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NEOCONS BLAME OBAMA FOR IRAQ DISASTER
NEOCONS BLAME OBAMA FOR IRAQ DISASTER

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DO THESE PALESTINIAN CHILDREN
DESERVE A CHANCE TO SUCCEED?
Education is a universal human right. United Palestinian Appeal (UPA)
works with its partner organizations to ensure that, despite ongoing
challenges of life under occupation, the most vulnerable Palestinians
are not deprived of this right. Trough a grant from UPA, the Spaford
Childrens Center in the Old City of Jerusalem provides special education
and psychological support for children sufering from post-traumatic
stress disorder, speech impediments, and learning disabilities.
Your support helps Palestinians in need.
Visit helpupa.org today to donate online.
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&$a_ad_c2_UPA C2 DECEMBER 2011 10/24/11 11:19 AM Page c2
On Middle East Affairs
Volume XXX, No. 9 December 2011
Telling the Truth for 29 Years
Interpreting the Middle East for North Americans I Interpreting North America for the Middle East
THE U.S. ROLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE
8 Obamas Speech to the U.N.: In Distorting the Facts
He Revealed the TruthRachelle Marshall
12 28 Years: One Palestinian Prisoners Story
Mohammed Omer
13 Inside the Mideast Prisoner SwapAli Abunimah
14 Price Tag or Pogrom? West Bank Settlers Now
Running Amok in Israel as WellJonathan Cook
17 Washington Impaling Itself on the Horns of a
Diplomatic DilemmaIan Williams
19 Neocons Blame Obama for Iraq Disaster
Robert Parry
20 How Plausible Is the Alleged Iranian Terror
Plot?Two Views
Gareth Porter, Patrick Seale
24 Afghanistan: Ten Years of Aimless War
Eric S. Margolis
25 What Lay Behind the Libya Intervention?
William Pfaff
26 The Assassination of Anwar Al-AwlakiTwo Views
Patrick Seale, Rep. Ron Paul
28 Republican Frontrunner Mitt Romney Touts
Neoconservative Foreign PolicyJim Lobe
30 Congress Echoes Israels Near Hysteria Over
Palestinians U.N. BidShirl McArthur
38 Go Palestine: An Extraordinary Summer Camp
Behind the WallRamsey Langley
ON THE COVER: An armed Jewish settler from the illegal West Bank settlement of Elon More mans a barrier on
a main road near Nablus which Palestinians are allowed to cross only at specic hours to reach their olive groves just
outside the village of Salem and harvest their crop. JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
SPECIAL REPORTS
32 The Sins of Liam FoxJustin Raimondo
34 The Political Uses of Islamophobia in Europe
John Gee
40 Canadian War-Crimes ProteeringSean F. McMahon
Nearly three weeks after demonstrators gathered to mark the 10th
anniversary of the war in Afghanistan on Oct. 6, anti-war protesters
determined to dismantle the war machine remain camped out at
Freedom Plaza in downtown Washington, DC, Oct. 25, 2011.
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toc_3-4_December 2011 TOC 10/27/11 1:26 PM Page 3
5 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
7 PUBLISHERS PAGE
23 THE WORLD LOOKS AT THE
MIDDLE EAST CARTOONS
36 OTHER PEOPLES MAIL
42 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
CHRONICLE: Gaza Kids Art
Show a Smashing Success De-
spite Museums Attempt at
CensorshipElaine Pasquini
44 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
CHRONICLE: Diana Buttu
Addresses Palestine Childrens
Relief Fund Healing Hands
BenetPat and Samir Twair
46 NEW YORK CITY AND TRI-
STATE NEWS: Longtime
Journalist Describes Iranians as
Most Pro-American People in
Middle EastJane Adas
49 ISRAEL AND JUDAISM:
The Myth of an Israel-Centered
Jewish Voteand its Negative
Consequences for Mideast Peace
Allan C. Brownfeld
52 ARAB-AMERICAN ACTIVISM:
Comedian Discusses U.S. Islam-
ophobia, Comedy in Arab World
52 MUSLIM-AMERICAN
ACTIVISM: CAIRs Annual
Fund-raiser a Huge Success
54 HUMAN RIGHTS:
Share the Water, Build the Peace
56 MUSIC AND ARTS:
Chamys Of Refuge, Of Home
Explores Family Myth and
History
58 EDUCATION:
Mideast Universities Face Chal-
lenge of Unemployed Graduates
59 WAGING PEACE:
Panel Explores Egypts Changing
Religious Climate
68 DIPLOMATIC DOINGS:
Saudi Arabia Celebrates 80th
Anniversary
69 BULLETIN BOARD
70 BOOK REVIEWS:
Israeli Rejectionism: A Hidden
Agenda in the Middle East Peace
Process
Zahras Paradise
Reviewed by Andrew Stimson
71 NEW ARRIVALS FROM THE
AET BOOK CLUB
72 2011 AET CHOIR OF ANGELS
22 INDEX TO ADVERTISERS
The Terrorist Who Couldnt Think Straight,
Justin Raimondo, www.antiwar.com OV-1
Why I Published U.S. Intelligence Secrets
About Israels Anti-Iran Campaign,
Richard Silverstein, www.truthout.org OV-3
The Never-ending Terror Threat,
Ivan Eland, www.consortiumnews.com OV-6
Why the Drone Wars Threaten Us All,
Conn Hallinan,
www.dispatchesfromtheedgeblog.wordpress.com OV-7
Last Week at the U.N., Israel Lost America,
Larry Derfner, www.972mag.com OV-8
Israels Jewishness: Precondition for Palestinian
Statehood, Jonathan Cook, Al-Akhbar English OV-9
Gilad Atzmon on Jewish Identity Politics,
Kathleen Christison, www.counterpunch.com OV-10
Ruling for Yoram Kaniuk Hailed as Major
Victory for Separation of State and
Religion, Tomer Zarchin, Haaretz OV-12
A Mixture of Feelings as Prisoners Near
Freedom, Shahd Abusalama,
www.palestinefrommyeyes.blogspot.com OV-12
Tunisia: Social Media Lifts the Silence,
Simba Russeau, IPS-Inter Press Service OV-13
Who Murdered My Old Friend Prof. Rabbani?,
Eric S. Margolis, www.ericmargolis.com OV-14
Why Did the United States Invade
Afghanistan?, Tim Kelly, www.fff.org OV-15
Other Voices Other Voices
(A Supplement to the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs available by sub-
scription at $15 per year. To subscribe, call toll-free 1-800-368-5788, and press 1.
For other options, see page OV-3 in this issue.)
Compiled by Janet McMahon
DEPARTMENTS
toc_3-4_December 2011 TOC 10/27/11 12:17 PM Page 4
U.S. Outrage at the U.N.
Laughable
Russia and China on Oct. 4 vetoed a pro-
posed U.N. resolution targeting the unac-
ceptable treatment of protesters by the Syr-
ian regime. The United States
rightlyexpressed outrage at this veto.
However, the inappropriately childish be-
havior of the U.S. permanent representative,
Ambassador Susan Rice (again), actually
embarrassed the U.N. more than the veto
did! Remember, in February, Ambassador
Rice vetoed a draft resolution condemning
Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory
while all other 14 members of the Security
Council unanimously voted in favor of the
resolution, making the U.S. seem
disturbingly out of touch with
events on the ground, and horri-
bly disinterested in the desperate
plight of the Palestinian people. It
seems she continues the downhill
slide, by petulantly walking out
during an address by the Syrian
ambassador, who himself has re-
spectfully faced a tirade of criti-
cism by Ambassador Rice. Am-
bassador Rice makes the U.S. look
like a spoiled, bullying child who
sulks when it doesnt have its
way. Ambassador Rices petulant
behavior echoes back to the dark
days of the Bush administration, when John
Bolton, then acting U.S. permanent repre-
sentative to the United Nations, was
renowned for his tirades. His term did not
last. I suspect that if Ambassador Rice con-
tinues to embarrass the U.S. on the interna-
tional stage, neither will hers.
Dr. Rory E. Morty, Giessen, Germany
We suspect the decision to veto the settle-
ment resolutionand, presumably, the ap-
plication of Palestine for admission to the
U.N. as a member statewas made not by
Rice, but by a head of state (and not neces-
sarily her own). We were embarrassed in
February by Rices attempt to explain that
even though she vetoed the settlement resolu-
tion, the U.S. opposes Israels illegal settle-
ments. But her walking out on the Syrian
ambassador as he was speaking is beyond in-
tellectual obfuscationits flat-out rudeness.
Terror Plot or Distraction?
More and more Iran experts are debunk-
ing the Obamas administration claim that
Mansour Arbabsiar, a whiskey drinking
used car salesman, was behind the alleged
plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to
the U.S., Adel al-Jubeir.
The planned crime scene seems to have
been lifted from the Godfather I movie
script, in which a bomb was supposed to
have been detonated in a prominent
restaurant. Gary Sick, an Iran expert at Co-
lumbia University, warned that Israel and
the U.S. are launching an aggressive propa-
ganda campaign to justify economic and
possibly military attacks on Iran. The mur-
der of several of Irans nuclear scientists
has increased tensions between Iran and
Israel, which has been accused of commit-
ting the crimes. Reza Aslan, a prominent
Iran expert, also debunked the alleged
plot, warning that such incendiary
rhetoric could drag the U.S. into yet an-
other dangerous conflict.
The alleged plot seems to be a deliberate
attempt to distract a restive public from its
economic woes and to cozy up to Israel to
gain the Jewish vote. The Obama adminis-
tration would be wise to heed the words of
Adm. Mike Mullen, former chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who advised the
Obama administration to replace the belli-
cose rhetoric with Iran with meaningful
dialogue.
Jagjit Singh, Los Altos, CA
For more views on the alleged terror plot,
see p. 20 of this issue.
Voters Take Note
The U.S. economy is in serious trouble, yet
the pro-Israel lobby continues to expect
and accept $3-plus billion yearly plus $2
billion to Egypt to not wage war against Is-
rael. I have not heard one word from the
pro-Israel lobby to deny this award to Is-
rael. Why? The economy in Israel is used
primarily to wage war against the Palestini-
ans. Our Congress is a weapon against the
Palestinians. More and more U.S. citizens
are becoming aware of this situation and
will react accordingly.
Vern H. Wecler, Bay City, MI
Not only does the Israel lobby not suggest
Publisher: ANDREW I. KILLGORE
Executive Editor: RICHARD H. CURTISS
Managing Editor: JANET McMAHON
News Editor: DELINDA C. HANLEY
Book Club Director: ANDREW STIMSON
Circulation Director: ANNE OROURKE
Administrative Director: ALEX BEGLEY
Art Director: RALPH U. SCHERER
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LetterstotheEditor
DECEMBER 2011 5 THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
lte_5-6_December 2011 LTE 10/27/11 12:09 PM Page 5
6 DECEMBER 2011 THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
an end to U.S. taxpayer dollars to Israel
all of which is designated for military pur-
posesbut in the midst of severe budget
cuts, Israel-firsters such as House Minority
Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) are reassuring
Israelnot their American constituents
that its annual take is sacrosanct. In the run-
up to next Novembers election well be com-
piling pro-Israel PAC contributions and con-
gressional voting records for the benefit of
our readers and their fellow Americans. It
only makes sense that voters want to elect
leaders who represent their interests, not
those of a foreign country.
Can We Afford $30 Billion in
Aid to Israel?
This is the wording of a billboard ad I
placed with CBS Outdoor, a division of
CBS Corporation. When I opted to extend
the time period for the ad the response
from CBS was that they would not con-
tinue to be a vehicle for this cause be-
cause of feedback from the community.
CBS obviously does not subscribe to
Thomas Paines dictum, When opinions
are free, truth will prevail.
Henry Clifford, Essex, CT
While free speech ostensibly is an Ameri-
can value, questioning U.S. aid to Israel can
be very costly. As recipients of our Action
Alerts learned, however, the Washington
Posts Walter Pincus did just that in an Oct.
18 Fine Print column titled U.S. Must
Reevaluate Its Assistance to Israel. Read-
ers interested in receiving alerts of future
media breakthroughs can sign up on our Web
site, <www.wrmea.com>.
Connecting the Dots
When I was getting ready to send the
Sept./Oct. postcards regarding Palestines
bid for U.N. membership, I learned for the
first time that 18 foreign ambassadors had
been given the free trip treatment to-
ward advancement of the Zionists agenda
against any furtherance of the Palestini-
ans aspirations. I was angry enough at the
photo of Zionist Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and
numerous The Israel Project (TIP)
posters and signs on display in the room;
then I went to your Publishers Page
and learned that 22 House and 15 Senate
members sit on TIPs board of advisers.
Connecting the dots, my outrage was com-
plete. Surelysurelythese 37 miscre-
ants are skirting, if not trampling upon,
ethics and American-security violations
which some intrepid, patriotic organiza-
tion should bring to glaring scrutiny and
resolution!
How many of the 37, I wonder, would
stampede to be on the board of The
America Project or an equivalent body
dedicated to pursuit of America-first core
national interests? Oh, rightthey are
board members of the U.S. Congress,
which should guide their actions every
waking moment. But alas, their body
would be better termed the USrael Con-
gress: avidly serving the best interests of
one side of an entangled alliance from
which I envision no extrication.
Robert H. Stiver, Pearl City, Hawaii
We hope that you will raise this matter
directly with your senators and representa-
tive at public gatherings they are likely to
have during the upcoming campaign season.
You might ask Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI),
for example, who is up for re-election next
year, what he has done to earn $122,000
in pro-Israel PAC contributions throughout
his career. In addi-
t i on t o hol di ng
your elected offi-
cial accountable,
you will also be
getting the word
out to your fellow
constituents. Well
begin printing our
compilations of
pro-Israel PAC
contributions next
year, with updates
through Novem-
ber. In the mean-
t i me , v o t i n g
records and total
pro-Israel PAC
c o nt r i but i o ns
through the 2010
el ect i on can be
found on our Web
s i t e , < www.
wrmea.com>, under Activist Resources:
Congress & U.S. Aid to Israel.
Downloading Postcards
We have always appreciated the post-
cards feature of your magazine. We rou-
tinely take the text and use it for a letter to
our legislators.
However, while the magazine states,
you can download these postcards into
an e-mail message, the Postcards Index
page at <www.wrmea.com/component/
content/article/376-postcards/10795-post-
cards-index.html> does not show the cur-
rent issues card text, which makes it nec-
essary to transcribe the whole card by re-
typing it.
There is no reason the current issues
postcard text should not be available along
with the rest of the current issue.
(Alsomake the postcards easier to find
on your Web site!)
Rashid Patch, Oakland, CA
Thank you for taking the time to write us
with your suggestions, which we have taken
to heart. While we do not post our latest
issue on our Web site (in order to encourage
subscriptions and hence survive), we agree
that the current postcard should be immedi-
ately available to all. Weve also given
Postcards to Your Legislators its own link
under Activist Resources.
Salve on a Wound
First, thank you. Thank you for your brav-
ery in taking up the cause of justice and
sanity, when so many are apathetic or ag-
gressively opposed to it.
I am currently incarcerated and am
using my time constructively. Because of
the massacre in Gaza (aka Operation Cast
Lead) I refocused my life on calling for, and
working toward, a sane approach and just
resolution to Israels conquest of Palestine.
Now that I am incarcerated I am working
on a book that I hope will add to these
ends.
In so doing, I am taking on a topic that is
aggressively marketed, from a place where
I am aggressively manipulated. My point is
your heroic attempts at bringing truth to
light are salve on my wound. I dont have a
subscription yet, or the financial where-
withal right now for a full subscription,
but am including $15 for a subscription to
Other Voices.
Raphael McNamara, Cumberland, MD
We read about your case at <http://up-
rootedpalestinians.blogspot.com/2010/04/no
nviolent-american-peace-activist.html>.
Thanks to one of our many angels, we are
able to send you Other Voices as part of a
full subscription to the magazine. We know
you will put both to good use! K
Other Voices is an optional 16-
page supplement available only
to subscribers of the Washington
Report on Middle East Affairs.
For an additional $15 per year
(see postcard insert for Wash -
ington Re port subscription
rates), subscribers will receive
Other Voices bound into each
issue of their Washington Report
on Middle East Affairs.
Back issues of both publications are avail able. To sub-
scribe telephone 1 (800) 368-5788 (press 1), fax (202)
265-4574, e-mail <circulation@wrmea.com>, or write to
P.O. Box 53062, Washington, DC 20009.
lte_5-6_December 2011 LTE 10/27/11 12:09 PM Page 6
Publishers Page Publishers Page
Our Special Message to You.
For 30 yearsas of next year!the
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
has brought you both the fascinating and
the infuriating news our mainstream
media dont want you to know about U.S.
and Mideast relations and the efforts by
both elected government ofcials and or-
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If your library cannot afford the $29 sub-
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continue to fund this magazine through
thick and thin.
Normal People Living Normal Lives.
In this special holiday issue, in which sub-
scribers will nd our bonus 2012 calen-
dar, youll see images of Palestinians
trying to go about their daily livespick-
ing olives, tending their elds, working in
stores, businesses and schools just like cit-
izens of every other country in the world.
Unlike them, however, Palestinians have
been waiting 63 years for the world to rec-
ognize their countrydespite the fact
that U.N. Resolution 194, passed on Dec.
11, 1948, upholds the right of return to
their homes and property for Palestinians
driven out as a result of Zionist military op-
erations in 1948 that culminated in declar-
ing the State of Israel. Instead
Life Is Becoming Increasingly Hard
As those who remain are forced to cope with
growing violence by settlers, who are beat-
ing up both Palestinian and Jewish activists
and torching orchards and mosques. While
mainstream media focused on the release of
captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalitwho
was exchanged for more than 1,000 Pales-
tinian prisoners, many of whom had never
had a fair trialthere is no mention of Pales-
tinians who remain political prisoners or
who still are being picked up in nightly
raids. But for millions of refugees
The Situation Remains Unchanged.
In 1973, 1992 and 2011, Ghada Karmi and
Ellen Siegel protested at an Israeli embassy
(see back cover photo and story by manag-
ing editor Janet McMahon on p. 35 of the
Aug./Sept. 1992 Washington Report). As she
recounts in her acclaimed memoir In Search
of Fatima (available from the AET Book
Club), Karmi is a displaced Palestinian who
fled her home in West Jerusalem with her
parents when she was only 8 and has never
been allowed to return. Ellen Siegel, an
American Jew who was working as a nurse
in Beiruts Sabra and Shatila refugee camps
in 1982 when Lebanese Phalangists, pro-
tected by Israeli troops, massacred hun-
dreds of Palestinian civilians, can make
Aliyah and return to Israel anytime. The
longtime friends have spent the intervening
yearsKarmi in London and Siegel in
Washington, DCworking to challenge
Israels repression and violation of Palestini-
ans human rights. Their efforts, along with
those of other heroes, including longtime
peace activists living in Israel and the occu-
pied territories, have made a difference. Its
certainly true that, here in America....
The Times They are a Changin.
We know its true because our interns and
readers are finding passionate, well-writ-
ten letters and editorials in newspapers
across the United States in support of
Palestinians who deserve to live freely in
their own land. These letters, op-eds and
editorials were published in a wide spec-
trum of newspapers from Boston to Los
Angeles, Chicago to Corpus Christi, Palm
Beach to Portlandyou get the idea. De-
spite the relentless efforts of American
Christian and Jewish Zionists, public opin-
ion in this country increasingly is in agree-
ment with the international worldview in
support of Palestinian statehood.
The Holiday Season
Is almost upon us, and wed like to suggest
that our readers work to help Palestinians,
and our friends throughout the Middle East
and North Africa, nd real peace and pros-
perity. That will take writing more letters,
speaking out at public eventsincluding
candidate forums, since next years elections
are almost upon us as welland educating
friends and family at every opportunity. If
you havent already, add your e-mail address
to our action alert list so that you, too, can
join worldwide campaigns to Support
Palestines U.N. Bid, Halt Construction of a
Museum of Tolerance on the site of an an-
cient Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem,
Reevaluate Aid to Israel, or encourage
brave columnists who speak out, like Walter
Pincus in (of all places) The Washington Post.
Shine a Light on Palestine.
Another way you can help is to buy your
holiday gifts from the AET Book Club,
which is ready to meet your gift-giving
needs. Visit our Web site, <www.mid-
dleeastbooks.com> to peruse the latest
books, music, greeting cards and DVDs, or
come to our Adams Morgan store in Wash-
ington, DC. We also carry Palestinian prod-
ucts, including embroidery, olive oil soap, and
organic fair trade olive oil. Your purchases pro-
vide a market for Palestinian products in the
U.S. and help empower and sustain these com-
munities. Give our books, goodsand, of
course, subscriptions to the Washington
Reportas gifts and use them to educate your
friends and family. Lets work together to
inform our fellow Americans and
Make a Difference Today!
American Educational Trust
Deadline for
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Orders
Books from the AET Book Club
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p!bliher_7Dec_DECEMBER 2010 P!bliher page 10/27/11 3:21 PM Page 7
O
n Nov. 13, 1974, Yasser Arafat, chair-
man of the Palestine Liberation Organi-
zation, spoke before the U.N. General As-
sembly and described his dream of a Pales-
tine of tomorrow, a democratic state in
which Jews, Christians, and Muslims would
live together in peace. He invited Israelis to
share his dream, and declared, I have come
bearing an olive branch and a freedom
fighters gun. Do not let the olive branch fall
from my hand. The Israeli ambassador re-
fused to attend, calling the PLO a band of
murderers and cutthroats, and accusing
the international community of degradation
and disgrace for allowing Arafat a platform.
On Sept. 23, 2011, another Palestinian
leader, Mahmoud Abbas, appeared before
the General Assembly, this time to appeal
for U.N. recognition of an independent
Palestinian state to exist side by side with
Israel. Long before Arafats death the Pales-
tinians had agreed to relinquish 78 percent
of original Palestine in return for an inde-
pendent state in the West Bank, Gaza and
East Jerusalem. Abbas asked for interna-
tional endorsement of such a state.
Unlike Arafat, Abbas did not wear a kef-
fiyeh and holster (Arafats was empty), but a
conservative business suit. The bespectacled
69-year-old repeatedly stressed the Palestini-
ans commitment to peace, and received a
standing ovation as he declared, The time
is now for the Palestinian spring, the spring
of a peaceful struggle that will reach its
goal. The request was more than symbolic.
Recognition by the U.N. would allow the
Palestinians to bring action against Israel at
the International Criminal Court for its ille-
gal occupation of a sovereign state, as well as
its other violations of international law.
A favorable vote at the U.N. would also
put the weight of the world community be-
hind the Palestinians as they deal with its
far more powerful occupier. The asymme-
try between the two sides was illustrated in
October by the exchange of a young Israeli
soldier, Gilad Shalit, for 1,027 Palestinian
prisoners. Shalit, who was captured by
Hamas in 2006, was the only prisoner held
by Palestinians. Thousands of Palestinians
remain in Israeli prisons, and their numbers
are being constantly added to.
Israels agreement with Hamas, which left
Abbas out of the loop, undoubtedly was
aimed at undercutting the Palestinian presi-
SpecialReport SpecialReport
Obamas Speech to the U.N.: In Distorting
The Facts He Revealed the Truth
By Rachelle Marshall
A family from the West Bank village of Al-Jania harvests olive trees in their grove located outside the illegal Jewish settlement ot Talmon,
north of Ramallah, Oct. 25, 2011.
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"a&'ha!!_8-10_S%ecia! Re%$&( 10/27/11 1:17 PM Page 8
dents standing at home and abroad and
weakening his ability to gain Security
Council support for Palestinian state-
hood. Israel has long done its best to si-
lence or discredit Palestinian moderates
and potential leaders. During the early
1980s, it deported Mubarak Awad, the
founder of the Palestinian Center for the
Study of Nonviolence who was known
as the Palestinian Gandhi. Israel also
imprisoned the distinguished elder
Faisal Husseini for advocating a two-
state solution at a Peace Now rally in
Jerusalem.
It was not surprising, therefore, that
Israeli negotiators of the recent prisoner
exchange agreed to release a number of
convicted murderers but adamantly re-
fused to include the widely respected
Marwan Barghouti, an early advocate of
a two-state solution who for years was
considered the most promising leader of
a future Palestinian state.
Reference to the Palestinians will-
ingness to accept peaceful coexistence
was entirely missing from President
Barack Obamas Sept. 21 speech to the U.N.
He praised the liberation movements in
Egypt, Tunisia, Syria and Libya, but insisted
that the Palestinians make peace with Israel
before seeking statehood. He portrayed Is-
rael as a victim of repeated wars of aggres-
sion, and under constant threat from those
who would wipe it off the map. But he
made no mention of Israels repeated refusal
of Arab peace offers, of its blockade of Gaza,
or of the hundreds of West Bank check-
points and Jewish-only roads that for West
Bank Palestinians can turn 10-minute trips
into 3-hour ordeals. As Hanan Ashrawi ob-
served, Listening to Obama you would
think it was the Palestinians who occupy Is-
rael.
Given its omissions and distortions
Obamas speech might have been churned
out by an Israeli propaganda mill. Israels
racist Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman
said he would sign it with both hands,
and Obamas popularity in Israel rose by
nearly 50 points.But those who believed
Obama in 2010, when he spoke of an inde-
pendent sovereign state of Palestine within
a year, were brought back to earth. Daniel
Levy of the New America Foundation called
the speech farcical, saying that Obamas
position was that Palestinian freedoms,
rights, and self-determination are somehow
supposed to be attained without recourse to
leverage, international law, or meaningful
international support.
Obamas naked appeal to Israels support-
ers had one virtue, however. It ended the
pretense that Washington was committed to
achieving justice for the Palestinians. Suc-
cessive administrations since 1991 have sent
billions of dollars in aid to Israel every year,
and vetoed every U.N. Security Council res-
olution calling on Israel to abide by inter-
national law, while at the same time claim-
ing to be an even-handed peacemaker. That
masquerade ended with Obamas speech to
the General Assembly.
In saying there are no short cuts to
peace, Obama was ignoring 20 years of
fruitless negotiations. The most cringe-in-
ducing moment came with his call for
Palestinians and Israelis to sit down, to lis-
ten to each other, and to understand each
others hopes and fears, as if group therapy
was a way to end 44 years of Israeli occu-
pation. Obamas real message was that
Palestinians could expect no help from an
America whose elected officials take their
marching orders from Israel.
Congress reinforced that message when it
blocked nearly $200 million in U.S. aid to
the Palestinian Authority despite a warning
by Brig. Gen. Nitzan Alon, commander of
Israels occupation forces, that stability in
the region required that the Authority be
able to pay its salaries. The legislators elim-
inated aid that was earmarked for nutrition
programs, health care and other humanitar-
ian services, but made sure that Israeli set-
tlers will be protected. Funding will con-
tinue for the Palestinian security forces that
work with the Israeli army in keeping order
in the West Bank.
In fact, of course, it is the Palestinians who
are in desperate need of protection. A surge
of settler violence has for months been
spreading terror in the West Bank and Arab
areas of Israel as armed vigilantes attack
Palestinian farmers, uproot trees and set fires.
Nearly a thousand olive trees were destroyed
in September and early October, and at least
eight mosques were damaged, including a
large mosque in the village of Tuba-Zan-
gariya in the Galilee. Two suspected attackers
were arrested but quickly released.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human
Rights warned Israel that it had a legal
obligation to help curb the attacks, but
Abdul Hakim Ahmed, a teacher whose vil-
lage is attacked by settlers several times a
week, said complaining to the army does
no good. They come, they take notes, they
leave, he said.
The Obama administration is asking the
Palestinians to endure such crimes indefi-
nitely while the two sides talk on and Israeli
settlements proliferate. Israeli Prime Minis-
ter Binyamin Netanyahu says he will not
budge from his demands that Palestinians
recognize Israel as a Jewish state, and that
Jerusalem remain the undivided capital of
Israel. He claims that a Palestinian state on
the 1967 borders would endanger Israels se-
curity, but is presumably willing to risk the
lives of 600,000 Israelis in illegal colonies lo-
cated far inside the West Bank.
Obamas opposition to Palestinian mem-
bership in the U.N. can only be explained
by an election-year need to improve his
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An American-made Israeli Caterpillar bulldozer uproots trees on Palestinian land as it cuts a path for
an extension of Israels illegal separation wall near the West Bank village of Walajah, a few miles
from Bethlehem, Oct. 3, 2011.
marshall_8-10_Special Report 10/27/11 1:17 PM Page 9
standing with pro-Israel
voters. Recognition by the
U.N. would in no way in-
terfere with the resump-
tion of peace negotiations.
It would, however, en-
hance the Palestinians
status in those negotia-
tions, and this is what Is-
rael is determined to pre-
vent. A similar concern
undoubtedly prompted
the U.S. to vote against
Palestinian membership
in the U.N. Educational,
Scientific, and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO)
on Oct. 5. Only Germany,
Latvia and Romania
joined with the U.S. in the
40-4 vote.
Once again, administra-
tion spokesmen were
forced to defend the inde-
fensible by resorting to
inanities. We do not be-
lieve the objective we all
havetwo states, Pales-
tine and Israelcan be
achieved through a cul-
ture and science organiza-
tion in Paris, a U.S. offi-
cial said. But nobody
claimed it would. But
what it would do is allow
the Palestinians to seek in-
ternational protection of
their historic sites in East
Jerusalem, for centuries
the center of Arab and
Muslim culture. Israeli
bulldozers are now busy
obliterating signs of that
culture, along with the
homes of thousands of
Arabs.
Soon the issue of Pales-
tinian membership will go
to UNESCOs 193-member General Confer-
ence for approval. If the Palestinians are
granted membership, existing legislation
and bills pending before Congress will
oblige the U.S. to cut off all contributions to
the U.N. and its agencies. Israel meanwhile is
punishing the Palestinians by lengthening
waits at checkpoints and refusing to turn
over the millions of dollars in tax revenues it
collects for the Palestinian Authority.
On Sept. 27, less than a week after the
Palestinians applied for U.N. membership, Is-
rael announced it would build 1,100 new
housing units in an area south of Jerusalem
that the government illegally annexed in
1967. According to Khalil Toufakji, a Pales-
tinian housing expert who follows Israeli set-
tlement policy, Israel also has plans to house
thousands of additional settlers on land
northwest of Bethlehem.
The timing of Israels announcement made
a mockery of the statement issued a week
earlier by the Quartetthe U.S., European
Union, Russia and the U.N.urging the two
sides to refrain from provocative actions
and return to the negotiating table without
preconditions. State Department spokes-
woman Victoria Nuland was forced to say
for the umpteenth time,
We are deeply disap-
pointed.
In early October the
Palestinian petition for
U.N. membership was
sent to a Security Council
committee, where repre-
sentatives of the 15 mem-
ber nations are studying
it. If nine of the members
approve it, the measure
will go to the full Security
Council, where it faces a
certain U.S. veto. Wash-
ingtons veto would come
at some cost, however. In
a Sept. 12 New York
Times op-ed, former
Saudi ambassador to the
U.S. Turki al-Faisal said it
would cause an uproar
among Muslims world-
wide and warned of
profound negative con-
sequences to U.S.-Saudi
relations.
Al-Faisal urged the U.S.
to heed the vast major-
ity of Arabs and Muslims
who demand justice for
the Palestinian people
and not stand in the way
of their long overdue
recognition. Obama,
however reluctantly, is
certain to reject such ad-
vice. Like his predeces-
sors, he is locked in a
damaging alliance with
Israel that too often forces
the U.S. to act contrary to
its own interests and in-
creases the likelihood of
terrorist attacks.
The pitfalls of the al-
liance were again made
evident when it was re-
vealed that since 2009 the Obama adminis-
tration has been sending 5,000-pound
bunker buster bombs to Israel. Since the
bombs were designed to penetrate Irans un-
derground nuclear facilities, the Bush ad-
ministration had refrained from sending
them for fear the U.S. would be seen as en-
dorsing an Israeli attack. A Pentagon
spokesman refused to comment on that pos-
sibility but said, Make no mistake about it;
the United States is committed to the secu-
rity of Israel and Israels ability to maintain
its qualitative edge. The problem is that re-
The Anniversary No One Wanted to Celebrate
On Oct. 6, exactly 10 years after U.S. troops invaded Afghanistan, and
approximately 8 years after Operation Shock and Awe launched the U.S.
war in Iraq, it seemed increasingly likely that a generation of American chil-
dren will enter high school without ever having lived in a country at peace.
The U.S. troop withdrawal scheduled for December under an agree-
ment with Iraq will be a withdrawal in name only. Iraqs rulers have agreed
to let 5,000 soldiers remain in the country as trainers, and those troops
will be augmented by tens of thousands of additional embassy employees
and private contractors. As car bombings and assassinations continue to
kill Iraqis, the war to overthrow Saddam Hussain has turned into a proxy
war between the U.S. and Iran. According to the U.S. military, Iranian
forces train and equip the Shii militias that attack American soldiers and
assassinate members of the Iraqi government in an effort to weaken Iraq
and make it more dependent on Iran. Washington is not likely to let that
happen.
There is even less probability of a U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The
Taliban are able to strike at will in large areas of the country, the Afghan
police and army are weak and ineffectual, and the government of Presi-
dent Hamid Karzai cant begin to pay the $10 billion a year it takes to main-
tain them. Even if Obama removes 33,000 troops by the summer of 2012
as he has promised to do, more than double the number of U.S. soldiers
who were there when he took office will remain, along with some 100,000
private contractors.
Meanwhile, U.S. relations with Pakistan are steadily worsening. Military
officials accuse Pakistans security forces of tolerating and even cooperating
with insurgent groups that attack American troops, and the Pakistanis re-
sent U.S. drone attacks and incursions into its territory by U.S. forces.
Karzai has heightened the tensions by moving closer to India, Pakistans
feared adversary.
To cope with these problems the U.S. and Afghanistan are expected to
sign an agreement known as the Strategic Partnership Declaration, which
would guarantee a permanent American presence in the country. The U.S.
will continue to train, equip, and sustain Afghan security forces, continue
counterterrorism operations, and strengthen Afghan ties to NATO.
Afghanistan in turn will be committed to creating a legal framework and en-
vironment favorable to private sector and international investment.
Robert Koehler, author of Courage Grows Strong at the Wound, points out
that the agreement gives the U.S. a permanent, enduring military pres-
ence in Central Asia. Above all, he writes, it would so likely enrage the
Taliban that they wouldnt come to the negotiating table, keeping the pre-
text for warand the Afghan governments catastrophic security needs,
alive in perpetuity. It would also keep alive the hatred of America that led
to 9/11 and the decade of death and suffering that has followed. R.M.
Continued on page 74
marshall_8-10_Special Report 10/27/11 1:18 PM Page 10
d!(_$e)+%'"_c2_D!( Ne)+%'" December 2011 10/26/11 1:46 PM Page 11
H
uman rights activists refer to Salim Al-
Kayyali as the dean of detainees.
One of the 1,027 Palestinian prisoners Israel
agreed to release in return for the captured
Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, he has been in-
carcerated in an Israeli prisonwithout
triallonger than any imprisoned Pales-
tinian. Even before his latest incarceration,
for his affiliation with the military wing of
the Fatah party, Al-Kayyali had been ar-
rested and jailed multiple times for that af-
filiation and his political activities. The last
time he saw freedom was on May 30, 1983,
28 years agoand exactly half his life.
Al-Kayyali has been in prison since before
the first intifada broke out; before the mas-
sacre perpetrated by Barnard Goldstein on a
Hebron mosque, killing dozens and wound-
ing hundreds of worshippers, and opening
the door to retaliatory bombings; since well
before Oslo, before the 2000 Camp David
summit, before Sept. 11, 2001, before hun-
dreds of checkpoints made travel nearly im-
possible, and before a single concrete slab of
Israels wall was pounded into the earth, tear-
ing apart entire Palestinian communities. The
world the 56-year-old Al-Kayyali returned to
on Oct. 18 barely resembles the one he last
saw. Things are far worsebut hell have
plenty of time to absorb all the changes in the
weeks ahead. The day of his release was
about joy and reuniting with his family mem-
bersmany of whom hes never met.
Al-Kayyalis wife has waited nearly three
decades for her husbands return. She has
not seen him since 1996, when the Israeli
Prison Service began denying her visitation
with her husband. Not a moment passed
when Salim was not on my mind, she ex-
plains. Now my husband is back, she
says with delight. I have no further reason
to feel the weight of the seconds, minutes,
passing by on the clock hanging in the
hallway next to his photograph.
Recalling the moment she heard the good
news that her husband was to be released,
her eyes well up with joy: When I heard
the words of the radio news presenter an-
nouncing my husbands name, I cried, and
knelt down on the floor to thank God for
this gift.
In addition to his wife, Al-Kayyali has a
daughter hes never seen. Douwaa Al-
Kayyali is now 28 years old, married and
with a newborn baby of her own. All she
knows of her father comes from family sto-
ries and the poster of him hanging in the
familys hallway. Hope came back to me
after 2006 when Gilad Shalit was cap-
tured, the young mother explains. Her
hope was based on the fact that over the
years Israel has traded Palestinian prisoners
for captured Israeli soldiers or the bodies of
those killed in action.
Al-Kayyalis mother, Roqayya, who was
43 when he was born, just celebrated her
100th birthday. This is a day she never
thought shed see. Speaking from her
wheelchair, she eagerly anticipates the son
she hasnt seen in years, as the Israeli oc-
cupation denied my visits to him for the
past years.
For all these years her faith sustained her,
as she prayed that her son would be freed.
Today that moment has arrived. Son, I
miss you so much, the grateful mother ex-
claims. I want to hold you tight, before I
die. In celebration, she dons a special
white Palestinian dress that she made for
the occasion.
In front of the Al-Kayyali family home in
Al Zaytoun, an area southeast of Gaza City,
hangs a banner emblazoned with the
words: Welcome to the heroic leader. The
family has erected a tent to accommodate
the hundreds of anticipated guests.
The prisoner exchange between Israel
and Hamas was brokered with the assis-
tance of Egypt and Germany. A member of
the Egyptian team told the Washington Re-
port with relief that after 65 months of ne-
gotiationsthousands of hours, we made
it! Egypt placed the screws on the deal,
he added proudly, but Germany came af-
terward to make sure they are not too
loose.
Of the 477 prisoners released in the ini-
tial round, 297 were released to Gaza,
even though only 133 are originally from
there. Israel exiled the others there, deny-
ing them access to their homes and fami-
lies in the occupied West Bank and East
Jerusalem.
The second group of 550 detainees awaits
release within the next two months. K
28 Years: One Palestinian Prisoners Story
By Mohammed Omer
Newly released prisoner Salim Al-Kayyali kisses the hand of his 100-year-old mother,
Roqayya.
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Award-winning journalist Mohammed Omer
reports on the Gaza Strip, and maintains the
Web site <www.rafahtoday.org>. He can be
reached at <gazanews@yahoo.com>.
Gazaon the Ground Gazaon the Ground
"e$_12_Ga)a "! %he G$"&!d 10/26/11 7:59 PM Page 12
I
n recent days, weve witnessed the rare
spectacle of Israelis and Palestinians cel-
ebrating at the same time. Ironically, this
was the result of negotiations between the
government of Israeli Prime Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian
resistance organization Hamas, which Is-
rael and the United States describe as ter-
rorists. It was a moment that revealed
what it would take for negotiations be-
tween seemingly irreconcilable foes to re-
sult in a credible agreement and why the
current peace process has gone nowhere.
But in the wake of the Israel-Hamas
agreement under which 1,027 Palestinians
held by Israel are being released in ex-
change for one Israeli soldier held in Gaza,
the editors of The New York Times ex-
pressed a good deal of frustration.
If Mr. Netanyahu can negotiate with
Hamaswhich shoots rockets at Israel, re-
fuses to recognize Israels existence, they
wondered in an Oct. 18 editorial, why
wont he negotiate seriously with the Pales-
tinian Authority, which Israel relies on to
help keep the peace in the West Bank?
What are the chances of this happening?
The Times was referring to the supposedly
moderate Ramallah-based Palestinian
Authority of Mahmoud Abbas, whose
U.S.-backed security forces collaborate
with Israel to keep any form of armed or
unarmed Palestinian resistance in check.
The Times noted that Netanyahu had de-
fied Israeli families whose loved ones had
been killed in armed attacks by some of
the Palestinian prisoners: Why cant Ne-
tanyahu also buck the wishes of Israeli set-
tlers in the West Bank in a similar way and
put in place a settlement freeze?
Abbas insists he wont return to negoti-
ations until Israel stops building Jewish-
only colonies in the West Bank, especially
in and around eastern occupied Jerusalem.
The blame lay squarely with Netanyahu,
according to The Times: The problem is
not that he cant compromise and make
tough choices. Its that he wont.
In calling for a return to negotiations be-
tween Israel and the PA, The Times was
echoing othersincluding the Obama ad-
ministrationwho are incapable of seeing
alternatives to the failed U.S.-backed peace
process.
But this is terribly unfair to the Israeli
prime minister. Netanyahu has done ab-
solutely nothing that his supposedly more
dovish predecessors, Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni,
did not do. Olmert and Livni did negotiate
with Abbas without ever stopping settle-
ment construction and without advancing
proposals that would meet even Abbas min-
imalist demands. Netanyahu says hes will-
ing to do the same and constantly begs
Abbas to meet him at the negotiating table.
And the Olmert government, like Ne-
tanyahus, negotiated with Hamas. The
Palestine Papersa trove of documents
and minutes related to the peace process
that was leaked to Al Jazeera in January
shed light on what happened.
In 2008, Israel and Hamas were very
close to reaching the deal that Netanyahu
eventually struck: about 1,000 Palestinian
prisoners for the Israeli prisoner of war. But
it was Abbas Palestinian Authority, the
leaked documents unambiguously show,
that lobbied hard and successfully for Israel
not to do the deal. PA officials arguedas
The Times now doesthat handing a vic-
tory to Hamas would damage Abbas, who
has nothing to show for all his cooperation
with the occupation.
Instead, PA officials wanted Israel to ne-
gotiate with them over a prisoner exchange.
But as Livni explained to senior Abbas aides
at a March 31, 2008 meeting in Jerusalem,
We wanted to talk with Abu Mazen
[Abbas] but he cannot release Gilad Shalit.
And that in a nutshell is the answer to
The Times question. Israel did not negoti-
ate with Hamas because Hamas is moder-
ate, any more than the U.S. has negotiated
with the Taliban in Afghanistan because it
is moderate, or the U.K. negotiated with
representatives of the Irish Republican
Army because they were moderate.
In all those cases, enemies who had pre-
viously been declared off limits (we dont
negotiate with terrorists) were brought
into the fold because they were in a posi-
tion of strength.
Similarly, the reason Israel has been
willing to limit its military assaults on the
Gaza Strip recently is in part because
Hamas and other Palestinian factions have
been able to exercise limited deterrence
with their rockets.
Netanyahu will not impose a settlement
freeze in response to Abbas demands sim-
Inside the Mideast Prisoner Swap
By Ali Abunimah
Hamas leader Ismail Haniya (c) hugs newly released Palestinian prisoners during a cele-
bration following their arrival in Gaza Oct. 18 after a swap of more than 1,000 Palestinians
for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
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Five irascible trailers telephoned the ticket.
But two mats extremely cleverly bought the
subway downtown. Continued on page 16
Ab*$#ah-&'(%$e'(_13_S&eca" Re&%') 10/26/11 8:03 PM Page 13
T
he interior of the mosque in the
Bedouin village of Tuba Zangariya in
northern Israel was left charred and black-
ened in early October, its stacks of Qurans
burned beyond recognition. On the out-
side walls, scrawled in charcoal, were the
words Revenge and Price tag. The ex-
tremist wing of the settler movement had
left its calling card.
As part of their price tag policya eu-
phemism for a campaign of terrorthe set-
tlers have for the past two years been inter-
mittently setting fire to mosques in the
West Bank. For much of the past decade,
they have been mounting regular pogrom-
style attacks against isolated Palestinian vil-
lages, beating the inhabitants, setting fire to
fields, uprooting olive trees, killing live-
stock and poisoning wells. At this time of
year, during the olive season, armed gangs
of settlers roam the West Bank assaulting
Palestinians trying to harvest their crops.
But this was the first time the settlers
had torched a mosque in Israel. A few days
later, two cemeteriesone Muslim, one
Christianwere vandalized in Jaffa, a
mixed Jewish-Arab town next to Tel Aviv.
The phrases Price tag and Death to the
Arabs were sprayed on the headstones.
The price tag policy originally was de-
vised as a way both to punish Palestinians
for attacks on the settlements and to deter
Israel from enforcing the rule of law on the
settlers. On the rare occasions when the Is-
raeli authorities have done soby, for in-
stance, removing a caravan from one of the
more than 100 unauthorized settlement
outposts dotted across the West Bank, or
by arresting a lawbreakerPalestinian vil-
lages have suffered the consequences.
More recently, however, the settlers at-
tacks have been intended to penalize Pales-
tinians for the smallest political develop-
ments in peace talks. The hard-liners, in par-
ticular, are so blinkered by their religious-
nationalist fundamentalism that they have
failed to grasp the reality that Israels lead-
ers, including Prime Minister Bin yamin Ne-
tanyahu, voided the peace process long ago.
It was almost certainly not a coincidence
that the two attacks inside Israel came a
short time after Mahmoud Abbas submit-
ted an application for statehood to the
United Nations, in defiance of both Israel
and the U.S. The Palestinian Authority
president raised the stakes on Palestinian
statehoodand so did the settlers.
The attacks marked a dramatic escala-
tion of a recent campaign by Jewish ex-
tremists to expand their low-intensity war
against West Bank Palestinians to include
Israels 1.5 million-strong Palestinian mi-
nority. These latter Palestinians, descen-
dants of those who remained on their land
during the 1948 war, have Israeli citizen-
shipeven if of a very inferior kindand
comprise a fifth of Israels population (a
higher percentage than that of African
Americans in the U.S.).
The settlers goal, according to analysts,
is to generate a civil war, creating the mo-
mentum toward an apocalyptic confronta-
tion that unites the Jewish population be-
hind the settlers vision of a Greater Israel
by pitting Palestinians on both sides of the
Green Line against the Chosen people.
According to Jafar Farah, director of
Mossawa, an Arab advocacy organization
inside Israel, They [the settlers] want us
to react. Then they can claim that the
Arabs are trying to drive the Jews into the
sea, and that no political solution is possi-
ble.
Since Israels disengagement from Gaza
in 2005, disillusionment has grown among
the extremist settlers, many of whom are
convinced that they must intensify their
struggle to stop further concessions in the
peace process. The settlements, armed by
the Israeli army for decades, are in a posi-
tion to wreak havoc.
In recent years the most militant ele-
ments among the settlers have been in-
creasingly focusing their energies on Pales-
tinian Arab communities in Israel, with the
intention of stoking tensions and provok-
ing conflict. They have used a two-fold ap-
proach.
In Israels half a dozen so-called mixed
cities, where Jews and Arabs live in close
proximity, even if usually in separate neigh-
borhoods, religious extremists have been
Price Tag or Pogrom? West Bank Settlers
Now Running Amok in Israel as Well
By Jonathan Cook
Jonathan Cook is a journalist based in
Nazareth and a winner of this years Martha
Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His
most recent book is Disappearing Palestine.
The NakbaContinues The NakbaContinues
Muslim Israeli citizens inspect a burned mosque after it was torched overnight in the Bedouin
village of Tuba Zangariya in the northern Galilee, Oct. 3, 2011.
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taking over areas within traditional Arab
enclaves. Typically, they have begun by set-
ting up a hesder yeshiva, a seminary where
young Jewish men combine religious stud-
ies with military service. Effectively, the
yeshivas are armed encampments within
Arab neighborhoods. The settlers then seek
to intimidate and drive out Arab residents
so they can take over nearby buildings and
gradually spread out, in a variation of the
established Zionist tactic of the tower-and-
stockade used by the first European Jewish
immigrants to take over land in Palestine
during the British Mandate.
But the settlers also have targeted some
of the largest and most independent Arab
towns in Israel. In recent years Baruch
Marzel, one of the leaders of an ultra-na-
tionalist group of settlers based in and
around the West Bank Palestinian city of
Hebron, has been leading provocative set-
tler marcheswith Israeli police protec-
tioninto Arab communities such as
Sakhnin and Umm al-Fahm.
Sakhnin has a reputation as one of the
most nationalist Arab communities in Is-
rael, famous for its role in resisting a large
state-organized land grab in the Galilee in
1976. In clashes the army killed six pro-
testers, an event commemorated every year
by Palestinians as Land Day.
Umm al-Fahm, meanwhile, is notorious
among Israeli Jews as the hometown of
Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the increas-
ingly influential Islamic Movement. For
similar reasons, the city is the primary tar-
get of a plan put forward by Israels far-right
foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, to
swap Arab areas of Israel for the settlements
in the West Bank under a future peace deal.
In this regard, the Jewish extremists
chose the locations of their latest attacks
carefully. They selected two Palestinian-
Arab communities in Israel that have the
opportunity and possible incentive to re-
spond to the settlers provocation with vi-
olence. Both communities are also distinc-
tive for being surrounded by Jewish pop-
ulations that have recently become rabidly
anti-Arab.
Militant settlers hoped they were throw-
ing a lit match on to a bonfire.
By contrast, Tuba Zangariya is one of a
few fervently loyal Arab communities in
Israel. While many Bedouin were expelled
during the 1948 war that created Israel, the
tribes of Tuba and Zangariya were given an
area next to Jewish communities as a re-
ward for fighting alongside Israels armed
forces.
Deprived of jobs and facing the same
discrimination suffered by the rest of the
countrys Arab minority, many young men
there still serve, like their grandfathers and
fathers, in the Israeli army. After the
mosque attack, a community leader
boasted to an Israeli reporter: We were
among the founders of the state of Israel.
But as news of the mosques desecration
spread, enraged youths burned govern-
ment buildings, fired their army-issue ri-
fles into the air and clashed with police,
who responded with tear gas and stun
grenades. The police claimed their tough
approach was needed to stop the youths of
Tuba from marching on to Rosh Pina and
Safed, two Jewish towns only a few kilo-
meters away.
Anti-Arab sentiments in Safed, in par-
ticular, have reached a boiling point under
the towns chief rabbi, Shmuel Eliyahu, a
municipal employee who has been leading
a campaign to expel Safeds small Arab
population, mostly students attending the
local college. He has accused young Arab
men of seeking to corrupt the towns
Jewish women, and along with dozens of
other rabbis signed a letter last year threat-
ening reprisals against Jews who rented
properties to non-Jews. There have been
sporadic assaults on Arabs in Safed ever
since.
The despoiling of the graves in Jaffa
could have triggered a spiral of violence as
well. A day after the attack, Molotov cock-
tails were thrown at a synagogue in the
town.
Jaffa, once the commercial hub of Pales-
tine, is now little more than a seaside sub-
urb of Tel Aviv containing one of the most
deprived Arab communities in the country.
Most of the residents are descendants ei-
ther of Palestinians forced out of their Jaffa
homes at gunpoint in 1948 and corralled
into a small neighborhood named Ajami,
or of poor Palestinian laborers brought
from the rest of the country to help build
Tel Aviv.
Jaffas Arab population, still penned up
in Ajami and living precariously as tenants
in neglected properties confiscated by the
state decades ago, were brought to global
attention in 2009 in an Oscar-nominated
film called simply Ajami. It portrayed the
neighborhood as a breeding ground for
crime and violence.
However, it did not show two further in-
dignities currently being suffered by
Ajamis Arab residents: a gentrification
program that is demolishing areas of the
neighborhood to attract wealthy Jews who
prefer a beachfront residence to over-
crowded Tel Aviv (see July 2008 Washing-
ton Report, p. 24); and the gradual infiltra-
tion of Jewish religious extremists, who
have switched location from the settle-
ments to Jaffa and other mixed cities.
In this pressure-cooker atmosphere, the
graves vandals presumably hoped they
could fuel the mounting antagonisms on
both sides of Jaffas ethnic divide.
Fueling Antagonisms
Significantly, the attacks inside Israel sug-
gested that militant factions among the set-
tlers are now committed to a strategy that
blurs the Green Linethe pre-1967 border
between Israel and the occupied territo-
riesin a way designed to make the citi-
zenship status of Palestinians inside Israel
irrelevant. More terror attacks on the mi-
nority can be expected.
An editorial in Israels Haaretz newspa-
per noted that the settlers were exploiting
the prevailing anti-Arab mood that has
been generated both by two years of
overtly discriminatory legislation from the
Israeli parliament and by growing num-
bers of rabbis espousing trenchantly racist
views. Reports of the arson attack on the
mosque in Tuba Zangariya spawned anti-
Arab graffiti across Israel.
The editorial also pointed out that such
incitement and violence posed a severe
challenge to Israels professed democratic
credentials and its image internationally.
That is why Israels political leaders, in-
cluding Netanyahu, and its chief rabbis
condemned the attacks with a haste and
vehemence entirely missing from their re-
actions to Jewish terror aimed at Palestini-
ans in the occupied territories.
The gauntlet thrown down by the set-
tlers is directed mainly toward the security
services, especially the Shin Bet internal
intelligence agency. The police and Shin
Bet have a woeful track record of solving
crimes against Palestinians committed by
the settlers, despite the increasing use of
video cameras by Palestinians to record the
attacks. The price tag campaign of recent
years has come at almost no cost to the set-
tlers.
The burning of the mosque in Tuba Zan-
gariya neatly illustrated the double stan-
dards. A Jewish youth from a West Bank
settlement was arrested a few hours after
the attack, but released days later for lack
of evidence. Meanwhile, the police arrested
more than 20 youths from Tuba for firing
their weapons into the air, and vowed they
would be making many further arrests.
In September the Shin Bet claimed it was
struggling to track down those responsible
for the price tag attacks because they were
religious zealots who had organized into a
cook_14-16_The Nakba Continues 10/26/11 8:07 PM Page 15
network of discrete terror cells to avoid in-
filtration and surveillance.
Yossi Melman, Haaretzs security corre-
spondent, was dismissive of the reasoning:
The Islamic Hezbollah [in Lebanon] and
Hamas organizations are also religious
zealots. They, too, study their enemy, but
nonetheless the Shin Bet and the intelli-
gence agencies manage to infiltrate them
and obtain accurate intelligence informa-
tion about them.
The few Jewish extremists who had
been arrested for attacks, Melman added,
benefited from the lenience of judges
and from incompetence that appears to
have been deliberate on the part of the po-
lice and the army.
A more probable explanation for the
Shin Bets failure is that its much-neglected
Jewish section, which investigates the
settlers security crimes and is overshad-
owed by a larger and better-funded Arab
section, draws many of its officers from
among the ranks of the settlers.
The impunity granted the settlers is hav-
ing serious consequences inside Israel, as
even the Shin Bet has begun to notice. It
has emboldened the extremists to widen
their operations of late to include not only
the Palestinian minority but also Israeli
Jewish peace activists and, on a few occa-
sions, Israeli soldiers.
A few days before the attack on Tuba
Zangariyas mosque, a large group of West
Bank settlers from Anatot, close to
Jerusalem, assaulted and terrorized a group
of left-wing Jews who had come to support
a Palestinian couple trying to work their
land. Many of Anatots settlers work in the
security services, and video shows police
officers who were called to the scene stand-
ing by as the peace activists are beaten and
some of the women sexually abused.
Despite its failure to trace the culprits of
such crimes, the Shin Bet has warned that
the most fanatical elements in the settler
movement need restraining if there is not
to be a rapid escalation of violence on both
sides of the Green Line. In August it or-
dered 12 youths from Yitzhar, a notorious
settlement close to Nablus, barred from the
West Bank. A month later the government
ignored the Shin Bets advice to the Educa-
tion Ministry to cut funding to Yitzhars
yeshiva, whose rabbis recently published
a book advocating the murder of non-Jews,
including children.
Because Israels politicians so far have
shown great reluctance to act against the
militant settlers, their campaign of violence
against Palestinians on both sides of the
Green Line is sure to intensify. K
ply because Netanyahu believes in and
supports the colonization of the West
Bank, and Abbas does not have the power
to make him.
Israel only negotiates seriously when it
feels it has no other choice and when its
adversary has enough power to impose an
outcome it cannot prevent by other means.
Does this mean that Hamas and Israel
could potentially do a deal over the broader
issues? The answer is no, but not because
of the conventional wisdom that Hamas
doesnt recognize Israel, espouses violence,
and refuses to accept signed agreements.
In fact, Hamas has said repeatedlyin-
cluding in a New York Times interview
with its leader Khaled Meshalthat the
movement is willing to accept a Palestinian
state in only the West Bank and Gaza Strip,
provided all Israeli settlements are re-
moved and the rights of Palestinian
refugees are respected.
But while Hamas was strong in the spe-
cific context of negotiations over prisoners,
the movement by itself or even in combi-
nation with other Palestinian factions is
not strong enough to compel Israel to meet
broader demands.
The power balance remains too lopsided
against Palestinians for negotiations to be
anything more than what they have been
for two decades: a cover for Israel to con-
tinue colonization.
For this reason in 2005, Palestinian civil
society, independently of all political fac-
tions, issued its unified call to supporters
around the world for boycott, divestment
and sanctions (BDS) on Israel. It urges that
these punitive measures be maintained
until Israel recognizes the Palestinian peo-
ples rights and respects international law
in three ways: an end to the occupation and
colonization of Arab lands conquered in
1967; recognizing the fundamental rights of
Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality;
and respecting the rights of Palestinian
refugees, including the right of return.
These are goals that unify all Palestinians,
whether they support the fast-fading two-
state solution, or a single democratic state
incorporating Israelis and Palestinians
throughout historic Palestine (Israel, the
West Bank and Gaza Strip together).
Modeled on the successful campaign that
helped isolate apartheid South Africa, the
logic is straightforward: As long as Israel
enjoys an overwhelming power advantage
it will never respect Palestinian rights nor
dismantle its racist, colonial and apartheid-
like policies. Why should it when it pays
no price for doing what it pleases?
The BDS campaign was prompted in
part by the responseor rather the lack of
itto the 2004 International Court of Jus-
tice ruling that Israels West Bank wall is il-
legal. When no governments took any
measures to enforce the decision, Palestini-
ans realized that global civil society would
have to act.
Power Not Held Accountable
Similarly, Israel remains in violation of
countless U.N. resolutions, and has faced
no accountability whatsoever for the war
crimes and crimes against humanity com-
mitted over many years, but most recently
in Gaza in 2009 and detailed in the U.N.-
commissioned Goldstone report.
Could the BDS shift the balance of
power such that Israel would be forced to
concede Palestinian rights? The interna-
tional movements rapid growth has con-
vinced some influential Israelis that it can.
Last year, the Reut Institute, a think tank
with close ties to the Israeli government,
called for an all-out campaign of sabo-
tage and attack on thedelegitimiza-
tion of Israel. It especially focused on
BDS, and warned that the movements
momentum is gaining.
In response to the Reut report, the Jew-
ish Federations of North America and the
Jewish Council for Public Affairs launched
a multimillion-dollar initiative to combat
anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanc-
tions campaigns.
And in his May speech to the Israel
lobby (AIPAC), President Obama vowed
that the U.S. would help Israel fight dele-
gitimization.
But he warned nonetheless that the
march to isolate Israel internationally
and the impulse of the Palestinians to
abandon negotiationswill continue to
gain momentum in the absence of a credi-
ble peace process and alternative.
Israels isolation is growing not only be-
cause of BDS, but because of regional de-
velopments including the uprising that
toppled Egypts pro-Israel Mubarak
regime, and Turkeys break with Israel
over the Gaza siege and the attack on the
Mavi Marmara.
While this might dismay Obama, those
who yearn for negotiations leading to
peace and justice should do all they can to
hasten the erosion of Israels power advan-
tage over the Palestinians. After all, as re-
cent events demonstrate, Israel only nego-
tiates seriously with the strong. K
Mideast Prisoner Swap
Continued from page 13
cook_14-16_The Nakba Continues 10/26/11 8:07 PM Page 16
I
n the twisted chains of events
in the Middle East, one set of
links is clear. Almost 500 Pales-
tinian prisonersand Israeli
soldier Gilad Shalitreleased
on Oct. 12, with a second group
of 555 Palestinian prisoners to
be released later, owe their free-
dom to Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas determina-
tion to push the U.N. member-
ship issue. Binyamin Netanyahu
could have freed Shalit any time
on these same termsbut the
Palestinian statehood issue, for
psychopathological reasons we
have discussed earlier in these
columns, rattles the Israeli
prime minister and his support-
ers so much that he was pre-
pared to give Hamas a boost
against Fatah with the release.
Those of us who savor fine
hypocrisies will also relish the
irony of long negotiations re-
sulting in a political boost for a
movement with which Israel
says the rest of the world should
have no contact. One almost
looks forward to the arrest, in-
dictment and trial of Israeli leaders on their
next visit to the U.S., where people are serv-
ing long sentences for much less substantial
contact and support for Hamas related orga-
nizations!
However, back to the main issue, Pales-
tines application for U.N. membership is
now languishing in a Security Council sub-
committee, few of whose members seem
eager to bring the issue to a head. No mat-
ter what the Obama administration does
now, it is cruising for a diplomatic bruising.
While U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice is not
as pugnacious as her predecessor John
Bolton, or indeed James Baker, in rounding
up votes in the U.N., the Obama adminis-
tration has been trying harddespite
Washingtons weakened cloutto per-
suade vulnerable states that it is in their
best interests not to vote yes in the Security
Council. If the resolution accepting Pales-
tinian membership does not garner nine
positive votes, thenin the spirit of the
toddler who hides behind the drapes and
cant understand that everyone can see his
feet sticking outthe U.S. hopes to escape
the contumely it richly merits for vetoing a
resolution fulfilling the wishes expressed
by the president just a year earlier.
Twenty years ago, the U.S. scarcely felt
the need to justify what it wanted. Now,
over-extended militarily, wobbling finan-
cially, its carrots are stringy and its stick de-
tumescent, so it has to explain why Russia
is being unreasonable in blocking the mem-
bership of Kosovo, recognized by about half
of the U.N., while a White House-threat-
ened veto of membership for Palestine, rec-
ognized by more than two-thirds of U.N.
members, is statesmanship of a high order.
Indeed, inquiring minds might well
compare the Russian and Chinese vetoes
against action in Syria to prevent repres-
sion, with those by the U.S. against any
resolution that even mildly criticizes Israel
for documented repression in the occupied
territoriesas listed by the State Depart-
ments own annual reports on human
rights and religious freedom!
And more Israel Lobby-induced mayhem
was heading down the turnpike toward
Washington, with UNESCOs scheduled
late fall vote on its boards recommendation
for Palestines full membership status in the
agencys general council. Forty of the 58
board members backed a Palestinian draft
resolution proposing membership, with the
U.S. among four voting against, and 14 ab-
stentionscountries which do not really
oppose it but dont want to upset the U.S.
The Vatican Precedent
This has a double significance. Firstly, the
Vaticans convoluted route to acceptance as
a non-member observer state at the U.N.
began with it being smuggled into mem-
bership of the Universal Postal Union (UPU)
by the devotee who headed the organiza-
Washington Impaling Itself on the Horns of a
Diplomatic Dilemma
By Ian Williams
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (l) formally submits papers for admission to the U.N.
as a member state to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during the U.N. General Assemblys meeting in
New York City, Sept. 23, 2011.
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Ian Williams is a free-lance journalist based
at the United Nations and has a blog at
<www.deadlinepundit.blogspot.com>.
United Nations
Report
United Nations
Report
*""a#(_17-18_U$)ed Na)%$( Re&%') 10/26/11 1:05 PM Page 17
tion at the time. After all, the Vatican had
its own stampsa nice little earnerand
its own radio station, which got it into the
International Telecommunications (then
Telegraph) Union. It was never allowed to
join the League of Nations, nor for many
decades would Washington countenance
U.N. membershipbut the Vatican had a
long-term strategy, as one would expect, on
how a postage stamp state with a popula-
tion of a few hundred celibates could get
more recognition.
The U.N. invited members of the special-
ized agencies to participate, but not vote, in
the General Assembly and, nudged along,
gave such entities, which included Switzer-
land for half a century, a vote in conferences.
Echoing the issue of whether President
Abbas represents the PLO, Palestine, or the
Palestinian Authority, it is the Vatican City
which is a member of the two U.N. agen-
cies. Half a century ago, however, it
switched the name of its U.N. observer
mission to the Holy Seethen separated
the Holy See as the Catholic Church from
the Holy See as the entity holding sover-
eignty over the Vatican City!
In a little noticed move in 2004, the Gen-
eral Assembly upgraded the Vaticans status
from an entityPalestines current desig-
nationto a non-member state. The U.S.,
which opposes such status for the several
million Palestinians, did not object.
So, under existing rules, membership in
UNESCO would take Palestinian participa-
tion out of the special case situation it cur-
rently occupies as a result of 20 years of
diplomatic war by attrition, and bring it
under general rules that the U.S. and Israel
would have no chance of overturning.
Renewed Assaults on the U.N.
But there is, of course, more. After some
years of the puzzling sound of silence re-
garding the U.N., some of the Republican
right and their Democratic allies whose
hearts beat as one with the Likudnik pace-
maker have been building up for a re-
newed assault on the U.N. and all its
works. They have passed legislation that
would require the U.S. to pull its fund-
ingand membershipfrom any body
that gives full membership as a state to
any organization or group that does not
have the internationally recognized attrib-
utes of statehood. The legislation is of
course weaselly worded to mean Pales-
tinebut not the Vaticanwhile interest-
ingly leaving Taiwan in limbo.
That would present an interesting
quandary for Hillary Clinton, who, visit-
ing UNESCO headquarters in Paris this
year, declared, I am proud to be the first
secretary of state from the United States
ever to come to UNESCO, and I come be-
cause I believe strongly in your mission.
That dilemma could be resolved immedi-
ately, of course, if the president and the
State Department determined that in fact
Palestine does have the internationally rec-
ognized attributes of statehood. After all,
Kosovo, under U.S. sponsorship, has joined
the World Bank and IMFwhich should,
if U.N. membership were the determinant,
have the U.S. pulling out and defunding
those organizations as well. Looking at the
damage they have done worldwide, that
might not be such a bad ideabut in any
case, no one has brought it up hitherto.
The diplomatic dilemma on the horns of
which the administration is impaling itself
becomes more barbed with each passing
denial of reality.
By U.N. custom, once one agency has ac-
cepted a member, all other U.N. agencies
also accord it full rights, as the Vatican
demonstrates. Since the World Bank and
IMF are quantum U.N. agenciesin and
out at the same time, depending on what
suits themKosovo cannot yet lever mem-
bership there into other U.N. agencies. UN-
ESCO membership, however, like the UPU,
opens the doors to all the others.
So the U.S. can either pull out of all the
U.N. agencies this administration holds
dearincluding the U.N. itselfif the
General Assembly accepts the Holy See
way to Palestinian participation, or it can
accept Palestine as a state under interna-
tional law. Washington could, of course,
suggest that the case be referred to the In-
ternational Court of Justice (ICJ) in The
Hague for an advisory opinion. That, how-
ever, would then imply accepting other
ICJ judgements, such as the one against the
U.S. mining of Nicaraguas harborsand
on Israels occupation wall.
A Hard-Hitting Report
The latter, of course, is long overdue. On
Sept. 16, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
submitted the report requested by the Gen-
eral Assembly on Israeli settlement activi-
ties. Citing instance after instance of violent
discriminatory behavior, the hard-hitting
report seeks to underscore the discrimina-
tory nature of the Israeli policy and prac-
tice of promoting settlements in the West
Bank, including East Jerusalem. While ille-
gal settlement expansion continues to take
place in the West Bank, restrictions on
Palestinian construction and the demolition
of Palestinian homes have been on the rise.
The report also addresses settlers violent
acts against Palestinians and their proper-
ties during the reporting period and the
discriminatory treatment of Israeli settlers
and Palestinians in law enforcement. The
involvement of Israel Defense Forces in acts
of violence, either through their participa-
tion or inaction to prevent the acts, is dis-
cussed as a growing concern.
But perhaps most timely for those ex-
pressing shock and horror at the Palestini-
ans undertaking due process to secure the
rights as a state that most nations grant
them is the reports conclusion: The Gen-
eral Assembly and the international com-
munity should more actively seek the im-
plementation of their decisions, resolutions
and recommendations, as well as those of
the Security Council, the International
Court of Justice and the United Nations
human rights mechanisms, including treaty
bodies and special procedure mandate hold-
ers, in relation to the situation of human
rights and international humanitarian law
in the occupied Palestinian territory.
It puts in perspective the U.S. threat to
defund all Palestinian activities in retalia-
tion for the statehood bidas, indeed, does
the promise to increase aid to the state that
is defying not only the U.N., but U.S. pleas,
and continuing to build settlements. K

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williams_17-18_United Nations Report 10/26/11 1:05 PM Page 18
W
ith President Barack Obamas an-
nouncement of a complete U.S. mil-
itary withdrawal from Iraq, the neoconser-
vative editors of The Washington Post im-
mediately got to work rewriting the narra-
tive of the Iraq war, shifting the blame for
the eight-year strategic disaster onto him.
That is the message of Oct. 23s lead edi-
torial in which The Post joins with the neo-
con-advised Republican presidential can-
didates in setting Obama up for the fall in
the likely event that the horrendous polit-
ical violence in Iraq gets even worse.
The solution favored by The Posts edi-
tors and the Republicans is to continue the
U.S. military occupation of Iraq indefinitely,
just as they want a similar open-ended war
in Afghanistan and sought a more aggres-
sive U.S. military role in Libya. Simply put:
Spare no expense in the blood of U.S. sol-
diers and the dollars of U.S. taxpayers.
And, since the neocons retain enormous
influence in the opinion circles of Official
Washington, they will likely have a great
deal of success in rewriting the history of
the Iraq War into one that depicts a bril-
liant neocon victory squandered by the
reckless peaceniks surrounding Obama.
The neocon message is this: If only
Obama had listened to uslike George W.
Bush dideverything would have worked
out just wonderfully. However, since he
didnt, Obama will have to shoulder the
blame for what the world will see as a hu-
miliating U.S. retreat from Iraq.
The neocon corollary is that only a Re-
publican presidentmost likely Mitt
Romney or Rick Perrycan restore Amer-
ican grandeur in the world. Both Romney
and Perry have surrounded themselves
with neocon advisers, such as Eliot Cohen
and Robert Kagan, who are guiding Rom-
neys foreign policy.
Romney essentially contracted out his
foreign policy to the neocons who pro-
duced his campaign manifesto, An Amer-
ican Century. The title is an homage to the
neocon Project for the New American Cen-
tury, which in the 1990s built the ideolog-
ical framework for the Iraq war and other
violent regime change strategies pur-
sued by Bush.
Cohen, who wrote the manifestos fore-
word, was a founding member of the Pro-
ject for the New American Century and a
protg of prominent neocons Paul Wol-
fowitz and Richard Perle.
Upbraiding Romney
On the campaign trail, Romney briefly de-
viated from the prescribed neocon
pathwith comments that U.S. troops in
Afghanistan should be withdrawn as
soon as we possibly can and that the war
showed Americans cannot fight another
nations war of independence. He was
promptly upbraided by the Posts editors
and quickly fell back into line.
So, after Obamas announcement on Oct.
21 that the remaining U.S. troops would be
withdrawn from Iraq by the end of the
year, Romney lashed out with a harsh de-
nunciation fashioned by his neocon team.
He said Obama let his decision be driven
either by naked political calculation or
simply sheer ineptitude in negotiations
with the Iraqi government.
Also toeing the neocon line, Perry
charged that Obama had put political ex-
pediency ahead of sound military and se-
curity judgment in agreeing to leave Iraq.
Then, on Oct. 21, the Posts neocon edi-
tors joined the furor, portraying Obamas
withdrawal as shortsighted and foolhardy.
The editorial noted that the war will end
for U.S. soldiers, but Iraqi insurgents, in-
cluding al-Qaeda, continue to wage war
against the countrys fragile democratic
government; Iran sponsors its own militias
and has been accelerating its effort to dom-
inate its neighbor.
Mr. Obamas decision to carry out a com-
plete withdrawal sharply increases the risk
that painfully won security gains in Iraq
will come undone; that Iran will be handed
a crucial strategic advantage in its regional
cold war with the United States; and that a
potentially invaluable U.S. alliance with an
emerging Iraqi democracy will wither.
The Posts editors claimed that Obama
had given in to political advisers who
wanted him to fulfill his campaign pledge
of a complete U.S. military withdrawal,
rather than heed the advice of military
commanders who wanted to extend the
U.S. occupation with 18,000 or so troops.
The Post wrote: The next year or two
will show whether that calculation is cor-
NeoconCorner NeoconCorner
Neocons Blame Obama for Iraq Disaster
By Robert Parry
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Robert Parry is founder and editor of <www.
consortiumnews.com>, where this article
was first posted Oct. 23, 2011.Copyright
2011 Consortiumnews. All rights reserved.
An Iraqi worker repairs the wires on an elec-
tricity pylon in Baghdad, Oct. 10, 2011. Elec-
tric power has been intermittent since March
2003, when the U.S. Shock and Awe bomb-
ing campaign attacked Iraqs electrical infra-
structure and other civilian targets. Continued on page 74
a!!$_19_Neocon Co!ne! 10/27/11 1:15 PM Page 19
FBI Account of Terror Plot
Suggests Sting Operation
By Gareth Porter
W
hile the administration of Barack
Obama vows to hold the Iranian
government accountable for the alleged
plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in
Washington, the legal document describ-
ing evidence in the case provides multiple
indications that it was mainly the result of
an FBI sting operation.
Although the legal document, called an
amended criminal complaint, implicates
Iranian-American Mansour Arbabsiar and
his cousin Ali Gholam Shakuri, an officer
in the Iranian Quds Force, in a plan to as-
sassinate Saudi Arabian Ambassador Adel
al-Jubeir, it also suggests that the idea orig-
inated with and was strongly pushed by
an undercover DEA informant, at the di-
rection of the FBI.
On May 24, when Arbabsiar first met
with the DEA informant he thought was
part of a Mexican drug cartel, it was not to
hire a hit squad to kill the ambassador.
Rather, there is reason to believe that the
main purpose was to arrange a deal to sell
large amounts of opium from Afghanistan.
In the complaint, the closest to a sem-
blance of evidence that Arbabsiar sought
help during that first meeting to assassi-
nate the Saudi ambassador is the allega-
tion, attributed to the DEA informant, that
Arbabsiar said he was interested in,
among other things, attacking an embassy
of Saudi Arabia.
Among the other things was almost
certainly a deal on heroin controlled by of-
ficers in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps (IRGC). Three Bloomberg reporters,
citing a federal law enforcement official,
wrote that Arbabsiar told the DEA infor-
mant he represented Iranians who con-
trolled drug smuggling and could provide
tons of opium.
Because of opium entering Iran from
Afghanistan, Iranian authorities hold 85
percent of the worlds opium seizures, ac-
cording to Irans Fars News Agency. Iranian
security personnel, including those in the
IRGC and its Quds Force, then have the op-
portunity to sell the opium to traffickers in
the Middle East, Europe and now Mexico.
Mexican drug cartels have begun con-
necting with Middle Eastern drug traffick-
ers, in many cases stationing operatives in
Middle East locations to facilitate heroin
production and sales, according to a report
last January in Borderland Beat.
But the FBI account of the contacts be-
tween Arbabsiar and the DEA informant
does not reference any discussions of drugs.
The criminal complaint refers to an un-
specified number of meetings between
Arbabsiar and the DEA informant in late
June and the first two weeks of July.
What transpired in those meetings re-
mains the central mystery surrounding the
case.
The official account of the investigation
cites the testimony of the informant (re-
ferred to in the document as CS-1) in stat-
ing, Over the course of a series of meetings,
ARBABSIAR explained to CS-1 that his as-
sociates in Iran had discussed a number of
violent missions for CS-1 and CIS-1s pur-
ported criminal associates to perform.
The account claims that the mission dis-
cussed included murdering the ambassador.
But no specific statement proposing or
agreeing to the act is attributed to Arbab-
siar. Prior to the July 14 meeting, CS-1 had
reported that he and Arbabsiar had dis-
cussed the possibility of attacks on a
number of other targets, the account states.
The targets are described as involving
foreign government facilities associated
with Saudi Arabia and with another coun-
trylocated either in or outside the
United States, without mentioning any
discussion of the Saudi ambassador.
Both that language and the absence of
any statement attributed to Arbabsiar
imply that the Iranian American said noth-
ing about assassinating the Saudi ambas-
sador except in response to suggestions by
the informant, who was already part of an
FBI undercover operation.
The DEA informant, as the FBI account
How Plausible Is the Alleged Iranian
Terror Plot?
Gareth Porter is an investigative historian
and journalist specializing in U.S. national
security policy. The paperback edition of his
latest book, Perils of Dominance: Imbalance
of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam,
was published in 2006. Copyright 2011
IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved.
Two Views Two Views
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A courtroom drawing of Mansour Arbabsiar (second from right) appearing before U.S. Southern
District Court Judge Michael H. Dolinger (at bench) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Glen Kopp (l)
during his arraignment at Federal Court in New York, Oct. 11, 2011.
)!e*'_'(!$_20-22_T*% V!e*' 10/26/11 1:13 PM Pae 20
acknowledges in a footnote, had previ-
ously been charged with a narcotics of-
fense by a state in the U.S. and had been
cooperating in narcotics investigations
apparently posing as a drug cartel opera-
tivein return for dropping the charges.
The document is notably silent on whether
the conversation was recorded.
A former FBI official familiar with pro-
cedures in such cases, who spoke to IPS
anonymously, said the FBI would normally
have recorded all such conversations
touching on the possibility of terrorism.
The absence of quotes from any of those
meetings suggests that they do not support
the case being made by the FBI and the
Obama administration.
The account is quite explicit, on the
other hand, that the July 14 and July 17
meetings were recorded at FBI direction.
Statements quoted from those transcripts
show the DEA informant trying to induce
Arbabsiar to indicate agreement to assassi-
nating the Saudi ambassador.
The informant is quoted as saying he
would need at least four guys and
would take the one point five for the
Saudi Arabia. He declared that he would
go ahead and work on the Saudi Arabia,
get all the information we can.
At one point the informant says, You
just want the, the main guy. And at the
end of the meeting, he declares, [W]ere
gonna start doing the guy.
The fact that not a single quote from
Arbabsiar shows that he agreed to assassi-
nating the ambassador, much less proposed
it, suggests that he was either noncommit-
tal or linking the issue to something else,
such as the prospect of a major drug deal
with the cartel.
Arbabsiars quotes from a Sept. 2 phone
conversation referring to the cartel as
having the number for the safe and
once you open the door thats it could
refer to a drug transaction that had been
discussed, while the FBI account suggests
those quotes refer to the assassination and
other projects with the Iranian group.
At the July 17 meeting, the DEA infor-
mant presented a plan to blow up a restau-
rant to kill the ambassador, with the pos-
sible deaths of 100-150 people, eliciting a
lack of concern on the part of Arbabsiar
about such deaths.
During a visit to Iran in August, Arbab-
siar wired two equal payments totaling
$100,000 to a bank account in New York.
But he was still under the impression that
he was about to cash in on a deal with the
cartel.
The Washington Post reported on Oct. 13
that Arbabsiar had told an Iranian-Ameri-
can friend from Corpus Christie, Texas,
Im going to make good money.
There is also circumstantial evidence
that Arbabsiar may have even been
brought into the sting operation to help
further implicate his cousin Gholam
Shakuri in the terrorist plot.
Arbabsiar met with his cousin Shakuri
in late September and told him that the
cartel was demanding that he, Arbabsiar,
go to Mexico personally to guarantee pay-
ment. That demand from the DEA was an
obvious device by the FBI to get Shakuri
and his associates in Tehran to demonstrate
their commitment to the assassination.
The FBI account indicates that Shakuri
told Arbabsiar that he was responsible for
himself if he went to Mexico. That state-
ment would have been a warning sign for
Arbabsiar, if he still believed he was deal-
ing with one of the most murderous drug
cartels in Mexico, that he would be risking
his own life for a group that was no longer
taking responsibility for him.
Yet Arbabsiar flew to Mexico as if un-
concerned about that risk.
After his arrest on Sept. 29 Arbabsiar
waived the right to a lawyer and pro-
ceeded to provide a complete confession.
A few days later, he placed a phone call to
Shakuri which was recorded at the direc-
tion of federal enforcement agents, ac-
cording to the FBI. K
Destabilizing the Middle East
By Patrick Seale
T
he U.S. governments excitable accusa-
tion that Iran paid a Mexican drug
dealer to blow up the Saudi ambassador in
a Washington restaurant adds a further
destabilizing factor to an already danger-
ously unstable Middle East. It moves the
interminable U.S.-Iranian quarrel one step
closer to an armed conflict and it fans into
flame the latent antagonism between the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic
Republic of Iran.
A U.S.-Iranian war would have poten-
tially devastating consequences for the
region, for the United States and the world.
The smaller Gulf states, several of them
home to large U.S. military bases, would
find themselves in the line of fire. Their
spectacular accomplishments of recent
decades could be turned to rubble. Attacks
against U.S. targets in Iraq, Afghanistan and
elsewhere would undoubtedly multiply.
The Arab worlds sectarian tensions be-
tween Sunnis and Shii, already greatly ex-
acerbated by Americas war in Iraq, would
be further increased. For the industrial
world, a regional war would immediately
disrupt oil supplies, further worsening the
current economic crisis.
Not surprisingly, world opinion has re-
acted with widespread scepticism, even de-
rision, to U.S. Attorney General Eric
Holders announcement on Oct. 13 of the al-
leged Iranian plot. Tehran has vigorously
denied any connection whatsoever with it.
It is, indeed, inherently implausible that
Iran would, by means of a terrorist act of no
strategic value, risk provoking the U.S. into
military retaliation. Most experts agree that
the very last thing Iran wants is a war with
the United States. The story makes no sense.
If the U.S. government is not to be
laughed out of court, it must now produce
hard evidence of high-level Iranian impli-
cation in the alleged conspiracy. If the plot
is no more than an FBI/DEA sting operation
which overreached and went wrong, that,
too, will need to be candidly examined and
explained. If, as some would argue, it is the
work of rogue elements in Irans Quds Force
(a wing of the Islamic Republic Guard
Corps which, like U.S. Special Forces, spe-
cializes in foreign operations), that, too, will
need to be convincingly demonstrated.
In any event, Americas accusations are
bound to increase Irans paranoid fear that
the United States and Israel are planning to
attack it, and will therefore drive it to seek
deterrence and protection by acquiring a
nuclear capability. This is hardly the way
to prevent nuclear proliferation. President
Barack Obama thus presents the sad spec-
tacle of siding with the war-mongers. He
Patrick Seale is a leading British writer on
the Middle East. His latest book is The
Struggle for Arab Independence: Riad el-
Solh and the Makers of the Modern Middle
East (Cambridge University Press). Copy-
right 2011 Patrick Seale. Distributed by
Agence Global.
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views_sting_20-22_Two Views 10/26/11 1:13 PM Page 21
has called for the toughest sanctions
possible against Iran, as well as repeating
the old mantra that all options remain on
the table, a threadbare reference to mili-
tary action.
His campaign for re-election has already
caused him to woo the Jewish vote by op-
posing the Palestinians bid for U.N. mem-
bership while turning a blind eye to the
Greater Israel ambitions of Israels fanat-
ical settlers. The United States guarantees
Israels military supremacy over all its
neighbors yet is clearly unable to exercise
the slightest influence over Israeli policies,
even the most extreme. Nowonce again
perhaps for electoral reasonsObama has
gone a step further by echoing, and seem-
ing to endorse, Israeli threats of military
action against Iran.
News of the so-called plot comes at the
very time when top Iranian officialsin-
cluding President Ahmadinejad himself
have called for fresh talks with the P5+1
(the five permanent members of the U.N.
Security Council plus Germany) on Irans
nuclear program. That in itself presents a
striking contradiction. How could Iran
seek talks and yet, at the same time, act in
such a way as to make them impossible?
The obvious conclusion would seem to be
that the plot was contrived by someone anx-
ious to sabotage the possibility of a U.S.-Iran-
ian dialogue, let alone a compromise over
Irans nuclear activities. Indeed, the so-called
plot reeks of a false flag operationthat is
to say an operation by a third party deliber-
ately designed to push the United States into
conflict with the Islamic Republic.
There are many potential candidates for
such a role, all anxious to see the Iranian
regime punished. They include Iranian
exiles longing to see the mullahs ousted;
Lebanese enemies of Hezbollah, whether
Sunni or Maronite, many of whom have
Latin American connections; opponents of
the Iran-backed Syrian regime who believe
that Bashar al-Assad would be gravely
weakened if the Iranian regime were to fall;
American neocons itching for war against
Iran, the very same people who conned
America into war against Iraq; and of
course Israels Mossad which, by all ac-
counts, is a master at intelligence coups. It
is thought to have been responsible for the
recent murder of several Iranian nuclear
scientists as well as for infecting the com-
puters at Irans nuclear power station with
toxic viruses such as Stuxnet.
Israels right-wing government has
spared no effort to demonize Irans nuclear
program as a deadly threat to mankind and
has been eager to push the United States
into destroying it. Israels motive is clear. If
Iran were to acquire a nuclear capability,
however rudimentary, it would checkmate
Israels own large arsenal of nuclear
weapons, and greatly restrict Israels abil-
ity to strike its neighbors at will.
Rather than fueling tensions as Obama is
doing, rather than pandering to Americas
worst instincts, the wise leader of a super-
power should seek to pacify the region, re-
solve conflicts and cool tempers. Improba-
ble as it may seem, Obama should talk to
Iran rather than demonize it; he should
devote himself again and againand this
time with more muscle and convictionto
settling the Arab-Israeli conflict, thereby
removing a major factor of instability and
opening the way for Israels peaceful inte-
gration into the region; he should seek to
calm, rather than inflame, sectarian antag-
onisms; he should disengage the United
States militarily, and as soon as possible,
from Iraq, Afghanistan and the Gulf
region; and he should halt the counter-pro-
ductive drone attacks which create more
terrorists than they kill and which, under
his watch, have brought death and de-
struction to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan,
Libya, Somalia and Yemen.
The Middle East needs an end to the im-
perial ambitions and machinations which
have plagued the region since the First
World War. Urgently required instead is a
massive coordinated international effort to
revive the shattered economies of Egypt,
Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, Syria and the Pales-
tinian territoriesand, above all, create
jobs. Without jobs, there will be no peace.
The United States is said to be redirecting
its efforts to the Far East in order to contain
the rising power of China. The sooner it
gives the Middle East a break by turning its
attention elsewhere, the better. K
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New York Times Syndicate, New York
Al Ahram, Cairo
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The Muslim Observer, Livonia
THE WORLD LOOKS AT THE MIDDLE EAST
THE WORLD LOOKS AT THE MIDDLE EAST
cartoons_23_December 2011 Cartoons 10/27/11 9:54 AM Page 23
T
he renowned military strategist Maj.
Gen. J.F.C. Fuller defined wars true
objective as achieving desired political re-
sults, not killing enemies.
But this is just what the U.S. has been
doing in Afghanistan. After 10 years of
war costing at least $450 billion, 1,600
dead and 15,000 seriously wounded sol-
diers, the U.S. has achieved none of its
strategic or political goals.
Each U.S. soldier in Afghanistan costs $1
million per annum. CIA employs 80,000
mercenaries there, cost unknown. The U.S.
spends a staggering $20.2 billion alone an-
nually air conditioning troop quarters in
Afghanistan and Iraq.
The most damning assessment comes from
the U.S.-installed Afghan leader, Hamid
Karzai: Americas war has been ineffective,
apart from causing civilian casualties.
Washingtons goal was a favorable polit-
ical settlement producing a pacified
Afghan state run by a regime totally re-
sponsive to U.S. political, economic and
strategic interests; a native sepoy army led
by white officers; and U.S. bases that
threaten Iran, watch China, and control the
energy-rich Caspian Basin.
All the claims made about fighting ter-
rorism and al-Qaeda, liberating Afghan
women and bringing democracy are pro-
war window dressing. CIA chief Leon
Panetta admitted there were no more than
25 to 50 al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan.
Why are there 150,000 U.S. and NATO
troops there?
Washingtons real objective was clearly
defined in 2007 by U.S. Assistant Secretary
of State Richard Boucher: to stabilize
Afghanistan so it can become a conduit
and hub between South and Central
Asiaso energy can flow south.
The Turkmenistan-Afghan-Pakistan TAPI
gas pipeline that the U.S. has sought since
1998 is finally nearing completion. But
whether it can operate in the face of sabo-
tage remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Washington has been un-
able to create a stable government in Kabul.
The primary reason: ethnic politics. Over
half the population is Pashtun (or Pathan),
from whose ranks come the Taliban. Tajik,
Uzbek and Hazara minorities fiercely op-
pose the Pashtun. All three collaborated
with the Soviet occupation from 1979-
1989; today they collaborate with the U.S.
and NATO occupation.
Most of the Afghan army and police, on
which the U.S. spends $6 billion annually,
are Tajiks and Uzbek, many members of the
old Afghan Communist Party. To Pashtun,
they are bitter enemies. In Afghanistan, the
U.S. has built its political house on ethnic
quicksands.
Worse, U.S.-run Afghanistan now pro-
duces 93 percent of the worlds most dan-
gerous narcotic, heroin. Under the Taliban,
drug production virtually ended, accord-
ing to the U.N. Today, the Afghan drug
business is booming. The U.S. tries to
blame the Taliban; but the real culprits are
high government officials in Kabul and
U.S.-backed warlords.
A senior U.N. drug official recently as-
serted that Afghan heroin killed 10,000
people in NATO countries last year. And
this does not include Russia, a primary
destination for Afghan heroin.
So the United States is now the proud
owner of the worlds leading narco-state
and deeply involved with the Afghan
Tajik drug mafia.
The U. S. i s bl eedi ng bi l l i ons i n
Afghanistan. Forty-four cents of every dol-
lar spent by Washington is borrowed from
China and Japan. While the U.S. has
wasted $1.283 trillion on the so-called
war on terror, China has been busy buy-
ing up resources and making new friends
and markets. The ghost of Osama bin
Laden must be smiling.
The U.S. cant afford this endless war
agai nst the fi erce Pashtun peopl e,
renowned for making Afghanistan the
Graveyard of Empires. But the imperial es-
tablishment in Washington wants to hold
on to strategic Afghanistan, particularly
the ex-Soviet air bases at Bagram and Kan-
dahar. The U.S. is building its biggest em-
bassy in the world in Kabul, an $800 mil-
Afghanistan: Ten Years of Aimless War
By Eric S. Margolis
Afghan relatives cry over the cofns of victims of a fuel tanker blast near Bagram air base,
north of Kabul, Oct. 26, 2001. At least 10 people were killed and two dozen wounded in the
attack on the civilian-operated tanker bound for the NATO military base.
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Eric S. Margolis is an award-winning, inter-
nationally syndicated columnist and author
of American Raj: Liberation or Domination
(available from the AET Book Club). Copy-
right Eric S. Margolis 2011. Continued on page 74
a$g"li%_24_S#ecial Re#"$& 10/27/11 12:55 PM Page 24
S
ince the start of the Franco-British inter-
vention in Libya, which on British and
American insistence last March was turned
into a NATO affair, some commentaries on
the left have interpreted the action as West-
ern imperialism. It was called an effort to
seize control of Libyas enormous oil reserves,
in the guise of humanitarian intervention.
Although I am willingmore willing
than mostto think the worst of the moti-
vations of states, I find it hard to see why
the Western countries would want an ex-
pensive war to seize the oil to which they
already had ample access through pur-
chase on the international market.
Barack Obama, already taking punish-
ment on other issues from the Republican
presidential primary Punch and Judy
Show, had the sense to tell NATO that he
preferred to lead from behind. That way he
was able to take credit for Victory (as his
flacks and the more gullible sector of the
U.S. press have already done), while allow-
ing the French and British to conduct the
principal combat operations, without un-
duly troubling the Pentagon.
Since the late Col. Muammar Qaddafi de-
cided in 2003 that re-establishing friendly
relations with the Western powers was to
his advantagehanding over the Bulgarian
nurses and naming the alleged authors of at-
tacks on American and French airliners,
even producing a scapegoat for Scottish jail-
ingthe colonel has been the best of
friends with Western governments, pitch-
ing his tent near the Elyse Palace in Paris,
staying as a guest at the White House, and
diligently participating in the CIA pursuit
of real or fancied Arab terrorists.
The CIA had already prepared the way
for this friendly cooperation. For example,
the man who led the rebel assault on
Tripoli earlier this month was a Libyan dis-
sident and Islamist veteran of the
Afghanistan war against the Russians.
He was subsequently handed over to
Colonel Qadaffi by the CIA and the British,
then tortured and imprisoned for seven
years. As the Middle East expert Patrick
Seale writes, his attachment to Western
interests should not be counted upon.
The Western intervention this year, ini-
tiated by France, was ideological in origin,
deriving from the liberal interventionism
Westerners espoused after the NATO
Kosovo victory. Subsequent experience has
cooled this enthusiasm, one reason Presi-
dent Obama has just decided to let the
Iraqis defend themselves without help
from uniformed U.S. forces, who will be
gone from that country by January 2012,
and why the Pentagon now is preoccupied
with how to get out of Afghanistan and
Pakistan without leaving disaster behind.
The 2011 Arab Awakening has put the
United States in a situation of extreme diffi-
culty, far from solution. After years of
democracy promotion in the Middle East,
and two wars and other interventions osten-
sibly producing itwhile actually forced to
collaborate with the most reactionary Arab
regimes to promote Israeli interestsWash-
ington in the past year has found itself sad-
dled with one dilemma after another.
Democratic reform in Egypt, Yemen and
Bahrain? Support for Palestinian freedom
and autonomy? Well, actually no. The
United States is for democracy in theory
but finds tyranny and obscurantist gov-
ernment easier to deal with in practice.
That is why Secretary of State Hillary Clin-
ton looks so wan and distraught these days,
flying from one country to the next, trying
to parse these dilemmas and assure conserv-
ative and pro-American friends that all will
be well, while she is intelligent enough to
understand that their days may be num-
bered, and they may not meet again this side
of the Styxor its Islamic equivalent.
She rushes aboutwhen does she
sleep?because the United States simply
does not know how to disentangle itself from
this menacing situation. She surely under-
stands that Pakistan and Afghanistan may
separately, or under changed leaders, coop-
eratively turn upon the U.S., militarily
bogged down in one of the most inaccessible
places on earth. That conflict, with Ameri-
cans the target, is possible in Iraq/Iran. That
Israel may start a war with Iran which it will
expect the United States to finish.
Perhaps it is time to come home. Thats
what a lot of people seem to be saying. But
the Obama administration doesnt know
how. K
What Lay Behind the Libya Intervention?
By William Pfaff
Two Libyans, one draped in his new national ag, visit during celebrations in the streets of
Tripoli following news of the capture and death of Muammar Qadda, Oct. 20, 2011.
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Manifest Destiny. Copyright 2011 Tribune
Media Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
#faff_25_S#ecia Re#"$% 10/27/11 1:30 PM Page 25
Anwar al-Awlaki, Yemen and
Obamas War
By Patrick Seale
O
n Friday, Sept. 30, Yemen announced
that a Hellfire missile fired from a
CIA-operated drone had killed Sheikh
Anwar al-Awlaki, in the north of the coun-
try. His grief-stricken father, once a minis-
ter of agriculture in a Yemeni government,
went to the scene to collect and bury the
pieces of what remained of Anwars body.
It was the seventh U.S. strike in Yemen this
year.
Anwar al-Awlaki was a virulent critic of
American foreign policy in the Arab
world, and a passionate advocate of al-
Qaedas form of Islamic jihad. He was also a
U.S. citizen, born in New Mexico, with an
engineering degree from Colorado State
University. His Internet sermons, delivered
in fluent English, had a devoted following,
especially among young Muslims in the
West.
His killing inevitably aroused a storm
of controversy in the United States about
its legality. In an article in The National
Interest, Paul R. Pillar, a former senior CIA
officer now a university professor, de-
scribed it as essentially a long-range ex-
ecution without judge, jury or publicly
presented evidence. This is a subject
which must be left to the Americans to
debate.
What are its probable consequences?
The most obvious is that it is likely fur-
ther to inflame some Muslims against the
United States, drawing fresh recruits into
the jihadist struggle. Why kill him in
this brutal, ugly way? a member of his
Awalik tribe was quoted as saying.
Killing him will not solve the Americans
problem with al-Qaeda. It will just in-
crease its strength and sympathy in this
region.
A key question, therefore, is whether al-
Qaedaincluding its Yemen-based off-
shoot, Al-Qaida in the Arabian Penin-
sulais an organization or a cause. If it is
an organization, killing its leaders must
eventually drive it out of business. But if it
is a cause, assassinations may have the con-
trary effect. A martyred Awlaki may
prove a more effective recruiting sergeant
than he was alive. A young American
Muslim cleric, Yasir Qadhi, wrote in the In-
ternational Herald Tri-
bune on Oct. 3 that
Killing people does not
make their ideas go
away.
Awlakis killing has
inevitably been com-
pared to that of Osama
bin Laden, shot down
last May in his home in
Pakistan by a hit-team
of U.S. Special Forces.
The clandestine mission
was seen by many Pak-
istanis as an intolerable
infringement of their
countrys sovereignty.
The assassination pre-
cipitated a grave crisis in
U.S.-Pakistan relations.
It played into the hands
of hard-liners in the
Pakistani army and mili-
tary intelligence service,
no doubt causing them
to tighten still further their links with
jihadi groups, such as the Haqqani net-
work. Americas 10-year war against the
Taliban in Afghanistan will thus have
been made more perilous and any outcome
favorable to the United States more uncer-
tain than ever.
In much the same way as he cheered
bin Ladens death, U.S. President Barack
Obama has hailed Awlakis murder as a
major blow to al-Qaeda. Many Muslims,
however, will see the killing as further
evidence that the American president,
much like his belligerent predecessor
George Bush, is at war with Islam. His
slavish support for Israel as it seizes
Palestinian land and denies statehood to
the Palestinians has aroused great anger.
His standing is already close to rock-
bottom in the Arab and Muslim world.
The killing of Awlaki will drive another
nail in the coffin of what little remains of
his reputation.
In an ironic twist of fortune, Dick
Cheney, Bushs war-mongering defense
secretary, said last weekend that Obama
should apologize to Bush for criticizing
the enhanced interrogation tech-
niquessuch as water-boardingin-
flicted on al-Qaeda suspects, since Obama
was himself now resorting to even more
robust methods!
The Assassination of Anwar Al-Awlaki
Patrick Seale is a leading British writer on
the Middle East. His latest book is The
Struggle for Arab Independence: Riad el-
Solh and the Makers of the Modern Middle
East (Cambridge University Press). Copy-
right 2011 Patrick Seale. Distributed by
Agence Global.
Two Views Two Views
26 DECEMBER 2011
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&ie'$_a'aki_26-27_T'" Vie'$ 10/27/11 12:19 PM Page 26
The United States is deeply unpopular in
Yemen. The divide can be traced to the
American-sponsored war against the Sovi-
ets in Afghanistan in the 1980s. It will be
recalled that, with the help of Pakistan and
Saudi Arabia, the United States recruited,
trained and armed tens of thousands of
young Muslims from several Arab coun-
tries to fight the godless Russians in
Afghanistan. Some 25,000 of these mu-
jahideenvolunteer fighters in the cause
of Islamcame from Yemen alone. Many
thousands more came from Algeria, Egypt
and elsewhere.
But when the Soviets pulled out of
Afghanistan in 1989, the United States cal-
lously dropped the mujahideen. Funding
for them dried up. A number of these
battle-hardened and radicalized Afghan
Arabs joined bin Ladens al-Qaeda. Thou-
sands made their way home to Yemen,
where they were treated as heroesat least
at first. Some were given jobs in the civil
service and the army.
A year later, in 1990, Saddam Hussain
invaded Kuwait. To dislodge him, the U.S.
dispatched half a million men to Saudi
Arabia in what was to become the First
Gulf War. Since Yemen had long had close
ties with Saddams Iraq, President Ali
Abdallah Saleh refused to join the Amer-
ican-led coalition. Instead, he advocated
an Arab solution to the Kuwait crisis.
This angered Saudi Arabia and the Gulf
states who saw Saddam as a dangerous
bully who had to be cut down to sizea
task they believed only the United States
could do.
Saudi Arabias response to Ali Abdallah
Salehs pro-Iraqi policies was to expel close
to a million Yemeni migrant workers. Their
return home deprived Yemen of indispens-
able remittances and added to already
severe unemployment. Yemen became a
failing state. This was the beginning of a
long dispute between Yemen and Saudi
Arabiaand also of a battle between ji-
hadists and the United States, which con-
tinues to this day.
At first, the Afghan Arabs were useful
to Yemens president as he battled former
Marxists in South Yemen. But when the ji-
hadists started attacking American targets,
they got him into trouble with the United
States. The former heroes became terror-
ists.
In December 1992, jihadists bombed
the Goldmur Hotel in Aden where U.S.
military personnel were staying. In June
1996 they bombed the Khubar Towers in
the eastern Saudi town of Dhahran,
killing 19 American soldiers. In August
1998, they attacked U.S. embassies in
Kenya and Tanzania. In October 2000,
they blew a hole in the side of the USS
Cole in Aden harbor, killing 17 U.S.
sailors. In November 2002, a missile from
a CIA-operated drone killed Sheikh Salim
al-Harithi, one of the men involved in the
Cole bombing.
By this time, the exploits of these local
jihadis had been overshadowed by the
devastating assault mounted by their
mother organization on the U.S. heart-
landthe terrorist attacks of Sept. 11,
2001.The U.S. wars in Afghanistan and
Iraq followed.
Meanwhile, the bitter struggle contin-
ues in Yemen, a country now on the verge
of collapse. U.S. Special Forces are being
sucked further into what looks increas-
ingly like a civil war. The killing of
Anwar al-Awlaki must be seen in this
context.
But is it not obvious that external force
is a blunt instrument in dealing with what
is essentially an internal Yemeni contest? Is
it not time for Washington to rethink its
policy toward the Arab and Muslim
worldas the unfortunate Obama had
indeed intended to do, before he was de-
feated by Americas gung-ho militarists,
rabid conservatives, pro-Israeli lobbyists
and other assorted Islam-haters?
A Dangerous Precedent
By Rep. Ron Paul
A
ccording to the Fifth Amendment to
the U.S. Constitution, Americans are
never to be deprived of life, liberty or
property without due process of law. The
Constitution is not some aspirational state-
ment of values, allowing exceptions when
convenient; rather, it is the law of the land.
It is the basis of our Republic and our prin-
cipal bulwark against tyranny.
The Sept. 30 assassination of two Amer-
ican citizens, Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir
Khan, is an outrage and a criminal act car-
ried out by the president and his adminis-
tration. If the law protecting us against
government-sanctioned assassination can
be voided when there is a really bad
American, is there any meaning left to the
rule of law in the United States? If, as we
learned in early October, a secret govern-
ment committee, not subject to congres-
sional oversight or judicial review, can
now target certain Americans for assassina-
tion, under what moral authority do we
presume to lecture the rest of the world
about protecting human rights? Didnt we
just bomb Libya into oblivion under the
auspices of protecting the civilians from
being targeted by their government? Tim-
othy McVeigh was certainly a threat, as
were Nidal Hasan and Jared Lee Loughner.
They killed people in front of many wit-
nesses. They took up arms against their
government in a literal way yet were still
afforded trials. These constitutional protec-
tions are in place because our Founders re-
alized it is a very serious matter to deprive
any individual of life or liberty. Our out-
rage against even the obviously guilty is
not worth the sacrifice of the rule of law.
Awlaki had been outspoken against the
United States, and we are told he encour-
aged violence against Americans. We do
not know that he actually committed any
acts of violence. Ironically, he was once in-
vited to the Pentagon as part of an out-
reach to moderate Muslims after 9/11. As
the U.S. attacks against Muslims in the
Middle East and Central Asia expanded, it
is said that he became more fervent and
radical in his opposition to U.S. foreign
policy.
Many cheer this killing because they be-
lieve that in a time of war, due process is
not necessarynot even for citizens, and
especially not for those overseas. However,
there has been no formal declaration of war
and certainly not one against Yemen. The
post-9/11 authorization for force would not
have covered these two Americans because
no one is claiming they had any connec-
tion to that attack. Awlaki was on a kill list
compiled by a secret panel within Presi-
dent Obamas National Security Council
and Justice Department. How many more
American citizens are on that list? They
wont tell us. What are the criteria? They
wont tell us. Where is the evidence? They
wont tell us.
Awlakis father tried desperately to get
the administration to at least allow his son
to have legal representation to challenge
the kill order. He was denied. Rather
than give him his day in court, the admin-
istration, behind closed doors, served as
prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner.
The most worrisome aspect of this is that
any new powers this administration ac-
crues will serve as precedents for future
administrations. Even those who com-
pletely trust this administration must un-
derstand that if this usurpation of power
and denial of due process is allowed to
stand, these powers will remain to be ex-
panded on by the next administration and
then the next. Will you trust them? His-
tory shows that once a population gives up
its rights, they are not easily won back.
Beware. K
Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) is a candidate for the
Republican nomination for president.
views_awlaki_26-27_Two Views 10/27/11 12:19 PM Page 27
I
n his first major foreign policy address of
the 2012 presidential campaign, Repub-
lican frontrunner Mitt Romney on Oct. 7
presented a largely neoconservative plat-
form similar to that pursued by George W.
Bush, although he never mentioned the
former president by name.
Speaking at The Citadel military acad-
emy in South Carolina, Romney promised
to increase defense spendingand the size
of the U.S. Navyas part of a strategy de-
signed to ensure that the United States re-
main the worlds dominant military power
and that the 21st century be an American
century.
The United States should always retain
military supremacy to deter would-be ag-
gressors and to defend our allies and our-
selves, he told the Citadel cadets. And
know this: If America is the undisputed
leader of the world, it reduces our need to
police a more chaotic world.
And if you do not want America to be
the strongest nation on Earth, I am not
your president, he said. You have that
president today, he said of Barack Obama,
whose policies of the last three years he
characterized as feckless.
Know this, Romney went on in an im-
plicit assertion of the kind of unilateralism
which Bush extolled but which alienated
even some of Washingtons closest allies.
While America should work with other
nations, we always reserve the right to act
alone to protect our vital national interests.
Critical to those interests, he made clear,
was the greater Middle East. He suggested
that Washington should align itself even
more closely to Israelwhose existence as
a Jewish state he characterized as a vital
national interestand pursue a more con-
frontational policy toward Iran, including
the regular deployment in the region of two
aircraft carrier task forces as a deterrent.
I will again reiterate that Iran obtaining
nuclear weapons is unacceptable, he
stressed, asserting also that in the hands of
the ayatollahs, a nuclear Iran is nothing less
than an existential threat to Israel. Irans sui-
cidal fanatics could blackmail the world.
He listed as the greatest threats to the
U.S. interests Islamic fundamentalism;
the ongoing struggle in the greater Middle
East between those who yearn for free-
dom and those who seek to crush it; the
ripple effects of failed and failing states
from [sic] which terrorists may find safe
haven; the anti-American visions of
regimes in Iran, North Korea, Venezuela,
[and] Cuba; and rising nations with hid-
den and emerging aspirations like China,
determined to be a world superpower, and
a resurgent Russia.
Romney spoke at the end of a week
which saw two potential Republican ri-
valsNew Jersey Gov. Chris Christie [who
has since endorsed him] and the partys
2008 vice-presidential candidate, former
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palintake their names
out of consideration. The rapid decline
due to a series of poor debate perfor-
mancesof far-right Texas Gov. Rick Perry
in the polls since he entered the race last
month has made Romney the clear favorite
for the partys nomination.
Romneys Neocon Advisers
His speech also followed the release earlier
in the week of a list of his top foreign pol-
icy advisers, many, if not most, of whom
are known for their neoconservative and
strongly pro-Israel views.
Remarkably, three of the top advisers
Eric Edelman, Robert Kagan [who is mar-
ried to State Department spokesperson Vic-
toria Nuland], and Dan Senorserve on
the four-man board of directors of the For-
eign Policy Initiative (FPI), the ideological
successor to the Project for the New Amer-
ican Century (PNAC), which may help to
explain why Romney evoked the phrase
American Century no less than five times
in his speech. Both FPI and PNAC were co-
founded by Kagan and Weekly Standard
editor Bill Kristol.
PNAC played a leading role in mobiliz-
ing support for regime change in Iraq
beginning in the late 1990s and spear-
heading the public post- 9/11 campaign for
invading the country. Among the 27 peo-
ple who signed its 1997 charter were some
of the most hawkish members of the Bush
administration, including Vice President
Dick Cheney and his deputy, I. Lewis
Libby; Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz; and
Bushs top Mideast aide, Elliott Abrams.
While those names were absent from the
ElectionWatch ElectionWatch
Republican Frontrunner Mitt Romney
Touts Neoconservative Foreign Policy
By Jim Lobe
Jim Lobe is Washington, DC bureau chief for
Inter Press Service. His blog on U.S. foreign
policy can be read at <www.lobelog.com>.
Copyright 2011 IPS-Inter Press Service.
All rights reserved.
Former Massachusetts Gov. and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney gives a for-
eign policy address at the Citadel on in Charleston, SC, Oct. 7, 2011.
R
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list of advisers released by the Romney
campaign, many of their trusted aides or
ideological fellow-travellers in the Bush ad-
ministration figured prominently.
These include Edelman and Senor, who
served under Rumsfeld; former State De-
partment counter-terrorism chief and
Blackwater director Cofer Black; former
Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff;
former CIA director Michael Hayden; and
former high-ranking State Department of-
ficials Paula Dobriansky, Mitchell Riess,
Robert Joseph, Stephen Rademaker, Kim
Holmes and Eliot Cohen. Dobriansky,
Friedberg, Cohen and another Romney ad-
viser, Vin Weber, also signed the 1997
PNAC charter.
Other key advisers are associated more
with the realist wing of the Republican
Party, notably Dov Zakheim, who also
served under Rumsfeld, and Mitchell
Reiss, former State Department policy
planning chief who, however, has joined
several neoconservatives in a campaign to
remove the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), an
Iraq-based Iranian rebel group, from the
State Departments terrorism list.
Yet another adviser, Walid Phares of the
neoconservative Foundation for Defense of
Democracies, is controversial for his past
ties to the militant Phalange movement in
Lebanon.
The neoconservative influence was, in
any event, made clear in Romneys speech,
which, in addition to its often messianic
tone, repeatedly celebrated U.S. excep-
tionalism and the necessity for a new
American Century.
Im here today to tell you that I am
guided by one overwhelming conviction
and passion, he told cadets in the audi-
ence. This century must be an American
Century.
God did not create this country to be a
nation of followers, he declared. America
is not destined to be one of several equally
balanced global powers. America must lead
the world, or someone else will.
While Romney gave lip service to the
importance of soft power, particularly in
regard to dealing with the so-called Arab
Spring, his most specific proposal was to
increase shipbuilding from 9 to 15 ships a
year and to keep at least 11 aircraft carrier
groups deployed year round, as well as in-
crease spending on a multi-layered na-
tional ballistic missile defense system.
In other speeches, Romney has proposed
devoting at least four percent of U.S. GDP to
the Pentagons base budget, a proposal that
would, according to some estimates, increase
defense spending by about 14 percent.
That drew strong criticism from Steve
Clemons, founder of the American Strategy
Program at the New America Foundation,
who called the speech depressingly con-
ventional in the sense that he looks at the
Pentagon as the source of the countrys
strength and talks about the economy al-
most as an afterthought.
Thirty years ago, the U.S. had a third of
the worlds GDP and a third of what the
world spent on defense, he told IPS.
Now we have just over 20 percent of the
worlds GDP and we account for about half
of global military expenditures. This kind
of approach not only fails to secure Amer-
icas long-term security interest, but also
undermines our economic solvency.
Aaron David Miller, a former diplomat
and Mideast specialist at the Wilson Center
in Washington, DC, compared the speech to
Bushs first term. He can get America into a
lot of trouble with tough talk, no strategy,
and a failure to understand the world in
which we live, Miller said. We saw that
movie in 2003. No sequels please. K
(Advertisement)
lobe_28-29_Election Watch 10/26/11 1:20 PM Page 29
T
hroughout the summer many Israeli
politicians seemed to be in a state of
near hysteria over the possibility that the
Palestinians would seek to gain recognition
of a state through the U.N. It is unclear why
this was considered such a threat to Israel,
except that it might hinder Israeli Prime
Minister Binyamin Netanyahus apparent
strategy of pretending to want to negotiate
while relentlessly expanding Israeli colonies
in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
On cue, AIPAC and other far-right Jew-
ish-American groups and individuals began
whipping Congress to forcefully respond
with anti-Palestinian measures, including
cutting off aid to the Palestinian Authority
(PA). It was no surprise that Israels bought-
and-paid-for members of Congress were
eager to take up the cry. No fewer than 10
senators and 35 House members spoke out
in one forum or another denouncing the
Palestinians and praising Israel. As reported
in the Washington Reports September/Oc-
tober issue, under AIPAC pressure Congress
passed non-binding resolutionsS.Res. 185
in the Senate and H.Res. 268 in the
Housethreatening, among other things,
to cut off aid to the Palestinians if they per-
sist in their statehood efforts. In July, House
foreign aid appropriations subcommittee
chair Kay Granger (R-TX) and ranking De-
mocrat Nita Lowey (D-NY) wrote to PA
President Mahmoud Abbas making the
same threat, and on Sept. 15, 58 House De-
mocrats, led by Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD),
wrote to 40 European heads of state urging
them to stand with the United States in
opposing unilateral action by the PA at
the U.N. On Sept. 20, just before President
Barack Obamas speech to the U.N., 14 sen-
ators wrote to him urging that he use his
speech to restate strong U.S. support for Is-
rael, which is just what he did.
Legislatively, the previously described
measures supporting Israels Likud-led gov-
ernments intransigence made no progress.
However, three new measures were intro-
duced. On Sept. 8, Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL)
joined by 42 of his Republican colleagues,
introduced H.Res. 394 supporting Israels
right to annex Judea and Samaria in the
event that the Palestinian Authority contin-
ues to press for unilateral recognition of
statehood at the U.N. And on Sept. 12 Rep.
Steve Israel (D-NY), with three co-sponsors,
introduced H.R. 2893 to prohibit Foreign
Military Financing program assistance to
countries that vote in the U.N. General As-
sembly (UNGA) in favor of recognizing a
Palestinian state in the absence of a negoti-
ated border agreement between Israel and
the PA. In the Senate, Orrin Hatch (R-UT),
with 18 Republican co-sponsors, on Sept. 21
introduced S. 1595 prohibiting funding for
the U.N. if the Security Council or UNGA
grants Palestine a change in status in the ab-
sence of a comprehensive peace agreement.
I
sraels bought-and-paid-for
members of Congress were
eager to take up the cry.
Then, on Oct. 1, Agence France Presse re-
ported that a coalition of Israel-backing
Democrats and conservative Republicans
in both the House and Senate were block-
ing about $200 million of aid to the Pales-
tinians until the Palestinian statehood
issue is sorted out. However, on Oct. 3
Reuters quoted State Department spokes-
woman Victoria Nuland as saying the ad-
ministration is in intensive discussions
with key members to unblock the money.
And Congress most reliable Israel-firster,
House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC)
chair Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), held a
Sept. 14 hearing on Re-examining Aid to
the Palestinians, packed with pro-Israel
witnesses. Ros-Lehtinens opening state-
ment was predictably harsh, saying that
Washington not only should cut off aid to
the Palestinians, but should withhold fund-
ing to any U.N. entity that granted mem-
bership, or any upgraded status, to the PA.
But Israel May Be Having Second
Thoughts
Ros-Lehtinen was probably disappointed
in some of her witnesses statements, espe-
cially those of neocons Eliot Abrams of the
Council on Foreign Relations and David
Makovsky of the AIPAC-created Washing-
ton Institute of Near East Policy. Both said
that cutting off Palestinian aid could be
harmful to Israel by, among other things,
ending U.S.-Palestinian security coopera-
tion and possibly causing the collapse of
the PA. Indeed, the Israeli government may
have begun to realize that continuing aid
to the Palestinians is indeed in Israels in-
terest. Reuters on Sept. 16 reported that Is-
rael on Sept. 18 would submit a report to
the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee coordinat-
ing assistance to the Palestinians urging
the international community to continue
aid to the Palestinians.
Record 81 House Members on AIPAC-
Sponsored Boondoggle to Israel
During August a record 81 House mem-
bers26 Democrats led by Minority
Whip Hoyer and 55 Republicans led by
Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), visited
Israel courtesy of the American Israel Ed-
ucation Foundation (AIEF), a sham AIPAC
spin-off. The Capitol Hill publication Roll
Call estimated that the cost to the AIEF
could total more than $1 million. Roll Call
also pointed out that the AIEF and AIPAC
share the same address, employees and
board members, and the AIEFs executive
director and its other employees all receive
their salaries from AIPAC. (See this issues
postcard insert.)
In 2007 Congress passed a law banning
lobbying groups from paying for House
members to take long trips. However, the
law included a provision exempting non-
profit groups. Roll Call quoted the watch-
dog group Public Citizens Craig Holman as
saying I call it the AIPAC loophole.
Palestinian Accountability Bill
Makes Some Progress
While the anti-Palestinian measures de-
scribed in previous issues have made no
progress, H.R. 2457, the Palestinian Ac-
countability Act, introduced in July by
Walsh, has gained six co-sponsors, and
now has 39, all Republicans. Its stated pur-
pose is to restrict funds for the Palestinian
Authority. Unless certain unlikely condi-
tions are met, it would prohibit U.S. gov-
ernment documents from referring to areas
controlled by the PA as Palestine; would
prohibit U.S. funds to the PA; would pro-
hibit U.S. funds to the U.N. or any U.N. en-
Congress Echoes Israels Near Hysteria
Over Palestinians U.N. Bid
By Shirl McArthur
Shirl McArthur, a retired U.S. foreign service
ofcer, is a consultant based in the Wash-
ington, DC area.
CongressWatch CongressWatch
ca$&h'$_30-31_C"!g$e%% Wa&ch 10/27/11 1:21 PM Page 30
tity if it declares or recognizes statehood for
the Palestinian territories, and would bar
U.S. funding for the U.N. Relief and Works
Agency (UNRWA), which aids Palestinian
refugees, unless it meets the same condi-
tions imposed on the Palestinians.
Jerusalem Embassy, Anti-Boycott Bills
The AIPAC-promoted, previously described
H.R. 1006, introduced in March by Rep.
Dan Burton (R-IN), continues to make slow
progress. It would recognize Jerusalem as
the capital of Israel, cut off some State De-
partment funding unless the U.S. Embassy
in Israel is established in Jerusalem no later
than Jan. 1, 2013, and remove the presiden-
tial waiver authority included in the
Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995. It has
gained eight co-sponsors and now has 51,
including Burton.
Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) introduced
two measures opposing the Arab boycott of
Israel. In May he introduced, with three co-
sponsors, H.R. 2004, whose primary focus
is to prohibit or control technology transfer
to any country supporting acts of terrorism.
However, it also includes a provision direct-
ing the president to issue regulations pro-
hibiting any U.S. citizen from taking any ac-
tions supporting any foreign-imposed or -
fostered boycott against a country that is
friendly to the U.S. Then, on July 19 he in-
troduced H.R. 2589, whose only provisions
are to prohibit certain activities in support
of the Arab League boycott of Israel.
U.N. Reform Bill Finally Introduced
Ros-Lehtinen, with 112 Republican co-
sponsors, on Aug. 30 introduced H.R. 2829,
her long-awaited U.N. Transparency, Ac-
countability, and Reform bill. To say it is
extreme would be an understatement. It is
clear that Ros-Lehtinens objective is to
make U.S. funding of the U.N. conditional
on its treatment of Israel and the Palestini-
ans. Among the bills many harsh measures
are those that would withhold U.S. contri-
butions from any U.N. agency or program
that upgrades the status of the PLO Pales-
tinian observer mission; withhold funding
for UNRWA; call for the U.S. to lead a high-
level U.N. effort for the revocation and re-
pudiation of the Goldstone Report; shift
U.S. contributions to the U.N. to a volun-
tary basis; and halt new U.S. contributions
to U.N. peacekeeping missions until reforms
are implemented.
Even before I was a Democrat, I was a
Zionist Berman, the ranking Democrat on
the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said
it would eviscerate the U.N. and called it
radical, ill-advised and probably dead on
arrival. Assistant Secretary of State for In-
ternational Organizations Esther Brimmer
said the bills measures were backward
and would seriously undermine Americas
role as a world leader. U.N. Foundation
vice-president Peter Yeo said that not only
was the bill unwise and would undermine
the U.S. position at the U.N., but that it also
has no chance of becoming law.
It is not clear why Ros-Lehtinen contin-
ues to introduce such extreme measures as
this bill and the Foreign Affairs Authoriza-
tion bill, described in the September/Octo-
ber issue, that have no chance of being en-
acted. Perhaps it is part of a broader, Re-
publican 2012-election strategy to compel
Democrats to oppose them so as to some-
how paint them as being soft on Israel.
Or perhaps she wants to beat her 2010
record as second-highest House recipient
of pro-Israel PAC contributions ($45,000,
for a career total of $208,740).
Iran, Syria Sanctions Bills Continue to
Gain Support
The two comprehensive Iran sanctions
bills being pushed by AIPAC continue to
gain co-sponsors. H.R. 1905, introduced in
May by Ros-Lehtinen, titled the Iran
Threat Reduction Act of 2011, has gained
91 co-sponsors and now has 298, including
Ros-Lehtinen. S. 1048, introduced in May
by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) to ex-
pand sanctions with respect to the Islamic
Republic of Iran, North Korea, and Syria,
has gained 22 co-sponsors and now has 75,
including Menendez. However, neither bill
has been brought to the floor of the House
or Senate.
On Aug. 9, 92 senators, led by Sens.
Mark Kirk (R-IL)who received more pro-
Israel PAC contributions ($115,304) than
any 2010 candidateand Charles Schumer
(D-NY), wrote to Obama urging him to im-
pose sanctions on Irans Central Bank to
help thwart Irans nuclear programs.
On Aug. 2 Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and
two co-sponsors introduced S. 1496, to
prohibit the delegation by the U.S. of in-
spection, certification, and related services
to a foreign classification society that pro-
vides comparable services to Iran, North
Korea, North Sudan, or Syria.
H.R. 2105, introduced by Ros-Lehtinen
in June to expand sanctions on foreign
persons who transfer to Iran, North Korea,
and Syria certain goods, services or tech-
nology, has gained two co-sponsors and
now has five, including Ros-Lehtinen.
H.R. 2106, also introduced by Ros-Lehti-
nen in June, has gained 33 co-sponsors and
now has 35, including Ros-Lehtinen. It
would strengthen sanctions against the
government of Syria, enhance multilateral
commitment to address the government of
Syrias threatening policies, and establish a
program to support a transition to a demo-
cratic government in Syria. It would also
restrict Obamas authority to waive sanc-
tions on Syria. And H.Res. 296, introduced
in June by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) has
gained two co-sponsors and now has 34,
including Lamborn.
On Aug. 9 Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-
NY), with 10 co-sponsors, introduced S.
1472. It would direct the president to im-
pose a wide range of sanctions aimed at
Syrias petroleum sector, including sanc-
tions against a person who invests at least
$20 million that contributes to Syrias abil-
ity to develop petroleum resources; sells
goods or services to Syria that could facil-
itate Syrias domestic production of refined
petroleum products; or purchases Syrian-
developed petroleum resources.
On Aug. 3, 68 senators signed a letter to
Obama urging him to impose tougher sanc-
tions on Syria, including stringent sanctions
on Syrias banking sector and a ban on U.S.
businesses operating or investing in Syria.
Some Attention Paid to Afghanistan,
Pakistan, and Even Libya and Iraq
Most of the previously described measures
concerning Afghanistan have received no
further support. However, H.R. 1735, the
Afghanistan Exit and Accountability bill
introduced in May by Rep. Jim McGovern
(D-MA) has gained two co-sponsors and
now has 75, including McGovern. It would
require the president to submit to Congress
a plan with a timeframe and completion
date for the accelerated transition of U.S. mil-
itary and security operations in Afghanistan
to the government of Afghanistan within
60 days. On Oct. 5 Rep. Dana Rohrabacher
(R-CA), with one co-sponsor, introduced
H.Res. 423 urging the U.S. to empower and
recognize Afghanistans ethnic diversity
through free local and provincial elections
and replace the present failed centralized
system of government with a federal politi-
cal structure.
Regarding Pakistan, H.R. 1790, intro-
duced May 5 by Rohrabacher, which
would prohibit assistance to Pakistan, still
has no co-sponsors. Similarly, H.R. 3013,
introduced Sept. 22 by Rep. Ted Poe (R-
TX), which also would prohibit aid to Pak-
istan, also has no co-sponsors. On Oct. 6
Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO) introduced H.R.
3115 to prohibit non-security assistance
to Pakistan.
mcarthur_30-31_Congress Watch 10/27/11 1:21 PM Page 31
T
he forced resignation of Britains de-
fense minister, Liam Fox, has opened
up a window into the way foreign policy
in the free world is madeand a very
revealing window it is.
At the center of the scandal that led to
Foxs ouster is his best man, and very
good friend Adam Werritty, a 33-year-old
man-about-town who went around hand-
ing out business cards informing recipients
that the bearer was an adviser to Fox, al-
though he held no such official title. In re-
ality, however, Werritty was (and is) far
closer to Fox than any of his official advis-
ers: they met, apparently, when Werritty
was a mere teenager in the Young Conserv-
ative organization, and have been virtually
inseparable ever since. So inseparable that
young Werritty met Fox at dozens of loca-
tions throughout the world, from Dubai to
Israel, when the defense minister was on
official business: they traveled together, as
if they were a married couple (not that
theres anything wrong with that). The
problem for the former defense minister is
that the tab for Werrittys high-flying
lifestyle (luxury hotels, expensive meals,
drinks all round) was picked up by a
group of businessmen, lobbyists, and oth-
ers with a keen interest in influencing the
Ministry of Defense (MoD).
The influence of lobbyists is hardly an
unknown danger to the integrity of demo-
cratic institutions, but in this case there is
also a national security angle, one which
made it imperative that Fox step down. As
the Daily Mail reports:
A web of overt and covert backers, some
with close links to Israel, are revealed in the
bank records of Pargav Ltd., a company that
did little else than fork out more than
150,000 in a year to pay for Mr. Werrittys
first-class flights, hotels and nights out at
New York strip clubs.
Backers include tycoon Poju Zabludow-
icz, chairman of the pro-Israel lobby group
Britain Israeli Communication Research
Center (BICOM), and millionaire Michael
Lewis, BICOMs former deputy chairman.
In addition, Werrittys company, Pargav,
received donations of nearly 13,000
anonymously in cash deposits. In the
course of his longstanding impersonation
of an important adviser to
Fox, Werritty had access to all
sorts of classified information,
including details of sophisti-
cated weapons and other sys-
tems utilized by MoD, and
there is concern that this may
have been compromised. The
Daily Mail has the scoop:
Adam Werritty used his re-
lationship with Liam Fox to ob-
tain highly sensitive, technical
details of a military communica-
tions system used by Coalition
special forces in Afghanistan.
Dubai-based venture capital-
ist Harvey Boulter said last
night he only disclosed the infor-
mation about the system because
Mr. Werritty had told him he
was an official Ministry of De-
fense adviser. Mr. Boulter said:
I assumed he must have been
security-vetted.
Boulter is a venture capitalist
and chief executive of the Por-
ton Group, which specializes in
funding companies developing new appli-
cations of technologies discovered in gov-
ernment labs. The meeting between Wer-
ritty and Boulter was set up by Lee Petar,
who heads up a lobbying firm known as
Tetra Strategy. Petar is BICOMs former di-
rector of communications.
I am speaking hypothetically, Mr. Boul-
ter said, but the Israelis are known to be
good at reverse engineering other peoples
technology. What would we do if an Israeli
firm started pirating our technology or sell-
ing it to our enemies?
Complain to Bicom? Ask Werritty for a
refund? Cry? All these are options, with
only the last one a real possibility.
With this much money, and this much
access to national security secrets, in the
mix, talk that Werritty has beencon-
sciously or otherwiseacting as an agent
for Israeli intelligence is more than mere
speculation. Two top officials of BICOM,
the Britain Israeli Communication Research
Center, contributed to the Werritty slush
fund: BICOMs chairman, the billionaire
Poju Zabludowicz, and Michael Lewis, CEO
of fashion retailer Foschini, formerly
BICOMs deputy chairman. Athird donor is
Mick the miner Davis, founder of Xstrata,
The Sins of Liam Fox
By Justin Raimondo
Britains then-Defense Minister Liam Fox is interviewed as he arrives at the Ministry of Defense build-
ing in London, Oct. 13, 2011.
D
A
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K
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/
G
E
T
T
Y

I
M
A
G
E
S
Justin Raimondo is the editorial director of
Antiwar.com, where this article was rst
posted Oct. 19, 2011. Copyright Anti-
war.com 2011. Reprinted with permission.
&ai"$#d$_32-33_S%ecia! Re%$&' 10/27/11 12:22 PM Page 32
a close friend of Zabludowicz and Lewis,
and also a fervent pro-Israel advocate.
Also listed as donors to the various com-
panies and front groups set up by Werritty
to finance his world-spanning trips and
luxury lifestyle: the G3 (Good Governance
Group), with extensive interests in Sri
Lanka, where the diplomatic duo traveled
often, and Jon Moulton, a British venture
capitalist keen to establish strong ties to
Washington, as the London Times puts it.
Craig Murray, former British ambassador
to Uzbekistanand someone with excel-
lent contacts inside the Foreign Office
wrote:
My source told me that what really was
worrying senior officials in the MOD, FCO
[Foreign & Commonwealth Office] and Cab-
inet Office was the possibility that Fox could
be being used as a useful idiot by Mossad,
Israels far-reaching and extremely effective
intelligence service.
Key funding sources for Werritty were
from the Israeli lobby and a rather obscure
commercial intelligence agency. Might
Mossad be pulling Werrittys strings, with or
without his knowledge?
On Friday, two senior Fleet Street jour-
nalists also reported hearing similar concerns
from other Whitehall officials about possible
Israeli intelligence service involvement with
Fox and Werritty.
To top it off, apparently Werritty made
several trips to Iran and environs, where
he met with various opposition activists
and discussed plans for regime change.
Although the official British policy toward
Iran is pursuit of a diplomatic solution to
its problems with the West, there are indi-
cations Werrity and Fox were conducting
their own freelance foreign policy, cen-
tered on effecting regime change, in col-
lusion with Israeli officials. The Israelis
considered Werritty to be an official ad-
viser to Fox, as well as an Iran expert,
which accounts for Werrittys presence at
two sessions of the famed Herzliya confer-
ence, where Israels national security offi-
cials congregate to discuss how best to
pursue Israels interests. Unfortunately for
Fox, and Werritty, the job of a British min-
ister of defense is to pursue Britains inter-
ests first and foremost.
What it boils down to is this: a private
company that handled a lush slush
fund for the benefit of the defense minis-
ters boyfriend, who traveled around the
world handing out his business cards and
advertising his services as fixer for what-
ever business or foreign interests wanted
a piece of the action. Thats how British
policy has been made ever since the Con-
servative-led coalition government came
to power.
This isnt just about money, however.
The strong pro-Israel/interventionist
theme of Werrittys jet-setting antics illus-
tratesonce againhow the Jewish state
and its supporters inveigle themselves into
every possible crevice, taking the oppor-
tunity to extract what benefit they can
from the foibles and fortunes of both
friends and foes. The techniquesetting
up parallel institutions existing alongside
official government agencieswas suc-
cessfully applied in the United States dur-
ing the run up to the invasion of Iraq.
Youll recall that the Office of Special
Plans, and other ad hoc groups set up in-
side the national security bureaucracy, did
an end run around the CIA and the main-
stream intelligence community, and packed
the pipeline with biased andas it turned
oututterly false intelligence, effec-
tively lying us into war. As Julian Borger
reported in the Guardian at the time:
The OSP was an open and largely unfil-
tered conduit to the White House not only for
the Iraqi opposition. It also forged close ties
to a parallel, ad hoc intelligence operation in-
side Ariel Sharons office in Israel specifi-
cally to bypass Mossad and provide the Bush
administration with more alarmist reports
on Saddams Iraq than Mossad was pre-
pared to authorize. None of the Israelis who
came were cleared into the Pentagon through
normal channels, said one source familiar
with the visits. Instead, they were waved in
on Mr. Feiths authority without having to
fill in the usual forms.
The exchange of information continued a
long-standing relationship Mr. [Douglas]
Feith [then director of policy at the Penta-
gon] and other Washington neoconservatives
had with Israels Likud party.
A Familiar Pattern
In America and Britain, the pattern is a fa-
miliar one: Israels partisans use every
means available to penetrate government
agencies, extract information, and utilize
their allies inside the system to Israels ad-
vantage. This involves not only activities
that might be characterized as espionage,
but also creating a parallel policy-making
apparatus that operates in the dark, hand-
ing out large sums to its sock puppets, and
running agents of influence at the highest
levels of government.
Fox resigned his seat, in his words, be-
cause he blurred the line between his
public and personal responsibilities, but
another line has been blurred, if not nearly
erased, and that is the one between advo-
cacy on behalf of Israel and undermining
Britains national security. The lesson for
America could not be clearer. The Israel
lobby in America is similarly aggressive in
pursuing Israeli interests over and above
those of their own country, as demon-
stratedto cite one recent exampleby
the case of Steve Rosen and Keith Weiss-
man, two top AIPAC officials accused of es-
pionage against the United States.
Israel is our friend, we are often told: our
best friend, as some would have it. Yet
friends dont act the way Israel and its more
fervent supporters do when it comes to
breaching the security of alleged allies
such as Britain and the U.S. The same forces
that set up Werrittys covert operation are
hard at work, here in America, extending
their tentacles as far as they can reach. Its
time to sever those tentacles and make Is-
raels agents in this country do what every
other foreign lobbyist is required to do by
law, and that is register under the require-
ments of the Foreign Agent Registration
Act. AIPAC, the premier organization of the
Israel lobby, has gotten around this by a se-
ries of legal maneuvers, andlets face
iton account of having friends in high
places. As the Werritty scandal shows, this
situation has to end.
The sins of Liam Fox are his own con-
cern: rumors of his homosexuality have
been rife ever since a young man was
found to have stayed overnight at Foxs flat
the night it was burgled. Foxs wife has
gone to ground, as the British tabloids
put it, and hasnt been seen in weeks, the
poor dear. When the rumors arose, Fox
and his friends rightly said that his private
life is none of anyones business as long as
hes doing a good job. Foxs problem, how-
ever, is that his sinsif sins they be
were also committed against the nation he
was pledged to serve. K
(Advertisement)
raimondo_32-33_Special Report 10/27/11 12:22 PM Page 33
F
or half a century after the end of the
Second World War, the far right in Eu-
rope was typically anti-Semitic and wor-
shipful of the Third Reich. Realizing that
their association with Nazism alienated the
vast majority of the public, those who ran
for office tried to distance themselves from
it to some extent, but rarely succeeded for
long. They seemed to find it impossible to
avoid letting slip their real views, giving
Nazi salutes and selling anti-Semitic writ-
ings by individuals whose pro-Nazi sym-
pathies were well known.
Those groups still exist, but they have
been partially displaced on the extreme
edges of European politics by organiza-
tions that have made Islam the primary ob-
ject of their hatred. In some cases, this may
be tactical: the British National Party, for
example, has concentrated on campaign-
ing against the Muslim presence in Britain
in the past decade, but among its core
leaders are men with a track record of anti-
Semitic, pro-Nazi sympathies. In others,
the focus on Islam is genuine: they don't
have a secret agendaor at least, not a
neo-Nazi one.
As a result, they have been able to capi-
talize on the fears of some sectors of the
public concerning Islam and migrants from
Muslim countries in ways that the old far-
right organizations could not. Inflamma-
tory language and the blanket labeling of
an entire religious group comprising peo-
ple of widely varied national origins, val-
ues, and degrees of religious practice was
acceptable in a way that similar expres-
sions of hostility toward Jewish, Asian or
Black people would not be.
It has to be said that Muslim extremism
is not merely a figment of their imagination,
as it has brought death and suffering to
many people. But to project the values of a
small segment of the worlds Muslims onto
all has no justification in the beliefs and
conduct of the vast majority of Islam's ad-
herents. Political leaders and opinion-mak-
ers have played upon and amplified real
anxieties felt in some non-Muslim commu-
nities as a way to build political support.
In Britain, the English Defense League
(EDL) was launched in May 2009, shortly
after eight Muslim extremists stood shout-
ing abuse during a march past them by the
Royal Anglian Regiment, returning from ser-
vice in Afghanistan. Although it presented
itself as a movement of ordinary people,
the EDL relied heavily on football hooligans
for support, and, as its leadership became
better known, it emerged that some of them
had been activists with far-right organiza-
tions. It received favorable publicity from
the tabloid Daily Star and financial support
from Alan Lake, a North London business-
man. Lake also helped the EDL to build up
international contacts. These include the
Sweden Democrats, Pastor Terry Jones, who
attracted publicity with his threat to burn
Qurans, and Pam Geller, director of Stop Is-
lamization of America. (EDL members at-
tended Gellers September 2010 protest
against the establishment of an Islamic Cen-
ter near the site of the World Trade Center.)
Lake arranged for Nachum Shifren, an
Orthodox rabbi, to speak at an EDL rally in
Luton on Feb. 5, 2011. Referring to Mus-
lims as dogs, the rabbi said: History will
be recorded that on this day, read by our
children for eternity, one group lit the
spark to liberate us from the oppressors of
our two governments and the leftist, fifth
column, quisling press, and that it was the
EDL which started the liberation of Eng-
land from evil. Shifren emigrated from the
USA to Israel in 1977, served in the Israeli
army, and, while studying, lived in the
Kfar Tepuah settlement in the West Bank,
later returning to California and standing
as a Republican candidate for the state sen-
ate in 2010.
In the Netherlands, Islamophobia was
made respectable by the 2002 electoral suc-
cess of Pim Fortuyn. A former leftist and
openly gay, Fortuyn always rejected any as-
sociation with the established parties of the
European far rightwhich meant that
when he referred to Islam as a backward
culture and sounded the alarm over the al-
leged danger posed by Muslim immigra-
tion, he was not hindered in putting his
message over by Nazi baggage. With the
Liveable Rotterdam party, he won 36 per-
cent of the seats in the formerly staunchly
socialist city. He formed a new party, the
List Pim Fortuyn, which won 26 parlia-
mentary seats in the 2002 general election,
helped rather than hindered by Fortuyns
assassination during the campaign. It was
very much a personal vehicle, however,
and lost its last parliamentary seats in 2006.
The Political Uses of Islamophobia in
Europe
By John Gee
Members of the right-wing English Defense League listen to founder Stephen Lennon (aka
Tommy Robinson) during a Feb. 5, 2011 rally in Luton, a working-class town north of London
with a history of racial tension. Orthodox Rabbi Nachum Shifren also spoke at the rally.
L
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John Gee is a free-lance journalist based in
Singapore, and the author of Unequal Con-
ict: The Palestinians and Israel.
gee_34-35_S#ecia Re#"$% 10/27/11 12:58 PM Page 34
Geert Wilders has stepped into Fortuyns
shoes. Unlike Fortuyn, Wilders back-
ground was conservative and he was a
member of the Peoples Party for Freedom
and Democracy until 2004, when he fell
out with it over Turkeys efforts to join the
European Union. This was a rallying point
for Islamophobes across Europe. Wilders
wanted the Turkish application to be re-
jected, not negotiated. He established the
Freedom Party, now the third largest in the
Dutch parliament.
Wilders claims that Islam is a fascist ide-
ology and compares the Quran to Hitlers
Mein Kampf; in this he is more strident and
extreme than Fortuyn. He was reportedly
influenced as a young man by his travels
in Israel and the neighboring Arab states.
Indeed, Wilders is strongly supportive of
Zionism of a far-right variety. In December
2008, he participated in the Facing Jihad
conference in Jerusalem, organized by Na-
tional Union Knesset member Aryeh Eldad.
Eldad, whose party favors the expulsion of
all Palestinians from Israeli-controlled ter-
ritory, said that the conference was to plan
practical steps in the struggle against the
spread of Islam in Europe. Eldad told the
Jerusalem Post that the Arab-Israeli conflict
was between Islam and Western civiliza-
tion, not a dispute over territory.
So rabid was Wilders contribution that
fellow participant Daniel Pipes was moved
to challenge him on his assertion that there
was no such thing as moderate Islam
and on his rejection of the Quran in its en-
tirety. (Other conference participants in-
cluded Itamar Marcus, of the highly selec-
tive Palestinian Media Watch, and Robert
Spencer, director of the U.S.-based Jihad
Watch.) Wilders anti-Islam film, Fitna,
was shown.
Prior to the conference, Wilders told an
audience at the Hudson Institute in Wash-
ington, DC, We are organizing this event
in Israel to emphasize the fact that we are
all in the same boat together. In December
2010, Wilders met in Jerusalem with Avig-
dor Lieber, the Israeli interior minister and
leader of the Russian immigrant-based far-
right party, Yisrael Beitenu. Wilders was a
member of the Swiss-based European Free-
dom Alliance delegation to Israel that also
included two members of the European
Parliament from the Freedom Party of Aus-
tria (FPO), two members of Flemish Interest
(VB), based in the Flemish part of Belgium,
and an MP from the Sweden Democrats.
The mindset of these organizations and
individuals was reflected in the manifesto
issued by Anders Breivik, who murdered
76 people in Norway on July 22. They all
rushed to dissociate themselves from
Breiviks actions, but he had drawn inspi-
ration and justification for what he did
from their writingsjust as Yigal Amir,
the assassin of Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin, drew encouragement from
the violent incitement of the Israeli right
and the settler leadership, which also tried
to distance itself from the consequences of
their words. Without themselves laying
hands on guns or explosives, they created
an atmosphere in which individuals such
as Breivik and Amir could muster a sense
of self-righteous legitimacy that left them
feeling entitled and impelled to kill.
Nowhere in Europe do Islamophobic
parties and movements have majority sup-
port, but they have managed to achieve
electoral gains in some countries and have
broken to some extent with the obsessions
of the post-World War II extreme right
that contributed greatly to its relative po-
litical isolation. Typically, they cherry pick
the liberal and leftist values that they re-
ject for elements that can serve them:
claiming to oppose Islamization because
it would mean the oppression of women,
the persecution of gay people and the sup-
pression of democratic liberties, and com-
paring Islam to Nazism and fascism. They
should be seen instead as playing a com-
plementary role to the Muslim extremists
they denounce: each feeds upon the rage
and inflammatory words and deeds of the
other. Especially in these times of eco-
nomic woe, people who want a decent so-
ciety must take a stand and reject demo-
nization of any community on the basis of
its religion, as well as nationality or color.
Marriage of Convenience?
Trips to Israel by right-wing politicians
have been used by them to shrug off the
taint of anti-Semitism and fascism.
Alessandra Mussolini visited shortly be-
fore launching her own political career.
The Italian Social Movement (MSI) was
founded by Giorgio Almirante, a former
member of Benito Mussolinis Nazi puppet
regime, the Social Republic, after the Sec-
ond World War, but his successor, Gian-
franco Fini, re-established it in 1995 as the
National Alliance. He visited Israel in No-
vember 2003 as Italys deputy prime min-
ister. Israeli radio commented that Fini be-
lieved that the road to the Italian premier-
ship passes through Jerusalem. In 2008,
Fini came in for a torrent of criticism after
he said on a talk show that the burning of
Israeli flags by left-wing protesters on May
1st was much more serious than the bru-
tal beating in Verona the same day of 29-
year-old Nicola Tommasoli by neo-Nazis.
Tommasoli later died of his injuries. K
(Advertisement)
gee_34-35_Special Report 10/27/11 12:58 PM Page 35
Palestinian State Is Right
To the Charleston Gazette (WV), Oct. 12, 2011
Im sure youll take some flak for your
editorial about Palestine. Id like to applaud
it. Backing Palestinian statehood is the
right thing for Palestinians, the right thing
for America, and, well, its just the right
thing to do.
David N. Ryan, Spencer, WV
Uneven Strength Unfair
To The Minnesota Daily, Sept. 25, 2011
For a two-party negotiation to succeed,
the two sides need to be approximately
equal. When one side is totally dominant,
as Israel is over Palestine, you get dictation,
not negotiation. That is why Obamas
absurd comment at the U.N., Ultimately, it
is the Israelis and Palestinians, not us, who
must reach agreement on the issues that
divide them, was met with stony silence.
Support for Palestinian statehood by the
leaders of countries such as France and
Brazil received standing ovations.
Meanwhile, the world watches as a help-
less American president fawns over the
small country that holds his electoral mort-
gage. I cant believe that this president is
the man I voted for.
Rolf Westgard, St. Paul, MN
Pushing on for Mideast Peace
To The New York Times, Sept. 30, 2011
When President Harry S. Truman recog-
nized Israel, he defied his secretary of state,
resisted logic and opposed many of his
experts. Some believe Truman was right;
some believe that we are still paying for a
premature decision. Subsequent presidents
have launched peace initiatives, peace mis-
sions, peace plans, peace accords, peace
conferences, peace summits, peace talks,
peace solutions and peace proposals. Has
this worked for anyone?
Perhaps it is time for President Obama to
defy his experts and recognize Palestine.
Can things be worse than the Middle East
wars, occupations, assassinations, mas-
sacres, suicide bombs, refugee camps and
security barriers of the past 63 years?
This might be the wrong time, this might
be the right time, but if we incline to hope,
it might be the perfect time to defy logic and
the expertsand try something different.
Felicity O. Yost, New York, NY
Walk in Palestinians Shoes
To The Tennessean, Sept. 24, 2011
The article Abbas could gain from U.N.
gambit fails to consider the dangerous
gambit the U.S. will make if it vetoes Pales-
tines bid for recognition by the U.N.
Our government might, in effect, be
painting targets on the backs of American
citizens because many people in the
Muslim world strongly disagree that the
U.S. has the right to deny Palestinians
equal rights and representative govern-
ment. Our own Declaration of Indepen-
dence says that if people are denied equal
rights and representative government,
they have the right to resist their oppres-
sors. So our government takes a terrible
risk when it denies rights we cherish to
other people.
What would American men do if a for-
eign oppressor interfered with the life, lib-
erty and pursuit of happiness of millions of
our children? Well, other men love their
children, too, and will never agree that
hypocritical Americans have any business
forcing them to be serfs.
Mike Burch, Nashville, TN
Settlements Are a Big Problem
To the Los Angeles Times, Oct. 2, 2011
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clin-
ton calls the Israeli governments approval
of 1,100 new housing units in East
Jerusalem counterproductive. I would say
this is part of Israels repeated, unmitigated
and arrogant slaps in the face to the United
States, the United Nations and to the entire
Arab world. Israeli Prime Minister Bin -
yamin Netanyahu acts with impunity.
What I have the most trouble accepting
is why our nation continues to stand with
Netanyahuand how we can consider the
Palestinians attempts at self-determination
to be less valuable than those of Egypts,
Tunisias or Libyas.
Netanyahu ignores the fact that building
new settlements, whether in the West Bank
or in East Jerusalem, violates international
law. Is Israel above the law?
Marilyn Goodman, Santa Monica, CA
U.S. Should Cut Aid to Israel
To The Washington Post, Oct. 23, 2011
Walter Pincus Oct. 18 Fine Print
column, U.S. must reevaluate its assis-
tance to Israel, was courageous and cor-
rect. As the United States struggles with its
budget and as Israel acts to increase taxes
and reduce its military spending, we
should cut back on the huge sum we pro-
vide to Israel for its military.
But there is another reason for a cut-
back: The money is being used for bad
purposes that damage U.S. standing
throughout the Mideast.
We have lived and taught in Palestine.
We know what the occupation does to
young people. We have witnessed Israels
theft of land for settlements, its theft of
water for its profligate uses and its denial
of freedom to an indigenous population.
The United States has stood with Israel
as it denies basic rights to Palestinians. Of
course the United States is not seen as a
friendly nation in the Middle East. If there
was any problem with Mr. Pincus article,
it was that he did not go far enough.
Gordon K. Davies and Elizabeth S. Brin-
son, Richmond, VA
Palestinian Statehood
To The Oregonian, Sept. 22, 2011
In his Sept. 20 column, Thomas Fried-
man skewers Israeli Prime Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu for his strategy of
suffocating any U.S. condemnation of
Israels human rights abuses by having the
Israel lobby force the administration to
ignore its own national interest (Israels
intransigence: A security crisis blooms in
isolation, stubbornness). Friedman also
speaks frankly of the lobby hammering
Congress, and threatening politicians with
losing the Jewish vote.
Never mind Netanyahus mistakes; why
does any lobby have this kind of power
and control over a government that is sup-
posed to be of the people, by the people
and for the people and that has previ-
ously been a strong advocate of freedom
and equal rights for all peoples?
How can the Israel lobby force Congress
to do an Israeli leaders bidding when it
overrides American values and interests?
Shouldnt AIPAC and other members of the
Israel lobby have to register as agents of a
foreign country?
Why is our Congress representing Ne-
tanyahu and Israel instead of us?
June Forsyth-Kenagy, Albany, OR
Compiled by Jean-Pascal Deillon and Dale Sprusansky
Other Peoples Mail Other Peoples Mail
$%"_36-37_O(he& Pe$%!e'' Mai! 10/27/11 12:27 PM Page 36
Palestinians Victims, Too
To The Australian, Oct. 14, 2011
It should be remembered that Gilad
Shalit, the Israeli soldier to be released, was
stationed inside his armored tank on the
Gaza-Israeli border when he was captured.
Tal Ellinson (Letters, 13/10) neglects the
truth and perpetuates the myth that Israel
is the victim in this torrid saga. Let us not
forget that it is Israel that is occupying the
Palestinians and not the other way around.
Since 2000, Israeli military courts have
detained and prosecuted about 7,000 Pales-
tinian children, with 87 percent of them
being beaten or tortured, according to De-
fense for Children International. Almost
every one of these children is denied
access to their parents, a guardian or legal
representationan obvious abuse of inter-
national law.
Further, the entire court proceedings
and list of criminal charges are in Hebrew,
thereby not allowing the child, without
representation, any ability to understand
why theyre incarcerated. Why is there no
outrage on this front? Where is the indig-
nation over human rights abuse here?
Moammar Mashni, Melbourne, Aus-
tralia
Killing of a Cleric in Yemen
To The New York Times, Oct. 1, 2011
Regardless of whether Anwar al-Awlaki
was a serious loss for al-Qaeda, killing him
adds up to a serious loss for us.
The action fuels a growing perception
that we, like al-Qaeda, are violent and law-
less. In Mr. Awlakis case, it cheapens
American citizenship. And using drones to
take down human targets looks more like
computer gaming, with other peoples lives
at stake, than responsible international be-
havior. For all these reasons, attacks of this
kind strengthen our adversaries.
Our strongest suit as a nation is our tra-
dition of respect for the rule of law and for
the rights of our fellow human beings. The
cost of this attack is far higher than any
return it could possibly offer.
Mary R. Holbrow, Cambridge, MA
Killing of Anwar al-Awlaki
To The Denver Post, Oct. 9, 2011
President Obama campaigned on a
pledge to restore the rule of law after the
awful abuses by the executive branch
under George W. Bush. Instead, Obama has
now endorsed the mind-boggling premise
that the executive can unilaterally autho-
rize extrajudicial execution of a U.S. citi-
zen.
I suspect there is ample evidence to have
sustained a conviction and death sentence
for Anwar al-Awlaki. But that determina-
tion cannot be made by the very branch of
government that generated the evidence.
An independent judiciary is indispensable
for preventing abuse of authority by the
executive. It is universally recognized that
no system of justice is legitimate in which
a single authority serves as police, prose-
cutor, judge, jury and executioner.
Chris van den Honert, Boulder, CO
When U.S. Kills an American
To The New York Times, Oct. 12, 2011
Anwar al-Awlaki was an American citi-
zen, with constitutional guarantees of due
process of law. Indeed, if our courts were
empowered to strip any of us of citizen-
ship, all our rights would be merely
boons granted at the courts pleasure.
Unless he walked into a United States
court house or embassy to renounce his cit-
izenship, American law permits only one
scenario in which he would not be entitled
to a full trial (whether in person or in ab-
sentia).
Our law provides that we can infer that
one has renounced American citizenship
by serving in the armed forces of a for-
eign state if such armed forces are engaged
in hostilities against the United States.
Name that state and show that Mr.
Awlaki served in armed forces, and you
have a case for denying him a trial. Until
then, hes a murder victim.
Barry Haskell Levine, Lafayette, CA
Apply Iraqs Lessons to Libya
To the Los Angeles Times, Oct. 24, 2011
I agree with the Times about rebuilding
Libya. But I would like to remind the
Times that much of the turmoil in Iraq was
a result of how the U.S. handled things
once Saddam Hussain was overthrown.
Instead of being liberators, we were oc-
cupiers. We disbanded the Iraqi armed
forces and lost the trust of the Iraqi people.
This time, lets help the people by build-
ing bridges between tribes and fostering
education and public works projects. No
Halliburtons. No U.S. soldiers. Build
bridges, literal and otherwise.
Paul L. Hovsepian, Sierra Madre, CA
Wrong About Wars
To [Louisville] Courier-Journal, Sept. 26,
2011
Nearly a decade ago, I wrote to the C-J
to voice my support for both the war in
Afghanistan and the war in Iraq. Today,
with our nation bankrupt and falling
behind in a fast-paced and competitive
world, where we cut firefighters and edu-
cators, and where we discuss with straight
faces sending octogenarians out to shop for
medical coverage with a discount coupon,
I have changed my opinion and believe
now is long past the time to reconsider.
Early in the wars, the Bush administra-
tion fired the chairman of the National
Economic Council, Lawrence Lindsey, for
suggesting that the war in Iraq could cost
as much as $200 billion (more than three
times the administration number). Today,
with costs in the thousands of billions of
dollars, we continue to spend money that
we dont have, and we continue to sacrifice
the lives of young Americans who have
heeded the call to volunteer.
As Ron Paul and others have said, its
time to bring the troops home. Our coun-
try has suffered serious damage to its pros-
perity and to its future. Our limited re-
sources are needed to keep our elderly out
of the streets, to maintain whats left of our
once grand infrastructure, to fund the ad-
vancement of science, etc.
As much as I hate to say it, Code Pink,
you were right. I was wrong.
Gerald Patrick OBryan, Louisville, KY K
WRITE OR TELEPHONE THOSE
WORKING FOR YOU IN
WASHINGTON.
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20500
(202) 456-1414
White House Comment Line: (202) 456-1111
Fax: (202) 456-2461
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Department of State
State Department Public Information Line:
(202) 647-6575
Any Senator
U.S. Senate
(202) 224-3121
Any Representative
U.S. House of Representatives
(202) 225-3121
E-MAIL CONGRESS AND THE
WHITE HOUSE
E-mail Congress: visit the Web site
<www.congress.org> for contact
information.
E-mail President Obama:
<president@whitehouse.gov>
E-mail Vice President Joe Biden:
<vice.president@whitehouse.gov>
opm_36-37_Other People's Mail 10/27/11 12:27 PM Page 37
I
was never a big fan of summer camps.
Learning how to carve a miniature canoe
out of soap wasnt my idea of fun. So when
my mother first suggested I apply to the
Go Palestine Camp this summer, I thought,
Here we go again. But as much as I hate
to admit that my mom might have been
right, it turned out to be one of the best
summers Ive ever had.
Organized and sponsored by the Ramal-
lah Friends School, the camp brought to-
gether 40 high school students aged 14 to
17 from around the world for a chance to
learn more about Palestinian culture and
heritage. Approximately half the campers
were from the West Bank. The other half
came from the United States, Europe, Asia
and other countries in the Middle East, in-
cluding Palestinians who are Israeli citi-
zens. The camp was staffed by local and in-
ternational counselors from many different
backgrounds. Their training and experi-
ence were excellent.
The program spanned three weeks full
of trips and activities, leaving no time for
boredom. Even Fridays, which were free
days, were filled with getting together
with new friends to explore Ramallah. The
language of the camp was English, but
many of the campers were knowledgeable,
if not fluent, in Arabic. Families of local
campers in Ramallah hosted the interna-
tional students, providing a home, meals
and transportation to and from the camp.
My situation was a little different, since I
was able to stay with my uncle and his
family in Ramallah.
The camp kept us on the go, with some
days devoted to traveling to locations in
the West Bank and Israel and other days
doing activities in and around Ramallah.
The Ramallah activities included playing
sports, going to movies, visiting local busi-
nesses, learning traditional arts, and en-
gaging in spirited discussions about cul-
ture and politics.
Besides visiting such large and familiar
cities as Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron and
Haifa, we also got a chance to go to places
tourists usually dont have the opportunity
to visit on their own. We went to Bilin,
one of the many villages in the West Bank
that Israels wall transects. We learned
from the villagers how, through peaceful
protests every Friday, they were able to get
the wall partially relocated. We also visited
the Tent of Nations in Beit Jala, where local
and international activists nonviolently
challenge the expropriation of Palestinian
land.
Some of the most memorable and satis-
fying activities were the community ser-
vice days. We worked with the Inspire
Dreams Program, whose mission centers on
nonviolence, conflict resolution, education
and community development for Palestin-
ian refugees. Along with local children in
the camps, we helped with cleaning, plant-
ing and painting projects. We also worked
with the Israeli Committee Against House
Demolitions, a nonviolent, direct-action or-
ganization to resist Israeli demolition of
Palestinian houses in the occupied territo-
ries. We helped to rebuild a demolished
house in a village near Jerusalem.
Go Palestine: An Extraordinary Summer
Camp Behind the Wall
Story and photos by Ramsey Langley
Ramsey Langley is a sophomore at James
Madison High School in Vienna, VA, where
his favorite subject is history. Of Palestinian
descent, he still has family living in the occu-
pied West Bank.
Go Palestine campers in front of a Banksy mural on Israels apartheid wall near Bethlehem
(top), and walking through Haifas Old City (above).
a!ge'_38-39_S#ecia Re#"$% 10/26/11 8:12 PM Page 38
Working alongside the villagers and the
volunteers taught us about the starker real-
ities of life in Palestine. It also allowed us to
give back to the Palestinian community.
Though the conditions in the refugee
camps could be horrifying, I was astounded
that neither the refugees nor the family
whose house was demolished seemed bitter
or angry. I also learned howsometimes the
most downtrodden or oppressed people are
the most hopeful. I guess that shows the re-
silience of the people.
The camp did a great job of balancing ac-
tivities that allowed us to understand both
the political situation and the culture in
Palestine. In part this was done using movie
nights with films that captured various as-
pects of life in Palestine. We watched docu-
mentaries, such as Occupation 101 (avail-
able from the AET Book Club), a history
and analysis of the current and historical
root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian con-
flict. We also watched cultural movies like
Amreeka (also available from the Book
Club), which humorously chronicles a
Palestinian familys immigration to the U.S.
The similarities between local and inter-
national campers were revealingand not
just limited to wearing the red camp T-
shirts that made us look like a communist
brigade when we were out and about in
the West Bank. Even though we were born
and raised in different countries, I was sur-
prised to discover that the differences
among us were superficial, and that we
had much more in common with one an-
other than I had expected. In part thats
globalization for you, as we all shared some
common pop culture likes and dislikes.
The other real unifying aspect was that
those of us coming from outside brought
with us a familiarity with things Palestin-
ian that we had garnered from our families.
This helped reduce the cultural gap among
the campers that might otherwise have ex-
isted, and allowed us to immediately get
along and know one another.
Overall, I found the camp a very worth-
while experience. I learned first hand
about the difficulties that Palestinians con-
front in daily life, not the least of which is
Israels illegal separation wall, the sole pur-
pose of which is to confiscate more land
and to isolate and fragment Palestinians
even further than they already are.
The walls impact hits you from the mo-
ment you first see it. Just try to get into
Jerusalem with a Palestinian ID, as I had to.
Crossing through the checkpoint between
Ramallah and Jerusalem feels like passing
into a prison as you are herded through
iron gates and inspections. What should be
a 15-minute commute can take hours.
I found, too, that traveling to the differ-
ent parts of Palestine brings forth a wealth
of contradictions. Walk through Hebron,
for example, and youll notice low-hanging
makeshift tarps above you in the old mar-
ket. No, its not to catch rainwater, but to
shield you from the garbage that the set-
tlers living above throw down. By con-
trast, the Israeli city of Haifa looks like any
major city youd find in California. From
the seemingly normal activities of its resi-
dents youd think you were a world away
from Palestine, not just a few short miles.
Most of us in America take a lot of
things for granted. And while many Pales-
tinians have to cross a physical wall every
day, a wall that stands as a symbol of oc-
cupation and oppression, most of us in the
United States pursue our normal daily ac-
tivities not having to fear how life would
be if we had our basic human rights taken
away. We have yet to cross over the emo-
tional and intellectual wall that shields us
from the lives and experiences of people in
other countries. We need to always re-
member the most basic principle on which
this country was founded: freedom. If we
and other world powers want to assert our-
selves as role models, then we cannot com-
promise our own principles. Instead we
must demand for others that which we de-
mand for ourselves.
We youth of Palestinian background
coming from abroad tend to know Pales-
tine only through the lens of politics, oc-
cupation, repression and loss. We often
hear about things Palestinian in a language
of struggle and despair that drowns out
other voices. The truth, though, is more
vital and textured. Camp showed us that
what lies beyond the physical walland
the one we carry inside usis a Palestine
that is as much a people as a place and that
it is made of so many facets to be explored
and cherished.
For more information on the Go Pales-
tine program visit: <www.summerinpales-
tine.org> or contact the Ramallah Friends
School, PO Box 66, Ramallah, Palestine. K
Go Palestine campers pose in front of Jerusalems Old City (top) and help ICAHD rebuild a
demolished house in Anata (above).
langley_38-39_Special Report 10/26/11 8:12 PM Page 39
C
anadas unconditional diplomatic sup-
port and enabling of Israeli belliger-
ence and intransigence vis--vis Palestini-
ans is increasingly garnering critical atten-
tion. Largely escaping scrutiny, however,
has been Ottawas economic relationship
with Israel. Canadian economic policy
plays at least as large a role as foreign pol-
icy in the oppression and exploitation of
Palestinians, as it encourages Canadian
companies to build the infrastructure of Is-
raeli apartheid and to profit from Israels
occupation industry. It promotes war
crimes profiteering.
Economic relations between Canada and
Israel are structured by the Canada-Israel
Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA). As in-
tended, CIFTA has increased economic ex-
changes between the two countries.
Canadas bilateral trade with Israel more
than doubled since implementation of
CIFTA, from $567 million in 1997 to a
record high of $1.4 billion in 2007 (an in-
crease of 219 percent), according to a
March 2009 report by the Department of
Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Canada (DFAIT), Economic ProfileIs-
rael. But at least part of this increased
trade is produced in the occupied West
Bank. CIFTA defines the territory of Israel
as the territory where its customs laws are
appliedin other words, pre-1967 Israel
as well as the occupied West Bank and
Gaza Strip. Through this agreement
Canada implicitly legalizes Israels occupa-
tion of the Palestinians and allows it to ex-
ploit Palestinian labor and resources in its
production processes. This is in stark con-
trast to the European Unions free trade
agreement with Israel, which does not rec-
ognize Israeli control of the occupied Pales-
tinian territories.
CIFTA, on the other hand, structures
economic relations in such a way that
Canadian corporations are encouraged to
provide succor to Israels system of
apartheid and commission of war crimes
and profit from the suffering and exploita-
tion of Palestinians. Canadian construction
companies, including the Canadian High-
way Infrastructure Corporation (CHIC) and
Green Park International Inc., are building
the infrastructure of Israeli apartheid,
namely roads and settlements.
CHIC and Canadian finance helped to
build the Trans-Israel Highway, the major
electronic toll road in Israel. Its technology
is modeled on the 407 toll highway north
of Toronto, which Canadian Highway In-
frastructure Corporation also built. Micro-
scopically and immediately, construction
of the Trans-Israel Highway meant that
[a]pproximately 75 mostly poor commu-
nities [had] their land taken by the high-
way, including over 6,000 Arab families
within Israel who [were] uprooted, ac-
cording to an article by David Block,
Fighting the Trans-Israeli Highway, in
the May/June 2000 issue of Tikkun maga-
zine. Macroscopicallyand this is the
salient point made by Jeff Halper of the Is-
raeli Committee Against House Demoli-
tionsthe Trans-Israel Highway is the
central spine of the matrix of control
and dispossession Israel is laying over
Palestine. This means that CHIC built a
technology which ensures ongoing Israeli
control of the occupied West Bank and the
imprisonment of Palestinians living there.
Roads do not lead to nowhere, of course.
They connect places. Israels matrix of con-
trol connects illegal settlements in the oc-
cupied West Bank, including Jerusalem,
with each other and with pre-1967 Israel.
Green Park International Inc., along with
Green Mount International Inc. are in-
volved in the construction of the nodes in
the matrix: Israels illegal settlements.
These two Canadian corporations are con-
structing, marketing and selling units in
the colony of Modiin Illit on land stolen
from the Palestinian village of Bilin, and
hence are deeply implicated in Israels ille-
gal colonization enterprise.
Ottawa has long encouraged Canadian
corporations to serve as builders of Israeli
apartheid. In 1998, after completion of a
CanadaCalling CanadaCalling
Canadian War-Crimes Proteering
By Sean F. McMahon
Sean F. McMahon is assistant professor of
political science at the American University
in Cairo. He is the author of The Discourse
of Palestinian-Israeli Relations (London:
Routledge Press, 2010).
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cah"!_40_Ca!ada Calli!g 10/27/11 12:30 PM Page 40

National Council on
U.S.-Arab Relations
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parliamentary procedure, articulate clearly

, and lead a group with passion and parliamentary procedure, articulate clearly
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, and lead a group with passion and
, master fectively
on the same issues that face global policymakers.
Delegates role-play as real world diplomats, taking
building experiences that will serve them well throughout their life.
invaluable public speaking, diplomatic maneuvering, leadership development, and coalition-

invaluable public speaking, diplomatic maneuvering, leadership development, and coalition-

Arab world at a time when the region is at a critical crossroads. intricacies of the
This out-of-the-classroom experience requires students to explore the erudition.

Political -
- Palestinian
Joint Defense Council -
Arab world at a time when the region is at a critical crossroads.
This out-of-the-classroom experience requires students to explore the

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Arab Court of Justice - fairs Afffairs Political
- Economic fairs Afffairs - Palestinian
- Environmental Joint Defense Council
Intra-Arab League Coun
Arab world at a time when the region is at a critical crossroads.
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Arab Court of Justice
fairs Ministers Afffairs Ministers - Economic
fairs Ministers Afffairs Ministers - Environmental
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Handbook containing rules can be found online.
rch the assigned country 4. Resea
i t a r t s i g e r e h t y a P . 3
2. Register with the National Council.
group can be accommodated (within limits).
1. Gather a Group of Interested Students.
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s positions and practice parliamentary procedure. rch the assigned country
e g n a r r a I e v a r t e k a m d n a s e e f n o i
Fill out the short online form in order to be assigned a country 2. Register with the National Council.
group can be accommodated (within limits).
team consists of 5-10 students at most con A 1. Gather a Group of Interested Students.
P e u g a e L b a r A I e d o M e h t g n i n i o J
- Social

s positions and practice parliamentary procedure.
. s t n e m e
Fill out the short online form in order to be assigned a country
ferences, but any size team consists of 5-10 students at most con
c o r p p e t s --s e v e I p m i s a s i m a r g o r
- Special Rotating Committee fairs Ministers Afffairs Ministers - Social

Research tools and a s positions and practice parliamentary procedure.
. Fill out the short online form in order to be assigned a country
ferences, but any size
: s ss e c
- Special Rotating Committee

Attend the Model 5.

For more information: Megan Geissler
Arab League! Attend the Model

ncu .ncu www www w.ncusar w
Josh Hilbrand, Deputy Director: josh@ncusar
, Program Dire on: Megan Geissler r, Program Director: megan@ncusar

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.org Director: josh@ncusar r.org
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')!"&_a+ab_&"a#."_a!_41_Na-$)(a& C).($& )( U.S. A+ab R"&a-$)(, AD -- D""'b"+ 2011 10/26/11 9:52 AM Pa#" 41
T
he long-planned opening reception for
the exhibit of Palestinian childrens art-
work organized by the Berkeley-based Mid-
dle East Childrens Alliance (MECA) took place
Sept. 24 in the courtyard of Oaklands Mu-
seum of Childrens Art (MOCHA), rather than
inside, as originally intended when the project
was launched months ago. A Childs View
From Gaza featured drawings created by
Gazan children who lived through Operation
Cast Lead. Israels deadly assault on Gaza
began Dec. 22, 2008three days be-
fore Americans celebrated Christ-
masand ended Jan. 17, 2009
three days before the inauguration of
U.S. President Barack Obama. The Is-
raeli bombardment killed 1,400 Pales-
tinians, including at least 300 children,
and injured 5,000. In the aftermath,
one of MECAs projects, Let the Chil-
dren Play & Heal, gave children the
chance to cope with their suffering
and express their feelings by making
drawings and paintings.
Caving to pressure from Bay Area
pro-Israel groups, the museums board
of directors cancelled the exhibit on
Sept. 8 (see November 2011 Washing-
ton Report, p. 43). The board then of-
fered to host the exhibit on condition
that it select the works to be shown.
Unwilling to allow the childrens art-
work to be censored, MECA rejected
the last-minute offer. Instead, volun-
teers stood in the museums courtyard
holding the childrens drawings for
visitors to view before walking around the
corner to 917 Washington St., where a new
venue for the exhibit had been secured. On
the sidewalk, The Great Tortilla Conspir-
acywhich describes itself as the worlds
most dangerous tortilla art collective
served the crowd delicious hot tortillas with
the words The Great Tortilla Conspiracy
Loves and Respects ALL Childrens Art silk-
screened on them, using chocolate for ink.
Weve had an enormous amount of sup-
port from the local community, MECA ex-
ecutive director Barbara Lubin told the sev-
eral hundred people attending the opening
reception. And because of MOCHAs actions,
the whole world knows about this. People
from Denmark, Turkey and all over the
world have been
asking for this
exhi bi t. I
wi l l b e
traveling
t o Gaza
next
month
and bring-
ing back a
second exhibit
which shows the
childrens feelings after being told their work
isnt good enough for the museum.
Some drawings featured images of Israeli
planes dropping bombs on apartment
houses. Others showed soldiers, tanks and
ambulances in the streets. One picture de-
picted children crying and the sun, birds
and palm trees also weeping.
We went into Gaza with paintbrushes and
crayons and asked elementary school children
to draw their reality, said Nancy Hernandez,
a member of a delegation of artists who trav-
eled to Gaza last summer as part of the Maia
Mural Project, a campaign focusing on every-
ones right to clean water. When the children
drew pictures of water they drew black tanks
on top of their houses. Unlike Jewish Israelis,
who have unlimited access to fresh water, Her-
nandez explained, Palestinians water supply
is limited.
A Childs View From Gaza runs through
Nov. 30 at its new venue in Oakland. For
gallery hours visit <www.mecaforpeace.
org> or call (510) 548-0542.
OEA Admonishes Museum For Can-
celing Gaza Exhibit
The Oakland Education Association (OEA),
which represents Oaklands 2,600 public
school teachers, was one of MECAs strongest
supporters in its struggle to stage the Gaza
childrens art exhibit. At a Sept. 23 rally out-
side MOCHA, OEA president Betty Olson-
Jones read a letter that the executive board
sent to Hilmon Sorey, chair of MOCHAs
board of directors.
In the Sept. 21 letter, the OEA expressed
our deep disappointment over your deci-
Gaza Kids Art Show a Smashing Success
Despite Museums Attempt at Censorship
By Elaine Pasquini
ABOVE: MECA supporters carry
childrens artwork from the court-
yard of Oaklands Museum of
Childrens Art to the new gallery.
RIGHT: A childs drawing depicts
children crying and the sun, birds
and palm trees also weeping.
Elaine Pasquini is a free-lance journalist
based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Northern California
Chronicle
Northern California
Chronicle
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sion to cancel A Childs View From Gaza
and deny the children of Gaza the right to
share their experiences through artwork.
The letter further stated: MOCHA has al-
ways been a place where all subjects are
open to artistic expressionAs past art-
work has included many examples of the
violence in childrens lives, the only conclu-
sion we can draw to explain
your decision to engage in such
obvious censorship is the pres-
sure being exerted by powerful
organizations and individuals
seeking to silence the voices of
the Palestinian people. We are
well aware of such pressure,
having received our share of it
when we condemned the mur-
derous Israeli assault on Gaza
several years agoThat you
have chosen not to allow a safe
place for the often-ignored chil-
dren of Gaza to share their art is
a decision that will unfortu-
nately scar your reputation and
remain a deep disappointment
to the many teachers who have
supported you throughout
your existence.
Activists March Across
Bridge in Memory of 9/11
Several hundred activists
marched across San Franciscos
Golden Gate Bridge on Sept. 11
to protest the war in Afghanistan, the con-
tinued U.S. presence in Iraq, and NATOs in-
volvement in Libya.
After gathering at opposite ends of the
famed suspension bridge, peace advocates si-
multaneously marched to meet in the middle
of the span to honor those who died on 9/11
and the soldiers and civilians who have since
died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
While there were no recorded U.S. deaths in
Iraq in August, 70 soldiers died that month
in Afghanistan, the highest for a single
month since the war began in 2001. In Sep-
tember, 31 U.S. troops died in Afghanistan.
Marchers carried signs demanding Bring
the Troops Home and No More Wars. Ac-
tivists from The World Cant Wait made an
impressive statement by dressing as prisoners
in orange jumpsuits and carrying signs that
read 9/11 No License for War or Torture.
Weve been told to think about Ameri-
can lives lost on 9/11, but not to care about
the loss of any other life in the 10 years
that the government used 9/11 as an ex-
cuse to go to war against the rest of the
world, Stephanie Tang of The World
Cant Wait told the crowd. Today we re-
member every person killed by our gov-
ernment. American lives are not more im-
portant than other people on this planet.
Norman Solomon, a candidate for the
sixth district congressional seat to be va-
cated next year by Democratic
Rep. Lynn Woolsey, was
greeted enthusiastically when
he took the microphone. A li-
cense for war is unacceptable,
the author and media critic
stated. Were determined to
organize so that the warfare
gives way to a country and a
world where all children have a
future, where the madness of
militarisma term used by
Martin Luther King, Jr.is set
aside in favor of nurturing life
instead of destroying it.
Arab Cultural Festival
San Franciscos Arab Cultural
and Community Center held its
17th annual Arab Cultural Fes-
tival in Union Square on Oct. 1.
The largest celebration of Arab
culture in Northern California,
the festival featured entertain-
ers, including hip hop artist
Omar Offendum, the traditional
Palestinian debka troupe Al-
Juthoor, classical oud virtuoso and singer
Naser Musa, Palestinian singer Salma Habib,
the musical group Al-Sarah and the Nuba-
tones and Faisal Zedan. Jewelry, textiles and
crafts from the Arab world were for sale in
the booth bazaar. Visitors also enjoyed deli-
cious Middle Eastern cuisine and dancing in
the open-air plaza. K
(L-r) The Oakland Education Associations Betty Olson-Jones, and MECAs Ziad Abbas and Barbara Lubin.
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ABOVE: The crowd at the Arab Cultural Festival enjoys the singing of
Salma Habib (clapping).
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H
arvard University Law School Fellow
Diana Buttu was the keynote speaker at
the Palestine Childrens Relief Funds (PCRF)
annual Southern California chapters Heal-
ing Hands benefit dinner Sept. 24 in the
Anaheim Hilton Hotel. Before an audience of
more than 450 people, she discussed the sig-
nificance of the Palestinian bid for admission
to the United Nations as a member state.
In the third week of September, Buttu
noted, the Palestinians took center stage in
the world media without a massacre or inva-
sion of their shrinking land by one single
act: a simple request for recognition by the
U.N. as a member state.
In response, U.S. President Barack Obama
and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Ne-
tanyahu rushed to insist statehood can only
be achieved through negotiations between
Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Isnt it odd that Israel, who has a stockpile
of nuclear weapons and the lions share of U.S.
aid, suddenly begs PA leader Mahmoud
Abbas to sit down and negotiate? Buttu
asked rhetorically. Could it be Netanyahu
experienced a dramatic
turn-around?
If statehood wont
be significant, why
these pleas to Abbas to
negotiate? she added.
Israel reaps all the
benefits from pretend-
ing to negotiate.
Buttu went on to
note how the Osl o
peace process brought
Israel recognition from
34 countries, its great-
est economic boost,
and the PAs collabora-
tion in policing the
Palestiniansall
while it built new
settlements on Pales-
tinian land.
While statehood
woul d bri ng the
Palestinians the right
to seek redress of il-
legal Israeli settle-
ments on their land,
Buttu said, Abbas excluded Palestinians in
the diaspora from his statehood bid. Con-
cluding that the negative outweighs the
positive for statehood, Buttu argued that the
solution is to demand better representation
in municipal and parliamentary elections and
within the PLO. The last time the PA parlia-
ment met was in 2007, she pointed out. We
need to bring life to a lifeless system. Recon-
ciliation [with Hamas] has been on hold. We
need a genuine reconciliation.
PCRF/Southern California President Lily
Karam announced that since its foundation
in 1991, the organization has brought
1,000 injured children to the West for
medical treatment and cared for more than
7,000 ill youngsters in the Middle East,
sends medical teams to Palestine, and has
recently opened a pediatric cancer ward in
Beit Jala hospital and a cardiac ICU in East
Jerusalems Makassat Hospital.
She then introduced three children newly
arrived from Gaza who will receive treat-
ment in the U.S.: Ahmad Bassem al-Saloul, 8,
who suffers from a congenital hip deformity,
and burn victims Hala, 11, and Fatma al-
Naj jar, 10.
Irvine 11 Found Guilty
There was an emotional reaction by Muslims
and Zionists alike in the Santa Ana court-
house Sept. 23 when Judge Peter J. Wilson
announced that, after two days of delibera-
tion, a jury had found the Irvine 11 guilty of
criminal charges for disrupting a February
2010 speech by Israeli Ambassador Michael
Oren at the University of California at Irvine.
The judge did not sentence the stu-
dentssome of whom are headed to med-
ical school and graduate studies at presti-
gious institutionsto jail time, however. In-
stead, each was fined about $200, ordered to
perform 56 hours of community service be-
fore Jan. 21, 2012, and put on probation for
three years.
Their crime? The Muslim students each
nonviolently interrupted the speech of the
American-born Israeli ambassador in an au-
ditorium full of Israel supporters. As each
student voiced his objection to Israels brutal
treatment of the Palestinians, video cameras
recorded the ranting of Israel-firsters who
threatened mayhem against the dignified
dissenters as they were handcuffed.
Orange County District Attorney Tony
Rackauckas has never prosecuted students
who interrupted classes or destroyed UCI
property during other protests, but, mind-
ful of the political power of affluent Zionists,
did press charges against the Muslim stu-
dents. The litigation gave rise to a national
debate on free speech rights that will last for
decades and be the topic of future books,
films and documentaries.
UCI law school dean Erwin Chemerinsky
described the charges as draconian and said
it was a shame that the students now have
misdemeanor convictions on their records.
Others accused Rackauckas of political
grandstanding.
You can heckle the U.S. president [or]
high-ranking government officials, com-
mented Salam al-Marayati, president of the
Muslim Public Affairs Committee, but if
you heckle an Israeli diplomat you will be
prosecuted.
U.S. Diplomat Optimistic About Post-
Assad Syrian Government
According to Frederic C. Hof, a senior State
Department adviser on U.S. policy toward
Syria,The challenge now for the opposi-
Southern California
Chronicle
Southern California
Chronicle
Diana Buttu Addresses Palestine Childrens
Relief Fund Healing Hands Benet
By Pat and Samir Twair
Pat and Samir Twair are free-lance journal-
ists based in Los Angeles.
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ABOVE: PCRF secretary Randa Issa intro-
duced the three children from Gaza who will
receive treatment in the U.S. this year: (l-r)
Hala and Fatma al-Najjar and Ahmad
Bassem al-Saloul. INSET: Keynote speaker
Diana Buttu.
&(ai%_44-45_S#'&he%" Ca!if#%"ia Ch%#"ic!e 10/26/11 1:30 PM Page 44
tion is to convince millions of
Syrians of what a post-Bashar
Syria will look like so theyll
get off the fence. Hof was
speaking at a Sept. 24 Syrian
American Council meeting in
the Anaheim Hilton.
Im here to help, he said,
explaining that his lifelong at-
tachment to Syria began as a
17-year-old foreign exchange
student who was welcomed
into the Damascus home of Issa
and Rose Lutfi.
The diplomat emphasized
President Barack Obamas com-
mitment to a democratic Syrian
government ruled by the con-
sent of the people as cemented
in the presidents Sept. 18 call for
Bashar Assad to step down.
Who and how Syria will be
governed will be decided by the
Syrian people, Hof stated. They
will devise their own formula tai-
lored to their needs.
He declined to predict how long
it will be before the Assad regime
falls, but added that, despite the
fact that his security forces remain
intact, the Syrian leader is living in
a bubble, unaware that the revolu-
tion is beyond his control.
Hof concluded by remarking
that the cost in deaths and injuries
has been unconscionably high for
the opposition.
Poet and University of Arkansas
professor
Mohj a
Kahf gave
a stirring
description of Syr-
ian womens role in
the movement to
achieve freedom.
This is a revolu-
tion born of love
and nonviolence,
she averred. The
armed effort to re-
sist Hafez Assad
failed in the 1980s.
This revolution has a nonviolent morality
born among women in Daraa, Daraiya and
Homs.
In December 2010, Kahf explained,
schoolchildren in the southern Syrian city of
Daraa, inspired by the uprising in Tunisia,
wrote anti-Assad graffiti on walls. Govern-
ment police arrested 35 students and jailed
them in Damascus.
It was in January and February that
women concerned over the imprisoned stu-
dents pre-heated the revolution, Kahf told
the audience of 200 Syrian exiles. On March
16, she noted, mothers staged a rally de-
manding the return of their children. Eigh-
teen women were arrested and jailed, and
the Syrian revolution of nonviolence began.
Women rock the Syrian revolution!
Kahf shouted to cheers.
Dr. Najib Ghadban, who teaches political
science at the University of Arkansas, dis-
cussed the Syrian National Council (SNC) of-
ficially formed Sept.15 in Istanbul, which is
an umbrella for all Syrian opposition blocs
inside and out of the country. Its 140 mem-
bers represent all sects, religions and tribes,
women and men, regardless of social status,
he said, and described its three principles as
being to overthrow the Assad dictatorship
by nonviolent means, recognize
all Syrians on an equal footing,
and reject all foreign military in-
tervention.
During the question-and-an-
swer period, an audience mem-
ber complained that Washing-
ton has been too soft on Syria
for killing its citizens who
demonstrate against the regime.
There has been no secret
handshake, Hof responded, or
I wouldnt be here in the service
of the U.S. government. I fully
expect Bashar will soon be an
ex-president. There is a crying
need for international protec-
tion of civilians and, he em-
phasized, the revolution must
continue to be nonviolent. The
regime wants to do its crimes in the
dead of nightthats why we must
have international witnesses and
the press inside Syria.
AAJA Focuses on Middle East
Munira Syeda of the Council on
American Islamic Relations (CAIR)
and Washington Report Southern
California correspondent Samir
Twair joined Asian journalists Linh
Van Nguyen and Gwen Muranaka
as panelists at a Sept. 10 ethnic
community roundtable sponsored
by the Asian American Association
in a Los Angeles Korean restaurant.
The emcee was Henry Fuhrman,
assistant managing editor of the
Los Angeles Times.
According to Syeda, who is com-
munications manager of CAIR/LA,
there are an estimated 7 to 10 mil-
lion Muslims in the U.S. She described 9/11
as a double tragedy for the Muslim commu-
nity, which mourned the loss of 3,000 Amer-
icans in the terrorist attack but also was cast
as the enemy. It was the Japanese-American
leadership who immediately called mosques
and offered support during tense times fol-
lowing 9/11, she noted.
Asked to assess Arab-American newspa-
pers, Twair said each reflects the political
stance of the country its publisher is from.
The Internet is replacing these papers as a
source of news from the Arab world, he
added, and since most of the new generation
dont read Arabic, these publications likely
will die out. On the other hand, Twair said,
the Washington Report covers political
events related to the Middle East which gen-
erally are ignored by the American estab-
lishment media. K
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TOP: Syrian American Council townhall speakers (l-r) Dr.
Najib Ghadban, Hussam Ayloush and Frederic J. Hof. ABOVE:
AAJA ethnic community roundtable speakers (l-r) Munira
Syeda of CAIR, Los Angeles Times assistant managing editor
Henry Fuhrmann, and Samir Twair.
Mohja Kahf.
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twair_44-45_Southern California Chronicle 10/26/11 1:30 PM Page 45
S
cott Peterson, who has covered the
Middle East for The Christian Science
Monitor for more than 15 years, currently
is the newspapers bureau chief in Istan-
bul. He is also a photographer for Getty
Images and author of Let the Swords Encir-
cle Me: Irana Journey Behind the Head-
lines, and in a Sept. 28 appearance at
Princeton University he discussed Iran
and the Arab Spring.
Through his photographs of people in a
variety of situations, Peterson sought to
provide a fuller view of life in Iran than
what he described as the one-dimensional,
demonizing image that bipartisan politi-
cians and the mainstream media serve up in
the U.S. Although Americans imagine Ira-
nians to be screaming Death to America
at every opportunity, Peterson said he has
found Iranians to be the most pro-Ameri-
can people in the Middle East. He was in
Tehran the night in 1998 when Iran de-
feated the U.S. to win soccers World Cup.
The street erupted with joy, he recalled.
When a small group of men approached
with American flags to burn, people in the
crowd pushed them awaybut took the
flags and waved them as well.
For three decades, Irans 1979 revolu-
tion that deposed the shah was the only
example in the region of people power
overthrowing a regime, Peterson noted.
He described Iranians as proud of their
template and dismissive of their Sunni
Arab neighbors still living under dicta-
torshipseven though many Iranians
have since viewed their revolution as hi-
jacked by neoconservative elements
within the country. Then came the 2009
election when, in spite of an 85 percent
turnoutthe only statistic that can be
trusted, according to PetersonPresident
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the
winner of a second term by two to one.
Millions took to the streets, but this time
people power was crushed and put on
ice. Since then, Peterson has not been al-
lowed to return to Iran.
Although it did not succeed, Irans ex-
perience in 2009 was instructive for
Arabs. Peterson cited two lessons: the
democracy activists use of social media,
and what can happen when a regime is
ruthless and not afraid to kill its own peo-
ple. Ofcial Irans reaction to the nonvio-
lent revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia was
to celebrate them as an Islamic Awaken-
ing. Peterson depicted the popular atti-
tude among Iranians as both consterna-
tion and certainty that the pro-democracy
movement will eventually get to their
country. He told of a cartoon that shows
Ayatollah Khamenei pushing a row of
dominoesthe rst labeled Tunisia, then
Egypt, and so onbut the dominoes are
arranged in a circle. Giving the example
of an interview with a soldier confessing
great shame over his actions in 2009, Pe-
terson noted that the governments bru-
tality that year created such internal prob-
lems that it no longer can count on its se-
curity forces to crush the next movement.
Palestinian Statehood? Implications
Of a U.N. Resolution
The Ralph Bunche Institute held an Oct.
4 forum at the CUNY Graduate Center on
Palestine Statehood? Implications of a
U.N. Resolution. Center director Thomas
Weiss posed the question, Why, at this
time, did President Abbas present an ap-
plication for membership in the U.N.? to
a panel comprising a Palestinian, an Is-
raeli, and a career U.N. diplomat.
Prof. Ghassan Shabaneh, whose re-
search is on building Palestinian state-
hood, posited the goal of a global forum in
which Israel no longer can act with im-
punity and will be held accountable for its
actions. He views the U.N. bid as Abbas
apology to the Palestinian people for the
failure of Oslo.
Prof. Dov Waxman, co-author of Is-
raels Palestinians: The Crisis Within, de-
scribed Israels fears, which he considers
exaggerated: legal accountabity, which Is-
raelis call lawfare, and increased diplo-
matic isolation. Now that Palestines ap-
plication is in committee at the Secu-
rity Council, Waxman added, Israelis feel
they have dodged a bullet because the
delay will take away any momentum.
Waxman acknowledged that the Quartet
has outlived its usefulness, the Road Map
is defunct, and the peace process has
been a charade. What is needed, he con-
cluded, is an alternative frameworkbut
he thinks nothing is likely to happen
until after the American elections.
Alvaro de Soto recently ended a 25-year
career at the United Nations during which
he led negotiations that brought an end to
the war in El Salvador. He then turned to
Cyprus and the Middle East. His 2007
End of Mission Report condemning the
U.S. for Middle East failures caused a stir
when it was leaked to the press.
De Soto views Abbas as a negotiator by
nature rather than a man of confronta-
tion, and suspects he went to the U.N.
with great reluctance, compelled by a
conuence of three circumstances. To de-
bunk the argument that Palestinians are
not t to have their own state, Prime Min-
ister Salam Fayyad began building insti-
tutions, which have now been certied
by the World Bank. Second, the Obama
administration demanded that Israel
freeze settlement construction as a pre-
condition to negotiations, something the
Longtime Journalist Describes Iranians as
Most Pro-American People in Middle East
By Jane Adas
Christian Science Monitor bureau chief Scott
Peterson.
Jane Adas is a free-lance writer based in the
New York City metropolitan area.
New York City and
Tri-StateNews
New York City and
Tri-StateNews
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Palestinians had never done. The Pales-
tinians couldnt be less pro-Palestinian
than the U.S. president, De Soto reasoned,
so Abbas had no choice but to insist on
the same. Then Obama backed down,
leaving Abbas hanging. Third, the Arab
Spring could not bypass Palestine.
De Soto characterized the Israeli and
U.S. argument that Palestine going to the
U.N. is incompatible with negotiations as
completely illogical. Even if Palestine be-
comes a member state, he pointed out, the
situation will still require negotiations. Ac-
cording to De Soto, a rule of diplomacy is
that when a problem seems intractable,
change the context. This may already be
happening with the Arab Spring, where
Israels neighbors will now take public
opinion into account. In this changed con-
text, De Soto concluded, creating condi-
tions that make negotiations almost impos-
sible is suicidal, driving off a cliff with the
U.S. playing Thelma to Israels Louise.
Marwan Bishara at Princeton
Marwan Bishara, Al-Jazeeras senior polit-
ical analyst and author of the upcoming
book The Invisible Arab, presented an an-
alytical journey of the 20-year peace
process at Princeton on Oct. 6. Bishara
identied problematical aspects built into
the process. Neither side thought the tim-
ing was advantageous, he notedPales-
tine, with the Cold War ended and the
PLO discredited during Bush, Sr.s Gulf
war, felt too weak; Israel, not convinced
by the limits of its victory, believed that
with more time it could extract even more
gains. For both, Bishara said, the peace
process was a continuation of the conict
by means of negotiations. Therefore, with
neither side willing to commit to an end
game, the process remained transitional,
proceeding by steps with seven interim
agreements that achieved very little.
The U.S. exacerbated the situation be-
cause, as Israels closest ally, it is not an hon-
est broker. Asked if Washington should im-
pose a solution with sticks and carrots,
Bishara responded that it is geopolitically
not acceptable for Israels best ally to impose
anything. He recommended that the best
role for Washington would be to admit fail-
ure and back off. At the least, it should stop
throwing wrenches in the international
movement, such as using its veto in the Se-
curity Council on Israels orders.
Bishara views the Arab Spring as the
Palestinization of the Arab world. He
acknowledged that Arab dictators have
exploited the question of Palestine for
their own legitimacy, but argued they
were able to do so successfully because
Palestine is a central concern in the Arab
world; with more democracy, the people
will be even more pro-Palestinian. This is
why, Bishara explained, those who for-
merly preached democracy, such as Natan
Sharansky who so inuenced George W.
Bush, are now in a state of panic, and why
Palestinian hopes and imagination are
higher than ever in both the Islamist and
nationalist trends.
Meanwhile, Israeli society has under-
gone radicalization, with the political cen-
ter having moved rightward. Settlers are
now part of the political establishment,
Bishara pointed out, with 16 members of
the Knesset and 4 cabinet ministers living
in illegal settlements. The settlements have
expanded so massivelyfrom a popula-
tion of 75,000 in 1991 to more than 300,000
in the West Bank alone, not counting East
Jerusalemthat Bishara considers separa-
tion in two separate, contiguous states im-
possible without serious ethnic cleansing.
Nor does he think it likely that settlers will
agree either to be evacuated or to become
citizens of a Palestinian state. Therefore
Bishara sees no way out any time soon.
We will need all the help we can get from
peace-loving people, he concluded, and
also some miracles.
A Separation Screened at New
York Film Festival
Iranian director Asghar Farhadis out-
standing lm A Separation was screened
at this years New York Film Festival. Voted
Best Film at the 2011 Berlin International
Film Festival, where Best Actress and Best
Actor awards went to the entire female and
male ensembles, it is Irans ofcial entry for
the Academy Award for Best Foreign Lan-
guage Film. In introducing A Separation,
Farhadi asked the audience to put aside
any preconceptions and to forget what
country the lm is coming from. Critics
have described it as a marital drama, a lm
about morality, a legal thriller, a coming-
of-age lm; Farhadi calls it a detective
story without any detectives.
The lm depicts an urban, middle-class
couple on the point of separating. When
the wife moves to her parents house,
their 11-year-old daughter remains with
her father. He must then nd someone to
take care of his Alzheimer-stricken father
while he is at work in a bank. Razieh, a
pregnant working-class woman, takes the
position, bringing her young daughter to
(L-r) Professors Dov Waxman and Ghassan Shabaneh, and retired U.N. diplomat Alvaro de Soto.
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Al-Jazeeras Marwan Bishara.
adas_46-48_New York City and Tri-State News 10/27/11 12:33 PM Page 47
work with her and not telling
her out-of-work husband.
Troubles ensue, of the sort fa-
miliar to humanity every-
where. Pride leads to mistakes
of words said and unsaid.
Most remarkable is how
Farhadi treats each of these
honorable but awed charac-
ters with empathy. The wise
viewer will neither presume,
nor be quick to judge.
Those bringing an agenda to
the lm will interpret it
through their particular lens. One critic,
an evident feminist, sees Razieh as a
drudge who gets no respect and is op-
pressed by her own religious sense. An-
other decides the lm is a de-
piction of national alienation in
Iran. When asked if European
responses were different from
Iranian ones, however, Farhadi
responded that they were
notthat similarities between
people of different cultures
were greater than their differ-
ences. Its politicians who try
to present people as different
from each other, he added.
Already a huge success in
Iran and Europe, A Separa-
tion will be released in the U.S. by Sony
Pictures Classics on Dec. 30. K
portion of the Trans-Israel Highway, On-
tarios then-Premier Mike Harris visited Is-
rael to ensure that Ontario would be con-
sidered for the designing and building of Is-
raels mass transit system, which might in-
clude an underground complex in Tel Aviv.
Even now, Canadas Trade Commissioner ad-
vertises that [t]here are also a growing num-
ber of initiatives for major infrastructure
programs (rail and urban transit, water,
ports) [in space over which Israel exercises
sovereignty] which are open to foreign com-
panies in the tendering process (DFAIT).
Not content with violating the Geneva Con-
ventions by facilitating the building of Is-
raels matrix of control, the Canadian gov-
ernment wants Canadian corporations to
help construct, presumably, the Jerusalem
light rail system intended to further the de
facto annexation of that occupied city.
Profiting From Occupation
CIFTAs reduction and elimination of tariffs
encourages Canadian corporations to par-
ticipate profitably in what Israels Coalition
of Women for Peace calls the occupation
industry. At the forefront of this war
crimes profiteering is Canadas military-in-
dustrial complex, many of whose members
export directly to Israel. Ottawas Allen-
Vanguard Corporation provides counter-
terrorist equipment and training. iMPath
Networks Ltd. of Ottawa and Halifax de-
signs solutions for real-time video surveil-
lance and intrusion detection technology.
Mecachrome Technologies, based in Mon-
treal and Toronto, provides components
for military aircraft. And MPB Technolo-
gies Ltd. of Point Claire, Edmonton, Air-
drie and Calgary manufactures, among
other things, communications equipment
and robotics for military use.
Also profiting from Israels occupation
industry are Canadian subsidiaries of Israeli
corporations. One of these is Nes Pan Ltd.,
which builds on expropriated Palestinian
land and provides engineering, technology
and construction services to residential real
estate projects in, among other places,
Toronto. Like CHIC and Green Park Inter-
national, Nes Pan also builds the infra-
structure of Israels occupation, including a
section of the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem fast train
line and a bridge that connects an illegal Is-
raeli settlement to Israel behind the Green
Line. Senstar, a company headquartered in
Carp, Ontario, is a subsidiary of Magal Se-
curity Services, which profits by selling
equipment to maintain Israels apartheid
wall and checkpoints in the West Bank.
Senstars participation in the occupation in-
dustry is encouraged by the Canadian gov-
ernment, which lists the corporation in In-
dustry Canadas company directory. Simi-
larly, Amphitech Systems Inc. of Laval
Quebec, Canada and the Victoria, British
Columbia-based company 360 Surveillance
sell technology for Israels apartheid wall
and checkpoints, and the latter is similarly
supported by a listing in Industry Canadas
company directory. Both are subsidiaries of
ICx Technologies, a company that sells sur-
veillance technology to the Israeli state and
illegal Israeli settlements throughout the
West Bank.
Finally, Canadian economic policy also
enables Canadian companies not directly
implicated in the military-industrial com-
plex to profit from and/or support the oc-
cupation industry. Mountain Equipment
Co-op, for example, sources a number of
products from Israeli companies, including
its house brand. Some of these products
are developed by a contractor to Israels
army of occupation. RCR International,
headquartered in Boucherville, Quebec,
sells products, ranging from weather strip-
ping to squeegees, to Unikowsky Maoz, an
Israeli company located in an illegal settle-
ment that imports, markets and distributes
home building supplies to, among other
places, illegal Israeli settlements through-
out the occupied West Bank.
Finally, the majority shareholders of In-
digo-Chapters, Heather Reisman and Gerry
Schwartz established and support Heseg
Foundation for Lone Soldiers. Not only does
its board include officers retired from Is-
raels occupation army but, according to the
Global BDS Movement, Heseg has no char-
itable function. In fact, its sole purpose is to
provide financial support to mercenaries
[foreign-born Jews] who wish to settle in Is-
rael after serving in occupied Palestine.
Israel, of course, is deeply embedded in
the global political economy. So, too, is its
occupation of Palestinians. The globalized
nature of Israels occupation means that it
has connections and supports political and
economic interests that reach far beyond
the borders of Israel/Palestine. Some of
these interests areunsurprisingly, given
the countrys long and close relationship
with IsraelCanadian.
Canadian economic interests have prof-
ited from Israels occupation industry.
Some have built the infrastructure of the
occupation, namely roads and settlements,
and others have sold Israels occupying
army knowledge, technology and products
designed to perpetuate the occupation.
They have done so because Canadian eco-
nomic policy promotes war crimes profi-
teering. This policy encourages Canadian
corporations to be complicit in the oppres-
sion and hyper-exploitation of Palestinians;
it enables Canadians to get rich off the dis-
possession, suffering and immiseration of
Palestinians. K
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adas_46-48_New York City and Tri-State News 10/27/11 12:33 PM Page 48
A
s the 2012 presidential election cam-
paign gets under way, Republicans
and Democrats alike are doing their best to
appeal to what many perceive to be an Is-
rael-centered Jewish voteas if millions
of Americans of the Jewish faith cast their
ballots on the basis of criteria different from
those of their Protestant, Catholic or Mus-
lim fellow citizens.
In August, the Obama campaign ap-
pointed veteran political strategist Ira For-
man, a former legislative liaison at AIPAC,
as its director of Jewish outreach. Forman is
a former Clinton administration official who
managed the National Jewish Democratic
Council (NJDC) for nearly 15 years. The
fact that Ira is one of the first employees
hired by the re-election effort speaks to the
importance the campaign places on Jewish
outreach, said William Daroff, the Jewish
Federations of North Americas chief lobby-
ist and a former Republican Jewish Coali-
tion (RJC) official.
The New York Times reported in Septem-
ber that, It is no surprise that the Democ-
ratic National Committee meeting in
Chicago...included briefings on jobs and
health care, issues critical to President
Obamas re-election. But the third topic pre-
sented to top party donors and fund-raisers
was perhaps more surprising: Jewish mes-
saging...Matthew Brooks, the executive di-
rector of the RJC, said that the need to focus
a discussion on Jewish outreach, alongside
major national issues like jobs and health
care, suggested the depth of skepticism Mr.
Obama faced among some Jewish donors.
According to The Forward, The potency
of Israel as a wedge issue for Republicans
going into 2012 was on full display when Is-
raeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu
invited a small group of Democrats and Re-
publicans to a first-ever joint meeting at
Blair House one day before his May 24
speech to Congress...what was meant to be
a show of bipartisanship ended as a war of
words between heads of the NJDC and the
RJC...Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman
Schultz, the newly appointed head of the
Democratic National Committee, suggested
at the meeting that both parties pledge not
to raise the issue of Israel in a partisan man-
ner. But an angry Matt Brooks, executive
director of the RJC, responded the follow-
ing day in a letter to Wasserman Schultz
that her request, made in front of a foreign
leader, was politically motivated.
Both Democrats and Republicans seem to
consider Jews not as members of a religious
community but as a special interest group to
be appealed to on the basis of U.S. policy to-
ward a foreign country, Israel. While there
is a National Jewish Democratic Coalition
and a Republican Jewish Coalition, we do
not see similar groups aimed at other reli-
gious denominations. There is, for example,
no Republican Presbyterian Coalition or De-
mocratic Roman Catholic Forum.
National Jewish organizations, from the
American Jewish Committee to the Anti-
Defamation League to AIPAC, encourage the
view that the dominant interest of Ameri-
cans of Jewish faith in the political arena is
Israel and U.S. Middle East policy. In a
sense, Republicans and Democrats cannot
be blamed for taking these Jewish groups at
their word and appealing for Jewish votes
on the basis presented to them.
The reality, of course, is that these Jewish
organizations which pretend to speak for
millions of American Jews, in fact speak
only for their own small membershipif
that. All available evidence indicates that
there is no such thing as a Jewish vote,
and that Jewish voters cast their ballots on
the basis of precisely the same issues as
other voters.
A recent Gallup Poll indicates that Jewish
voters are less happy with President Obama
because of the nations economic decline,
not his policy toward Israel. Washington
Jewish Week reported that Gallups
monthly trend in Jewish approval of Obama
continues to roughly follow the path of
Americans approval of the president, more
generally as it has since Obama took office
in January 2009. Gallup found that The
14-percentage point difference in the two
groups approval ratings in June60 per-
cent among U.S. Jews vs. 46 percent among
all U.S. adultsis identical to the average
gap seen over the past two and a half years.
Texas Governor and Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry (r) shakes hands with newly
elected Rep. Bob Turner (R-NY) at a Sept. 20 press conference with American and Israeli
Jewish leaders and supporters of Israel in the Great Room at the W Hotel Union Square in
New York City, where Perry attacked President Barack Obamas foreign policy.
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The Myth of an Israel-Centered Jewish Vote
And Its Negative Consequences for Mideast Peace
By Allan C. Brownfeld
Allan C. Brownfeld is a syndicated colum-
nist and associate editor of the Lincoln Re-
view, a journal published by the Lincoln In-
stitute for Research and Education, and edi-
tor of Issues, the quarterly journal of the
American Council for Judaism.
Israel andJudaism Israel andJudaism
b(&,%fe#d_49-50_I)(ae# a%d J+da!)$ 10/27/11 12:35 PM Pae 49
This tracks with polling done by the
American Jewish Committee (AJC) for a
number of years which has shown that Jew-
ish voters consistently prioritize the econ-
omy over Israel when they enter the polling
booth. A poll in the fall of 2010 showed
Obama with an approval rating of just 51
percent. Those who approved of his Middle
East policy slightly outnumbered those who
disapproved, 49 percent to 45 percent,
while disapproval of his handling of the
economy was at 51 percent, as opposed to
45 percent who approved.
The AJC polls also show that Jewish vot-
ers consistently list Israel as fifth among
their priorities, outranked by issues such as
the economy, health care and broader for-
eign policy concerns.
In his book A New Voice For Israel, J
Street founder Jeremy Ben-Ami notes that
although AIPAC claims to represent the tra-
ditional Jewish voice in American politics,
surveys reveal that only 8 percent of Amer-
ican Jewish voters support its political posi-
tions. He goes on to argue that Israels occu-
pation over another people is a threat to
both American and Israeli long-term inter-
ests and also violates the very letter of Is-
raels Declaration of Independence, which
promises equality to all, regardless of race,
religion or gender. According to Ben-Ami,
Israel is on the brink of becoming an
apartheid state and losing its status as a
moral beacon to Jews and as the safe and de-
mocratic haven its pioneers sought to create.
In mid-September, voters in New York
elected a conservative Republican to repre-
sent a Democratic district that has not been
in Republican hands since the 1920s. Bob
Turner, the winner, cast the election as a
referendum on President Obamas steward-
ship of the economy and, in the states
Ninth Congressional District, which has a
large proportion of Orthodox Jewish voters,
the presidents position on Israel. Turner,
who is Roman Catholic, defeated David
Weprin, an Orthodox Jew and strong sup-
porter of Israel.
In this election, which has been discussed
in terms of the presidents growing difficul-
ties with Jewish voters, many factors were
involved. The Democratic candidate got into
trouble with Orthodox Jewish voters as well
as Roman Catholics because of his support of
a same-sex marriage bill while serving in the
state legislature. Siena College pollster Steven
Greenberg said that general voter frustration
over the slumping economy, a poor get-out-
the-vote campaign and Weprins ill-advised
spending of campaign money on TV ads had
at least as much to do wih the elections out-
come as issues related to Israel.
Whatever the results in New York really
mean in political terms, the fact is that policy
toward Israel and the alleged Jewish vote
have become subjects of widespread discus-
sion. According to The New York Times, Re-
publican groups are determined to make Is-
rael a wedge issue...Billboards went up
around New York City showing Mr. Obama
smiling and shaking hands with the Pales-
tinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and de-
claring that the president is not pro-Israel.
Just as President Obama arrived at the
U.N. in September to try to persuade Pales-
tinian President Abbas not to proceed with
his plan to seek admission to the U.N. as a
member state, Republicans, sensing that the
alleged Jewish vote could be influenced,
harshly attacked Mr. Obama. Texas Gov.
Rick Perry accused him of appeasement
of the Palestinians and Mitt Romney
charged the president with repeated efforts
over three years to throw Israel under the
bus... Republican members of the House
even introduced legislation to support Is-
raels annexation of the West Bank which
The Forward described as a move contrary
to both American and Israeli official policy
and an absolute affront to international law
and democratic rights.
The politicization of Middle East policy is
complicating the presidents role, declared
The New York Times: The relationship be-
tween the Israeli government and the Re-
publican Party has...complicated the ad-
ministrations diplomatic efforts to avert a
confrontation at the U.N....over the Pales-
tinian bid for full membership as a state,
limiting President Obamas ability to exert
pressure on Mr. Netanyahu to make conces-
sions that could restart negotations...
The quest for a mythical Israel-centered
Jewish vote is causing this dangerous
politicization of U.S. Middle East policy, and
the government of Israel appears to be in-
volving itself in internal American politics.
A close Netanyahu ally, Knesset member
Danny Danon, stood beside Rick Perry
when he launched his attack on U.S. Middle
East policy. TIMEs Joe Klein declared that
Netanyahu has now overtly tossed his sup-
port to the Republicans.
One result may be that the U.S. loses in-
fluence throughout the Middle East and,
because it is unable or unwilling to move
the Israeli government toward a genuine
two-state solution, will cede any ability to
work as a mediator trusted by both parties.
The fact is that there is no Jewish vote
only the votes of millions of individual Jew-
ish Americans. Those ballots are cast on the
same basis as are those of Americans of
other faiths. It is a dangerous challenge to
our democracy to try to separate voters on
the basis of religion, and to do so on the
basis of a false picture of the nature of U.S.
Middle East policy is harmful to allto Is-
rael, to the Palestinians, to American inter-
ests in the region and, perhaps most impor-
tant, to the truth itself. K
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Comedian Discusses U.S. Islamopho-
bia, Comedy in Arab World
Dean Obeidallah, who performs regularly
at comedy clubs in New York City, spoke
on Sept. 23 at Georgetown Universitys
Mortara Center for International Studies.
The award-winning comedian, who has
appeared on televisions Comedy Central
and CNN networks, explained how he uses
comedy to spread peace and freedom in
both the U.S. and the Arab world.
Born and raised in northern New Jersey,
Obeidallah is the son of a Sicilian mother
and a Palestinian father. Growing up in a
predominantly Italian-American commu-
nity, he always self-identified as a white
American, he said, and was not in touch
with his Arab heritage. However, like
many other Americans, Obeidallahs life
changed dramatically on Sept. 11, 2001.
Despite the fact that he spoke with a dis-
tinct New Jersey accent and lived a typical
American lifestyle, Obeidallahs Arab her-
itage suddenly became his distinctive fea-
ture in a hypersensitive post-9/11 America.
Rather than running away from his her-
itage, Obeidallah, who described Septem-
ber 2001 as a converting experience, em-
braced his Arab roots.
The post-9/11 Obeidallah has used his
platform as a comedian to promote a
greater understanding of Islam in America.
Citing Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, he
noted that America has a tradition of using
comedy to address social and racial issues.
Seeking to continue this tradition, Obei-
dallah has organized comedy events such
as his recent tour of the southern U.S., ti-
tled The Muslims are Coming, to edu-
cate, and in many cases introduce individ-
uals to Islam.
Describing his recent tour as an eye-
opening experience for both himself and
the local audiences, Obeidallah observed
that he met so many people who have
never met a Muslim in their life. As he en-
gaged audience members before
and after shows, Obeidallah re-
called, he fielded an array of
questions and comments from
individuals who were both cu-
rious and critical of Islam. The
most frequent comments he re-
ceives, Obeidallah said, are from
individuals who say that they
do not think Muslims are de-
nouncing terrorists and radicals
enough. Shocked by the num-
ber of times he heard this, Obei-
dallah blamed such views on
those peddling hate in the
media, and strongly urged that
such voices be marginalized.
Nevertheless, Obeidallah de-
scribed the tour as a lot of fun and opti-
mistically commented that he really feels
like something [positive] is happening.
Perhaps the most intriguing work Obei-
dallah has done post-9/11 has been in the
Arab world. As a member of the Axis of
Evil Comedy Tour, which has performed in
countries such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia
since 2005, Obeidallah has been a leader in
bringing stand-up comedy to the Arab
world. In addition to performing in these
countries, Obeidallah and other comedians
offer free workshops in stand-up comedy.
While that new form of expression did not
come naturally for Arabs at first, Obeidal-
lah said, the progress it has made in the re-
gion has far surpassed his expectations. In
analyzing comedic skills, Obeidallah clas-
sified Egyptians as by far the funniest
and Omani comedians as not funny at
first. Surprisingly, Obeidallah described
Saudi Arabia as by far the most vibrant
comedy scene in the region.
Dale Sprusansky
CAIRs Annual Fundraiser a Huge
Success
The Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) invited Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) to
give the keynote speech [see box] at its
17th annual banquet on Oct. 15, at the
Crystal Gateway Marriott, in Arlington,
VA. Some 800 community members, lead-
ers, diplomats and public officials attended
the dinner, emceed by CAIR board mem-
ber Ahmed Bedier.
A small group of anti-CAIR protesters
demonstrated outside the hotel, waving
signs saying, The U.S. Constitution gives
us free speech. Bedier said he was bewil-
dered by the protest because CAIR de-
fends this right everyday. Were in the
forefront in defending the Constitution.
Attendees agreed and, inspired by Imam
Siraj Wahhaj, leader of the Muslim Al-
liance in North America (MANA), donated
more than $400,000 in one night to sup-
port CAIRs civil rights and advocacy
work.
Referring to recent efforts to enact anti-
shariah legislation and constitutional
amendments that seek to ban Islamic law
in 24 states, Imam Wahhaj told the gather-
ing, People are people, good and bad.
This wave of anti-Islamic sentiment, often
led by state legislators, is sending a clear
message of governmental disapproval of
Islam. Americans have the best Constitu-
tion in the world, the imam opined, and
CAIR is fighting legal battles to protect it
for the next group of Americans who are
targeted by bigotry. Since people are peo-
ple, some bad people can change it, he
warned listeners.
CAIR board chairman state Sen. Larry
Shaw (D-NC) and CAIR national legislative
director Corey Saylor presented the first of
Arab-American Activism
Comedian Dean Obeidallah said his life changed on
Sept. 11.
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Muslim-American Activism
Jim Moran Headlines CAIRs
Annual Fund-raiser
Congressman Moran began his speech
on Muslim-American civil rights by
wishing Muslims throughout the United
States a blessed Eid Al-Adha celebration.
I am here because I want to help ed-
ucate the Muslim community on the
importance of civic activism while join-
ing the struggle against Islamophobia,
the Virginia Democrat said. Politicians
today use anti-Muslim rhetoric as a
platform for their campaigns.
When economic, social and political
troubles face this country, Moran ex-
plained, some Americans lose their gen-
erosity. Politicians are targeting the
Muslim community and using it as a
scapegoat for their problems.
If I were to pose the question What
is Islam? many non-Muslims would give
an answer that portrays their ignorance
and bias, Moran said. Refering to Go
Home graffiti scrawled on an Islamic
Center in Dearborn, MI the congressman
urged the Muslim-American community
not to give up on this country, because
This is your own country. It will be
ac'i(i&!&_52-68_Dece!be% 2011 Ac'i(i&!& 10/26/11 8:29 AM Page 52
CAIRs annual awards, the Rosa Parks Civil
Rights scholarship, to Jeania Ree Moore, a
senior at Yale who has been involved in in-
terfaith initiatives.
CAIRs American Hero Award was pre-
sented to the Islamic Center of Murfrees-
boro, whose plan to build a mosque near
Nashville, TN was met by protests, Islamo-
phobic sentiment, spray paint and arson
while the Park51 controversy was raging
in New York near Ground Zero. The town
of Bridgewater, NJ, which boasts 17
churches, a convent, synagogues, and one
Sikh and two Hindu temples, changed its
zoning laws when Muslims tried to build a
mosque there. CAIR has taken on that legal
battle as well.
There are also happier stories, banquet
attendees learned. When Muslims in
Memphis, TN bought 20 acres next to
Steve Stones church, that Christian pastor
built a 6-foot-tall sign welcoming the
Memphis Islamic Center to the neighbor-
hood.
Another awardee was the Muslim Com-
munity Center (MCC) Medical Clinic in
Maryland (see November 2009 Washington
Report, p. 44), which treats thousands of
patientsmany without medical insur-
anceregardless of their faith. Pakistani-
American Olympic weightlifter Kulsoom
Abdullah, a computer engineer, received
the John Hancock Award for her fight to
amend the dress requirements of the Inter-
national Weightlifting Federation.
Dr. Iqbal Unus received the Lifetime Ser-
vice Award for his work leading the Mus-
lim Students Association and transitioning
the MSA to the Islamic Society of North
America (ISNA). Bangladeshi-American
Rais Bhuiyan received the Peace and Jus-
tice Award for founding a campaign called
World Without Hate. Bhuiyan was shot in
the face by Mark Stroman, a white su-
premacist who killed three people who
looked Arab after 9/11, and was sentenced
to death. Bhuiyans unsuccessful efforts to
save his shooters life reached the Supreme
Court, and Bhuiyans story, especially his
strong Islamic belief in forgiveness, con-
tinues to touch people around the world.
CAIR National Executive Director Nihad
Awad described the Center for American
Progress report Fear, Inc.: The Roots of
the Islamophobia Network in America,
published Aug. 26, 2011 (see November
2011 Washington Report, p. 18). Seven
foundations have invested $42 million to
defame American Muslims and work
stronger for your values. Our country des-
perately needs you, he emphasized.
Refering to the Fear, Inc. report, Moran
said many organizations are running fear
campaigns to promote the distortion of
Islam. Describing himself as neither a con-
spiracy theorist nor an alarmist, the con-
gressman said he only deals with facts. He
proceeded to list the seven right-wing orga-
nizations that have donated money to craft
anti-Muslim laws in America and foment
anti-Islam rhetoric on Capitol Hill.
Donors who are determined to turn peo-
ple against the Muslim community include
the Richard Mellon Scaife Foundation, the
Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the
Newton D. & Rochelle F. Becker Founda-
tions, the Russell Berrie Foundation and
the William Rosenwald Family Fund. Their
campaign uses fear and insecurity and
funds so-called Islamic experts such as
Daniel Pipes, Robert Spencer, and Steven
Emerson, among others, who appear regu-
larly on networks such as Fox News.
Many people werent happy about me
spending time with CAIR this evening,
Moran said. They accused me of consort-
ing with the enemybut we cant be in-
timidated.
He called on the Muslim community to
play an important role in diminishing the
barriers created by fear, as he encouraged
them to prove their loyalty and patriotism
by working hard, paying taxes, raising
their children to be model citizens, volun-
teering at charities and participating in
the parent-teachers association at their
childrens schools. A good education and
understanding the Constitution and the
Bill of Rights is extremely important in be-
coming integrated in society, he said,
adding that it is important for Muslims to
know their rights because that can protect
them from discrimination. Defend the
U.S. Constitution and stand up for the
rights of others, he urged, whether it is
African Americans, Asian Americans or
Hispanic Americans. Ask yourselves,
Who is suffering?
We should all come together and unite,
he said. There is no other, we are all one
community.
Muslim Americans should stand up di-
rectly to those who preach and practice vi-
olence, he continued. It is Haram!for-
bidden by Islamic law.
Saying that Muslim Americans should
play a major role in the future of U.S.-Arab
relations, especially after the recent events
of the Arab Spring, Congressman Moran
concluded his inspiring remarks by saying
that The United States of America will be-
come the nation its meant to be, the true
beacon of hope for all mankind, if you
make it so.
Lama Al-Arian
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Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) gives the keynote
speech at the CAIR banquet (see below).
activisms_52-68_December 2011 Activisms 10/26/11 8:29 AM Page 53
against Islamic organizations like CAIR,
Awad said. Fear is a mushrooming busi-
ness, but CAIR is working to put it out of
business, he promised. Now is the time
for American Muslims to stand up and
help future generations...failure is not an
option.
On Oct. 3 CAIR filed the first brief by a
Muslim organization to the Supreme Court,
Awad added. It calls for law enforcement
authorities to obtain a warrant before plac-
ing a GPS tracking device on any individ-
uals vehicle. CAIR is litigating a lawsuit on
behalf of Yasir Afifi, a Santa Clara, CA res-
ident who discovered a GPS tracking de-
vice placed on his vehicle in October 2010.
Award-winning comedian Dean Obei-
dallah, who uses comedy to both entertain
and dispel negative stereotypes of Middle
Eastern-Americans, left the audience in
stitches. Theres a little-known advantage
to being Muslim, he said. Muslims are im-
mune from identity theft: If your name is
Ossama, you can leave your credit card in a
crack house and no one will touch it!
Delinda C. Hanley
Omar ibn Sayyid: From Islamic
Scholar to Slave and Back Again
A spellbound audience celebrated Islamic
Heritage Month by watching a one-man play
about The Life and Times of Omar ibn
Sayyid at Americas Islamic Heritage Mu-
seum and Cultural Center in southeast Wash-
ington, DC on Oct. 8. Ahmad Kenyas dra-
matic performance brought to life the great
African Muslim scholar from Futa Torro in
West Africa. After making a life-changing
pilgrimage to Mecca, ibn Sayyid was cap-
tured and enslaved in North Carolina.
After escaping from a cruel master, Ibn
Sayyid was captured and jailed. While in
captivity he wrote pages of the Quran
from memory, fasted during Ramadan and
taught curious North Carolinians, includ-
ing his new kinder master James Owen-
about Islam. Ibn Sayyids story, written
and powerfully performed by Ahmad
Kenya, is unforgettable. Audience members
said they hoped the actor will someday
turn the spotlight on Muslim Americans
heritage at the Freer Gallery, Kennedy Cen-
ter or even the White House.
Delinda C. Hanley
Share the Water, Build the Peace
Washington, DCs World Affairs Council
hosted an Oct. 3 forum featuring Gidon
Bromberg, co-director of Friends of the
Earth Middle East (FoEME), to talk about
the ecological, political and social implica-
tions of water resources in the region.
Moderator Steven Solomon, author of
Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power
and Civilization, opened the forum by ex-
plaining that water in the region is a pow-
erful political weapon. Evidence of this,
he says, can be seen during the Six-Day
war, where by gaining control of the
headwater streams of the Jordan that rise
in the Golan Heights and the aquifers that
lie under the West Bank, Israel effectively
tripled its water supply overnight. This
has been a major source of grievance for
Palestinians, where Israel rations just
enough water in the West Bank to drink,
but not enough to extensively irrigate
their cropland.
According to Bromberg, FoEME is the
only organization in the region where Is-
raelis, Palestinians and Jordanians cooper-
ate at a community level for a common
purpose. The reason this type of interde-
pendence is necessary, he explained, is be-
cause almost all water resources [in the re-
gion] cross political boundaries. The lack
of major cooperation, as a result of Israels
occupation of Palestine, has lead to poor
The Islamic Center of Maryland in Gaithersburg hosted a food festival and bazaar on
Saturday afternoon, Oct. 1. Muslims from Argentina to Indonesia showcased the rich-
ness of their diverse cultures, and provided information as well as free samples of their
food. Vendors sold jewelry, clothing and perfumes. Maryland peace activist Samira Hus-
sein (above r) tells festivalgoers about her country-in-waiting, Palestine.
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Ahmad Kenya re-enacts the life of Omar ibn Sayyid.
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Human Rights
management of the already scarce re-
sourceand, consequently, widespread
environmental pollution.
Israel and the Palestinian West Bank
share the same fresh water aquifer,
Bromberg noted, but the current water-
sharing agreement has really permitted Is-
rael to dominate the shared water re-
source. The only limits the Joint Water
Committee is allowed to discuss is water
usage limits in the West Bank, allowing Is-
rael to pump as much water as it wants
from the shared aquifer on its
side of the border. This leads to
Israel extracting 80 percent of
the shared water resources, leav-
ing only 20 percent for Palestini-
ans. As a result, Bromberg said,
When you turn on the tap any-
where in the West Bank you can
never have any guarantee theres
going to be water flow because
water is provided in a rationing
fashion.
In response, FoEME created a
program called Good Water
Neighbors, where Jordanian,
Palestinian and Israeli communi-
ties that share the water of the
Jordan River and the Mountain
Aquifer work together on water
and sanitation issues. The previ-
ous top-down arrangement re-
garding water issues does not
allow for local community input,
something that is necessary to build last-
ing partnerships. Today the program has
29 communities on board which, by work-
ing together, learn about how each others
actions affect other communities. Also in-
volved are community youth who work to-
gether to build grey water re-use sys-
tems and at the same time learn that there
is always something they can do despite
the conflict.
While the cooperative action has been
difficult because of strong animosities, ur-
gently needed projectssuch as the con-
struction of sewage treatment plants, im-
proving water networks, eco-facilities, and
waste water collection facilitiesare being
undertaken, Bromberg said. The West
Bank today has only one functioning waste
water treatment plant, evidence of the lack
of necessary facilities.
Bromberg urged that grassroots move-
ments in the region, not just ones concern-
ing water, need much greater attention,
and much greater support, because the
work on the ground is the best way to
change the situation. He concluded by not-
ing that Israelis, Palestinians and Jordani-
ans have a shared identity as residents of
the Jordan Valley, and need to work to-
gether for ecological, political and social
reasons. Jean-Pascal Deillon
Protest at L.A. Chinese Consulate
The chants broke through the hot morning
air: China, China you cant hide, stop sup-
porting genocide. Then another slogan
was shouted: China, China dont you
care? Syrian blood is everywhere, fol-
lowed by another: China, China you will
see, Syrias people will be free.
Nearly 100 men, women and children
carrying American and Syrian flags and
placards were gathered Oct. 14 across Shatto
Place from the Los Angeles Chinese Con-
sulate. They were protesting Chinas and
Russias Security Council veto earlier that
month of a U.S.-sponsored resolution to rep-
rimand Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for
his violent crackdown on peaceful citizens
demonstrating against his regime.
About 30 sign-carrying members of the
Syrian American Council (SAC) crossed the
street and marched to the consulate. Susan
Misto, chair of SACs L.A. chapter, and
board member Samir Twair requested per-
mission to present a formal letter in person
to Consul General Qiu Shaofang.
Two U.S. State Department representa-
tives emerged from the consulate and re-
jected Mistos and Twairs request. They
were told instead to send the letter by cer-
tified mail to the consulate.
In part, the letter read: It is uncon-
scionable that China rejected a U.N. resolu-
tion that condemns the human rights vio-
lations being perpetrated by the Syrian
government, demands an immediate end to
the use of force against Syrian civilians
peacefully demonstrating for their funda-
mental rights, and calls for a Syrian-led po-
litical process to address the democratic as-
pirations of the Syrian people.
The singing, chanting throng continued
its calls for freedom for another two hours.
Gidon Bromberg, co-director of Friends of the Earth
Middle East, says the unbalanced allocation of water
is a major political problem.
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Egyptians living abroad in capitals and cities around the world, including London, New
York and Washington, DC (above), protested at Egyptian embassies and consulates on
Oct. 8, demanding the right to vote in Egypts upcoming elections. More than 120 countries
grant expatriates the right to vote, including countries like Sudan and Algeria. When it
was pointed out they were protesting in Washington, DCwhose American residents
have no voting representation in Congressone activist, who just moved to DC from
Boston, laughed and said, Just wait. Give me some time, Ill change things here, too.
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Lubana Adi of Diamond Bar, who was an
8-year-old when Bashars autocratic father,
Hafez Assad, destroyed her hometown of
Hama in 1982 for an earlier uprising
against the dynastic dictatorship, worked
for hours on her sign. It was written in
English: China stop supporting the killing
machine in Syria and in Chinese charac-
ters which her Chinese neighbors had
taught her. Pat McDonnell Twair
Chamys Of Refuge, Of Home
Explores Family Myth and History
The Jerusalem Fund Gallery in Washing-
ton, DC held a Sept. 30 opening reception
for artist Adam Chamys month-long ex-
hibit, Of Refuge, Of Home. Chamys col-
lection of family portraits and installation
works explore the stories of his Palestin-
ian-Texan family with deep roots in the
American frontier south as well as a deep
love for a distant homeland suffering colo-
nization and catastrophe. Guests viewed
the art and discussed it with Chamy, for-
mer director of the AET Book Club.
The portraits depict family members
Chamy either knew as a child or merely
through photographs, stories and old diary
entries. The faces of Texan farmers hang
side by side with Jerusalem merchants.
I was interested in the idea of myth and
legend, particularly in ones own family,
explained Chamy. I weaved through the
clutter and picked out a few stories and
memories that really spoke to me.
The subjects of the portraits include his
great-grandfather Nicolas deSimini, a
Palestinian merchant of Italian origin, his
Texan grandmother Gran, and his
Catholic Palestinian grandmother, whose
face is depicted in Sitti through an old
frame and illuminated by the orange glow
of candles that line the edges of the piece.
An exploration of family history speaks
to the audience, noted Jerusalem Gallery
curator Dagmar Painter. It resonates with
everybody because everyone has immi-
grant ancestors and everyone has a family
story.
The artist shared bits and pieces of his
stories through poetic descriptions that ac-
companied each piece, and while each is
distinct, the collection is unified by a sense
of antiquity. Chamy created shadows and
drew heavily from a palette of gold, ochre
and shades of brown to invoke the feel of
something old. Other works incorpo-
rated found objects like a door, an old suit-
case or a frame.
Each object has worn edges and a past
and a story that is already in the piece,
said Chamy. More often than not, I found
the object and the story came out of it.
In Diptych 1952 (Mom and Dad),
Chamys parents, Joe and Judy, are de-
picted through two-paneled childhood
portraits, painted on the inside of an old
suitcase, which represents their unification
through travel. Joe immigrated to the U.S.
from East Jerusalem, and Judy moved from
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In response to the Oct. 9 killing of 27 Coptic Christians in Cairo, several hundred Egyptian
Americans held an Oct. 19 demonstration in front of the White House and the U.S. Capitol
building in Washington, DC. Chanting Christian blood is not free, the demonstrators de-
manded an end to violence and discrimination against Christians in Egypt. Additionally, the
protesters urged both the U.S. and the global community to hold Egypts military council
(SCAF) accountable for the role activists say it played in the Oct. 9 killings.
Syrian Americans demonstrate Oct. 14 in front of the Los Angeles Chinese Consulate.
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Music & Arts
a small town in Texas to Fort Worth, where
they met.
The portraits brought tears to my eyes
because Adam put his heart and soul into
his work, said Judy Chamy, and his writ-
ing is almost as moving as the art itself.
For more information visit: <www.the-
jerusalemfund.org>. Deena Zaru
Tennis in Nablus Revives the Arab
Revolt
As a Palestinian-American playwright,
says Ismail Khalidi, I am deeply commit-
ted to challenging the myths and distor-
tions about Palestinians that abound in
American discourse. Thats just one of
Khalidis goals in his award-winning play
Tennis in Nablus, which enjoyed a suc-
cessful run Sept. 7 to 25 at Stageworks
Hudson, in New Yorks mid-Hudson Val-
ley. He also dramatizes a Palestinian cry for
independence that never recovered from
its defeat in the 1936-39 Arab Revolt.
In the crucial years from 1917 to 1947
that preceded the birth of Israel, British
colonialists fueled ethnic hatred by
promising the land to both indigenous
Arabs and Jewish immigrants. Khalidi, 29,
shows that the British used the same brutal
tactics against Arab rebels that theyd used
to smash popular revolts in India, Ireland
and elsewhere. According to director
Laura Margolis, Ismail calls his play a
tragipoliticomedy. I just call it brilliant.
Prior to its East Coast premiere this fall,
Tennis in Nablus had earned its author
the 2009 Kendeda Playwriting Prize, the
Quest for Peace Award from the Kennedy
Center (ACTF), and a second-place prize for
the Kennedy Centers Mark Twain Award
for Comic Playwriting (ACTF). Khalidi, who
lives in Brooklyn, NY, says he wants to de-
bunk the stereotype of Palestinians as vi-
olent, barbaric, and inherently anti-Semitic
opponents of modernity.
Tennis in Nablus takes place in the
spring of 1939 as Arab nationalists make a
dying attempt to drive the British out.
They are being shot in the street or ar-
rested and tortured while their rulers plan
their next costume ball. Lieutenant Duff
models his tennis whites; General Falbour
cant decide between Zulu war paint or a
Nazi uniform.
As the play begins, we see how this con-
flict is tearing apart the Al Qudsi family.
Yusef is fighting for independence, his
nephew for the best business deal he can
get from the Brits or Zionists. But when the
two are forced to share a jail cell, Tariq, the
rational nationalist, quickly realizes that
to his governors hes just a dirty Arab who
can be ordered to fetch their tennis balls.
This shock brings him closer to his uncle,
who has blamed Tariq for wanting to sell
the family land. Well be the foreigners
soon enough in Palestine, Yusef warns his
nephew. I was forced to steal an orange
from my own orange grove.
A second theme Khalidi brings to light
with hilarious effectis the natural empa-
thy the British soldiers ODonegal and Rajib
have for their Arab prisoners. In an early
scene ODonegal and his captive Yusef
trade ethnic slurs, then laugh and say
touch. Equally revealing is a scene in
which Samuel Hirsch, an idealistic Jew,
overhears General Falbour and his subordi-
nate Duff eviscerating Jews. Undeterred,
Hirsch presses them to act quickly to stop
Hitlers aggression.
In the end Tariqs real estate deal goes up
in smoke, but before he escapes to Beirut,
he gives his Aunt Anbara keys to the fam-
ily house. The play closes on a somber note
as Yusefs wife faces an uncertain future.
Stageworks production starred Nasser
Farisa veteran of TV, stage and filmas
the oud player turned rebel Yusef Al Qudsi.
(L-r) Joe, Adam and Judy Chamy stand by Adams painting of great-grandfather Nicolas
deSimini.
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(L-r) Nasser Faris and Fajer Al-Kaisi (foreground) and Matt Falber and Chet Carlin (back-
ground) in Stageworks/Hudsons 2011 production of Tennis in Nablus.
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Diptych 1952 (Mom and Dad) by Adam
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Maria Silverman played his wife, Anbara, a
journalist and freedom fighter modeled on
feminist organizer Tarab Abdul Hadi.
Yusefs nephew and British collaborator
Tariq Al Qudsi was played by Fajer Al-
Kaisi. Chet Carlin took on the roles of both
the goose-stepping general and vegetable
peddler Hajj Waleed, whose eggplants
conceal rifles. Matt Falber mimed a flawless
British accent as the priggish Lieutenant
Duff, while Christopher Smith unpacked
the complexities of Samuel Hirsch.
Tennis in Nablus draws on a history in
which Khalidis family has a very personal
stake. The Khalidis are an old Jerusalem
family, explains the playwright. Records
of their presence in the city date to the
12th or 13th century. Ismail himself was
named for his paternal grandfather, a U.N.
official. His father is Rashid Khalidi, Co-
lumbia Universitys Edward Said Professor
of Modern Arab Studies. Khalidi said he
hopes to see a New York City production
in the near future. For information see
<www.stageworkshudson.org>.
Lisa Mullenneaux
Turkish Film Three Monkeys
Screened in Washington, DC
An acclaimed Turkish artist chose an
award-winning Turkish movie to be
shown on Sept. 18 as part of the Moving
Perspectives program at the Smithsonian
Institutions Freer and Sackler Galleries in
Washington, DC. Carol Huh, assistant cu-
rator of contemporary Asian art, gave a
brief overview of multimedia artist Hale
Tenger and director Nuri Bilge Ceylan,
who won the 2008 Best Director award at
the Cannes Film Festival for
Three Monkeys.
Both Tenger and Ceylan
treat violence with subtlety
and emphasize the personal
meaning of space. Tengers
current installation at the
Sackler evokes the assassina-
tion of Rafiq Hariri, former
prime minister of Lebanon,
by filming the flapping cur-
tains and shifting light on the
faade of Beiruts St. Georges
Hotel. Hariri was assassinated
in front of the hotel on Feb.
14, 2005, when his motorcade
was blown up in a massive
explosion. While the film
was made later during the renovation of
the hotel, the tragic moment is represented
by the sudden interruption of the musical
score and jerking camera movements.
Similarly, much of the violence takes
place out of sight in Three Monkeys but
its repercussions are still keenly felt. Cey-
lans movie is more memorable for the op-
pressive feeling created by its menacing
skies and cramped apartments than for its
plot about a politician who kills a pedes-
trian with his car and bribes an employee
to take the rap. The main characters see,
hear and speak all kinds of evil as one mur-
der and cover-up leads to another. Kevin
Thomas of the Los Angeles Times calls it a
mordant cautionary tale on the conta-
giousness of corruption.
The exhibition of Hale Tengers work
was on view in the lobby of the Sackler
from July 30 through Nov. 6, 2011. Three
Monkeys is available on DVD with op-
tional English and Turkish subtitles and
more than three hours of commentary, in-
terviews and other special features.
Anne ORourke
Mideast Universities Face Challenge
Of Unemployed Graduates
Georgetown Universitys Center for Con-
temporary Arab Studies hosted Dr. Joseph
Jabbra, president of Lebanese American
University (LAU), for a Sept. 21 discussion
on The State of Higher Education in the
Middle East. Moderator Dr. Judith Tucker
guided a conversation that focused on the
role of American universities in the region.
Dr. Jabbra began by outlining what he
called the three true American institu-
tions in place right nowthe American
University of Beirut, the American Univer-
sity in Cairo, and the LAUwhich provide
a much desired American education to
young Arabs, and also help serve and meet
the challenges of society in their respective
countries.
The number of American-style institu-
tions and branches of U.S. universities in
the Middle East is mushrooming, Dr.
Tucker noted. Their popularity stems from
a universal desire of all parents: the best ed-
ucation for their children. Often parents
will insist on an American higher educa-
tion for their children despite their per-
sonal opinions about U.S. policies, Jabbra
added. Theyre looking for inclusive insti-
tutions that do not discriminate against
gender, religion, politics or ethnicity. These
schools offer a well-rounded education for
the whole person, along with a notion of
service and a strong ethical compass.
Lately college graduates in the Arab
world cannot find jobsjust like their
American counterparts. The focus ini-
tially was to educate people to have jobs in
the government, Jabbra explained, but
things have changed and governments are
saturated with graduatesinstitutions
have not changed to grapple with the
changes in society.
Jabbra went on to list some of the chal-
lenges institutions need to address, includ-
ing the number of uneducated women,
how to get schools to meet the needs of so-
ciety and, most importantly, how students
will face future changes. He then asked
himself the very question that every col-
lege president should: How can we make
sure the quality of our education meets the
needs of the young people?
One challenge the Middle East faces in
the coming 15 years will be to provide 100
million jobs for the 60 percent of the pop-
ulation which is under 25 right now. Ac-
cording to Dr. Jabbra, the top three Amer-
Dr. Judith Tucker (l) and Dr. Joseph Jabbra discuss edu-
cational challenges in the Middle East.
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Education
ican institutions are meeting that
challenge, and their graduates are
getting jobs and going on to make
an impact on the education ques-
tion.
Another challenge is societal
pressure for young people to be-
come doctors and engineers, which
creates a glut in those areas and
leaves a deficit in such critical fields
as political science, government and
international relations. The top
schools put quotas on class sizes for
degrees that are oversaturated, Dr.
Jabbra said, although he admitted
this does little to sway the demand
that society, and parents, have for
those particular professions.
Alex Begley
CSU Middle East Studies
Confab at Cal Poly Pomona
An impressive slate of 10 academic panels
capped by a keynote address by Hastings
School of Law Prof. George Bisharat was
the extensive menu for the 4th annual Cal-
ifornia State University Conference on
Middle East Studies Oct. 14 and 15 at Cal-
ifornia State Polytechnic University,
Pomona.
Cal Poly history professor Mahmood
Ibraham was chair of the conference fea-
turing panel topics ranging from The
Arab Spring and Palestine and Shah
Abas I: Achaemenid or Turkish Despot?
to Iran: Tensions Within and Without.
A memorable reception and dinner took
place Oct. 14 in the historic Kellogg House
on campus, where actress-singer-dancer
Cynthia Sophiea performed from her
Everyone Has Tears show. The Turath
Ensemble and S.K. Near East Ensemble en-
tertained with Romancing the Arab
Spring: Romantic Songs of Gibran Khalil
Gibran and Mahmoud Darwish.
Violences Law was the title of
Bisharats thought-provoking address on
Oct. 15. The Harvard University-educated
scholar pointed out Israels distortions of
international humanitarian law (IHL) in
which it uses violence to enforce new con-
cepts of IHL (which governs behaviors of
parties at war).
There is considerable evidence that Is-
rael is deliberately trying to rewrite inter-
national law through violence, stated the
former trial lawyer for the San Francisco
Office of Public Defender.
Israeli military lawyers are well aware of
the limits of IHL, he stressed, but they
consciously encourage military comman-
ders to violate these limits. As an example,
he said, Gazans barred from fleeing the
coastal enclave when Israel announced it
would drop bombs on them were inter-
preted by Israel as voluntary human
shields and therefore combatants subject
to lawful attack.
Israels interpretation, Bisharat theo-
rized, is designed to put it on the cutting
edge of new law in the so-called War on
Terror. This turns the purpose of IHL
which is to limit suffering even in war
on its head, thus enacting the theory that
might makes right.
Pat McDonnell Twair
Panel Explores Egypts Changing
Religious Climate
The Washington, DC-based Carnegie En-
dowment for International Peace hosted an
Oct. 6 panel discussion titled Post-Revo-
lutionary Egypt: New Trends in Islam.
Moderated by Marina Ottaway, senior as-
sociate at the Carnegie Middle East Pro-
gram, the panel focused its attention on
the changes occurring within
Egypts religious institutions.
George Washington University
professor Nathan Brown began by
emphasizing the importance of an-
alyzing what is happening in Egypt
at the micro level. Explaining that
mini-revolutions are occurring
within such institutions as the
press, labor unions, and religious
organizations, Brown stressed that
the outcomes of these institutional
conflicts will significantly impact
Egypts future.
Focusing on Al-Azhar University
in Cairo, Brown noted that Sunni
Islams highest institution of learn-
ing is undergoing an internal
process of determining its role in
Egypts future. Under state control
since 1961, he pointed out, Al-
Azhar has long been co-opted by
Egypts authoritarian regimes. Now free
from previous restraints, many voices
within the institution are fighting for Al-
Azhar to win greater independent author-
ity over Egypts religious matters. Many
within the institution, which Brown de-
scribed as having a strong sense of insti-
tutional pride, would like to see all of
Egypts religious organizations, such as the
Ministry of Religious Affairs, brought
within Al-Azhars sphere.
Explaining that the stakes are fairly
high in the battle for Al-Azhars future,
Brown noted that most Egyptians agree
that Al-Azhar should assume greater au-
thority over Egypts religious affairs. Nev-
ertheless, Brown stressed that there is both
internal and external disagreement as to
the degree of power Al-Azhar should as-
sume. Some within the institution, such as
Grand Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, a Mubarak
appointee, have proposed a modest expan-
sion of Al-Azhars powers. Those outside
Al-Azhar, most notably Salafi Islamists,
have expressed unease with the idea of Al-
Azhar having a monopoly over Egypts re-
ligious affairs.
California State University Middle East Studies Conference
participants (l-r) Hend Gilli-Elewy, Mahmood Ibrahim,
chair, and Elabe Amani.
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(L-r) Marina Ottaway, Prof. Nathan Brown, Khaled Elgindy and Prof. Jonathan Brown.
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Waging Peace
Khaled Elgindy, visiting fellow at the
Brookings Institution, was critical of the
Western interpretation of Egypts chang-
ing political and religious climates. De-
scribing the discourse on Egypt as limited
and narrow and also a little bit behind, El-
gindy argued that the potential role of the
Muslim Brotherhood has been over-ana-
lyzed, while the changing role of Al-Azhar
and the growing power of the Salafists and
other groups has been overlooked.
Addressing the chaotic political atmos-
phere in the country, Elgindy noted that
the division of Egyptian society into hun-
dreds of political groups has made it diffi-
cult to monitor the countrys political cli-
mate. This proliferation is not necessarily
constructive or conducive toward their
goals of advancing a democratic program,
he added.
Given the dramatic surge in the popu-
larity of Salafism over the past few months,
Jonathan Brown, a professor at George
Washington University, spent the majority
of his time discussing that religious group.
Noting that Salafism had a very precari-
ous existence during the Mubarak years,
Brown explained that it nevertheless has
managed to spread from its base in Alexan-
dria to Cairo and cities along the Nile
Delta, such as Tanta.
While the Salafis, who have no hierar-
chical power structure, had severe prob-
lems with discipline after the revolution,
Brown noted, they have since increased
their political savvy and restraint. There
currently are four known Salafi parties in
Egypt, he said, and Salafis have shown in-
credible solidarity in uniting around
Hazem Salah Abu Ismail as their presiden-
tial candidate. The big question going for-
ward, Brown concluded, is who is able to
get more votes, the non-Salafi Muslim
Brotherhood or the Salafi groups?
Dale Sprusansky
The State of the Egyptian Revolution
George Washington Universitys Elliot
School of International Affairs hosted a
Sept. 21 panel of leading political scientists
to discuss and offer their perspectives on
the revolution in Egypt and its new politi-
cal situation.
Rabab El-Mahdi, professor of political
science at the American University in
Cairo, began by explaining that the revo-
lution in Egypt is far from being over.
While it took only 18 days to depose Pres-
ident Hosni Mubarak, the same elites, in-
cluding those from Egypts media and uni-
versities, are still running the country
today. This, according to El-Mahdi, is be-
cause Egypt is a politicized state where
there is no real distinction between the
state institutions and those who rule.
Those who hold positions in different gov-
ernment bureaucracies and ministries are
interrelated with certain institutions,
meaning that restructuring the political ap-
paratus would extend to other sectors of
societymaking it very difficult for mean-
ingful change to occur.
Joshua Stacher, professor of political sci-
ence at Kent State University, elaborated on
the inherent continuity of Egypts govern-
ment after the overthrow of Mubarak by
examining the Supreme Council of the
Armed Forces (SCAF) and the power and
privilege it has retained since Mubaraks
fall. According to Stacher, SCAF is dis-
proportionately in charge, and therefore
they are disproportionately to blame for
the current state of the revolution seven
months in. Moreover, he added, their ac-
tions and their practices leave no doubt to
their culpability.
Although Mubarak is gone, the parallel
executive structures have remained, allow-
ing the former regimes same repressive
rule to operate. One important element of
this is that SCAF maintains veto power
over political structures, such as who gets
appointed as a member of the constitu-
tional delegation. SCAF has also pushed for
November electionsknowing that, as an
incumbent with an unorganized opposi-
tion, it will win the stability vote and re-
tain its power. In addition to maintaining
its power while remaining in the shadows,
SCAF will get the legitimacy vote for
holding the elections, Stacher observed.
In contrast to her fellow panelists, Mona
El-Ghobashy, political science professor at
Barnard College, explained that for the first
time since the 1900sright before the
WAFD party took control of the political
systemEgypt is experiencing a free
movement that consists of fragmented po-
litical groups. Since the revolution, she went
on to explain, there are four vehicles of in-
terest represented in Egypt. The first are po-
litical parties which are a dime a dozen
and still in the early stages of development.
Associations, who have a set membership
base and dont have to do the leg work that
political parties have to do, constitute the
second group. Because political parties faced
repression under Mubarak, El-Ghobashy
elaborated, associations were the main chan-
nel for interest representation and, she pre-
dicted, will remain that way for the next
five to ten years. Other important channels
for interest representation in Egypt are in-
dependent trade unionswhose struggles
and demonstrations in Cairo were a preview
of the revolution. The inherent variety of
these groups, as well as the previous dis-
trust and ineffectiveness of political parties,
creates a natural tendency for them to avoid
uniting into major federations and possibly
being controlled by executive powers such
as the SCAF. The fourth influential channel,
according to El-Ghobashy, is localized street
politics. The daily actions by small groups
who organize on street corners for specific
demands are the base of Egyptian politics,
she said, and will also be around for several
years.
As the revolution continues, El-
Ghobashy argued, the presence of diverse
fragmented groups in political society will
work to remove the personalization of
power in Egypt. This will also prevent a
corrupt and unresponsive executive from
reconstituting its power.
Egypts upcoming elections have also
brought the role of Islamists to the fore-
front of discussions. In El-Mahdis opinion,
there is too much media focus on the di-
viding line between the secular and reli-
gious. In reality, she said, the issues that
launched the revolution, such as economic
justice and corruption, are not being fo-
cused on. Indeed, she noted, the division
between Islamist groups can sometimes be
greater than that between the secular and
religious groups. While Mubaraks rule ar-
tificially consolidated these groups, El-
Ghobashy added, today they are naturally
fragmenting into their natural tendencies
no longer kept together by the glue of re-
pression. Jean-Pascal Deillon
(L-r) Mona El-Ghobashy, Joshua Stacher and Rabab El-Mahdi.
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Hezbollah in the Wake of the
Arab Uprisings
Seeking to better understand how Hezbol-
lah will respond to the changing political
landscape in the Middle East, the Middle
East Institute (MEI) hosted an Oct. 11 dis-
cussion titled Hezbollah in the Wake of
the Arab Spring. Randa Slim, a Lebanese-
American scholar at MEI, led the discus-
sion.
Given that Iran, Syria and Hezbollah
maintain a strong regional alliance, the po-
tential overthrow of Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad presents a major geopolit-
ical challenge for the three. As Slim ex-
plained, Syria is the crucial linchpin that
connects Hezbollah and Iran, serves as a
conduit for transfer of weapons into
Lebanon, provides strategic depth for
Hezbollah, and grants Iran a toehold on Is-
raels northern border. Thus, without the
presence of a valuable ally in Assad,
Hezbollahs ability to efficiently operate
and project strength diminishes greatly.
Aside from potential damage to its al-
liances, Hezbollah also is concerned that
the Syrian uprising will create instability
within Lebanon. Slim noted that Hezbol-
lah is now being forced to devote more re-
sources to domestic causes in an effort to
avoid a spill-over of violence into Lebanon.
The Arab uprisings are also threatening
the relevance of Hezbollahs message, Slim
said, noting that Hezbollahs principal
claim to leadership in the Arab region is
its unwavering commitment to resisting
Israeli occupation of Arab lands and stand-
ing up to U.S. policies in the Middle East.
While this message was central to Arab
unity before the revolts, Slim added, Arabs
now are increasingly concerned with re-
sisting domestic regimes. According to the
MEI scholar, this recent regional shift to-
ward domestic politics is increasingly mak-
ing Hezbollah appear out-of-sync with
the passions and interests of the Arab pub-
lic.
Slim explained that Hezbollahs growing
image problem is only compounded by its
relationship with the repressive Iranian
and Syrian regimes. For instance, Slim
said, Hezbollahs Iranian ally will become
more of a liability than an asset. Further-
more, she argued, Hezbollahs support of
the Assad regime puts them in the camp
of countries opposed to the values and as-
pirations of the people for freedom and
good governance.
Despite the many dilemmas Hezbollah is
currently confronting, the group maintains
that its future is stable, Slim pointed out.
In fact, she explained, Hezbollah still be-
lieves that Assad will survive the Syrian
uprising. Given this confidence that its
Syrian ally will remain in power, Slim
noted that, in terms of scenario building,
there has been a lack of real deliberation
going on inside Hezbollahs ranks.
Slim concluded by giving her personal
assessment regarding Hezbollahs future,
saying she believes that Hezbollah will be
seriously weakened by the ongoing re-
gional events, but that it ultimately wont
collapse. Dale Sprusansky
The Role of Youth in Ending the
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Two OneVoice youth activists, one Israeli
and the other Palestinian, spoke on Sept.
22 at the Case Foundation Washington, DC
offices of Buxton Initiative, an organiza-
tion of Muslims, Christians and Jews who
are dedicated to building understanding
and dialogue among their communities.
OneVoice is an international grassroots
movement that amplifies the voices of
mainstream 18- to 34-year-old Israelis and
Palestinians who are demanding a two-
state solution.
Eyal Shapira, a student at Hebrew Uni-
versity in Jerusalem and a youth leader
from OneVoice Israel (OVI), first spoke
about his experience growing up in
Mevaseret Tsiyon, a small town west of
Jerusalem. When he was 15 years old, he
recalled, the second intifada broke out, fol-
lowing Ariel Sharons trip to Haram al-
Sharif, also known as the Temple Mount.
Shapira said two major attacks affected his
community and put fear in all of Israeli
citizens. Eyal explained that every
household had the same dilemma, which
was whether we should stop our life wait-
ing for the attacks to pass or whether we
should keep on living our lives.After hav-
ing seen the effects these attacks had on
his community, Eyal said he believes that
we cannot keep on counting the victims
on both sides but instead we should take
things into our own hands. The govern-
ment is not affected, but the people on the
ground, the civilians, are the victims. This
became his primary motivation to work for
OneVoice.
His views about the effects of this con-
flict were reinforced when he served with
the Israel Defense Forces for three years as
a soldier in the West Bank and Lebanon.
He explained that his experience as a sol-
dier, where he went into Palestinian vil-
lages, seeing how the situation affects the
lives of the Palestinians, only served to
strengthen the feeling that we are all the
victims of this conflict.
Eyal has been working with OneVoice
on several events to spread the word about
border agreements between Israel and
Palestine, as well as the Palestinian bid for
U.N. admission as a state and the reactions
of the Israeli government. He said he feels
that the audience that came to these types
of conferences left the event much more
optimistic, and got a much more complex
look about the situation.
His fellow panelist, Obada Shtaya, a 20-
year-old with OneVoice Palestine studying
at An-Najah National University in Nablus,
shared his experience as a Palestinian.
When he was only a few years old, he ex-
plained, many Palestinians were arrested,
including his father, who spent a year and
a half in jail. This was a series of impris-
onments, he added, because he was ar-
rested nine times up until 2007. Every
time his father was arrested, Obada said,
MEI scholar Randa Slim discusses the chal-
lenges facing Hezbollah.
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Obada Shtaya (l) and Eyal Shapira.
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we moved to live with my
grandmother in another city.
This occurred during the sec-
ond intifada, during which time
Israeli soldiers invaded his city,
Nablus, and occupied it for three
months. For two months contin-
uously, Obada recalled, we
could not leave our housesnei-
ther to [go to] schools, church, or
anywhere. While the intifada
ended in 2006, he explained,
the wounds of the intifada, the
scars and effects of the intifada
did not end in 2006. The people
still imprisoned by Israel and the
destruction remind the Pales-
tinians that they are still humili-
ated.
When Obada began his university stud-
ies in 2008, he understood that armed in-
tifada and violence is not the way to end
the conflicteven though he said he un-
derstands that Palestinians were reacting to
Israeli pressure. He joined OneVoice, he
said, when he realized that the two-state
solution would be the best, most achiev-
able and pragmatic solution to end the con-
flict. Before joining OneVoice, Obada had
never met Jews except for the Israeli sol-
diers occupying Nablus.
During Imagine Palestine 2018, where
OneVoice asked Palestinians what they
imagined Palestine would be like in 2018,
many had a difficult time imagining a state
by then. Obada believes that projects like
these are important to keep the conversa-
tion alive about a two-state solution.
When asked how they do see the situa-
tion in 2018, Obada said he hopes to see a
free and economically prosperous Pales-
tine, while Eyal asked, Why wait until
2018, lets make it 2013? Both remain very
optimistic about the situation, even though
negotiations have not re-started due to Is-
raels refusal to halt its illegal settlement-
building.
To learn more about OneVoice, visit
<www.onevoicemovement.org>, and the
Buxton Initiative, <www.buxtoninitia-
tive.org>. Jean-Pascal Deillon
D.C. Rally Calls for End to U.S. Aid to
Israel
Offering both a public display of support
for Palestinians and a public renunciation
of U.S. aid to Israel, organizers with the
September15 Organization, a group named
for the International Day of Democracy, led
a rally that day in Washington, DC. Meet-
ing in front of the State Department at 6
p.m., protesters proceeded to march to the
White House, where they arrived around
7:30 chanting, Free, free Palestine. The
50 demonstrators spent about an hour de-
livering various chants and speeches in
front of the White House.
While the rally took place several days
before Palestine applied for statehood with
the United Nations, rally participants for
the most part did not address the topic of
statehood for Palestine. Explaining the de-
cision to take a neutral position on the
issue, rally organizer Sarah Weatherbee
said the group advocates for a rights-
based solution, whether its one state, two
states, or no state. Elaborating, she
stressed that the organization is concerned
with ensuring that Palestinians enjoy the
same rights as everyone else, regardless of
their race, regardless of their religion, re-
gardless of whatever background they
come from.
Given the focus on this theme, ralliers
opted to emphasize the $3 billion in annual
U.S. aid to Israel. Arguing that U.S. aid to
Israel funds human rights abuses and sup-
ports an illegal occupation, those gathered
at the White House urged Washington to
reconsider its current monetary support of
Israel. Lamenting that President Barack
Obama has not taken a strong enough
stand for the Palestinians, for human
rights, Weatherbee explained that the
rally participants could not understand
why the Israelis are prioritized above the
Palestinians and why Palestinians are
made out to be lesser human beings.
While primarily motivated by what they
allege are Israels human rights violations,
the demonstrators also expressed their out-
rage as American taxpayers, claiming that
it is not good economic policy for the U.S.
to be financially supporting Israel, espe-
cially given the current debt crisis. Citing
the many cuts to federal and local govern-
ments services, such as educa-
tion, they urged the countrys
leaders to invest and spend in
America rather than Israel. In-
deed, at one point, the protesters
began repeatedly demanding
more money for police, earn-
ing them smiles from the sur-
rounding police officers.
Chanting we want democ-
racy, no more hypocrisy, the ral-
liers also maintained that Amer-
icas current Middle East foreign
policy does not serve the coun-
trys best interests. Describing
U.S. aid to Israel as extremely
harmful to Palestinians, to Is-
raelis themselves, and to Ameri-
cans, Weatherbee emphasized that Wash-
ingtons strong support of Israel is deeply
harming its image abroad. We want jus-
tice, we want peace, the demonstrators
shouted, urging the U.S. to engage in a for-
eign policy genuinely centered on the val-
ues of justice, peace, and freedom.
Dale Sprusansky
U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli
Occupation: Looking Back, Moving
Forward
Washington, DCs Thurgood Marshall Cen-
ter hosted the U.S. Campaign to End the Is-
raeli Occupations 10th Annual National
Organizers Conference, from Sept. 16 to
18. Approximately 250 activists gathered
for this years conference, themed Look-
ing Back, Moving Forward: How to Align
U.S. Policy with Freedom, Justice, and
Equality.
The weekends various well-attended
panels and plenary sessions addressed a
number of topics, notably boycott, divest-
ment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns, ap-
proaches to challenging Zionist organiza-
tions in the U.S., and the Israel lobby.
Connecting the Arab Spring to
Palestine
Kicking off the weekends activities was a
Friday night panel discussion on What
the Arab Spring and Palestinian Statehood
Mean for Our Work. Moderated by Nadia
Hijab, interim director of the U.S. Cam-
paign to End the Israeli Occupation, the
panel featured political analyst and author
Omar Barghouti, publisher and journalist
Helena Cobban and syndicated columnist
Rami Khouri. The panelists examined how
the recent Arab uprisings will influence
the future approach toward Palestine by
activists and states alike.
Barghouti began by emphasizing Wash-
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The September 15 Organization holds a rally at the White
House.
ingtons declining influence in the Arab
world. Commenting that the Arab upris-
ings have had a devastating effect on the
ability of the U.S. and Israel to be the hege-
monic powers in the region, Barghouti
made it a point to emphasize that Israel
must come to the realization that a new era
of Middle East politics is emerging. Noting
that Israel has not yet realized that things
have indeed changed, Barghouti argued
that it is against Israels best interests to not
recognize that the status quo no longer ap-
plies.
While many in the West point to the
Arab uprisings as a sign that al-Qaedas
ideology has been rejected by the Arab
street, Barghouti stressed that the upris-
ings also demonstrate that the U.S., too, has
become irrelevant in the region. The up-
risings happened despite U.S. policy, not
because of it, he elaborated.
Cobban discussed the importance of
changing the discourse that surrounds the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Explaining that
discourse is how people get an idea of
what is acceptable to think, she stressed
that it is critical for Palestinian activists to
challenge the current discourse distor-
tion taking place in the American media.
On a more positive note, Cobban said
that on her recent June 2011 trip to Gaza,
she noticed that those living in the terri-
tory felt a deep sense of connectedness
with Palestinians across the globe. She at-
tributed much of this increased communi-
cation to the Internet, explaining that the
Internet has allowed Palestinians to over-
come their fragmentation, providing a
place where they can meet and exchange
ideas.
Khouri pointed out that the world is
now seeing the birth of the Arab citizen,
true Arab sovereignty, and legitimate
[Arab] governance. Citing the demand for
social justice and constitutional reform as
the two themes that all
the Arab uprisings share,
he noted that all Arabs
want to be citizens with
rights. All three pan-
elists agreed that Pales-
tinians are no different
from their fellow Arabs,
and that the success of
the uprisings in other
countries will only fuel
the burgeoning Palestin-
ian desire for freedom
and justice.
Khouri further empha-
sized that supporting Is-
rael and repressive Arab
leaders is resulting in the self-marginal-
ization of the U.S. He concluded by stress-
ing the importance of Palestinians devel-
oping a clear and unified consensus on
how to deal with Israel, and warned that if
the Palestinian approach remains vague, it
will leave Israel with an effective propa-
ganda tool. Dale Sprusansky
Panel on Crafting and Sharpening
Effective BDS Campaigns
Boycott and divestment activism, initiated
in 2005 by 171 Palestinian non-govern-
mental organizations in support of the
Palestinian cause, continues to build mo-
mentum in the United States. Panel moder-
ator Omar Barghouti, political analyst and
author of Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions:
The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights
(available from the AET Book Store),
opened the panel with the observation that
just three years ago, BDS was still on the
fringebut look where we are now.
Panelist Dalit Baum, an activist in resi-
dence with Global Exchange and a co-
founder of Who Profits from the Occupa-
tion, <www.whoprofits.org>, explained
that although BDS campaigns call for local
accountability, the BDS movement has yet
to realize its local potential. She urged au-
dience members to adapt BDS, which is
not [simply] a list of proscribed actions, to
fit the specifications of their local commu-
nities. This is how we can educate peo-
ple, Baum explained, and make them re-
alize that the entire Israeli economy is in-
volved in the Palestinian occupation.
Baum cited Veolia, a French water and
waste management company that has been
involved in several Israeli projects, as a
good target for local organizing because the
company has facilities throughout the U.S.
Rebecca Subar, a professor of peace and
conflict studies at West Chester University
and a board member of Jewish Voice for
Peace, focused on the TIAA-CREF divest-
ment campaign. TIAA-CREF, a Fortune
100 investment group that is the leading
retirement provider for academic and med-
ical employees, is known for being a so-
cially-responsible company, she ex-
plained. However, it invests heavily in
Caterpillar (CAT), the worlds largest man-
ufacturer of construction and mining
equipment, which provides bulldozers to
the Israeli army. According to Amnesty In-
ternational, these have been used to com-
mit human rights violations, including the
death of Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old
American peace activist who was killed
under a CAT bulldozer operated by an Is-
raeli Defense Officer in 2003.
Panelist Tory Smith, a member of Earl-
ham Colleges BDS and Students for Justice
in Palestine groups, discussed BDS ac-
tivism from the perspective of a college
student. He explained that one of the in-
teresting things about being a college
group is that theres a built-in resistance
[on campus]Jewish student groups. In
Smiths opinion, engaging in dialogue with
these groups is the first step in creating a
successful BDS campaign.
Nancy Kricorian of Code Pink: Women
for Peace, a grassroots peace and social jus-
tice group, concentrated on her role in the
Ahava stolen beauty boycott campaign.
Ahava, an Israeli cosmetics company that
manufactures skin care products from the
Dead Sea, sources its mud product line
from illegal settlements in occupied terri-
(L-r) Dalit Baum, Rebecca Subar, Tory Smith, Nancy Kricorian, Andrew Kadi and David
Wildman describe BDS progress.
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(L-r) Omar Barghouti, Helena Cobban and Rami Khouri dis-
cuss the Arab Spring and Palestinian statehood.
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tory, Kricorian told the assembled ac-
tivists, and hired Sex and the City star
Kristin Davis as a spokesperson to help the
companys image. According to Kricorian,
We were able to get people to contact
Oxfam, which has an explicit policy
against settlement products, and asked,
How can you be against settlement prod-
ucts, and have a goodwill ambassador who
is selling settlement products? Thanks to
Code Pinks activism, Davis lost both her
position as an Oxfam goodwill ambassador
and her contract with Ahava.
Andrew Kati, a steering committee mem-
ber with the U.S. Campaign, discussed cul-
tural boycotts, noting that they have a
very significant role in overturning the
psyche of normality and invisibility that
Israel has. Cultural boycotts against Israel
should follow the same model as the sports
boycotts imposed upon apartheid South
Africa, Kati said, and listed a number of
artists and pop culture icons, including
Elvis Costello, Oprah, Bono and Snoop
Dogg, who have canceled planned appear-
ances in Israel. For these artists, he ex-
plained, its a political statement to go and
perform somewhere as much as it is not
to.
The final panelist, David Wildman, a
member of the General Board of Global
Ministries of the United Methodist Church
and a U.S. Campaign steering committee
member, addressed the role of churches in
the BDS movement. Churches first started
boycotting 2,000 years ago, he pointed
out, when the Apostle Paul advocated a
boycott as an expression of solidarity.
Since 2005, when the United Methodist
Church passed a resolution to divest from
companies supporting the Israeli occupa-
tion, the church has compiled lists of such
companies. Wildman concluded with a call
to action: At what point do you stop say-
ing this is wrong, and start doing some-
thing?Sara Birkenthal
Legal and Popular Approaches to
Challenging Zionist Organizations
The next morning began with a workshop
on challenging Zionist organizations, pre-
sented by Kristin Szremski of American
Muslims for Palestine and Sara Kershnar of
the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Net-
work. The pair provided background in-
formation on leading Zionist organizations,
including the Anti-Defamation League, the
Israel Advocacy Initiative, the Jewish Fed-
eration and the Zionist Organization of
America.
The role of Zionist organizations is to
support the state of Israel and to falsely
equate Judaism with Zionism, Kershnar ex-
plained. Noting that Zionist groups stand
in opposition to the goals of the Palestinian
liberation and the Palestinian solidarity
movement, she contended that Zionist or-
ganizations are ideal targets for BDS work.
We cant allow [Zionist groups] to claim
Jewish interests or authority, she empha-
sized.
Next, Szremski explained the concept of
creeping normalcy, by which acceptance
of Israeli human rights abuses has slowly
become normal and unobjectionable. She
described the movement to challenge the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee
(AIPAC)s tax-exempt status based on the
fact that this summer, 55 House Republi-
cans and 26 House Democrats participated
in educational trips funded by the
American Israel Education Foundation
(AIEF), a Zionist group affiliated with
AIPAC. In the United States we should
not be giving non-profit status to organi-
zations that racially discriminate, she ar-
gued. Sara Birkenthal
Exposing AIPAC: Delving into the
Details of the Israel Lobby
During the second workshop session, Ali-
son Weir of the Council for the National
Interest and of If Americans Knew moder-
ated a discussion on the history of AIPAC
and its various quasi-legal activities.
Weir opened the workshop by proposing
that supporting Israel is damaging to U.S.
interests. She explained that in the 1940s,
the majority of U.S. government officials as
well as oil company executives opposed
Zionism and viewed U.S. support for Israel
as damaging in the long-term. However,
American support for Israel shifted with
the creation of the American Zionist Emer-
gency Committee, which had a budget of
over $150 million in 1948.
Janet McMahon, managing editor of the
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs,
explained that because AIPAC is techni-
cally classified as a not-for-profit member-
ship organization, it does not have to reveal
its funding sources or expenditures. She
then detailed the 30-50 smaller pro-Israel
PACs that actually donate money to politi-
cal campaigns.
Grant F. Smith of IRmep began his pre-
sentation by urging attending national ac-
tivists to challenge the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). He re-
viewed the organizations emergence from
the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in
1951 and continuous clashes with law en-
forcement officials and regulators over For-
eign Agent (FARA) registration, election
law violations, money laundering, classi-
fied information trafficking and even theft
of US government property!
AIPAC is vulnerable, asserted Smith, be-
cause it has imported not just harmful Is-
raeli government policies, but its illegal
tactics and disregard for rule of law into
the U.S.and growing numbers of Ameri-
cans can see how costly this has been to
the economy and security of the nation.
Smith urged activists to join three pro-
gramsAIPAC FARA registration, IRS ex-
emption revocation, and suspension of ill-
gotten trade preferencesto expose and
challenge AIPACs corrupt practices in
America and win peace in the Middle East.
Sara Birkenthal
Workshop: Strategies on How to
Counter AIPAC
Alli McCraken, CODEPINKs Washington,
DC office coordinator, led one of several
workshops on Sept. 20 during the U.S.
Campaign to End the Israeli Occupations
National Organizers Conference. The work-
shop focused on strategies that can be im-
plemented to counter the influence of the
CODEPINKs Alli McCraken led a workshop on countering AIPAC.
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American Israel Public Affairs Committee
(AIPAC), Americas pro-Israel lobby, by or-
ganizations working to change the narra-
tive on the Israeli-Palestinian issue in the
United States. The reason the group fo-
cused on the organization, with its $15 mil-
lion budget and 158 employees, is because
it considers AIPAC to be the biggest ob-
stacle to peace in the region stemming
from the fact that its financial wealth en-
ables it to exert major political influence in
Washington.
The workshop searched for ways to at-
tract endorsement of CODEPINKs cause
and to end Israels occupation of Palestin-
ian territories. One successful example of
increasing involvement in this issue was
the Move Over AIPAC conference held on
May 21, 2011, during AIPACs annual
meeting in Washington, DC. That confer-
ence succeeded in bringing attention to
the influence AIPAC exerts on the U.S. gov-
ernment. The lack of resources of organi-
zations working to counter AIPAC in com-
parison to AIPACs wealth makes it difficult
to mobilize with the same capacity. Fortu-
nately, the resources necessary for organi-
zations to counter AIPACs influence in
their communities is not only monetary.
Factual information, creatively engaging
people, and providing information in a
simple manner that maps out the cause and
effect are effective tools for organizers.
The workshop also came up with initia-
tives geared toward a college- level audi-
ence, since AIPAC focuses on recruiting
college and university students. Workshop
participants discussed ideas about how to
include an educational component in order
to reach out to college students.
CODEPINK is a womens anti-war and
anti-militarism organization that fights to
promote the reallocation of U.S. resources
toward health care, education, green jobs
and other efforts that benefit American
communities. The name CODEPINK origi-
nated as a play on President George Bushs
color-coded terrorism threat level alert.
To learn more about CODEPINK, visit
<http://www.codepink.org>.
Jean-Pascal Deillon
ANERAs Supporters Deliver
American Near East Refugee Aid
(ANERA), a leading provider of develop-
ment, health, education and employment
programs to Palestinian communities, held
its annual dinner at the Renaissance Wash-
ington, DC Downtown Hotel on Sept. 30.
Guests contributed more than $400,000 to
help ANERA continue to deliver medi-
cines, health care supplies, school books,
educational materials and playground
equipment to Palestinian camps and com-
munities in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon
and Jordan. In FY 2011, the relief and de-
velopment agency sponsored more than
$60 million of programs.
Board chair Ambassador Edward (Skip)
Gnehm and ANERA president Bill Corco-
ran welcomed guests to the event and de-
scribed some of ANERAs new programs.
One of them, a home gardening project has
provided training, greenhouses, tools,
seedlings, water tanks, fertilizers and irri-
gation systems to help 35 families living in
remote and marginalized areas, especially
widows or women who are heads of house-
holds.
ANERAs in-kind program delivers and
distributes donations, including life-saving
medicines, wheelchairs and other items
gathered by other organizations. This year,
among many of the gifts it delivered was a
badly needed hydraulic bed for the inten-
sive care unit run by the Palestinian Red
Crescent Society (PRCS) in Gaza.
Laurie Kassman, ANERAs media rela-
tions officer, interviewed some of ANERAs
heroestheir staff working in the field
who described the challenges they face.
Hani Khleif supervises deliveries from
ANERAs in-kind warehouse in the West
Bank town of Beitin. Mostafa Al Ghosain
manages the arrival and distribution of
medical supplies in Gaza. Dima Zayat trains
clinics and pharmacies in Lebanon on how
to store and dispense supplies.
After watching films showcasing ANERAs
work, <www.anera.org/inkindfilms>, Dr.
Alfred Khoury, ANERA board vice chair,
noted the dire situation in occupied Pales-
tine, where in the last 40 years its moved
backward. When Israel occupied Gaza and
other parts of the West Bank in 1967,
Khoury said, there was poverty but noth-
ing like what we see today. There has been
de-development of large segments of Pales-
tinian society, he warned. Education
used to be our way forward but now edu-
cated Palestinians cant make a living... He
promised that ANERA can and has the will
to continuewith your support.
Dr. Vicken Kalbian, chair of ANERAs
medical committee from 1980 until his re-
tirement this year, explained why he and
others are so committed to the more than
40-year-old organization: ANERA hasnt
wavered in its mission to improve lives in
this volatile and politicized region. Its al-
ways focused...I say it loudly, ANERA is
the best show in town.
To cap off the night, guests enjoyed an-
other excellent show by comedian Pales-
tinian-American Aron Kader, one of four
members of the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour.
Delinda C. Hanley
Dr. Saree Makdisi Delivers Palestine
Centers 2011 Edward Said Lecture
UCLA Professor of Comparative Literature
Dr. Saree Makdisi delivered the 2011 Ed-
ward Said memorial lecture, Palestine: The
Epicenter of Arab Revolutions, at the Pales-
tine Center in Washington, DC on Oct. 3.
Instead of settling for peace without jus-
tice in the name of being realistic and
pragmatic, Makdisi said, Palestinians
(L-r) Dr. Alfred Khoury, Hani Khleif, Laurie Kassman, Ambassador Edward Gnehm and
Dima Zayat ask donors to come to Palestine to see how their support is changing lives.
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must shift their strategy by operating out-
side the political realm in which the deck
is stacked against them, and transforming
their discussion to the literary and the
ideal.
Referring to Saids own refusal to relin-
quish his attachment to ideas and ideals,
Makdisi urged Palestinians to utilize the
power of the Palestinian narrative as the
backbone for action.
He cited lessons learned from the peace-
ful and proactive strategy of South African
apartheid resistors that
define such new Pales-
tinian resistance move-
ments as Boycott Di-
vestment and Sanctions
(BDS).
During the question-
and-answer session,
South Africas Ambas-
sador to the U.S.
Ebrahim Rasool stated
that while the Palestin-
ian narrative is power-
ful, it is muddied by
such ideologies as Is-
lamophobia, which vil-
ifies Palestinians, and
the narrative of Jews as
perpetual historical
victims, most recently
of the Holocaust that
is commonly used to le-
gitimize Israeli existence and actions.
According to Makdisi, who is Saids
nephew, while competing ideologies do
exist, the balance has shifted in recent
years because it requires massive institu-
tional organization and funding to main-
tain the Israeli narrative, whereas the
Palestinian narrative has an unshakable
basis in international law.
Regarding the recent Palestinian bid for
admission to the U.N. as a member state,
Makdisi argued that the bid fails to fully
demand the rights of all
Palestinians, as it speaks of a
partial Palestineone that
is defined by the interests of
those who have lived in the
occupied West Bank since
1967. Palestinians inside Is-
rael and refugees at home
and abroad are left to fend
for themselves, he said.
U.N. Resolutions 242 and
338 call upon Israel to with-
draw from areas occupied in
1967, and Resolution 181
guarantees a Palestinian
state based on the 1947 par-
tition plan. However, the
current U.N. bid ignores the
right of refugees to return
and Palestinians right to
freely access holy sites, as
outlined in U.N. Resolution
194.The only path to a just
peace is to address the
rights of all Palestinians, not
just those who suffered oc-
cupation after 67, said
Makdisi, insisting that the
rights of refugees must not be excluded
from the narrative for statehood.
Palestinian Authority (PA) President
Mahmoud Abbas Sept. 23 speech at the
U.N. publically demonstrated the power of
the Palestinian narrative, as he related sto-
ries of the Nakba and the plight of
refugees to an applauding international au-
dience. Yet despite his reference to the col-
lective Palestinian plight, Makdisi said,
Abbas was unable to fully utilize this
powerand, like the bid itself, his speech
lingered between assertive and apolo-
getic, and forthright and offensive.
Criticizing Abbas unelected govern-
ment, Makdisi said that the January 2011
release of the Palestine Papers detailing the
almost unlimited concessions PA negotia-
tors were willing to grant Israel, and what
he described as the PAs apologetic attitude
toward its occupier have confirmed that
the PA has become a full-blown collabo-
rationist apparatus whose main function is
to facilitate the occupation and coloniza-
tion of the West Banknot to challenge it
or end it. Deena Zaru
Social Justice, Antiwar Activists Meet
And Occupy Iowa
Some 500 Iowans expressed their support
of and solidarity with Occupy Wall Street
protests nationwide by occupying a park
near the state capitol building in Des
Moines on Sunday, Oct. 9. The group,
dubbed Occupy Iowa by its organizers,
represents a wide variety of concerns, and
many of the activists addressed more than
one issue.
Kate Dirks, a student at Iowa State Uni-
versity in Ames, held a hand-lettered sign
declaring on one side Fox News Will Lie
About This and I Am A Human Being
Not A Student Loan Number on the other.
There is a lot of diversity in the mes-
sages, Dirks acknowledged, but the over-
arching theme that everyone can agree on
is that we want the government to be
about the people again, whether that be
concerns about war or about finance or
business, or about student loans.
David Drake, a member of the Des
Moines Human Rights Commission and a
psychiatrist, wore his white lab coat to the
protest. Many of the issues that most con-
cern Iowans are related, he pointed out.
As a physician, Im most concerned
about health care. I see health care as a
right not as a privilege, and I support a sin-
gle-payer health care plan. I work with lots
of people whove had foreclosures, whove
lost their jobs, who lose their insurance. Im
very concerned about that, Drake said.
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Americans who oppose a U.S. veto of Palestines U.N.
bid, including a fan of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Dar-
wish, rallied outside the White House on Sept. 24, the
day after the Palestinian leadership submitted its Secu-
rity Council application for U.N. membership to Secre-
tary-General Ban Ki-moon. President Mahmoud Abbas
quoted Darwish in his speech to the U.N.
Dr. Saree Makdisi reminds his audience at the Palestine Center
that the rights of Palestinian refugees must be part of the state-
hood narrative.
Im impressed with the interconnec-
tions of all these issues with ongoing wars,
with the billions, even a trillion dollars
that were spending on wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan and other places, its just as-
tounding to me, he added.
According to Drake, the huge amounts of
money our government is wasting on hor-
rific wars abroad could be better spent here
at home to address the pressing needs of
Americans who are in need and in distress.
Phil Carlson, a Des Moines social studies
teacher, came to the protest wearing a T-
shirt that read, Give Peace A Chance!
He, too, spoke of a direct connection be-
tween the nations economic problems and
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The wars that have been dragging our
country down for so long are certainly a
factor that needs to be addressed in terms
of the economic impact, Carlson said. We
need to bring the troops home, and much
of the money our government spends on
defense would be better spent elsewhere.
Added Carlson, We need a public
works program like FDRs for infrastruc-
ture and other things our country sorely
needs.
Cora Metrick-Chen, a University of Iowa
student, and Adam G. Krause, who attends
Ashford University, facilitated Occupy
Iowas first general assembly.
Krause was one of more than 30 protest-
ers arrested by Iowa State Patrol officers
who ejected the protesters from the park on
the Capitol grounds after they refused to
leave at 11 p.m. Also among those arrested
were Des Moines Catholic Worker and Iowa
Citizens for Community Improvement com-
munity organizer David Goodner, and Des
Moines WOW-FM radio host and former
state representative Ed Fallon.
Getting arrested only encourages me,
said Fallon. Michael Gillespie
Wilson Center Event Examines Irans
Domestic and International Relations
The Woodrow Wilson International Center
for Scholars hosted a Sept. 30 event titled
Iran: Turmoil at Home, Assertiveness
Abroad? The first of two panels ad-
dressed Irans economy, educational system
and internal political struggles, while the
second addressed Irans nuclear ambitions
and its relations with the Gulf nations. The
domestic panel was moderated by Haleh
Esfandiari, the Iranian-American director
of the Wilson Centers Middle East pro-
gram who was imprisoned by the Iranian
regime for more than 110 days in 2007.
Wilson Center scholar and journalist Robin
Wright moderated the panel on Irans in-
ternational relations.
Analyzing Irans domestic politics, Shaul
Bakhash, professor of history at George
Mason Universityand an Iranian-born
Jew who is married to Esfandiariob-
served that Irans political leaders increas-
ingly are resorting to authoritarian prac-
tices. In the wake of the contested 2009
presidential elections, he said, a growing
number of individuals are being charged
with partaking in conspiracies designed to
destabilize the Tehran government. The
Iranian regime is disparagingly referring to
these reformers as the seditionist cur-
rent, Bakhash added.
Moreover, he noted, there is growing
conflict within Irans ruling elite. Some,
such as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
have frequently been referred to as the
deviationist current by the more conser-
vative elements within Iran. Accusing
these deviationists of religious un-
orthodoxy and financial corruption,
Bakhash noted that figures such as Irans
spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ac-
cuse these individuals of straying from the
principles of the Islamic revolution.
Bijan Khajehpour, managing partner of
Atieh International, described the Iranian
economy as being sick. Khajehpour, who
was imprisoned for three months in 2009,
in the aftermath of the disputed presiden-
tial election, noted that while Irans econ-
omy is experiencing 3 percent annual
growth, unemployment and inflation are
rising. He cited as the most significant fac-
tor contributing to inflation the govern-
Adam G. Krause (l, foreground) and Cora Metrick-Chen (r) facilitated Occupy Iowas first
general assembly.
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(Above, l-r) Bijan Khajehpour, Shaul Bakhash, Haleh Esfandiari and Roberto Toscano.
(Below, l-r) Michael Adler, Robin Wright, Rouzbeh Parsi and Afshin Molavi.
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ments failed subsidy reforms. Rather than
equally distributing money between the
lowest income class, industries, and the
treasury, Khajehpour explained, the subsi-
dies have gone disproportionately to the
lower class, causing the prices of com-
modities to rise. He also identified rampant
corruption in the awarding of new busi-
ness contracts as an important explanation
as to why Irans economy is lagging.
Analyzing the impact that sanctions
have had on the Iranian economy, Khajeh-
pour noted that they have resulted in a
lack of foreign investment in the country
and in the annual loss of approximately
$10 billion in imports. Additionally, Kha-
jehpour noted that sanctions have made it
increasingly difficult for Iran to receive
funds from its oil exports.
In the opinion of Roberto Toscano, a for-
mer Italian ambassador to Iran, the Iranian
regime is attempting to use the classroom
to promote the ideals of the 1979 revolu-
tion. In so doing, Toscano elaborated, the
regime is attempting to convey that there
is only one ideology that allows [individu-
als] to belong to [the Iranian] community.
Toscano said the regime finds the humani-
ties particularly objectionable, charging
that the humanities promote secularism,
are not scientific, [and] can be the vehicle
of Western influence. Nevertheless, the
ambassador observed, the regime has had
difficulty preventing Western ideas from
entering the country, and the Iranian peo-
ple remain well informed.
Opening the panel on Irans interna-
tional relations, Rouzbeh Parsi, research
fellow with the European Union Institute
for Security Studies, described the nuclear
issue surrounding Iran as quite impossi-
ble to solve. Noting that talks between
the West and Iran are stalled, he said that
there is really nothing to agree on. More-
over, he added, it will be difficult for talks
to be rescheduled, as negotiations have be-
come so complicated that no one knows
what to reset it to. Finally, Parsi criticized
the West for lacking a cohesive plan for
dealing with the Iranian nuclear threat,
commenting that there is no strategy for
where all of this is supposed to end up.
Diplomacy, he added, has become a reward
rather than a means of communication.
While many view Iran as an aggressive
actor on the world stage, Iranian-American
Afshin Molavi, senior research fellow at
the New America Foundation, noted that
Tehran has demonstrated restraint in re-
cent monthsciting its response to infor-
mation leaked via WikiLeaks that Saudi
Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE have encour-
aged the U.S. to attack Iran. Rather than in-
flame already strained relations with the
Gulf countries, Molavi pointed out, Presi-
dent Ahmadinejad instead quietly dis-
missed the news as a Zionist plot to create
regional conflict. Molavi also described
Chinas relationship with Iran as purely
transactional, which should not be seen
as an alliance.
Concluding the discussion, Michael
Adler, Wilson Center public policy
scholar, commented that Iran has been suc-
cessful at maintaining a certain amount of
ambiguity surrounding its nuclear pro-
gram. By denying the U.S. the smoking
gun it seeks, he added, Iran has been able
to win tactical victory after tactical vic-
tory. Adler predicted that Iran will con-
tinue to cultivate ambiguity surrounding
its nuclear program in an effort to deny the
U.S. and the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) the damning evidence it
seeks to implicate Iran. While Alder al-
luded to the 2007 National Intelligence Es-
timaterepresenting the unanimous judg-
ment of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies
that Iran has had no active nuclear
weapons program since 2003, he suggested
that the U.S. government is behind in its
intelligence. The 2007 finding has yet to be
revised. Dale Sprusansky
Saudi Arabia Celebrates 80th
Anniversary
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia celebrated
its 81st national day on Sept. 23 with a re-
ception at its Washington, DC embassy
hosted by Saudi Ambassador to the U.S.
Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir. (Days later, on
Sept. 29, Manssor Arbabsiar, a 56-year-old
naturalized U.S. citizen, was arrested at
New York Citys JFK airport and charged
with plotting to kill Ambassador Al-
Jubeir.)
For years Saudi embassies around the
world have celebrated the anniversary of
the 1932 founding of the Saudi state by
King Abdulaziz Al-Saud, but this year
Saudis at home also enjoyed the national
holiday. Crowds gathered to watch special
events in cities and towns throughout the
Kingdom. Judging by videos posted on
YouTube, Saudi revellers danced in the
streets and drove through the streets wav-
ing flags.
There are more than 50,000 Saudi stu-
dents studying in the United States, and
many of them hosted celebrations at their
universities. The Saudi Student Associa-
tion at Marymount University in Arling-
ton, VA held a special event at the Verizon
Gym, in the schools Lee Center to mark
national day, featuring Saudi food, dance
and poetry. Hammad Albalawi, president
of the Saudi Student Association at George
Washington University, gave a remarkable
speech at Marymount about national pride
and read a poem about the founding of the
Kingdom.
I am very proud of every single young
man and woman who is studying in the
United States, Ambassador Al-Jubeir said.
They make my job easier. Instead of hav-
ing one ambassador, we now have 50,000
ambassadors. Delinda C. Hanley
Diplomatic Doings
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Standing before a portrait of King Abdullah, Saudi Ambassador Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir
welcomes guests to the national day celebration.
Upcoming Events:
The Middle East Childrens Alliance has
found a new venue for the Childs View
from Gaza exhibit, previously censored
by the Museum of Childrens Art in Oak-
land (see p. 42). It will be on display
through Nov. 27 on Fridays (10 a.m.-3
p.m.), Saturdays and Sundays (12 p.m.-6
p.m.) at 917 Washington St., Oakland, CA.
For more information call (510) 548-0542,
e-mail <josie@mecaforpeace.org>, or visit
<www.mecaforpeace.org>.
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee (ADC) Womens Initiative will
present Turath: Celebrating Arab Cul-
ture in America on Nov. 10, 8 p.m., at the
historic Lincoln Theater, 1215 U St. NW,
Washington, DC 20009. The event will in-
clude a fashion showfeaturing the work of
designer Hana Sadiq, and a musical perfor-
mance by the Michigan Arab Orchestra
Takht Ensemble. For more information call
(202) 244-2990 or visit <www.adc.org>.
Evangelicals for Middle East Understand-
ing will be hosting an Executive Brieng
on the Middle East: Middle East Chris-
tians in Light of the Arab Spring at the
Centerville Presbyterian Church, 4360 Cen-
tral Ave., Fremont, CA 94536, on Tuesday,
Nov. 15. Registration fee for the all-day
event is $75. For more infor mation, call
(480) 628-5420 or visit <www.emeu.net>.
The Middle East Institute (MEI) will pre-
sent its 65th annual conference, Game
Changer: Politics and Policy for a New
Middle East, Nov. 16 and 17 at the Grand
Hyatt Washington, 1000 H S. NW, Wash-
ington, DC 20001. Speakers will include
prominent diplomats, academic experts,
and policy analysts. For more information
call (202) 785-1141.
The Islamic Cultural Center of Northern
California and The Middle East Childrens
Alliance (MECA) will host a benet con-
cert by ASWAT Bay Area Arabic Music
Ensemble, featuring music from Palestine
and singer/songwriter David Rovics. The
event will raise funds for MECAs Maia Pro-
ject: Bringing Clean Water to the Children
of Palestine, and will take place Nov. 20
from 3-6 p.m. at 1433 Madison St., Oak-
land, CA. For more information visit
<www.mecaforpeace.org>.
The Middle East Studies Association will
hold its 45thAnnual MESAMeeting Dec.
1-4 at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel,
2660 Woodley Rd, NW, Washington, DC
20008. For more information call (560) 621-
5850 or visit <www.mesa.arizona.edu>.
The Palestine Center will host its Annual
Souk and Olive Harvest Celebration on
Dec. 11, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at The Jerusalem
Fund, 2425 Virginia Ave. NW, Washing-
ton, DC. Enjoy an afternoon of music, tea,
food and the opportunity to buy holiday
gifts of textiles, pottery, jewelry and gifts
from North Africa and the Middle East.
Celebrate the annual olive harvest in Pales-
tine and support Palestinian farmers by
purchasing bottles of fair trade extra virgin
olive oil imported from Palestine. This
event is free and open to the public. For
more information call (202) 338-1290 or
visit <www.thejerusalemfund.org>.
The Muslim American Society (MAS) and
Islamic Circles of North America (ICNA) will
host their 10th annual MAS-ICNA Con-
ference, Dec. 22-26 at the Downtown Sher-
aton in Chicago, IL. This years theme is
Muhammed: Model of Faith, Justice and
Liberty, and speakers will include Tariq
Ramadan, Nihad Awad, Zaid Shakir and
many others. For more information call (877)
627-1060 or visit <www.masicna.com>.
Announcements
Applications for American Center of Ori-
ental Research (ACOR) 2012-13 fellow-
ships are now being accepted from under-
graduate and graduate students, and
scholars. Deadline for all applications is
Feb. 1, 2012. Located in Amman, Jordan,
ACOR is a private, non-prot academic in-
stitution dedicated to promoting research
and publication in the elds of archaeol-
ogy, anthropology, history, languages, bib-
lical studies, Arabic, Islamic studies and
other aspects of Middle Eastern studies.
For more information about fellowship
qualications visit <www.acorjordan.org>
or call (617) 353-6571.
The Council of American Overseas Re-
search Centers (CAORC) Multi-Country
Research Fellowships are open to U.S.
doctoral candidates and scholars who have
already earned their Ph.D. in elds in the
humanities, social sciences, or allied nat-
ural sciences and wish to conduct research
of regional or trans-regional signicance.
Fellowships require scholars to conduct re-
search in more than one country, at least
one of which hosts a participating Ameri-
can overseas research center. It is antici-
pated that approximately 10 fellowships of
up to $9,000 each will be awarded. The
deadline for applications is Jan. 17, 2012.
For more information and to download the
application, visit <www.caorc.org/pro
grams>. To contact CAORC, call (202) 633-
1599 or write to CAORC, P.O. Box 37012,
MRC 178, Washington, DC 20013-7012.
Obituaries
Said Jibrin, 91, died of natural causes Aug.
27, in Bethesda, MD. Born and raised in the
Syrian mountain village of Nabaa Karkar,
friends remembered himcarrying his violin
to school. He received his B.A. from the
American University of Beirut in 1942, and
his Masters in journalismand creative writ-
ing from the University of Iowa, where he
met his wife, Barbara, who was also a vio-
linist. Jibrin joined the Voice of America in
1950 and helped establish the Arabic sec-
tion, living in Egypt, Greece and Lebanon
with Barbara and their children Janis and
Richard. He retired in 1984 but continued
to write poetry and ction, in both Arabic
and English. His work has appeared in
journals and anthologies, and in 2009 his
brother Sami published a collection of his
poetry. The Jibrins have been longtime sup-
porters of the Washington Report.
Philo Dibble, 60, died Oct. 1 of a heart
attack at his home in McLean, VA. A career
foreign service ofcer, he helped secure the
release of two American hikers, Shane
Bauer and Josh Fattal, detained in Iran for
more than two years and who were freed
just 10 days before his death. Born in
Egypt, where his father was an American
diplomat, Dibble was a graduate of St.
Johns College and earned a masters degree
from Johns Hopkins University. He joined
the foreign service in 1980 and held a vari-
ety of positions in the U.S., Saudi Arabia,
Tunisia, Pakistan, Syria and Lebanon. On
Oct. 6, 200 State Department employees
gathered to pay their respects, including
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Deputy
Secretary Bill Burns and others from the
Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA).
President Barack Obama sent a letter to
Dibbles wife, Liz Dibble, which was read
at the service, saying that Dibbles leader-
ship proved indispensable in U.S. rela-
tions with Iran. K
Upcoming Events, Announcements &
Obituaries Compiled by Andrew Stimson
BulletinBoard BulletinBoard
b'_b#a%d_69_Dece!be% 2011 B'e&i" B#a%d 10/26/11 8:16 PM Page 69
Books
Israeli Rejectionism: A Hidden
Agenda in the Middle East
Peace Process
By Zalman Amit & Daphna Levit, Pluto,
2011, paperback, 208 pp. List: $30; AET:
$23.
Reviewed by Andrew Stimson
In an all-too-familiar
refrain, Israeli Prime
Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu recently
told the Jerusalem
Post that renewed
Palestinian calls for a
settlement freeze
were merely a ruse
to avoid direct nego-
tiations. Of course, he failed to acknowl-
edge the fact that any future Palestinian
state would be impossible to sustain with
existing illegal settlements where only
Jews are allowed to live. Statements such
as the prime ministers are themselves
ruses used to distract attention from
the truth of Israeli rejectionism. As au-
thors Zalman Amit and Daphna Levit
note, Israel was never primarily inter-
ested in establishing peace with its
neighbors unless such a peace was totally
on its own terms.
Amit, a behavioral neuroscientist and
Levit, a nancial analyst, grew up in the
newly created state of Israel and were ar-
dent Zionists and kibbutzim. Both eagerly
served in the Israeli military and believed
that Israel unwaveringly desired peace
with its Arab neighbors. Their faith was
shaken, however, by Israels actions in
the aftermath of the 1967 war, as it de-
molished Arab neighborhoods near the
Western Wall, annexed East Jerusalem,
and supported the establishment of set-
tlements in Hebron and Nablus. The au-
thors ultimately became active members
of the Israeli peace movement and in the
early 2000s began discussing the need to
write a book focused specically on Is-
raels long-standing rejection of the entire
concept of peace with the Palestinians.
Amit and Levit expertly explore the
motives behind many of Israels leaders,
including its rst prime minister, David
Ben-Gurion, who regularly blocked op-
portunities for compromise with Arab
negotiators. Fast forward to the 1979
Camp David accords, in which Israel -
nally relinquished the Sinai. According
to Amit and Levit the treaty with Egypt,
which was imposed on Israel, taught Is-
raeli elites that maintaining a state of
hostility with its neighbors was prefer-
able to territorial concessions and com-
promise regarding refu gees.
Israeli Rejectionism provides ample
historical evidence of Israeli expansion-
ism at the cost of peace, as well as its
strategy of stalling peace negotiations
with the Palestinians to ensure their de-
sired outcome. Particularly noteworthy
is the authors dissection of Ariel
Sharons decision to remove Jewish set-
tlements from the Gaza Strip. Sharon,
they argue, implemented the disengage-
ment program to deliberately avoid ne-
gotiations with the Palestinians while
being able to claim that the Palestinians
refused to make a comparable effort.
Amit and Levit
c o n c l u s i ve l y
demonstrate that
peace has never
been Israels top
priority. Its mili-
tary strength en-
sures that reci-
procity with the
Palestinians will
never be possible.
Yet, Israelis have
placed themselves
in a self-imposed
ghetto, reinforc-
ing a sense of vic-
timhood by keep-
ing themselves in
c o nf l i c t wi t h
t ho s e a r o und
them. Many of the arguments in Israeli
Rejectionism have been featured in other
works, yet this compact volume provides
a concise summary of the problem at
hand, and a series of excellent rebuttals to
those who believe that Israel could have
peace if the Arabs only were willing. K
Zahras Paradise
By Amir & Khalil, First Second, 2011,
hardcover, 272 pp. List: $19.99; AET: $13.
The simple black-
and-white drawings
found in Zahras Par -
adise deliver an emo-
tional impact that
prose and non-ction
rarely achieves. This
graphic novel art-
fully explores the
hypocrisy of the
Iranian religious elite and their basij en-
forcers, and the strength and resilience of
the Iranian people. The books prologue
sets the poetic narrative by depicting a
grizzly scene in which a pious father mer-
cilessly slaughters a bag full of puppies
his son has just named. After performing
an act of ablution, he throws the bag into
a river to drown the survivors as their
mother watches helplessly. As the storys
main character navigates a labyrinthine
bureaucracy searching for his brother,
missing since the post-election protests of
2009, these stark images reappear, punc-
tuating the banal cruelty of contempo-
rary Iran.
The authors, based in the United
States, have chosen to remain anony-
mous, fearing for the safety of their fami-
lies in Iran. The paradise at the center of
their work is a huge cemetery in south-
ern Tehran. Interred there not only are
many of the Islamic Republics victims,
such as Neda Aga Sultan, a protester
made world-famous in 2009 through im-
ages of her death, but many of its ag-
bearers as well, including the father of
the revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah
Kohmeini. This dichotomy becomes a
theme that runs throughout Zahras Par-
adise. How could Iranian society, heir to
a long tradition of poets, philosophers
and miniaturists, produce such grotesque
public displays as the large cranes fes-
tooned with corpses hanging amid a
modern metropolitan backdrop?
Beautifully drawn and well written,
Zah ras Paradise is a worthy chronicle of
a revolution that may have been delayed,
but is not broken. K
Andrew Stimson is director of the AET Book
Club.
b!!k_#e%ie&_70_B!!k Re%ie& 10/26/11 1:33 PM Page 70
AET Book Cl ub Cat al og
Troubled Triangle: The
United States, Turkey,
and Israel in the New
Middle East edited by
William B. Quandt, Just
World Books, 2011, paper-
back, 266 pp. AET: $18. Since
early 2009, it has seemed
that the once-warm relations
between Turkey and Israel
have reached a crisis point.
To complicate matters fur-
ther, both countries are close
partners of the United States.
In this timely book, a group of leading scholar-practition-
ers from all three countries jointly explore this crisis.
Zahras Paradise by Amir
and Khalil, First Second,
2011, hardcover, 266 pp.
List: $19.99; AET: $13. This
graphic novel set in the af-
termath of Irans contested
2009 elections follows the
ctional story of a familys
search for Mehdi, a young
protester who has vanished
into an extrajudicial twilight
zone. Beautifully drawn, well
written, Zahras Paradise
provides a sharp commen-
tary on the hypocrisy of Irans religious elite, and stands as
a worthy chronicle of a revolution that may have been de-
layed, but is not broken.
The Wandering Who?: A
Study of Jewish Identity
Politics by Gilad Atzmon, O
Books, 2011, paperback, 177
pp. List: $14.95; AET: $10.75. A
piercing investigation of Jewish
identity politics and Jewish con-
temporary ideology that uses
both popular culture and schol-
arly texts. Atzmon examines the
tribal aspects embedded in
Jewish secular discourse, both
Zionist and anti-Zionist; the
holocaust religion; the meaning of history and time
within the Jewish political discourse; and the anti-Gentile
ideologies entangled within different forms of secular
Jewish political discourse and even within the Jewish left.
The Soul of Iran: A Na-
tions Journey to Freedom
by Afshin Molavi, W.W. Nor-
ton, 2005, paperback, 352 pp.
List: $15.95; AET: $9. Like a
master Persian carpetmaker,
Molavi weaves together
threads of rich historical in-
sight, political analysis, cul-
tural observation and the daily
realities of life in the Islamic
Republic to produce a colorful,
intricate and mesmerizing nar-
rative. Originally published in hardcover under the title
Persian Pilgrimages, this paperback edition is revised,
with a new introduction and epilogue.
Inside the Kingdom: Kings,
Clerics, Modernists, Terror-
ists, and the Struggle for
Saudi Arabia by Robert Lacey,
Penguin Publishing, 2010, paper-
back, 448 pp. List: $17; AET: $7.
Based on hundreds of personal
interviews with princes and pau-
pers, this updated paperback
version of Inside the Kingdom
explores the previous turbulent
three decades of Saudi experi-
ence. Lacey documents the paradoxical nature of a state
in which the House of Saud attempts to reconcile life
under religious law with the demands of a rapidly chang-
ing world.
The Wars of Afghanistan:
Messianic Terrorism, Tribal
Conicts, and the Failures of
Great Powers by Peter Tomsen,
PublicAffairs Books, 2011, hard-
cover, 912 pp. List: $39.99; AET:
$26. As ambassador and special
envoy to Afghanistan from 1989 to
1992, Peter Tomsen has had close
relationships with Afghan leaders
and has dealt with senior Taliban,
warlords, and religious leaders involved in the regions
conicts over the last two decades. In this detailed ac-
count, Tomsen draws on a rich trove of never-before-
published material to shed new light on the American
involvement in the long and continuing Afghan war.
War Diary: Lebanon 2006
by Rami Zurayk, Just World
pp. AET: $7. Lebanese agron-
omy professor and social ac-
tivist Rami Zurayk was in
Beirut with his family during
Israels 2006 assault on
Lebanon. War Diary is his
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slaught, capturing in vivid de-
tail the horror and the emo-
tional and political complexi-
ties of the period. Published
by Just World Books to mark the war's fth anniversary
in 2011, this brief account is a valuable personal telling
of a war that should not be forgotten.
Hamas and Civil Society in
Gaza: Engaging the Is-
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Roy, Princeton University Press,
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of the groundbreaking work
Failing Peace returns with a
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study of Hamas. Roy shows
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Hamas proven record of nonviolent community building.
The Dark Side of Zionism:
The Quest for Security
through Dominance by
Baylis Thomas, Lexington
pp. List: $24.95; AET: $20. Au-
thor of How Israel was Won,
Baylis Thomas argues that
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later, the Israelis sought their
security through the military
domination of the indigenous
Arab population of Palestine.
The Dark Side exposes the Israeli strategy of avoiding ne-
gotiations with the Palestinian-Arabs and provoking the
weak Arab statesopposed to Israels takeover of Pales-
tineinto entering wars they would lose.
L i t e r a t u r e * Mu s i c * F i l m * Mo n o g r a p h s * Mo r e
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Patrick Flynn, Yorba Linda, CA
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Ahmad & Shirley Gazori, Mill Creek,
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Dr. & Mrs. Frederick Guenther,
Newtown, PA
Joyce Guinn, Germantown, WI
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72 DECEMBER 2011 THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS72
a$ge"(_72-73_Dece#be' 2011 Ch%' %f A$ge"( 10/26/11 8:17 PM Page 72
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United Arab Emirates
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Dearborn, MI
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West Linn, OR
Gary Richard Feulner, Dubai,
United Arab Emirates
Evan & Leman Fotos, Istanbul, Turkey
Dr. & Mrs. Hassan Fouda, Berkeley, CA
Mary Ann Hrankowski, Rochester, NY**
Vincent & Louise Larsen, Billings, MT
William Lightfoot, Vienna, VA
Rachelle Marshall, Mill Valley, CA
John McLaughlin, Gordonsville, VA
Luella Moffett, Virginia Beach, VA
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Dearborn, MI
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CHOIRMASTERS
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CA
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Dick & Donna Curtiss, Kensington,
MD*
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Andrew I. Killgore, Washington, DC*
*In memory of Grace Perolio
**In memory of John Hrankowski
***In honor of the marriage of
Marianne Tralewski and
Harry Dennis
****In memory of Rachel Corrie
In memory of Said Jibrin

angels_72-73_December 2011 Choir of Angels 10/26/11 8:17 PM Page 73
With the withdrawal of U.S. troops
from Iraq more or less on schedule,
most members seemed satisfied with
occasional hearings to get status re-
ports. However, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-
CA), with 43 co-sponsors, on Aug. 1
introduced another Iraq withdrawal
measure, H.R 2757. It would pro-
hibit the use of funds to maintain U.S.
Armed Forces and military contrac-
tors in Iraq after Dec. 31, 2011. Sim-
ilarly, regarding Libya, with the fall of
the Qaddafi regime the previously de-
scribed Libya-related measures have
languished. One new one, H.J.Res.
74, was introduced July 26 by Rep.
Adam Smith (D-WA), with three co-
sponsors. It would authorize the lim-
ited use of U.S. Armed Forces in sup-
port of the NATO mission in Libya,
but require the president to consult
frequently with Congress regarding
U.S. efforts in Libya. K
rect. In the meantime Mr. Obama will
surely boast on the campaign trail, as
he did Friday at the White House,
that he has fulfilled his 2008 pledge
to bring the war in Iraq to a respon-
sible end. End it will, for Americans
if not for Iraqis; as for responsible,
count us among the doubters.
In other words, the Posts editors,
who propagandized for the Iraq inva-
sion in 2002-03 by repeating the Bush
administrations false claims about
Iraqs WMD and links to al-Qaeda,
have now distanced themselves from
any responsibility for the strategic
disaster that the Iraq war has created.
You see, by extending the U.S. oc-
cupation indefinitelyeven in defi-
ance of conditions set by the Iraqi
governmentWashington could pre-
sumably hold off the day when Amer-
icans will fully recognize what a cata-
strophe the Iraq war was. As long as
that day could be postponed, the neo-
cons could hold themselves out as
worthy foreign policy experts.
But now the day is fast approach-
ing when the U.S. occupation will
endand the full scope of the dismal
failure will become apparent. So, the
ever-clever neocons are shape-shifting
the Iraq war narrative to pass the
blame for the $1 trillion catastrophe
and the deaths of nearly 4,500 U.S.
soldiersand hundreds of thousands
of Iraqisonto Obama. K
lion fortress with 1,000 personnel,
protected by a small army of merce-
nary gunmen. So much for with-
drawal plans.
The stumbling, confused U.S. war
in Afghanistan has now lasted longer
than the two world wars. The former
U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen.
Stanley McCrystal, just said Wash-
ingtons view of that nation is fright-
eningly simplistic. Thats an under-
statement.
Facing the possibility of stalemate
or even defeat in Afghanistan, Wash-
ington is trying to push India deeper
into the conflict. This desperate ploy,
and nurturing ethnic conflict, will
ensure another decade of misery for
Afghanistan. K
inforcing that edge with 5,000-
pound bombs could tempt Israel into
launching yet another war.
Such dangers are inherent in the
U.S.-Israel alliance, but thanks to a
powerful lobby composed of the major
Jewish organizations, an arms industry
that profits handsomely from U.S. mil-
itary aid to Israel, and members of the
Christian far right, it is an alliance that
no one who aspires to public office
dares challenge. Republican candidates
for president outdo one another in de-
claring their support for Israel.
Mitt Romney refers to Obamas re-
peated efforts to throw Israel under a
bus. Herman Cain claims God gave the
land of Israel to the Jews and accuses
Obama of stabbing Israel in the back.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry urges the Israelis
to retain control of all of Jerusalem and
build more settlements. At a press con-
ference in late September, he de-
clared,Tell the people of Israel: help is
on the way.
There is no question that the people
of Israel and Palestine are in urgent
need of help, but supporting Israel as
an apartheid state is the last kind they
need. The people of the Middle East
will not tolerate indefinitely a colonial
regime in their midst that oppresses its
Arab population and commits blatant
violations of international law. Israel
faces what may be a greater danger
from within, in the rise of powerful
settler groups that insist all of Palestine
belongs to the Jews, and the increas-
ing number of those willing to attack
anyone who disagrees.
One such incident took place on
Sept. 30, when a group of Israelis and
Palestinians were holding a peaceful
demonstration outside the settlement
of Anatot to protest the settlers seizure
of land belonging to a nearby Palestin-
ian village. Hundreds of men came run-
ning from Anatot and, according to
one of the Israeli peace activists,
charged the demonstrators with their
fists, their teeth, stones, pipes, and
knives. The attackers pursued the
fleeing protesters and left many of
them battered and bleeding. And all of
this, according to the Israeli partici-
pant, was taking place before the eyes
of the police, who didnt do a
thing...Many of the attackers were po-
licemen themselves.
By ignoring such incidents and pro-
viding Israels uncompromising leader-
ship with a steady flow of dollars and
unwavering diplomatic support, the
U.S. is not helping the Israeli people
but delaying the achievement of a just
peace. Meanwhile, the ultranationalist
zealots who commit violence in the
name of God are endangering the fabric
that holds Israeli society together.
People on both sides desperately need
an agreement that allows them to live
together as equals, either in one state or
two. Judging by Obamas words at the
U.N., they can expect no help from the
White House. K
Congress Watch
Neocon Corner
Years of Aimless War
Obamas Speech
Deadline for
Holiday Gift
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Saturday, Dec. 24, telephone
orders must be placed and mail
and Web orders received no later
than Friday, Dec. 9 by 6 p.m. EST.
jmps_74_Special Report 10/27/11 1:23 PM Page 74

he"&$g_ha$d_c3_He"&$g Ha$d C3 December 2011 10/26/11 4:00 PM Page c3
American Educational Trust
The Washington Report on
Middle East Affairs
P.O. Box 53062
December 2011
Vol. XXX, No. 9
For the third time in nearly four decades, Ghada Karmi (l) and Ellen Siegel have stood outside an Israel embassyin London
in 1973 and 1992, and in Washington, DC on Oct. 25, 2011holding identical signs telling the world of their respective dis-
possession and privilege. The longtime friends and activists were prohibited from having this years photograph taken in
front of Israels Washington embassy, as they had in London, so went to the back of the building instead. Other than that,
their situations have not changedas Karmis still notes. FRANCIS KHOO (London photos) and JEAN-PASCAL DEILLON
co"e4_co"e4 10/27/11 12:41 PM Page c4

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NEOCONS BLAME OBAMA FOR IRAQ DISASTER

NEOCONS BLAME OBAMA FOR IRAQ DISASTER

John & Henrietta Goelet, Meru, France

In memory of Said Jibrin

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