed it on April 14, with 34 co-sponsors. In the House on April 12, Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL), with 32 co-sponsors, introduced H.R. 1501, “to withhold U.S. contributions to the U.N. until the U.N. formally retracts” the report.

Ros-Lehtinen Continues Her Vendetta Against the U.N. On April 7 Ros-Lehtinen held the third hearing in her continuing assault on the U.N., “Reforming the United Nations: the Future of U.S. policy.” The only witness was U.S. Permanent Representative to the U.N. Susan Rice. In her opening statement, Ros-Lehtinen again urged withholding U.S. contributions to the U.N. “unless and until needed reforms are implemented.” Again, she promised to soon introduce a revised version of the “United Nations Transparency, Accountability, and Reform Act,” which she first introduced in 2007. But as in previous hearings, Ranking Democrat Howard Berman defended continuing U.S. contributions, saying that “our diplomatic standing in New York and Geneva will be dramatically weakened if Congress passes legislation that may soon be considered in this committee.”

Another New Iran Sanctions Bill On April 15, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) and five co-sponsors introduced H.R. 1655, a new Iran sanctions bill. It would expand the sanctions under the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 (ISA), apply sanctions against affiliates of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, and prohibit U.S. government contracts and investment with companies doing business in Iran. An interesting additional provision would “terminate any contribution by the U.S. to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Finance Corporation, and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Corporation for the fiscal year in which a Country Assistance Strategy or loan [to Iran] is approved.” Although Ros-Lehtinen has said Continued on page 49 31

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The New Kahane Social Network SpecialReport

By The D.C. Investigative Journalism Collective he late Rabbi Meir Kahane, of the violent Jewish Defense League and the militantly anti-Arab Zionist political party Kach, was quite clear about the tactics he found most effective. In a quote circulated around the Internet by Kahanist activist Barbara Ginsberg, Kahane wrote: What led to the creation of a Jewish state, if not violence?

How much good did non-violence do for the Jews of the Holocaust? Of course violence helps. It helps to force an issue onto the headlines and consciousness of the world. It makes people talk about the issue. And then, if the violence is accompanied by clever propaganda, it helps remarkably well and that the confused object of your violence does not know how to deal with you and your The Facebook page of Rabbi Meir Kahane. violence, why—of course—you continue and escalate that violence. stream media. Pro-settler media organizaMore than 20 years after his assassination, tions such as Aaron Klein’s WorldNet Daily, Kahane’s vision of an exclusively Jewish re- Yesha Bulletin Enews, and Israel Newswire ligious state, born through violence and free operate deeply within the Kahanist netof Arabs, continues to attract supporters. work. In apparent violation of U.S. statutes While few if any would call themselves outlawing material support for terrorism, members of Kach or its offshoot Kahane Facebook networking in effect allows KaChai, since the two groups have been de- hanists to, in the words of the U.S. State Declared illegal by the U.S. and Israel, today’s partment, “retain the capability and intent Kahanists remain active players in the Israeli to engage in terrorist activity,” in addition settlement movement, promoting violence to serving as a free public relations agency. against Arabs as well as against any Israeli Kahanist activists have used Facebook to government steps toward a peace settlement. connect with elected national U.S. leaders: Moreover, an analysis of the Kahanist House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), presence on social networks such as Face- who has made 14 trips to Israel, was listed book reveals that, contrary to U.S. policy, in December 2010 as Facebook friends with their continuing efforts to drive Arabs from both Kahane Chai leader David Ha’Ivry and Israeli-controlled territory are still being Kach leader Baruch Marzel. subsidized by American taxpayers.

Facebook records document Kahanist networks that reach not only to the halls of Friends in High Places power in Washington, DC, but deep into Members of Facebook’s network of Kahanist the West Bank, where armed settlers comfriends include politicians such as New mand the heights atop Palestinian lands, beYork City Assemblyman Dov Hikind and Is- hind barbed wire fences, guard towers, and raeli Knesset member Michael Ben Ari. Ka- the 24-hour protection of Israel’s military. hanist activists also have used their Face- One Kahane “friend” of prominent membook accounts to connect with the main- bers of Kahane Chai, designated a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) by the U.S. State The DC Investigative Journalism Collective Department, is Eliyokim Cohen, a former can be contacted at <dcinvestigate@ resident of Framingham, Massachussetts. yahoo.com>.

Cohen writes on his Facebook page:

Hashem gave the Jews the Land of Israel, so I packed up my golf clubs and moved to the Holy Land, more specifically to Judea and Samaria, heart of the Jewish Homeland...now I am an OCCUPIER by day and a THORN in the “peace” process by night...Shalom

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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

COURTESY DC INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM COLLECTIVE

Tfounder

U.S. Kahanist Support Networks

Two major groups of Kahanist extremists maintain active support networks in the U.S.: elements associated with Kach, under Marzel’s leadership, in the southern West Bank settlements piercing the Palestinian population center of Hebron; and those associated with Kahane Chai, under the leadership of activists such as Yekutiel Guzofsky and Ha’Ivry, based in the settlement of Kfar Tapuach in the heart of the northern West Bank, near the Palestinian population center of Nablus.

According to a 2004 State Department administrative record, Israel’s Hebrew-language newspaper Yediot Ahronot reported that police had raided the outlawed Kach party office and found “two discs, one in Hebrew and one in English,” aimed at bringing the movement’s message to potential supporters and benefactors. On the disc intended for foreign audiences, the narrator says: “Hebron resident Barukh Marzel heads the organization and participates in public events and activities by day and night.”

In January 2011 the Israeli daily Haaretz reported a campaign among Marzel supporters to lobby Facebook to block the pages of Israeli leftists and peace groups. “I have heard people praising this initiative for the past couple of days,” Marzel told the newspaper, “but there is a small problem—I don’t know what this facebook is.”

In fact, however, Marzel has his own Hebrew-language Facebook page. In December 2010—before he spoke to Haaretz—he listed more than 5,000 friends, including Representative Cantor. Marzel’s friend list has since been hidden.

Chaim Ben Pesach, aka Victor Vancier, is a former leader of the Jewish Defense League (JDL) who served a federal prison JULY 2011

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sentence for carrying out bombings in the U.S. He currently heads the Jewish Task Force (JTF), broadcasting militant rightwing radio programs in the U.S. which often include racist anti-Black and antiArab diatribes. Ben Pesach’s Web site, <www.jtf.org>, has a page actively seeking donations “to better assist the heroic Jewish families living on the hilltop communities of Judea and Samaria.”

A comparison of Marzel’s and Ben Pesach’s Facebook pages reveals an extensive network of mutual friends who are also “friends” of the late Rabbi Kahane. Among the most deeply networked Kahanists is one Avroham Nissan Ben Aharon, friends with Ben Pesach, Marzel and other core Kahane Chai activists, who lists Marzel’s Facebook page under his activities. Ben Aharon’s profile photo shows him standing in front of a banner advertising “americancoinexpress. com,” a rare coin store with several storefronts in Las Vegas. The chain’s founder, Andrew Rosenberg, has a Facebook page with equally extensive Kahanist friend links. Ben Aharon lists his favorite quote as “A friend is worth more then [sic] gold.”

According to the administrative record cited above, the State Department sent certified letters to two individuals it considered to be U.S. representatives of Kahane Chai, Mike Guzofsky and Fern Sidman. In a 2006 Court of Appeals opinion affirming Kach and Kahane Chai’s continuing designation as FTOs (see Jan./Feb. 2007 Washington Report, p. 19), Chief Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg refers to Guzofsky as “the chameleon-like leader of Kahane Chai.” In keeping with that description, Guzofsky goes by two names on Facebook, Mike and Yekutiel. Guzofsky’s Kahanist network is connected to his “Yekutiel” identity.

Sidman, while very tightly networked in the Kahanist movement, is unusual in that she is not a “friend” of Kahane’s profile.

Her network includes such prominent names as New York City’s Hikind, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton and antiMuslim scholar Daniel Pipes—who, while closely networked to the inner circle of Kahanists, are not self-identified as Kahanists through being “friends” with Kahane.

In contrast, Israeli MK Ben Ari is a “friend” of Kahane, as well as of the prominent Kahanists in the network. Because of his support of Kahanist ideology, Dr. Ben Ari claims, he has been denied a travel visa and entry to the United States. Ben Ari claimed to the 5 Towns Jewish Times that “Ambassador George Mitchell has personally interceded in my request for a visa and has made certain that it is not issued.”

JULY 2011

This is the same Ben Ari who chairs the Knesset committee established to look into the funding of Israeli human rights organizations and left-leaning NGOs that have been critical of Israeli government actions, particularly in the occupied Palestinian territories.

A Charity for the Transfer of Arabs Looking more deeply at the most heavily networked Kahanists reveals a handful of individuals in addition to Sidman and Guzofsky. One is Joel Busner, also known to his Facebook friends as Yosef Ben Tzion, director of the anti-Arab, U.S.-tax-exempt charity B’Ahavat Yisrael (For Love of Israel), whose tax filings report grants of $522,000 from 2004-2008. In an interview with Sidman published on the settler news site Arutz Sheva (<www.israelnational news.com/News/News.aspx/140335>), Busner is unequivocal in his support for the “transfer” of Arabs from Israeli territory: “Because we are not in a government position we can’t force or compensate the Arabs to leave voluntarily at this point. However, we can set examples and get the ball rolling.”

Ben Tzion/Busner has used B’Ahavat Yisrael as a platform to support the Kahanist movement for years. In 2003, he published an article on one of the organization’s Web sites (<www.byisrael.net/ariel-shakran>) criticizing Ariel Sharon for his opposition to the Kahanists. The article’s title, “Ariel Shakran!” may be a misspelling of “shukran,” the Arabic word for thank you—an attempt to associate Sharon with Arabs.

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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

The following year, in another article on the same Web site seeking donations to support radical settlers, Busner again railed against the Israeli government for perceived injustices against Kahanists. Defending Kach leader Noam Federman, linked to a failed bombing attack on a Jerusalem schoolyard the previous year, Busner wrote: “A government that can destroy synagogues and imprison a Jewish father of 7 children indefinitely without trial (Noam Federman) has no problem throwing its citizens out of their homes. The barometer has been set. What was once a poorly kept secret is now out in the open. The official security policy of the current Israeli government is, ‘What will the Gentiles say?’”

These articles, it is worth noting, were written at a time when the U.S. State Department believed Kahane Chai to be making threats against then-Prime Minister Sharon.

Busner’s B’Ahavat Yisrael raises funds for settler groups by sponsoring speaking tours in the U.S., where tax-exempt donations are solicited by the U.S. group “Friends of Bahavat Yisrael.” Kahane Chai activist Sidman advertised a recent speaking tour by Nathan Eisner to promote their campaign to “Save the Galilee” from Arabs living in northern Israel. Eisner’s Facebook page reports that he lives in a settlement in the northern West Bank, and advertises a page that calls for the death of U.S. President Barack Obama.

Eisner’s first stop on his 2011 tour was Toronto, where he was hosted by Kahanist insider Meir Halevi Weinstein’s Jewish Defense League of Canada. Blogwrath.com (<www.blogwrath.com/israel/the-battlefor-galilee/897/#more-897>) has provided a synopsis of Eisner’s presentation, which opened with a video repeating the discredited Zionist claim that there were no Palestinian Arabs prior to Jewish settlement in Palestine. Following a defense of wanton shooting at Palestinians, Blogwrath concludes by noting, “Often the noble efforts of a small group of people turn into powerful waves that change societies and governments. That’s why B’Ahavat Yisrael deserves any support it can get.”

In Brooklyn earlier this year, half a dozen carloads of people arrived to attend a presentation by the B’Ahavat Israel “team” at a kosher Chinese restaurant just blocks from the charity’s “headquarters,” a P.O. box at the “American Mail Depot.” The last scheduled event on Eisner’s tour was a February breakfast in Sunrise, Florida.

Most recently, on April 14, 2011 yet another new Facebook organization page was created, this one titled “Supporters of Rav Meir Kahane.” ❑ 33

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Comparing Israel’s and Iran’s Nuclear Programs SpecialReport

By John Steinbach

PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES

The Shah’s Nuclear Program

Israel’s nuclear reactor at Dimona. espite being a signatory to the Nu-

Dclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),

since its 1979 revolution and especially over the past 10 years, Iran has come under unprecedented scrutiny by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations Security Council over its nuclear program. Meanwhile, Israel—one of only four NPT non-signatories (Pakistan, India and North Korea are the others) and the only state in the Middle East actually possessing nuclear weapons—has remained free from any meaningful international oversight. While Iran has suffered debilitating economic sanctions over unproven suspicions that it might have a clandestine nuclear weapons program, Israel, with an arsenal of hundreds of modern nuclear weapons and a sophisticated delivery system capable of tarJohn Steinbach, an educator and author, has written extensively on environmental, economics, energy, social justice and nuclear energy issues.

34

geting the entire Middle East and Europe, is permitted to act with impunity.

Not only has this blatant double standard over the Iranian and Israeli nuclear programs been recognized by many observers as weakening the international nuclear non-proliferation agenda, but it raises the specter of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Shortly before stepping down as IAEA director general in November 2009, Mohammed Elbaradei declared, “This is not really sustainable that you have Israel sitting with nuclear weapons capability there while everyone else is part of the non-proliferation regime.” As Joseph Cirincione, former director for nonproliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, points out, “The world does well to remember that most Middle East weapons programs began as a response to Israel’s nuclear weapons…It should be obvious that Israelis are better off in a region where no one has nuclear weapons than in one where many nations have them.”

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Iran’s nuclear program had its beginnings in the 1953 CIA-orchestrated coup that deposed Prime Minister Mohammad Mosadegh and installed Mohammed Reza Pahlavi to power. That same year President Dwight Eisenhower gave his “Atoms for Peace” speech promoting the civilians uses of nuclear technology, including the promotion of nuclear power. Under the aegis of a civilian nuclear cooperation program established under the Atoms for Peace program, Iran sent students abroad to study nuclear engineering in the United States and in 1967 established the Tehran Nuclear Research Center (TNRC) run by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI). The TNRC’s centerpiece was a U.S.-supplied 5megawatt reactor fueled with Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU). The following year, Iran signed the NPT, making its nuclear program subject to IAEA verification inspections.

In the early 1970s, Tehran approved plans for 20 commercial power reactors, with the shah stating in 1974, “Petroleum is a noble material, much too valuable to burn…We envision producing, as soon as possible, 23,000 megawatts of electricity using nuclear plants.”

With its substantial oil revenue, Iran proceeded to order its first two nuclear power reactors at Bushear from Germany in 1975.

It also signed a contract with France to construct two more reactors at Darkhovin. To supply the reactors with fuel, Iran invested in a uranium enrichment factory in France, with the shah lending the Eurodif consortium (including France, Sweden, Belgium and Spain) more than $1 billion for the right to purchase 10 percent of the production of enriched uranium. In 1976, the U.S. offered Iran a reprocessing facility for extracting plutonium from used reactor fuel. “Introduction of nuclear power will provide for the growing needs of Iran’s economy,” Washington stated, “and free remaining oil reserves for export or conversion to petrochemicals.” This argument supporting nuclear power continues to be the basis of Iran’s current nuclear power rationale.

In addition, Iran signed an agreement with the apartheid regime in South Africa JULY 2011

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Bergmann, “The State of Israel needs a defense research program of its own, so that we shall never Comparing Iran’s nuclear program with that of Israel reveals profound difagain be as lambs led to ferences. the slaughter.” In 1952, • Iran is a signatory of the NPT, while Israel refuses to sign. Ze’ev Shiff, the Israeli Atomic Energy dean of Israeli military commentators, has declared, “Whoever believes Commission was estabthat Israel will ever sign the U.N. Convention prohibiting the proliferation lished, and the Israeli of nuclear weapons…is daydreaming.” bomb project initiated.

• Iran has opened its nuclear facilities to unprecedented international Like the Iranians, Israel inspection, while Israel refuses to permit any meaningful oversight. eagerly signed up with • There is no credible evidence that Iran has ever mounted a nuclear Washington’s Atoms for weapons program, while Israel is universally acknowledged to possess Peace Program and, like several hundred sophisticated nuclear weapons. the Iranians, was re• Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has issued a religious decree warded by the U.S. with a against the acquisition, development and use of nuclear weapons, while 5 megawatt highly enIsraeli leaders defend the Israeli bomb. (For example, Munya Mardoch, riched uranium research director of the Israeli Institute for the Development of Weaponry, said in reactor. By the mid-1950s, 1994, “The moral and political meaning of nuclear weapons is that states Israeli nuclear and comwhich renounce their use are acquiescing to the status of vassal states. All puter scientists began collaborating with their those states which feel satisfied with possessing conventional weapons French counterparts in alone are fated to become vassal states.”) the French bomb project, Despite these sharp differences between Israel’s and Iran’s nuclear proand were integral partners grams, an uninformed reader of the U.S. press might reasonably reach with Paris in the Algerian the conclusion that it is Iran that represents the gravest threat to nuclear atomic bomb tests. For its stability in the Middle East and the world. In actuality, it is the Israeli nuIran’s Nuclear Program part, France reciprocated clear monopoly and its overwhelming military superiority in the Middle Since 1979 by building Israel a natEast that creates instability and threatens the region’s and the world’s seural uranium heavy water For the first few years after curity.

—J.S. moderated plutonium the revolution, Iran’s nuproduction reactor and reclear program was at a processing plant at Distandstill due to the conDespite the fact that Iran allowed un- mona. Israel also forged a nuclear partnerfluence of several influences: withdrawal of Western support; the mass exodus of precedented inspections of its nuclear fa- ship with South Africa’s apartheid regime, Iranian nuclear scientists; the opposition to cilities by the IAEA, which found no evi- providing it with technical and economic nuclear technology of Ayatollah Ruhollah dence that Iran has a nuclear weapons pro- assistance in return for access to uranium Khomeini; and Israel’s destruction of Iraq’s gram, the Security Council has imposed and missile launch test facilities Despite Israel’s assurances to Washingnuclear facility at Osiraq. This began to several sets of sanctions against Iran. The change in the late 1980s, especially after reason given for these sanctions is Tehran’s ton that Dimona was a peaceful research faKhomeini’s death in 1989. In 1995, Iran delay in declaring the existence of several cility, extreme security measures—includsigned a contract with Russia to complete nuclear facilities, and a lack of trans- ing shooting down one of its own Mirage the two Bushear reactors, which had been parency about former nuclear and missile- fighters, and a civilian Libyan airline, damaged during the Iran-Iraq war. The related programs. Iran has responded that killing 104 civilians—told a far different first reactor is now scheduled to go online it has complied with the legal requirements story. Dimona went online in 1964 and sometime this year. Officials also an- of the NPT and that the sanctions have plutonium production began shortly therenounced resumption of work on the Dark- been politically motivated. As recently as after. By 1966 Israel had built its first nuhovin project, with plans for an opera- February 2011, the IAEA has continued to clear weapon, and by the 1967 war two tional 360 megawatt reactor by 2016. To state that there is no evidence that Iran is nuclear weapons were ready for use. Durfuel these reactors, Iran has initiated an currently pursuing a nuclear weapons pro- ing the 1973 war, Israel possessed several ambitious integrated program of uranium gram, a finding that conforms to a 2007 dozen nuclear weapons and threatened to use them in order to coerce the U.S. into mines, uranium processing and enrich- U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE). providing a massive airlift of weapons. ment facilities, a heavy water production The History of Israel’s Nuclear By the 1970s, U.S. intelligence agencies facility, and research reactors. had become aware of Israel’s nuclear bomb As it is legally entitled to do under pro- Program visions of the NPT, Tehran has proceeded Israel’s nuclear program had its inception program, but it was generally thought that with a uranium conversion and enrich- with the establishment of the state in 1948. its arsenal consisted of no more than a relament program. Primarily focused on low Profoundly influenced by the horrors of the tive handful of primitive devices. These esenriched uranium for the power reactors, Holocaust, Ernst David Bergmann, “father” timates were demolished in 1986, when a Iran has also produced smaller amounts of of the Israeli bomb program, and David Dimona nuclear technician, Mordechai Va20 percent enriched uranium to fuel a re- Ben-Gurion began a program to develop nu- nunu, smuggled out hundreds of photos actor for producing medical isotopes. clear weapons because, in the words of published in the Sunday London Times. whereby Iran helped finance the development of nuclear fuel technology in return for guaranteed supplies of enriched uranium.

By the late 1970s, concerns about nuclear proliferation and a potential Iranian nuclear weapons program resulted in erosion of U.S. support for Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

American pressure on France and Germany led to cancellation of the Bushear and Darkhovin reactors.

France refused to deliver the enriched uranium purchased under the Eurodif partnership. The plutonium-reprocessing offer was withdrawn. By the time of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Iranian nuclear program was in disarray.

JULY 2011

Summarizing the Differences

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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Analysis by senior nuclear weapons designers Frank Barnaby and Ted Taylor showed that Israel possessed approximately 200 highly sophisticated nuclear weapons, including boosted fission and, perhaps, hydrogen bombs. Barnaby concluded, “The acquisition by Israel of lithium deuteride implies that it has become a thermonuclearweapon power—a manufacturer of hydrogen bombs…Israel has the ability to turn out the weapons with a yield of 200–250 kilotons.”

Although Israel maintained—and still maintains—a position of “nuclear ambiguity,” neither acknowledging or denying its nuclear arsenal, the Israeli “bomb in the basement” was now an open secret.

Israel’s Nuclear Arsenal Most estimates of Israel’s current nuclear arsenal range from about 100 to over 400 weapons, making it comparable in size to the British, French and Chinese arsenals.

However, given the sophistication of the weapons and their delivery systems, and the immense power of these weapons, the actual size of the Israeli arsenal is largely moot. Even at the lowest estimates, Israel possesses enough nuclear weapons to de-

stroy every major Middle Eastern city several times over. Like the U.S. and Russia, the Israeli nuclear threat is based on a triad of delivery systems: long-range bombers, ballistic missiles and submarines, with which it can target all of Europe and the Middle East, and much of Asia and Africa.

The Israeli nuclear bomber fleet consists of 25 F-15-E and 102 highly modified F-16I fighter-bombers with a reported range of nearly 4,500 kilometers—enough to fly from Israel to Iran and back. The Israeli ballistic missile arsenal consists of approximately 100 Jericho-1 and 50 Jericho-2 missiles. The Jericho-1 missile has a range of over 500 kilometers and can reach Damascus or Cairo. According to the widely respected Jane’s Intelligence Review, the Jericho-2 has an extended range of approximately 5,000 kilometers carrying a 2,500 kilogram payload. A more powerful missile called Jericho-3 is under development.

The third leg of the triad consists of five Dolphin-Class submarines (three currently deployed and two more scheduled for deployment in 2011 or 2012). These super-sophisticated diesel-powered subs, built for Israel by the Germans, have an extended range of about 8,000 kilometers. The two

new subs scheduled for delivery during the coming year have an extended range of 10,000 kilometers.

In 2000, an Israeli submarine successfully launched a cruise missile that destroyed a target more than 900 miles away.

Israel currently is stationing its submarines in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea—targeting Iran.

FURTHER READING: Steinbach, John, “The Israeli Nuclear Weapons Program” (Comprehensive peer reviewed overview with over 200 footnotes), <www.nu clearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear weapons/issues/policy/israeli-nuclearpolicy/index.htm> Afrasiabi, Kaveh L., “An Iran option the US prefers to ignore,” <www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_ East/HC17Ak02.html> Cirincione, Joseph, “Five Myths About Iran's Nuclear Program,” <www.washingtonpost.com/ wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/15/ AR2009101503476.html> Burr, William, “The history of Iran’s nuclear energy program,” <www.thebulletin.org/webedition/op-eds/the-history-of-irans-nuclear-en ergy-program> Oelrich, Ivan, and Ivanka Barzashka, “There’s still nothing new on Iran,” <www.thebulletin.org/ web-edition/op-eds/theres-still-nothing-newiran> ❑

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36

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

JULY 2011

killgore_37_May-June 2011 Template 5/19/11 9:32 PM Page 37

Many Still Question Megrahi Conviction in Bombing of Pan Am 103 SpecialReport

By Andrew I. Killgore

FETHI BELAID/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Netherlands under Scottish law.

The revolution in Libya, and particularly the defection to Britain of former Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa, has stirred some peripheral interest in Lockerbie. Before he became foreign minister, Koussa was head of Libyan intelligence, and close to Muammar alQaddafi. He would know what was in Qaddafi’s mind when he agreed to turn over Megrahi and Fhimah for trial. Was it because the Libyan leader thought the two men were guilty, or because he knew he was obliged to do so to gain sufficient Western approval for the development of his country, including increased oil production?

The April 9 Washington Post Libya’s then-Foreign Secretary Moussa Koussa at the ran an article saying that ScotApril 16, 2010 opening of the second session of a meeting tish officials had “met” with between foreign ministers from five Arab Magreb Union Koussa, who they think may and five EU countries. have crucial information about ibyan intelligence officer Abdel Basil Lockerbie. According to the article, “ProsAli al-Megrahi was convicted on Jan. ecutors said that they would offer no addi31, 2001 of destroying Pan Am flight 103 tional details of their conversations with over Lockerbie, Scotland on Dec. 21, 1988, Koussa.” Just what did Koussa tell them, killing the plane’s 259 passengers, includ- and why is no more information about the ing 179 Americans, and 11 people on the meeting forthcoming?

So far as this writer has seen, no Ameriground. Megrahi was tried under Scottish law by Scottish judges in a special court can newspaper has mentioned that the sitting at Camp Zeist, a former American Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission ruled that Megrahi may have suffered military base in The Netherlands.

As readers of the Washington Report are a miscarriage of justice—a finding that aware, the American media coverage of the presumably remains valid despite MegraLockerbie trial was very thin, despite the hi’s release from prison on compassionate heavy loss of American lives. There seems grounds. Yet, the Washington Post article to be a determined silence about even the writes that “the case remains open despite existence of an organization called “Justice Megreahi’s conviction.”

The heavy lethargy of the American for Megrahi,” whose members include (full disclosure) this writer and several distin- media on Lockerbie includes no word that guished Britons, including Dr. Jim Swire, many outstanding Britons who lost relawho lost his daughter Flora in the crash, tives or friends in the Lockerbie crash do and Dr. Robert Black, former professor of not believe that Megrahi is guilty. If memcriminal law at Edinburgh University and bers of “Justice for Megrahi,” who obvicreator of the idea of trying Megrahi and ously think he is not guilty, could possibly his co-defendant, Lamen Fhimah, in The arrange a discussion with Moussa, it could clear up a lot of questions. Depending on Andrew I. Killgore is publisher of the Wash- Koussa’s answers, it could reopen the question of who really bombed Pan Am 103. ❑ ington Report on Middle East Affairs.

L

JULY 2011

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Other Voices is an optional 16-page supplement available only to subscribers of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

Subscription rates are $29 per year for the Washington Report, and an additional $15 per year for the optional subscription to Other Voices, which arrives bound into the Washington Report.

Back issues of both publications are available. To subscribe telephone 1 (800) 368-5788 (press 1), fax (202) 265-4574, e-mail circulation@ wrmea.com or write to P.O. Box 53062, Washington, DC 20009.

37

pasquini_38-39_Special Report 5/19/11 12:36 PM Page 38

“Dis[Locating] Culture” Brings New Ideas, Style to Islamic Art in America SpecialReport

STAFF PHOTOS PHIL PASQUINI

By Elaine Pasquini observer of the general trends of contemporary art. “They are diverse in theme, concept and style, and, while some are political, others are playful and whimsical.”

While influenced by their individual histories and experiences, the eclectic collection transcends the artists’ heritage, moving freely between traditional and contemporary subjects, styles and ideas.

Sandow Birk, sometimes referred to as “the surfer artist,” has no ties to Islam, except through his travels as a surfer in search of the perfect wave. After reading the Qur’an for his own

ABOVE: (L-r) Gallery owner Michael Berger, author and scholar Reza Aslan, and curator Reem Alalusi enjoy a light-hearted moment with guests at the exhibit’s April 15 opening reception. RIGHT: “My Bird, Your Cage” by Farah Ossouli (2008), gouache on cardboard. elieving in the need to address pre-

Bconceived differences between Islamic

and Western cultures, Islamic art scholar Reem Alalusi and Pittsburgh gallery owner Michael Berger co-curated “Dis [Locating] Culture: Contemporary Islamic Art in America,” a fascinating exhibition that challenges the stereotypes of Islam and seeks to develop cross-cultural understanding through the medium of art.

In their highly anticipated exhibition, the curators chose to present works by nine of America’s finest Islamic artists as contemporary Western art, separate and distinct from commonly perceived views of traditional Islamic art. “As art builds dialogue, makes the unseen seen, it was time to mount an exhibition that shows that art related to or by Muslims isn’t ‘Islamic,’ but is contemporary American art,” Berger explained.

“These works mix old and new ideas and possess strong thematic conceptual underpinnings,” added Alalusi, an astute Elaine Pasquini is a free-lance journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

38

enlightenment, Birk began his American Qur’an series of juxtaposing the suras over scenes of daily life.

As a self-described avid consumer of Persian art, Negar Ahkami, of Iranian heritage, brought the overwhelming patterns and electric colors of Persian art into a secular realm that reflected the angst of many THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Iranians. “I view the glittery flamboyance of everyday Iranians—both inside and outside of the country—as a real testimony to their human spirit, in spite of the repressive regime,” she explained. “As an artist I am in love with visual tension.” In her own Iranian-American take on “Salome” she made references to Islamophobia and her own fears of the current Iranian regime.

Jowhara AlSaud’s work began as an “exploration of censorship in Saudi Arabia and its effects on visual communication.”

Applying the language of the censors to her personal photographs, she began making line drawings, omitting faces and skin, as shown in her “New Year” print.

Trained as a classical miniaturist, Farah Ossouli’s works have been widely shown in Europe and her native Iran. Using earth tones against brilliant and radiant colors, Ossouli’s imaginative paintings tell eternal stories of love and heroism, as reflected in “My Bird, Your Cage.”

Watching Shoja Azari’s seven-minute video “Day of the Last Judgment,” viewers cannot help but be drawn in by the intensity of the artist’s incredibly moving commentary on the Iraq war, or ignore a feeling of foreboding as the U.S-led wars continue and a new military action has begun in Libya.

Transitioning from a graffiti artist in Los Angeles into the fine arts world, Amir Fallah irreverently incorporates everything that is anathema to fine art, such as drug paraphernalia and guns, into his highlycharged work.

On enormous canvasses, Los Angelesbased Anoka Faruqee imitates machineJULY 2011

STAFF PHOTOS PHIL PASQUINI

pasquini_38-39_Special Report 5/19/11 12:36 PM Page 39

ABOVE: A scene from Shoja Azari’s “The Day of the Last Judgment” (2009), video production on canvas. RIGHT: “Oil Barrel #7” by Shiva Ahmadi (2009), oil, crystal, acrylic on steel oil drum. BELOW: “Crystal Mountain” by Amir Fallah (2009), acrylic, pencil, ink and collage on paper mounted to canvas (l) and “Danielle Minne #2” by Asad Faulwell (2011). mixed media on canvas.

STAF

OTO F PH

SQ IL PA S PH

UINI

produced images by repetitive hand-painted colorful motifs of anti-iconic Islamic patterning.

Drawing heavily on the rich representational traditions of Islamic art, Asad Faulwell tackles the iconography of the secular. Manipulating the background motif into the main subject, Faulwell transforms his main subject into an almost-hidden secondary theme.

“Oil Barrel No. 7” by Iranian-born Shiva Ahmadi was one of the most striking and perhaps timely works in the exhibit, since oil and its rising price, allegedly caused by the pro-democracy revolt in Libya and concerns about unrest spreading to oil-rich Saudi Arabia, are dominating news headlines. The gilded exterior of the standard size oil barrel features delicate imagery inspired by Persian miniatures intermingled with images of war and violence, including guns, combat boots and bleeding bullet holes, bringing to mind U.S. intervention in oil-producing Muslim countries.

JULY 2011

“The point of this exhibition is that the way to break through the cultural divide is not through education, but through the arts,” author and scholar Reza Aslan told guests attending the exhibition’s opening reception on April 15. “It’s art that actually helps define our identity. What we are witnessing tonight is a new kind of identity being formed in the United States, and artists are leading the way.”

Aslan, the editor of Tablet and Pen, delivered a well-received keynote address the following day at a symposium at the Andy Warhol Museum co-sponsored by the Pittsburgh Middle East Institute.

Free and open to the public, the exhibit at the Michael Berger Gallery, 30 South Sixth Street, South Side, Pittsburgh, PA, runs through July 30.

For more information, visit www.michaelbergergallery.com>. ❑

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

39

freeman_40-41_What They Said 5/23/11 2:48 PM Page 40

Israel-Palestine: The Consequences of the Conflict What TheySaid

MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

By Amb. Chas Freeman

Israeli policemen stand guard along the border as Druze residents of Majdal Shams in the occupied Golan Heights look on after Palestinian and other protesters crossed from Syria to the Israeli-occupied Syrian territory to mark the Nakba, or catastrophe, on May 15, 2011. .S. sponsorship of the late, lamented

U“peace process” began as a demon-

stration of American diplomatic power, the indispensable role of the United States in Middle Eastern affairs, and the necessity of all interested in peace to defer to America.

The “peace process” has ended by discrediting American power and diplomacy.…

This failure of the American-led “peace process” is all the more telling because it occurred despite the existence of a compelling, existential interest in the achievement of a formula for cohabitation on the part of both Israelis and Palestinians. This interest is clearly reflected in the eagerness of Palestinian officials to negotiate a basis for peaceful coexistence with Israel that is revealed in the official record of the IsraelPalestine negotiations recently leaked to and by Al-Jazeera. The abject pleading of Palestine’s negotiators for peace, to which Amb. Chas Freeman delivered the 2011 Hisham B. Sharabi Memorial Lecture on May 4, 2011 at The Palestine Center in Washington, DC. The speaker’s views, which are excerpted above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Jerusalem Fund. For a complete transcript or video of his lecture, visit <www.thejerusalemfund.org>.

40

these documents attest, contrasts with the callous determination of their Israeli counterparts not to take yes for an answer. Yet the security and prosperity of Israelis and Palestinians alike is dependent on each accepting the other. Without Palestinian agreement, Israel cannot define its borders or enjoy acceptance by any of its neighbors. Without Israel’s agreement, Palestinians cannot achieve self-determination within a defined territory. Without mutual respect and tolerance, neither Israel nor Palestine can hope to live in peace for long.

Animosity breeds threats, and no military hegemony is forever.

The inability of the United States to build on the obvious shared interests of Palestinians and Israelis is, at best, damning testimony to the incompetence of those Americans who have made a career of processing peace without ever delivering it.

At worst, it is compelling evidence of the extent to which they have functioned as “Israel’s lawyers,” rather than as mediators sincerely attempting to produce a mutually respectful and therefore durable modus vivendi between Israelis, Palestinians and other Arabs. As such, it is a reflection of the inordinate influence of right-wing Israelis on American policies and the people THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

chosen to implement them. I have had personal experience of this on more than one occasion.

In late November 1988, shortly after the election of George H. W. Bush as [United States] president, I was invited to lunch by a senior Israeli official with whom, in pursuance of U.S. policy, I had worked closely to expand Israel’s diplomatic and military presence in Africa. I had come to like and respect this official. He wished to thank me, he said, for what I had done for his country. I was pleased. Over lunch, however, he asked me what I planned to do in the new administration, adding, “Tell me what job you want. We can get it for you.”

The casual arrogance with which this representative of a foreign power claimed to be able to manipulate the staffing of national security positions in the U.S. government was a stunning belittlement of American patriotism. Twenty years later, I was to be reminded that agents of foreign influence who can make appointments to national security positions in the United States can also unmake them.

A Fatal Absence of Empathy Under the circumstances, the consistent pro-Israel bias of American officials charged with the management of the Israel-Palestine conundrum and their lack of empathy for the Palestinians are in no way a surprise. A passionate attachment to one side is inconsistent with mediation of its disputes with another. The absence of empathy is fatal to the craft of diplomacy.

Such disabilities account, at least in part, for the failure of the decades-long labors of American officials to produce anything but political cover for the ongoing displacement of Palestinians from their homes. The ultimate achievement of American peace processors has been to bring great discredit upon themselves and the United States.

American diplomacy on the Israel-Palestine issue is becoming less and less relevant to events in the region and increasingly unacceptable to the world as a whole.

A new milestone in this journey to diplomatic ignominy was reached on Feb. 18 this year, when the United States vetoed a resolution in the U.N. Security Council that had been cobbled together from earlier official American statements. The resJULY 2011

freeman_40-41_What They Said 5/23/11 2:48 PM Page 41

olution condemned the expansion of Israeli settlements and called for it to end. In doing so, it echoed numerous previous Security Council resolutions as well as the “Road Map.” All 14 other members of the Council, including America’s closest allies, spoke vigorously in favor of the resolution, which had been sponsored by 130 member states. The debate and the vote on that resolution were an unambiguous vote of no confidence in American as well as Israeli policy.

This repudiation of U.S. leadership and Israeli expansionism seems certain to be reiterated even more unmistakably when the [U.N.] General Assembly convenes in September. The international community will then take up the question of whether to underscore its near-unanimous rejection of Israel’s claim to any territory beyond its pre-1967 borders by recognizing an independent Palestinian state there and admitting that state to the United Nations. The United States no longer has the political credibility necessary to control the diplomatic context in which Israel operates.

The displacement of the United States from its previously unchallenged primacy in Middle Eastern diplomacy comes amidst other momentous changes in the strategic landscape in the region. The U.S. government’s failure to stand by its longtime protégé, [former Egyptian President] Hosni Mubarak, convinced leaders elsewhere who, like Mubarak, had linked their fate to America that Washington is a faithless friend and impotent protector. The decades-long inclination of conservative Arab rulers to curry favor with Washington by acquiescing in American policies has been gravely impaired, perhaps irreparably. But the deep disenchantment with America of the dissidents who overthrew Mubarak was not overcome by the Obama administration’s belated abandonment of him. A majority of Egyptians want to annul the Camp David accords. Whether Egypt does so or not, a much larger majority of Egyptians want their country generally to decouple its foreign policy from that of the United States. As goes Egypt, so very likely goes Jordan. Arab deference to American – and hence to Israeli – interests and dictates will manifestly be much less in future than in the past.

There is a great deal of apprehension in Israel over these developments and not a little consternation in Washington’s think tanks and belief tanks about them. The storm warnings are up, and for good reason. Had Israel and the United States planned it, we could hardly have contrived JULY 2011

a status quo less likely to be accepted as legitimate by a democratized Middle East. If contemporary Israel represents the future, it is certainly problematic. But as is so often the case with clouded situations, there may be a bright side to the changes in progress.…

The notion that only Americans have the capacity to manage conflict resolution in the Middle East will no longer withstand scrutiny. One recalls the role of Norway in crafting the Oslo accords. Perhaps, now that the United States has struck out, it’s someone else’s turn at bat.…

New Opportunities The Middle East will no longer allow itself to be the diplomatic playground of great powers outside it. There will, however, be new opportunities for interested outside parties to forge diplomatic partnerships with those in the region. Most are looking for new beginnings, new relationships and new ideas. All see an urgent need to end the racist oppression and humiliation of Arabs in the Holy Land. These injustices are at the root of regional instability. They empower extremist and terrorist movements in the Middle East and beyond.

They threaten the future of the Jewish state.

Diplomatic partnerships between outside powers and Arab governments for the purpose of crafting a durable peace in Palestine – as opposed to stabilizing the iniquitous status quo – have long been conspicuous by their absence. In 2002, the Arab League announced a revolutionary peace proposal in Beirut. Israel and the United States shelved it with minimal acknowledgment. Its potential remains unexplored. It has a limited shelf life but there may still be an opportunity to make use of it.

The Arabs are thinking anew. It is time for Israel to engage in new thinking of its own. Israel has shown great skill at deflecting the peace proposals of others and subjecting them to campaigns of diplomatic attrition. It has never made its own specific proposal of peace to the Palestinians. It has demanded respect for the dignified autonomy of its Jewish identity but has offered no reciprocal recognition of Palestinian identity. Perhaps it is time for Israel to do these things. Its changed strategic environment, the diminished capacity of the United States to protect it from the political and legal consequences of its conduct and changing attitudes toward it in the Jewish diaspora foretell an end to the moral hazard from which the THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Jewish state has suffered. For the first time in decades, Israel will have to take into account the risks to its future as it contemplates actions in the present. In the interest of its own survival and prosperity, it may begin to make wiser and more farsighted decisions. We must hope so.

There can, of course, be no peace between Israelis and Palestinians unless there are governments that can commit both sides to terms. Part of the Israeli strategy of deferring peace so as to seize more land for settler Zionists has been a multifaceted effort to ensure that no one has the authority to speak for all Palestinians. The United States has effectively colluded in this strategy of divide and rule, especially since the 2006 elections brought Hamas to power. If Israel is to have peace, however, rather than perpetual rejection by both Palestinians and other Arab and Muslim neighbors, it needs a unified Palestinian leadership with which to strike a deal. Thanks to the skill of Egyptian diplomacy, such a Palestinian government of national unity is now a real prospect. In the interest of peace, the region and the world should welcome and encourage Palestinian unity rather than succumb to Pavlovian impulses to condemn it.

However distasteful they may find it to do so after all that they have suffered at Israeli hands, Palestinians, including Gazans, must collaborate with Israel to achieve peace. But it is equally true that there can and will be no peace for Israel until there is peace for the Palestinians, including those in diaspora. The United States has proven incapable of creating strategic circumstances conducive to serious, as opposed to make-believe negotiations between the warring parties in the Holy Land. Perhaps, however, such circumstances are nonetheless finally emerging, allowing Palestinians and Israelis to attempt a fresh start at achieving peaceful coexistence. They must look to themselves, to others in the region, and to new, nonAmerican mediators to accomplish this.

That Palestinians and Israelis find a mutually agreeable basis for peaceful coexistence is essential not only to their own well-being but to that of the wider world.

Only they can make the decisions necessary to achieve this. But, in our own interest, the rest of us must help them as best we can. The adverse consequences of the Israel-Palestine conflict have penetrated and extended far beyond the two parties to the holy war now raging in Palestine. The benefits of peace there would be equally deep and wide. ❑ 41

jones_42-43_European Press Review 5/19/11 12:33 PM Page 42

Significance of Bin Laden’s Death Seen as More Symbolic Than Strategic

By Lucy Jones any European newspapers viewed

Mthe death of Osama bin Laden at the

hands of U.S. special forces on May 1 as being of symbolic rather than practical importance.

“The killing might well demoralize those around the globe who still regard bin Laden as a spiritual leader, a totem of resistance to the West. But in terms of operational significance, his importance was negligible,” wrote Britain’s Independent the following day.

“He was no longer the operational leader of al-Qaeda: that role had been ceded to his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri some years ago. And al-Qaeda itself has become less a structured terrorist organization, more a brand, a loose and inchoate network of jihadists,” editorialized The Daily Telegraph, also in Britain, on May 2.

“Even with bin Laden dead, most counter-terrorism professionals expect that little will change,” The Economist in London agreed on May 5. It went on to predict, however, that “the next few weeks will almost certainly see more strikes against high-value al-Qaeda targets as the Americans sift the information gathered from the raid in Abbottabad, a treasure trove of documents and computer hard drives, and put it to use before it goes stale.”

“No shockwave swept through the Arab world as news of bin Laden’s death spread, and that is perhaps the most fitting epitaph,” noted the UK’s Guardian of May 3.

“Never did a murdering monster more richly deserve a bullet in the brain,” according to that day’s edition of the British tabloid newspaper, The Sun. “Al-Qaeda’s medieval barbarism does not appeal to newly liberated Arab nations. They want iPads and the vote, not bombings and beheadings,” the newspaper added.

The view that the Arab Spring had made bin Laden’s ideology bankrupt was echoed in Europe.

“The man who embodied international jihadism died just as the Arab Lucy Jones is a free-lance journalist based in London.

42

Spring was dealing a blow to this totalitarian fantasy,” opined France’s Le Monde on May 2. “Since the Arab peoples are rising up in the name of democracy, not Islam or any return to the Caliphate advocated by al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden was already dead in the water politically,” it maintained.

But the “widespread satisfaction” at the death of bin Laden is “tempered by caution and warnings about the continuation of his legacy,” warned the Spanish daily El Pais on May 2. “We should not lower our guard against Islamic terrorism and against possible acts of revenge.”

Did Pakistan Know bin Laden’s Whereabouts?

Whether Pakistan was complicit in hiding bin Laden was widely speculated upon, especially in Britain, where Prime Minister David Cameron recently accused Pakistan of looking “both ways” when it comes to terrorism. “Bin Laden was not only located in one of the most unlikely places for an international terrorist—the home of the Pakistan Military Academy....He was in a purpose-built bunker and had been there for some time,” noted The Guardian on May 3.

“Betrayed? Of course he was,” wrote Robert Fisk in Britain’s Independent the same day. “By the Pakistan military or the Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence? Quite possibly both. Pakistan knew where he was.”

Asked that day’s edition of The Daily Telegraph: “How do we respond to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari’s incredible assertion that bin Laden was ‘not anywhere we had anticipated he would be,’ or the ISI’s utterly unconvincing profession of embarrassment at being caught on the hop? It is all smoke and mirrors. Throw in the fact that the country has nuclear weapons and the scale of the diplomatic challenge becomes clear,” the newspaper added.

But amid cries that Pakistan should pay back substantial aid it receives from the West, in a May 4 editorial The Independent urged full Western engagement to continue with Islamabad.

“The danger is that post-bin Laden THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

European Press Review pressures will lead Washington to bypass the government and deal direct with the army, which is Pakistan’s only strong institution,” the newspaper wrote. “That would be a mistake. The delicate task is to support the government while pressurizing it to do more to combat Pashtun terrorism, to assert democratic values, tackle corruption, build a modern taxation system and reform the blasphemy laws,” it added.

“Britain has made the right moves in increasing aid to education in Pakistan, where more than 40 percent of children under nine do not go to school. Improving education is the way to make youngsters less vulnerable to radicalization,” it continued.“But that aid has been ‘backloaded’ so that it will only continue if the first tranches show good results. We must not flinch from turning off that aid if necessary. The Pakistani state must know we are serious about our support, but also about the need to see progress,” it concluded.

Germany’s Düsseldorfer Handelsblatt Praises U.S. “Victory” A few commentators questioned aspects of the bin Laden operation, in particular President Barack Obama’s decision not to show pictures of the body.

“No photograph of bin Laden with part of his face shot off could be more appalling than the sight of the World Trade Center collapsing. Or the sight of a London bus blown to pieces. Or the sight of innocent office workers who suddenly found themselves in the middle of hell,” opined Tony Parsons in Britain’s Daily Mirror on May 5.

Dr. Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, said he had been “left with a very uncomfortable feeling” by the shooting of an unarmed man, while the U.N. human rights chief called for a “full disclosure of the facts.”

But the Daily Telegraph of May 5th dismissed such comments as “insufferable sanctimony.”

“When everything is taken into account, the ethical balance must come down on the side of Obama, whatever ‘uncomfortable feeling’ this causes the JULY 2011

jones_42-43_European Press Review 5/19/11 12:33 PM Page 43

archbishop of Canterbury. It is perverse to portray the victims as the villains of the piece, and vice versa. The death of bin Laden should be a cathartic moment for the American nation, which has lost much blood and treasure confronting a terrorist evil. Obama need not apologize for having done the right thing,” the newspaper argued.

But Germany’s Düsseldorfer Handelsblatt of May 3 had no doubt that this was the Obama presidency’s finest hour so far.

“The United States fought alone and so they are under no obligation to share with anyone the laurels of tracking down and eliminating bin Laden.

Congratulations, America,” the newspaper editorialized.

“The American victory must make us Europeans rejoice—and hang our heads in shame at the same time,” it continued. “Our continent, whose population and economic strength are comparable to those of the United States, obviously has no desire to defend its values, its prosperity, or even itself.

Most Europeans—because the Germans are not alone in this case—refuse to understand the nature of this struggle against international terrorism.

“This war is not a war like the ones in our history books. There was no declaration of war, and there will never be an act of capitulation....This war cannot be won,” it concluded, “and yet it cannot be lost.”

to look like an act born of desperation; a desire to force a quick resolution before partition becomes inevitable,” it added.

“Yet this is the Libyan opposition’s fight, not NATO’s. If the rebels are to achieve their objective of removing Qaddafi and uniting the country, they have to be seen to be leading the resistance. NATO does them, or indeed itself, no favors by trying to force the pace,” the newspaper concluded.

In the April 27 edition of Italy’s La

Stampa newspaper, columnist Lucia Annunziata was rather skeptical of an agreement signed the previous day between France and Italy, in which Rome committed to take part in NATO airstrikes on its former colony. “Italian bombs on Libya in exchange for French help with the migrants,” was how Annunziata characterized the deal. “Italy is shouldering the heaviest burden,” she argued, while Paris restricted itself to “vague commitments” on reforming the Schengen agreements. ❑

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“The Libyan regime claims that Qaddafi’s 29-year-old son, Saif al-Arab, and three of the leader’s grandchildren were killed in the bombing. There has been no independent confirmation of that. But the episode has already turned into something of a propaganda victory for Qaddafi. Aerial bombing, particularly when it goes wrong, tends to rally populations in anger,” the newspaper continued.

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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

EEdited dited b byy | İHSAN D DAĞI AĞI iddle East Technical Technical University, University, Ankara Middle M Ankara TA F ublished b oundation for for P Published byy | SE SETA Foundation conomic and S ocial Resear ch P Political, olitical, E Economic Social Research

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adas_44-45_New York City and Tri-State News 5/19/11 1:10 PM Page 44

By Jane Adas

STAFF PHOTO J. ADAS

Under international law, Palestinians have a right to resist occupation, even with violence—although, Barghouti cautioned, they have no blank check. He objected to the media’s inevitable portrayal of Israeli violence as “retaliation” for Palestinian attacks, explaining that the occupation is itself violent and therefore Israel by definition can never be the retaliator. While ending the occupation has international support, Barghouti observed, that addresses the condition of only one-third of the Palestinian population.

Barghouti characterized the second demand for equal rights within Israel as the most controversial. He acknowledged that Palestinian Israeli citizens have the right to vote, unlike Blacks in South Africa under apartheid, but suffer because of Israel‘s unique twotiered system that distinguishes nationality from citizenship: Jewish nationals have full rights denied to non-Jewish citizens.

Even according to the U.S. State Department’s annual Human Rights Report, this constitutes “legal, societal, institutionalized discrimination”—which, Barghouti noted, is the very definition of apartheid.

The Right of Return, he emphasized, is not to the West Bank or any other “creative” solutions, but to each Palestinian’s home. To the Israeli argument that the Right of Return would ruin the demographic balance, Barghouti asked the audience to imagine what the reaction would be if Americans fretted over Jews ruining the Christian balance in New York City.

Some in the Israeli left chide Palestinians for being “stuck in 1948” and advise them to “move on.” Barghouti’s response was, “Look who’s talking.”

Noting that the BDS campaign is growing even faster than its organizers expected, Barghouti related its success to broader changes in the Arab world. He identified the first Palestinian intifada as an inspiration to Arab revolutions, when people realized that if Palestinians could stand up to Israel,

Omar Barghouti. mar Barghouti’s American tour to pro-

Omote his excellent BDS: Boycott Di-

vestment Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights (available from the AET Book Club) came about when, after a fourmonth delay, the State Department finally granted him a visa. As if making up for lost time, he began his tour by speaking at three universities in two days: Columbia on April 11, and Princeton in the afternoon and Rutgers in the evening of April 12.

The Palestinian Civil Society BDS Campaign, of which Barghouti is a founding member, was launched on July 9, 2005, when more than 170 Palestinian organizations issued a call to people of conscience in the international community to pressure Israel to comply with international law.

Wryly noting the “unusual Palestinian unanimity,” Barghouti said Palestinians wherever they are—under occupation, as Israeli citizens, or in exile—have reached consensus on three basic, non-negotiable demands: end the occupation, including the Golan Heights; end racial discrimination within Israel; recognize the Right of Return for refugees according to U.N. Resolution 194.

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

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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

New York City and Tri-StateNews they could stand up to their dictators. The Arab people are crossing a threshold of fear that Barghouti said would not easily be reversed. With Mubarak’s removal as president of Egypt, he added, Israel lost its Arab umbrella of complicity, which will make it “tougher for Israel to carry on slow-motion genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem.” Barghouti rejected as anti-Semitic the accusation that “boycotting Israel is boycotting Jews,” because it assumes that Jews everywhere are monolithic. Moreover, he continued, BDS rejects all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism. Barghouti recognized that BDS is “delegitimizing, but only of Israel’s apartheid system, not of its people’s existence.”

Tariq Ramadan Speaks at Rutgers

STAFF PHOTO J. ADAS

Finally Allowed Into the U.S., Omar Barghouti Discusses Increasingly Popular BDS Campaign

Dr. Tariq Ramadan.

In 2004, Dr. Tariq Ramadan was unable to accept a teaching appointment at Notre Dame University because the U.S. refused to give him a visa, accusing him of giving a donation to a Palestinian group the year before it was criminalized. Today he is professor of contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford University. The State Department has since relented, so Ramadan was able to speak at Rutgers University April 19 to a mostly Muslim audience of more than 500 people about internal and external challenges to Muslims living in the West.

Ramadan warned that if Muslims don’t accept the diversity inherent within Islam, they would live in scattered communities of judgmental people. This diversity, he JULY 2011

explained, exists on two levels: interpretative and cultural. Shiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;i and Sunni share the same Muslim faith, Ramadan asserted: â&#x20AC;&#x153;they are not enemies from within.â&#x20AC;? He exhorted the audience to stop accusing one or the other of not being a â&#x20AC;&#x153;real Muslim.â&#x20AC;?

No one of the many trends in Islamâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;literalist, traditionalist, reformist, Sufi/mysticalâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;is more Muslim than the others. Noting that there are 30 schools of law or interpretations in Islam, Ramadan asked, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Who are we to put someone in or out of Islam when our scholars never did that?â&#x20AC;?

In America especially, Ramadan observed, Muslims come from many backgrounds; there are Asian, African, Arab, eastern European, and African-American Muslims. Rather than having their separate mosques, they are beginning to come together to create an Islam that is culturally American. Some worry that loyalty to America is disloyalty to Muslims under attack by America. Ramadan, however, pointed out that such policies as extraordinary rendition, torture, and silence on Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attack on Gaza are not American values, and urged American Muslims to speak out in a constructive way for America to realize American values, which are also Muslim values.

An external challenge for all faiths, according to Ramadan, is that practicing, committed Muslims, Jews and Christians in Western industrialized societies are perceived as conservative, not modern, and not progressive. The first response, he continued, is to become defensive and fixate on â&#x20AC;&#x153;the peripheriesâ&#x20AC;?â&#x20AC;&#x201D;what is hallal or kosher and what is not. Ramadan dismissed interfaith dialogue about the peripheries as â&#x20AC;&#x153;interactive monologues,â&#x20AC;? adding that it makes Buddhism sound good, because Judaism, Christianity, and Islam seem to be all about â&#x20AC;&#x153;noâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;sâ&#x20AC;? rather than the universal message of God-consciousness that is the essence of all religions.

In a climate where Islam is especially vilified, as when the Tea Party uses Islamophobia to win elections, Ramadan advised Muslims to check their responses and to remember the advice in the Qurâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;an: when attacked, the believer should respond with, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Peace. Your aggression will not disturb my tranquility.â&#x20AC;?

Yoav Peled Discusses â&#x20AC;&#x153;The New Middle Eastâ&#x20AC;?

Prof. Yoav Peled is a political scientist at Tel Aviv University who specializes in issues of citizenship and ethnic politics in Israel.

In Princeton on April 30, he discussed â&#x20AC;&#x153;The New Middle East: Implications for JULY 2011

STAFF PHOTOS J. ADAS

adas_44-45_New York City and Tri-State News 5/19/11 1:10 PM Page 45

Prof. Yoav Peled the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.â&#x20AC;? Peled began by describing Israel, at the official level, as openly critical of the democracy movement in Egypt, even blaming President Barack Obama for deserting former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Peled then detailed the increased security and economic problems a more democratic Egypt poses for Israel: Egypt is on the verge of withdrawing its support for Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s siege on Gaza, Peled said. It is reconsidering its 1979 treaty obligations on the grounds that Israel has not lived up to its commitment to the right of self-government for Palestinians within five years, as stated in Article One of the Camp David Agreement. For the first time since 1979, Egypt allowed two Iranian warships through the Suez Canal, and it is rethinking the terms of a â&#x20AC;&#x153;sweetheart dealâ&#x20AC;? whereby Israel gets 40 percent of its natural gas from Egypt. The new regime in Egypt might push the issue of a nuclearfree zone in the Middle East more sharply than Mubarak ever did, he added. Finally, Israel can no longer count Egypt out when planning its next military aggression.

Peled proposed that, instead of fighting pro-democracy movements, Israel should join them and become democratic itself.

But, he asked, where exactly is Israel? It existed for only 19 years within its pre1967 borders as a lesser, ethnic democracy where Palestinians have some rights, but not equal rights. For 44 years Israel has exercised sovereignty over one political unit that includes the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights, where 40 percent of the population have no rights.

Peled then asked how Israel might democratize. He charged the â&#x20AC;&#x153;old and tired two-state solutionâ&#x20AC;? with becoming popular only when it became impossible due to IsTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

raeli settlement expansion, with 300,000 settlers now living in the West Bank and another 200,000 in East Jerusalem. Nothing has come of 17 peace initiatives over the past 10 years, he noted, all aimed at two states.

Even former presidential candidate Mike Huckabeeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;â&#x20AC;&#x153;like every American politician, a great supporter of Israelâ&#x20AC;?â&#x20AC;&#x201D;claimed while on a visit to Israel to be â&#x20AC;&#x153;for a Palestinian state, but where will it be?â&#x20AC;? At least he is honest, Peled commented. Israeli settlements, which Peled characterized as war crimes under international law, have cut the West Bank up into tiny pieces of land. In order for there to be a Palestinian state, a minimum of 100,000 settlers would have to be removed. But the Israel Defense Force is so infiltrated by settlers that Peled sees no possibility of Israeli forces removing them, nor of any international force being willing to step in. In spite of promises made to American presidents by every prime minister since Ehud Barak to remove outposts that even Israel considers illegal, not a single one has been removed, he said.

Peled advocates a different form of democratization: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Israel is in all reality one state, therefore give citizenship to everyone.â&#x20AC;? Israel would then be a state of all its citizens, divorced from religious or ethnic identification. This would mean giving up the idea of a Jewish state, which is the main argument of even liberal Zionists for two states. But, Peled asked, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Why should this be a threat? A state defined by religion is not modern.â&#x20AC;?

As long as Israel is Jewish, Peled argued, there will never be a solution to the conflict and Israel will neither be a democracy nor have peace. Israel should defuse the conflict while Jews still have power, Peled concluded, and the only way to do that is for Israel to de-ethnicize and democratize. â?&#x2018; (Advertisement)

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twair_46-47_Southern California Chronicle 5/23/11 2:50 PM Page 46

USC Hosts Panel on “The Shamrock and The Olive Tree: From Belfast to Bethlehem”

By Pat and Samir Twair

STAFF PHOTO S. TWAIR

Israel even when it opposes U.S. policy, as in the case of freezing settlement building, Lloyd noted, global moral censure and international boycott, divest and sanction (BDS) actions may change the equation.

In introducing the Palestine/Israel panelists, Manning noted that, contrary to complaints the Peace and Conflict Studies Program had received USC “Shamrock and Olive Tree” panelists (l-r) Dr. Mohammed prior to the event, Abed, Matthew Bowles and Dr. Mahmood Ibrahim. he is neither proPalestine nor proan lessons learned from the relatively Israel, but only pro-peace.

Prof. Mahmood Ibrahim of CSU Pomona successful peace in Northern Ireland be applied to Palestine/Israel was the ques- was born in a refugee camp in 1948, tion explored in “The Shamrock and the months after his parents were forced out of Olive Tree: From Belfast to Bethlehem,” an their village of Jimzu by the Israeli HaApril 23 panel sponsored by the USC Peace ganah. The Israelis later leveled Jimzu, and Conflict Studies Program (PCSP). The which is mentioned in the Bible, and event was organized by PCSP director planted trees donated by Mexican Jews, naming it Mexico Park.

Prof. Andrew Manning.

Israeli settlements are intentionally built Panelists for the Northern Ireland portion were Kristen P. Williams, Clark Uni- near West Bank aquifers, Ibrahim emphaversity; Andrea Grove, California State Uni- sized. The Palestinian town of Qalqilya sits versity, Channel Islands; and David Lloyd on the largest aquifer, so Israel has entirely encircled the town with its 30-foot-high of USC. Whether discussing settler colonialism apartheid wall, blocking residents from in Northern Ireland, South Africa or Pales- tending their crops or even seeing the sun tine, it’s clear settler colonialism is essential set.

Israel refuses to discuss the right of reto Israel, stated Dr. Lloyd, who grew up a turn for an estimated 7 million Palestinian Protestant in the Republic of Ireland.

In Palestine, he opined, it’s highly un- refugees worldwide, he noted. ”In Seplikely there will be power sharing similar tember, the U.N. General Assembly will to Northern Ireland’s. Since Oslo, Israeli address Palestinian refugees’ right of reapartheid has consolidated, with the erec- turn and Palestinian statehood, but the tion of the “separation wall,” settler-only U.S. will use its veto on both,” Ibrahim highways, new settlements and check- predicted. “George Mitchell may have sucpoints—not to mention the uprooting of a ceeded with a peace plan in North Ireland, but he failed on Palestine because the U.S. half-million Palestinian olive trees.

Because Congress won’t put pressure on is on the side of Israel.”

“The U.S. is not an honest broker in IsPat and Samir Twair are free-lance journal- raeli/Palestinian peace negotiations,” agreed Matthew Bowles, a former board ists based in Los Angeles.

C

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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Southern California Chronicle member of the Peace and Justice Studies Association who organized international observers to monitor the contentious “marching season” in Northern Ireland.

“The U.S. is a party to the conflict, an actor and a participant [on behalf of Israel].…George Mitchell never brought up the subject of dismantling arms of Israelis and Palestinians as he did in the North Ireland negotiations.”

Noting that Zionists avoid the word “apartheid,” preferring to call it an “ethnic” conflict, Bowles added, “People use the word ‘peace’ but what do they mean?…It is necessary to break through the semantics.

Calling for dialogue is a diversionary ruse to stop people from organizing.”

Dr. Mohammed Abed of CSU Los Angeles pointed out that at the beginning of Oslo in 1993, there were 250,000 settlers—today, there are 500,000 in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

“If Israel were serious about relinquishing land for peace, it would just have an army occupying Palestinian land, not settlements,” commented the philosophy professor. “Israel rejects a Palestinian capital in Jerusalem, it rejects Palestinian refugees’ right of return and rejects Palestinian water claims.

“Proper negotiations rely on recognition of both side’s grievances. Yet Israel demands that Palestinians recognize it as a Jewish state. Palestinian elections should be respected. The U.S. supports Israel no matter what.”

During the question-and-answer period, Lloyd reinforced the idea that global BDS is the best solution for Israel’s intransigency. He then referred to complaints that the panel lacked “balance,” pointing out that “When we Irish have a debate or panel, there’s no insistence that a British speaker be included.”

Pasadena Palm Sunday For nine years, the Rev. Bert Newton of Pasadena Mennonite Church has organized a Palm Sunday parade culminating with a celebration in that city’s trendy Paseo Colorado mall. This year, more than 200 activists, musicians, children and leashed pet dogs gathered April 17 at Messiah Lutheran Church and, after a drumming JULY 2011

twair_46-47_Southern California Chronicle 5/23/11 2:50 PM Page 47

session, walked one mile to Paseo Colorado.

A special guest was James Loney, author of Captivity: 118 Days in Iraq and the Struggle for World Peace.

While in Iraq in November 2005 as a member of the Christian Peacemakers Team, Loney was kidnapped by the Sword of Righteous Brigade and held captive for nearly four months. After reading a moving statement by Martin Luther King, Jr., the Toronto activist shared insights gained from living in captivity and expressed his hopes for a world without war.

Generations of Armenian Americans have grown up hearing tales of Cemal Pasha, one of the three “Young Turks” who engineered their ancestors’ forced deportation from Anatolia from 1915 to 1918. So imagine the emotions stirred in Los Angeles’ Armenian community when they learned that his grandson, Turkish journalist Hasan Cemal, was to be the keynote speaker at a March 31 program at UCLA sponsored by the Armenian General Benevolent Union.

The younger Cemal is a respected senior columnist at Milliyet, an Istanbul daily newspaper, and a leading proponent of a progressive Turkish movement to apologize to the Armenians for the tragedy of 1915-18. Discussants were UCLA’s Prof.

Richard Hovannisian and Dr. Pamela Steiner, the great-granddaughter of Henry Morgenthau, who was U.S. ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.

Hundreds of disappointed Armenian Americans were turned away from the overflowing Broad Hall, where Cemal told the audience: “Our roots are from the same place—Anatolia. I open my heart and my mind to you.”

Cemal did not hear much about the events of 1915 as he grew up, he admitted, but said he underwent a sea change in his thinking when he read the works of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink and Turkish revisionist historian Taner Akcam.

In 2008, Cemal was one of 100 signatories to a document of apology to the Armenians.

Two years later, in an April 24 column entitled “I Share Armenia’s Pain on April 24,” he described the date as one of the shameful pages in the history of the Ottoman EmJULY 2011

STAFF PHOTOS S. TWAIR

Cemal Pasha’s Grandson Apologizes to Armenian Americans

TOP: Captivity author James Loney addresses Pasadena Palm Sunday peace advocates. ABOVE: Turkish journalist Hasan Cemal. pire. “The Ottoman Armenians living and creating in Anatolia endured great anguish on the lands [where] they lived,” he wrote.

Noting that academic conferences have been conducted in Turkey to study what befell the Ottoman Armenians in the early second decade of the 20th century, Cemal concluded by extending an invitation to Armenian Americans to visit Anatolia.

In her capacity as director of Harvard’s Intercommunal Trust Building Project, which seeks to improve relations between the Turkish and Armenian communities, Steiner said that in order for conflict resolution to be fulfilled, two conditions must be met: Each side must write and tell its history based on facts, and each must accept the realities of the other’s narrative.

Each must ask what the risks are for each side to reconcile and the pains each group was undergoing during the breakup of the Ottoman Empire.

Hovannisian, who was born in Tulare, THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

CA and has been a member of the UCLA faculty since 1962, specializes in Armenian and Near Eastern history.

“What happened tonight would have been unimaginable decades ago,” he said in a low-key voice. “In every story of Armenian survival, a good Turk was responsible [for the rescue]. Yet Turkish denial of genocide prevents these courageous stories from being heard.”

In response to an audience member’s question during the question-and-answer session, Cemal stated that “there are no excuses for 1915.” Replying to another quesion, he urged: “Don’t put the cart before the horse. Start opening your hearts, begin dialogue, look at the changes [in Turkey] over the past 100 years.

Turkey should apologize to the Armenians, but it’s something else for the Turkish Republic to accept 1915 as genocide.”

After several more questions dealing with the Turks of 96 years ago, Cemal closed by recalling an incident on the East Coast, where an elderly Armenian publisher approached him and thanked him for his efforts to apologize for 1915. However, the senior Armenian’s son refused to join the two men.

We must start to change,” Cemal insisted.

“We must reach these young guys.” ❑

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pasquini_48-49_Northern California Chronicle 5/19/11 12:29 PM Page 48

Islam Awareness Week Features Diverse Program of Film, Photography, Lectures

Northern California Chronicle

STAFF PHOTO E. PASQUINI

By Elaine Pasquini

ABOVE (l-r): Sarah Masoud, Phil Pasquini, Rabell Afridi, Alia Al-Sharif at the University of San Francisco’s “Faces of Islam” exhibit. RIGHT: Photos by University of San Francisco students on display at the Crossroads Café during Islam Awareness Week.

Panel on Post-Revolutionary Egypt

he Muslim Student Association (MSA)

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

48

“Beyond the Revolution, How Women, Youth, and Social Media are Shaping the Future of the Middle East” was the title of an April 26 panel discussion at San Rafael’s Dominican University. Panelists included Dina Ibrahim, assistant professor of broadcast and electronic communication arts at San Francisco State University; Nour Ahmadein and Jeremiah Davis, cofounders of Yalla! Students in Solidarity; Afaf Steiert, president of Afaf Translations; Eva Galperin of the Electronic Frontier Foundation; and moderator Zoe Ferraris, author of Finding Nouf and City of Veils. The program was a Humanities Expressions Event organized by Janet Shirley, a volunteer coordinator for World Without Wars in the San Francisco Bay Area.

“Egyptian women have been fighting for their rights for a long time,” Ibrahim told the audience.

“Women and girls of all ages were out in the streets and very vocal during the revolution—getting into people’s faces, not relegated to some back seat in the protest.”

STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI

Tof the University of San Francisco

(USF) hosted Islam Awareness Week at the school April 4 through 8.

At the opening reception for the photo exhibit “Faces of Islam,” Washington Report staff photographer Phil Pasquini gave a digital presentation of photographs he has taken over the past 20 years. In addition, his prints, along with those by USF students of their Muslim friends or travels in Muslim countries, lined the corridor of the Crossroads Café, accessible to the students who traverse the high-traffic campus area daily. The student photographers included Halimah A. Najieb-Locke, Saera R. Khan, Ph.D., Bilal Ahmed Homran, Sonam Virk, Sahar Bala, Marwa Elkady, Alia AlSharif, Cameron McDonald, Sarah Masoud, Hyder Alikhan and Rabell Afridi.

“The purpose of our exhibit is to open viewers’ eyes and rid preconceived misconceptions and stereotypes about what Muslims look like,” said the MSA’s Alia AlSharif. “Our goal is to show that there are

the Council on American Islamic Relations, spoke about the growing Islamophobia around the United States.

Other events included a fund-raiser for the benefit of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for their response to the recent humanitarian crisis in the Middle East and North Africa.

The film portrayal of Islam and the Crusades was discussed following the screening of “Kingdom of Heaven.”

Sponsors of the week-long event included the ASUSF, Middle Eastern Studies, International Studies, Ethnic Studies, European Studies, History Department, Jewish Studies, Media Studies, Peace and Justice Studies, Politics Department, Theology and Religious Studies, and African-American Studies.

many faces to Islam besides the stereotypes portrayed in the media,” added MSA president Sahar Bala.

In the Xavier Chapel, Zahra Billoo, executive director of the Bay Area chapter of THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

JULY 2011

STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI

pasquini_48-49_Northern California Chronicle 5/19/11 12:29 PM Page 49

Eva Galperin, Nour Ahmadein and Jeremiah Davis discuss post-Mubarak Egypt during a panel discussion in San Rafael.

Steiert noted, “Women are the energy of Egypt,” and they are also excited about voting in the fall elections. “They are happy that their vote will count.”

Acknowledging that social media played a tremendous role in mobilizing Egyptians during their revolt, the panelists agreed that “people power” was the driving element in actually overthrowing the government. “The revolution was a human phenomenon,” Davis said.

A University of San Francisco student and friend of Ahmadein since their childhood in Egypt, Davis also discussed cofounding the Yalla! group. “We needed a way to feel connected and be involved,

and this is a good way to reach people,” he explained. “We wanted to educate and advocate. We were frustrated with the inconsistency of news reports. So we’re building our Web site to link all information—Facebook, Twitter and citizen journalism.”

Galperin tackled the pros and cons of social media in civil unrest. “Online protest is not a low-risk activity,” she argued.

“Dictators can use the Internet, too. They frequently control the ISPs [Internet service providers] and have the power to spy on you. People with power will strive to use it and abuse it. What changes the world is people coming out in Tahrir

Congress Watch…

Contracting Oversight subcommittee chair Claire McCaskill (D-MO) wrote to administration officials regarding enforcement of existing Iran sanctions. In her letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates she questioned whether Defense Department contractor Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport is in compliance with the ISA. Her letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro asked that the General Accountability Office review federal agencies’ compliance with the ISA.

Continued from page 31

that she is working on a new bill to tighten unilateral sanctions on Iran, she is not among H.R. 1655’s co-sponsors.

The previously-described “Iran Transparency and Accountability” bills, introduced in the Senate and the House in February, have gained a few co-sponsors. The bills would require publicly traded companies to report potentially sanctionable investments in Iran to the Securities and Exchange Commission. S. 366, introduced

by Gillibrand, has gained three co-sponsors and now has six, including Gillibrand. H.R. 740, introduced by Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL), has gained 14 co-sponsors and now has 29, including Deutch.

On April 8 Senate Homeland Security JULY 2011

Senate Hearing on Protecting Muslim Civil Rights Only Partially Successful The March 29 hearing held by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on civil and human rights, on “Protecting the Civil Rights of American MusTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Square and risking their lives. At the same time, though, people are taking enormous risks when they use social media. In Iran, Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and other countries bloggers have been arrested and detained.” (See November 2010 Washington Report, p. 38.)

“In Libya,” Davis pointed out, “when the government was monitoring Facebook and Twitter, a lot of Libyans were using dating sites and other alternative Web sites. Who’s going to think to search dating sites for revolutionary talk?”

During spring break from his studies at the University of San Francisco, Ahmadein traveled back to Egypt to see firsthand the situation in post-Mubarak Egypt. “The number one thing I saw was people dialoguing,” he marveled. “It was electrifying and shocking. Previously, people didn’t have serious political discussions because it was dangerous and hopeless.”

Asked by an audience member to discuss the role labor unions played in the revolution, Ibrahim responded that they played a pivotal role “because they were the easiest to mobilize, since they already had their own network.”

“When the unions joined the protests—along with large numbers of women—that crippled the regime—that was the turning point,” Ahmadein stated.

Responding to an inquiry about the fate of the former Egyptian president, Ibrahim opined, “Let’s get our democracy in place and then give Mubarak his due process.”

Ahmadein succinctly added, “I don’t give a damn about Mubarak. We need to move forward.” ❑ lims” served as a partial antidote to the poisonous House hearing by Rep. Peter King (R-NY) that was described in the previous issue. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Thomas Perez said “we continue to see a steady stream of violence and discrimination targeting Muslim, Arab, Sikh and South Asian communities.” But Republican Sens. Graham and Kyl took the opportunity to claim radicalization of Muslim Americans.

Meanwhile, King continued his antiMuslim crusade. On April 15 he wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder saying that he had been “reliably informed” that the decision not to seek indictments of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and other Muslim groups “was usurped” by high-ranking Justice Department officials, over the objections of FBI agents and U.S. prosecutors. ❑ 49

brownfeld_50-51_Israel and Judaism 5/19/11 1:14 PM Page 50

Knesset Investigation of J Street Another Case of Israeli Interference in U.S. Jewish Community Israel andJudaism

PHOTO COURTESY OF J STREET

By Allan C. Brownfeld

MK Ilan Gilon of Israel’s Meretz (l) and J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami at a March 23 Knesset committee debate on J Street. sraeli lawmakers held a hearing in March

Ito determine whether J Street, an Amer-

ican Jewish organization that bills itself as “pro-Israel, pro-peace,” should be declared anti-Israel.

Convened by Danny Danon, the Likud Party chairman of the Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs parliamentary committee, the hearing came at a time when right-wing Israeli politicians have accused human rights and advocacy groups in Israel of aiding an international campaign expressing concern about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

Many see the move against J Street as an extension of the effort to oppose perceived attacks on Israel from within its own ranks.

But J Street is not an Israeli organization.

Founded three years ago, J Street says its 170,000 American Jewish members seek an outlet for their support for Israel without necessarily endorsing the policies of the IsAllan C. Brownfeld is a syndicated columnist and associate editor of the Lincoln Review, a journal published by the Lincoln Institute for Research and Education, and editor of Issues, the quarterly journal of the American Council for Judaism.

50

raeli government.

Writing from Jerusalem, Washington Post correspondent Janine Zacharia noted that, “The new model is considered treasonous by those in Israel who think the American Jewish community’s role should be to back the Israeli government’s decisions.”

J Street has been pressing the administration of President Barack Obama to push more aggressively for a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. Israeli lawmakers who came out against the group were particularly critical of its opposition to President Obama’s decision to veto a U.N. resolution this year condemning Israel’s illegal settlements. J Street pointed out that the U.N. resolution was restating traditional U.S. policy on settlements, and that it made little sense to veto it.

Appearing at the Knesset hearing, J Street founder Jeremy Ben-Ami told the committee that J Street thought the veto ran contrary to long-standing U.S. policy on settlements and undercut U.S. credibility.

Speaking of J Street’s American members as if they were somehow Israelis in exile, Kadima Party Knesset member Otniel Schneller declared: “This is a dispute between those who care what non-Jews will THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

say and those who believe in being a light unto nations, between the mentality of exile and that of redemption. J Street is not a Zionist organization. It offers love with strings attached. They say, ‘We love you only if you behave the way we like.’”

J Street chairman David Gilo said at the hearing that the contract that had long existed between Israel and Jews abroad—one of unconditional support—was expiring, and a new one being drafted. The new contract was good not only for those abroad but for Israel as well, he argued, since it would bring into the fold those who would otherwise be alienated. “The new contract cannot be based on unilateral dictation of what is right, who is right and who is wrong,” Gilo said. “Only agreement on common values and a genuine attempt to understand where each party comes from can reinstate an Israeli-American Jewish partnership.”

According to Shlomo Avineri, a political scientist at Hebrew University, J Street was in a problematic position because “it is very difficult to be an advocacy group while criticizing the subject of your advocacy. It is difficult to say we are the greatest supporters of Israel but on every issue that arises we are on the other side.”

The extreme right in Israel had always insisted that criticism of Israeli policy was unpatriotic, Avineri added, and now that it has more power than ever in the country’s history, its views have a greater platform.

In a March 31 Washington Post column headlined “Israel’s Touch of McCarthyism,” Harold Meyerson noted that the hearing was held “to determine whether an American Jewish organization that favors a twostate solution to the Israel-Palestine conundrum could call itself ‘pro-Israel.’ If that sounds bizarre—a committee of Israel’s Knesset presuming to instruct an American Jewish organization on how it should characterize itself—well, that’s because it is. At the risk of telling the committee how it should characterize itself, it might consider changing its name to the Knesset Un-Jewish Activities Committee.”

In Meyerson’s view, “the real quarrel the Israeli right, and the American Jewish right, have with J Street is that it has provided an alternative for American Jews who support JULY 2011

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Israel but don’t support the determination of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and other intransigents to do nothing to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian standoff or end the 44year occupation of the West Bank....As Israel shifts to the right, it increasingly alienates younger American Jews—a generally very liberal group (the Orthodox excepted) that sees in Israel a nation moving toward apartheid unless it changes course.”

Israel’s opposition to any criticism of its policies, Meyerson argued, rejects the most fundamental Jewish traditions: “If the Old Testament were purged of its prophets’ attacks on the Israeli people for failing to live up to their ideals, it would be about half its length. In the Book of Isaiah, Israel is described as ‘a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers.’ In Jeremiah, the Jews are ‘a foolish people’ who ‘have eyes and see not, that have ears and hear not.’ Maybe the Knesset’s Un-Jewish Activities Committee should hold hearings on Isaiah and Jeremiah. Pretty subversive stuff, if you ask me.”

The Knesset’s interference in the affairs of American Jews has even caused a reaction from groups that rarely criticize Israel, regardless of its policies. The American Jewish Committee and Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, both criticized the undue interference in American Jewish organizational life.

Not “Israelis in Exile” The fact is that Israel has never understood that Americans of the Jewish faith are American by nationality and Jews by religion—not Israelis “in exile.” Of course, Israel feels precisely the same way with regard to Jews in every country of the world.

On a January 1996 visit to Germany, Israeli President Ezer Weizman declared that he “cannot understand how 40,000 Jews can live in Germany,” asserting that, “The place of Jews is in Israel. Only in Israel can Jews live full Jewish lives.” (Now, in 2011, more than 100,000 Jews live in Germany).

In 1998, Prime Minister Netanyahu called upon American Jews to make a “mass aliyah” (emigration) to Israel. In 2000, Israeli President Moshe Katsev called upon Jews around the world to make aliyah and argued against “legitimizing” Jewish life in other countries. In Conversations With Yitzhak Shamir, published in 2000, the former Israeli prime minister declared: “The very essence of our being obliges every Jew to live in Eretz Yisrael...In my opinion, a man has no right to consider himself a part of the Jewish people without being a Zionist, because Zionism states that in order for a Jew to live JULY 2011

as a Jew he needs to have his own country, his own life, and his own future.”

In July 2004, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon issued an appeal for all Jews in France to move to Israel “immediately” in response to a number of anti-Semitic acts. “Move to Israel as early as possible,” he urged. “That’s what I say to Jews all over the world.”

Visiting Washington, DC on a trip to promote immigration to Israel, Ya’akov Kirschen, a New York native who himself emigrated, told students at George Washington University: “You’re not Americans—you’re Jews in the last stage of throwing off your identity. Going to Israel, you won’t be tearing up your roots because this isn’t where your roots are. You’ll be coming home.”

When Israel was first established, many prominent American Jews were concerned about Zionist leaders’ contempt for Jewish life outside of Israel and their desire for a massive emigration of all Jews to the new state. In particular, they did not want Israel to interfere in the internal affairs of the American Jewish community.

An historic exchange in 1950 between the president of the American Jewish Committee, Jacob Blaustein, and Israel’s Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion sought to allay these fears.

As summarized by the committee, the agreement stipulated that: “(1) Jews of the United States, as a community and as individuals, have only one political attachment, namely to the United States of America; (2) that the government and people of Israel respect the integrity of Jewish life in the democratic countries and the right of Jewish communities to develop their indigenous social, economic and cultural aspirations, in accordance with their needs and institutions; and (3) that Israel fully accepts the fact that the Jews of the United States did not live ‘in exile’ and that America is home for them.”

As we have seen, whatever Ben-Gurion may have agreed to in 1950, since then the state of Israel has persisted in promoting the idea that Jews living outside its borders are indeed “in exile” and that all Jews should emigrate to that state.

In recent years, a mass emigration effort organized and partly financed by Nefesh B’Nefesh has sought to boost North American emigration to Israel, providing grants of up to $25,000 for each new immigrant.

The program, said Prime Minister Netanyahu, will “bring home to Zion our Jewish brethren from the diaspora.”

According to the Washington Jewish Week of April 21, in a sermon that month THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

at Jerusalem’s Jeshurun Synagogue, Yonah Metzger, Israel’s chief Ashkenazi rabbi, “threatened that American Jews would not help re-elect Obama if he did not grant [Jonathan] Pollard clemency.” Pollard has been imprisoned for 25 years for spying for Israel while working as a civilian analyst for the U.S. Navy.

Israel, apparently, is not satisfied with being the state of its own citizens but persists in claiming to be the “homeland” and object of loyalty of American Jews as well.

Israelis seem unaware of the growing turmoil within the American Jewish community and the dismay felt by many with a state which persists in speaking in their name.

New Yorker editor David Remnick, a prominent Jewish journalist, recalled a visit to Israel in the late 1990s during Netanyahu’s first term as prime minister, when he met with Netanyahu’s father, Benzion, a historian of the Spanish Inquisition, now 101: “...I am not sure that I have ever heard more outrageously reactionary table talk,” Remnick wrote. “The disdain for Arabs, for Israeli liberals, for any Americans to the left of the neoconservatives was chilling.”

Echoing the views of more and more Jewish Americans, Remnick noted that, “The occupation—illegal, inhumane, and inconsistent with Jewish values—has lasted 44 years....For decades, AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League and other such right-leaning groups have played an outsized role in American politics, pressuring members of Congress and presidents with their capacity to raise money and swing elections. But...these groups are hardly representative and should be met head on.

Obama won 78 percent of the Jewish vote; he is more likely to lose some of that vote if he reverses his position on, say, abortion than if he tries to organize international opinion on the Israeli-Arab conflict.”

It is high time that American Jewish organizations make it clear to the government of Israel that it should cease interfering in the internal affairs of the American Jewish community. American Jews are increasingly concerned with the politicization of their religion, and Americans of all faiths should be concerned about a foreign government exercising undue influence over an American religious community.

No other foreign government argues that millions of Americans—solely because of their religion—are in “exile” in the United States and that their real “homeland” is that foreign country. Israel should content itself with being the government of its own citizens and end its interference in domestic American life. ❑ 51

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Arab-American Activism

The Arab American Institute Foundation (AAIF) held its annual Kahlil Gibran “Spirit of Humanity” Awards Gala on May 4 at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, DC. Guests were treated to a beautiful performance by the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, made up of young Israeli and Arab musicians, a project of the Barenboim-Said Foundation. (The previous day Daniel Barenboim had entered Gaza Strip through its Rafah border with Egypt to conduct a Mozart concert along with some of Europe’s top musicians.)

William Daley, White House chief of staff to President Barack Obama, described the essential role Arab Americans play in strengthening our nation, and highlighted “the challenging but also hopeful” times ahead in the Middle East. As a member of the tense group in the situation room during the raid on Osama bin Laden’s Pakistan compound, Daley stated, “Today the U.S. and the entire Middle East are safer because of the death of Osama bin Laden.” Noting that 9/11 deeply affected Arab Americans, who faced unique hardships in the following years, Daley asked the community to partner with the administration to make the world and our country safer and better.

Vital Voices, an organization that empowers women leaders throughout the world, was recognized and honored with an award for Institutional Excellence.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood presented the Najeeb Halaby Award for Public Service to Indiana‘s Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, who is of Arab descent. The governor, who may run for president in 2012, said there’s nothing remarkable about the Daniels family heritage except that it’s duplicated millions of times in America. His paternal grandfather, Elias Eissa (the name Daniels was added at Ellis Island), a Christian from a village near Homs, Syria, arrived in the United States in 1905 penniless and illiterate. Daniels noted that the same hopes and dreams for a better life that brought many Arab Americans to this country are now alive in the Middle East, including Syria. “May this land be an example and a welcoming home for people who want to pursue their dreams,” Daniels concluded.

Actor and U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) global ambassador Jeff Fahey presented a Special Recognition Award to USCRI in celebration of its 52

STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY

AAIF’s Kahlil Gibran Gala Celebrates Youths of Arab Spring

(L-r) Actor Jeff Fahey, AAI president Jim Zogby, Vital Voices president Alyse Nelson, AAI board member Samia Farouki, USCRI president Lavinia Limón, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Al Jazeera correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin (in back), Egyptian protesters Jawad Nabulsi, Mohamed Kenawy, Dina Amer and (far right) Sherif Makhlouf, and AAI chairman George Salem at the AAI Spirit of Humanity dinner.

100th anniversary. The award was accepted by the organization’s president, Lavinia Limón, who urged the audience not to forget the refugees being created by the instability in the Middle East.

The evening concluded with a celebration recognizing the youths of the Arab Spring movements. AAI President Jim Zogby introduced presenter Ayman Mohyeldin of Al Jazeera, whose superb coverage from Cairo was rebroadcast by other U.S. networks and landed him on TIME Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people of 2011. In his remarks, Mohyeldin implored the audience to support the forces of change in the Middle East.

The journalist also introduced a video message by one of the most remarkable leaders of the Egyptian revolution, Wael Ghonim, who noted that although protesters in Tahrir Square had no defined leadership, they led one of the greatest uprisings in the world.

In one protest, Jawad Nabulsi was hit in the eye with a rubber bullet. During the 10 hours he spent looking for a hospital for treatment, he made a list of his fellow Egyptian demonstrators who needed medical attention.

To the intense applause of the audience, special recognition was given to the “Youths of the Arab Spring” and accepted by Dina Amer, Sherif Makhlouf, Mohamed Kenawy and Nabulsi, each of whom played an important role in Egypt’s historic revolution.

—Delinda C. Hanley

Kahlil Gibran Memorial Rededication On May 5, the Arab American Institute Foundation, the Kahlil Gibran Memorial THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Foundation, the Embassy of Lebanon and the National Parks Service co-hosted a rededication ceremony of the Kahlil Gibran Meditation Gardens, a site precious to all who cherish the works of the Lebanese American poet/artist/philosopher. Built in the nation’s capital in 1991, the location of the gardens is no accident, according to Sheryl Ameen Fiegel, the visionary behind the memorial. “On Embassy Row, across from the British Embassy, near the home of the vice president of the United States, the garden symbolizes the universal appeal of Gibran’s philosophy, while the close proximity to the National Cathedral, Islamic Center, a Jewish temple and Orthodox churches reflects the spiritual and ecumenical nature of his writings,” Fiegel told guests gathered on folding chairs in the shady garden.

Master of ceremonies Dr. Albert Johary described Gibran, born in 1883 in Besharri, near the cedars of Lebanon. Gibran emigrated to Boston as a boy with his mother and siblings and began painting and writing the words “which continue to inspire those who long for peace, search for love and strive for justice.” He is the third best-selling poet of all time, behind only William Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu, and is best known in the West for his 1923 book, The Prophet (available from the AET Book Club).

Many of the original members of the Kahlil Gibran Memorial Foundation read passages at the rededication ceremony. Dr. Greg Gormanous recited lines from Gibran’s article, “The New Frontier,” quoted years later in President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address: “Ask not what your country JULY 2011

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wiches, and bought dresses, keffiyahs and hookas. Shoppers picked up a copy of the Washington Report or purchased Palestinian pottery, olive oil and olive soaps from the American Educational Trust’s booth.

The children who attended the celebration will never forget it, said Samira Hussein, a member of the City of Gaithersburg’s Multicultural Affairs Committee, which along with the Arab Americans of Montgomery County sponsors the yearly event. Hussein, who has spent her career educating her community about Arab culture and Islamic traditions, in hopes that her neighbors will be more accepting of Arab- and Muslim Americans, was presented with the “Governor’s Volunteer Service Award” that day.

While there is no official count of how many Arab Americans live in Montgomery Country, just outside Washington, DC, some estimates put the population at about 10,000, said Lily Qi, the county’s Asian and Middle Eastern American liaison.

“In Montgomery County, Maryland, Arabs and Muslims and Arab Americans and Muslim Americans are welcome and safe,” Councilman George L. Leventhal (DAt large) of Takoma Park told the crowd.

This celebration is especially important now, he said, when unrest and change are sweeping across the Middle East. The theme of the celebration was “In Unity, We Build a Caring Community.”

County Executive Isiah Leggett proclaimed April to be Arab American Heritage Month, as it has been for the last 12 years. He danced the dabkeh, an Arabic

JULY 2011

Michael Baroody reads Gibran’s poetry.

American soil.”

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood concluded the rededication ceremony by praising the late poet, whose writings and poetry have inspired countless millions around the world. He also thanked his fellow Arab Americans who honored Kahlil Gibran’s memory by building and watching over this special park. Finally he thanked Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who, he said, realized how important it was to find money, despite our nation’s economic woes, to restore a park dedicated to a national treasure.

—Delinda C. Hanley

Celebrating Arab American Heritage Families celebrated Arab American Heritage Day in Bohrer Park in Gaithersburg, MD on Sunday, April 17 by enjoying food, music, poetry readings, folk dancing, and shopping at vendors and cultural booths.

Children learned to write their names in Arabic, and many of them also extended their hands to receive intricate henna tattoos or offered up their excited faces for whimsical face painting.

Parents from Middle Eastern, North African as well as African countries loved showing off the cultures and traditions of their childhoods to their children and the playmates they brought along to the event.

They ate shawarma and pita bread sandTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY

can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”

Robert S. Andrews read from the poem, “On Work,” which has a special meaning for this Washington Report writer, especially the lines: “Work is love made visible.”

Phyllis Joseph, president of the National Federation of Syrian Lebanese American Clubs, described her efforts to create a Kahlil Gibran postage stamp. Lebanon’s Ambassador to the U.S. Antoine Chedid described the pride Lebanese feel for Gibran, “a global poet par excellence, a true citizen of the world, whose work has been translated into 40 languages.”

Former member of Congress Mary Rose Oakar (D-OH) recalled the foundation’s excruciating efforts to get congressional approval for a bill to create a highly unusual “non-military” memorial, which finally passed in 1989.

Dr. Donald Hanna of Corpus Christi, TX described being “flabbergasted” after visiting the garden on a 2002 trip to Washington to see the cherry blossoms. The fountain wasn’t working, he recalled, the foundations were cracked, the garden badly neglected and a cedar had died. He and his fellow committee members went back to work to secure funding for the restoration and the continued upkeep of the gardens.

Michael Baroody, a senior lobbyist for the National Association of Manufacturers, repeated words his late brother Bill, founder of the Gibran Foundation, said at the first dedication: “Gibran’s words are literally carved in stone here. They can serve as a non-sectarian invocation, as a prayer...for love and understanding and peace...Here great cedars of Lebanon imitate our own families. They sink roots in

STAFF PHOTOS D. HANLEY

The restored Kahlil Gibran Memorial.

Samira Hussein (l) and Juliet Francisco, organizers of Gaithersburg’s annual event.

53

line dance, with an enthusiastic crowd after Fares El Layl, a professional folk dance group, performed. Girls donned traditional dresses from many Arab lands during a fashion show.

Leggett, as well as Gaithersburg Mayor Sidney Katz, stressed the importance of celebrating the county’s culture and diversity. Proclamations from Maryland Sens.

Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin were read and Kumar P. Barve, who represents Montgomery County in the Maryland House of Delegates, also spoke.

—Delinda C. Hanley

Muslim-American Activism CAIR Offers Muslim-American Reactions to Death of Bin Laden The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim advocacy organization, held a news conference at its Capitol Hill headquarters on May 2, hours after President Barack Obama’s announcement that Osama bin Laden had been killed. “When I heard the news, like all Americans I felt he’d received justice,” Nihad Awad, CAIR’s executive director, told reporters. “As we have stated repeatedly since the 9/11 terror attacks, bin Laden never represented Muslims or Islam. In fact, in addition to the killing of thousands of Americans, he and al-Qaeda caused the deaths of countless Muslims worldwide. Our thoughts and prayers are always with the families of those who were killed on 9/11 and in its aftermath.”

As communications director Ibrahim Hooper reminded reporters, CAIR coordinated one of the first of many joint American-Muslim statements condemning the 9/11 terror attacks, issued just hours after they occurred (see November 2001 Washington Report p. 22). “We also reiterate President Obama’s clear statement last night that the United States is not at war

with Islam,” Hooper said.

“Muslims don’t care about the details of how he was buried. In fact, it was a shrewd move to bury him at sea,” Awad concluded, but not before he urged a speedy end to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“American Muslims want to see how our neighbors will respond to us now,” added Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, chairman of the Council of Muslim Organizations for the Washington area. “Will they have learned enough to know that we are not part of alQaeda—we are part of the United States of America?”

Ibrahim Ramey with Muslim American Society-Freedom emphasized that, by his count, Muslim Americans released more than 55 statements utterly condemning the acts of terrorism on 9/11. The killing of civilians is not tolerated in Islam, he stated.

“But war in any manifestation is not a solution to the problems of this world. Hatred cannot drive out hatred. Only love can do that.”

—Delinda C. Hanley

Life for Relief and Development Annual Dinner

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Life for Relief and Development held its annual dinner fund-raising event April 29 at Greenfield Manor in Dearborn, MI. Award-winning Palestinian-American columnist and radio talk show host Ray Hanania emceed the event, which featured Ralph Simpson, president of Michigan’s American Civil Liberties Union.

Life works to provide humanitarian assistance, including education, health care and food, to people across the globe regardless of race, color, religion or cultural background. Founded in 1992 by Arab and Muslim Americans in response to the humanitarian crisis that developed in Iraq as a result of the 1991 Gulf war, today Life performs wonders with an annual budget of $40 million.

Guests at the dinner heard testimonials and watched films about Life’s new Sierra Leone orphanage, low-cost clinics in Iraq, homeless shelters and food banks in the U.S. and Haiti (where, ironically, Life was asked to build the first Muslim cemetery). There were also vivid descrip(L-r) CAIR’s Ibrahim Hooper and Nihad Awad, Ibrahim Ramey tions of programs to help the needy in of MAS Freedom, and Imam Johari Abdul-Malik.

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Imam Achmat Salie at Life’s annual dinner.

Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territories, Yemen, the Horn of Africa and Ghana.

One film followed Life’s wheelchair campaign, which has provided help for children and adult refugees in Syria, Gaza and Jordan.

South African-born Imam Achmat Salie, director of the Islamic Studies Department at Michigan’s Oakland University, compared Life’s Sierra Leone orphanage to the orphanage founded in Jerusalem by Hind Husseini, recently immortalized in the film “Miral.” He called upon Muslims to help communities facing man-made or natural disasters, reminding listeners that “we are judged by how we deal with the weakest.”

For more information visit <www.lifeusa. org>.

—Delinda C. Hanley

Human Rights Syrian Americans Demonstrate After weeks of seeing online photos of Syrian civilians being shot in demonstrations calling for an end to martial laws, more than 100 Syrian Americans staged a protest rally April 16 in front of the Westwood Federal Building in Los Angeles. Several held a banner stating: Syrians United for Freedom and Democracy.”

Uniformed Los Angeles Police Department officers stood between the prodemocracy protesters and about 30 proSyrian regime loyalists carrying signs with the photograph of Syrian President Bashar Assad as they chanted, “God Bless Bashar, God Bless Syria.”

Old, young, men, women, Christian, Muslim and Druze brandished signs in Arabic demanding change in Syria. Arabic writing on signs read: “Free Political Prisoners,” “Oh Freedom Where Are You?” JULY 2011

JULY 2011

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

MAP COURTESY COURTESY OF AMERICAN FRIENDS OF UNRWA

Hoffman, Mike Farrell) and clergy of many faiths.

Beerman was outspoken in his views of the folly of the Vietnam War. In September 2009 he tried to shake the conscience of American Jews by fasting at Yom Kippur against Israel’s blockade of Gaza.

For years, he has been designated, with the Rev. Dr. George Regas of Pasadena’s All Saints Episcopal Church and Dr. Maher Hathout of the IsFirst of a series of pro-democracy Syrian demonstrations held lamic Center of Southern California, as the Holy TriApril 16 at Westwood Federal Building. umvirate. The three have and “Allah—Syria—Freedom.” One Eng- played prominent roles in protesting the lish poster was unambiguous in its state- buildup to the Iraq war, the Abu Ghraib ment: “48 years of emergency law, corrup- scandal, and Israel’s three-week bombardtion, massacres, torture cells and poverty ment of Gaza and ongoing blockade.

Regas recalled memories of anti-Vietnam is enough.”

As the pro-Assad demonstrators started rallies the two led. Hathout said his first to leave, insults were exchanged between encounter with Beerman was when he the two groups and police brought in rein- faced a hostile crowd in a Westside bookstore. During the question-and-answer peforcements to diffuse the tension.

Each Sunday since April 24, pro-democ- riod, he heard a voice behind him, not unracy Syrian Americans calling for regime like that of Moses, say: “Be determined, change demonstrate in what is called the strong and clear.” When he turned, he saw little Gaza Strip on Orange County’s the voice belonged to Beerman.

Born in Altoona, PA, and ordained by Brookhurst Avenue.

—Pat McDonnell Cincinnati’s Hebrew Union College, BeerTemple Fetes Leonard Beerman man only decided to begin rabbinical studRabbi Leonard Beerman’s calls for justice ies in the early days of World War II after for the Palestinians have won him many ad- he encountered blatant anti-Semitism mirers in the pro-peace camp, but his intel- while working in a factory. The scholar, lect and writings have made him a legend who has been prominent in the struggles among the congregation of Leo Baeck Tem- for workers’ rights and against the death ple (LBT) in West Los Angeles. On April 15, penalty, noted there will never be peace in the temple staged a 90th birthday Shabbat Israel/Palestine without justice.

—Samir Twair service for Beerman, its founding rabbi.

Several hundred well-wishers were on hand, including politicians, stars (Dustin UNRWA Holds Gaza Marathon The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) held its first ever Gaza Marathon on May 5, in support of the 2011 UNRWA Summer Games. It was a hot day in Gaza, but still approximately 1,500 people participated throughout various portions of the race, which spanned the entire length of the Gaza Strip.

The race offered something for everyone: 1,300 Rabbi Leonard Beerman and his wife, Joan, are flanked by Los of the participants were Angeles City Councilmen Bill Rosendahl (l) and Paul Koretz.

UNRWA schoolchildren STAFF PHOTO S. TWAIR

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The route for UNRWA’s first Gaza Marathon. who ran short distances in relays along the way, and 150 women walked the last kilometer of the race.

Palestinian runner Nader Al Masri, who was using the race as part of his training for the 2012 London Olympic Games, won the marathon with a time of 2 hours 42 minutes and 47 seconds. UNRWA employee and event organizer Gemma Connell was the fastest woman, finishing in about 4 hours and 45 minutes. Both she and Al Masri are now the first-ever record holders for this groundbreaking marathon.

“This is a phenomenal day for Gaza and a phenomenal day for the U.N. family and for UNRWA,” said UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness, adding that UNRWA plans to hold this exciting event annually.

For more information, or to make a taxdeductible donation in support of the 2011 UNRWA Summer Games beginning June 18 in Gaza, visit <http://friendsunrwa. org/> or e-mail <info@friendsunrwa.org>.

—Courtesy American Friends of UNRWA

Music & Arts FUNATICAL Comedy Tour Hits DC The FUNATICAL: Taking Comedy to the Extreme’s “We Come in Peace” tour kicked off its sold-out DC performances with an April 14 discussion at the National Press Club. Comedians Ahmed Ahmed, Maria Shehata, Omar Regan and PlanetPix Media’s spokesperson Mariam Atash Nawabi discussed “How Media and Entertainment Can Be Used As A Tool For Cultural Diplomacy, To Dispel Stereotypes and Show Similarities Among People of All 55

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thing that told their individual stories was either stolen or seized and deposited in Israeli archives for use by Israeli researchers seeking to understand the history and character of the Arabs whom they were colonizing.”

In addition, when Shehadeh retraced his uncle’s journey in the hills of Galilee, he found that many of the villages and encampments there where Najib found refuge had also been reduced to rubble.

Shehadeh could find only one official Israeli map where the Palestinian villages existing before 1948 are shown. Next to many of those appears the Hebrew word harous—destroyed. Thanks to Salman Abu Sitta, now there are much better maps.

Most times the only evidence of a destroyed Arab village that Shehadeh could see, he said, was cactus, which was used as a natural fence, or almond trees, which continued to survive even after the people were forced away.

Shehadeh recreated the region as it existed at the time of the Ottoman Empire, undivided without borders, roadblocks, barbed wire, settlements and settler-only roads. These new “harsh realities conspire to make Palestinians feel that this land is no longer theirs,” Shehadeh lamented, “and drive ordinary Palestinians into despair...”

As an antidote to the Israeli campaign of despair and alienation Shehadeh said he stops to “behold the beauty of our land and appreciate what it has to offer...The best antidote to the claustrophobia we Palestinians feel while attempting to cross the many borders Israel has created is to focus our attention on the physical expanse of the land.”

Everyone in the audience bought a copy of A Rift in Time and looked forward to traveling in a borderless land with Shehadeh and his uncle.

—Delinda C. Hanley

PHOTO COURTESY PLANET PIX MEDIA

ters, who become a part of the reader’s imagination.

Travels, he explained, blends his fascination with the Great Rift Valley with a recently found memoir by a great-greatuncle, Najib Nassar, a journalist who opposed Ottoman participation in the First World War and fled a death sentence, The FUNATICAL Comedy tour kick-off at the National Press living on the run with Club on April 14 included (l-r) Mariam Atash Nawabi, Samira Bedouin for three years.

Atash, Umbreen Shaikh, Ahmed Ahmed, Maria Shehata, In addition to his uncle’s memoir, Shehadeh uses Alina Atash, Omar Regan and Aneesa Azizi.

T.E. Lawrence’s letters Backgrounds.” The next day they visited written to Lawrence’s father describing a Georgetown University to hold forth on walking trip that he took from Beirut all “The People’s Revolution in the Middle the way to Haifa in 1909 to “re-imagine the East: FUNATICAL Panel Discussion.” The land as it existed.“ “A Rift in Time is a book that takes two tour, which started out in California in December 2010, sought to “break stereotypes journeys,” Shehadeh said, “the journey of and bridge cultural gaps between Muslims, my great-great-uncle during his great esJews and Christians and other faiths cape between 1915 and 1918 and my journey in modern day when I left Ramallah through laughter.”

Sold-out Virginia appearances at Arling- and went to the various places where he ton Cinema & Drafthouse and Ernst The- escaped in order to see how the changes ater in Annandale featured performances have been in these lands where he went.” by all the very American FUNATICAL co- Shehadeh traveled to Lebanon, Jordan and medians: Matt Kazam (Jewish Iranian); northern Palestine, which is now Israel.

Tehran SoParvaz (African-American/Iran- “And so, it is a book about the Great Rift ian); Said Durrah (Palestinian/Jordanian Valley, and there’s another rift,” he said, Muslim); Paul Singh (Indian Sikh); Maria “which is the rift in time because between Shehata (Egyptian Christian); Omar Regan the two journeys is 100 years.”

Most of Palestine’s history, together with (African-American Muslim convert); and that of its people, is buried deep in the Ahmed Ahmed (Egyptian Muslim).

Heavy rains and a ”mini-tornado” could ground, Shehadeh stated. He couldn’t use not stop the crowds from lining up outside books, manuscripts, memorabilia or family the Ernst theater trying to get tickets to the photographs to reconstruct Najib’s history final performance. The tour is made possi- since his uncle died in 1948, months before ble by PlanetPix Media & Entertainment the Nakba, or catastrophe, and Najib’s Group, a multicultural media, communica- family was forced to flee, never to return. tions and entertainment production com- “Everything that belonged to them, everypany that promotes cultural understanding and unity between “East and West.”

—Delinda C. Hanley

Glimpse: 500 Children, 500 Cameras, 500 Moments

Raja Shehadeh, Palestinian lawyer and author of the memoir Strangers in the House, read from his latest book, A Rift in Time: Travels with my Ottoman Uncle, April 26 at the Palestine Center in Washington, DC. When he writes about the law and violations of human rights in legal documents, Shehadeh told the audience, readers may learn the facts and forget them the next week. He prefers creating literature, which brings people to experience issues, and to have a personal relationship with charac56

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Raja Shehadeh’s A Rift In Time

Raja Shehadeh signs copies of his latest book, A Rift in Time.

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

In 2007 photojournalist and Agence France Press war photographer Ramzi Haidar returned from Iraq (where he noticed how fascinated Iraqi children were by his cameras) and launched the project Lahza (Glimpse or Moment, in Arabic) to help children in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon document their lives. Lahza brought together volunteer photographers, journalists and artists for a year to teach the basics of photography to 500 children, ages 7 to 12, who live in some of the most marginalized communities on earth.

JULY 2011

Rima Abou Chakra shows Jerusalem Fund Gallery visitors project Lahza photos.

now also provides lessons to 14- to 18-year-old Lahza alumni, to purchase the book Lahza, or for information on how to donate to Zakira, as well as upcoming exhibition information, contact <info@zakira.org> or visit <www.zakira.org>.

—Delinda C. Hanley

Adib Fattal Exhibits in DC

Syrian artist Adib Fattal’s month-long exhibit at the Jerusalem Fund Gallery in Washington, DC opened with a reception on April 15.

Fattal colorfully depicts people, architecture and nature in an intricate mosaic of color. His “primitive folk art“ interpretations of life include city scenes, village fes-

PHOTO COURTESY JERUSALEM FUND

Twenty of the children’s photos, chosen from thousands they took, were on display from March 11 to April 8 at the Jerusalem Fund Gallery in Washington, DC. Rima Abou Chakra, project coordinator of Zakira (Memory in Arabic), an all-volunteer NGO born out of the first project, talked about the children, their ongoing photography workshops, and the book Lahza, proceeds from which fund Zakira projects.

Some of the children’s photos are poignant, truthful, others frankly joyful or just plain fun— and each picture is worth a thousand words. One boy took a photo of his friend Mohamed El-Hajj Hassan, 12, who lost his legs due to an Israeli cluster bomb, sitting in his wheelchair. Lahza volunteers found Mohamed in Rashidiyeh refugee camp near Sur and gave him a camera, and he is “Dreaming of Jerusalem” by Adib Fattal. now on his way to becoming a successful photographer. (Zakira teamed up tivals, goat and rabbit races. The son of a with a German children’s NGO, the Peace Syrian diplomat, Fattal was born in Washfor Children, and the General Palestinian ington, DC and now lives on a farm in Women’s Union to fit Mohamed with pros- Syria at the foot of Mount Hermon. thetic legs.)

For more information visit <www.adibSix-year-old Diana Hassan al-Arid, who fattal.com> or <www.thejerusalemfund. lied about her age in order to be in the pro- org>.

—Delinda C. Hanley ject, took a picture of a horse in the Rashidiyeh camp. Louay Abdel Hadi, 12, Hassan Fedawy and the Egyptian from Shatila, captured joyful teenage boys Revolution jumping in a blue makeshift concrete swim- “I used my art to be part of this revoluming pool. tion,” Egyptian cartoonist Hassan Fedawy For these children caught up in an unfair told the Washington Report during a recent and horrific situation not of their own mak- visit to San Francisco, where his series of ing, this sort of empowerment is rare, Abou political cartoons were displayed in Chakra told her Jerusalem Fund Gallery au- “Breathed…Unsaid…,” a SOMArts Culdience. The camera gives them a sense of tural Center exhibition by Oakland-based control over their environment, a means of curator Katya Min. “You can see in my art expressing emotions, and a sense of cama- three main points: poverty spreading raderie. The minds and hearts of these everywhere, injustice, and nonsense, Palestinian children offer a unique form of which led me to my final revelation: that resistance and resilience. revolution is coming!”

For more information on Zakira, which Based in Alexandria, Egypt, where he JULY 2011

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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Egyptian cartoonist Hassan Fedawy. teaches theater and digital design at Alexandria University and is computer programs coordinator at the Arab Academy for Science and Technology, Fedawy has also been churning out daily political cartoons for Rose AlYusuf, Egypt’s long-running newspaper Part of the massive crowd in Cairo’s Tahrir Square during the days before and after President Hosni Mubarak resigned, Fedawy described his feelings during that historic time. “We felt we were in a pilgrimage— facing death, facing liberty and facing God,” he said. “It all came in one package. Being there and seeing that we were united with each other, we did not feel separate, we felt like one body.”

—Elaine Pasquini

Smithsonian Rings in 15th Year Of Iranian Film Festival Every Friday night this past February, the Meyer Auditorium in the Smithsonian’s Freer Sackler Gallery was filled nearly to capacity with an audience excited to see what this year’s Iranian Film Festival would bring. The newest releases out of Iran, screened on Sunday afternoons as well, featured comedy, drama, tension and art—but perhaps what they delivered most effectively was a taste of daily life in a country that is mysterious to the average American.

For the screening of the intense drama “My Tehran for Sale,” the film’s director, Granaz Moussavi, was on hand to introduce her debut work. Moussavi’s piece focuses on the struggles of Tehran’s artist community, especially women. Throughout the rest of the festival, the place of women in Iranian society was a common 57

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COURTESY OF <WWW.ASIA.SI.EDU>

her charismatic, TV personality hustheme. Two films in particular, band after he beats her, despite his “Bridge to Iran” and the stark many amusing attempts to convince “Salve,” touch on the particular her it was only a minor event. From stress that women face in one of the there we meet a beleaguered clergyworld’s oldest civilizations. man who maintains his faith after a “Bridge to Iran,” a gutsy documentrying day of people testing his tary that anchored the festival’s last moral fiber. Lastly, there is the hilarday, tells the story of women’s rights ious narrative of an elderly couple activists pressing the candidates of wracked with suspicion when a TV the 2009 Iranian presidential election repairman arrives to fix their televifor their stance on the issue of gender sion, which they force him to fix equality. The Coalition of Women’s through a security gate. Different Movement for the Presentation of Dethemes make their way through each mands for the Election issues a series story, with religion, family, and the of demands to the presidential candicity of Tehran playing the most obdates and then offers questions from vious roles. Underneath, however, women across the country. The rethere is just the slightest hint of opquests from the panel of lawyers, enpression and secrecy. Each scene betrepreneurs, and activists— gins behind a closed door, and the all Iranian women—seem simple. movie ends with a gate sliding Overall, they want leaders to commit closed behind the TV presenter and to ending discrimination against his bruised wife. The imagery sugwomen in both society and the legal gests that certain aspects of Iranian system, and to revise specific articles life remain closely guarded and reof the constitution to include the stricted. principle of gender equality.

Meanwhile Babak Jalali’s comedy The questions presented by the “Frontier Blues” is filled with the public strike a more emotional chord. quirky characters and painstakingly “What are your plans for creating crafted shots of a Wes Anderson jobs for women?” many ask. “What movie. In it we are introduced to the will you offer the woman who is a Turkmen version of Napoleon Dynamother and head of her household? mite, Hassan, who lives in the How will you change gender quotas steppes on the border of Iran and so women with equal or higher Turkmenistan. Hassan listens conscores than men will not be blocked from pursuing the career of their Scenes from (top to bottom) “Salve,” “Frontier Blues” tinuously to one French song from a cassette player that he carries around choice? How will you give women and “Please Do Not Disturb.” his neck. He carts his donkey rights in matters of divorce and child custody?” After viewing the documentary away—to her lazy grandson, whom she around wherever he goes, including the all of the candidates, save for one notable nags constantly about being too depen- chicken farm where he works. Our tour exception, respond to what they had seen. dent. It’s not hard to tell why no one wants guide on our aimless trip through the Many of the candidates dance around the to be around her. The other grandmother, steppes is a Turkmen musician who has issue of women, claiming it has more to do Aziz, clings desperately to her troubled been commissioned by an Iranian photogwith culture than government. Others rec- granddaughter, Maryam, who runs from rapher to help him find “authentic” scenes ognize the scope of the problem, that it in- her abusive father to live with her drug- of life on the border. This results in a series volves more than just changing a law, but dealing boyfriend. The comedy of the el- of fabricated photo shoots to provide “city cannot offer a unified way of dealing with derly Aziz fumbling with cell phones and folk” with the perception they want to shady drug deals gives way to the scary have of what frontier life is like. Meanit.

The filmmakers felt that using the elec- predicaments that confront Maryam when while, one of Hassan’s co-workers at the tion as the stage for their demands would she is left without the protection of her chicken farm has dreams of leaving counhelp their message reach the ears of the grandmother. The story of the two grand- try life for the big city, and listens to Enggovernment and the greater public, even mothers converges when Maryam is grate- lish-language tapes on his lunch break. His though the winning candidate was the fully reunited with her grandmother by dreams devastate his provincial father, only one not to participate. It did—and her cousin, the lazy grandson, proving the who without his son would lead a very many of the women featured in the movie strength of family that exists between the solitary life. Though at times slow-moving, “Frontier Blues,” paints a scenic and women. are now in prison.

Other movies like “Please Do Not Dis- melancholy portrait of rural life.

Alireza Davoodnejad’s “Salve” peers beFor more information about the Iranian hind the folds of a chador to tell the story turb” and “Frontier Blues” focus on the of two matriarchs trying to reconnect with humor and idiosyncrasies of daily Iranian Film Festival and other upcoming events, their wayward grandchildren. One grand- life. The former, by Mohsen Abdolvahab, visit the Freer and Sackler Galleries Web site mother bemoans her children’s indepen- weaves three stories together in little vi- at <www.asia.si.edu/events/default.asp>.

—Alex Begley dence—the fact that they all live far gnettes. In one, a woman decides to leave 58

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JULY 2011

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UDC Enjoys a Taste of Algerian Culture

“Bhutto” Screened in Washington, DC Community Cinema presented a special April 9 screening of “Bhutto” at Busboys and Poets in Washington, DC. This documentary about Pakistan’s former prime minister is being broadcast on PBS stations nationwide starting in May as part of the “Independent Lens” series.

Directed by Duane Baughman, “Bhutto” depicts the first Muslim woman elected to JULY 2011

POSTER COURTESY COMMUNITY CINEMA

STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY

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Times reporters who charge her with presiding over a “House of Graft.” Still, as the movie tagline says, “You Can’t Murder a From March 8 to April 15 the Legacy.” Perhaps the most hopeUniversity of the District of Coful message from the documenlumbia (UDC) hosted an exhibitary was one of its closing uption of photographs devoted to a dates noting that Prime Minister recent Pan-African Festival Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani could (PANAF) held in Algiers in July become the first civilian leader 2009. Forty years earlier Algeria of Pakistan to finish his term. had also hosted this largest The audience seemed imAfrican cultural event, and that Satellite dishes festoon balconies of an apartment in Algiers. pressed enough by the film to prior celebration was also feaoverlook the minor upsets that tured in the UDC exhibit. occurred afterward. The hosts Each year musicians, designers announced that producer Mark and visual and theater artists Siegel had a scheduling conflict from each of Africa’s 53 countries and would not be present for the gather somewhere on the African discussion as planned. When continent—or sometimes in the the organizers suggested that auAfrican Diaspora—to take part in dience members familiar with this important festival. Nearly Pakistan might like to comment, two years ago Algiers was briefly a show of hands revealed that transformed into the continent’s for the majority of people preculture capital, and hundreds of sent this was the first time they thousands of people gathered there to celebrate Africa’s artistic (L-r) Algeria’s Ambassador Abdallah Baali, UDC’s Denis G. An- had ever heard the details of Bhutto’s life and death. While it renaissance. toine and curator Lydie Diakhate. was a little surprising, perhaps it The UDC photo exhibit, curated by Lydie Diakhate, offered visitors a lead an Islamic nation. Starting with her also suggests that recent developments are tour through this annual African carnival, childhood and ending with her assassina- encouraging more people to take an interas well as a glimpse of the architectural her- tion in 2007, it depicts a life full of para- est in the region. Caroline Slobodzian, itage of Algiers—from a marketplace full of doxes, from being a daughter of privilege president of the U.S. National Committee exotic wares to an apartment house whose to nearly dying in prison, and promoting for UN Women, National Capital Chapter, every balcony is festooned with satellite democratic elections and social reforms did step up and provide interesting indishes. while being accused of extensive corrup- sights on understanding “Bhutto” in the UDC is located in a unique Washington, tion. Given the close friendship between context of the “Women and Girls InitiaDC neighborhood full of embassies and in- Bhutto and some of the film’s principals, it tive” in this season’s Community Cinema ternational businesses. Students and faculty was interesting to see the significant time programming.

This event was one of a series of screenenjoyed Algerian delicacies at the opening allotted to her critics, including New York ings of “Bhutto” in Washington, DC and reception, and watched a video documennationwide by Community Cinema, a natary featuring Kathleen Cleaver, who remitional public education and civic engagenisces about the Black Panthers in Algiers in ment initiative featuring free monthly 1969. screenings of “Independent Lens” films in Algeria’s Ambassador Abdallah Baali gave more than 90 cities. Additional showings brief remarks, as did Denis G. Antoine, included an event at the Carnegie EndowUDC’s ambassador-at-large at the Office of ment for International Peace on April 18 International Programs and Exchange with Pakistan Ambassador Husain (OIPE). The Algerian Ministry of Culture Haqqani. Check local listings to see when and the Algerian Embassy in Washington, “Bhutto” will air on individual PBS staDC sponsored the UDC exhibit. tions.

—Anne O’Rourke —Delinda Hanley

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Waging Peace Salman Abu Sitta: Mapping the Historical Geography of Palestine As part of a one-week American tour to promote his recently released Atlas of Palestine, Dr. Salman Abu Sitta spoke at the Palestine Center in Washington, DC on April 28 about “Mapping Palestine for Its 59

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Dr. Salman Abu Sitta describes Israel’s efforts to erase Palestinian history.

Survival and Destruction.” The founder and president of the London-based Palestine Land Society began by noting that maps have been used as “an instrument of colonial power to show conquest and domination.” Indeed, at the 1919 Versailles Conference following World War I, the Zionist delegation produced maps labeling much of Palestine as “grazing lands for nomads” in order to bolster its case that Palestine was “a land without people for a people without land.” “This forgery and deception is still going on today,” Abu Sitta emphasized.

He proceeded to show a map depicting the wells, springs and water resources of Palestine that had supported its inhabitants for centuries. “It is not a desert,” he pointed out, “and it is not without people.”

Describing Zionism’s objectives as to occupy and confiscate land; expel and dispossess the non-Jewish population; and erase any memory, records and trace of Palestine from history, Abu Sitta explained that it is this last objective the Atlas is intended to counter. “I bet Ben-Gurion is turning over in his grave when he sees the Atlas,” its author commented.

Its maps depict not only the geography of Palestine, but the movements and actions of Palestinian civilians and attacking Jewish militias. During the Nakba, the latter expelled half of all the Palestinian refugees before Israel was established on May 15, 1948—in other words, Abu Sitta elaborated, before any Arab soldier set foot in Palestine. The remainder were expelled in the following months. Moreover, a graph comparing periods of military operations and truces revealed that Palestinians fled only when Jewish militias were carrying out massacres and military operations.

When a truce was in effect, Palestinians remained in their hometowns and villages. In 60

other words, Abu Sitta concluded, “They did not leave of their own free will.”

Jewish militias would surround a Palestinian village on three sides, he explained, leaving a route by which the soon-to-be refugees could flee. Depending on the location of the village, the escape route led north to Syria and Lebanon, west to Jordan and the West Bank, or south to Gaza.

When it was over, 675 villages had been emptied of life and 602 refugee camps created, and a Jewish population that controlled 11 percent of the land on May 14, 1948 now controlled 78 percent.

In its determination to erase any trace of Palestinian history, the new state of Israel proceeded to draw maps with Hebraic rather than Arabic names, and established the Archeological Survey of Israel to ensure that all non-Jewish remnants were destroyed. However, a book written in 313 by the Bishop of Caesarea and discoverd in London was found to contain the names of all Palestinian villages and towns of the time. When compared with a Palestine Mandate map, all those villages were still there. Israel had destroyed 159 of them, many 2,000 years old and now “lost forever,” Abu Sitta noted. “Where is UNESCO about that?” he asked.

The database Abu Sitta has compiled contains the name of every Palestinian village—the Atlas contains 40,000 names of villages, historical sites, etc.—its residents, buildings, and land ownerships, and where its refugees live today, the vast majority within 100 kilometers of their homes. Similary, he explained, “We also know everything about 1,200 Israeli towns, and where their residents come from.”

Not only do 84 percent of Israeli Jews live in just 17 percent of Israel, he noted, but the number of rural Jews who live in southern Israel is smaller than the population of one refugee camp in Gaza—which is so crowded today because the residents of 247 Palestinian villages were forced to flee there.

“We, of course, always plan for our return home,” Abu Sitta stated. “We want to defy the dispossession.”

For more information on the Palestine Land Society, or to order the Atlas of Paletine visit <www.plands.org>. A video of Dr. Abu Sitta’s riveting talk can be viewed at <www.thejerusalemfund.org>.

—Janet McMahon

When Settlers Attack The Palestine Center in Washington, DC held a must-see presentation April 19 entiTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

tled: “When Settlers Attack: A Consistent and Systematic Symptom of Occupation,” by its executive director, Yousef Munayyer. He began by describing the mainstream media’s bias when it comes to settlers. On March 11, he noted, a Jewish family was gruesomely murdered in the illegal West Bank settlement of Itamar. American mainstream media covered the attack in great detail and, Munayyer said, the details they provided usually went like this: “The attacks shattered a relative calm in recent months. The last incident was on Aug. 4, when four settlers were killed in a driveby shooting.”

Actually, Munayyer pointed out, in that period of so-called “relative calm” between these two attacks on settlers, IDF forces killed more than 40 Palestinians and there were more than 300 instances of settler violence “which left 85 Palestinian civilians injured and four dead, and plenty of property damaged as well. This included over 26 acts of arson, 59 acts of destruction of property, 32 physical assaults, 20 shootings, 60 acts of stone-throwing, 23 instances of theft and 10 instances of vehicular attacks where settlers mowed down Palestinian civilians,” including, 5-, 11and 85-year-old victims. “All of this we are told is ‘relative calm.’ So, the motive behind this presentation,” Munayyer explained, “is to highlight and underscore the daily acts of violence that come along with occupation that we do not hear about.

This is not simply violence against Palestinians perpetrated by the occupation forces; this is by settlers, who are supposed to be civilians.”

He went on to discuss “how and why this violence takes place and the magnitude to which it affects Palestinian lives.”

Munayyer examined the period from Sept. 1, 2004 through Feb. 28, 2011, and coded daily reports from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Negotiations Support Unit to analyze approximately 3,000 events: the kinds of attacks, where attacks occurred, and from which settlements the perpetrators came.

He discovered that settlers from twothirds of West Bank settlements—Orthodox, secular, or mixed—are involved in attacks. Hebron heads his list of the 10 most dangerous spots, with 500 attacks on Palestinians by settlers living in Hebron, but other settlements concentrate on destroying Palestinian property, including olive trees or livestock, in Nablus, Qalqiliya or Salfeit.

Vehicular attacks are increasing, Munayyer said, and showed a tape of an atJULY 2011

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Yousef Munayyer gives a superb presentation on settler violence. tack on Palestinian youths caught on film last fall in East Jerusalem. Arson attacks are also increasing, he added, referring to a map of the geographic distribution of events.

The media inform us that “settler violence happens as a reaction to certain things,” he noted, or so-called “price-tag” events, “where settlers say to the Israeli government, ‘If you’re going to try to remove any of our houses, we’re going to respond by attacking Palestinian civilians and their property.’”

But that is an over-simplifiction, he argued: “Israeli settler violence is a byproduct of occupation and when we look at where this settler violence is in fact taking place, and how often it is taking place, we can see that it has a lot less to do with simply being reactive to this or that, but really is something that is endemic of a system.”

Israeli settlers attack mostly within Area C, where Israel has security jurisdiction under Oslo, where they are protected and won’t be held responsible by the army or police, Munayyer noted, adding that 50 percent of the attacks are perpetrated by settlers in only 10 settlements. Moreover, he said, there has been a “very strong, noticeable increase in Israeli settler violence over the past five years—and, mind you, 2011 is on pace to beat 2010.

“Settler violence is actually a product of occupation,” he concluded. “It’s a product of the system which privileges, by law, certain people over others, and permits them to get away with attacking certain people while making sure that any violence perpetrated by Palestinians is punished quite harshly.”

For more information, transcripts or to watch a podcast of Munayyer’s presentation, visit <www.thejerusalemfund.org>.

—Delinda C. Hanley JULY 2011

been taught in Hebrew school after Operation Cast Lead. When an Israeli border policeman fired a tear gas canister at her face on May 31 of last year, during a peaceful protest at Qalandiya checkpoint to protest Israel’s assault the previous day on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, she no longer questioned. She said she accepts that she will get no financial support or recognition for her injury, and expects her formal complaints to be filed as an accident.

With 2,969 unarmed, civilian fatalities between 2000 and 2009, Ruebner believes that the amount of money being sent, and the amount of arms being supplied, should be scrutinized. For more information visit <http://imeu.net/>, <www.aidtoisrael. org>, and <www.weaponstoisrael.org>.

—Alex Begley

The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) held an April 14 press briefing to announce the launch of a new site that would highlight U.S. aid to Israel and what effect U.S.-made and -donated weapons have had on Palestinians and American citizens in the region. The site, <www. weaponstoisrael.org>, is helmed by Josh Ruebner, a former analyst for Middle East affairs at the Congressional Research Service and now the national advocacy director for the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. He was joined in the briefing

by Emily Henochowicz, an American who lost an eye during what should have been a nonviolent protest in the West Bank, and Amer Shurrab, a Palestinian who was attending college in the United States when Iowans Walk for Peace on Palm both of his brothers were killed by Israeli Sunday soldiers.

More than 150 Iowans gathered in Des Just days before Americans filed their Moines on the west side of their state capitax returns amid the threat of a govern- tol on Palm Sunday, April 17, to walk for ment shutdown, Reubner launched the ex- peace. Once again, as in years past, the protensive database to give taxpayers some in- cession was led by a small donkey. sight into just how much of their money is “We’ve been doing this since the first spent on weapons sent to Israeli soldiers. Palm Sunday after the Iraq war began,” exThe site documents government spending plained Carmen Lampe-Zeitler, a represenin relation to the Israeli army between tative of the Des Moines Area Ecumenical 2000 and 2009, with the total reaching Committee for Peace (DMAECP). “The $24.099 billion in foreign military financ- point of the procession is that we believe ing. According to the site, about $18 bil- Jesus would have us do whatever we can lion of this accounts for around to make peace in the world. On Palm Sun670,903,390 “weapons and related mater- day, he began his last stand against ‘the ial.” Another site, <www.aidtoisrael.org>, powers that be’ and he did that not as a uses an interactive map to pinpoint how soldier coming in, not as the military commuch money is being sent to Israel on the ing in, but humbly, on a donkey,” state, congressional district, county and Bob Brammer, a former spokesperson for city levels. This site notes that from 2009 the Iowa attorney general’s office, said, to 2018 the U.S. has budgeted $30 billion “I’m here because I think resorting to war in military aid to Israel. does not work. I think it’s bad politics, and The briefing sought to drive home the most of all it’s bad for human life. It moves message by playing on the intense emotions us in the wrong direction. We have to find surrounding the greater conflict. Shurrab’s alternatives,” he added. “We’ve caused voice cracked as he told the heartbreaking enormous disasters already, and our warstory of his father watching Shurrab’s two brothers bleed to death after Israeli soldiers fired at them and then refused to send any kind of medical aid.

Shurrab has not been able to return home due to the closure of Gaza.

Henochowicz, an art student at Cooper Union in Manhattan who was then studying animation in Jerusalem, began to Des Moines’ annual Palm Sunday Peace Procession was led by a question what she had small donkey.

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New Database Tracks U.S. Manufactured Weapons, Money to Israel

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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like approach to every crisis is only making things worse.” Brammer noted that the economic crisis may have a silver lining if it persuades Americans that war no longer is affordable.

The event attracted a diverse group of participants, young and old, from a variety of backgrounds. “I am so tired of wars and hate, and I think this is something I can do to support peace,” said Bengu Tekinalp, a Drake University professor, who is originally from Turkey.

“I come here every year to walk in this procession,” said Vern Naffier, a board member and former chair of the Progressive Coalition of Central Iowa.

“We want to see peace in the world, and we need to speak up for it. I’m a person of faith, and I believe that God wills peace for his world and for his people,” said Naffier.

“We [Americans] are the world’s biggest weapons manufacturer,” he added. “We outdo everybody else all together, and that isn’t right. We’re the only nation that has military bases all over the world. We’re spending a lot of money on that when we should be building up our own country.”

America’s enormous weapons industry and war machine are a problem, Naffier continued. “Unfortunately, it provides employment for a lot of Americans, but it’s not the right kind of employment,” he argued. “We need to re-deploy our resources for peaceful uses.”

“I think it’s very important to have a presence, especially on Palm Sunday, for peace throughout the world,” said Janet Rosenbury.

“Too many lives are lost; too much money is spent on war. That money could be put toward helping the poor and other problems,” said Rosenbury, a member of Plymouth Congregational Church.

—Michael Gillespie

World Press Freedom Day

PHOTO COURTESY UNESCO

More than 800 journalists, new media innovators, policymakers and free expression advocates from around the world came to Washington, DC to celebrate World Press

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.

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Freedom Day 2011. On May 3, at the conclusion of the three-day conference, Irina Bokova, director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) briefed reporters at the U.N. Foundation office in Washington. She has called on “all governments,” she said, “to uphold their commitments in protecting and promoting freedom of expression and freedom of the press, which are the foundations of all democratic societies.” The director-general expressed deep concern over recurring attacks on journalists, as well as on citizen journalists who reported on conflicts and social movements in the Middle East and North Africa, especially Bahrain, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen. Bokova said she was particularly concerned about reports that journalists covering anti-government protests have been arrested, gone missing, and been subjected to intimidation, threats and physical violence.

Imprisoned Iranian journalist Ahmad Zeidabadi was awarded the 2011 UNESCO/ Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. “Silencing the media or attempting to intimidate them is an unacceptable assault on the right of citizens to be informed,” stated the director-general. “I call on all countries in the world to respect the right to free expression, as laid down in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the right to freedom of information.”

One reporter asked Bokova about the future of Internet sites such as WikiLeaks and if she thought the U.S. government might try to arrest its founder, Julian Assange (who was awarded the Sydney Peace Medal on May 10 at a ceremony at the Frontline Club in central London). There should be a public debate on it, Bokova said, adding that she was in favor of access to information and of citizens being informed. “Both conservatives and liberals are politicizing this,” she opined.

Bokova also discussed UNESCO’s involvement in the promotion of literacy, especially girls’ education, which especially suffers during wartime. UNESCO also works to protect the world’s heritage and to prevent the trafficking of cultural or archeological artifacts, especially during the recent unrest in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.

—Delinda C. Hanley

Fatah-Hamas Reconciliation, On May 5, the day after Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation deal, the Middle East Institute and the Foundation for Middle East Peace in Washington, DC coTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY

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Ziad Abu Zayyad said that Palestinians no longer trust an American-led peace process. hosted veteran journalist Ziad Abu Zayyad, the co-founder and editor of the Palestine/Israel Journal, launched in 1994. Abu Zayyad, who was elected as a member of the Palestinian National Council from Jerusalem and also served as minister of state in the Palestinian National Authority, discussed the rapprochement between Fatah and Hamas, as well as the main challenges facing the U.S.-Palestinian bilateral relationship.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshal has stated that his organization is now committed to seeking a two-state solution—a Palestinian state within the 1967 lines with Jerusalem as its capital—and also supports the right of return of Palestinian refugees to Israel itself.

Hamas has evolved away from its own political platform, Abu Zayyad explained, just as the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) eventually did. Hamas is now acting as “frontier guards” for Israel, preventing more radical groups from launching rocket attacks on Israel and other unproductive forms of resistance.

He reminded listeners that the “unity” agreement originally was an Egyptian proposal accepted by Fatah in 2009, but rejected by Hamas. The Arab Spring increased both Egyptian and Palestinian pressure on Hamas, as did uncertainties regarding continued Syrian support, which together made Hamas more interested in attaining international legitimacy, Abu Zayyad said. Some details of the agreement need to be worked out, including decisions on security forces, but at least there will be a joint mechanism in which issues can be discussed and resolved.

Finally Palestinians can have a unified government to work on peace initiatives, Abu Zayyad pointed out. Israel has exploited the period of Palestinian division to intensify settlement activity without facing serious international pushback. Unity JULY 2011

will be helpful in the Palestinian effort to gain U.N. membership in September.

Asked if the U.S. should put forward a detailed peace proposal, Abu Zayyad replied the Palestinians no longer trust Washington, especially after its veto of the recent U.N. Security Council resolution on settlements that was consistent with U.S. policy.

To view a podcast of the event, visit <www.mei.edu>. —Delinda C. Hanley

The Fight for Egypt’s Soul

STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY

Speaking at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC on April 21, Dr. Mona Makram-Ebeid, a former member of Egypt’s parliament and a Coptic Christian who teaches at the American University in Cairo, analyzed the current situation in Egypt and expectations for upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections. She lived for eight days in Tahir Square, she recalled, “transfixed like all of you by the heroic and inspiring sights.” As protesters “lay claim to universal rights, dignity, justice, freedom and human rights for all,” she said she was privileged to have had them elect her as a member of the trustees of the revolution.

Copts steadfastly demanded their rights and participated in Tahir Square, protecting Muslims who were praying and saying “Amen.” There were no religious slogans, just congeniality and fraternity, she said, reminding her audience that this was only weeks after a church burning.

Dr. Makram-Ebeid charged that the Mubarak regime had long used the Muslim Brotherhood as the bogeyman. Citizens were warned that their only choices were between the regime’s autocratic corruption or a theocratic movement with the potential of violence and extremism. She challenged Egypt’s government to incorporate the Brotherhood into the political arena.

Most Egyptians believe there is a moderate Muslim alternative, similar to the Turkish or Indonesian models, Makram-

Dr. Mona Makram-Ebeid.

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(L-r) Moderator David Bornstein, May Kolba, Mirette Bahgat and Sally Salem.

Ebeid said. They don’t want clerics to rule or women to become second-class citizens.

The real model will be home-grown, she promised. Egyptians also want to limit the powers of the executive government, or “we’ll have another pharaoh.” She warned that there is a “long and rocky road ahead” because there has been no democratic institution-building in the past 30 years.

As for Egypt’s peace agreement with Israel, Makram-Ebeid noted that “Egypt has never broken any international covenant with Israel and we won’t now. Youths anywhere don’t want to go to war. They just want their countries to go foward.” Of course, she added, Egypt wants Israel to respect Palestinian human rights.

From the United States, Makram-Ebeid said Egyptians need moral support and economic assistance, including debt forgiveness or renegotiation, American investment and tourism. They need help to retrieve stolen Egyptian assets and Americans can also provide assistance to the prodemocracy movement. Makram-Ebeid concluded by saying Egyptian Americans can also help. “They’ve had the opportunity to train here. We need their participation to build the new Egypt.”—Delinda C. Hanley

Road to Democracy: Reflections on The Egyptian Revolutions Mirette Bahgat, May Kolba and Sally Salem, three Egyptian Atlas Corps fellows who not only participated in making history in Egypt, but helped shape it, spoke about their nation’s “Arab Spring” at the Case Foundation in Washington, DC on April 21. Atlas Corps, “a reverse Peace Corps” that brings the world’s best nonprofit leaders to work and train at nonprofits in the United States, co-hosted the event with Civic Enterprises and National Conference on Citizenship.

As participants in the Egyptian Revolution, their perspectives were unique. Salem said she was at first cynical that real THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

change would occur from protests. She expected teargas and chaos but when she marched in the streets she discovered a sense of belonging and an “amazing spirit.” At the bridge she got separated from her friend, who was shot and wounded later.

Bahgat was also skeptical about revolution, she said, and felt traumatized by attacks in her neighborhood. By the second week of the protests, however, she slipped out of her house without telling her parents where she was headed. “It was euphoric, amazing” to be a Christian in Tahir Square,” Bahgat said. She passed through checkpoints formed by protesters to keep weapons out. She saw tents, children with their parents, singing, dancing, and distributing food and drinks, just like one big family. She was thrilled to see Coptic Christian priests leading people in singing national songs. In Tahrir Square different faiths and genders shared equal ground.

Everyone, even businessmen, got on the sound stage to share their dreams of a future Egypt.

Kolba, who described herself as a feminist Muslim activist, engaged the world on Facebook and Twitter, re-tweeting the revolution. When police started firing at people having fun, May said, “I felt enraged but kept tweeting. I wrote a poem, ‘The Day I Raged.’ I was so angry.” The government released prisoners—thugs—to make citizens so afraid they’d want stability to return. “I heard gunshots for the first time in my life,” Kolba said. “Men protected the streets in shifts.”

Each woman reflected on the debate between the generations—their parents were worried about their participation and feared that changes might not be for the good. The young may have led the uprising, Kolba said, but without the engagement, discussions and experience of the older generations it would have failed.

Today the interim government is more re63

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PHOTO BY DENNIS KAN, COURTESY THE ATLANTIC COUNCIL

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ternational Security and the sponsive to the voices of the Rafik Hariri Center for the Midpeople, media are becoming dle East. “These new initiatives more transparent and there are underscore our mission of reno Internet blackouts. On the newing the Atlantic Commuother hand, Salem noted, Egypt nity to tackle the most crucial is still in a state of flux. The figlobal issues of our times,” said nancial and tourist sectors have former Sen. Chuck Hagel, Atbeen hit hard. As for corruplantic Council chairman. tion, the first layer may be out, The Scowcroft Center, named but the next layers down are not.

Marwan Muasher, Masood Ahmed, Michele Dunne and Uri Dadush. for the two-time national security adviser, will focus on inter“Egypt has freedom of speech now and everyone is talking,” Egypt, which is the lynchpin in the Middle national security issues. Gen. James L. Kolba said. She emphasized this was an up- East and North Africa, Dunne added: “If Jones, President Barack Obama’s former rising, not a revolution, and warned that the economy is good enough to not under- national security adviser and former Egyptians must continue to stay united as mine political reform, it will have a big ef- Supreme Allied Commander Europe, will they peacefully transition to democracy, or fect on the region. If it fails, it will be hard serve as the Scowcroft Center’s founding to see a democratic transition in the Arab chairman. they’ll fail.

The Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle “Egypt is not a poor country,” she con- world.”

Ahmed, former director of the IMF’s ex- East, named for the Lebanese prime miniscluded. “It’s rich in history and resources.

The problem is Egyptians have been ternal relations department and now direc- ter who was assassinated in 2005, will robbed thoughout history. Today I feel tor of Carnegie’s Middle East and Central work to “promote innovative policies to ownership. I feel part of my country and Asia department, addressed the fragile state advance economic and political liberalizaof the economies in the countries in turmoil. tion, sustainable conflict resolution, and proud to be Egyptian.”

—Delinda C. Hanley With oil prices soaring, he noted, the oil-ex- greater regional and international integraporting countries are showing growth tion.” Bahaa Hariri, the prime minister’s elEconomic Reform Needed in Order across the board, despite increased spend- dest son, a business leader and the foundTo Bring Stability to the Middle East ing to keep people happy. In oil-importing ing sponsor of the center, said, “The future On May 9 the Carnegie Endowment for countries, however, food prices are going of our region is greater convergence with Peace in Washington, DC hosted a standing- up, tourism is slowing, the cost of borrow- the United States, Europe and Russia, not room-only panel discussion on “The Eco- ing is rising, and these countries are “buy- divergence, and we believe the Hariri Center can find practical ways to advance that nomic and Political Outlook for the Middle ing peace through spending.”

Ahmed said he has not seen enough seri- vision.”

East in Turmoil.” Uri Dadush, a senior assoKeynote speaker Vice President Joe ciate in Carnegie’s International Economics ous discussion about creating real jobs—the program, steered the discussion among pan- kinds of jobs that the January demonstra- Biden praised the “brave professionals who elists Marwan Muasher, Michele Dunne tors in Tahrir Square wanted. Nor did he tracked and killed Osama bin Laden,“ debelieve that the oil-exporting countries claring that “the world is a safer place and Masood Ahmed.

Muasher, former foreign minister and should be exempt from these reforms. In- today, not only for the American people, deputy prime minister of Jordan, began by stead, he said, oil exporters need to stay but for all people.” Biden also marvelled addressing the necessity for economic re- ahead of the discussion by forming a plan that while planning took several months form in the Middle East and how the pub- now for future job creation when countries and there were as many as 16 members of lic would no longer agree to support “top- like Egypt and Tunisia finally implement Congress who were briefed on the mission, down” reform. Instead, he suggested more some reform. Muasher agreed, warning that “not a single solitary thing leaked. I find inclusive tactics that would allow the peo- it creates a “false sense of security” if the that absolutely amazing.”

The Atlantic Council presented awards ple to be involved in political and economic countries don’t feel the need to reform poreform, erasing the skepticism that set in litically because money is coming in.

All three panelists agreed that it is time to during and after the popular revolutions earlier this year. Dunne, former State De- stop favoring stability over democracy, and partment specialist on the Middle East, to stop supporting the status quo, which agreed with Muasher, commenting on the has become a common grievance in Middle sense of disillusionment that seemed preva- East policy of late. “Arab governments need lent on her most recent trip to Egypt. Ac- to be serious about reform,” Muasher concording to Dunne, a member of the Muslim cluded, “and the international community Brotherhood she spoke with insisted that, needs to be serious about what reform is.”

—Alex Begley although Egypt needed direct foreign investment to thrive, it would have to be investment on behalf of the country’s interests Biden Headlines Atlantic Council’s only, not the investor’s. This unrealistic ap- 50th Anniversary Dinner proach to business is not the kind of eco- The Atlantic Council announced two new nomic reform needed to bring stability to initiatives on May 3 at its 50th anniversary the region, Dunne argued. dinner at Washington, DC’s Ritz Carlton Muhtar Kent, chairman of the board and The stakes are particularly high for Hotel: the Brent Scowcroft Center on In- CEO of The Coca-Cola Company.

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THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

JULY 2011

to Admiral Jim Stavridis, Supreme Allied Commander Europe; tenor and opera director Plàcido Domingo; and Coca-Cola chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent, the son of a Turkish diplomat.

As he accepted his award, Kent noted that Coca-Cola is celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2011, and that “we’ve learned a couple of things over the past centuryand-a-quarter...the most important...is that when you are a global enterprise operating in a complex multinational environment, you need all the partnership, all the cooperation and also all the multilateral help that you can get.”

In addition to guarding its secret recipe and marketing its famous beverage, CocaCola focuses on water conservation, recycling innovations, climate change initiatives and community development programs across the world. Kent said he is especially interested in empowering women, developing education—and especially in inspiring an entrepreneurial spirit. CocaCola is the world’s fourth-largest private employer, with 700,000 employees spread across 206 nations, Kent concluded—“and they are the true recipients of this award.”

—Delinda C. Hanley

Interfaith Alliance of Iowa Explores Anti-Muslim Bigotry Crossroads, the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa’s monthly lunch and discussion event, featured Prof. Todd Green of Luther College on April 15. Green, who teaches courses on European and American religious history, discussed recent conflicts over mosques and minarets in the U.S. and Europe, and the underlying causes of such controversies.

“It is difficult in this country, and across the Atlantic in Europe as well, to have a calm, rational, civil conversation about Islam,” he said, particularly when it comes to mosques, minarets, and the conflict over the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero in New York City. When that last conflict emerged last year, noted Green, it was pretty clear that “this was not a conflict over a building. It was first and foremost a conflict over a religion, and the place of that religion in the West. It’s a conflict over a religion that many in the West still don’t quite trust or understand,” Green told an audience of about 60 who had gathered in Waveland Hall at Plymouth Congregational Church.

He went on to give a brief history of the development of the conflict over what became known as the Ground Zero Mosque and compare that conflict with similar conJULY 2011

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Prof. Todd Green of Luther College speaks at the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa’s Crossroads lunch. troversies in Europe. Although Muslims have been worshiping in Europe for decades, he pointed out, it was when their numbers increased, and they began to build mosques and became more visible, that controversy arose.

“Similarly, in the United States, it’s not like in the past decade we now suddenly have Muslims worshiping in America. But we have the increasing visibility of Islam as mosques are being built,” said Green, who noted that in some European countries the controversy has shifted to minarets.

Tall minarets are visible, Green said, and there is a fear that one day the call to prayer in Arabic will be broadcast from minarets in the West. In Switzerland a recently adopted law prohibits the building of minarets although there are only four such towers in the entire country, while France has new legislation banning the wearing in public of the burqa, a woman’s loose body-covering that includes the head-covering, hijab, and the face-veil.

“The diversity of political and legal approaches to religious liberty in Europe make it more possible in some European countries to restrict freedom of religion in a way that the First Amendment in the United States makes very difficult,” Green noted.

In New York, the debate quickly shifted away from whether Muslims have a right to build an Islamic center there. “Even the greatest opponents said, ‘OK, Muslims have a right to do this.’ The First Amendment trumped that. The argument had to take on a different tone, a different angle,” said Green.

“Those who are uncomfortable with Islam on both sides of the Atlantic tend to define Islam as inherently oppressive...and incapable of being reconciled with Western values and Western ideals,” he exTHE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

plained, pointing out that Europeans and Americans who are opposed to Islam and the building of mosques frequently attempt to portray Islam as not really being a religion.

Some American opponents of the mosque argued, “This is not a religion and we don’t need to be worried about being sensitive to another religious community because this is about a political movement.

This is about political conquest,” said Green.

In the case against minarets in Switzerland, the far-right Swiss Peoples Party, which led that campaign, often argued, “If you are worried about infringing upon the religious freedom of Muslims, don’t worry about it, this isn’t a religion…This is a political movement bent on conquering the West. Minarets, as one member of the party said, ‘are like flags that generals plant in the ground when they have conquered territory,’” Green said.

By transforming Islam from a religion to a political movement in public discourse, opponents of Islam seek to make it acceptable for Westerners to put aside their own traditions of pluralism and tolerance and their longstanding commitment to religious freedom, according to Green.

He also addressed Muslim leaders’ inability to be heard in the West, citing obstacles presented by Western media outlets and the reluctance of some Muslims leaders to speak publicly about controversial issues.

During the question-and-answer period that followed, Green facilitated a wideranging discussion among his audience members, which included Christians, Muslims and Jews.

—Michael Gillespie

Pete Seeger Endorses BDS Folk music legend Pete Seeger, 92, has come out in support of the growing Palestinian movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. In an Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) press release dated Feb. 28, ICAHD coordinator Jeff Halper noted, “Pete did extensive research on this. He read historical and current material and spoke to neighbors, friends, and three rabbis before making his decision to support the boycott movement against Israel.”

Seeger has for some time given some of the royalties from his famous Bible-based song from the 1960s, “Turn, Turn, Turn,” to ICAHD for its work in rebuilding demolished homes. Seeger joins a growing group of international performers who have de65

Pete Seeger supports BDS. clined to whitewash Israel’s colonial project, including Elvis Costello, Gil Scott-Heron, Roger Waters, Devendra Banhart and the Pixies. Many Israeli artists have refused to perform in a new concert hall in Ariel, a large illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank.

—Reem Jordan

Diplomatic Doings Ambassador Joseph LeBaron Honored at NCUSAR Luncheon The National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations (NCUSAR) hosted an April 15 luncheon at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC to thank Joseph LeBaron, U.S. ambassador to Qatar, “for his service and dedication to the bilateral relationship between the U.S. and the State of Qatar.”

Before joining the foreign service in 1980, LeBaron studied Arabic and Middle Eastern affairs at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and was a doctoral research fellow at the University of Khartoum. He earned his Ph.D. in Near Eastern studies at Princeton University and speaks Turkish, Persian and French, in addition to Arabic.

Ambassador LeBaron gave his views on the nature of the current unrest in the Gulf.

The perspective of each American community living in the Gulf varies according to how they think, he noted. The business community thinks the problems are caused by unemployment, not the lack of political participation. The policy community, which works alongside different branches of governments, is torn between supporting old allies and the “pluralistic idealism embodied in American values.” The defense community looks at the impact on U.S. military operations in the region and the safety of U.S. forces. The community dealing with civil society—humanitarian and social organizations working in the region, as well as media—is focused on increasing civil space and facilitating debate.

Every Arab government will be tested by this wave of popular upheaval, LeBaron said, but predicted that Qatar will emerge as one of the region’s most stable and secure governments. Gradual reform is inevitable in Qatar, he opined, a nation the size of Connecticut with 250,000 citizens, but Qataris can already express grievances in an advisory council, the Majlis asShura, or to the ruling family. The nation is spending billions on infrastructure, hospitality services and information technology—in preparation for the 2022 World Cup—in addition to investing in education, health and food security. Qataris are taking part in this rapid growth.

For the past decade relations between Washington and Doha have been strained

by Qatar’s news network Al Jazeera’s coverage of the war in Iraq, LeBaron stated.

Recently, however, there has been a “sea change” as Americans finally grasped the role Al Jazeera has played in transforming the region. “This is a country that is punching above its weight,” LeBaron concluded, noting its role in peace negotiations in Lebanon, Palestine, Darfur and other countries. He described Qatar’s impact on foreign policy as a “very interesting story.”

—Delinda C. Hanley

PHOTO COURTESY NCUSAR

Moroccan Foreign Minister Discusses Arab Spring

U.S. Ambassador to Qatar Joseph LeBaron.

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Morocco’s Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri spoke to reporters at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on March 23, following his “very fruitful” meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the State Department. Fihri said they discussed the recent unrest in North Africa and the Middle East, and how Morocco’s decision to accelerate its reforms can help promote stability, security and democracy in the region. Secretary THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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PHOTO COURTESY TREEHUGGER.COM

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Morocco’s Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri.

Clinton also praised Morocco’s King Mohammed VI for advocating international efforts to protect civilians in Libya. Morocco, Fihri noted, is a member of the 22-nation coalition that met in Paris on March 19 to support international action to protect civilians in Libya. Morocco has sent a medical team to the Tunisian-Libyan border.

“There is real hope for the Arab Spring,” Fihri said, “but there are also many challenges and risks ahead.” His government welcomes a new vision for the Arab world as well as new mechanisms for dialogue. In addition, a coherent action plan to realize the success of transition governments will help avoid difficulties.

Clinton said Morocco is “well-positioned to lead” for democratic change during this “crucial moment in time for Morocco, the Maghreb, and the Middle East,” and she endorsed Morocco’s 2007 autonomy plan as a “serious, realistic and credible” approach to end the Western Sahara conflict.

In answer to a question from the Washington Report about the effect of neighborhood troubles on tourism in Morocco, Fihri replied, “Tourism is 8 percent of Morocco’s GDP...Morocco is an interesting destination, and tourism is a source of our identity.”

While Morocco doesn’t offer much in the way of oil or gas, he noted, the country promotes new and renewable energy, like solar and wind. “We are open to receive both tourists and investment,” Fihri concluded.

For more information, visit the Web site for the Moroccan American Center for Policy (MACP), <www.moroccanamericanpol icy.org>.

—Delinda C. Hanley JULY 2011

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Other People’s Mail Compiled by Kate Hilmy and Delinda C. Hanley Bin Laden Aftermath To The New York Times, May 9, 2011 Killing evil does not, indeed, make us evil, but could we not have reached this same end without leaving so many bodies strewn along the path to justice?

Measured intelligence and leadership from President Obama were key. Just as important were intelligence gathering in the field and synthesis of that knowledge. Finally, precision by a small team in carrying out the surgical strike enabled by that intelligence brought fruition to the 10-year manhunt.

One can only wonder, however, if after 9/11 we had focused exclusively on the criminal investigation—including the gathering, sharing and synthesis of information—could two wars, about 6,000 American deaths, over 30,000 casualties, and many more Afghan and Iraqi deaths have been avoided?

Did we really need to obliterate Afghanistan and Iraq to get the guy who committed mass murder on Sept. 11?

John E. Colbert, Chicago, IL

Mission Accomplished To the Los Angeles Times, May 9, 2011 Tom Hayden hit the nail on the head concerning the need to withdraw our military from Afghanistan and Iraq. Unlike President George W. Bush’s false alarm, the “mission” is now accomplished.

What exactly was the mission? I have always thought it was to get those responsible for the 9/11 attacks, not to wage war against the people of Afghanistan or Iraq, who are not a threat to our national security. With the death of Osama bin Laden and the capture of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, why is there a need to maintain this full-scale warfare?

The terrorism threat is something we need to learn to deal with. I totally support Hayden’s call for us to utilize our special forces units on an as-needed basis. Now is the time to focus on our domestic priorities and bring to a halt this waste of American lives and treasure.

Ira Landis, Ocean Hills, CA

9/11 Inspires Students To The New York Times, May 5, 2011 “9/11 Inspires Student Patriotism and Celebration” describes the response of young Americans to the death of Osama bin Laden as “punctuated by jubilant, if not jinJULY 2011

goistic, celebrations.” There was also a more subdued but equally notable reaction.

My generation’s childhood was shaped by 9/11, but many of us ardently resist allowing the violent policy it ushered in to define our adulthood. Rather than responding with jingoistic celebration, we were inspired to reflect on the degree to which our country’s relationship with the rest of the world has been defined by a decade of military conflict.

We were reminded of the work before us, as a generation burdened with the responsibility of repairing this damage. The celebrators on college campuses across the nation represent only a part of America’s youth. Those who did not take to the streets understand that recent events demand a very different form of patriotism.

Joshua Morse, Oberlin, OH (the writer is a student at Oberlin College)

Post Coverage of Death To The Washington Post, May 6, 2011 I was disturbed by Bradley Graham’s May 2 front-page description of Osama bin Laden as a man who “demonstrated the power and global reach of a terrorism campaign rooted in centuries-old Islamic beliefs and skilled in modern-day technology.”

While it is fair to say that bin Laden was skilled in the use of technology to spread his terrorist beliefs, to suggest that his sinister and bellicose beliefs can be traced or ascribed to foundations in Islam was unjust and potentially inflammatory. One can only hope that Graham’s statement did not represent the views of The Post, its readers or the public.

John Graham, Potomac, MD (the writer is unrelated to the author of the story cited)

Unarmed but Dangerous To The New York Times, May 4, 2011 The fact that Osama bin Laden was unarmed may be important symbolically.

Over recent years bin Laden projected the image of a dedicated terrorist leader, always carrying a rifle and living in caves.

Now it appears that for several years he had been living in expensive luxury, and even though he must have heard the gunfire in his courtyard and on the lower floors, when he finally appeared he was completely unarmed. This is diametrically opposed to the image he cultivated so carefully.

Surely the effect on many of his followers must be devastating and demoralizing.

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Maybe the circumstances of his end will do more to diminish al-Qaeda than his death alone.

Gardiner Tucker, Shelton, CT

A Trove of Information To The New York Times, May 4, 2011 What may turn out to be even more important than the powerful symbolism of Osama bin Laden’s death is the trove of documents that the commandos seized at bin Laden’s compound.

As his operations center, the compound probably contained records, hard drives and notebooks filled with information about al-Qaeda’s operatives and their whereabouts, bank accounts and so forth.

The Central Intelligence Agency may now have names and numbers with which it can dismember the organization after having cut its head off.

Clearly, that’s one of the reasons the United States went in with commandos as opposed to an airstrike. Apart from confirming bin Laden’s presence, we wanted his records.

Brilliant planning, brilliant execution!

Joe Wieder, Brooklyn, NY

“Enhanced Interrogation” To The Washington Post, May 7, 2011 The correct comparison, in judging George W. Bush’s use of torture, is to what would have happened without torture.

Many experts suggest that interrogation without torture yields more reliable information and does so more quickly.

So even if a shred of evidence came from “enhanced interrogation,” and even if we set aside the damage to the rule of law, we probably would have gotten more and better information without it. What an irony: By using waterboarding, it is possible that Bush administration officials inadvertently delayed the Osama bin Laden killing until the Obama administration.

Jeremy Pressman, West Hartford, CT

Preconditions for Peace To The Guardian, May 3, 2011 As soon as Hamas and Fatah appear to be on the verge of reconciliation, we get the same impossible demands on Hamas from the U.S. and Israel. How about some evenhandedness? How about the U.S. demanding Israel renounces violence and recognizes Palestine’s right to exist, within the 1967 borders? A suspension of military and 67

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other support for Israel until it does so would help, too. Then we might get a peace process worthy of the name, instead of the charade we’ve had for decades, the pretense of seeking peace, designed to allow Israel to carry on colonizing the occupied territories.

Richard Barnes, Windermere, Cumbria

Don’t Blame Holocaust To The Independent, April 26, 2011 One might have some respect for the views of Howard Jacobson, if he demonstrated awareness of the history of the state he so vigorously defends. He might, for instance, acknowledge the way in which Zionists planned to displace the existing population of Palestine decades before the Holocaust, as recorded in their own words.

Or the atrocities of Zionist terrorist gangs in both the pre- and post-Holocaust period—and the fact that two terrorist leaders (Begin and Shamir) later became prime ministers.

But no, he yet again portrays Israel’s critics as anti-Semites—and, more pathetically, condemns Peter Kosminsky as the archetypal self-hating Jew. Mike Parker, Wymondham, UK

Revoke My Citizenship, Please To Eli Yishai, Minister of the Interior, Jerusalem (condensed) I spent 18 years at the Ashkelon Prison, mostly under conditions of complete isolation. On April 21, 2004 I was released, under severe restrictions. Seven years have passed and the restrictions are renewed again and again, every year, on the basis of the 1945 Defense (Emergency) Regulations.

Now these restrictions are about to be renewed for yet another year.

Recently, on March 28, the Knesset passed a law authorizing the revocation of Israeli citizenship for those convicted of espionage and treason. I ask the State of Israel to revoke my citizenship.

In the Israeli media and on Israeli streets I am called the “Atomic Spy” and “Traitor”and “Enemy of the State.” I wish to exercise my rights and choose not to be a citizen of Israel. The time has come to let me leave Israel, after 25 years of imprisonment, a full quarter of a century!

Mordechai Vanunu, Tel Aviv, Israel

Burchill Wrong About Boycott To The Independent, May 10, 2011 Julie Burchill makes an offensive, unfounded and absurd analogy when she accuses human-rights campaigners picketing Ahava of “carrying on Hitler’s work.”

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The “little Ahava shop” in Covent Garden promises “beauty secrets from the Dead Sea.” The real secrets it keeps are an ugly truth—its products come from stolen Palestinian natural resources in occupied Palestinian territory, and are produced in the settlement of Mitzpe Shalem. Israeli settlements on Palestinian land were declared illegal in a 2004 ruling of the International Court of Justice.

Ahava seeks to profit from violations of international law and receives Israeli government subsidies for its role in whitewashing Israeli oppression. That two years of pickets and direct action have forced a landlord to refuse to renew Ahava’s lease and to end their relationship with this criminal enterprise should be celebrated and be seen as part of the broader movement for Palestinian rights.

Israel systematically denies Palestinians their basic rights and the international community has failed to hold it accountable. In response, Palestinian civil society calls for a campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law.

Heeding this call, electronica band Faithless, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd and scores

WRITE OR TELEPHONE THOSE WORKING FOR YOU IN WASHINGTON. President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. Washington, DC 20500 (202) 456-1414 White House Comment Line: (202) 456-1111 Fax: (202) 456-2461 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Department of State Washington, DC 20520 State Department Public Information Line: (202) 647-6575 Any Senator U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510 (202) 224-3121 Any Representative U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 (202) 225-3121

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

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

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

of other artists have vowed not to play in Israel. Tower Hamlets council recently passed a policy excluding Veolia, a company that runs infrastructure projects for Israel’s illegal settlements, from bidding on future service provision contracts in the borough.

Boycotts helped to end apartheid in South Africa and have an important role to play if we are to bring an end to Israeli apartheid.

Bruce Levy, Deborah Fink, Sarah Colborne, Tim Hicks, Pete Jones, Michael Kalmanovitz, London, UK

Islam and Democracy To The New York Times, April 24, 2011 “In Iraq, Bottoms Up for Democracy” (Week in Review, April 17) seems to equate democracy with men getting drunk in bars and ogling women. The fact that “young women beckon men from the doorways of shiny nightclubs” is cited as a positive example of a more progressive, “free-spirited” Iraq.

In fact, it is just this association of democracy with license and with dishonoring women that has retarded its progress in the Islamic world.

Josephine Donovan, Portsmouth, NH

Islam is Part of America To the Detroit Free Press, May 5, 2011 In response to your April 30 article “Pastor rallies and taunts opponents”: Terry Jones shows the depth and scope of his ignorance in his statement that Islam is not a part of the “American experience.”

There are many Arabic-derived words in the English language, and the use of Arabic numerals in mathematics. Contributions to the “American experience” in the sciences—medicine, pharmacology, navigation, etc.—were made possible from the Middle East and by Islam.

Nowhere, however, is the contribution

by Islam to America more prominent than in the translating, preserving and safeguarding of European history, including the classics that were systematically destroyed in the Middle and Dark Ages by extremist Christian doctrinaires of Terry Jones’ ilk.

Once reason and sanity displaced the excesses of religious intolerance in Europe, the long-lost classics preserved in Arabic were translated back into English during the Renaissance, the period of enlightenment that is a fundamental part of the “American experience” that Jones is defiling with his babble of ignorance.

Joseph Borrajo, Dearborn, MI ❑ JULY 2011

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Nationa

Al-Hayal, West Bank

CWS/CARTOONARTS INTERNATIONAL www.cartoonweb.com

CWS/CARTOONARTS INTERNATIONAL www.cartoonweb.com

The Washington Post, Washington, DC

CWS/CARTOONARTS INTERNATIONAL www.cartoonweb.com

TOLES © 2010 UNIVERSAL UCLICK. REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

THE WORLD LOOKS AT THE MIDDLE EAST

Trouw, Amsterdam

KHALIL BENDIB

CWS/CARTOONARTS INTERNATIONAL www.cartoonweb.com

Lianhe Zaobao, Singapore

The Muslim Observer, Livonia

JULY 2011

Al-Mustaqbal, Beirut

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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book_review_70_Book Review 5/19/11 1:25 PM Page 70

Books Refusing to be Enemies

By Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta, Ithica Press, 2010, paperback, 502 pp. List: $24.95; AET: $20.

Reviewed by Andrew Stimson While on tour in Washington, DC* to discuss her new book, Refusing to be Enemies, Quaker/ Jewish activist and author Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta quipped, “In a way, this book is penance for the fact that I was an ardent Zionist, in my teens.” Despite her teenage desire to live on a kibbutz, she began to understand the nature of the Palestinian attachment to their land while attending a Quaker-sponsored program in Ramallah in 1979. “I realized,” she told the audience, “we would have to work out a way to live together in this land we both loved and regarded as our homeland.”

Later, while living in Jerusalem from 1988-95, she worked for the Alternative Information Center as a Hebrew translator and participated in a number of joint Israeli-Palestinian nonviolent activities. She has returned frequently to the West Bank and Israel since then, collecting interviews with nonviolence activists such as Gene Sharp, Sami Awad, Jean Zaru, Neta Golan and Yonatan Shapira. Her book is the result of years of research, along with personal analysis and contributions from Jeff Halper, Ghassan Andoni and others.

Refusing to be Enemies has joined a flood of new works covering nonviolent activism in Palestine. With the international critical success of “Budrus,” well-attended U.S. screenings of “Little Town of Bethlehem,” and a number of similarly themed books, it seems that Western audiences finally have a wealth of mainstream alternatives to the Zionist narrative that equates Palestinians with violence and terrorism.

In her book, Kaufman-Lacusta lets the practitioners of nonviolence tell their story in their own words. We learn how various activists—Palestinian and Israeli, ChristAndrew Stimson is director of the AET Book Club. For a complete list of books on nonviolence in Palestine available from the AET Book Club, visit <www.middleeastbooks.com/non violence>.

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ian, Muslim, and Jewish—provide their own context, which nonviolence strategies they favor, and how they view the prospects for peace. The result is a multitude of voices, each unique, but revealing the common themes of a personal commitment to nonviolence and the need for just and equitable peace.

Constituting one of the book’s strongest sections is Kaufman-Lacusta’s examination of the opportunities and challenges facing joint Palestinian and Israeli efforts. The successes of joint activism in the villages of Bil’in and Budrus, where coalitions were able to defend against Israeli encroachment, are promising and suggest a model for future efforts. One of the most difficult challenges facing these coalitions, however, is the phenomenon of normalization. First arising after the signing of the Oslo accords in 1993, Israeli organizations began to work with Palestinians in anticipation of the end of the conflict. As the Oslo process disintegrated and the euphoria faded, many Palestinian organizations understandably began to distrust such joint endeavors, considering them premature and possibly damaging. For Israeli activists, Kaufman-Lacusta argues, “solidarity is not enough.” Non-Palestinians must be sensitive to the “inherent imbalance of power in their relationship with the Palestinians,” making sure to place the Palestinian agenda before their own. Among the benefits of this cooperation, she told her DC audience, is that “those Israelis who stand side by side with Palestinians and see the conditions of their lives firsthand…are best able to heighten the awareness of other Israelis.”

Also compelling are the sections of Refusing to be Enemies that chart a course toward more effective nonviolent movement and outline visions of a shared future.

Kaufman-Lacusta observes that “a broader cross-section of Palestinians is participating in nonviolent actions and, in contrast with the past, they are now actually calling what they do ‘nonviolence’ (la’unf, in Arabic).” Moreover, religious and political figures are increasingly supportive of nonviolent strategies. Kaufman-Lacusta said she was surprised that a “sizeable plurality” of the Palestinian activists she interviewed favored some variation of a bi-national federation, with some eventual form of “regional federation,” or even an “internationalist (or nation-less) arrangement.” Ultimately, Kaufman-Lacusta notes, the activists’ THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

visions of a common future are “a refreshing and hope-inspiring antidote to the despair that threatens to descend when one is confronted with the day-to-day reality in the region.”

Kaufman-Lacusta describes Refusing to Be Enemies as intended to appeal to the broader public which is unaware of the history and widespread use of nonviolent activism by Palestinians and in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a whole. While her work is replete with evidence to sway the skeptical reader, however, it also contains a few structural issues that hamper its attempt to have a wider draw. The author’s method of minimizing her own commentary and letting the activists speak for themselves creates a dizzying array of opinion and insight that can sometimes be overwhelming and feel inconclusive despite her helpful chapterending summaries. A more narrative-based structure and a brief discussion of the history of the conflict would have helped make the book more accessible to those less acquainted with the Palestinian-Israeli crisis.

Nevertheless, its content makes it a treasuretrove of information on the individuals and organizations at the heart of the movement.

Remarkably intimate, insightful and highly readable, Refusing to Be Enemies is an unparalleled resource for activists, academics and readers with some exposure to the complexity of this conflict.

At an event co-sponsored by the American Educational Trust Book Club, Interfaith Peace-Builders, Nonviolence International, and Canadian Friends Service Committee. ❑

JULY 2011

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AET Book Club Catalog Literature

*

Music

*

Film

*

Monographs

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More

Summer 2011 Budrus, directed by Julia Bacha, Typecast Releasing, 2011, DVD, 82 mins. List: $24.99; AET: $19. This award-winning documentary begins with the Israeli government announcing plans to extend its separation wall to the small Palestinian village of Budrus, cutting many of the town’s inhabitants off from their olive groves. However, when resident Ayed Morrar leads a successful nonviolent protest, the town launches a campaign of nonviolent resistance in an effort to bring international attention to the injustice of Israeli occupation and apartheid.

Emerging Arab Voices— Nadwa 1: A Bilingual Reader, edited by Peter Clark, Saqi Books, 2011, paperback, 320 pp. List: $21.95; AET: $17. A showcase of work by eight Arab writers who participated in the International Prize for Arabic Fiction’s 2009 inaugural Nadwa, a writer’s retreat held on the picturesque Gulf island of Sir Baniyas, near Abu Dhabi, aimed at nurturing young Arab authors. This bilingual edition offers English-speakers a rare glimpse at the excellent, yet rarely translated, work coming out of the Middle East.

The Politics of Change in Palestine: State-Building and Non-Violent Resistance, by Michael Bröning, Pluto Press, 2011, paperback, 247 pp. List: $30; AET: $24.

Challenging the common characterization of Palestinian leadership as incompetent, sclerotic and corrupt, the author sheds light on the re-invention of Hamas, the reform of Fatah, as well as other important political developments. Bröning’s chapter on Palestinian non-violent resistance and the Israeli response offers powerful refutation of Israel’s claim that it has no partner for peace.

Our Way to Fight: Israeli and Palestinian Activists for Peace, by Michael Riordon, Lawrence Hill Books, 2011, paperback, 242 pp. List: $16.95; AET: $12. A Canadian journalist and author presents intimate portraits of Palestinian and Israeli nonviolence activists, including Israeli refuseniks, Palestinian-Israelis fighting for equality, the Palestinian fair trade movement, and many others. Based on personal interviews, Our Way to Fight reveals the extraordinary heroism of ordinary people struggling against often immeasurable odds.

Arab American Almanac: The Most Comprehensive Reference Source on Arab Americans (6th Edition), by Joseph R. Haiek, The News Circle Publishing House, 2010, paperback, 608 pp.

AET: $39.95 (hardcover copies available for $59). Compiled by a pioneer of Arab-American journalism and founder of the Arab American Historical Foundation, the sixth edition of the Arab American Almanac, proves once again to be an invaluable guide to all things Arab American. First published in 1972, this latest edition provides more than just updated material. It includes original research, new translations and lists of important Arab Americans.

Speaking Out: A Congressman’s Lifelong Fight Against Bigotry, Famine, and War, by Paul Findley, Lawrence Hill Books, 2011, paperback, 344 pp., List: $26.95; AET: $19. Author of the groundbreaking works They Dare to Speak Out, Deliberate Deceptions and Silent No More, and frequent WRMEA contributor, Paul Findley returns with an impassioned memoir tracing his life from his bucolic childhood to his 22 years in the U.S. Congress. His account of his lifetime advocating for a saner U.S. foreign policy is a source of inspiration for those working for positive change.

The Palestine Papers: The End of the Road?, by Clayton E. Swisher, Hesperus Press, 2011, paperback, 320 pp. List: $21.95; AET: $15. An authoritative account of the confidential papers released by AlJazeera, The Palestine Papers presents selections from the most important papers and a penetrating analysis of the Palestine-Israeli peace process. Swisher reveals just how much the Palestinians already have given away, how much more they were prepared to give, and the astonishing depth of the Israeli government’s recalcitrance.

Traditional Palestinian Costume: Origins and Evolution by Hanan Karaman Munayyer, Interlink Publishing, 2011, hardcover, 576 pp. List: $200; AET: $150. Representing more than 25 years of extensive field research and the culling of museum resources and publications from around the world, Traditional Palestinian Costume expertly documents the evolution of textile arts in Palestine. Lavishly illustrated with more than 500 full-color photographs from the acclaimed Munayyer collection, this volume is a must-have for textile enthusiasts and lovers of Palestinian culture.

A Fistful of Pearls and Other Tales from Iraq, by Elizabeth Laird and illustrated

by Shelley Fowles, Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, 2008, paperback, 96 pp. List: $8.95; AET: $7. During her time in the Middle East, award-winning novelist Elizabeth Laird gathered together the very best Iraqi stories, ranging from thieving porcupines, boastful tailors, and perilous love stories that end happily-everafter. Meticulously researched and lovingly illustrated, these nine traditional tales reveal the true heart of Iraq, far removed from today’s news headlines.

Shipping Rates Most items are discounted and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Orders accepted by mail, phone (800-368-5788 ext. 2), or Web (www.middleeastbooks.com). All payments in U.S. funds. Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express accepted. Please make checks and money orders out to “AET.”Contact the AET Book Club for complete shipping guidelines and options.

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JULY 2011

L i b r a r y p a c k a g e s (list value over $240) are available for $29 if donated to a library, or free if requested with a library’s paid subscription or renewal. Call the Book Club at 800-368-5788 ext. 2 to order. AET policy is to identify donors unless anonymity is specifically requested.

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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Upcoming Events, Announcements & Obituaries —Compiled by Andrew Stimson Upcoming Events: The exhibit 1001 Inventions: Discover the Golden Age of Muslim Civilization will be on view at the California Science Center, located in Los Angeles at 700 Exposition Park Drive, through Dec. 31. The show includes more than 60 interactive exhibits revealing the scientific legacy of Muslim civilization in our world today. Admission is free and parking is $8. For more information visit <www.californiasciencecenter.org>.

The Jerusalem Fund will host Israel In the Last Decade—A New Phase of the “Jewish State” with Dr. Asad Ghanem, University of Haifa professor and author of Palestinian Politics after Arafat, on June 16 from 12-2 p.m. at the Palestine Center, 2425 Virginia Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20037. For more information email <info@the jerusalemfund.org> or call (202) 338-1958.

The Middle East Institute’s Center for Turkish Studies will host its Second Annual Conference On Turkey, June 23 from 9-5 p.m. at the University Club’s University Hall, 2nd Floor, 1135 16th St. NW, Washington, DC 20036. Prominent experts on Turkey from academia, think tanks and policy circles will discuss the conference’s theme, “Change Within and Beyond Borders: Turkey’s Domestic and Foreign Policy Agenda.” For more information e-mail <turkishstudies@mei.edu> or call (202) 785-1141 ext. 217.

The American Federation of Ramallah, Palestine’s 53rd Annual Convention will take place July 6-8 at the Wardman Park Marriott Hotel, 660 Woodley Rd. NW, Washington, DC 20008. For more information visit <www.afrp.org> or call (734) 425-1600.

The Palestine Education Network (PEN) will hold its annual weekend meeting July 22-24 at the World Fellowship Center in Conway, NH. Special guest speaker will be Josh Reubner of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.

For reservations call (603) 447-2280 or email<reservations@worldfellowship.org>.

For more information on the weekend’s program call Jim Smart at (603) 352-0438.

Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta, author of Refusing to Be Enemies: Palestinian and Israeli Nonviolent Resistance to the Israeli Occupation, will begin her West Coast 72

book tour June 1 at Barrios Unidos, 1817 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz, CA, 7 p.m. The event will be sponsored by the Resource Center for Non-Violence. For more information call (831) 423-1626 or e-mail Scott Kennedy at <Kenncruz@pacbell.net>.

She will also visit San Francisco, Sacramento, and Portland, OR. For more information e-mail <maxinekl@shaw.ca>.

Announcements: The U.S. Boat to Gaza, The Audacity of Hope, which plans to set sail in June with the Freedom Flotilla II, is calling on artists, animators and filmmakers to submit short, 1-5-minute videos about The Audacity of Hope and the Flotilla to help raise the mission’s profile. Send submissions to <videostogaza@gmail.com>. The organization also has launched To Gaza with Love, asking concerned Amerians to send letters that will be delivered to the people of Gaza when the flotilla arrives. Letters can be sent to Letters To Gaza, 119 W. 72 St. #158, New York, NY 10023.

Obituaries: Bijan Pakzad, 71, Iranian fashion designer for the rich and powerful, died April 16 at a hospital in Los Angeles following a stroke. Born in Tehran, Pakzad was sent to boarding school in Switzerland by his father, a successful industrialist. From there he moved to Florence and spent several years making men’s clothing. With financial assistance from his father, Mr. Pakzad opened a women’s clothing store in Tehran called the Pink Panther. In 1973 he immigrated to Los Angeles and began building a cult of personality, starring in his own magazine and billboard advertisements. His boutique, House of Bijan, opened in 1976 and came to serve an elite clientele, including President Obama, Michael Jordan, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Cary Grant. Bijan’s, sometimes described as “the most expensive store in the world,” was famously “by appointment only.”

Mr. Pakzad also designed and sold menswear, fragrances, and unusual items such as cashmere jogging outfits, bulletproof formalwear and a 24-karat goldplated colt revolver that sold for $50,000.

Nasser al-Kharafi, 67, prominent Kuwaiti businessman and philanthropist, died of a heart attack April 17 in Cairo.

He had aggressively expanded the scope of his father’s company, M.A. Kharafi & Sons, after taking the helm in 1993. Initially founded as a contracting firm, it THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

BulletinBoard became a conglomerate trading company with international reach and established itself as a pillar of the Kuwaiti economy.

With a net worth estimated at $10.4 billion, news of Mr. al-Kharafi’s death sent the Kuwait stock market into a brief dive.

Born in Kuwait City, he studied business administration in the UK at the Liverpool College of Commerce. As chairman and president of M.A. Kharafi & Sons, he oversaw building contracts for large-scale projects in Lebanon and Egypt, and the expansion of his conglomerate’s business from engineering and construction to other services, including water resource management. In 2004 one of his companies completed work on the world’s largest wastewater treatment plant, Kuwait’s Sulaibiya Wastewater Treatment and Reclamation Plant, capable of producing more than 80 million gallons of potable water a day, and the country’s first infrastructure project to be financed by local banks using Kuwaiti dinars.

The strong relationship between alKharafi and his brother, speaker of Kuwait’s Majlis al-Umma, Jassem al-Kharafi, led some to compare the influence of the Kharafis to that of Kuwait’s ruling al-Sabah family. Mr. al-Khalifa’s strong financial and political position as well as his religious views allowed him to offer sought-after counsel on sensitive subjects such as relations between Iran and its Arab neighbors.

He was also a public supporter of Hezbollah, having written an article in support of the organization just a week before his death. His funeral at Sulaibikhat cemetery was attended by thousands of mourners, including high profile businessmen, politicians and diplomats from across the region.

Max van der Stoel, 86, a Dutch politician and U.N. ambassador who documented human rights abuses committed by Saddam Hussain’s regime during the 1990s, died April 23 of unspecified causes at his home in The Hague. When the Nazis invaded his country he was 16 years old. His career in politics began in 1945 and he served twice as Dutch foreign minister, as his country’s ambassador to the U.N. in the mid-1980s, and as the U.N.’s special envoy to Iraq during the 1991 Gulf war. After issuing an influential report on Iraqi human rights abuses, Iraqi authorities barred him from returning to the country. Subsequently appointed as the U.N. Commission on Human Rights’ special rapporteur on Iraq, his final report, issued in 1999, claimed that Hussein’s abuses were the worst on record since World War II. ❑ JULY 2011

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J. Robert Lunney, Bronxville, NY Anthony Mabarak, Grosse Pointe Park, MI Robert Mabarak, Grosse Pointe Park, MI Peter MacHarrie, Silver Spring, MD Farah Mahmood, Forsyth, IL Hon. Clovis Maksoud, Washington, DC Eric Margolis, Toronto, Canada Joseph Mark, Carmel, CA Trini Marquez, Beach, ND Martha Martin, Paia, HI Tom & Tess McAndrew, Oro Valley, AZ Ben Monk, St. Paul, MN John & Ruth Monson, La Crosse, WI Maury Keith Moore, Seattle, WA Robert Moran, Richmond, VA Ahmed Mousapha, Madinah, Saudi Arabia Liz Mulford, Cupertino, CA John & Gabriella Mulholland, Alpharetta, GA Charles Murphy, Upper Falls, MD Joseph Najemy, Worcester, MA Jacob Nammar, San Antonio, TX Howard & Mary Norton, Austin, TX Michio Oka, El Sobrante, CA Dr. Ibrahim Oweiss, Kensington, MD Edmond & Lorraine Parker, Chicago, IL Jim Plourd, Monterey, CA Patricia & Herbert Pratt, Cambridge, MA Catherine Quigley, Annandale, VA Cheryl Quigley, Toms River, NJ Dr. Amani Ramahi, Lakewood, OH Mr. & Mrs. Duane Rames, Mesa, AZ Nayla Rathle, Belmont, MA Frank & Mary Regier, Strongsville, OH Kyle Reynolds, Cypress, TX Neil Richardson, Randolph, VT Sean Roach, Washington, DC Rose Foundation/Wheeler and Makdisi Fund, Oakland, CA Dr. Wendell Rossman, Phoenix, AZ Brynhild Rowberg, Northfield, MN Edward & Alice Saad, Cheshire, CT Gabrielle & Jalal Saad, Oakland, CA Hameed Saba, Diamond Bar, CA Denis Sabourin, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Ma-moun Sakkal, Bothell, WA Dr. Yahya Salah, Amman, Jordan Anis Salib, Huntsville, AL Betty Sams, Washington, DC Elizabeth Schiltz, Kokomo, IN Dr. Abid Shah, Sarasota, FL Mahmud Shaikhaly, Hollywood, CA Theodore Shannon, Middleton, WI Lt. Col. Alfred Shehab, Odenton, MD Kathy Sheridan, Mill Valley, CA Shahida Siddiqui, Trenton, NJ 74

Lucy Skivens-Smith, Dinwiddie, VA Glenn Smith, Santa Rosa, CA Edgar Snell Jr., Schenectady, NY David Snider, Airmont, NY Gregory Stefanatos, Flushing, NY Mae Stephen, Palo Alto, CA Thomas & Carol Swepston, Englewood, FL Mr. & Mrs. Ayoub Talhami, Evanston, IL Dr. Yusuf Tamimi, Hilo, HI Joan Tanous, Boulder, CO John Theodosi, Lafayette, CA Charles Thomas, La Conner, WA Charles & Letitia Ufford, South Bristol, ME Paul Wagner, Bridgeville, PA Joseph Walsh, Adamsville, RI John V. Whitbeck, Paris, France Nabil Yakub, McLean, VA Bernice Youtz, Tacoma, WA Munir Zacharia, La Mirada, CA Dr. Henry Zeiter, Lodi, CA Hugh Ziada, Garden Grove, CA

ACCOMPANISTS ($250 or more) Michael & Jane Adas, Highland Park, NJ Dr. Joseph Bailey, Valley Center, CA William Carey, Old Lyme, CT William Coughlin, Brookline, MA Mr. & Mrs. John Crawford, Boulder, CO Richard Curtiss, Boynton Beach, FL Mohamed Dabbagh, Mahwah, NJ Dr. Rafeek Farah, New Boston, MI Eugene Fitzpatrick, Wheat Ridge, CO E. Patrick Flynn, Carmel, NY H. Clark Griswold, Woodbury, CT Salman & Kate Hilmy, Silver Spring, MD Fahd Jajeh, Lake Forest, IL Issa & Rose Kamar, Plano, TX Matt Labadie, Portland, OR Barbara Leclerq, Overland Park, KS Jack Love, Escondido, CA John Malouf, Lubbock, TX Bill McGrath, Northfield, MN Alice Nashashibi, San Francisco, CA Hertha Poje-Ammoumi, New York, NY Sam Rahman, Lincoln, CA Ruth Ramsey, Blairsville, GA Yusef & Jennifer Sifri, Wilmington, NC Michel & Cathy Sultan, Eau Claire, WI Union of Arab American Journalists, Dearborn, MI John Van Wagoner, McLean, VA James Wall, Elmhurst, IL Nigel Wright, Delmar, NY

THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

TENORS & CONTRALTOS ($500 or more) Mohamed Alwan, Chestnut Ridge, NY Drs. A.J. and M.T. Amirana, Las Vegas, NV Dr. Lois Aroian, Willow Lake, SD Kamel Ayoub, Hillsborough, CA Dr. Joseph Bailey, Valley Center, CA Graf Herman Bender, North Palm Beach, FL Lois Critchfield, Williamsburg, VA Douglas A. Field, Kihei, HI Evan & Leman Fotos, Istanbul, Turkey Michael Habermann, Hackettstown, NJ Hind Hamdan, Hagerstown, MD Ambassador Holsey G. Handyside, Bedford, OH Brigitte Jaensch, Carmichael, CA Rachelle Marshall, Mill Valley, CA Paul Meyer, Iowa City, IA Bob Norberg, Lake City, MN Gennaro Pasquale, Oyster Bay, NY Phil & Elaine Pasquini, Novato, CA Mr. & Mrs. Donn Trautman, Evanston, IL Ghulam Qadir & Huda Zenati, Dearborn, MI

BARITONES & MEZZO SOPRANOS ($1,000 or more) Asha Anand, Bethesda, MD The Estate of Pascal Biagini, Drexel Hill, PA Aston L. Bloom & Rev. Rosemarie Carnarius, Tucson, AZ Joe Chamy, Colleyville, TX Luella Crow, Eugene, OR Dr. & Mrs. Rod & Carole Driver, West Kingston, RI Linda Emmet, Paris, France Dr. & Mrs. Clyde Farris, West Linn, OR Gary Richard Feulner, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Dr. & Mrs. Hassan Fouda, Berkeley, CA John McLaughlin, Gordonsville, VA Luella Moffett, Virginia Beach, VA

CHOIRMASTERS ($5,000 or more) Dick & Donna Curtiss, Kensington, MD* John & Henrietta Goelet, Meru, France Andrew I. Killgore, Washington, DC* *In memory of Grace Perolio JULY 2011

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American Educational Trust The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs P.O. Box 53062 Washington, DC 20009

July 2011 Vol. XXX, No. 5

President Barack Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in the White House Oval Office, May 20, 2011, the day after Obama gave his long-awaited speech on the Middle East in which he called for negotiations to be based on Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 1967 borders, and the day before he was booed at the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images Committee.