cover1_November December 2016 Cover 10/17/17 5:10 PM Page 1
CHURCH LANDS SOLD TO JEWISH SETTLERS
DISPLAY UNTIL 12/26/2017
ANERA_ad_c2_ANERA Ad Cover 2 10/17/17 9:40 AM Page c2
Be a Visionary and create a brighter future for Palestinian families.
www.anera.org/visionaries
toc_3-4_November/December 2017 TOC 10/17/17 5:34 PM Page 3
TELLING THE TRUTH FOR 35 YEARS...
Volume XXXVI, No. 7
On Middle East Affairs
INTERPRETING THE MIDDLE EAST FOR NORTH AMERICANS
✮
November/December 2017
INTERPRETING NORTH AMERICA FOR THE MIDDLE EAST
THE U.S. ROLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE
8
Will Washington Pull the Plug on the Iran Nuclear Deal? —Two Views —Eric S. Margolis, Peter Jenkins
15
11
Har Adar: A Tale of Two Stories—Uri Avnery
Greek Patriarch’s Sale of Church Lands to Settler Groups Infuriates Palestinian Christians —Jonathan Cook
18
22 28 29
Will Fatah-Hamas Reconciliation Succeed? —Three Views —Ramzy Baroud, Amira Hass, Mohammed Omer
The Balfour Declaration Destroyed Palestine, Not the Palestinian People—Ramzy Baroud
24 26 33 35
37 65
Reflections—35 Years After the Sabra-Shatila Massacre—Ellen Siegel
Settlement in ACLU Torture Case Brings Some Justice For Victims—Dorothy Samuels
How Studies in Peacebuilding Sparked My Internal Conflict—Oday Abdaljawwad Arab-American Congressional Candidates Seek to Reclaim Their Community’s Narrative —Dale Sprusansky Trump Passes the Buck to Congress to Withdraw From the JCPOA—Shirl McArthur
“ID Card” by Mahmoud Darwish—A Translation and Commentary—Salman Hilmy
SPECIAL REPORTS
Unwanted “Guests”: Syrian Refugees in Turkey —Sara R. Powell
Why Is Israel Supporting Kurdish Secession From Iraq?—Lamis Andoni
31
In U.N. Speech, Trump Ignores Middle East, Emphasizes “Sovereignty,” Military Strength—Ian Williams
39
Bangladesh, Southeast Asia Worried by Rohingya Crisis—John Gee
See “Two Views,” p. 8.
ON THE COVER: A Syrian girl in a temporary refugee camp in the village of Ain Issa, housing residents who fled the Islamic
State stronghold of Raqqa, Nov. 10, 2016. Nearly a year later, on Oct. 17, 2017, an alliance of Syrian rebel and Kurdish fighters announced they had retaken the city after a four-month battle. DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
toc_3-4_November/December 2017 TOC 10/17/17 6:40 PM Page 4
(A Supplement to the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs available by subscription at $15 per year. To subscribe, call toll-free 1-888-881-5861.)
Other Voices
Compiled by Janet McMahon
The City That Bears the Brunt of The National Terror Watchlist, Christopher Mathias, Rowaida Abdelaziz, Hassan Khalifeh and Afaf Humayun, www.huffingtonpost.com OV-1
After Article Was Rejected and Publishers Yawned, Walt and Mearsheimer Dropped “The Israel Lobby” in 2005, Philip Weiss, www.mondoweiss.net
Crusaders and Zionists, Uri Avnery, www.gush-shalom.org
Israel’s Foreign Agents Don’t Register, Why Should Russia’s?, Grant Smith, www.antiwar.com
OV-3
Invention of the Mizrahim, Susan Abulhawa, www.aljazeera.com
OV-4
Administrative Detention “Worst of all Possible Worlds,” Dalia Hatuqa, www.aljazeera.com
OV-5
Jewish Agency Pulls Funding From Israel Experience Program Over West Bank Activism, Judy Maltz, Haaretz
OV-6
Shadowy Blacklist of Student Activists Wins Endorsement of Mainstream Pro-Israel Group, Josh Nathan-Kazis, The Forward OV-8
DEPARTMENTS 5 Publishers’ Page
6 letters to the editor
42 israel aNd JudaisM: The Balfour Declaration at 100: Remembering Its Prophetic Jewish Critics—Allan C. Brownfeld 44 arab aMericaN activisM: American Arabs Resist Hate, Redefine America at ADC’s National Convention 50 Music & arts: NAAP Bookclub Meets in DC’s Coziest Bookstore
52 MusliM aMericaN activisM: CAIR-SV Holds Workshop on Travelers’ Rights
53 WagiNg Peace: European Diplomats Voice Support for Iran Deal
OV-9
OV-10
The Baseness of Israel’s U.S. Military “Facility,” Michael Dickinson, www.counterpunch.org OV-11 Can the Quartet Eject Qatari Influence From Gaza?, Giorgio Cafiero, http://lobelog.com OV-12 The Vietnam Nightmare—Again, Eric S. Margolis, http://ericmargolis.com
OV-13
How “Regime Change” Wars Led to Korea Crisis, Robert Parry, www.consortiumnews.com
OV-15
62 huMaN rights: Palestine: 100 Years of Colonialism And Resistance
12 iNdeX to advertisers
64 diPloMatic doiNgs: Arab Cultural Festival in San Francisco
67 other PeoPle’s Mail
69 the World looks at the Middle east — CARTooNS
70 book revieW: The Saffron Tales: Recipes from the Persian Kitchen Taste of Persia: A Cook’s Travels Through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and Kurdistan —Reviewed by Janet McMahon
71 Middle east books aNd More 72 obituaries
73 2017 aet choir oF aNgels
A poster for the exhibition “I AM,” featuring the work of 31 contemporary artists from 12 Middle Eastern countries. The exhibit will tour the U.S. through the end of 2018. See p. 48.
pubs_5_Publishers Page 10/17/17 5:57 PM Page 5
American Educational Trust
Publishers’ Page
The economic toll from recent natural disasters in the U.S. is adding up. Damage from California’s devastating fires is predicted to climb to $85 billion. Hurricanes Harvey and Irma caused between $150 billion and $200 billion in damage to Texas, Florida and Georgia. Puerto Rico, already suffering an economic crisis, was walloped by Hurricane Maria to the tune of $95 billion. Now these U.S. citizens are surviving without electricity or fresh water—much like Gazans. We need to help millions of our fellow Americans recover, not...
Fuel or Fund Wars Abroad.
Instead of presenting his nation with a serious economic plan, health care reform or his long-promised plan for a Middle East “Ultimate Deal” peace agreement, President Donald Trump is trying to deep-six the Iran nuclear deal. The administration wants Congress to pass legislation that would kill the diplomatic agreement. Republican Sens. Tom Cotton (AR) and Bob Corker’s (TN) bill would amend the “sunset clause” and add “triggers” to automatically impose new sanctions. For the past two years, Iran’s compliance with the deal has been certified in eight reports by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The other six countries involved in the deal want it to be maintained. Please call our leaders or use the postcards in this issue to convey your views.
Trump on the War Path.
The president is also engaged in a Twitter war with Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. On Oct. 8 Corker tweeted, “It’s a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.” He accused President Trump of treating his office like “a reality show,” with reckless threats toward other countries that could set the nation “On the Path to World War III.” Nor is Trump playing nice with our neighbors either, as he’s still vowing to…
Build a Border Wall with Mexico.
“The president over there, he keeps insulting us, saying that we’re the worst,” Audella Avila Rodriguez, 21, told a Washington NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
Trump’s Latest Muslim Ban.
STAFF PHOTO SAMIR TWAIR
Millions of Americans Need Billions In Care.
As we went to press, legal fights challenging the latest version of Trump’s explosive-nonsensical-cruel travel ban, which targets six majority-Muslim countries, were working their way through the courts. This third ban blocks travel to the U.S. from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, in addition to North Koreans and certain Venezuelan government officials. “The United States is not made safer by preventing citizens from bringing their loved ones to this country,” said CAIR National Litigation Director Lena Masri.“This isn’t something the president came up with on his own, correct?” asked U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang during a hearing in federal court in Greenbelt, MD. No, judge, he had…
More than 500 activists participated in the Oct. 15 "No Muslim Ban Ever" demonstration sponsored by CAIR-LA in Los Angeles.
Post reporter. “This wall is just dividing families. It’s very ugly. It’s sad.” Sounds like another alt-right country we know that has practice building walls. In fact, Israel Aerospace Industries subsidiary Elta North America got the contract to build prototypes for the wall with Mexico, and Israel’s Elbit Systems got the contract to erect surveillance towers along the Arizona/Mexican border (see p. 67). Mexicans may soon see a concrete monument to anti-immigrant fervor being whipped up in the U.S. that rivals anti-Palestinian hatred in Israel.
Outing the Religious Right.
President Trump—along with recently fired White House advisers Stephen Bannon and Sebastian Gorka—received a hero’s welcome at the Family Research Council’s Values Voter Summit Oct. 13-15 in Washington, DC. The Washington Post’s Michael Gerson accused that conservative religious movement and its speakers of embracing “angry ethnonationalism and racial demagoguery.” The movement “takes advantage of racial and ethnic divisions and dehumanizes Muslims, migrants and ref ugees,” Gerson continued. “A movement that has cultivated ties to alt-right leaders and flirted with white identity politics. A movement that will eventually soil and discredit all who are associated with it.” This is the same movement, we fear, that has nurtured...
Help From a Certain Lobby. Don’t Wait to Donate!
Please don’t wait for our second bi-annual donation appeal to arrive in your mailbox. We need your help to pay the printer for the issue you’re reading now! Here are just two examples of what your donation helps us accomplish: • A customer from San Diego who recently visited Middle East Books and More said he got a free magazine at a talk last year and read it cover-to-cover. He vowed to visit the bookstore the next time he came to Washington, DC. After spending an hour looking through the shelves and making his selection, he said he couldn’t believe that such a place existed! • Just as we decided to save money by reducing the number of extra copies we print each issue to give away free (to the customer from San Diego, for example!), we got a call from a reader in Minnesota who wanted 500 copies to pass out at an upcoming educational conference. We sent them off, but we’ll need generous contributions to continue to provide services like this.
You Can Also Help Us…
Forge ahead as we plan the next “Israel Lobby and American Policy” conference with our co-sponsor, the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy. We hope to see you at the National Press Club on March 2, 2018 so that, together, we can…
Make A Difference Today!
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
5
lte_6-7_November/December 2017 Letters to Editor 10/17/17 5:32 PM Page 6
Managing Editor: News Editor: Assistant Editor:
Middle East Books and More Director:
Finance & Admin. Dir.: Art Director: Publisher: Executive Editor:
JANET McMAHON DELINDA C. HANLEY DALE SPRUSANSKY NATHANIEL BAILEY 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
6
LetterstotheEditor PRO-ISRAEL BIAS OF U.S. PRESIDENT
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has succeeded in persuading U.S. President Donald Trump to quit UNESCO. Israel is now pressuring the same gullible, and unstable, U.S. president to renege on America’s commitment to the international peace deal with Iran that was negotiated by the U.N. Security Council and the whole of the European Union, Russia and China, just two years ago. This is a dangerously deliberate strategy to drive a wedge between Europe and America that bodes ill for future world peace and global security. Meanwhile, nuclear-armed Israel with its secret, underground arsenal in the Negev Desert, estimated by scientists to contain up to 400 warheads, is trying to persuade the U.N. General Assembly that non-nuclear Iran is the global threat! Furthermore, Netanyahu is currently now terrified that there will be a Palestinian national unity government as Egypt brokers a Fatah-Hamas deal on Gaza after a decade in which Israel has managed to persuade the U.S. and the EU that Hamas—which has demonstrated social and economic responsibility for 1.8 million civilians in Gaza who have tragically been victims of an illegal Israeli blockade of essential goods for over 10 years—is a “terrorist organization.” Let us never forget that the very first politically motivated terrorist attack in the Middle East, resulting in the mass murder of 92 innocent people, was carried out by Israeli terrorists who bombed the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in an attempt to intimidate the British government mandated Authority to quit Palestine. The urgent question now for the United Nations and the EU is whether Donald Trump is merely working to make the United States strong or if he is, in fact, working to make just 7 million nuclear-armed Israelis disproportionately powerful at the expense and future security of 320 million of his fellow Americans plus the 500 million of us living in Europe? That is what should be urgently concerning the minds of all our governments in both the 27 member states of the European Union, and Britain. Anthony Bellchambers, London, UK Here in the US of A it’s easy to think
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
that Israel “only” affects the Palestinians and American taxpayers and soldiers fighting its perceived enemies. As you demonstrate, however, Israel’s recklessness puts the entire world at risk. What in the world is the world waiting for?
RESPECTING THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE
It should be recalled that in the last Palestinian legislative election, in 2006, Hamas won a majority of seats in both the West Bank and Gaza. To its temporary credit, Fatah initially accepted and promised to respect the democratic choice of the Palestinian people. However, the self-proclaimed champions of “democracy,” the United States and Israel, moved rapidly to ensure that this did not happen. As noted in a Reuters news item, polls currently project Hamas winning a legislative election in both the West Bank and Gaza again. If polls continue to suggest such a result, no one should hold his breath waiting for any new election to occur. However, if new elections did occur and produced the same result, would the democratic choice of the Palestinian people be respected this time? John V. Whitbeck, Paris, France Israel’s Justice [sic] Minister Ayelet Shaked perhaps hinted at the answer when she said on Aug. 29: “Zionism should not—and I’m saying here that it will not—continue to bow its head to a system of individual rights interpreted in a universalist manner.” As Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy pointed out, “Thus Shaked believes, as do so many around the world, that Israel is built on foundations of injustice and therefore must be defended from the hostile talk of justice.” If the U.S. follows Israel down this path as well, it can only bow its head in shame.
A PROBLEMATIC SILENCE
I read Kate Daher’s article “Abducted From Their Homeland by Israel’s Mustarabeen” (October 2017 Washington Report, p. 12) with interest and a disheartening feeling, as I do most of the articles describing the various degrees of atrocities visited upon the Palestinian population in their own country, which is inexorably being stolen from them in full NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
lte_6-7_November/December 2017 Letters to Editor 10/17/17 5:32 PM Page 7
view of the world. I don’t want to this request. May God bless you KEEP THOSE CARDS AND LETTERS give up hope that justice will preand your good works. Salaam COMING! vail in the end, but it is difficult. and thank you. Send your letters to the editor to the Washington However, I do have a question Elie Maccar, #66134, Central Report, P.O. Box 53062, Washington, DC 20009 about her and her travel companMichigan Correctional Facility, or e-mail <letters@wrmea.org>. ions’ reaction when the poor 320 N. Hubbard St., St. Louis, Anyway, the reason I’m writing is be- MI 48880 Palestinian woman was not allowed to reboard the bus with her belongings inside. cause for the last several months I have We thank you for your letter, which is Ms. Daher says that “the silence on the been reading your magazine, the Wash- evidence that the Washington Report inbus was deafening” and that the woman’s ington Report, that another brother deed is widely shared and read. It belongings were on a seat near her on (Abdul Bari) here with me receives. It is sounds as though you share it with nonthe bus. Why did nobody speak up when such a blessing to see how the issue of Muslim inmates as well, which we hope the Palestinians were ordered off the bus Palestine has not been forgotten, and is the case, because U.S. financial and in the first place? Did they think this was how all the sincere people are out there political support for Israel is an issue for appropriate? And why did Ms. Daher struggling for justice. Alhamduli’llah, and all Americans. We have included your “snap a picture” but neither she nor her may Allah reward you all! The brother complete mailing address in case any of traveling companions spoke up? At least who gets them is set to go home in a few our readers would like to correspond she could have gathered up the woman’s weeks, so we will have no more access with you. And we are happy, of course, to your magazine. belongings and handed them to her? to provide you with a subscription so you Can you set me up to get the maga- can continue to share it in the welcome I find the silence in this situation very zine? I have no money, and my prison absence of Mr. Bari (see below). problematic. job earns me $10 per month, so I have Laila Poje, via email We posed your question to Ms. Daher, no way to pay for a subscription. How- KEEPING THE FAITH who replied: “The problem is beyond the ever, we will certainly circulate and read As-salamu ’alaykum. Well, after almost silence on the bus. The problem is the to- the magazine. The whole Muslim Jamat 11 years straight of imprisonment, altality of the occupation. I wish I could reads them, and many more Muslims, hamduli’llah I am finally free. My previhave spoken up, a thousand times over; I too, as it is definitely effective to help us ous address was at the Central Michigan had this same thought, and the woman’s change minds and hearts about what is Correctional Facility. Would you kindly change my subscripface has haunted me and made me more going on in the world. In closing, I want to thank you for your tion label to my new home address in determined to speak out whenever I have the opportunity to do so. At that point, I consideration and assistance concerning Detroit? Also, I will do what I can to share the magazine (I work in a masjid, was traveling alone and I didn’t know the so there are a lot of people who are inwoman was being left until the bus started terested in the issues), and to find a few pulling out, at which time I snapped the subscribers, Insha’llah. photo. It was after the bus was on the Thank you for all your kindness over road that the passengers, including an Isthe years in providing the magazine, and raeli-American, explained what had hapit has definitely made an impact. May pened, and said, “this happens all the God bless you and be pleased with your time.” I can’t answer as to why the Paleswork. Take care. Was-salaam. tinians remained seated or silent after Abdul Bari, via e-mail they re-boarded the bus. But I am aware Congratulations on your new home. that the constant harassment or worse We truly appreciate your past success in that happens at the checkpoints, the surly spreading the word, and have no doubt armed Israeli soldiers who enter the you will continue to do so! buses, checking passbooks and staring threateningly at people until they turn A FRIEND IN AMMAN away, the removal or arrests of PalestiniGreetings from Amman to news editor ans at will—in short, the perpetual grindDelinda C. Hanley and to your great and ing away at their humanity—is meant to wonderful staff. I am very proud of the wear them down. But as long as they conOTHERVOICESisan optional16-page supplement great work you all do. I have been an adtinue to struggle as they do, in large part available only to subscribers of the Washington mirer and supporter of your great organiby remaining steadfastly on the land, we Report on Middle East Affairs. For an additional $15 zation since it was established. I was inmust remain hopeful, on their behalf.” per year (see postcard insert for Washington Report volved with my friend, Delinda’s great late subscription rates), subscribers will receive Other PASSING IT ON father, Dick Curtiss, in a television special Voicesinsideeachissueoftheir WashingtonReport Hopefully this finds you all there at AET on the Arab Gulf states many years back. on Middle East Affairs. with health and blessings. Briefly, I am Please accept my humble donation of Back issues of both publications are available. To 49 years old, Palestinian (born in $100. I follow your unique publication subscribe telephone 1 (888) 881-5861, fax (714) Lebanon at Ein al-Hilweh camp), and I very closely with pride. 226-9733, e-mail circulation@wrmea. org>, or write have been incarcerated in Michigan Mahmoud A. Zawawi, Amman to P.O. Box 91056, Long Beach, CA 90809-1056. State Prison System for 11 years. With Thank you so much for your support about two years till I go home. Insha’llah. and friendship over these many years! ■ NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
7
views-iran_8-10_Two Views 10/17/17 11:52 AM Page 8
Two Views
Will Washington Pull the Plug on the Iran Nuclear Deal?
STR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
the European Union. Accusing Iran of “terrorism” and “violating the spirit of the accord,” Trump threw the Iran issue into the hands of the Republican-dominated U.S. Congress. He had to. All of Trump’s senior national security officials and those from the treaty partners and U.N. reported that Iran had kept its end of the deal. So Trump trotted out the old song and dance about terrorism—which means anything Uncle Sam does not like. The same United States that supports the murderous Islamic State and its allies in Syria and Iraq. There won’t be much An Iranian man reads the daily newspaper Omid Javan, with a picture of President Donald Trump on the front page and a headline that reads in Persian, “Crazy Trump and Logical JCPOA,” on a bench in front of a doubt about how Congress kiosk in Tehran, Oct. 14, 2017. handles this hot potato. The leading senators and congressmen who will deal with the issue, like Bob Corker, Tom Cotton and Marco Rubio, are all firmly in the pocket of pro-Israel lobbies. The U.S. vociferous ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, is By Eric S. Margolis almost a wholly owned subsidiary of the Las Vegas gambling mogul and über Zionist billionaire Sheldon Adelson—who is PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP has put the United States on also a key financial backer of Trump and Netanyahu. the course for war with Iran. That was clearly his objective In fact, Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu appears Oct. 13, when he refused to certify the international nuclear to have more influence on Capitol Hill than President Trump. accord with Iran and proclaimed heavy sanctions against He used to show it off by humiliating former President Barack Tehran’s powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guards Corps. Obama. Trump’s move was also a clever ploy to deflect blame for Israel has just scored a major triumph by using Trump to sababrogating the key 2015 Iran nuclear treaty that the U.S. otage the Iran nuclear pact. Prime Minister Netanyahu has long signed with Iran, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and been adamant in insisting that the pact be scrapped. Having Eric S. Margolis is an award-winning, internationally syndicated pushed the U.S. to destroy its old foes, Iraq and Syria, Israel columnist and the author of American Raj: Liberation or Dominanow has its big guns trained on Iran, the last regional power that tion? Resolving the Conflict Between the West and the Muslim can challenge Israel’s domination of the Mideast. Iran, we World (available from AET’s Middle East Books and More). Copyright © 2017 EricMargolis.com. should remember, is also the only important Mideast power
Trump Shoots the U.S. in the Foot Over Iran
8
WAshingtOn REpORt On MiDDLE EAst AffAiRs
nOvEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
views-iran_8-10_Two Views 10/17/17 11:52 AM Page 9
backing the Palestinians and calling for a Palestinian state. Trump is surrounded by a coterie of ardently pro-Israel advisers and cronies aligned to that nation’s far right wing. So far to the right, in fact, that their Israeli opponents often call them “fascists.” Trump, with this Mussolini complex, fits right into this mind-set. In addition, Trump’s virulent hatred of Islam and his deep support from America’s evangelicals fuel his antipathy to Iran. The Israeli lobby and so-called Christian Zionists that make up his electoral base are beating the war drums against Iran. If the Iran nuclear deal is abrogated, America will have shot itself in the foot and shown the world it has fallen under the control of special interests for whom America’s national interests do not come first. Europe, already disgusted by the Trump carnival in Washington and its religious supporters, will pull further away from the U.S. and closer to Russia and China. Who would trust America’s word after deal-breaker Trump? Europe has lately signed billions in new trade accords with Iran, most notably an $18 billion deal with Airbus for the sale of commercial aircraft. Boeing wants to sell 80 aircraft to Iran worth $16 billion. Thus Trump’s jihad against Iran will likely deny high-paid jobs to tens of thousands of American workers. This from the president who was going to create jobs, jobs, jobs. Iran handed over 10 tons of medium-enriched uranium as part of the nuclear deal. Will Tehran get this trove back if Congress scuppers the Iran deal? Doubtful. Iran destroyed many of its uranium centrifuges as part of the deal. Can it sue Washington for breach of contract? Meanwhile, the U.S. heads toward some sort of military conflict with Iran at a time when it may go to war any day with North Korea. Trump, who evaded the draft during the Vietnam War due to a trivial foot problem, is now clearly thrilled by all his new military toys. Many of Trump’s close advisers fear Trump will trigger a nuclear war. It may be time for his top officials to step in and take away the president’s nuclear launch codes. Israel is determined to destroy Iran so that it can never pose a military or political challenge to the Jewish state. Call it Iraq II. This means turning Iran’s nuclear industry and its civilian economy to ruins. And maybe even breaking up Iran—as was done with Iraq—into Iranian, Azeri and Kurdish mini-states. Rome’s famous statesman Cato the Elder used to end every speech with “Carthago Delenda Est”—(“Carthage,” bitter rival and enemy of Rome, “must be destroyed.”) Now, it’s Iran’s turn.
That slogan implied two things: that Iran was intent on acquiring nuclear weapons, and that the United States had succeeded in thwarting that ambition by imposing nuclear restrictions on Iran. A major problem results from that. Common sense leads most people to think that, if the JCPOA is the only obstacle to Iran becoming nuclear-armed, it would be folly to allow the nuclear restrictions to lapse between 2025 and 2031 as the agreement envisages. And, if a mix of persuasion and coercion worked to impose the JCPOA in 2015, then that same mix will surely work to impose the extension of restrictions way beyond 2025, if not in perpetuity. The current president and secretary of state seem both to have come to this common sense view. “Trump Pushes to Revisit Iran Nuclear Deal” was a New York Times headline on Sept. 20. “Iran Nuclear Deal Must Change, Says Tillerson” was an Asia Times headline the same day. Unfortunately this common sense view fails to do justice to the complexity of the events that led up to the JCPOA. The JCPOA became an option for resolving worldwide concern over Iran’s “pursuit of a policy of concealment” between 1985 and 2003, and concomitant violation of nuclear safeguards obligations, only after a U.S. intelligence finding that Iran’s leaders had closed down a nuclear weapons program (probably not much more than selective research) in 2003 and had not taken a decision to acquire nuclear weapons. Before that finding, published in November 2007, Europe and the United States had judged that it would be dangerous to allow Iran to possess a capacity to enrich uranium, since highly enriched uranium is nuclear bomb material. Persuading Iran to renounce enrichment had, therefore, been the goal of European diplomacy between 2003 and 2006. In 2005 the Europeans had rejected an Iranian offer to severely restrict enrichment for a number of years, but not to renounce it, precisely because their underlying fear was that Iran sought nuclear weapons. In other words, it was growing confidence after 2007 that Iran was not intent on acquiring nuclear weapons that allowed Europe and the United States to cut a deal that allowed for continuing enrichment in Iran and that envisaged a growing output of low-enriched uranium (non-weapon grade), scrutinized by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), after 2030. Meanwhile, the offer Iran made in 2005 and their reaction to the nuclear-related sanctions that accumulated after 2006 revealed much about the terms on which Iran’s leaders were ready to do a deal. They were ready to pay a price in the form of temporary re-
Building Confidence in Iran’s Intentions, Not Closing All Pathways
Peter Jenkins was a British career diplomat for 33 years. His last assignment (2001-06) was that of UK ambassador to the IAEA and U.N. (Vienna). Since 2006 he has represented the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership, advised the Director of IIASA and set up a partnership, The Ambassador Partnership llp, with former diplomatic colleagues, to offer the corporate sector dispute resolution and solutions to cross-border problems. He was an associate fellow of the Geneva Center for Security Policy from 2010 to 2012. He writes and speaks on nuclear and trade policy issues.Copyright © 2008-2017 LobeLog.com.
By Peter Jenkins
THE DECISION TO sell the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran (the JCPOA) to the U.S. Congress and public as closing all pathways to Iranian acquisition of nuclear weapons is returning to haunt us. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
9
views-iran_8-10_Two Views 10/17/17 11:52 AM Page 10
strictions, and perpetual transparency, to build international confidence in the peaceful, non-military nature of the post2003 nuclear program. They were not ready to humiliate themselves by renouncing a sovereign right, conditioned only by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to make peaceful use of enrichment technology. They disliked being subjected to sanctions but were determined not to succumb to this form of diplomatic pressure, whatever the economic costs of that determination. In other words, Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leaders saw the JCPOA as a confidence-building agreement that will allow Iran to move on from the disreputable position in which it found itself in 2003. They see it also as an agreement that they offered of their own free will, not as an â&#x20AC;&#x153;unequal treatyâ&#x20AC;? imposed on them by stronger powers. The JCPOA itself makes no mention of â&#x20AC;&#x153;closing all pathways.â&#x20AC;? Instead it states: [Iran envisions that] the initial mutually determined limitations described in this
(Advertisement)
-53,)-3
"!+% #!+% 4HERE S ALOT MORE YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT YOUR MUSLIM NEIGHBORS
6JG /WUNKO .KPM VJG NCTIGUV PGYURCRGT HQT CPF CDQWV VJG /WUNKO %QOOWPKV[ KP &% /& CPF 8# #XCKNCDNG CV OQUV /QUSWGU #TCD +PFQ 2CM CPF 2GTUKCP TGUVCWTCPVU CPF ITQEGTKGU KP VJG ITGCVGT 9CUJKPIVQP $CNVKOQTG OGVTQRQNKVCP CTGC #XCKNCDNG (TGG
0HONE &AX
WWW -USLIMLINKPAPER COM
JCPOA will be followed by a gradual evolution, at a reasonable pace, of Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s peaceful nuclear program, including its enrichment activities, to a commercial program for exclusively peaceful purposes, consistent with international nonproliferation norms. and The E3/EU+3 envision that the implementation of this JCPOA will progressively allow them to gain confidence in the ex(Advertisement)
clusively peaceful nature of Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s program. All this suggests that President Trump and Secretary Tillerson will find it impossible to impose additional nuclear restrictions on Iran, short of defeating Iran militarily and occupying a country much larger than Iraq (at enormous political and financial cost). Their best bet, rather, will be to engage Iran diplomatically. If they do so, they are likely to find Iran much readier to contemplate additional confidence-building transparency measures than additional restrictions on enrichment. In support of any diplomatic initiative, the United States must continue to uphold the JCPOA. To decertify Iran or encourage Congress to re-impose nuclear-related sanctionsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;to exert â&#x20AC;&#x153;pressureâ&#x20AC;? on Iranâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;is utterly counterproductive. Wise statesman might also set about dispelling the notion that only the JCPOA is preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. But that is probably too much to expect. â&#x2013;
" #JMJOHVBM $VMUVSBM &EVDBUJPOBM 1VCMJDBUJPO
3HU VLDQ
+HUL WDJH
4VQQPSU :PVS 1FSTJBO )FSJUBHF "EWFSUJTF :PVS #VTJOFTT PS 4FSWJDFT 5P 1MBDF BO "E PS 4VCTDSJCF $POUBDU 6T
5FM 'BY 888 1&34*"/ )&3*5"(& $0. & ."*- .*3"44*3"/!"0- $0. 1FSTJBO )FSJUBHF *OD 1BTTBJD "WF 1BTTBJD /+
10
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 JUNE/JULY 2016
avnery_11-12_Special Report 10/17/17 11:54 AM Page 11
Har Adar: A Tale of Two Stories
Special Report By Uri Avnery
THOMAS COEX/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
THIS IS THE story: at 7 o’clock in the morning, an Arab approaches the gate of Har Adar, a settlement close to the Green Line near the Israeli-Arab village of Abu Ghosh. The man is a “good Arab.” A good Arab with a work permit in the settlement. He lives in the nearby West Bank Arab village of Beit Surik. He received a work permit there because he fits all the criteria—he is 37 years old, married and father of four children. The inhabitants of Har Adar know him well, because he has been cleaning their homes for years. This Tuesday morning he arrived at the gate as usual. But something aroused suspicion among the guards. He was wearing a jacket, though the weather was quite hot on this early autumn day. The guards asked him to remove his jacket. Israeli security forces and emergency services gather at the site of a fatal attack at the entrance Instead, the man took out a loaded pistol to the wealthy West Bank settlement of Har Adar after a Palestinian worker from a nearby viland shot three of the guards in the head at lage opened fire on entry guards before being shot dead, Sept. 26, 2017. close range—two civilian guards and a she had escaped to her family in Jordan, leaving the four chilmember of the semi-military Border Guards. Two of the victims dren behind. were Arabs (one of them a Druze) and one was a Jew. Another So, obviously, he had become temporarily unhinged. In a state Jew, the local commander of the guards, was severely wounded. of mental derangement he had forgotten the kindness of the Har Since the assailant had never received military training, the preciAdar people. Just a unique case, that need not trouble us further. sion of his shots was astounding. The pistol had been stolen 15 But it all shows that you can’t trust the Arabs. They are a bunch years ago. of murderers. You cannot make peace with them until they All Israel was shocked. How could this happen? A good Arab change completely. So we must keep the occupied territories. like this? An Arab with permits? Why would he do such a thing in That is the story. But there is another story, too. The story as a place where he was well liked and well treated? Where he seen by the man himself. played with the children? And that after he was thoroughly vetted From his home in neighboring Beit Surik, the man—whose name by the Security Service, which has innumerable Arab spies and was, by the way, Nimr (“leopard”) Mahmoud Ahmed al-Jamal— is considered well-nigh infallible? could see Har Adar every day when he woke up. For him, as for Something extraordinary must have happened. Someone every Arab, it was a flourishing Jewish settlement, built on expromust have incited him against the Jews and the nice people of priated Arab land. Like his own village, it belonged to the PalestinHar Adar, who had treated him so well. Perhaps the U.N. speech ian West Bank, which is occupied territory. by Mahmoud Abbas. Or perhaps some secret contacts with He had to get up in the darkness of the night in order to get to Hamas. “Incitement!” cried Binyamin Netanyahu. Har Adar on time—7 o’clock in the morning—and work hard until But then another fact emerged, which explained everything. late in the night, arriving home at about 10 o’clock. This is the lot The man had quarreled with his wife. He had beaten her up, and of tens of thousands of Arab laborers. They may look friendly, especially when their livelihood depends on it. They may even Uri Avnery is a former member of the Israeli Knesset and a founder of the peace group Gush Shalom (www.gush-shalom.org). be really friendly to benevolent masters. But deep in their hearts NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
11
avnery_11-12_Special Report 10/17/17 11:54 AM Page 12
they cannot forget for a moment that they are cleaning the toilets of the Jews who came to Arab Palestine and occupied their homeland. Since most of the agricultural land of their villages has been expropriated for Jewish settlements, they have no choice but to work in these low-status jobs. There is no industry to speak of in the West Bank. Wages are minimal, often below the legal minimum wage in Israel proper (some $1,500 per month). Since they have no choice, they are not far from being slaves. Like the nice slaves in “Gone with the Wind.” Such a man may be at peace with this reality, but if something bad happens, he may suddenly become upset with his status and decide to become a martyr. Nimr left behind a letter in which he defended his wife and absolved her from any responsibility for the deed he had planned for the next day. So these are the two stories, which have very little in common. The people of Har Adar are completely shocked. Since they live 20 minutes’ drive from Jerusalem, they do not consider themselves settlers at all, but Israelis like
IndextoAdvertisers Alalusi Foundation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 American Friends of Birzeit University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) . . . . . . . Inside Front Cover The Israel Lobby and American Policy 2018 Conference . . . . . . . . 13 Kinder USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Mashrabiya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Middle East Children’s Alliance. . . . 21 Mondoweiss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Muslim Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Palestinian Medical Relief Society . 27
Persian Heritage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 United Palestinian Appeal (UPA) . . . . . . . . . . Inside Back Cover 12
any other. They don’t really see the Arabs all around them as people like themselves, but as primitive natives. The Har Adar people are not like the fanatical, religious and nearly fascist people in some settlements. Far from it. Har Adar people vote for all parties, including Meretz, the left-wing Zionist party which advocates the return of the occupied territories to the Palestinians. This is not seen as including Har Adar, of course, since there is a consensus among Zionists, right and left, that the settlements close to the Green Line should be annexed to Israel. Har Adar people can rightly be proud of their achievements. From the air, the place looks very orderly. It has 3,858 inhabitants. Their average income is about $5,000 a month, well over the national Israeli average (some $3,000). Their local council is the third most efficient in the entire country.
PARADISE OR DISASTER?
Located in the mountainous area around Jerusalem, it has a beautiful landscape. It also has man-made amenities: a library, a youth club, a skate-park and an amphitheater that seats 720 people. Even for an average Israeli, this is paradise. For the Arabs around, who cannot enter without a special permit, it is a perpetual reminder of their national disaster. Of course, like other settlements, Har Adar is not located on land that was empty. It occupies the location on which stood a village called Hirbat Nijam, a village which already stood there in PersianHellenistic times, some 2,500 years ago. Like most Palestinian villages, they were Canaanite, then Judean, then Hellenist, then Byzantine, then Muslim, then Crusader, then Mameluk, then Ottoman, then Palestinian—without the population ever changing. Until 1967. When Nimr was born, all this long history was long forgotten. What remained was the reality of the Israeli occupation. This now looks like the normal state of things. The members of Har Adar are happy, feeling secure and well guarded by the efficient Security Service, the Border Guard and local mercenaries, mostly Arab citizens of Israel. Neighbors like Nimr seem content, and
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
probably are, if they are lucky enough to have a job and a work permit, even with pitiful wages. The historical grudge lies deeply buried within their consciousness. And then something happens, something that may be quite irrelevant—like the escape of his wife to Jordan—to bring it all up. Nimr the lowly laborer suddenly becomes Nimr the freedom fighter, Nimr the martyr on his way to paradise. All his village respects his sacrifice and his family. Israelis are furious that the families of “martyrs” are paid an allowance by the Palestinian Authority. Binyamin Netanyahu accuses Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) of incitement to murder with these payments. But it is quite impossible for Abbas to annul them—the outraged reaction of his people would be tremendous. Martyrs are holy, their families respected. The day after Nimr’s dastardly terrorist act and/or heroic martyrdom, a grandiose national ceremony took place in another settlement. All the country’s major dignitaries, led by the president and the prime minister, assembled to commemorate the 50th anniversary of “our return to our homeland, Judea and Samaria, the Jordan Valley and the Golan Heights.” Missing in the list is the Gaza Strip, which Israel has evacuated, leaving behind a tight land and sea blockade aided by Egypt. In the Strip there are about two million Palestinians. Who the hell wants them? All hell broke loose when the president of the Supreme Court, who was supposed to send a judge to represent the court at this ceremony, canceled his attendance because of the highly propagandist style of the event. She decided that this is party propaganda, in which her court would not take part. Altogether, not a day of quiet in this country, a state without borders and without a constitution, where every story has two totally different sides, where nice and quiet people suddenly become raging martyrs. There will be no quiet until there is peace, with each of the two peoples living in their own state, a situation where real friendship has a chance of blooming. ■ NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
conference_ad_13-14_November December 2017 10/17/17 9:17 AM Page 13
Historic Fifth Annual Conference Will Scrutinize Israel Lobby Initiatives ([SHUWV FRQVWDQWO\ GLVVHFW 5XVVLD¶V LQIOXHQFH RQ 8 6 HOHFWRUDO SRO LF\ EXW VWHHU FOHDU RI PHQWLRQLQJ ,VUDHO¶V PHGGOLQJ 'RQ¶W PLVV WKLV unique educational event, open to the public, on March 2, 2018²just before the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Speakers will examine the strategies, tactics and policies of Israel and its U.S. Lobby. +HUH¶V ZKDW VSHDNHUV KDYH VDLG DW RXU SUHYLRXV FRQIHUHQFHV DV WKH\ analyzed why the U.S. gives Israel so much aid without any conditions, ignoring its harsh treatment of its non-Jewish citizens: ³6R ZKDW H[SODLQV WKH VSHFLDO UHODWLRQVKLS >ZLWK ,VUDHO@ LI WKHUH LV QR strategic or moral imperative and if most Americans do not favor it? 2XU DQVZHU RI FRXUVH LV WKH OREE\ ´ Prof. John Mearsheimer, 2017 ³7KH\ GHPROLVK RXU KRPHV RQH E\ RQH HYLFW ZKROH IDPLOLHV ZKROH neighborhoods. Israel is perhaps the only nation in the world that FUHDWHV KRPHOHVVQHVV DV D PDWWHU RI QDWLRQDO SROLF\ ´ Poet and novelist Susan Abulhawa, 2016
Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi and documentary filmmaker Tom Hayes²2017
³/LVWHQ >$,3$&@ ZLWK IULHQGV OLNH \RX ,VUDHO GRHV QRW QHHG HQHPLHV« :H DUH GHDOLQJ ZLWK D FRUUXSWLQJ IULHQGVKLS , WKLQN WKDW LI LW ZHUHQ¶W IRU WKH ,VUDHO /REE\ ,VUDHO ZRXOG KDYH EHHQ D PRUH MXVW SODFH«DQG WKH 8QLWHG 6WDWHV ZRXOG KDYH EHHQ D EHWWHU SODFH DQG D PRUH GHPRFUDWLF SODFH ´ Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy, 2015
Location The National Press Club building is located at 529 14th St. NW, Washington DC, 20045. The Ballroom is located on the 13th floor. Elevator banks are located at the 14th St. entry. Nearby Metro stops within three to four blocks include Metro Center (Blue, Orange, Silver and Red lines), McPherson Square (Blue, Orange and Silver lines) and Federal Triangle (Blue, Orange and Silver lines).
Professor and author John Mearsheimer²2017
Event Updates Get official event updates on the web at: http://www.IsraelLobbyandAmericanPolicy.org Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/USIsraelLobby Follow @WRMEA and @IRmep on Twitter for updates. Search and use event hashtag #IsraelLobbyCon
Organizers
conference_ad_13-14_November December 2017 10/17/17 9:17 AM Page 14
National Press Club Ballroom & Exhibition Hall March 2, 2018 8AM-5PM²Networking Reception follows until 7PM The Israel Lobby and American Policy conference is solely sponsored by the American Educational Trust, publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, IRmep. Attendees receive a box lunch. and a beverage ticket for the post-conference reception Same day registration is $199
Fax to: (202) 265-4574 (if paying by credit card) Mail to: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs 1902 18th St. NW, Washington, DC 20009
Conference Registration Form $79 Early Bird rate through Thanksgiving, Limited quantities of tickets are available. Please send my ticket to the e-mail below. I understand seating is limited and agree to abide by National Press Club and conference rules.*
$99 Regular rate. My registration will be delivered on or before 2/23/2018. Please send my ticket confirmation to the email below. I understand seating is limited and agree to abide by National Press Club and conference rules.*
Attendee Information First Name**
I would like to make an additional taxexempt contribution of $__________to the conference fund of the AET Library Endowment, which publishes the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, and the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, which are the sole organizers of this conference.
Last Name**
Students enrolled in college or university and members of news organizations can apply for free entry by registering online at: IsraelLobbyandAmericanPolicy.org
Salutation (Mr. Mrs. Dr. Ms. Miss)
Name as you wish it to appear on your badge; please include any title or organizational affiliation which may be applicable**
Address**
City**
State**
Phone**(at least one associated with payment card)
Zip**
Email**
Business Phone
Mobile Phone
Home Phone
Payment Card Information $PH[ 9LVD 0DVWHU&DUG &KHFN HQFORVHG SD\DEOH WR $(7 /LEUDU\ (QGRZPHQW ZLWK ³ FRQIHUHQFH´ in memo (not payee) line.
Card#***
Expiration Date***
Name as it appears on Card***
Security Code***
Signature***
Billing address associated with payment card, if different from attendee address*** **See venue and conference rules at http://israellobbyandamericanpolicy.org/Tickets_Registration/ ***Required attendee information ***Required information if a payment card is used 2UJDQL]HUV HVWLPDWH WKH ³LQ-NLQG´ YDOXH RI HDFK WLFNHW WKH FRVW RI IRRG DQG EHYHUDJH DW The remainder plus any extra donation should be fully tax-deductible to most attendees and donors. Rev. 10/16/2017
cook_15-17_The Nakba Continues 10/16/17 6:56 PM Page 15
The Nakba Continues
Greek Patriarch’s Sale of Church Lands to Settler Groups Infuriates Palestinian Christians
By Jonathan Cook
JACK GUEZ/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
THE GREEK ORTHODOX Church has been plunged into a renewed crisis in the Holy Land as its leaders are accused of selling off land to extremist Jewish settlers in prime locations in Jerusalem’s Old City. Protest rallies have escalated in recent weeks, with demonstrators calling for the removal of Patriarch Theophilos III after mounting evidence has emerged that he has sold land and historic properties in locations such as Jerusalem, Jaffa, Caesarea and Tiberias. On Oct. 8, Theophilos needed a police escort to attend a church service in Reine, next to Nazareth, after hundreds of Palestinian Christian protesters shouted to him that he was corrupt and must resign. The demonstration came days after a conference of Orthodox delegates in Bethlehem demanded that Theophilos be boycotted and blocked from making any transactions regarding Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III (r) and Israeli Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Church property. Yona Metzger at a Nov. 27, 2008 inter-faith dialogue meeting in the Arab MusTheophilos’ predecessor, Irenaios, was ousted from the po- lim town of Kafr Qaria in northern Israel. sition of patriarch more than a decade ago amid a similar Much is at stake, as nearly a quarter of land in East Jerusalem controversy over land sales. In 2004 his officials sold an option for is reported to be Church-owned, including the Mount of Olives, a 198-year lease on three strategically located properties In Sheikh Jarrah and large swaths of the Old City—all sites targeted Jerusalem’s Old City to front companies representing the settler orby the settler movement. ganization Ateret Cohanim. The row over the patriarch selling lands is the latest development That settler group has been working for decades to evict Palesin a long-running struggle for control of the Orthodox Church, which tinians from their homes and shops in the Old City, including around has been dominated by Greek clergy for some 500 years. Protestimportant holy sites such as the al-Aqsa Mosque compound. ers have been calling for Palestinian clerics to take over the PatriThat Jerusalem deal has now come back to haunt Theophilos, archate so that local Christians’ interests become paramount. after a Jerusalem district court approved the transaction in August. Adi Bajali, who attended a September protest in Jerusalem Critics of Theophilos say he made only half-hearted attempts to against the patriarch and is a member of the Orthodox Central persuade the court to block the sale. Council, which represents Orthodox communities in Israel, PalesSecret tape recordings of Ateret Cohanim officials have in the tine and Jordan, said the patriarch was behaving like a “dictator.” past raised concerns that Israel is strong-arming each new Greek “This land does not belong to him—it belongs to our community. It Orthodox patriarch into selling land by refusing to agree to recogis our future and our children’s future,” he said. “Israel has a declared nize his appointment until he cooperates with the settler group. intention to make all of the land here Jewish. Our mother Church The Greek Orthodox Church is reputedly the second-largest should not be assisting them by stripping us of our birthright.” landowner in the country after the Israeli state itself, with title deeds The dispute over the land sales in Jerusalem has been escalatto some 400 sq. km., according to local Palestinian Christians. ing since an Israeli judge ruled in August against an appeal by the The issue of land sales is especially contentious in East Orthodox Church seeking to overturn the 2004 deal in Jerusalem’s Jerusalem because the city is supposed to become the capital of Old City. a future Palestinian state. At the time, church officials blamed a rogue adviser, Nikolas PaJonathan Cook is a journalist based in Nazareth and a winner of the padimos, for making the sale. Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. He is the author of Included in the sale are two buildings, which currently serve as hoBlood and Religion and Israel and the Clash of Civilisations (available from AET’s Middle East Books and More). tels, close to Jaffa Gate, an entrance into the Old City that Israeli ofNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
15
cook_15-17_The Nakba Continues 10/16/17 6:57 PM Page 16
ficials and settlers have been trying to “Judaize.” The area, although home to thousands of Palestinians, has effectively become the main gateway from West Jerusalem in Israel to the Western Wall and the Old City’s main settler colony, the Jewish Quarter. The third building is in the Muslim Quarter, an area where Ateret Cohanim has been aggressively buying properties to encircle the al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Maher Sahlieh, a Jerusalem member of the Orthodox Central Council, said the sales were causing Palestinians in East Jerusalem sleepless nights. “Many thousands of them, including the majority of Palestinian Christians in the city, live on Church-owned land,” he said. “These sales put their future in the balance.” The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate was unavailable for comment. But in an apparent move to calm the rising tide of anger, leaders of the region’s main churches issued a joint statement in September condemning the court ruling as an example of recent “breaches of the status quo” regarding Church property. “We see in these actions a systematic attempt to undermine the integrity of the Holy City of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and to weaken the Christian presence,” they wrote. The statement also condemned a bill recently introduced in the Israeli Knesset to allow the state to take over Church properties leased to private companies. Hundreds of Jewish families in West Jerusalem are up in arms after the Church secretly sold the lease to Israeli developers, leaving their future uncertain. Although Theophilos denounced the court ruling and promised to appeal it to a higher court, it may prove hard to placate Palestinian Christians. This past July, 14 local Orthodox institutions—representing many of the half-million Greek Orthodox Christians in the occupied territories, Israel and Jordan—severed ties with Theophilos and his synod. They have called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan to force Theophilos’ removal. Under Jordanian law, they noted, the patriarch is not allowed to sell Church property. Then, in August, more than 300 Palestini16
ans filed a criminal complaint to the Palestinian attorney general in Ramallah, accusing Theophilos of “treason.” They said they were forced to act after the Church refused to make public details of its real estate deals. An Israeli Supreme Court ruling in August approved the Church keeping its affairs secret. So far Ramallah and Amman have kept a low profile. Many Palestinian Christians suspect that Theophilos’ position is being safeguarded by Israel and the United States. “Theophilos needs the approval of the PA and Jordan, so if they wanted to they could force him to step down,” said Sahlieh. “It is time for them to act.”
CALLS FOR A NEW SCHISM
In the Jerusalem protest, some argued for a new schism like the one that split the Orthodox Church from Rome in 1054. Among the chants accusing the patriarch of being a “collaborator” were cries of “Free the Patriarchate” from Greek influence. The Orthodox Church in Israel and Palestine is believed to be the only Orthodox community not run by local clergy. “We need a grass-roots revolt,” said Asad Daoud, an Orthodox Christian from the Galilee who attended the rally. “We must refuse to pray in the churches. We must boycott them until we get our Church back.” Palestinian priests occupy only 2 seats in the Church’s 18-member synod. Atallah Hanna, the only Palestinian serving as a Greek Orthodox archbishop, has been repeatedly punished by the patriarch for speaking out. He did so again after the court ruling, issuing a statement: “Those who sell and forfeit our real estate and Orthodox endowments do not represent our Arab Church, its heritage, identity and historical presence in this holy land.” Bajali, the protester, said the Orthodox community was beset with rumors that the Patriarchate had allegedly hidden away proceeds from the sales in overseas bank accounts. Daoud agreed: “They are thieves and will sell everything unless we stop them. Where has all the money from these sales gone? Why have they not built schools or cultural
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
centers for our community? They have done nothing.” The protest in Jerusalem was the latest development in a campaign by local Christians that has been gaining ground for several years. At Orthodox Christmas in early 2015, large numbers of Palestinians protested against Theophilos in Bethlehem’s Manger Square as he arrived at the Church of the Nativity. Six youths were arrested, as demonstrators denounced what they termed a “Greek occupation” of their Church. The local population was enraged by sales of land near Bethlehem, including a site next to the Mar Elias monastery, that freed up land for the expansion of Jewish settlements encircling Jerusalem. As well as selling land in the occupied territories, the Church is reported to have made deals to sell large plots of prized real estate in Israel, including in West Jerusalem, Jaffa, Haifa and Nazareth. Reportedly, the Church may have sold more than 80 sq. km. of land. According to Israel’s Channel 2, a company recently bought for $1 million more than 170 acres in Caesarea, a former Palestinian village that is now a Jewish town, whose inhabitants include Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The land is said to include historical sites, such as a Roman amphitheater and a Byzantine church, and could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Hana Swaid, a Palestinian Christian and former member of the Israeli Knesset who now heads an organization monitoring land problems for Palestinians in Israel, said things had gotten markedly worse under Theophilos. “The patriarch is selling more and more land,” he said. “The Church used to offer longterm leases on its land, but kept the ownership. Now it’s selling the title deeds, too. The Church has betrayed the community.” Palestinians in Israel, who comprise a fifth of its population, are concerned about the land sales because Israel has an official policy of “Judaizing” territory. Palestinian communities in Israel had most of their lands seized by the state in the 1950s and 1960s, leaving them with no room to expand, explained Swaid. Today, 93 percent of Israel’s territory is “nationalized,” NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
cook_15-17_The Nakba Continues 10/16/17 6:57 PM Page 17
held on behalf of world Jewry rather than Israeli citizens. Bajali pointed out that much of the Church’s current lands had either been bequeathed by local Christians during the Ottoman period or bought with donations from Orthodox pilgrims. “The land was given to the Church as an endowment, for safekeeping and to benefit the Orthodox community as a whole,” he said. “If the patriarch keeps selling it, in another 100 years there will be nothing left— and no Christians here.” In court documents, the Patriarchate has stated that it is mired in debt, a claim that local Christians struggle to accept. “If they are really that hard up, why have they not come to us asking for help?” asked Daoud. “We would rather raise money for the Church and keep the lands than have the lands sold off.” Swaid said one possible reason for the land sales was a desire by the Church to increase its influence with Israel against its chief rival, the Vatican.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
“I don’t believe the Church needs the money,” he said, “but it is in competition with the Catholic Church and selling land brings it closer to the Israeli authorities.” There are also suspicions that Theophilos and his predecessors may have been selling land to settlers and Israeli companies under more direct pressure, said Sahlieh. A new patriarch requires recognition not just from Jordan and the PA, but from Israel, too. An investigation by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in early 2006, shortly after Theophilos was enthroned, suggested that recent patriarchs had been strong-armed behind the scenes into collusion with Israel and settler groups. Israel refused to recognize Theophilos for nearly two and a half years after his appointment. (See April 2004 Washington Report, p. 62.) His predecessor, Irenaios, was also denied recognition—in his case for nearly four years, until shortly before the Jerusalem land sales went through. In secret recordings, a senior official in Ateret Cohanim boasted that the settler (Advertisement)
group effectively had a veto over Israel’s approval of a new patriarch. It withheld its agreement until the new patriarch started selling land. Asaf Baruchi, an adviser to Matityahu Dan, chairman of Ateret Cohanim, stated: “When [Irenaios] sold to us, he became patriarch… Now, the second one [Theophilos] wants to be patriarch. And the second one hasn’t become patriarch—why?…We’re still with the first one [Irenaios], because he sold to us.” Irenaios bolstered suspicions of collusion in a lawsuit he filed in 2005 to block the Jerusalem land sales. He said that, when he originally refused to sell to Ateret Cohanim, Dan came to his office and threatened “an atomic bomb” would explode in the courtyard unless the patriarch signed. Two weeks later, the Israeli media reported the sale had gone through. Swaid said it was time for real change. “Things won’t improve as long as the Church acts like a foreign entity and ignores its responsibilities and duties to the local Palestinian population.” ■
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
17
views-reconcile_18-21_Three Views 10/16/17 6:52 PM Page 18
Three Views
Will Fatah-Hamas Reconciliation Succeed?
MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
tinian parties, if read carefully their political discourse is not entirely dismissive of the possibility of having Hamas join a unity government under Mahmoud Abbas’ direction. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's comments in early October validate this assertion. He did not categorically reject a Hamas-Fatah government, but demanded, according to the Times of Israel, that “any future Palestinian government must disband the terror organization’s [Hamas’] armed wing, sever all ties with Iran and recognize the State of Israel.” Egyptian President Abdel Fattah elSisi, too, would like to see a weaker Hamas, a marginalized Iran and an agreement that puts Egypt back at the center of Middle East diplomacy. Under the auspices of the Egyptian Palestinians gather at the Erez crossing with Israel in the northern Gaza Strip as they wait to wel- dictator, Egypt's once central role in the come the arrival of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and his ministers, Oct. 2, 2017. region’s affairs has faded into a marginal one. But the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation is giving el-Sisi a window of opportunity to rebrand his country's image which has, in recent years, been tarnished by brutal crackdowns on his By Ramzy Baroud country’s opposition and his miscalculated military interventions in Libya, Yemen and elsewhere. EGYPT'S ENTHUSIASM TO arbitrate between feuding PalesIn September, on the sidelines of the United Nations Gentinian factions Hamas and Fatah is not the outcome of a suderal Assembly (UNGA) conference in New York, el-Sisi met den awakening of conscience. Cairo has, in fact, played a deNetanyahu publicly for the first time. The exact nature of their structive role in manipulating Palestinian division to its favor, talks was never fully revealed, although media reports pointed while keeping the Rafah border crossing under lock and key. out that the Egyptian leader has attempted to sway Netanyahu However, the Egyptian leadership is clearly operating in cointo accepting a Hamas-Fatah unity deal. ordination with Israel and the United States. While the lanIn his speech at the UNGA, el-Sisi also made a passionate, guage emanating from Tel Aviv and Washington is quite impromptu appeal for peace. He spoke of an 'opportunity' that guarded regarding the ongoing talks between the two Palesmust be used to achieve the coveted Middle East peace Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chroniagreement and called on U.S. President Donald Trump to cle. His forthcoming book is The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story. “write a new page of history of mankind” by taking advantage Baroud has a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter of that supposed opportunity. and is a non-resident scholar at Orfalea Center for Global and InterIt is difficult to imagine that el-Sisi, with limited influence and national Studies, University of California. Visit his website: <www. ramzybaroud.net>. sway over Israel and the U.S., is capable of single-handedly cre-
What Is Behind the Hamas-Fatah Reconciliation?
18
WAShingTon REPoRT on MiddLE EAST AffAiRS
novEMbER/dECEMbER 2017
views-reconcile_18-21_Three Views 10/16/17 6:53 PM Page 19
ating the needed political environment for reconciliation between Palestinian factions. Several such attempts have been tried, but failed in the past, most notably in 2011 and in 2014. As early as 2006, though, the George W. Bush administration forbade any such reconciliation, using threats and withholding of funds to ensure Palestinians remained divided. The Barack Obama administration followed suit, ensuring Gaza's isolation and Palestinian division, while it also supported Israel's policies in this regard. Unlike previous administrations, Donald Trump has kept expectations regarding the brokering of a peace agreement low. However, from the outset, he took Israel's side, promised to relocate the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and appointed a hard-liner, David Friedman, a Zionist par excellence, as U.S. ambassador to Israel. No doubt, last June Trump signed a temporary order to keep the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, disappointing many of his pro-Israel fans, but the move is by no means an indication of a serious change of policies. “I want to give that [a plan for peace] a shot before I even think about moving the embassy to Jerusalem,” Trump said in a televised interview recently. “If we can make peace between the Palestinians and Israel, I think it’ll lead to ultimate peace in the Middle East, which has to happen.” Judging by historical precedents, it is quite obvious that Israel and the U.S. have given a green light to Palestinian reconciliation with a clear objective in mind. For its part, Israel wants to see Hamas break away from Iran and abandon armed resistance, while the U.S. wants to get 'a shot' at playing politics in the region, with Israeli interests being paramount to any outcome. Egypt, being the recipient of generous U.S. military aid, is the natural conduit to guide the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation component of the new strategy. What strongly suggests that powerful players are behind the reconciliation efforts is how smooth the entire process has been so far, in complete contrast with years of failed efforts and repeated agreements with disappointing outcomes. What primarily seemed like another futile round of talks hosted by Egypt was soon followed by more: first, an initial understanding, followed by a Hamas agreement to dissolve its administrative committee that it formed to manage Gaza's affairs; then, a successful visit by the National Consensus Government to Gaza and, finally, an endorsement of the terms of national reconciliation by the two most powerful Fatah bodies: The Fatah Revolutionary Council and the Central Committee. Since Fatah controls the Palestinian Authority (PA), the latter endorsement advocated by Mahmoud Abbas was an important milestone needed to push the process forward, as both Hamas and Fatah readied themselves for more consequential talks in Cairo. Unlike previous agreements, the current one will allow Hamas to actively participate in the new unity government. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
Top Hamas official Salah Bardawil confirmed this in a statement. However, Bardawil also insisted that Hamas will not lay down its arms, and resistance to Israel is not negotiable. U.S.-Israel-Egyptian power play aside, this is, indeed, the crux of the matter. Understandably, Palestinians are keen to achieve national unity, but that unity must be predicated on principles that are far more important than the self-serving interests of political parties. Moreover, speaking of—or even achieving—unity without addressing the travesties of the past, and without agreeing on a national liberation strategy for the future in which resistance is the foundation, the Hamas-Fatah unity government will prove as insignificant as all other governments, which operated with no real sovereignty and, at best, questionable popular mandates. Worse still, if the unity is guided by tacit U.S. support, an Israeli nod and an Egyptian self-serving agenda, one can expect that the outcome would be the furthest possible one from the true aspirations of the Palestinian people, who remain unimpressed by the imprudence of their leaders. While Israel invested years in maintaining the Palestinian rift, Palestinian factions remained blinded by pitiful personal interests and worthless “control” over a militarily occupied land. It should be made clear that any unity agreement that pays heed to the interest of factions at the expense of the collective good of the Palestinian people is a sham; even if it initially “succeeds,” in the long term it will fail, since Palestine is bigger than any individual, faction or a regional power seeking Israel’s validation and U.S. handouts.
Despite Netanyahu’s Objections, Palestinian Reconciliation Is in Israel’s Interest By Amira Hass
ISRAEL DIDN’T TRY to prevent senior Palestinian Authority officials from entering the Gaza Strip on Oct. 3, traveling in cars bearing Palestinian license plates. If we were being cynical, we’d say that Israel decided not to disrupt this move—which undermines its long-term strategy, dating back to 1991, of isolating Gaza’s population from that of the West Bank—because we’ve all seen this movie before. In other words, the deep disagreements between the rival ruling parties, Fatah and Hamas—especially over armaments and the security services—will do the job for it and ultimately prevent the internal Palestinian rift from being healed. So why should Israel play the bad guy? In fact, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu voiced public opposition to the reconciliation only after the Erez checkpoint had been opened to the large party from the West Bank. Similarly, De-
Copyright © Haaretz Daily Newspaper Ltd. All rights reserved.
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
19
views-reconcile_18-21_Three Views 10/17/17 4:32 PM Page 20
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman refrained from ordering the army’s liaison administration to do what it does so well—drag its feet on issuing exit permits from the West Bank. But one can always hope that someone in Israel nevertheless understands that the top priority now is to prevent Gaza from deteriorating into an even worse environmental and humanitarian disaster than it’s already in. And that is possible only on the following conditions: Israel must end its restrictions on importing construction materials and raw materials; the mechanism for rebuilding infrastructure, which requires complex coordination with the Israeli security forces and donor states, must be simplified and streamlined; and the internal Palestinian fights over collecting taxes and electricity bills must end. All this is possible only if the Palestinians have a single government, and only if that government is accepted—and not just partially or in the usual grudging manner—by Israel, the donor states and international aid organizations, first and foremost the United Nations. And that government can only be the Palestinian Authority. Despite its denials, Israel bears primary responsibility for Gaza’s disastrous situation. But right now, that doesn’t matter. Right now, it’s necessary to rise above the usual clichés about “funding terror” and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “linking up with a murderous terrorist organization,” as Education Minister Naftali Bennett said Tuesday. Right now, it’s necessary to act. There’s no more time. Gaza’s power supply must be increased immediately, and to beyond what it was before Israel cut the supply at Abbas’ request. Israel must also give Gaza additional tens of millions of cubic feet of water. This isn’t just a Palestinian interest. Israel, too, has an interest in Gaza’s sewage being treated rather than flowing into the sea, in Gaza’s aquifer not collapsing and in its residents getting suitable medical care. Israel, too, has an interest in preventing epidemics in Gaza. For Hamas, as a political movement that sees itself as the authentic representative of all Palestinians (in Gaza, the West Bank and the diaspora), ceding control of Gaza is in its own interests, even if it loses the power centers and the control it has grown used to over the past decade. Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh were both born in Gaza and still live there, so they’ve experienced its human and environmental disaster personally. They know their organization can’t continue to conduct its management experiments at the expense of their people’s welfare. The punitive steps that Israel and Western countries took against the elected Hamas government immediately after it was established 11 years ago allow the organization to hand over the keys without publicly admitting failure. In the West Bank and the diaspora—though for obvious reasons, not in Gaza—Palestinians actually admire its choice to arm itself and confront Israel militarily. That would suffice for Israel to justify its opposition to the reconciliation, if the U.N.’s threatening forecast of Gaza becoming uninhabitable by 2020 weren’t looming over our heads. Why are the PA and its ruling Fatah party willing to take on the 20
thankless task of managing Gaza’s crisis? So far, it seems they’ve had trouble proving that they’re doing so out of a sense of national responsibility rather than for personal and factional reasons. Some Gaza residents said the delegation from Ramallah entered like victorious conquerors. Abbas has already managed to spoil the mood with his grudging manner and the preconditions he set for Hamas in a television interview on Oct. 2, including disarmament and an end to Qatar’s involvement in Gaza. Gazans believe he could have done things differently, leaving the conditions for after the start of negotiations. Abbas is making people doubt that Fatah, or at least he himself, actually wants to enable the reconciliation and remove the sanctions he imposed on Gaza. Keeping Gaza from degenerating into a worse disaster is one reason for the PA’s willingness to reconcile. A renewed diplomatic effort to get the “State of Palestine” accepted as a full U.N. member is another possible explanation. In making demands of the international community, including demands for pressure on Israel, Abbas and his successors must show that they represent all the people in the territories occupied in 1967. Giving up Gaza, even if it’s more convenient financially, weakens his diplomatic opening position. Egypt’s open involvement in the reconciliation process provides a tailwind for the PA and sends a signal to Israel: As in the past, and in defiance of Israel’s wishes, Egypt has no intention of letting Gaza be annexed to it or disconnected from the rest of the Palestinian population.
Cautious Rejoicing in Gaza By Mohammed Omer
THE BLOCKADED PEOPLE of Gaza rejoiced as, in early October, the two main Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, took an important step toward handing over power in Gaza, which has been under Israeli blockade since 2006. Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and Palestinian Authorities ministers made it to Gaza, for the first time in 11 years with security personnel. The PA ministers stepped in to take the lead in governing from the Hamas-run administrative committee, a shadow governing body. In a hotel packed with people, mainly former PA employees, Gaza residents took and posted many selfies with the newly arrived ministers from Ramallah, curious as to how the new ministerial staff will re-integrate. The new head of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, said he had made some concessions to cede power and give the PA the lead in Gaza—something Hamas had previously refused to do. The move came as a surprise to many Gazans. Under pressure from regional players, Hamas agreed to the move as part of a new strategy—in conjunction with the new leadership—to find united solutions to the deteriorating humani-
Award-winning journalist Mohammed Omer reports regularly on the Gaza Strip. Follow him on Twitter: @MoGaza.
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
views-reconcile_18-21_Three Views 10/16/17 6:53 PM Page 21
tarian crisis affecting everyone in Gaza. Talks between Hamas and the PA were mediated by Egypt, through Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s second-incommand. Talks are scheduled to continue in Cairo. Prime Minister Hamdallah, who has accepted most invitations to meet with people in Gaza, brought with him a message of hope to the public. One of the most memorable events was a youth event at which he and his ministers listened to the frustrated and desperate, but energetic, youth of Gaza. A 29-year-old man named Ihab Abu Armanah stood up in the middle of the full house of young people, yelling, “Mr. Prime Minister…Mr. Prime Minister!” Security tried to silence him, but he yelled even louder: “Eleven years and you have been telling us to keep silent, keep silent, keep silent,” the young man yelled out. “We want to speak up, we want to speak, we have the right to speak, and you must listen,” he added, as the crowd applauded. “Don’t tell me to shut up!” he continued, as the crowd started to call for him to be given the microphone. “Dr. Rami, you should listen to us, we are fed up with the words ‘no no no’…I’m calling for my rights, and want to be equal to children of leaders in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. I want to call for the rights of people under siege, the children of the camps, the unemployed graduates lying in the streets without anything to eat… and the sick people who don’t know who to turn to—we are depressed, for 11 years we are being suppressed. We want to live, Dr. Rami, enough is enough!” The crowd applauded the emotional but rational young man, as he continued to speak from his heart: “Whether you said yes or no, we want to live! It’s enough that we lost 11 precious years from our lives, with so many injured, arrested and dead, and young men and women wearing torn clothes and tattered slippers, and not being able to find 5 shekels. We are all here to tell you, we want to live!” Hamdallah promised the crowd that his priority was to ease Gazans’ suffering, so NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
worsened by Israel’s repeated assaults since the Hamas takeover and under a dual Israeli-Egyptian blockade. “I realize that the situation in Gaza has become unbearable because of wars and division,” Hamdallah said, adding that reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas was necessary if the Palestinians are to confront Israel effectively. “The world will not pay attention to a torn people,” he argued. “The main winner of a continued split is the occupation.” If reconciliation efforts succeed, Palestinians could have a unified leadership for the first time in a decade, potentially giving them leverage in the push for an independent state. Nevertheless, Gaza continues to wait for change. Domestic power supplies are still cut for 18 hours a day, and the borders remain closed. The Rafah border with Egypt, Gaza’s main gateway to the world, has been mostly closed since 2013, when el-Sisi took power. However, the promised Cairo talks will deal with other serious issues as well, and Gazans will soon see whether, together, the PA and Hamas will assume full control over the border crossings with Israel and Egypt. Among the issues requiring immediate attention is Gaza’s ill-equipped hospitals. A doctor in Nasser hospital in Khan Younes said that, instead of surgical
gloves, he had to resort to wearing gloves used for making candy during operations. The “hospitals are literally empty,” he explained. According to Physicians for Human Rights–Israel (PHRI), medications in Gaza are extremely scarce, with a third of necessary medications and more than 270 items required for surgery unavailable. Meanwhile, the PA has been slashing medical funds for Gaza: previously, $4 million per month was transferred to Gaza for the operation of 13 government hospitals and 54 primary care centers. In April, that sum was reduced to $2.3 million, and in May it fell to just $500,000, according to PHRI. This is a real life test for the government to resolve. One issue which may jeopardize the talks is President Abbas’ demand that Hamas disarm its military wing—a difficult challenge for Hamas and its supporters to accept. Hamas seems to have another strategy, however, which is to step back from government for now. Its leader, Sinwar, is said to believe that Hamas should take part in liberating Palestine rather than governing it. The coming weeks will test whether the PA and Hamas will succeed in reconciling and give Gaza’s 2 million residents a chance to recover from 3 deadly wars and 11 years of a stifling, crippling and deadly blockade. ■
(Advertisement)
A PProject roject of Middle East Children’s Children’s Alliance
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
21
baroud_22-23_From the Diaspora 10/17/17 5:37 PM Page 22
From the Diaspora
The Balfour Declaration Destroyed Palestine, Not the Palestinian People
By Ramzy Baroud
MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/GETY IMAGES
Whether Balfour knew it or not, the extent to which his short statement to the leader of the Jewish community in Britain, Walter Rothschild, would uproot a whole nation from their ancestral homes and continue to devastate several generations of Palestinians decades later, is moot. In fact, judging by the strong support his descendants continue to exhibit toward Israel, one would guess that he, too, would have been “proud” of Israel, oblivious to the tragic fate of the Palestinians. This is what he penned down a century ago: “His Majesty's government views with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be Fatma Abu Musabbeh, 21, uses her cellphone to take a picture for her social media account of done which may prejudice the civil and rechildren in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Sept. 17, 2017. She and another Gaza woman ligious rights of existing non-Jewish comare among a small number of Instagram stars in Gaza, showing their followers a different side munities in Palestine, or the rights and poof their homeland than what much of the world may be used to seeing or hearing. litical status enjoyed by Jews in any other country. I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.” SOME PROMISES ARE made and kept; others disavowed. But Speaking recently at New York University, Palestinian profesthe “promise” made by Arthur James Balfour in what became sor Rashid Khalidi described the British commitment then as an known as the “Balfour Declaration” to the leaders of the Zionist event that “marked the beginning of a century-long colonial war Jewish community in Britain one hundred years ago was only in Palestine, supported by an array of outside powers which conhonored in part: it established a state for the Jews and attempted tinues to this day.” to destroy the Palestinian nation. But oftentimes, generalized academic language and refined In fact, Balfour, the foreign secretary of Britain at the time his depolitical analysis, even if accurate, masks the true extent of claration of 84 words was pronounced on Nov. 2, 1917, was, like tragedies as expressed in the lives of ordinary people. many of his peers, anti-Semitic. He cared little about the fate of JewAs Balfour finished writing down his infamous words, he must ish communities. His commitment to establishing a Jewish state in have been consumed with how effective his political tactic would a land that was already populated by a thriving and historically be in enlisting Zionists to join Britain’s military adventures, in exrooted nation was only meant to enlist the support of wealthy Zionchange for a piece of land that was still under the control of the ist leaders in Britain’s massive military buildup during World War I. Ottoman Empire. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of palestine chroniYet, he clearly had no genuine regard for the millions of Palescle. His forthcoming book is the last earth: a palestinian story. tinian Arabs—Muslims and Christians alike—who were to suffer Baroud has a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter the cruelty of war, ethnic cleansing, racism and humiliation over and is a non-resident scholar at Orfalea Center for Global and Interthe course of a century. national Studies, University of California. Visit his website: <www.ramzybaroud.net>. The Balfour Declaration was equivalent to a decree calling for 22
Washington RepoRt on Middle east affaiRs
noveMbeR/deceMbeR 2017
baroud_22-23_From the Diaspora 10/17/17 5:37 PM Page 23
the annihilation of the Palestinian people. Not one Palestinian, anywhere, remained completely immune from the harm invited by Balfour and his government. Tamam Nassar, now 75 years old, was one of millions of Palestinians whose life Balfour scarred forever. She was uprooted from her village of Joulis in southern Palestine in 1948. She was only five. Tamam now lives with her children and grandchildren in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp in Gaza. Ailing under the weight of harsh years, and weary by a never-ending episode of war, siege and poverty, she holds on to a few hazy memories of a past that can never be redeemed. Little does she know that a man by the name of Arthur James Balfour had sealed the fate of the Nassar family for many generations, condemning them to a life of perpetual desolation. I spoke to Tamam, also known as Umm Marwan (mother of Marwan), as part of an attempt to document the Palestinian past through the personal memories of ordinary people. By the time she was born, the British had already colonized Palestine for decades, starting only months after Balfour signed his declaration. The few memories peeking through the naïveté of her innocence were largely about racing after British military convoys, pleading for candy. Back then, Tamam did not encounter Jews—or perhaps she did. But since many Palestinian Jews looked just like Palestinian Arabs, she could not tell the difference or even care to make the distinction. People were just people. Jews were their neighbors in Joulis, and that was all that mattered. Although the Palestinian Jews lived behind walls, fences and trenches, for a while they walked freely among the fellahin (peasants), shopped in their markets and sought their help, for only the fellahin knew how to speak the language of the land and decode the signs of the seasons. Tamam’s house was made of hardened mud and had a small front yard, where the little girl and her brothers were often confined when the military convoys roamed NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
their village. Soon, this would happen more and more frequently, and the candy that once sweetened the lives of the children was no longer offered. Then there was the war that changed everything. That was in 1948. The battle around Joulis crept up all too quickly and showed little mercy. Some of the fellahin who ventured out beyond the borders of the village were never seen again. The battle of Joulis was short-lived. Poor peasants with kitchen knives and a few old rifles were no match for advanced armies. British soldiers pulled out from the outskirts of Joulis to allow Zionist militias to stage their attack, and the villagers were chased out after a brief but bloody battle.
CHASED OUT OF JOULIS
Tamam, her brothers and parents were chased out of Joulis as well, never to see their beloved village again. They moved about in refugee camps around Gaza, before settling permanently in Nuseirat. Their tent was eventually replaced by a mud house. In Gaza, Tamam experienced many wars, bombing campaigns, sieges and every warfare tactic Israel could possibly muster. Her resolve is only weakened by the frailty of her aging body, and the entrenched sadness over the untimely deaths of her brother Salim and her young son, Kamal. Salim was killed by the Israeli army as he attempted to escape Gaza following the war and brief Israeli invasion of the Strip in 1956, and Kamal died as a result of health complications resulting from torture in Israeli prisons. If Balfour was keen to ensure that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing nonJewish communities in Palestine,” why is it, then, that the British government remains committed to Israel after all of these years? Isn’t a century since that declaration was made, 70 years of Palestinian exile and 50 years of Israeli military occupation all sufficient proof that Israel has no respect for international law and Palestinian human, civil and religious rights?
As she grew older, Tamam began returning to Joulis in her mind, more often seeking a fleetingly happy memory and a moment of solace. Life under siege in Gaza is too hard, especially for old people like her, struggling with multiple ailments and broken hearts. The attitude of the current British government, which is gearing up for a massive celebration to commemorate the centennial of the Balfour Declaration, suggests that nothing has changed and that no lessons were ever learned in the 100 years since Balfour made his ominous promise to establish a Jewish state at the expense of Palestinians. But this also rings true for the Palestinian people. Their commitment to fight for freedom also remains unchanged, and neither Balfour nor all of Britain’s foreign secretaries since then have managed to break the will of the Palestinian nation. That, too, is worth pondering upon. ■
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
(Advertisement)
23
siegel_24_Special Report 10/17/17 5:51 PM Page 24
Special Report
Reflections—35 Years After the Sabra-Shatila Massacre
By Ellen Siegel
PHOTO DAVID ENDERS, THE NATIONAL
Thanks to As’ad Abu Khalil (“the angry Arab”), the media in Lebanon were notified that Dr. Swee Ang and I would be present for the event. Swee and I had worked together in the Gaza Hospital in Sabra camp during the massacre. She is a British orthopedic surgeon, originally from Singapore, and the author of From Beirut to Jerusalem. The two of us have become two of the non-Palestinian keepers of the memories of the massacre. Numerous TV stations and journalists requested interviews with us, but this year’s program was too full for us to do more than a few. Each involved the retelling of those days, how the event has affected us, what our thoughts are about the camps today. Recalling the events over and over made me sad. So The author (r) with Dr. Swee Ang at the monument dedicated to the Sabra and Shatila Massacre Martyrs. did the current condition of the refugees, the deterioration of the camps, the diminished hope among the people. THIS PAST SEPT. 16-18 marked the 35th year after the 1982 Our host was Beit Atfal Assamoud (BAS), a large humanitarian massacre at Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut. A comnon-government and non-sectarian organization that is not affilimemoration is held every year to mark this occasion. Seventeen ated with any political or religious groups. BAS started after the years ago, the Italian solidarity group “Not to Forget Sabra and Tel Zaatar massacre in 1976 to care for the children who had been Shatila Committee” noticed that the mass grave of those killed orphaned. BAS made sure that we saw camps, met those who had turned into a garbage dump. They decided to clean up the live and work there, and learned about their programs. We visited area and plant trees. In time, a monument was built. the camps of Bourj Al Barajneh, Shatila, Sabra, Mar Elias, Nahr This was my 10th year attending the commemoration. It might El Bared, Rashidieh and Wavel. One story sticks in my mind: seem that, after 35 years, the massacre would be almost forgotWhen the Syrian Palestinian refugees from Yarmouk arrived at ten, would have lost its significance. Not so. This year the comBourj Al Barajneh, they remarked how awful the conditions were memoration seemed to bring together more international particithere, and asked “How can you live like this?” Long-time residents pants than ever. People came from Italy, England, Finland, the of the camp realized that they had become used to this poverty, U.S., Switzerland, France, Spain and Japan. Each one was eager these inhuman conditions. Most of the camps remain filled with to learn more about the situation of Palestinian and other refugees dwellings that lack sunlight, proper ventilation, water and electricand to show their solidarity. Most of all, they wanted to help, to see ity; electrical wires hang down over the narrow, muddy pathways. what their organizations could do to alleviate some of the suffering. When I visited Sabra, the camp had not had water or electricity Ellen Siegel is a nurse who worked in Gaza Hospital, Sabra camp, for two days. Five-and six-year-old children were carrying huge Beirut during the massacre in 1982. She and Dr. Swee testified before plastic containers of water up a darkened stairway; one slipped the Kahan Commission of Inquiry into the Massacre in 1982 in Jerusalem. Continued on page 40 24
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
November/December 2017 Israel Conference issue 4/20/17 10:55 AM Page 25
(Advertisement)
Read R ea d
MON DOWEI SS
News N ews & opinion o pin io n y you an ttrust o u ccan rust about Palestine, United a bo ut P alestin e, Israel Israel & the the U n ited States States MONDOWEISS M O N D O W EI S S . N NET ET
E - SUBSCRIBE SU BSCRI BE
FOLLOW F O LLO W
samuels-torture_26-27_Special Report 10/17/17 5:39 PM Page 26
Special Report
Settlement in ACLU Torture Case Brings Some Justice for Victims
By Dorothy Samuels
THOMAS WATKINS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
to begin on Sept. 5 in federal court in Spokane, WA, a litigation stage that no prior case in this realm had ever reached. It marks the first time, ACLU lawyers stress, that the CIA or its private contractors have been held accountable for the agency’s brutal torture program. The ACLU and the Newark-based law firm Gibbons PC brought the lawsuit under the Alien Tort Claims Act against the pair of psychologist-torturers, James Mitchell and John “Bruce” Jessen, on behalf of three victims of their decency-and-humanrights-defying methods. This litany of abuse—blessed by the U.S. government—included waterboarding, beatings, confinement in coffin-like boxes, confinement in painful stress positions, exposure Psychologist-torturer James Mitchell (l) lashed out at critics during a Dec. 6, 2016 interview at to extreme temperatures, and severe the neocon American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC. Mitchell, who helped the CIA develop its “enhanced interrogation” program, was a defendant in a successful lawsuit brought sleep deprivation. The plaintiffs were two torture survivors against him and fellow psychologist-torturer John “Bruce” Jessen by three torture victims. eventually released without charges after officials determined they posed no threat—Suleiman Abdullah THE YEARS SINCE the Sept. 11 attacks have seen a myriad of Salim, a Tanzanian, and Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud, a Libyan— civil lawsuits brought in the United States to expose the horror and representatives of another detainee, Gul Rahman, an Afghan of the CIA’s Bush-era torture program and obtain compensation citizen who died of hypothermia during his barbaric torture regiand accountability for its victims, only to be dismissed early on men 15 years ago. Mr. Rahman, The New York Times has reas courts invariably bowed to overly expansive claims of state counted, “was found dead, naked from the waist down on a bare secrets and other obstacles served up by both the Bush and concrete floor in the freezing cold at a secret CIA prison…shackObama Justice Departments. The Supreme Court, to its everled and short-chained to a wall.” The CIA conducted a review, but lasting shame, has in turn declined opportunities to avoid blanket no one was ever criminally charged in his death. denials of justice. Confronted with the civil legal action, the Obama Justice DeAgainst that dismal backdrop, the new settlement agreement partment responded with a welcome departure, opting not to seek in the case of Salim v. Mitchell, involving claims against two psya case shutdown with the shopworn assertion that allowing the chologists hired by the CIA to design and implement the “encase to proceed posed the risk of exposing state secrets. The rehanced interrogation techniques” used at the agency’s black-site straint suggested recognition of the vastly shrunken plausibility of prisons around the world, seems a significant if imperfect breaka blunderbuss secrecy claim in light of the reality that the psythrough—and one worth rehearsing. chologists’ disgraceful consulting role (for which their company For starters, the case did not end with dismissal. That’s no was paid $81 million by the CIA) isn’t an actual secret. It had alsmall matter, as my capsule history above should convey. The ready been publicly documented, along with details about the mid-August settlement deal avoided a civil jury trial that was set plaintiffs’ ordeals, most prominently in the declassified executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee investigation of Dorothy Samuels, a former member of the New York Times Editorial the defunct CIA interrogation program released in 2014. Perhaps Board, is a senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice. Copyright © 2017 The Washington Spectator. Distributed by Agence Global. also—and this may just be my gauzy, Trump-elevated Obama 26
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
samuels-torture_26-27_Special Report 10/17/17 5:39 PM Page 27
nostalgia asserting itself now—the Obama team had tired of denying torture and abuse victims a legal remedy and helping to cover up a reprehensible path followed by Obama’s predecessor. Obama himself renounced the use of torture at the very beginning of his presidency, but not all other troubling post-Sept. 11 detention and counterterrorism practices. The Trump administration subsequently raised objections to the release of certain documents and to two nonessential oral depositions sought by the defendants, but likewise did not argue the suit’s dismissal was required.
ATTEMPTS TO DEEP SIX
Given the settlement, we will never know whether the veteran federal district judge in Washington State who firmly presided over the case, Justin L. Quackenbush, a Jimmy Carter appointee, would have acceded to a government motion to dismiss the matter—but I doubt it. Defendants’ repeated attempts to have the case deepsixed—arguing, for example, that the decision to torture the three plaintiffs was a political question inappropriate for determination by a judge—were rebuffed on solid grounds by Judge Quackenbush, who consistently ruled that the plaintiffs had valid claims. Back to the settlement. It seems to me an unfortunate irony that an important legal case aimed at further exposing a grotesque government program born and carried out in a protective bubble of secrecy, and securing some long-missing accountability for that historic wrong in the form of money damages, has ended with a confidential settlement that requires those involved to keep its full terms from the public. As part of the settlement, the plaintiffs and defendants issued a joint statement in which Mitchell and Jessen acknowledged their part in developing “a program for the CIA that contemplated the use of specific coercive methods to interrogate certain detainees.” The defendants also expressed regret that the three detainees “suffered the abuses,” while still denying responsibility for the prisoners’ treatment, which is galling. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
The discovery period occasioned the unearthing of an impressive stash of previously classified documents concerning the planning and operation of the torture program, as well as videotaped depositions of the parties and relevant officials—all available online now for viewing, and offering a deeper understanding of what happened. One immediate effect is to make the absence of criminal prosecutions for what occurred—remember Obama’s distaste for “looking backwards”—seem even more regrettable. The cancelled courtroom reckoning would have allowed a public airing of a portion of that evidence, likely spawning some dramatic moments helpful for reminding people of torture’s evils at a time when the nation’s president is a vocal torture enthusiast. Republicans are seeking to erase this painful and politically fraught history by trying to recall all copies of the complete Senate torture report, and the CIA is holding up release of a book by a former Defense Department official that could shed light on the George W. Bush administration’s decision to embrace torture as a weapon of war. All that said, it is easy to understand why the plaintiffs would choose to reach a settlement, much as Judge Quackenbush urged the parties and their lawyers to do, rather than risk leaving the outcome to a jury drawn from a part of Washington State that had a lot more Trump than Clinton voters in 2016, and which might be convinced by the defendants’ dishonest
argument that they were just “public servants” working at the direction of CIA officials and therefore should not be held liable. I doubt that would have happened given the evidence, but no one can know for sure. The bottom-line test of whether the case’s resolution is the serious win for the plaintiffs and accountability the ACLU asserts is whether the settlement includes substantial money damages, underwritten by the government or otherwise.
FINANCIAL COMPENSATION
The settlement is silent on damages and its terms prevent lawyers and clients from providing clarification, and as of this writing there has been no further reliable information on this aspect. But it can be reasonably inferred, based on common sense and the obvious pleasure the plaintiffs and their attorneys take from the outcome, that the settlement does come with considerable financial compensation. Also, I have followed the plaintiffs’ lawyers and their outstanding legal accomplishments over the years, and I find it difficult to believe they would agree to a settlement absent a sizable payout for their clients. If I’m right about that—and I feel confident I am—congratulations are in order, along with guarded optimism over the suddenly more realistic prospect of new cases that might provide other war-on-terror victims of torture and abuse with a chance for redress. ■
(Advertisement)
Palestinian Medical Relief Society, a grassroots communitybased Palestinian health organization, founded in 1979 by Palestinian doctors, needs your support today. Visit our Website <www.pmrs.ps> to see our work in action. Mail your U.S. Tax-Deductible check to our American Foundation: Friends of UPMRC, Inc PO Box 450554 • Atlanta, GA 31145 For more information call: (404) 441-2702 or e-mail: fabuakel@gmail.com WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
27
powell_28_Special Report 10/17/17 5:53 PM Page 28
Special Report
Unwanted “Guests”: Syrian Refugees in Turkey
By Sara R. Powell
BULENT KILIC/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Just as the situation is changing for the Turkish people, so it is changing for the refugee population, and with far more immediate and serious consequences. Due to these changes, and the potential danger for those involved in refugee assistance in Izmir, I do not name any volunteer organizations. Syrian refugees in Turkey are not legally considered refugees, but rather “guests.” One of the ramifications of this status, according to the Syrians I interviewed, is that Syrians cannot access any A Syrian man lies next to a sleeping baby outside a bus station in the south central Turkish town of Kilis, near the services deemed specific to Oncupinar crossing point, Aug. 28, 2017. Syrian authorities allowed refugee families to cross into Syria to refugees, like registering with celebrate Eid al-Adha with their family members still in Syria. UNHCR for relocation. While Afghans, Iraqis and other national groups can still avail themselves of UNHCR services HOW MUCH IS reality and how much my expectations is diffithrough websites, allowing them to register for refugee programs, cult to say, but the atmosphere in Izmir following the failed July Syrians are issued a form of identification called a Kimlik. This card 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan felt must be carried at all times and is required for virtually everything, inpalpably different. And there are some distinctly discernible difcluding renting an apartment, visits to the doctor or hospital, travel, ferences. Where last year the only portrait adorning the streets or opening a bank account. Moreover, reissuance of Kimlik cards is and shops of Izmir was that of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of restricted. A lost card can only be replaced with multiple proofs of modern Turkey, that has now been largely replaced by Erdohaving had one already, and the process takes months. Babies born gan’s visage. And although I witnessed several demonstrations to families holding Kimlik cards are granted their own cards, but rewhen I was in Izmir for two months in the spring of 2016, in three cently arrived Syrian refugees have no such guarantee, and are months this summer I saw and heard of no protests in Izmir. All often turned down. refugee-oriented NGOs such as the United Nations High ComMoreover, even refugees with the card face restrictions. Syrimission for Refugees (UNHCR), Mercy Corps and Médecins ans can only open bank accounts at one specific bank and canSans Frontières have been forced to shut their offices, and a not access more than a certain amount of their own money number of web services, including Wikipedia and Paypal, have monthly. Among refugees I spoke to, none had opted to open an been banned. Moreover, many more women were covered than account, preferring to deal in cash and pay fees associated with had been less than a year earlier, not just in the poorer districts, money transfer businesses like Western Union. but even in affluent, touristy Alsancak on Izmir’s seaside. Travel is also restricted, with limits on time and distance, even for those holding a Kimlik card. Many Syrian refugees I spoke to Sara R. Powell is a former Washington Report staff member and a frequent volunteer. Continued on page 41 28
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
andoni-kurds_29-30_Special Report 10/17/17 5:00 PM Page 29
Special Report
Why Is Israel Supporting Kurdish Secession From Iraq?
By Lamis Andoni
SAFIN HAMED/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
SO FAR, ISRAEL has been the only state to support the Kurdish secession from Iraq, even celebrating the outcome of the Sept. 25 referendum, in which an overwhelming majority of Iraqi Kurds voted for breaking away from Baghdad. Israeli enthusiasm for Kurdish independence has little to do with compassion for the Kurds, whether in Iraq or elsewhere, and more to do with geopolitical interests. In fact, it is beyond ironic for Israel, a state founded and sustained on brutal military occupation and apartheid, to champion freedom for the Kurds or any group of people in the world. Israel not only denies self-determination for the Palestinian people, but it also has a record of actively supporting criminal juntas in Central and South America and the former apartheid regime in South Africa. Iraqi Kurds wave an Israeli flag amid Kurdish flags during a Sept. 16 rally in Erbil, capital of Also, Israel has never supported any other northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, to urge people to vote in the Sept. 25 independence national liberation movement in its history. referendum. Israel’s support for an independent Kurcould trigger clashes and even wars. dish state is solely motivated by geopolitical reasons. Israel Israel perceives a future Kurdish state as a potential non-Arab wants to secure the flow of oil supplies from the Kurdish Aually in the region—an ally that is not directly affected by the tonomous Region, but, more importantly, it wants to build a proPalestinian cause. Since its inception, Israel has followed the “alIsraeli entity that cuts through the Arab World. liance of the peripheries” strategy, conceived by its first prime Israel already imports 77 percent of its oil supplies from Iraq’s minister, David Ben-Gurion, to strengthen Israel’s ties with nonKurdish region. These imports are extremely important for the ZionArab Muslim states or groups in the region, in order to break the ist state, as it does not have access to the natural resources of oilisolation of the Zionist state. rich Gulf states. Also, Israel believes that an independent Kurdish As part of this doctrine, Israel reached out to Kurdish leader state can serve as a potential foothold for the Israeli military and inMustafa Barzani, the father of current Kurdish President Masoud telligence, giving the country leverage against Iran, Syria and Iraq. Barzani, several times throughout his time in office. As a result of The creation of an independent Kurdish state in the Middle East fits these efforts, Mustafa Barzani visited Israel twice, once in 1968 perfectly into Oded Yinon’s 1982 plan for the Middle East, which and once in 1973. Yet these efforts did not amount to much. advocated the split up of the Arab world along ethnic and sectarKurds did not show any strong support for Israel or animosity toian lines to strengthen Israel and expand its hegemony. ward the Palestinians. The Israeli backing of the Kurdish secession from Iraq is further Thus the scene of Israeli flags flying in Kurdish towns during the igniting Arabs’ suspicions that such a move would be a concrete referendum, along with reported slogans such as “We are the secstep toward the disintegration of the Arab world, something that ond Israel,” suggest an alteration of the Kurdish political culture Lamis Andoni is an analyst and commentator on Middle Eastern and and an apparent break from the past, when Kurdish fighters Palestinian affairs. Copyright © 2017 Al Jazeera Media Network. The trained and fought alongside members of the Palestine Liberation views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy. Organization (PLO) in Beirut in the late ’60s, ’70s and early ’80s. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
29
andoni-kurds_29-30_Special Report 10/17/17 11:59 AM Page 30
Since then Israel has succeeded, with the help of Kurdish leaders like President Masoud Barzani, to infiltrate Kurdish society and end a once strong Kurdish association with the Palestinian cause. There is no doubt that the tyranny of the Arab states and their failure to adequately deal with Kurdish rights pushed new generations of Kurds away from the Arab world and into the lap of Israel. As Iraq plummeted into sectarian violence and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group started its campaign of terror, rape and grisly atrocities, a new fault line between the Kurds and the rest of the Arab world has emerged. But the two main turning points in Kurdish-Arab relations were the 1991 Western-imposed no-fly zone that went beyond protecting the Kurdish population into tearing the Kurdish region from Iraq, and the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq. The catastrophic invasion triggered internal strife that further alienated the Kurds from the rest of the country and allowed for increased Israeli presence in the area. In its declared and enthusiastic support for Kurdish independence, Israel has openly tried to draw similarities between its history and the Kurdish struggle for statehood. By doing so, Israel has been trying to erase the parallels between the Kurdish and Palestinian struggles against colonialism and oppression. The new revisionist story, in the words of former Likud Minister Gideon Saar, is that the Kurds and the Jews are two minority groups in the Middle East, but that the Jews have achieved statehood while the Kurds have not. “The Kurds have been and will continue to be reliable and long-term allies of Israel since they are, like us, a minority group in the region,” he said. Such interpretation of history is not only self-serving, but false. Kurds have been an integral and authentic part of the region and of the Arab world—they are not colonizers, and they did not use military power to expropriate lands or dispossess people. While there has always been a Jewish minority in historical Palestine and the 30
Arab world, Zionism was not part of an indigenous movement, but was born in Europe to address what was called the “Jewish question” triggered by institutionalized persecution of and pogroms committed against Jews across Europe in the first half of the 20th century. Zionism did not provide a vision for ending discrimination against European Jews, but embarked on a colonialist movement to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine through the forced usurpation of its lands and dispossession of its people.
BLATANT ISRAELI PROPAGANDA
The Israeli attempt to draw parallels between Zionism and the plight of the Kurdish people, whether in Iran, Turkey, Syria or Iraq, is blatant propaganda to vindicate its colonial project, its occupation of Palestine and continued crimes against the Palestinians. The provocative photos and footage of Israeli flags in Erbil and Kirkuk, as painful as they are to us, should not lead to the isolation or demonization of the Kurds. We have to acknowledge the responsibility of Arab states, as well as Iran and Turkey, in the historical injustice that was inflicted on the Kurds. Arguments that Kurds are a pawn to Israel and the West ignore the fact that any persecuted minority, regardless of its ethnicity or religion, can fall prey to foreign influence and interference, and we cannot deny their right to self-determination. Arabs are now faced with a very difficult dilemma between supporting the Kurdish right to self-determination, an inalienable right for all people, and resisting Israeli attempts to become dominant in Iraqi Kurdistan. There are no easy answers, but it is important to send a message to the Kurdish people that we support their right to selfdetermination by increasing ties between Kurdish and Arab political parties, civil societies and intellectuals. We can’t afford a break with Kurdistan, neither morally nor strategically. It is time to reach out and be there for the Kurds. We should make sure the Iraqi central government, which has done a dismal job
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
so far, does not attempt to oppress and control the Kurdish people, but rather that it negotiate with Kurdish leaders on the basis of respect and equality. Regardless of what we think of Masoud Barzani and his corruption, we should remember that it is the Kurdish people who we should reach out to. After all, many Arab leaders are no different from Barzani, and his failings do not erase the Kurdish people’s importance in the region—Kurds are a people whose culture and contributions have enriched the Arab world for centuries. It is not too late to prevent a break between Kurds and Arabs. It is important to counter Israel’s destructive plans for the region, but turning Kurds into an enemy of the Arab world, just because they are seeking self-determination, is wrong and self-defeating. It’s time for us to stop repeating the phrase “Kurdistan is a second Israel,” even though some Kurds have been using it. Kurdistan is not a new Israel, and it will never be. ■ (Advertisement)
A erican Friends Am of Birzeit Uniive ersity
Gifted Palestinian students can reach their potential with your generous donation. is Applied for) (T ((Tax Tax Exemption p AFBU American Friends of Birzeit University
Thank you in advance for ki d ibution b i NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
williams_31-32_United Nations Report 10/17/17 12:03 PM Page 31
United Nations Report
In U.N. Speech, Trump Ignores Middle East, Emphasizes “Sovereignty,” Military Strength By Ian Williams
THOMAS SAMSON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S Sept. 19 speech to the U.N. General Assembly was puzzling in many ways. The consensus is that it was aimed at a domestic U.S. audience, but that presupposes that the president is cosmopolitan enough to appreciate that people outside the U.S. are even less likely to share his views than New Yorkers, or other Americans. Trump’s complete omission of any reference to a Middle East peace agreement, aspirational or otherwise, could be counterbalanced by his failure to launch some of the pandering bombshells he could have thrown into the auditorium. It is, after all, a General Assembly resolution on partition that means that no U.N. member will position its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem. Nor did he regurgitate the usual pro-Israeli Former French Minister of Culture Audrey Azoulay, of Moroccan Jewish heritage, at an Oct. 13 claims of discrimination by the U.N., the press conference following her election as head of UNESCO, defeating her Qatari rival Hamad membership of UNESCO and other issues. bin Abdulaziz al-Kawari by two votes. However, he was playing to the gallery in League of Nations: “If they have the military force to defend it.” The some ways, both at home and abroad. It was interesting to see how Kurds, Palestinians, Sahrawis and others are eloquent proof of many times the U.S. president invoked “sovereign” or “sovereignty”— that corollary. 21, in fact. Although his American exceptionalist base surely apEven so, since its principles do have serious influence, the U.N. proves American sovereignty, traditionally they have not seen it as a Charter has managed to mitigate the worst excesses of predatory concept applicable to other nations, such as Iraq, Vietnam or Iran. annexation. Saddam Hussain probably would have escaped inEven more interesting is the rogues’ gallery of states that applauded stalling a friendly regime in Kuwait, in a similar way to Washington’s those 21 mentions. If one were to list them, they would make up the numerous interventions in Latin America or Moscow’s in Eastern Eucontents page of an Amnesty International report on countries under rope, but could not get away with making Kuwait his 19th province. investigation for past or present human rights abuses! They are not Hence, how ominous for President Trump to declare to a Gentalking about the sovereignty of the peoples, but about the untrameral Assembly dedicated to disarmament and peace, “Our military meled powers they claim as rulers of nations. will soon be the strongest it has ever been.” In effect, he was imHowever, the writers of Trump’s speech were actually more soplying that American sovereignty was indeed more equal than sovphisticated than his usual teleprompter feeders. The sovereignty of the ereignty for other nations. nation state is indeed a foundation stone of the United Nations, which The old adage, “Do as I say, not as I do,” surely applies to the was founded in reaction to the Axis states’ predatory annexations durrest of his address, even though he accurately reflected the oriing World War II—although, conveniently, just too late for the sovergins of the U.N.—which, he said, “was based on the vision that dieignties of the states whose borders had been readjusted at Yalta. verse nations could cooperate to protect their sovereignty, preThat, of course, ties into the unwritten corollary of Woodrow Wilserve their security, and promote their prosperity.” He added, “We son’s rights of nations to self-determination that inaugurated the do expect all nations to uphold these two core sovereign duties: to respect the interests of their own people and the rights of every U.N. correspondent Ian Williams is the author of UNtold: the Real Story of the United Nations. other sovereign nation. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
31
williams_31-32_United Nations Report 10/17/17 12:03 PM Page 32
“In foreign affairs,” Trump continued, “we are renewing this founding principle of sovereignty. Our government’s first duty is to its people, to our citizens—to serve their needs, to ensure their safety, to preserve their rights, and to defend their values.” Sadly, variations of that platitudinous declaration are continuously delivered by national leaders whose rights and values include executions, arbitrary imprisonment, torture, genocidal expulsions and similar barbarities. They are not talking about the sovereignty of the peoples, but about the untrammeled powers they claim as rulers to do whatever they want in “their” territories. What identified the president’s speech as belonging in that self-serving category was its complete absence of any reference to a global “community,” the body of international agreements and law that have done so much to make the world work! But he presciently did refer to one of the latest such agreements, ratified unanimously by the U.N. Security Council. In a strange example of self-abnegation by the nation state, let alone the self-proclaimed leader of the free world, he announced, “The Iran deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into. Frankly, that deal is an embarrassment to the United States, and I don’t think you’ve heard the last of it—believe me.” Well, for once Trump was accurate in his prognosis, as in mid-October he announced that he was referring it to a Congress he knows is full of Israeli stooges. In time past, the few occasions when Israel could not get its complete way in Congress was because the Saudis—and thus oil companies—were opposed to what Israel wanted. Not nowadays, though, where Riyadh is now firmly in the Axis of Trumpism with Binyamin Netanyahu’s Israel and the Kingdom proudly applauded President Trump’s moves to break the Iran nuclear deal. Iran was the unlikely link in yet another chain of unforeseen circumstances. President Trump decided to pull the U.S. out of UNESCO, the U.N.’s cultural and education agency, in response to Netanyahu’s febrile accusations of anti-Semitism against the organization, whose members had heeded international law and U.N. decisions which 32
put East Jerusalem and Hebron in the occupied territories and recognized Palestine as an independent state. The joint reflexive tantrum which drove Israel and the U.S. to withdraw from UNESCO has interesting effects. To begin with, there is absolutely no incentive for other members to attempt to mollify future resolutions to pander to U.S. sensibilities. As if to mock U.S. protests of anti-Semitism, the other members promptly appointed a new director general who is French, thereby breaking the expectations of many Third World members that it was their turn for the post. Audrey Azoulay in some measure frustrated those expectations of the Arabs, except that Azoulay is of Moroccan origins—and, just to add piquancy, she is of Moroccan Jewish origins.
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
Her election is yet another demonstration of unintended consequences: the position was widely regarded as an Arab one, but the Arabs were even more disunited than usual. The leading candidate, Qatar’s Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kawari, had done his homework—not least by leading his country into the Francophone organization, quite an achievement, since cynics suggest that one would be hard put to find another Frenchspeaking Qatari, but helping rustle up votes. However, with currently typical Arab unity, Egypt and Lebanon also put up candidates, splitting the pro-Arab vote—which comes back to the Saudi-Israel alliance against Iran. Saudi Arab allies would not forgive Qatar for not joining their jihad against Iran so, with exquisite timing, Azoulay walked in over the contending Arabs just after Trump and Netanyahu pulled out. However, the Saudis did not get it all their own way. The fallout from Yemen seems to be leaking through the barriers Riyadh has erected. Last year, furious pressure managed to postpone listing the Kingdom and its allies as responsible for the bombing deaths of children in Yemen. This year, the new Secretary-General António Guterres resisted any such pressure, and allowed the Saudis to be identified in the report on children in the war as responsible for more than 30 attacks on schools and hospitals and 687 child casualties.
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
The Saudis also have been reported as calling on King Abdullah of Jordan to rein in his maverick brother, U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, who has asked the Human Rights Council for an independent investigation into the Yemen war, which has killed at least thousands and devastated the country, precipitating a cholera epidemic and famine. Bowing to the Kingdom’s petrodollars, members have so far backed a Saudi plan to let Yemen investigate the crimes it is alleged to have countenanced. Exasperated, countries like the Netherlands and Canada want an international commission of inquiry to ensure that “perpetrators of violations and abuses, including those that may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, are held accountable.” Arabs can unite—against Israel in the past, and against Iran now, but consistently to defend human rights violators, which is what they did on this occasion, boycotting the drafting meeting. With their traditional determination to defend human rights—except when Saudi Arabia is involved—the U.S. and UK have held back, while China puts them to shame by signaling support for a commission of inquiry. Looking at this maelstrom of maladroit consequences, there are some pointers for the future. By pulling out of the Iran deal, the U.S. is losing diplomatic weight internationally, not least with the Europeans and Third World countries that support the deal. By pandering to the Saudis, it erodes its credibility as a human rights defender even more than has its reflexive support for Israel over the years. If it breaks the Iran deal enough to provoke Tehran into stepping up nuclear research, it risks another major war in an area where Washington cannot cope now with the conflicts it has caused. And one does not have to be a conspiracy theorist to trace this instability to the U.S. foreign policy being dictated by Jewish and Christian fundamentalists—not to mention the neocon ghosts that brought you the mayhem in the Fertile Crescent. The U.N. will be asked to pick up whatever pieces are left, eventually, but it might be time for Secretary-General Guterres to appeal to the court of world public opinion! ■ NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
abdaljawwad_33-34_Special Report 10/17/17 12:05 PM Page 33
Special Report
How Studies in Peacebuilding Sparked My Internal Conflict
By Oday Abdaljawwad
PHOTO COURTESY HELLER SCHOOL
IN MY PREVIOUS article about my Brandeis experience (see Aug./Sept. 2017 Washington Report, p. 14), I described how my time there changed my perspective toward the IsraeliPalestinian conflict and, in particular, the Jewish community. When I decided to pursue my M.A. in Peacebuilding at Brandeis, my concerns were focused on the university’s Jewish, Zionist and Israeli students. I was very worried about how I would be perceived as a Muslim Palestinian. I was afraid of being judged, of being excluded. It never occurred to me that the small Palestinian community there would be a concern to me. Ironically, however, as it turned out, the Israeli/Jewish exclusion I feared turned into exclusion by my fellow Palestinians. In graduate school, students meet with their academic advisers on their first day of school. My adviser connected me with a Palestinian student who was doing the second year of his MA. “Great! I started to have a family here in the U.S.,” I said to myself. Two Students at the International Day of Peace celebration at Brandeis University’s Heller School for days later, I met with this Palestinian, Social Policy and Management. as well as with another MA student at “Hasn’t a degree in peacebuilding succeeded in bringing enough Brandeis, a Jordanian Palestinian whose family became peace to him?” I asked myself. refugees in 1948. About a week into the beginning of the first semester, our Our first conversation was so tense, the main topic being the school celebrated International Day of Peace, during which stuPalestinian-Israeli conflict. The perspective of the Palestinian students were welcome to give speeches. In mine, I insisted on the dent from Jerusalem seemed to be biased against Israel. Not importance of achieving peace between Palestine and Israel so only did he not believe in peace between Palestinians and Isthat our future generations would grow up in healthy settings, raelis, he almost didn’t believe in Israel’s right to exist. free of bloodshed and violence. Some in the audience were lookThis encounter made me doubt the effectiveness of academic ing at me with sympathy, others with empathy, and some with peacebuilding programs. After one year of studying peacebuildpride: they were proud of this tiny Gazan guy who made it all the ing, reconciliation and coexistence, this Palestinian student still way to the U.S. But two pairs of eyes were looking at me with didn’t believe in any of these concepts with regard to Israel. anger, shock and perhaps even with hatred. Everyone applauded when I finished my speech—except for my two fellow Oday Abdaljawwad is a Fulbright scholar who interned this past summer at the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Palestinians. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
33
abdaljawwad_33-34_Special Report 10/17/17 12:06 PM Page 34
I received many messages of support from my classmates, urging me to stay strong and to keep sharing more peaceful insights. But, honestly speaking, I kept thinking about the two Palestinian guys, about the four angry eyes, the four hands that didn’t clap for me after the speech. For almost a week, I was confused. Did I say something wrong? Did I misrepresent my people? Am I over-romanticizing the notion of peacebuilding between the two states? About two weeks later, my Filipino friend Regine told me that during her trip to Turkey, she met an Israeli settler who turned into a peacebuilder and has his own peacebuilding NGO in New York City. We decided to go there and meet with him. He was so kind, giving me advice to follow when going through hard times, since we both are in a somewhat similar situation. He has been encountering Israeli persecution and been getting messages of hatred on Facebook from his Israeli friends. The gap between the two Palestinian students and me began growing larger. The closer I got to the Jewish and Israeli community on campus, the greater my distance from the Palestinian community. During Eid Al-Adha, when Muslims gather and socialize to celebrate the end of the hajj, all
the Palestinian students on campus gathered for dinner—except for me. I was not invited, because, to them, I wasn’t Palestinian enough to celebrate a Palestinian Eid with them. Academically, my participation in a presentation about Palestine organized by the school’s Palestinian students was conditioned on my not promoting peace between Palestine and Israel, and also by not mentioning the Hamas-PA conflict, although in my opinion it is a major factor in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. I realized I had done great work bridging the gap between me and the school’s Jewish and Israeli community, but I had not done much to gain the trust of my own people. Although he was a man of peace, Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated because he lost the trust of some of his own people who considered him a sellout—exactly what some Palestinians accuse Mahmoud Abbas of being. Every night I was praying to Aoede, who in Greek mythology is the muse of voice and song, to give me the strength to not lose my voice of peace. By the spring semester, I had become best friends with the Palestinian Jordanian student. We would talk for hours about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and our experi-
Help make sure that the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs will be here for the next generation.
By remembering the Washington Report in your will, you can: • Make a significant gift without affecting your current cash flow; • Direct your bequest to a vital purpose—educating readers about U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East; • Receive a charitable estate tax deduction & Leave a legacy for future generations. Bequests of any size are honored with membership in the American Educational Trust’ s “Choirmasters,” named for angels whose foresight and dedication ensured the future of the Washington Report and Middle East Books and More. For more information visit www.wrmea.org/donate/bequests.pdf, contact us at circulation@wrmea.org, write: American Educational Trust, PO Box 91056 • Long Beach, CA 90809-1056, or telephone our new toll-free circulation number 888-881-5861 • Fax: 714-226-9733 34
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
ences as Palestinians growing up in different settings. We both seemed to become more tolerant by listening to each other. There was a common element in our stories: he came to Brandeis to get to know the other narrative, as did I. However, he hadn’t expected that he would need more tolerance listening to a Gazan narrative than to a Jewish or Israeli one—and neither had I. I certainly didn’t expect to have all these struggles communicating with the Palestinian students in my school!
DIFFERING PERSPECTIVES
Throughout our conversations I realized that, as a result of my experience in Gaza, especially in the last 10 years—during which the Fatah-Hamas rivalry has been at its worst, along with Hamas’ problems and persecutions in Gaza—my perspective toward the conflict has been limited to seeing Israel’s occupation as a minor problem compared to the chaos that has ensued since Hamas assumed full control of the Strip in 2007. On the other hand, I realized how Palestinians living in Jerusalem, who must contend with Israeli checkpoints everywhere in the streets of the Old City, view the occupation as the biggest obstacle to living a normal life. It took me almost a year to reach this conclusion. Although we are all Palestinians, our different environments have shaped our various perspectives. All three of us Palestinians at Brandeis suffered from the conflict, but each of us saw it from his own perspective. Nevertheless, we were expecting total empathy and support from each other. Being a minority in an almost total Jewish setting put the Palestinian students on the defensive, to the point where they couldn’t accept any differences in their narrative—especially from another Palestinian. That, I realized, is what the occupation’s policy of separating Palestinians from one another has done to us. As a result, we Palestinians don’t know much about each other, and we have different, and in some cases opposing, perspectives on the conflict. Perhaps that hard-won understanding can help Palestinians unite in the face of their 70 years of dispossession, and point the way to true peace after all. ■ NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
sprusansky_35-36_Election Watch 10/17/17 6:12 PM Page 35
Election Watch
Arab-American Congressional Candidates Seek to Reclaim Their Community’s Narrative
By Dale Sprusansky
STAFF PHOTO DELINDA HANLEY
HAVING WATCHED THE vilification and marginalization of Arab Americans by countless elected officials, two young Arab Americans think it’s time for their community to assert their voice and reclaim their narrative via the ballot box. Democrats Fayrouz Saad and Sam Jammal discussed their decision to enter the fraught world of American politics and vie for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives at the national convention of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (see pp. 44-47) on Sept. 22. Saad, who is seeking to represent Michigan’s 11th congressional district (located northwest of Detroit), said the fractured and divided nature of American politics pushed her to seek public of- (L-r) Moderator Edward Ayoob discusses the upcoming 2018 congressional elections with candidates Fayrouz Saad of Michigan and Sam Jammal of California. fice. A freshman at the University ica I grew up in. As a Latino and Arab American, I decided I have of Michigan on 9/11, Saad recalled her parents’ fear that she to get back involved.” would be the target of anti-Muslim hatred on campus. When she Both Jammal and Saad stressed the importance of Arabs and returned to campus following the attack, however, her friends, other minorities getting engaged in politics and being repreroommates and neighbors greeted her warmly and with a spirit sented at the national level. “If you’re not at the table, you’re on of reassurance. “That was so comforting for me,” she said, “bethe menu,” Saad said, quoting Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), the cause it took me back to what I already knew America was about first Muslim elected to Congress. “I think we’ve seen that again and what I already believed this country was about. That is the and again, and so now it’s time to be at the table.” America that I see as being threatened [today], and that is the “We need to take it to the next level,” added Jammal. “We America I want to fight for and that I know other people want us need to be in the halls of power. We need to be in Congress. We to fight for.” need to share our story and have our voice….What I’ve seen in Jammal, running for California’s 39th district seat (which inmeeting after meeting down in Orange County, people are waitcludes parts of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino couning for our community to step up. They’re waiting for our voice ties), shared this sentiment. The son of immigrants—his mom to be heard, because our voice is that same American story— from Colombia and his dad from Jordan—Jammal lamented that it’s what’s possible. And if you’re fighting for what’s possible, if the sense of economic hope and social cohesion felt by previous you want an America where anything is possible, you’ve got to generations is fading in today’s America. “What I see is not the fight for it.” America my parents immigrated to,” he said. “It’s not the AmerIn addition to drafting and voting on legislation, lawmakers Dale Sprusansky is assistant editor of the Washington Report. have the ability to shape the national dialogue, Saad noted. The NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
35
sprusansky_35-36_Election Watch 10/17/17 6:12 PM Page 36
dearth of Arab Americans in Congress contributes to the uninformed and perfidious national narrative surrounding Arabs and Muslims, she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The narrative is important,â&#x20AC;? she emphasized. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have people who have that platform to speak off of, and who are at the table and able to speak on your behalf, then you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have representation, and thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no one properly informing the narrative.â&#x20AC;? When asked about U.S. Middle East policy, both candidates recognized the failure of the status quo, but were careful not to make strong policy prescriptions. They also responded carefully to a question about the power of the Israel lobby. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Palestine and advocating for a two-state solution, or whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Syria and making sure that every voice is heard, or just making sure that thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a voice in Congress thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first instinct isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s go to war in the region,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;sâ&#x20AC;Ś[important to have leaders who say] â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work with the international community and find some solutions that are long-term,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? Jam-
mal said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s happened is Washington, to some extent, has been trigger happy on a lot of this stuff without thinking through the consequences.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;When I look at whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s happened in the Middle East,â&#x20AC;? Saad added, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I see that there has been a lack of representation of people who understand the area, who understand the culture.â&#x20AC;? Both candidates still have a long road ahead of them, needing to first secure primary victories in order to appear on the ballot next November. While Republicans currently occupy both seats, Saad and Jammal described their districts as swing districts that can be flipped. Saad is hoping to replace Rep. David Trott, who is not seeking re-election, while Jammal is aspiring to unseat Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the powerful House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Jammal was not hesitant to criticize his opponentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s track record. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m running against a 24-year member of Congress whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been hostile from day one,â&#x20AC;? he said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;He was an architect of the Iraq war, and on the Foreign Affairs Committee he consistently votes against the region and he votes against having our voice. This is a guy who in 2010 during his primary spoke outside a mosque about the ills of multiculturalism.â&#x20AC;? Saad, the Muslim daughter of Lebanese immigrants, has been the target of such Islamophobic rhetoric since she initiated her campaign. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Within 24 hours of my announcement,â&#x20AC;? she recalled, â&#x20AC;&#x153;the Twitter and social media trolls were out. For me, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s white noise at this point because I already knew that existed, this is part of why Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sitting here todayâ&#x20AC;Ś.People just donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand Muslims. They donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know who we are, what we believe in, what our values are.â&#x20AC;? It was the lure of a land where freedom, opportunity and inclusion are valued that brought Saad and Jammalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s parents to the U.S. They are hoping voters give them the chance to preserve this vision of America that so many hold dear. â&#x2013;
(Advertisement)
! " Alalusi Foundation has provided one-year sponsorships to over 4,495 Orphans in Iraq
$45
$500 ! " # $ "% & '( ) * +*,+ # -
36
! " " # $% && '(374 ) * ) +
) + . " ! / " ( . 0 # 0 ! 1 0 . 2 3 4 ) )
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
mcarthur_37-38_Congress Watch 10/17/17 12:08 PM Page 37
Congress Watch
Trump Passes the Buck to Congress to Withdraw From the JCPOA
By Shirl McArthur
IN SPITE OF the advice of important U.S. allies, most of his national security team and key congressional leaders, President Donald Trump on Oct. 13 announced that he would not certify that Iran is complying with its commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) regarding the multi-national nuclear agreement. But Trump said he would not recommend that Congress impose new sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program, which would effectively mean U.S. withdrawal from the agreement. Instead, he wants Congress to amend the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INARA) of 2015 to set new conditions for U.S. participation in the agreement (which would also effectively mean U.S. withdrawal from the agreement). The INARA mandates that the president certify every 90 days that Iran is meeting its obligations under the agreement and that it is in the U.S. national interest, which Trump has done twice. Previously, after reports that Trump was considering not certifying Iran’s compliance, seven Democratic senators, led by Maryland’s Ben Cardin, on Sept. 20 wrote to five Trump administration cabinet officials, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, pointing out that the INARA “requires the president to provide information to Congress on any potentially significant Iranian breach or compliance concern related to the JCPOA within 10 calendar days of receiving the information,” and says that “to date the Senate has received no such notification and the administration has provided little public testimony to Congress on the status of Iranian compliance with the agreement.” The letter says that “we are unaware of any information” that would change the determination that Iran is complying with the agreement. In the House, Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-VA) on Sept. 21 introduced H.R. 3810 “to establish the commission to verify Iranian nuclear compliance.” The bill has 14 co-sponsors, including Connolly. The only previously described measure imposing sanctions on Iran that has made any progress is H.R. 1698, introduced by Rep. Edward Royce (R-CA) in March. It has gained 3 cosponsors and now has 321, including Royce. Of the measures described in the previous issue attacking
Hezbollah and, directly or indirectly, Iran, four have received more support. H.Res. 359, introduced by Rep. Ted Deutch (DFL) in May, would urge “the European Union to designate Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization.” It now has 55 co-sponsors, including Deutch. The identical bills introduced in July now titled the “Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Amendments” bills have also gained co-sponsors. S. 1595, introduced in the Senate by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), now has 39 co-sponsors, including Rubio, and H.R. 3329, introduced in the House by Royce, now has 71 co-sponsors, including Royce. And H.R. 3342, introduced in July by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), to impose sanctions on persons responsible for human rights violations by the use by Hezbollah of civilians as human shields, now has 22 cosponsors, including Gallagher.
Trump wants Congress to amend
the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015.
Shirl McArthur is a retired foreign service officer. He lives in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
FY 2018 MONEY BILLS MOVE AHEAD, BUT STILL NOT COMPLETED
The Continuing Appropriations Act, H.R. 601, extending government funding at the FY-’17 level until Dec. 8, 2017, was passed by both houses of Congress in early September and signed by Trump on Sept. 8 as Public Law 115-56. The “Omnibus Appropriations” bill, H.R. 3354, appropriating funds to several departments and agencies, including the State Department and foreign aid, was passed by the House Sept. 14. The Senate has yet to take up the Omnibus bill, but the Senate Appropriations Committee took up and passed S. 1780, the Senate’s version of the Foreign Operations (foreign aid) appropriations bill, on Sept. 7. Both houses of Congress have passed H.R. 2810, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Most recently, on Sept. 18 the Senate passed the bill, after amending it by deleting the text of the version passed by the House in July and inserting the text of the Senate version, S. 1519. Next, the House must agree to the Senate amendment—or, more likely, further amend it.
“TAYLOR FORCE ACT” INCLUDED IN SENATE FOREIGN AID BILL
S. 1697, the so-called “Taylor Force Act” (after a former U.S. army officer killed in a Palestinian attack), introduced in August by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), was slipped into S. 1780, the
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
37
mcarthur_37-38_Congress Watch 10/17/17 12:08 PM Page 38
STATUS UPDATES
H.R. 2712 and S. 474, Palestine Sanctions. H.R. 2712, introduced in May by Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), which would impose sanctions on the PA, now has 24 co-sponsors, including Mast. And S. 474, introduced in February by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), which would limit aid to the West Bank and Gaza, still has 20 co-sponsors, including Graham.
H.R. 3547, Jerusalem Embassy. The previously described measures saying the U.S. Embassy in Israel should be moved to Jerusalem have made no progress. Most recently, H.R. 3547, introduced by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) in July, which would “authorize the secretary of state to establish a permanent residence in Jerusalem, Israel, for the U.S. ambassador to Israel” still has five co-sponsors, including Issa. H.Res. 433, UNESCO. The anti-U.N. measure H.Res. 433, inSenate’s foreign aid bill. Both S. 1697 and its House companion, H.R. 1164, introduced in February by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO), would prohibit aid to the West Bank and Gaza unless, among other things, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is taking steps to end acts of violence against U.S. and Israeli citizens by Palestinian individuals. As reported by the Foundation for Middle East Peace, Graham wanted to include S. 1697 as an amendment to S. 1780, but there was some opposition to the measure in the Senate Appropriations Committee, especially from Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), largely because it could be read as prohibiting all aid to the PA—which Israel opposes because it would affect funding for Palestinian security forces working with Israeli occupation troops. So Graham agreed to modify the language by specifying that it applies to funds that “directly benefit the Palestinian Authority,” Booker withdrew his objection, and the amendment was passed. S. 1697 has 28 cosponsors, including Graham, and H.R. 1164 now has 143, including Lamborn. The previously described “Combating BDS” [“Boycott, Divest, and Sanction”] bills that claim to be pro-Israel but in fact are pro-settlements, S. 720, introduced by Sens. Cardin and Rob Portman (R-OH) in March, and H.R. 1697, introduced by 38
troduced in July by Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL), now has five co-sponsors, including Hastings. It would “disapprove of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee Inscription of Hebron as a Palestinian World Heritage Site in Danger.”
H.R. 1159, U.S.-Israel Cooperation. Most of the measures urging increased U.S.-Israel cooperation have made no progress, but H.R. 1159, introduced in February by Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-WA), encouraging U.S.-Israel space cooperation, now has 35 co-sponsors, including Kilmer. H.R. 377, Muslim Brotherhood. H.R. 377, introduced in January by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and aimed at designating the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization, now has 70 co-sponsors, including Diaz-Balart.
Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) also in March, continue to receive attention. As reported in the October Washington Report, the ACLU expressed its opposition to the bills because they would violate the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech and would punish U.S. persons based solely on their expressed political beliefs. In addition, on July 28 Amnesty International wrote to Cardin and Roskam saying that the bills “directly violate U.S. legal obligations to respect and protect freedom of expression and association guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” and “would violate U.S. legal obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention.” Also see the October 2017 Washington Report, p. 29, for AAI President James Zogby’s exposition of the problems associated with S. 720. In spite of all the outside negative attention, the bills have gained some further congressional support. S. 720 now has 50 co-sponsors, including Cardin, and H.R. 1697 now has 262, including Roskam. The bills that would encourage states to adopt anti-BDS measures, S. 170, introduced by Rubio in January, and H.R. 2856, introduced in June by Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), have also gained some support. H.R. 2856 now has 100 co-sponsors, including McHenry, and S. 170 now has 46, including Rubio.
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
—S.M.
See the “Status Updates” box for what progress the other pro-Israel and antiPalestinian measures have made.
KAINE TRIED BUT FAILED TO INSERT AUMF INTO NDAA
With the Sept. 18 passage of H.R. 2810, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) issued a press release lamenting the fact that he was unable to add an amendment including a new Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) against al-Qaeda, the Taliban and ISIS. Kaine said he hoped that there is now the momentum for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to take up S.J. Res. 43, introduced in May by Kaine and Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), urging the passage of a new AUMF. Earlier, on Sept. 13, the Senate rejected an amendment to H.R. 2810 offered by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) to repeal the AUMF of 2002 (the measure used by this and previous administrations to justify their actions against ISIS and the Taliban). Finally, H.R. 489, introduced in January by Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA), which would prohibit the collection of information and the establishment or utilization of a registry for the purposes of classifying or surveilling persons on the basis of religious affiliation, now has 92 co-sponsors, including DelBene. ■ NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
gee_39-41_Islam and the Near East in the Far East 10/17/17 5:55 PM Page 39
Islam and the Near East in the Far East
Bangladesh, Southeast Asia Worried by Rohingya Crisis
By John Gee
PAULA BRONSTEIN/GETTY IMAGES
MYANMAR’S TREATMENT OF its Rohingya Muslim minority finally turned into a crisis threatening regional stability as over half a million people fled their homes in fear. On Aug. 25, an organization known as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) launched coordinated attacks against some 20 or so police posts and a Myanmar army base in Rakhine state, on Myanmar’s border with Bangladesh. They plainly caught the police and army off guard, killing 12 security personnel. The attacks followed 10 months of gradually escalating conflict during which Rohingyas had faced vigilante harassment, an increasing hostile military presence and, at times, mob violence. The reaction of the army to this unanticipated assault by an organized Rohingya Thousands of Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar are kept under tight security by Bangladeshi militant group was violent and extreme. In military in the hot sun near Palang Khali, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, Oct. 16, 2017. the following weeks, Rohingya villages 61,000 refugees, recent and not so recent, were registered with were set on fire, hundreds of male civilians were killed, and entire the agency in Malaysia. It is estimated that a further 40,000 uncommunities fled in terror, seeking refuge in Bangladesh. By midregistered Rohingya refugees are in the country. October, more than 520,000 Rohingyas had made their way over The surge in violence against the Rohingya and in refugee the border, and people were still coming, despite attempts by numbers has had serious repercussions in nearby states. As one Bangladeshi soldiers to turn them back. These latest arrivals of the world’s poorer countries, struggling with corruption and ecojoined well over 300,000 Rohingya refugees already living in logical problems such as the erosion of its coastal lands, polluBangladesh. On Oct. 4, humanitarian organizations issued an aption and arsenic in the capital’s drinking water, Bangladesh has peal saying they needed $434 million to help up to 1.2 million been particularly adversely affected. It has consistently denied people, of whom 809,000 were in Bangladesh. Myanmar’s claim that the Rohingyas are illegal Bengali immiWhile most of those fleeing Myanmar did so overland, some grants whose true home is Bangladesh, and has maintained their left by sea, arriving in overloaded boats on Bangladesh’s coast. refugee status, seeking to confine them in camps close to the Conditions in the refugee camps are wretched. Shelter for the Myanmar border. Successive Bangladeshi governments have new arrivals was hastily improvised, but gave them little protectried to negotiate the return of Rohingya refugees to their homes tion against the heavy rainfall of September or the sun’s heat. in Myanmar. Some of those who had fled during the previous year tried to One concern of the Bangladeshi government that is shared by make for other destinations where they might have the chance to others in the region is that radical Islamist organizations, or earn money and make a better life for themselves. As of the end groups opportunistically borrowing an Islamist label, will take adof August, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said that vantage of the crisis to recruit supporters and put down stronger roots in the area. Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia all have John Gee is a free-lance journalist based in Singapore, and the author had to grapple with militant and violent Islamist groups that use of Unequal Conflict: The Palestinians and Israel. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
39
gee_39-41_Islam and the Near East in the Far East 10/17/17 5:55 PM Page 40
terrorism to further their aims. In Indonesia, for example, the Islamic Defenders Front and the Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (the latter designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department in June), which played a major role in agitating for the Christian governor of Jakarta to be tried for blasphemy this year, have mobilized for protests against Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingyas. Concerns go beyond Muslim-majority countries, which goes some way toward explaining the untypically critical comments on the crisis made by Singapore’s government and in the country’s media. Southeast Asian governments do not look upon events in Myanmar in isolation. They have seen some terrorist groups in the region, such as Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines, pledge their loyalty to ISIS, while others support al-Qaeda. They have watched the Philippines military make heavy weather out of recapturing the city of Marawi since its seizure by the Maute group in May 2017 and observed how some Indonesian and Malaysian (as well as, reportedly, a Singaporean) militants went to join the ISIS affiliate. The Malaysian and Indonesian security forces from time to time report the detention of individuals who went to fight with ISIS in the Middle East and who have returned to their home countries. Regional governments believe that, with the crushing of the self-declared “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria, ISIS is trying to establish new bases elsewhere and may see Southeast Asia as the area where it has the best opportunity of doing so. Myanmar responded to widespread international condemnation of its treatment of the Rohingyas with claims that the critics were biased or did not understand the situation, and that ARSA militants and other Rohingyas were setting Rohingya villages on fire themselves. An Internet message containing “Photos of Bengalis torching their houses themselves” was quickly discredited as using faked images. Stories of alleged Rohingya massacres of Buddhists and Hindus were publicized. It is hard to get at the truth, since Human Rights Watch and other human rights 40
NGOs have been prevented from visiting the areas of Rakhine state where massacres have been reported, but the burning of Rohingya villages has been detected by satellite cameras.
LITTLE SYMPATHY IN MYANMAR
Within Myanmar, there is little sympathy for the Rohingyas among the Buddhist majority, many of whom regard themselves as “the real victims” of an uncomprehending world and of devious Muslim subversives. The local media do nothing to enlighten them, whether from conviction or fear of a violent reaction from the military or Buddhist militants. On Sept. 19, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is effectively leader of Myanmar though legally barred from being prime minister, made a speech on the crisis that did nothing to reassure the critics. She condemned all human rights violations and violence without assigning any particular responsibility for it, and she avoided using the term “Rohingya,” simply referring to this national minority as “Muslims.” Suu Kyi said that Myanmar would allow Muslims who had fled to return: “Those who have been verified as refugees from this country will be accepted without any problem and with full assurance of their security and access to humanitarian aid.” This particular statement sounded conciliatory, but it is doubtful whether many refugees could produce documentary evidence that they ever lived in Myanmar, having been denied citizenship in the past, lacking passports and having fled their homes with little more than the clothes on their backs. Moreover, even as Nobel Peace Laureate Suu Kyi spoke, more people were being driven into exile. ■
Sabra-Shatila Reflections Continued from page 24
and fell in a puddle on the way up the steps. Nahr El Bared has been partially rebuilt— the homes are smaller, the streets wider so tanks can roll through. On the other hand, it is much cleaner than the other camps. This was the first time I had been to Wavel—the closest camp to the Syrian bor-
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
der, packed with Syrian Palestinians. One of the worst sites there is a building with a zinc roof that houses about six families. The living areas are tiny, barely enough for a few mats on the floor. Thin walls act as partitions, toilets and showers are open—no doors, no privacy. People have been living for five years in these horrendous, unhealthy conditions. A few feet away from this building a few refugees live in the cemetery. Here, I met two sisters from Yarmouk. One of the participants from Spain had brought along a recording of the Syrian pianist, Aeham Ahmad, playing the “Yarmouk” song. The sisters sang along, a very moving moment for all of us. Wavel is near Baalbeck, and in winter it is very cold. Some of the dwellings are not heated; at times, residents go to the BAS Center to sleep. The commemoration culminated in a program at a cultural center near the mass grave. The auditorium was packed—busloads of residents from all of the camps attended, including many youths waving Palestinian flags. We then marched to the grave site to the sound of bagpipes, violins and drums played by the musical group from BAS. I made my way through the gathered crowd, warmly greeting old friends from the camp—survivors and supporters— to the monument dedicated to the Sabra and Shatila Massacre Martyrs. It was there that Dr. Swee and I took a moment to pay our respects, to remember, to say a prayer. For the past year I decided that the best contribution I could make was to raise funds to sponsor children in kindergarten and the elderly through BAS. The children’s programs are wonderful: the kindergartens are excellent, teachers are kind and loving and provide healthy play and guidance, age-appropriate toys and games are abundant, and nutritious lunches are served. (See June/July 2017 Washington Report, p. 24.) I visited an elderly refugee living just outside of Shatila. She was about 80, living in a very poor condition. Her apartment was not clean, and she looked quite unhealthy. Her social worker from BAS checks on her and other elderly residents frequently. BAS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
gee_39-41_Islam and the Near East in the Far East 10/17/17 5:55 PM Page 41
does what it can to help these aging Palestinians, but the organization gets only so much money in contributions for their care, and there are limitations and a lack of resources. Days after my return to Washington, I attended the Kol Nidre service (the prayer recited in the synagogue before the beginning of the evening service on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement). I have never lost my Jewishness nor will I ever—but I am able to differentiate between my religion and a political ideology. Growing up, I never knew what it was like not to have a home, to live in a refugee camp, to be dispossessed, to move from one camp to another, to lose property, to lose identity. But I have become painfully aware of what it is like for others. I hope that someday the words “Palestinian refugees” will be a term from the past, that the Palestinians will live in peace, free from occupation, free from camps, and have the ability to determine their own future. The Palestinians must be granted their Right of Return. Many of the Syrian Palestinians want to return to Syria. We must continue to raise awareness of the situation of refugees in Lebanon and help them financially, especially the children and elderly. Hopefully, one day, the Lebanese government will grant them more rights and improve their living conditions. For the coming year I will continue to raise money for BAS sponsorships: • Sponsorship for a kindergarten child at $195/year; • Sponsorship of an elderly refugee at $378/year; • Sponsorship of a needy child (orphaned or hardship case) at $378/year. Donations can be made through United Palestinian Appeal, at <www.helpupa.org/ beitassumoud>. ■
Unwanted “Guests” Continued from page 28
needed to renew their passports, problematic in and of itself, as it requires a trip to the Syrian Embassy in Ankara or the consulate in Istanbul, where the wait is NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
usually longer than the travel time allowance. Some go back and forth, which is expensive and often self-defeating; others take their chances with overstaying their allotted time. Of course, renewing a Syrian passport is often dangerous for a refugee, anyway. Men who have not completed their mandatory military service, or any refugee who may be on a wanted list, or even have a relative or friend on a wanted list, could be either turned down, at best, or arrested in the embassy at worst. An alternate Syrian government, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, does offer passports. Although the alternate government was created as part of a multinational agreement, and is recognized by a number of nations, including the United States, none of the refugees I spoke to who tried to obtain the alternate passport were successful. Since Syrians are considered guests rather than refugees, there are too few official camps. Many refugees rent apartments, mostly in Izmir’s poorer districts, and some squat in crumbling buildings. Nonetheless, there are unofficial camps that have sprung up on farms which allow refugees to pitch a tent in return for what amounts to indentured servitude as farm labor. There are no toilet—or other—facilities, the camps often have to move, and volunteers are not allowed to enter, a restriction enforced (sometimes ineffectively) by both permanent and floating checkpoints on roads leading to the camps. Additionally, the labor-based camps deprive itinerant Turkish laborers of work, causing resentment. For Syrian refugees who don’t live and work in the camps, there exist some possibilities of work for those with either education or money. I met a number who worked in translation in fields ranging from refugee-related work to game translation. Many with some capital to invest have opened small shops or stalls. Ths ability to work, albeit not entirely legally, has been one of the greatest advantages for Syrian “guests” in Turkey. Most refugee-oriented volunteer organi-
zations working in Izmir comprise primarily refugees and Turks. Other volunteers are severely limited in what they can do. While this was somewhat true in 2016, it’s even more the case this year. A year ago, when I wanted to teach English with an Izmir-based volunteer group, I was told they only wanted refugee or Turkish teachers; this year I was told that every attempt to teach English drew police to the center. Education is available to Syrian children in Turkish schools; any Syrian child with a Kimlik card may enroll. All lessons are taught in Turkish, and Syrian children are mainstreamed into the regular classes. Alternatively, some parents opt to send their children to study with an imam, but these classes are restricted to religious education. Although all Syrian refugee children theoretically should be attending school, many do not. As families struggle to save enough to move on to Europe or merely to survive and build a life in Turkey, too many children are kept from school in favor of the work force. In various interviews with refugees, I was told of children as young as 10 being sent to work 10-hour days in butcher shops and factories, and saw many, many children as young as 5 or 6 years old out selling tissues on the streets at all hours. It is both horrifying and heartbreaking to encounter a small child alone at 2 o’clock in the morning, selling packs of tissues for the equivalent of 30 cents. Even as the situation for Syrian “guest” refugees of the Turkish government is bleak, that of Afghans, Iraqis and others considered refugees must be even more so, and I did hear stories of Afghans, caught in boats attempting to reach Greece, being deported back to Afghanistan in contravention of international law. However, as those considered “refugees” rather than “guests” are not allowed to stay in the larger cities, including Izmir and Istanbul, I was not able to speak to refugees who were not Syrian. Even though Turkey’s designation as a “Safe Third Country” is at the heart of the EU/Turkey agreement to restrict the number of refugees flooding into Europe, the “safety” it supposedly provides seems more and more compromised. ■
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
41
brownfeld_42-43_Israel and Judaism 10/17/17 12:10 PM Page 42
Israel and Judaism
The Balfour Declaration at 100: Remembering Its Prophetic Jewish Critics
WWW.AZQUOTES.COM
By Allan C. Brownfeld
ISSUED IN LONDON in 1917 a century ago this Nov. 2, the Balfour Declaration is one of the 20th century’s most important documents. It committed Britain to supporting in Palestine “a national home for the Jewish people,” and the consequences continue to be felt to this day. Zionism, or Jewish nationalism, was a new idea beginning to take shape in Eastern Europe in 1881, when Russian revolutionaries assassinated Tsar Alexander ll. His son, Alexander lll, blamed the Jews and reimposed the anti-Semitic policies his father had relaxed. In 1897 the Zionist movement held its initial congress in Basel, Switzerland, triggering immigration to Palestine with the idea of establishing a Jewish commonwealth of some kind. In 1914, as World War l began, Jews represented perhaps one-ninth of the population of Palestine. Within England, Zionism had little support among British Jews. In his book The Balfour Declaration, Prof. Jonathan Schneer of Georgia Tech, a specialist in modern British history, notes that, “Prewar indifference to Jewish nationalism was widespread. The British public, including the vast majority of British Jews, shared it. Of 300,000 Jews living in Britain in 1913, only 8,000 belonged to the Zionist organization.” Zionist leaders in London were largely immigrants from Eastern Europe. Most prominent was Chaim Weizmann, who took a post
Allan C. Brownfeld is a syndicated columnist and associate editor of the Lincoln Review, a journal published by the Lincoln Institute for Research and Education, and editor of Issues, the quarterly journal of the American Council for Judaism. 42
at the University of Manchester in 1904. In 1914, Zionists lacked easy entry to the Foreign Office. But a Jewish opponent of Zionism, Lucien Wolf, did have such access. Wolf was director of the Conjoint Foreign Committee of British Jews, which held that British Jews differed from their Quaker, Congregationalist and Catholic Britons only in the religious belief system to which they adhered. While Zionists contended that Jews were a distinct nation, this view was rejected by most British Jews, in particular the AngloJewish Association, which declared that British Jews were Britons who happened to be Jewish by religion. Zionist leaders argued that support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine would serve both British interests in World War I as well as its post-war imperial ambitions. In the case of World War l, the Zionists played on the often anti-Semitic notion that world Jewry constituted an extraordinarily influential power, and that, thus, support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine would cause American Jews to urge the U.S. to enter the war on Britain’s side. Such support, the Zionists declared, would cause Russian Jews to urge continued involvement in the war and German Jews to lessen their support for their country’s war effort. For a variety of reasons, the British government embraced the Zionist enterprise, while within Britain's Jewish community, the debate became increasingly heated. Zionists insisted that Jews constitute a distinct nationality. Jews who opposed Zionism insisted that Jews shared a religion and nothing more. As liberals, they considered the idea of special privileges for their co-religionists in Palestine, or anywhere else, as anathema. Rabbi Claude Monte-
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
brownfeld_42-43_Israel and Judaism 10/17/17 12:10 PM Page 43
fiore, president of the Anglo-Jewish Association, asked rhetorically in the April 1917 Edinburgh Review, “How can a man belong to two nations at once?” One who tried to do so opened himself to the charge of divided loyalties. “No wonder that all antiSemites are enthusiastic Zionists.” Led by Secretary of State for India Edwin Montagu, who insisted that Jews be regarded as a religious community and he as a Jewish Englishman, the anti-Zionist Jews fought the establishment of any Jewish state. They maintained that it would have the effect of “stamping Jews as strangers in their native land and undermining their hard won position as citizens and nationals of those lands.” British cabinet records of 1915 to 1920, made public by the British government only in 1970, contained many references to the Balfour Declaration, including three memoranda by Montagu, the sole Jewish Cabinet member, which reveal his foresightedness. In a memorandum circulated to other Cabinet members, Montagu used the term “anti-Semitism” to characterize the sponsors of Zionism's charter. The Aug. 23, 1917 document, titled “The Anti-Semitism of the Present Government,” and marked “Secret,” is in many ways prophetic. It reads, in part: “I have chosen the above title...not in any hostile sense...not even with a view to suggesting that the government is deliberately anti-Semitic, but I wish to place on record my view that the policy of His Majesty's Government is antiSemitic in result and will prove a rallying ground for anti-Semites in every country of the world.” In Montagu’s view, “Zionism has always seemed to me a mischievous political creed, untenable to any patriotic citizen of the United Kingdom. If a Jewish Englishman sets his eyes on the Mount of Olives and longs for the day when he will shake British soil from his shoes and go back to agricultural pursuits in Palestine, he has always seemed to me to have acknowledged aims inconsistent with British citizenship...I deny that Palestine is today associated with the Jews. It is quite true that Palestine plays NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
a large part in Jewish history, but so it does in modern Mohammedan history, and, after the time of the Jews, surely it plays a larger part than any other country in Christian history...the government should be prepared to do everything in their power to obtain for Jews in Palestine complete liberty of settlement and life on an equality with the inhabitants of the country who profess other religious beliefs. I would ask that the government should go no further.”
AMERICAN JEWISH OPPOSITION
In the U.S., Jewish opposition to the Balfour Declaration was widespread. In 1919, a petition was presented to President Woodrow Wilson entitled “Statement to the Peace Conference.” It reflected the then-dominant opposition of most American Jews to Zionism and its claim on Palestine. Signatories included Rep. Julius Kahn of California; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., former U.S. ambassador to Turkey; Simon W. Rosendale, former attorney general of New York; Mayor L.H. Kempner of Galveston, Texas; E.M. Baker, president of the New York Stock Exchange; R.H. Macy's Jesse I. Straus; New York Times publisher Adolph Ochs; Judge M.C. Sloss of San Francisco; and Profs. Edwin S. Seligman of Columbia and Morris Jastrow of the University of Pennsylvania. President Wilson brought the petition with him to the 1919 Paris peace conference following World War I. The petition criticized Zionist efforts to segregate Jews “as a political unit...in Palestine and elsewhere” and underlined the principle of equal rights for all citizens of any state “irrespective of creed or ethnic descent.” It rejected Jewish nationalism as a general concept and held against the founding of any state based on religion or race. The petition asserted that the “overwhelming bulk of the Jews of America, England, France, Italy, Holland, Switzerland and other lands of freedom have no thought whatever of surrendering their citizenship in those lands in order to resort to a ‘Jewish homeland in Palestine.’” As stated in Point 5 of the petition: “We object to the political segregation of the Jews
because it is an error to assume that the bond uniting them is of a national character. They are bound by two factors. First, the bond of common religious beliefs and aspirations and, secondly, the bonds of common traditions, customs and experiences largely, alas, of common trials and sufferings. Nothing in their status suggests that they form in any real sense a separate nationalistic unit.” With regard to the future of Palestine, the petitioners state: “It is our fervent hope that what was once a ‘promised land’ for the Jews may become ‘a land of promise’ for all races and creeds, safeguarded by the League of Nations which, it is expected, will be one of the fruits of the Peace Conference...We ask that Palestine be constituted as a free and independent state to be governed under a democratic form of government recognizing no distinction of creed or race or ethnic descent, and with adequate power to protect the country, against oppression of any kind. We do not wish to see Palestine, either now or at any time in the future, organized as a Jewish state.” In his autobiography, Henry Morgenthau, Sr. described Zionism as “the most stupendous fallacy in Jewish history. It is wrong in principle and impossible of realization, it is unsound in its economics, fantastical in its politics and sterile in its spiritual ideals. I speak as a Jew.” The 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration should be a time when we reclaim the often forgotten Jewish voices of 1917 and beyond who warned against moving forward with this enterprise. They understood, as more and more American Jews are realizing today, that Zionism was never integral to Judaism but was, in fact, a departure from it. They recognized, as well, the injustice which was being done to the indigenous inhabitants of Palestine, an injustice which continues to the present day. It is the very moral integrity of Judaism which has been challenged by Zionism’s confusion of religion and nationalism and resulted in a form of idolatry, in which the State of Israel has replaced God for too many who have embraced the Zionist worldview. ■
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
43
activisms_44-64_November/December 2017 Activisms 10/16/17 1:45 PM Page 44
ARAB AMERICAN ACTIVISM
Speakers from around the world gathered to discuss how to “Resist Hate and Redefine America” at the American-Arab AntiDiscrimination Committee (ADC)’s 37th National Convention. From Sept. 21 to 24 at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC, experts and representatives from other vulnerable communities explored issues impacting all their members, compared notes and strategized. Every year our reporters attend the ADC convention and staff a booth loaded with goods from our Middle East Books and More store. When we leave we always feel revitalized and informed and, frankly, concerned that our report won’t be able to convey the wealth of vital information shared over three days at this conference. But we’ll give it a try as we urge our readers to attend next year’s conference...
ONE STATE OR TWO STATES—WHAT’S BEST FOR PALESTINIANS?
Christopher Hazou with the Institute of Middle East Understanding, who previously served as the communications officer for the General Delegation of the PLO to the U.S., asked panelists if a one- or two- state solution is the best option for Palestinians. Advocating for one state, Noura Erakat, a Palestinian-American legal scholar and human rights attorney, argued that Israel already functions as one state with different laws for the five “classes” of Palestinians—those who live in the West Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem, and within Israel, plus the diaspora. Israel has already “dismembered” Palestinian identity, she said, but if it continues to use that Solomon solution— splitting the baby in two—no one will be happy. Erakat pointed out that everything is already run from Israel—with Israel selling cell phone service, electricity and water to Palestinians, and one financial system, including the shekel. “If the shekel was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me,” she quipped. 44
(L-r) Samer E. Khalaf, Erin Hustings, Terry Ao Minnis and Roberto Ramirez discuss why ADC is working so hard on 2020 census changes. Amer Zahr, an Arab-American comedian, speaker, writer and academic who teaches at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, agreed that one state is a win-win for all: “We’d have the most amazing economy in the world.” Tourists don’t visit now because they’re afraid, Zahr said—and there aren’t enough hotels. “I’m from Nazareth, like Jesus,” he said, “and I couldn’t get a hotel room there....If we opened up the country we’d have to build 50 new hotels...God is our national resource. God is renewable. The one state could be economic rival to none—if everyone just got nice....If there were no Palestinian state, no Jewish state, just a state of its people regardless of religions, tribes and ethnicities.” Nizar Farsakh, a trainer focusing on leadership, advocacy and negotiations who also used to work at the PLO Delegation in Washington, DC, presented the two-state argument. Each side is too invested in their identities to share one state, he argued. For instance, the Israeli narrative is, “No Jew gets a fair trial if the judge is not Jewish.” Palestinians reared on the Nakba, Balfour narrative have no interest in sharing a land with their oppressors. They fear that, living in one state, they will receive unequal, racist treatment, like African Americans, Farsakh said, without access to equal health care and education. —Delinda C. Hanley
THE 2020 CENSUS AND PROSPECTS FOR A MENA CATEGORY
Friday’s second panel, “Census 2020: The MENA Category and Looking Ahead,”
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
dealt with the current testing and future of a Middle East and North Africa (MENA) category in the 2020 census. Currently, Middle Eastern racial and ethnic groups are classified as “white” in the census. This has not only caused confusion, but also has public policy implications. Roberto Ramirez of the U.S. Census Bureau began with an in-depth presentation of the process of adding a MENA category to the census. One of the issues that the Census Bureau has faced is the definition of what countries and ethnicities would be placed in such a category. The 2015 National Content Test included 19 nationalities (such as Lebanese, Iranian and Iraqi) and 11 ethnicities and pan-ethnic terms (such as Arab and Kurdish), as well as other groups which largely did not identify with the MENA category as strongly, such as Armenian, Azeri, Somali and Sudanese. Ramirez further explained that it is unclear whether the MENA category will be a subsection under “white” or its own category. That decision that will be made by the Office of Management and Budget. Terry Ao Minnis, a co-chair of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights’ Census Task Force, emphasized that the U.S. needs an “accurate account of the population.” The MENA category is “critical for vision,” she maintained, as the current census system “can make minorities invisible.” Panelist Erin Hustings, legislative counsel for the National Association of Latino NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY
American Arabs Resist Hate, Redefine America at ADC’s National Convention
activisms_44-64_November/December 2017 Activisms 10/16/17 1:45 PM Page 45
COMBATING ISLAMOPHOBIA THROUGH MEDIA MESSAGING
Zainab Chaudary, senior media associate for security and rights with ReThink Media, gave a presentation on her organization’s strategies for using media to combat Islamophobia and hate crimes. Chaudary described ReThink as a “part PR firm, part advocacy organization” whose goal is to increase the communications capacity of the Muslim, Arab and South Asian (MASA) American community. Anti-Muslim rhetoric has been on the rise in recent years, Chaudary noted, with a huge spike occurring after the 2016 elecNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
gested, due to their perceived connection to the political left. Instead, she advised using words such as “dignity,” “fairness” and “respect,” which resonate better with larger audiences. The lesson to be learned from this, she concluded, is that “words matter” in messages to both supporters and the opposition. —Shannon Tawoos
STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY
Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), expressed concerns over the budgetary shortfalls confronting the 2020 census. Congressional funding is not increasing to prepare for 2020, she explained, which has led to the cancellation of tests in Puerto Rico and Native American reservations. Some in the audience expressed concerns with the MENA category. One audience member noted that there was not an “Arab” category, while another attendee was troubled over the use of “Middle Eastern,” claiming that term is a construct of the West and a term not generally used by Arabs. Others objected to the inclusion of Israelis in the MENA category. Ramirez stated that at the U.S. Census Bureau, “race and ethnicity are defined as social constructs,” not by genetics or physical characteristics. Additionally, Samer E. Khalaf, ADC’s national president, stated that the MENA category is a compromise between interest groups representing the region, pointing out that minorities from the Arab world and Iranians also have a stake in the establishment of this category. The establishment of a MENA category in the U.S. census will also assist discrimination cases against those of Middle Eastern descent. The panel addressed fears that a MENA category will allow the government to further monitor the Muslim community. Minnis explained that, under Title XIII, which “supersedes the PATRIOT Act,” census data is strictly protected. —Shannon Tawoos
CHARLOTTESVILLE AND WHITE SUPREMACY’S RE-EMERGENCE
Zainab Chaudary from ReThink Media. tion, and today “Islamophobia has permeated society.” She emphasized the importance of speakers learning how to address an audience with opposing views to find “shared common ground.” A second challenge Chaudary cited is that while “discriminatory political rhetoric is actually rejected by most people…discriminatory policy is accepted by most,” because “a policy seems like a logical, rational solution to a fear that people hold.” Therefore, she said, it is important to tie discriminatory rhetoric and discriminatory policy together. Other challenges she identified include the entrenched idea that Islam oppresses women and the widely-held belief that Islam is inherently violent. To combat Islamophobia, Chaudary suggested pivoting to shared American principles. For example she suggested using statements like, “We are weaker as a country when we let fear and lack of understanding come between us.” She also urged speakers to draw the moral line in the sand, or seize the moral high ground. Chaudary also suggested reassuring the fearful “with positive aspirational messages.” It is important to “talk about what you are fighting for, not what you are fighting against,” Chaudary explained. It is also important to give your audience a “concrete action to take.” Words such as “diversity,” “inclusivity,” “understanding” and “tolerance” do not resonate with everyone, Chaudary sug-
Charlottesville, VA activist and community organizer Tanesha Hudson described the horror of seeing hundreds of white supremacists chanting Nazi and “White Lives Matter” slogans marching through the University of Virginia campus, carrying torches on Aug. 11—with no sign of police. The demonstrators were in town to participate in a “Unite the Right” rally. Student medic Kim Rolla from the Legal Aid Justice Center in Charlottesville, described trying to get medical attention to the students and professor who were attacked at the fountain. She asked police why they didn’t intervene, and was told they didn’t want to start a massacre by the heavily armed marchers. Nqobile Mthethwa, a recent University of Virginia graduate, described the reemergence of “audacious” rightest student groups on campus. Following the discussion, conventiongoers moved to an exhibit in the hotel by Baltimore-based Iraqi impressionist Shakir Al Alousi, whose work evokes the Arab homeland. Buses then took attendees to the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center for a Friday night reception. —Delinda C. Hanley
LITTLE SYRIA THROUGH THE EYES OF ARAB AMERICANS
ADC’s Saturday talks began with Dr. Hani Bawardi, who teaches history at University of Michigan-Dearborn. He discussed his unparalleled research that resulted in the book Making of Arab Americans: From Syrian Nationalism to U.S. Citizenship. He traced the forgotten histories of the Free Syria Society, the New Syria Party, the Arab National League, the Institute of Arab American Affairs, and the numerous Arab-
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
45
American political advocacy organizations that shaped Arab-American identity. Dr. Debbie Almontaser suggested that ADC convention attendees try to recapture the civic and political lessons learned by early Arab Americans who laid the foundations for current Arab-American organizations. She wondered if Arab American members of ADC—which used to draw 10 times the number of mostly secular attendees—has somehow morphed into more separate religious communities. Muslim organizations continue to fill rooms, she noted. Does this mean religious identity is overturning cultural identity? If so, she said, religious divisions weren’t inherent in the Middle East a hundred years ago: “We all identified as Arabs. From Yemen to Morocco, we had a common identity.” Almontaser urged listeners not to let Western imperial influences divide us.
“CRIMINALIZATION OF BEING ARAB”
Soffiyah Elijah, executive director of Alliance of Families for Justice, spoke about the criminalization of people with black skin, which started when people of African descent were brought to the U.S. in bondage. Today 60 to 80 percent of the prison population is black or Latino, she said, and this is not by accident. Mass incarceration, Elijah said, disenfranchises and marginalizes large swaths of our population. Studies show that family members of prisoners don’t engage in civic activities—voting, parent-teacher conferences or local elections—and they are also decimated economically. Laws against loitering or pants drooping down are attempts to criminalize and control African Americans, she argued. Khaled Beydoun, who teaches at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and California-Berkeley, said in the past 5 years, Islamophobia has increased 7 to 9 times higher than just after 9/11. There is a presumption that Islam is inherently violent, he noted, and that Arabs are backward, uncivilized, patriarchal and hate the West. “Islamophobia rises from these tropes,” Beydoun said. Because a phobia is something one can’t control, he added, he prefers to use the term anti-Muslim hate. 46
(A-r) Arjun Singh Sethi, Soffiyah Elijah, Khaled Beydoun and Deepa Iyer describe the marginalization of black and brown communities.
South Asian-American writer and lawyer Deepa Iyer explained that her community has also felt excluded. In 2040, she pointed out, communities of color will be the majority in America, and that has already caused a pushback, as politicians push xenophobic rhetoric, stir racial anxiety and call to “Make America great again.” Arjun Singh Sethi, a writer, attorney and expert in racial and religious profiling, reminded the audience that it took Barack Obama eight years to visit a mosque, so Islamophobia didn’t begin in the current administration. He urged coalition building rather than reinventing the wheel. —Delinda C. Hanley
CIVIL RIGHTS LUNCHEON HONORS BOLD LEADERS
ADC’s annual civil rights luncheon on Sept. 23 highlighted the achievements of individuals who have worked tirelessly to protect and defend the rights of Arabs, Muslims and other groups of Americans subjected to discrimination. Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY) began her keynote address by pledging to fight President Donald Trump’s continued efforts to implement a travel ban on individuals from select Muslim-majority countries. To successfully fight the travel ban and other discriminatory actions, she said, members of Congress need the support of the American people. “We must work together as part of a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-faith coali-
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
tion to safeguard the rights of all of those among us,” she said. “It is our unity in this moment, in this time in our history, as a people, that’s going to make the difference, not just for us, but for future generations. We must advocate as blacks, Latinos, Arabs, Christians, Muslims, Jews, people of faith, people without it, to make sure that we are all protected by the promise of equality and human dignity. Otherwise, quite frankly, none of us are truly safe.” Those who support draconian immigration and travel restrictions must be reminded of the trauma and challenges those seeking refuge in the U.S. have faced, emphasized the congresswoman, the child of Jamaican immigrants. “We must tell our story so that the American people understand the common humanity that unites all of us and appreciate the desperate conditions that many immigrants are escaping from,” she said. During the luncheon, ADC conferred awards on three impressive individuals: Prof. Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, founder of the Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, received the Excellence in Advocacy Award; Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Human Rights Program, was given the Ralph Johns Award; and Prof. Khaled Beydoun, associate professor of law at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and an avid fighter of Islamophobia, received the Advocate of the Year Award. —Dale Sprusansky NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY
activisms_44-64_November/December 2017 Activisms 10/16/17 1:45 PM Page 46
activisms_44-64_November/December 2017 Activisms 10/16/17 1:45 PM Page 47
The next two panels focused on the Muslim ban and the extra scrutiny thousands of mostly Muslim males from 26 countries face, as well as the challenges coming from U.S. courts. ADC is part of that quiet, fierce effort to protect impacted communities. “Our work involves marathons, not sprints, and sometimes miracles,” said Abed Ayoub, ADC’s national legal and policy director. The Yemeni-American community is especially impacted as they try to get their family members out of harm’s way in Yemen, Dr. Debbie Almontaser said. It was only thanks to help from her New York representative, Yvette Clarke, that her young son-in-law, a Fulbright student trapped in Yemen, was able to join her daughter. Almontaser reminded the audience that during Peter King’s 2011 hearings on Muslim radicalization, Clarke “mopped the floors with him.” Panelists agreed that Muslims need to tell their stories and show how they are part of the American dream. —Delinda C. Hanley
ADC GALA DINNER EMPHASIZES COURAGE AND SOLIDARITY
While most speakers and award recipients at ADC’s Sept. 23 gala dinner lamented President Donald Trump’s treatment of the Arab-American community, they nonetheless encouraged attendees to transcend fear and remain steadfast and united in the pursuit of justice. Dena Takruri, a senior presenter at AJ+ (Al Jazeera’s popular San Franciscobased digital platform), received the Rose Nader Award in recognition of her fearless reporting that highlights injustices around the world. The young reporter attributed her vocation to the eye-opening trips she took to Palestine as a child. “I was very affected seeing the military occupation, seeing my mom get stripped searched at the border, spending parts of the summer under a curfew and witnessing first-hand how, because my family and I were Palestinian, we were second-class citizens at best, and at most times felt sub-human,” Takruri said. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
STAFF PHOTOS D. HANLEY
NO BAN, NO WALL, NO RAIDS
Dena Takruri [TOP] and Vince Warren [ABOVE] urge Arab Americans to join in the struggles faced by other vulnerable minorities because “when we work together we are invincible.” These early experiences, she explained, convinced her of the importance of amplifying the voice of the voiceless and “speaking truth to power and challenging the dominant narratives that we know all too often malign and dehumanize people. Those are the editorial principles that guide me every day of my career,” she said. Through her travels, Takruri has come to the conclusion that all struggles against injustice are connected. “I firmly believe that our equality as Palestinians and as Arab Americans and as Muslim Americans is tied to everyone else’s equality,” she said. “And the places that my assignments have taken me over the past few years have only reaffirmed that. I’ve seen it firsthand, from Standing Rock to Flint, Michigan, from Palestine to Hawaii, from the for-profit immigrant detention centers, to the protests
in the streets here against mass incarceration, I’ve seen first-hand how we’re all connected in the same struggle.” Takruri noted that she is often asked if her travels desensitize her to the suffering she witnesses. “My answer is no,” she said. “With every assignment that I have, you leave part of yourself there, and you take a part of those people’s stories with you, and you gain some insights.” Vince Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, used his keynote address to emphasize the importance of solidarity. Every marginalized group asks the same questions, he said: “Why are we treated differently? Why will no one listen to us when we demonstrate that we are being treated differently? Why, when we challenge the powers that treat us differently, do they often say that we’re treating you differently to preserve our values as a nation? Are we not part of this nation? Do we not have our own hopes and dreams for our families, friends and neighbors?” No single minority group can address these questions on its own, he emphasized. Progress is made, he said, when various groups work together to address all forms of discrimination. “We’re making history because we’ve learned the important lesson of solidarity,” Warren said. “When we work alone we are vulnerable, and when we work together we are invincible.” Progress, he warned, is not made by people who stand on the sidelines and are risk-averse. “No social justice change has ever happened in this country without risk,” he said. “There is no such thing as free liberation. Liberation costs you. It can cost you dearly.” Warren concluded by challenging the audience to be bold in their fight for justice. “We have three options,” he said. “We can either tell history, live history, or make history.” Other awardees included: May Rihani, director of the endowed Gibran Chair for Values and Peace at the University of Maryland, who received the Hala Maksoud Leadership Award; the Aburish family, who received the Alex Odeh Memorial Award for their community service; and investor Dr. Shihab Kuran, who received the Continued on page 64
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
47
activisms_44-64_November/December 2017 Activisms 10/16/17 1:45 PM Page 48
The Middle East Institute's (MEI) Arts and Culture program hosted a Sept. 8 panel discussion to examine the critical and untold role Middle Eastern women play in community building through the arts. The panel, moderated by National Public Radio arts desk reporter Neda Ulaby, featured three artists and Lyne Sneige, director of MEI’s Arts and Culture program. The panelists drew upon their experiences to challenge common misconceptions about women in the region and explore how the arts can serve as a form of creative and nonviolent resistance. They also spoke about their “buzzy” local art scenes and how their Middle East and North African communities welcome diversity. Helen Zughaib is a Lebanese-American artist who paints primarily in gouache and ink on board and canvas. Her work has been widely exhibited in galleries and museums in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East, and has hung in the White House, World Bank, Library of Congress and U.S. embassies. Describing her recent exhibit in Beirut, Zughaib said the people who came, bought and interviewed her were so pleased to have something beyond war to see. They were looking for art that was hopeful and positive. Zughaib also worked with strong, amazing Saudi artists who, she said, need more venues to show their work. Alia Ali, an Austrian-born half-Yemeni and half-Bosnian American artist, lives in Morocco. Like her identify, her multi-media work pushes against stereotypes and labels. Ali used multiple layers of woven newspaper to create her complex self-portrait. Women in her region, she said, are using a visual universal language which crosses borders and empowers them. Many of their institutions or galleries are funded and founded by women. Lulwa Al Khalifa is a self-taught painter from Bahrain who uses bold and vibrant colors to explore boundaries and defy stereotypes of Arab women, who, she emphasized, are just as diverse, nuanced and layered as women everywhere else. Historically, men and women have never had an 48
STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY
The Role of Women in Art and Peacebuilding in the Middle East
(L-r) Alia Ali, Lulwa Al Khalifa, Neda Ulaby, Helen Zughaib and Lyne Sneige discuss art. issue in Bahrain, she said. Women can vote and drive, and receive a good education. The artists agreed that the arts give women the opportunity to articulate their own narrative. Art also opens up dialogues, because viewers put themselves into the artwork and interpret the works. Good art can make you uncomfortable and angry, but first it must attract you so that you’ll listen to what it says, the artists agreed. The following evening the “I AM” exhibition, featuring the work of 31 contemporary artists from 12 countries in the Middle East, opened at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center. Organized by CARAVAN, an international NGO that focuses on “peacebuilding through the arts between the creeds and cultures of the East and West,” the “I AM” exhibition premiered at the National Gallery of Fine Arts in Amman, Jordan in May/June 2017. It next moved to London’s St. Martin-inthe-Fields on Trafalgar Square in July/August 2017. After the DC exhibit closes on Oct. 22, the U.S. tour will continue through the end of 2018. At each exhibition venue, a variety of events and programs will stimulate discussion, dialogue and education, promoting further understanding. For more information, visit <www.oncaravan.org>. —Delinda C. Hanley
San Francisco Public Library Celebrates Middle East Heritage
Dr. Abdul Jabbar, emeritus professor of English and interdisciplinary studies at City College of San Francisco and co-creator of the Critical Middle East/South West Asia and North Africa Studies Certificate, gave a Sept. 6 lecture titled “The Middle East as the Cradle of Civilization.” His presentation inaugurated the San Francisco Public Library’s month-long celebration of the cul-
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
tures and traditions of the Middle East. Jabbar began by pointing out the contributions from Middle Eastern mathematicians and scientists to Western civilization, including the Canon of Medicine, the first standard encyclopedia of medicine in medieval times, written by Avicenna, the 11th century Persian physician and scientist. Also from Persia, 9th century physician Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi diagnosed smallpox and other diseases and introduced the idea of having separate morgues for victims of contagious illnesses. Dr. Jabbar, author of Reading and Writing with Multicultural Literature: In Search of Reconciliation and Peace, then focused on the literary influences of the region’s writers on Western authors. “One contribution which must be acknowledged is the translation into Arabic of all existing Greek and Roman manuscripts,” Jabbar told his audience. “The Arabs were great translators. It is because of those translations that the European Renaissance was possible.” The Epic of Gilgamesh from 3,000 B.C. Mesopotamia first presented the still-enduring themes of the search for everlasting life, limitless power and unbridled ambition, along with ideas for attaining inner peace, he said. “Bani Adam” (“The Children of Adam”), a poem by 13th century Persian poet Sa’adi, is inscribed on a carpet given by Iran to the United Nations. An adage for breaking barriers, President Barack Obama quoted the poem in his videotaped 2009 Nowruz (Persian New Year) message to the Iranian people and their leaders. “The children of Adam are limbs to each other, having been created of one essence,” Obama recited. Many French writers—along with the British author Gertrude Bell—translated NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
contradict the needs of civiUnity Center Opens in Sacramento lization,” the professor commented, “You can’t put that Sacramento’s long-awaited Unity Center at more succinctly, and that is the California Museum opened Aug. 26 the reason for so many with music, dancing, food and more. problems in the world.” Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, inIn his Nobel acceptance volved with fund-raising and development speech, Mahfouz called for of the project for 18 years, was on hand to action to “Save the Pales- join in the celebration. tinians from the bullets and “Today our capital city is erecting a livthe torture” and “Save the ing and breathing symbol of the true charIsraelis from profaning their acter of America that stands in direct congreat spiritual heritage.” trast to the mayhem and malevolence that That was in 1988, and was demonstrated two weeks ago in Char"things have gotten much lottesville,” the mayor told the crowd gathworse,” Jabbar noted. “You ered in the museum’s courtyard. “This is a Dr. Abdul Jabbar speaks at the San Francisco Public Library. and I can do something center where thousands of adults and about solving the Israeli- even more children will learn about tolerthe works of the 14th century Persian poet Palestinian problem,” he added, “because ance, acceptance, equal justice, cultural Hafez and wrote complimentary words we live here, and the United States is the respect, the importance of voting and the about him, Jabbar continued. The German only stumbling block in the solution, be- connection between peaceful, nonviolent writer Friedrich Nietzsche and American cause we veto the U.N. Security Council social action and the protection of those Ralph Waldo Emerson also were big fans resolutions that would enforce Resolution most sacred democratic values.” 242.” —Elaine Pasquini Throughout the center, located on the of Hafez. museum’s second floor, interactive Omar Khayyam, the 11th century Persian stations, wall projections, videos, mathematician, scientist and astronomer games, films and photographs draw who wrote poetry as a pastime, captivated museumgoers into the experiences readers with his “seize the day” outlook, of the many cultures and ethnicities Jabbar explained. Widely read thanks to Edof California’s diverse population ward Fitzgerald’s 19th century translations with the goal of inspiring change of his works, hundreds of Khayyam Clubs and instilling hope. sprang up around the world. In the display titled “Facing AsJabbar credited American poet Colesumptions,” four Zaytuna College man Barks for his excellent job of translatstudents appearing on separate ing Rumi and making him accessible. video screens discuss the current isOften described as the most popular poet sues and challenges facing Muslim in the U.S., Rumi was a 13th century poet youths. Visitors sitting and Islamic scholar whose followers on stools in front of the founded the Sufi Mevlevi order, known for video panels are made its Whirling Dervishes. Born in Persia, to feel a part of the Rumi traversed the globe looking for the conversation. On one truth, and later wrote: “I found it in my screen, Alisha Ahmed heart.” Rumi’s writings on life and death speaks about wearing were an influence on the 20th century a hijab. “It’s a personal British author Somerset Maugham. choice of mine and a The acclaimed Egyptian writer Naguib personal choice for Mahfouz was the first Arabic-language any and every Muslim writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. woman,” she exJabbar noted that Mahfouz’s complex novplained in her video els were often controversial because of his views on orthodox religions. Citing the fa- [TOP] Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg speaks at Aug. 26 presentation. “It’s permous Mahfouz quote, “Today’s interpreta- Unity Center opening; [ABOVE] Alisha Ahmed next to her video fecting your inner character, as well as tions of religion are often backward and screen image at the opening of Sacramento’s Unity Center. STAFF PHOTOS PHIL PASQUINI
STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI
activisms_44-64_November/December 2017 Activisms 10/16/17 1:45 PM Page 49
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
49
activisms_44-64_November/December 2017 Activisms 10/16/17 1:45 PM Page 50
MUSIC & ARTS NAAP Bookclub Meets in DC’s Coziest Bookstore
If you haven’t heard about the Network of Arab-American Professionals (NAAP)’s unequivocally magnificent bookclub through my obsessive and sometimes compulsive social media posts we can’t be friends. In all seriousness, though, if you haven’t checked us out (no pun intended) and live in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, you’re missing out BIG. NAAP Reads’ August pick was An Ishmael of Syria by Asaad Almohammad, a self-published novel following fictional character Adam during his childhood in Syria, Lebanon, and the life he builds in exile in Malaysia. Generously hosted by Washington, DC’s coziest bookstore, Middle East Books and More (which also sells the book) our members convened for another riveting discussion of topics ranging from conflicting Arab identities to psychological radicalization, specifically during times of crises—all of which were triggered by Almohammad’s semi-autobiographical and timely book. The first thing our group of readers immediately agreed upon was that Almohammad’s work was not what we expected. It brought attention to a divide prominent not only in Syria, but in many Middle Eastern countries undergoing political unrest, that of the Urban vs Rural. As a native of Raqqa city, a city first captured by the Syrian opposition and then by ISIS in 2013, Almohammad provides a critical perspective not often heard since the Syr50
The Network of Arab-American Professionals bookclub meeting at Middle East Books & More. ian crisis broke out more than six years ago now. Although some of our readers had a hard time reading large passages at a time due to the fervent opinions vigorously expressed by the author via his main character, Adam, we were nonetheless captured by his genuine voice and felt it helped paint the picture of the current life of many Syrians: a life “in limbo,” bereft of commitment, and by extension stability, due to not knowing where one will be or how long one will be in any one place. His writing seemed to reflect this as well, as Almohammad tends to jump between different moments in his life and often gets caught in psychological monologues. Our readers often felt lost amid his many thoughts on various issues without a central plot line, aside from his life as a whole, to tie them all together. One of the main topics of discussion generated by An Ishmael of Syria regarded identities, both country-specific and the identity of being an Arab overall, and the inherent competitions among Arabs. Prevalent in Adam’s story and in observations shared by our readers— many of whom identify as Arab, specifically those physically removed from the region—is an obsession with their authenticity as Syrian/Palestinian etc. Some feel that those of the same heritage exalt that
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
heritage only due to the prevailing conflicts. Still others feel obliged to be involved in the struggle for freedom in specific ways and blame others of the same heritage if they are not involved in these same specific ways. To top it off, there is also a rivalry among Arabs of different heritages on whose struggle is worse (i.e., Palestinians have been struggling for more than 60 years under occupation and Syrians for only 6, therefore Palestinians have suffered more than Syrians). According to an interview Almohammad gave, one of his main goals in writing this novel was to portray an alternative perspective to what he feels is the general stereotype of Arabs in the Middle East, one that is “socially progressive.” We all differed in the details surrounding the definition of that term, but there seemed to be a correlation between how religion was taught and lived during each of our upbringings and what we each consider to be socially progressive. Overall, An Ishmael of Syria was an eye opener on the opinions that many Arabs of our generation, not just Syrians, share, but an opinion that doesn’t necessarily get as much attention in the West or coverage by our oh-so-credible media. The NAAP bookclub will next meet at 7 p.m. on Nov. 15 to discuss Time-Travels of the Man Who Sold Pickles and Sweets, by NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
PHOTO COURTESY NAAP
being a better person, reminding me each day that when I put it on I am going out and I am identifying as a Muslim, so I should act my part and be a kind person.” As the national conversation on racism has grown in recent weeks and hate crimes against minorities have dramatically risen, Sacramento’s Unity Center is a muchneeded and welcome educational hub for respectful study, debate and dialogue. For more information visit <www.califor niamuseum.org>. —Elaine Pasquini
activisms_44-64_November/December 2017 Activisms 10/16/17 1:45 PM Page 51
Khairy Shalaby, also available at Middle East Books and More. For more information visit <www.facebook.com/naapdc>. —Lina Barkawi
Pittsburgh Film Showing of “5 Broken Cameras”
STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY
PHOTO COURTESY “5 BROKEN CAMERAS”
Even though Emad Burnat’s award-winning 2011 film “5 Broken Cameras” has shown in Pittsburgh several times and his brother Iyad, the coordinator of the Popular Committee in Bi’lin, has spoken to various audiences in the city in the past few years, the film continues to draw crowds intent on learning about Israel’s occupaEmad Burnat with his broken cameras. tion of Palestinian land and the fight back in the West Bank village of Bi’lin. The Oct. rorizing children is considered nonviolence establishment of the state of Israel, op3 screening and panel discussion spon- while a child throwing a rock is [consid- posed the European invasion.” One audience member asked about sored by Students for Justice in Palestine ered] violence? Why is it that pulling down was no exception, as nearly 50 people a fence is violent while putting it up on “the cultural significance of olive trees,” to which a panelist responded that the trees turned out at the University of Pitt Law someone else’s land is nonviolence?” He encouraged the audience to think “are deep in our hearts, our livelihood. We School. Following the film, a lively and wide- about the illogical narrative coming out of know every tree planted by everyone in ranging discussion ensued. Panelists, in- Israel and question who is passing judg- our families, our brothers, our cousins, cluding Palestinians who lived and sur- ment on the resistance movements. We going back hundreds of years. The people vived the occupation of their homeland, must ask ourselves, he added, “What is belong to the land.” [At the request of several of the Palesand solidarity activist Raghav Sharma, dis- reasonable, right and just?” One audience member took exception tinian panelists, their names are withheld.] cussed their concerns about Israel’s set—Kate Daher tler movement and theft of Palestinian to the description of the military occupation agricultural land, including the destruction of the Arab city El Khalil (Hebron) and inReclaiming Freedom: A Call and of nearly one million olive trees since voked biblical references to support his 1967. Backed by the Israeli military, set- contention that the land belongs to Israel. Response “Palestinian Jews and Arabs lived to- The non-profit organization Artworks for tlers have confiscated more than 40 percent of Palestinian land in the West Bank gether freely before the occupation,” ex- Freedom, dedicated to raising awareness in what the international community, in- plained a former resident of that city. and inspiring action on human trafficking, cluding the United Nations and numerous “Many of the original habitants, prior to the held city-wide events in Washington, DC human rights organizations, and its suburbs throughout the recognize as an illegal occupaFall of 2017. The festival intion. cluded performance and spoSJP member Gabe Khoury ken words programs at Busopened the discussion with a boys and Poets at its 14th & V short description of the settler and Takoma Park locations on enterprise and the role of nonOct. 8 and 9, respectively. An violence in the struggle against exhibit at DC’s Watergate occupation. Panelist Sharma, a Gallery from Sept. 25 to Nov. 4, recent University of Pittsburgh curated by noted artist Helen graduate, explained the imporFrederick, deals with human tance of putting the terms “viotrafficking as a kind of call and lence and nonviolence” in the response exchange between viproper context. Referring to sual artists and writers. The “The Places You’ll Go,” acrylic gouache on children’s canvas shoes by events in the film, he asked the Helen Zughaib, is the artist’s haunting response to Zein El-Amine’s subjects include victims of modaudience, “Why is it that a sol- poem “Unpaired,” which describes shoeless children selling packages ern slavery—immigrants and dier entering a home and ter- of Chiclets on the sidewalks of Beirut, Cairo or Mexico City. refugees at risk, and all those NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
51
who have suffered loss of their freedom due to trafficking. According to Artworks for Freedom, “human trafficking is a global criminal enterprise affecting millions of men, women and children. It exists in every country and in many guises, fueled by extreme poverty, cultural norms that devalue and commodify women and children in particular, and also by a seemingly insatiable demand for exploitive sex and cheap labor. According to recent estimates, the buying and selling of human beings is a $150 billion annual business. The profits are high and the risks low. It is also one of the biggest violations of human rights in the world.” The Watergate Gallery’s spoken words event with the artists was held on Oct. 17. Visit <artworksforfreedom.org> for more information or to attend or host an artsbased awareness campaign in cities across the globe. —Delinda C. Hanley
MUSLIM AMERICAN ACTIVISM CAIR-SV Holds Workshop on Travelers’ Rights
Flying globally these days can be stressful for anyone. But for American Muslims traveling to take part in religious observances associated with the annual hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, it can be even more so. To assist travelers in navigating the do’s and don’ts of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV) held an Aug. 29 workshop titled “Know Your Rights: While Traveling to Hajj” at its new headquarters in California’s capital city. CAIR-SV civil rights attorney Saad Sweilem offered concise and straightforward advice for Muslim travelers—and others—on how to handle what can be a nerve-racking airport experience. “Race and religion are not legal reasons for an American citizen to be denied exit from or entry into the United States,” the attorney said. “TSA and CBP agents may ask basic questions, including your name, citizenship and destination of travel; how52
CAIR-SV civil rights attorney Saad Sweilem explains travelers’ rights. ever, they are not supposed to target you because of your race, religion or ethnicity. They should not be asking about your political beliefs, what mosque you belong to or which branch of Islam you follow.” Sweilem also explained that agents are not allowed to force a person to remove religious clothing—such as a hijab—without being in a private room. Agents can search your luggage, but it must remain in your line of sight, he added, and they cannot just confiscate your bags. While TSA pre-boarding procedures are fairly straightforward, Sweilem said, CBP is more problematical. “People traveling for hajj should know they will definitely encounter CBP upon their return to the U.S., and in the last six to eight months we have seen that many Muslim travelers returning from the Middle East have been pulled aside for extra screening.” CBP agents can ask you about your trip and items you bought while traveling, search your baggage and confiscate electronic items. “They are entitled to take your phone, tablet or laptop computer,” he explained. “We get calls all the time about this—but
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI
activisms_44-64_November/December 2017 Activisms 10/16/17 1:45 PM Page 52
you do not have to give them your passcode.” The attorney recommended disabling the touch passcode feature from your phone or packing your phone in checked luggage. “Do not think if you give them your passcode and they open it and look at it that you will then be able to keep it, because they frequently take it anyway,” he warned. “When they start asking about specific people, who you know in the community, how you feel about certain terrorist organizations, or anything beyond common sense questions, you do not want to answer,” he said. "But never lie to them, just politely respond: ‘I do not want to answer these questions. They have nothing to do with my travels,’ and ask to speak to a supervisor.” Sweilem said anyone feeling uncomfortable about the line of questioning should obtain the agent’s name and badge number and call a CAIR office for help with filing a complaint. “Never be afraid to say you wish to speak with an attorney,” he advised. “There is never any downside for asking to speak to an attorney.” CAIR is compiling a list of people who have experienced problems with airport security agencies for the possibility of filing a class action lawsuit. CAIR California’s recently released annual civil rights report shows a 49 percent increase between 2015 and 2016 in reports of religion-based discriminatory treatment during travel. Sweilem also discussed the differences between the “no fly” and “selectee” lists, both of which require the filing of complaints with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for anyone on the list in order to resolve the matter. “Passengers on the ‘no fly’ list cannot get on a plane, but you only find out when you are denied boarding,” he said. “Anyone on the ‘selectee’ list is prevented from printing a boarding pass at home or at an airport kiosk. An airport agent can only issue a boarding pass after calling DHS for clearance, and you will then get an ‘SSSS’ on your boarding pass and will definitely be required to go through a secondary screening process.” There are currently 1.5 million people on these two combined lists. Anyone on the lists should contact NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
activisms_44-64_November/December 2017 Activisms 10/16/17 1:45 PM Page 53
largest Muslim population in the world. “It is my honor to stand united with the MuslimAmerican community in order to recognize California Assembly Honors their great contributions,” he said. Muslim Americans Following the passage of the resolution, For the second year, the California State supporters, staffers and members of the Muslim community gathered for a celebratory reception. “When you look around, you see the diversity of the Muslim community,” said Basim Elkarra, executive director of the Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “Every color of the rainbow is right here in the room, and this is the beautiful California Muslim community.” Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Halim Dhanidina Moina Shaiq, founder speaks at the Muslim American Appreciation and Awareness and president of the month celebration at the Sacramento state capitol. Muslim Support NetAssembly proclaimed August as Muslim work, who first suggested recognizing American Appreciation and Awareness Muslim Americans with a special resolumonth with the passage of House Resolu- tion last year, also spoke. “We are living in tion 43. Authored and introduced by As- some very trying times,” she lamented. “A sembly members Bill Quirk (D-Hayward), gathering like this boosts our morale, reKansen Chu (D-San Jose) and Ash Kalra minds us there is hope, and is truly heart(D-San Jose), the resolution was co-au- warming in that so many people outside thored by an additional 54 Assembly mem- the Muslim community are here to stand bers. Approximately one million Muslim with us.” Guests were delighted to hear remarks Americans reside in California, the highest from Judge Halim Dhanidina, the first Musnumber in any state in the U.S. “I am proud that the Assembly voted to lim American to be appointed as a judge pass this resolution to honor our Muslim in California with his 2012 appointment to Americans for their social, cultural and eco- Los Angeles County Superior Court by nomic contributions to California,” Quirk Gov. Jerry Brown. “Reflecting on the partial solar eclipse stated. “It is important that we acknowledge and honor the many diverse communities on Aug. 21, I observed when I got off the that make California and our nation a better plane today it almost seemed like it was a place to live and work. Now, more than metaphor for the times that we are in now, ever, it is important to stand united against where you have this tremendous source of hate and send the message that in Califor- light that started to get blotted out, but then slowly started to recede and the shadow nia we do not tolerate hate.” Assembly member Kalra, the first Indian moved away and everything turned back American to serve in the California state to normal,” he said. “That made me feel legislature, pointed out that India is home to hopeful that even though it seems like approximately 189 million Muslims, and by every source of light is going to be blotted 2050 it is estimated that India will have the out and there is nothing anyone can do STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI
one of CAIR’s 34 offices for assistance in filing a complaint. —Elaine Pasquini
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
about it, things start to get better.” Dhanidina expressed hope that “we can all work together to help restore that sense of normalcy and the light that we are accustomed to, and that maybe we take for granted.” In addition to Judge Dhanidina, notable California Muslim Americans recognized in HR 43 included, among others, Mahershala Ali, the first Muslim-American actor to win an Academy Award for his performance in the 2017 film “Moonlight,” and sabre fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, the first female Muslim-American athlete to earn a medal at the 2016 Olympic Games and the first fencer to wear a hijab. —Elaine Pasquini
WAGING PEACE European Diplomats Voice Support for Iran Deal
The Atlantic Council hosted the two-part event, “How Europe and Iran’s Neighbors View the Nuclear Deal’s Future,” in Washington, DC on Sept. 25. Stuart E. Eizenstat, chairman of the Iran Advisory Board for the Atlantic Council’s Future of Iran Initiative, introduced the event by noting that despite Western concerns about Iran’s role in the region, there is no question as to Tehran’s compliance with the multilateral nuclear deal. “Iran has faithfully implemented the JCPOA, according to the IAEA,” he said. Going further, he cautioned that “Washington, rather than Iran, may be a bigger threat to the JCPOA.” The first half of the event consisted of a panel of ambassadors from the EU, France, the UK, and Germany. Moderator Barbara Slavin, director of the Future of Iran Initiative, asked the ambassadors if their governments were prepared for President Donald Trump not recertifying the JCPOA. Ambassador of the European Union to the U.S. David O’Sullivan began by emphasizing that the JCPOA has the full support of the EU and all 28 member-states, calling it a “groundbreaking non-proliferation agreement” that “if fully implemented by all sides, will make sure that Iran never obtains nuclear weapons.” O’Sullivan also stated
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
53
(L-r) European Union Ambassador to the U.S. David O'Sullivan, French Ambassador Gé rard Araud, British Ambassador Kim Darroch and German Ambassador Peter Wittig. that the agreement “belongs to the international community” and is “a public good for the international community.” Ambassador Gérard Araud, the French ambassador to the U.S., reiterated O’Sullivan’s message, maintaining that France agreed with Trump that there are other issues with Iran that need to be addressed. However, he pointed out, the nuclear deal was “conducted in isolation from other issues, and it was done on purpose” because they “did not want to be dragged into a sort of quid pro quo between nuclear issues and other issues.” He described the idea of renegotiating the deal as a “non-starter.” Britain’s ambassador to the U.S., Sir Kim Darroch, mentioned the recent meeting between Prime Minister Theresa May and Trump in New York, in which Trump laid out his issues with the deal. May and Trump agreed that there are issues in terms of such Iranian activities as “supporting Hezbollah, supporting the Houthis in Yemen, supporting Assad in Syria, and the importance of pushing back” against these activities. However, the UK feels that they “are more secure because of this deal.” Darroch went on to say that “as long as the Iranians continue to comply with [the JCPOA], in the view of the IAEA, we will continue to support it.” Ambassador Peter Wittig, ambassador of Germany to the U.S., said that the nuclear deal is “worth preserving,” as it is a “plus for regional security; it’s a plus for global security” and is “the most intrusive, the most comprehensive, inspection verification 54
regime in the world.” He went further by stating that those who “advocate to walk away” will have to consider the consequences of nullifying the deal. Iran could in turn resume enrichment activities, he warned, creating a “nuclear arms race in the region and beyond” that will “weaken the nuclear non-proliferation regime that we have established over the years.” Wittig also expressed concern that walking away from the agreement would signal to North Korea that diplomacy “is not reliable,” which would affect the credibility of the West. The second panel consisted of Hussein Ibish, senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute, Kadir Ustun, executive director at the SETA Foundation, and Hossien Mousavian, a Middle East security and nuclear policy specialist at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and Iran’s former ambassador to Germany (1990-1997). The three scholars had a lively discussion on the impact of the nuclear deal on the region. Ibish began by noting that the GCC has an “interesting set of diverse opinions on a range of topics.” In terms of the JCPOA, however, there is “a relative consensus that is not disrupted” by the break with Qatar. During the Obama administration, after “sufficient reassurances” the GCC collectively endorsed the JCPOA and decided to “do what they could with the reality, rather than take an Israeli position.” However, Ibish said, what the GCC is “most concerned about is the spread of Iranian influence and hegemony inside the Arab world,”
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
activisms_44-64_November/December 2017 Activisms 10/16/17 1:45 PM Page 54
beyond those areas where Shi’i Muslims are the majority. Overall, Ibish argued that a decertification of the JCPOA would be a “net negative” for the GCC, which instead wants the agreement to be “rigorously enforced.” “Broadly,” Ustun stated, “Turkey doesn’t quite like any new layer of instability to the region” and “elements of uncertainty and instability are a problem.” He emphasized that Turkey has tried to find a middle ground between Iran and Saudi Arabia, citing the Qatar crisis and Syria. However, with the Kurdish referendum and the current state of Syria, the JCPOA is “not at the top of the agenda” for Turkey. In Ustun’s opinion, “if the U.S. has confused policies, there will be more problems, not fewer” in the region. Mousavian began by explaining his view of the state of affairs between Iran and the Arab world, listing Oman as a mediator, and Saudi Arabia and the UAE as “the only two hostile countries” neighboring Iran. In his opinion, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are the “root causes of instability in the region.” Mousavian said there needs to be a discussion to find solutions to the “true problems” of the Middle East. Ibish and Mousavian strongly disagreed on the roles of Saudi Arabia and Iran in the region. Despite some disagreement, the consensus of the day was that the JCPOA is working and that many actors, be they in Europe or the Middle East, would support its recertification. At the day’s conclusion, Slavin noted that “Trump wants to put his own stamp on Iran policy”—and we are all waiting to see what that might entail. —Shannon Tawoos
Science Exchanges Bolster U.S.-Iran Ties
On Sept. 8, scientists Glenn Schweitzer and David Laylin discussed the mutually beneficial nature of science exchanges between Iran and the U.S. in a presentation at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC. The discussion, at times highly technical and dense, laid out a number of scientific initiatives that American and Iranian scientists have worked on, and how this interdisciplinary cooperation has often NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
not good,” he pointed out, “but people kept at it, they didn’t give up, and that’s really the lesson that comes out of what we hear from our colleagues. Whether it’s scholars, whether it’s conferences, whether it’s scientists, whether it’s wrestlers…whatever it is, the lesson coming out of here is keep at it. It’s going to pay off.” —David DePriest
(L-r) Barbara Slavin, Glenn Schweitzer, David Laylin and John Limbert discuss the merits of “science diplomacy.” eclipsed political considerations. In her opening remarks, Barbara Slavin, the Atlantic Council’s Future of Iran Initiative director, spoke at length about the potential and power of people-to-people connections. “From the very beginning of the Iran program at the Atlantic Council, about seven years ago, one of the things we’ve always focused on has been people-topeople ties with Iran,” she said. “Four years ago, we put out a major study with policy recommendations for the U.S. government on Iran, and one of the key elements of this was to enhance the opportunities for people-to-people ties.” Schweitzer, director of the Office for Central Europe and Eurasia at the National Academies of Sciences, enthusiastically described the numerous projects that American and Iranian scientists have engaged in. His remarks, largely inspired by his new book, U.S.-Iran Engagement in Science Engineering, and Health (20102016): A Resilient Program but an Uncertain Future, presented a wealth of interesting scientific observations that were ultimately lost on the largely foreign policy/international relations-focused audience. Importantly, Schweitzer noted that 1,500 scientists from 120 institutions have participated in workshops and exchanges in the U.S. and Iran. While diplomacy is not the focus of these exchanges, he acknowledged that it is a natural offshoot. “Our goal is to cooperate in science,” he explained. “With good science collections, diplomacy will follow easily." While Schweitzer’s presentation largely concerned the logistics of the research exNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
changes and their work, the ensuing discussion, led by Slavin, focused on the positive signals that come from the exchanges. “There are clear areas that have been win-win,” she noted. “Even if it doesn’t translate immediately into political changes, changes in the relations between the U.S. and Iran immediately, it lays the foundation for improved relations at some point.” John Limbert, a Middle Eastern studies professor at the U.S. Naval Academy who was held hostage in Iran following the country’s Islamic Revolution, also emphasized the great potential of exchanges. Using the example of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, Limbert made the case for continued cooperation and interaction. “In the ’50s and ’60s, relations were
WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
PHOTO COURTESY ATLANTIC COUNCIL
activisms_44-64_November/December 2017 Activisms 10/16/17 1:45 PM Page 55
Looking at Afghanistan and America’s Longest War
“Sixteen Years and Counting in Afghanistan: What’s Next for America’s Longest War?” was the title of an Oct. 5 panel discussion at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC. Moderator Michael Kugelman, Asia program deputy director at the Wilson Center and senior associate for South Asia, noted that Oct. 7, 2017 marks the 16th year that the U.S. will be at war in Afghanistan. He also pointed out the “sobering reality” that in a few years, “some might go to a war that started before they were born.” In his opening remarks, Afghanistan’s Ambassador to the U.S. Dr. Hamdullah Mohib said, “We are gathered to talk about America’s longest war, but I’m here to say that it is also Afghanistan’s longest war,” and that the “weight of the coffins” is too heavy. Afghanistan and the U.S. “must win the people,” he asserted. “That has been the missing link.”
U.S. soldiers arrive at the site of a car bomb in Kabul.
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
55
activisms_44-64_November/December 2017 Activisms 10/16/17 1:45 PM Page 56
56
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
Focusing on a section of his new book, Annotations on Race, Colonialism, Islamophobia, Islam and Palestine, Bazian discussed immigration and refugees dating from colonialism beginning in the 15th century to date. “The current immigration and refugee crisis dates back to events 500 years ago, when colonial powers had a particular world view and wanted to pursue an agenda that is founded upon white supremacy,” he stated. “In the beginning of the 20th century, 75 percent of the earth’s surface was a possession of one colonial power or another. Today, there are approximately 65 million immigrants and refugees around the world who are a result of colonialism.” Colonialism is the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country or territory, occupying it with settlers and exploiting it economically, the professor explained. “When we speak about colonialism, there are two different types…Colonialism with a mother colonial power that sends settlers to use the resources—to extract the resources of the motherland. And settler colonials that send settlers to take over the country and push out the native indigenous population either by transfer, or the most successful type is through genocide. In the United States we can say we had the most successful settler colonial project because the native population was removed through genocide, and that’s the type of settler colonialism that we witnessed in South Africa, Australia and places where the settlers took over the land, in distinction to colonialism like the British, French, Portuguese and Dutch, where they had the colonial motherland extracting the resources and having some settlers, but really the populations for the most part remained there.” While the world’s attention is now focused on Syrian refugees and immigrants, Bazian pointed out that in France, for example, most of the country’s immigrants came from its former colonies, such as Algeria, which was a French colony from STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI
Ambassador Mohib went on to say that challenges in Afghanistan have been the “stability will not be secured at some dis- same for 40 years: warlords, corruption, tant negotiations table or foreign offices. It sanctuary and support for the Taliban. Last to speak was Shamila Chaudhary, will be made at the homes of the Afghans. We need to address their grievances and senior adviser at Johns Hopkins School of commit resources to the reform efforts so Advanced International Studies (SAIS). we can draw this long war to conclusion.” She focused on the role of Pakistan and Many Afghans are neutral between the South Asia in the Afghan war. After 9/11, government and the Taliban because nei- she opined, there was “a very clear ther side provides them protection, the enemy,” but “as the war evolved” there ambassador explained. The Ghani gov- were “more players” and it became “more ernment is aiming to be “citizen- and ser- complicated.” She went on to pose the vice-oriented,” he said, citing such question, “Who are we targeting? I guess counter-corruption efforts as launching [that] is the question that I’m left with. If we 1,100 corruption cases in the last year and are to end the war today, who exactly do making land-grabbing a criminal offense. we end it with? Al-Qaeda, the Afghan Tal“If we win the people,” he concluded, “we iban, ISIS, TTP, LET, or Islamabad? I didn’t hear that in President Trump’s strategy will win both the war and peace.” Panelist Luke Coffey, director of the speech. I didn’t hear who the enemy was Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for For- exactly.” She, too, agreed that staying in eign Policy at the conservative Heritage Foundation, described Trump’s strategy Afghanistan was a good idea, adding that for Afghanistan as “responsible, reason- the main goal for Afghanistan should be able, and realistic” because it is “not going turning Afghanistan to “a self-functioning back to the old way of doing things.” How- state that doesn’t need propping up.” —Shannon Tawoos ever, he did criticize the regional approach because Central Asia has been largely left Dr. Hatem Bazian on Colonialism, out. Conceding that the war in Afghanistan is “not going to be a clear-cut victory,” Cof- Refugees, Immigration fey added, “The Afghans are a very proud Zaytuna College provost Dr. Hatem Bazian people [with a] very rich and diverse his- delivered the first lecture of the school’s tory, and Americans don’t need to tell 2017 Fall lecture series Sept. 13 at its Afghans how to govern themselves.” Berkeley campus. His subject was the “ImChristopher Kolenda, adjunct senior fel- migration Crisis: The Collapse of the Postlow at the Center for a New American Se- Colonial State.” curity, began by thanking President Trump for deciding not to withdraw from Afghanistan, but then lamented that the U.S. continues to offer the president “military-centric strategies” for a “conflict that has no military solution.” Kolenda added: “As a taxpayer, I am utterly outraged at the lack of a coherent strategy for the conflict in Afghanistan. We are spending $25 billion a year, roughly, in this conflict,” which could pay the salaries of “50,000 teachers in America for 10 years. $25 billion dollars a year can pave, can refurbish, 50,000 miles of dilapidated American roads.” Kolenda emphasized that the Dr. Hatem Bazian speaks at Zaytuna College.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
activisms_44-64_November/December 2017 Activisms 10/16/17 1:45 PM Page 57
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
world market in armament sales; and the globalization of trade. —Elaine Pasquini
Sen. Chris Van Hollen Discusses Trump’s Effect on Political Division
The University of Maryland’s Sadat Forum on Sept. 28 featured a conversation between Prof. Shibley Telhami and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) on “The American Partisan Divide: From the Travel Ban to Charlottesville.” The topics ranged from race relations at the University of Maryland at College Park to North Korea and Iran. The murder last spring by a white student of Richard Collins, a student at Bowie State University—Maryland’s oldest his-
PHOTO COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
1830 to 1962. And Morocco was colonized by the French from 1912 to 1956. Post-colonialism is the political or cultural conditions of a former colony as well as a “theoretical approach in various disciplines that is concerned with the lasting impact of colonization in the former colonies,” Bazian said. “So post-colonialism again looks at those countries and states that have experienced colonialism—what type of political structure that is there, what type of economy, what types of social norms that are still connected to the colonial legacy.” Presently, he continued, the largest two refugee groups in the world are the Afghans and Syrians; the third group is Palestinians. The Reagan administration’s decision to grant Afghans refugee status was “a direct result of the U.S. wanting to support the Afghan war against the Russians, so it was not a humanitarian consideration, it was a foreign policy consideration,” Bazian told his audience. “Immigration and refugee decisions are susceptible to foreign policy considerations, not humanitarian considerations.” With respect to the present crisis of Syrians displaced by civil war, “the humanitarian consideration should be that Syrian refugees are granted refugee status period,” Bazian averred. “But now we [the U.S.] have limited the number and we have what they call ‘intense scrutiny,’ so it is not really a humanitarian consideration, but, instead, their refugee status is subject to foreign policy—not humanitarian—consideration.” An extremely important topic the professor discussed was the introduction of African slaves to the U.S. “If we speak about development in Africa today, we are not accounting for generation after generation of the best and the brightest and the most able bodies that were forcibly taken out of that territory,” he stated. “At least 42 million have been displaced from Africa and brought to the United States, among other places.” Other topics Bazian touched upon included the massive movement of people after World War I; how the U.S. benefits from militarism—with 55 percent of the
America along racial lines. “We have a lot of work to do as a country, and it’s harder when you have a president trying to exploit these differences for political gain,” Van Hollen said. Trump’s travel ban, the Muslim ban, his response to Charlottesville, and getting involved with the NFL protests are all deliberate efforts to shore up Trump’s base, the Democratic senator added, and those actions are creating a spike in hate crimes. President Trump may not have created polarization in America or gridlock in Congress, but he is exploiting it and making the political divide worse, Van Hollen argued. Van Hollen reaffirmed his opposition to the travel ban, which bars citizens of six
Prof. Shibley Telhami (l) and Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen discuss the American divide. torically black university and part of the University of Maryland system—at a bus stop near the College Park campus, which Collins was visiting, shook the campus community, said Telhami, the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development. Earlier in September, police responded to a swastika found on campus, and last April a noose was found in the kitchen of the Phi Kappa Tau chapter house. White supremacist posters on campus have also highlighted the presence of racial division, Telhami said. Van Hollen said part of the problem is that, instead of alleviating tension, President Donald Trump has helped divide
predominantly Muslim countries, as well as Venezuela and North Korea, from traveling to the U.S. The travel restrictions do not aid national security and are used by groups like ISIS to recruit people to its ranks, Van Hollen said, adding that the U.S. already has in place the strongest vetting restrictions of any country. Many Republicans are unhappy with Trump’s policies, but they’re afraid to push back. They're not wild about what he's doing, Van Hollen said, but “they don't want to get clobbered by the pro-Trump faction around the country.” As for the Iran nuclear deal, Van Hollen said that by all accounts Iran is abiding by
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
57
activisms_44-64_November/December 2017 Activisms 10/16/17 1:45 PM Page 58
STAFF PHOTO M. GILLESPIE
people. the terms of the agreement. No ‘Number 5: thou shalt not beone ever said the deal would lieve that the majority of the prevent Iran from engaging in South Vietnamese look upon other adventures. “It would be the Viet Cong as terrorists. absolutely outrageous” for the ‘Number 6: thou shalt not beU.S. to violate the agreement, lieve the figures of killed eneVan Hollen said. That would mies or killed Americans. send the wrong message to ‘Number 7: thou shalt not beNorth Korea, not to mention lieve that the generals know best. alienating all our allies. ‘Number 8: thou shalt not beTurning to the president’s aplieve that the enemy’s victory proach to solving the Arab/Israel means communism. issue, Van Hollen questioned ‘Number 9: thou shalt not beTrump’s seriousness. He’s put Tiffany Johnson (r) delivers her interpretation of Coretta Scott King’s lieve that the world supports the his inexperienced son-in-law in speech to a peace rally. United States. charge and appointed as am‘Number 10: thou shalt not kill.’ bassador to Israel David Friedman, who King, Jr. originally delivered at a peace “You who have worked with and loved recently ignored decades of U.S. foreign rally in New York City’s Central Park on policy when he said, “I think the settle- April 27, 1968, following her husband’s as- my husband so much, you who have kept alive the burning issue of war in the Amerments are part of Israel.” sassination that April 4. The highlight of the afternoon discussion “My dear friends of peace and freedom, I ican conscience, you who will not be decame when Yousef Munayyer, executive come to New York today with the strong luded by talk of peace, but who press on director of the US Campaign for Palestin- feeling that my dearly beloved husband, in the knowledge that the work of peaceian Rights, asked Van Hollen if he sup- who was snatched suddenly from our midst, making must continue until the last gun is ported the Israel Anti-Boycott Act. This bill, slightly more than three weeks ago now, silent. I come to you in my grief only beintroduced by Maryland’s senior senator, would have wanted me to be present today. cause you keep alive the work and Ben Cardin, could impose a $1 million fine Though my heart is heavy with grief from dreams for which my husband gave his or jail boycotters of Israel for up to 20 having suffered an irreparable personal loss, life. My husband derived so much of his years. Van Hollen stated very clearly that my faith is stronger today than ever before. strength and inspiration from the love of he did not: “I think the ACLU has raised As many of you probably know, my hus- people who shared his dream, that I too some really important points about this, band had accepted an invitation to speak to now come hoping you might strengthen and my interpretation of that legislation is you today. And had he been here, I am sure me for the lonely road ahead.” After the event concluded, Johnson told that it does things that the sponsors say he would have lifted your hearts and spirits the Washington Report, “It is sad that, were not intended in terms of the bill. Be- to new levels of understanding. cause I don’t think any American, for ex“I would like to share with you some after all these years, the speech is still relample, should be threatened with fines or notes taken from my husband’s pockets evant. We’re still fighting.” “What’s not in that speech? I was hearimprisonment for expressing their views in upon his death. He carried many scraps of the form of participating in economic ac- paper upon which he scribbled notes for ing Iran, Iraq, North Korea, health care, imtions with respect to Israel. So I certainly his many speeches. Among these notes migration,” remarked Jon Krieg, communido not support that bill, certainly not in its was one set which he never delivered. cations specialist for American Friends current form.” —Delinda C. Hanley Perhaps they were his early thoughts for Service Committee’s Midwest Region. The event was organized by the Des the message he was to give to you today. Central Iowa Activists Celebrate I simply read them to you as he recorded Moines Faith Committee for Peace and International Day of Peace them. And I quote: ‘Ten Commandments was co-sponsored by some 53 religious organizations, peace and social justice Some 100 people gathered at the Peace on Vietnam: ‘Thou shalt not believe in a military vic- groups, and individuals. Garden at Cowles Commons in Des —Michael Gillespie Moines, IA to celebrate the International tory. ‘Number 2: thou shalt not believe in a Day of Peace on Sept. 21. Pro-Palestinian Voices Heard in Tiffany Johnson, artistic director of the political victory. ‘Number 3: thou shalt not believe that Des Moines Pyramid Theater Company, presented an interpretation of Coretta Scott King’s they, the Vietnamese, love us. The Middle East Peace Education Coalition ‘Number 4: thou shalt not believe that the brought Sabeel founder Rev. Naim Ateek speech, “Until the Last Gun is Silent,” which the widow of the Rev. Martin Luther Saigon government has the support of the and Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy 58
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
activisms_44-64_November/December 2017 Activisms 10/16/17 1:45 PM Page 59
STAFF PHOTO M. GILLESPIE
Women’s International League for Studies to First Methodist Church Peace and Freedom, Catholic in Des Moines, IA on Sept. 30 for Peace Ministry, and Middle East a day-long conference, “Unheard Peace Education Project. Voices from the Heart of PalesOrganizers noted that they had tine.” invited Jewish religious participaImam Ahmed Elkhaldy, presition in the conference, but that dent of the Iowa Chapter of the Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of Muslim American Society, particiatonement and Judaism’s holiest pated in a panel discussion with day, began at sundown on Sept. Ateek on the topic “Faith Per29 and lasted until sundown on spectives on the Land.” Ateek and Sept. 30. —Michael Gillespie Bennis presented keynote addresses to an audience of more MK Haneen Zoabi Calls For than 60. Liberation From Zionism “Let’s have the two-state solution,” declared Ateek, noting that Speaking at the Palestine Center not all his friends would agree in Washington, DC on Oct. 5, with a proposal he has been con- Phyllis Bennis and Rev. Naim Ateek in Des Moines on Sept. 30. Knesset member Haneen Zoabi of sidering. the Balad Party—part of the Joint “I don’t want to do to them what they did issue, Bennis added, because our govern- List coalition of Arab parties—discussed the to us,” said the Anglican priest, referring to ment is enabling Israel’s illegal occupation role of Israel’s Palestinian citizens in deterIsrael’s violent expulsion of Palestinians of Palestine. That Washington gives Is- mining the future of their country. and the destruction of Palestinian towns rael’s military an estimated $3 billion per “The Palestinian national project seems and villages in 1948 and again in 1967. year while many Americans lack health to be losing momentum,” she acknowl“We would give [Israeli settlers living ille- care is wrong, she stated. edged. Israel has succeeded in dividing Acknowledging an American political cul- Palestinians based on their different congally in the West Bank] a choice. We would say, if you would like to stay, you ture and media culture that have sought to texts of struggle: those who still live in their are living in Palestine. Either you will be on ignore, obscure, or misrepresent Israeli homeland (1948 Palestinians), Palestinia visa, or you have to become a Palestin- crimes and to marginalize Palestinian suf- ans in the West Bank and Gaza, those in ian citizen,” explained Ateek. They would fering, Bennis cautioned her audience, “We refugee camps in neighboring countries, pay their taxes to the Palestinian state, ex- can’t just assume that things will get better and those in the global diaspora. actly as Palestinians who are citizens of Is- because the discourse is changing. We Palestinians who were not expelled from need to keep working on the discourse. We their homeland in 1948 lived under Israeli rael pay taxes to the state of Israel. “This is the quickest way for them to get need to keep working on the media—let- military occupation until 1966, Zoabi reout,” said Ateek to general laughter and ters to the editor, challenging op-eds when minded her audience. When that occupaapplause, “and we will make the settle- they get stuff wrong, because they still get tion ended, Israel became more sophistiments home to many of the refugees who stuff wrong all the time.” cated and less overtly violent in its efforts During the panel discussion, Imam to erase Palestinian identity. It focused on will be coming back.” “That is my simple, logical solution to Elkhaldy noted that the importance of occupying the “personality, perception of this whole problem,” said the Palestinian Jerusalem is based on the significance of self, and relation to their homeland” of religious leader, whose family became the city’s rich religious history. “All the Bibli- Palestinians in Israel—what Zoabi derefugees and relocated to Nazareth when cal prophets and messengers, even those scribed as Israel’s “taming project.” their village of Beisan was destroyed by Is- who are not considered prophets and mesThese Palestinians were long seen as sengers but just kings, such as Solomon the “weakest element” of their society, raeli forces in 1948. “We are at a moment when the issue of and David, are actually the prophets and Zoabi explained, and for many years they Palestinian rights is being mainstreamed messengers of God,” he said. “This is the “accepted Israel as a Jewish state, and across this country. And our job, as ac- beginning of the relations of all the prophets wanted democracy within that context.” tivists, as church activists, secular ac- and messengers of God. We can recognize As they became more mature and contivists, is to take advantage of that mo- that [Jerusalem] is a sacred city that was fident, however, Palestinians in Israel ment,” Bennis said. “Take advantage of built by men of God for prayer.” began to advocate for democracy in its Middle East Peace Education Coalition true form: as a state of all its citizens. This this mainstreaming of the issue that has members include the Methodist Federa- means seeing themselves not as a minornever existed before.” Palestinian equality is an American tion for Social Action, STAR*PAC, ity in a Jewish state, Zoabi explained, but NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
59
MK Haneen Zoabi. as the owners of the land. Such a definition of democracy requires more than a change in policies, she noted, but in the very definition of the Israeli state. Israel is afraid of democracy, Zoabi pointed out, with its emphasis on equality and human rights. Indeed, it views these values as attempts at delegitimization. No one is in a better position than 1948 Palestinians, Zoabi argued, to emphasize that Israel is not acting in self-defense when it discriminates against its Palestinian citizens. Instead, it is against their very existence. After all, she noted, silencing Jerusalem’s muezzin has nothing to do with self-defense! Moreover, Zoabi stressed, the world must recognize that “Israel is not the same society it was 10 years ago.” Comparing it to “Germany in the ’30s,” she cited several polls showing that Jewish Israelis are moving inexorably rightward. In 2010, for example, 50 percent of Jewish Israelis believed that human rights organizations are harmful to the state; 6 years later that number had increased to 71 percent. Views considered to be on the extreme fringe a decade ago, such as the idea of transfer, are now seen as middle-of-theroad, she said. The vision of democracy advocated by Zoabi and her fellow Palestinian citizens are based on the right of return, full equality and an end to Israel’s siege of Gaza and occupation of Palestinian lands. Israel’s opposition to these principles is 60
proof of its incompatibility with universal human rights, Zoabi argued. She emphasized the importance of not acceding to Israel’s new demand to be recognized as a Jewish state. In response to questions, Zoabi predicted that the reconciliation effort between the PA and Hamas would not succeed in the long run. Oslo should be declared dead, she stated, and the PA’s military coordination with Israel should end immediately. Zoabi concluded by noting that the vision of democracy she presented does not represent “100 percent justice” for the Palestinians but is in fact a “huge compromise.” It is a compromise she is willing to make, however, in the “struggle to de-colonize.” —Janet McMahon
UNRWA USA Raises Funds, Spirits With 5Ks and Concerts
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) provides assistance to 5 million Palestinian refugees. A small but effective organization based in Washington, DC, UNRWA USA, raises funds for UNRWA’s vital work and also shows refugees that despite Washington’s unhelpful congressional resolutions and U.N. vetoes, everyday Americans care about Palestinians. UNRWA USA’s annual Gaza 5K walk/runs raise funds for the Community Mental Health Program (CMHP), which
supports thousands of refugee children in Gaza affected by PTSD and other psychological trauma. Another by-product of UNRWA USA’s work is helping build and empower the community. Palestinian communities and their supporters in major cities receive social media updates that culminate in a morning of exercise, solidarity and fun for a good cause. The NYC 5K at Brooklyn’s Prospect Park on March 25 raised $298,955. The Chicago Gaza 5K at Diversity Harbor on April 29, 2017 raised $68,652. The Washington, DC Gaza 5K, held on a warm sunny morning along the scenic Anacostia Riverwalk Trail on Sept. 16, raised $123,209. After the race, runners and walkers enjoyed a free delicious hot manoush breakfast, cooked by the Dubbaneh family, featuring fresh home-made flatbread grilled and sprinkled with olive oil and za’atar. All of the Dubbanehs (including the parents) work full-time jobs and run Z&Z on the side. The family’s Podura Z&Z spices and products are available at DC farmers’ markets (visit <www.zandzdc.com> for more information). UNRWA’s upcoming Orange County Gaza 5K is scheduled for Dec. 2 at Mile Square Regional Park in Fountain Valley, CA. UNRWA USA also co-hosted the Layaali Arabic Music Ensemble’s 25th Anniversary Charity Concert for Refugees on
UNRWA-USA‘s Gaza 5K runners, pictured assembling before the race, raised $123,209 for Gaza community mental health programs, and then enjoyed a delicious manoush breakfast (top, facing page).
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY
STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY
activisms_44-64_November/December 2017 Activisms 10/16/17 1:45 PM Page 60
STAFF PHOTOS D. HANLEY
activisms_44-64_November/December 2017 Activisms 10/16/17 1:45 PM Page 61
The Layaali Arabic Musical Ensemble concert at the All Souls Church in Washington, DC.
Saturday, Sept. 30 at the Unitarian All Souls Church in Washington, DC. Layaali is a group of talented Boston-based musicians who have performed traditional Arabic music for the past quarter-century. The musical evening also featured superstar Syrian vocalist Fadi Jano and Palestinian oud player Abdul-Wahab Kayyali. Ensemble members include Jamal Sinno from Lebanon (qanun), Mohammed Mejaour from Morocco (nay), and Palestinian-born percussionist Michel Moushabeck, the editor and publisher of Interlink, an independent publishing house. (Moushabeck’s day job produces 50 titles a year, including many of the bestselling books featured on the shelves of AET’s Middle East Books and More.) Layaali's mission is to increase the awareness of Arabic music and culture through concerts, recordings, workshops and lectures. The concert “moved the soul NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
and stirred the spirit,” electrifying a huge, appreciative audience. For more information, please visit <www.unrwausa.org>. —Delinda C. Hanley
State of Terror Author Thomas Suarez Speaks at Palestine Center
On Sept. 20, 2017 the Jerusalem Fund in Washington, DC welcomed Thomas Suarez to discuss his book, State of Terror: How Terrorism Created Modern Israel (available from AET’s Middle East Books and More). Mohamad Mohamad, executive director of the Jerusalem Fund, introduced Suarez, a London-based writer and a former faculty member of Palestine’s National Conservatory of Music. State of Terror takes much of its information from declassified documents from the British National Archives, which describe the movement to create a Jewish state in response to anti-Semitism in Eu-
rope and Russia. According to these documents, many Jews resented the movement and its treatment of them as a race apart. They hated the idea that they should create yet another ghetto and, worse yet, make it on other people’s land. But for others, it offered the promise of an escape from persecution. “Messianic fundamentalism” became the driving engine of the movement to create a settler state, label it as an indigenous movement due to its location as the historic biblical land, and inspire disinterested Jews to populate it. The Arab-Israeli conflict “is in truth remarkably simple,” Suarez said. “An ethnicnationalist movement seeks to establish a settler state on other people’s land. The people resist. That’s the entire conflict. Everything else is just details.” Suarez argued, “The conflict could end tomorrow, if our own governments—the U.S., the UK, and EU—stop enabling it. Lest this claim sound exaggerated, just imagine for a moment how the ‘international community’ would react if the ethnicities in this conflict were reversed—think about that—yes, it would end tomorrow.” Suarez examined in detail the narrative that continues to drive the public’s understanding of the Israel/Palestine issue, describing it as “Israel’s creation myth, its autobiography, [and] its self-identity.” His research into British archives reveals that Zionists intended to take all of Palestine and expel non-Jews from it. Documents from Zionist activists also included “racist slurs” against “non-Zionist Jews, and in particular the Middle East’s indigenous Jews.” Suarez argued that “Israel’s principal strategy today” remains the same: “terrorize until there is a reaction, then broadcast that reaction as an unprovoked attack.” He added that “it is a fact that Zionism requires anti-Semitism, and that the Zionists [have] exploited it—at the expense of Jews.” Suarez suggested that “the end of the conflict begins when we deprive this conflict of its smoke and mirrors, and when we acknowledge that there is a single state.” He concluded by stating that “justice and peace for everyone in Palestine will come when the people are finally able to see the conflict for what it is.”
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
61
Visit <thejerusalemfund.org> for transcripts of Suarez’s talk or read “The Cult of the Zionists—An Historical Enigma,” in the September-October 2017 issue of The Link. —Muna Howard
The Arab Center Examines the Future of Gaza
The Arab Center Washington DC (ACW) presented a Sept. 14 panel discussion on “The Future of Gaza: Between Domestic and Regional Politics.” Launching the discussion, ACW executive director Khalil Jahshan said that although Gaza has been long neglected, renewed diplomatic efforts to ease Israel’s decade-long siege and reconcile Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA)—controlled by the rival Fatah movement—were held recently in Cairo. Jahshan described the “Dahlan Plan” for Gaza, spearheaded by the exiled former Fatah security chief in the Strip, Mohammed Dahlan, whose plan to lift the siege of Gaza, open the border with Egypt,
Dr. Yousef Munayyer( l) and Ambassador Jacob Walles discuss the “Dahlan Plan” for Gaza. 62
in one physical space, and new agendas by the PA and Gulf states. Munayyer called Gaza an “open air prison” for 2 million people, half of whom are under age 18. It is “the most bizarre and inhumane sociopolitical experiment that the world has ever seen,” he said. Munayyer noted the deterioration of Palestinian institutions since the Oslo process. Palestinians have endured a Hamas-Fatah divide since 2006-07, as well as internal Fatah rivalries. But even with the challenges regarding legitimacy for President Abbas and Hamas, Munayyer added, they were elected and put into power by Palestinians. In contrast, the Dahlan plan would let outsiders insert themselves into Palestinian politics and cement the divide between the West Bank and Gaza. Only 17 percent of Gazans and 1 percent of West Bank Palestinians support Dahlan, he noted. Munayyer was also skeptical about Egypt and Israel’s support of the Dahlan plan to “watch over” Hamas. “It’s about a lot more than security for Israel,” he said. Israel’s policy has been to de-develop Gaza since 2007. As for the U.S., there is no long-term American vision for Gaza, Munayyer lamented, and it’s unlikely that there will be meaningful change in Gaza anytime soon. —Delinda C. Hanley
and revive the Gaza economy has been met with suspicion by the PA. Ambassador Jacob Walles (retired), a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, called long-term prospects for Gaza “cloudy at best,” but said that, in the short term, it is possible to improve the lives of Gazans. A steady supply of electricity and clean water can make a huge difference in Gaza, he noted. Although Walles admitted that, when it comes to any plan by Dahlan, “There’s a lot of old animosity and bad blood between the two sides,” from the days when he was in charge of security in Gaza from 1994 to 2007. What Dahlan does bring, Walles noted, are financial promises from the United Arab Emirates ($15 million per month, in hopes of displacing Qatar from its role in Gaza) and the possibility of Egypt permanently reopening the Rafah crossing. Regional rivalries are playing out in Gaza and Egypt, Walles said, and the UAE may also be putting forward Dahlan as the successor to PA President Mahmoud Abbas. Dr. Yousef Munayyer, executive director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, described Israel’s approach in Gaza since 2006 as a “siege policy mentality,” to “squeeze and squeeze” Gaza and the people there until they do what others want them to do. This policy has accelerated in the last several months because of the Trump administration, the coalescence of Gaza’s political and military leadership
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
HUMAN RIGHTS Palestine: 100 Years of Colonialism and Resistance
STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY
Thomas Suarez urges the U.S., UK and EU to stop enabling Israel.
PHOTO COURTESY JERUSALEM FUND
activisms_44-64_November/December 2017 Activisms 10/17/17 5:18 PM Page 62
The Arab American Community Center in Anaheim, CA held an event Sept. 29 to commemorate 100 years of colonialism and injustice in Palestine and 70 years of the Nakba. Prof. Ahlam Muhtaseb of California State University San Bernardino was the emcee. Prof. Rabab Abdulhadi, who teaches at San Francisco State University (SFSU)’s Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED) program, gave the keynote address, and two of her lawyers, Ben Gharagozli and Mark Kleiman, also spoke. The community gathered to support Abdulhadi in her fight against a smear camAUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017
activisms_44-64_November/December 2017 Activisms 10/16/17 1:45 PM Page 63
STAFF PHOTO S. TWAIR
tered, fomented and systematically instilled an antiJewish animus” on the campus. Dr. Abdulhadi was officially named and served in the lawsuit. "The trial of Dr. Abdulhadi is set for Nov. 8, 2017, but her case is not going to end by Nov. 8!" promised Ben Gharagozli, her chief lawyer. Prof. Ahlam Muhtaseb (l) and Prof. Rabab Abdulhadi in Los When Abdulhadi came to Angeles. the podium, she thanked paign by Zionist organizations both on- and her lawyers, who worked on her case pro off-campus. Muhtaseb asked for support bono—otherwise, she said, it would have “in the form of writing petitions and bring- cost her $100,000. “I was attacked in 2016 ing the attention of the media to her case,” by the Zionist organization known as because, she said, Abdulhadi’s case rep- AMCHA, and Zionists like Haim Saban and Sheldon Adelson. It was an attempt to resents everyone in the academic field. Abdulhadi is a founding member of the silence every scholar who speaks truth to US Campaign for the Academic and Cul- power. It was an attack against Palestintural Boycott of Israel, making her a target ian activists on campus, and they started of Zionist organizations. According to in- with SFSU. If they succeed, they will imformation available at <https://www. plement it on other campuses." The professor emphasized, "This is not launchgood.com/project/professor_rabab_ abdulhadis_legal_fund#!/>: “Since 2010, new! There is a history of attacks on proProfessor Abdulhadi and SFSU’s campus Palestine and pro-justice activists. There have been at the center of a harassment was the L.A. 8 case in 1987. But this recent and bullying campaign by David Horowitz, attack meant to send a message to other who has been identified as a ‘driving force movements of justice in Latin America and of the anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and anti- other parts of the world, so we need to fight Black movements’ by the Southern back and keep the struggle alive!" If we don't write our history, who will? Poverty Law Center. “On Oct. 14, 2016 and May 3, 2017, stu- she asked, reminding the audience that dents found in plain view dozens of racist, California State University Fresno bullying posters that targeted student ad- launched a search for an Edward Said vocates for justice in/for Palestine, includ- Chair professor that was later halted by Ising members of the General Union of rael advocacy groups. "We are not victims of the victims, the Palestinian Students (GUPS), Professor Abdulhadi and AMED,” the only program to Holocaust survivors were victimized by the focus on Arab and Muslim communities in Zionists just like the Palestinians," Abdulthe U.S. These relentless, bullying attacks hadi said. She went on to note that 2017 by “right-wing pro-Israel groups such as marks 100 years of colonialism, 100 years David Horowitz, Canary Mission, AMCHA, of resistance, 70 years of Nakba, 35 years Campus Watch, Stand With Us, Simon since the Sabra and Shatila massacre and Wiesenthal Center, Daniel Pipes’ Middle 50 years of occupation of the West Bank, East Forum and the Zionist Organization of Gaza and East Jerusalem. And the struggle goes on...” America are deliberate.” Abdulhadi concluded by stating: “It was The “LawFare Project” is the latest proZionist effort to seek to undermine the said AIPAC is invincible, and it was said movement for Palestinian rights. It filed a Israel is invincible, but history proved the —Samir Twair lawsuit against SFSU, which it claims “fos- opposite!” NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
AAI Hosts Conversation With Irish Sen. Frances Black
The Arab American Institute (AAI) co-hosted a Sept. 21 dinner and talk at their Washington, DC office with Frances Black, Irish senator, singer and founder of the Rise Foundation. Black’s musical career began when she was 17 and has produced numerous traditional and contemporary Irish hits. While raising a family—her daughter Aoife and son Eoghan are well-known singers, songwriters and musicians—Black made the time to qualify as an addiction counselor. In 2009 she established a charity called the Rise Foundation, which supports family members who have a loved one with an alcohol, drug or gambling problem. Black was elected a senator in 2016— after her first political campaign. She takes pride in fighting for those who suffer from neglect and injustice, including the homeless and people with mental health issues. After comparing Ireland’s struggle with “binge drinking” to America’s opiates crisis, Black’s wide-ranging conversation with AAI founder Jim Zogby turned to refugees. At least 17 percent of the people living in Ireland are foreign born, she said. Like this country, Ireland is trying to integrate an undocumented population—many of them refugees who can’t go home—who can’t get proper jobs or an education. In answer to Zogby’s question about why so much Irish music deals with the loss of family, Black explained that during the famine era, the Irish used to hold an “American wake” for families who would never again see their emigrating loved ones. The Irish used music and dance to express their grief for those lost loves, Black said, “making the best of bad times.” Many of the standing-room-only audience couldn’t help but draw comparisons to the Arab diaspora now finding their way in North America, or those whose family members stoically remain in the war-torn Middle East. Those survivors and refugees are producing haunting poetry, literature, film, art and music that reflect similar emotions. Black was 16 when she first heard about the Palestinian issue, she said, “and
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
63
activisms_44-64_November/December 2017 Activisms 10/16/17 1:45 PM Page 64
awarded a mass communications scholarship bearing his name. —Dale Sprusansky
and what the diaspora can do to help bring peace to the troubled holy land, could fill this magazine. We recommend watching the panels and keynote addresses for yourself at <www.facebook.com/adcnational>. Speakers address issues that never make it into national news reports but are vital to each of us. The Washington Report suggests you put next year’s ADC convention on your bucket list for 2018. —Delinda C. Hanley
LAST DAY FOCUSES ON PALESTINE
STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY
The final day featured a discussion between Dr. Riyad Mansour, ambassador and Permanent Observer of Palestine to the U.N., and Said Arikat, Washington corIrish senator, singer Frances Black speaks at the Arab American In- respondent for Al Quds stitute. newspaper. The Rachel Corrie Award was preit touched my heart.” She has always fought for social justice, but now that she sented to Phyllis Bennis, who directs the is in political office she is able to make a New International Project at the Institute visible difference. Working closely with the for Policy Studies in Washington, DC. AmIrish Friends of Palestine Committee, she bassador Dr. Husam Zomlot, Chief Represpeaks out regularly in support of Palestinian rights. There is no U.S. member of Congress who gives speeches like hers to Ireland’s national parliament, the Houses of the Oireachtas. Black brings up issues like the recent situation in Gaza when water and electricity were cut off. She railed against the Bank of Ireland for closing Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign Accounts in 2016 because of their support for BDS (they opened accounts in another bank). She is also sponsoring legislation banning settlement goods to show “incredibly resilient Palestinians” that somebody cares. After Black’s talk our dinner table agreed that Ireland is a compassionate country and has an affinity with other naM.K. Dr. Ahmad Tibi addresses guests at the tions dealing with occupation. We wish we Palestine luncheon awards ceremony. had principled leaders like Black in the United States. —Delinda C. Hanley sentative of the Palestinian Delegation to the U.S., gave a moving tribute to senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, who is in the U.S. awaiting a lung transplant, and Continued from page 47 was in the audience. The last event of the Dr. Raymond Jallow Lifetime Achievement three-day convention was a keynote adAward. dress by one of the most outspoken ArabThe evening also included a touching Palestinian citizens of Israel, M.K. Dr. video tribute to long-time ADC member Ahmad Tibi. Jack Shaheen, who died suddenly in July. It’s hard to convey the spirit of a conferHis legacy continues, however, in the form ence like this. Just the last day’s presenof four young journalists who were tations, with speakers discussing Palestine 64
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
Arab Cultural Festival in San Francisco
STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY
San Francisco's Arab Cultural and Community Center held its 22nd annual Arab Cultural Festival, the largest celebration of Arab culture in Northern California, in Union Square on Oct. 7. Special guest Ambassador Husam S. Zomlot, Chief Representative of the General Delegation of the PLO to the U.S., enjoyed the daylong event, which featured Algerian vocal-
STAFF PHOTO PHIL PASQUINI
ADC Conference
DIPLOMATIC DOINGS
Ambassador Husam S. Zomlot, Chief Representative of the General Delegation of the PLO to the U.S. at San Francisco’s Arab Cultural Festival.
ist Fella Oudane and Iraq’s Faris Farah. Jewelry, textiles and crafts from the Arab world were for sale in the booth bazaar. Visitors also had a good time dancing to Middle Eastern music in the open-air plaza. —Elaine Pasquini NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
hilmy_65-66_Special Report 10/17/17 6:35 PM Page 65
Special Report
“ID Card” by Mahmoud Darwish— A Translation and Commentary
PHOTO CREDIT??
Write down: I am an Arab. My ID card number is 50,000. My children: eight And the ninth is coming after the summer. Are you angry?
By Salman Hilmy
XXX Write down: Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008). I am an Arab. Before the cypress and olives, I work with my toiling comrades in a quarry. Before the growth of pastures. My children are eight, My father…of the people of the plow, And out of the rocks Not of noble masters. I draw their bread, My grandfather, a peasant Clothing and writing paper. Of no prominent lineage, I do not beg for charity at your door Taught me pride of self before reading of Nor do I grovel books. At your doorstep tiles. My house is a watchman’s hut Does that anger you? Of sticks and reed. Does my status satisfy you? XXX I am a name without a title Write down: I am an Arab, XXX A name without a title, Write down: Patient in a country where everything I am an Arab. Lives on flared-up anger. Hair coal-black, My roots… Eyes brown, Took firm hold before the birth of time, My distinguishing feature: Before the beginning of the ages, “ID CarD” Is one of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish’s most popular signature poems that made him a constant target of vicious criticism by Israel’s religious, ultranationalist and conservative groups. In this free-verse poem, Darwish assumes the symbolic persona of an ordinary Palestinian victim of Zionist oppression being interrogated by an Israeli official. The verses empower the peaceful dispossessed Palestinian with an assertive identity and a confident voice that defy continuous humiliations at the hand of
Salman Hilmy, an Iraqi American, worked for the Voice of America for 34 years and was chief of its Near East and South Asia Division from 1987 to 1993. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
On my head a koufiyah topped by the igal, And my palms, rough as stone, Scratch anyone who touches them. My address: An unarmed village—forgotten— Whose streets are nameless, And all its men are in the field and quarry. Are you angry? XXX Write down: I am an Arab Robbed of my ancestors’ vineyards And of the land cultivated By me and all my children. Nothing is left for us and my grandchildren Except these rocks… Will your government take them too, as reported? Therefore, Write at the top of page one: I do not hate people, I do not assault anyone, But…if I get hungry, I eat the flesh of my usurper. Beware…beware…of my hunger, And of my anger.
the occupier. Although the poet was fluent in Hebrew, he ignores the official’s language by omitting his questions from the poem and replies only in Arabic to underscore his own and Palestine’s cultural and national identity. The poem’s power lies partially in its stark language, uplifting tone and simple, direct images, which endow the speaker with a kind of primal nobility. Darwish was one of the most innovative, influential and beloved Palestinain poets of the 20th century. He was considered a powerful and successful articulator of his people’s cause and sufferings—the most sophisticated of Palestine’s trio of “resistance poets,” along with Samih Al-Qasim and Tawfiq Ziad. Born in the Arab village of Berwa in Galilee, he and his neighbors were uprooted in the 1948 war. Children’s lives were shat-
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
65
hilmy_65-66_Special Report 10/17/17 6:35 PM Page 66
tered and the villagers scattered as the Zionist army destroyed the village and subsequently built a kibbutz and a moshav on its ruins. Darwish started writing and establishing his poetic career at an early age. “ID Card” appeared in his collection Olive Leaves in 1964, when he was only 23. The poem quickly became a favorite of his fans and a target of the Israeli authorities’ critical assaults for its unrelenting focus on his people’s Arab-Palestinian identity. Darwish’s poetry was fiercely attacked by Israelis for graphically portraying the Palestinians’ Nakba—the 1948 catastrophic expulsion of most of them—and their stubborn love of their homeland. Palestinians’ attachment to their land was a core aspect of the young poet’s artistic vision. This was considered by most Israelis a serious threat to the Zionist narrative. Right-wing Israeli politician and military commander Ariel Sharon—a merciless hater and tormentor of Palestinians—was forced by the country’s first Likud prime minister, the terrorist Menachem Begin, to resign his job as defense minister after an investigation condemned Sharon for instigating the massacre of hundreds of Palestinian refugees—men, women and children—in the Sabra and Shatila camps outside Beirut during Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon (see p. 24). Sharon (whose Hebrew name Ari-el means “the Lion of God”!) was once quoted as saying that he envied Palestinians for their unswerving devotion to the soil. Darwish publicly responded by advising Sharon to cure himself of this envy by simply withdrawing from Palestinian land. The intense critical attacks on “ID Card” and other poems were mild compared to the hysterical official reaction to a public reading in 2016. On Tuesday, July 19, of that year the Israeli Army Radio Network ended a segment of its regular “University of the Air” program with a Hebrew recitation of “ID Card.” The wild, almost irrational reaction came promptly from the highest levels of the Israeli government, now completely dominated by racist, fanatic ultra-right parties. Last year’s assault on “ID Card” and Darwish was launched by two members of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s cab66
inet and the daily newspaper Israel Today, which is close to the Israeli prime minister (and funded by the American Zionist casino magnate Sheldon Adelson). The initial reaction came from Miri Regev, minister of culture and sports, who said she was terrified by the recitation and attacked the Army Radio for including the poem in its program. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman then joined in by comparing the poet to Adolph Hitler. Israel Today wrote that airing the poem was like broadcasting a program to Israeli soldiers about Hitler’s Mein Kampf, “because both have one aim: to destroy the Jews.” Regev, Lieberman, Israel Today and other critics found it convenient to ignore the poem’s two penultimate lines (“I do not hate people, I do not assault anyone”) just before its concluding warning to “the usurper.” Contrary to this heightened angst in Israel about a decades-old Palestinian poem, the perspective and attitude of the poet and his multitudes of admirers toward “ID Card” reflected a sad irony. When Darwish finally decided he no longer could tolerate the oppressive atmosphere in Israel and left occupied Palestine for good in the early 1970s, he took up residence in Beirut, where he earned a living through, among other endeavors, regular poetry readings at huge popular gatherings. “ID Card” was a favorite of Darwish’s admirers. However, they were always disappointed because they never heard it in public again: the poet insistently refused to read it. To his admirers the poem was a sort of primal scream that reminded all Palestinians of the catastrophic events of 1948 and their tragic aftermath. To the poet, asserting his Arab identity had been an existential necessity under occupation—but one he found unnecessary and irrelevant in an Arab country. He also confided to his friends that he had no intention of continuing to be solely a Palestinian voice. Instead he wanted to constantly explore the universality of the human condition and to expand the horizons of his poetry in form, style and content. And that is precisely what he accomplished over his remaining years—successfully and brilliantly. ■
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
United States Postal Service Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation (required by 39 USC 6985 (1) Publication Title: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs; (2) Publication No: 87554917; (3) Filing Date: 10/17/17; (4) Issue Frequency: Every 7 weeks in Jan/Feb, Aug/Sept, Oct, Nov./Dec.; 5 weeks June/July; May 10 weeks; and March/April 9 weeks. Number of issues published annually: 7; (6) Annual subscription price: $29; (7) Complete mailing address of known office of publication: American Educational Trust, 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-1707; (8) Complete mailing address of headquarters or general business office: American Educational Trust, 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 200091707; (9) Full names and complete mailing addresses of publisher, editor and managing editor: Publisher: Andrew Killgore, 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-1707, News Editor: Delinda Hanley, 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-1707, Managing Editor: Janet McMahon, 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-1707; (10) Owner: American Educational Trust, 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009-1707; (11) Known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 percent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities: none; (12) The purpose, function, and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status for federal income tax purposes has not changed during preceding 12 months; (13) Publication title: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs; (14) Issue date for circulation data below: XXXVI-6, October 2017; (15) Extent and nature of circulation: (a) total no. copies (net press run): Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 9,300; No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 8,500; (b) Paid and/or requested circulation: (1) Paid/requested Outside-County mail subscriptions stated on Form 3541 (include advertiser’s proof and exchange copies): Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 2262, No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 2130; (2) Paid In-County subscriptions stated on Form 3541 (include advertiser’s proof and exchange copies): Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 0, No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date,0; (3) Sales through dealers and carriers, street vendors, counter sales, and other nonUSPS paid distribution: Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 640. No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date,630; (4) Other classes mailed through the USPS: Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 42 No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 29; (c) Total paid and/or requested circulation [sum of 15b (1), (2), (3), and (4)]: Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 2944, No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 2789; (d) Free or nominal rate distribution (by mail and outside the mail) (samples, complimentary and other free): (1) Free or Nominal Rate Outside-County as stated on Form 3541: Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 2518; Free or nominal Rate Outside-County Copies included on PS Form 3541 No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 2499; (2) Free or Nominal Rate In-County copies as stated on Form 3541, Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 0. Free or nominal rate InCounty as stated on Form 3541 of single issue published nearest to filing date, 0; (3) Free or nominal rate copies mailed other classes Through USPS: Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 63, No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 59; (4) Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail (Carriers or other means) Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 3,100 , No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date,3,200; (e) Free distribution outside the mail (carriers or other means): Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 5,681, No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date,5,311 (f) Total free distribution (sum of 15c and e): Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 8625 No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date 8100 (g) Total distribution (sum of 15c and f): Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months,675, No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 400; (h) Total (sum of 15f and g): Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months,9300; No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 8500; (i) Total (sum of 15g and h): Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 34.13; No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 8500; (j) percent paid and/or requested circulation (15c/15gX100): Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months, 34.13%, No. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 34.43.%; (16) Paid Electronic Copies: Average No. Copies during preceding 12 months: 170; No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to filing date: 168. All subscribers entitled to free electronic copy. This statement of ownership will be printed in the Nov./Dec. 2017 issue of this publication; (17) Signature and Title of Editor, Publisher, Business Manager, or Owner: Delinda Hanley, Executive Director, 10/17/17, I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading information on this form or who omits material or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanctions (including fines and imprisonment) and/or civil sanctions (including civil penalties). Failure to file or publish a statement of ownership may lead to suspension of second-class authorization. PS Form 3526 October 1999 (Facsimile).
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
opm_67-68_Other People's Mail 10/17/17 5:41 PM Page 67
the past half-century. It’s ironic that those who decry the Iran nuclear deal would likely experience great relief if North Korea participated in tough negotiations as the Iranians did as a signatory of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT)—a treaty from which North Korea withdrew and which Israel has never signed. Mark Siegel, Henrico, VA
ISRAEL AND TRUMP’S MEXICO WALL
ISRAEL, NORTH KOREA AND IRAN DEAL HYPOCRISY
To the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Sept. 16, 2017 Eli Lake’s op-ed column, “Iran’s Nukes— The art of renegotiating the deal,” is indicative of the fixation that many journalists and U.S. leaders exhibit regarding what they believe is a flawed Iran nuclear deal. The reality is that if Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had embraced the original deal, they would have also. The only way the detractors of the deal can hope to force Iran to renegotiate would be to persuade all countries that composed the P5+1, including Russia and China, to halt all lucrative business dealings with the Iranian regime. This is highly unlikely given the fact that the U.S. can’t even get China and Russia to abide by sanctions on North Korea that they agreed to. When the U.S. and Israel criticize other countries for conducting business with Iran, they don’t have a modicum of principle to stand on. Both nations sell their military wares to repressive regimes, and the reason the U.S. has little leverage with China regarding North Korea is because the U.S. has inextricably linked its economy to the very nation that has nurtured the North Koreans for NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
To The Daily Courier, Oct. 5, 2017 There was a reason why Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of Israel was so enthusiastic about the U.N. speech made by U.S. President Donald Trump. The two of them are now ganging up on Mexico’s migrants into the States. Israel Aerospace Industries subsidiary Elta North America has been awarded a contract worth up to $500,000 to build prototypes for the wall on the Mexico/U.S. border, while the U.S. subsidiary of the Israeli security and surveillance company Elbit Systems has received its third contract to build the U.S. border wall and to militarize the border area. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security awarded Elbit Systems a $145 million contract to erect and maintain surveillance towers along the Arizona/Sonora (Mexico) border. Already in 2006, Elbit had been subcontracted by Boeing to provide cameras and radar systems for the DHS’ Strategic Border Initiative. Earlier this month, Elbit announced a contract to deliver even more radar and surveillance towers to militarize the MexicoU.S. border area, boasting it offers “fieldproven architecture” tested on Palestinians. Ah, yes, the long-suffering Palestinians, wanting some of the stolen land back from the Israelis, who have built a wall over 700 kilometers long to keep the Palestinians out, in some cases more than 24 feet high, with lookout towers, manned 24/7 by guntoting soldiers. Obviously, if the United States is determined to keep out the Mexicans, it can do no worse than hire the world’s experts at wall-building and surveillance systems. Frank Martens, Summerland, British Columbia, Canada
ISRAEL, POLICE VIOLENCE IN CHICAGO AND SOLIDARITY
To Crain’s Chicago Business, Sept. 29, 2017 In a Sept. 19 op-ed, Aviv Ezra, Israeli consul general to the Midwest, wrote that
"one of [his] main goals [is] to bring Chicago to Israel and Israel to Chicago." As representatives of communities that have been devastated by the policies of Israel and Chicago, respectively, we don't want Israel in Chicago! We don't want racism and apartheid from Israel's ultra-militarized society in Chicago, especially since our quasi-military Chicago Police Department already terrorizes black people the way Israel terrorizes Palestinians. Ground zero in the struggle against police violence is Chicago. This is why our organizations and others put forth legislation sponsored by Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa that would create the Civilian Police Accountability Council, which would place affected communities in control of policing in Chicago. Ezra visited Israel with Mayor Rahm Emanuel and wrote that "Israel is eager to strengthen our friendship." The only friendship we want to strengthen is between our two communities—black people in Chicago and Palestinians. Frank Chapman, field organizer, Chicago Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression and Hatem Abudayyeh, national coordinating committee member, U.S. Palestinian Community Network, Chicago, IL
UNESCO WITHDRAWAL ISOLATES U.S. AND ISRAEL
To the San Francisco Chronicle, Oct. 16, 2017 Regarding “U.S., Israel to exit agency over alleged Israel bias” (Oct. 13): In withdrawing from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, President Trump’s and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s administrations acknowledge that they are no longer part of the world community. They don’t like what every other nation in the world endorses, so they withdraw. But it’s not like they have some other international organization to go to. Instead, they are isolating themselves and ensuring that there cannot be a negotiated peace in Israel and Palestine as long as those two are in power. Clyde Leland, Berkeley, CA
ANTI-BDS LEGISLATION SEEKS TO CRIMINALIZE FREE SPEECH
To the Portland Press Herald, Oct. 14, 2017 The Israel Anti-Boycott Act (S. 720 and H.R. 1697), introduced in Congress this year, is clearly an unconstitutional infringement of civil rights (per the Supreme Court, the First Amendment now covers
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
67
opm_67-68_Other People's Mail 10/17/17 5:41 PM Page 68
words, money and political action). This proposal would make it a felony for Americans to support the international boycott against Israel, which was launched in protest of that country’s decades-old occupation of Palestine. It was drafted with the assistance of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, part of the Israel lobby. AIPAC, in its 2017 lobbying agenda, identified passage of this bill as one of its top priorities. I am proud of my Jewish heritage. My forebears in the Wolfe, Opper, Levy and Barnett families came to this country long ago for the very freedoms that the Israel lobby now seeks to destroy (including Benjamin Wolfe, my fifth great-grandfather, one of the founders of the sixth-oldest Jewish congregation in America, Congregation Beth Ahabah, in Richmond, Virginia). Criticism of Israel and the Israel lobby is not anti-Semitism, and everyone knows it. Many people feel that our tax dollars and other support of Israel, and its dangerous agenda in the Middle East, is not in the best interests of this country. I ask our elected representatives, please, to oppose this form of totalitarianism and to preserve our rights to criticize and oppose Israel and the Israel lobby without fear of condemnation, accusation of hate crimes and criminal penalties. David Plimpton, Cape Elizabeth, ME
KEN BURNS SERIES SHOWS THE CONTINUED FOLLY OF WAR
To The Virginian-Pilot, Oct. 6, 2017 As a Vietnam veteran, I watched the recent Ken Burns documentary series, “The Vietnam War,” with anger and disgust. I learned that politics was the reason why
the war began. Three presidents knew we could not win the conflict and wanted to withdraw but were afraid of the political consequences for doing so. Shame on this country for allowing nearly 58,000 of our sons and daughters to be killed due to politics. We are on a very slippery slope when we allow one man, the president, to decide to engage our nation’s military in a foreign country. We know that politicians will lie to us and that the conflict will spiral out of control. We have made the same mistakes in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, with the same results. Dan Bowen, Virginia Beach, VA
U.S. NEEDS A NEW FOREIGN POLICY DIRECTION
To the San Francisco Chronicle, Oct. 16, 2017 A new foreign policy direction is needed for the United States. ISIS territory is shrinking by the day and victory seems to be around the corner. However, the end of ISIS will not be the end of extremism in the area. The collapse of ISIS will lead to a diaspora of extremists that will complicate security problems across the world. The United States needs to shift its foreign policy focus to a long-term fix: Investment in the world’s poor. The U.S. needs to invest in the economies of poor countries and provide tools for those in poverty across the world to succeed. Poverty is a breeding ground for extremism. If the U.S. continues to devote the bulk of its resources to military spending, only the symptoms of the problem will be treated; not the root cause. It’s time to demand a change in our foreign policy. Contact your congressional representatives in favor of incredible legislation like the Protecting Girls Access to Education in Vulnerable Settings Act. Above all, we need to protect the International Affairs Budget so global poverty can be addressed at the root before extremism takes hold. Colin Ford, Berkeley, CA
NUCLEAR WEAPONS SERVE NO GREATER GOOD
To The New York Times, Oct. 11, 2017 Re “Don’t Ban the Bomb” (column, Oct. 7): Bret Stephens repeats the tired refrain that nuclear weapons are necessary for our security and that the call for their elimination is dangerous and unrealistic. He writes as if these weapons have some magical quality that keeps them from ever being used, and omits any discussion of what such use would do to the world.
68
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
In fact, a limited nuclear war involving less than 0.03 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons could cause a global famine that would put two billion people at risk. A largescale nuclear war would trigger an instant ice age that would kill most of humanity. On more than half a dozen occasions we have avoided that fate because, as Robert McNamara once said: “We lucked out. It was luck that prevented nuclear war.” So who is living in a fantasy world? Those who understand that we have been living on borrowed time for the last 70 years and need to get rid of nuclear weapons before our luck runs out, or those who think that we can continue to maintain thousands of nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert and hope that the wise and thoughtful leaders who control these weapons will make sure that nothing ever goes wrong? Ira Helfand, Leeds, MA. The writer is a member of the International Steering Group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, which received the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.
RESPONDING TO THE ROHINGYA CRISIS
To The Guardian, Oct. 8, 2017 The appeal for the displaced Rohingya in Bangladeshi camps is commendable and deserves universal support (Report, 28 September). However, as a former development worker in both Burma and Bangladesh, and a long-term advocate of the Rohingya cause, I am concerned by the lack of detail in the appeal. Speed of response to reach the affected populations on the ground is critical to outcomes. The Rohingya refugees are concentrated in a remote area of Bangladesh poorly served by roads and airports, and this is the height of the monsoon season. How does the Disasters Emergency Committee plan to get the necessary relief supplies into the makeshift camps? Many of the member organizations cited have had little or no prior operational experience or capacity on the ground in the area. How will it coordinate with the U.N. organizations and Bangladesh’s government, which have competing relief commitments for the Bangladeshi population, but still retain overall coordination responsibility for the relief efforts? We need answers now, as a trickle of aid three months down the line will have a greatly diminished impact on the suffering Rohingya. Dr. Joseph Mullen, former U.N. adviser to Burma and Commsed adviser to Bangladesh. ■ NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
cartoons_69_November/December 2017 Cartoons 10/17/17 5:44 PM Page 69
CWS/CARTOONARTS INTERNATIONAL www.cartoonweb.com
CWS/CARTOONARTS INTERNATIONAL www.cartoonweb.com
THE WORLD LOOKS AT THE MIDDLE EAST
Jyllands-Posten, Viby, Denmark
COPYRIGHT @2016 KHALIL BENDIB www.bendib.com
CWS/CARTOONARTS INTERNATIONAL www.cartoonweb.com
Sunday Business Post, Dublin, Ireland
Kleine Zeitung, Graz, Austria
CWS/CARTOONARTS INTERNATIONAL www.cartoonweb.com
CWS/CARTOONARTS INTERNATIONAL www.cartoonweb.com
Wiener Zeitung, Vienna, Austria
Otago Daily Times, Dunedin, New Zealand NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
Lexington Herald-Leader, Lexington, KY WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
69
BookReviewcookbooks_70_Book Review 10/16/17 6:51 PM Page 70
B •O •O •K •S
Reviewed by Janet McMahon
The Saffron Tales: Recipes from the Persian Kitchen
By Yasmin Khan, Bloomsbury, 2016, hardcover, 240 pp. MEB: $30.
Taste of Persia: A Cook’s Travels Through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and Kurdistan
By Naomi Duguid, Artisan, 2016, hardcover, 400 pp. MEB: $30.
Most Americans view Iran through a relentlessly propagated political prism. We hear only about its (nonexistent) nuclear weapons program, its alleged sponsorship of terrorism, its Islamic fundamentalism. Who would guess that it is home to an ancient culture of hospitality, poetry, and a sophisticated—and scrumptious— cuisine? Two recent cookbooks use that wonderful cuisine to explore and expose the reader/cook to broader aspects of Persian culture. As Toronto-based Naomi Duguid explains in the introduction to her Taste of Persia—winner of two James Beard awards this year: Best Book of the Year, International and Best Cookbook of the Year in Culinary Travel—the people she met in her travels in the countries of
70
the ancient Persian Empire share connections “found not in their different places of worship, nor in their many distinctive languages and alphabets, but in the kitchen, in the garden, and at the table.” London-born Yasmin Khan, who often visited her maternal grandparents in a small town in Iran’s Gilan province, describes Persian cuisine as “gentle and soothing—a poetic balance of subtle flavors such as dried limes, saffron, and orange blossom.” She intersperses among her recipes accounts of her visits to various parts of the country—Rasht, Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz, Tabriz, and Bandar Abbas—and the people she meets and cooks and eats with there. While Duguid also does not organize her recipies by region (although many are from Georgia), she, too, includes tales of her travels—to, for example, a Yazidi village in Armenia—throughout her Taste of Persia. Both books feature more photographs of the scenes and people of Iran and its neighbors than of the recipes themselves, but the writing is so vivid in both
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
cases that the food illustrations are not missed. Each author also includes a short commentary with every recipe. And what recipes they are! From The Saffron Tales: olives marinated with walnuts and pomegranates; onion and fenugreek soup; eggplant and mushroom tahcheen; lamb meatballs stuffed with barberries and walnuts; and yogurt cake with poached figs. A sampling from Taste of Persia includes: Georgian leek paté; roasted fish with walnut paste; Kermanbazaar lamb stew; Kurdish black rice; and a variety of syrups “made from fruit juice and sugar cooked down together and flavored with rose water or other aromatics.” Khan and Duguid both have successfully adapted traditional recipes to the modern cook. Indeed, as Khan notes, “Young Iranians are developing their own contemporary food culture, creatively fusing the ingredients and cooking styles of Persian and Western food. This merging of the old and the new is one of the defining features of contemporary Iranian cooking.” The Saffron Tales and Taste of Persia appeal to more than just the reader’s sense of taste. Visually beautiful, they are deeply satisfying in their portrayal of a culture few Americans have experienced. Duguid also includes a short discussion of each country she visits, along with a glossary and a bibliography, including blogs and films. Using food as a vehicle, the two authors entice the reader to experience—and care about—a rich and ancient, yet cosmopolitan, culture. It’s certainly a bonus that one can recreate a part of that culture in one’s own kitchen—and an added bonus that the books themselves are as scrumptious as the recipes they contain! ■
Janet McMahon is managing editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
book_catalog_71_November December 2017 10/16/17 6:49 PM Page 71
• EAST • BOOKS • AND • MORE MIDDLE Literature Films Pottery Solidarity Items More *
*
*
*
WINTER 2017 Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan by Scott Horton, Libertarian, 2017, paperback, 316 pp. MEB: $18. Fool’s Errand is a well-sourced account of America’s war in Afghanistan since 2001. Drawing from numerous sources, Horton not only lays out the history of the war in vivid detail, but looks to the future to show the likely possibility that this war will follow the same destructive and wasteful path as past U.S. wars.
Rethinking Political Islam by Shadi Hamid and William McCants, Oxford, 2017, paperback, 400 pp. MEB: $24. For decades scholars have theorized about the outcomes if Islamists came to power in the Middle East. In this fascinating look into the rapidly changing region, two of the most notable scholars of political Islam assess the different cases in the Middle East where, for better or worse, Islamists have taken power.
Keeping It Halal: The Everyday Lives of Muslim American Teenage Boys by John O’Brien, Princeton, 2017, hardcover, 216 pp. MEB: $28. O’Brien gives us a unique look deep into the lives of young men and the complexities of being both American and Muslim in this decade. Drawing from extensive fieldwork, this book is both timely and compelling, putting readers thoroughly in the shoes of this marginalized group of young Americans.
We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria by Wendy Pearlman, Custom House, 2017, hardcover, 352 pp. MEB: $22. The author’s far-reaching experience living in the Middle East shines in this collection of stories, testimonies, and fragments of Syrian lives. Although the war in Syria receives wide coverage, the struggles of ordinary people are far under-reported. This collection of stories changes that.
The Impossible Revolution: Making Sense of the Syrian Tragedy by Yassin al-Haj Saleh, Haymarket, 2017, paperback, 242 pp. MEB: $18. In his first book in English, Yassin Al-Haj Saleh describes with precision and dedication the events that led to the Syrian uprising of 2011, focusing on the metamorphosis from local demonstrations toward the international dilemma that is Syria today.
ISIS: A History by Fawaz A. Gerges, Princeton, 2017, paperback, 392 pp. MEB: $15. ISIS continues to shock the world, staging and claiming responsibility for vicious attacks in many countries. But how was this group able to take the center stage with such swift brutality? Moving beyond journalistic accounts, Gerges provides a clear and compelling account of the deeper conditions that fuel ISIS, stretching back to the deep roots sowed by foreign powers over the past decades.
Where the Line Is Drawn: A Tale of Crossings, Friendships, and Fifty Years of Occupation by Raja Shehadeh, New Press, 2017, hardcover, 288 pp. MEB: $24. Following his well-received Palestine Walks, a classic of Middle Eastern literature, Raja Shehadeh’s new book tells of his ordeals crossing into Israel to visit his Israeli friend of 40 years. In this latest memoir, Shehadeh reflects on friendships and relationships, and the hope that these bonds can transcend political divisions.
2084: The End of the World by Boualem Sansal, Europe, 2017, paperback, 240 pp. MEB: $15. A tribute to George Orwell’s 1984 and a cry of protest against totalitarianism of all kinds, 2084 tells the story of a near future in which religious extremists have established an oppressive caliphate where autono mous thought is forbidden. The Arabic edition was the winner of the French Academy Grand Prix award in 2016.
New Feast: Modern Middle Eastern Vegetarian by Greg and Lucy Malouf, Hardie Grant, 2017, flexibound, 272 pp. MEB: $28. The recipes contained in New Feast are modern interpretations of traditional Middle Eastern dishes, inspired by the spirit of generosity and sharing that characterizes the region. Highlights include: glazed apple-raisin fritters, zucchini blossom and preserved lemon risotto with ricotta and Parmesan, and griddled broccolini with almonds and harissa butter.
S H I P P I N G R AT E S Most items are discounted and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Orders accepted by mail, phone (800-368-5788 ext. 2), or Web (www.middleeastbooks.com). All payments in U.S. funds. Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express accepted. Please send mail orders to Middle East Books and More, 1902 18th St. NW, Washington, DC 20009, with checks and money orders made out to “AET.” U.S. Shipping Rates: Please add $2.50 for the first item and $2 for each additional item. Canada & Mexico shipping charges: Please add $15 for the first item and $2.50 for each additional item. International shipping charges: Please add $15 for the first item and $3.50 for each additional item. We ship by USPS Priority unless otherwise requested. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
Library packages (list value over $240) are available for $29 if donated to a library, or free if requested with a library’s paid subscription or renewal. Call Middle East Books and More at 800-368-5788 ext. 2 to order. Our policy is to identify donors unless anonymity is specifically requested.
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
71
obituaries_72_Obituaries 10/17/17 12:17 PM Page 72
O• B • I • T • U • A • R • I • E • S Abdulhussain Abdulredha, 78, died Aug. 11 in the United Kingdom after slipping into a coma. His prominence as a Middle Eastern artist was evidenced by mourners from across the Gulf and Arab world traveling to Kuwait to pay their respects. Following his death, more than two million tweets appeared about him, mostly in Arabic, with heartfelt and emotional praises and hashtags. Abdulredha performed in and produced more than 30 plays and television series over the course of his half-century-long career. His huge personality, biting wit and powerful charisma will be missed as those who knew him and loved his work continue to celebrate his life. Fadwa Suleiman, 47, died Aug. 17 in Paris after a long battle with cancer. Her death was announced by the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, an anti-regime group based in Cairo. Suleiman, a Syrian actress known for bridging the gender and sectarian divides of the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad, was influential in leading protests and sit-ins as the civil war gathered steam in 2011. After receiving a death sentence for her role in the revolution from the regime in the following year, she and her husband fled to France, where she was granted asylum. Like Assad, Suleiman is a member of the minority Alawite sect of Shi’i Muslims, who compose about 10 percent of Syria’s population. Suleiman was vocal about disavowing her sectarian ties, embracing her identity as first and foremost a Syrian. Ibrahim Yazdi, 85, died Aug. 27 in Turkey from complications of pancreatic cancer. Born in northwestern Iran, he graduated from the University of Tehran in 1953—the year a U.S.-supported mili72
Compiled by Nathaniel Bailey
tary coup deposed Iran’s democratically elected prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh. In 1961, Yazdi moved with his wife to the United States, where he completed his postdoctoral studies at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Because the shah’s military court had condemned him to prison for 10 years, Yazdi was unable to return to his homeland. In 1977, he joined Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in France as his interpreter and spokesman. In 1979, after Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was deposed, Yazdi returned to Iran with Ayatollah Khomeini, serving as deputy prime minister and foreign minister until being ousted for expressing differing opinions regarding the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Along with other government ministers who resigned from the cabinet, Yazdi helped found the Freedom Movement of Iran, a pro-democracy, secular movement that often faced repression by the government.
Nancy Hatch Dupree, 89, died Sept. 10 in Kabul following a recent leg injury and failing heart and lungs. An American writer and historian, she arrived in Afghanistan in 1962 and devoted her life to preserving the country’s heritage, writing 5 books and more than 100 articles and pamphlets on Afghanistan. The Afghanistan Center at Kabul University, a state-of-the-art research facility, is her legacy to the country she loved. Born in 1927 in the United States, she grew up in what was then the kingdom of Travancore in British India, now the state of Kerala. After attending high school in Mexico and graduating from Barnard College, she received a master’s degree in Chinese art from Columbia University. She returned to Asia to work for UNESCO and spent the rest of her life in the region.
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
M. Cherif Bassiouni, 79, died Sept. 25 in Chicago of complications from multiple myeloma. Known as “the father of international criminal law,” the EgyptianAmerican law professor helped create the International Criminal Court in 1998, after decades spent investigating human rights abuses in apartheid-era South Africa and the former Yugoslavia. “I was not interested in going after the little soldier who commits the individual crime,” Bassiouni told the Chicago Reader in 1999. “I was after building a case against the leaders who make the decisions.” Born in Cairo, Bassiouni was studying law in France when the Suez Crisis broke out in 1956, and returned home to fight against the Israeli-British-French attack on the peninsula. He received decorations in Egypt for his service in the conflict, but later found himself imprisoned for speaking out against President Gamal Abdel Nasser. Bassiouni was appointed to many U.N. commissions and was a frequent consultant to the U.S. government, including during the Iran hostage crisis of 1979.
Jalal Talabani, 83, died Oct. 3 in Germany after suffering a brain hemorrhage and a stroke. Born to an influential family in the northeastern Kurdish village of Kelkan, near Suleimaniya, he was a long and ardent supporter of a sovereign Kurdish state in northern Iraq. He made his first trip to the United States in 1988 to report on the gas attack on the Kurdish village of Halabja that killed 5,000 people. Many prominent regional and world leaders have extended their condolences to Talabani’s family and nation, honoring him and mourning Iraq’s loss of their first non-Arab president. The first president of Iraq under its post-U.S. invasion constitution, he was able to skillfully and effectively build bridges among the various groups in Iraq and the wider region. ■ NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
angels_73-74_October 2017 Choir of Angels 10/17/17 5:59 PM Page 73
AET’s 2017 Choir of Angels
following are individuals, organizations, companies and foundations whose help between Jan. 1, 2017 and oct. 3, 2017 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.
HUMMERS ($100 or more)
Catherine Abbott, Edina, MN Dr.& Mrs. Robert Abel, Wilmington, DE Jeff Abood, Silver Lake, OH Rev. Fahed Abu-Akel, Atlanta, GA Rizek & Alice Abusharr, Claremont, CA Diane Adkin, Camas, WA James C. Ahlstrom, Stirling, NJ Qamar Ahsan, Flint, MI Bulus Paul Ajlouny, San Jose, CA Saleh Al-Ashkar, Tucson, AZ Dr. & Mrs. Salah Al-Askari, Leonia, NJ Joe & Siham Alfred, Fredericksburg, VA Tammam Aljoundi, Saint Louis, MO Jafar Almashat, Martinsburg, WV Mazen Alsatie, Carmel, IN Edwin Amidon, Charlotte, VT Ali Al Shihabi, Long Beach, CA Nabil & Judy Amarah, Danbury, CT American Muslims for Palestine, Bridgeview, IL Abdulhamid Ammuss, Garland, TX Sylvia Anderson De Freitas, Duluth, MN Anace & Polly Aossey, Cedar Rapids, IA Julie Arnold, Bemidji, MN* Dr. Robert Ashmore, Jr., Mequon, WI Robin Assali, Cypress, CA Mostafa Aswad, Verborn, MI**** Robert E. Barber, Parrish, FL Stanton Barrett, Ipswich, MA Allen & Jerrie Bartlett, Philadelphia, PA Kate Bisharat, Carmichael, CA Heath Blackiston, Melbourne Beach, FL* Elizabeth Blakely, Cambria, CA Aston Bloom, Tucson, AZ †† Ed Brooks, Mount Airy, MD Gordon & Louise Brown, Washington, DC James Burkart, Bethesda, MD Barbara Candy, Loomis, CA William Cavness, Falls Church, VA Ouahib Chalbi, Coon Rapids, MN Dr. Robert G. Collmer, Waco, TX Robert Cooke, Faith Forum, Gaithersburg, MD A.L. Cummings, Owings Mills, MD Peter & Linda Dobrzeniecki, Wolverine Lake, MI**** Ron Dudum, San Francisco, CA november/december 2017
Sarah L. Duncan, Vienna, OH Ibrahim Elkarra, San Francisco, CA Kassem Elkhalil, Arlington, TX Dr. Mohamed Elsamahi, Marion, IL Dr. & Mrs. Hossam Fadel, Augusta, GA Family Practice & Surgery, Eatonton, GA Yusif Farsakh, Arlington, VA Zamin Farukhi, Orange, CA William Gefell, Tunbridge, VT Barbara Germack, Brooklyn, NY Michael Gillespie, Maxwell, IA John & Alice Goodman, Bethesda, MD* Raymond Gordon, Venice, FL Dr. Safei Hamed, Columbia, MD Delinda C. Hanley, Kensington, MD† Shirley Hannah, Queensbury, NY Susan Haragely, Livonia, MI Prof. & Mrs. Brice Harris, Pasadena, CA Dr. Kamal Hasan, Davison, MI Nicholas Heer, Seattle, WA John Hendrickson, Albuquerque, NM Clement Henry, Moorestown, NJ A.H.M. Hilmy, Kew Richman, Surrey, UK Helen Holman, Litchfield, ME Mary Izett, Walnut Creek, VA Bilquis Jaweed, West Chester, OH Ronald Jaye, Watsonville, CA Jeanne Johnston, Santa Ynez, CA Dr. Jamil Jreisat, Temple Terrace, FL Omar & Nancy Kader, Vienna, VA James Kawakami, Los Angeles, CA Mazen Kawji, Burr Ridge, IL Ghazala Kazi, Columbia, MD Faizul & Maimun Khan, Silver Spring, MD Dr. M. Jamil Khan, Bloomfield Hills, MI M. Yousuf Khan, Scottsdale, AZ Fouad Khatib, San Jose, CA Dr. Mohayya Khilfeh, Chicago, IL Tony Khoury, Sedona, AZ Dr. Jane Killgore, Bemidji, MN* Mary Lou Kostielney, Phoenix, AZ Loretta Krause, Southport, NC Ronald Kunde, Skokie, IL Kendall Landis, Wallingford, PA James A. Langley, Washington, DC* William Lawand, Mount Royal, QC, Canada
Fran Lilleness, Seattle, WA Alice Ludvigsen, Oslo, Norway Anthony Mabarak, Grosse Pointe Park, MI A. Kent MacDougall, Berkeley, CA Ramy & Cynthia Mahmoud, Skillman, NJ Dr. & Mrs. Gabriel Makhlouf, Richmond, VA Dr. Asad Malik, Bloomfield Hills, MI Ted Marczak, Toms River, NJ Amal Marks, Altadena, CA Martha Martin, Paia, HI Tahsin Masud, Tucker, GA Shirl McArthur, Reston, VA Gwendolyn McEwen, Bellingham, WA Bill McGrath, Northfield, MN Caroline & John Merriam, Washington, DC* Arthur Miller, Spring City, PA Nabil Mohamad, Washington, DC John & Ruth Monson, La Crosse, WI Maury Keith Moore, Seattle, WA Isa & Dalal Musa, Falls Church, VA John Najemy, Albany, NY Sara Najjar-Wilson, Reston, VA Jacob Nammar, San Antonio, TX Nisrin Nasrallah, Gatineau, Canada Donald & Geraldine Ness, Leesburg, FL**** Susan Nye, Watertown, MA**** Tom O’Connell, Brooklyn, NY John L. Opperman, Ridgecrest, CA Khaled Othman, Riverside, CA Gennaro Pasquale, Oyster Bay, NY Amb. Edward & Ann Peck, Chevy Chase, MD Patricia & Michael Peterson, Washington, DC* Jim Plourd, Monterey, CA Barry Preisler, Albany, CA Brian & Colleen Price, Radnor, PA Cheryl Quigley, Toms River, NJ Robert Reynolds, Mill Valley, CA Neil Richardson, Randolph, VT Brynhild Rowberg, Northfield, MN Dr. Mohammed Sabbagh, Grand Blanc, MI Dr. Ahmed M. Sakkal, Charleston, WV Rafi M. Salem, Alamo, CA
Washington report on middle east affairs
73
angels_73-74_October 2017 Choir of Angels 10/17/17 5:45 PM Page 74
Betty Sams, Washington, DC* Irmgard Scherer, Fairfax, VA Dr. Abid A. Shah, Sarasota, FL Richard J. Shaker, Annapolis, MD Thomas Shaker, Poughkeepsie, NY Qaiser & Tanseem Shamim, Somerset, NJ Lewis Shapiro, White Plains, NY Lt. Col. Alfred Shehab, Odenton, MD Kathy Sheridan, Mill Valley, CA Dr. Mostafa Hashem Sherif, Tinton Falls, NJ Nancy Taylor Shivers, San Antonio, TX Teofilo Siman, Miami, FL Darcy Sreebny, Herndon, VA Gregory Stefanatos, Flushing, NY Cathy & Michel Sultan, Eau Claire, WI Mushtaq Syed, Santa Clara, CA Eddy Tamura, Morago, CA Joanie Tanous, Boulder, CO Doris Taweel, Laurel, MD J. Tayeb, Shelby Twp., MI Charles Thomas, La Conner, WA Jerry & Jane Thompson, Bemidji, MN* Michael Tomlin, New York, NY Joan Toole, Albany, GA Thomas Trueblood, Chapel Hill, NC Ruth Vail, Ann Arbor, MI John Van Wagoner, McLean, VA Paul H. Verduin, Silver Spring, MD Benjamin Wade, Saratoga, VA Robin & Nancy Wainwright, Severna Park, MD Lawrence Waldron, Berkeley, VA Rev. Hermann Weinlick, Minneapolis, MN Thomas C. Welch, Cambridge, MA Hugh Westwater, Columbus, OH Sarah & Robert Wilson, Reston, VA* Raymond Younes, Oxnard, CA Asma Yousef, Alexandria, VA Bernice Youtz, Tacoma, WA Mahmoud Zawawi, Amman, Jordan Vivian Zelaya, Berkeley, CA Fred Zuercher, Spring Grove, PA
ACCOMPANISTS ($250 or more)
Mohamed Alwan, Chestnut Ridge, NY Louise Anderson, Oakland, CA Dr. Isa Canavati, Fort Wayne, IN Joe Chamy, Colleyville, TX Larry Cooper, Plymouth, MI**** Robert & Tanis Diedrichs, Cedar Falls, IA*** Dr. David Dunning, Lake Oswego, OR Mervat Eid, Henrietta, NY Mr. & Mrs. Majed Faruki, Albuquerque, NM 74
Raymond Gordon, Venice, FL Erin K. Hankir, Nepean, ON, Canada Dr. Walid Harb, Dearborn Hts., MI Ribhi Hazin, Dearborn, MI Dr. Raymond Jallow, Los Angeles, CA Zagloul & Muntaha Kadah, Los Gatos, CA Gloria Keller, Santa Rosa, CA Omar Khwaja, Mountain View, CA Sandra La Framboise, Oakland, CA David & Renee Lent, Hanover, NH Nidal Mahayni, Richmond, VA Tahera Mamdani, Fridley, MN Tom & Tess McAndrew, Oro Valley, AZ Georgianna McGuire, Silver Spring, MD Donald & Jeannette McInnes, Cambridge, MA**** Darrel Meyers, Burbank, CA Ben Monk, Saint Paul, MN William & Nancy Nadeau, San Diego, CA Nancy Orr, Portland, OR Hertha Poje-Ammoumi, New York, NY Phillip Portlock, Washington, DC Mary H. Regier, El Cerrito, CA Nuhad Ruggiero, Bethesda, MD Lisa Schiltz, Barbar, Bahrain Yasir Shallal, McLean, VA David J. Snider, Bolton, MA Mae Stephen, Palo Alto, CA Dr. William Strange, Bandera, TX
TENORS & CONTRALTOS ($500 or more)
Michael Ameri, Calabasas, CA Colette Burghardt, Bethel Park, PA Forrest Cioppa, Moraga, CA Andrew and Krista Curtiss, Herndon, VA*,** Mo Dagstani, Redington Beach, FL Joseph Daruty, Newport Beach, CA Robert & Tanis Diedrichs, Cedar Falls, IA Clark Duncan, Rockville, MD Joseph & Angela Gauci, Whittier, CA Dr. Wasif Hafeez, W. Bloomfield, MI George Hanna, Santa Ana, CA Mr. & Mrs. Sameer Hassan, Quaker Hill, CT Brigitte Jaensch, Carmichael, CA Fahd Jajeh, Lake Forest, IL Ghazy Kader, Shoreline, WA Issa & Rose Kamar, Plano, TX Bill & Jean Mansour, Corvallis, OR Mr. & Mrs. W. Eugene Notz, Charleston, SC Audrey Olson, Saint Paul, MN Sam Rahman, Lincoln, CA Jalal & Gabrielle Saad, Long Beach, CA
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
Yusef & Jennifer Sifri, Wilmington, NC Dr. Robert Younes, Potomac, MD Dr. James Zogby, Washington, DC
BARITONES & MEZZO SOPRANOS ($1,000 or more)
Drs. A.J. & M.T. Amirana, Las Vegas, NV Lois Aroian, East Jordan, MI Karen Bossmeyer, Louisville, KY G. Edward & Ruth Brooking Jr., Wilmington, DE* Center for Arab American Philanthropy, Dearborn, MI Rev. Ronald C. Chochol, Saint Louis, MO Forrest Cioppa, Moraga, CA Henry Clifford, Essex, CT Rajie Cook, Washington Crossing, PA Edouard C. Emmet, Paris, France Gary R. Feulner, Dubai, UAE Ronald & Mary Forthofer, Longmont, CO Evan & Leman Fotos, Istanbul, Turkey Dr. Hassan Fouda, Berkeley, CA Salman & Kate Hilmy, Silver Spring, MD Hind Hamdan, Hagerstown, MD Julester Haste, Oxford, IA Ghazy Kader, Shoreline, WA Jack Love, San Diego, CA John Mahoney, New York, NY Roberta & John McInerney, Washington, DC* Mary Norton, Austin, TX Dr. M. F. Shoukfeh, Lubbock, TX Dr. Imad Tabry, Fort Lauderdale, FL Donn Trautman, Evanston, IL
CHOIRMASTERS ($5,000 or more)
Patricia Ann Abraham, Charleston, SC Donna B. Curtiss, Kensington, MD*,** Dr. & Mrs. Clyde Farris, West Linn, OR*,** John & Henrietta Goelet, New York, NY Estate of Andrew I. Killgore, Washington, DC John McGillion, Asbury Park, NJ *In Memory of Andrew I. Killgore **In Memory of Richard H. Curtiss ***In Honor of John F. Mahoney ****In Memory of Diane Cooper †In Memory of Prof. Jack Shaheen ††In Memory of Rosemarie Carnarius
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
UPA_ad_c3_UPA Ad Cover 3 10/16/17 1:27 PM Page c3
cover4_November/December 2017 Back Cover 10/17/17 5:47 PM Page c4
American Educational Trust Washington Report on Middle East Affairs P.O. Box 53062 Washington, DC 20009
November/December 2017 Vol. XXXVI, No. 7
Children play on the Gaza City beach at sunset, Sept. 21, 2017.
MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/GETTY IMAGES