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ISRAEL’S “SYSTEMATIC CAMPAIGN” AGAINST CHRISTIANS
DISPLAY UNTIL 7/30/2018
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TELLING THE TRUTH SINCE 1982
On Middle East Affairs
Volume XXXVII, No. 4
June/July 2018
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
10 12 14
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Kill and Kill and Kill—Saree Makdisi
Gazans’ Great March of Return—Two Views —Olfat al-Kurd, Gideon Levy
It’s Not 1960 Anymore, and the U.S. No Longer Opposes Massacres of Civilians—Ian Williams
16 20
Trump Dumps the Iran Nuclear Deal—Three Views —Thomas L. Knapp, Fariba Pajooh, Eli Clifton
Europe Races to Save Iran Deal, But Does the U.S. Hold All the Cards?—Dale Sprusansky
Mars Is Within Reach. My Family in Gaza, Not So Much —Hani Almadhoun
Not Only Do Israeli Soldiers Kill and Maim, But the PA Cuts Salaries in Gaza—Mohammed Omer Press Denounces Abbas Remarks, Ignores TED Talks By Other Palestinian Speakers—Delinda C. Hanley
AIPAC’s Annual Conference, as Usual, Urged a Laundry List of Goodies for Israel—Shirl McArthur
SPECIAL REPORTS
Remembering Syria: Iran Struggles With Potentially Explosive Environmental Crisis—James M. Dorsey
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Risks Posed by Competing Claims to Eastern Mediterranean Oil and Gas Resources —Jonathan Gorvett
After 60 Years, Malaysians Vote for a Change of Government—John Gee
Malaysians wait in line to vote at a Kuala Lumpur polling station, May 9, 2018. See story p. 36.
ULET IFANSASTI/GETTY IMAGES
32
My Home Is Beit Daras: Our Lingering Nakba —Ramzy Baroud
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ON THE COVER: Palestinian women carry their national flag during the Great March of Return along
Gaza’s border with Israel east of Gaza City, May 4, 2018. It was the sixth straight Friday of mass demonstrations calling for the right of Palestinians to return to their homeland.
MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
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(A Supplement to the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs available by subscription at $15 per year. To subscribe, call toll-free 1-888-881-5861.)
Other Voices Israel Celebrates “Pyrrhic” Victory as It Turns 70, Jonathan Cook, www.aljazeera.com
Compiled by Janet McMahon
OV-1
Roger Cohen Scares His Readers: “The Destruction of Israel as a Jewish State,” Joseph Levine, http://mondoweiss.net OV-3 Stop Telling Palestinians to Be “Resilient”— The Rest of the World Has Failed Them, Brendan Ciarán Browne, theconversation.com
OV-5
Dear Occupiers, Sorry if We Hurt Your Feelings, Gideon Levy, Haaretz OV-5
Did Trump’s Israel Envoy Support a Radical-Right Kahanist Group?, Hilo Glazer, Haaretz
OV-10
Major Jewish Leader Spent $1M on Secret Group Pushing Anti-Muslim Campaign Ads, Aiden Pink, The Forward OV-11 Open Letter on Anti-Semitism Sparks Fierce Debate on Islam in France, Mahmud El-Shafey, The Arab Weekly
OV-11
Trump Warmonger Moves on Iran Are From Iraq Playbook, Juan Cole, www.juancole.com
OV-6
Gina Haspel and How Torture Deceived Us Into Iraq, Lawrence Wilkerson, www.theamericanconservative.com
Canada Accepts Fewer Israeli Refugee Claims, More Palestinians, Ron Csillag, www.cjnews.com OV-12
OV-7
How the NYT Partook in the Plunder of Iraq, Sinan Antoon, The Arab Weekly OV-13
Digital Occupation: What’s Behind Israel’s Social Media in Arabic, Linah Alsaafin, www.aljazeera.com
OV-8
Oman: Between Iran and a Hard Place, Camille Lons, www.ecfr.eu
OV-15
DEPARTMENTS 6 letters to the editor
38 ChristiaNitY aNd the Middle east: Israel’s “Systematic Campaign” Against Christians —Jeffery Abood 40 israel aNd JudaisM: Israel at 70: An Alarming Growth of Racism and Intolerance —Allan C. Brownfeld
42 arab aMeriCaN aCtivisM: Annual Kahlil Gibran Spirit of Humanity Awards
43 MusliM aMeriCaN aCtivisM: Muslim Day at the Capitol Brings Constituents, Legislators Together
46 diPloMatiC doiNgs: Omani Diplomat Calls for Foreign Policies Based on Love of Neighbor
47 huMaN rights: Human Rights Defenders Hold Vigils For Aafia Siddiqui 48 MusiC & arts: “Naila and the Uprising” Inspires
53 WagiNg PeaCe: Debating the U.S. Decision to Pull out of the Iran Deal
65 book talks: Miko Peled Speaks in Des Moines 68 book revieW: A Vision for My Father: The Life and Work of the Palestinian-American Artist and Designer Rajie Cook —Reviewed by Delinda C. Hanley
69 Middle east books aNd More
Rajie Cook in his studio. See p. 68. 70 the World looks at the Middle east — CARTOONS
71 other PeoPle’s Mail 73 obituaries
74 2018 aet Choir oF aNgels 35 iNdeX to advertisers
WWW.RAJIE.ORG
5 Publishers’ Page
pubs_5.qxp_Publishers Page 5/25/18 12:47 AM Page 5
American Educational Trust
Palestine’s Ambassador Husam Zomlot Recalled.
Publishers’ Page
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) called for Israel Defense Forces to “exercise restraint and respect the rights of Palestinians to peacefully protest.” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) also criticized the actions of the Israeli government. Twelve Democratic senators signed Sanders’ letter, but Democratic Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), Kamala Harris (CA) and Cory Booker (NJ)...
On May 15, citing the U.S. Embassy move to Jerusalem, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas recalled from Washington Ambassador Husam S. Zomlot, Head of the General Delegation of the PLO to the U.S. The ambassador had weathered some of the chilliest times in the history of U.S.-Palestinian relations, never at a loss for words and always maintaining his sense of humor. We hope he will Declined to Comment. return soon, because during his 14-month stay the ambassador New Beginnings. could be found at every event (L-r) Dale Sprusansky, Janet McMahon, Ambassador Husam Zomlarge or small, cheering on Pales- lot, three GWU students and Delinda Hanley. Staff photo. In April, we welcomed Amin tinians and their supporters. In fact, Gharad as our new bookstore one of our favorite stories is the director. A graduate of Georgeday we had the unique opportunity to turn the chased a keffiyah but who continued to town University, he is looking forward to tables and... hang around. In fact, they were actually meeting our customers and expanding the spellbound, listening to the speaker, whom reach and dynamism of our unique Middle Cheer Him Up! they did not know was the Palestinian am- East Books and More store. (If you have An explosion had just targeted the West bassador. We invited them to sit down and any suggestions feel free to e-mail him at Bank-based Palestinian prime minister's join the conversation, and asked them to bookstore@wrmea.org!) Several book convoy as it was entering Gaza, and the tell us how and why they were interested clubs currently meet in our store, and we ambassador, who was born in a Gaza in the issue. They told us they were stu- hope to begin hosting more events, such refugee camp, was afraid the attack would dents at George Washington University, as author talks, film screenings and other torpedo prospects for reconciliation be- where they were active in Students for engaging activities. Amin replaces tween Fatah and Hamas. Here in Wash- Justice in Palestine. Not one was an Arab- Nathaniel Bailey, who has left to pursue ington, the White House was cutting aid to American, much less Palestinian. But like further academic studies. We wish Nate UNRWA and threatening to shutter the a growing number of university students, the best, and look forward to the wonderful ambassador’s office. So we invited him they were committed to fighting what they things Amin has planned! over for cookies and cake at our Middle saw as an unacceptable injustice. (Sorry, East Books and More bookstore below the Canary Mission. We’re not naming Keep Your Eyes Peeled and Your Washington Report’s office. He took in the names.) Wallets Out. shelves full of Fakhoury pottery from Our first annual donation appeal of 2018 will Jerusalem, olive oil, soaps and zaatar, Bad Optics for Israel, Deadly soon be headed your way. We need all the greeting cards, posters, keffiyahs and, of Butterfly Bullets for Gazans. help you can give us to reach new readers course, books! His face lit up as he sat on Five Democratic representatives, Mark who are fed up and even terrified by the the couch and began to talk. “Our people Pocan (WI), Pramila Jayapal (WA), Keith El- neocons surrounding our president and the are exhausted but they still have faith in in- lison (MN), Barbara Lee (CA), Raul Grijalva way U.S. foreign policy is headed. More and ternational law,” Zomlot said. “We feel the (AZ) and Henry C. “Hank” Johnson Jr. (GA) more subscribers are asking for extra copies heat, but blinking is not an option.” Despite signed a statement criticizing Israel for using to share with their religious leaders, opinion the disheartening situation in the White snipers to kill dozens of Palestinians. The molders and lawmakers. Newsstands orders House on Jerusalem, which no Palestinian killing of Palestinian journalists, including are skyrocketing. It’s crucial that we continue leader can relinquish, we are engaging the Yasser Murtaja, wearing vests marked to give Americans who are seeking it the inAmerican public directly and talking to “PRESS” sparked additional international formation they need, especially at a time Congress, the ambassador continued. condemnation, as did Israeli targeting of when neither Israel nor the U.S. can pretend Meanwhile… medics treating the wounded. A Jewish it is committed to peace and justice. More youth group protested at the office of Sen. than ever, together we can… We Couldn’t Help But Notice… Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), urging her to Three college-age shoppers who had pur- speak out against these “merciless” killings. Make A Difference Today! JUNE/JULY 2018
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
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Managing Editor: News Editor: Assistant Editor:
Middle East Books and More Director:
Finance & Admin. Dir.: Art Director: Founding Publisher: Founding Exec. Editor:
AMIN GHARAD CHARLES R. CARTER RALPH U. SCHERER ANDREW I. KILLGORE (1919-2016) RICHARD H. CURTISS (1927-2013)
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (ISSN 8755-4917) 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 200091707. Tel. (202) 939-6050. Subscription prices (United States and possessions): one year, $29; two years, $55; three years, $75. For Canadian and Mexican subscriptions, $35 per year; for other foreign subscriptions, $70 per year. Periodicals, postage paid at Washington, DC and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, P.O. Box 91056, Long Beach, CA 90809-1056.
Published by the American Educational Trust (AET), a non-profit foundation incorporated in Washington, DC by retired U.S. foreign service officers to provide the American public with balanced and accurate information concerning U.S. relations with Middle Eastern states. AET’s Foreign Policy Committee has included former U.S. ambassadors, government officials, and members of Congress, including the late Democratic Sen. J. William Fulbright and Republican Sen. Charles Percy, both former chairmen of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Members of AET’s Board of Directors and advisory committees receive no fees for their services. The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs does not take partisan domestic political positions. As a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli dispute, it endorses U.N. Security Council Resolution 242’s landfor-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: P.O. Box 53062, Washington, DC 20009-9062 Phone: (202) 939-6050 • (800) 368-5788 Fax: (202) 265-4574 E-mail: wrmea@wrmea.org bookstore@wrmea.org circulation@wrmea.org advertising@wrmea.org Web sites: http://www.wrmea.org http://www.middleeastbooks.com Subscriptions, sample copies and donations: P.O. Box 91056, Long Beach, CA 90809-1056. Phone: (888) 881-5861 • Fax: (714) 226-9733 Printed in the USA
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LetterstotheEditor
JANET McMAHON DELINDA C. HANLEY DALE SPRUSANSKY
SINGAPORE SUMMIT AT SHELDON’S
Donald Trump has announced that the venue for his June 12 summit with Kim Jong-un will be Singapore. Since the pre-eminent reason for this non-obvious choice may go unmentioned by the mainstream media, I will mention it here: The Marina Bay Sands, a huge and architecturally photogenic hotel/casino complex owned by Sheldon Adelson, the man who purchased Donald Trump for $35 million and who, likely possessing truly scandalous information on Trump which could be disclosed if Trump were to fail to keep his promises or be unresponsive to Adelson’s wishes, now owns him. The hotel will no doubt be seen widely during the intensive media coverage of the summit. In addition to the handsome return on his investment already realized through Trump’s move of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and his shredding of the Iran nuclear deal, Adelson will even be pocketing financial compensation from Korean diplomacy. John V. Whitbeck, Paris, France As we went to press, President Trump canceled the summit with North Korea— much to the pleasure, we’re sure, of his neocon national security adviser John Bolton. There was even some speculation that Bolton was trying to sabotage a possible deal (imagine that!). Should the president change his mind yet again, however—which has been known to happen— we are sure that Adelson’s Marina Bay Sands will be waiting.
LUSTING FOR WAR
Thanks for alerting us, in your March/April “Neocon Corner,” to the prospect that Trump and neocon regimes are now allied and lusting for war. The apparent first objective is to build an even more “robust” military machine, including pre-emptive war along with “sustained military intervention.” Besides scrapping civilian needs, the program will be far from assuring “a stable world order,” as our experience in Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrates. More likely it will invite North Korea to try out its new missiles and will encourage President Vladimir Putin to strengthen his recent aggressive statements. The neocon-Trump amalgam could
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
mean a death trap for multiple Americans. Jeanne Riha, Corvallis, Oregon Indeed, the neocons seem to have ensconced themselves in the Trump White House—after having almost unanimously backed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. We’re not too impressed with the principle that seems to be at work here. Unfortunately, Americans won’t learn about the takeover from the mainstream media. As The American Conservative’s Scott McConnell tweeted recently, the May 21 New York Times article titled “Meet the Members of the ‘Shadow NSC’ Advising John Bolton” “cites David Wurmser as key Bolton adviser, decides not to mention he was top author of ‘Clean Break’ Iraq/Syria war to secure Israel's ‘realm’ document.” Evidently the Times doesn’t see that news as being “fit to print.”
SPEAKING OF WHICH…
I do not want to miss any issues—you have a great publication. Nowhere else can you get all this information in one place. Keep up the great work. Thank you. Donald Gower, Huntsville, TX We wouldn’t be here without the support and encouragement of readers like you. So thank you!
A COINCIDENCE?
Is it a coincidence that my Washington Report is the only magazine that arrives damaged? Doubt that. Dale Boyce, via e-mail We’ve always had to contend with sabotage attempts by partisans of Israel—from removing copies of the magazine from library shelves to making threatening and harassing phone calls to breaking into our office safe. A couple of months ago we encountered a new form of censorship: the Federal Bureau of Prisons returned the copy of the March/April Washington Report (with its cover photo of handcuffed Palestinian political prisoner Ahed Tamimi) sent to a prisoner in Berlin, NH with the following explanation: “It is criminal activity depicting torture and anti government which by its nature or content poses a threat to the security, good order, or discipline of the institution, or facilitates criminal activity.” As the late Rep. James Traficant (DOH) was wont to say: “Beam me up!”
JUNE/JULY 2018
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PLEASE CONTINUE TO SEND
Presently, my name is on your mailing list to receive “donated” issues of your Washington Report publication. Please continue to send me “donated issues.” Being held in captivity, financially we are not able to afford your publication’s cost, so we share the issues forwarded to me. Thank you for your donational services, as we all here hope to remain satisfied readers of your publication. Israel Polk Muhammad, Huntingdon, PA We and our Angels have every intention of continuing to send the Washington Report to prisoners, libraries, opinion molders and others who otherwise might not be able to afford a subscription. We also make sure that every member of Congress gets a copy of each issue, even though we’re pretty sure they can afford to subscribe.
AND YET HE PERSISTED
For 30 years, like the majority of citizens in this country, I carried a pro-Israel bias regarding the conflict in that part of the world. My views began to shift slightly following the Yom Kippur War in 1973, but an article in the October 2002 issue of National Geographic was a real eye opener. I then began to search for more information on the issue, and in the local Escondido, CA Library I discovered the Washington Report. As a regular subscriber and financial contributor since, I continue to be amazed by the fact that the information contained in your splendid outlet is hardly ever covered by our mainstream media. The reason for this broad chasm of lack of information is undoubtedly related to the fact that the founders and supporters of AIPAC discovered long ago that in order to control the narrative one simply does everything humanly possible to control the message. I recently relocated from San Diego to Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, and I recently ventured to the small local library in search of books on the history of the islands. Noticing a small reading section, I mentioned to an attendant that I was willing to pay for a subscription to the Washington Report and gave her my December issue of the magazine. She sought out the librarian, and shortly returned, informing me that they would get back to me. Having heard nothing for a week, I returned and was informed by a woman of little if any JUNE/JULY 2018
We thank you for your persistence and support these many years! As other readers will attest, you will undoubtedly have to be vigilant as well—but we suspect you are more than up for that. And you’re right, Israel and its supporters know all too well that once Americans learn the facts of Israel’s ethnic cleansing and occupation, their support for it will rapidly recede. In fact, thanks to people like you, it’s already happening!
KEEP THOSE CARDS AND LETTERS COMING! Send your letters to the editor to the Washington Report, P.O. Box 53062, Washington, DC 20009 or e-mail <letters@wrmea.org>. “native” roots that she was the librarian. She handed me the December issue and informed me that she had decided not to accept my offer. Inquiry on my part elicited the fact that the decision was hers alone. Further questioning revealed the obvious: the decision was made not by the parent office in Honolulu or by any board, but purely on the basis of this woman’s political beliefs. A rebuttal by me to the effect that the Washington Report had over a 35 year history of publication did little to dissuade this woman. The thought that Netanyahu would have gleefully cheered this woman’s act caused my blood pressure to increase by at least 20 points, so I informed the lady that I would pay for the subscription regardless of her decision and departed. Enclosed is my check for $55. Please issue the subscription to the Kailua-Kona Public library, 75-138 Hualalai Rd, KailuaKona, HI 96740; all renewal subscriptions should be forwarded to my address. Jack Love, Honolulu, HI
A WELL-DESERVED COMPLIMENT
I'm only halfway through the conference transcription issue (May 2018), and I just had to write and tell you all how wonderful this is. What a great event! Each speaker was a shining star in his/her field, and I've used up my whole highlighter already. I love that these are actual transcripts; it does make me feel a bit like I was there. I'm sure this conference is a huge amount of work for your already-overworked staff, but it is so very worth it. You all are educating everyone who reads the issue or watches the videos. Thank you for this wonderful tool. Vicki Tamoush, via e-mail P.S. My dream is that when I retire, I can attend things like this wonderful conference. I'm going to be that person who sits up front, takes tons of notes, and keeps quoting all the speakers for weeks to come! We very much look forward to seeing you at a future conference! Every year we are pleased to realize that the speakers’ presentations are just as effective in print as they are in person. We’re a bit more ambivalent about the realization that their remarks are timeless (which is why we order a larger print run). After all, the goal of us all is to one day be able to look back in amazement—and horror—at an apartheid system that the world let remain in place for so terribly long.
THE MIGHT MAKES RIGHT MANTRA OTHERVOICESisan optional16-page supplement available only to subscribers of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. For an additional $15 per year (see postcard insert for Washington Report subscription rates), subscribers will receive Other Voicesinsideeachissueof their WashingtonReport on Middle East Affairs. Back issues of both publications are available. To subscribe telephone 1 (888) 881-5861, fax (714) 226-9733, e-mail circulation@wrmea. org>, or write to P.O. Box 91056, Long Beach, CA 90809-1056.
Thank you for all the work you and your staff do to get the international community to realize there has to be some justice for the Palestinians. A rogue state like Israel simply can not continue its open season on unarmed Palestinians because its backer the U.S. Congress and the president have taken the "Might makes right" mantra too far. Loretta Krause, via e-mail We hope the international community will finally stand up to the U.S. and the Israel Lobby and do the right thing. ■
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Special Report
Kill and Kill and Kill
By Saree Makdisi
SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
Jewish state with a large and hostile Arab minority in its midst. There would be no such state. It would not be able to exist,” the Israeli historian Benny Morris bluntly pointed out in an interview justifying ethnic cleansing with the newspaper Haaretz in 2004; “a Jewish state would not have come into being without the uprooting of 700,000 Palestinians…[therefore] it was necessary to uproot them.”) They have been denied the right to return to their homes ever since for the same reason: they are not Jewish, and their presence would upset the carefully engineered demographic tables maintained by the state to preserve its tenuous claim to an exclusively Jewish identity. The maintenance of that demographic balance and the suspension of their political and human rights are inseparable from one another: the one enables, produces and reThe father of eight-month-old Leila Anwar Ghandoor, who died of teargas inhalation the day after Israeli troops fired teargas and live ammunition on Palestinian demonstrators May 14, quires the other. killing 60 and wounding nearly 3,000, carries her to be buried in Gaza City, May 15, 2018. The demographer Arnon Sofer of Haifa University is the architect of the current isolation of Gaza. In 2004, he advised the government of Ariel TWO SPECTACLES UNFOLDED in Palestine on Monday, May Sharon to withdraw Israeli forces from within Gaza, seal the terri14. In Gaza, Israeli army snipers shot and killed 60 Palestinians— tory off from the outside world, and simply shoot anyone who tries including 6 children—and injured almost 3,000 others amid to break out. “When 2.5 million people live in a closed-off Gaza, scenes of smoke, fire, teargas, dust, agony and blood. At exactly it’s going to be a human catastrophe,” Sofer told an interviewer in the same time, to the tinkling of champagne glasses at a glittering the Jerusalem Post of Nov. 11, 2004; “Those people will become reception barely 50 miles away in Jerusalem, Jared Kushner and even bigger animals than they are today, with the aid of an insane an elegant Ivanka Trump oversaw the opening of Donald Trump’s fundamentalist Islam. The pressure at the border will be awful. It’s new embassy there. The juxtaposition of these two contemporagoing to be a terrible war. So, if we want to remain alive, we will neous scenes encapsulates at a single glance the entirety of have to kill and kill and kill. All day, every day.” He added that “the Zionism’s murderous conflict with the Palestinian people. only thing that concerns me is how to ensure that the boys and The Palestinians targeted and executed one-by-one by Israeli men who are going to have to do the killing will be able to return snipers had gathered to demand their right of return to their lands home to their families and be normal human beings.” and homes inside the rest of Palestine, from the coastal plain up This imperative to kill and kill and kill human “animals” explains to and including Jerusalem. They or their parents or grandparents the violence which took place at the gates of Gaza—which has were driven from their homes during the Zionist ethnic cleansing been sealed off precisely according to Sofer’s prescription—for of Palestine in 1948 for the simple reason that they are not Jewthe several weeks, most calamitously that Monday. The killing ish: too many non-Jews in the putative Jewish state would not during Gazans’ Great March of Return was, in other words, exmake for much of a Jewish state after all. (“There could be no actly, to the letter, the “killing and killing and killing” he called for Saree Makdisi is professor of English and comparative literature at 14 years ago. Calmly premeditated and intentionally designed UCLA. Hs latest book is Palestine Inside Out (available from AET’s by its architect, it is equally calmly and intentionally being carried Middle East Books and More). Copyright © 2018 CounterPunch. All rights reserved. out by Israeli soldiers (about whose psychological traumas I, un8
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like Sofer, am not even remotely interested). In response to the killing and shooting, a senior member of the Israeli parliament, Avi Dichter, reassured his audience on live television that Monday that they need not be unduly concerned. Their army, he told them, “has enough bullets for everyone.” If every man, woman and child in Gaza gathers at the gate, in other words, there is a bullet for every one of them. They can all be killed, no problem.
WHAT ZIONISM REQUIRES
Remember Kurtz in Heart of Darkness? “Exterminate the brutes!” The genocidal intent expressed by the likes of Sofer and Dichter—mainstream and senior figures in Israeli politics—is so obvious as to make assiduous interpretation of their words unnecessary. The people of Gaza are exterminable because they are not Jewish: that is what the situation amounts to, not according to critics of the siege of Gaza, but according to its architects, planners, enablers and supporters. For that exterminability, and the ability to calmly and methodically transact it (“kill and kill and kill”) guarantees one thing, according to Sofer (in that same interview): “it guarantees a Zionist-Jewish state with an overwhelming majority of Jews.” To be clear then: according to its own planners and architects— these are their words, not mine—the maintenance of a “Zionist-Jewish” state fundamentally requires the Israeli army to prepare itself with a bullet for every man, woman and child in Gaza, and to shoot them one by one if they approach the gates penning them in. And if none of them are left after the smoke clears, well, so much the better; Israeli “boys and men” will return to their families and sleep better at night for not having to kill them any longer. Exactly as Israeli snipers were following their orders to “kill and kill and kill,” Jared Kushner was marking the occasion of the opening of the embassy with an inane speech extolling the virtues of his bombastic father-in-law. Kushner was empowered to present this speech not because of his qualifications (he has none), not because of his accomplishments (he has none), not because of his insights (he has none), not JUNE/JULY 1018
because of his charisma or strength of character (he has none), not because of his oratorial skills (he has none), and certainly not because of the rousing qualities of the speech itself (it had none). He was empowered to do so simply because he is Jewish; that is the one single attribute that brings him to the table: an act of birth. But acts of birth are randomly distributed by the hand of fate. And fate played one hand to Jared Kushner and a different hand to Ezzedine al-Samaak (14 years old), Ahmad al-Shair (16 years old), Said al-Khair (16 years old), Ibrahim al-Zarqa (18 years old) and Iman al-Sheikh (19 years old). They were all born in Gaza, refugees and the children of refugees driven by Zionist shock troops from their homes elsewhere in southwestern Palestine in 1948. Unlike Jared Kushner, who was in Jerusalem because he is Jewish, they cannot go to Jerusalem, because they are not Jewish. Unlike Jared Kushner, who can go to Jerusalem whenever he wants in the future because he is Jewish, they will never go to Jerusalem because they were shot in the head by Israeli army snipers that Monday and they are now all dead. Having robbed them of their past and their present, the state of Israel stole their future as well. And it did so—it could do so—simply because they are not Jewish. There is a direct link between the events in Jerusalem and those taking place in Gaza; Netanyahu himself pointed it out. “We are here in Jerusalem, protected by the brave soldiers of the army of Israel,” he said at the opening ceremony that Monday, “and our brave soldiers, our brave soldiers are protecting the borders of Israel as we speak today.” By “brave soldiers,” of course, he meant cowardly snipers hiding in reinforced positions and shooting unarmed civilians at a distance of 1,000 meters; and by “protecting” he meant killing and killing and killing, exactly according to Dr. Sofer’s prescription. There are two racial groups in close proximity in Palestine. The members of one racial group—the one to which Netanyahu and Kushner belong—are free to come and go as they please, to live life, to travel, to study, to work, to raise children. The mem-
bers of the other racial group are to varying degrees denied those rights, though nowhere more starkly and abjectly than in Gaza, where over two million people have simply been rounded up and warehoused without prospects or hopes, let alone rights, simply because their very existence is deemed to be a mortal threat to the exclusive racial identity of a state that was violently established on their land and at their expense. To maintain the exclusive identity of that state, these people must either accept their fate as essentially human cargo in permanent storage—a superfluous population—or take the bullets that the Israeli army has prepared for each one of them.
NO ABERRATION
And that, fundamentally, is what Zionism’s conflict with the Palestinians is all about. At few other moments than the present has the juxtaposition between the racially privileged and the racially dehumanized and exterminable been so crystal clear. Liberal Zionists like Peter Beinart or Roger Cohen may wring their hands and bewail the crude and explicit viciousness of Netanyahu and his circle or the hideousness of the spectacle unfolding at the locked gates of Gaza. They harken back to the golden days of the 1950s and 1960s, when the Palestinians seemed (to the fevered Zionist imagination) to have quietly vanished, as though by magic. But what is happening today is not an aberration. This is what Zionism has always entailed and what it will always entail. “Colonialism is not a thinking machine, nor a body endowed with reasoning faculties,” Frantz Fanon once pointed out. “It is violence in its natural state.” It is not possible for a settler-colonial regime to racially enable one people at the expense of another people without the use of violence. As Arnon Sofer himself admits, the maintenance of a “Zionist-Jewish state with an overwhelming majority of Jews” requires permanent institutionalized violence. That was already true in 1948 and it remains true today and it will remain true until this project of racial exclusivism and privilege is abandoned once and for all for the hideous anachronism that it is. ■
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Two Views
Gazans’ Great March of Return
MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
This week, a concerned Israeli colleague asked me why I keep attending the protests, even though it’s dangerous. I replied that I am, of course, afraid, sometimes so much that I fear I won’t come back. But the truth is that nowhere in Gaza is safe— whether near the border or in our own homes. Israeli planes can bomb any house, anywhere, at any moment. We all live in constant dread of something terrible happening. Everyone in Gaza lost a relative in the last wars. I lost my brother in the 2009 war. The festival activities at Palestinians prepare coffee outside their tents east of Gaza City along the border with Israel during the first the protests are a rare opweek of the Great March of Return, April 2, 2018. On March 30, the first Friday of protests, Israeli military portunity for us to breathe, snipers killed 17 Gazans and wounded nearly 1,500. meet people, and feel that we belong to something larger than ourselves. The open areas near the fence are the vastest in Gaza, but no one has dared go there since the last war. We can’t go to the beach any longer By Olfat al-Kurd because sewage infrastructure has collapsed as a result of the blockade, and raw sewage flows into the sea. Many Gazans live MY NAME IS Olfat al-Kurd. I live in Shuja'iya in Gaza. I am 37 in abject poverty and cannot afford to sit in a café or a restauyears old and have four children. In July 2017, I joined the rant, so they come to the protests with a coffee thermos and B’Tselem team as one of three field researchers in Gaza. In the food. past few weeks, since the protests along the fence with Israel Israel has been holding Gaza under blockade for more than 10 began, we have been working around the clock to document, colyears. Some of the young people participating in the protests and lect eyewitness accounts and testimonies of injured people, and being wounded or even killed by soldiers do not know what it’s gather information about the demonstrations and casualties. like to have running water and a steady supply of electricity. They I attend the weekly protests not only in my professional capachave never left Gaza and grew up in a prison. ity but also as a Gazan. Some of my photos, posted on B’TseYou can’t visit us, Israel doesn’t allow anyone to see what’s lem’s photo blog, show how most of the protesters gather in tents going on here. There is no real life in Gaza. The whole place is pitched far from the fence. These families enjoy entertainment clinically dead. stages, live music, food stalls and other family activities. We go The younger generations are crushed by the hopelessness and there to convey a political message, to demonstrate, but nonviodeath everywhere. The protests have given us all a spark of lently—we don’t go there with weapons. The soldiers shoot at us hope. They are our attempt to cry out to the world that it must nonetheless, and people are injured from live fire and tear gas. wake up, that there are people here fighting for their most basic Olfat al-Kurd is a field researcher in Gaza for B’Tselem. rights, which they are entitled to fulfill. We deserve to live, too.
I Live in Gaza and I’m Afraid
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The Heartbreaking Reason This Palestinian Joined the Gaza Border Protests By Gideon Levy
THE FULL SCALE of the harrowing despair of the Gaza Strip is embodied in a haggard young man in the surgical ward on the third floor of Al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron. Two rounds fired by Israel Defense Forces snipers left him seriously wounded, internal organs blown apart, his right leg shattered. Only his mother is by his side in this narrow room, which is starkly empty apart from the old hospital bed he’s lying in, and a fake leather sofa that’s even older and more tattered. There’s no television set, no radio, no one comes to visit, there’s no place to move around, and he has no money to buy a cup of coffee in the cafeteria. The patient is Ibrahim al-Masri, one of the hundreds who have suffered serious wounds in the Gaza demonstrations of the past month, and one of the very few who has been allowed to undergo medical treatment in the West Bank. Indeed, he is the only Gaza resident hospitalized in Hebron. Alone, distraught, penniless, now also disabled—Masri has no chance in life. The despair in Hebron isn’t any easier to bear, and he’s already waiting to return to Gaza, which is utterly indifferent to him. A visit to him is like a descent into hell. Twenty-three years old, he’s married to Faiza and the father of a 3-year-old daughter, Lama, and a son of 9 months, Sami. A young couple plus two in the Gaza Strip 2018, without a home and without a job, now also with a disabled husband and father. Rehab, his mother, is the only person whom Israel allowed to leave the cage of Gaza with him; now the two are imprisoned in this cramped room, where no one comes to visit or offer support. Masri says he hardly speaks with his children by phone: The little one is just a baby and he has nothing to say to the 3 yearold. “What will I tell her? That our life has been destroyed?” When she saw him in serious condition in the Indonesia Hospital in Sheikh Ziyad in Gaza, where he was taken originally, she was badly frightened, ran to her mother’s arms and cried until they left. The family lives in the town of Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, a favorite target for Israel Defense Forces gunners and pilots in every destructive operation. Their home was demolished in Operation Protective Edge, in 2014, and they haven’t succeeded in rebuilding it. The one-story dwelling, topped by a skeletal second floor that was never completed, was also home to Masri’s parents and to some of his 11 siblings and their children. Each couple with children had a small room in the house, of which nothing now remains. In the years that have passed, the family was occupied with the struggle to get compensation for their loss from UNRWA, the United Nations refugee agency. Masri’s father recently suffered a
Copyright © Haaretz Daily Newspaper Ltd. All rights reserved. JUNE/JULY 2018
stroke, probably brought on by the huge pressure. The amount they finally received wasn’t enough to reconstruct their home. The family now live in nearby rented dwellings, while their house lies in ruins. Some of Masri’s brothers are thinking of moving into tents, as they can’t afford even the rent where they live. He himself pays rent of 1,100 shekels ($307) a month for the small apartment in which he lives with his parents, with a single small room for him, his wife and their two children. Even before Masri was shot they didn’t have the money to pay; in fact, they’re a few months in arrears, and the landlord is threatening to evict them. The police, too, have come calling about the debt. Masri is an unemployed construction worker in a place where there are no building materials and no construction. The last time he worked—for a few days—was eight months ago. Since then he hadn’t been able to find work, like most of his generation in the Gaza Strip, where unemployment among the young runs at 60 percent and higher. His brothers are in the same boat: Only one is working. Worst off is the oldest, Mahed, who’s 32 and has six children. He too has been threatened with eviction. Two months ago, he went to the UNRWA offices, doused himself with kerosene and was about to immolate himself. At the last moment, he was prevented from carrying out the act. The local police arrested him and kept him in detention for a few hours. Masri lies in bed, expressionless, ashen, with a cheap synthetic blanket next to him, a metallic orthopedic device attached with nails down the full length of his right leg, and his stomach bandaged across its whole width. The atmosphere in the room is oppressive. Ibrahim and Rehab know no one in Hebron, they have neither family nor acquaintances, and the city hasn’t heard about the wounded man from Gaza, so no one is looking after them here. We arrived by chance, after Musa Abu Hashhash, a field researcher for the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, who was visiting other wounded people in the hospital, heard Masri’s story. On Monday, when we visited, Masri was allowed to eat solid food for the first time since he had been shot, nearly a month earlier. A nurse brought him chicken and rice on a paper plate. One of the reasons he went to the protest that Friday is that he heard that food would be distributed, free of charge. But that wasn’t the only reason. Masri says he joined the demonstration because he is in a state of complete despair. On Friday, April 6, he had decided to take part in what became known as the “demonstration of the tires.” It was the second in the series of protest events next to the Gaza-Israel border fence. Why didn’t he go to the first one? “I never took part in demonstrations. I don’t take an interest in demonstrations.” Friends suggested that he join them this time, and he agreed. Because, what did he have to lose in his life? He left home around 1:30 p.m., and walked for about an hour with the others to the Abu Safia area, one of the protest sites. They sat together and drank slush, which someone was handing out. A friend gave him a cigarette. They were less than 100 meters from the barrier. Even now, Masri doesn’t seem to be aware that Israel Continued on page 19
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United Nations Report
It’s Not 1960 Anymore, and the U.S. No Longer Opposes Massacres of Civilians
By Ian Williams
LEFT: HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP; RIGHT: UN PHOTO/JEAN-MARC FERRE
were trying to maintain their own racist colonial empires at the time, but the U.S. did. Yes, it is a long time since the Sharpeville Massacre galvanized world opinion to begin the long process of boycotts, disinvestment and global action that much later ended apartheid in South Africa. In those days, the U.S. often feigned outrage while shielding the apartheid regime, but eventually domestic and international public pressure forced the U.S. along. A useful parenthesis to this is that Israel stayed a stalwart ally of apartheid South Africa, possibly collaborating on a nuclear weapons program, definitely cooperating in arming the regime and also in evading sanctions. Israeli officials now act surprised that the ruling ANC in South Africa is so forthright in its condemnations, like with withdrawing its ambassador to Israel in protest U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley (l); outgoing High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid at the Gaza shootings. Ra’ad Al Hussein. In contrast, in 2018 the U.S. sent Ivanka, the president’s little golden ghoul, to party in occupied WITH JOHN BOLTON as national security adviser, Nikki Haley Jerusalem while her hosts gunned down thousands of unarmed as permanent representative to the U.N., and Donald Trump in Palestinians like fish in a barrel. The occasion was, course, the the White House—not to mention the continuing haunting of the provocatively illegal opening of a U.S. Embassy to Israel in ocGeneral Assembly by Israel’s Danny Danon—the U.S. is being cupied Jerusalem. maneuvered into diplomatic irrelevance while the world is being Following the embassy opening, as the IDF gunned down promade a more dangerous place. testers, in contrast to its attitude on Sharpeville, possibly the For half a century, U.S. leaders have complained that the U.N. most pro-Israeli British government ever deplored the opening is out of step with Washington. Other countries perversely seem of the embassy and the massacres on the Gaza border, and to think that it is the U.S. that marches to a different drum. Howcalled for an inquiry. Nikki Haley, the envoy for Israel paid for diever, it was not always thus. In 1960, faced with a mass killing rectly by American taxpayers, blocked the resolution and ostenof unarmed civilians by a discriminatory regime, the U.S. suptatiously walked out of the chamber while Palestinian Ambasported a resolution in the U.N. Security Council deploring the sador Riyad Mansour was speaking. It was a small step for a massacre and behavior of the offending government, and called U.S. ambassador, but a big and profitable step for a would-be its acts a threat to international peace and security—a significant presidential candidate angling for funds from Sheldon Adelson. phrase which refers to the Council’s powers to act on such matOf course, it was this sort of pandering that brought us to this ters. Britain and France did not support the resolution, since they point in the first place, where candidates feel they have to burn U.N. correspondent Ian Williams is the author of UNtold: the Real incense on the altar of Israeli foreign policy to be elected. The Story of the United Nations in Peace and War (available from Middle East Books and More). Lobby converted the U.S. from being a big upholder of the legal 12
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and moral authority of the United Nations to a frequent belittler of international law, and has frequently disagreed with the majority of the world. After all, who are you going to listen to— your foreign allies or the lobbyists who pump money into your campaigns? Foreign delegations were sophisticated enough to understand that, for this and other reasons, U.S. foreign policy was not joined up, but subject to populist whims, lobbyists’ donations and the capricious outcome of tussles between the White House, the Pentagon, the Congress, the State Department, the NSA, the CIA and any other Balkanized elements of power in Washington. So Congress, whipped in line by AIPAC, would pass resolutions about the U.S. Embassy being in Jerusalem. Members would vote for a resolution mandating the move, which all candidates swore by as fervently as Motherhood and Apple Pie. Of course, there was a little escape clause in the resolution about presidential waivers, so the State Department would cough discreetly and explain to the White House that it was against international law to move the U.S. Embassy to occupied territory, and, once elected, members of Congress could happily go back to adultery, caviar and letting the president invoke the waiver, while sending out fund-raising letters crowing about voting to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. Trump changed that, leading to the obscene spectacle of thousands of Israeli military snipers mowing down Palestinians demonstrating inside the Gaza boundary, while the U.S. representative blames them for “attacking” their murderers. In their coverage, U.S. media unsurprisingly did not quote Kofi Annan, the secretary-general who continually tried to make space for Israel at the U.N. “Repeated U.N. resolutions make clear that the status of Jerusalem can only be changed by agreement between the parties, and then endorsed by the United Nations. Today’s ceremonial opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem is regrettable and makes it harder to maintain the prospect of a viable two-state solution,” he said. That two-state solution, as envisaged in JUNE/JULY 2018
the Oslo accords, has to be the most maggot-ridden Zombie stumbling around the diplomatic circuit, but no one seems to be advancing any other solution. Meanwhile, no one is prepared to enforce actual U.N. decisions on a recalcitrant Israel whose ambassador at the United Nations continuously pops up nagging for action against Iran for confabulated breaches of its decisions.
THE QUESTION OF THE AGES
Which brings us to the question of the ages: If the U.N. cannot enforce vital decisions, then what use is it? In Syria, in Palestine, in Myanmar and so many ongoing tragedies, great powers thwart action, and even comment, on their protégés. And despite the finger pointing, almost all are guilty. France defends Morocco for its continuing occupation of Western Sahara, China protects Myanmar for its ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya, Russia protects Syria for using chemical and biological weapons, while, of course, the U.S. itself defies international law on Jerusalem while condoning and defending Israeli actions. On this occasion the Trump posture was so exasperatingly immoral that even the most servile U.S. ally, Britain, condemned the embassy move and called for an inquiry into the border massacres. Which brings us to the U.N.’s one duty that it does fullfil, despite the enormous pressures of governments big and small: monitoring and reporting. UNRWA reports on the plight of Palestinians in the diaspora as well as under occupation—which is, of course, why it is the the target of such hatred by rabid pro-Israel American citizens. Almost every U.N. agency has reported on different aspects of the Israeli occupation: the continued repression and settlement building in the West Bank, the appropriation of resources, arrests of children, restrictions on economic activity, ad nauseam. In the Gaza Strip, the same depiction of this replay of the Warsaw Ghetto by the sea has been chronicled by the U.N. and its agencies over and over again, while U.N. resolutions call upon Israel (and let us not forget the Egyptian regime’s culpable complicity) to lift the blockade on the besieged enclave.
The U.N. Human Rights Council has been monitoring the behavior which with all the other reports is helping build the case against Israeli officials. As Haley said in the Security Council during an open debate on upholding international law, only days after she had shielded Israel for its visible, indeed ostentatious, mass atrocities on the border: “Governments cannot use sovereignty as a shield when they commit mass atrocities, proliferate weapons of mass destruction, or perpetrate acts of terrorism. In these instances, the Security Council must be prepared to act. That’s why we’re here.” In fact, of course, she is there to ensure that the Security Council does not act on Israel. However, there are other parts of the U.N., such as the Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court, that are not completely stymied by the veto. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the high commissioner for human rights, established his credentials with the U.N. in the Balkans and trying to build the International Criminal Court. He actually believes what Haley so piously and hypocritically intones. The unlikely Hashemite has withstood pressures from Jordan, which he previously represented at the U.N., and the U.S., and indeed Russia, to ensure that inconvenient perpetrators are pilloried. The Human Rights Council has been a major target of Israeli and U.S. contumely for its criticisms of Israel, provoking the usual howls of “whataboutery” in which friends of Israel excuse murder and repression by pointing to others doing it. But it has amassed enough evidence for the ICC to consider proceedings against Israeli military and political figures, many of whom already find their travels constrained for fear of arrest. Zeid is now standing down, because it was clear that he has made all the right enemies in the Security Council with his forthright principles, and he knew he had no chance of reappointment. But the dossier on Israel continues to grow. South African Apartheid survived Sharpeville for 30 years, but it was overcome in the end— through boycotts and sanctions and diplomatic isolation. ■
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From the Diaspora
My Home Is Beit Daras: Our Lingering Nakba
By Ramzy Baroud
ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
each invader left their mark— ancient Roman tunnels, a Crusaders’ castle, a Mamluk mail building, an Ottoman khan (Caravanserai)—but they were all eventually driven out. It wasn’t until 1948 that Beit Daras, that tenacious village with a population of merely 3,000, was emptied of its population, and later destroyed. The agony of the inhabitants of Beit Daras and their descendants lingers on after all of these years. The tragic way that Beit Daras was conquered by invading Zionist forces has left behind blood stains and emotional scars that have never healed. Three battles were bravely fought by the Badrasawis, as Two young boys hold hands as they look at the bombed-out remains of a mosque that was targeted in Israeli the dwellers of Beit Daras are air strikes on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Aug. 10, 2014. called, in defense of their village. At the end, the Zionist militias, the Haganah, with the help of British WHEN GOOGLE EARTH was initially released in 2001, I immediweapons and strategic assistance, routed out the humble resistance, ately rushed to locate a village that no longer exists on a map, which which consisted mostly of villagers fighting with old rifles. now delineates a whole different reality. The “massacre of Beit Daras” that followed remains a subdued Although I was born and raised in a Gaza refugee camp, and then scream that pierces through the hearts of Badrasawis after all of moved to and lived in the United States, finding a village that was these years. Those who survived became refugees and are mostly erased from the map decades earlier was not, at least for me, an irliving in the Gaza Strip. Under siege, successive wars and endless rational act. The village of Beit Daras was the single most important strife, their Nakba—the catastrophic ethnic cleansing of Palestine in piece of earth that truly mattered to me. 1947-48—has never truly ended. One cannot dispel the pain if the But I could only find it by estimation. Beit Daras was located 32 kilowound never truly heals. meters northeast of Gaza, on an elevated ground, perched gently beBorn into a family of refugees in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp in tween a large hill and a small river that seemed to never run dry. Gaza, I took pride in being a Badrasawi. Our resistance has garA once peaceful village, Beit Daras had existed for millennia. Ronered us the reputation of being “stubborn” and the uncorroborated mans, Crusaders, Mamluks and Ottomans ruled over, and even claims of having large heads. We truly are stubborn, proud and gentried to subdue, Beit Daras as in all of Palestine; yet they failed. True, erous, for Beit Daras was erased but the collective identity it has Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of palestine Chronigiven us remained intact, regardless of whichever exile we may find cle. His latest book is the last earth: a palestinian story (available ourselves in. from AET’s Middle East Books and More). Baroud has a Ph.D. in PalesAs a child, I learned to be proud from my grandfather: a handtine Studies from the University of Exeter and is a non-resident scholar some, elegant, strong peasant with unshakable faith. He managed at Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, University of California. His website is <www.ramzybaroud.net>. to hide his deep sadness so well after he was expelled from his 14
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home in Palestine, along with his entire family. As he aged, he would sit for hours, between prayers, searching within his soul for the beautiful memories of his past. Occasionally, he would let out a mournful sigh, a few tears; yet he never accepted his defeat, or the idea that Beit Daras was forever gone. “Why bother to haul the good blankets on the back of a donkey, exposing them to the dust of the journey, while we know that it’s a matter of a week or so before we return to Beit Daras?” he told his bewildered wife, Zeinab, as they hauled their children to navigate an endless exile. I cannot pinpoint the moment when my grandfather discovered that his “good blankets” were gone forever, that all that remained of his village were two giant concrete pillars, and piles of cactus. It isn’t easy to construct a history that, only several decades ago, was, along with every standing building of that village, blown to smithereens with the very intent of erasing it from existence. Most historic references written of Beit Daras, whether by Israeli or Palestinian historians, were brief, and ultimately resulted in delineating the fall of Beit Daras as just one among nearly 600 Palestinian villages that were often evacuated and then completely flattened during the war years. It
was another episode in a more compounded tragedy that has seen the dispossession and expulsion of nearly 800,000 Palestinians. But for my family, it was much more than that. Beit Daras was our very dignity. Grandpa’s calloused hands and leathery weathered skin attested to the decades of hard labor tending the rocky soil in the fields of Palestine. It was a popular pastime for my brothers and me to point to a scar on his body to hear a gut-busting tale of the rigors of farm life. Later in life, someone would give him a small hand-held radio to glean the latest news and he would, from that moment, never be seen without it. As a child, I recall him listening to the Arab Voice news on that battered radio. It once had been blue but now had faded to white with age. Its bulging batteries were duct-taped to the back. Sitting with the radio up to his ear and fighting to hear the reporter amidst the static, Grandpa listened and waited for the announcer to make that long-awaiting call: “To the people of Beit Daras: your lands have been liberated, go back to your village.” The day Grandpa died, his faithful radio was lying on the pillow close to his ear so that even then he might catch the announcement for which he had waited so long. He (Advertisement)
wanted to comprehend his dispossession as a simple glitch in the world’s consciousness that was sure to be corrected and straightened out in time. But it wasn’t. Seventy years later, my people are still refugees. Not just the Badrasawis, but millions of Palestinians, scattered in refugee camps all across the Middle East. Those refugees, while still searching for a safe path that would take them home, often find themselves on yet another journey, another dusty trail, being pushed out time and again from one city to the next, from one country to another, even lost between continents. My grandfather was buried in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp cemetery, not in Beit Daras as he had wished. But he remained a Badrasawi to the end, holding so passionately onto the memories of a place that for him—for all of us—remain sacred and real. What Israel still fails to understand is that the “Right of Return” for Palestinian refugees is not merely a political or even a legal right to be overpowered by the ever-unfair status quo. It has long surpassed that into a whole different realm. For me, Beit Daras is not just a piece of earth but a perpetual fight for justice that shall never cease, because the Badrasawis belong to Beit Daras and nowhere else. ■
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JUNE/JULY 2018
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Trump Dumps the Iran Nuclear Deal
CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES
wadded up and thrown in the trash any time… …except that the treaty in question is not the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. It’s the United Nations Charter, delivered to the U.S. Senate by President Harry Truman and duly ratified by that body on July 28, 1945 by a vote of 89-2. Under Article 25 of the U.N. Charter, “members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council.” On July 20, 2015, the members of that body, including the United States, unanimously endorsed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231. National Security Adviser John Bolton (l) and Vice President Mike Pence (r) stand in the doorway of the It seems unlikely that White House Diplomatic Room as President Donald Trump announces his decision to withdraw the United Samantha Power, U.S. ambasStates from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, May 8, 2018. sador to the U.N. at the time, didn’t know what she was committing the U.S. government to when she voted for the resolution rather than exercising the U.S.’s veto power on the Security Council. After all, the resolution itself contains text “[u]nderscoring that Member States are By Thomas L. Knapp obligated under Article 25 of the Charter of the United Nations to accept and carry out the Security Council’s decisions.” ON MAY 8, President Donald Trump announced U.S. withdrawal Was the JCPOA a “good deal”? Not especially so for the Iranifrom the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, colloquially known ans. Even though they apparently had no nuclear weapons proas “the Iran nuclear deal.” gram after 2004 at the latest, and even though they were apparWhile that decision has come under criticism for being both a ently in full compliance with their obligations under the Non-Proreally bad idea and a severe betrayal of trust, both of which are liferation Treaty (unlike the U.S.), they made a bunch of concestrue, it’s worth noting that the U.S. withdrawal is also a breach of sions to U.S. demagoguery (and demagoguery from Israel, an treaty obligations, and that such obligations are, per the U.S. ConACTUAL rogue nuclear state) in order to get some of their own stitution and co-equal with it, “the Supreme Law of the Land.” money (seized by the U.S. government) back and get some sancBut wait—aren’t defenders of the withdrawal correct in noting tions (which should never have existed) lifted. that the JCPOA isn’t a treaty at all? Yes, they are, although some For the U.S. government, it was an excellent deal, a face-saverr in referring to it as an “executive order.” It isn’t even that. It’s ing way of hitting the reset button on nearly 40 years of failed polmerely a “State Department Political Commitment” which can be icy vis àvis Iran. By letting Iran rejoin “the civilized world,” the U.S. received the same opportunity—an opportunity that Trump just Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior blew by way of loudly warning the world that the U.S. government news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (<thegarrisoncenter.org>). can’t be trusted to keep its word. Or honor its treaty obligations.
The Iran Nuclear Deal Isn’t Just a Good Idea—It’s the Law
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New U.S. Sanctions Will Make Iranians Sicker By Fariba Pajooh
SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAN are almost as old as I am. I was born in early 1980, and international sanctions against Iran began during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, as most global and regional powers supported Iraqi President Saddam Hussain in his invasion of the country. My father was injured and exposed to chemical weapons during that war, and as a result suffered from Parkinson’s disease later in life. His health was at its worst in 2012, during an unseasonably warm summer, with temperatures rising above 100 degrees. In the two years leading up to that summer, it had become increasingly difficult for Iranians to access medicine for rare and chronic illnesses because of wide-ranging sanctions against Iran. Imports of American and European medications fell by an estimated 30 percent between 2011 and 2012 alone, according to The New York Times. Although sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear program did not directly target medicine or hospitals, they did restrict banking and trade, which limited financing for imports of medicine and led to limited medical supplies, making life difficult for patients. In 2012, Fatemeh Hashemi, head of the Charity Foundation for Special Diseases, a non-government organization supporting six million patients in Iran, started to speak up about the shortage of medicine in Iran for several diseases such as hemophilia, multiple sclerosis and cancer. She even wrote to U.N. Secretary General Ban Kimoon, calling on him to intervene for the health of Iranian patients who, she said, have had “their basic human rights” taken away because of the sanctions. Despite these struggles, my family and I always managed to find my dad’s medicine, which had to be imported from Europe. But as my father grew sicker that summer, his doctor recommended a new Western European medication. Although Iran produced the generic version of the same medicine, his doctor said the Iranian medicine was of lower quality and wouldn’t be sufficient. That evening after work, I went to one of the special pharmacies in Tehran that supplied medicines for rare and more serious diseases. There was a long line in the street outside the pharmacy. After I waited 45 minutes in the hot sun, the pharmacy told me it didn’t have the medicine my father needed. Bank sanctions and exchange rate fluctuations meant that finding foreign drugs like the one my father needed would be difficult, the pharmacist told me. “You might be able to find it on the black market instead,” he said. I sat on the stairs outside the pharmacy, empty handed save for my water bottle, which had grown hot from the sun. I was afraid to try the black market because there was no guarantee that what I
Fariba Pajooh is an Iranian journalist who has been reporting on Afghanistan, Iran and the Middle East for over 15 years. She graduated from Medill School at Northwestern University and has written for Iran’s Shargh newspaper as well as PBS NewsHour, Buzzfeed, NPR, and other outlets. Copyright © 2018 LobeLog. All rights reserved.
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found would even be real or safe. My father needed that medicine, and I couldn’t bear to go home knowing I wouldn’t be able to find it. That night, my father slept without taking any medication. In the morning, when we saw how badly his body was shaking and that he was clearly in pain, my family realized we had no other choice: We would have to buy him the Iranian brand. My dad used that medicine for three months until a friend from Europe managed to bring the medication for him. But by then, my dad’s disease had accelerated, and those three months caused him harm from which he never recovered. My father passed away from his illness in July 2016, exactly one year after the JCPOA between Iran and the P5 plus 1 powers was finalized. That agreement led to renewed hope for Iranians. Mohammad Ali Sahraei, vice president of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Iran, was one of the many Iranians celebrating the Iran nuclear deal. Access to MS medicine would become easier after the lifting of sanctions, he said. But today, President Trump’s reckless decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal has once again left the lives of more than six million Iranian patients with diseases like cancer, hemophilia and MS hanging in the balance. Maryam Naz Mahmoudi, a 39-year-old graduate student in Tehran who has struggled with MS for 10 years, says that she and her family are terrified that international sanctions may be imposed again. Before the nuclear sanctions against Iran, Mahmoudi said that she had access to whatever medicine she needed. That medicine suddenly became scarce after sanctions, forcing her to use lower quality Iranian brands. “After the Iran deal, I had access to Western brand medicine and the psychological stress and pressure was reduced,” Mahmoudi said in a phone interview from Tehran. But Trump’s decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal is causing new stress for her and her family. “The sanctions have a direct impact on my life and health,” she told me. “I’m worried.”
Three Billionaires Paved the Way for Trump’s Iran Deal Withdrawal By Eli Clifton
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP has just fulfilled a campaign pledge to tear up the Obama administration’s signature foreign policy achievement, a multilateral agreement constraining Iran’s nuclear enrichment (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA). In doing so, the president went against the advice of, among many others, his secretary of defense, House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Ed Royce (R-CA), Washington’s three most important European allies, and almost two-thirds of Americans who believe that the U.S. should not withdraw from the deal, according to a CNN poll released on May 8.
Eli Clifton reports on money in politics and U.S. foreign policy. He previously reported for the American Independent News Network, ThinkProgress, and Inter Press Service. Copyright © 2018 LobeLog. All rights reserved.
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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 apocryphal 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, Trump’s unpopular announcement may have been exactly what two of his 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. behind Israel, the May 14 move of the U.S. Embassy in Israel 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 securing a GOP majority in the House of Representatives), and $35 million to the Senate Leadership Fund (the Senate counterpart) in the 2016 election cycle. Trump, who had previously complained that Adelson was seeking to “mold [Marco Rubio] into the perfect little puppet,” quickly snapped around and echoed Adelson’s hawkish positions on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem after Trump won the Republican nomination and secured Adelson’s backing. Politico reported that the most threatening line in Trump’s Oct. 13 White House speech—that he would cancel Washington’s participation in the JCPOA if Congress and U.S. allies did not bend to his efforts to renegotiate it—came directly from John Bolton, now Trump’s national security adviser, and with the full weight of Trump’s biggest donor. The hawkish language was not in the original remarks prepared by Trump’s staff. “The line was added to Trump’s speech after Bolton, despite Kelly’s recent edict [restricting Bolton’s access to Trump], reached the president by phone on the previous afternoon from Las Vegas, where Bolton was visiting with Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson,” Politico reported. “Bolton urged Trump to include a line in his remarks noting that he reserved the right to scrap the agreement entirely, according to two sources familiar with the conversation.” Adelson, for his part, has advocated launching a nuclear weapon against Iran as a negotiating tactic and threatening to nuke Tehran, a city with a population of 8.8 million, if Iran does not completely abandon its nuclear program. Newt Gingrich, a huge recipient of Adelson’s financial largesse during his failed 2012 presidential campaign, said that Adelson’s “central value” is Israel. And Adelson isn’t alone in holding radical views about Iran and having the ear of the president, or at least significant financial leverage. 18
Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus, Trump’s second largest campaign contributor, contributed $7 million to pro-Trump Super PACs, $500,000 to the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), and $2 million the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF). In a 2015 Fox Business interview, Marcus compared the JCPOA to “do[ing] business with the devil.” He went on to clarify, “I think Iran is the devil.” Adelson and Marcus also share a common affinity for the hawkish Foundation for Defense of Democracies. (FDD’s Reuel Marc Gerecht may have set a record by publishing no less than three anti-JCPOA columns for The Atlantic in the first week of May.) Adelson contributed at least $1.5 million to the group by the end of 2011 (a year that saw a sharp rise in tensions and rumors of war by Israel against Iran) according to FDD’s 2011 Schedule A tax disclosure, and Marcus, the group’s biggest donor, contributed at least $10.7 million. FDD says Adelson is no longer a contributor, but Marcus continues to give generously, contributing $3.25 million in 2015, the last year for which his foundation’s grants are known. Hedge Fund billionaire Paul Singer contributed at least $3.6 million to FDD by the end of 2011, making him the group’s second biggest donor after Marcus at the time. Employees of Singer’s firm, Elliott Management, were the second largest source of funds supporting the 2014 candidacy of the Senate’s most outspoken Iran hawk, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), and Singer contributed $1.9 million to the CLF and $6 million to the SLF. He was a holdout in supporting Trump’s candidacy and financed the initial research by Fusion GPS that turned into the Steele Dossier detailing alleged ties between Trump’s campaign and businesses with Moscow. But he came around before Trump’s inauguration and contributed $1 million to the festivities. Between them, the three billionaires account for over $40 million in pro-Trump political money. In the 2016 cycle, the three were also the source of 44 percent of individual contributions to the CLF and 47 percent of those received by the SLF, the biggest spending campaign finance vehicles for House and Senate Republicans. Trump and the GOP are deeply indebted to anti-Iran deal billionaires who aren’t afraid to advocate for policies that push the country closer to another war in the Middle East. Trump’s decision to back out of the JCPOA might come across as a renegade president bucking conventional wisdom and following through on a poorly thought-out campaign promise to undo the work of his predecessor. But another explanation is that Trump and the Republican Party are effectively captive to a small cohort of hawkish billionaires dead set on steering the country away from any sort of détente with Iran, even a multilateral agreement that ensures limits on enrichment and subjects the Islamic Republic to invasive inspections of its nuclear facilities. Both explanations may be true. And, as if on cue, The Washington Post‘s Ashley Parker reported that Adelson visited with Trump on May 9. It’s “described as a “‘friendly,’ long-planned meeting, not related to today’s Iran news.” ■
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Great March of Return Continued from page 11
has prohibited anyone from approaching closer than 300 meters from the fence, threatening the life of anyone who crosses that invisible line. Tires were burning all around, but he and the others were outside the circle of the thick, black smoke. At about 3:30, he noticed that two young people near him had been shot and wounded. He hurried over to help evacuate them. Just then a sniper fired one bullet, which entered his waist from the back. Masri fell to the sandy ground and tried to crawl out of the range of fire. He’d covered a few meters, he relates—he estimates that about two minutes had passed—when another bullet struck him, this time in the back of his right leg, above the knee, as he crawled on the ground. “I didn’t think it would happen to me,” he says from his bed. As the ambulance driver on the scene was deterred from approaching by the shooting and the proximity to the fence, Masri’s friends carried him to the vehicle. He was rushed to the Indonesia Hospital. There’s a photo on his cellphone of him
being admitted to the ER on a stretcher; his father already waiting for him there. On the way he lapsed in and out of consciousness. The physicians found that the first bullet that hit him had wrought serious internal damage, hitting the liver and the small and large intestines. The exit wound was also very large, as occurs with the particularly cruel ammunition the IDF is using against the Gaza demonstrators. Parts of Masri’s intestines were removed. In the days that followed, he suffered greatly and ate nothing. The operation was performed on his leg, but instead of inserting a platinum plate, which is a more complex procedure, the surgeons attached the metallic device on the outside. The reason for this procedure, he thinks, is the great pressure the hospitals are under with the flood of patients, lack of medication and staff, etc. After the High Court of Justice—in the wake of a joint petition filed by Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and by the Gaza-based Al Mezan Center for Human Rights—instructed Israel to allow the transfer of several of the Gazans wounded in the demonstrations to a hospital in Ramallah, Masri’s turn came, too. In the meantime, his condition contin(Advertisement)
ued to deteriorate. With the intervention of the Palestinian Authority and of a local reporter in Gaza, he was moved to Al-Ahli in Hebron. He has no idea why Al-Ahli was chosen in his case—it cannot compare with the luxury and comfort of Istishari Hospital in Ramallah, where we visited last week. Masri arrived on April 18 and has been here ever since, with his mother. His condition has improved, he says now. According to his doctors, he will be able to return to Gaza in another week or so. Where will he undergo rehabilitation? No one knows. Masri has also been told that it will take time before he can walk and get around, in general. He would like to return to Gaza for a few days, because he and his mother have run out of money and he has no change of clothing, and in Hebron everything is expensive. But it’s very unlikely that Israel will allow him to return to the West Bank again after his release. They arrived here with 250 shekels ($70), which neighbors loaned them, and nothing remains. Masri is sorry now that he went to demonstrate. His mother says he did it in order to vent his anger. He corrects her: “What did it help? So many young people have become cripples, and no one cares.” ■
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Special Report
Europe Races to Save Iran Deal, But Does The U.S. Hold All the Cards?
By Dale Sprusansky
YVES HERMAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
“The reality is that the reputational and the commercial risk of infringing on U.S. policy interests in Iran, for most companies, are not going to be worth the price of admission,” David Mortlock, former State Department deputy coordinator for sanctions policy, told an audience at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC on May 14. The U.S. has given companies notice that sanctions will be fully reimposed within six months. “I think that the reality is that what we’ll see from companies over the next six months is a pretty rapid winding down and respect for what those sanctions are,” Mortlock said. Major European companies already have announced plans to withdraw from Iran. French energy giant Total, which signed a billion-dollar deal to develop a (L-r) EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini, Iranian Foreign Minister gas field in Iran, announced that it intends Mohammad Javad Zarif and the ministers of the three European signatories to the JCPOA— to abandon the project. “Total has always French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and British been clear that it cannot afford to be exForeign Secretary Boris Johnson—prior to a May 15 meeting of the EU/E3 and Iran at EU head- posed to any secondary sanction, which quarters in Brussels. might include the loss of financing in dollars by U.S. banks for its worldwide operations,” the company PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S May 8 decision to violate the said in a statement. Total said it will seek a waiver from Washmultilateral Iran nuclear deal by announcing plans to reimpose ington to continue the project, but it’s not clear if the Trump adsanctions on Iran has left Washington’s European allies scramministration will be willing to grant significant exemptions. bling to salvage the agreement. In the weeks following Trump’s The announcement by Total and other corporations came as announcement, European leaders have attempted to convince the EU said it is considering a so-called blocking regulation that Tehran that it will continue to see the economic benefits would prohibit EU companies from complying with U.S. sancpromised in the deal—but it’s not clear that Europe will be able tions on Iran. While such a regulation would send a strong mesto deliver on this promise. sage to Washington, independent experts and EU officials alike As part of its plan to place, in the words of Secretary of State concede that such a measure would have a limited impact, given Mike Pompeo, “unprecedented financial pressure on the Iranian the exposure of large European companies to the U.S. market regime,” the Trump administration announced its intent to exploit and U.S. banks. “Indeed, the EU blocking regulation could be of U.S. dominance over the global financial market by deploying limited effectiveness, given the international nature of the banksecondary sanctions designed to punish international corporaing system and especially the exposure of large systemic banks tions that do business with Iran. Herein lies the problem for Euto the U.S. financial system and U.S. dollar transactions,” Eurorope: its major corporations are heavily reliant on access to the pean Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis told the U.S. dollar and the large American market, and are thus unlikely European Parliament in May. to challenge U.S. sanctions, even if the European Union enacts Writing on the Atlantic Council’s blog on May 21, Brian legislation to shield companies from secondary sanctions. O’Toole, a former Treasury Department official who worked on economic sanctions, speculated that Europe could use the threat Dale Sprusansky is assistant editor of the Washington Report on Middle east affairs. of the blocking regulation as a negotiating tool to get the U.S. to 20
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grant some exceptions to the sanctions. “Ultimately, [Europe] may well prefer to use the threat of such a regulation as leverage for getting a reasonable accommodation on oil or individualized accommodations,” he wrote. The blocking regulation could also incentivize smaller European companies without U.S. exposure to remain in the Iranian market. “What this measure could do is…encourage investment by smaller companies and smaller banks to keep some economic activity going with Iran,” Axel Hellman, a policy fellow at the European Leadership Network, said at the Atlantic Council event. “I think the hope among policy makers in Europe is that this will be enough to tell Iran ‘look you’re better off staying with the deal with us than you were under the sanctions regime.’” It’s unlikely, however, that this reduced level of commerce will satisfy Tehran, which prior to Trump’s announcement expressed repeated displeasure with the economic dividends it was receiving from the nuclear deal. Iranian officials have made it clear that the onus is now on Europe to counteract any ill effects of U.S. sanctions. In a May 23 speech, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Europe must “explicitly stand up to the U.S. sanctions” and compensate Tehran for any loss in oil sales caused by the U.S. Failure to do so, he warned, would force the Islamic Republic to declare the deal dead and its terms non-binding. President Trump has thus left Europe in an extremely precarious situation: comply with U.S. sanctions and risk the immediate and long-term consequences of tearing up a landmark arms control agreement, or sheepishly try and convince Iran to settle for the few economic rewards Europe can deliver due to U.S. pressure. It’s no wonder that Trump’s decision has left European leadership fuming. Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, took to Twitter on May 16 to rebuke the U.S. president. “Looking at latest decisions of Trump, someone could even think: with friends like that who needs enemies?” he wrote. “But frankly, EU should be grateful. Thanks to him we got rid of all illusions. We realize that if you need a JUNE/JULY 1018
helping hand, you will find one at the end of your arm.” At the Atlantic Council event, a clearly agitated David O’Sullivan, EU’s ambassador to the U.S., expressed his “extreme disappointment and regret at where we now are.” Trump, he added, has “put us in a very difficult situation.”
HONORING A COMMITMENT
O’Sullivan hit back at the oft-repeated notion that European dismay with the U.S. decision is based solely on the continent’s economic concerns. While Europe does value having access to the Iranian market, he said the EU’s primary concern is maintaining the legitimacy of the nuclear deal. “We Europeans believe that we are bound to continue to deliver on our commitment if we want Iran to stay in the deal,” he said. “We want the economic dividends of compliance to be felt by the people of Iran.” He also noted the vital role the EU’s decision to support the nuclear sanctions played in bringing Iran to the negotiating table. “It was European sanctions that brought Iran to the table in the end,” he said. “We took some of the toughest economic hits.” It’s also important to note that any war conjured up by the U.S., Israel and the Arab Gulf states in the wake of Washington’s violation would have a far more devastating impact on Europe than on the U.S. Already struggling to absorb refugees from Syria, Iraq and elsewhere, any such war would likely result in the arrival of another wave of desperate individuals that could further disrupt the continent’s tenuous social order and drain the resources of its humanitarian agencies. It’s also safe to assume that under President Trump the U.S. would be unwilling to accept many refugees from Iran. Trump’s utter disregard for the opinions of allies who helped bring the deal to fruition was on display in late April, when French President Emmanuel Macron and German Prime Minister Angela Merkel used their visits to Washington to make a last-minute attempt to change the president’s mind. Instead of entering talks with an open mind, Trump used their visits to tease the revelation of his decision in the fashion of a reality television producer.
Despite his long-standing strong opposition to the Iran deal, Trump repeatedly failed to provide European leaders with a “Plan B” to the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). O’Sullivan said Europe is still waiting to hear Trump’s plan. “We do not see a credible, peaceful alternative to the JCPOA,” he said. “Frankly, the United States has not yet suggested a credible alternative...and we wait to hear what this administration thinks such a credible alternative could look like.” Secretary of State Pompeo attempted to outline the administration’s new Iran policy on May 21 but, to the surprise of few, his speech was more of a demand for complete Iranian capitulation than the beginnings of a credible diplomatic process. Pompeo made 12 demands of Iran in his remarks, among them: the cessation of ballistic missile development, the withdrawal of troops from Syria, and the end of threats to countries such as Israel and Saudi Arabia. Few if any credible observers of Iran believe the country would give in to such demands, especially after the U.S. demonstrated its unwillingness to abide by the 2015 deal. The new secretary of state also conveniently and unsurprisingly failed to mention that, just a month earlier, he had testified before Congress that Iran was in compliance with the nuclear deal. This view is shared by independent international inspectors and every U.S. government agency. Europe and the world now face a dilemma. Few would dispute that the U.S. has become a rogue state as it pertains to the JCPOA. At the same time, few would suggest that there is a clear path to sidestepping the global financial reach of the U.S. In the short term, it appears Europe will have to endure U.S. belligerence and work on the margins to mitigate the damage to the compliant state, Iran. Longer term, it is becoming increasingly apparent to observers from Brussels to Washington that, for the sake of global security, the U.S. can no longer be permitted to act as a bully whose power and resources shield it from serious reproach. Europe must begin imagining a world in which it is not beholden to the whims of the United States. ■
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Special Report
Mars Is Within Reach. My Family in Gaza, By Hani Almadhoun Not So Much
COURTESY H. ALMADHOUN
posed to take no more than four hours. But with the increased number of security checkpoints, it can take double that time. Our first inkling that something wasn’t right was that many taxi drivers we approached would hear Rafah and then walk away from us like we were asking them to give us their kidney. Finally, though, we crammed into a small car, along with our luggage, with a nice Egyptian man who daylights as a university administrator and drives on the side. Our driver was raving about a new route to get to the Sinai via the Port Said connection into the Suez Canal. He drove like the wind, and we were getting ready to surprise our families with our unannounced visit. To get to the Sinai we have to cross the Suez Canal, and that happens via ferries, a tunnel and a bridge. We got to the brand new ferry by 8 a.m.—but then we were turned The author’s daughter stands in front of the ambulance that transported the family back to away, as that route had been closed for the Cairo from Sinai. day. We pleaded with the officers, who were very kind and sympathetic, but those were their orders. Then we drove back to the Salam Bridge, only to ON WEDNESDAY, FEB. 7 of this year we woke up to read the learn that it was closed for awhile. Then ferry number six was news that Egypt had opened the Rafah crossing into Gaza. It also closed. We got desperate, and so did our driver. had been closed for more than 50 days. My wife, Roa, and I deHe decided to stop in the town of Ismailia to see if another dricided to take advantage of this opening, but we weren’t sure if ver would finish the trip with us. He found a stylish man who hails we could find a ticket that would get us from Washington, DC to from El Arish and who agreed to take us. We transferred our lugCairo in time. With moral support from my colleagues at ANERA, gage and sat at the taxi stop waiting for news that the ferries had we decided to try and make it happen. opened. We must have waited until noon. Our driver was hearing Luckily, we found a decent option with Royal Air Maroc and conflicting reports, but we stood in line and then made it onto the bought our tickets a few hours before the flight’s departure that ferry. Our bags were checked at two different security checknight. We got excited: the girls were overjoyed for the experience. points located within eyesight of one another. The army officers We loved the airline and hearing Arabic on the plane. It felt like we encountered were vigilant and on edge, but also kind. They we were so close to the old country. We also enjoyed the amazeven played around with our little girls, which gave us a bit of ing layover in Casablanca and the lush country with all its magic. comfort. Then we boarded an airplane to Cairo and made it there by 5 Upon disembarking the ferry, we entered the Sinai desert and, a.m. on Friday—the last day the border with Gaza was open! after a few minutes of driving, another army checkpoint greeted We breezed through security and customs and found a ride to us and checked our papers. A young officer was happy to see the crossing. A typical ride from the Cairo airport to Rafah is supour American passports, as he just came back from training in DC. He joked with us, saying, “What on Earth brings you here?” Hani Almadhoun is director of donor development at American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA). He wished us luck and sent us on our way. 22
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After that, to get to El Arish—capital of the Sinai and the biggest city near Gaza— we had to go through at least four more security checkpoints, belonging either to the army or the Egyptian internal security force. Since our driver was local, he knew his way around, and hoped the army would let us in. He also hoped they would tell us that Rafah would be open the next day. We got excited and maintained our hope that we’d be with our families in a few hours. It was not until we were at the last checkpoint that an officer told us he did not think Rafah would be open the next day. He even warned us that we would be stuck in El Arish for at least 15 days! At that final checkpoint, there was some active shooting as young army officers were checking luggage looking for certain things. The girls kept talking about all the fireworks they saw. We kept them entertained with tons of chocolate, juices and coloring books, but it was scary and anything but fun. We made it to El Arish by 7 p.m., and right away we could see a very long line of cars waiting to be allowed out of town to make it out of the peninsula. We didn’t worry much, because we had been assured by the many officers manning the checkpoints we went through in the Sinai that Rafah would be open the next day, which was in keeping with past practices. Only then did we find out that there was a big military campaign against ISIS types and drug dealers who have been wreaking havoc on this dreamy coastal town. As luck would have it, this military operation started on the very day we arrived in Egypt, and very few people saw it coming. We checked into a local hotel, along with other Palestinians hoping to make it to Gaza. Everybody was ready to get in a taxi and make the 25-mile trip to cross into Gaza early the next morning. We saw a lot of weary faces and met desperate families trying either to get into Gaza or to make it to some other destination. Watching the news we saw nothing good, and it seemed the crossing wouldn’t be open on Saturday—even though it was supposed to be open Friday and was not. We ended up with hundreds of PalestiniJUNE/JULY 2018
ans stuck either in El Arish or in that special airport room where they keep all the incoming Palestinians to transport them to Rafah. Many of these folks had expired visas and little money, so going back to where they came from was not an option. It was ugly, but we remained hopeful, cheering for Sinai to be a safer place for all. Spending a few days in El Arish was actually filled with some moments of joy, as we stayed on the beautiful beach. But it was basically a war zone, with airplanes taking out targets nearby. And, by order of the army, gas stations were not to sell fuel, which meant all cars came to a complete halt in few days. It also meant no fresh food and little transportation, inviting opportunities for price gouging. There were many masked security officers staffing neighborhood checkpoints around town. While my experience had been mostly positive with these officers, I did hear the locals mumble frustrations about feeling like they were under occupation. At the same time, every single person I spoke to wanted this military operation to succeed.
AN OLD FRIEND
Fearing for our safety, we called the American Embassy in Cairo and, while they were helpful, there was nothing they could do for us at the time. They told us to just lay low until this blew over. Our goal was to make sure they knew about our presence, and that was accomplished. Amazingly, an old college friend of mine was the one who answered the call! Our family felt comforted knowing somebody we love out there was keeping an eye out for us. Our next question was how we would leave El Arish, given this huge restriction on the movement of people into and out of Sinai? Since conditions were so intense in El Arish and the rest of Sinai, we felt we’d better get out of there. Security and army officers were all around town. Raids and gunshots were frequent, with armored vehicles and checkpoints at every corner. We constantly feared for our safety. Getting out of town was almost impossible, however, as surrounding roads were blocked in both directions by checkpoints.
Lines of vehicles and trucks hoping to get out of town stretched for a mile. We made the hard decision to go back to Cairo and give up trying to make it to Gaza, as the situation was just too unpredictable. We ended up getting out of Sinai in the back of an ambulance due to “health problems.” That was the only way we could make it out of the Egyptian desert. There were many checkpoints, and at some we had really scary experiences filled with intimidation, scare tactics and uncertainty. A trip that normally takes three hours ended up taking eight. When we crossed the ferry into mainland Egypt, we breathed a sigh of relief, as that beautiful land was a total change. Vibrant with life, buzzing with traffic and all the charm that we come to expect from a beloved city like Cairo. Roa whispered to me that it’s like we just moved into another country that had no idea of what was happening next door. Looking back on this experience, it’s awful to have crossed an ocean and an entire continent to be reunited with our families in Gaza, only to be sent back to the U.S. with nothing to show for it. It’s been five years since we have been able to see family. We had hoped we would be able to introduce our little girls to their grandparents and extended family. But for the time being, what sounds like a simple matter ended up being an international ordeal that could have gotten a lot worse. Instead of bringing joy into our family's life, now many of them are terribly depressed over our failed attempt to be reunited with them. We were so very close—yet for reasons beyond our control, we couldn’t get any closer. We spent a fortune to get there, and we returned to our home in America without having spent time with a family we love. I am beginning to wonder if God is watching all this, because Gaza and its people also have their doubts about His justice and His mercy. But then again, it’s not God who placed Gaza under a cruel and inhuman siege that divides families—it’s men who did, and continue to do, that. ■
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Gaza on the Ground
Not Only Do Israeli Soldiers Kill and Maim, But the PA Cuts Salaries in Gaza
By Mohammed Omer
MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
continued unabated. Adding to the cruelty of Israel’s decade-long siege, the nominal Palestinian government in Ramallah lately has been inflicting its own hardships on the people of Gaza. In June of last year, at the request of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel began reducing its electricity feed to Gaza (see Aug./Sept. 2017 Washington Report, p. 10). Meanwhile, the situation of PA employees in Gaza—whom one might expect to have more secure incomes than their PA employees in Gaza wait to withdraw their salaries at the Bank of Palestine’s ATM machines in Gaza City, April fellow Gazans—has de9, 2018. teriorated even further. Hisham Abdullah is one of approximately 38,000 Gaza-based PA employees who did JOINING THOSE CELEBRATING the May 14 opening of the not receive their pay for March, which was due the first week of U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin April. Netanyahu were Jewish Americans David M. Friedman, U.S. am"My dignity is being crushed—I ran away from the owners of a bassador to Israel, and Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Presisupermarket, a baker, and the gas-supply man,” he said, as he dent Donald Trump’s daughter and son-in-law. Meanwhile, just 50 paused for a moment. “All of them need money from me, and I miles away in the besieged Gaza Strip, Israeli military snipers shot haven't been able to pay them for two months now." and killed more than 60 Palestinians, including 6 children, and Hisham is the father of six children, one of whom should begin wounded more than 3,000 people protesting the embassy’s move university in September—but who now knows that paying his unifrom Tel Aviv in violation of international law. The Gaza Health Minversity fees is out of question. “There is no other source of income istry described the carnage as a “massacre,” and the bloodiest day here,” Hisham added. “The Gaza economy has been suffocated since Israel’s 2014 assault on Gaza. and is dying, and no-one has hope that the value of the shekel will But while the world watched in horror as the deadly encounters revive.” on Gaza’s fenced border with Israel unfolded, the inexorable stranHisham’s mother-in-law gave the family some zucchini, but they gulation of Gaza that is the daily reality for its two million residents can barely afford the cost of a can of simple tomato sauce to go with it. “You can’t imagine how hard it is to put nutritious food on Award-winning journalist Mohammed Omer reports regularly on the Gaza Strip. Follow him on Twitter: @MoGaza. the family table,” he lamented. “We just have no opportunity to 24
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earn money to provide for the family.” A year after it won the 2006 parliamentary elections in both the West Bank and Gaza, Hamas routed Fatah from the Gaza Strip in internecine fighting. The Fatahdominated PA ordered its employees to stay home rather than work for the new government. Hisham is one of those who heeded the PA’s orders—and he has been unemployed and with no other options ever since. In April 2017, as it began ratcheting up its campaign to stir unrest against its rival Hamas, the PA cut the salaries of its employees in Gaza by 30 percent. It also slashed PA staff numbers in Gaza from 60,000 to 38,000 and ordered early retirement for about a third of the remaining employees, who have not received their salaries. Only retired military personnel received their scheduled pension payments. Last March President Abbas declared that until Hamas cedes full control of Gaza to the PA, he would take legal and financial measures to tighten the blockade on the
JUNE/JULY 2018
besieged Gaza Strip. Abbas claimed that the failure to pay PA employees in May was due to “technical problems,” but nothing much has changed since. “Our colleagues in the West Bank received their salaries, but we in Gaza didn’t,” said Arif Abu Jarad, head of the employees’ union representing PA employees in Gaza. Not surprisingly, anger among Gazans is growing. "We have families and debts, Mr. President," said Gaza PA employee Jamal Rashwan. “Hunger produces nothing but frustration, anger and despair. “The president wants to punish Hamas, but why punish us? We have been loyal to him until now,” Rashwan said. “Don’t expect us to turn against Hamas. We are powerless! “I have five children to feed, for God’s sake,” he added. “They do not deserve this, at any time! The options are, either we live or die.” Rights groups in Gaza and elsewhere (Advertisement)
call the salary cuts illegal. And as Gaza is experiencing one of the darkest periods in decades—with power cuts of up to 18 hours a day and hospitals unable to cope— cutting wages by a third means the population is living ever closer to the edge. “We are neither alive, nor dead,” Hisham added. “You can’t do that—either kill us and our children, or let us live in dignity.” This Ramadan, there will be even less food on the table to break the fast for Hisham and his family. He was not paid at all in April, and was hoping for two months’ pay in May. Instead he received 30 percent of his April salary, with no explanation. He does not know if he will be paid in June. “What shall I do about Ramadan? How do I explain it to a 6-year-old child who just wants a sandwich on his way to school?” asked Hisham. He knows no one has the answer to his children’s desperate questions. Hisham is only one of two million Gazans who struggle to survive a harsh reality that no one seems—or wants—to understand. ■
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Special Report
Press Denounces Abbas Remarks, Ignores TED Talks by Other Palestinian Speakers
By Delinda C. Hanley
ABBAS MOMANI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
strength and show us we are not alone,” Sbeih said. Israel had barred a number of international delegations from attending the PNC meeting, but next time, Sbeih vowed optimistically, “we will be in charge of our own borders.” Sbeih warned that recent Trump administration actions mean the U.S. can no longer be the exclusive broker of the peace process, since Washington has violated international norms. A “multi-polar world is a safer world,” he added, and asked for input in setting a new Palestinian strategy for the next few months and years. Dr. Nabeel Shaath, Palestinian presidential adviser on international relations, who thinks he may have taught Trump at the Wharton School of Business in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gestures during the Palestinian National Council meeting Philadelphia, argued that his former stuin Ramallah, April 30, 2018. dent “is a catastrophe to both Palestinians and Israelis.” He was also optimistic in predicting that the PNC THE PALESTINIAN NATIONAL Council held its 23rd meeting would come up with a strategy to unify the West Bank, Gaza and in the West Bank city of Ramallah from April 30 to May 2—its East Jerusalem and hold elections. first regular meeting in 22 years, and only its third on Palestinian Fatina Hodaly discussed Israel’s colonial settlement project soil. Established in 1964, the PNC is meant to be the parliament since 1967, starting with the (Yigol) Allon Plan to control the Joror legislative body for all Palestinians, including those living in dan Valley and, 10 years later, the Drobless Plan to construct the West Bank, Gaza, Israel and the diaspora. This meeting was settlements and military bases on almost all the hilltops in the titled “Jerusalem and the Defense of Palestinian Legitimacy,” and West Bank. Transfering 630,000 settlers to the West Bank is a its goal was to revive Palestinian nationalism, agree on a fresh war crime, she pointed out, and connecting them by roads that strategy, and usher in a new and younger leadership. can’t be used by Palestinians is apartheid. Today the Jordan ValRespected Palestinian leaders discussed future Palestinian ley is completely controlled by Israel and 20 percent of the West elections, Hamas/Fatah reconciliation, popular resistance to IsBank is off-limits to Palestinians, closed for Israeli military areas rael’s occupation, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) or nature reserves. Settlers control even more land. movement, the refugee issue, prisoners, and President Donald A session focusing on the Palestinian diaspora was followed by Trump’s decision to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to another in which Ola Awwad, head of the Palestinian Central BuJerusalem and call that city, sacred to three faiths, Israeli. reau of Statistics, looked at 2017 Census figures for the West Bank Foreign guests and reporters were invited to attend a two-day and Gaza Strip, including employment, economic activity, poverty seminar, as well as the opening ceremony, before closed-door levels, building and housing units, access to safe drinking water, meetings commenced. This seminar included nearly 12 hours of sanitation, building and housing units. The stark differences in living stellar “TED-Talk”-caliber discussions by Palestinian and interconditions was no surprise. On a high note, she said Palestinians national luminaries. have the lowest illiteracy rate in the Arab region. Women are more Mohammad Sbeih, secretary-general of the PNC, welcomed ineducated than men but, sadly, have lower participation in the labor ternational visitors from 33 countries. “By coming here you give us market. Half of young graduates in the West Bank are unemployed, Delinda C. Hanley is news editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. and two-thirds in Gaza. 26
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Minister of Labor Ma’moun Abu Shahla discussed the Gaza crisis, the PA’s nonpayment of salaries (see p. 24), power cuts, untreated sewage flowing into the sea, and water that is unsafe to drink. “An Israeli sitting in an air-conditioned office is calculating the calorie-intake of Gazans and how many tomatoes and carnations are permitted to leave the largest open-air prison on earth,” Abu Shahla fumed. UNRWA’s director of operations in the West Bank, Scott Anderson, described the funding challenges posed by U.S. aid cuts. Without an additional $250 million, he said, it is doubtful UNRWA can open schools for 525,000 Palestinian children in the fall. Whenever the State of Palestine finally comes into being it will be more than capable of supporting itself, and UNRWA can walk away, he promised. Discussing mounting waves of nonviolent protests, including the Great March of Return at the Gaza border, Dr. Al-Mahdi Abd Alhadi, a Palestinian scholar, described last summer’s demonstrations in Jerusalem. Young and old Muslims set up rows of prayer rugs in the streets and were joined in prayer by Christians. All Palestinians were determined to challenge Israel’s decision to set up metal detectors and
cameras at the al-Aqsa mosque, and their nonviolent protests succeeded, showing the world that Palestinians are determined to exist in freedom and dignity. And those were just the first morning’s talks! Dr. Ahmad Tibi, deputy speaker of the Knesset, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi and Dr. Saeb Erekat, the secretary-general of the PLO Executive Committee who is now recovered after his lung transplant in Virginia, each gave important speeches. Sadly, it was off-the-cuff remarks by President Mahmoud Abbas, buried in his lengthy opening speech at the PNC, that garnered worldwide media attention and condemnation. That late-night speech, admittedly short on policy and long on history, had followed a roll call of 700 council members, which made it clear that leaders in Hamas and several other political parties had declined to attend an event held under Israeli occupation. The 83-year-old leader’s speech included an unfortunate history lesson on the Christian colonialist project to transplant European Jews into a mostly Arab land. Abbas opined that European hatred of Jews and the subsequent Holocaust was not due to their religion but because of their “social
roles related to taxes and banks.” His speech was condemned as “anti-Semitic” and covered relentlessly in critical international headlines—unlike his quick apology: “We reiterate our long-held condemnation of the Holocaust, as the most heinous crime in history.” His earlier remarks were rehashed weeks later, as he was pictured in the hospital, recovering from pneumonia, reading a newspaper with a “racist” cartoon. One reader called our office to suggest cataloguing some of the racist anti-Arab comments made by current and former Israeli leaders. Sadly, there were too many to list in these pages, although we promised to post them on our website. Ironically, the same night Abbas made unflattering headlines, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was digging himself into a hole. His “Iran Lied” speech on the Iranian nuclear program, delivered in English for an American audience, also garnered jeering headlines. The Israeli used hilarious props of “damning intelligence” (vintage video discs, CDs and binders full of tens of thousands of detailed files) he said were stolen by Israeli operatives from a secret military facility in Tehran. Most reputable media noted his latest “news” was 15 years old. ■
Palestinians in Ramallah are resisting the Israeli occupation by constructing new hotels, offices, gyms, restaurants, stores and apartment blocs. Their building spree doesn’t just apply to constructing modern edifices. Palestinians are also building and training the next generation of brilliant, highly educated workers, many of whom took the time to meet with international journalists at the PNC conference. Ambassador Amal A. Jadou, Ph.D., the assistant minister of European affairs, is working with Europeans—who appear much more committed to achieving peace in the Middle East than Americans. After all, the region is in Europe’s backyard, and to them it’s not just a divisive domestic issue. Discussing the current dismal state of the “peace process,” Ambassador Jadou observed that while the Obama administration had a good understanding of Israeli/Palestinian issues, it didn’t translate that knowledge into action. She feared that
Europeans may be wary of doing anything without a U.S. blessing. Everyone is waiting for Washington to present the president’s “deal of the century.” Meanwhile, Israel appears to have a green light from the Trump administration to quadruple its settlement building. Turning to the president’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Jadou wondered how Americans would feel if Mexico decided where the capital of the U.S. should be. The United States doesn’t own Jerusalem, she pointed out. How can a president give away a city that doesn’t belong to him? “And to move the U.S. Embassy on Nakba Day, the day we commemorate the hardest tragedy my people have undergone?” she exclaimed. “To choose that date to move the embassy was very painful.” This American had the same questions, and no answers, for this young diplomat, or for any of the other Palestinians I met. —D.C.H.
Ambassador Amal Jadou.
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Congress Watch
AIPAC’s Annual Conference, as Usual, Urged A Laundry List of Goodies for Israel
By Shirl McArthur
TAKING ADVANTAGE OF the strongly pro-Israel bias of President Donald Trump’s administration, AIPAC’s annual meeting the first weekend of March pushed for seemingly more legislative gifts for Israel than usual. As a result, hordes of obedient Zionists descended on the halls of Congress to promote AIPAC’s agenda, regardless of the effect on the U.S. national interest. The crown jewel of these efforts was H.R. 5141—introduced March 1 by Rep. Ileana RosLehtinen (R-FL) in the House, and its companion, S. 2497, introduced March 5 by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) in the Senate—the “U.S.-Israel Security Assistance Authorization” bill. Ros-Lehtinen, long the leading Israel-firster in Congress, has announced that she is retiring at the end of this session, so apparently she wants to go out having promoted a full wish list of goodies for Israel, including many security assistance measures, extension of loan guarantees, and enhanced U.S.-Israel cooperation programs. H.R. 5141 has 234 co-sponsors, including Ros-Lehtinen, and S. 2497 has 48 cosponsors, including Rubio. Other measures strongly pushed by AIPAC included the “Israel Anti-Boycott” bills. They claim that the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement penalizes firms doing business in Israel—but in fact they are about doing business in Israel’s colonies, not Israel. S. 720 was introduced by Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) in March 2017, and H.R. 1697 was introduced by Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) the same month. As reported in previous issues, both the ACLU and Amnesty International have expressed their opposition to the bills because of their attack on free speech. Congressional supporters of the bills continue to ignore those objections, however, as well as decades of bipartisan distinction between Israel and its colonies on the West Bank. In spite of AIPAC’s efforts, the bills have gained only a few new co-sponsors. S. 720 now has 56 co-sponsors, including Cardin, and H.R. 1697 now has 288, including Roskam. Of the bills that would encourage states to adopt anti-BDS measures, S. 170, introduced by Rubio in January 2017, now has 48 co-sponsors, including Rubio, and H.R. 2856, introduced in June by Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), now has 129 co-sponsors, including McHenry.
Two bills were introduced urging more missiles for Israel. H.R. 4707, urging new precision guided missile systems for Israel, was introduced Dec. 21 by Reps. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) and Tom Graves (R-GA). H.R. 5126, “Deterring and Defeating Rocket and Missile Threats to Israel,” was introduced Feb. 27 by Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) with eight co-sponsors. New measures were introduced urging increased U.S.-Israel cooperation. The Housepassed H.R. 1159, urging more space cooperation, still rests with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), but a new Senate version, S. 2504, was introduced by Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) and three cosponsors on March 6. Reps. Charlie Crist (D-FL) and Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Feb. 27 introduced H.R. 5117, urging “U.S.-Israel Joint Drone Detection cooperation.” And a catch-all resolution, H.Res. 785, was introduced March 15 by Rep. Michael Conaway (R-TX), with 46 co-sponsors. In addition to urging unspecified increased U.S.-Israel cooperation, it gratuitously supports Trump’s Dec. 6 declaration recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. While the previously described measures objecting to the United Nations General Assembly resolution rejecting the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital have made little progress (see “Status Updates” box on p. 30), a new anti-U.N. resolution, H.Res. 728, was introduced Feb. 7 by Reps. Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Neal Dunn (R-FL). It would condemn the U.N. Human Rights Council “for certain wasteful and abusive actions,” and calls on it to “stop singling out Israel as a permanent item on its agenda.” Of course there were resolutions congratulating Israel on its 70th anniversary. Rep. Joe Wilson introduced H.Res. 815 on April 11 with no co-sponsors, and H.Res. 835 was introduced April 18 by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC). The full House passed H.Res. 835 by voice vote on May 10. When passed it had 62 co-sponsors, including Foxx.
Hordes of obedient Zionists
descended on the halls of Congress to promote AIPAC’s agenda.
Shirl McArthur is a retired foreign service officer. He lives in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. 28
BILL SUPPORTING PALESTINIAN CHILDREN GAINS SUPPORT
The positive bill introduced in November by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN), H.R. 4391, continues to gain co-sponsors. It would “require the Secretary of State to certify that U.S. funds do not support military detention, interrogation, abuse, or ill-treatment of
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APPROPRIATIONS BILL INCLUDES MIDDLE EAST COUNTRIES, “TAYLOR FORCE ACT” On March 23 Congress finally passed H.R. 1625, the Consoli-
unspecified aid to the West Bank and Gaza is heavily condi-
dated Appropriations Act of 2018, incorporating appropriations
tioned, but with presidential waiver authority for some of the
bills for, among others, the Defense Department and foreign aid.
restrictions.
President Donald Trump signed it the same day as P.L. 115-141.
Contributions to the U.N. Human Rights Council and
For Israel, the Defense Department portion includes $47.5
UNRWA also come with several conditions and restrictions, and a
million for anti-tunneling and $705.8 million for so-called “Israeli
new section requires the secretary of state to withhold 5 percent
cooperative programs,” giving funds for Israel’s Iron Dome,
of funding for any U.N. agency that “has taken an official action
Short Range Ballistic Missile and Arrow systems.
that is against the national security interest of the U.S. or an ally of
The Defense Department portion also includes $500 million for Jordan to support its armed forces and border security. The foreign aid portion includes for Israel $7.5 million for so-
the U.S., including Israel.”
TAYLOR FORCE ACT
called refugee resettlement and $3.1 billion in military grants, all
As reported in the March/April “Congress Watch,” the text of S.
of which is to be disbursed within 30 days, and of which $815.3
1697, the Senate’s version of the “Taylor Force Act,” was in-
million can be spent in Israel. So the total for Israel, including
serted into the Senate’s version of the foreign aid bill. The provi-
both Defense Department and foreign aid, is $3.8608 bil-
sion survived in the consolidated bill (as Title X of Division S -
lion.
Other Matters), so it is now law until it is repealed or super-
The foreign aid portion also includes $1.525 billion for Jordan,
seded.
of which $425 million is military aid. So the total for Jordan, in-
The provision would prohibit certain aid to the West Bank and
cluding both Defense Department and foreign aid, is
Gaza that directly benefits the Palestinian Authority unless,
$2.025 billion.
among other things, the PA stops making payments to families of
Aid to Egypt totals $1.4125 billion, including $112.5 mil-
Palestinians in Israeli jails and those killed by Israel. There are
lion in economic aid and $1.3 billion in military aid, but it comes
some exceptions to the prohibitions, for the East Jerusalem Hos-
with heavy restrictions, mostly having to do with human rights
pital network, for wastewater projects not exceeding $5 million
and democracy concerns.
in any one fiscal year, and for up to $500,000 in any one fiscal
Other countries funded include Tunisia, $165.4 million, and
year for children’s vaccination activities. Security assistance is not
unspecified amounts for Lebanon, Libya and Morocco. As usual,
affected, of course, because that directly benefits Israel. —S.M.
Palestinian children.” It now has 27 cosponsors, including McCollum.
NEW IRAN SANCTIONS BILLS INTRODUCED
H.R. 1698, the major non-nuclear sanctions bill introduced by Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Rep. Edward Royce (R-CA) in March and passed by the House in October, still rests in the SFRC. Similarly, H.R. 1638, introduced in March by Rep. Bruce Poliquin (R-ME), the “Iran Leadership Asset Transparency” bill, which was passed Dec. 13 by the House, still rests in the Senate Banking Committee. A similar bill with the same title, S. 2353, was introduced in the Senate Jan. 29 by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) with 10 co-sponsors. H.R. 4744, introduced in January by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), “to impose JUNE/JULY 2018
additional sanctions with respect to serious human rights abuses of the Government of Iran,” was passed by the House April 26, with 47 co-sponsors, including McCaul. It was referred to three Senate committees. Three new bills regarding Iran’s human rights violations were introduced. On Jan. 30, Rubio, with three co-sponsors, introduced S. 2365, the “Iran Human Rights and Hostage-Taking Accountability” bill. The similar H.R. 5330 was introduced in the House by Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI). And Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) on March 22 introduced H.R. 5394, to require reporting on efforts by other countries to impose human rights sanctions on Iran. While the previously described H.R. 4676, introduced in December by McCaul, “expanding sanctions against Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps,” has made no
progress, a new one, H.R. 5132, was pushed during AIPAC’s meeting. Introduced March 1 by Royce, it has 193 cosponsors, including Royce. Also, H.R. 4821 was introduced Jan. 18 by Roskam with 30 co-sponsors. It would “impose sanctions against entities owned or controlled by the armed forces of Iran.” Two new bills were introduced attacking Hezbollah. H.R. 5035, the “Hezbollah Kingpin Designation” bill, was introduced Feb. 15 by Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC) and two co-sponsors. It would require the president to determine whether Hezbollah is a significant narcotics trafficker or transnational criminal organization. And H.R. 5540, introduced April 17 by Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and Thomas Suozzi (D-NY), would direct the national intelligence director “to prepare a National Intelligence estimate on Hezbollah.”
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STATUS UPDATES
H.R. 4718, H.Res. 570 and S.Res. 291, Jerusalem. H.R. 4718,
“to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to transfer to Jerusalem the U.S. Embassy located in Tel Aviv,” introduced in December by Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), now has 31 co-
by the full House Feb. 14 and now is in the Senate Foreign Re-
lations Committee (SFRC). When passed it had 22 co-sponsors, including Wilson.
sponsors, including DeSantis. H.Res. 570, introduced in Octo-
H.R. 2646, U.S.-Jordan Cooperation. On Feb. 5 the House
tion of the Jewish people to Jerusalem and condemning efforts
introduced by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in May 2017. It was
ber by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), affirming the historical connec-
at UNESCO to deny Judaism’s ties to Jerusalem, now has 23
co-sponsors, including Gaetz. The identical S.Res. 291, intro-
duced in October by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), still has nine cosponsors, including Cruz.
H.Res. 671 and H.Res. 684, UNGA Resolution. Two of the res-
passed H.R. 2646, the U.S.-Jordan Defense Cooperation bill referred to the SFRC. Also, on Feb. 14 the U.S. and Jordan signed a memorandum of understanding to give Jordan at least
$1.275 billion in aid a year over the next five years, replacing the previous three-year agreement giving Jordan $1 billion a year.
olutions expressing disapproval of the adoption of the U.N.
H.R. 4238, Iran Proxies. The “Iranian Proxies Terrorist Sanc-
Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, have gained some support.
which would impose sanctions on two Iraqi paramilitary groups
General Assembly resolution rejecting U.S. recognition of
H.Res. 671, introduced in December by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO), now has 32 co-sponsors, including Lamborn, and
H.Res. 684, introduced in January by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), now has 6 co-sponsors, including Gottheimer.
H.R. 3542, condemning the use of human shields by Hamas
and introduced in July by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), was passed
tions” bill, introduced in November by Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX), reportedly affiliated with Iran, now has 19 co-sponsors, including Poe.
H.R. 4681, No Aid for Assad. The bill introduced in December by Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) “to limit assistance for areas of Syria controlled by the Government of Syria or associated forces,” now has 26 co-sponsors, including Engel.
—S.M.
Targeting Iran’s support for the Houthi rebels in Yemen, Ros-Lehtinen with four co-sponsors on Dec. 7 introduced H.R. 4603, the “Houthis and Iran Sanctions Accountability” bill.
nis to food, fuel and medicine. Then, on April 11, Young and Shaheen, with two more co-sponsors, introduced S.J.Res. 58, which would require a more expansive certification.
nen made it clear that her purpose was to assure that any nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia is strictly conditioned.
SAUDI ARABIA’S ACTIONS IN YEMEN GET SENATE ATTENTION
DUELING MEASURES REGARDING U.S.-GULF NUCLEAR COOPERATION
Sens. Bob Corker (R-TN) and Tim Kaine (D-VA), with two Democrat and two Republican co-sponsors, on April 16 introduced S.J.Res. 59, “to authorization the use of military force against the Taliban, al-Qaeda, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and designated associated forces.” The measure does not include a sunset clause but, instead, would require presidential and congressional review, to “include a proposal to repeal, modify, or leave in place this joint resolution.” The measure will likely encounter opposition from both Republicans and Democrats. Some Republicans will argue that it places undue limits on military officials, and some Democrats will object to the absence of a definite sunset clause. ■
Three Senate resolutions were introduced regarding Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the civil war in Yemen. The first, S.J.Res. 54, was introduced Feb. 28 by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) with 14 co-sponsors. It would “direct the removal of U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities in the Republic of Yemen that have not been authorized by Congress.” S.J.Res. 55, introduced March 8 by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Todd Young (R-IN), would require the State Department to certify whether Saudi Arabia is (1) conducting good faith negotiations to end the Yemen civil war, and (2) taking measures to increase access for all Yeme30
On March 21 Reps. Joe Wilson and Donald Norcross (D-NJ) introduced H.Res. 795, “Recognizing the U.S. role in the evolving energy landscape of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.” It would recommend that the U.S. “aggressively pursue agreements for peaceful cooperation with GCC member countries.” In opposition, consistent with her history of opposing anything that might benefit Saudi Arabia, Ros-Lehtinen, with four co-sponsors, on March 21 introduced H.R. 5357, to “require congressional approval of agreements for peaceful nuclear cooperation with foreign countries.” In a press release, Ros-Lehti-
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Special Report
Remembering Syria: Iran Struggles With Potentially Explosive Environmental Crisis
By James M. Dorsey
BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
as the president’s national security adviser. Mr. Bolton has called for regime change in Iran, aligning himself with a controversial exile opposition group, while Prince Mohammed is believed to have tacitly endorsed thinking about stirring unrest among Iran’s ethnic minorities even if he has yet to decide whether to adopt subversion as a policy. Iran has repeatedly accused Saudi Arabia in the past year of supplying weapons and explosives to restive groups like the Baloch and the Kurds. Yet, concern about environmental degradation and its potential political fallout goes beyond fear that it could facilitate interference by external powers. DemonAn Iranian woman and her daughter walk past an abandoned boat at the Hamoon wetland in strators in the province of Isfahan clashed with security forces after they took to the Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan Baluchistan, bordering Afghanistan, Feb. 2, 2015. streets in March to protest water shortages. The protest occurred some three months after Iran was IRANIAN LEADERS ARE struggling, months after anti-governwracked by weeks of anti-government demonstrations. ment protests swept the Islamic Republic in late December and The protest was the latest in a series of expressions of disconJanuary, to ensure that environmental issues that helped spark tent. Anger at plans in 2013 to divert water from Isfahan province a popular uprising in Syria in 2011 leading to a brutal civil war sparked clashes with police. The Isfahan Chamber of Commerce don’t threaten the clergy’s grip on power. reported a year later that the drying out of the Zayandeh-Rud Like Syria, Iran has been confronting a drought that has afriver basin had deprived some 2 million farmers, or 40 percent fected much of the country for more than a decade, with precipof the local population in the Zayandeh-Rud basin, of their initation dropping to its lowest level in half a century. Environmental come. concerns have figured prominently in protests in recent years, “Over 90 percent of [Iran’s] population and economic producoften in regions populated by ethnic minorities like Azeris, and tion are located in areas of high or very high water stress. This Iranian Arabs. is two to three times the global average in percentage terms, Unrest among ethnic minorities, who account for almost half and, in absolute numbers, it represents more people and more of Iran’s population, takes on added significance with Iran fearing production at risk than any other country in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia’s activist crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, North Africa,” Al-Monitor quoted Claudia Sadoff, director general and the Trump administration’s antipathy toward the Islamic Reof the Sri Lanka-based International Water Management Instipublic bolstered by the appointment of a hard-liner, John Bolton, tute, as saying. Dr. James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of A panel of retired U.S. military officers noted in December that International Studies, co-director of the University of Würzburg’s “since the 1979 revolution, the per capita quantity of Iran’s reInstitute for Fan Culture, and co-host of the New Books in Middle newable water supplies has dropped by more than half, to a level Eastern Studies podcast. He is the author of The Turbulent World of commonly associated with the benchmark for water stress. Even Middle East Soccer blog, a book with the same title (available from more troubling, in large swaths of the country, demand for fresh Middle East Books and More), and the forthcoming China and the Middle East: Venturing into the Maelstrom. water exceeds supply a third of the year. Fourteen years of 32
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drought have contributed to the problem, as has poor resource management, including inefficient irrigation techniques, decentralized water management, subsidies for water-intensive crops like wheat, and dam building. As a result, parts of the country are experiencing unrest related to water stress.” By identifying water as one of the country’s foremost problems, the government recognized that mismanagement leading to acute water shortages risks becoming a symbol of its inability to efficiently deliver public goods and services. The government has sought to tackle the issue by promoting reduced water consumption and water conservation, halting construction of dams, combatting evaporation by building underground water distribution networks, introducing water meters in agriculture, encouraging farmers to opt for less water-intensive crops, multiplying the number of treatment plants, and looking at desalination as a way of increasing supply. With agriculture the main culprit in Iran’s inefficient use of water, Iranian officials fear that the crisis will accelerate migration from the countryside to urban centers incapable of catering to the migrants and, in turn, increase popular discontent. A U.S. study suggested in 2015 that decades of unsustainable agricultural policies in Syria; drought in the northeastern agricultural heartland of the country; economic reforms that eliminated food and fuel subsidies; significant population growth; and failure to adopt policies that mitigate climate change exacerbated grievances about unemployment, corruption and inequality that exploded in 2011 in anti-government protests in Syria. The Syrian government’s determination to crush the protest rather than engage with the protesters sparked the country’s devastating war, currently the world’s deadliest conflict. “We’re not arguing that the drought, or even human-induced climate change, caused the uprising. What we are saying is that the long-term trend, of less rainfall and warmer temperatures in the region, was a contributing factor, because it made JUNE/JULY 1018
the drought so much more severe,” said Colin Kelley, one the study’s authors. “The uprising has…to do with the government’s failure to respond to the drought, and with broader feelings of discontent in rural areas, and the growing gap between rich and poor, and urban and rural areas during the 2000s, than with the drought itself,” added Middle East water expert Francesca de Chatel.
A DIFFERENT EMPHASIS
Adopting a different emphasis, Ms. De Chatel argued that demonstrations in Syria, despite the drought, would not have erupted without the wave of protests that by then had already swept the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt and subsequently toppled the leaders of Libya and Yemen. She asserted further that the protest movement-turned-war in Syria would not “have persisted without input and support from organized groups in Syria who had been planning for this moment for years and certainly since before 2006 or the start of the drought.” For Iranian leaders, the threat is real irrespective of the difference in emphasis between Mr. Kelley and Ms. De Chatel. Former Iranian Agriculture Minister Issa Kalantari warned in 2015 that, left unresolved, the water crisis would force 50 million Iranians to migrate in the next 25 years. In other words, the environmental crisis that drives migration and unemployment and fuels discontent risks political upheaval. Similarly, multiple groups and external powers have for years contemplated regime change in Tehran. The issues that were at the core of the initial protests in Syria in 2011—unemployment, corruption and inequality—were at the heart of Iranian anti-government demonstrations in December and January. Despite a renewed focus on the water crisis, the government’s Achilles Heel could prove to be the fact that its response has included shooting the messenger who bears the bad news, as environmentalists increasingly find themselves in the firing line. Authorities arrested in January Kavous Seyed-Emami, a dual Iranian-Canadian
national who directed the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, and six other environmentalists. It asserted two weeks later that Mr. Seyed-Emami had committed suicide in jail after confessing to being a spy for the United States and Israel. Three more environmentalists were arrested a month later, while Mr. SeyedEmami’s wife was prevented from leaving Iran. State TV subsequently reported that Mr. Seyed-Emami and his colleagues had told Iran’s enemies that the country could no longer maintain domestic agriculture production because of water shortages and needed to import food. Said Saeed Leylaz, a Tehran-based economist and political analyst: “Public opinion has become sensitized to environmental issues. So the government may see the organizations and institutions who work on environmental issues as problematic.” ■
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Special Report
Risks Posed by Competing Claims to Eastern Mediterranean Oil and Gas Resources
By Jonathan Gorvett
IAKOVOS HATZISTAVROU/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
And there, of course, lies a major clue as to why these three nations ended up expressing such warmth for each other in May. Relations between Athens and Ankara are at a recent low, while those between Cyprus and Turkey do not even officially exist. Israel, too, has been the object of increasing criticism from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in recent times, especially as Turkey moves toward crucial parliamentary and presidential elections on June 24. The back-slapping thus represents a geopolitical coinciding of interests, while also highlighting the growing gulf among many states of the Levantine littoral. In this, not only Israel, Greece, Cyprus and Turkey are involved, but also the in(L-r) Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Israeli Prime ternationally unrecognized “Turkish ReMinister Binyamin Netanyahu shake hands following a Jan. 28, 2016 press conference at the public of Northern Cyprus” (TRNC), Presidential Palace in Nicosia. The three had met to discuss plans for the EastMed pipeline. Egypt and Lebanon. The European Union also has a stake, along with the U.S., with a range of international oil and gas companies— WHEN ISRAELI PRIME Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke from Italy’s ENI to ExxonMobil—all having investments in the in Nicosia in May of “building a great alliance” between his namix. tion, Cyprus and Greece, he was also quick to praise the “unAll these parties are currently eying the potentially vast offrivaled network of common interests” that exists among the shore oil and gas resources of the region, with the EastMed three states. Pipeline just one of a series of competing methods of getting And if advocates of a giant new project have their way, that those assets to market. network may be about to get a lot more physically tangible. Yet, despite the potential rewards of successfully exploiting For Netanyahu was in Nicosia to solidify support for the prothese resources, a series of overlapping and contradictory posed EastMed Pipeline, a 1,350-mile natural gas connector claims and unresolved disputes, on land as much as at sea, is that aims to bring Israeli and Cypriot gas to energy-hungry Eualso propelling the same parties into increasing conflict. ropean markets. If ever constructed, the pipeline would form a “There was a lot of talk about how gas could be a driver of specialized steel and concrete tie among the three nations, reconciliation in the region,” says Charlotte Brandsma, prostretching far across the deep of the (sometimes unstable) gram officer with the German Marshall Fund’s Mediterranean Eastern Mediterranean floor. Policy Program. “But rather than being a stabilizing force, it The $7 billion project would also likely provide considerable has only aggravated existing problems.” economic benefits to them all, helping solve both energy and This was put in stark relief last February, when an oil and financial deficits. gas drill ship commissioned by ENI found its path blocked by Yet the project would also bypass a much cheaper and Turkish warships off the coast of Cyprus. Fearing it would be shorter route to market—one via Turkey. rammed, the Siapem 12000 eventually turned around and Jonathan Gorvett is a free-lance writer based in Istanbul. headed off. 34
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The near collision occurred because Turkey has major disputes with the Republic of Cyprus (ROC) over maritime boundaries, and over Nicosia’s decision to award exploration tenders to a number of offshore blocks in areas that Ankara claims as its own. Further complications here are that the TRNC also now has a claim to Cyprus’ offshore areas, with Turkey recognizing the legitimacy of these, even if no other country does. Nor is Turkey a signatory to U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which could otherwise provide a framework for arbitration. U.N.-supported talks aimed at reuniting Cyprus—which would have gone a long way to resolving these disputes— collapsed last summer. In the resulting stalemate, the TRNC has called on Turkey to begin its own exploration and drilling in TRNC waters. This leaves great uncertainty over what will happen when the ENI drill ship returns—as the oil company has said it will—and what might happen when other companies, such as Total and ExxonMobil, also begin drilling later this year.
DISPUTES AND AMBIGUITIES
This is by no means the only dispute clogging up oil and gas development in the region, either. To the southeast, there is a longstanding dispute between Lebanon and Israel over their maritime boundaries. This has started to heat up again recently, too, with February seeing Beirut award exploration concessions to ENI, France’s Total and Russia’s Novatek in the disputed waters. Some Israeli politicians have seen this as a justification for war. Tel Aviv is also not a signatory to UNCLOS, although Beirut is. Moreover, both Israel and Lebanon have signed contradictory maritime border agreements with Cyprus, and while the Lebanese parliament has never ratified its version, this has added further ambiguity to the issue. In addition, moving southwest, while Cyprus and Israel do have a boundary agreement, they do not have a deal— JUNE/JULY 2018
IndextoAdvertisers Alalusi Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 American Friends of Birzeit University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) . . . . . . Inside Front Cover Barefoot to Palestine . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Kinder USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Land of Canaan Foundation . . . . . 15 Mashrabiya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Middle East Children’s Alliance . . . 35 Mondoweiss. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Palestinian Medical Relief Society (Friends of UPMRC) . . . . . . . . . . . 37 United Palestinian Appeal (UPA) . . . . . . . . . Inside Back Cover known as a unitization agreement—dividing up the gas underneath the adjacent Leviathan and Aphrodite gas fields. As both are likely part of the same underground reservoir, it is customary to have such a deal in place before beginning extraction. Further west, Egypt demarcated its maritime boundary with Cyprus back in 2003, but still has no signed and sealed agreement with Israel. This may be on
the way, however, as Israeli-Egyptian relations have warmed, with Egypt a major potential market for Israeli gas—a $15 billion deal to export Israeli gas to Egypt was signed back in February. Egypt itself now has huge gas reserves, however, raising the question of why it would want such an arrangement. One possible answer is that Egypt possesses several gas liquefaction plants on its coast, which can turn natural gas into LNG. This could then be shipped to third countries without the need for an expensive pipeline like East Med. Cyprus, too, has been eying Egypt for similar reasons, and has been pursuing its own gas supply deal, which the Cypriot energy minister claimed was close to inking in early May. Thus, countries such as Israel and Cyprus have been pursuing a number of potential schemes for their future energy exports. These plans may be quite contradictory, unless a major new amount of gas is actually found. Thus, the pressure to find more is building, and there are likely to be even more drill ships at work in the region in the months ahead—even if they are in disputed waters. The response of some to this will be “entirely predictable,” according to Brandsma. More near collisions thus look likely, as the Eastern Mediterranean summer heats up. ■
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Islam and the Near East in the Far East
After 60 Years, Malaysians Vote for a Change Of Government By John Gee
ULET IFANSASTI/GETTY IMAGES
northern state of Kelantan with a slim majority. The opposition retained these states with increased majorities. PH also took Kedah, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Johore, while PAS won Terengganu. Perak and Sabah were left with no party in overall control, which resulted in local PH politicians successfully encouraging defections to achieve majorities within days. The PH had to overcome a series of hurdles prior to the elections. Media coverage was heavily weighted in favor of the BN: its leaders and candidates received favorVoters wait in line at a Kuala Lumpur polling station to vote in the country’s 14th general election, May 9, able publicity, while the oppo2018. sition was the subject of fewer and more hostile reports. Coalition member Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia ON MAY 9, Malaysians handed a hefty victory to the opposition (Malaysian United Indigenous Party, or PPBM), led by Dr. Macoalition, Pakatan Harapan (Coalition of Hope). PH won 113 of hathir Mohamad, which was expected to appeal to many of the 222 parliamentary seats (up from 72), while the former ruling coaliMuslim Malay voters (not least because of the 92-year-old’s poption, Barisan Nasional (BN), held on to 79, down from 131 in the ularity among them when he was prime minister from 1981outgoing parliament. The Malaysian Islamist party, PAS, won 18 2003), was suspended by the Registrar of Societies on April 5, seats, and Warisan, a regional party in the East Malaysian state supposedly for failing to hold branch elections. In response, of Sabah, won 8 seats. (These parties previously held 13 and 2, PPBM candidates contested the election under the banner of respectively.) Three seats in East Malaysia were won by indepencoalition ally Parti Keadilan Rakyat (People’s Justice Party, or dents and another party won one seat there. PKR). PH’s majority was strengthened by its alliance with Warisan and Prior to this ban, the government rushed through parliament a the decision of the three independents to support it in parliament. new law on “fake news” that critics feared would be used to inThe opposition win ended more than 60 years of rule by the timidate government critics and also a revision of electoral United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and its BN coaliboundaries that would demonstrably operate in favor of the ruling tion partners. coalition—if, that is, it could retain the level of support it had in Malaysians also voted for the governments of 12 state assem2013. blies (one state, Sarawak, held its elections in 2016, returning a Key to achieving this for outgoing Prime Minister Najib Razak BN majority). Prior to the election, PH held the western coastal was maintaining support among Malays for his UMNO: even states of Penang and Selangor, and PAS held the conservative prior to the latest revision, electoral boundaries were drawn in such a way that rural, overwhelmingly Malay constituencies had John Gee is a free-lance journalist based in Singapore, and the disproportionate weight in elections (which was why, in 2013, the author of Unequal Conflict: The Palestinians and Israel. 36
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opposition won the popular vote but lost the election). Having presented a series of “give way” measures in the past year or so that would especially benefit poorer Malays, Najib made extravagant promises during the election campaign, including raising the minimum wage by 50 percent over five years, waiving farmers’ debts, increasing annual cash handouts, giving civil servants a hefty pay increase, and excluding citizens under 26 from paying income tax. Mahathir responded by advising citizens to take whatever money the government gave them, but not to give it their votes. Not only was it hard to see where all this bounty could plausibly come from, but fresh in voters’ minds were grievances about the government’s economic performance: the cost of living had risen, a new goods and services tax was very unpopular, and the indications of massive corruption in the 1MDB affair (see October 2015 Washington Report, p. 32). Plantations run by the Federal Land Development Authority provide employment for some 1.2 million Malays in 54 constituencies, where they could previously be counted upon to vote solidly in favor of the ruling party, but FELDA lost bets on bad investments (including a sturgeon farm) and engaged in other unethical practices that squandered assets that might have been used to assist farmers. The ruling party also played on communalism to a certain extent: on the eve of the vote, Najib said in a television interview that Mahathir was not really in charge of the opposition coalition, but was being used by its predominantly Chinese Democratic Action Party (DAP) component to win Malay support. In the event, the gains of the predominantly Malay-based PH affiliates surpassed those of the DAP, leaving the PKR its largest component. Prior to the election, it seemed that the opposition’s prospects had been dimmed by the breakdown of the alliance that contested the 2013 elections, resulting in PAS standing in its own right in 158 constituencies, where it was thought that it would split the opposition vote. However, many JUNE/JULY 2018
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Opposition leader Mahathir Mohamad speaks at a press conference the day after his PH party won the May 9 general election. Malays seem to have voted tactically, supporting PAS where it seemed best placed to defeat BN, and PH where it was the main opposition force. Despite winning two state elections, PAS holds fewer parliamentary seats now than it did in 2013—18 instead of 21.
RUMORS AND DRAMA
There were a few hours of drama as the first results came in, during which rumors abounded. One was that Najib was going to prevent a final declaration of the election outcome and declare a state of emergency, but this proved to be unfounded. Claiming victory, Mahathir said that he would become prime minister, and then hand over office in one to two years to Anwar Ibrahim, who led the opposition until he was imprisoned in 2015, once he had been given a pardon, released and
elected to parliament. Anwar was pardoned and released on May 16. UMNO faces a testing time, when it will have to reinvent itself as a democratic party shorn of the powers of patronage it formerly possessed if it is to survive and stand any chance of ever winning another election. The new government looked likely to have its work cut out. The fact that the victorious coalition contains many old faces from the political establishment has resulted in a certain degree of skepticism among veteran oppositionists and the young activists who have campaigned on social and political issues online and on the streets in recent years. They question whether those who held office in the past will simply take over the machinery of power and only implement cosmetic reforms. The new government will need to begin its term of office with an energetic program of reform if it is to prove otherwise. Nevertheless, the election will be seen as a milestone in the history of Malaysia and the wider region. Dissatisfaction with the government, the public’s refusal to be swayed by blatant attempts at vote buying, and effective opposition campaigning changed the political map of Malaysia and overturned the rule of a coalition that has run the country since independence in 1957. It feels as though the boundaries of the possible in Malaysia have just expanded. ■
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Christianity and the Middle East
Israel’s “Systematic Campaign” Against Christians
By Jeffery Abood
THOMAS COEX/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
The final straw that led to this unprecedented action was a decision by the Israeli Municipality in Jerusalem to begin taxing, not the Holy Sepulchre itself, but all the works of Jerusalem’s churches. The new Israeli legislation would begin taxing Christian hospitals, schools, elder care centers, social service agencies, even orphanages—each of these being ways the churches live out and practice their faith. Freedom of religion, an essential key to the Christian presence in Jerusalem, was set to be severely compromised. Prior to this, the churches and the Christians in the Holy Land have been subject to many other trials, constituting what the Heads of the Churches collectively described as a "systematic campaign" against them. This includes the confiscation of church lands, destruction of church Protesters hold a cross during a demonstration outside the closed door of the Church of the Holy properties, denial of religious freedom, and Sepulchre as the church remained closed for a third day to protest proposed Israeli tax meadiscriminatory actions against the schools. sures, Feb. 27, 2018. [See, for example, Nov./Dec. 1996 Washington Report, p. 97, and Jan./Feb. 1998 Washington Report, p. 89.] THE HOLY LAND is a place with a long and complex history. In 2012 Hagihon, the Israeli water company aligned with the Discussions over it are often full of noise, politics, injustice, war state, attempted to begin charging the Church of the Holy Sepuland religion. This past Lent, Jerusalem’s churches cut through chre for its water, to which free access and use has traditionally all that and grabbed the world's attention with the simple act of been guaranteed. It also attempted to retro charge the churches closing a door. This action helped crystallize the problems facing more than $2.3 million for the previous 15 years. According to a Christians in the Holy Land. Greek Patriarchate official, "The church is completely paralyzed. For three days beginning Feb. 25, the heads of churches in We can't pay for toilet paper. Hagihon has declared war on us." Jerusalem took the nearly unprecedented step of closing off the The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem even discovered Holy Sepulchre to the world. This happened at the height of the that its bank account had been frozen, making it impossible to Easter season, at the holiest site in Christendom, when all eyes pay stipends to some 500 priests and monks, 2,000 teachers were turned toward Jerusalem. In doing this, the churches were and the running costs of more than 30 schools. telling the world it needs to pay attention. In 2013, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was forcibly closed In their address, the Heads of Churches stated that they had by the Israeli police on Holy Saturday, allegedly because of "sedone this in response to "the systematic campaign against the curity concerns." The Heads of the Churches responded swiftly, Churches and the Christian community in the Holy Land." This stating, "We, the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, watched with campaign, they emphasized, was "an attempt to weaken the sorrowful hearts the horrific scenes of the brutal treatment of our Christian presence in Jerusalem." clergy, people, and pilgrims in the Old City of Jerusalem during Holy Saturday last week. It is not acceptable that under pretext Jeffery Abood is author of A Great Cloud of Witnesses: The Catholic Church’s Experience in the Holy Land. of security, our clergy and people are indiscriminately and bru38
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tally beaten, and prevented from entering their churches, monasteries and convents." A Coptic priest was even sent to the hospital after being put in a chokehold when he tried to walk past the police gates to pray. Attacks on Church properties and institutions happen so frequently that they have even been given a name: "price tag attacks." In 2014, Latin Patriarch Twal stated, "All of you are well aware of the recent acts of vandalism against Christians, Muslims and Druze. There has been a marked increase of ‘price tag’ provocations within Israel." The heads of all the churches in Jerusalem have spoken out about this on numerous occasions, including after the arson at the Latrun Monastery, the desecration of convents and cemeteries, and the burning of the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes. In 2015, the Christian schools in the Holy Land were forced to take another unprecedented step, holding a month-long strike. (Advertisement)
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Six thousand students, their families, clergy and others gathered in front of the offices of the prime minister to say “no” to newly established “discriminatory” policies of the Israeli government affecting only Christian schools. According to the Office of Christian Schools in Israel: "Christian Schools in Israel are in immediate danger of collapsing financially." They had been brought to the brink of financial collapse by Israel’s Ministry of Education, which "drastically cut funding and limited the ability of Christian schools to collect fees from parents... These two measures made it near impossible to keep operating." Each year, students throughout Palestine are accepted into Bethlehem University, the first Catholic university in the West Bank. The university was initiated at the request of Pope Paul VI, as a way to help the Palestinian people obtain higher education. Despite students' acceptance to the university, many are often denied Israeli entry permits to be allowed to attend it. Because of this denial of their right of movement, young students full of hope and looking forward to achieving a brighter future are forced to give up their dream of higher education. Another recent example of this ongoing "campaign against the Churches and Christians of the Holy Land" has been the confiscation of Christian lands, especially in the Cremisan Valley outside Bethlehem. To build its illegal separation/annexation barrier, Israel seized private lands owned by a convent, a monastery and 58 Christian families. The Latin Patriarchate, in its legal summary, stated that the families would lose their agricultural livelihoods and that "the convent and school, which educates 450 children, would be situated in a closed military area." The Vatican and the churches fought this for more than nine years, and ultimately lost. Israel’s "systematic campaign” has resulted in the Christian population of the Holy Land plummetting from 18 percent 70 years ago to less than 2 percent today. Taking into account these and many other actions, the Heads of Churches were brought to the point of having to close the door to the holiest site in Chris-
tendom in hopes that the world would listen. The world did, and—at least for now— the Israeli Municipality has "temporarily withdrawn" its most recent attempt to persecute the churches. Each year, the Holy Land Coordination, which is mandated by the Holy See, visits the Holy Land and reports back to the Vatican. Its 2017 summary read: "Our Coordination has called for justice and peace every year since 1998, yet the suffering continues. So this call must get louder." Before these ongoing pressures lead to the disappearance of Christians in the Holy Land, the leaders of Jerusalem’s churches acted and shut the door to the holiest site in Christendom. In so doing, they brought into stark clarity the plight of Christians in the Holy Land, where Christianity originated. It is now up to us to address the reasons that door was shut in the first place. If we fail to do so, and to stand with our brothers and sisters in the Holy Land, someday we may find it shut to us forever. ■ (Advertisement)
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Israel and Judaism
Israel at 70: An Alarming Growth of Racism And Intolerance
By Allan C. Brownfeld
MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
bear the scars of every manner of heinous racism, up to and including genocide. It’s all too true, at the same time, that in a tragic given of human nature, the abused is at great risk of becoming an abuser. In the case of Zionism, can’t the victims of anti-Semitism come to acknowledge their—our—own bigotry, our own ingrained prejudices, our own sense of superiority and entitlement, our own history of injustice to the minorities in our midst?” Even a brief look at the growing racism and intolerance shows the direction in which contemporary Israel is headed. In March, for example, during his weekly sermon to the nation, Israel’s Sephardic chief rabbi called black people “monkeys.” Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef mentioned a blessing An ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman (r) spits on a member of the liberal Jewish religious group uttered upon seeing an “unusual creaWomen of the Wall in an attempt to keep them from entering the women’s section of the ture,” citing the example of a black person Western Wall in Jerusalem while carrying a Torah scroll, during a protest by the group de- who has two white parents on the street in manding equal prayer rights at the Jewish religious site, Nov. 2, 2016. America. According to Ynet, Yosef referred to black people by the derogatory AS ISRAEL COMMEMORATES its 70th anniversary, and Likud Hebrew word “kushi,” and then went on to call a black person a and its far-right allies consolidate their hold on power, it confronts “monkey.” Yosef’s fellow chief rabbi, Yisrael Lau, had already an alarming growth of racism and intolerance. used this term to describe black people—on his very first day in Writing in the April 4 edition of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, office. Bradley Burston notes that, “It hurts me to write what I’m about Dov Lior, chief rabbi of Hebron and Kiryat Arba and head of to. But it also hurts me to have to live in this place today...This is the “Council of Rabbis of Judea and Samaria,” issued a religious Zionism as racism. This is Israel at 70...As a public servant, as edict saying “a thousand non-Jewish lives are not worth a Jew’s an Orthodox rabbi, as a settler, you’re free to say anything you fingernail.” He said that Arabs arrested for terrorism could be want, as long as it’s anti-Arab, anti-black, anti-Muslim, antiused for medical experiments, and ruled that Jewish law forbids Palestinian, anti-immigrant, and, for good measure, anti-Ashkeemploying Arabs or renting homes to them. Ovadia Yosef, a denazi, anti-North American Jew, anti-New Israel Fund.....” ceased former Sephardi chief rabbi, said that the sole purpose of In Burston’s view, “For sheer, unadulterated...Zionist bigotry non-Jews “is to serve Jews.” This declaration was later endorsed and hatred...no one can touch Binyamin Netanyahu. In recent by some 250 other Jewish religious figures. years he’s hammered away with racist and mendacious inciteAccording to the ideologies which underlie Gush Emunim and ment against Arab citizens of Israel and African asylum seekother West Bank settler groups, non-Jews have “satanic souls.” ers...I understand where this comes from. Jews of all ethnicities One of the rabbinic leaders of this movement, Yitzhak Ginsburgh, speaks freely of Jews’ genetic-based spiritual superiority Allan C. Brownfeld is a syndicated columnist and associate editor of over non-Jews: “If you saw two people drowning, a Jew and a the Lincoln Review, a journal published by the Lincoln Institute for non-Jew, the Torah says you save the Jewish life first...If every Research and Education, and editor of Issues, the quarterly journal of the American Council for Judaism. simple cell in a Jewish body entails divinity, it is a part of God. 40
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Therefore, something is special about Jewish DNA...If a Jew needs a liver, can you take the liver of an innocent non-Jew passing by to save him? The Torah would probably permit that. Jewish life has an infinite value.” Jews who are not white have also been subjected to widespread discrimination. Today, 81,000 Israelis were born in Ethiopia, while 38,500 of the community were born in Israel. When Ethiopians protested that blood donations from their community were thrown out, they were told that it was not because they were black, but because of HIV in Africa. In 2010, Israel was accused of a “sterilization policy” aimed at Ethiopian Jews. They were frequently prescribed contraceptive drugs like Depo-Provera, which is long-lasting. The agencies involved in immigration denied that Ethiopian women were guided toward this drug. But Dr. Yifat Bitton of the Israeli Anti-Discrimination Legal Center “Tmura” said that 60 percent of the women receiving this contraceptive are Ethiopian. Noting that Ethiopians made up only 1 percent of the population, Bitton added that “the gap here is just impossible to reconcile in any logical manner that would somehow resist the claims of racism.” In 2012, Israeli public television featured a documentary in which 35 Ethiopian women who had immigrated to Israel reported that they had been told they would not be permitted into the country unless they agreed to the shots. Israel is a society which has rejected genuine religious freedom. Non-Orthodox rabbis have no right to perform weddings, preside over funerals or conduct conversions. If a Jew and non-Jew wish to marry, they must leave the country to do so. Christianity and Islam are under constant attack. A senior Catholic spokesman, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Custodian of the Holy Land, says that a lack of police action and an educational culture in which Jewish children are encouraged to act with “contempt” toward Christians, has resulted in life becoming increasingly “intolerable” for many Christians (see p. 38). JUNE/JULY 2018
The Telegraph reports that Christian leaders feel that the most important issue Israel has failed to address is the practice of some ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools which teach children that it is a religious obligation to abuse anyone in Holy Orders they encounter in public: “Such ultra-Orthodox Jews, including children as young as eight, spit at clergy on a daily basis.” Ruling on the case of a Greek Orthodox priest who had struck a yeshiva student who spat near him, a Jerusalem magistrate wrote, “Day after day, clergymen endure spitting by members of those fringe groups—a phenomenon intended to treat other religions with contempt...The authorities are not able to eradicate this phenomenon and they don’t catch the spitters, even though this phenomenon has been going on for years.”
RACIST FROM ITS EARLIEST DAYS
Racism has characterized Zionism from its earliest days. Zionists used the slogan “a land without people for a people without land.” But the land of Palestine was not empty when the first Zionist settlers arrived there in 1882. This fact was known to the Zionist leaders even before the first Jewish settlers arrived from Europe. A delegation sent to Palestine by the early Zionist organizations reported back to their colleagues, “The bride is beautiful but married to another man.” According to Israeli historian Benny Morris, the early Zionist settlers referred to the indigenous Arabs as “mules” and “behaved like lords and masters, some apparently resorting to the whip at the slightest provocation, a major source of Arab animosity.” The Russian Jewish writer and philosopher Ahad Ha’am wrote in 1891 that the settlers “behaved toward the Arabs with hostility and cruelty, trespass unjustly upon their boundaries, beat them shamefully and even boast about it.” He reported in 1893 that, “The attitudes of the colonists to their tenants and their families is exactly the same as toward their animals...We are accustomed to believing...that the Arabs are desert savages, a people like donkeys, and they neither see nor understand
what is happening around them. But that is a great mistake.” Ha’am surmised that aggressive settler attitudes stemmed from anger “toward those who reminded them that there is still another people in the Land of Israel that have been living there and do not intend to leave.” Israeli historian Zeev Sternhell, one of the world’s leading authorities on fascism, laments that Israel is confronted with growing fascism and racism. He writes: “I frequently ask myself how a historian in fifty or one hundred years will interpret our period. When, he will ask, did people in Israel start to realize that the state that was established...on the ruins of European Jewry...had devolved into a true monstrosity for its non-Jewish inhabitants. When did some Israelis understand that their cruelty and ability to bully others, Palestinians or Africans, began eroding the moral legitimacy of their existence as a sovereign entity?” Advocates of liberal democracy in Israel, he continues, are “...no longer capable of overcoming the toxic ultra-nationalism that has evolved here, the kind whose European strain almost wiped out the majority of the Jewish people...We see not only a growing Israeli fascism but racism akin to Nazism in its early stages...According to Likud leaders, the Arabs aren’t Jews, so they cannot demand ownership of any part of the land that was promised to the Jewish people. According to this view, a Jew from Brooklyn, who has never set foot in this country, is the legitimate owner of this land, while a Palestinian, whose family has lived here for generations, is a stranger, living here only by the grace of the Jews...This is the situation with regard to Sudanese and Eritrean asylum seekers and their children, who are Israeli for all intents and purposes. This is how it was with the Nazis...” Israel repeatedly refers to itself as a “Jewish state,” but its current direction represents a rejection of traditional Jewish moral and ethical values. Slowly, more and more American Jews, who believed Israel shared their values, are coming to the realization that it does not. ■
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ARAB AMERICAN ACTIVISM The Arab American Institute Foundation (AAIF) held its 20th annual Kahlil Gibran Spirit of Humanity Awards gala on April 26 at the JW Marriott in Washington, DC. More than 600 guests came from across the country to recognize individuals and organizations for their service. The evening’s master of ceremonies, Wall Street Journal reporter Vivian Salama, launched the evening with a quote from Gibran, who said, “I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy. I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy.” Irish senator and award-winning singer Frances Black, who established the RISE Foundation to support families affected by addiction, received this year’s Individual Achievement award. Taha Alhuraibi, executive chef and co-owner of Saba’ Restaurant in Virginia, presented the Award for International Commitment to Michelinstarred chef and food and hunger advocate José Andrés. Andrés and his World Central Kitchen delivered millions of meals after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico. He said, “I learned that, by spending time in places like Haiti and other countries, if I want to give my daughters a better world it will not be by building walls that will make them somehow blind to what’s happening in the world. But by helping these other countries is the way I will really give safety to America...” When the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)’s executive director Anthony Romero accepted his organization’s Award for Institutional Excellence, he offered some sharp criticism: “Trump is at war with the ideals of justice, democracy, liberty and equality—and those ideals have defined the essence of our nation. It is hard to escape the idea that we’re living in Donald Trump’s America, which seems to be a nation defined by rage, racism and resentment. But remember this, my friends, that even when the president is at his worst and even when he seems willing to smash a treasured tenant of American democracy on a petulant whim: 42
PHOTO COURTESY AAI
Annual Kahlil Gibran Spirit of Humanity Awards
Kahlil Gibran Spirit of Humanity awardees (l-r) Anthony Romero, Ambassador Marcelle M. Wahba, Sen. Frances Black and José Andrés.
We do not live in Donald Trump’s America, Donald Trump lives in our America.” Ambassador Marcelle M. Wahba was honored for her 22-year career as a diplomat, climbing the ranks of the Department of State to become the first female ArabAmerican ambassador to the UAE. In her remarks upon receiving the Najeeb Halaby Award for Public Service, Wahba noted, “The catastrophic consequences of the invasion of Iraq, the subsequent rise of the Islamic State group and the ongoing war in Afghanistan demonstrate the folly of the United States trying to impose its will on the region. For far too long, the U.S. has focused on, and invested almost exclusively in, the military-to-military ties that now define most of our bilateral agreements.” AAIF executive director Maya Berry highlighted some of the work AAI has done to foster a sense of community for Arab Americans and urged attendees to continue to fight racism, xenophobia and bigotry. She noted that the previous day the Supreme Court had heard oral arguments against this administration’s attempt to ban Muslims from the U.S. That morning, a man who expressed extraordinary bigotry toward Muslims and members of the LGBTQ+ community—among others—was approved to be the nation’s top diplomat. She urged “each and every sin-
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gle one of us—without regard for party— to affirm those voices advancing fear do not represent us.” —Muna Howard
Arab-American Women Celebrate International Women’s Day
The National Arab American Women’s Association (NAAWA) held its annual International Women’s Day dinner at the Sheraton Tysons Hotel in Virginia on March 25. NAAWA’s mission is to empower ArabAmerican women of all ages to voice their views and to stand up for issues that impact their community. Organizers invited an inspiring young Latino-Arab-American man, Ammar CampaNajjar, a candidate for Congress in California, to address the dinner. Raised in San Diego, his family spent four years in Gaza getting to know their Arab family until war broke out. His mother returned to California with her two sons and struggled to make ends meet. Campa-Najjar worked as a church janitor and soon became a youth leader in the church while he attended college. After volunteering for President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign, Campa-Najjar served on a team that selected the 10 letters the president read every night. Reading thousands of letters from citizens, he learned about the hopes, fears and daily struggles of the American people. Campa-Najjar said he JUNE/JULY 2018
and Rand Shihab. The reception featured Palestinian wine and beer from Lebanon and traditional food. Muath Edriss and his Maqam band provided lively music to accompany a professional dabke dance group and tempt even reluctant dancers to the dance floor. —Delinda C. Hanley
Candace Lightner describes a powerful role model—her mother.
Dr. Amal David thanked all the volunteers and interns who helped make the reception a success. Jean R. Abinader, a founding board member of the Arab American Institute—a co-sponsor of the event— encouraged everyone to support Arab America in building stronger platforms for representing the community. Nearly 250 guests also heard short remarks from Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (NY), who represents one of the largest Yemeni communities in the U.S., and Tunisian Ambassador to the U.S. Fayçal Gouia. Famed Lebanese-American artist Helen Zughaib exhibited her latest series, “Syrian Migration Series,” which illustrates the catastrophic refugee crisis. Her desperate Syrian women and children may be wearing colorful clothes, but their hopeless flight from certain death in search of asylum in Turkey, France and Germany is troubling. Models turned the stage into a fashion catwalk wearing traditional and modern dresses designed by Khouloud Khoury
hopes to make a difference and help America become more fair, just and inclusive. Next to speak was Maya Berry, executive director of Arab American Institute, who travels the country speaking out against Islamophobia and the Muslim ban, and works to improve human rights and international relations. Berry started her career in public service working for ACCESS, and went on to become legislative director for House Minority Whip David Bonior (D-MI). Candace Lightner, founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and “We Save Lives,” which seeks to put a stop to distracted driving, described her LebaneseAmerican mother, another strong woman. Despite her pride in her Arab roots and the fact that she was president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) from October 1994 to March 1995, Lightner’s Arab-American heritage is rarely mentioned in press reports. Arab-American women artists exhibited their work and donated artwork for an auction to raise money for the education of refugee children. The dinner concluded with music by acclaimed Syrian opera singer Lubana Al-Quntar. —Delinda C. Hanley
MUSLIM AMERICAN ACTIVISM Muslim Day at the Capitol Brings Constituents, Legislators Together
More than 600 students and others from across California descended on Sacramento April 23 for the seventh annual “Muslim Day at the Capitol” hosted by the California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CA). In a noon press conference on the Capitol steps, California state Assembly members, CAIR officials and community members addressed important legislative agenda issues. “When it comes to the Muslim community, communities of diversity and our immigrant communities, these are dark times,” said California state Assembly member David Chiu (D-17th Assembly District), author of the anti-bullying bill which CAIR-CA co-sponsored. “When we have a so-called president who has suggested that he wants to deport our immigrant communities, kick out our Muslim communities, I’m here to say on behalf of so many California leaders, we stand with you; we will fight
Arab America Celebrates Arab American Heritage Month
Arab America held its third annual National Arab American Heritage celebration on April 12 at its offices in We Work White House in Washington, DC. Arab America’s president, Warren David, welcomed guests, saying, “This is the one time in the year when we, as Arab Americans, get to toot our horn and say who we are. We are proud of our traditions, proud of our music, our cuisine, and our accomplishments. We have been here for over 100 years and we have contributed so much to our American society.” JUNE/JULY 2018
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Arab Americans rejoice in their heritage.
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license or identification number, individual taxpayer identification number or municipal identification number. School Safety: Bullying (AB2291), which would require the Department of Education to make available online training modules developed by the department addressing bullying or bullying prevention and provide an annually updated list of other training modules related to bullying. —Elaine Pasquini
Attendees at “Muslim Day at the Capitol” listen to speakers at a press conference outside Sacramento’s Capitol.
with you; we are all Muslim with you together.” Recounting the days when the U.S. government incarcerated Japanese Americans in detention camps in this country during World War II, and the 1950s, when Chinese Americans were surveilled by the FBI for suspicions of being Communist terrorists, he said, “We stand with you today because we cannot allow history to repeat itself. If Donald Trump wants to come after any of us, for many of us—at least on the Democratic side—he’s going to have to come through all of us.” Dr. Hatem Bazian, provost, professor and co-founder of Berkeley-based Zaytuna College, began his keynote address by reminding the audience that their Assembly representatives worked for them. “If they don’t do their work, you have the right to fire them,” the professor averred. Noting there are some people who said Muslims shouldn’t be in this country, he pointed out, “They are the same people who said African Americans and Latinos don’t belong in this country. The story of America belongs to everyone. Muslims will write their own narrative in this country, whether Trump likes it or not,” Bazian said. He praised California for being inclusive and welcoming. “We will write the new agenda for the future from California, because what happens here will change the country,” 44
Bazian told his audience. "I’m happy to see CAIR is shaping the agenda of the future.” State controller Betty Yee, a longtime CAIR supporter, emphasized the importance of the upcoming federal census, noting that Basim Elkarra, executive director of CAIR’s Sacramento Valley chapter, has been appointed to California’s Complete Count Census Committee by Gov. Jerry Brown. Other speakers included Shirley Weber (D-79th Assembly District), CAIR-SFBA executive director Zahra Billoo,Yasmine Nayabkhil, a victim of school bullying, and Raj Manni, father-in-law of Stephon Clark, the unarmed 22-year-old African-American man fatally shot multiple times by Sacramento police officers on March 18. During the day, attendees met with legislators and staffers in their Capitol offices to urge passage of the following bills: Policy Accountability and Community Protection Act (AB931), which would authorize police officers to use deadly force only when necessary to prevent imminent and serious bodily injury or death. The bill would also establish that a homicide by an officer is not justified if the officer’s gross negligence contributed to the decision to use force. Business Licenses (AB2184), which would require cities and counties that license businesses within their respective jurisdictions to accept a California driver’s
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American Muslims for Palestine Holds Fourth Advocacy Day
American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) held its fourth Palestine Advocacy Day and training program from March 16 to 19 in Washington, DC. Over the past four years these annual meetings have grown from a small number of attendees and supporters to 250 participants of all backgrounds and faiths representing 25 states. The goal of the conference is to prepare the next generation of leaders, activists and advocates for Palestine by providing them with the basic tools for civic engagement with elected officials in different branches of government. Dr. Osama Abuirshaid, the national policy director of AMP, told attendees that the role of Palestinian Americans in the diaspora is to build relationships and advocate for Palestinian rights by presenting the Palestinian narratives. Sharing our perspectives and stories will complement the work of Palestinians in Palestine, he stated. After receiving training, attendees met with their elected representatives at various times. AMP participants visited the offices of more than 100 members of Congress. Many members of the AMP delegation attended a special meeting with Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN). They thanked her for sponsoring H.R. 4391, an historic bill that supports Palestinian human rights. According to human rights officials, 2017 was the worst year in history for the number of Palestinian children in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza who were detained or arrested without receiving medical care for their wounds and injuries. Brad Parker, a staff attorney and international advocacy officer with Defense for Children InJUNE/JULY 2018
American Muslims for Palestine advocates on Capitol Hill.
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tinians, she said, we can fight for human rights and our freedom of speech. Palestinians have resisted occupation using all forms of popular resistance, despite Israeli attempts to erase their identity. Stephen Bennett of the Institute for Palestine Studies said that its approach is to support the Palestinian cause by documenting and collecting information about violations of human rights against Palestinians and showing Palestinian history before and after the catastrophe of 1948. Jinan Shbat, events and outreach manager of CAIR in Washington, DC, informed attendees that great work always comes from partnerships among organizations. She urged allies to support each other and
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ternational-Palestine, spoke about the plight of Palestinian children who have been detained by the Israeli military, which is a violation of international law. Parker called on attendees to create spaces back home in their states to talk about Palestinian rights, partner with other organizations, and build alliances in mosques. Ahmed Bedier, a Florida-based community organizer and president of United Voices for America, pushed Muslims to prioritize civic engagement and discuss Palestinian human rights, including their right to live, and ending the occupation. One workshop panel trained attendees to raise awareness about the importance of respecting Palestinians’ right to live with dignity. Speakers emphasized the importance of becoming leaders in America and lobbying for Palestine. Leena Al-Arian, a conference organizer and speaker, encouraged Palestinian Americans to establish more non-Muslim allies and create partnerships with other organizations that support Palestinian civil rights. Together, pro-Palestine activists and Palestinian Americans living in the diaspora are demanding justice and a free Palestine. Neveen Ayesh, a Palestinian American law student at Missouri State, described her personal experience as a Palestinian immigrant in the United States. By sharing the stories we have experienced as Pales-
COURTESY AMP STAFF
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raise more awareness, and offered CAIR’s resources to AMP. AMP delegates presented three key issues to lawmakers: 1. Support H.R. 4391: The Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act; 2. Oppose S. 720: The Israel Anti-Boycott Act, which unconstitutionally punishes free speech; 3. Support the funding of UNRWA, for which the Trump administration drastically reduced funding this year, and which is certain to have a devastating effect on the lives of Palestinian refugees, especially the half a million children who attend UNRWA schools. Muslims remain active and optimistic, even at a time when the U.S. president is attempting to ban Muslims from entering the country and making illegal decisions about Jerusalem. —Wasan Abu Baker
Thousands of Muslims Attend ICNA-MAS Annual Convention
The annual Islamic Circle of North America and Muslim American Society (ICNA-MAS) convention, titled “50 Years: Sharing Islam, Serving Humanity,” featured renowned speakers in 100 sessions on Easter weekend, March 30 to April 1, at the Baltimore Convention Center. Established in 1968, ICNA supports the Muslim-American community through many branches and projects across North America. More than 20,000 attendees visited a huge bazaar full of books, CDs, prayer
Many young people attended the “#Justice4Stephon Rally” blocks from the ICNA-MAS convention. WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
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mats, halal food, and a rich array of products and services. Many chose to take advantage of matrimonial matchmaking, a job fair, a blood drive partnered with the Red Cross, and consultations with immigration lawyers. Programs for young Muslims included Qur’an recitation competitions, open mic poetry and cooking classes. At noon on April 1 at Baltimore Inner Harbor’s McKeldin Square, many national Muslim leaders spoke at the “#Justice4Stephon Rally for Racial Justice” to condemn violence targeting minority communities. Speakers demanded justice for 22-year-old Stephon Clark, who police shot 20 times in his grandmother’s backyard in Sacramento, CA on March 18. Speakers from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), ICNA’s Council for Social Justice, MPower Change, MAS and the Muslim Social Services Agency (MSSA) spoke out to galvanize their community to address the crisis of police-involved shootings in minority communities. Linda Sarsour, executive director of the New York-based organization MPower Change and a board member of the Women’s March, told Muslim protesters, “Until we are consistent voices for justice, you are not living up to being a whole Muslim. Activism is not a choice, sisters and brothers. It is your Muslim obligation to stand against injustice.” Sarsour also observed that society’s injustices are interconnected and that young Muslims are intersectional. She called on Muslims to be outraged at every shooting, not only when it comes to Muslims—Clark was an African-American Muslim. “The Muslim community is becoming organized, building power, coming out into the public and demanding justice,” she concluded. The next ICNA-MAS conference will also be held on Easter weekend, April 1921, 2019, this time in Washington, DC. —Delinda C. Hanley
order and suffering that hostility breeds. Seeking to encourage a more peaceful and cooperative regional order, Oman has a lengthy track record of serving as a mediator between competing factions. To reflect on the current status of the region, Sayyid Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi, secretary-general of Oman’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, appeared at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC on April 30. Al-Busaidi began by emphasizing Oman’s role as a behind-the-scenes mediator in the region. “We have a strong preference for quiet diplomacy,” he said, “because we find it the best way to get results. We believe in noninterference, and in particular the pursuit of good relations with all of our neighbors.” The diplomat said the command to “love your neighbor,” central to the Abrahamic faiths, is the basis of the Sultanate’s foreign policy. “What does this have to do with foreign policy?” he asked rhetorically. “Stripped of its ethical or sacred connotations, it might mean something like this: always start from the assumption that you and your neighbor share the same fundamental interests,” he explained. “We do, after all, share the same planet.” Such a view, al-Busaidi acknowledged, is at odds with the cynical zero-sum approach to foreign affairs practiced by most coun-
tries and endorsed by many scholars. “I’m aware that this might seem to fly in the face of many orthodox accounts of international relations, which assume a realist attitude on the part of global actors,” he said. The region’s current tumultuous state is evidence that the realist paradigm is untenable, he argued. “A different approach— more consistent, if I may suggest, with the command to love your neighbor—would be one in which no negotiation is ever seen as a zero-sum game,” he said. Sustainable peace and neighborly love require flexibility and a willingness to listen, al-Busaidi emphasized. “You enter the [diplomatic] process not seeking to maximize gains in line with your own perception of your own interests, but by seeking to understand the interests of your neighbor: What does he want? How might what he wants be compatible with what I want? Is there some solution to this problem that neither of us have yet thought of that might turn out to work better for both of us?” “Put your own interests to one side for one moment, and start with your neighbor’s interests,” al-Busaidi continued. “The answer, therefore, always starts with a dialogue. And dialogue starts with listening.” Turning to the current dynamic in the Middle East, al-Busaidi said the ongoing restructuring of regional relationships alarms Oman.
Omani Diplomat Calls for Foreign Policies Based on Love of Neighbor
Surrounded by war and division, the Sultanate of Oman is keenly aware of the dis46
Sayyid Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi, secretary-general of Oman’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, rejects the zero-sum approach to foreign affairs.
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DIPLOMATIC DOINGS
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“[The nuclear negotiations] were not the product of containment at all,” he maintained, but rather “the product of precisely the kind of active engagement in dialogue that the policy of containment tended to exclude.” During the question-and-answer session, al-Busaidi was peppered with questions about the ongoing conflicts in Yemen and Libya, and insinuations that some sides are more guilty than others in the divisions and wars plaguing the region. Time and again, the diplomat refused to give in to narratives that assign blame solely to one party, but instead encouraged a shift from accusatory narratives to a humble approach centered on listening, diplomacy and neighborly love as a means of reconciling the region’s many divides. —Dale Sprusansky
HUMAN RIGHTS Human Rights Defenders Hold Vigils for Aafia Siddiqui
Members of the Aafia Foundation held two vigils in Washington, DC on International Women’s Day, March 8, urging repatriation of Pakistani national Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, who is currently being held in solitary confinement in Carswell Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas. Siddiqui’s supporters gathered in front of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons headquarters in the morning and outside the entrance to the Pakistani Embassy in the late afternoon, as employees were leaving for the
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The deep division within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) due to the year-long Saudi Arabia/UAE/Bahrain-Qatar fissure has threatened the decades-long foundation of Gulf security, he noted. Oman believes that the GCC can be saved if all sides embrace diplomacy. “This is, after all, the Gulf Cooperation Council,” he pointed out, “and without dialogue there can be no cooperation.” Al-Busaidi also expressed concern about the erosion of Arab solidarity, a trend he said started with Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Today, he said, Arab disunity can be seen in the erosion of solidarity with the Palestinian people. “There is today, perhaps, less optimism, less resolve and less collective energy in the idea of collective Arab solidarity in support of Palestine,” he stated. Oman hopes that in addition to the rekindling of Arab solidarity, a sense of regional fraternity also emerges, particularly as it pertains to Iran. Al-Busaidi offered a harsh rebuke of the policy of containment the U.S. and its regional allies have pursed vis-à-vis Iran. For decades, he said, Muscat has believed that Tehran is willing to reach a détente with its Arab Gulf neighbors and Washington. “From around 1989,” he said, “it seemed to us Iran was engaged on a different path, open to a rapprochement with the United States and keen to become part of a regional status quo, in which it would not challenge the political status of its neighbors and in which it could pursue a kind of postrevolutionary normality. In the early 1990s, following the liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi occupation, we were optimistic that Iran might be included in a comprehensive new structure for regional security and stability.” Iran’s restraint during the war was a clear sign of its readiness to engage, al-Busaidi argued. “But the policy of containment prevailed, Iran continued to be seen as a threat, as something outside the regional order, as though it was not in fact a neighbor at all, but an intruder.” Isolating Iran and treating it as an outsider has failed as a geopolitical strategy, he contended. The Iran nuclear deal, which was made possible by Oman facilitating a dialogue between Iran and the U.S., is evidence that direct talks are the true road to peace.
day, to call attention to her plight. The Pakistani neuroscientist is serving an 86-year sentence following a 2010 conviction for attempted murder of FBI agents, U.S. soldiers and interpreters in Ghazni, Afghanistan while she was being interrogated for allegedly having ties to terrorists. Her supporters, including former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, believe the MIT-educated mother of three was falsely accused, wrongly arrested, denied due process and unjustly imprisoned. According to attorney Steve Downs, cofounder of Project SALAM, Siddiqui’s arrest was based on false information. She was flown to the U.S. and indicted in a New York federal district court in September 2008 on charges of assault and attempted murder of a U. S. Army captain in the police station in Ghazni. No charge of terrorism, however, was included in the indictment. After 18 months in detention, Siddiqui was tried and convicted on Feb. 3, 2010, despite the forensic and scientific evidence presented during the trial proving that she could not have committed the crimes for which she was charged. Siddiqui’s supporters are requesting that she be allowed communication with her family and also receive urgently needed medical care. The Aafia Foundation held a vigil for her on April 8 outside the Carswell Federal Medical Center. —Elaine Pasquini
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In celebration of Women’s History Month, the Near East section of the African and Middle Eastern Division of the Library of Congress presented a March 13 lecture by Betül Basaran, associate professor of religious studies at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Basaran, author of Selim III, Social Control and Policing in Istanbul at the End of the Eighteenth Century, spoke on the topic “Snapshots of Ottoman Women in Court Records.” “When we talk about Ottoman subjects we’re talking about all the people in the large area which comprised the Ottoman Empire,” Basaran said, displaying a map showing the transcontinental empire stretching from southeastern Europe across North Africa to western Asia. Although her research focused on Istanbul, this was a farflung multi-religious, multi-ethnic empire, she pointed out, comprising not only Muslims, but also Christians and Jews. Discussing the Ottoman Empire’s legal system, Basaran told her audience that while Islam was the primary religion, there were multiple legal systems functioning that served different purposes. The legal system that applied to Muslim subjects of the empire was based on the dual systems of sharia—the collection of Islamic principles—and what is known as the kanun, the Ottoman secular legal system, she explained. These two sets of laws guided the justice structure and, in theory, were meant to apply only to Muslim subjects of the empire. The Ottomans gave non-Muslims a significant degree of autonomy within their own community, and Jewish and Christian subjects, technically, were supposed to go to their own courts for matters of inheritance, marriage, divorce, custody, any kind of sale, property, guardianship and dowries. “The Islamic courts, however, gave them some extra options,” she emphasized. “I am not trying to make a statement about which type of law was more oppressive, but to point out that Muslim, Christian and Jewish women shared a common patriarchal culture. The daily 48
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Betül Basaran on Women’s Rights In the Ottoman Empire
Betül Basaran speaks on Ottoman women at the Library of Congress. lives and lifestyles of Ottoman women until the modern era did not differ a lot.” Examining the rights of Ottoman women, Basaran said that “although gender inequality and male dominance clearly prevailed in Islamic family law, research suggests that Christian, Jewish and Muslim women all used the Ottoman sharia court to their advantage, especially for economic transactions.” They bought and sold property, inherited and passed on their wealth, established endowments, borrowed and lent money, and even served as partners in businesses. “When we look at women’s financial activities, we see again from court records that Ottoman women were quite active in the urban economy of Istanbul as borrowers and lenders of money, buyers and sellers of property, founders of endowments, managers of businesses and landladies,” she said. “Middle-class women were very active in setting up small charitable family foundations that often included residential units, fountains, public baths and rental shops.” In certain fields, Basaran continued, women had full legal rights which were indistinguishable from males. “Their rights in managing property were identical to male rights. So even though the law and its application and interpretation clearly favored men over women, nevertheless
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women could seek justice in the courts based on these legal rights,” she said. “I would not take this so far as to suggest that this gave women complete control of their lives, but it was a huge privilege compared to other women around the same time,” she added. "Women who were aware of these advantages made it their regular business to go to the courts.” Concluding with a discussion on the Turkish suffragette movement in the 20th century, Basaran pointed out that in 1930 Turkish women were allowed to vote in local elections, and on Dec. 5, 1934, they won the right to vote in national elections, which was fairly early compared to the global trend. “These Ottoman women together achieved a lot of things,” she concluded, “and I would argue that it is a mistake to see them as separate entities and communities in the binary way that we tend to do today when it comes to Muslims.” —Elaine Pasquini
MUSIC & ARTS “Naila and the Uprising” Inspires
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snatched away from their own children. Upon her release, Naila requested permission to visit her husband in Cairo, where he had settled in order to be as close to his family as possible. She was repeatedly denied, until finally she was told that she and Majd could go to Cairo—as long as they stayed away for two years! It was a wrenching decision, but Naila ultimately accepted the Israeli terms in order to be with Jamal, who had never yet seen his son. “Naila and the Uprising” focuses on the first intifada’s nonviolent resistance, much of which was led by women—contrary to the popular images of young men throwing stones at Israeli soldiers. The Palestinian delegation to the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference, which included several women, was an expression of its grassroots nature. The news from Oslo, then, was shocking in many ways: negotiations with Israel had been conducted in secret, by an all-male Palestinian government in exile, and did not reflect the realities and demands of Palestinians living on the ground. The Palestinian negotiators in Oslo settled for much less. During the question-and-answer period following the screening, director Bacha and Suhad Babaa, executive director of Just Vision and the film’s executive producer, explained that, rather than emphasize what one viewer described as “brutal Israeli tactics,” the filmmakers
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ton’s E Street Cinema of their latest film, “Naila and the Uprising,” directed by Julia Bacha. The film opens with Naila Ayesh’s son Majd looking at family photos with his mother. He never knew the full story of Naila’s involvement in the first intifada, he explains, only learning bits and pieces at a time. He hesitated to ask more because he did not want to make his mother relive her experiences. But in the film, Naila tells her story. Her first memory of the occupation, she recalls, came in 1967, when she was an 8-year-old student in Jerusalem. There was a nearby explosion, and a school staff member went to investigate. When she returned, she reported to the principal that Israeli troops had demolished Ibrahim Ayesh’s house. She did not know that Naila was his daughter and that it was her family home. The Israeli occupation grew increasingly more entrenched, and when it was time to go to college Naila decided to attend school abroad, so she could devote herself to her studies in a less hostile environment. In Bulgaria, she met Jamal Zakout, who was from Gaza, and whose commitment to resisting the occupation resonated with her. The couple married and began life together in occupied Gaza. But theirs was not to be a normal marriage. Shortly after Naila became pregnant, she was arrested for her activism and imprisoned. As a result of the torture she endured—despite having told her Israeli jailers she was expecting a child—she miscarried, and wondered whether that was to be her only chance at motherhood. Following her release, she became pregnant again. But days before she was to give birth, the Israelis deported Jamal and other activists, denying her the comfort and support of her husband. Then, when Majd was still a baby, Naila was arrested and imprisoned again. Her in-laws flew to the child’s aid, but he was deprived of both parents, an untenable situation. Ultimately, Majd was allowed to join his mother in prison—where he took his first steps and was doted on by Naila’s fellow inmates, who had been
“chose to show the effect of that violence on one particular family” in order to “personalize the impact of occupation.” “There could be many films made from this narrative,” Bacha added. Clearly difficult choices had to be made. Audience members and the filmmakers alike were very receptive to one viewer’s suggestion that “Naila and the Uprising” should be screened in Oslo. Fortunately for Americans, this moving and inspiring film will be shown on PBS in the coming year, as part of the “Women, War & Peace” series. For more information on the film and its national and international screenings, visit <www.justvision.org> or follow Just Vision on Facebook and Twitter. —Janet McMahon
UPA Hosts Spring Benefit Concert Supporting People of Gaza
On May 6, United Palestinian Appeal (UPA) hosted its annual Spring Benefit Concert in support of the people of Gaza through the UPA Emergency Relief Fund. The concert featured selected works of the prolific Palestinian composer Amin Nasser, performed by world-renowned Palestinian pianist Fadi Deeb and rising Palestinian opera star Nour Darwish. Nasser, whose compositions were featured in the concert, has been a driving force in the advancement of classical music in Palestine. He draws inspiration from the works of Palestinian poets and artists, pro-
Women demonstrate during the first intifada.
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Rising Palestinian opera star Nour Darwish.
ducing compositions highlighting and honoring their art and their struggles to create a homeland for their people. Nasser pioneered music that incorporated themes from his Palestinian-Arab heritage into a classical framework, becoming the first Palestinian composer to introduce classical compositions to his culture and to his country. The benefit concert, hosted in Chevy Chase, MD at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Norwood Parish, drew more than 200 attendees and raised a record amount for the Emergency Relief Fund, currently benefitting hospitals in Gaza. The fund will provide vital medicines that are currently diminishing and will properly outfit storage space in local hospitals to serve as recovery rooms for 30 to 36 patients at a time. United Palestinian Appeal is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, working since 1978 to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people through non-political, non-religious humanitarian relief work. UPA will celebrate 40 years of service this coming September at its Anniversary Banquet. More information on UPA and its programs can be found at <www.upaconnect.org>. —Frances Sanchez
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Palestinian Ambassador Husam Zomlot said Bandak represents so many other determined Palestinian women who withstand pressure and adversity. People lined up for the rare chance to meet this woman whose images of major public figures in the Middle East, as well as iconic landscapes and people, have been exhibited around the world, including at the U.S. Capitol, the White House, and the Cultural Paralympics in Atlanta. Born in Jordan to a Palestinian family from Bethlehem, Bandak became the personal photographer of former Egyptian first lady Jehan Sadat and Queen Noor and the late King Hussein of Jordan. In 1983 Bandak established the photojournalism department at Jordan’s Yarmouk University. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1984,
at the peak of her career, Bandak designed a camera mount attached to her wheelchair and continued photographing. With encouragement from Princess Haifa Al Faisal of Saudi Arabia, Bandak made it her mission to help others with disabilities in the Middle East receive the same services she experienced in the West. Bandak has established the Assistive Technology Makes Independence Accessible (ATMIA) Foundation to help people with disabilities work and thrive in places where little thought is given to wheelchair accessible schools, public buildings or streets. As a result, disabled people are isolated in their communities and prevented from joining the workforce. Bandak is looking for sponsors to bring young Palestinians, especially those wounded in Gaza, to the U.S. to study assistive technology (a non-existent field in the Arab world). AT enables her to operate her wheelchair without the use of her limbs. The proceeds from sales of her photographs fund this cause. Watch Bandak’s inspirational interview with Gallery Al-Quds curator Dagmar Painter at <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikuL rvLtOIQ>. —Delinda C. Hanley
African American—Turkish Connections Through the Arts
Turks and Americans have enjoyed a cultural relationship extending back decades. In the 1960s and 1970s, American novelist James Baldwin (1924-1987) credited Turkey with “saving my life” be-
The Jerusalem Fund in Washington, DC was packed for the March 9 opening exhibition reception for Lily Bandak, an extraordinary photographer. Noting that the previous day was International Women’s Day, 50
Lily Bandak (l) describes her life’s work in an interview with Dagmar Painter.
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Lily Bandak: An Inspiring Life’s Work in Pictures and Advocacy
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A guest views Hulis Mavruk’s painting “35 Great Ladies” (1989) at the “African American Turkish Connections Through the Arts” exhibit.
cause of the freedom and lack of discrimination he experienced as an African American living and writing in Istanbul. Turkish entrepreneur Ahmet Ertegun (1923-2006) devoted much of his career to promoting African-American musicians and working for racial equality. A cofounder of Atlantic Records in 1947, he was also a prime mover in creating the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. While segregation prevailed in Washington, DC in the 1930s, Ertegun’s father, Munir Ertegun, Turkey’s ambassador to the United States, routinely hosted African-American musicians and guests at his official residence. A Feb. 28 reception and art exhibit at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill, co-hosted by the Turkish Heritage Organization and Turkish Coalition of America, celebrated the lives of these individuals and the longtime relationship between the U.S. and Turkey in the fields of music, writing and art. In addition to informational placards on the lives of Baldwin and Ertegun, 12 paintings by self-taught Turkish American artist Hulis Mavruk, who specializes in paintings of African Americans and their environment, were also on display. Now based in New York City, Mavruk grew up in Adana, Turkey, where he began his career painting portraits of American military officers serving at the JUNE/JULY 2018
nearby Incirlik Air Force Base. —Elaine Pasquini
“The Last Dance of Kocho...and Its Missing Girls”
In July 2014 Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants descended on Kocho, a Kurdish-speaking Yazidi village in northern Iraq, demanding that villagers convert to Islam. The following month ISIS soldiers separated Yazidi males from females, and young from old. Many older men and women were killed and hundreds of young Yazidi girls were kidnapped from Kocho and other Yazidi villages. The girls were sold, raped and abused, and only a few have been rescued or escaped. Voice of America journalist Amish Sri-
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vastava and Yazidi Iraqi artist Lukman Ahmad, collaborated to tell the victims’ stories in a unique and effective way. Ahmad painted 70 watercolor panels to illustrate the shocking incident, focusing on memories of the resilient survivors, including Nadia Murad, Bushra Elias and Lamiya Bashar. Using a combination of Ahmad’s paintings, video clips of the girls dancing at a wedding celebration before their kidnapping, and news reports, “The Last Dance of Kocho...and its Missing Girls,” is a 12-minute film that is heartbreaking, but not traumatizing, to its viewers. Srivastava and Ahmad answered questions from the deeply moved audience after a Feb. 3 screening of the film at the Jerusalem Fund in Washington, DC. The film has been translated into more than a dozen languages and is freely available to watch online at <https://filmfreeway.com/ 1402028>. —Delinda C. Hanley
A New Film Released on Moustapha Akkad
Malek Akkad and Michael Nash’s feature-length documentary “Not Without Nerve” is about the experiences of Akkad’s father, Moustapha Akkad, while making his landmark 1976 film “The Message,” which chronicles the life and times of the Prophet Muhammad. Both films were screened at the University of Southern California Cinematic Arts on Feb. 21 and 22. The new documentary tells us about the difficulties faced by the late interna-
Filmmakers Lukman Ahmad (l) and Amish Srivastava.
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Malek Akkad (l) and Michael Nash, co-directors and co-producers of the “Not Without Nerve” documentary on the late Moustapha Akkad.
more into my father’s works....Now that movie theaters are opening in Saudi Arabia we hope they will screen ‘The Message,’” which is also available at Middle East Books and More. —Samir Twair
Arab and Latino Music at UCLA
More than 450 people attended the MultiEthnic Star Orchestra (MESTO) concert March 17 at Schoenberg Hall of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). The audience had the opportunity to hear text and lyrics by José Montoya, an influential Chicano bilingual poet, recited by Abel Salas and Richard Montoya. It was a unique experience to hear music, poetry and orchestral ambience
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tional filmmaker before, during and after making “The Message.” Akkad almost gave up making his film, originally known as “Mohammad, Messenger of God,” until King Hassan II of Morocco invited him to start filming there. Later the king, without explanation, asked him to stop filming and leave the country. While he was wrapping up his operation in Morocco, Akkad pushed his crew to do more filming of the ka’bah [the most sacred site in Islam, located in Mecca], because he knew it would be difficult to create another ka’bah in a different Arab country. Soon Muslims began protesting Morocco’s ka’bah, arguing there should only be the original ka’bah in Saudi Arabia. Akkad received another invitation, this one from Col. Muammar Qaddafi, to finish the film in Libya. Akkad went there immediately and set up his studio in a small town in the Libyan desert and finished filming. The actors took turns doing the English and Arabic versions of each scene. Anthony Quinn played Hamza, the prophet’s uncle, in the English version. Akkad never showed Prophet Muhammad’s face in the film in accordance with Islamic tradition, which generally forbids any direct representation of religious figures. So he was shocked to see a protest at the 1977 opening night in Washington, DC. A splinter group of the Nation of Islam staged a siege of the Washington, DC chapter of B’nai B’rith under the mistaken belief that Anthony Quinn played Muhammad in the film. The standoff was resolved only after the deaths of a journalist and a policeman. The movie was banned in many Arab countries for a long time, but today nearly every Saudi household owns a copy of the film. “My father was fearless and wanted to make the movie his own way,” said Malek Akkad. “He asked the Arab leaders to give him 2 percent of their budgets to make movies about the Arabs and Muslims.” “Moustapha Akkad wanted to bridge the East and West through movies,” added Michael Nash. Malek Akkad concluded the evening by saying: “Our purpose in making this documentary is to have the people look
mixed with improvisation interaction from the Great Trio of UCLA, A.J. Racy (playing nay); Steven Loza (trumpet) and Münir Beken (oud). Maestro Nabil Azzam led the orchestra in playing waves of mesmerizing drones of popular, traditional and classical Arab music. Maestra Sonia Marie De Leon de Vega was another success story at the concert. She was a guest conductor and led the orchestra in the music of Abd al-Wahhab, “Al-Hobb al-Awwal” (“The first Love”) and “Perfidia” with star singer Suzanna Guzmán accompanied by piano and string quartet. What does this performance of Arab and Latino music mean? asked Dr.
Maestro Nabil Azzam and Jordanian singer Ayman Tayseer in the March 17 MESTO concert.
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Azzam. “It means MESTO performed music of two cultures equally honored on the same stage for a mixed audience.” “Bektob Esmik Ya Bladi” (“I write Your Name, My Country”) by Elie Chouery and Eviva Espana were performed by guest singer Maurice Raad. “Sanarji'u Yawman” (“We Shall Return One Day”) by the Rahbani Brothers and “Il-Hilwa Di” (“This Beautiful One”) by Sayyid Darwish were performed by guest singer Woroud. The concert concluded with four great Arab songs: “Safini Marra” (“Be Kind to Me”) by Muhammad El-Mougi, “'Ala Hisb Widad” (“Close to My Heart”) by Baligh Hamdi, “La Mush Ana” (“I Won’t Cry”) and “Kulli Dah Kan Layh” (“When I Saw Her Eyes”) both by Muhammad Abd al-Wahhab. These were performed by Jordanian guest star singer Dr. Ayman Tayseer, who came from Jordan for his first U.S. appearance. —Samir Twair
Celebration of Contemporary Saudi Art
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To celebrate Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington, DC, the Misk Art Institute and the Middle East Institute’s Arts and Culture program co-hosted a celebration of Saudi contemporary art and culture at the Kennedy Center on March 21. The Misk Art Institute is a new cultural organization established by the crown prince and led by Saudi artist Ahmed Mater. Soon to be headquartered in
Riyadh, with an international office in London, the institute will hold art education programs, exhibitions and events to encourage Saudi artists at home and enable cultural diplomacy and international exchanges abroad. Art lovers, many of them Saudi students studying on the East Coast, filled the atrium and foyers and admired cuttingedge art, photography and video from 33 of the Kingdom’s top artists. —Delinda C. Hanley
WAGING PEACE Debating the U.S. Decision to Pull Out of the Iran Deal
On May 8, President Donald Trump announced plans to reinstate economic sanctions on Iran and withdraw from the multinational Iran nuclear deal, officially titled the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). In rebuking the deal he stated, “It is clear to me that we cannot prevent an Iranian nuclear bomb under the decaying and rotten structure of the current agreement.” International inspectors and U.S. government officials have routinely confirmed that Iran is complying with the rigorous terms of the 2015 agreement. To discuss the ramifications of the withdrawal, on May 16 Washington, DC’s Arab Gulf States Institute (AGSIW) hosted a panel discussion titled “Gulf Dynamics After the JCPOA.” Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a
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political scientist specializing in Gulf affairs and a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics, expressed optimism that President Trump’s decision will lead to a better deal with Iran. He argued that the sanctions offer “more opportunities than risks” and “change the dynamics in the region [in favor of the Arab Gulf states],” adding “the balance of power is better off now than it was just a week ago.” Amid Arab Gulf—namely Saudi, Emirati and Bahraini—concerns of a strengthened Iran, Abdulla said the U.S. sanctions would create an “inward-looking Iran” that will “have to focus exclusively on [domestic] financial and economic ramifications.” He predicted that “Iran will have a problem selling its oil because of sanctions and will have less money going out to its proxies.” He praised Trump’s decision as one that will make it “easier to push Iran out of the region” and assist in the Arabian Gulf states’ “fundamental goal” of “confronting Iran.” Ambassador Thomas Pickering, a career U.S. diplomat and member of the AGSIW board of directors, lamented the failure of the Trump administration to produce a “plan B” before scrapping the deal, which he said provided “the tightest known grip on Iran’s nuclear capabilities.” The U.S. withdrawal, he added, is “not a very effective way of getting a deal.” It also remains unlikely that other signatories to the JCPOA, such as China and European countries, will agree to cooperate with U.S. sanctions, as they did prior to the deal’s signing in 2015. With questions looming over whether the European Union will be able to salvage the JCPOA following the U.S. withdrawal, Abdulla stressed the need for a new deal that will “roll back, reverse, and confront Iran in the region.” Abdulla insisted, “You have to include Iranian influence in whatever deal you’re going to have next time.” Pickering countered by describing the withdrawal as a “hand grenade in the efforts of getting to the table with Iran” and argued that it will be “harder to push Iran out of the region” as a result of the administration’s decision. He questioned the impact of U.S. sanctions on Iran’s regional
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Ambassador Thomas Pickering (l) and Abdulkhaleq Abdulla discuss U.S. sanctions on Iran. ambitions, saying Tehran’s regional policies were “never hamstrung by sanctions.” Abdulla and Pickering did agree that the U.S. move increases the chance of military confrontation in the region. Pickering stressed that if “sanctions don’t work, then war is next” and “we need to use diplomacy” because “war is not an ideal outcome.” However, Abdulla said the Gulf states are “ready for this possibility” and believe a war with Iran could benefit their standing in the region. According to Abdulla, the key question that remains is “how do we challenge expansionist Iran?” With Iran allegedly assisting in proxy wars in Syria and Yemen, in addition to its influence in Lebanon, he views Trump’s approach to Iran as “more firm than Obama’s” and feels “relief for the Gulf to have the U.S. see Iran as a key threat.” Abdulla argued that “America should encourage and invest in regime change in Iran.” Pickering noted that regime change has not been a formula for peace in the region. He described the U.S. invasion of Iraq as an “awful” decision and warned that “constant war between Iran and the Gulf states is not a long-term solution” to the region’s problems. —Conor Kelley
the elections, the Middle East Institute (MEI) held an event in Washington, DC on May 15 titled “A Tale of Two Elections: Recapping the Polls in Lebanon and Iraq.” The Sairoon (On the Move) Alliance, formed by Shi’i cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the Iraqi Communist Party, were the clear victors of Iraq’s May 12 election, taking 54 out of 329 parliamentary seats, according to preliminary results. The alliance is now in a favorable position to assemble the parliamentary bloc that will form the next government and determine the next prime minister. Al-Sadr’s victory is not an indication of a sectarian split in Iraq, said Abbas Kadhim, president of the Institute of Shi’a Studies. He noted that al-Sadr’s path to electoral success included outreach to both Sunnis and liberals, as well as benefiting from the long-standing trust of many Iraqi Shi’i. “Sadr took a great risk and it worked,” Kadhim said. “Thanks to the solid loyalty of his followers, he did not lose votes by allying himself with the communists and an assortment of other liberals—and also some Sunnis whose record is not very
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popular with Shi’i populations.” Al-Sadr is a critic of both U.S. and Iranian interference in Iraqi affairs. In another sign of improved sectarian relations, Kadhim noted that current Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi became the first Shi’i prime minster to carry a Sunni-majority province (Nineveh). “That is a very good reason to give hope that Iraqis are right now reaching across the sectarian divide and trusting each other,” he commented. AlAbadi’s Al-Nasr Alliance underperformed nationally, however, securing 39 seats. Kadhim also commended al-Abadi for giving a concession speech and congratulating al-Sadr via phone, saying such cordiality and respect for electoral outcomes is a healthy sign for Iraq’s developing democracy. Despite al-Abadi having overseen the collapse of ISIS during his prime ministership, Kadhim said many Iraqis were nonetheless disappointed in his failure to make progress on economic and governance issues. These grievances, coupled with the fact that many Iraqis credit the defeat of ISIS to Iranian-backed militias, likely explain the prime minister’s disappointing electoral performance, Kadhim said, as well as a lower than expected voter turnout. Omar al-Nidawi, Iraq director at Gryphon Partners, cited a May 14 al-Sadr tweet as an indication that the cleric seeks to form a broad governing coalition. In the tweet, he signaled a willingness to partner with a wide array of groups, including al-Abadi’s Al-Nasr Alliance. Of note, al-Sadr excluded the Al-Fatah Alliance, led by Hadi Al-Amiri, a militia leader with close ties to Iran who commanded forces in the fight against ISIS. Along with the Al-Fatah Alliance,
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Moderator Randa Slim (l) and Abbas Kadhim discuss the impact of Muqtada al-Sadr’s successful showing in Iraq’s May 12 election.
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Elections in Iraq and Lebanon: Results and Implications
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Kansas Attempts to Tweak Unconstitutional Anti-Israel Boycott Law
On March 26, Kansas House Bill 2778 passed by a roll call vote of 93-30, revising the requirement for contractors seeking to do business with the state to certify in writing that they are not participating in a boycott against Israel. This revised bill, which died in a Senate committee on May 4, was in response to a court injunction after the passage in June 2017 of HB 2409 by a roll call vote of 116-9 that required written certification of non-participation in a boycott of Israel. When HB 2409 was first introduced, State Rep. Boog Highberger (DLawrence) declined to support it due to Israel’s human rights violations and illegal occupation of the Palestinian West Bank territories and Gaza, calling the 140-square-mile besieged Palestinian enclave “…an open-air concentration camp.” Other legislators warned House members that the bill was in conflict with First Amendment rights. The bill was the subject of a federal lawsuit, Koontz vs. Watson, filed in October 2017 by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of the Mennonite Church USA and church member Esther Koontz, a curriculum coach for public schools in Wichita. The church earlier had unanimously adopted a position on the Israeli boycott when it passed a reso-
lution entitled “Seeking Peace in Israel and Palestine.” The resolution calls on Mennonites “to take active and specific steps to redress” the “injustice and violence that both [Palestinians and Jews] have experienced.” The Mennonite resolution also “urge[s] individuals and congregations to avoid the purchase of products associated with acts of violence or policies of military occupation, including items produced in the settlements.” Koontz, who had been selected as a teacher trainer in math and science by the Kansas State Department of Education, refused to sign the anti-Israel boycott certification as a condition of her employment. In her refusal she stated, “As a matter of conscience I am not able to sign this Boycott of Israel waiver.” Her refusal resulted in her exclusion from the program. In response, the ACLU filed a lawsuit based on the violation of Koontz’s First and 14th Amendment rights protecting political expression and association, along with equal protection under the law. U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree issued a temporary injunction in January 2018, stating in part that “The court has rightly recognized the serious First Amendment harms being imposed by this misguided law, which imposes an unconstitutional ideological litmus test.” He added: “This ruling should serve as a warning to government officials around the country that the First Amendment
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which won the second most seats (44) in the election, al-Sadr also excluded former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law Coalition, which won 25 seats. While al-Sadr’s alliance has the upper hand to control the government, both experts stressed that it is still too early to determine what shape Iraq’s next government will take, given the complex negotiations underway in the wake of the election. The panel’s experts on Lebanon dismissed the mainstream narrative that the May 6 election results were a major coup for Hezbollah. Paul Salem, MEI’s senior vice president for policy research and programs, said Hezbollah and its coalition, which won roughly 40 of 128 seats, certainly performed well, but that their gains were not large enough to dramatically alter the status quo. He predicted Prime Minister Saad Hariri and President Michel Aoun would remain in their positions. Salem also noted that the results indicate Sunnis and Christians are becoming somewhat more critical of Hezbollah, a Shi’i group. The Lebanese Forces, a Christian party opposed to Hezbollah, performed better than expected, winning 15 seats, he pointed out, while the Free Patriotic Movement, a Christian party led by President Aoun that has positive relations with Hezbollah, underperformed, securing 23 seats. Prime Minister Hariri’s Sunni Future Movement also performed poorly, winning 20 seats. Salem believes some Lebanese Christians and Sunnis are displeased with Hariri and Aoun’s accommodating approach toward Hezbollah. “Hariri may be feeling that he needs to pivot a bit away from his Aounist-Hezbollah positioning,” Salem commented. He added that, longer-term, Hezbollah is likely concerned that this sentiment could lead to the group eventually losing influence with leaders of the Christian and Sunni communities. MEI senior fellow Bilal Saab agreed with this assessment. “Moving forward, Hezbollah is going to be worried about having two understandings with major figures in the next government—Michel Aoun and Saad Hariri—whose own support bases may have difficulties with the policies they pursue,” he stated —Dale Sprusansky
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prohibits the government from suppressing participation in political boycotts.” The attempt to pass the revised bill which removed the requirement for individuals to certify their non-participation in a boycott against Israel while still requiring corporations to do so, was a ludicrous legislative attempt to circumvent the court’s injunction, especially in light of the Supreme Court’s January 2010 5-4 ruling in the case Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission that found corporations “have the same free speech rights as individuals covered by the First Amendment.” The revised bill also redefined the word “contract” as “a written agreement between the state and a company” having “an aggregate price of more than $100,000”—the only difference being that the amount of a contract has become the determinate for the certification requirement. The unconstitutionality of the law as determined by the federal court ruling did not delineate monetary value as a measure of one’s rights, nor does the Constitution of the United States. Since the court in its January 2018 finding has already established that the certification requirement is unconstitutional, the revision was a non-starter that would only have resulted in further litigation. Oddly, too, the revised bill claimed that Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land is a sound business practice, by stating: “Israel is known for its dynamic and innovative approach in many business sectors, and a company’s decision to discriminate against persons or entities doing business in Israel or in territories controlled by Israel is an unsound business practice making the company an unduly risky contracting partner.” Lastly, both the original and revised bills contained an out from certification by declaring: “The secretary of administration may…waive application of [the certification requirement] if the secretary determines that compliance is not practicable.” In addition to being unconstitutional, then the newly revised law was non-practicable. —Phil Pasquini 56
Protesters outside AIPAC’s annual conference.
Activists Rally Against AIPAC in Washington, DC
As the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) launched its annual policy conference March 4 at Washington, DC’s Walter E. Washington Convention Center, hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists protested outside the event. The human rights defenders oppose AIPAC’s unconditional support for the Israeli government’s illegal policies of occupying and confiscating Palestinian land and the Israeli military’s inhumane treatment of Palestinians. The protesters also rallied against the annual $3.1 billion of American taxpayers’ money sent to Israel each year, especially as President Donald J. Trump has slashed aid to the Palestinians and in his budget has imposed drastic cuts to the State Department and other agencies. The rally was organized by the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, ANSWER Coalition, Code Pink and Jewish Voice for Peace, among others. —Elaine Pasquini
Trump’s Palestine Policy Reversals: Political and Legal Ramifications
The Arab Center Washington DC (ACW) hosted a March 27 panel at the National Press Club titled “Trump’s Policy Reversals on Palestine: Political and Legal Ramifications.” ACW executive director Khalil E. Jahshan asserted that U.S.-Palestinian relations have deteriorated to the “worst level ever” since President Donald Trump’s Dec.
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6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. As a result, 88 percent of Palestinians polled in March viewed the American role in the peace process as biased in favor of Israel. Jahshan asked panelists to discuss “the regional and international implications of this policy change” and its impact on the U.S. “traditional role in mediating the ArabIsraeli conflict.” University of Maryland Prof. Shibley Telhami acknowledged that the Palestinian issue is not a priority for Arab governments distracted by wars in Libya, Syria and Yemen, as well as by Gulf rivalries—although, he added, “there is a reservoir of support for Palestinians among the Arab public.” Palestinians’ internal divisions and political paralysis leave them with few political cards to play. “The two-state solution is still alive because the alternatives are much worse,” Telhami stated, adding that he was puzzled that Trump had made his Jerusalem declaration before unveiling his promised peace deal. University of Virginia Professor emeritus William Quandt described Trump’s peace deal as “phony,” and warned that, “For the near term, I don’t really see that there is going to be any real diplomacy on IsraelPalestine.” Instead, he predicted that the administration would shift its emphasis to Iran. John B. Quigley, professor of law at Ohio State University, noted that since 1949, when Israel applied for membership in the United Nations, its government has considered Jerusalem an inseparable part of the Israeli state. After capturing East Jerusalem in 1967, the Israeli state has JUNE/JULY 2018
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(L-r) Khalil Jahshan, Professors Shibley Telhami, William B. Quandt and John B. Quigley and Dr. Yousef Munayyer agree that U.S.-Palestinian relations are at the worst level ever.
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Gaza From the Inside with Brian Barber
Brian K. Barber, Ph.D., took his Palestine Center audience on a virtual trip to Gaza from Washington, DC on April 6. Barber is professor emeritus of child and family studies at the University of Tennessee, where he founded and directed the Center for the Study of Youth and Political Conflict. Before we set off on our Gaza tour, Dr. Barber gave a short history of Gazans’ historical resilience as they faced invaders from Macedonian Alexander the Great to British Gen. Edmund Allenby. Today it’s Israel, which forbids filming as iron gates open and close remotely along the long walk from Erez checkpoint through no-man’s-land into Gaza. As soon as Barber catches a cab he begins filming from its front seat and narrating his whirlwind tour of Gaza. They drive
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worked tirelessly—and mostly under the international radar—to reduce the population of Arabs. Israel considers Jerusalem Arabs to be “residents” whose residency can be forfeited if they travel abroad or are perceived as not loyal to Israel. Under international law, he explained, such measures of population transfer under occupation are considered war crimes. Executive director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights Yousef Munayyer recalled Trump’s campaign promises to make "the deal of the century" and bring peace to Israel and Palestine. That “honeymoon period” in the U.S.-Palestinian relationship ended with the appointment of inexperienced and biased negotiators and the president’s May 2017 trip to the region, when his administration began hinting about a big “regional deal.” Munayyer lamented “the low that we are at today,” including support for the Taylor Force Act in Congress, the threat of closing the PLO General Delegation office in Washington, and the Jerusalem decision. “Trump won’t utter the words ‘two states,’” Munayyer asserted. He has taken Palestinian statehood and Jerusalem off the table and denounced UNRWA, which constitutes an attack on Palestinian refugees. Trump’s opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, when Palestinians commemorated the Nakba, represented “a clear message to Palestinians that Washington intends to add insult to injury,” and ended all pretense of American neutrality. —Delinda C. Hanley
Brian Barber, Ph.D. takes viewers to Gaza.
to Beit Hanoun’s waste water treatment plant and the strawberry fields at Beit Lahiya, past the power plant Israel always bombs, on to Gaza City and the beach, where, he remarks, the new beach road is nearly all paved, thanks to the Qatar fund. His tour captures the tenacity of Palestinians trying to maintain a normal life for viewers, like this reporter, who have never been permitted to enter Gaza. Barber is nearly finished writing a book (working title: Surviving Betrayal: Coming of Age in the Gaza Strip) about the lives of six men and their families from the Gaza Strip whom he has interviewed regularly for more than 20 years. He first met them as youths shortly after the first Palestinian intifada (1987-1993). He hopes his book will help readers get to know normal, humble Palestinians, who are anxious to tell their stories and not to be defined by numbers and statistics. He first met two of the young boys as he was photographing the sunset. They welcomed him to Gaza and asked him to send them his photos. When he visited a school, one girl slipped him a note asking him to tell his people when he went home “we are not all terrorists.” Many college students asked him if he liked Gaza and if he’d ever come back. The world looks away from Gaza, paying attention only when things get bloody, Barber noted glumly. Gazans, including his six subjects, feel disrespected and distained, their lives unworthy and their blood cheap. In 1998 Bill Clinton became the first U.S. president to visit Gaza. After his departure he authorized the bombing of Iraq, which had always been a friend to Gaza. “Their new friend stabbed them in the back,” Barber said. “They feel betrayed by the West and their Arab brothers.” Despite their calamitous situation, the men he has come to know so well in the past 23 years expect justice and hold fast to their beliefs in religion, family and the value of education. On his last trip, Barber found his friends somber, carrying unbearable economic burdens due to humiliating salary cuts. They feel trapped by the siege and treated as sub-human. They believe that “Israel plans to kill us fast or kill us
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Activists Protest Israeli Attack on Palestinians
In San Francisco, some 200 human rights defenders protested March 31 against the Israeli military’s killing of 17 Palestinians, most between the ages of 17 and 35, in Gaza the previous day. More than 1,400 Palestinians were injured in the attack. Some 773 were shot with live ammunition; others with deadly rubber-coated steel bullets. An estimated 30,000 Gazans participated in the March 30 rally commemorating “Land Day,” when on that day in 1976 Israeli soldiers killed six Palestinians protesting the Israeli takeover of their land. This year’s rally also marked the beginning of a six-week remembrance of the 1948 Nakba (catastrophe), when Israel officially became a state and expelled more than 750,000 Palestinians from their homes. Sporting Palestinian keffiyehs, waving Palestinian flags and carrying signs reading “Let Gaza Live” and “Support the Palestinian Right of Return,” the protesters denounced the killings and Israel’s more than decade-old blockade of the beleaguered 140-square-mile enclave, and demanded that Palestinians be given the right to return to their homes within Israel.
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“We’re standing by Palestinians who are demanding their right to return to their land,” Nadya Tannous, education and advocacy coordinator with Interfaith Peace-Builders, told the crowd. “We know that returning home is not a crime.” Charging that the U.S. government is “equally as guilty for the massacre which took place in Gaza yesterday as is the Israeli armed forces,” Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition’s West Coast coordinator Richard Becker noted: “Without the emboldening projections coming from Washington to the Israeli leaders, I don’t think they would feel they could do everything they are doing right now.” Becker also pointed out that prior to the Gaza march’s start, Jason Greenblatt—former New York real estate lawyer for Donald Trump, now chief negotiator for the United States in the Middle East—issued a statement calling the march “a hostile attack on Israel.” To the Israelis, as well as the Palestinians, Becker said, that translates as a message from Washington that Israel “can do whatever you want; we stand behind you.” Linda Ereikat of the General Union of Palestinian Students at San Francisco State University condemned Israel as a settler colonialist power which has committed “settler colonial genocide” for 70 years. “We’re here today to protest genocide and to tell the world that Palestinians are human be-
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ings,” she said. “We’re here because time and time again Gaza is forgotten.” The rally was organized by the ANSWER Coalition, the Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC) and the Palestine Action Network. —Elaine Pasquini
Iqraa: Running for a Brighter Palestine! Ready for Year Eleven
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slow.” Still—somehow—they’re holding fast to their honor and dignity. —Delinda C. Hanley
I didn’t have many goals for the Richmond marathon. I planned simply to go out with the 4:30 (4 hrs., 30 min.) pace group and see how long I could stay with them. This strategy worked for roughly the first 15 miles, but crossing the long and barren Lee Bridge left me behind and out of sight of the 4:30 Pacers. I kept plugging along, but by Mile 18 clumps of runners were beginning to pass me, as I felt myself slowing and drifting back into the field. Recognizing that these runners weren’t exactly speeding along—but I couldn’t keep up anyway—was a further morale blow. I changed strategy to a run-walk every two miles, which quickly led to a walk every mile by Mile 20. And I wasn’t picking up the pace much after my walk break. I admitted to myself that I was rudderless and my morale was reeling. I hung on—finishing wasn’t in doubt, but finishing with pride was. And then, at Mile 21, I became the benefactor of someone’s plan to help runners who lacked one. The 4:45 pace group came along as I was walking through an aid station, drinking a cup of water. I looked at them, at their steady pace, and knew that I could keep up with them. I didn’t know for how long, but decided to cross that bridge when I reached it. Mile after mile for the final 5 miles, I just ran with those experienced pace runners. As I crossed the finish line in a time of 4:44.00, I thought of the outcome: I’d run a race that I was clearly physically capable of running, yet just an hour earlier had been mentally incapable of attempting. As I reflected further, it seemed fully analogous to the challenge faced by the university scholars Iqraa supports in Gaza and West Bank universities each year. These Palestinian students are JUNE/JULY 2018
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Iqraa’s 2017 Marine Corps Marathoners.
fully capable of completing their studies, obtaining the degree that will give them pride and make them employable. And yet, without external support—call it the scholarship pace group—their prospects of finishing their studies fade away. I now think of Iqraa as the scholarship pace group, “Running for a brighter Palestine!” Here are a few things you need to know about Team Iqraa, which began our 11th season on Saturday, May 5. Our slogan reflects our desire to improve educational opportunities for Palestinians. Iqraa—“Read” in Arabic—is a team of runners and volunteers who raise funds for university scholarships in Gaza and the West Bank. When training started on May 5, the first run was 1 mile for half-marathoners and 3 miles for marathoners. The mileage increased incrementally through October. Iqraa runners reflect a diverse background, and all runners are welcome. Iqraa is non-sectarian and non-political. We’re united by our love of “Running for a brighter Palestine!” All the funds Iqraa runners raise are administered by United Palestinian Appeal (UPA), which has a four-star rating (the highest) assessed by Charity Navigator. Iqraa has two important partnerships with 501(c)(3) organizations. One is with UPA, for whom our runners and volunteers have raised more than $230,000 since 2008, all for education projects. We JUNE/JULY 2018
also partner with the Marathon Charity Cooperation, an umbrella group of locally based charities, many with an international focus. The MCC and its charity partners provide training and race day support for all our runners. This includes coaches, running advice, pace groups, food, drink and shelter on race day. We train at about a half-dozen trails in the metropolitan DC area on a rotating basis. Here’s an important fact about our Iqraa runners: We have runners at all levels: fast and slow, beginners and veterans. All that matters is a desire to work to improve educational opportunities for Palestinians. Even so, our runners include some outstanding achievers. Some of us have become certified coaches through a program run by the Road Runners Club of America. And several Iqraa runners have qualified for the prestigious Boston Marathon, probably the most elite of American marathons because of its time-based qualification regime. Iqraa has established itself as a permanent fixture on the Washington, DC running and volunteer-philanthropy scene. Since 2008, more than 150 Iqraa runners have completed the Marine Corps Marathon or 10K, the Baltimore Running Festival Half-Marathon or 5K, and a number of other long-distance races such as the Richmond, Twin Cities and Boston Marathons. This year, we’re running the Prince William Half-Marathon on Sept. 30 and the Marine Corps Marathon on Oct.
28; however, runners can also pick other races that are compatible with our MayOctober training schedule. In 2017, Iqraa raised more than $25,000—enough to fund about 25 scholarships for the students in the program with UPA. We would love to have more runners so we can support more of these deserving students. UPA works with nine universities to facilitate such scholarships, including six in the West Bank— Birzeit, Al Quds, Dar al Kalima, An Najah, Bethlehem University, and Palestine Polytechnic—and three in Gaza, including Al Azhar, University of Palestine, and University College of Applied Sciences. Here are two final thoughts about our program. First, running with Team Iqraa is a great way to get in shape or improve running fitness, meet good and dedicated people, and perform selfless charity work for a great cause. As our runners have proved, anyone willing to make the commitment can be an Iqraa runner and complete a long-distance race. For more information, just e-mail me at <kirkcruachan@ yahoo.com>. We look forward to running for a brighter Palestine with you. —Kirk Campbell
Nakba-1948: 70 Years Too Long
The solemn Nakba commemoration at Dupont Circle in Washington, DC on May 15 began with 70 seconds of silence in memory of the 700,000 Palestinians who were expelled from their homes in 1948, and the many others who lost their lives in the past 70 years. Next came a reading of the names and ages of 60 Gazans killed by Israeli snipers in the March of Return, and prayers for the more than 3,000 wounded, many of them maimed for life. The vigil continued as Samar Najia and Zeina Azzam read moving poetry, and Philip Farah, Jamal Najjab, Nora Burgan and others told stories passed down by Nakba survivors and relatives. Passersby were interested in posters, including the names of the villages Israel wiped out in 1948, and Ahed Tamimi, the Palestinian teenager who is serving 8 months in an Israeli prison for slapping a
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The May 15 Nakba commemoration in Washington, DC.
mony inaugurating the move. Setting the tone, Julia Pitner, executive director of the Institute for Palestine Studies (IPS), opened the event with a moment of silence for the killed and injured nonviolent Palestinian protesters and the 70th anniversary of the ongoing Palestinian Nakba. Khalidi comes from a long line of Jerusalemites. His family, who have been established in Jerusalem for centuries, has a street named after them, and Khalidi’s uncle was the last Arab elected mayor of Jerusalem. Khalidi’s family is trying to preserve a library first established by his grandfather in 1899, and have felt the ef-
IfNotNow Protests Violent Israeli Response in Gaza
Khalidi, Cobban Explore U.S. Embassy Move to Jerusalem
On April 26, Helena Cobban, president of Just World Education, and Journal of Palestine Studies editor Prof. Rashid Khalidi explored the implications of moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Jared Kushner and 250 American officials and 4 U.S. senators attended the May 14 cere60
Police arrested four protesters [at back] during a peaceful demonstration April 11 by IfNotNow in front of the Jewish Federation in Los Angeles. IfNotNow is a national movement led by young American Jews to end its community’s support for Israel’s occupation. Since Gaza’s “Great March of Return” protests began on March 30, police have arrested 37 young American Jews during 30 demonstrations at the offices of various Jewish institutions in six cities.
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soldier outside her house, just after she’d learned her cousin had been shot in the face and was gravely wounded. [As this reporter walked back to the office carrying one of the many Tamimi posters, a jogging woman stopped, touched my arm and said softly, “Thank you!”] Fuad Foty’s haunting songs accompanied by his oud stopped homegoing commuters in their tracks. Vigilers shouted: “Gaza, Gaza, don’t you cry; Palestine will never die,” “Justice is our demand: There will be no peace on stolen land,” and “Displacing lives since 48: There’s nothing here to celebrate,” and “Sofer, Lieberman and Bibi: We’ll see you in the ICC!” The Ad Hoc Committee for the Nakba, Washington Interfaith Alliance for Middle East Peace, US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace, American Muslims for Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace-DC Metro, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, and American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) co-sponsored the well-attended commemoration. —Delinda C. Hanley
fects of Israel’s choking presence: A newly built yeshiva is expanding above the family library, threatening its continued existence. When Cobban asked Khalidi what implications the embassy move will have on the peace process, Khalidi bluntly responded: “There is not now, and has not been for a very long time, anything that could be legitimately described as a peace process. There has been a process of deception, to enable the maintenance and strengthening of the status quo of colonization and occupation. The United States has overseen that process, which was not directed at peace, or else we would have achieved peace in the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, etc.” Still, Khalidi conceded that the implications of the embassy move are “impossible to tell, but some of them are clear.” Now the U.S. government will consider all of East Jerusalem as part of Israel, and no longer a subject for international resolutions that this country has already voted on and agreed to. Essentially, Khalidi stated, the Trump administration has taken a “radical and revolutionary” step in negating international law by unilaterally canceling binding resolutions pertaining to Jerusalem—for example, U.N. General Assembly Resolution 181, which gave Jerusalem a special international status. Washington has declared that Jerusalem is
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“off the table,” and has decided wholly in favor of Israel. However, Khalidi added that by Trump bringing the issue of Jerusalem to the forefront, he has actually brought more attention to the issue, which may actually work in favor of the Palestinians. When asked how satisfied he is with the Palestinian leadership’s strategy when dealing with the Jerusalem issue, dating back to the Oslo accords, Khalidi succinctly stated, “Completely dissatisfied.” Noting that much is needed to reverse the degradation of the PLO, he urged an end to the split between the factions and development of a new strategy for the 21st century to restore Palestinian leadership. “The Palestinian Authority (PA) is not a government; the PA is not sovereign; the PA has no jurisdiction, legally,” he explained, and therefore cannot do very much for the Palestinians it represents. The Palestinians need to establish leadership outside the occupied territories, he emphasized, a leadership whose movements are not determined and controlled by the Israeli government. Nevertheless, Khalidi sees hope and is encouraged by the changing direction of students and by younger generations’ stance toward Palestine. That very week, he noted, students at Barnard College voted to divest from eight companies that “profit from or engage in the State of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.” —Tanya Nawas
Challenges, Evolution of Syrian War Reporting
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standing panel of journalists shared their views on the challenges facing reporters who cover the war in Syria and the emergence of independent media in the region. Uri Friedman, a staff writer at The Atlantic who has written extensively about the Syrian civil war, moderated the wellattended program. Responding to Friedman’s question on the difference in covering the news in a war zone compared to non-conflict areas, the challenges of using local sources, and how reporting has changed during the past seven years, award-winning journalist Rania Abouzeid, author of
International Women’s Day March
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Prof. Rashid Khalidi and Helena Cobban.
No Turning Back: Life, Loss and Hope in Wartime Syria, told the audience, “You have to be careful and make a distinction between independent and activist news media. Just because someone said something happened doesn’t mean it’s true. Even in very emotional circumstances, we always have to keep our journalist hat on and not an activist hat.” In covering the Syrian war, Abouzeid said, she was often interacting with activists. “We have to bear in mind that they may not be professional journalists in terms of the standards of verification, and that is to be expected to a degree because this was born out of spontaneity, and they were not trained and not taught the ethics of journalism but just picked up a phone and began recording,” she explained. Antoun Issa, MEI’s director of public relations, discussed his findings on the emerging Syrian media contained in his report, “Syria’s New Media Landscape.” “In 2011 the government began losing control of the media,” he noted. “Prior to then it was mostly state-run. In the protests, activists were trying their best to get the information out.” Working in Beirut in 2011, Issa said he needed to
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(L-r) Rania Abouzeid, Antoun Issa, Ibrahim Al-Assil and Uri Friedman discuss war reporting in Syria.
verify reports, but there was no reliable media on the ground. Syrian activists began filling that void, trying to disseminate credible, verified information as to what was happening in Syria. “As a result, you saw this proliferation of grassroots media outlets, such as Facebook pages, YouTube and social media,” he said. “In my report, I attempted to differentiate between that kind of activist journalism and independent journalism. There were media outlets that were determined to establish a kind of independent, respectable, reliable media culture in the country and to differentiate themselves from activist media.” Ibrahim Al-Assil, an MEI fellow and cofounder of the Syrian Nonviolence Movement, described his work on civil society initiatives and how the momentum has shifted. “After 2011, people wanted to create many platforms to express their opinions, communicate their messages and get the news out to the international media,” he stated. “They hoped that if the world knew what was going on in Syria, that would change their reaction and they would get help.” A proliferation of media erupted inside Syria, which was mostly local, secular and unorganized. “It’s similar to how the revolution started inside Syria,” Al-Assil added. “Many Syrians started to write to get their message out to the world.” One of the most successful initiatives in Syria in the last seven years is Enab Baladi (Arabic for Grapes of My Country), a nonprofit media organization, established in Darayya in 2011, he said. With 62
around one million followers, it has never stopped issuing its weekly newsletter except for two weeks in 2012 when the Syrian army encircled and stormed Darayya, killing 100 people a day for 5 days. “Part of the changes in Syria in the last seven years was that the regime lost control over the social structure, regardless of the army and the armed conflict,” Al-Assil pointed out. “The civil society under the revolution and the activists succeeded in creating a different reality. The Syrian civil society wants to make sure they will have their own space regardless of the outcome of the armed conflict.” Enab Baladi also shifted from focusing solely on news to more intellectual discussions and cultural programs on radio and in magazines and social media. Al-Assil acknowledged the difficulty of reporting with the lack of such basic services as electricity and Internet, and facing physical dangers, political fragmentation and the loss of lives. “When there is an airstrike, they film and then begin Internet posting, which is done within a very short time frame because they know when the electricity goes off their batteries only last for 20 minutes,” he recalled. “This is a many-layered conflict,” AlAssil stated. “Prior to 2011 the regime controlled Syria—not only the media, the military or the security branches—it controlled the structures within society, from sports to factories, etc. Now those structures are not controlled by the regime, so even if the regime becomes an occupation force of all Syria, it won’t be an easy task to re-control all of Syria again. I think this picture is usu-
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ally overlooked in the international media when they talk about Syria.” In response to the moderator’s question on the future of Syrian media, Issa provided an upbeat response. “I think we have to look at the trends that have happened over the past six years,” he remarked. “Even in the regime[held] area there have been Facebook pages that are community-led, which do not directly challenge the Syrian regime but which serve as barometers of the public mood in some of these regime areas. Prior to 2011, under Assad, you couldn’t talk about politics. Now, everyone is talking about politics. Political culture and media culture intertwine, and it is starting from ground zero in Syria in that sense.” Today’s social media and smart technology make it more difficult for the government to control information. However, Issa said, there is a continuing need for foreign financial aid to independent media outlets, as the war has prevented them from developing business models or revenue streams. Praising the cultural shift from “not saying anything about anything to now talking about politics and starting Facebook pages and posting comments,” Issa insisted “that is the future for me when it comes to Syrian media, because that is instilling into a generation that you are able to speak. You couldn’t do that before!” —Elaine Pasquini
Panelists Call for International Help for Syrian Refugees
The Arab Center Washington DC (ACW) and Boston Consortium for Arab Region Studies (BCARS) cohosted an April 17 panel discussion at the JW Marriott Hotel to examine “Syrian Refugees: Caught Between Stale Policies and State Interests.” Khalil Jahshan, ACW’s executive director, opened with a description of the eightyear Syrian crisis. He introduced keynote speaker Karen Koning AbuZayd, pro bono commissioner of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic for the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR). She was joined by moderator Denis SulliJUNE/JULY 2018
(L-r) Imad Harb, Mohammad Al-Ahmad, Mary-Jane Deeb, Jana Mason, Daryl Grisgraber, Denis Sullivan, Karen Koning AbuZayd and Khalil Jahshan. van (BCARS) and panelists Mohammad Al-Ahmad (Georgetown University), MaryJane Deeb (Library of Congress), Daryl Grisgraber (Refugees International), Jana Mason (UNHCR) and Imad Harb (ACW). Speakers discussed the horrific conditions facing Syria’s nearly 12.5 million refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) — a figure that represents almost 55 percent of the Syrian population. Panelists agreed that the humanitarian crisis is not solely limited to those who were forced to leave their towns and villages, but also affects nearly 11 million Syrians who have remained in their homes and are in need of humanitarian assistance. Syrian refugees face serious challenges including shortages of food, water and basic services like medical assistance and electricity. Those who return to their homes are threatened by security and safety concerns. Syrians who escaped to neighboring countries like Turkey (3.5 million registered refugees), Lebanon (close to 1 million), Jordan (over 600,000), and Egypt and North Africa (over 150,000) face difficulties educating their children, finding work, and pursuing higher education. Only 36,000 of the over 5 million refugees in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan are enrolled in higher education institutions, Al-Ahmad said. Syrian refugees who do manage to find jobs often work illegally without any benefits or protections. The speakers called for a multi-faceted international approach to alleviate the humanitarian crisis and prepare Syria for resettling its displaced populations. They JUNE/JULY 2018
urged a two-pronged effort to provide services, education and employment opportunities for both refugees and IDPs, as well as an effort to lay the ground work for their eventual return and repatriation. The panelists suggested incentivizing host countries to issue work permits and offer more educational opportunities to refugees. Deeb proposed that international players—from states to private companies—could invest in creating an “information hub” for gathering information on refugees and delivering services to them. Panelists agreed that a political resolution is essential. Harb urged the U.S. to take the lead in these efforts and to develop a political vision for the Syrian crisis. —Muna Howard
Ending the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen
The Arab Center Washington DC (ACW) hosted a March 20 panel discussion to draw attention to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. The United Nations has described the Yemen situation as “the worst manmade humanitarian crisis of our time,” ACW executive director Khalil E. Jahshan told the National Press Club audience. According to March figures published by the U.N. Refugee Agency, the conflict has left 22.2 million people— 75 percent of the population—in need of humanitarian assistance. Millions face safety threats as well as risks from famine and outbreaks of diseases, including cholera. More than 5.4 million people require shelter and core relief items. He asked panelists whether it was possible to stop the conflict.
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Abdulwahab Alkebsi, managing director for programs at the Center for International Private Enterprise, warned that Yemen was facing the worst famine the world has seen in 50 years. He explained that the belligerents, including political parties, warring factions and tribal leaders, profit from the war by securing external aid and smuggling weapons and contraband. Alkebsi pointed out that Yemen has long depended on remittances sent home from workers outside the country. “Out of the 6-8 million Yemeni expats,” he said, “about 2 million of them are in Saudi Arabia, and 100,000 of them have been deported since December, and more will be deported.” Each worker feeds about a dozen Yemenis. According to Alkebsi, both the Saudi and Houthi fighters have “phobias” that need to be addressed before the conflict can end. The Saudis believe that Iran is trying to dominate Yemen. A “stable, militarily strong, economically viable, politically pluralistic Yemen that would be...a model for Saudi opposition” is also an unacceptable outcome, he added. The Houthis have a phobia about being annihilated, and are fighting a war for survival. The Houthis will want a say in national decision-making. Dr. Nabeel Khoury, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, urged Washington to rethink the prism of terrorism through which it has viewed the conflict. U.S. strategy should focus on domestic politics and development needs, not drone strikes, Khoury said. He called for the creation of an international development fund for Yemen to rebuild infrastructure, including roads, schools, clinics and water management. Saudi Arabia blames Iran for attacks by Yemeni Houthis, Khoury said, but by that logic Yemen should be blaming the U.S. for attacks by the Saudis. “The bombs, smart or dumb, that are falling on Yemen are American-made. The jets that are dropping them on Yemen are U.S.made. The logistical support for that whole war, including the naval blockade,
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is provided by the U.S. and Britain...You have to de-conflate the issues. Yemen is Yemen, it is not Iran.” Indeed, Khoury admitted, many Yemenis call it the “U.S.Saudi war” against Yemen. Khoury urged the United States and Saudi Arabia to work together to solve the humanitarian crisis by “reconciling and reconstructing” the north and south. Yemen should stay united, he concluded, adding that a viable solution could be a loose federation—and not a partitioned Yemen— with a democratic government that guarantees everyone’s rights. Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Ph.D., a Middle East fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, said that increasing the political costs to the Saudis and Emiratis could end the war. Political pressure here in the U.S., such as the resolution by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Mike Lee (R-UT) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) to force a vote on ending American military involvement in Yemen, is also important. Ulrichsen hoped that Kuwait may use its two-year position on the U.N. Security Council to solve the conflict in Yemen. He argued that the media propagates a false idea that this is a proxy war with Iran. He, too, urged the formation of a flexible, loose federation with fair resource allocation and equitable political decision-making. —Delinda C. Hanley
Stop Bombing Yemen, San Franciscans Tell MbS
Members of Northern California’s Yemeni community and their supporters protested 64
outside San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel on March 28 prior to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s visit to the Bay Area to meet with CEOs of Silicon Valley’s high-tech companies. “Stop the War on Yemen,” the crowd outside the posh hotel chanted, calling on the Saudi crown prince to stop bombing Yemeni civilians. Bin Salman, known by his initials, MbS, is also Saudi Arabia’s defense minister and oversees all of its military forces. Since March 2015 he has served as the commander of the international coalition in the “Decisive Storm” mission in Yemen. With U.S. support, the coalition has continually bombed the impoverished country, killing more than 5,000 civilians, according to the U.N., and leaving thousands more injured and displaced from their homes. Many of the airstrikes were carried out in violation of
laws that prohibit deliberate or indiscriminate attacks against civilians, Human Rights Watch has charged. In addition, Yemen’s health ministry estimates that more than 10,000 of the country’s 29.5 million residents have died from lack of desperately needed medical care, food and supplies since August 2016. And, according to the World Health Organization, there are currently more than 1,029,700 cases of cholera in Yemen. —Elaine Pasquini
Conference Contrasts Authoritarianism and Democracy in Middle East
The Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID) held its annual conference in Washington, DC on April 26 to discuss the perilous state of democracy in the Middle East. The theme of this year’s event was “Authoritarianism and Democratic Decline in the Age of Sectarianism and Populism.” University of Denver professor Nader Hashemi, a conference co-organizer, began the day by challenging the notion of “authoritarian stability,” which asserts that strongmen are needed to bring stability to the volatile region. Hashemi described this theory as “a recipe for greater disaster and disappointment.” The Arab world’s most populous country, Egypt, is currently a test case for the “authoritarian stability” thesis, as President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has ruled with an iron fist since the 2013 military coup that
Members of the Bay Area's Yemeni community protest Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s visit to San Francisco and demand Saudi Arabia cease bombing Yemen.
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STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI
(L-r) Abdulwahab Alkebsi, Nabeel Khoury and Kristian Coates Ulrichsen discuss how to end the crisis in Yemen.
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Member of parliament Oussama Sghaier challenges facing Tunisia.
ousted democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi. Sisi was overwhelmingly re-elected with 97 percent of the vote in March, in an election that few analysts viewed as free and fair. Andrew Miller, deputy director for policy at the Project on Middle East Democracy, noted that Sisi’s opponents were systematically arrested and/or harassed by Egypt’s security apparatus in the lead up to the election. As a result, his only opponent was Mousa Mostafa Mousa, a politician who endorsed Sisi until he entered the race hours before the registration deadline in January. With the results of the election all but predetermined, voter turnout was low—officially only 41 percent, but Miller believes actual turnout was likely closer to 30 percent. While Sisi remains in a powerful position, Miller cautioned that his hold on power could become tenuous if the country’s economic and security challenges worsen. The Egyptian military is a risk-averse organization and is unlikely to plot against one of its own, but the military also fears chaos, and could force Sisi out of office if the former general becomes the target of a largescale popular unrest, Miller said. Daanish Faruqi, a visiting scholar at Rutgers University, noted that many of Egypt’s elite liberal intellectuals support Sisi, despite his autocratic governance. Such individuals emphasize cultural reforms over political reforms, he said. In particular, they argue that the so-called threat to Egyptian culture presented by groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood must be dealt with before the country focuses serious attention on democratic reforms. JUNE/JULY 2018
Faruqi accused these liberals of weaponizing high culture in an effort to legitimize their support for Sisi. “It seems that liberals in Egypt have learned nothing since the events of 2011 and 2013, an enduring reminder that their project remains deeply elitist and one mired in breathdiscusses the taking contradictions,” he said. Amy Austin Holmes, a professor at the American University in Cairo, said Sisi’s government has targeted civil society to a greater extent than did former President Hosni Mubarak’s regime. While civil society organizations faced some repression and restrictions under Mubarak, Sisi appears to be set on eliminating nearly all forms of civic engagement by targeting organizations working to reinforce government policies. “Even those organizations that do operate entirely within the scope of the state’s plans are being harassed, imprisoned, arrested and shut down,” she said. For instance, Holmes noted, authorities have targeted organizations that work to uphold laws preventing child marriage, promote Christian-Muslim dialogue, enforce court decisions on workers’ rights, and ensure Nubians are granted constitutional rights. The conference also featured two representatives from Tunisia, who explained the challenges facing the burgeoning North African democracy. According to Khaled Chouket, a member of Nidaa Tounes, Tunisia’s leading secular party, the lack of significant economic progress since the 2010-2011 revolution has left many citizens frustrated. Oussama Sghaier, a member of parliament from the religious Ennahda party, said corruption, security and the full implementation of the country’s constitution are three issues facing Tunisia. Both leaders emphasized the importance of governing by consensus. Chouket said the ability of Nidaa Tounes and Ennahda to work together helped prevent discord and disorder in the years following
the uprising. At the same time, he and Sghaier agreed there is still much work to be done in promoting the important role that societal and political consensus play in ensuring a sustainable democracy. —Dale Sprusansky
BOOK TALKS Miko Peled Speaks in Des Moines
Israeli-American author and activist Miko Peled spoke before an audience of about 200 at the Iowa State Historical Museum on April 12 about his new book, Injustice: The Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five, and the on-going humanitarian crisis in Gaza. “The story of the Holy Land Foundation is the story of what used to be America’s largest Muslim charity, and it is a story of the persecution of Arabs and Muslims here in the United States,” said Peled. “The Holy Land Foundation was dedicated to Palestine and was run by Palestinian Muslims, Americans who lived here in America, but they did a lot of good in a lot of places. Their impact in Palestine was tremendous, but they were not only focused on Palestine. They were there after the Oklahoma City bombing to provide relief; they were there after tornadoes, floods, and earthquakes around the world,” said Peled. Beginning “in the early and mid ’90s,” Peled said, “the Holy Land Foundation was targeted by Zionist groups including the Anti-Defamation League, which likes to present itself as a civil rights organization but is really a fascist, racist, terrorsupporting organization.” The ADL, “spearheaded a campaign to bring down the Holy Land Foundation... spreading rumors that they were connected to Hamas, that they were funding terrorism…They approached the IRS trying to revoke their non-for-profit status...they got the FBI to begin an investigation,” said Peled. After 9/11, in the atmosphere of panic and hysteria, “George Bush declared them to be a terrorist organization, closed them down without due process using an executive order, and had all their assets
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the charges, and the second judge allowed in evidence and testimony that the first judge excluded. That trial ended in convictions, said Peled. The men were sentenced to 15 to 65 years in prison: Shukri Abu-Baker (65 years), Ghassan Elashi (65 years), Mufid Abdulqader (20 years), Abdulrahman Odeh (15 years), and Mohammad Elmezain (15 years). Appeals failed, and Miko Peled describes the sham trials of the “Holy Land Five.” President Obama declined to pardon the men. “So today, we have five good men, five frozen...But they were not worried, because they did everything right. They honest men, five of the finest men you said, ‘Here in America, if you do every- will ever meet, innocent men, in federal thing right, and you’re honest, and you prison, and the only reason they are in keep records, and you pay your taxes, prison is because they are Palestinian and Muslim,” declared Peled, who met then you’re going to be OK,’” said Peled. The problem, explained Peled, was with their attorneys and later visited with that the Holy Land Foundation was four of the five in prison while performing “doing really good work, they were gain- research for his book. Using the terms “apartheid” and “genoing a good reputation, they were presenting the Palestinian story in a light that cide,” Peled went on to deliver a was endangering the [Israeli] narrative, scathing critique of Israeli policies. Gaza is “worse than a prison. In a and that narrative is that Palestinians are guilty, Palestinians are terrorists, and be- prison you get water and food and some cause of that they had to be taken down.” health care. Two million people live in In the first criminal trial against the men the Gaza Strip today; 98 percent of the who became known as the Holy Land water is not fit for drinking. The highest Five, the government produced poorly rate in the world of children with kidney translated documents and “they brought in failure is in the Gaza Strip,” said Peled. Peled’s presentation in Des Moines two expert witnesses, Israeli nationals, who testified anonymously. This was un- was sponsored by the Middle East precedented, the first time in the history of Peace Education Coalition, STAR*PAC, the United States that a court allowed this. Women’s International League for Peace One claimed to be a member of the Israeli and Freedom-Des Moines, and the Iowa secret police, the Shabak, and the other Chapter of the Methodist Federation for —Michael Gillespie claimed to be an officer in Israeli military Social Action. intelligence,” said Peled. A Life Worth Living: The Story of a When defense lawyers proved that there was no evidence that any of the Palestinian Catholic charity’s funds had gone to support ter- As a Palestinian Christian, Dr. Bernard rorism, “these expert witnesses said that Sabella has never felt that his religious that didn’t matter because they could and national identities are in any way insmell Hamas. This was said in a court of compatible. Despite being the native land law. This was testimony in a court of of Jesus, the Holy Land is viewed by many law,” declared Peled. in the West as a place where Christians The first trial ended with no convictions, are bystanders in a religious conflict bea hung jury. About a year later, the govern- tween Jews and Muslims, and the broader ment changed the indictment, rearranged Middle East as a place where Muslims 66
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and Christians live in enmity and conflict. In an effort to dispel the notions that Christians live as secondclass citizens in Palestine and have no stake in the Israel-Palestine conflict, Sabella has penned a new memoir titled A Life Worth Living: The Story of a Palestinian Catholic (available from AET’s Middle East Books and More). In his book, Sabella reflects on growing up in the Old City of Jerusalem as the child of Palestinian refugees, his efforts to engage Americans on the issue of Palestine during his time as a student and a professor in the U.S., his engagement in Vatican-led Catholic-Muslim dialogue, and his work at various Palestinian universities. By sharing his story, Sabella, who currently works for the Middle East Council of Churches and is an elected member of the Palestinian legislature, hopes readers come to understand the deep connection Palestinian Christians feel to their native land and the oneness they share with their countrymen. “We [Christians] are part and parcel of the scenery of Palestinian society and life,” Sabella said at an April 12 talk at the Palestine Center in Washington, DC. “I see myself as a Palestinian, that’s my primary identity,” he added. “Like other Palestinians, we struggle in order to have freedom for our people.” While some Western Christians view support for Israel as a moral imperative, Sabella wants it to be known that Christians and Muslims alike are suffering as a result of Israeli actions. “The message I want to give is that we Palestinians have a just and moral cause,” he said. “It is so easy in the Western media to portray Palestinians as the evil people and to portray the Israelis as the good people.” —Dale Sprusansky JUNE/JULY 2018
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Of late, some writers for The New York Times have noticed that conditions for people living in Gaza are challenging. Columnist Thomas Friedman wrote in a Feb. 7 op-ed, “Due largely to Hamas’ malevolence and incompetence, but also some Israeli restrictions, Gaza has limited hours of electricity each day.” He does not mention that since 2006—more than a decade—Israel has sealed off Gaza with varying intensity and bombed its only power plant several times. The crisis as Friedman sees it is that Gaza’s untreated sewage goes into the Mediterranean and flows north, clogging Israel’s desalination plant in Ashkelon. For David M. Halbfinger, author of a Feb. 12 front-page article entitled “Gaza is Near Financial Collapse, Prompting Fears of Violence,” the concern is that “the resulting social harm in Gaza can blow back against Israel.” He alleges that the option Hamas “has resorted to three times—going to war with Israel, in hopes of generating international sympathy and relief in the aftermath—suddenly seems less attractive.” Both writers are clearly unfamiliar with Norman G. Finkelstein’s latest book, Gaza: An Inquest Into Its Martyrdom (available from the Washington Report’s Middle East Books and More), which would surely challenge their assumptions. In a Jan. 30 talk at Columbia University sponsored by the Center for Palestine Studies, Finkelstein discussed a key aspect of his book, “the politics of international law filtered through political realities.” He focused on the role of human rights organizations, mainly Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI), as quasi-guardians of international human rights law, noting that their performance fluctuates according to the political situation. Finkelstein described the organizations’ actual reporting, at least until recently, as unimpeachable: “They do not lie.” The problem comes when they interpret the factual material to make legal determinations about whether or not an JUNE/JULY 2018
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Finkelstein on Gaza’s Martyrdom
Norman G. Finkelstein challenges media assumptions.
action constitutes a war crime or a crime against humanity. Finkelstein observed that neither organization has any compunction about accusing Israel’s adversaries—Hezbollah and Hamas—of war crimes, especially in the use of indiscriminate weapons and targeting civilians. They are far less forthcoming about Israel, however. For example, after the U.N. cease-fire ending Israel’s 35-day war with Lebanon in 2006, Israel dropped 4.6 million cluster bomblets on 40 Lebanese villages. HRW’s factual findings were that Israel used an “indiscriminate delivery system [that] targeted civilian concentrations with no military objectives.” Its legal conclusion was that Israel had committed “a possible war crime…in some locations.” Israel’s 2008-09 Cast Lead assault on Gaza was, according to Finkelstein, a turning point in public attitudes toward Israel. Both AI and HRW issued multiple reports, and the total of reports for all organizations exceeded 300. For example, HRW’s “Rain of Fire” found that Israel’s white phosphorus attacks on schools, hospitals, a humanitarian aid warehouse and a market constituted war crimes. AI concluded that Israel’s high-precision drone and helicopter attacks that killed many children and civilians were war crimes. Then came the U.N. Human Rights Council’s September 2009 Goldstone Report. It described Israel’s Operation Cast Lead as deliberately disproportional attacks designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population. Richard Goldstone, a much-respected South African jurist who is not only Jew-
ish but also a pro-Israel Zionist, was, as Finkelstein put it, “immunized from the Israeli propaganda machine.” In other words, the anti-Semitic label could not be deployed against him. This led to Israeli panic and hysteria. The attacks on Goldstone were personal and nasty. Netanyahu labeled Goldstone one of three strategic threats to Israel. On April Fool’s Day, 2011, Goldstone recanted in a slapdash Washington Post op-ed that Finkelstein said was not typical of his usual careful writing style. Why? Did Goldstone succumb to the smear campaign? Finkelstein suspects he or a family member was blackmailed. The international human rights community, daunted and suffering disaster fatigue, learned its lesson: “the prudent move is not to go too hard on Israel or, wiser still, to cross Israel off the agenda.” Israel’s 2014 Operation Protective Edge was on an even greater scale than Cast Lead. The International Committee of the Red Cross’ Peter Maurer, after touring Gaza, said, “I’ve never seen such massive destruction ever before.” Yet there were only a handful of investigations. Amnesty International was the only one to produce substantive reports, five of them, “all shameless whitewashes.” AI tried to balance the suffering on both sides, a mission impossible given 1,600 Palestinian civilians killed versus 6 Israelis; 550 Palestinian children killed versus 1 Israeli; 18,000 Palestinian homes destroyed versus 1 Israeli. AI depicted Israel’s actions during Protective Edge as going after military operations, only marred by excess. This view, Finkelstein continued, is belied by Breaking the Silence testimonials of soldiers who described the Israel military using a crazy amount of firepower and shooting anything that moves. An audience member questioned why human rights organizations changed so much after Cast Lead—was it due to the lobby? Intimidation? Donor pressure? Finkelstein responded that Israel has changed tactics in the last couple of decades in becoming more overtly ruthless. He thinks the change is due more to fear, and “the fear is real.” —Jane Adas
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B •O •O •K •S
Reviewed by Delinda C. Hanley
A Vision For My Father: The Life and Work of the PalestinianAmerican Artist and Designer Rajie Cook
By Rajie Cook, Interlink Publishing Group, Inc, 2018, hardcover, 327 pp. MEB: $25.
A Vision for My Father is more than an extravagant coffee-table book—although superb photos of Rajie Cook’s iconic graphic art and striking sculptural assemblages are guaranteed to be a conversation starter in any living room. It’s also a book that, if discovered on a public or university library shelf, could inspire a student to study art or graphic design. To me, Cook’s book is a deeply personal tribute to America and the immigrants who, like his father, Najeeb Esa Cook, leave all that they know and love to come here. That odyssey undertaken by a 20-year-old Palestinian and his subsequent life story “is the exact reason for who I am today,” the artist tells us. The tale Rajie Cook narrates, illustrated with touching personal photos and images of cherished mementos, is guaranteed to make readers slip his memoir off their coffee table or library shelf and retreat to their favorite reading nook. Get prepared to be utterly engrossed
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as you read about the author’s father, a hard-working, educated immigrant who travels around the United States, wherever “there was work to be had, no matter how menial.” Najeeb saves up money to return to Ramallah to marry Jaleelie Totah in 1920, but it takes seven more lonely years to earn enough to have his bride join him in America. Najeeb’s family quickly grows (Rajie is one of five children), and his childhood anecdotes document the economic hardships faced by most Americans of a certain age who endured the Great Depression and the outbreak of WWII. Rajie, “consumed by patriotism” and enamored of the uniform, joins the Cub Scouts and collects tin cans, stockings, newspapers and phonograph records in his red wagon for the war effort. Unlike most American children (we hope), his fourth grade teacher changes his identity, calling him Roger because it was “much easier to s a y , ” C o o k writes. “Did she know or care that my name meant ‘Hope’ in Arabic, a word which represented so much to my parents as residents
WAshington REpoRt on MiddlE EAst AffAiRs
of this country?…That changed how I introduced myself to my family, friends and the world afterward. From then on, I was known as Roger.” Sight is a major theme in A Vision for My Father, as Rajie watches his father’s eyesight deteriorate until, in 1942, “Najeeb, my vital and vigorous father who fearlessly came to this country with no money, no job, and no prospects, but with an indomitable spirit, was blind. As with all, he met the challenge, head on.” One challenge, faced by a growing number of other Arab-American families who hope their kids will study medicine or law, is Najeeb’s acceptance and support of his son’s decision to attend art school and become a graphic artist— whose stunning achievements he can never see. Rajie’s own journey after graduating from the Pratt Institute and marrying “the love of my life,” Peggy, continues as he learns the art of salesmanship, “an integral part of running a design business.” Like his father, he faces his own health challenge as he battles Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and survives to make his mark on the international stage of graphic design. Rajie tells how his first visit, in 1981, to explore his roots and visit the biblical holy sites, transforms him from “just an artist” to an advocate for justice in Palestine. One sight that a reader can never unsee is the photo of his father, who died at the age of 94, “old and blind and sitting by the radio saying he was waiting to hear something good on the radio about peace in the Middle East.” Today his talented first-born son Rajie, 88, isn’t sitting, yearning and waiting for peace. He’s using his art, and this unforgettable memoir, to open eyes that may be blind to the injustice of the ongoing Palestinian Nakba and ensure that those eyes never again turn away with indifference. ■
Delinda C. Hanley is news editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.
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• EAST • BOOKS • AND • MORE MIDDLE Literature Films Pottery Solidarity Items More *
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SUMMER 2018 Goliath by Tom Gauld, Drawn and Quarterly, 2017, paperback, 96 pp. MEB: $16. Goliath is a retelling of the classic myth, this time from Goliath’s side of the Valley of Elah. Goliath of Gath isn’t much of a fighter. He would pick admin work over patroling in a heartbeat, to say nothing of his distaste for engaging in combat. Nonetheless, at the behest of the king, he finds himself issuing a twice-daily challenge to the Israelites. Gauld has reworked, remade and revolutionized a traditional narrative into a unique classic tale.
Cigarette Number Seven: A Novel by Donia Kamal, American University in Cairo Press, 2018, paperback, 224 pp. MEB: $18. As a child, Nadia was left with her grandparents in Egypt, while her mother sought work in the Gulf. Decades later, she looks back on her fragmented childhood from an uncertain present: it is 2011 and the streets have erupted in an unexpected revolution. Her activist father, the sole anchor in her life, encourages her to be a part of the protests, and so Nadia joins the sit-in at Tahrir Square.
Assuming Boycott: Resistance, Agency, and Cultural Pro duction by Kareem Estefan, OR Books, 2017, paperback, 272 pp. MEB: $16. An essential reader for today’s creative leaders and cultural practitioners, Assuming Boycott includes original contributions by artists, scholars, activists, critics, curators and writers who examine the his torical precedent of South Africa; the current cultural boycott of Israel; freedom of speech and self-censorship; and long-distance activism. It addresses the causes and consequences of cultural boycott.
Inside Central Asia: A Political and Cultural History of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Iran by Dilip Hiro, The Overlook Press, 2011, paperback, 464 pp. MEB: $20. The former Soviet republics of Central Asia comprise a sprawling, politically pivotal, densely populated, and richly cultured area of the world. In this comprehensive treatment, renowned political writer and historian Dilip Hiro places the politics, peoples and cultural background of this critical region firmly into the context of current international focus.
Mandatory Separation: Religion, Education, and Mass Politics in Palestine by Suzanne Schneider, Stanford University Press, 2018, paperback, 280 pp. MEB: $25. Drawing from archival records, school syllabi, textbooks, newspapers and personal narratives, Schneider argues that the British Man datory gov ernment sup ported religious education as a supposed antidote to nationalist passions at the precise moment when the administrative, pedagogic and curricular transformation of religious schooling rendered it a vital tool for Zionist and Palestinian leaders.
What Is Russia Up to in the Middle East? By Dmitri Trenin, Polity, 2017, paperback, 144 pp. MEB: $12. In a hard-hitting assessment, leading analyst of Russian affairs Dmitri Trenin cuts through the hyperbole to offer a clear and nuanced analysis of Russia’s involvement in the Middle East and its regional and global ramifications. Russia, he argues, cannot and will not supplant the U.S. as the leading external power in the region, but its actions are accelerating changes which will fundamentally remake the international system in the next two decades.
Injustice: The Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five by Miko Peled, Just World Books, 2018, paperback, 244 pp. MEB: $20. In July 2004, federal agents raided the homes of five PalestinianAmerican families, arresting the five dads. The first trial of the “Holy Land Foundation Five” ended in a hung jury. The second, marked by highly questionable procedures, resulted in very lengthy prison sentences—for “supporting ter rorism” by donating to charities that the U.S. government itself and other respected international agencies had long worked with. In 2013, human rights activist and author Miko Peled started investigating this case.
The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story by Ramzy Baroud, Pluto Press, 2018, paperback, 280 pp. MEB: $18. Spanning decades and en compassing war, mass exodus, epic migrations and the search for individual and collective identity, Baroud tells the story of modern Palestine through the memories of those who have lived it. His groundbreaking book draws on dozens of interviews to produce vivid, intimate and beautifully written accounts of Palestinian lives—in villages, refugee camps, prisons and cities, in the lands of their ancestors and in exile.
No Turning Back: Life, Loss, and Hope in Wartime Syria by Rania Abouzeid, W.W. Norton & Company, 2018, hardcover, 400 pp. MEB: $25. Extending back to the first demonstrations of 2011, No Turning Back dissects the tangle of ideologies and allegiances that make up the Syrian conflict. Abouzeid brings readers deep inside Assad’s prisons, to covert meetings where foreign states and organizations manipulated the rebels, and to the highest levels of Islamic militancy and the formation of ISIS. Based on more than five years of clandestine reporting on the front lines, No Turning Back is an utterly engrossing human drama full of vivid, indelible characters that shows how hope can flourish even amid one of the 21st century’s greatest humanitarian disasters.
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diers (according to a U.S. congressman) “have no choice” but to shoot them. How is it that trained, armed soldiers “have no choice” but to shoot and kill unarmed civilians? How is it that a country sends out trained sharpshooters in hidden positions to deliberately shoot and kill protesters? What civilized country does this? The whole world, including the United Nations, is criticizing Israel for these actions but Israel seems to be completely oblivious. Israel simply cannot pretend to hold the moral high ground when they use such inhumane tactics. They say they are a civilized country. They should act like it. Duane Colwell, Keystone Heights, FL
THE PALESTINIAN RIGHT TO SELFDEFENSE
GAZA KILLINGS: ISRAEL’S KENT STATE MOMENT?
To the Telegram & Gazette, May 13, 2018 This month is the anniversary of the murder of four college students shot by National Guard soldiers at Kent State University. The horror of the deed helped galvanize a fractured populace, which ultimately helped lead to the removal of an out-of-control government. You’ve heard of this? In that context, how do you explain the almost total disregard for the killing of over 40 unarmed civilians in Gaza, including children and clearly marked journalists, by government snipers, using, in many cases, exploding bullets, for the same crime as the Kent State students—peacefully protesting? The prime minister of the offending country justified the murders with this statement: “The children should have been in school.” Congressman Joe Kennedy, why does the United States and the world community tolerate this insanity? Why are you and your congressional colleagues silent concerning this atrocity? Where is the outrage? Raymond Tatten, Sterling, MA
ISRAELI SOLDIERS DO HAVE A CHOICE WITH DEMONSTRATORS
To The Gainesville Sun, May 23, 2018 Israel continues to busily murder unarmed civilians. The American opinion, from the politicians anyway, seems to be that Israel has a right to defend itself. Also, it is the Palestinians’ fault because they are sending the protesters out there, and since they are trying to break down a fence on Israel’s border, the solJUNE/JULY 2018
To the Concord Monitor, May 15, 2018 Multiple media releases are reporting devastating effects from Israel’s new expanding bullets. This deadly round— never seen before—is known as the “butterfly bullet.” It explodes upon impact, pulverizing tissue, arteries and bone, while causing severe internal injuries. Twenty-four amputees in Gaza were shot with this single explosive bullet, including journalists Yaser Murtaja and Ahmad Abu Hussein, who succumbed to their wounds after being shot in the abdomen. Gaza’s Health Ministry spokesman and Doctors Without Borders described “their internal organs [as] totally destroyed, pulverized.” The expanding bullet causes an explosion inside the body. The testing of weaponry on human targets is standard procedure for the Israeli government. Its military-industrial complex brags in its sales promotions that its armaments are “field tested.” The Israeli and U.S. governments excuse this brutality as “Israel’s right to defend itself.” Targeting unarmed journalists, children and others with ammunition under development is not defensive. It is brutality, plain and simple. In light of Israel’s use of this new bullet and also a new gas that results in convulsions and loss of consciousness, Israel is showing its true colors. It is not a partner for peace but a brutal master of offensive war. Palestinians have no army, navy, air force, drones, sophisticated surveillance or nuclear weapons, as Israel does. Do Palestinians have the right to defend themselves after having land, water, natural gas and their very lives stolen?
It is time for the United States to end its $10.41 million per day gift/aid to Israel. Carolyn Cicciu, Goffstown, NH
EMBASSY MOVE SHOULD NOT BE DOWNPLAYED
To The Washington Post, May 13, 2018 Daniel B. Shapiro’s May 9 Wednesday Opinion essay about President Trump’s decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, “The embassy move is just a move—not a catastrophe,” overlooked Mr. Trump’s own explanation that he was “taking Jerusalem off the table,” i.e., denying that the Palestinians had any claim to Jerusalem. But the only thing the Palestinians have had going for them is that international law deems East Jerusalem to be occupied Palestinian territory, just like the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, conquered at the same time, in 1967. So, according to the man who is moving the embassy, they lost all ability to defend their rights. Doubtless they can expect similar denial of international law regarding the West Bank, Gaza and the plight of millions of refugees. The Palestinians and other people who respect international law hope that Mr. Trump’s diktat will not carry the day. But it’s nonsense to say it isn’t a grave threat to the Palestinians. Steve France, Cabin John, MD
U.S. AID TO ISRAEL SHOULD BE CONDITIONAL
To The Providence Journal, May 17, 2018 The American Embassy has been moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by President Trump. What else is new? The United States has always provided support to Israel, no matter what outrages it commits against the Palestinians. From time immemorial Israel has been the highest recipient of foreign aid from the United States, receiving boatloads of economic and military aid annually. Our representatives are too easy on Israel. Let’s make the aid conditional: They get the aid if they respect the human rights of the Palestinians. George Waterston, Wakefield, RI
THE EMBASSY MOVE AND A LETTER FROM 1967
To The Daily Mining Gazette, May 18, 2018 The Trumpian move of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem is distressing and wrong-headed. The move has long been a
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key demand that the Israel lobby (AIPAC) requires before giving money to political candidates, but once in office most of them backtrack, realizing it is a sensitive international issue and Israel is not our 51st state. The move, without any obvious Israeli concessions, contradicts decades of pronouncements from Washington that the status of Jerusalem and other issues need to be resolved by the parties themselves. The Israelis are happily entrenching themselves on Palestinian lands while maintaining the fiction that they are serious about negotiating. An American friend of my late parents lived in East Jerusalem when the Israelis invaded in 1967. An impassioned letter they wrote to a number of friends included the following passages: “After a three hours’ notice to evacuate their homes, the dwellings of approximately 250 families were bulldozed down in the Moroccan Quarter of the Old City to make way for a paved square in front of the Wailing Wall. “In like manner the Jewish Quarter, so called after the Jews who rented land there prior to 1948 from the Arab land trusts, was destroyed so that a road leading directly to the Wailing Wall might be built. This area contained a refugee camp (from 1948), many small workshops and numerous homes. “The 2-3,000 people made homeless by these combined operations, all of which
was accomplished within 24 hours, wandered the streets with the few possessions they were able to snatch up and carry until finally, in desperation, most of them had no alternative but to board buses which took them to the banks of the Jordan River where they crossed over into what remains of Free Jordan. “The Israeli authorities made absolutely no attempt to find or provide any kind of alternate housing for any of these people.” Moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem is a serious affront to people all the way from Morocco to Bangladesh. Washington will obviously ignore international law when it suits domestic political advantages. David Mendenhall, Michigan
AMERICANS JOIN THE IDF, BUT PALESTINIANS CAN’T GO HOME
To the Idaho Statesman, May 21, 2018 After reading the article about the Idahoan who joined the IDF, a couple of glaring questions arise. Why can an American join the Israeli Occupation Forces and move to Israel to defend “his homeland” while Palestinians are denied entry to Israel, cannot travel to the occupied territories to visit family, and risk imprisonment merely for speaking out against occupation? What of the connection Palestinians feel for the lands they were forced from, not just in 1948, but today? If Mr. Boone is concerned with “protecting the weak,” why does he join the most powerful army in the Middle East, the very army that is dispossessing Palestinians of their homes, imprisoning thousands of children, and shooting unarmed protesters with “butterfly” bullets that shatter bones when they enter the body? This article glorifies war. War is not the answer. Johnny Barber, Boise, ID
GAZA SHOWS WHY U.S. POLICE SHOULD NOT TRAIN IN ISRAEL
To The News & Observer, May 23, 2018 Regarding “Scores of Palestinians killed at Gaza border as U.S. Embassy moves to Jerusalem” (May 14): Last week’s events in Gaza—where thousands of Palestinian protesters were wounded by Israel Defense Forces (IDF)—make it as clear as ever that Durham City Council made the correct decision by forbidding police exchanges with foreign militaries last month. We’ve seen what the “counter-terrorism” taught in such exchanges really means. On May 15th, the IDF’s official Twitter
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account posted an image captioned “Hamas can turn anything into a weapon of terror.” Among the terrifying objects listed were “children” and “disabled civilians.” The end goal of this state-endorsed position is clear: If you criminalize an entire people, you don’t need to worry about criminalizing their actions. Every challenge from Palestinians in their open-air prison, even their mere existence, becomes a violent threat in the eyes of these heavily armed forces. America has had enough with criminalizing people’s existences. The United States has a history of oppressive policing that extends much further back than modern Israel’s. Our jails overflow with those committing the crime of existing in poverty. The Durham City Council has rightly recognized that we have nothing to learn from practitioners of such oppressive philosophies. Ihab Mikati, Durham, NC
TRUMP’S DANGEROUS DECISION ON THE IRAN DEAL
To The Dallas Morning News, May 12, 2018 President Donald Trump has reneged on his promise to extricate us from the Middle East conflict and is pushing us deeper into forever wars or World War III. Having decided in 2003 not to build a bomb, Iran terminated its program. Then Tehran decided to negotiate with us for return of $100 billion in frozen assets from the shah’s era by proving they were not doing what every U.S. intelligence agency said they were not doing. A crash bomb program would be detected instantly and bring a U.S. ultimatum which, if defied, could bring airstrikes. The Israelis, Saudis and Beltway War Party want the deal trashed, because they want a U.S. clash and a regime change in Iran. Binyamin “Bibi” Netanyahu is counting on Americans to fight against them when Iran is no threat to any vital interests in the U.S. Fifty million Persians, leading a Shi’i nation of Persians, Azeris, Baloch, Arabs and Kurds, are not going to control a vast Middle East of hundreds of millions of Arabs and Turks in a Islamic world where Shi’i are outnumbered five times over by Sunnis. Trump the dealmaker should have found a way to keep the nuclear deal with Iran. We were far better off with it than without it. Gail Blessing, Far East Dallas, TX ■ JUNE/JULY 2018
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O• B • I • T • U • A • R • I • E • S Frances Copeland-Stickles, 88, died Jan. 9 in Gaithersburg, MD. From 1952 to 1955 she taught at the American Community School in Beirut, Lebanon, then served as its first-ever librarian. In Lebanon, she learned about the plight of Palestinian refugees and dedicated herself to humanitarian assistance and advocacy. She volunteered for American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) throughout its 50year history, serving several terms on the board and as founding chair of the educational committee. She authored The Land and People of Jordan with her father, Paul Copeland, Land Between, Flag Balloon (published by the American Educational Trust in 1988), A Crown for Henrietta Maria and Another Sort of Pioneer. Donations in her memory may be made to ANERA’s educational program, 1111 14th St., NW #4, Washington, DC 20005.
Pierre Sioufi, 56, who opened his apartment overlooking Cairo’s Tahrir Square to journalists and protesting Egyptians during the country’s 2011 revolution ousting President Hosni Mubarak, died March 4 of cancer. He was born in Cairo to a wealthy French-speaking Egyptian family. His father, Antoine Sioufi, was an antiques dealer of Iraqi and Greek heritage, and his mother, Maryse-Liliane Soussa, was Lebanese. He attended a Jesuit academy until his midteens, when he decided to leave school and educate himself at home instead. In his 20s he enrolled in the American University in Cairo, where he was active in theater and film productions, eventually earning a degree in business administration. He later ran his family’s antique shop and lived a bohemian life, collecting postcards, Egyptian movie posters, picture frames and other objets d’art. Having inherited the downtown Cairo building housing his large apartment, he gave permission to Al Jazeera to put a camera on the roof during the 2011 protests, providing it remained on 24 hours a day. According to his obituary in The New York Times, “He told friends he considered Mr. Mubarak’s ouster a kind of coup by the military, and worried that Egypt’s immature politiJUNE/JULY 2018
Compiled by Janet McMahon
cal factions would feud and pave the way for more autocracy. His fears proved prescient.”
Saba Mahmood, 57, a professor, theorist and author, died March 10 of pancreatic cancer at her home in Berkeley, CA. A native of Quetta, Pakistan, she moved to the U.S. in 1981 to study architecture and urban planning at the University of Washington in Seattle. She earned a doctorate in anthropology from Stanford University in 1998 and taught at the University of Chicago prior to joining the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley in 2004. There she specialized in sociocultural anthropology, with a focus on modern Egypt, helped found the Berkeley Pakistan Studies Initiative, and was affiliated with its Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the Program in Critical Theory and the Institute for South Asia Studies. Raised as a Muslim, her scholarship addressed perceptions of secularism and religion, particularly in Muslim countries. In her 2004 book Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject, she analyzed a 1990s grass-roots movement by religioius Egyptian women focused on moral reform. Her 2015 book, Religious Difference in a Secular Age: A Minority Report, challenged the idea that increased secularism would help alleviate social and political inequalities and religious tensions in Muslim societies. Her work has been translated into seven languages, and she was the recipient of many honors and awards.
Don Bustany, 89, died April 23 at his home in Santa Barbara, CA. A native of Detroit, MI, he was a childhood friend of the late radio host Casey Kasem. The two attended Wayne State University together and, after reconnecting in California in 1968, became partners in a company that produced commercials, going on to help launch the hit radio show “American Top 40,” which debuted on July 4, 1970. Bustany, who held a master’s degree in communications, also worked as a technical coordinator for MTM Enterprises, which produced such TV shows as “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “The Bob Newhart Show,” an episode
of which he directed in 1974. From 1996 to 2014 he was host of the public radio show “Middle East in Focus,” which aired in Southern California on KPFK-FM. “Voices that speak out about the injustices perpetrated by the Israelis upon the Palestinians are almost never heard in our mainstream media,” he explained in one broadcast. “‘Middle East in Focus’ is dedicated to bringing you honest information through honest people—courageous people.” He successfully resisted an attempt in 1997 to put the show on “hiatus,” and regularly offered a subscription to the Washington Report as a premium during the station’s fundraising drives. He served four terms as president of the Los Angeles chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, and for many years was a member of ADC’s advisory committee.
Abbas Attar, 74, a photojournalist who documented conflicts around the world, died April 25 in Paris of undisclosed causes. Known professionally simply as Abbas, he was born in Iran’s Baluchistan region, bordering Pakistan, and moved with his family to Algeria when he was 8, experiencing the country’s war for independence from France. “I grew up in a situation of violence,” he said in 2011. He decided to become a journalist at a young age, and got his first major break when the International Olympic Committee hired him to document Mexico’s preparations for the 1968 summer Olympics. He covered the overthrow of the shah of Iran in 1979-80, recalling that his friends “urged me not to show the revolution’s negative side to the world.…I told them that it was my revolution as well, but I still needed to honor my duty as a journalist—or a historian, if you will.” His books include Return to Mexico: Journeys Beyond the Mask, Allah O Akbar: A Journey Through Militant Islam and Iran Diary, 1971-2002. He went on to examine Christianity, paganism, Buddhism, Hinduism and, at the time of his death, Judaism. “I’m interested in…the political, social, economic, even psychological aspects of religion,” he explained. ■
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AET’s 2018 Choir of Angels
Following are individuals, organizations, companies and foundations whose help between Jan. 11, 2018 and May 21, 2018 is making possible activities of the tax-exempt AET Library Endowment (federal ID #52-1460362) and the American Educational Trust, publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Some Angels helped us co-sponsor the conference “The Israel Lobby and American Policy.” Others donated to our “Capital Building Fund.” We are deeply honored by their confidence and profoundly grateful for their generosity.
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American Educational Trust Washington Report on Middle East Affairs P.O. Box 53062 Washington, DC 20009
June/July 2018
Vol. XXXVII, No. 4
Yemenis demonstrate in the capital of Sana’a against the move of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, May 15, 2018. “The Palestinian cause is at the heart of the [Muslim] nation’s cause,” read one poster. AFP/Getty Images