cover1.qxp_November December 2018 Cover 10/23/19 1:10 PM Page 1
ARAB CITIZENS OF ISRAEL PLAY HISTORIC ROLE IN ELECTIONS
DISPLAY UNTIL 12/26/2019
ANERA_ad_c2.qxp_ANERA Ad Cover 2 10/22/19 12:11 PM Page c2
These Gaza girls dream e off competing interna ationally in an all-wom men’s team from Palestine e. Team T eamworkk makes the dream work. It takes all off us to make it happen.
anera.org/donate
tocr2_3-4.qxp_November/December 2019 TOC 10/24/19 10:14 PM Page 3
TELLING THE TRUTH SINCE 1982
Volume XXXVIII, No. 7
On Middle East Affairs
November/December 2019
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 Palestinian Citizens of Israel Demand Changes in Policing to Curb Crime Wave—Jonathan Cook
16
Arab Citizens of Israel Play Historic Role in Elections —Three Views —James North and Philip Weiss, Naim Mousa, Haidar Eid
14
When Mosques Go Pink! —Mohammed Omer
U.S. Press Horrified By Trump’s “Shoot Migrants in the Legs” But Ignores What Israeli Snipers Do to Palestinian Protesters —Juan Cole
36
18
Betty McCollum Wants U.S. to Stop Subsidizing Torture of Palestinian Children—Ramzy Baroud
Ready, Fire, Aim: U.S. Interests in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria—Ambassador Chas W. Freeman
44
50 52
26 28 33
Congress Puts Off Possible Government Shutdown ’til Mid-November—Shirl McArthur WINEP Authors Continue to Produce Pro-Israel Propaganda—Walter L. Hixson Why Single Out Israel?—Rev. Alex Awad
Are Israeli Settlers Secretly Installing Solar Panels at Virginia Public Schools? —Grant F. Smith
Five Million Palestinians Can’t be Wronged. Can They?—Ian Williams
SPECIAL REPORTS
Are the Kurds Pawns in Hawks’ Geopolitical Games? —Three Views—Eric Margolis, Graham E. Fuller, Eldar Mamedov
41
20 24
Lebanon is Experiencing a Social Revolution —Lina Khatib
46
Iran’s Counter-Discourse of Hope —Kaveh L. Afrasiabi
Rocky Start to Joko’s Second Term—John Gee
Monk Sees Ancient Manuscripts as Conduit to Contemporary Peacebuilding —Dale Sprusansky
PHOTO COURTESY HILL MUSEUM AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY
8 11
An Islamic manuscript from the Al-Budeiry Library in the Old City of Jerusalem.
ON THE COVER: A Lebanese demonstrator takes part in a protest against dire economic conditions in Lebanon’s southern
city of Sidon on Oct. 21, 2019. Thousands continued to rally despite calls for calm from politicians and dozens of arrests. The demonstrators are demanding a sweeping overhaul of Lebanon’s political system, citing grievances ranging from austerity measures to poor infrastructure. MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP/Getty Images
tocr2_3-4.qxp_November/December 2019 TOC 10/24/19 9:56 PM Page 4
(A Supplement to the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs available by subscription at $15 per year. To subscribe, call toll-free 1-888-881-5861.)
Other Voices
Compiled by Janet McMahon
The Two-State Solution Is a Cruel Delusion, and an Idol in Washington, Philip Weiss, mondoweiss.net
OV-1
Israel Has Never Had any Intention of Honoring Either The 1947 Partition Plan or 1967 Borders, Thomas Suarez, www.middleeastmonitor.com OV-2 How Israel Lobby Set EU Anti-Semitism Agenda, David Cronin, http://electronicintifada.net OV-4 The New York Times Called a Famous Cartoonist an Anti-Semite. Repeatedly. They Didn’t Ask Him for Comment, Ted Rall, www.counterpunch.com Vexatious Defamation Suit Will Cost Sheldon Adelson, Adam Klasfield, courthousenews.com
DEPARTMENTS
OV-5
OV-6
The Africa-Palestine Conference: Why South Africa Must Lead The Way, Ramzy Baroud, www.ramzybaroud.net
OV-7
Cultural Studies Key to National Security, Nicholas Tampio, theconversation.com
OV-8
How the Saudi Oil Field Attack Overturned America’s Apple Cart, Conn Hallinan, http://counterpunch.org
OV-10
Climate Change Threatens Iranian Crisis, Austin Bodetti, http://lobelog.com
OV-11
History Threatened as Turkey Prepares to Flood Ancient City, Andrew Wilks, www.aljazeera.com
OV-12
Is Democracy a Dying Species?, Patrick J. Buchanan, Creators.com
OV-14
Hong Kong, Kashmir, Palestine: Ruins of British Empire on Fire, Hamid Dabashi, www.aljazeera.com
OV-15
5 Publishers’ Page
6 letters to the editor
PHOTO COURTESY AID AND HOPE PROGRAM FOR CANCER PATIENT CARE
54 MusiC & arts: Middle East Institute Opens New Art Gallery in Washington, DC 55 arab aMeriCaN aCtiVisM: Virginia Arab Americans Hold 31st Candidates Night
56 diPloMatiC doiNgs: President of Azad Kashmir Accuses India of “Genocide”
57 WagiNg PeaCe: Remembering the Forgotten Victims of U.S. Wars 64 Middle east books reVieW 70 the World looks at the Middle east—CARtOONS
71 other PeoPle’s Mail
The minarets of the Mohammad Al Hassayna Mosque in Gaza City are pink in October, during breast cancer awareness month (see p. 14).
73 obituaries
74 2019 aet Choir oF aNgels 27 iNdeX to adVertisers
pubs_5.qxp_Publishers Page 10/24/19 10:45 PM Page 5
Trump’s Buddy Bibi...
ISSAM RIMAWI /ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES
Many Americans are mesmerized by ongoing impeachment inquiries and the parade of current and former Trump administration officials testifying behind closed doors. They appear to be providing compelling evidence that the president exchanged military funding to Ukraine in return for political favors, in hopes of digging up dirt on the Biden family. “We do that all the time with foreign policy,” White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney declared, when reporters pointed out that this action appeared to be a quid pro quo. He added: “I have news for everybody: Get over it. There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.” The Trump administration is learning that quid pro quo is ignored only when it comes to Israel.
JACK GUEZ/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Draining the Swamp
American Educational Trust
Publishers’ Page
would “protect children from abuse, violence, psychological trauma and torture,” she said in her statement to the Congress. “The legislation I am introducing is expressly intended to end U.S. support and funding for Israel’s systematic military detention, interrogation, abuse, torture and prosecution of Palestinian children.” Call your representatives to voice your opinion.
Only 9 months old in this photo taken Oct. 14, Mohammad Mehese has a broken leg and hipbone. His mother was not permitted to leave Gaza to accompany her baby for his medical treatment.
Conference Registration Is Open!
Please find a registration form on p. 23 for the “Transcending the Israel Lobby at Home and Abroad” conference on May 29, 2020 and the gala dinner the night before. This will be the most important summit of the year for people who demand a change in U.S.-Israel foreign policy as elections draw near. You’ll also find our Winter Book List to help you begin your holiday shopping as well as a calendar to help you make plans for 2020.
Is having his own problems forming a government in Israel. See pp. 11-13 to read three views on how and why New Book Section! the Arab citizens of Israel played an Our reimagined and expanded book historic role in Israel’s recent elections. Jonathan Cook’s article (pp. 8- Yasser Shtewi watches as a nurse attends to his son, Abdel- section, called ”Middle East Books 10) describes the serious crime wave rahman Shtewi, in Sheba Hospital in Ramat Gan near Tel Review,” debuts in this issue (pp. 64Israeli Arabs face—with little help from Aviv, Aug. 12, 2019. Shtewi was shot by Israeli forces in the 69). This new six-page section proIsraeli police. Arab citizens are facing Palestinian village of Kufr Qaddum on July 12. Witnesses vides added book reviews, book talks the issues all Palestinians will deal say he was more than 330 feet from any clashes when he and new arrivals—all with a fresh, sleek design. We hope this refreshed with if and when there is finally a one- was hit. section inspires you to support our state solution. Will Christian and bookstore, Middle East Books and More, goes treatment for a broken leg and hipbone Muslim tax-paying citizens of Israel ever be and become better acquainted with the work at the Red Crescent Specialist Hospital in treated as equals in the Jewish state? It of numerous scholars and activists publishthe West Bank town of Hebron. Israel is can’t get worse than it already is for Palesing important and exciting new books. We traumatizing children and parents... tinians in the West Bank and Gaza... also encourage everyone to check out our Palestinian Children Are in Danger Because It Can. YouTube page, <YouTube.com/Washington Several hard-to-read articles in this issue Juan Cole’s article (pp. 16-17) argues that ReportonMiddleEastAffairs>, where video concern traumatized children and their famwhile most Americans are appalled by of book talks hosted by our bookstore are ilies. Mohammed Omer describes women Trump’s suggestion to shoot migrants in the regularly being posted. facing cancer who must travel alone far from legs, we’ll turn a blind eye as Israeli snipers Keep Your Eyes Open... home and far too late for treatment (see p. do it on a regular basis. Ramzy Baroud (p. Our annual appeal is coming your way. 14). Imagine denying a mother permission 18) calls for Americans to support Rep. Giving generously will help us all do what we to travel with her 9-month-old baby for medBetty McCollum’s House Resolution can to... ical treatment. Another Palestinian woman, 2407—the “Promoting Human Rights for Anwar Refaiee, is volunteering to care for Palestinian Children Living Under Israeli Make A Difference Today! Mohammad Mehesen as the infant underMilitary Occupation Act.” Her legislation NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
5
letters_6-7.qxp_November/December 2019 Letters to Editor 10/24/19 6:48 PM Page 6
Executive Editor: Managing Editor: Contributing Editor: Other Voices Editor: Middle East Books and More Director: Finance & Admin. Dir.: Art Director: Founding Publisher: Founding Exec. Editor: Board of Directors:
DELINDA C. HANLEY DALE SPRUSANSKY WALTER HIXSON JANET McMAHON SAMI TAYEB CHARLES R. CARTER RALPH-UWE SCHERER ANDREW I. KILLGORE (1919-2016) RICHARD H. CURTISS (1927-2013) HENRIETTA FANNER JANET McMAHON JANE KILLGORE
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (ISSN 87554917) is published 7 times a year, monthly except Jan./Feb., March/April, June/July and Aug./Sept. combined, at 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-1707. Tel. (202) 939-6050. Subscription prices (United States and possessions): one year, $29; two years, $55; three years, $75. For Canadian and Mexican subscriptions, $35 per year; for other foreign subscriptions, $70 per year. Periodicals, postage paid at Washington, DC and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, P.O. Box 91056, Long Beach, CA 90809-1056. Published by the American Educational Trust (AET), a nonprofit foundation incorporated in Washington, DC by retired U.S. foreign service officers to provide the American public with balanced and accurate information concerning U.S. relations with Middle Eastern states. AET’s Foreign Policy Committee has included former U.S. ambassadors, government officials, and members of Congress, including the late Democratic Sen. J. William Fulbright and Republican Sen. Charles Percy, both former chairmen of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Members of AET’s Board of Directors and advisory committees receive no fees for their services. The new Board of Advisers includes: Anisa Mehdi, John Gareeb, Dr. Najat Khelil Arafat, William Lightfoot and Susan Abulhawa. The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs does not take partisan domestic political positions. As a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli dispute, it endorses U.N. Security Council Resolution 242’s land-for-peace formula, supported by nine successive U.S. presidents. In general, it supports Middle East solutions which it judges to be consistent with the charter of the United Nations and traditional American support for human rights, self-determination, and fair play. Material from the Washington Report may be reprinted without charge with attribution to Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Bylined material must also be attributed to the author. This release does not apply to photographs, cartoons or reprints from other publications. Indexed by ProQuest, Gale, Ebsco Information Services, InfoTrac, LexisNexis, Public Affairs Information Service, Index to Jewish Periodicals, Ethnic News Watch, Periodica Islamica. CONTACT INFORMATION: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs Editorial Office and Bookstore: 1902 18th St. NW, Washington, DC 20009-9062 Phone: (202) 939-6050 • (800) 368-5788 Fax: (202) 265-4574 E-mail: wrmea@wrmea.org bookstore@wrmea.org circulation@wrmea.org advertising@wrmea.org Web sites: http://www.wrmea.org http://www.middleeastbooks.com Subscriptions, sample copies and donations: P.O. Box 91056, Long Beach, CA 90809-1056. Phone: (888) 881-5861 • Fax: (714) 226-9733 Printed in the USA
6
LetterstotheEditor
MOUNTING FRUSTRATION IN AFGHANISTAN
Anger is mounting over the large number of civilians being killed by heavy-handed U.S.-trained Afghan forces and misdirected U.S. aerial strikes. According to the United Nations, more civilians were killed by Afghan and international coalition forces in Afghanistan in the first half of this year than by the Taliban and other militants. No longer are Americans regarded as saviors, but enemies. Some Afghans are calling for Americans to be tried in Afghan courts. After a number of U.S. military strikes resulting in the death of hundreds of civilians, more and more Afghans were heard chanting, “Death to [President] Ashraf Ghani, death to America.” Following 18 years of U.S. military operations against al-Qaeda and the Taliban, the war is still a meat grinder. The Taliban control much of the terrain. The insurgency continues to operate in much of the country including the capital, Kabul. While President Trump equivocates on his peace initiatives with the Taliban and is desperately trying to defend his role in “Ukrainegate,” Afghanistan is burning. Perhaps many Americans have forgotten that we supported Osama bin Laden and the Taliban fighters as a counterbalance to the Soviet invasion. Long after all American troops leave Afghanistan, the warring tribes will eventually settle their differences. Let us not compound the mistakes we made in our earlier interventions in Iraq and Libya. The time to leave Afghanistan is now. Jagjit Singh, Los Altos, CA It’s increasingly clear to many Americans, and probably more Afghans, that the 18-year U.S. war in the country is doing little but perpetuating instability. We have two activisms in this issue on this topic— one that looks at the overlooked problem of civilian casualties (p. 57) and another that reviews the merits of the U.S. resuming negotiations with the Taliban (p. 58). As we have seen with Trump’s recent decision to remove troops from Syria, the president is prone to move quickly and un-
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
expectedly with military deployment decisions, so it’s possible an historic (and controversial) decision regarding Afghanistan is on the horizon.
TRUMP’S BOUGHT AND PAID FOR IRAN POLICY
President Donald Trump fulfilled a campaign pledge to tear up the Obama administration’s signature foreign policy achievement, a multilateral agreement constraining Iran’s nuclear enrichment (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA). In doing so, the president went against the advice of, among many others, his secretary of defense, then-House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (RCA), Washington’s three most important European allies, and almost-two thirds of Americans who believed that the U.S. should not have withdrawn from the deal, according to a CNN poll. Trump appears absolutely determined to undo as much of what Barack Obama accomplished as possible. In addition, the sheer perversity of his personality may well explain his action. But it may also be useful to follow the apochryphal advice that Watergate’s famous “Deep Throat” offered to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in All the President’s Men, particularly in the unbelievably corrupt swamp of the Trump era. Indeed, the unpopular announcement may have been exactly what two of Trump’s biggest donors, Sheldon Adelson and Bernard Marcus, and what one of his biggest inaugural supporters, Paul Singer, paid for when they threw their financial weight behind Trump. Marcus and Adelson, who are also board members of the Likudist Republican Jewish Coalition, have already received substantial returns on their investment: total alignment by the U.S. move of its embassy to Jerusalem, and the official dropping of “occupied territories” to describe the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Adelson, for his part, was Trump and the GOP’s biggest campaign supporter. He and his wife Miriam contributed $35 million in outside spending to elect Trump, $20 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund (a super PAC exclusively dedicated to se-
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
letters_6-7.qxp_November/December 2019 Letters to Editor 10/24/19 6:48 PM Page 7
curing a GOP majority in the House —Report from Friends of MaKEEP THOSE CARDS AND LETTERS of Representatives), and $35 million dama and Burin (FOMAB) COMING! to the Senate Leadership Fund (the Such incidents of settler violence Send your letters to the editor to the Washington Report, P.O. Box 53062, Washington, DC 20009 Senate counterpart) in the 2016 are unfortunately not uncommon. or e-mail <letters@wrmea.org>. election cycle. Given unconditional support by Ed Miles, via e-mail Washington (and especially PresiIt’s clear that Trump’s mega-donors have Korea. Whatever happens, let’s just hope dent Trump’s settler “diplomats”), Israeli setthus far gotten what they paid for when it the U.S. stays out of a needless war with tlers feel empowered to bully, harass and comes to Iran. Still, it appears the president Iran. abuse Palestinians and their supporters. is itching to talk to Iran and reach a new Such incidents are rarely reported in the inVOLUNTEERS BRUTALLY ATTACKED deal—a reality that must concern these ternational press, while every act of PalesBY WEST BANK SETTLERS same donors. Of course, the president has tinian violence, such as a knife attack, is On Oct. 15, three women and a man from taken many actions to prohibit direct talks presented as “breaking news” and conFriends of Madama and Burin (FOMAB), with Iran from happening, such as hiring demned by government officials. We just all English, were picking olives in a grove hawks like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have one question: When will the U.S. fibelow Yitzhar (a Jewish-only settlement and former National Security Adviser John nally come to its senses and defend the south of Nablus). They were working with Bolton, and placing new sanctions on Iran. basic human dignity of Palestinians? three Palestinian farmers and six volunMost obviously, his decision to violate the GROWING DISCRIMINATION AND teers from Rabbis for Human Rights. SudJCPOA greatly harmed ties with Iran and HATRED MUST END denly one of the Palestinians, Mohammed, throws into question what Trump wants I am very, very sorry after reading your arcame rushing down the hill looking terrified from talks, other than complete Iranian caticle in the October issue of the Washington and yelling at us to run. The group scrampitulation or nice photo ops, a la North Report about the threats against James bled for their bags and started to Zogby and his employees at the Arab run, when they were confronted American Institute. by around a dozen young male The hatred in this country is getting settlers, approximately 16 to 17 worse and worse, sending inimical mesyears old. The settlers had their sages to good people and to good groups, faces and heads covered with also politicians, creating even more fright scarves and were armed with and terror. wooden cudgels, tire jacks and I regret that Mr. Zogby’s family and emrocks. ployees were victims of this person's The settlers immediately athatred. We hope and pray that this kind of tacked the female internationals, behavior will soon be stopped. hitting them across the back and The current administration for sure, is arms with their cudgels before highly responsible, spreading so much bias they managed to run free. They against the “other.” I also recall when Mr. then turned on the man who was Zogby was last victimized by hatred years further back, having run back to ago. His writings mean much to me, and I find his bag. Three settlers look forward to reading them. chased the man, who in his panic I pray that Mr. Zogby, his family and other fell into a ditch. Two settlers turned Arab American leaders and their families on him, one standing over him will never have to face this kind of prejudice, with a metal tyre lever hitting him OTHER VOICES is an optional 16-page supple prejudice that need not be a part of what about the legs and causing abrament available only to subscribers of the Washingwas the best country in the world: America. sions to his shin. They proceeded Carol Rae Bradford, Somerville, MA to throw rocks at him, causing an ton Report on Middle East Affairs. For an additional It’s unfortunately a fact of modern Amerinjury to his hand as he raised it to $15 per year (see postcard insert for Washington ica that people use racial and religious difprotect himself, the wound needReport subscription rates), subscribers will receive ferences as a means to foment fear and ing paramedic treatment. The setOther Voices inside each issue of their Washington hatred. It’s more important now than ever tlers then ran off. All in the group Report on Middle East Affairs. for leaders to take a bold stand and rewere terrified by the ferocity and Back issues of both publications are available. nounce hatred. One must also consider the brutality of the attack, especially To subscribe telephone 1 (888) 881-5861, fax relationship between a U.S. foreign policy since the settlers appeared to be (714) 226-9733, e-mail circulation@wrmea. org>, that demonizes Palestinians and disproporout of control, with the possibility tionately kills Muslims, and the acts of antiof more serious injuries or even a or write to P.O. Box 91056, Long Beach, CA 90809Muslim and anti-Arab hate that take place fatality being due to luck rather 1056. on U.S. soil. ■ than judgment. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
7
cook_8-10r2.qxp_The Nakba Continues 10/24/19 4:06 PM Page 8
The Nakba Continues
Palestinian Citizens of Israel Demand Changes in Policing to Curb Crime Wave
By Jonathan Cook
COPYRIGHT JONATHAN COOK
Cohen promised to bolster the police force in the Haifa area, close to where many Palestinian citizens live. Israel’s 1.8 million Palestinian citizens—descended from those who avoided expulsion during Israel’s creation in 1948—comprise a fifth of the country’s population. However, so far in 2019 they have accounted for as much as 80 percent of the country’s murder victims—up from 5 percent 20 years ago. According to figures from the Aman Center, which campaigns against violence in Palestinian society in Israel, September was the deadliest month ever: 13 Palestinian citizens were killed in criminal activity. An investigation by the Haaretz newspaper in October found that the Protesters block a traffic intersection outside Nazareth on Oct. 4 to protest Israeli police inaction over police had solved less than a third of a tide of criminal violence that has swept Palestinian communities in Israel. murders in Palestinian communities in Israel this year—half its rate for cases closed in Jewish communities. PALESTINIAN CITIZENS OF ISRAEL escalated their protests Palestinian citizens of Israel also held a one-day general strike on against the police and government in October by bringing sections Oct. 2, shutting down schools, local authority offices and shops, to of the country’s busiest highway to a crawl as they drove in a slow protest the police’s long-running failure to crack down on well-known convoy toward Jerusalem for a major demonstration. crime families, seize their arsenals of weapons and properly invesIt was the latest in a series of high-stakes confrontations with the tigate the killing spree. authorities by Israel’s large Palestinian minority as they express their Leaders of the Palestinian minority say their towns and villages anger at police inaction over a tide of violence that has swept their have been largely abandoned by the police, creating a vacuum filled communities. More than 75 lives have been claimed so far this year. by criminals. Many of the killings are the result of vendettas, criminal The go-slow convoy on Oct. 10, involving hundreds of cars waving gangs’ turf wars and domestic violence. In several incidents, byblack flags along Road 6, served as a prelude to a meeting with the standers have been shot, including children. public security minister, Gilad Erdan. He has been widely criticized Tens of thousands attended the largest protest in Majd al-Krum, for inflammatory statements inciting hostility toward Israel’s Palesa Palestinian town in the central Galilee, where three men had been tinian citizens. killed in a shoot-out days before. Many suspect the police are actively Clearly rattled by a wave of actions that have blocked numerous complicit in the bloodshed. road junctions, causing long traffic jams, Israel’s police chief Motti Historically, the police have recruited Palestinian crime families as informers, as a way to gather inside information on the minority. The Jonathan Cook is a journalist based in Nazareth and a winner of the impression, say community leaders, is that the police are more inMartha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. He is the author of terested in maintaining relations with these criminals than tackling Blood and Religion and Israel and the Clash of Civilisations (available from AET’s Middle East Books and More). the crime wave. 8
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
cook_8-10r2.qxp_The Nakba Continues 10/24/19 4:06 PM Page 9
The Higher Follow-Up Committee—effectively the collective political leadership of the Palestinian minority—issued a statement coinciding with the wave of protests charging “a conspiracy between the police and the criminal organizations. The authorities know very well where the weapons are coming from into the Arab towns.” Police estimates suggest that there may be as many as half a million weapons in Palestinian communities in Israel. Most are believed to have originated from Israeli army bases. Ahmed Tibi, a senior Palestinian member of the Israeli parliament, observed: “It is delusional to think that police intelligence is unaware of who is bringing them in and where from. If it were weapons smuggled in to be used by terrorists, the weapons would’ve been confiscated, and the responsible individuals put in jail at a moment’s notice.” The Follow-Up Committee’s statement complained that Israeli officials were exploiting the tide of violence as a way to “attack the social fabric of the Arab public.” Aida ToumaSuleiman, a member of the Israeli parliament for the Joint List faction, which comprises four Palestinian parties, said police had the tools to prevent the violence but lacked the will. “People are wondering, how is it possible the police suddenly become incompetent only when the problem is curbing crime in Arab communities?” she said. Like many, Touma-Suleiman suspects foul play. She believes Israeli officials hope to replace the existing Palestinian national leadership in Israel with compromised local leaders tied to the criminal underworld. “There is a rotten circle of interests between the police, the politicians and the criminal class to maintain a situation where Palestinian communities are left weak, divided and fearful,” she said. The police, on the other hand, argue that their efforts have been stymied by a lack of cooperation. Micky Rosenfeld, a police spokesman, said the crime wave was largely the result of a “failure by the Arab leadership to help the police.” The Palestinian minority’s leaders, however, complain that they have found few allies in a yearslong campaign to end the bloodshed. Erdan—an ultra-nationalist ally of Prime NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu—attributed the wave of killings to a violent “Arab culture.” He told Jerusalem Radio: “It’s a very, very—and another thousand times—very violent society….A lot of disputes that end here [among Israeli Jews] with a lawsuit, there they pull out a knife and gun.”
Israel’s Palestinian
communities have been hit by a perfect storm
Accusing the government of “blaming the victim,” Ayman Odeh, head of the Joint List, observed that crime figures gave the lie to Erdan’s claim. In an article for Haaretz, Odeh pointed out that, despite the large number of weapons in the occupied territories, the rate of murders among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza is little different from that in Israeli Jewish society. Some 20 years ago, he added, the number of murders among Palestinian and Jewish citizens of Israel was identical. But in recent years the rate had rocketed in Israel’s Palestinian communities to six times that of Israeli Jews and Palestinians in the West Bank. Thabet Abu Ras, co-director of the Abraham Fund Initiatives, which promotes coexistence between Jewish and Palestinian citizens, said Israel’s Palestinian communities have been hit by a perfect storm of problems created by officials. A lack of public institutions, from police stations to governmental offices, mean Palestinian communities in Israel are effectively cut off from the rest of society. Poverty and neglect have created conditions ripe for exploitation by criminals, he said. The state’s confiscation of land from Palestinian communities and a policy of denying them building permits have created serious overcrowding and housing shortages that readily trigger disputes between families and these often turn violent. The absence of banking services in many Palestinian towns, and the difficulties Palestinian citizens face gaining loans and mortgages, have strengthened the role of criminal groups. They loan money at extortionate
rates that borrowers often cannot afford to repay. Weak local institutions in Palestinian communities and the state’s cultivation of extended families as an alternative leadership paves the way for criminal groups to intimidate local officials to gain control over communal resources. A major police crackdown in Jewish communities like Nahariya and Netanya in recent years forced Jewish crime gangs to make alliances with organized criminal groups in Palestinian communities in Israel to continue their activities. “Crime is the one place in Israel where there is some kind of meaningful integration between Jews and Arabs,” Abu Ras said. In his Haaretz article, Odeh blames “government racism” that “sees us as enemies instead of citizens.” He calls on ordinary Israeli Jews “who believe in democracy to join us in a battle for a society without guns. Eliminating violence is in the civic interest of us all.” The move to the streets is seen as a way to bypass the seeming indifference of Israeli officials by appealing directly to ordinary Israeli Jews. The national police command is almost exclusively Jewish, and was led until recently by a former secret police officer, Roni Alsheikh, known for being an avid supporter of the illegal settlements in the occupied territories. Few police stations are operational in Palestinian communities in Israel, and the force is widely distrusted. Police officers typically enter the country’s Palestinian towns and villages in military-style operations to enforce house demolitions or to forcibly quell demonstrations. Trust has been further eroded by the fact that the paramilitary Border Police, a major component of Israel’s security services, operate in Palestinian communities both inside Israel and in the occupied West Bank, using similar methods of violent repression. In a move unlikely to allay the minority’s concerns, police commissioner Cohen reacted to the protests by promising three more Border Police headquarters in the north. Dozens of Palestinian citizens have died at the hands of the police over the past two decades, often in unexplained circum-
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
9
cook_8-10r2.qxp_The Nakba Continues 10/24/19 4:06 PM Page 10
stances. Such deaths are rarely investigated. A judicial-led commission of inquiry nearly two decades ago concluded that there was a culture in the police of treating Palestinian citizens as “an enemy.” Little seems to have changed since. Similar problems prevail at the political level. Palestinian parties have always been excluded from governmental roles, and the Palestinian minority’s legislators have no influence in the parliament. Like Erdan, Netanyahu regularly incites the Jewish public against the Palestinian minority. During September’s election campaign, he sought to mobilize Jewish voters by warning: “Arabs want to annihilate us all —women, children and men.” Erdan was also recently exposed as having actively helped cover up evidence that police unlawfully shot a Palestinian citizen dead during house demolitions in the Negev village of Umm al-Hiran in 2017. In the same incident, Odeh of the Joint List is believed to have been shot with a spongetipped bullet by police. This hostility has forced the community’s leadership to take drastic action to make their concerns visible to the wider Israeli public. In addition to the go-slow convoy, large protests took place outside the regional police headquarters in Nazareth on Oct. 22 featuring symbolic black coffins to represent those dying because of police inaction and a protest tent has been established next to government offices in Jerusalem. The blocking of roads is a form of direct action familiar in Israel—but mainly from the Jewish public. Settlers have repeatedly obstructed roads, as well as throwing stones at the security services, as part of their demonstrations. But whereas Jewish protests, however violent they become, are usually handled delicately by Israeli security forces, Palestinian demonstrators in Israel are often beaten, doused in tear gas and arrested. Last year a leading Palestinian community activist, Jafar Farah, was arrested along with 20 others during a peaceful protest in the city of Haifa against the army’s lethal shooting of demonstrators in Gaza. While in custody, a police officer broke his leg and is reported to 10
have assaulted several other demonstrators. But etched even more deeply into the Palestinian minority’s collective memory are the so-called October 2000 events, when Palestinian citizens protested on main roads in solidarity with Palestinians being killed by the Israeli army in large numbers at the start of the second intifada. In a matter of days, the police killed 13 Palestinian citizens and wounded many hundreds more using live ammunition and rubber-coated steel bullets. Investigations were cursory and not one policeman was charged over those deaths. This time Palestinian leaders in Israel trust the police will have to tread more carefully. At a protest outside Nazareth on Oct. 4, hundreds of protesters blocked a road junction leading to the neighboring Jewish city of Nof Hagalil (formerly Nazareth Ilit). Furious motorists, caught in lengthy traffic jams, honked their horns in frustration.
Dozens of Palestinian
citizens have died at the hands of the police over the past two decades A single policeman watched from inside an unmarked car at the side of the intersection. When spotted, he emerged to warn the demonstrators that they would be allowed an hour to cause disruption before his colleagues would arrive to make arrests. Unusually, given the large number of such protests across the Galilee, not a single arrest or injury had been reported at the time of writing. The police caution is a reflection of the challenges posed by this form of protest. The demonstrations are not overtly “political”—or not in the ordinary sense understood by the Jewish public—because they do not relate to issues in the occupied territories. The chief demand is for a right to personal security—and the police themselves are the focus of the protests. For years, Palestinian leaders in Israel have been calling for a new approach by the authorities to help end the violence, including enforcement campaigns, confiscation of
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
guns, and education programs to change attitudes to crime. “Our demands fell on deaf ears,” Odeh wrote in Haaretz. He and other community leaders hope to prick the consciences of liberal Israeli Jews. What is urgently needed, Palestinian leaders in Israel agree, is a dramatic change in police culture. The question is whether the protests, which have been causing major disruption, will redound on the government for appearing intransigent or on the Palestinian minority for inconveniencing the Jewish public. In his response to the protests, Erdan equated the fight against criminal violence in Israel’s Palestinian communities to the “fight against terrorism.” A Haaretz editorial warned that it was a sign that Erdan and the government continue to view Palestinian citizens as “an internal enemy.” Even if Palestinian leaders in Israel cannot influence regional issues, such as the peace process, they want to advance the basic civic rights of their community. The question is whether it can be done inside a self-proclaimed Jewish state. Odeh broke with a long-standing political tradition of the Palestinian community in Israel when he chose sides in September in the ongoing coalition negotiations over forming a Zionist government. He recommended Benny Gantz, a former army chief of staff and head of the Blue and White party, over Netanyahu for prime minister [see pp. 1113]. Gantz has indicated he may be prepared to make concessions on civic, if not the national, rights of Palestinians in Israel. Nonetheless, improving policing in Israel’s Palestinian communities may prove a tall order. Abu Ras and others note that the police still see their role chiefly in ethnic terms—as protecting the Jewish public from a supposed Palestinian menace, both in Israel and in the occupied territories. “The difficulty is that policing toward the Arab community in Israel is not seen primarily in civic terms, as preventing crime, but in security terms, as dealing with a national threat,” he said. “That whole approach has to change, otherwise the criminal gangs in Arab communities will continue to grow stronger.” ■ NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
views_11-13_32.qxp_Three Views 10/24/19 4:29 PM Page 11
Three Views
AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Arab Citizens of Israel Play Historic Role in Elections
(L to r) Ofer Cassif (Hadash) applauds with Heba Yazbak (Balad) as Osama Saadi (Ta’al) joins hands with Mtanes Shehadeh (Balad), Ayman Odeh (Hadash), Ahmad Tibi (Ta’al), Aida Touma (Hadash) and Iman Khatib Yassin (the Islamic Movement) to stand before supporters at the Joint List alliance’s campaign headquarters in the northern Israeli city of Nazareth on Sept. 17, 2019, as the first Israeli exit polls are announced on television.
We Endorsed Gantz to Block Trump’s Deal—Ayman Odeh of Joint List By James North and Philip Weiss
At the end of September Ayman Odeh, the leader of the “Joint List” of Palestinian parties in the Israeli Knesset, gave an interview to Time Magazine in which he explained the decision by 10 of the
Philip Weiss co-edits Mondoweiss, a news website devoted to covering American foreign policy in the Middle East, chiefly from a progressive Jewish perspective, with journalist Adam Horowitz. James North is a Mondoweiss editor-at-large, and has reported from Africa, Latin America and Asia for four decades. This article was first published Sept. 30 on Mondoweiss. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
13 List legislators to endorse Benny Gantz of the Blue and White party to be prime minister. Odeh said the main reason for the endorsement was to block the Trump/Netanyahu plot to annex the West Bank and Jordan Valley. “The main purpose of what we did was preventing Netanyahu from making the ‘Deal of the Century’ with Trump, which would end all possibilities for peace,” Odeh said. “We also want to prevent Netanyahu from forming a government with [the hard right] Yamina Party and annexing the Occupied Territories.” Odeh went on to say that Gantz’s Blue and White lacks the courage of even Yitzhak Rabin in the 1990s, to take steps toward ending the occupation. But Odeh chose to pick the “bad” over the “worst.”
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
11
views_11-13_32.qxp_Three Views 10/24/19 4:29 PM Page 12
“We don’t have the privilege of the 1990s when there were strategies and policies toward creating peace in the IsraeliPalestinian conflict,” Odeh explained. “Now the options are between annexation and managing the situation; making peace is not part of Gantz’s ideology. Every government will be bad but we want to prevent the worst.” So Odeh is saying the “managed conflict” model, in which the occupation continues indefinitely, is preferable to the Zionist right wing’s plan of annexation. We keep asking if the New York Times is ever going to profile Odeh, the leading Palestinian voice in Israeli politics. When will the Times give him a chance to talk about how he regards Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a role model, and allow him to undermine Netanyahu’s lie that Palestinian citizens of Israel support “bloodthirsty terrorists?” Odeh’s conciliatory statements to Time Magazine make it even more understandable why the liberal Zionist group J Street has invited him to speak at its October 26-29 conference in Washington, DC. U.S. liberal Zionist groups oppose annexation; ten of them launched a new lobby network of Jewish groups so as to oppose annexation. The Joint List is plainly the strongest political voice in Israel against annexation (stronger than the Meretz/Democratic Union/Labor/Gesher bloc, which won only 11 seats). The Time Magazine interview is yet another signal that liberal American Jews need to forge partnerships with Palestinians. Consider that a liberal Zionist icon, Tzipi Livni, said in a speech earlier this year to an American Zionist group that she was never raised to have a “vision” of a Palestinian state. She explained that a Palestinian state was merely a pragmatic necessity to ensure her actual vision, the nation-state of the Jewish people. With rhetoric like that, it is no wonder that, as Livni acknowledged in that speech, young American Jews are growing alienated from Israel. Ayman Odeh does not go in for such racial talk. When Odeh explained his endorsement last week in the New York Times he did not mention Trump’s deal or annexation. At that time, he said he wanted to oppose Netanyahu’s racist incitement and bring down his premiership. Odeh continued in that vein in the interview with Time Magazine’s Joseph Hincks: “I was in favor of all 13 of our party members endorsing Gantz for prime minister. Not because he was the right candidate to represent our interests, but because this is the only chance for us to get rid of Netanyahu. We also wanted to send a message to the prime minister that after his incitement against us, we will be the ones to put him down.” Odeh was explicit about racism: “Netanyahu was the most antidemocratic threat to the Arab population since Israel was under martial law in the 1950s.” And as for Netanyahu getting first crack to try to build a governing coalition, Odeh said: “I think and hope that Netanyahu will fail.” ■
Israel Can No Longer Ignore Arab Voters By Naim Mousa
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s reign as the country’s longest-serving premier may come to an end in the next few weeks. In October, he told the president he cannot form a coalition, and gave challenger Benny Gantz an opportunity to do so. What’s not to be lost regardless of the outcome is the historic role Palestinian citizens of Israel played in shaping the election and weakening Netanyahu. The Joint List, a coalition of four Arab factions, impacted the course of the election when party head Ayman Odeh of the Hadash faction (the largest single Palestinian party in Israel), said he would recommend Gantz as Israel’s next prime minister. This marked the first time for such an endorsement since the late Yitzhak Rabin narrowly became prime minister in 1992 thanks to the backing of Arab parties. Faction leaders within the Joint List made clear they would not ask to join the government and would remain in the opposition. In the Israeli electoral system, parties that support a candidate to become prime minister traditionally join the governing coalition, but it’s not required. However, it is important to note that Odeh did propose that the Joint List would join a center-left governing coalition provided certain demands were met, including the repeal of both the Jewish nation-state law and the Kaminitz law, which limits construction in Palestinian communities, and steps toward the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Occupied Territories and the creation of a Palestinian state. Still, Gantz continued to give the Joint List the cold shoulder and vehemently refuses to even sit down with the leadership of the Joint List. Knesset member Ahmad Tibi, who leads the Ta’al faction in the Joint List, told President Rivlin that Gantz is “not our cup of tea,” adding that “our voters wanted this historic moment after a leader systematically incited against us as if we are an enemy.” Tibi also indicated that the Joint List may cooperate with a center-left government formed with Haredis (ultra-Orthodox). Tibi further clarified that the Joint List would support a government “from the outside,” meaning it wouldn’t actually be a part of the coalition but provide votes needed to maintain a majority. One notable objection to the Joint List’s recommendation is one of its own factions, Balad, signaling there is still division that compromises the full impact of Arab parties on Israeli politics. Balad’s leadership insisted on not endorsing Gantz due to his background. He is the former commander-in-chief of the Israeli military from
This is the only chance for us to get rid of Netanyahu.
12
Naim Mousa is a Palestinian citizen of Israel, currently living in New York. He is the media director of the Friends of Mossawa, a U.S.based sister organization to the Haifa-based Mossawa Center, which advocates for the rights of Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel.
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
views_11-13_32.qxp_Three Views 10/24/19 4:29 PM Page 13
2011 to 2015, meaning he was the highest official in the armed forces during the last war in Gaza. For Balad, as for all other factions in the Joint List, there is little daylight between him and Netanyahu. However, Balad’s position is more tactic than ideology, and as a tactic, it is a harmful appeal meant to appease their base. Balad’s popularity has waned over the past few years among Arab voters and especially following the breakup of the Joint List prior to the April elections, a development for which many hold Balad accountable. In addition, during the 2018 municipality elections, Balad lost almost all of the mayoral offices they held to Hadash and others, most notably losing the mayoral elections in the Arab city of Sakhnin to a Hadash candidate. Furthermore, Balad’s power was significantly weakened in city councils across Israel. Therefore, following a very turbulent election in 2018 and 2019, Balad is looking to regain its power and influence among Arab voters. Although the Joint List was in a difficult position, the decision it made reflected the message of many Arab voters when they went to the polls: take an active part in the government. Had Balad done that, it would have tipped the scales to Gantz to form a coalition and not Netanyahu. Still, Balad chose to use the opportunity to win a favorable position among Arab voters, rather than do the correct political move which would have carried out sweet revenge on Netanyahu and his party. Therefore, Netanyahu still had a 55-54 majority in rec-
ommendations, which gave him the first shot at forming a coalition government. Thanks to Balad’s inaction, Netanyahu was able to extend the interval in which he is still the person who should lead the government. A good portion of Palestinian citizens of Israel have long boycotted Israeli elections since the state was founded in 1948, but the Joint List changed that when it was established in 2015. In two national election results, it was voted in as the third-largest party in the country. Hence, it is only fitting that the Joint List decided to take an active part in determining who will form the next government. This is a golden opportunity for the Joint List to gain massive influence in the Knesset. The Joint List must utilize its newly gained status as a major force in Israeli politics to project its power and legitimacy. For example, if Gantz and Netanyahu do form a unity government, that would make Odeh, as head of the Joint List, the leader of the opposition, which would mean that he would be briefed on any and all military operations that Israel carries out—even covert operations such as assassination attempts or targeted strikes. Moreover, if the Joint List becomes the largest party in the opposition it would mean that, come the distribution of committee assignments, many Arab members of Knesset would end up receiving assignments in committees they never had access to, such as Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, where Israeli officials discuss highly sensitive issues that most likely involve Palestinians. Continued on page 32
(Advertisement)
2020 Jack G. Shaheen Mass Communications Scholarships … 23rd Anniversary! Join the 81 previous recipients! Award Amount: $2,500.00 Purpose: To honor Arab-American students who excel in Media Studies. Eligibility: College students enrolled in the 2020-2021 academic year; Juniors, Seniors and Graduate School students who are majoring in Journalism, Radio, Television, and/or Film. Applicants: Hard copy applications only. Send the following items to ADC’s Research Institute: • A one-page statement explaining why you merit the scholarship, your goals, and a declaration that you are a U.S. citizen of Arab heritage. • Two original signed letters of recommendation from professors of Mass Communications. • Copies of your articles, DVD’s, films, and so forth (Items will not be returned to you). • Official academic transcripts (minimum 3.0 GPA). • Your permanent home address and phone number, e-mail address, and your phone number during the school year, if different. Deadline: Wednesday, April 1, 2020 Incomplete or late applications will not be accepted; only hard copy applications are accepted. Submit all materials to the ADC Research Institute: Attention: Mr. Nabil Mohamad, ADC Vice President 1705 Desales Street, N.W. • Suite 500 • Washington, D.C. 20036 If you have any questions, call 202 244 2990, or e-mail: organizing@ADC.org Awards will be presented at the 2020 ADC’s 40th National Convention in Washington, D.C. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
13
omer_14-15.qxp_Gaza on the Ground 10/24/19 3:49 PM Page 14
By Mohammed Omer
The minarets of the Mohammad Al Hassayna Mosque in Gaza City are pink in October, during breast cancer awareness month. IT IS UNUSUAL for a mosque to light up its minaret in pink—but the Mohammad Al Hassayna Mosque has a message for the population—the pink is to draw attention to breast cancer. Hundreds of people recently gathered outside the mosque which, for the first time, tried to enlighten the population on the growing problem of breast cancer in the coastal enclave of Gaza. Iman Shanan, head of a local NGO known as the Aid and Hope Program, said that lighting up the mosque in pink signals a national stand to pre-empt breast cancer in Gaza. “The mosque has a strategic location, but also a spiritual meaning among the people of Gaza,” Shanan noted. The pink minaret serves to remind “men to support their daughters and wives to go for early breast cancer checks.” In Gaza, like anywhere else, breast cancer screening is crucial. But even when the presence of cancer is discovered, the necessary treatment means getting permission from the gate-keepers to seek health care beyond the borders of the Gaza Strip. Hospitals in Gaza
are ill-equipped or even unequipped. “Breast cancer victims face massive obstacles in Gaza, including the Israeli blockade, spontaneous closures of border crossings, shortages of medications and the lack of capability to enhance early discovery of the disease,” Shanan pointed out.
Award-winning journalist Mohammed Omer reports regularly on the Gaza Strip.
ADDING TO THE PAIN
14
BREAST CANCER INCREASE IN GAZA
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, breast cancer was the most widespread cancer in Palestine in 2018. Breast cancer accounted for 14.2 percent of the total registered as cancer patients. There are 16 cases of breast cancer for every 1,000 Palestinians. The health ministry says that in Palestine the numbers have increased noticeably in the past 17 years, soaring from 1,073 patients in 2000 to 2,536 in 2017 in the West Bank alone. There are no accurate numbers for people with breast cancer in Gaza because the Gaza hospitals do not have the resources or capacity to record and cope with diagnosed cases. After being diagnosed with cancer, patients in Gaza often have to
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
PHOTO COURTESY AID AND HOPE PROGRAM FOR CANCER PATIENT CARE
When Mosques Go Pink!
Gaza on the Ground
omer_14-15.qxp_Gaza on the Ground 10/24/19 3:50 PM Page 15
wait months before receiving treatment. Getting the required permission to access healthcare outside Gaza adds to the stress and is not guaranteed. It might require multiple attempts to gain an exit permit from Gazaâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;if it is ever granted. In 2018, 39 percent of patient applications for permits to exit Gaza for health care were unsuccessful, according to the United Nationsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; World Health Organization (WHO). Umm Mohammed, 54, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017. She underwent surgery but then required follow-up treatment unavailable in Gaza. Doctors referred her for radiation therapy in East Jerusalem. It took more than eight months and five permit applications to finally exit Gaza in the summer of 2018. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Denying my health care means a victory for cancerâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;we should all be united to crush the disease,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;&#x2122; she says. The five-year survival rate for breast cancer can exceed 80 percent through early detection and prompt, accessible treatment services. In Gaza, however, it is
significantly lowerâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;only 65 percent of women with breast cancer survive five years after diagnosis, according to the World Health Organization. When Umm Mohammed got her permit, she overcame one obstacle, but she still had to undergo painful chemotherapy alone and unaccompanied in a Palestinian hospital in East Jerusalem. U.S. aid totaling hundreds of millions of dollars earmarked for Palestinians was stopped last year. Shanan says the cuts have had a devastating impact on health care programs, politicizing human health and undermining human rights in violation of international law. Beyond aid programs, the aid cuts are suffocating a network of six hospitals in East Jerusalem where Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank seek treatment. The hospitals say the cuts are straining capacity for the hospitals, delaying urgent and lifesaving treatments to Palestinians. Shanan, who survived breast cancer,
knows first-hand the difficulties for Gazan women seeking diagnosis and treatment. Hundreds of women must deal with pressure on themselves and their families and may lack funds to seek diagnosis or treatment, said Shanan. Gaza knows that the journey to full recovery is longâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but the communityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s determination to crush the disease is higher than ever before. In the meantime, the harsh reality means that many women must wait too long before getting access to healthcareâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; and by that time, it is too late. A 29-year-old breast-feeding mother with uterine cancer had to leave her baby in Gaza in order to receive treatment in East Jerusalem because authorities would not grant the visa for her baby. After all her painful delays, the mother says she wants to go back to her baby even though the disease has advanced in her body. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Yes, I accept that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m dying, but I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to be on my own when that happens,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x2013;
(Advertisement)
PALESTINNE: OUR CHIILDREN, OUR DUTY! .,1'(586$ &$5,1* )25 &+,/'5(1 ,1 3$/(67,1( )25 OVER 16 YEARS
::: .,1'(586$ 25*
3 2 %R[ 'DOODV 7; 7ROO )UHH WHO KIDS IN NEED OF DEVELOPMENTT, EDUCATION AND RELIEF
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
.LQGHU86$ LV D F QRQ IRU SURĂ&#x20AC;W RUJDQL]DWLRQ <RXU GRQDWLRQ LV WD[ GHGXFWLEOH
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
15
cole_16-17.qxp_Special Report 10/24/19 4:21 PM Page 16
Special Report
U.S. Press Horrified By Trump’s “Shoot Migrants in the Legs” But Ignores What Israeli Snipers Do to Palestinian Protesters
Palestinian paramedics carry away a child injured by Israeli snipers at a demonstration by the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, east of Gaza City, Oct. 11, 2019.
AMERICANS WERE HORRIFIED to hear that President Donald Trump wanted to have U.S. forces at the U.S.-Mexico border charge migrants with bayonets or shoot them in the legs. Michael D. Shear and Julie Hirschfeld Davis at the New York Times reported that Trump wanted U.S. forces to fire on migrants as they sought to come into the country, aiming for their legs so as to injure but not kill them. Trump has denied that he urged these courses of action, but the Washington Post was able to confirm the conversation with staffers (who objected that these steps would be illegal and who simply disregarded Trump’s instructions. Among those who pushed back was then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who is said to have in-
Juan Cole teaches Middle Eastern and South Asian history at the University of Michigan. His books, the new arabs: how the Millennial generation is changing the Middle east and engaging the Muslim World are available at Middle East Books and More. This article was published Oct. 4, on his weblog, Informed Comment. Reprinted with permission. 16
sisted that U.S. troops not “interact” with the migrants in any way.) The Jupiter-sized blind spot of U.S. media, however, managed to report on all this with horror without mentioning that this procedure, of shooting people massing on the border in the legs has over the past 18 months become the routine Israeli policy—so routine that the deaths and injuries inflicted by Israeli army snipers on largely peaceful Gaza Palestinian protesters no longer make the news for the most part in the United States. Oh, you can find the carefully, clinically worded wire service reports on the Internet if you look for them, but they seem never to come on U.S. cable “news” and if they appear in newspapers at all they are buried in back pages. Reuters reported on Sept. 6, for instance: Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinian teenagers including a 14-year-old during protests along the Gaza-Israel border on Friday, Palestinian health officials said. They named the dead as Khaled Al-Rabai, 14, and Ali Al-Ashqar, 17. Seventy protesters were wounded, 38 of them by live fire, medical officials said.
Washington RepoRt on Middle east affaiRs
noveMbeR/deceMbeR 2019
PHOTO BY SAID KHATIB/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
By Juan Cole
cole_16-17.qxp_Special Report 10/24/19 4:21 PM Page 17
But the longer version of the past two weeks of Israeli mayhem against the protesters, via the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, tells a more complete story. On Sept. 27 a Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli forces near the perimeter fence between Gaza and Israel. Another 441, including 193 children, were injured, including 90 shot with live ammunition. Overall, 210 Palestinians, including 46 children, have been killed in the Great March of Return, according to the U.N. report. In addition, the Electronic Intifada reports that since early 2018, “some 9,200 others have been wounded by live fire, including 1,900 children.” At least 1,200 of those injured will require limb reconstruction, according to the World Health Organization. Many other incidents are chronicled in the report. “Israeli forces injured a total of 68 Palestinians, including seven children, in multiple clashes across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.” In addition, Israeli forces “carried out a total of 191 search and arrest operations across the West Bank and arrested 167 Palestinians. The majority of the operations were in the Ramallah (58), Jerusalem (5) and Hebron (23) governorates.” Israeli authorities installed a “permanent barrier along a key road in southern Hebron, further impeding access of vulnerable herding communities.” The barrier “affects the movement of some 800 Palestinians in four communities at risk of forcible transfer” as a result of their location in an Israeli firing zone for military training. The U.N. report chronicles myriad attacks by settlers against Palestinians as well as property damage and verbal intimidation. Israeli military PR people say that in the course of the past 18 months, some Molotov cocktails, grenades and improvised explosive devices were lobbed at Israeli troops massed at the border from the direction of the protesters. There have also been occasional rockets fired from Gaza at Israel, but not by the protesters, and most of those rockets land harmlessly in the desert (they are more or less 8th grade chemistry experiments, lacking any sophistication or range, although they do occasionally manage to cause damage and have over two decades killed a handful NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
of Israelis, which is also a war crime). The rockets are not connected to the Great March of Return protests, with the latter being mostly peaceful. The fact is, then, that almost all those nearly 10,000 persons shot by live fire by Israeli professional snipers have been unarmed civilians posing no threat to anyone. This includes the 46 children killed and the 1,900 children carefully targeted by the snipers. They have high-powered scopes and the pattern of injuries proves that they are deliberately hitting those children, and targeting their legs. The Israeli military doctrine is now that Palestinians can be shot like dogs whether they pose an immediate danger or not, if they simply stand near the Israeli barbed wire that herds Palestinians in Gaza into the world’s largest open-air prison. Some 70 percent of Gaza’s families were kicked out of their homes by militant Zionist militias in 1948, and many of the Palestinians there could walk home to their former houses (now occupied by settler colonialists who never paid a dime in reparations) in an hour or two. In February of this year, an independent Commission of Inquiry established by the United Nations Human Rights Council, pointed out that shooting protesters who pose no danger is a war crime. A systematic pattern of war crimes amounts to a crime against humanity, according to the 2002 Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court
(ICC), ratified by most of the countries in the world. The Statute says, “For the purpose of this Statute, ‘crime against humanity’ means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack…” It goes on to mention murder, “Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.” The notorious thug Binyamin Netanyahu, now on trial for corruption, implicitly threatened reprisals against the ICC if it ever took up Israeli actions. Given the rah-rah attitude of the U.S. Congress toward far right wing Israeli governments, and given that the U.S. provides substantial funding to the U.N., Netanyahu’s threat was anything but idle. The U.S. Senate also threatened the ICC over this issue, at the urging of the Israel lobbies. So the ICC may be intimidated, focusing instead on seedy deposed African dictators, but if an objective court of law were to take up Israel’s policy of sniping at will at innocent harmless civilians in Gaza, the country’s officials who ordered the sniping would certainly be convicted of crimes against humanity. The Israeli army and government are now officially worse than the worst elements of the Trump administration, who told our president “no” when he wanted to do to Central American migrants what Israel is doing to the people they turned into homeless refugees. ■
(Advertisement)
Palestinian Medical Relief Society, a grassroots communitybased Palestinian health organization, founded in 1979 by Palestinian doctors, needs your support today. Visit our Website <www.pmrs.ps> to see our work in action. Mail your U.S. Tax-Deductible check to our American Foundation: Friends of UPMRC, Inc PO Box 450554 • Atlanta, GA 31145 For more information call: (404) 441-2702 or e-mail: fabuakel@gmail.com WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
17
baroud_18-19.qxp_From the Diaspora 10/24/19 11:29 AM Page 18
From the Diaspora
Betty McCollum Wants U.S. to Stop Subsidizing Torture of Palestinian Children
Palestinian teenager Osama Ali al-Badan (r), who was shot while in custody by Israeli forces, receives treatment as his father (l) watches, at Beit Jala Hospital near Bethlehem, April 23. The 16-year-old boy said he was cuffed and blindfolded when Israeli soldiers shot him.
I N D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 8 , 17-year-old Palestinian teen, Ayham Sabah, was sentenced by an Israeli military court to 35 years in prison for his alleged role in a stabbing attack targeting an Israeli soldier in an illegal Jewish settlement in the West Bank. Sabah was only 14 years old when the alleged attack took place. Another alleged attacker, Omar al-Rimawi, also 14, was reportedly shot by undercover Israeli forces in the Shufat refugee camp, in occupied East Jerusalem. He later succumbed to his wounds. While the U.S. government, lawmakers and media often turn a blind eye to Israel’s incarceration and violence targeting Palestinian children, Congresswoman Betty McCollum does not. The
Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chronicle. His latest book is The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story (available from AET’s Middle East Books and More). His forthcoming book is These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons. Baroud has a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter and is a non-resident scholar at the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, University of California. His website is <www.ramzybaroud.net>. 18
representative of the Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party for Minnesota’s 4th congressional district has taken a stand against the prevailing norm in American politics, arguing that Israel must respect the rights of Palestinian children, and that the U.S. government should not be funding Israel’s violations of human rights. Although the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a “child” as “every human being below the age of 18 years,” Israel chooses not to abide by that definition. In Israel, there are two kinds of children: Israeli children who are 18 years old or younger, and Palestinian children, 16 years and younger. In Sabah’s case, he was detained for years to ensure that he was tried as an “adult” per Israel’s skewed legal standards. According to research conducted by the Israeli rights group, B’Tselem, by the end of August 2019, 185 Palestinian children, including two younger than 14 years old, were incarcerated as “security detainees and prisoners.” Thousands of Palestinian children are constantly being rotated through the Israeli prison system. They are often accused of “security” offenses, which include taking part in anti-Israeli occupation protests
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
PHOTO CREDIT MUSA AL SHAER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
By Ramzy Baroud
baroud_18-19.qxp_From the Diaspora 10/24/19 11:29 AM Page 19
and rallies in the West Bank. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Association estimates that at least 6,000 Palestinian children have been detained in Israeli prisons since 2015. In a statement issued last April, the Association, revealed that “98 percent of the children held had been subjected to psychological and/or physical abuse while in Israeli custody.” Many of them were detained “after first being shot and wounded by Israeli troops.” While Gazan children are the ones most likely to lose their lives or get shot by the Israeli army, the children of occupied East Jerusalem are “the most targeted” by Israeli troops in terms of detention or prolonged imprisonment. In 2016, the U.S. and Israeli governments signed a 10-year Memorandum of Understanding, whereby, the U.S. “pledges” to grant Israel $38 billion in military aid. The previous agreement, which concluded in 2018, gave Israel over $3 billion per year. Most of the money went to finance Israeli wars and security for illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank. A large portion of that money was, and still is, allocated to subsidize the Israeli prison system and military courts located in occupied Palestine—the kind that regularly detain and torture Palestinian children. Aside from the U.S. government, which has blindly supported Israel’s ongoing violations of international law, many governments and rights groups around the world have constantly highlighted Israel’s criminally reprehensible treatment of Palestinian children. In a written submission by Human Rights Watch to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in the State of Palestine last March, the group reported that “Palestinian children aged between 12 and 17 years from the West Bank and East Jerusalem continue to be detained and arrested by Israeli forces. “Israeli security forces routinely interrogate children without a guardian or lawyer present, use unnecessary force against children during arrest, which often takes place in the middle of the night, and physically abuse them in custody,” HRW reported. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
MCCOLLUM STEPS UP
On April 30, Rep. McCollum introduced House Resolution 2407—the “Promoting Human Rights for Palestinian Children Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act.” “I am introducing legislation to protect children from abuse, violence, psychological trauma and torture,” she said in her statement to the Congress. “The legislation I am introducing is expressly intended to end U.S. support and funding for Israel’s systematic military detention, interrogation, abuse, torture and prosecution of Palestinian children.” By introducing H.R. 2407, McCollum has broken several major taboos in the U.S. government. She unapologetically characterizes Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights with all the correct terms— “torture,” “abuse,” and so on. Moreover, she calls for conditioning U.S. military support for Israel on the latter’s respect for human rights. As of Oct. 17, H.R. 2407 has acquired 22 cosponsors. This is not the first time that McCollum has taken such brave initiatives. In November 2017, she introduced the “Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act” (H.R. 4391). The 2017 bill was not enacted in the previous Congress. McCollum is hoping
to change that this time around, and there are good reasons to believe that H.R. 2407 could succeed. One public opinion poll after another points to a shift in U.S. perception of Israel, especially among Democrats and among U.S. Jewish voters. Eager to exploit the political chasm, President Donald Trump accused Jewish Democrats who don’t support Israel of being “disloyal.” “The Democrats have gone very far away from Israel,” Trump said last August. “In my opinion, you vote for a Democrat, you’re being very disloyal to Jewish people and very disloyal to Israel.” In fact, it seems that an increasing number of American voters are now linking their perception of Israel to their perception of their own polarizing president and his relationship with the equally polarizing Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The declining support of these leaders is now widening the margins of criticism of Israel, whether in the U.S. Congress, media, or other facets of American life that have historically stood on the side of Israel despite the latter’s dismal human rights record. While one hopes that McCollum’s congressional bill pays dividends in the service of human rights in Palestine and Israel, one hopes equally that the current shift in American political perceptions continues unhindered. ■
(Advertisement)
A Project of Middle East Children’s Alliance
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
19
mcarthurr3_20-22.qxp_Congress Watch 10/24/19 7:12 PM Page 20
Congress Watch
Congress Puts Off Possible Government Shutdown ‘til Mid-November By Shirl McArthur PERHAPS BECAUSE MOST LEGISLATORS were preoccupied with other, mostly domestic, issues, Congress accomplished little over the summer, and developments in the Middle East got little legislative attention. Congress did not even manage to pass any of the required FY’20 appropriations bills. The House passed 10 of the 12 bills, but none made it through the Senate. To avoid a government shutdown on Oct. 1, Congress did pass the Continuing Resolution bill, H.R. 4378, providing continuing appropriations to keep federal departments and agencies funded through Nov. 21, 2019. The measure funds most projects and activities at the FY’19 level. President Donald Trump signed it on Sept. 27.
HOUSE PASSES BI-PARTISAN RESOLUTION CONDEMNING PULL-OUT FROM SYRIA
H.J. Res. 77, “Condemning the decision to end certain U.S. efforts to prevent Turkish military operations against Syrian Kurdish forces in Northeast Syria,” was introduced Oct. 15 by Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) and passed by the full House on Oct. 16 by a roll call vote of 354-60, with four answering “present.” Significantly, all Democratic and Republican members in leadership positions voted for the measure. It has not been acted on by the Senate. Among its “whereas” clauses is one pointing out that “abrupt withdrawal of U.S. military personnel from certain parts of Northeast Syria is beneficial to adversaries of the U.S. government, including Syria, Iran and Russia.”
MEASURES OPPOSING THE BDS MOVEMENT ARE BLATANT ATTACKS ON FREE SPEECH
Support continues to grow for H.Res. 326 and H.Res. 138, the two measures deemed insufficiently pro-Israel to get the required twothirds majority to be brought for vote by the full House under “suspension of the rules.” H.Res. 326, introduced in April by Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), which notes that any U.S. proposal that “fails to expressly endorse a two-state solution will likely put a peaceful end to the conflict further out of reach,” now has 193 all-Democratic cosponsors, including Lowenthal. H.Res. 138, introduced by Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) in February, which gives weak support to a two-state solution but basically endorses Binyamin Netanyahu’s “regional” approach, now has 36 cosponsors, including Hastings. However, S.Res. 234, introduced in June by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), which would affirm “the U.S. commitment to the two-state solution,” still has only 11 cosponsors, including Merkley, and H.Res. 518, in-
Shirl McArthur is a retired foreign service officer. He lives in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. 20
troduced in July by Reps. Lowenthal and Gerry Connolly (D-VA), which says that any two-state solution must enhance stability and security for Israel, Palestinians and their neighbors, still has no additional cosponsors. H.R. 3104, introduced in June by Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), one of the two measures proposing a “partnership fund for peace” to promote joint economic development and finance ventures between Palestinian companies and those in Israel and the U.S., now has 26 cosponsors, including Lowey. However, its Senate companion, S. 1727, introduced in June by Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), has only six cosponsors, including Coons. H.Res. 482 “regarding U.S. efforts to promote peace and stability in the Gulf region,” introduced in July by Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), still has only three cosponsors, including Bilirakis. A new bill cutting aid to the PA was introduced by Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC) on Sept. 19. H.R. 4411 would cut aid to the PA unless the Secretary of State certifies that Palestine is giving no special funding to families of people killed or jailed by Israel. It would redirect the aid to Israel for the Iron Dome missile defense program.
MEASURES URGING MORE IRAN SANCTIONS GAIN SOME SUPPORT
Some Iran sanctions measures have gained modest support. H.R. 1441, introduced in February by Rep. David Kustoff (R-TN), now has 18 cosponsors, including Kustoff; H.R. 2118, introduced by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) in April, now has seven cosponsors, including McCaul; H.Res. 390, introduced in May by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), now has 13 cosponsors, including Gallagher, and H.R. 361, introduced in January by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), which would impose sanctions on two Iraqi paramilitary groups supported by Iran, has 11 cosponsors, including Wilson.
NO WAR WITH IRAN WITHOUT CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL
While S. 1039, introduced in April by Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM), still has 28 cosponsors, including Udall, two other previously-described bills aimed at preventing war with Iran without congressional approval continue to gain support. H.R. 2354, introduced in April by Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) now has 82 cosponsors, including Eshoo, and H.R. 2829, introduced in May by Rep. Andy Levin, now has 84 cosponsors, including Levin. Similarly, S.J. Res. 13, introduced in March by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), which would repeal the authorizations for use of military force against Iraq of 1991 and 2002, now has four cosponsors, including Kaine. H.J. Res. 66, introduced by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
mcarthurr3_20-22.qxp_Congress Watch 10/24/19 6:53 PM Page 21
STATUS UPDATES
H.R. 2407, Promoting Human Rights for Palestinian Children.
Introduced in April by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN), this bill has 23 cosponsors, including McCollum.
H.R. 2488, S. 2309, and H.R. 4156, U.S.-Israel Cooperation.
The identical measures proposing “a joint U.S.-Israel cybersecurity center of excellence” have made no progress. H.R. 2488, intro-
with Saudi Arabia, still has 14 cosponsors, including Sherman. S.
2338, introduced in July by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), which would prohibit the U.S. Export-Import Bank from financing the export of nuclear technology or other goods or services to Saudi Arabia, still has four cosponsors, including Van Hollen.
H.J.Res. 37, S.Con.Res.21, and H.Con.Res. 50, Yemen.
duced in May by Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) still has six cosponsors,
H.J.Res. 37, which would direct the removal of U.S. Armed Forces
Rosen (D-NV) and Mike Rounds (R-SD) has no new sponsors. H.R.
been acted on in the Senate. The identical resolutions introduced in
including Cicilline, and S. 2309, introduced in July by Sens. Jacky 4156 introduced in August by Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) to pro-
vide defense and security assistance to Israel, which is essentially
the same as the provision in H.R. 1837 giving the president authority to give unlimited military aid to Israel, still has no other cosponsors.
H.R. 1850, S. 1886, and H.R. 3331, Sanctioning Hamas,
Hezbollah. H.R. 1850, which would sanction anyone who has any-
thing to do with Hamas, introduced by Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) in
from Yemen, was passed by the House in February, but still has not June condemning human rights violations and cooperation with Iran by the Houthi movement in Yemen, have gained little further sup-
port. S.Con.Res. 21, introduced by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), now
has 9 cosponsors, including Cotton, and H.Con.Res. 50, introduced by Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX), now has three cosponsors, including Hurd.
H.R. 1706 and H.Res. 395, Syria. H.R. 1706, introduced by Rep.
March, was passed by the House in July but is stuck in the SFRC.
Eliot Engel (D-NY) in March, which would prohibit aid for areas con-
Ted Cruz (R-TX), and H.R. 3331, introduced by Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-
Engel. H.Res. 395, condemning attacks on Syrian hospitals and
The identical bills introduced in June, S. 1886, introduced by Sen.
NY), which would seek to reduce the influence of Hezbollah in
Lebanon’s military have gained some support. S. 1886 still has three cosponsors, including Cruz, but H.R. 3331 now has 13 cosponsors,
trolled by the Syrian government, now has 26 cosponsors, including medical personnel, introduced in May by Rep. Brendan Boyle (DPA), has 13 cosponsors, including Boyle.
S. 246 and H.R. 810, Block Muslim Ban. The two identical bills
including Zeldin.
to block implementation of the presidential ban on immigration from
introduced in January by Rep. James McGovern (D-MA), prohibiting
S. 246, introduced in January by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), now
H.R. 643, H.R. 1471, S. 2338, Limit Saudi Weapons. H.R. 643,
arms sales to Saudi Arabia, now has 32 cosponsors, including Mc-
Govern. H.R. 1471, introduced in February by Rep. Brad Sherman
(D-CA) to require congressional approval of any nuclear agreement OR) in June, which would amend the existing War Powers Resolution to emphasize Congress’ role in introducing U.S. armed forces into hostilities, has six cosponsors, including DeFazio
EFFORTS CONTINUE TO EXCLUDE CRITICISM OF ISRAEL FROM THE RIGHT OF FREE SPEECH
Previously this column has described various efforts to equate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. This effort was blatant with the introduction of identical “Anti-Semitism Awareness” bills in the House and Senate. These bills would implicitly include criticism of Israel in the “definition of antiSemitism for the enforcement of federal antidiscrimination laws concerning educational programs or activities.” S. 852, intro-
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
several Muslim-majority countries have gradually gained support. has 33 cosponsors, including Murphy, and H.R. 810, introduced in January by Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), now has 113 cosponsors, including Chu.
duced in March by Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), now has 17 cosponsors, including Scott, and H.R. 4009, introduced in July by Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), has 18 cosponsors, including Collins. The two previously described bills that consist of four bills not passed by the 115th Congress have made no movement. They each include a section opposing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) targeting Israel. These bills not only equate “Israeli-controlled territories” with Israel, but also constitute blatant attacks on free speech. S. 1, introduced in January by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and passed by the Senate in February, still rests with the House. The House companion bill, H.R. 336, introduced in January by McCaul, still rests with various House committees. It has
67 cosponsors, including McCaul. While H.Res. 246 opposing the BDS movement was passed by the House in July, its identical companion, S.Res. 120, introduced in March by Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), still rests with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC). It has 70 cosponsors, including Cardin. These two measures do not equate Israel’s colonies with Israel and express support for a two-state solution, but they clearly are blatant attacks on the constitutional right to free speech. Countering these attacks on free speech, H.Res. 496 was introduced by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) in July, “affirming that all Americans have the right to participate in boycotts in pursuit of civil and human rights at home and abroad, as protected by the
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
21
mcarthurr3_20-22.qxp_Congress Watch 10/24/19 6:53 PM Page 22
First Amendment to the Constitution.â&#x20AC;? The measureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s text nowhere mentions Israel and one would expect it to be seen as noncontroversial and bipartisan. But no, Israelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s members of Congress, who are pushing for a definition of the First Amendment to exclude criticism of Israel, immediately jumped on the measure as being anti-Israel and anti-Semitic. It has 19 cosponsors, including Omar.
ONE YEAR LATER, CONGRESS STILL DOESNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T HOLD ACCOUNTABLE THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR KHASHOGGIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MURDER
The bills would impose sanctions on those responsible for murdering U.S. citizen and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. S. 398, the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Saudi Arabia Accountability and Yemenâ&#x20AC;? bill introduced in February by Sen. Robert Menendez (DNJ), and S. 2066, introduced in July by SFRC Chairman, Sen. James Risch (R-ID), still have not been voted on by the full Senate. This is because Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has abdicated the Senateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role as part of an equal branch of government by saying that he will only bring to a vote bills that will be approved by Trump. Similarly, H.R. 2037, introduced in April by Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Saudi Arabia Human Rights and Accountabilityâ&#x20AC;? bill, which was passed in July by the full House, is still stuck in the Senate. Its Senate companion, S. 2351, introduced by Sens. Coons and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), has made no progress. H.Res. 472, introduced in June by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA), â&#x20AC;&#x153;requesting the President to strongly condemn Jamal Khashoggiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s killing, hold accountable individuals identified as culpable, and condemn imprisonment of and violence against journalists around the world,â&#x20AC;? still has 35 cosponsors, including Speier.
BILL TO â&#x20AC;&#x153;FIXâ&#x20AC;? THE ATCA IS STALLED
As previously reported, the House in July passed H.R. 1837, which is a wish list of goodies for Israel, including a section au-
thorizing the president in emergencies to provide unlimited defense articles and services to Israel with no congressional oversight. It is stuck in the SFRC. Before its passage, a new section was added to H.R. 1837 intended to fix the unintended consequences of last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Anti-Terrorism Clarification Actâ&#x20AC;? (ATCA). While the purpose of the ATCA was to cut off aid to the PA or PLO, its wording could also apply to any country accepting the described aid. H.R. 1837â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new section fixes this problem by simply deleting the offending provision. But Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) went even further in introducing S. 2132 â&#x20AC;&#x153;to promote security and provide justice for U.S. victims of international terrorism.â&#x20AC;? This bill would â&#x20AC;&#x153;fixâ&#x20AC;? the ATCA by making the aid restriction not apply to all forms of aid, but at great cost. It would set new, impossible conditions on the PA which, if not met, would allow organizations to sue the PA. Fortunately, the bill still has only four cosponsors, including Lankford. â&#x2013;
(Advertisement)
! " Alalusi Foundation has provided sponsorships to over 5,205 Orphans in Iraq.
$45
! " # $500 $ "% & '( ) * +*,+ # -
22
! " " # $% && '(374 ) * ) +
) + . " ! / " ( . 0 # 0 ! 1 0 . 2 3 4 ) )
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
conference_ad_23.qxp_Conference Ad 10/24/19 10:48 PM Page 23
(Advertisement)
Registra•on Form for the 2020 Conference and/or Gala Speaker Dinner at the Na•onal Press Club Gala Speaker Dinner Holeman Lounge Thu, May 28, 2020 6:30 PM EDT Number of tickets____ x $300* *Speaker dinner ticket does not include admission to the conference.
2020 Conference: Transcending the Israel Lobby at Home and Abroad Main Ballroom—includes networking reception Fri, May 29, 2020 8:00 AM—7:00 PM EDT Number of tickets ____ x $79** **Must be postmarked before 11/25/2019 Regular admission is $99.
Additional Conference Donation: $_______ Additional support $_______ Total enclosed
Payment Informa•on Amex
Visa
MasterCard
Check (enclosed) with “2020 conference” in the memo line.
Card#
Expiration Date
Name as it appears on Card
Security
**Signature
Billing address associated with payment card, if different than above, and card–related phone number.
Registra•on Informa•on
First Name
Same as payment information
Last Name
Salutation (Mr. Mrs. Dr. Ms. Miss)
Name as you wish it to appear on your badge (if different) and any applicable organization
Address
City
State
Zip
Phone associated with card, whether home, business or mobile. Email Tickets and registra•on informa•on will be returned by US mail and email within two weeks.
hixson_24-25.qxp_History's Shadows 10/24/19 11:51 AM Page 24
History’s Shadows
WINEP Authors Continue to Produce Pro-Israel Propaganda By Walter L. Hixson
PHOTO COURTESY THE WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY
WINEP allows lobbyists like Robert Satloff, David Makovsky, and Dennis Ross to masquerade as objective social scientists while generating propaganda from their Washington think tank. For example, in 2001 amid the Second Intifada, the Near East Report, AIPAC’S propaganda news-sheet, featured an article in which “top Middle East experts” from WINEP claimed that “the Palestinian violence and [President Yasser] Arafat’s inability to make compromises—not the issues of settlements—have led to the current impasse.” The WINEP “experts” thus “explained” that illegal settlements in Palestinian territory were no problem. They invariably blamed violence on “Arab terrorists,” but in actuality Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon spurred the Second Intifada through his notorious trek under a massive armed guard to the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as the alAqsa Compound. On Sept. 9, 2019, the very same WINEP propagandists took a big, self-serving step forward with a launch before “a global livestreamed audience” of a “fantastic new book” written by Ross and Makovsky exDennis Ross and David Makovsky’s new book, Be Strong and of Good Courage: How Israel’s Most Important Leaders Shaped Its Destiny, extols the virtues of (clockwise) David Ben- tolling the virtuous, historic leadership of David Ben-Gurion, Menachem Begin, Gurion, Menachem Begin, Ariel Sharon and Yitzhak Rabin. Yitzhak Rabin and Sharon. Make way, Alan Dershowitz, you have competition! THE “ISRAEL LOBBY” extends beyond the well-known role of The authors of the book, whose title was borrowed from the the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and is Bible—Be Strong and of Good Courage (Deuteronomy 31:6)—apcomprised of countless political action committees, Jewish and peared with Sharon’s son and Rabin’s daughter joining them on a Christian organizations, Zionist pressure groups, media watchlive feed from Israel. (Not surprisingly, the two children agreed that dogs and think tanks. Among the latter is the Washington Institheir fathers were great men who served Israel well.) Satloff set the tute for Near East Policy (WINEP), founded in 1985 during a tone for the ensuing “celebration” of the book launch, explaining in period of explosive growth of AIPAC along with a profusion of his introduction that Israel was a “strong, self-confident country” other pro-Israeli propaganda organizations. today because it was “blessed with Rushmore-like leadership” from History’s Shadows, a regular column by contributing editor Walter the four late, great prime ministers. L. Hixson, seeks to place various aspects of Middle East politics and Ben-Gurion’s greatness, according to Makovsky, who wrote the diplomacy in historical perspective. Hixson is the author of Israel’s chapter of the book on the Israeli patriarch, was his “unswerving” Armor: The Israel Lobby and the First Generation of the Palestine dedication to Zionism, especially mass Jewish immigration and his Conflict (available from Middle East Books and More), along with tactical agility. Fair enough. Ben-Gurion was visionary, determined several other books and journal articles. He has been a professor of history for 36 years, achieving the rank of distinguished professor. and laid the foundation for Zionism. Much of what he envisioned, 24
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
hixson_24-25.qxp_History's Shadows 10/24/19 11:51 AM Page 25
however—including a massive ethnic cleansing and utter disregard for Palestinian rights and sensibilities—goes little discussed in either the book or the live stream. Begin’s greatness, according to Makovsky, was that he “really believed Zionism had to be consistent with civil liberties” (!!!); his successful negotiation of the enduring peace treaty with Egypt; and his “autonomy ideas,” which while they “didn’t go far enough” succeeded in “setting the template” for Oslo. So, to recap, Israel caused an unnecessary war with Egypt by retaining the Sinai, which Begin finally gave up but only as a means of protecting Israel’s flank in order to reinforce the illegally occupied West Bank, Gaza, Golan Heights and East Jerusalem. “Autonomy” was a brilliant stroke, fending off President Jimmy Carter and leading to Oslo, under which the occupation continued and was reinforced as the mythical “peace process” dragged on interminably. Finishing up with his analysis of BenGurion and Begin, objective social scientist Makovsky concludes that both had “political courage and did what was right.”
RABIN AND SHARON
Next we turn to Rabin and Sharon, as evaluated by Dennis Ross, who in the reckoning of his own colleague, Aaron David Miller, functioned as “Israel’s lawyer” rather than as an honest broker throughout a series of ultimately failed negotiations under multiple U.S. presidents. A complete failure as a peacemaker, Ross shows here he is no better as a historian. Rabin may deserve some credit for statesmanship for at least negotiating with Arafat, but it should not be forgotten that he was an architect of the occupation. In 1968 Rabin declared, “Israel will remain where she is,” and in fact he never viewed Oslo as leading to actual Palestinian statehood replete with control of borders, freedom of movement, a capital in East Jerusalem and linkage between Gaza and the West Bank, much less the return of refugees. Ross admires both Rabin and Sharon because they “revered the institution of the NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
IDF” (Israel Defense Forces) and were dedicated to the cause of establishing a “Jewish democratic state.” Ross’ use of this oxymoron alone shows why he could never function as a fair-minded, honest broker in peace negotiations with Palestinians. Hey, Dennis, here’s a simple formula for you to consider in your next “peacemaking mission”: with Palestinians comprising 20 percent of Israel’s population, a “Jewish state” cannot be a “democratic state,” it can only be an “apartheid state.” What else can be learned from this propaganda volume, which was published by Public Affairs with affectionate jacket praise from former U.S. Secretary of States Henry Kissinger and Hillary Clinton and a slew of Israeli militarists? Well, the terror bombing by Begin’s Irgun of the King David Hotel in 1946, which killed 92 people, including 17 Jews, and injured hundreds, was the fault of the British for not vacating the building fast enough, according to Begin. Sharon had similar excuses for Qibya in 1953, where he massacred 69 people, two-thirds of them women and children. What possessed those silly Jordanian villagers to hide in their homes when the IDF descended upon them? Why, Sharon had no idea they were cowering inside when he set the homes aflame. What about Lebanon in 1982, you ask? Well, Begin was in poor health and was mourning the death of his wife so he succumbed to “adventurism.” As for Sharon, once again he had no idea that the Phalange would slaughter all those Palestinians at Sabra and Shatila. None of the events, by the way, were “massacres” on the part of Israelis. That term is reserved for “Arab” attacks on innocent Jewish civilians. Deir Yassin (1948) was not a “massacre,” merely a “tragedy” brought on by an unfortunate set of wartime circumstances. In the end, it is no surprise that the two objective social scientists at WINEP have “no illusions that a peace deal is possible” because Palestinians, wracked by “weakness and division” are “unlikely to be responsive.” Besides, “in practical terms, the Jordan River must remain Israel’s security border.”
HISTORY VS. PROPAGANDA
Genuine historical analysis might seek forthrightly to analyze Ben-Gurion, Begin, Rabin and Sharon as war criminals, rather than great leaders, and to consider what we might learn about Israel as a messianic settler colonial society in order to better understand the massacres, collective punishment, and contempt for human rights and international law for which these men were and are responsible. It would certainly be appropriate to understand the trauma Jews had endured in Europe, culminating in the Nazi genocide, and fueling a Zionist militancy that played out at the expense of innocent Arab peoples. Honest history might serve as a prelude to understanding, reconciliation, and ultimately an effort (led by someone other than Dennis Ross) to negotiate a fair and equitable peace. But that would entail the writing of history, whereas the social scientists at WINEP are busy writing propaganda—and celebrating themselves in the process. ■ (Advertisement)
A erican Frie American Am Friends nds of Birzeit Birzeit Unive Uniiveers rsity ity
Gifted Palestinian stu udents can reach their potential al with your generous donatioon. (T Tax ax Exemption is Applied foor) AFBU American Friends of Birzeit University niversity
Thank you in advaance for ki d t ibb ti
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
25
awadr_26-27_49.qxp_Special Report 10/24/19 7:49 PM Page 26
Special Report
Why Single Out Israel?
An Israeli K-9 soldier and dog patrol in the H1 sector of Hebron, controlled by the Palestinian authority, as settlers (unseen) enter the sector to visit the tomb of the biblical judge Othniel ben Kenaz during the Jewish religious holiday of Sukkot, in the divided city in the occupied West Bank, Oct. 16, 2019. IN 2017 U.S. AMBASSADOR to the U.N. Nikki Haley accused the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) of “singling out Israel” for criticism. The previous year, Pakistan’s representative to the UNHRC, Aamar Aftab Qureshi, expressed dismay at Israel for complaining about being singled out by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Dealing with Israel has been a huge issue in the history of both the United Nations and the United States, involving considerable time and effort on the part of the international community at large. At a United Methodist Church General Convention, I sat in close proximity to the delegates as they discussed divestment from com-
Rev. Dr. Alex Awad is a retired United Methodist Missionary. He and his wife, Brenda, served in Jerusalem and in Bethlehem for more than 25 years. Rev. Awad served as pastor of East Jerusalem Baptist Church, dean of students at Bethlehem Bible College, and director of the Shepherd Society. Awad has written two books, Through the Eyes of the Victims and Palestinian Memories. Rev. Awad is a member of the Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace (PCAP). 26
panies that aid the occupation of Palestine. One delegate who opposed divestment asked, “Why pick on Israel?” It struck me that this is the most frequently circulating argument I hear against divestment. I heard the same argument when speaking at a regional conference for the Mennonite Church in Des Moines, Iowa where a delegate said, “With so much violence in the world and in many Middle Eastern countries, why single out Israel?” Israel’s defenders at universities, colleges, church gatherings, United Nations forums, public debates, etc., routinely ask, “Why single out Israel?” The argument is that with all the human rights abuses in the world, why forget about everyone else and focus on Israel? I could make many strong arguments to show that Israel is not, in fact, singled out amongst other countries for human rights violations. For example, Iran’s economy is currently crippled due to sanctions from the U.S. and its Western allies and the same goes for Yemen, Syria, Libya and Lebanon. Sanctions are devastating the lives of millions in each of these countries. Russia, China and North Korea are accused of human rights violations and are also being sanctioned.
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
PHOTO BY HAZEM BADER/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
By Rev. Alex Awad
awadr_26-27_49.qxp_Special Report 10/24/19 9:25 PM Page 27
Hamas is accused of human rights violations and hence the people of Gaza have for years endured crippling U.S. and Israeli sanctions. Countries that are accused of human rights violations—fairly or unfairly— are suffering under economic punitive measures, ironically all except for Israel. My purpose is not to debate the truth or falsehood of the argument that Israel is being picked on, but rather to respond as if it were true that Israel is, in fact, singled out. Here are some reasons why it would be justified for Israel to be singled out: 1. Israel is the Recipient of the Largest Share of U.S. Foreign Aid Since World War II, Israel has received the largest cumulative share of U.S foreign assistance at $142.3 billion to date in bilateral assistance and missile defense. Israel’s total aid (direct and indirect) amounts to at least $5 billion dollars annually. The aid flows even though the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act prohibits military assistance to any country “which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.” The Symington and Glenn amendments ban military assistance to any government that refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and to allow inspection of its nuclear facilities, both of which Israel refuses to do. Don’t American citizens have a right, and indeed an obligation to “pick” on the country that receives most of our tax dollars and yet continues to defy international treaties? After all, we are complicit in these violations as long as our money and diplomatic support enable these violations to occur. 2. Israel, the “Only Democracy in the Middle East”? Israel and her allies incessantly claim that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, even as Israel carries out actions that are tantamount to those of a rogue nation. If Israel is indeed a true democracy, it has to represent everyone fairly and cannot abuse the rights of 20 percent of its population (Israeli Arab citizens) and 100 percent of the population it indirectly and illegally occupies. A state can’t claim to be a democracy when half of the population living under its control is not treated with equality. Israel’s NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
nation-state law proclaims that Israel is the state of its Jewish population. This clearly violates the principles of a democratic state since it doesn’t extend nationhood to the non-Jewish population. 3. Holy Land Israel controls the land millions of Jews, Muslims and Christians consider “holy.” The attention of those belonging to these religions is naturally drawn to the Holy Land. What happens in Jerusalem, Bethlehem or Hebron physically, spiritually and emotionally touches others from around the globe who care deeply that their holy sites remain safe and respected. An Israeli soldier might shoot a Palestinian in the vicinity of the al-Aqsa Mosque in the morning and as a result, by evening riots will have formed in countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan or Egypt. When a Jew is stabbed in the vicinity of the Wailing Wall, the news of his or her killing will be heard in Jewish synagogues and Jewish communities the world over. The Israeli siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in 2002 brought anger and sadness to Christians around the world. People rightly criticize Israel because
IndextoAdvertisers 12 Muslim Revolutions . . . . . . . . . 49 Alalusi Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Al-Mokha Coffee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA). . . . . . Inside Front Cover Barefoot to Palestine . . . . . . . . . . 69 Friends of Birzeit University . . . . . 25 Kinder USA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Land of Canaan Foundation. . . . . 63 Middle East Children’s Alliance . . 19 Palestinian Medical Relief Society (Friends of UPMRC) . . . . . . . . . . 17 Persian Heritage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Palestinian Writes Literature Festival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Playgrounds for Palestine . . . . . . . 45 Shaheen Mass Communications Scholarship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 The Israel Lobby Enters State Government. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 United Palestinian Appeal (UPA) . . . . . . . . . Inside Back Cover
Israel bears responsibility for maintaining peace and order at these holy places. By comparison, the occupation of Tibet by China since 1951 is equally tragic and unacceptable, and the Tibetan struggle for independence is certainly a cause I feel the world should support by all means. Noteworthy, however, is that Tibet is not regarded as the Holy Land for the three largest monotheistic faiths which together represent major populations around the word. 4. Unfinished Business Israel is the instigator of multiple issues that have left millions of lives hanging. As examples, consider the following three major, outstanding, and yet unresolved human rights issues: (a) millions of Palestinian refugees are still languishing in Israel, countries bordering Israel and around the world, despite U.N. Resolution 194 that calls for their repatriation and/or compensation; (b) the borders of Israel and a future Palestinian state are yet to be declared while Israel continues to expand its territory, and (c) the occupation of the Palestinian people is the longest ongoing occupation in the world. Those who say, “Why pick on Israel?” are not taking a hard look at these vital international concerns. The fight for decolonization and self-determination was won for most third world people, but Palestine and Palestinians are still being denied that right. Many throughout the world consider that after South Africa, this is the last bastion of European colonization that needs to be addressed. 5. Fighting Terrorism Daily we hear of vicious terror attacks that waste the lives of innocent people in many parts of the world. Although not all terror attacks are related to the Arab-Israeli conflict, some are. Palestinian, Arab and Muslim youth frustrated over Israeli illegal actions in Palestine are pushed to defend their cause through violent means since the international community has been unable or unwilling to come to their aid. The Palestinian cause is often cited as the best recruiting tool for al-Qaeda and ISIS. A just resolution of the Palestinian issue which ends the brutal occupation and humiliation of the Palestinian people will Continued on page 49
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
27
smithr_28-31.qxp_Special Report 10/24/19 7:47 PM Page 28
Special Report
Are Israeli Settlers Secretly Installing Solar Panels at Virginia Public Schools?
By Grant F. Smith
AN ISRAELI REAL ESTATE and solar energy giant secretly owns a U.S. solar energy developer and is building solar farms across the state of Virginia. Because it is using shell companies as fronts, nobody but a handful of corporate insiders and members of the state Virginia Israel Advisory Board appear to know the identity of the true beneficial foreign owners in Israel. None of the customers at public schools, data centers and other organizations now signing 25- and 30-year contracts exchanging valuable rooftops and land for solar farms seem to know about the secret Israeli company’s extensive business activities in Palestinian and Syrian territories illegally occupied by Israel. Some customers are signing deals they don’t fully understand, and their signed contracts are financially disadvantageous to the point of being predatory. Schools in particular believe they are entering into deals with a young, Virginia-based, pet-friendly and social-media-savvy startup
Grant F. Smith is the director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy in Washington, DC. This is the second full chapter excerpt published in the Washington Report on Middle east affairs from the new IRmep book, the israel lobby enters state government, now on sale at Middle East Books and More and other fine bookstores. 28
Washington RepoRt on Middle east affaiRs
PHOTO CREDIT WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Sun Tribe Solar’s tweet about dogs on Aug. 14, 2019.
that just wants to make the world a bit more sustainable. But the story is much more complex, because stealth and misdirection is everywhere. The Virginia Israel Advisory Board (VIAB)— the only taxpayer- funded state government entity that works exclusively to bring Israeli companies to Virginia—proposed a solution to state energy needs for data centers and schools. VIAB has long backed solar energy farms sold, designed, installed and administered by an Israeli company. VIAB even codenamed the initiative “Project Turbine”: Project Turbine—A multi-billion-dollar Israeli real estate and renewable energy concern with significant properties in DC and Northern Virginia is developing several solar energy sites in Virginia to produce electricity. Expanding renewable energy capacity is a requirement of major data centers to locate in Virginia. —Virginia Israel Advisory Board 2018 Annual Report On the surface, the offer sounds compelling. Data centers and schools continue to buy energy from Dominion Energy and other power from utilities generated by nuclear, fracked natural gas and other sources. VIAB is working behind the scenes to win business for Israel using its own status as a government agency while orchestrating the concealment of the true parent organization behind “Project Turbine.” The tipoff as to the identity of the Israeli company may be found in the southern region of Virginia, at the Mineral Gap datacenter in Wise County. VIAB Southwest region coordinator and board member Aviva Frye is a “caterer, licensed travel agent and community organizer of over 30 years.” Holding a BA in Political Science from the University of Maryland and Master’s in International Relations from Boston University, her profile on VIAB’s website says that, “with most of her family living in Israel, and Aviva in SW Virginia, she is thrilled to bring the two parts of her life together.” At first, she would not seem to be the ideal candidate to sell complex Israeli solar energy solutions in Virginia. But her role was not sales, but rather market entry. So, in addition to her role at VIAB, Frye is also the Director of Regulation and Public Relations for Caden-Energix. Energix Renewable Energy Ltd is a small renewable energy producer founded in 2009 and traded on the Israeli stock exchange. noveMbeR/deceMbeR 2019
smithr_28-31.qxp_Special Report 10/24/19 7:47 PM Page 29
Alony Hetz—a private Israeli company— has been the controlling shareholder of Energix since it was founded. Energix is deeply invested in territories illegally occupied by Israel in the Palestinian West Bank. Energix also owns a solar farm located in the Israeli occupied Syrian Golan Heights. Energix allegedly used “questionable methods” to obtain access to land from its indigenous Syrian-Druze owners, because the Druze stood in the way of Energix developing a wind energy project. Parent company Alony Hetz also has investments in illegal settlements. It invested in the illegal settlement of Ariel in the occupied Palestinian West Bank. It holds a 58.22 percent stake in an Israeli real estate firm that owns Amot Ariel in the Ariel West Industrial Zone. Other Alony Hetz investments in the United States include Carr Properties, a U.S.-based real estate investment trust (or REIT) that owns properties in the Washington, DC area and Boston (a 43.65 percent stake). Alony Hetz proudly owns and trumpets on its website a 114,000-square-foot “trophy” property in Alexandria, Virginia. Caden Energy was the brainchild of former CEO of Century Media Records Robert Caden. In 2015 CMR was acquired by Sony Music Entertainment, and Caden went looking to start up other ventures. In 2018 Energix and Alony Hetz acquired a 58 percent stake in a series of Caden Energy solar projects in Arizona and Virginia for $13 million, “with a total capacity of hundreds of megawatts.” Energix does not manufacture equipment. The four Virginia sites initially announced acquisition of panels from First Solar, an American solar panel manufacturer and a seller of utility-scale power plants. Energix has not traditionally had its own construction teams. Rather, it hires contractors to build out the sites, after receiving the proper permits. Energix is interested in highmargin project sales, contracting, and administration of solar arrays, including selling excess electricity to local utilities. One critical phase for any solar project is permitting. Aviva Frye’s job was getting state approval for those permits. But when Frye approached government officials, she NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
Aviva Frye meeting request on behalf of Energix as a VIAB official.
did so in her capacity as a board member of VIAB. In February 2018 Frye set up a meeting and demanded follow-up from Angela Navarro, Deputy Secretary of Natural Resources at the Office of the Governor. Caden-Energix wanted Navarro to know that a Kentucky Utilities Company and its subsidiary, Old Dominion Power Company (ODP), were not going to provision solar energy for the Mineral Gap Data Center. ODP serves 30,000 customers in Western Virginia. According to an email about Frye’s efforts obtained through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, Frye said: Kentucky Utilities has made it clear to Energix that they are uninterested in providing renewable energy in Wise. The data center, which is already there, wants to expand. Del Kilgore [Delegate Terry Kilgore, Virginia House of Delegates] told us that at least two other data centers want to locate in Wise County if the renewable energy were available. But they MUST have solar power, hence the utility company is keeping good jobs out of Wise County. The data center “which is already there” is the aforementioned Mineral Gap, a highsecurity 65,000-square-foot data co-location center on a 22-acre site in Wise County. The facility was backed by $350,000 in state Tobacco Region Opportunity Funds. Whether there is enough market demand for capacity at the data center in the isolated, rural western part of Virginia is not yet clear. Server space is currently being sold
as an extra secure facility owing to its physical remoteness. When Frye met with government officials across the state to steer contracts and funding toward the Israeli solar energy company she represents, she did it on the basis of her role at VIAB. Two weeks after Ralph Northam was sworn in as Virginia’s newly elected governor on Jan. 13, 2018, Frye sought a private meeting with First Lady Pamela Northam. The meeting was to talk about Energix, but Frye signed the request for the meeting as the “Southwest Coordinator of the Virginia Israel Advisory Board.” Caden-Energix applied for its permits and is now moving fast to build out its rural systems. The four projects, which operate openly as Caden-Energix in the south, are not the full extent of Alony Hetz and Energix solar development activities in Virginia.
IDENTITY LAUNDERING THROUGH SUN TRIBE
Energix and Alony Hetz solar farming efforts for the Mineral Gap are still moving forward, but not under the Caden-Energix brand. On paper, Aviva Frye appears no longer to have any connection to the project, since activities have shifted to technical proposals and land acquisition. But there are clues that Energix and Alony Hetz are still involved. The first is that in VIAB’s July 18, 2017 board meeting, Aviva Frye explained that “Energix’s visit to Virginia resulted in an MOU [memorandum of understanding] in Wise to
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
29
smithr_28-31.qxp_Special Report 10/24/19 7:47 PM Page 30
Sun Tribe Solar’s Mineral Gap proposal .
put up a solar field for a beta company.” The name of the company now developing Mineral Gap data center in Wise County is Sun Tribe Solar LLC. Sun Tribe Solar will benefit not only from Virginia State funding flowing into the project, but also $500,000 from the U.S. Department of Treasury paid as part of a $10 million grant for solar energy development on abandoned mine lands. The second tipoff that Alony Hetz and Energix are behind the Sun Tribe frontcompanies developing Virginia solar projects was a July 1, 2019 announcement that Bill Nusbaum was joining the VIAB board as a nominee of the General Assembly of Virginia. Nusbaum is a partner doing “economic development” for Williams Mullen, a regionally based law firm with 240 attorneys in Virginia, Washington, DC, North Carolina and South Carolina. So where is the direct connection? The law firm of Williams Mullen has intimate ties to Sun Tribe Solar. In February of 2016, Williams Mullen partner Philip Goodpasture filed articles of organization for the new limited liability company the Virginia Division of Corporations. The filing was followed by two more, one in 2016 for Sun Tribe Holdings by Williams Mullen Senior Associate Richard Palmieri, and yet another for Sun Tribe Development LLC by Taylor Brown with Goodpasture as his agent. Taylor Brown is co-founder of Sun Tribe Solar. Most of Sun Tribe Solar’s direct competitors are transparent public corpora30
tions in which the source of capital and beneficial owners are publicly known. Not true for Sun Tribe Solar, which strives mightily to hide its true ownership. It is unlikely that Philip Goodpasture is a newly minted solar energy entrepreneur. Rather, he is the nominee of anonymous beneficial owners, whose identities are hidden from all of Sun Tribe's customers in contracts to win business. In legalese, Williams Mullen is serving as the “formation agent” and service provider that will do ongoing legal maintenance of the operation. The primary reason Sun Tribe Solar would be set up via three separate LLCs is so that it can be owned and managed anonymously. Energix and Alony Hetz can fund Sun Tribe Solar via international wire transfer the seed capital Sun Tribe needs to market, sell and set up solar energy projects that return its investment over 25 to 30 years. Williams Mullen will then transfer net income back to Energix and Alony Hetz. If the operation gets into trouble, the nominee can transfer the ownership of operation to intermediary offshore shell companies, sell Sun Tribe, help it go public on a U.S. exchange, or even roll it up without ever publicly implicating the true beneficial owners. Caden-Energix might have been able to operate more or less openly in Southern Virginia without too much risk of opposition. In more diverse markets of the northern part of the state the risk was higher that Alony
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
Hetz settlement activity could be publicly exposed. Creating a pleasant, though misleading, corporate image is therefore key. Sun Tribe’s business development operation is already a social media and marketing powerhouse. Although it only joined Twitter in May of 2019, the @SunTribeSolar feed is full of hip postings. Sun Tribe’s young workers enjoy biking to work. They are recent graduates of Virginia universities. Their dogs are welcome in the office. One canine is even pictured sitting at the conference table giving input. Young engineers are encouraged to apply to work for Sun Tribe, and many of their profiles appear in the feed. In a July 15 post, Chief Strategy Officer David Welch stresses Sun Tribe’s local roots. “As a Virginia-based company, we’re proud of the fact that the commonwealth is embracing a 21st-century economy built on the foundation of clean, affordable energy.” One of Sun Tribe’s key strategies is obtaining long-term leases on land for $1 per year in exchange for giving landowners a discount on electricity. Sun Tribe sometimes wins projects through no-bid contracts with school superintendents. Other installations are a result of school board proposal requests to multiple firms. Sun Tribe’s beneficial ownership is information protected from public release during the vetting and contracting process. In Virginia’s King William County Public Schools system, superintendent David NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
smithr_28-31.qxp_Special Report 10/24/19 7:47 PM Page 31
White was informed about Sun Tribe from Middlesex County Public Schools Superintendent Peter Gretz. White’s board then “reached out to Sun Tribe” to start discussing an agreement for “three of our schools.” In February 2019 King William County Public Schools signed a 30-year agreement with Sun Tribe under which it will allow the company to install 4,500 solar panels on adjacent land. Sun Tribe will sell electricity to schools at a small discount compared to standard Dominion Virginia power rates, and sell excess production to utilities and other buyers. A close review of signed contracts covering one of the schools, Hamilton Holmes Middle School, reveals the predatory nature of the deal. Under its “lease” agreement, Sun Tribe Solar will pay a dollar per year for the large tract of ground necessary for a 478-kilowatt direct current solar farm. It will have all the rights of owning the site for three decades, but few of the obligations. In addition to giving away land usage, Hamilton Holmes is also giving away the huge upside potential, given its intended use. According to the signed contract, Sun
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
Tribe will be generating four times as much energy as the school requires. The excess will be sold at commercial rates to Dominion, which it is obligated to purchase under current law. So, under its signed contract, not only is Hamilton Holmes not getting free electricity, it is obligated to pay Sun Tribe for electricity. If the Sun Tribe system had already been installed and running in 2018, referencing the school’s actual utility bill energy consumption and Sun Tribe’s contractual requirements, the school would have paid Sun Tribe $51,000 for electricity, vs what it actually paid Dominion which was $58,000. However, Sun Tribe over the same year would have made $178,000 selling the excess power to Dominion. It might be argued that Sun Tribe’s installation and operation of the site combined with the small discount on energy is enough to make it a good deal for the Hamilton. Not true. The industry average installed cost for such facilities is only $1.03 per watt, or around half a million dollars to build the entire Hamilton solar farm. If Hamilton were to cancel the deal after a year, its contract (Advertisement)
requires the school pay $1.2 million to Sun Tribe Solar, which would stand to gain a tidy $700,000 profit after installation costs. But what about operation and maintenance? The costs after installation are minimal for solar electricity, and the school has already agreed to absorb costs to provide security against theft or vandalism at the site. So, what is in it for Sun Tribe’s beneficial owners? A 600 percent return on investment. Continuing the hypothetical scenario analysis of the Hamilton system being installed in 2018 and run for 25 years, at expected current rates of solar panel efficiency, and forecast inflation, Sun Tribe would produce a net present value of $3 million in excess “net metered” sales to Dominion Energy. Or to put it another way, the Israeli owner and VIAB insiders and investors have the potential to skim six times as much “cream” from the project as the “milk” (construction jobs and tax revenue) VIAB touts to ordinary Virginians. Insiders are producing all of the high-end value added to the project in terms of public relations, design, legal work securing permitting Continued on page 49
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
31
views_11-13_32.qxp_Three Views 10/24/19 4:29 PM Page 32
Israel Can No Longer Ignore Arab Voters Continued from page 13
It is also worth noting the response from Gantz’s party, Blue and White, following the Joint List’s recommendation. In a statement, Knesset Member Moshe Ya’alon, head of the Blue and White delegation, said: “all Zionist parties” are welcome in the coalition—a statement clearly leaving out Arab parties, sending yet another message to them indicating Gantz’s unwillingness to even meet with them. The choice at the end of the day is quite simple. There are two candidates for prime minister. One incites violence against Arabs and constantly carries out racist policies, and the other does the exact same but is called Gantz. Whoever ends up as prime minister, be it Gantz or Netanyahu, will not bring any change to the Palestinian community in Israel and will have no incentive to do so. Therefore, by recommending Gantz and ousting Netanyahu, the Joint List will at least get some retribution. ■
The Joint Arab List’s Endorsement of Benny Gantz was a Mistake By Haidar Eid
One of the grave consequences of the disastrous Oslo Accords was that it redefined the Palestinian people as only those who live in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The 1.8 million second-class Palestinian citizens of Israel and the 6 million Palestinian refugees living in the diaspora are thus relegated to the bottom of the agenda of any talks since they have no representatives at the negotiating table. As a result, each component of the Palestinian people is pursuing its own agenda and final status solution—be it an independent state for those living in the West Bank and Gaza, a bigger budget allowance for Palestinian citizens of Israel, or more civil rights for the refugees living in the Arab world. Only within this context can one comprehend the catastrophic move by three of the four parties comprising the Joint Arab List to endorse Benny Gantz for the position of Israel’s next prime minister—a man who orchestrated war crimes during the 2014 Israeli assault on Gaza which killed more than 2,200 Palestinians and has shown no regret about it. The reason why the Joint Arab List, with the exception of three members of the Balad party, has decided to nominate Gantz is “because we want to put an end to the Netanyahu era,” as its Chairman Ayman Oudeh explained. He added in one of his tweets that “we want to live in a peaceful place based on ending the occupation, the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel, true equality, on the civil and national level, social justice and certainly democracy for
Haidar Eid is an associate professor at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza.This article was published on Sept. 24 in Al Jazeera. Reprinted with permission. 32
all,” without explaining how this justifies their nomination of Gantz, who has already rejected all these demands upfront and who during the election campaign bragged about killing Palestinians. This unprecedented move by Palestinian politicians in Israel, which comes at a time when Israeli snipers are killing and maiming Palestinian demonstrators every Friday at the Gaza fence, has sent shockwaves throughout historic Palestine. This is not only because the endorsement gives legitimacy to a war criminal who supports the racist nation-state law in Israel, which relegates Palestinians to second-class citizens, but also because as prime minister he will certainly continue committing crimes against the Palestinian people. He will pick up where Binyamin Netanyahu leaves off and carry on promoting and entrenching apartheid, killing innocent Palestinian civilians, keeping the West Bank under military occupation, besieging and strangling the Gaza Strip in an act of collective punishment, annexing Palestinian land and expanding illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank. This decision by the Joint Arab List reflects the short-sightedness and political opportunism of parts of the Palestinian political elite in Israel. It reduces the struggle for true equality by Palestinian citizens in Israel, and also the common Palestinian fight for freedom and justice, to simply “getting rid of Netanyahu” and replacing him with another war criminal. Instead of demanding their full rights, they are ready to pick up “crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself [their] master,” as Archbishop Desmond Tutu would put it. The repercussions of the decision taken by the Joint Arab List will haunt us for a long time. It is a form of normalization, in which the colonized, blinded by admiration for the false ethnic, liberal democracy of the colonizer, fails to understand the mechanisms of power in a settler-colonial state. As many Palestinian political forces, on the left and the right, have pointed out, the act of participating in Israeli elections itself is also highly problematic. It legitimizes Israeli political structures, such as the Israeli Knesset, where the oppression of the Palestinian people is constantly legislated and legalized. Supporting these structures can in no way help Palestinians achieve basic human rights, justice or equality. Given that the core of the system is apartheid, working within it cannot and will not ever lead to the liberation of the Palestinian people, as it is premised on their segregation, oppression and occupation. This system needs to be boycotted in order to put the legitimacy of its racist order under question and to pave the way for other alternatives. For this to happen, however, it is clear that there needs to be decolonization of the Palestinian mind in Israel so the leaders of the Arab parties in Israel understand that opposing the political and ideological bias of the system entails rejecting all its power structures. Until this happens, the Joint Arab List will continue playing its political game, which not only excludes the other two components of the Palestinian people but also gambles with the basic rights of its own constituency. ■
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
williamsr_33-34.qxp_Gaza on the Ground 10/24/19 5:01 PM Page 33
United Nations Report
PHOTO BY MAJDI FATHI/NURPHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES
Five Million Palestinians Can’t be Wronged. Can They? By Ian Williams
Palestinian students attend a concert by musicians from the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) school in Gaza City, as part of the Sea and Freedom Festival 2019, Sept. 30.
IN MID-OCTOBER, the U.N.’s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) handed its investigation of UNRWA’s Commissioner General Pierre Krähenbühl and his top team to U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Observers are not sure whether to bite their nails while waiting anxiously for action—or to put their hands to better use by stifling a yawn. On current evidence of slothful inaction, it would be foolhardy for anyone to hold their breath. It is not a good augury that the beleaguered Krähenbühl turned up in New York for the U.N. General Assembly—but was disinvited by donors from the Liaison Committee meetings held on the side of the GA. Donations were more crucial than usual this year in view of the threats from the U.S. and Israel to the agency’s funding and indeed its very existence. Internal sources suggest, nonetheless, that Krähenbühl precluded anyone else representing the agency after he was turned away. That original ethics report from last December had concluded Krähenbühl’s team’s actions presented “an enormous risk to the reputation of the U.N.,” and that “their immediate removal should be carefully considered.” They were worried that the details of the improprieties and malfeasance would be “weaponized” by Israel and
U.N. correspondent Ian Williams is the author of UNtold: the Real Story of the United Nations in Peace and War (available from Middle East Books and More). NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
the U.S. and used against an agency which, even if flawed, plays an essential role in the lives of five million Palestinians. The staff who compiled the original report did so in hopes that the Secretary General would see the urgency of action to lance the boil, by, at least, suspending Krähenbühl and his team, pending due process and investigation, if not dismissal. That way, the Secretary General could show member states that the U.N. and UNRWA were capable of keeping their house in order without bluster from Washington and others. Faced with a damning and detailed report from the agency’s own ethics department, based on testimony from dozens of senior officials, the Secretary General had referred the report to the OIOS, whose agents spent nine months interviewing many of the same people who had contributed to the initial report. Krähenbühl’s deputy resigned and his chief of staff was “let go” while the inquiry was continuing. A senior HR person was fired after another OIOS inquiry, but according to sources inside the agency, the deal left them on full pay for the duration of their contract. The HR person alleges she refused a similar deal, intended to buy her silence. Krähenbühl and his special adviser, whose appointment and perquisites broke the rules according to the original report, are both still in office. The OIOS report has gone to the Secretary General, but it is not a public document, hence he can accept, refuse or even modify it if
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
33
williamsr_33-34.qxp_Gaza on the Ground 10/24/19 5:01 PM Page 34
he did decide to publish. UNRWA staff are understandably worried that the dawdling is not just because of the stereotypical bureaucratic lethargy, but rather reflects a reluctance to take action against senior officials on the word of their subordinates. In the meantime, several donor countries are publicly withholding donations to the agency until Krähenbühl is replaced and many more have privately expressed their distress at the revelations and urged action. According to some reports, the secretary general’s office was taking legal advice about whether he could actually remove Krähenbühl, yet it is difficult to believe that the commissioner general could hang on if the SG really wanted him to go. One can appreciate the need for due process, but setting Krähenbühl’s human resources rights against the welfare of the millions of refugees depending on the organization is hardly a balanced equation. Regardless of his acts, the pressure from donor missions has been real and constitutes ample reason for Guterres to act in order to keep the funds flowing to meet the shortfall created by the U.S. dropping contributions. Krähenbühl’s own Swiss government has stopped its contributions to the agency until he goes, although the moral effect of that is tempered because the Swiss foreign minister seems to be pro-Israeli and antiPalestinian and opposed to UNRWA, regardless of who is at its head. Cynical agency staff lament that this might explain Krähenbühl’s Rasputin-like refusal to go quietly. “He’s got nowhere else to go,” suggests one. Normally the U.N. diplomatic way would be for him to depart quietly in return for assurances of future employment by his government, but with that precluded he wants to hang on—and at the same time continue to benefit from the advice of his complicit special adviser. At the time the original allegations were made public and his deputy retired, the SG appointed an acting deputy, Christian Saunders, which led to hopes that there would be some reforms, but how can a deputy clean house when the head is busily messing up the floors? In fact, the SG’s delay has wasted a valuable year for UNRWA, which really does need serious reconfiguration ex34
tending beyond calling in the OIOS or appointing a shackled interim deputy. The wrangling over the commissioner general obscures the real issues that UNRWA faces after 70 years of existence. Because of the “temporary” nature of the refugee emergency, UNRWA does not have a regular budget but depends on donations, which in the case of the U.S., previously the largest giver, have disappeared completely. The Arab states traditionally did not give much to UNRWA thinking that since the West had enabled the shattering of Palestinian society, it was up to the West to fix it. They are increasingly generous donors now—but that worries some Palestinians who mistrust Arab governments. In humanitarian terms, it is not inconceivable to arrange for countries to offer resettlement to the refugees, without prejudice to maintaining their claims to return or compensation. But it would be a very bold and controversial move not least since some of those donor countries have ethnically cleansed their Palestinian populations. Understandably there has been ideological reluctance to institutionalize an agency that is still presumed to be a transient state after all these years. Its role as the custodian of individual refugee claims and status is essential, but is also what makes it the target of its enemies, who are prepared to entertain land claims inscribed on tablets of stone millennia ago but impose a statute of limitations on Palestinian aspirations. So, the first big issue for the world community is how to ensure that UNRWA and its functions are funded. But then it is long overdue to develop a structure that is transparent and open to reform. UNRWA has achieved mixed results in its role as the provider of services to the Palestinian people. Unsurprising with its age and legacy, it still reflects a colonial mindset. It is after all a donor-financed outside agency, with mostly expatriate management enforcing its priorities on housing, health and education. Ideally, one would say let the staff have more say, or let the refugees run it. But those who have experienced the partisan strife of the various factions suggest that this way would lead to disaster.
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
SECURITY COUNCIL’S MEETING
Meanwhile, in the U.N. proper, in September the Security Council had its regular monthly meeting on the Middle East. Special Representative Nickolay Mladenov gave a detailed report of how many Palestinians had been killed, how many houses had been demolished, how many threats of annexation there had been, all in defiance of agreements the Israelis had made. Unabashed, the irrepressible Ambassador Danny Danon of Israel, bounced up to denounce Iran and proclaim Israel’s prowess in combating Tehran. As every other member, even far-fromradical states like Poland and the Dominican Republic, stood up to repeat the substance of U.N. resolutions, denouncing annexations, demolitions and occupation you might think there would be some meaningful rebuke. But parsing the speeches you realize that much as they discount Danon’s words—they neither deny nor denounce them. Such repetitive canards gain far more substance than they merit when they are not combatted forcefully, but Israel has a force field around it that usually prevents the robust and withering rebuttal that its actions invite. By the time Trump’s new U.N. Ambassador Kelly Craft made her debut, she had outdone Danon in her praise of Israel. Outpacing even her uber-Zionist predecessor Nikki Haley as well as John Bolton, Craft declared, “First, I believe it is important to be clear on serious matters. So, allow me to be clear on the relationship between the State of Israel and the United States of America. In the past, the United States has always supported Israel, the United States supports Israel today, and the United States will always support Israel going forward. Israel will have no better friend than Kelly Craft… .” The rest of her speech was filled with love of Israel before she concluded, in case the world had missed her point, repeating her initial words verbatim. No doubt Sheldon Adelson will know where to send the checks as Craft’s political ambitions advance. Even by the declining standards of American diplomacy it was a low point. It does not augur well for the Palestinians—nor for the prestige of the U.S. ■ NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
literature_festival_ad_35.qxp_From the Diaspora 10/24/19 5:51 PM Page 35
(Advertisement)
palestine writes THE FIRST PALESTINIAN LITERATURE FESTIVAL IN NORTH AMERICA
ANGELA DAVIS Iconic Revolutionary, Scholar, & Activist
MARCH 27 – 29, 2020 NEW YORK CITY, NY Palestine Writes is an emerging institution that showcases the stunning productions of some of the finest Palestinian literary imaginations; It insists on the cultural agency of Palestinians, an Indigenous society with deeply rooted artistic traditions.
SHADIA MANSOUR Singer, Hip-Hop Artist, & Poet
We are asking everyone who views this ad to be a part of this historic endeavor by registering to attend and/or making a contribution to the festival.* *all contributions are tax-deductible and will be listed in our program KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR Scholar, Author, & Activist
and website (unless marked ‘anonymous’)
@palestinewrites
SCAN TO ATTEND
SCAN TO DONATE
be a part of history! WWW.PALESTINEWRITES.COM P.O. Box 558, Yardley, PA 19067
IBRAHIM NASRALLAH Novelist, Poet, & Recipient of the Arabic Booker Prize
viewsr_36-40.qxp_Three Views 10/24/19 6:16 PM Page 36
Three Views
A woman reacts as the body of a man killed during Turkish shelling in the area surrounding the Syrian Kurdish town of Ras al-Ain arrives at a hospital in the nearby town of Tal Tamr, Oct. 18. A Turkish-led bombardment that day killed over a dozen civilians in northeastern Syria, as Turkey’s president threatened to broaden his assault and a U.S.-brokered five-day pause already appeared to crumble.
Turkey Beats the War Drums By Eric Margolis
MORE WAR IN WRETCHED SYRIA. Half the population is now refugees; entire cities lie shattered by bombing; bands of crazed gunmen run rampant; U.S., French, Israeli and Russian warplanes bomb widely. Now, adding to the chaos, President Donald Trump has finally given Turkey, NATO’s second military power, the green light to
Eric S. Margolis is an award-winning, internationally syndicated columnist and the author of American Raj: Liberation or Domination? Resolving the Conflict Between the West and the Muslim World (available from AET’s Middle East Books and More). Copyright 2019 EricMargolis.com. 36
invade parts of northeastern Syria after he apparently ordered a token force of U.S. troops there to withdraw. This action, of course, puts the Turks in a growing confrontation with the region’s Kurds, who have occupied large swaths of the area during Syria’s civil war. The Kurdish militia, known as YPG (confusingly part of the so-called Free Syrian Army), is armed, lavishly financed and directed by the CIA and Pentagon. Most Kurdish forces are deployed along the line of the former Berlin-Baghdad railway, a major source of warlike tensions before World War I. Interestingly, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was making a state visit to blood enemy Serbia when the Turkish offensive kicked off. Turkey calls the Kurdish militias “terrorists” and links them to the original Kurdish resistance movement PKK which is on the U.S. and Turkish black list. I covered the brutal conflict in eastern Anatolia
NoveMBeR/DeCeMBeR 2019
PHOTO BY DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Are the Kurds Pawns in Hawks’ Geopolitical Games?
viewsr_36-40.qxp_Three Views 10/24/19 6:16 PM Page 37
(southern Turkey) between the Turkish Army and Kurdish militias known as peshmerga. If the U.S. can brand Syrian and Iraqi groups “terrorists,” why can’t the Turks do their own terrorist branding? After all, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq are in their backyard. The U.S. media is fiercely anti-Turkish because Ankara is seen as somewhat pro-Palestinian. Israel is a bitter foe of Turkey’s Erdogan. One rarely reads anything positive about Turkey or its leader. Not very many western readers even know that since the early 1500s, Syria was part of the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of modern Turkey. So were Iraq, Palestine, today’s Israel, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Most important, Iraq’s vast oil fields used to belong to the Ottoman Empire until the British Empire grabbed them at the end of World War I. France seized Syria and Lebanon. Both former imperial powers are still mucking around today in the region and have the gall to criticize Turkey’s involvement in neighboring Syria. The United States has zero historic interest in the region. U.S. troops in Syria appear to have come from the U.S. garrison in Iraq, which, as former vice president Dick Cheney hoped, would become a central U.S. military base for the entire Mideast. The Washington war party is moaning that Trump has “betrayed” the Kurds. The Kurds have been used and betrayed since 1918. They always seem to get the short end of the stick. The old Kurdish saying, “no friends but the mountains,” is painfully true. Washington does not want to get involved in a new Kurdish state carved out of Syria or Iraq even though Israel is pushing it hard to further splinter the Mideast. Iraq’s and Syria’s oil deposits are still a powerful lure for imperial-minded powers. Trump rightly calls the fracas in Syria “a stupid war.” But many pro-war forces play on this tired, confused president who has gotten himself deep into the Syrian morass, a problem of largely American but also Turkish making. Ironically, former president Barack Obama foolishly authorized America’s effort to overthrow Syria’s Assad government under the guise of a phony civil war. This was one of the few Obama policies that Trump chose to follow. The neophyte president was unwilling or unable to prevent the deep state in Washington from encouraging the war. The region in question is hardly the beating heart of Syria. It looks large on the map but is mostly desert and scrub, dotted by miserable little villages with Arab or Kurdish populations. Turkey, which has over 2 million Syrian refugees, is eager to begin repatriation of this massive burden created by its policy errors and the western powers. In the middle is the scattered debris of the short-lived ISIS caliphate. Russia, which is selling Turkey its very capable S-400 anti-aircraft system, is watching with delight as old allies Turkey and the U.S. split. Even Trump knows how important Turkey is to the NATO alliance. A rupture between Washington and Ankara could see the vital U.S. bases at Incirlik and Adana thrown out of Turkey. That’s why Trump needs to tread carefully. ■
Everybody Betraying Everybody in Syria By Graham E. Fuller
JUST WHAT HAVE WE WITNESSED in the recent events in Syria? It’s hard to know, given the avalanche of superficial and over-the-top headlines in most U.S. media: betrayal of the Kurds, handing Syria over to Russia, caving to Turkey’s Erdogan, bestowing a gift upon Iran, allowing ISIS to once again run wild, end of U.S. leadership. Yet the bottom line of the story is that after some eight years of civil conflict, the situation in Syria is basically reverting to the pre-conflict norm. The Syrian government is now close to re-establishing its sovereign control again over the entire country. Indeed, Syria’s sovereign control over its own country had been vigorously contested, in fact blocked, by many external interventions—mainly on the part of the U.S., Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and a few European hangers-on—all hoping to exploit the early uprising against the Assad regime and overthrow it. In favor of what was never clear. Much of this picture has a long history. The U.S. has been trying to covertly overthrow the Syrian regime off and on for some 50 years, periodically joined on occasion by Israel or Saudi Arabia or Iraq, or Turkey or the UK. Most people assumed that when the Arab Spring broke out in Syria in 2011 that civil uprisings there too would lead to the early overthrow of another authoritarian regime. But it did not. This was in part due to Assad’s brutal put-down of rebel forces, in part because of the strong support he received from Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, and in part because large numbers of Syrian elites feared that whoever might take Assad’s place—most likely one or another jihadi group—would be far worse, more radical and chaotic than Assad’s strict but stable secular domestic rule. Nonetheless over this entire time the U.S. has been willing to support almost any motley array of forces, including even extremist jihadi forces linked with al-Qaeda, to try to overthrow Assad. Washington has never gotten over the fact that Syria for over half a century has never bowed to U.S. or Israeli hegemony in the region, and has all along been a strong supporter of Syria’s secular—yes secular—Arab nationalism. The U.S. has therefore shown great willingness to “fight to the last Syrian” if necessary, to achieve its ends. As Assad’s forces gradually regained control over the country, Washington resisted those efforts—even though large numbers
The U.S. has been willing to support almost any motley array of forces...
NovemBer/DecemBer 2019
Graham E. Fuller is a former senior CIA official, author of numerous books on the Muslim world, including World Without Islam and Three Truths and a Lie. His first novel is Breaking Faith: A novel of espionage and an American’s crisis of conscience in Pakistan; his second novel is BEAR—a novel of eco-violence in the Canadian Northwest.
WAshINgToN rePorT oN mIDDLe eAsT AFFAIrs
37
viewsr_36-40.qxp_Three Views 10/24/19 6:16 PM Page 38
PHOTO BY DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
of Syrians want to see an end to war and destruction. In the Middle East, after all, Assad’s Syria had been by no means the worst regime alongside of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Saddam’s Iraq, Iran and other states. If Washington disliked Assad before, it is even more angered that Assad appealed to Iran, Russia and Hezbollah for support. Yet ironically, if the civil war, with its massive foreign support to the rebels, had not been so prolonged, Assad might not have needed Russian or Iranian support and presence. So, we reap what we sow. And it is important to remember that Assad still represents the internationally recognized, legitimate, if often nasty and harsh, government of Syria. As part of the anti-Assad struggle, the U.S. had sought to maintain an autonomous area for the Syrian Kurds in northern Syria along the Turkish border. The hope was that it would remain an enclave of opposition to Assad and a base of U.S. power within a divided Syria. A U.S. soldier stands in an armored personnel carrier as U.S. forces pull out of Which brings up the sad issue of the Kurds. What their base in the Northern Syrian town of Tal Tamr, Oct. 20. about Kurdish militia assistance in the struggle against ISIS? There is no doubt that the Syrian Kurds were effective in Syria has not been sanctioned by international law, whereas both that struggle. But it is not as if the Syrian Kurds are the only Russia and Iran were both formally invited to come in and assist forces that can fight the now motley dregs of the Islamic the legally recognized Syrian government. Caliphate (ISIS). Assad, Russia, Iraq and Iran all have every But there is another striking feature of Russian diplomacy: it reason in the world to see ISIS expunged off the map—long after also seeks to maintain working ties with all, repeat all, players the U.S. and the Kurds are out of the picture. The Kurds are not in the Middle East including seemingly incompatible ones: good essential to that picture. ties with Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon, Under these circumstances, I believe that President Trump is Qatar, the UAE, Yemen, the U.S., etc. At the same time the U.S. justified in pulling out U.S. forces from Syria as part of an ongoing has refused to maintain any such comprehensive working ties process of bringing a gradual end to Washington’s endless wars. across the region with forces it does not like. Hence it refuses to This war no longer served any real purpose except to destabilize talk with key players like Iran, Syria and Hezbollah or counteSyria, perpetuate its brutal civil conflict and provide an excuse nance a Russian role there. That kind of U.S. posture has above to keep U.S. troops on the ground and strengthen Iranian and all “served Putin” who has emerged as a master of regional diploRussian involvement in the struggle. Its refugees have helped macy and compromise. destabilize EU politics. In terms of Trump’s so-called “gift to Turkey above all wants to keep the lid on all Kurdish political Putin,” the Russians have had a dominant foothold in Syria for forces in the region that might facilitate Kurdish separatism inside many decades. So, there’s not much new here. Turkey—where the biggest Kurdish population in the Middle East lives. Hence the Turkish effort to invade the Syrian Kurdish enWHAT’S THE AGENDA? clave. The Kurds there ultimately saw the handwriting on the wall and opted to come to terms with the regime in Damascus. That It is indeed hard to keep track of the Syrian situation since there moment had to come. are so many players, each with its own agenda. Whose narrative How do we sum up Washington’s agenda? Mixed. First, it supyou choose to identify with in this mess depends on what your ports almost anything Israel wants in the region. Second, it supagenda is in Syria. ports almost anything that will weaken and destabilize Iran, and Do you favor the Israeli agenda? Keep Syria permanently hence anything that will weaken and destabilize Assad’s Syria. weak, divided, and without allies. Do anything that will hurt Iran. Then the U.S. supports Saudi Arabia in almost all its adventurMaintain Israel as the dominant Middle Eastern power. istic policies across the region including keeping Yemen in bloody Like Russia’s agenda? Russia is successfully working to turmoil. The U.S. also seeks to keep ISIS at bay—but so do regain its former centuries-old role in the Middle East in genSyria, Russia, Iran, Iraq and Turkey. Then Washington seeks by eral—a position which briefly collapsed 20 years ago with the almost any means to weaken Russia and Iran’s position in the end of the U.S.S.R. Russia’s agenda is above all driven by its region. It also hopes to keep Turkey “loyal” to U.S. goals in the strong opposition to any further U.S. attempts at engineering region—a vain hope. Finally, it seeks to maintain U.S. hegemony regime change by coup against any and all governments globally in the Persian Gulf under the pretext of protecting the free flow that the U.S. does not like. Remember that U.S. intervention in 38
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
viewsr_36-40.qxp_Three Views 10/24/19 6:16 PM Page 39
of oil. Of course, all Gulf producers want to sell their oil. And Asian consumers have a far higher stake in keeping the oil flowing—India, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and others. So, protecting those Asian shipping lanes (which has not really been necessary anyway) is most appropriately handled by them. As for Iran, it is determined to maintain allies in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria to the extent that it can. These allies are mainly important in a defensive operation against a concerted Israeli-Saudi-American drive to weaken Iran and all Shi’a across the region. Iran is only strong in its Shi’a identity to the extent that it is attacked for being Shi’a. So, Iran will seek to protect Shi’a populations in the region from oppression and discrimination from Sunni regimes, especially Saudi Arabia. Iran has no brief for the autonomy of any of the Kurds in the region lest it stir up Iran’s own very significant Kurdish population. Iraq so far is a bit player, but it will gain importance with every passing year as it struggles to reestablish a viable Iraqi state after the country was decimated by the U.S.-led long war in Iraq. What about the Kurds themselves, a highly complex and diverse force in the region? The Kurds are not united and may never attain unity. Kurds, after all, have been socialized within four different countries (Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria) where they speak three quite different languages (Turkish, Arabic and Persian). Among themselves they speak fairly distinct dialects of Kurdish in different regions. Kurds have always dreamed of independence for more than 100 years (one of the biggest ethnic groups in the world without an independent state) but have been constantly thwarted by regional and international powers and have never been able to settle upon a common strategy. They have consistently been tactically exploited and utilized by outside powers for over a century (UK, U.S., France, Israel, Iran, Turkey and Syria) when they have periodically served the geopolitical purposes of those states. They have been routinely promised support for greater Kurdish autonomy, and then, when they outlive their usefulness, they have been routinely thrown to the winds. The U.S. is only the latest state to “betray” the Kurds, by abandoning them this time—and the U.S. did the same many decades ago under Henry Kissinger who joined the shah in using them against Saddam Hussein and then discarded them to their fate. The Syrian Kurds had hoped that the U.S. war party in Washington would embrace their cause indefinitely. They were certainly disappointed that that has not happened, but cannot have been surprised that the U.S. would eventually decide to abandon them when the Turks, Russians and Syrians all decided to put an end to their autonomous enclave in the name of a unified Syrian state. Ultimately Kurdish-Turkish rapprochement within Turkey is far from an impossible task, but it will take some time. There is a groundwork from the past to be built upon. And once relations with Turkey’s own Kurds inside Turkey have been regularized, Turkey will likely be far more relaxed about the Syrian Kurds, who in any case will need to settle on an arrangement for some NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
kind of modest local status in Syria. Turkey after all came to accept an autonomous Kurdish zone in Iraq and has deep economic relations with it. The most vociferous voices in Washington for sticking by the Kurds in Syria come from several sources. First, from those who reflexively oppose any policy of Trump under any circumstances anywhere. Second, those interventionists who seek to maintain U.S. armed presence in the region at almost all costs—and the untiring U.S. global task in their eyes is never finished. Third, many want to keep Israel strategically happy and empowered. The interventionist crowd in Washington wants the U.S. in Syria indefinitely as proof of our “credibility” to fight everybody’s war, and maintain American “leadership”—read hegemony—in the region. Sadly, the prolonged war agenda would not seem to do anybody in the region any good, including the U.S. ■
How to Be a Real Friend of the Kurds By Eldar Mamedov IT IS A WELL-KNOWN TRUSIM that politics often makes strange bedfellows. One of the latest examples is a budding alliance between the leftist Kurds, or at least organizations claiming to represent them, and the neoconservative hawks in Washington, DC. Increasing tensions around Iran and Turkish aggression against the Kurdish enclave in northern Syria cement this new relationship. The common denominator is the demand for a long-term commitment of the United States to stay as a hegemonic power in the Middle East. As reported by Muhammad Sahimi in LobeLog, leaders of Komala and Iranian Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDPI), two leftist Iranian Kurdish parties, recently traveled to Washington to discuss ways to destabilize the Iranian regime. Already in 2012, the KDPI demanded a no-fly zone over the Iranian Kurdistan, so that the Kurdish fighters could attack the Iranian security forces without fear of retaliation. In 2018, it repeated its call for “regime change” in Iran. Komala and KDPI’s ideological brethren from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the main political/military organization of the Syrian Kurds, demand a no-fly zone to protect against Turkey as a response to the Turkish invasion of northeastern Syria. They enjoy support of many in the West, especially on the political left in Europe. This is not surprising: harrowing images of atrocities committed by Turkey and the allied Sunni Arab extremist groups naturally spur clamor for action to prevent a bigger massacre. Such impulses also derive from the overall sympathy
Eldar Mamedov has worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia and as a diplomat in Latvian embassies in Washington, DC and Madrid. Since 2007, Mamedov has served as a political adviser for the social-democrats in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (EP) and is in charge of the EP delegations for inter-parliamentary relations with Iran, Iraq, the Arabian Peninsula and Mashreq. Copyright © 2019 LobeLog. All rights reserved.
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
39
viewsr_36-40.qxp_Three Views 10/24/19 6:16 PM Page 40
for the Kurdish “Rojava project”: in a region beset with authoritarianism, conservatism and fundamentalism, the outwardly libertarian, female-friendly socialism of Rojava is seen, at times somewhat uncritically, as an appealing, progressive alternative to the status quo. Unfortunately, such feelings, understandable though they are, should be set against the hard realities of the region. No-fly zones resonate with the Kurds because they were very effective in stemming Saddam Hussein’s aggression in Iraqi Kurdistan. However, demanding them against Iran and Turkey makes little sense. No-fly zones were imposed on Saddam after he was defeated in a war. This is not the case of Iran and Turkey. Both are functioning states with capable security forces, and control their territories. The only power militarily capable to establish no-fly zones is the United States. Yet, under the President Donald Trump, the U.S. is relocating from the immediate region. The manner in which this relocation is executed is both disorderly and dishonorable. But demanding a full reversal and military re-commitment of the U.S. to the Middle East ironically puts these leftists, who spent much of their political lives denouncing “American imperialism,” on the same page as Washington war hawks. They should be wary of such bedfellows, because the hawks’ sudden interest in Kurds has more to do with geopolitical than humanitarian concerns. Turkey and Iran are two middle-sized nationalist powers in the region. Indeed, both seek to challenge an American-led regional order pivoting on Saudi Arabia and Israel. Stymieing these ambitions is, by default, a geopolitical imperative for those who wish to safeguard the American hegemony in the Middle East. In this sense, playing up an ethnic card to weaken geopolitical adversaries makes perfect strategic sense. After all, no one in Washington was interested in the Kurds in the 1990s, when, particularly under the premiership of Tansu Ciller, the Turkish state waged a war against the militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Mass human rights violations and atrocities were committed against Kurdish civilians. However, Turkey was only criticized mildly then, if at all, as it was considered a key Western ally, a friend of Israel, and a foe of Iran, while the PKK was seen as a bunch of Marxist terrorists. Not only are Kurds seen as mere pawns in the hawks’ geopolitical games, but what’s worse is that their encouragement gives the Kurds false hopes. This repeatedly has led them to overreach, resulting in backlash from regional states. This happened with the ill-fated independence referendum in 2017 in Iraqi Kurdistan, and again in Syria in October 2019, due to a strategic miscalculation of the SDF leadership. For months, Russians were mulling the prospect of a deal between the Kurds and the Syrian government. The Kurds, however, hesitated, because Americans reassured them of their continued backing. In the
end, the Turkish invasion pushed SDF to accept a deal with Damascus anyway, but from a dramatically weakened position. Given these precedents, a real friend of the Kurds, rather than demanding an indefinite U.S. military intervention, would promote a regional cross-state and cross-ethnic reconciliation. The future of the Kurds lies in the Middle East, and it hinges on their ability to co-exist with the Arabs, Turks and Iranians, not an American presence. This realization involves relinquishing any separatist or irredentist claims on the existing states in the region. The regional states, on the other hand, have a duty to address the legitimate concerns of the Kurds and other minorities—if only to immunize themselves from potential break-up in the future. Iranians seem to have understood that—the government opened negotiations with the Kurdish groups, facilitated by Norway. In Syria, external players, including the EU, should press the Assad regime to safeguard the rights of the Kurds in any future constitutional settlement currently being negotiated under the auspices of the United Nations. Changing the name of the country from Syrian Arab Republic to a more inclusive Syrian Republic would be a symbolic recognition of its multi-ethnic character. Turkey, admittedly, presents the toughest challenge. Turks have legitimate concerns about the SDF ties with PKK. The West shares those, as both the U.S. and the EU consider the PKK a terrorist organization. However, the security threat posed by the PKK is exacerbated by Turkey’s own repressive policies against its Kurdish minority. The end of the Kurdish “settlement process“ once championed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan strengthened the hand of hardliners in the PKK. There is no reason, however, to believe that some form of reversal to the Kurdish peace process in the future is impossible. Domestically, Erdogan is weakened. Some in his Islamist base resent his toxic alliance with the far right nationalists and the re-born militarized “deep state.” Despite repression, leftist and liberal elements in Turkish society are still strong, and, together with the political Islamists, will play an indispensable role in any future Kurdish process. It may sound counter-intuitive in the current context, but the EU could play a useful role in this process by re-engaging in Turkey’s accession process when the conditions are right. Historically, Kurds and other minorities benefited from closer relations between the EU and Turkey. None of this offers immediately satisfactory answers to the current Kurdish predicament in the Middle East. This, however, should not absolve us from a duty of realistic long-term thinking. Perpetuating American military presence is not an answer to the region’s manifold problems, including the Kurdish issue. The only politically sustainable solution could come from the peoples of the region themselves. The role of outsiders is to facilitate it, not to manipulate the region’s patchwork of ethnic and religious identities to pursue their own geopolitical agendas. ■
The hawks’ sudden
interest in Kurds has more to do with geopolitical than humanitarian concerns
40
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
freeman_41-43.qxp_Special Report 10/24/19 11:37 AM Page 41
Special Report
Ready, Fire, Aim: U.S. Interests in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria By Ambassador Chas W. Freeman
PHOTO CREDIT WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
I HAVE BEEN ASKED TO JOIN my fellow panelists in speaking about U.S. interests in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. For some reason, our government has never been able to articulate these interests, but, judging by the fiscal priority Americans have assigned to these three countries in this century, they must be immense—almost transcendent. Since we invaded Afghanistan in 2001, we have spent more than $5 trillion and incurred liabilities for veterans’ disabilities and medical expenses of at least another trillion dollars, for a total of something over $6 trillion for military efforts alone. This is money we didn’t spend on sustaining, still less improving, our own human and physical infrastructure or current and future well-being. We borrowed almost all of it. Esti- A U.S. Marine checks his equipment as British and U.S. troops withdraw from the Camp Bastionmates of the costs of servicing the Leatherneck complex at Lashkar Gah in the Helmand province of Afghanistan, Oct. 26, 2014. A puniresulting debt run to an additional $8 tive raid into Afghanistan after 9/11 morphed into a $6 trillion forever war. trillion over the next few decades.[1] Future generations of Amercombating “terrorism” (and making new enemies) in 80 countries. In Syria alone, where since 2011 we have bombed and fueled icans will suffer from our failure to invest in education, scientific proxy wars against both the Syrian government and its extremist research and transportation. On top of that, we have put them in foes, nearly 600,000 have died. Eleven million have been driven hock for at least $14 trillion in war debt. Who says foreign policy from their homes, five million of them into refuge in other countries. is irrelevant to ordinary Americans? Future historians will struggle to explain how an originally limAt the moment, it seems unlikely our descendants will feel they got ited post-9/11 punitive raid into Afghanistan morphed without their money’s worth. We have lost or are losing all our so-called “forever debate into a failed effort to pacify and transform the country. Our wars.” Nor are the people of West Asia and North Africa likely to reintervention began on Oct. 7, 2001. By Dec. 17, when the battle member our interventions favorably. Since we began them in 2001, of Tora Bora ended, we had accomplished our dual objectives of well over one million individuals in West Asia have died violent deaths. killing, capturing, or dispersing the al-Qaeda architects of “9/11” Many times more than that have died as a result of sanctions, lost and thrashing the Taliban to teach them that they could not afford access to medical care, starvation and other indirect effects of the batto give safe haven to the enemies of the United States. We were tering of infrastructure, civil wars and societal collapse our invasions well placed then to cut the deal we now belatedly seek to make, have inflicted on Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria and their neighbors. demanding that the governing authorities in Afghanistan deny The so-called “Global War on Terrorism” launched in Afghan their territory to terrorists with global reach as the price of our deistan in 2001 has metastasized. The U.S. Armed Forces are now parture, and promising to return if they don’t. Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr. (USFS, Ret.) is a senior fellow at Instead, carried away with our own brilliance in dislodging the the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown UniIslamic Emirate from Kabul and the 90 percent of the rest of the versity. This is a transcript of his speech at DACOR (Diplomatic and country it then controlled, we nonchalantly moved the goal posts Consular Officers, Retired) Bacon House’s annual conference in Washington, DC on Sept. 27, 2019. and committed ourselves to bringing Afghans the blessings of E NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
41
A homeless man asks for money on Wall Street in the Financial District of Manhattan on Sept. 3, 2019 in New York City. New manufacturing data released that day renewed concerns about a weakening global economy. Forever wars have come at a high cost as we’ve neglected investments in innovation, infrastructure, education and research.
Pluribus unum [Out of many, one], liberty and gender equality, whether they wanted these sacraments or not. Why? What interests of the United States—as opposed to ideological ambitions—justified this experiment in armed evangelism? The success of policies is measurable only by the extent to which they achieve their objectives and serve a hierarchy of national interests. When, as in the case of the effort to pacify Afghanistan and re-engineer Iraq, there is no coherent statement of war aims, one is left to evaluate policies in terms of their results. And one is also left to wonder what interests those policies were initially meant to support or advance. In the end, our interests in Afghanistan seem to have come down to avoiding having to admit defeat, keeping faith with Afghans whose hopes we raised to unrealistic levels, and protecting those who have collaborated with us. In other words, we have acted in accordance with what behavioral economists call “the fallacy of sunk costs.” We have thrown good money after bad. We have doubled down on a losing game. We have reinforced failure. To justify the continuation of costly but unsuccessful policies, our leaders have cited the definitive argument of all losers, the need to preserve “credibility.” This is the theory that steadfastness in counterproductive behavior is better for one’s reputation than acknowledging impasse and changing course. By hanging around in Afghanistan, 42
we have indeed demonstrated that we value obduracy above strategy, wisdom and tactical flexibility. It is hard to argue this has enhanced our reputation internationally. We invaded Iraq in 2003 for reasons that, aside from the pursuit of imaginary weapons of mass destruction, have never really been explained. To parody Hughes Mearns’s famous poem, “Antigonish”[2]: Some time ago, Iraq was where We looked for stuff that wasn’t there We haven’t found it to this day, And yet we feel obliged to stay. By taking over Iraq, we successfully prevented Baghdad from transferring nonexistent weapons to terrorist groups that did not exist until our thoughtless vivisection of Iraqi society created them. We also destroyed Iraq as the balancer and check on Iran’s regional ambitions, an interest that had previously been a pillar of our policies in the Persian Gulf. This made continued offshore balancing impossible and compelled us for the first time to station U.S. forces in the region permanently. This, in turn, transformed the security relationship between the Gulf Arabs and Iran from regional rivalry into military confrontation, producing a series of proxy wars in which our Arab protégés have demanded and obtained our support. Our intervention in Iraq ignited long-smoldering divisions between Shiite and Sunni Islam, fueling passions that have undermined religious tolerance and fostered terrorism both regionally and worldwide. The
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
PHOTO BY SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
freeman_41-43.qxp_Special Report 10/24/19 11:37 AM Page 42
only gainers from our misadventures in Iraq were Iran and Israel, which saw their most formidable Arab rival flattened, and, of course, the U.S. defense and homeland security budgets, which fattened on the resulting threat of terrorist blowback. Ironically, the demise of Iraq as an effective adversary thrust Israel into enemy deprivation syndrome, leading to its (and later our) designation of Iran as the devil incarnate. Israel, joined by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, believes that the cure for its apprehensions about Iran is for the U.S. military to crush it on their behalf. The other principal legacies of our lurch into strategy-free militarism, aside from debt and a bloated defense budget, are our now habitual pursuit of military solutions to non-military problems, our greatly diminished deference to foreign sovereignty and international law, domestic populism born of war weariness and disillusionment with Washington, declining willingness of allies to follow us, the incitement of violent antiAmericanism among the Muslim fourth of humanity, the entrenchment of Islamophobia in U.S. politics, and the paranoia and xenophobia these developments have catalyzed among Americans. In March 2011, having unofficially cheered on the overthrow of our longtime Egyptian protégé, Hosni Mubarak, we joined some European allies in bombing and strafing Libya. The ostensible purpose for ignoring Libyan sovereignty was humanitarian—the alleged international “right to protect” civilians against their own governments (R2P). The immediate result was the overthrow and savage murder of Libya’s famously bizarre leader, Muammar Qaddafi. But the movement of the goal posts to encompass regime change was also the coup de grâce for any prospect that R2P might become established international law. No matter. In April 2011, when unrest broke out in Syria, the Obama administration immediately called for the ouster of the Assad government. That government had the support of Iran, Iraq and Lebanese Hezbollah, later joined by Russia. The insurgents enjoyed support from others in the region—primarily Qatar and Saudi Arabia, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
though each supported different factions. The Gulf Arabs were joined by the United States, France, and the UK. Turkey facilitated these foreign interventions in Syria, as it did the passage through its territory of jihadis seeking to overthrow Assad. In 2015, Turkey intervened directly to confine hostile Syrian Kurds on its southwestern border. Syria was soon the site of innumerable proxy wars. Saudi-supported Salafi jihadis fought Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Salafis supported by Qatar and Turkey. Sunnis fought Shi`a. Saudi and Iranian-supported forces fought each other. Hezbollah fought Lebanese Sunni forces in Syria. Israel fought Iran and Hezbollah and supported selected anti-government jihadis. Russia escalated its support of the Assad government. The United States and Israel targeted Iranian forces and intervened against both Assad and the Islamist extremists who were his most effective antagonists. Lately, we have been at risk of war with our erstwhile ally, Turkey. Throughout, a very large number of Syrians have been more alarmed by the alternatives to Assad than they are by him. It is widely claimed that the United States was inadequately engaged in the Syrian maelstrom. Nonsense! Since 2014, we have spent well over $50 billion in appropriated funds to train, arm and otherwise support various factions in the conflict, including some with direct links to al-Qaeda. This fiscal year alone, DoD has budgeted $15.3 billion and the Department of State about $1 billion for Syria. In total disregard of international law, we have carried out well over 11,000 air and missile strikes against both government and rebel forces in Syria and deployed about 2,000 U.S. troops there to support secessionist factions. We cannot escape a considerable measure of moral responsibility for both the perpetuation of the conflict in Syria and some of the 200,000 undocumented and 375,000 documented Syrian dead, about 125,000 of whom have been verified as pro-government, 133,000 as anti-government, and 112,000 as noncombatant, neutral civilians. But we have made it clear we will not contribute to Syria’s reconstruction. In a very sad way, that’s progress. Our forever wars have re-purposed much deNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
PHOTO CREDIT MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
freeman_41-43.qxp_Special Report 10/24/19 11:37 AM Page 43
U.S. soldiers prepare the last convoy carrying U.S. troops at Camp Adder on the outskirts of the southern city of Nasiriyah, Iraq on Dec. 17, 2011. velopment assistance into support for warfare and the amelioration of its consequences. The humanitarian crises in Gaza and Yemen exemplify this tragic transformation. What we and our security partners knock down with one hand, we rebuild with another before knocking it down again. This has discredited our aid to foreign societies in the eyes of Americans as well as its recipients. To say, “we meant well” is true—as true of the members of our armed forces as it is of our diplomats and development specialists. But good intentions are not a persuasive excuse for the outcomes wars contrive. We have hoped that the many good things we have done to advance human and civil rights in Afghanistan and Iraq might survive our inevitable disengagement from both. They won’t. The years to come are less likely to gratify us than to force us to acknowledge that the harm we have done to our own country in this century vastly exceeds the good we have done abroad. Of course, we will leave behind some concrete legacies of our misadventures in West Asia. The region is now littered with depopulated American bases and fortified bastions serving as embassies. But this architectural legacy inevitably recalls Shelley’s “Ozymandias.” I met a traveler from an antique land, Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert...Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal, these words appear: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.” For $14 billion or more, we should get something more than that. But we won’t unless we finally figure out what our interests really are, build a strategy that addresses them rather than politically popular delusions, and rediscover the merits of diplomacy as an alternative to the use of force. [1] These estimates are from the research done by the Cost of War Project at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, available online at https://watson.brown.edu/ costsofwar. [2] His poem begins: “Yesterday, upon the stair, I saw a man who wasn’t there! He wasn’t there again today, Oh, how I wish he’d go away.” ■
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
43
khatib_lebanonr_44-45.qxp_Special Report 10/24/19 11:46 AM Page 44
Special Report
Lebanon is Experiencing a Social Revolution
Lebanese protesters gather for the fifth day of mass protests, Oct. 21 in Beirut, to demand better living conditions and the ouster of a cast of politicians who have monopolized power and influence for decades.
SINCE OCT. 17, LEBANESE citizens from all walks of life have been taking to the streets in unprecedented protests that transcend not only sectarian lines but also class and regional ones. What unites the protesters are demands for the Lebanese cabinet, which was formed in January of this year, to resign. For the past 10 months, it has failed to save Lebanon from a worsening financial crisis predominantly caused by government mismanagement and corruption that predated its formation. In 2005, Lebanon witnessed the so-called Cedar Revolution, when people demonstrated in huge numbers against the Syrian military occupation of their country. But the protests then did not call for a change in the country’s political system, which remains dominated by the political leaders of Lebanon’s various sects. The 2005 protests were driven by the political party of the late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who opposed the Syrian regime and
Lina Khatib is head of the Middle East/North Africa program at Chatham House in London. This article was first posted on <www.aljazeera.com>, Oct. 20, 2019. Copyright © 2019 Al Jazeera Media Network. Reprinted with permission. 44
was assassinated in 2005. He was the father of the current prime minister, Saad Hariri. Their protests led to counter-protests orchestrated by pro-Syrian Hezbollah and its allies. Political parties were thus the main mobilizers of the 2005 protesters. Although each of the rival political camps had followers from different sects, Hariri’s support base was primarily Sunni Muslim and that of Hassan Nasrallah’s Hezbollah was predominantly Shi’i Muslim. In 2015, as rubbish piled up on streets across the country, demonstrators headed to downtown Beirut to protest against the government’s mishandling of garbage collection and processing. This time, they came from across the country’s sectarian divides and some protesters even started to question their own sects’ political leaders. But this questioning was limited to those in the anti-Hezbollah camp, as most of the Shi’i community did not publicly critique Hezbollah. Despite some demonstrators trying to escalate the demands of the 2015 protests, they did not lead to the fall of the government. In the run-up to those protests, rival political parties had been trying to discredit one another. But when faced with a threat to the political status quo, Lebanon’s political elite stuck together, using divide-andrule tactics like circulating rumors that some of the civil society lead-
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
PHOTO BY JOSEPH EID/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
By Lina Khatib
khatib_lebanonr_44-45.qxp_Special Report 10/24/19 11:46 AM Page 45
Civil society groups involved in the proach: walking back on proposals to iners of the protest movement were paid forprotests are also devising tactics to counter crease taxes while cracking down on the eign agents. These actions caused the the violence and facilitate mobilization (one protests through violence. movement to disintegrate. group offered free scooter rides to protest Neither has deterred the protesters, who Still, the 2015 protests planted the seed sites) and creating a reform roadmap for the have vowed to stay on the streets until the of organized public action, which has since Lebanese state. government falls. For the first time, people been slowly but steadily growing—first For the first time, the protests are a conare demanding accountability from the through contesting municipal elections, demnation of the political status quo that leaders of their own sects as well as from then by fielding candidates against the has—since even before Lebanon’s 15-year the government at large, and protesters in dominant traditional political parties in parcivil war, (1975-’90)—been largely recycling Sunni strongholds like Tripoli are expressliamentary elections, and since then in a the same faces (or their relatives and deing solidarity with protesters in Shi’i strongquiet but ongoing program of civic engagescendants) in parliament, the cabinet and holds like Tyre. ment by some of the groups that were born high-level positions in the out of the protests, such (Advertisement) civil service and military. as Beirut Madinati. How the Lebanese govThere are a few key ernment and political elite ways in which these latest will handle this existential protests differ from those threat remains an unanin 2005 and 2015. As in swered question, but the 2015, but unlike in 2005, radical shifts on the ground they are part of a genuine in terms of the protest grassroots movement that movement itself tell an imhas not been directed by portant story. any political party. They Decades of corruption are cross-sectarian in a and patron-client relations broader sense than those between citizens and their of 2015. They are taking leaders have only led to a place across Lebanon, downward spiral that risks rather than only in Beirut. wrecking the country’s And they are demanding economy and pushing its the fall of the government people toward the poverty from the outset, while critl i n e a n d b e l o w. T h e icizing political leaders protests have only been from every sect. taking place for a few days, Although the number of but the protesters already people on the streets was Playgrounds for Palestine is a project to build playgrounds for our show a growing awaremuch higher in 2005, the children. It is a minimal recognition of their right to childhood and ness not only of the govcurrent protests are much creative expression. It is an act of love. ernmental tactics typically larger than those of 2015. Playgrounds for Palestine (PfP) is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit used to try to diffuse popuThey are also taking organization, established in 2001. We’re an all-volunteer organizalar movements, but of their place in regions where tion (no paid staff) that raises money throughout the year to conown needs as citizens, resuch public action used to struct playgrounds and fund programs for gardless of class or sect. be considered impossichildren in Palestine. This alone is a revolution ble, particularly in southSelling Organic, Fair Trade Palestinian olive in a country where the poern Lebanon, where oil is PfP’s principle source of fundraising. litical system is, for the people from the Shi’i is year, PfP launched AIDA, a private most part, a modern vercommunity have been label olive oil from Palestinian farmers. sion of feudalism. Whether publicly denouncing tradiPlease come by and taste it at our table. it leads to radical political tional Shi’i leaders, inchange in the near future cluding Nasrallah. We hope you’ll love it and make it a staple in your pantry. remains to be seen, but it The government’s rereveals that the seed of sponse to the current For more information or to make a donation visit: social change planted in protests has been its https://playgroundsforpalestine.org • P.O. Box 559 • Yardley, PA 19067 2015 has germinated. ■ usual carrot-and-stick apNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
45
afrasiabi_46-48.qxp_Special Report 10/24/19 11:33 AM Page 46
Special Report
Iran’s Counter-Discourse of Hope
By Kaveh L. Afrasiabi
PHOTO BY FATEMEH BAHRAMI/ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES
Arabia and the United Arab Emirates—the initiative carries the potential to break significant ice between Iran and its Arab rivals in the region. Several foreign leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, have expressed interest in Rouhani’s peace initiative, with Lavrov stating that he finds it in sync, and parallel with, Russia’s recent idea for collective security in the Persian Gulf. Rouhani left it to his foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, to elaborate on the details of the HOPE initiative. Zarif, who has been conferring with diplomats from Gulf states such as Qatar and Kuwait, was given an opportunity to present a detailed outline of the initiative at Ancient artifacts, including one of the oldest Persian historical remains, the Throne of Jamshid (takht-i the U.N. Security Council on Sept. Jamshed), are displayed Oct. 2, 2019 at the National Museum of Iran in Tehran after they were returned 27. According to Zarif, “Dialogue, from the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago Museum. confidence-building, freedom of navigation, energy security, non-aggression and non-intervention” form HOPE’s key components. This IN HIS SPEECH BEFORE THE UNITED NATIONS General Asruns contrary to the logic of intensifying U.S. military presence in the sembly in September, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani unveiled region. Emphasizing self-reliance instead of foreign dependence, a new initiative for Persian Gulf peace and stability called the Hormuz HOPE rests on the premise that foreign (military) presence in the Peace Endeavor (HOPE). Set against a backdrop of rising regional region is a security minus and brings only insecurity. tensions, particularly in the wake of the Sept. 14 attacks on Saudi Of course, this is a tough sell to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) oil installations—which have been attributed to Iran by several counstates that are heavily dependent on U.S. and other Western powers tries, including the United States, Saudi Arabia, Germany, France for underwriting their security and are also wary of Iran’s regional and the United Kingdom—Rouhani’s peace initiative has gained power, which shows no sign of diminishing despite the Trump adtraction in the international community, despite U.S. and Saudi misministration’s “maximum pressure” campaign. However, there apgivings. pears to be a greater willingness on the part of some GCC states Centered on the idea of peaceful cooperation among the eight to explore this new venue for cooperation and peaceful coexistence littoral Gulf states—Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi offered by Iran’s president, who has rejected the notion of dialogue with the Trump administration as long as “illegal” U.S. sanctions Kaveh L. Afrasiabi has taught at Tehran University and Boston University and is a former consultant to the U.N. Program on Dialogue remain in place. Among Civilizations. He is the author of several books on Iran, Islam, According to a Tehran political scientist who has spoken with the and the Middle East, including after Khomeini: new directions in author on the condition of anonymity, “GCC states led by Saudi iran’s foreign policy (1995) and most recently iran nuclear accord Arabia no longer harbor the false hope that the Islamic Republic and the Remaking of the Middle east (2018). He is the co-author of would be overthrown as a result of Washington’s pressure. Iran has the forthcoming trump and iran: Containment to Confrontation. Copyright © 2019 LobeLog. All rights reserved. withstood the pressure and has applied maximum counter-pressure 46
Washington RepoRt on Middle east affaiRs
noveMbeR/deCeMbeR 2019
tactics with a great deal of success. As a result, Iran today is more respected in the region and its Arab neighbors are coming to terms with Tehran slowly but surely.” Such hopeful expectations depend, first and foremost, on the future of Iran-Saudi diplomacy, which in turn rests to a large extent on the fate of the ongoing Yemen war, notwithstanding the growing power of the Iranbacked Houthi rebels reflected in their crossborder drone/missile counter-attacks. Riyadh has now moved in the direction of a “partial cease-fire” in Yemen, which—if sustained and expanded—can definitely bode well for the improvement of Tehran-Riyadh relations. There is room for Saudi-Iranian relations to improve even if the Saudis decide that their regional prestige dictates a military retaliation against Iran, which they maintain was responsible for the Sept. 14 attacks—a charge vehemently denied by Rouhani. Concerning those attacks, a U.N. investigative team is probing the matter and its findings will be crucial in shaping the nature of proximate interactions between the Gulf’s two powerhouses. In the meantime, in an interview with a U.S. television network, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has emphasized diplomatic solutions with Iran, and the Iranian media has reported that the Saudis have used a Gulf intermediary to send messages to Iran. There are emerging reports that the Iraqi government is preparing to act as mediator between Tehran and Riyadh. The future of Iran-Saudi ties also rests to some extent in U.S. hands, a fact that weighs heavy in the region’s security calculus. Washington is presently mobilizing its power to crush Iran’s economy, in light of the administration’s imposition of new sanctions on Iran’s Central Bank that are bound to further erode Iran’s ability to import food and medicine. The Trump administration is adamant on punishing Iran for resisting its will, and this has seemingly turned into a litmus test for U.S. power in the present global context. Increasingly, despite having certain shared interests with respect to issues like containing the Islamic State (ISIS), drug trafficking, and stabilizing Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States and Iran are treading the path of a zero-sum competition. Multiple diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions between the two NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
PHOTO BY AMIN M. JAMALI/GETTY IMAGES
afrasiabi_46-48.qxp_Special Report 10/24/19 11:33 AM Page 47
Iranian fans react during the FIFA World Cup qualifier match between Iran and Cambodia at Azadi Stadium in Tehran, Iran, Oct. 10, 2019.
ELATED IRANIAN WOMEN ATTEND FOOTBALL MATCH
For nearly 40 years, female spectators have been banned from entering football and other sports stadiums in Iran. Clerics argued that women must be shielded from the masculine atmosphere and sight of semi-clad men. This ban against women at sporting events was implemented shortly after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, although it’s not written into law. Waving flags and snapping selfies, thousands of Iranian women, on Oct. 10, attended a football match freely for the first time in decades, after FIFA threatened to suspend the country over its controversial stadium restrictions. Elated female fans wore the Iranian flag around their shoulders and over their hair as they streamed into a women’s section of Tehran’s 80,000-capacity Azadi Stadium for Iran’s 2022 World Cup qualifier against Cambodia. “We are so happy that, finally, we got the chance to go to the stadium. It’s an extraordinary feeling,” Zahra Pashaei, a 29-year-old nurse who has only watched football games on television, told the Associated Press news agency. “At least for me, 22 or 23 years of longing and regret lies behind this.” In September the world football’s governing body FIFA pressured Iran to allow women access to stadiums without restriction and in numbers determined by demand for tickets. That demand came after the death of Sahar Khodayari, called “Blue Girl” because of the colors of the football club she supported, who set herself on fire outside a court when she found out that she could face a two-year jail sentence for attempting to enter a stadium dressed as a boy. “This is a very positive step forward, and one which FIFA, and especially Iranian girls and women, have been eagerly waiting for,” FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino, said in his Oct. 10 statement. “I want to say a very big thank you and record our utmost respect to all of the Iranian girls and women who courageously stood and are standing up for their rights.” But while women were allowed to attend this match, activists noted that Iran has not guaranteed that women will be allowed to attend domestic league games, which are not governed by FIFA. Iran won their World Cup qualifying match against Cambodia 14-0, but the one-sided game will be remembered more for the scenes in the stands, not the moves on the field. —Compiled from Al Jazeera reports WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
47
afrasiabi_46-48.qxp_Special Report 10/24/19 11:33 AM Page 48
countries, such as French President Emmanuel Macronâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s initiative, have gone nowhere. A big question is, can the HOPE initiative help de-escalate tensions and perhaps even contribute to an improvement in U.S.-Iran relations? One possible answer to this may rest on Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s willingness to shrink back from the insistence that pan-Gulf security cooperation should come as an alternative to bilateral security arrangements between the United States and the various GCC states. It is the prerogative of those states to set their own security policies and a genuine Iranian offer of regional cooperation should respect the sovereign rights of its neighbors. Otherwise it will be interpreted as another sign of Iranian meddling, particularly since Iran itself is moving in the direction of increased cooperation with Russia and China in maritime security, including a planned joint naval exercise. From Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perspective, this is conceived as a counter-weight to U.S. plans for a multi-national naval mission to escort tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz. The principle of â&#x20AC;&#x153;non-interferenceâ&#x20AC;? ought to extend to respect for the sovereign right of Gulf states to devise their own national security.
Therefore, the principal Iranian objective at this moment ought to be incremental confidence-building, dialogue, and low-security cooperation, as a prelude for more ambitious long-term cooperation. Only when the eight littoral states reach the point of high confidence in each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s intentionsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;which may take a while, realistically speakingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;will it be possible to imagine a genuine system of collective security, instead of the present pattern of competitive security systems and bifurcations. Inevitably, this path, involving a globalized oil hub, requires sustained dialogue with other, extra-regional, stakeholders as well and, in a word, should not be limited to the littoral states, who constitute the fulcrum of any new security architecture in the hitherto volatile region. Even a U.S.-Iran dialogue on regional security and other related matters is necessary and reminiscent of past U.S.-Iran dialogues on Iraq and/or Afghanistan. A U.S. exit from the region, as imagined in Rouhaniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s U.N. speech, is bound to remain a distant dream so long as Tehran and Washington are at loggerheads over regional issues. The common threat of ter(Advertisement)
rorism is highly important and both sides can capitalize on the recent experience of conducting parallel operations against ISIS inside Iraq, which reached its crescendo in the liberation of Mosul. Amid some alarming signs of a second ISIS comeback, it is all the more important to prioritize counterterrorismâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a message implicit in Rouhaniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s U.N. speech, when he reminded the audience Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s critical contribution to fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The real nature of the U.S.-Iran relationship is a non-zero-sum game of simultaneous competition and potential cooperation, presently buried under a one-dimensional confrontational policy wrapped in incendiary rhetoric, in light of Donald Trumpâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s U.N. speech accusing Iranian leaders of â&#x20AC;&#x153;blood lust.â&#x20AC;? Thus, an important prerequisite for even a minor breakthrough in the current U.S.-Iran stalemate is a moratorium in mutual demonization, followed by a genuine pursuit of diplomatic venues in which to tackle their outstanding differences. A whole generation of Iranians is presently suffering as a result of oppressive U.S. policies, and we are given hope for the sake of hopeless ones. â&#x2013;
" #JMJOHVBM $VMUVSBM &EVDBUJPOBM 1VCMJDBUJPO
3HU VLDQ
+HUL WDJH
4VQQPSU :PVS 1FSTJBO )FSJUBHF "EWFSUJTF :PVS #VTJOFTT PS 4FSWJDFT 5P 1MBDF BO "E PS 4VCTDSJCF $POUBDU 6T
5FM 'BY 888 1&34*"/ )&3*5"(& $0. & ."*- .*3"44*3"/!"0- $0. 1FSTJBO )FSJUBHF *OD 1BTTBJD "WF 1BTTBJD /+
48
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
awadr_26-27_49.qxp_Special Report 10/24/19 7:50 PM Page 49
Why Single Out Israel? Continued from page 27
remove the injustice that fuels much of this anger and frustration and reduce the temptation to violence and terrorism. Israel often pleads that the history of antiSemitism and the Holocaust justifies their excessive emphasis on security, which in turn is used to justify its actions and repression of Palestinians. The history of anti-Semitism is often used both as a shield against criticism, and a weapon to silence and attack those who criticize Israel. It is not fair or accurate for Israel to label as anti-Semitic those who single it out for justifiable criticism. Instead of complaining about being singled out, Israeli leaders need to have the courage to look at their actions and acknowledge why their country is being singled out. • As long as Israel continues to claim that it is a democracy, all the while occupying the lives of over 6 million Palestinians, Israel will continue to be singled out. • As long as Israel continues to deny millions of Palestinian refugees the right of return to their homeland, Israel will continue to be singled out. • As long as Israel continues to confiscate Palestinian and Syrian lands (the Golan Heights) for the purpose of building exclusive Jewish settlements, Israel will continue to be singled out. • As long as Israel continues to steal Palestinian water and other resources and deny Palestinians their basic freedoms, Israel will continue to be singled out. • As long as Israel continues its blockade of the Gaza Strip and as long as Israel continues its shoot-to-kill policy resulting in the death of innocent men, women and children at its border with Gaza, Israel will continue to be singled out. A person caught speeding does not get far asking the traffic policeman, “Why are you picking on me while everyone else is speeding too?” Israel is speeding ahead of the pack with its record of human rights violations. With such reckless drivers steering their country, Israelis should not be surprised when their nation is singled out. ■ NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
Israeli Settlers in Virginia? Continued from page 31
and management of leases, insurance and contracts. Only low value-added jobs are available to the junior partners in temporary construction, monitoring and maintenance. In late 2018 Arlington Public Schools also contracted with Sun Tribe to install 6,980 panels under a 25-year contract. Arlington School Board chair Reid Goldstein said the Sun Tribe Solar award was the end result of a 2017 strategic plan. The school system issued a request for proposals and received six responses. It rejected one for failing to provide mandatory information, and another for not meeting “joint venture” status. Of the remaining three, Ameresco, WGL Energy Systems, and Sun Tribe, Sun Tribe won out. (Advertisement)
12 Muslim Revolutions, and the Struggle for Legitimacy Against the Imperial Powers, by Carl Max Kortepeter, XLIBRIS Press, 2017, Amazon: paperback $19.99; hardcover $29.99; Kindle $3.99. Professor Kortepeter spent decades traveling, studying and teaching about the Middle East. This narrative, told in a very personal manner, borne of on-the-ground experience, presents a thoughtful study of the medieval and modern history of the central lands of Islam. The last chapters focus on American presidents and their inability to comprehend the complexities of the Middle East since World War II.
But how far behind Sun Tribe’s corporate veil did these school boards and superintendents probe to discover its origins, source of capital, ability to deliver on multidecade contracts and expertise? Not at all In public meetings during the Sun Tribe proposal review process and final contracts—Alony Hetz and Energix ties to unlawful activities in occupied territories never came up. Other project stakeholders, such as students, parents and local taxpayers might not want their school doing business with opaque fronts for an Israeli company that profits directly from illegal Israeli settlements. Alony Hetz, Energix and VIAB’s response, if the true owners ever emerge from behind their corporate veil, would be predictable. “Don’t you want to avert the climate change crisis by harnessing solar energy? Are you against new economy jobs for young people who own cute dogs?” With no shortage of U.S. solar start-ups as well as experienced, completely transparent Virginia vendors, stakeholders’ response might be simple: “We want solar, we want jobs. We just don’t want an Israeli occupation of our rooftops and territories until Palestinians regain their human rights. Especially not at public schools. It sets the wrong example.” Energix and Alony Hetz are clearly in the midst of an all-out race to contract and build as many solar arrays as quickly as possible. The most profitable scenario of all would be a new state law mandating small scale solar energy production be purchased at higher prices by utilities through “net metering” in recognition of the higher cost to produce solar energy. For VIAB, a looming government-mandated “offtake agreement” paying premiums for solar power would be even better than Project Jonah’s arrangement (see October 2019 Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, pp. 14-16) to sell tilapia to a regional supermarket chain and put the local market producer out of business. It could become powerful enough to prevail against future popular opposition to the true beneficial owners of that solar power and their predatory deals. That is, if the public ever finds out or takes warranted action. ■
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
49
gee_50-51.qxp_Special Report 10/24/19 4:26 PM Page 50
Special Report
Rocky Start to Joko’s Second Term
Indonesian President Joko Widodo (l) and his defeated rival Prabowo Subianto wave to reporters at a subway station in Jakarta, during their first meeting since the divisive elections, signaling a calming of political tensions in the world’s third largest democracy.
INDONESIAN PRESIDENT JOKO WIDODO was returned to office by a clear majority of 55.5 percent and his parliamentary support was strengthened as a result of the elections that took place in April. But Joko would not be sworn in for his second term until October, by which time a series of controversies swirled across the vast Indonesian archipelago. Claims by losing presidential candidate, Prabowo Subianto, of electoral fraud were dismissed by Indonesia’s constitutional court on April 27. Prabowo said that he accepted its ruling. The following month, Joko spoke up on a legal case that had caused outrage among women’s rights activists and international criticism. Baiq Nuril Maknun worked at a school on the island of Lombok. In 2012, she recorded the principal talking in graphic detail about an affair he had with the school’s treasurer. Maknun had faced repeated advances from the principal and her co-workers urged her
John Gee is a free-lance journalist based in Singapore and the author of Unequal Conflict: The Palestinians and Israel. 50
to make the recording public in order to expose the principal’s behavior. When she shared it on social media in 2015, the principal fired her and lodged a complaint with the authorities. Maknun was charged with distributing indecent material. A Lombok court cleared her, but the Supreme Court found her guilty in November 2018 and sentenced her to six months in prison. She appealed the ruling, but in July, the Supreme Court rejected her appeal. Her last hope was an appeal to the House of Representatives. Joko expressed disquiet about the sentence and when the appeal was considered in parliament, the vote to quash the prison sentence was unanimous. The House broke out in applause. This might have been a good occasion to think about amending the law on electronic media that was abused to charge Maknun, but the House was soon busying itself with measures that would likely lead to more abuses and human rights violations, as well as facilitating corruption. To be fair, the Criminal Code bill had been a long time in the making. The existing code was based on Dutch law and was adopted in 1946. The bill brought before parliament this year has
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
PHOTO BY ANDREW GAL/NURPHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES
By John Gee
gee_50-51.qxp_Special Report 10/24/19 4:26 PM Page 51
628 articles and was intended to overhaul it comprehensively. Many of the proposed changes seem to respond favorably to the agitation of conservative groups for shariah law, which are only supported by one (admittedly big) segment of Muslim opinion in Indonesia. If passed, the bill would ban sex outside marriage and effectively criminalize cohabitation by unmarried couples and homosexual relationships. It would severely restrict access to contraceptives for under-18s and to abortion, as well as reducing the rights of religious minorities, make insulting the president, vice-president and state a criminal offence and expand the scope of the existing blasphemy law. Critics saw the bill as threatening to expand state intrusion into people’s private lives and threatening freedom of speech and publication, as well as detracting from Indonesia’s status as a secular republic. While the bill was coming up for consideration, parliament also passed an amendment to the law governing the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). It created an oversight body to check the ability of the agency to use wire-taps. This was widely regarded as a means of undermining the effectiveness of a respected body that has prosecuted hundreds of dishonest officials, businessmen and politicians in a country where corruption is a serious disincentive to investment, a drag on development and an obstacle to those on low incomes seeking justice. Not only in Jakarta, but in other major cities in Java, southern Sumatra and Sulawesi, students took to the streets in the last week of September to demonstrate against the bill and the move against the KPK. There were fierce clashes with police and two students were killed in Sulawesi. Others, including human rights and women’s organizations, objected through publications and online media. Joko had not opposed the anti-corruption agency law amendment, and his initial passivity toward the Criminal Code bill was a target of the students’ anger. It looked as though the outgoing parliament would pass it, but the president announced on Sept. 21 that he’d requested that the bill be dropped NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
and its fate left to the incoming parliament. The new parliament was sworn in on Oct. 1. The coalition that backs the president holds 349 seats, while the opposition has 226. Should the government wish to substantially amend the Criminal Code bill and to undo the changes to the anti-corruption agency law, it should be able to muster the necessary numbers, but whether it feels impelled to do so may depend mainly upon public pressure: in particular, those with a stake in weakening the KPK are distributed between parties of the opposition and the government. One notable point about the protests against the Criminal Code bill is that during Joko’s first term, he was repeatedly faced with pressure and protests from the more extreme religious groups pushing for shariah law and for restrictions on the rights of religious minorities in Indonesia, as well as the prevention of practices by Indonesian Muslims that some regarded as un-Islamic. The protests that were launched in September aimed at upholding the secular status of the Indonesian republic and the relatively tolerant traditions of Indonesian Muslims. One other serious problem that faces Joko in his second term is unrest in Indonesia’s easternmost province, called Irian Jaya by most Indonesians and West Papua by indigenous people who want it to become independent. A series of violent protests erupted in September after police raided a dormitory in Surabaya, Java, where Papuan students were staying, using teargas and racially abusing them. Papuans are Melanesians who look quite distinct from the majority of people elsewhere in Indonesia. Papuan nationalists consider the 1969 referendum that united their homeland with Indonesia during the era of the Suharto military dictatorship to have been conducted under conditions of intimidation. President Joko has visited Papua more often than any previous Indonesian president and has directed investment to the territory’s infrastructure, but locals say that Papuans have seen little benefit from the gold, copper and silver and other resources extracted from their homeland. Money supposedly in-
tended for development, they claim, vanishes without making any difference to the mass of the people. A further challenge may come from labor unrest, though perhaps the government will decide that it has enough on its plate without acting in the immediate future upon talk of reducing severance pay entitlement and cutting the minimum wage. Joko would undoubtedly have preferred, at the start of his second term, to be able to focus on the major project that has been mooted since 2015, but only formally announced on Aug. 16: the construction of a new capital city in south-eastern Borneo (or Kalimantan, as it is known in Indonesia). Jakarta would remain Indonesia’s business center, but some 1.5 million people would be expected to move to the new administrative capital. Conservationists warn of the threat the scheme will pose to the wildlife of the area and to local forests, but the government seems set upon the move. ■ (Advertisement)
Coffee from Yemen men Enjoy Al Mokha’s Yemeni Yemeni coff c ffee, available online and in-stoore
www.MiddleEastBooks.ccom 1902 18th Street NW W,, DC 20009 0009
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
51
sprusansky_52-53.qxp_Special Report 10/24/19 4:24 PM Page 52
Special Report
Monk Sees Ancient Manuscripts as Conduit to Contemporary Peacebuilding
Father Najeeb Michaeel, a friar of the Dominican Order, showcases one of the Christian manuscripts he and several other friars took to Erbil, Iraq in 2014 in order to save them from ISIS' imminent siege of Mosul. FATHER COLUMBA STEWART, a Benedictine monk and executive director of the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library (HMML) at St. John’s University in Collegeville, MN, believes that rediscovering centuries-old wisdom can help heal the political, social and religious divides of our modern times. For the past 15 years, Stewart and the HMML have worked to photograph and preserve religious manuscripts at risk of being lost forever due to war and discord. In a lecture sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington, DC on Oct. 7, Stewart explained how his work has transformed the way he views both the ancient and modern worlds. Stewart began by reflecting on the life a fellow Benedictine monk, Peter the Venerable, who traveled to Spain in the 12th century and
Dale Sprusansky is managing editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs magazine. 52
led an effort to translate scores of Islamic texts. While the monk was mainly interested in using these translations to refute the theological underpinnings of Islam, Stewart nonetheless praised Peter’s desire to better understand another faith. “He embraced the humanistic principle that to understand people of another culture with different beliefs, we must listen to them in their own voice, learning their language, reading and understanding their texts,” Stewart said. The Benedictines began a global effort to preserve endangered manuscripts in post-World War II Europe. They feared that a new nuclear war would completely incinerate entire collections of unique and cherished Christian manuscripts. The monks eventually opened an operation in Ethiopia, where civil unrest and economic depression posed threats to the country’s centuries-old manuscripts, some of which were auctioned-off by opportunistic dealers. Stewart said his work in Ethiopia “illustrated two of the greatest threats to cultural heritage right now: the desperation
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
SAFIN HAMED/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
By Dale Sprusansky
sprusansky_52-53.qxp_Special Report 10/24/19 4:24 PM Page 53
PHOTO COURTESY NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES
that leads people to sell off their own heritage in order to feed their families, and the profiteering by those who exploit that misfortune.” In the aftermath of the Lebanese civil war, the monks were asked in April 2003 to help preserve manuscripts that survived the deadly 15-year conflict (1975-’90). “By unhappy coincidence,” Stewart noted, this project “began at the very moment that American ground forces were approaching Baghdad in the second Iraq war.” Stewart and his HMML team quickly found themselves in Iraq and Syria, working feverishly to preserve texts threatened by war and, ultimately, the fanaticism of ISIS. The monk praised the effort of local teams working under stressful and dangerous conditions. “Throughout it all, our local partners kept photographing manuscripts the best they could, even as collections were moved, hidden and in some cases destroyed,” he said. Their work was invaluable, as many of the texts became victims of war. “For too many of those manuscripts,
all that remains are the digital images and perhaps a few charred pages,” he said. Stewart eventually had his own “Peter the Venerable moment” while his team was working to preserve Christian manuscripts in Palestine and he met a Muslim family in Jerusalem with an extensive library of Islamic texts in need of preservation. “I became convinced we must work with them,” he said. After working on Islamic manuscripts in Palestine, the HMML team traversed to Timbuktu, Mali and other locations to preserve endangered Islamic texts. After years of experience, Stewart has come to believe that preserving centuriesold manuscripts is about a lot more than safeguarding the traditions of one religion or fraternal order. These texts, he said, reveal a common human desire for truth, love and understanding—and compel us to strive for a society free from division. “In such times as these, we must dig deeply into our respective stores of wisdom and offer whatever we find there for the
sake of mutual understanding,” Stewart said. “We are at great risk today of losing the capacity to listen, and therefore losing our ability to understand,” he continued. “Equally endangered are the stores of wisdom contained in the manuscripts of the world, targeted by those fearful of difference or threatened by imaginations broader than their own.” Noting the worrying levels of anti-Muslim fervor in the U.S. today, Stewart again channeled the legacy of Peter the Venerable. “As medieval Christian scholars of Arabic came to understand, the enemy was not really Islam, however deep our theological differences,” he said. “The common enemy was—and it remains—the fanaticism and ignorance that makes understanding impossible.” The monk concluded on a hopeful note. “My roots in an ancient monastic tradition give me a certain perspective—and dare I say confidence and hope—when considering the work that lies before us.” ■
Father Columba Stewart showcases one of the manuscripts his team helped preserve.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
53
activismsr_54-63.qxp_November/December 2019 Activisms 10/24/19 12:07 PM Page 54
MUSIC & ARTS The Middle East Institute (MEI) in Washington, DC opened the doors of its new 1,200-foot contemporary art gallery to the public on Sept. 14. “Featuring contemporary art from a region that spans from Morocco to Afghanistan, the gallery celebrates the Middle East’s creativity and energy in a city that typically views the region through a security lens,” explained MEI’s vice president Kate Seelye and MEI’s director of Arts and Culture Lyne Sneige, in the exhibition’s pamphlet. For the art gallery’s inaugural exhibition, “Arabicity|Ourouba,” London-based curator Rose Issa assembled the works of 17 Arab artists, in which the “artists express their response to the personal, national, regional and international issues affecting the Arab world.” The opening event was well attended, buzzing with visitors who took in the art and other spectacles on the night’s program: a calligrapher, a pop-up bar, an oud player and drummer, a dabke dance performance and a DJ to close out the night. After Issa’s introductory text to the exhibition, the first wall of the show is punctuated by four paintings: three nearly floorto-ceiling and a fourth, smaller in scale. Each powerfully spotlights a single subject, depicted alone against a plain or abstracted background: a pile of modularly stacked, nondescript suitcases against a flat, beige background (Said Baalbaki, Lebanon); a close-up portrait of an unknown fighter, whose face is wrapped in a keffiyah, and who seems to recoil and glare back at us skeptically (Ayman Baalbaki, Lebanon); a mushrooming cloud of smoke set against a gray-blue stained sky (Tagreed Darghouth, Lebanon); and a figure lying tensely under a bulging blanket caught “between the worlds of sleep and wakefulness” in an unidentified time or space (Anas Albraehe, Syria). We’re pulled through the gallery by increasingly dynamic and experimental 54
Art gallery attendees take in Egyptian-Armenian artist Chant Avedissian’s “Icons of the Nile.” works. Egyptian-Armenian artist Chant Avedissian’s “Icons of the Nile” series covers the back wall. He uses stencils to paint images in a pop-art, graphic style of Egyptians, both celebrities and everyday people, as archetypes of “Egypt’s social and political heyday in the ’50s and ’60s.” Hanging sculptures, mixed-media wallhangings and videos dot the rest of the space, ending with a bronze panel of 45 castings of the Arabic proverb “Patience is Beautiful” (Susan Hefuna, Egypt) and the word “Salam” meaning “peace” written in carefully positioned swords set against the wall (Mahmoud Obaidi, Iraq). “With the amount of content on the region that’s political—it’s refreshing to hear from artists and musicians,” remarked local artist Nayla al-Khalifa, who attended the gallery opening. Others like Laura, 23, and Katy, 22, were also quick to appreciate the gallery for what it promotes. “In this time and age it’s a unifying event and seeing these artists exhibited in DC offered a different perspective from what the media portrays.” As self-identified Asian-Americans, the two friends mused on the similarities between East Asian and Middle Eastern culture, in particular with regards to family life and responsibilities. The artworks themselves, though, do not resonate with everyone. Osama Jaradeh, originally from Gaza but living and working in the U.S. for the past 35 years,
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
explained that he connected “maybe with the painting with the keffiyah” But the others? They don’t reflect the Arab world he knows. Yet that is the crux of the show: it forces us to ask what it means to be “Arab” or to talk about an “Arab World.” Each piece of artwork, by artists hailing from different countries and backgrounds, reflects the individual experience of the particular artist and can stand alone. Seen together, though, we understand more profoundly that there is no one answer to what it means to be Arab. We must read each artwork for its own message and understand each artist’s voice before assuming that there would be a shared visual language and before projecting our own assumptions about any singular “Arab identity.” While not every artwork may speak to the viewer, curator Rose Issa said the goal of the exhibition is more broadly, “to shed some light on the rich but fragmented narrative of Arab contemporary art.” —Eleni Zaras
New Museum is Transforming Perceptions of Palestinians
The Museum of the Palestinian People, which opened its doors in June of this year, held its annual fundraising reception at Washington, DC’s Tabard Inn on Oct. 3. The theme of the evening was “Stepping into the Future Together.” NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
STAFF PHOTO E. ZARAS
Middle East Institute Opens New Art Gallery in Washington, DC
activismsr_54-63.qxp_November/December 2019 Activisms 10/24/19 12:07 PM Page 55
STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY
PHOTO COURTESY MUSEUM OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE
around off-year races, with no “We as Palestinians, as federal or state-wide offices bearers of this cause and this on the ballot, but this year story, we hold a responsibility control of Virginia’s legislature to the world to tell our story, a is at stake. All 140 seats in story of hope and resilience,” the House of Delegates and commented Nizar Farsakh, State Senate are on the Nov. chairman of the museum’s 5 ballot, and until these elecboard of directors. With this tions Republicans only have a in mind, Farsakh said the slight majority of 20-19 in the museum’s goal is to unSenate and 51-48 in the abashedly celebrate PalestinHouse. ian culture and challenge visDr. Joseph Adib Khalil and itors to reconsider popular Attendees enjoy a reception at the Tabard Inn supporting the Museum Raba El-Husseini received stereotypes about Palestini- of the Palestinian People. the distinguished leadership ans. awards. Lebanese-American Dr. Khalil deIn just its first few months, Farsakh has ARAB AMERICAN ACTIVISM scribed buying his first dental office in Virseen the museum’s transformative power. ginia, getting the run-around and being He shared stories of Palestinian families Virginian Arab Americans Hold asked to relocate his clinic until he began visiting and building inter-generational networking with the Arab American combonds over famous Palestinians, such as 31st Candidates Night scholar Edward Said and pop culture icon Arab Americans celebrated their thriving munity. He got involved in local politics DJ Khaled. Non-Palestinians, he said, Virginian community and growing political which, he said, is even more important have visited and made connections be- power at the Fairview Park Marriott Hotel in than national politics. “Local government tween their own cultures and Palestinian Falls Church, VA on Oct. 6, 2019. The 31st affects all of our businesses and families,” culture. Farsakh even noted that a few ar- candidate’s night dinner, hosted by the New Dr. Khalil concluded. Candidates and community organizers dent Zionists have entered the museum Dominion PAC, is now a must-attend camand left questioning their preconceived paign stop for people running for public of- alike said they were sick of hearing imminotions about Palestinians. fice in Virginia. Nearly 40 candidates gave gration described as chain migration inSusan Darraj, founder of the #TweetY- stump speeches to the 250 attendees, ex- stead of family reunification. Instead of just ourThobe movement, applauded the mu- plaining why Arab Americans should vote protesting the Muslim ban, they organized seum for using culture to disarm efforts to for them and contribute to their campaigns or ran for office. Each of them said they dehumanize Palestinians and erase their (so far the PAC has donated $24,500 to valued diversity in their communities. “I am culture. “The culture of a people is a testi- candidates—nearly $21,000 to Democrats). sick of seeing in the news white sumony to its art, its literature, its achieveCandidates running for the State Senate premacy, children in cages and families ments—culture is proof that people exist,” and House of Delegates, District Board of torn apart,” said Jeff McKay, who is runshe said. Supervisors, District- and At-Large School ning for Fairfax County Board of Supervi“I’d like to invite you to think about how Board Members, County Chair, Sheriff and sors chair. Everyone is welcome to be sucrevolutionary this museum is,” Darraj Commonwealth’s Attorney added. “This museum is a hub for peo- each lined up to speak at this ple—for artists, for writers, for anyone in bipartisan political forum. It’s the community to make something really now one of the best candiamazing and creative, something that tells date forums in the Commona story to people outside of our commu- wealth, and certainly the first nity.” and best ethnic political The evening at the Tabard Inn also in- forum, according to longtime cluded delicious Palestinian and Mediter- community organizer Saba ranean cuisine, a silent auction and music Shami. from New York City’s DJ Fatin. There are 160,000 Arab The Museum of the Palestinian People Americans living in Virginia, is located at 1900 18th St. NW, right next and this year—more than to the offices of this publication and its ever—politicians are countbookstore, Middle East Books and More. ing on their votes. Normally Virginian Arab Americans celebrate their politically active —Dale Sprusansky there isn’t much excitement community. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
55
activismsr_54-63.qxp_November/December 2019 Activisms 10/24/19 12:07 PM Page 56
cessful in Fairfax County, he promised, adding, “I cherish this county’s diverse schools, with students who speak more than 200 languages and where you can travel the world without ever leaving the classroom.” The evening concluded with a presentation by the Virginia Coalition for Human Rights members Paul Norsi, James Metz and Kathy Drinkard. They described their work combatting anti-BDS resolutions, the Virginia Israel Advisory Board, and preventing pro-Israel organizations from politicizing textbooks. —Delinda C. Hanley
DIPLOMATIC DOINGS President of Azad Kashmir Accuses India of “Genocide”
“There’s ethnic cleansing going on there. India is committing war crimes there.” Khan described the decision to strip Indian-administered Kashmir of its autonomy as a progression of Modi’s Hindu nationalist campaign to vilify and incite violence against Muslims and other minorities. “This new doctrine of hatred reincarnating as fascism is an existential threat not only for the people of Kashmir and Pakistan, but also the people of India itself—Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and other minorities,” Khan said. He described Modi’s policies as “violent extremism masquerading as respectable doctrine.” (Prior to his election as prime minister in 2014, Modi was banned from entering the U.S. for nearly a decade due to his complicity in deadly riots targeting Muslims in the Indian state of Gujarat, where he was chief minister.) Khan said he is pleased to see that the ongoing situation in Kashmir is receiving abundant coverage from mainstream U.S. newspapers, a reality he believes is generating international support for the people of Kashmir. “For the first time India is being held accountable and its narratives are not being accepted, they are being challenged,” he said. This global grassroots support, however, is not translating into firm action by governments. “The most powerful states in the world have been quiet and very cautious,” he said. “Most of them have been tight-lipped and their statements,
even when they are supportive, they are ambivalent and they equivocate.” He called on the international community to “clearly declare the steps taken by India on Aug. 5 as illegal and…put pressure on India to reverse them.” Going forward, Khan believes a solution to the long-standing Kashmir conflict can only be achieved through U.N.-mediated dialogue. “The bilateral negotiations between India and Pakistan have served no purpose whatsoever and therefore the best course of action is to go to multilateral diplomacy, to the United Nations Security Council,” he said. Any future peace process must include Kashmiris and must provide a viable path to self-determination, Khan added. “No formula will work if you do not include Kashmiris in a diplomatic process to find that formula,” he said. “There should be no solution that does not reflect and represent the aspirations of the Kashmiris....We are going to get our freedom and our liberty and self-determination under all circumstances.” —Dale Sprusansky
STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI
Masood Khan, the president of Azad Kashmir (the region of partitioned Kashmir administered by Pakistan) spoke at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC on Oct. 1. The leader of 4 million Kashmiris, Khan decried Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Aug. 5 decision to strip Indian-administered Kashmir, Iraq’s Ambassador Addresses home to 12 million people, of its autonProtests, Iranian Influence omy and integrate it into the Indian state. “All these steps that were taken by Days of intense protests shook Iraq in India on Aug. 5 were illegal, unlawful and early October, as tens of thousands took they violated international law, existing to the streets to voice displeasure with U.N. Security Council resolutions, internatheir government. Iraq’s ambassador to tional humanitarian law…ICC [Internathe United States, Fareed Yasseen, adtional Criminal Court] statutes and cusdressed the unrest in his country at the tomary international law,” Middle East Institute in WashKhan began. ington, DC on Oct. 15. The president did not Yasseen said young Iraqis mince his words, describing fed-up with government corDelhi’s ongoing actions in Inruption and a lack of ecodian-administered Kashmir— nomic opportunity initiated including a communications the protests. He acknowlblackout, a strict curfew, aredged the legitimacy of their rests of thousands of dissigrievances and said Baghdad dents and plans to create is working hastily to create Hindu settlements in the meaningful jobs. He also conMuslim-majority region—as a demned rampant corruption genocide. “There’s a genoin the country, calling it “as cide going on there, and I much a threat to Iraq’s choose the word very care- (L-r) Moderator Marvin Weinbaum, President Masood Khan and Raza democracy as was terrorism,” fully and after ascertaining its Rumi, president of INDUS-Mobilizing People’s Power, a co-sponsor of and said the government is legal validity,” Khan said. the event. committed to it being up56
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
activismsr_54-63.qxp_November/December 2019 Activisms 10/24/19 12:07 PM Page 57
PHOTO COURTESY BRENDAN O’HARA/CATO INSTITUTE
PHOTO COURTESY MEI
rooted. At the same time, Yasseen signaled that comprehensive economic solutions are unlikely to be reached in the short-term. He cited a population that is growing by one million people annually and a government with outdated governance systems as two (L-r) Randa Slim and Ross Harrison of the Middle East Institute engage Ambassador Fareed Yasseen of major roadblocks to economic Iraq and the State Department’s Joey Hood in a conversation about Iraq’s future. prosperity. “The tools that we have are inadequate,” he said. “Our laws, 2014 when Mosul fell, and I can tell you, caught up in America’s wars.” Emily Manna, a policy analyst at Open our financial system, our governance for the first three months, [only] Iran was the Government, said the way U.S. wars block any progress, any liberalization, any with us—this bears consequences.” The ambassador also rebuked the U.S. are discussed in the public shows a lack development that would allow the private sanctions regime against Iran. “The sanc- of awareness about the devastating imsector [to flourish].” Yasseen said the government is con- tions are a touchy issue in Iraq,” he noted. pact of these wars on civilians. For inducting a thorough investigation into the “We are opposed to sanctions based on stance, while Democratic candidates violent crackdown on protesters, which re- principle…because during the 1990s we often call on the country to end its wars, sulted in a reported 110 deaths and 6,000 were affected by [U.S.] sanctions. It pul- they rarely cite civilian casualties as one injuries. “The government responded in a verized our middle class; it stunted the of the reasons to drawdown war efforts. way that led, unfortunately, to large casu- growth of children. Sanctions are an inhu- “That really stands in stark contrast to alties,” he said. “The government did take man measure and they never, never, how the candidates are talking about is—Dale Sprusansky sues like immigration, where human sufaccountability and responsibility for what never work.” fering as a result of U.S. policy is really at happened” and created an investigative the front and center of that conversation,” committee to hold those responsible for WAGING PEACE she noted. the violence accountable, he added. MulA dearth of media reporting on this topic tiple sources have reported that IranRemembering the Forgotten is a major contributor to the public’s lack backed militias were responsible for the Victims of U.S. Wars of outrage, Manna surmised. “The media bulk of the attacks on protesters, but Yasseen declined to comment on these On Sept. 11, the Cato Institute in Wash- has control over what is treated as a crireports until the government committee ington, DC held an event to highlight the sis,” she said. “If a U.S. airstrike that hit a completes its investigation. hundreds of thousands of innocent vic- hospital and potentially caused the death When asked about Iran’s overall role in tims of the U.S.’ 18-year war on terror. of civilians was treated and covered in the Iraq, Yasseen dismissed the prominent The event was titled “The Human Costs same way that a mass shooting was covWashington narrative that Tehran has of War: Assessing Civilundue influence over the country. “Iran is ian Casualties Since our neighbor, we have 14,000 kilometers 9/11.” of common borders, we have ancestral Christopher Preble, relationships, we have trade, we have [re- vice president for deligious] pilgrimages…we’re joined at the fense and foreign policy hip; this is a reality,” he said. “By God, studies at the Cato InstiIran does have influence in Iraq, but they tute, began by urging don’t have authority. No country has au- Americans to not just rethority in Iraq except Iraqis, not even the member the U.S. civilUnited States.” ians and soldiers killed Yasseen also noted that Iran was the on and since 9/11, but to first country to send military ground forces “also pay our respects to to Iraq when ISIS began overriding its the innocent men, cities. “People talk about the Iranian influ- women and children (L-r) Daphne Eviatar, Dan Mahanty, Christopher Preble and ence in Iraq; it’s not for nothing,” he com- who have, through no Emily Manna want Americans to remember the innocent mented. “I was ambassador to France in fault of their own, been victims of their country’s ongoing wars. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
57
activismsr_54-63.qxp_November/December 2019 Activisms 10/24/19 12:07 PM Page 58
STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI
Days after the Cato event, on Sept. 18, of Afghanistan, the Taliban will be in a poered, then people really would be forced a U.S. drone strike allegedly intended to sition of power and the Taliban would not to pay attention.” Daphne Eviatar of Amnesty Interna- target an ISIS hideout killed 30 innocent exist if they didn’t have popular support.” In addition, Wardak pointed out, when tional USA noted the great disparity be- pine nut farmers in Afghanistan. On Sept. tween military estimates of civilians killed 23, at least 40 innocent civilians attending U.S. forces unintentionally kill Afghan in U.S. wars and those produced by inde- a wedding party were killed during an civilians and do not apologize or offer any pendent organizations. For instance, the Afghan government raid on suspected type of confidence-building measures, military estimates 1,800 civilians have militants. It is estimated that more than “that is why the Taliban are harbored in been killed in the U.S.-led war on ISIS, 38,000 innocent Afghans have died as a homes in Kabul and other provinces, bewhile independent studies estimate up to result of the almost two-decade long U.S. cause people lose faith and start looking 12,000 civilians have been killed. Eviatar war in their country. —Dale Sprusansky elsewhere.” The country’s Sept. 28 presidential said this disparity can be explained by the Analysts Say U.S. Must Remain election had a historically low turnout of U.S. military’s lackluster approach toward 26 percent, which many observers atcollecting data on casualties. While Committed to Taliban Peace Talks human rights organizations conduct on- Eighteen years after U.S.-led forces in- tribute to Taliban threats against polling the-ground interviews and investigations vaded Afghanistan, the war-torn country’s sites. By and large, these threats did not into casualties, the military simply relies political future is still uncertain. On Oct. materialize, and minimal blood was shed on intelligence reports to approximate in- 10, the Asia and Middle East programs of on election day. Election results are not nocent deaths. “While [the military is] con- the Wilson Center in Washington, DC expected until the end of the year. Johnny Walsh, senior program officer gressionally mandated to report on this hosted a panel discussion on what the fu[civilian casualties], they get to choose ture holds for Afghanistan, the scene of for Afghanistan at the U.S. Institute of Peace, believes there can never be a milihow they report on it,” she noted. America’s longest war. Eviatar also asked the American public “What’s particularly troubling today is tary victory in Afghanistan. “A political setto consider the devastation caused by that you have a seemingly intensifying tlement is the only remotely plausible war beyond deaths and injuries. She war in terms of soaring civilian and happy outcome to this war,” he said. “A noted that 80 percent of Raqqa was de- Afghan security forces casualties, in addi- peace agreement that includes the Talstroyed in the U.S.-led effort to oust ISIS tion to a country totally in flux,” said iban in a quite significant way is still the from the Syrian city, devastating the city’s Michael Kugelman, Asia Program deputy only way to wind down this war. There will infrastructure and the ability of its inhabi- director at the Wilson Center. “Also, since not be a military win; a negotiated settletants to make a living. President Trump called off peace talks ment is the only option.” An audience member asked how PakDan Mahanty, director of the U.S. pro- with the Taliban last month, the direction istan can be more influential in bringing gram at the Center for Civilians in Con- of any future talks is unclear.” flict, urged the American people to hold To bring peace and stability to about a settlement between the Taliban those making the decision to go to war re- Afghanistan, Mariam Wardak, co-founder and the Afghan government, considering sponsible. “We tend to place these prob- of the blog “Her Afghanistan,” argued that that Pakistan harbors some 2.3 million lems squarely at the feet of people doing there is no alternative but to engage with Afghans. “I think Pakistan has dramatithe fighting,” he said. “But we should also the Taliban. “If President Trump pulls out cally changed from being a silent player to being a more vocal one and I recall that at the end of have an appreciation for this,” the day, the reasons we Wardak responded. enter into conflict in the —Elaine Pasquini first place, whether you agree with them or not, reAssessing Alliances and ally are the result of poliProspects For Peace in cies and political deciYemen sions that are made by people at the White On Sept. 11, the Arab Center House and people in ConWashington DC hosted a panel gress, and we’ve got to to discuss “The Future of put responsibility where it Yemen: Between Internal Divilies and place a lot more sions and External Interference.” scrutiny as a country on With the landscape of the conpolicymakers to make the Mariam Wardak (l) and Michael Kugelman discuss Afghanistan’s recent flict changing rapidly, as well as elections and the prospect of peace in the country. right decisions.” the UAE’s announced with58
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
activismsr_54-63.qxp_November/December 2019 Activisms 10/24/19 12:07 PM Page 59
PHOTO COURTESY ARAB CENTER
drawal from Yemen, the panel offered some insights into the future of the conflict. Nabeel al-Nowairah of the Gulf International Forum offered an explanation of the various groups and stakeholders involved in Yemen’s war. He explained that the General People’s Congress (GPC), the party of the former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, divided after Saleh’s death. Each of the branches have distinct loyalties; the GPC in Riyadh to Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and Saudi Arabia; factions that align with the northern Houthi rebels; and those in Cairo and Oman who oppose both the Houthis and Saudi Arabia. These divisions, coupled with a lack of coherent political ideology, have seen the GPC lose its power in Yemen, a blow for what was once the strongest political party. Unlike the GPC, the Al Islah party—an affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood—has an established and strong ideology. Al Islah, fearing backlash from Saudi Arabia, has attempted to distance itself from the Brotherhood, but al-Nowairah said it nonetheless remains closely identified with the organization. Regarding the Southern Transitional Council (STC), a successionist movement based in Aden, al-Nowairah said the group is “pushing for the agenda of the UAE,” and are “brainwashed” by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed. The Houthis in the north, al-
Nowairah argued, have now become the strongest party—in part thanks to the actions of the Saudi-led coalition which has “failed to achieve any of its objectives.” The Houthis growing strength is indicated by U.S. efforts to negotiate directly with the group, a new development in Yemen’s political process, he said. Sama’a al-Hamdani, director of the Yemen Cultural Institute for Heritage and Arts, said the conflict has “[fractured] every single structure in Yemen.” She discussed the STC, acknowledging that it is a grassroots movement but that it is not inclusive of all social structures in Aden, exemplified by its failure to unify Hirak (the broader southern secessionist movement). This illustrates the issue faced by many involved in Yemen: “none of them have a vision for the future or actual realistic plans” to unify each of Yemen’s varying groups, she said. While al-Hamdani suggested that the U.N. Special Envoy has missed his window of opportunity for peace, she argued that the current situation is ideal to begin a fresh and holistic peace process and dialogue that represents each of the distinct interests in Yemen. Kristian Coates Ulrichsen of the Baker Institute at Rice University, and a non-resident fellow at the Arab Center, suggested that absent the prospect of peace, the UAE-Saudi coalition was able to brush their security disagreements to one side. Now, under pressure from Washington for
(L-r) Nabeel al-Nowairah, Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Sama’a al-Hamdani and moderator Imad Harb discuss the situation in Yemen. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
a political solution, the distinct security and strategic concerns of the two countries can no longer be ignored, he said. While the UAE has attempted to appease the White House with their announced withdrawal of troops, it has not completely satisfied concerns. With its eye on Iran, the U.S. sees the war in Yemen as an “unnecessary and unwelcome distraction,” according to Coates Ulrichsen, and is growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of follow-through on humanitarian aid pledges from the two Gulf states. Looking to the future, al-Nowairah optimistically expects the war in Yemen to end by next year, upon realization that a military solution is not feasible. Al-Hamdani ultimately argued that the only way to end the war is to bring all parties to the negotiating table, as excluding groups only sets the stage for further conflict and fracturing in Yemen. Regardless, however, al-Hamdani was clear that “if [peace] is going to happen in Yemen, [it] has to be championed by specifically the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.” Coates Ulrichsen reiterated concerns about the humanitarian crisis, calling for a political solution to the conflict and for stronger humanitarian aid. —Halla Keir
Survey Reveals Growing Discontent in the Arab World
The Wilson Center in Washington, DC hosted a panel discussion on attitudes in the Arab world toward the economy, women’s leadership and government accountability on Sept. 19. Based on the Arab Barometer’s 2019 survey of citizens of 15 Arab countries, panelists noted growing economic frustration across the region, distrust in government and affirmation of women’s rights, yet hesitance to accept their equal role in society. Michael Robbins, director of the Arab Barometer, outlined the survey’s key findings. He noted a trend of decreasing confidence among Arab citizens in the ability of their governments to manage the economy. Respondents in Lebanon and Tunisia were the most pessimistic, with 10 percent or less expressing confidence in the future of their country’s
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
59
activismsr_54-63.qxp_November/December 2019 Activisms 10/24/19 12:07 PM Page 60
other hand, the survey in Tunisia delineated how there has been a significant change in youth perceptions since the revolution. In this case, Tunisian youth were more likely to perceive women as better political leaders than men. “My first reaction was to be note the disappointed because I think all of us were expecting more change given what has happened in the region politically,” Ottaway said of her overall impressions of the Arab Barometer’s results. Noting some in the West have pushed the idea of a Middle East that is changing dramatically, she said the results “really debunk some of these facile ideas that have been circulating, particularly concerning youth.” Robbins stated that, in future Arab Barometer surveys, it would be important to ask citizens in the Arab world what it is they expect of their governments in order to explore the contradictions between expectations and performance. —Vicky Brown Varela
PHOTO COURTESY PALESTINE CENTER
PHOTO COURTESY WILSON CENTER
Said, Makdisi explored how the fall of the Ottoman Empire, European imperialism and colonial Zionism all intersected to strip Palestine of its religious diversity. Makdisi noted that in the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire, which traditionally showed a preference for its Muslim subjects, reformed to adopt an inclusive attitude toward all religions. “The very idea of Michael Robbins (l) and Marina Ottaway Muslims and non-Muslims being equal as leading grievances of Arab citizens. citizens was completely unimaginable in this empire at the beginning of the 19th economy. More than 75 percent of recentury, yet by the end of the century, and spondents in the region viewed their especially in places like Lebanon, Palesgovernment as corrupt, with Robbins tine and Syria, the same idea [of equality] noting a steady decrease in the percentbecame normalized,” he said. age of Jordanians (45 percent) who beEuropean intervention before and after lieve their government is properly adthe collapse of the Ottoman Empire disdressing corruption. Frustration, mostly rupted the burgeoning “anti-sectarian and economic, has resulted in many young ecumenical trajectory” of the region, Makpeople wanting to emigrate. This sentidisi charged. “The European powers secment was most pronounced in Morocco, tarianized the religious diversity of the where 70 percent of youth respondents empire,” he said. “Each European power said they are considering leaving their claimed to protect one or another of the country. native Christian or other minority commuMarina Ottaway, a Middle East fellow at nities in the empire” and thus injected nathe Wilson Center, asked whether intionalistic and sectarian politics into the creasing political and economic frustration How Zionism and European region. “The victors of the First World War is the result of rising expectations or totally ignored the ecumenical heritage of whether there has really been an objec- Imperialism Destroyed Religious Diversity in Palestine the Ottoman Arab Mashreq [the northtive decline in the situation on the ground. With a particular focus on Jordan and Mo- Rice University history professor Ussama eastern part of the Arab world],” he said. When the European powers divided the rocco, Robbins observed how those Makdisi delivered the Edward Said countries that “survived” the 2011 upris- Memorial Lecture at the Palestine Center Arab world following World War I, they igings have become more “on edge.” Ac- in Washington, DC on Sept. 23. The nored the findings of the 1919 King-Crane cording to Robbins, Jordan had always nephew of legendary scholar Edward Commission, a U.S.-led effort to investigate the political aspirations of the been “miraculously this kind of beainhabitants of the former Ottoman con of stability.” But now, as in MoEmpire. While Henry Churchill King rocco and Algeria for example, and Charles R. Crane, the leaders there exists an immense desire for of the commission, were by no change. “There isn’t a sense that means anti-colonialist, Makdisi said change can happen through the they nonetheless produced “the first normal political system,” he acinternational commission that actuknowledged. ally asked indigenous populations In terms of women’s rights and how they envisioned their own politroles, Robbins identified how even ical future.” though both the younger and older The commission recommended generations generally affirm that the region that encompasses women’s equal rights, both are also modern Syria, Lebanon and Palesless accepting of women’s equal tine remain a single state given that roles in society. In Jordan, for inthe people of these lands shared stance, the results indicated that Ussama Makdisi’s new book, Age of Coexistence: men were seen as better at political The Ecumenical Frame and the Making of the Modern similar customs, political aspirations leadership than women. On the Arab World, is available from Middle East Books and More. and a common language. 60
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
activismsr_54-63.qxp_November/December 2019 Activisms 10/24/19 12:07 PM Page 61
U.S.-Israel Relations and the Prospect of a Gantz Premiership
The Palestine Center in Washington, DC welcomed Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, as well as Mark Perry, an author and foreign affairs analyst, on Oct. 17 for a discussion on the recent Israeli elections and their ramifications on U.S.-Israel relations. Dr. Edmund Ghareeb, a senior scholar at the Palestine Center, moderated. Ghareeb began with the declaration that “many people have been working, including President Donald Trump, to marginalize the Palestinian issue.” This became evident, according to Ghareeb, in the forceful closing of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) office in Washington, DC, the cutting of funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and in NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
the U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty nis highlighted fast-growing left-leaning over the annexed Golan Heights earlier organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace. Second, the discourse shift in the media, this year. Bennis said neither Prime Minister although still one-sided, has become Binyamin Netanyahu’s "far-right" and “enormously better than a decade ago.” “pro-settlement” Likud Party, nor Benny Third, discourse in the realm of policy has Gantz's “center-left bloc”—which is actu- been the slowest to shift, although some ally also quite far-right, according to Ben- semblances of change are evident in Sen. nis—will improve the situation for Pales- Bernie Sanders’ refusal to attend the tinians living under Israeli apartheid. She American Israel Public Affairs Committee recounted Benny Gantz's campaign (AIPAC) conference earlier in March, as video, which featured a helicopter flyover well as in Rep. Betty McCollum’s 2018 across war-torn Gaza, and Gantz’s boast denunciation of Israel’s nation-state law of having sent parts of Gaza “back to the as “apartheid.” Ultimately, Bennis believes activists Stone Age.” Perry shared this assessment. “What need to focus more on U.S. support for Iswe can expect from Benny Gantz is no rael than Israel’s domestic politics. “Israel change whatsoever from Binyamin Ne- is not accountable to U.S. citizens,” she tanyahu,” he said. “There will be contin- said. “They are accountable to U.S. miliued increase in settlement growth, there tary, political, diplomatic and financial supwill be continued banging on the table port. And that’s where we can have the about terrorism, there will be a very com- real influence, far more than worrying mon pushback against anyone who talks about what happens in Israel’s elections.” Perry argued that if Israel is ever cut about the United States and Iran reaching any kind of accommodation, there will be adrift from the U.S.’ financial and diploconstant worries about ‘how close are we matic support, it would be living “in stark with the United States.’” While Gantz, un- fear” of actually having to divert money like Netanyahu, does not have a sophisti- from its military budget to address domescated understanding of the U.S. political tic problems, such as the amount of peosystem, Perry noted that he does have ple of color living in the poorest neighborclose contacts with U.S. military officers hoods of West Jerusalem, and the disprothat he could use to his advantage, portionate number of Ethiopian Jews should he become prime minister. (Gantz within the lowest ranks of the military. Inis currently attempting to form a govern- ternationally, Perry added, Israel would ment after Netanyahu failed to do so.) Bennis outlined the changes underway in the United States that could change U.S.-Israel relations. First, the most dramatic discourse shift is at the public level, particularly in the American Jewish commu- (L-r) Edmund Ghareeb, Phyllis Bennis and Mark Perry note the nity, where Ben- similaritites between Binyamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz. PHOTO COURTESY PALESTINE CENTER
King-Crane also took a strong stance against colonial Zionism, recommending that it be severely curtailed or modified due to its likelihood to produce violence and its desire to deny self-determination to the indigenous population. “The commissioners could not and would not accept that a Jewish state should come at the expense of the native population of Palestine,” Makdisi explained. “They rejected two basic assumptions that undergirded colonial Zionism in Palestine: The first was that Arabs were not politically relevant…and the second, that European Jews had a claim to the land—by virtue of being Jewish—that was superior to that of native Muslims and Christians who had lived in Palestine for centuries.” The findings of the King-Crane Commission “fell of deaf ears” and were ultimately ignored and undermined, Makdisi noted. The result was the creation of the State of Israel and the forced expulsion of 750,000 Muslim and Christian Palestinians from their homeland by militant Zionist gangs in 1948. The emergence of an exclusivist Israel a century after the Ottoman Empire made historic and progressive strides towards inclusivity was “so ironic and tragic,” Makdisi said. —Dale Sprusansky
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
61
activismsr_54-63.qxp_November/December 2019 Activisms 10/24/19 12:07 PM Page 62
Washington, DC’s Middle East Institute hosted an Oct. 4 program on Nathan Stock’s recently released paper “There is No ‘Status Quo’: Drivers of Violence in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.” Stock, an MEI non-resident scholar, was joined in the discussion by Khaled Elgindy, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Middle East Policy and author of Blind Spot: Americans and the Palestinians, from Balfour to Trump. In his paper, Stock argues that domestic Israeli politics, Palestinian leadership, lack of legal status for Palestinians and the continuing illegal Israeli occupation are key drivers of violent conflict on the ground. He advocates for the creation of two states and believes that the ongoing expansion of illegal Israeli settlements does not preclude this from happening. “The two-state solution has always been a political project more than a geographic one,” Stock maintained. “I do not mean to suggest that Israeli policies that have expanded settlements in a deliberate effort to undermine the two-state solution are acceptable. My point is settlements can be knocked down or handed over to Palestinian control.” Israel’s threatened annexation of the Jordan Valley, however, “may be a terminal problem,” he said. There has not been “meaningful pressure from the United States on the Israeli government regarding the Palestinians since the first Bush administration,” Stock continued. “Without that pressure, Israel has been able to get what it wants as the Israeli domestic consensus has veered [further] away from Palestinian statehood.” Stock believes progress could be made if the Democrats win the presidency in the 2020 U.S. election. “I can imagine a positive scenario,” he said. “Palestine is not a failed state. It has the potential to be a win.” 62
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (c) with the Tarazi family. Anera honored the Tarazi family for funding the construction of a new preschool in the West Bank village of Al Majd.
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
PHOTO COURTESY ANERA
Palestinian Self-Determination Necessary for Peace, Scholar Says
Elgindy concurred that the Trump administration “has given a green light to Israel that has normalized its actions.” In response to an audience member’s question about Trump's long-awaited “peace plan,” Elgindy answered, “I am doubtful that there is (L-r) Moderator Muna Shikaki, Nathan Stock and Khaled Elgindy. a plan and even if there is one I think it will be a big fat noth- Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC to ing burger.” celebrate and reflect on this year’s theme Elgindy does not believe the plan has “Learn, Create, Grow.” any substantial value. “We know it will not The oud of Moroccan musician Chakib include a sovereign Palestinian state or a Hilali serenaded board members mingling capital in East Jerusalem,” he stated. “We with donors, old and new, a calligrapher know they are trying to take refugees off penned names in a reception hall, and the table. None of the issues that Pales- bulletin boards and videos around the tinians care most about are in the plan. room explained to attendees how difficult The plan doesn’t have real value and I am it is for refugees in Gaza, the West Bank doubtful any plan will be released anytime and Lebanon to access education. soon.” —Elaine Pasquini Host Noura Erakat, a human rights attorney and assistant professor at Rutgers Anera Dinner Celebrates Gains in University, welcomed attendees and recEducational Development ognized Anera for offering a “road map” on On Oct. 11, Anera, a non-profit organiza- how to deliver aid and carry out projects in tion that provides humanitarian relief and Palestine: 92 percent of Anera’s funds go sustainable development in the Middle directly to lifting up and supporting refugee East, hosted about 350 supporters at the communities in Palestine, Lebanon and STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI
have to learn how to make accommodations with its enemies, including Iran. —Vicky Brown Varela
Jordan through programs targeting education, health, agriculture and other community needs. The dinner spotlighted specific educational projects, including a recently updated Hatta co-ed school in the West Bank, a new school in the village of Al Majd and a coding course for Palestinian students. Short films documented the schools’ transformations: Preschool students at the Hatta school, for instance, had been attending classes in rented storage facilities. The loud, dark facilities hindered the ability of students to concentrate, and limited space meant a limited student body. Anera successfully sponsored a new preschool and renovation project for these students, which is now equipped with a library, science and computer lab and sports facilities, and they have also been able to increase the student body by 55 percent. Anera has built and launched about 10 percent of Palestine’s preschools, accommodating 32,000 students.
PHOTO COURTESY UNRWA
activismsr_54-63.qxp_November/December 2019 Activisms 10/24/19 12:07 PM Page 63
During the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September, 12 runners from Right to Movement Palestine flew to the United States and ran 250 miles from New York City to Washington, DC to participate in the “Relay Run for Refugees.” The campaign was launched to raise American awareness of the reality facing Palestinian refugees and to raise money for UNRWA. The runners raised more than $50,000.
Plant Olive Trees
(Advertisement)
Many Palestinian leaders say “education is our religion,” Anera’s CEO Sean Carroll noted, calling the educational programs “central to [Anera’s] work because it is central to human development.” Cuts in aid to Palestine by the Trump administration have made Anera’s work more challenging, but all the more crucial. Carroll applauded the hard work of those at Anera’s offices in DC and on-site at their projects and offices in Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine, and thanked the many donors who “make the tough times bearable.” This year, the event honored the work and long-time commitments of Ambassador Edward “Skip” Gnehm and the Tarazi family. Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), as well as Reps. Betty McCollum (D-MN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and David Price (D-NC) were members of the event’s honorary host committee and attended the dinner. —Eleni Zaras
$20 plants 3
olive trees or 6 almond trees.
Last year friends of Palestinian farmers gifted 25,352 olive and almond saplings to over 300 farmers. Farmers who have lost land due to the occupation, young farmers, and women farmers are given priority in Trees for Life.
www.landofcanaanfoundation.org
info@landofcanaanfoundation.org The Land of Canaan Foundation 19215 SE 34th Street • #106-122 • Camas, WA 98607 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
63
books_and_stuffr4_64-69.qxp_Books and More Special Section 10/24/19 11:25 AM Page 64
Middle East Books Review All books featured in this new section are available from Middle East Books and More, the nation’s preeminent bookstore on the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy. www.MiddleEastBooks.com • (202) 939-6050 ext. 1
Covenant Brothers: Evangelicals, Jews, and U.S.-Israeli Relations By Daniel G. Hummel, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019, hardcover, 317 pp. MEB: $39
Reviewed by Walter L. Hixson
ANYONE SEEKING TO UNDERSTAND the Palestine conflict and U.S. support for Israel needs to take seriously, as Daniel Hummel does in this excellent book, the American Christian Zionist movement. Today AIPAC and CUFI (American Israel Public Affairs Committee and Christians United for Israel) work hand in hand to support Israel’s repressive policies, but the alliance was decades in the making. Hummel shows the dangers of dismissing Christian Zionism as a fringe movement limited to adherents of dispensational premillennial theology, which views the return of the Jews to the Promised Land as a prelude to the return of Christ and the beginning of New Times. He argues that Christian Zionism is a much broader, mainstream movement in the United States. The rise of Christian Zionism played a pivotal role in the historic reconciliation between American Christians and Zionists in the years after World War II. “Christian Zionism offered a template for interreli-
Contributing editor Walter Hixson is the author of Israel’s Armor: The Israel Lobby and the First Generation of the Palestine Conflict (available from Middle East Books and More) along with several other books and journal articles. 64
gious reconciliation, constructed through an imagined past of Jewish-Christian compatibility,” Hummel notes. Reconciliation was not accidental rather it happened as a result of “advocacy, organizing, and cooperation beginning after the founding of the state of Israel in 1948 and advancing significantly in the wake of the 1967 ArabIsraeli War.” The most popular postwar American evangelist, Rev. Billy Graham, played a key role in “Judeo-Christian” reconciliation, which gained momentum as a result of the cold war struggle against communism and atheism. At the end of a pivotal 1960 trip to Israel, Graham told packed audiences that he had “committed his life to a Jew who was born in this country.” Graham also stated that he rejected the popular Christian canard that Jews had been responsible for the death of Jesus Christ. Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir gifted Graham with a Bible inscribed to “a true friend of Israel.” The American Jewish Committee culti-
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
vated Graham in a successful effort to generate greater support for Israel among American evangelicals in the wake of the June 1967 war. Israel’s Ministry of Tourism followed up by establishing a “cooperative relationship” with Christian Zionists to spur rising levels of “Holy Land tourism” in the late 1960s. Evangelical tour organizers, guides, marketers and hospitality providers promoted “Israel as the homeland of Judaism and Christianity” and “the modern state of Israel as a sacred expression of biblical prophecy.” The 1970s marked another periodic uptick of American religious “awakening.” The decade began with Hal Lindsey’s runaway bestseller The Late Great Planet Earth (1970), featuring the apocalyptic consequences of Christ’s return to the Holy Land. Christian voters helped the self-professed “born again” Southern Baptist Jimmy Carter win the presidency in 1976, which Newsweek magazine anointed, “the year of the evangelical.” By the end of the decade evangelism had become more conservative and Republican, as personified by the Virginia ministry of Rev. Jerry Falwell, who condemned communism, secular humanism, and “led the new guard of Christian Zionists.” Under Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Christian Zionists “became a key piece of Israel’s diplomatic relationship with the United States.” Begin funded Falwell’s visit to Israel, made him the first non-Jew to receive the Jabotinsky Award, presented him with a private Learjet, and telephoned him personally to explain Israel’s reasons for bombing the Iraqi nuclear site in 1981. Falwell responded by emphasizing the “Biblical view of the Promised Land,” backing the ongoing occupation as well as the invasion of Lebanon, and sending flocks of worshippers from his Moral Majority to visit the Holy Land. “God would smite any nation that raises its hand against Israel,” Falwell advised, “even the United States.” In 2006—amid the global war on terror against the “evil” and “fanatical” religion of Islam—Rev. John Hagee, who presided over a fundamentalist megachurch in NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
books_and_stuffr4_64-69.qxp_Books and More Special Section 10/24/19 11:25 AM Page 65
southeast Texas, launched CUFI, which rapidly emerged as the preeminent Christian Zionist lobby. To Hagee and his followers, unquestioned support for Israel and “Bible-believing Christianity” were inextricably linked. Recalling a trip with his wife to Israel in 1978, Hagee explained, “We went as tourists but came home as Zionists.” Hagee was a “prosperity gospel” preacher who embraced a spirit-centered Christianity that took literally Genesis 12:3, which held that God would “bless those who bless” Israel. Hagee’s Christian Zionism thus linked personal financial success (he published books on the subject) with support for Israel. He declared, “God is going to judge us on how we treat Israel and the Jewish people.” AIPAC readily embraced CUFI, inviting Hagee to speak at its annual Washington conference in March 2007. “It’s a new day in America,” the Texas preacher declaimed under the AIPAC banner. “The sleeping giant of Christian Zionism has awakened; there are 50 million Christians standing up and applauding the State of Israel...The roots of Christianity are Jewish.” While AIPAC adopted CUFI, CUFI adopted AIPAC as its model for constructing a successful lobbying organization. Like AIPAC, CUFI vowed to reach out beyond its right-wing Republican base. Hagee and CUFI became “entrenched so firmly in Christian Zionist and Jewish circles that they weathered criticism from both inside and outside the evangelical fold.” Christian Zionists view Israel and the United States as chosen peoples united in “covenant solidarity.” But, as Hummel concludes, the “dark underside” of the movement is “the erasure of concern for Arab Christians in Israel and the fate of Palestinians.” CUFI membership soared from a little more than a million in 2012 to four million members in 2018. As these figures and Hummel’s book show, Christian Zionism is a formidable component of the pro-Israel lobby in the United States. It must be taken seriously and countered by opponents of Israel’s ongoing repression in Palestine. ■ NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
Sophie Halaby in Jerusalem: An Artist’s Life
By Laura S. Schor, Syracuse University Press, 2019, paperback, 272 pp. MEB: $30
Reviewed by Eleni Zaras
Many historians agree that women’s voices in Palestinian history are often absent or underrepresented in mainstream discourse. This can largely be attributed to dominant methodologies that privilege document-based sources over others, which have ultimately led to a dearth of scholarship about women. This is especially relevant to the story of Sophie Halaby, whose personal papers disappeared after her death in 1997. Professor Laura Schor’s new book on the late Palestinian artist has succeeded in overcoming this challenge. In Sophie Halaby in Jerusalem, Schor weaves together Halaby’s art, research from oral histories, papers from family members, peers and a wide range of institutional archives to sketch the contours of the artist’s life against the backdrop of 20th century Jerusalem. While Halaby is remembered today as the first Arab woman from Jerusalem to study art in Paris, where she lived from 1929-1933, her story unfolds, not in Paris, but primarily in Jerusalem. Even for those familiar with the turbulent narrative of 20th century Palestine,
Eleni Zaras is the assistant bookstore director at Middle East Books and More. She has a BA in the History of Art from the University of Michigan and a masters degree in History at the Universite Paris Diderot.
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
studying this period through the lens of a female, Arab, Russian-Orthodox artist draws due attention not only to the artistic vision of Halaby but, more broadly, to different perspectives on Jerusalem’s history. Having attended the diverse and prestigious Jerusalem Girl’s College, Halaby spoke four languages, boldly pursued her art studies abroad in Paris in the early 1930s and floated in the intellectual circles of Jerusalem’s society that traversed religious barriers. Regardless of her privileged upbringing, though, her life, according to Schor, was still “deeply affected by Arab and Zionist nationalism” and by the “continuous physical changes to her city.” She and her family were subjected to displacement, land seizures by the Israeli government and raids of her home and studio. Halaby’s studies in Paris expanded her worldview, which laid the foundations for her artistic style and offered new inspirations and resources. Upon her return to Jerusalem, she brought these influences with her and dedicated her art to capturing impressions of her homeland in paint and watercolors. Her palette and style evoke the artwork of Odilon Redon and the French impressionists, notes Schor, and repeated depictions of the Mount of Olives, site of a Russian Orthodox church and the graves of her parents, recall Cezanne’s fixation on Mont Sainte-Victoire. While other artists in Palestine turned to overtly political themes, Halaby’s art, with the exception of eight political cartoons that challenged both the British and Zionists, remained subtle and poetic. Instead, she focuses on a single bouquet against a muted background, or a small cluster of wildflowers against soft expanses of hills and valleys. Halaby deliberately crops out signs of urban development in her landscapes, although she includes, unassumingly, the gold Dome of the Rock and contours of the city walls and low buildings the color of sand. “Her persistent painting of Jerusalem as she willed it to be was her private form of resistance,” Schor explains, as she erases the physical scars of war and occupation that transformed the city and her own life. 65
And private her work did mostly remain: She did not participate in exhibitions with artists of “The Palestinian Group,” which consisted of Jews with Palestinian passports in the 1930s; nor did she join the League of Palestinian Artists, a collective whose overt goal was to engage art with politics and to liberate Palestine (although she did participate in a 1986 exhibition of Women’s Art in Palestine). Yet Halaby did persist in quiet, personal dissonance, importing paints and supplies from Paris, painting with colors banned by the Israeli authorities, and staking claim to her homeland through her repeated renderings. If she no longer had physical or legal control over the fate of her homeland, she could still wield agency through art— her visual testament to belonging. Through Schor’s judicious research and writing, Sophie Halaby in Jerusalem recreates the world Halaby inhabited and amplifies Halaby’s quiet, but powerful voice. Schor offers much-needed nuance to
At her book launch, Laura Schor talks about one of Sophie Halaby’s political cartoons. Palestine women’s and art history and hopes that Halaby’s story will inspire others, like herself, “to work for a better present and future for Jerusalem and for the Palestinian people.” ■
Middle East Books and More Hosts Laura Schor’s Book Launch
www.MiddleEastBooks.com Nonfiction • Literature • Cookbooks Children’s Books • Arabic Books • Films Greeting Cards • Palestinian Solidarity Items Pottery • Olive Oil • Food Products
Monday: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. • Saturday: 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. 1902 18th St. NW • Washington, DC 20009 bookstore@wrmea.org (202) 939-6050 ext. 1
66
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
Laura Schor launched her new book, Sophie Halaby in Jerusalem, before a packed audience at the cozy Middle East Books and More in Washington, DC on Oct. 16. Her lively talk was filmed and placed on the Washington Report’s YouTube channel for many more to enjoy. In fact, Schor’s goal is to locate more of Halaby’s work and someday bring them home to exhibit in Jerusalem. Three of Halaby’s paintings, graciously loaned to the bookstore by Professor Michael Hudson for the occasion, were a special treat for those in attendance. Hudson also shared stories of meeting with Halaby in Jerusalem in the 1970s. She didn’t like to cook, he recalled, and related a disastrous Thanksgiving dinner at which her abysmal culinary talents were displayed. In addition to Hudson, other special guests at the evening event included Dr. Vicken Kalbian who shared stories of Sophie and her sister in Jerusalem. “They were absolutely charming,” he said. “Sophie had a wonderful sense of humor.” In addition to writing letters expressing her political views, Halaby also published political cartoons, he noted. Schor’s book, a culmination of oral histories and painstakingly methodical research from family papers and institutional archives, is a unique window into the life of a Palestinian woman who spoke four languages, pursued studies abroad and painted tranquil landscapes of her Jerusalem neighborhood, despite the uncertainty of life in 20th century Palestine. ■ —Elaine Pasquini NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI
books_and_stuffr4_64-69.qxp_Books and More Special Section 10/24/19 11:25 AM Page 66
books_and_stuffr4_64-69.qxp_Books and More Special Section 10/24/19 11:25 AM Page 67
N E W A R R I VA L S
Muhammad: Prophet of Peace Amid the Clash of Empires
By Juan Cole, Nation Books, 2018, hardcover, 326 pp. MEB: $22.
Reviewed by Eleni Zaras
“The new world religion of Islam arose against the backdrop of a seventh-century game of thrones between the Roman Empire and the Sasanian Empire of Iran that was fought with unparalleled savagery for nearly three decades.” This opening line of Juan Cole’s most recent book, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace Amid the Clash of Empires, eases the reader into this seventh-century drama. The story of Muhammad and the rise of Islam in this period is revealed through Cole’s clean and fluid prose, colored occasionally by vignettes gleaned from travel writings and other literary sources. At the heart of this study is a meticulous challenge of widely-accepted scholarship on the semantics of the Qur’an and the history of the rise of Islam. Using the “rich vein of peace [that] runs through the Qur’an” as a common thread, the book traces the life of Muhammad, the mounting pressure in the Hejaz region as a result of Roman and Sasanian wars and the spread of Islam up until the end of the prophet’s life. Tensions between the Romans and Sasanians were running high at the start of the seventh century. The war that broke out between the Romans and Sasanians in 603 “led to the collapse of a Near Eastern order that had governed life in the region NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
The Buried: An Archaeology of the Egyptian Revolution, by Peter Hessler, Penguin Press, 2019, hardcover, 463 pp. MEB: $22. In 2011, Peter Hessler, an American journalist who has extensively covered China, moved to Egypt with his family. Shortly after arriving, the Arab Spring and Egyptian Revolution broke out. Amid the chaos, Hessler would often travel to archaeological sites at Amarna and Abydosds—a place colloquially named al-Madfuna or “the Buried”—where locals live alongside the tombs of kings. During his time in Egypt, Hessler befriended their Arabic instructor and translator, a garbage collector and a family of Chinese small-business owners. “Through the lives of these and other ordinary people in a time of tragedy and heartache, and through connections between contemporary Egypt and its ancient past, Hessler creates an astonishing portrait of a country and its people. What emerges is a book of uncompromising intelligence and humanity,” the publisher writes, “the story of a land in which a weak state has collapsed but its underlying society remains in many ways painfully the same.” The Movement and the Middle East: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Divided the American Left, by Michael R. Fischbach, MEB: $25. The Arab-Israeli conflict constituted a serious problem for the American Left in the 1960s: proPalestinian activists hailed the Palestinian struggle against Israel as part of a fundamental restructuring of the global imperialist order, while pro-Israeli leftists held a less revolutionary worldview that understood Israel as a paragon of democratic socialist virtue. The Movement and the Middle East offers the first assessment of the controversial and ultimately debilitating role of the Arab-Israeli conflict among left-wing activists during a turbulent period of American history. Michael Fischbach draws on a deep well of original sources to present a story of the left-wing responses to the question of Palestine and Israel. As the cleavages that emerged within the American Left widened during the ’70s, the movement became weakened leaving a lasting impact that still affects progressive American politics today. Syria After the Uprisings: The Political Economy of State Resilience, by Joseph Daher, Haymarket Books, 2019, paperback, 386 pp. MEB: $24. Syria has been at the center of world news since 2011, following the beginnings of a popular uprising in the country and its subsequent violent and murderous repression by the Assad regime. Eight years on, Joseph Daher analyzes the resilience of the regime and the failings of the uprising, while also taking a closer look at the counter revolutionary processes that have been undermining the uprising from without and within. Through a sharp reconstruction of key historical developments, Daher focuses on the reasons behind the transition of a peaceful uprising into a destructive war with multiple regional and international actors. He argues that other approaches have so far neglected a global analysis of the conflict’s economic, social and political characteristics. WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
67
books_and_stuffr4_64-69.qxp_Books and More Special Section 10/24/19 11:25 AM Page 68
for a half millennium, one that had allowed Muhammad’s commerce.” It was during this period of political and economic uncertainty when Muhammad had his first revelations starting in 610. The Prophet Muhammad, a merchant by trade, came into contact with Roman, Bedouin and Persian religious and political ideas as he traveled to the Levant and around the Arabian Peninsula. While pagan Bedouins sided with the Persian Zoroastrians, Muhammad and his growing number of followers were “explicitly allied” to the Romans and the West, Cole argues. Muhammad’s message, which focused on settling local tribal disputes as well as building peace between Jews and Christians, believed that “political peace would come with the restoration of the Pax Romana.” Cole consults the Qur’an, early biographies of the prophet, the Bible and fundamental texts from late antiquity such as the works of Cicero and Justinian to better illuminate the, sometimes differing, accounts of historical events and positions on law, war and peace. Furthermore, he carefully translates words and ideas such as “religion” versus “piety or worship” and “just war” versus “holy war” based on their usage, not just in Arabic, but in other languages such as Greek, Latin and Persian to offer more refined interpretations of Qur’anic verses. Such precisions and comparisons to other non-Islamic sources affect how we place Islam into a global historical narrative. The Qur’an and teachings of Muhammad, Cole demonstrates, are in direct conversation with the religious and political thinkers of the Roman Empire and responded directly to the challenges of its day. He argues that “[t]he Qur’an sought to play down creedal formulas in favor of a political community of vaguely defined monotheists who could confront external attacks together.” Cole thus demonstrates how Islam aligned itself with other monotheistic traditions while also being politically tactful. This comparative approach offers “a reinterpretation of early Islam as a movement strongly inflected with values of peacemaking that was reacting against the slaughter 68
of the decades-long war and attendant religious strife.” Cole’s approach challenges not only American and European studies on Islam but also Muslim historiographical tradition. He reserves such debates to nearly 100 pages of thought-provoking notes that are an excellent resource for more advanced scholars. Cole’s direct writing and clear, logical arguments offer an accessible and important reframing of Islam as a peace-seeking way of life that emerged in a complex geopolitical environment. ■
B O O K TA L K S Iran Reframed: Anxieties of Power in the Islamic Republic by Dr. Narges Bajoghl
The Islamic Republic of Iran’s decisionmaking apparatus is often viewed as a monolith in which all members—be they clerics, politicians or military men—conform to a shared vision for the country. In her new book, Iran Reframed: Anxieties of Power in the Islamic Republic, Johns Hopkins University professor Dr. Narges Bajoghli debunks this myth of homogeneity, revealing nuance and even deep disagreement within the state’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). For 10 years, Bajoghli embedded with members of the IRGC and Basij (a branch of the IRGC that primarily works on internal security) who produce media celebrating the virtues of the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolu-
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
tion. Her anthropological work gives insight not only into how state propaganda in Iran is produced, but also into the complex and often divisive debates over the future of the country. On Oct. 14, Bajoghli shared key findings from her research at a book launch event at John’s Hopkins’ SAIS campus in Washington, DC. Forty years after its revolution, Bajoghli believes Iran is facing a question that has challenged movements throughout history: “How does the commitment to a revolutionary project get transmitted from one generation to the next as historical circumstances change?” The IRGC and Basij’s mandate to produce media that keeps revolutionary fervor alive in the country is increasingly challenging, as more than 75 percent of the country’s population was born after 1979 and has no memory of the revolution. Given rare inside access to the machinations of the military’s media efforts, Bajoghli said she observed an operation “far from uniform or cohesive” and steeped in disagreement. “The discussions behind closed doors were focused around heated debates among different generations of the Revolutionary Guard and Basij,” she explained. The older generation in the military is eager to find ways to appease those disillusioned with the status quo, so as to ensure the preservation of the Islamic Republic as well as the vaunted status IRGC and Basij soldiers enjoy in society, she said. Meanwhile, the young generation tends to be more zealous and uncompromising, accusing the older generation of losing touch with the Islamic Republic’s values and leading the revolution astray. “As the Islamic Republic enters its fifth decade, keeping the revolution alive will depend on the ability of its image makers not only to appeal to a younger generation that wants change, but also to build consensus among members of the younger generation within its own ranks,” Bajoghli observed. “My findings led me to question not only the existing depictions of these men, but more generally the predominant frame of analysis when it comes to understanding the Islamic Republic,” Bajoghli said. “This NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
books_and_stuffr4_64-69.qxp_Books and More Special Section 10/24/19 11:25 AM Page 69
book illustrates how contestation in Iran today involves conflict over the very boundary of what the Islamic Republic is.” Bajoghli, a duel U.S.-Iranian citizen, had to combat U.S. government efforts to stymie her research due to the IRGC’s status as a sanctioned entity. The project also required delicate navigation of the at times hard to decipher red-lines of doing research in Iran. Iran Reframed ultimately delivers a multifaceted analysis of an aspect of Iran that is rarely assessed with nuance. “This book is not only about state media, but about the men who produce this media and what it means to doubt what they have fought for, not know what is to come, and be wrought with anxiety about the fact that they may be relegated back to the margins of society if their political project fails,” Bajoghli said. ■ —Dale Sprusansky (Advertisement)
1983: Lebanon, U.S. Embassy bombed, 63 killed. Months later, Marine Barracks bombed, 241 killed. 1987: Cassie accepts a job teaching Shakespeare at a private academy to forget memories of her late husband killed at the barracks. First day, she meets Samir, a senior whose parents were killed in the embassy attack. As Cassie teaches the tragedies of Hamlet & Othello, Shakespeare’s timeless themes of trust, betrayal, love & hate become reality as the Palestinian-Israeli struggle destroys their lives. Amazon ($20.98); Kindle ($3.88) NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
N E W A R R I VA L S A Map of Absence: An Anthology of Palestinian Writing on the Nakba, edited by Atef Alshaer, SaqiBooks, 2019, paperback, 252 pp. MEB: $20. A Map of Absence presents the finest poetry and prose by Palestinian writers over the last 70 years. Featuring writers in the diaspora and those living under occupation, these striking entries pay testament to one of the most pivotal events in modern history—the 1948 Nakba. This unique, landmark anthology includes translated excerpts of works by major authors such as Mahmoud Darwish, Ghassan Kanafani and Fadwa Tuqan alongside emerging writers, published here in English for the first time. Depicting the varied aspects of Palestinian life both before and after 1948, their writings highlight the ongoing resonances of the Nakba. An intimate companion for all lovers of world literature, A Map of Absence reveals the depth and breadth of Palestinian writing.
The Life and Legend of the Sultan Saladin, by Jonathan Phillips, Yale University Press, 2019, hardcover, 478 pp. MEB: $25. When Saladin recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187, returning the Holy City to Islamic rule for the first time in almost 90 years, he sent shockwaves throughout Christian Europe and the Muslim Near East that still reverberate today. Drawing from a rich blend of Arabic and European sources, Phillips paints a comprehensive account of both the man and legend describing in vivid detail the events of his life and then tracing the aftermath of his actions to the present day. He reveals the personal qualities that explain Saladin’s enduring reputation as a man of faith, generosity, mercy and justice, even while showing him to be capable of mistakes, self-interest and cruelty. The Life and Legend of the Sultan Saladin shows how one man’s life takes us beyond the crude stereotypes of the “Clash of Civilizations” even while his legacy helps explain them.
What’s Cooking at 10 Garden Street?, by Felicita Sala, Prestel Publishing, 2019, hardcover, 48 pp. MEB: $14. Multicultural residents living in an apartment block on Garden Street are cooking up a global smorgasbord. Mr. Ping stir-fries some broccoli, or “little trees” as his nephew Benjamin calls them. Across the hall, Maria and her mother mash avocados with a fork to make guacamole. Mr. Melville raises his knife to fillet a fish for sole meunière. Elsewhere in the building, Josef and Rafik prepare meatballs with turkey, zucchini and feta. Other neighbors are making coconut dal, mini quiches and baba ganouj. For each spread, author and illustrator Sala renders delightful full-bleed pictures that showcase residents in action on the left and a visual recipe on the right. Each spread has detailed drawings of ingredients followed by easy-to-follow written instructions. With no more than six main ingredients, each recipe features global culinary traditions and fresh flavors. Part cookbook, part picture book, 100 percent delicious. Recommended for ages 5 to 10. WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
69
cartoons_70.qxp_November/December 2019 Cartoons 10/24/19 12:00 PM Page 70
De Volkskrant, Amsterdam, Netherlands
CWS/CARTOONARTS INTERNATIONAL www.cartoonweb.com
CWS/CARTOONARTS INTERNATIONAL www.cartoonweb.com
Correio do Povo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
CWS/CARTOONARTS INTERNATIONAL www.cartoonweb.com
CWS/CARTOONARTS INTERNATIONAL www.cartoonweb.com
THE WORLD LOOKS AT THE MIDDLE EAST
The Khaleej Times, Dubai, UAE
CWS/CARTOONARTS INTERNATIONAL www.cartoonweb.com
CWS/CARTOONARTS INTERNATIONAL www.cartoonweb.com
Otago Daily Times, Dunedin, New Zealand
De Volkskrant, Amsterdam, Netherlands
70
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
Correio do Povo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
opm_71-72.qxp_Other Peoples Mail 10/22/19 2:53 PM Page 71
Other People’s Mail Compiled by Dale Sprusansky THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TARGETS MIDDLE EAST PROGRAMS
To The Chronicle [of Duke University], Oct. 3, 2019 We appreciate the recent statement on academic freedom from [Duke University] President Price and Provost Kornbluth following the U.S. Department of Education’s investigation of the Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies. We also welcome the letter to the DOE from 18 American academic associations—including the Middle East Studies Association, the Modern Language Association and the American Anthropological Association—who characterized the investigation as “an unprecedented and counterproductive intervention into academic curricula and programming that threatens the integrity and autonomy of our country’s institutions of higher education.” The federal investigation is the culmination of a decades-long campaign by antiPalestinian organizations against academic programing and curricular offerings that are deemed insufficiently “pro-Israel.” This investigation targeted a Middle East center, but should concern all of us. Today, all teachers and scholars are at risk when not aligned with national policy and national security priorities. At stake, in the current moment, is the ability of universities to operate freely and openly without the fear of censure, and the ability of faculty to determine what they “teach, how they teach it, what they choose to research or write about, or who can speak on our campus.” Duke’s continued commitment to open debate is vital. The integrity of our university demands an educational climate where free and open inquiry is encouraged and fostered, in and out of the classroom, even on the most controversial subjects. —Signed by 62 Duke University faculty members
IN SUPPORT OF UNIVERSITIES BOYCOTTING ISRAEL
To The State Press [of Arizona State University], Oct. 17, 2019 All over the world, faculty associations, universities and student governments are NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
considering academic boycotts of Israel due to the Middle Eastern country’s welldocumented atrocities against, and colonization of, the indigenous Palestinian people. ASU [Arizona State University] took up this issue in 2012 when the Undergraduate Student Government voted to divest from Israel. In response, pro-Israel lobbies in Arizona and around the country have pushed state governments to pass laws that forbid public universities from supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. By threatening university funding, these laws silence criticism of the crimes of Israel against the Palestinians. The anti-BDS law was signed by Gov. Doug Ducey of Arizona in 2016 and is currently working its way through legal challenges that it violates public employees’ First Amendment rights. The case was heard by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in June, but the court has not yet released an opinion. Regardless of whether this law or a similar law holds up, ASU students should support the BDS movement and push for a full academic boycott of Israel. Additionally, student clubs should refuse to work with other clubs that support the Israeli occupation of Palestine, regardless of the political controversy such a move might provoke. In what may come as a surprise to those who consider ASU an apolitical campus, the university boycotted another apartheid state when it was controversial to do so— South Africa in 1985. At the time, the African National Congress, led by Nelson Mandela, was classified as a terrorist group by the American and South African governments because it was helping lead a vast grassroots movement of Africans to topple the racist settlercolonial system. So, when those who support the modern-day BDS movement against Israel are accused of “supporting terrorism,” it’s worth noting what an ideologically charged accusation it is.
How is the Israeli bulldozing of Palestinian homes and routine murder of Palestinian civilians not "terrorism?" Similarly, the charge of anti-Semitism does not hold. Some Jewish organizations, such as Jewish Voice for Peace, support the BDS movement. The state of Israel does not represent the world’s Jewish population, nor does the state of Israel even represent all Israeli Jews. The right-wing Prime Minister of Israel, Binyamin Netanyahu, enjoys complete U.S. support from both political parties. This support has kept him in power despite numerous electoral challenges and an ongoing corruption probe against him. ASU students supporting the BDS movement do not support terrorism and do not support anti-Semitism. When ASU students support BDS, we support the Palestinian people in their struggle for self-determination against a U.S.-backed apartheid regime. Instead of caving in to government attempts to silence dissent, ASU students should take heed from our predecessors in 1985 and drive for a comprehensive boycott of Israeli universities, clubs, technology, research partnerships and cultural exchange until the Palestinian nation is freed from oppression. Sebastian Miscenich, Phoenix, AZ
THE FACTS SUPPORT CRITICISM OF ISRAEL
To The Riverdale Press, Oct. 6, 2019 Re: “It’s happened before, it can very well happen again,” Aug. 29. Here are some facts on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict reported last year, but not in the mainstream media. In the March 20, 2018 CounterPunch, Jonathan Cook reported on Israel’s plans to annex the West Bank. He quotes their education minister, Naftali Bennett, on the issue of a Palestinian state. Bennett said, “We are done with that. They have a Palestinian state in Gaza.” On June 4, 2018, “Democracy Now” reported that Israeli soldiers shot dead 21year-old Palestinian medic Razan al-Najjar as she ran to provide aid to a wounded protester. On May 15, 2018, Informed Comment reporter Juan Cole wrote of the 55 peacefully protesting Palestinians killed by Israeli snipers [in just one day]. Going back to Aug. 28, 2017, is a rare case of Israeli wrongdoing covered by a
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
71
opm_71-72.qxp_Other Peoples Mail 10/22/19 2:53 PM Page 72
decision to withdraw U.S. mainstream media outlet, CNN. As reported by Abeer TELL YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS WHAT YOU THINK troops from Syria. SECRETARY OF STATE MIKE POMPEO Under both national and Salman, a Palestinian PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE international laws, the school—paid for by the Eu- 1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVE. NW 2201 C ST. NW Syrian deployment was ilropean Union— was demol- WASHINGTON, DC 20500 WASHINGTON, DC 20520 PHONE: (202) 647-6575 legal. Congress did not auished in Jub El-Thib. The COMMENT LINE: (202) 456-1111 WWW.WHITEHOUSE.GOV/CONTACT VISIT WWW.STATE.GOV TO E-MAIL thorize and the Obama adreason? According to Israel’s ministration did not receive Coordinator of Government ANY REPRESENTATIVE ANY SENATOR a mandate from the United Activities in the Territories, it U.S. HOUSE OF U.S. SENATE Nations to invade. Dewas built “without receiving REPRESENTATIVES WASHINGTON, DC WASHINGTON, DC 20510 mands for oversight for a the required permits.” 20515 (202) 225-3121 (202) 224-3121 war that was unconstituA lack of required permits tional and illegal is perplexis the excuse for the proing if not bizarre. posed demolition of the Khan al-Ahmar Donald Trump’s statement that we must Protecting Syrian Kurds from slaughter Palestinian village, which would make way stop endless wars. U.S. involvement in by Turkish forces is cited as justification for the expansion of the Jewish Kfar Adumim Iraq (President George W. Bush), Libya for the U.S. military presence. But safesettlement. This was reported by Jacob (President Barack Obama) and Syria (Mr. guarding Syria’s Kurds was never a Magid of the Times of Israel on Feb. 13. Obama) have produced nothing but sufstated U.S. policy, and, in fact, protecting These are just some of the examples of fering and death for local people and U.S. civilian lives has not been an objective in Israeli killings of Palestinians and seizure of forces (“U.S. pulling out of northern Syria; this sordid affair. According to Amnesty their land. So for [letter-writer] Charles Mofull withdrawal possible,” Oct. 14). International, “The U.S.-led coalition killed erdler to equate all critics of Israel with Of course, President Trump lacks the hundreds and injured thousands of civilNazis is a smear. knowledge and focus to implement a policy ians during its offensive in the ISIS strongThen there’s U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler even when he expresses appropriate inhold of Raqqa, Syria.” who condemned U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib stincts. The statements are intended to For decades U.S. policies have created for sharing a cartoon with a “vile underlying manipulate feelings rather than to make instability and misery in the Middle East. It’s message.” The cartoon showed Israeli people safer. time to start a narrative of good will toward prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu holding He grandly announced a pullout from Middle Easterners based on the sanctity his hand over Tlaib’s mouth, and President Syria that was really only moving 50 soland dignity of human life. Donald Trump doing the same to U.S. Rep. diers a few miles. Then he announced a Bring 'em all home. Ilhan Omar. further pullout of 1,000 soldiers. He caved Hadi Jawad, executive director, Dallas This is in reference to Netanyahu’s to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip ErdoPeace and Justice Center, Old East stance that Tlaib and Omar could only visit gan, then threatened him with economic Dallas, TX Palestinian territory if they agreed to make ruin. Then he sent 1,800 of our soldiers to no political statements. So the cartoon is Saudi Arabia. Tomorrow, will bring more SYRIA MOVE ANOTHER EXAMPLE clearly anti-censorship. But because the random zigs and zags. (See “Syrian OF U.S. BETRAYAL censor is Israel, that’s supposed to make it troops move north, setting up potential anti-Jewish bigotry? clash with Turkish forces,” Oct. 14.) To the Los Angeles Times, Oct. 8, 2019 While we’re on the subject of censorship, I am also very distressed to hear memOnce again the United States had broken that brings me to Adam Stoler and his bers of both parties of Congress criticizing its word with a group that depended on us not recent letter (re: “Writers are just wearing the very idea of withdrawal from Syria. The doing so. me out,” Aug. 15). Whether or not you United States has no business putting Ever since the Pickering Treaty in 1794 agree with me, it’s obvious that I put effort armed forces in the region. We end up between the federal government and the into researching and thinking out my letters. supporting corrupt regimes, and we harm Haudenosaunee Confederacy, also known This is evidently too much effort for many more people than we help. Howas the Six Nations, we have either not honStoler. He simply wants those who disagree ever, we should be able to withdraw our ored or have simply ignored promises made with him to be declared haters and banned. forces in a planned way without causing in good faith by the other side. I do not often agree with Alvin Gordon. But extreme harm to innocent civilians and to It was the same with the Native Americans when I respond to him, I use these things Kurdish fighters who were U. S. allies. as it was with the South Vietnamese, the known as facts and logic. Charlie Cooper, Baltimore, MD Marsh Arabs in Iraq and many others. Now Stoler does not make the effort to do so. it’s the Kurds. WHY DOES THE U.S. NEED TO But somehow his lazy responses wear him Turkey has been trying for decades to SUPPORT THE KURDS? out. rid itself of the possibility of much of the Richard Warren, Riverdale, CA eastern part of the country being abTo The Dallas Morning News, Oct. 13, sorbed into a “Greater Kurdistan.” And, 2019 A BUNGLED BUT NECESSARY like presidents before him, Trump has It is confounding that no action taken by PULLOUT FROM SYRIA betrayed people who assisted and President Donald Trump, no matter how trusted us. egregious, has united politicians of both To The Baltimore Sun, Oct. 16, 2019 Darcy Vernier, Marina del Rey, CA ■ parties in opposition other than his recent Many people agree with President 72
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
obituariesr_73.qxp_Obituaries 10/24/19 4:57 PM Page 73
O• B • I • T • U • A • R • I • E • S Elijah Cummings, 68, died at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD, on Oct. 17 after battling with health issues in recent years. The Democratic congressman from Maryland and chairman of the of the House Committee on Oversight Reform was the son of Southern sharecroppers and Baptist preachers from South Carolina. While growing up in Baltimore during the 1950s and ’60s, at age 11 he worked to desegregate his neighborhood swimming pool. He and his friends protested being denied entry by marching up and down the street near the pool. They were attacked by adult opponents of integration who threw bottles and rocks. Known by colleagues for his towering character and integrity, Cummings was first a trial attorney for 19 years before serving 13 terms in the House of Representatives. In 2002, he voted against authorization for the Iraq War and, more recently, Cummings was a key figure in President Donald Trump’s impeachment inquiry. He also supported Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid in 2016 and backed her during a congressional investigation into her handling of the Benghazi terror attack that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in 2012. While Cummings was largely against U.S. military intervention in the Middle East, he was, conversely, a proponent of Israel. In 1998, Cummings founded the Elijah Cummings Youth Program in Israel, a two-year fellowship that allowed high school youth in Maryland to visit Israel during their summer vacations. Additionally, one of his last votes in the House was in support of Resolution 246, which opposed efforts to delegitimize Israel and denounced the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against the State of Israel. Speaking at a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) banquet in 2005, Cummings said, “No one group is superior to others...If one person in this nation is treated unfairly we shouldn’t be able to sleep at night...Some of us in Congress stand with you as brothers and sisters. All of us in America have a responsibility to stand up...What we do or don’t do today NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
By Sami Tayeb and Delinda C. Hanley
will impact this country for the next 100 years. This is our watch.” Cummings is survived by his wife, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, two daughters and six siblings. Joseph C. Wilson, 69, died from organ failure at his house in Santa Fe, NM, on Sept. 27. Wilson, a onetime diplomat who negotiated with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein before the first Gulf War, gained public attention when his then-wife, Valerie Plame, was exposed by syndicated columnist Richard Novak as an active CIA agent after Wilson’s opposition to the George W. Bush administration’s claims of Iraq obtaining “yellowcake” uranium from Africa, which was used as justification for going to war against Iraq in 2003. After returning from a fact-finding mission in Niger in 2002, Wilson concluded that Saddam Hussein had not obtained uranium from the country and therefore was not a nuclear threat to the U.S. Shortly after the invasion, Wilson wrote a New York Times op-ed, “What I Didn’t Find in Africa.” The Bush administration leaked the information about Wilson’s wife to Novak as retaliation for his opposition. Wilson is survived by four children, a brother and five grandchildren. Paul Ramsey Malik, 57, a career member of the U.S. Senior Foreign Service, who served for 23 years in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe died after battling cancer, on July 23 in Washington, DC. Malik served as U.S. Consul General in Dubai from 2015 to 2018, and most recently Charge d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan. He was also the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Muscat, Oman, in a addition to postings at American embassies in Lebanon, Greece, Ireland, Morocco and Tunisia, as well as multiple assignments in Washington. Malik held a B.A. from Swarthmore College and pursued graduate studies at Georgetown University. He spoke Arabic, French and Greek. He will be remembered for tirelessly working to promote increased cooperation between the U.S. and the Middle East,
and for deepening cultural ties. He is survived by his spouse, Nicholas Samaridis, brother Peter Malik of Chagrin Falls, OH; He is predeceased by his parents, Boulos and Madelyn Malik, long-time friends of the Washington Report. His father enjoyed a 37-year career as a first Arab-American U.S. Foreign Service Officer. James Robertson, 81, a federal judge who earned national attention for his ruling on the rights of a foreign detainee in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and for his 2005 resignation from a judicial surveillance panel in order to take a stand against warrantless federal wiretaping, died from a heart ailment on Sept. 7 at a hospital in Washington, DC. Robertson served as a U.S. District Court Judge in Washington, appointed by President Bill Clinton, from 1994 to 2010. In 2004 he ruled in favor of a Yemeni prisoner, a driver for Osama bin Laden, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who was held at Guantanamo after being captured during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Robertson ruled that the government had neglected to determine if Hamdan was a prisoner of war as required by the Geneva Conventions. Hamdan was eventually released to Yemen in 2008. Robertson’s resignation from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in 2005, three years into his appointment, followed revelations that the Bush administration had bypassed the court and failed to obtain warrants as it gathered information from U.S. electronic communications carriers in the “war on terrorism,” after the attacks on 9/11. Before serving on the federal bench, Robertson worked as a corporate lawyer from 1965 to 1994. He represented the Automobile Manufacturer’s Association in the wake of car-safety violations uncovered by consumer activist Ralph Nader. Robertson, also served as president of the DC Bar Association in 1991 and 1992, establishing a process for the hiring of young minority lawyers. He believed some of his most important cases were low-profile and set no universal legal precedent but related directly to everyday life and injustice in the rural South. ■
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
73
angels_74.qxp_November December 2019 Choir of Angels 10/23/19 5:33 PM Page 74
AET’s 2019 Choir of Angels
the following are individuals, organizations, companies and foundations whose help between Jan. 11, 2019 and october 7, 2019 is making possible activities of the tax-exempt aet library endowment (federal id #52-1460362) and the american educational trust, publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. some angels are helping us co-sponsor the conference “the israel lobby and american policy.” others are donating to our “capital building fund,” which will help us expand Middle east books and More. We are deeply honored by their confidence and profoundly grateful for their generosity.
HUMMERS ($100 or more)
Jeff Abood, Silver Lake, OH Rev. Fahed Abu-Akel, Atlanta, GA Rizek & Alice Abusharr, Claremont, CA Anonymous, Maplewood, NJ Dr. Robert Ashmore, Mequon, WI Mr. & Mrs. Sultan Aslam, Plainsboro, NJ Marwan Balaa, San Jose, CA Rev. Robert E. Barber, Cooper City, FL Stanton Barrett, Ipswich, MA Allen & Jerrie Bartlett, Philadelphia, PA Anna Bellisari, Yellow Springs, OH Prof. & Mrs. George Wesley Buchanan, Gaithersburg, MD Samer & Nora Burgan, Falls, Church, VA Frank Cummings, Lancaster, PA## Bernie Eisenberg, Los Angeles, CA Kassem Elkhalil, Arlington, TX William Gefell, Tunbridge, VT Elizabeth Haas, Wilmington, DE Angelica Harter, N. Branford, CT Walter Hixson, Akron, OH Bilquis Jaweed, West Chester, OH Ghazala Kazi, Columbia, MD M. Jamil Khan, Bloomfield Hills, MI Eugene Khorey, Homestead, PA David & Renee Lent, Hanover, NH Edwin Lindgren, Overland Park, KS
Gwendolyn McEwen, Bellingham, WA Bill McGrath, Northfield, MN John & Ruth Monson, La Crosse, WI Mu’mina Friends, Abiquiu, NM Merrill O’Donnell, New Westminster, Canada A. Karim Pathan, Cary, NC Jeffrey Pekrul, San Francisco, CA Peggy Rafferty, Cedar Grove, NC Amb. William & Andrea Rugh, Hingham, MA Irmgard Scherer, Fairfax, VA Bernice Shaheen, Palm Desert, CA*** Yasir Shallal, McLean, VA Dr. Mostafa Hashem Sherif, Tinton Falls, NJ Sisters of St. Francis, Tiffin, OH Jean Snyder, Greenbelt, MD Dr. James Zogby, Washington, DC Fred Zuercher, Spring Grove, PA
ACCOMPANISTS ($250 or more)
Anonymous, Eatonton, GA Diane Adkin, Camas, WA Larry Cooper, Plymouth, M # Drew & Krista Curtiss, Herndon, VA**** Gregory DeSylva, Rhinebeck, NY Dr. William Fuller, Valdosta, GA Ken Galal, San Francisco, CA Delinda C. Hanley, Kensington, MD****,## Jenny Hartley, Northfielders for Justice, Northfield, MN William Lightfoot, Vienna, VA
Help make sure that the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs will be here for the next generation. By remembering the Washington Report in your will, you can: • Make a significant gift without affecting your current cash flow; • Direct your bequest to a vital purpose—educating readers about U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East; • Receive a charitable estate tax deduction; • Leave a legacy for future generations.
Bequests of any size are honored with membership in the American Educational Trust’s “Choirmasters,” named for angels whose foresight and dedication ensured the future of the Washington Report and Middle East Books and More. For more information visit www.wrmea.org/donate/bequests.pdf, contact us at circulation@wrmea.org, write: American Educational Trust, PO Box 91056 • Long Beach, CA 90809-1056, or telephone our new toll-free circulation number 888-881-5861 • Fax: 714-226-9733
74
Washington RepoRt on Middle east affaiRs
TENORS & CONTRALTOS ($500 or more) Dr. & Mrs. Roger Bagshaw, Big Sur, CA Raymond Gordon, Venice, FL Brigitte Jaensch, Carmichael, CA Benjamin Wade, Saratoga, CA Robert Younes, Potomac, MD
BARITONES & MEZZO SOPRANOS ($1,000 or more)
Americans for Middle East Understanding, New York, NY Drs. A.J. & M. T. Amirana, Las Vegas, NV Karen Ray Bossmeyer, Louisville, KY G. Edward & Ruth Brooking, Jr., Wilmington, DE Nancy Eddy, Chevy Chase, MD Gary Feulner, Dubai, UAE Ronald & Mary Forthofer, Longmont, CO Evan & Leman Fotos, Istanbul, Turkey Alfred R. Greve, Holmes, NY Hind Hamdan, Hagerstown, MD Judith A. Howard, Norwood, MA ### Ghazy M. Kader, Shoreline, WA Jack Love, Kailua Kona, HI Nabeel Mansour, McMinnville, OR Roberta McInerney, Washington, DC * Robert & Sharon Norberg, Lake City, MN Mary Norton, Austin, TX M.F. Shoukfeh, Lubbock, TX Dr. Imad Tabry, Fort Lauderdale, FL Donn Trautman, Evanstown, IL
CHOIRMASTERS ($5,000 or more)
James M. Crawford Trust, Miami, FL Donna B. Curtiss, Kensington, MD*, ** Estate of Dorothy Love Gerner, San Francisco, CA Dr. & Mrs. Clyde Farris, West Linn, OR*, ** John Gareeb, Atlanta, GA John & Henrietta Goelet, Washington, DC * In Memory of Andrew I. Killgore ** In Memory of Richard H. Curtiss *** In Memory of Dr. Jack Shaheen **** In Memory of Donna B.Curtiss # In Memory of Diane Cooper ## In Memory of Salman Hilmy ### In Memory of Paul Findley
noveMbeR/deceMbeR 2019
UPA_ad_c3.qxp_UPA Ad Cover 3 10/22/19 12:13 PM Page c3
Befor f e
Solar-p power e ed lightss allow Gaza fisshermen to work o through h the night wh hile maintainin ng a long-timee Palestin a nian tradition a . Illuminating Gaza, One Harbor at a Time i A gift today can save the livees and lliveliho e ods of fi fishermen.
Afte t r
up paconnect.org p g/community o y 855-659-5007 ext. 202
cover4.qxp_November/December 2019 Back Cover 10/24/19 11:17 AM Page c4
American Educational Trust Washington Report on Middle East Affairs P.O. Box 53062 Washington, DC 20009
November/December 2019 Vol. XXXVIII, No. 7
Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Mohammed Al-Breik (c) vies for the ball with Palestine’s forward Tamer Seyam (r) during the World Cup 2022 Asian qualifying match between Palestine and Saudi Arabia in the town of al-Ram in the Israeli occupied West Bank, Oct. 15, 2019. Arab clubs and national teams have historically played in third countries instead of the Palestinian territories because they’re required to apply for Israeli entry permits. In September the Israeli government cancelled the Palestinian national football club championship game, known as the FIFA Palestine Cup, between Gaza and Nablus teams by denying travel permits to the Gazans. (Photo by AhMAD GhARAbLI/AFP vIA Getty IMAGes)