Washington Report - June/July 2015 - Vol. XXXIV, No. 4

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COMPLETE 2014 PRO-ISRAEL PAC CONTRIBUTIONS FIGHTING RACISM IN BALTIMORE AND ISRAEL DISPLAY UNTIL 6/30/2015

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Telling the Truth for More Than 30 Years… Interpreting the Middle East for North Americans • Interpreting North America for the Middle East

Transcript of Washington Report - June/July 2015 - Vol. XXXIV, No. 4

COMPLETE 2014 PRO-ISRAEL PAC CONTRIBUTIONSFIGHTING RACISM IN BALTIMORE AND ISRAEL

DISPLAY UNTIL 6/30/2015

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On Middle East Affairs

8 Obama Departs From His Own Principles —Rachelle Marshall

11 Netanyahu’s Coalition: Who’s In, Who’s Out—Allison Deger

12 Gazans Hope Joining ICC Will Bring Them JusticeAt Last—Mohammed Omer

13 MK Haneen Zoabi: Israel’s Racist System Is theEnemy—Jane Adas

14 Christian, Muslim Israelis Not Welcome in Upper Nazareth—Jonathan Cook

16 Congress, Israel and a Nuclear Agreement WithIran—Three Views

—Barak Ravid, Patrick J. Buchanan, William Pfaff

19 Killing in Gaza, Saving in Nepal: Israel’s MoralHypocrisy—Gideon Levy

20 Getting Past the Optics of Resistance to FightRacism in Baltimore and Israel—Delinda C. Hanley

22 Will Maryland’s Democratic Senate Primary RaceUnmask the Israel Lobby?—Janet McMahon

24 “Framework” Nuclear Agreement With IranDraws Predicted Reaction From Likudniks—Shirl McArthur

27 U.S. Protects Israeli Occupation, U.N. ReinforcesMorocco’s in Western Sahara—Ian Williams

SPECIAL REPORTS

29 The World Needs a Better United States—Ebrahim Rasool

31 Hope Springs Eternal—for Now—on Cyprus—Jonathan Gorvett

65 In Memoriam: Robert V. Keeley (1929-2015)—Andrew I. Killgore

Volume XXXIV, No. 4 June/July 2015

Telling the Truth for More Than 30 Years…Interpreting the Middle East for North Americans ■ Interpreting North America for the Middle East

THE U.S. ROLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE

ON THE COVER: A man watches from an open window in the eastern Gaza City neighborhood ofShejaiya as Palestinian workers clear the rubble of buildings destroyed in Israel’s 51-day assault on Gaza last sum-mer, which heavily targeted Gaza’s poorest and most crowded neighborhood. THOMAS COEX/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

“Freedom,” by Palestinian political cartoonist MohammadSaba’aneh (see p. 52).

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5 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

7 PUBLISHERS’ PAGE

33 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA CHRONICLE: Basim ElkarraAwarded Access Sacramento’s“Power of Voice” Commendation—Elaine Pasquini

36 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIACHRONICLE:Despite PhoneThreats, Norman Finkelstein IsKeynote Speaker at RotaryEvent—Pat and Samir Twair

38 NEW YORK CITY AND TRI-STATE NEWS: PLO Ambassador Areikat on Hamas,Palestinian Recognition ofIsrael—Jane Adas

41 ISRAEL AND JUDAISM:Neocons and the Israel LobbyAre Promoting War With Iran asThey Once Did With Iraq—Allan C. Brownfeld

44 ARAB AMERICAN ACTIVISM:First National Arab-AmericanCultural Festival a Huge Success

46 MUSLIM AMERICAN ACTIVISM:Inaugural Palestinian AdvocacyDay on Capitol Hill

47 HUMAN RIGHTS:War-weary Libyans Fleeing toTunisia

50 WAGING PEACE:Bethlehem’s First Female MayorOn Governing in Occupied Palestine

57 MUSIC & ARTS:Chief Complaint: A CountryDoctor’s Tales of Life in Galilee

57 DIPLOMATIC DOINGS:Ambassador Lukman Faily onThe Future of Iraq

59 OTHER PEOPLE’S MAIL

61 THE WORLD LOOKS AT THEMIDDLE EAST — CARTOONS

62 BOOK REVIEWS:

Baddawi

My House in Damascus: An

Inside View of the Syrian

Revolution

—Reviewed by Kevin A. Davis

63 MIDDLE EAST BOOKS ANDMORE

64 BULLETIN BOARD

66 2015 AET CHOIR OF ANGELS

37 INDEX TO ADVERTISERS

The Grave Danger of Derailing the Iran Deal—An Interview With Chas Freeman,Philip Weiss, www.mondoweiss.net OV-1

Republicans’ Iran Meddling Is Treason,Editorial, The Skanner News OV-4

Lindsey Graham’s “All-Jewish Cabinet,” Eli Clifton & Jim Lobe, www.lobelog.com OV-5

Urgent “Musts” Needed for Palestinians,Ramzy Baroud, www.counterpunch.org OV-6

Islamic State’s Conquest of a Palestinian Refugee Camp in Syria Refutes Israeli Propaganda, Juan Cole, www.juancole.com OV-7

Gaza Fallout: “I Cannot Understand TheseCrimes,” Patrick Strickland, www.aljazeera.com OV-8

Protesters, Police Clash at Ethiopian Israeli Demo Against Police Brutality,Nir Hasson, Haaretz OV-9

Israeli Police Leave East Jerusalem Hotel After 13-Year Stay, Nir Hasson, Haaretz OV-10

Lawfare, the Continuation of War by Other Means,Jonathan Cook, al-Araby al-Jadeed English OV-10

U.S. Court Rejects Lawsuit Against Charity Funding of Settlements,Ma’an News Agency OV-12

Using Pension Fund Money to Buy Israeli Bonds Is Both Wrong and Illegal,James Abourezk, www.counterpunch.org OV-13

How a Secret Charity Helps Jewish Groups Feel Safe, Josh Nathan-Kazis, The Forward OV-14

Yemen’s Houthis Are No Iran Proxy, Jason Ditz, www.antiwar.com OV-16

Other VoicesOther Voices(A Supplement to the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs available by sub-scription at $15 per year. To subscribe, call toll-free 1-888-881-5861.)

Compiled by Janet McMahon

DEPARTMENTS

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Israel Lobby Conference ResourcesThank you for sponsoring The Israel Lobbyconference and providing it live viaYouTube. I watched it from start to finishand was thrilled to be able to do so here onthe West Coast while it took place on theEast Coast. Has a date been established for when it

will be posted on the Web?Richard Herman, Costa Mesa, CAWe are so pleased you were able to watch the

conference live on YouTube—and equally dis-appointed that C-SPAN declined to broadcastit on a day when Congress was not in session.For a video of each panel and anaudio and transcript of eachspeaker’s remarks visit the confer-ence website, <www.IsraelLob-byUS.org>. We have also decided topublish a special issue of the Wash-ington Report with photographsand transcripts of all the day’s pre-sentations, and will be producing aDVD as well. So keep your eyes outand mailboxes open—it’s sure to be-come a collector’s item!

Occupied PolandIn the March/April 2015 issue,the article by Uri Avnery entitled “Wavingin the First Row,” stated: “In 1939, theIrgun underground planned an armed in-vasion of Palestine with the help of theprofoundly anti-Semitic generals of thePolish army.”Such a statement is judged as utter non-

sense and indicates a lack of pre-World WarII history or just another Jewish attempt topaint Poles as anti-Semitic. In 1939, withAustria and Czechoslovakia already invadedand conquered by the Nazi Germany army,Polish generals and their military forceswere busy preparing for the invasion oftheir country. It is very unlikely that theyhad time to be anti-Semitic when theirforces were composed of both Polish andJewish citizens. Furthermore, it is unlikelythese generals had financing to move Polisharmed forces from Poland to Palestine.Incidentally, when the Washington Re-

port publishes such preposterous state-ments, they are joining the ranks of pro-Is-raeli proponents endeavoring to paint Polesas anti-Semitic. After the invasion of Polandin September of 1939 and its conquest, theGerman Nazis organized their concentra-tion camps. These camps are frequentlymislabeled by the media and propagandistsas Polish concentration camps. They wereGerman Nazis’ concentration camps strate-gically located on Polish soil to efficiently

imprison and kill both Poles and Jews.As part of the German Nazis efficiency,

one of their edicts proclaimed that any Polecaught protecting, hiding or attempting tosave a Jew would be executed along withhis entire family. Many Poles lost their livesin this activity. Rather than labeling Polesas anti-Semitic, they should be portrayedas one of the greatest benefactors of theirJewish citizens.In conclusion, I request that my wife’s

name be removed from the Washington Re-port roll of subscribers.C. Norman Boehm Jr., Wilmington, DEWe’re afraid we failed to focus on Av nery’s

comment about Polish generals, since it camein the middle of a discussion of French andRussian anti-Semitism. We certainly considerPoland to have been an occupied country dur-ing World War II, and do not believe thatPoles are inherently anti-Semitic. Indeed, weknow first-hand how that accusation is usedto further a hidden agenda.

Not So Black-and-WhiteAlthough I am a huge critic of Israel and asupporter of the Palestinians, I would notsubscribe to your publication. Here is thereason: your simple-minded stance thatliberalism is good, ethical, and leads to im-proved conditions in the Holy Land. And,conversely, conservatives are anti-Israel, re-actionary, and the bad guys.I am a political conservative who voted

for Mitt Romney and John McCain, notObama. If Obama were running tomorrow,I still wouldn’t vote for him. And yet, I amstaunchly pro-Palestinian and aghast atwhat is going on in Israel. I live in a very liberal area of the coun-

try. All of the liberals and progressives Iknow, particularly the Jewish ones, are bigsupporters of Israel.How do you explain this?Your black-and-white view that liberals

support human justice and conservativesare cold and indifferent is erroneous and

Publisher: ANDREW I. KILLGOREManaging Editor: JANET McMAHON

News Editor: DELINDA C. HANLEYAssistant Editor: DALE SPRUSANSKY

Middle East Books and More Director: KEVIN A. DAVIS

Finance & Admin. Director: CHARLES R. CARTER

Art Director: RALPH U. SCHERERExecutive Editor: RICHARD H. CURTISS

(1927-2013)

Washington Report on Middle East Affairs(ISSN 8755-4917) is published 8 times a year,monthly except Jan./Feb., March/April and June/Julycombined, at 1902 18th St., NW, Washington, DC20009-1707. Tel. (202) 939-6050. Subscription prices(United States and possessions): one year, $29; twoyears, $55; three years, $75. For Canadian and Mexi-can subscriptions, $35 per year; for other foreignsubscriptions, $70 per year. Periodicals, postage paidat Washington, DC and additional mailing offices.POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Wash-ington Report on Middle East Affairs, P.O. Box91056, Long Beach, CA 90809-1056.

Published by theAmerican Educational Trust(AET), a non-profit foundation incorporated inWash-ington, DC by retired U.S. foreign service officers toprovide the American public with balanced and ac-curate information concerning U.S. relations withMiddle Eastern states.AET’s Foreign Policy Commit-tee has included former U.S. ambassadors, govern-ment officials, and members of Con gress, includingthe late Demo cratic Sen. J.William Fulbright and Republican Sen. Charles Percy, both former chairmenof the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Mem-bers of AET’s Board of Directors and advisory com-mittees receive no fees for their services.

The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs does not take partisan domestic political positions. As a solution to the Palestinian- Israeli dis-pute, it endorses U.N. Security Council Resolution242’s land-for-peace formula, supported by ninesuccessive U.S. presidents. In general, it supportsMiddle East solutions which it judges to be consis-tent with the charter of the United Nations and traditional American support for human rights, self-determination, and fair play.

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LetterstotheEditor

JUNE/JULY 2015 5THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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6 JUNE/JULY 2015THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

offensive. It doesn’t explain why,given that America is mostly a lib-eral country, much of the popula-tion supports Israel and has fordecades. Your viewpoint also does-n’t explain why, when we have had aDemocratic Congress, they and the coun-try still support Israel. You’d engender a lot more support if you

looked beyond simple explanations thatput the blame on “conservatives” for theU.S.’s decades-long support of Israel. Itwasn’t just the Republicans who ap-plauded wildly for Netanyahu. The De-mocrats give the same standing ovationswhen AIPAC comes to town.You’d win more people to the cause if

you looked beyond the easy good guysand bad guys. Let’s face it, in many ways,Israel runs this country—Republicans andDemocrats alike.Beth Moore, Richmond, CAWe couldn’t agree more with your final sen-

tence. In fact, we’ve spent years documenting andreporting that Democratic members of Congresswere the primary recipients of pro-Israel PACcontributions. And we list every congressionalcandidate, Democratic and Republican alike, whotakes lobby money. We don’t know how many is-sues of the Washington Report you’ve read, butobviously none of the many that carry articles byPatrick J. Buchanan (including this one, on p. 17)and Ron Paul, especially when Paul was in Con-gress. In the 2000 presidential race we reportedthat George W. Bush had specifically spoken outagainst the use of secret evidence, while Al Gorerefused to do so. Through the years we’ve criticizedplenty of Democratic presidents, and praised oneslike Republicans Dwight D. Eisenhower andGeorge H.W. Bush who have put the interests oftheir own country first.

We thank you for writing, since it’s very impor-tant to know how the Washington Report is per-ceived—and we hope you’ll read at least a fewmore issues (including this response!).

Angelic Assistance SoughtI do not want to seem as if I am beggingeven though I am. I am an indigent inmate.I used to have a pen pal who had pur-chased a subscription to the WashingtonReport for me. I have not heard from heranymore nor do I expect to hear from her.Now my subscription to the Washington

Report is expiring and I am saddened to seeit go. I have noticed occasionally that Angelsfrom time to time sponsor a subscription toindigent inmates. If at all possible, I wouldlike to be sponsored by an Angel for a sub-scription renewal. I have a sense that nu-merous inmates write in asking for a spon-sored subscription. I can completely under-stand if an Angel is unable to sponsor me.I always anxiously await my copy of the

Washington Report. Every time I receive anissue I take several hours to digest it. ThenI go back a second and third time to re-readand take notes. I pass my copy on to myneighbor a few cells down. After he is donehe sends it to four other Muslim brotherson a different wing. There used to be moreMuslim brothers in our building but manyhave been transferred to other prisons.Indigent inmates are allowed to send out

five legal mail letters per week. Currently Ihave written 70 members of Congress. I have

not gotten any re-sponses, so I amunsure if the repre-sentatives have everread my letters. Ihave a strong suspi-cion that the assis-tants throw awaymy unopened let-ters as soon as theysee that it isstamped as comingfrom a prison in-mate. My neighborhas also been writ-ing Congress.I have been

using the piece inthe September2014 “Report Cardon the 113th Con-gress” to questioncongressmen onwhy they vote for

whatever Israel wants. I have alsobeen using the October 2014 “Pro-Israel PAC Contributions to 2014Congressional Candidates” toquestion congressmen on why

they gladly accept pro-Israel moneyand vote with Israel.Previously I had done no research on Is-

rael. I used to mistakenly assume theywere the “good guys.” I had absolutely noidea about all the despicable things that Is-rael does. I am constantly shocked at all thethings that the Washington Report reveals.I listen to NPR radio all day. I hear almostnothing coming close to the reality that theMiddle East faces every day. So much in-formation is left out of the mainstreampress. Keep up the great work.Cesar Hernandez, New Boston, TX You certainly sound like a model citizen,

putting many of us on the outside to shame!We are happy to say that there is an Angelwho is honored to sponsor your subscription—as we are honored to have you as a reader.

Reciprocal InspirationI have always found pleasure in reading theWashington Report because it gives me anadditional inspiration to stay focused onthe truth.I have been receiving the Washington

Report, but without “Other Voices”—thesupplement. Therefore I have made a checkin the amount of $100 and it should be onits way soon. Please add “Other Voices” tomy current subscription, and I would wishthat you accept the balance as a gift.I am currently serving a 65-year sen-

tence for providing humanitarian aid tothe Palestinian population that lives underthe brutal and illegal Israeli occupation.Unfortunately, my financial resources arelimited, thus to save $100 I had to skipcommissary for an entire month. However,my heart is filled with joy because beingable to invest in your work, I know I’m in-vesting in the truth. In fact, the entire teamthat gives us the Washington Report de-serves all the respect in the world forworking so hard to save this nation fromself-inflicted blindness. I see what you doand I love it.Shukri Abu Baker, Beaumont, TX P.S. Please check out my blog, <http://

notesfromshukri.wordpress.com>.As one of the Holy Land Five, your situation

is relevant to all Americans (see Jan./Feb.2013 Washington Report, p. 17). Your experi-ence is reminiscent of the show trials in the for-mer Soviet Union. And we find your blog to bea source of inspiration—may we all have thestrength to respond to oppression with suchfaith and such sumud (steadfastness). Thankyou so much for your continuing commitmentto justice, and for the example you set. ❑

Other Voices is an optional16-page supplement avail-able only to subscribers ofthe Washington Report onMiddle East Affairs. For anadditional $15 per year (seepostcard insert for Wash -ington Re port subscrip-tion rates), subscribers will

receive Other Voices inside each issue of their Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.Back issues of both publications are avail able. To

subscribe telephone 1 (888) 881-5861, fax (714) 226-9733, e-mail <[email protected]>, or write toP.O. Box 91056, Long Beach, CA 90809-1056.

Keep Those Cards and Letters Coming!Send your letters to the editor to the Washington Report, P.O. Box 53062, Washington, DC 20009

or e-mail <[email protected]>.

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JUNE/JULY 2015 7THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Publishers’ Page Publishers’ PageA Groundbreaking Event.It’s not often that the word “ground-breaking” can be used to describe anevent focusing on the generations-oldIsrael-Palestine conflict. But that’sprecisely the word we believe bestdescribes the April 10 conference onthe Israel Lobby that the WashingtonReport and the Institute for Research:Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep) co-sponsored at the National Press Club.

Dissecting the Israel Lobby.Never before had nearly 20 speakers,300 audience members and thou-sands of online viewers participated in anhonest all-day discussion on the role of theIsrael Lobby in shaping U.S. policy. Pan-elists addressed how the lobby works, itsefforts to silence critics and suppress freespeech on campus, its impact on Israelis(including Palestinian Israelis), its influenceover Congress, and its efforts to promotewar with Iran. The conference was at onceeye-opening, inspirational and…

Thoroughly Informative. As we began putting together this issue ofthe Washington Report, we quickly realizedthat we simply could not do justice to theabundance of essential information pre-sented by conference speakers. We con-cluded there was only one solution: a spe-cial issue dedicated exclusively to theconference, so people who missed it can...

Read All About It!As you enjoy this issue, which provides up-dates on the Iran nuclear negotiations, the2016 elections, Palestinian efforts to achievejustice, the humanitarian crises caused bywars in Syria, Gaza, Libya and Yemen, andmore, keep your eyes peeled for our specialissue on the Israel Lobby conference,which will be arriving in mailboxes shortly.The special issue will include full tran-scripts of each speaker’s remarks, as well asphotos and reflections on the event.

Can’t Wait Til Then? Video, audio and transcripts of the confer-ence can be found online at <IsraelLobbyUS.org>. DVDs of the event will beavailable shortly and can be preordered bycalling (202) 939-6050. Given the lobby’sinfluence over the corporate media, it’shardly surprising that mainstream out-lets—including C-SPAN—refused to coverthe Israel Lobby conference.

But Even We Were Shocked...By a picture that appeared in the April 21edition of The Washington Post showing anIsraeli woman watering a vast crop of col-orful flowers that would soon be exportedto Europe. The caption described the kib-butz, minutes from the Gaza border, as“the perfect setting for a spring photoshoot.” What the Post neglected to men-tion is that the same water being used forthe flowers could have been used toquench the thirst of 1.8 million water-de-prived Gazans. Far from livening up ourday, the picture of the flowers reminded usof the...

Depravity of Israel’s Siege. If the Post can’t be trusted to write an ac-curate caption, how can it be trusted to askthe 2016 presidential candidates the toughquestions about Israel? The truth is, themainstream media and the individuals bat-tling to become Barack Obama’s successorall share the same affinity for—or at leastsubservience to—Israel.

The Presidential Field Looks Scary.With elections still a year and a half away,it’s quickly becoming apparent that Israel ispoised to be the big winner regardless ofwho becomes the 45th president. Thus fareight candidates, all of whom have strongpro-Israel credentials, have officially en-tered the race.

The Democrats Offer Americans…Frontrunner Hillary Clinton, whose Zion-ist bankroller Haim Saban said in April,“everything that [Hillary] thinks andeverything she has done and will do willalways be for the good of Israel.” Thenthere’s Sen. Bernie Sanders, who lastsummer told a constituent complainingabout Israel’s war on Gaza to “shut up.”

Republican Options Include… Sen. Ted Cruz, who last year toldan audience of persecuted MiddleEastern Christians that he doesn’t“stand with them” because of theircriticism of Israel; Sen. Rand Paul,who has introduced a bill to cut aidto the Palestinians and signed Sen.Tom Cotton’s infamous letter to Iranin an effort to appease Zionistdonors; Sen. Marco Rubio, whowhen not ranting against the re-pressive regimes in Havana andTehran (ironically) boasts of his sup-port for Israel; Dr. Ben Carson, who

had never heard of the Knesset until hetraveled to Israel in December to pledgehis loyalty to the self-proclaimed Jewishstate; Carly Fiorina, former CEO ofHewlett-Packard (HP), the company thatsupplies the high-tech identification cardsIsrael uses to operate its checkpoints; andformer Gov. Mike Huckabee, who regu-larly leads Christian Zionist tours of Israel.Other Republicans likely to enter therace—Sen. Rick Santorum and Govs. JebBush, Scott Walker and Chris Christie—have equally dismal Middle East creden-tials. The options presented thus far bythe two major parties are indeed bleak,but….

There Is Reason for Hope! Polls show that Americans, especiallyyoung Democrats, do not favor strong U.S.support for Israel. Netanyahu’s recent anticshave exposed Israel’s lack of a commitmentto peace and have helped turn Israel into anincreasingly partisan issue. AIPAC appearsto be losing the battle to scuttle the Iraniannuclear talks, while the BDS movement isgrowing.

Defeating the Lobby Isn’t Easy...But activism is slowly changing the pro-Israel narrative in this country. Congresshas not yet caught on, but eventually it,too, will be forced to acknowledge the re-ality: Americans won’t stand for occupa-tion, war and discrimination. Republicansmay latch on to Israel as a wedge issue,but in most congressional districts De-mocrats will soon no longer be able to be“progressive except for Palestine.” Untilthe occupation ends and American leadersadopt a sane and moral Middle East policy,we will all continue to work together to…

Make a Difference Today!

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Arecent satirical cartoon by Tom Tolesin The Washington Post showed a

painting by Jackson Pollock of a densetangle of multicolored lines completelycovering the canvas. The painting was la-beled, “Middle East Politics.” The captionread, “Who Knew He was a Realist?”There could not be a more accurate illus-tration of the wars currently raging inSyria, Yemen and Iraq, and the various al-liances they involve.The U.S. military is active on one side or

the other in all three wars, either as armssupplier, by carrying out bombing raids, orproviding ground troops. As a result,Washington finds itself with allies fromboth sides, depending on the war.Despite President Barack Obama’s pledge

to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq, eversince the Iraqi army collapsed in the faceof invading ISIS forces the U.S. has beencooperating with Iran-backed Shi’i militiasin Iraq to recapture the territory ISISseized. With several of northern Iraq’s

major cities in ISIS’ hands, the U.S. is con-tinuing to conduct air strikes against them,but with only partial success. The com-bined U.S.-Shi’i operations have forced ISISto withdraw from the city of Tikrit, butstill to be liberated are Mosul and Ramadi,which like Tikrit are predominantly Sunni.An unintended consequence of U.S. in-

volvement is that Shi’i militias have becomeincreasingly powerful, despite Iraqi PrimeMinister Haider al-Abadi’s efforts to includemore Sunnis in the government’s offensiveand end the continuing sectarian violence.After U.S. bombing attacks drove ISIS outof the town of Amerli last summer, Shi’imilitias carried out mass executions and de-molished thousands of Sunni homes. Simi-lar attacks have taken place in other Sunniareas liberated from ISIS. Many of the mili-tiamen are hostile to the U.S. “We don’ttrust the Americans,” said Naseem al-Aboudi, a spokesman for one of the militias. The Obama administration has not ex-

plained what American interests are servedby U.S. combat operations in Iraq, whenwhat is needed most is an end to Sunni-Shi’i violence, and economic aid and othermeasures aimed at boosting the economyand slowing the flow of recruits to ISIS.

Equally lacking in coherence is U.S.military involvement in Syria. There,as in Iraq, the U.S. is fighting on thesame side as Iran, even though Iransupports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the U.S. wants him re-placed. Again, both the U.S. and Iranare opposing ISIS, which has seizedcontrol of northern Syria, erased theborder with Iraq, and moved intoDamascus. The U.S. has carried outmore than 5,700 air strikes against ISISsince August, but failed to stop its ad-vance. Meanwhile, the fighting between

Syrian government forces and rebelsopposed to Assad, has caused millionsof Syrians to flee their ruined citiesinto overcrowded refugee camps inneighboring countries. Hundreds ofthousands of civilians have beenkilled.Palestinian refugees are once again

among the chief victims. In earlyApril, ISIS penetrated Yarmouk, arefugee camp in Damascus wheremore than 18,000 Palestinians live.Since then, street fighting betweenISIS and Palestinian defenders, and

shelling and bombing by the Syrian airforce, have created an inescapable night-mare for the inhabitants. Officials atUNRWA, the U.N. agency that supportsPalestinian refugees, reported in earlyApril that the people in Yarmouk had nofood, no water, and hardly any medicine.Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambas-

sador to the U.N., appealed to the SecurityCouncil and the international community foraid to the besieged refugees, but there wasno way either to deliver the aid or evacuatethe inhabitants of Yarmouk to a safer place.Such circumstances cry out for interventionby the U.S. and the international community,but what is needed are not more bombs butstrenuous efforts to achieve a cease-fire.The situation for civilians in Yemen is

equally bleak. The rivalry between north-ern and southern tribes again turned vio-lent in mid-March, when Houthi militiasallied with former President Ali AbdullahSaleh drove out his replacement, AbdRaboo Mansour al-Hadi. As battles tookplace in the streets of Aden, Sana’a, andother cities, Saudi Arabia and the Gulfstates joined the fight against the Houthisby conducting what human rights agen-cies called “reckless air strikes.”

SpecialReportSpecialReportObama Departs From His Own Principles By Rachelle Marshall

8 JUNE/JULY 2015THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Rachelle Marshall is a free-lance editor liv-ing in Mill Valley, CA. A member of JewishVoice for Peace, she writes frequently on theMiddle East.

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Yemeni refugee Farah Abdallah, 7, sits in a hospital in Djibouti, May 5, 2015. Shot in the back ofher head by a sniper in Aden, she was offered financial assistance by a Yemeni benefactor willing tofly her abroad for critical brain surgery, but no country would accept her. Doctors said she could dieany day.

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The U.N. reported that homes, factories,hospitals, schools and power stations hadbeen hit by bombs, along with a displacedpersons camp filled with civilians. Aid officials called what was happening

a humanitarian catastrophe. “The situationin Yemen is extremely alarming,” said ZeidRa’ad al-Hussein, chief official of the U.N.human rights agency. “The killing of somany innocent civilians is simply unac-ceptable.” Sitara Jabeen of the Interna-tional Red Cross said, “Every day is worsethan the previous day.” The Gulf coalition claimed the Houthis

were acting as surrogates for Iran, which theHouthis and Iran denied. Iraqi Prime Min-ister Abadi said on his visit to the U.S. inmid-April, “There is no logic to the opera-tion at all...Mainly the problem of Yemen iswithin Yemen.” Area experts and Westerndiplomats say that Iran provides financialsupport to the Houthis but does not influ-ence them. Stephen Seche, a former U.S. am-bassador to Yemen, agrees that the Houthishave their own domestic agenda.Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad

Javad Zarif, called for an immediate cease-fire, humanitarian aid, and dialogue be-tween the two rival Yemeni factions lead-ing to a broad-based, inclusive govern-ment. But instead of supporting efforts toarrange a cease-fire, Obama announced onApril 7 that the U.S. was speeding upweapons shipments to the Saudi coalitionand increasing its intelligence and logisti-cal support for its operations in Yemen.Two weeks later a U.S. aircraft carrier anda guided missile carrier arrived to join 10other American warships off Yemen’s coast.“It is a message to our partners that we arein this and willing to [give] support,” a U.S.official said. “It is a message to the Iraniansthat we’re watching.” Obama eventually modified his position

and urged a halt to the bombing. At thesame time, an international outcry againsta campaign that had killed more than athousand people, most of them civilians,prompted the Saudis on April 21 to an-nounce an end to the bombing. The rebels’military capabilities had been destroyed,the Saudi announcement said, and thefocus instead would be on protecting civil-ians and rebuilding the country. Hourslater, however, the air strikes resumed, andthe embargo on food, fuel, medicine andhumanitarian aid remained in place.Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, in a tele-

vision speech, had earlier asked the Saudis,“What does bombing the innocent mean?Will killing children bring power to you?”Similar questions could be asked of theObama administration. What did the U.S.gain by supporting the Saudis’ interventionin Yemen and angering Tehran, after work-ing so hard to achieve an agreement with

Iran to limit its nuclear production? The most plausible explanation is that

the Obama administration is trying to re-assure the Gulf monarchies and Israel that,despite the nuclear agreement, the U.S. stillregards Iran as a major adversary. But Is-rael, at least, will not be appeased. PrimeMinister Binyamin Netanyahu has contin-ued to associate Iran with Hitler as a threatto Jewish survival. On March 30 he haddeclared, “The Iran-Lausanne-Yemen axismust be stopped,” and accused Iran of“carrying out a pincer movement from thesouth to occupy the entire Middle East.” Inmid-April he warned Israelis of Iran’s“plan to exterminate six million Jews hereand elsewhere.”

New York Times columnist Roger Cohenresponded to such fears in his column ofApril 8. “Blocking Iran’s path to a bomb,avoiding another war with a Muslim coun-try, and re-establishing diplomatic contactwith a stable power hostile to the IslamicState amount to a compelling case for anAmerica facing a fragmenting worldorder,” he wrote. In a jab at Israel headded, “It is not a bad thing to remind al-lies that enjoying irrevocable support fromthe United States cannot mean exercising aveto on American actions.”Israeli journalist Gideon Levy criticized

Washington’s attachment to Israel morebluntly. In his talk to the conference on TheIsrael Lobby organized by the WashingtonReport and the Institute for Research: Mid-dle Eastern Policy (IRmep), the Haaretzcolumnist referred to the relationship as a“corrupting friendship…that contradictsU.S. interests,...international law, human

rights, [and] moral values, you name it.”Criticism of Israel is conspicuously lack-

ing on the part of Congress. Instead of ac-cepting the compromise framework ardu-ously worked out with Iran on April 2after months of negotiations, some Democ-rats have joined Republicans in demandingchanges certain to scuttle it. The agreementcalls on Iran to limit enrichment of ura-nium to a level useful only for civilian pur-poses, drastically cut its nuclear stockpile,and reduce the number of centrifuges bytwo-thirds. In return, the U.S. and its allieswould lift the sanctions—with the timingto be left until the final draft. Iran will besubject to “the most robust and intrusiveinspections and transparency regime evernegotiated for any nuclear program,”Obama said.On Sunday, April 5, Netanyahu ap-

peared on ABC, NBC, and CNN and calledthe agreement “a historically bad deal,”and Republicans quickly made support forIsrael’s position a partisan issue. Democratswere caught between keeping the supportof pro-Israel donors, and maintaining loy-alty to the administration. Among the ex-ceptions was Sen. Dianne Feinstein of Cal-ifornia, who had expressed deep resent-ment against Netanyahu when he appearedbefore Congress without previous consul-tation with the White House, to argueagainst Obama’s policy on Iran.The deadline for the final agreement is

June 30, with the issue of sanctions still tobe settled. Iran is demanding that sanc-tions be lifted as soon as the final draft issigned, but on April 14 the Senate ForeignRelations Committee unanimously voted to

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Iranians on Valiasr St. in northern Tehran celebrate the announcement of a framework agree-ment on nuclear talks, April 2, 2015.

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10 JUNE/JULY 2015THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

require Congress to review and approvethe final text. The bill prohibits the presi-dent from lifting sanctions for at least 52days following the review. Iran’s President Rouhani, clearly ruffled,immediately reminded members of Con-gress that Iran’s agreement to the deal waswith the P5+1, which includes China, Rus-sia, France, Britain and Germany, as well asthe U.S. He refrained from reminding themthat Israel was not a designated party tothe negotiations. Republican Sen. MarcoRubio of Florida said he would offer anamendment from the Senate floor requir-ing Iran to recognize Israel’s right to existand stop its support for “terrorists.” Bothrequirements are demanded by Israel.In an interview with Obama New York

Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman pub-lished on April 6, Obama contradicted hisown recent policy decisions by suggestingthat internal reforms, not military aid, arewhat the Arab states need most. “I think

the biggest threats they face may not becoming from Iran invading,” he said. “It’sgoing to be from dissatisfaction inside theirown countries.” Arab states have “popula-tions that, in some cases, are alienated,youth that are underemployed, [and have]an ideology that is destructive and nihilis-tic, and in some cases just a belief thatthere are no political outlets for griev-ances,” he told Friedman.Obama’s words were especially relevantto Egypt, where 25 percent of the popula-tion is illiterate, youth unemployment ishigh, all opposition media have been shutdown, tens of thousands of people havebeen arrested for peacefully protesting, andmass show trials lasting a few minutes resultin death sentences. Yet when Egyptian Pres-ident Abdel Fattah el-Sisi held an investors’conference in mid-March, Secretary of StateJohn Kerry was there to show support.Shortly afterwards, Obama lifted anarms freeze on Egypt, clearing the way for

Cairo to receive F-16 aircraft, Harpoon mis-siles and Abrams tanks. Egypt will con-tinue to receive $1.3 billion a year in U.S.military aid. “Unsurprisingly, in this caseyou see that national security prioritiesbroadly defined trump everything else,”said Sarah Margon of Human RightsWatch. The “national security priorities”in this case are clearly those of Israel, notthe U.S. The generous military aid the U.S.gives to Egypt ensures that its leaders willcontinue to abide by the 1979 peace agree-ment with Israel.The historic agreement with Iran was astep toward ending 36 years of antagonismbetween the Iran and the West, with thehope of enlisting Iran in a common effortto end the conflicts taking place in the re-gion. But the benefits of that agreement arein danger of being cancelled out if the in-terests of Israel and other regimes in the re-gion continue to be the determinants ofU.S. Middle East policy. ❑

When Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu promised Israelivoters just before the March elections that there would be noPalestinian state on his watch, he was stating a truth too longdenied. Israel has no intention of giving up the economic ad-vantages of occupation, including the prevention of competi-tion from Palestinian produce, and control of the rich wateraquifers in the West Bank.There is even less possibility that Israel would uproot morethan 700,000 settlers from their subsidized homes, or that thearmy would be willing to carry out such an action if ordered todo so. Evictions of Palestinians from East Jerusalem, and the ex-pansion of Jewish settlements in Palestinian neighborhoods,have made a Palestinian capital in that part of the city all but im-possible. More than 25 years ago the PLO agreed to recognize Israeland accept the return of 22 percent of original Palestine in re-turn for a sovereign Palestinian state, but no Israeli government,regardless of party, has accepted such a solution. As successiveU.S. administrations insisted on going through the charade ofnegotiations, Israel, with the help of American aid, continuedto seize Palestinian land for more settlements.Yet the myth of a two-state solution lives on. In mid-Aprilmore than a dozen European foreign ministers asked the Euro-pean Union to require products made in West Bank settlementsto be clearly labeled as such. The letter called the settlements“illegal,” and said they “affected the possibility of preserving atwo-state solution.” But Shawan Jabarin, head of the Palestinianhuman rights group Al-Haq, said that without a ban on suchproducts the labeling was an empty gesture. “Is it just to tell thecustomers that this is [a] stolen product, but you can buy it?”Such measures in any case fail to deal with the more immedi-ate problem of the worsening situation of Palestinians livingunder occupation. The army took Netanyahu’s victory in the re-cent election as a mandate to increase its brutal night raids inwhich soldiers roust families from their beds and drag childrenas well as adults off to prison. Home demolitions also are in-creasing as Israeli settlements spread throughout the West Bank.

Palestinians live with the daily threat of violence. Soldiers at-tack peaceful demonstrators with rubber-coated steel bullets,tear gas canisters fired as missiles directly at participants, andlive ammunition. During the first 3 months of 2015, at least 30children were wounded by live bullets. Several children in EastJerusalem lost an eye when they were hit by what are called“sponge bullets.” Violence-prone settlers also make life haz-ardous as their settlements move closer to Palestinian com-munities. Israel is worsening the problems Palestinians already face byperiodically withholding tax revenues from the Palestinian Authority, leaving tens of thousands of PA employees with onlypartial pay at a time of growing economic hardship for all Pales-tinians. As restrictions on travel and and other activities con-tinue to stifle the economy, ordinary Palestinians are now moreconcerned with earning a living than with politics. According toZakaria al-Qaq of Al-Quds University in East Jerusalem, “It isno longer an issue of national aspirations; it is becoming a mat-ter of survival.”The extremism of Israel’s far right helps explain why Ne-tanyahu was easily re-elected after saying he would never allowa Palestinian state on Israel’s border. After the election he re-canted that statement, but few doubted he meant it, or thatmost Israelis agreed with him. The one positive result is thatthe Obama administration has openly abandoned the hope of anegotiated two-state solution while Netanyahu remains in of-fice.White House chief of staff Denis McDonough spoke beforeJ Street’s annual convention on March 23 and said of Ne-tanyahu’s statement, “We cannot simply pretend those com-ments were never made.” He then declared, “An occupationthat has lasted for almost 50 years must end.” Those wordscould serve for the time being as the primary focus of the Pales-tinians’ struggle for independence. Israel’s withdrawal to the1967 lines is the first essential. What happens after that,whether coexistence with Israel or a single democratic state,can be left to a free Palestinian people to decide. —R.M.

The Two-State Solution Is Dead. What Will Replace It?

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Late on the evening of May 6, before theclock struck midnight, Prime Minister

Binyamin Netanyahu needed to finalize acoalition of parties willing to endorse himin order to secure his fourth term as Israel’sleader. Two hours before his deadline, hecinched a deal with the hard-line pro-set-tler group Bayit Yehudi, headed by thecharismatic Naftali Bennett. Even with thedeal, Netanyahu now hangs by a thread.His coalition includes a scant 61 out of 120parliament members, down from the 67votes he thought were in his pocket. Thegovernment will convene with a cabinetfull of Netanyahu’s political rivals and aweak coalition—one of the weakest in Is-rael’s history. If Netanyahu cannot appeaseevery member of his ruling government,he will need to seek support from his op-position, led by the Zionist Camp’s IsaacHerzog, in order to survive.Netanyahu’s coalition-building process

was thrown into disarray two days earlier,when his chief political ally, AvigdorLieberman, announced his group and theirsix votes were out the door. The two splitlast year over social benefits that Lieber-man wanted for his secular-nationalist con-stituents, but Netanyahu gave them to reli-gious right-wing groups instead.The deal Netanyahu cut with Bennett

means the Likud party is headed even fur-ther to the right. The Likud negotiatingteam dispatched Ze’ev Elkin to lock in thelast-minute agreement with Bennett’s campthat saved Netanyahu. Elkin is a settler andKnesset chair of the foreign affairs and de-fense committees. He comes from the far-right strand of Likud. As an unabashed an-nexationist, he wants to formally incorpo-rate the West Bank into Israel. He does notsupport any form of Palestinian sover-eignty. Elkin’s leadership in bringing inBennett signals an even steeper hard-lineturn.The full contents of the agreement were

to be revealed the following week whenthe new cabinet members were scheduledto be announced and sworn in. Already Is-raeli correspondents are reporting on the

horse trading that took place for Bennett’svotes. Haaretz wrote:“[T]he education budget will be raised

by 630 million shekels ($163.4 million), 1billion shekels ($250 million) will be allo-cated for raising the salaries of soldiers intheir third year, and the Ariel Universitybudget will be raised. In addition, theNGO bill [requiring ministerial and Knes-set approval for NGOs seeking a tax ex-emption for a foreign contribution] willlikely be passed, a focus will be made onimproving accessibility for disabled in ed-ucational institutions, on security mea-sures for transportation in the West Bank,and on strengthening missions in the pe-riphery.”Some cabinet positions were made pub-

lic immediately. Although Bennett headsthe fourth smallest party in the govern-ment (eight seats), he ruefully exploitedNetanyahu’s desperation. A top ministerposition was reserved for Ayelet Shaked,who is most known outside of Israel forher frequent and repeated xenophobic re-marks. Mondoweiss’ Ben Norton reportedon here May 6, and her calls for a genocideon the Palestinian people.

Another leadership spot went to BayitYehudi’s Uri Ariel. The current housingminister was upgraded to run the Ministryof Agriculture, a powerful position be-cause it presides over the World Zionist Or-ganization’s Settlement Division, a pool ofmillions of dollars of dark funds used toconstruct settlements. Haaretz also re-ported Bayit Yehudi will get the position ofdeputy defense minister.Netanyahu and Likud have not made

any statements on the coalition or the dealwith Bennett other than a few ceremonialwords to President Reuven Rivlin. “I amhonored to inform you that I have beensuccessful in forming a government, whichI will request is brought before the Knes-set for its approval as soon as possible,” hesaid.Herzog, who came in second in the

March 17 elections, winning 24 seats toNetanyahu’s 30, and Palestinian leadershave come out with full forced rejections ofIsrael’s nosedive to the right. Herzog wroteon Facebook that Shaked’s appointment“threatened the rule of law” and the dealwith Bennett was a state-run “fire sale.”

SpecialReportSpecialReport

Netanyahu’s Coalition: Who’s In, Who’s OutBy Allison Deger

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (r) shakes hands with Naftali Bennett, head ofthe right-wing Jewish Home party, as they arrive to give a press conference at the Knessetannouncing the formation of a coalition government, May 6, 2015.

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Allison Deger is assistant editor of Mon-doweiss.net, where this article was firstposted May 7, 2015. Copyright © 2015Mondoweiss. Continued on page 30

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The eyes of Gaza’s 1.8 million residentsseem to be refocusing these days—not

so much on breaking the Israeli siege, or onreconstruction efforts, as these goals seemto have faded away. Today Gazans are con-templating a new horizon: joining the In-ternational Criminal Court (ICC). Analystsin Gaza consider this the only move whichwill bring justice. In Ramallah, Palestinian Authority For-

eign Affairs Minister Raid Al-Malki said inApril that the PA leadership is now work-ing on speeding up the process of filingcharges of war crimes against Israel at theICC. Al-Malki went on to say that the ICC

prosecutor was looking into all “events”that took place in the Palestinian territories

since July 8, 2014, when Israel launchedOperation Protective Edge, killing morethan 2,200 Palestinians and injuring morethan 11,000, the majority of them civilians,according to the United Nations Office forthe Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs(UNOCHA).“The court won’t focus only on the last

Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip,” headded, “but would look into all it consid-ers as a war crime, or a crime against hu-manity.” Al-Malki seems well aware that a U.S.

veto of any Security Council resolution infavor of Palestine could be an obstacle.However, he said, in order to avoid that,Palestinians have been talking to other per-manent members of the Security Council,such as Russia and China. Palestine became the 123rd country to

join the ICC on April 1—seen by many inGaza as an “historical moment.” “This is the moment for Palestinians to

achieve what they have been unableto achieve over many decades,” saidHassan Abdo, a Gaza-based politicalanalyst and researcher.Meanwhile, public reaction in Gaza

to the move seems divided betweenthose who see international law as notputting food on the table, and fami-lies of victims, many homeless, whoappear to welcome the move. Yasser Al-Qassas, who lost his wife

and four daughters in Operation Pro-tective Edge, hopes that joining theICC will be the first step in bringingwar criminals to justice. “Israel killed my pregnant wife and

four daughters, together with anotherfive members of my family,” Al-Qas-sas explained, “and now it’s time tobe accountable and pay the price inthe International Criminal Court.” Following Israel’s most recent war

on Gaza, hundreds of Palestinianslogged and filed charges of warcrimes with Gaza-based human rightsgroups, with the hope of taking jus-tice to the international level. Butthose papers seemed to just sit andcollect dust.Not anymore, according to Jamil

Sarhan, director of the IndependentCommission of Human Rights, aPalestinian NGO.

“We still need years of work and pres-sure to punish those who killed innocentpeople,” he said. “Palestine is facing theright direction toward integration into theglobal justice system.” Not only were his children killed before

his eyes, said Abu Waseem of Khuza’a, butIsraeli pilots could see through their visionequipment that the victims were simplychildren, and not military threats or tar-gets. “I spilled tears of sorrow when it hap-

pened,” he said, “and now tears of hope,because we are joining ICC.” Nevertheless, he added, “Nothing can

compensate a father and mother whosechildren were killed in cold blood.”Yet, according to Sarhan, hundreds of

human rights cases have been documentedand are ready to be coordinated with thePA prior to being presented to the interna-tional court—and all documents contain

Gazans Hope Joining ICC Will Bring ThemJustice at LastBy Mohammed Omer

Three boys from the Bakr family who survived the Israeli shelling of a beach in Gaza that killedfour of their young relatives as they were playing soccer during Israel’s 51-day assault on Gazalast summer visit the graves of their loved ones in Gaza City, March 31, 2015. Ahed Bakr, fatherof one of the victims, went to a Gaza human rights committee to file a complaint against Israelfor the strike that killed his son, grandson and nephews.

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Award-winning journalist Mohammed Omerreports from the Gaza Strip, where he main-tains the Web site <www.rafahtoday.org>.Follow him on Twitter: @MoGaza.

Gazaon the GroundGazaon the Ground

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So many people RSVPed to hear Ha-neen Zoabi that Students for Jus-

tice-NYU had to move the event to alarger auditorium—and even that wasfilled to capacity on April 24. AbedAwad, a leader of the Palestinian-American Community Center that issponsoring her North American tour,introduced her as the first Palestinianwoman member of the Israeli Knesset,to which she was initially elected in2009 on the Balad list. The CentralElections Committee tried and failed todisqualify her from running in twosubsequent elections, but the Knesset,affirmed by the High Court, succeededin suspending her for six months in2014. Zoabi has been attacked in theKnesset (see August 2010 WashingtonReport, p. 17) and received many deaththreats. Saying “to be provocative is abadge of honor,” Abed Awad com-pared her to Martin Luther King.Zoabi began by saying she is not

used to such a warm welcome, andwent on to describe herself as “not anexception. That would be a catastro-phe.” All Palestinians “lost their home-land, but not their sense of dignity ashuman beings,” she said, and that is whatleads them to seek justice and full equality.There were, however, not such warm el-

ements in the audience. Before the lecture,an unsigned flyer was distributed attackingZoabi as a “Friend of Hamas” and a “Sup-porter of Terror,” and a small group dis-played a large Israeli flag in the back of theroom. Zoabi calmly read the flyer, correct-ing its authors, “I am not Hamas. I am Com-munist.” Nevertheless, she does “not con-sider Hamas as terrorist or racist, but aspart of our national struggle.” Then, pointing to the flag, she asked,

“After so many killed, and siege, and ex-pansion, and Jerusalem, and the racistwall, what makes those people so proudabout Israel’s oppressing? It is their stupidbelief that Israel is a democracy.” Israel de-fines itself as a Jewish state. Therefore,Zoabi concluded, only Jews can be 100percent Israeli. Israel, she insisted, mustchoose to be either Jewish or democratic.

Israel Threatened by DemocracyZoabi then explained that what threatens

Israel is not Palestinians, but democracy it-self, and how Israel is no democracy forthe 1.5 million of its citizens who are Pales-tinian—the ones Israel failed to expel inthe Nakba of 1947 and ’48 and their de-scendents. “We did not immigrate to Is-rael,” she pointed out, “it was Israel thatimmigrated to us. We have the historicalmemory of the indigenous.” In Europe and the United States, Zoabi

noted, it is usually the immigrants whostruggle for democracy and equality, but inIsrael it is the opposite. “We must perceiveourselves either as invaders or guests. I mustthank Israel for not expelling me.” Freedomof speech for Israeli Palestinians is: “We stoleyour homeland, but allow you to scream.”Even that freedom is compromised by Is-

rael’s legal system, Zoabi said. The Nakbalaw criminalizing public commemorationof the loss of Palestine is but one of morethan 50 laws that “discriminate against usin every field of life.” According to the cit-izenship law, any immigrant can become acitizen of Israel except a Palestinian—ifJewish, instantly, if Christian, gradually.But if an Israeli Palestinian marries a Pales-tinian from elsewhere, the spouse cannotlive in Israel. By law, Palestinians are notallowed to study their own history. By law,

Jewish residents of 700 communities,which together control 60 percent ofthe land in Israel, can reject Palestini-ans for lack of social compatibility.“What is this if not apartheid?” Zoabiasked, wishing American politicianswere more aware of these discrimina-tory laws.Palestinians are marginalized in every

sector of Israel except poverty andprison, Zoabi reported. Sixty-four per-cent of Palestinian children live belowthe poverty line and only 2 percent ofPalestinians are employed in the privatesector. There are no Palestinian banks,insurance companies or universities, noteven licenses to raise poultry. IsraeliPalestinians live on only 3 percent of theland because they are denied permits touse even land they still own. Palestini-ans are not allowed to develop theirown economy or to be equally involvedin the Israeli economy. In 2010, 50 rabbis published a letter

saying “do not rent to Arabs,” whichelicited little debate. “Close your eyesand imagine,” Zoabi urged, “if 50priests urged people not to rent to

Jews.” According to the Israeli DemocracyIndex, a third of the Jewish populationagrees that during wartime Palestiniansshould be imprisoned in camps lest they bea fifth column, and just over half believethere should not be full equality.The anonymous handout described

Zoabi as “a personal testament to the free-dom and opportunity Israel grants all itscitizens.” She interpreted this as, “we, themasters, allow you to be elected.” Asked ifserving in the Knesset is merely symbolic,Zoabi responded, to applause, that it isvaluable to give the victim voice, to maketheir situation more visible to Palestiniansboth inside and outside Israel. Zoabi said she is indifferent as to whether

there are one or two states, as long as thereis full national and civil equality and anend to Palestinian suffering. “Jews are notour enemy,” she concluded, rather it is theracist system, one in which “Israel is a toolin the hands of the Zionist project.” “We must be very clear: we recognize the

rights of Jews living in our homeland. Wedon’t want to throw anybody into the sea,”Zoabi stated. “When we ask for equality, itis equality with you. We have the humanvalues to live equally with Jews in ourhomeland, in a state for all its citizens.” ❑

SpecialReportSpecialReport

MK Haneen Zoabi: Israel’s Racist SystemIs the EnemyBy Jane Adas

MK Haneen Zoabi at New York University.

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

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For nearly 60 years, the historic city ofNazareth has been living with an un-

welcome neighbor. Upper Nazareth was built on Nazareth’s

confiscated lands on the orders of Israel’sfirst prime minister, David Ben-Gurion. Itwas part of an official campaign to “Ju-daize” the only Palestinian city to survivethe 1948 war relatively unscathed. But if Upper Nazareth and its Jewish

residents were supposed to overwhelmthe Galilee city that, according to theBible, was home to Jesus, it has largelyfailed. A far greater danger, admit Upper

Nazareth’s officials, is that their small city

now risks being over-run by the region’sArab population, espe-cially as residents ofNazareth, many ofthem Christians, fleemajor land shortagesand a near-bankruptmunicipality. Upper Nazareth’s

mayor, Shimon Gapso,recently conceded thatthe proportion ofArabs in the city—once inhabited almostexclusively by Jews—has risen dramaticallyover the past 15 years.One in five residents isnow reported to beArab, members of Is-rael’s large minority of1.5 million Palestiniancitizens.According to human

rights groups, fears ofan Arab takeover standbehind a raft of contro-versial municipal mea-sures, from banningChristmas trees and

blocking the building of a school teachingin Arabic to the latest: refusing to stockArabic books in local public libraries.Unusually, Gapso is tight-lipped at the

moment, after being found guilty of cor-ruption, including bribery, in February. Hehas refused interviews until the court is-sues a sentence in the coming weeks thatmay see him barred from office.But he stands behind earlier public

statements about the need to keep the cityJewish—even as the municipality facesbeing taken to court over what humanrights groups describe as the city’s “racist”policies.In a now-infamous response to what he

called “bleeding-heart” critics publishedin 2013 in the Haaretz newspaper, Gapsowrote: “I’m not afraid to say it out loud…Upper Nazareth is a Jewish city and it’s im-portant that it remains so. If that makes mea racist, then I’m the proud offshoot of aglorious dynasty of ‘racists.’”

According to Mohammed Zeidan, direc-tor of the Human Rights Association inNazareth, Upper Nazareth’s policies are notsimply a reflection of the mayor’s personalinitiatives, but part of a wider political cul-ture found in both the city and Israel.“It is bound up with the concepts of a

‘Jewish city’ and Israel’s Judaization pro-gram in the Galilee,” he said. “The racismwas inherent in Upper Nazareth’s estab-lishment as a way to neutralize the sup-posed threat posed by a large Arab popu-lation the state regarded as the ‘enemy.’”Orna Yosef, Upper Nazareth’s spokes-

woman, said the city welcomed all Israelicitizens but maintained that it could neverhave an Arab majority—or an Arab mayor.“What Ben-Gurion wanted for the city,

the municipality wants, too,” she said. “Itwas built for the Jewish people.” Accusations of racism, while embarrass-

ing city officials, appear to be relished byGapso. In the last municipal election cam-paign, in 2013, he littered Upper Nazarethwith posters denouncing himself in thewords of his sternest critics, including adescription of himself as “racist scum.”It proved a winning formula. Even as

corruption allegations swirled around him,Jewish residents re-elected him by a land-slide majority.Upper Nazareth’s officials can therefore

hardly be surprised that they are again inthe crosshairs of human rights organiza-tions. In the latest clash, the Association of

Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) announced inlate March that it was launching a legalchallenge over the city’s failure to stock asingle book in Arabic in any of its threepublic libraries.ACRI noted that those libraries have

many books in other languages, includingEnglish, Russian, Spanish and French,even though—unlike Arabic—none areclassed as an official language in Israel.Auni Banna, a lawyer with ACRI, said

they had sent a stream of letters over thepast three years demanding that UpperNazareth address the failure to provide li-brary and cultural services to its Palestin-ian population.

TheNakbaContinuesTheNakbaContinues

Christian, Muslim Israelis Not Welcome inUpper NazarethBy Jonathan Cook

14 JUNE/JULY 2015THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Jonathan Cook is a journalist based inNazareth and a winner of the Martha Gell-horn Special Prize for Journalism. His mostrecent book is Disappearing Palestine (avail-able from AET’s Middle East Books andMore).

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Yosef said the municipality would con-sider building a separate library for theArab population next year, but added thatit would need “time and money.”Banna said: “We have yet to receive ananswer from Upper Nazareth, but whatthey have discussed previously is creatinga small separate library—maybe just a fewshelves—hidden away in an Arab neigh-borhood. “That sends an implicit message thatArabs are not welcome in other areas, andespecially not in the city’s main publicspaces, such as the central library. That isnot satisfactory.”Banna added that city officials alsoneeded to create a central database ofbooks in Arabic and provide enrichmentservices, such as story time, lectures andhomework assistance, as it does for theJewish public.Hani Salloum, a resident who joinedACRI’s petition, said: “As residents and cit-izens who pay taxes, it is our right—bothfor adults and children—to receive bud-gets and resources that allow us to accessbooks in our mother tongue.”Tensions over the influx of Palestiniancitizens have been growing since 2005,when the Israeli government quietly desig-nated Upper Nazareth for the first time a“mixed city.” In most of Israel, residency is strictlysegregated on the basis of ethnicity. Ad-missions committees block non-Jews fromliving in hundreds of rural communitiesthat have jurisdiction over most of Israel’sterritory. However, with successive governmentsrefusing to approve a single new Arabcommunity since Israel’s founding, theGalilee’s Judaization cities have comeunder growing pressure from Palestiniancitizens who want to leave towns and vil-lages that have become massively over-crowded.Elected in 2009, Gapso ran on an overtlyanti-Arab platform—later dropped onlegal advice—of setting up a municipalfund designed to help Jews buy homes inthe city.He has refused to allow a mosque orchurch to be built, or to allot a section ofthe municipal cemetery for non-Jews. In2010 he banned Christmas trees in publicbuildings. His officials were also found in contemptby the supreme court in 2011 for failing toimplement a 2002 ruling that road signs in-clude Arabic as well as Hebrew.After protests in Nazareth against Israel’sattack on Gaza in late 2012, Gapso made

headlines calling the neighboring city “anest of terror” and demanding the govern-ment declare it “a city hostile to the stateof Israel.” But most controversially, he has refusedto approve an Arabic-language school forthe city’s 2,000 Palestinian children. In-stead, given Israel’s segregated educationsystem, pupils have been forced to scram-ble for places in heavily overcrowdedschools in neighboring Nazareth. Gapso characterized letters from ACRIdemanding that the mayor honor his legalcommitment to the city’s Arab children as“a provocative nationalist statement.” TheEducation Ministry so far has declined tointervene. In 2013, as Gapso came under mountingpressure on the schools issue, he sent out apamphlet to residents warning: “This isthe time to guard our home!…All requestsfor foreign characteristics in the city are re-fused.”He explained that he had erected giantIsraeli flags, bearing the Star of David, atevery intersection between Nazareth andUpper Nazareth “so that people willknow that [Upper Nazareth] is a Jewishcity.”

Jewish Fears of an “Arab Takeover” Gapso’s very public struggle against an“Arab takeover” has resonated morewidely in Israel, where there are long-standing fears among Israeli Jews aboutthe faster growth rate of the Palestinianpopulation.Other Judaization cities, faced withgrowing migration from Palestinian citi-zens living in surrounding communities,have tried to adopt similar policies.Officials in Karmiel, in the centralGalilee, set up a hotline in 2010 for Jewishresidents to inform on neighbors planningto sell homes to Arabs. There have alsobeen reports of vigilante-style patrols de-terring Palestinian residents of neighbor-ing villages from entering the city.Nationalist politicians regularly refer tothe country’s Palestinian citizens, a fifth ofthe population, as a “demographic time-bomb.” The minority, which is increasinglyhighlighting its historic and emotionallinks to Palestinians in the occupied terri-tories, has also been characterized as a“cancer” and a “fifth column.”Gapso rapidly became the darling ofright-wing parties in Binyamin Ne-tanyahu’s two previous governments forhis outspoken stance. He found an espe-cially close ally in Uri Ariel, a settler and

the housing minister until elections inMarch. Together, they devised a plan to quicklyrestore the city’s Judaization role. A newneighborhood of 3,000 homes is beingbuilt that will be available only to Jews. Itis being marketed exclusively to the ultra-Orthodox population. The decision to bring fundamentalist re-ligious Jews into a city that is currentlydominated by secular immigrants from theformer Soviet Union appears to have beenguided chiefly by demographic considera-tions.Typically, the ultra-Orthodox have largefamilies of up to 10 children. Some 30,000new Jews will boost the Jewish majority ina city that currently numbers only 50,000residents. Spokeswoman Yosef said the neighbor-hood would ensure “Arabs cannot be themajority.”Raed Ghattas, an Arab councilor inUpper Nazareth, said such policies werepart of a “continuum of racism” in the city.Local Arab residents feared that the mu-nicipality’s intention in bringing in reli-gious Jews in such large numbers was totrigger ethnic and religious tensions, headded. Across Israel, there have been reports ofultra-Orthodox communities clashing withsecular populations, stoning cars that driveon the Sabbath and attacking women forbeing immodestly dressed.“Looked at objectively, this obsessionwith demography, planning and classify-ing everything in terms of ‘Arab’ and ‘Jew-ish’ is seriously abnormal behavior,” saidMohammed Zeidan. “But it makes sense in a state whose goalis to dominate everything that is not Jew-ish. Then the smallest features of life, eventhe books in a library, become part of yournational struggle.” ❑

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Israel to Push Congress to PassBill to Hamper Iran DealBy Barak Ravid

Israel will adopt two lines of attack as ittries to thwart—or at least modify—theinternational nuclear agreement with Iranin the coming weeks, a senior official said.Firstly, it will lobby the U.S. Congress topass legislation that would make it diffi-cult, or even impossible, to approve a com-prehensive deal with Iran if one is reachedby the June 30 deadline.At the same time, it will continue press-ing the White House for the “improve-ments” Israel says must be made in theterms of the agreement, the official said.Israel will try to persuade as many con-gressmen and senators as possible to sup-port the bill sponsored by Sen. Bob Corker(R-TN), chairman of the U.S. Senate For-eign Relations Committee. The bill sets a60-day period from the moment an overallagreement is reached with Iran, duringwhich Congress and the Senate will checkand review its every detail.

The bill obliges senior officials of theObama administration to submit detailed re-ports to Congress and attend a series ofhearings about the agreement. It also saysthat legislation of U.S. sanctions may be re-voked only if the House and Senate foreignaffairs committees make a joint decisionsupporting the agreement within those 60days.The current draft of Corker’s proposalcannot prevent the agreement, but onlydelay its implementation for some time andput bureaucratic obstacles in its path.The Israeli official said Israel will try topersuade congressmen and senators to in-troduce a clause stipulating that the agree-ment with Iran should be seen as an inter-national treaty. A U.S.-signed internationaltreaty requires a Senate vote to go intoeffect.“There’s a political struggle in Congressover Iran,” the official said. “Congress canmake a decision that it’s a treaty and not anagreement. Those issues are being debated,so why don’t we make the most of it?”The White House objects to Corker’sproposal and may veto it. It is also not atall clear whether Corker would want to in-clude such a clause in his bill. The Israeli

official said that in view of all the Republi-can senators’ full support for Corker’s bill,Israel’s efforts will focus on persuading De-mocratic senators to support it. This wouldneutralize the presidential veto, he said.The support of 67 senators is required tooverturn a presidential veto. Since only 54senators are Republican, Israel must obtainthe support of 13 Democratic senators forthe move. In the current situation, espe-cially after Prime Minister Binyamin Ne-tanyahu’s speech in Congress, whichbrought Democratic senators closer toObama, the passage of such a bill withsuch a substantive clause and the overturnof a presidential veto is a difficult, if notimpossible, mission.The official said that at the same time,Israel will continue its talks with the ad-ministration on the agreement’s variousclauses. Since quite a few of the clauseshave been left open and no agreement wasreached on them, Israel believes they canbe changed to improve the agreement.

What Israel WantsAt a briefing to foreign journalists on April6, Strategic and Intelligence Affairs Minis-ter Yuval Steinitz outlined the improve-ments Israel wishes to make in the agree-ment.First of all, Israel seeks a significant re-duction in the number of centrifuges Iranwill continue to operate and could put toimmediate use if it decides to produce abomb. According to the framework agree-ment, Iran can continue to operate 6,000centrifuges.Secondly, it seeks the closing of the for-tified uranium enrichment facility inFordo. As per the framework, the facilitywould continue operating but would onlybe used for the purpose of nuclear re-search, and not uranium enrichment.Thirdly, Israel wants the sanctions im-posed on Iran to be lifted gradually and ac-cording to its progress in implementing theagreement. This remains a point of con-tention in the framework; Iran wants allthe sanctions to be lifted at once, while theworld powers demand that this be donegradually.Fourthly, Israel wants the agreement torequire Iran to expose the full details of itsnuclear program’s potential military as-

Congress, Israel and a Nuclear AgreementWith Iran

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JUNE/JULY 2015 17THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

pects. The framework addresses this issue,but only in general terms.The fifth demand seeks to require Iran

to get rid of its stockpile of 3.5-percent-en-riched uranium. This issue is yet to beagreed upon; Iran is refusing to shipabroad the 10-ton stockpile, agreeing onlyto dilute the enriched uranium and convertit into oxide.Finally, Israel wants International

Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to beable to access any site in Iran, at any pointin time. The framework addresses thisissue extensively, but Israel claims that thecurrent wording allows Iran to prevent in-spectors from accessing military facilities.It’s unclear whether Israel’s dual strategy

can succeed considering the contradictionbetween the two channels. One factor thathas hurt Israel’s ability to influence theframework agreement was the working as-sumption at the White House that Ne-tanyahu and Israeli Ambassador to the U.S.Ron Dermer colluded with senior Republi-cans in Congress to thwart the deal.Netanyahu’s invitation to address Con-

gress in March was viewed by the WhiteHouse as unequivocal proof of this. Israel’sactions in Congress against the deal led theWhite House to decide a few weeks ago tolimit the scope and quality of informationthat the U.S. gives Israel on the negotiationswith Iran. This, in order to prevent Ne-tanyahu and Dermer from using this infor-mation to thwart the agreement. As a result,Israel was surprised to learn of significantparts of the understandings reached be-tween Iran and the world powers.The Israeli official said he did not be-

lieve Israel’s lobbying in Congress wouldharm its ability to influence the WhiteHouse about the agreement.“There’s no contradiction between an at-

tempt to thwart the agreement and an at-tempt to improve it,” he said.“Imagine that in a few years we’ll have

to make a harsh move [an Israeli militaryoffensive against Iran]. Then people willask why the prime minister didn’t act inevery way possible ahead of time,” he said.

Will Bob Corker Save the GOP?By Patrick J. Buchanan

“Pat, sometimes it seems like ourfriends want me to go over the cliff

with flags flying,” President Reagan oncetold me.Today, it is “Bibi” Netanyahu and the

neocons howling “kill the deal” and“bomb Iran” who are shoving the Repub-lican Party toward the cliff.The question, which may decide 2016,

may be framed thus:Should a Republican Congress meticu-

lously point out the flaws and risks of thisnuclear deal with Iran and, if the Iraniansdo cheat or attempt a breakout, be re-warded for their skepticism and statesman-ship?Or should the GOP sabotage and scuttle

the deal and let itself be held politicallyliable for the diplomatic and strategic dis-aster that would follow?Consider the consequences of successful

Republican sabotage.The U.S. coalition of France, Germany,

Britain, Russia and China would be shat-tered. But the U.N. Security Council,China, Russia and the Europeans wouldstill go ahead and lift sanctions on Iran.Should Congress override a veto by Pres-

ident Obama, pile new sanctions on Iran,and demand new concessions, Tehrancould ignore us or declare itself no longerbound to the concessions it has alreadymade.If Iran then began to restore its nuclear

program to where it was 18 months ago,we would have one option left to stop it:war.But Obama is not going to war with Iran.

Hence, goaded by the neocons, GOP can-didates would spend 2015 and 2016 assur-ing the nation that war with Iran is still“on the table” should they win the White

House.Is this a winning platform?Yet this is the path Bibi and the neocons

would put America on.John Bolton, a possible presidential can-

didate, has already come out for bombingIran. John McCain urges Israel to “gorogue,” prodding Bibi to launch a strike onIran and drag us into his war.Lindsey Graham supports “an authoriza-

tion for the use of military force” againstIran and said in 2010 that we shouldlaunch an air war so massive that Iranwould be unable to defend itself.Sheldon Adelson, casino oligarch and

Daddy Warbucks who put $100 millionbehind the party in 2012 and promisesmore this time, has advocated a nuclearstrike to warn Iran to stop enriching and afollow-up nuclear strike on its capital ifIran defies us.“Kill the Deal” is the headline on Bill

Kristol’s editorial in the Weekly Standard.Writes neocon Joshua Muravchik, war

is “our only option.” Gov. Scott Walker hasdeclared that his first act as presidentwould be to kill the nuclear deal.President Walker would thus put us,

alone, without allies, on a road to war—tostrip Iran of weapons of mass destructionit does not have.Is this what America can look forward to

if it votes Republican?A new Middle East war with a nation

three times the size of Iraq, and with Doverreceiving again the coffins and WalterReed the casualties?Which brings us to Bob Corker, chair-

man of the Senate Foreign Relations Com-mittee, who declined to sign Tom Cotton’s

Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of the newbook The Greatest Comeback: How RichardNixon Rose From Defeat to Create the NewMajority. Copyright © 2015 Creators Syndi-cate, Inc. Reprinted by permission of PatrickJ. Buchanan and Creators Syndicate, Inc.

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letter to Ayatollah Khamenei and is bestpositioned to plumb the depths of this nu-clear deal to determine whether Iran’s con-cessions are real.Iran has agreed to cut back its operating

centrifuges to 5,000, to reconfigure itsArak reactor so it does not produce pluto-nium, to stop enriching underground atFordo, to dilute all of its 20-percent en-riched uranium, and to allow in more in-spectors and inspections.If true, the deal appears to do what

Obama says it does: close off every knownavenue to an Iranian bomb.My own sense is that Iran decided some

time ago not to test a nuclear device be-cause it believes, as do we, this could meanthe spread of nukes to Egypt, Turkey andSaudi Arabia—which Iran does not wantany more than we do.Corker should schedule testimony from

National Intelligence Director Adm. JamesClapper and the directors of the CIA andDIA.The critical questions: Does the U.S. in-

telligence community stand by its declara-tion of three years ago that Iran does nothave a bomb program?How long would it take Iran, if it de-

cided to go for a bomb, to build and testone? How long would it take us to discovera breakout?Does Iran have an ICBM that can hit the

United States, as Bibi claims? Is Iran test-ing intercontinental ballistic missiles?The GOP should raise every legitimate

question, but if the deal seems to do whatObama claims it does, let it go into effect.Then, if Iran cheats, the nation will turn

to the GOP. But if Iran abides by the dealand the deal accomplishes what Obamapromises, the GOP can say: We did our duediligence. We did our duty.Should the deal collapse, Republicans

will be far better off if the Iranian Revolu-tionary Guard Corps or some new ayatol-lah sabotaged it than if Congress is seen asthe perpetrator.

Iran Deal Could Lead to an Isolated, Disempowered U.S.By William Pfaff

The framework agreement reached inearly April between the U.N. “5 plus

1” group and Iran has won general ap-proval internationally, except in Israel andamong Binyamin Netanyahu’s Republican

Party claque in Washington, where suchwas never expected. What this agreementalso does is point the way toward an iso-lated and disempowered United States, de-pending on the choices it makes.In my view, the importance of the Iran

nuclear issue has always been vastly exag-gerated. Even if Tehran possessed nuclearweapons, these would be of no strategicvalue other than that which Israel—posses-sor of land, sea and air nuclear deterrence—has attributed to them, in the hope that theUnited States would do to Iran what it didin 2003 to Iraq, invade and destroy it. Thatwould leave Israel the only significant mili-tary power in the Middle East.Washington did not take Israel’s bait,

even though the Israeli government and itsAmerican friends have tried hard enoughto convince the United States to go to waragainst Iran. Indeed, the chorus of congres-sional advocates of bombing other nationsinto the Stone Age is still singing, withIraq still in ruins and with more ruinsbeing created by the U.S.-led coalitionfighting the so-called Islamic State.I have sometimes thought that the

simple solution to the Iran nuclear problemwould have been for Washington to insiston Israel-Iran nuclear parity. Iran would befree to build up to a level of nuclearweapons to which Israel would builddown. Hence mutually assured destructionin the Middle East—just like the UnitedStates and the Soviet Union during thecold war. But a fanciful idea, I concede.Yet even then, neither country would be

in a position to intimidate its neighbors inthe Middle East. Being the sixth (or is itfifth?) most powerful nuclear state in theworld has got Israel nowhere, except forproviding Israelis who are really afraid ofIran with a certain peace of mind, even if

the Iranian nuclear threat for the pastquarter-century has been a chimera.Israel, despite its rockets, nuclear

bombers and nuclear missile-launching sub-marines, has been harassed by persistent ir-regular acts of war, assassinations and civiluprisings by Palestinian guerrillas, and in itsforeign conquests in the Palestinian territo-ries, Lebanon and Syria by formidable Arabresistance movements like Hezbollah andHamas. Israel’s nuclear weaponry has satthere gathering dust. The same thing wouldbe true of Iran’s bomb, if it had one, al-though there would no longer be the samepeace of mind in certain quarters.What happens at the end of June? We

may find ourselves in the same stalematewe faced on the eve of the Lausanne out-line agreements. Nobody still agrees. Quitelikely is that the Obama administration andits U.N. partners, the 5 plus 1, will agreewith Tehran on the terms for a permanentsettlement, but the Republican-controlledSenate of the United States will refuse toratify a treaty embodying the agreement,or find another way to subvert acceptance.That is what the Senate Republicans have

promised, and there is no reason to doubtthem. However, the president makes foreignpolicy decisions. Moreover, these negotia-tions have been between the United Nationspermanent Security Council members andGermany, and none of them is subject to thewhims of the United States Senate. Neitheris any vote they take on the fate of the in-ternational sanctions against Iran.Hence it is perfectly possible that a Se-

curity Council—in which the veto is notexercised—would agree to the outcome ofthe present negotiations and lift the sanc-tions now imposed upon Iran, leaving theUnited States to its national peculiaritiesand solitary solidarity with Israel.This would certainly suit Tehran, which

longs to be freed from the sanctions regimeand to rejoin an international marketplaceit would share with Europe and Asia,Canada and Latin America, and with theRussians and Chinese, probably joining thenew international financial institutionsbeing created by the latter two.A new Republican administration in the

United States in 2016 could use its weightin the existing Bretton Woods institutions,but to little purpose. A Republican-ledAmerican economy would find itself at agrave disadvantage in a new economicsystem that profits from the United States’own Republican Party policy choices.These choices would have led the U.Stoward international isolation, and openedRussia, China, Europe and the Pacificeconomies to a novel international order inwhich the United States would no longerbe No. 1. ❑

18 JUNE/JULY 2015THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

William Pfaff, who died April 30, was an in-ternational affairs columnist and the author ofeight books, the latest being The Irony of Man-ifest Destiny: The Tragedy of America’s For-eign Policy (Walker & Co.). Copyright © 2015Tribune Media Services, Inc.

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The uniform is the same uniform. It’s theuniform whose wearers blew up hun-

dreds of homes and schools and clinics inGaza last summer. It’s the uniform whosewearers periodically shoot teenagers andchildren throwing stones and peacefuldemonstrators in the West Bank. It’s theuniform that every night invades homesand brutally pulls people out of bed, oftenfor needless and politically motivated ar-rests. It’s the uniform that blocks people’sfreedom of movement in their own land.It’s the uniform that’s been abusing an en-tire people for decades.

Now its wearers are saving lives for thecameras. The evil army in Palestine has be-come the salvation army in Nepal.

The Israeli rescuers in Nepal are cer-tainly infused with good intentions. Thereserve soldiers among them told of drop-ping everything to join the effort. They aredefinitely good people who enlisted tohelp Israelis and Nepalese. It’s very mov-ing to see a preemie being carried to safetyby an IDF soldier.

But we cannot forget that wearing thatsame uniform, the IDF kills babies by thedozens; a B’Tselem report released lastweek listed 13 instances in which homeswere blown up in Gaza, killing 31 babiesand 39 children. He who did this to dozensof babies needs an intolerable measure ofchutzpah to dare be photographed with ababy rescued from an earthquake and toboast of his humanitarianism.

Because after all, boasting is the name ofthe game. That’s a fact. Let’s show our-selves, and particularly the rest of theworld, how wonderful we are, how theIDF is really the absolutely most moralarmy in the world.

“Have you seen any Iranian rescueplanes?” asked a propagandist in disguiseyesterday. “A model state,” “The beautifulIsrael,” “The Israeli flag among the ruins,”“The pride.” “Our delegation of ministeringangels represents the universal values of ourpeople and our country,” the president said.“These are the true faces of Israel—a coun-try prepared to assist at any distance at suchmoments,” the prime minister said.

Ministering angels? The country’s trueface? Perhaps. But that angelic face also hasa dark, satanic side, one that kills babies,not only saves them. When that’s the case,one cannot speak of “universal values.”One cannot speak of values at all. There issimply no right to do so. To see AvigdorLieberman, the bully who preaches atevery turn to bomb, shell and destroy,speak of humanitarianism?

There are countries that aren’t providingas much generous aid as Israel, but thereisn’t a single country behaving with suchhypocrisy—killing in Gaza, saving inNepal, and presenting itself as MotherTeresa. There is no other country that soexploits every opportunity to propagan-dize and shower itself with syrupy, embar-rassing self-adulation ad nauseam.

Babies die in the child warehouses at theTel Aviv central bus station not from someforce majeure, but because of a cruel immi-gration policy. The IDF isn’t saving those ba-bies. There was an earthquake in Gaza dur-ing Operation Protective Edge; the rubblehas not been cleared to this day, and most of

those who lost their homes remain homeless.No one has visited Gaza recently withoutbeing shocked to their very core. And thatearthquake was manmade; it was the workof the IDF, the same IDF that’s in Nepal.

Israel doesn’t have to go all the way toKathmandu to save lives; it would beenough to lift the siege it imposes an hour’sdrive from Tel Aviv and let Gaza be rebuilt.It would be enough to allow the two mil-lion people who live there a bit of freedom.It would be enough to decide that duringthe next attack, which is inevitable, the IDFwill act differently. That the same IDF nowengaged in rescue will not commit morewar crimes. That it will uphold interna-tional law, and perhaps even those “uni-versal values” Israel is gloating about now.That the same IDF now hugging babies willnot bomb homes with babies inside them.

But all this is, of course, much harderthan sending a 747 to Kathmandu and set-ting up the largest possible, best-equippedfield hospital in front of the accompanyingarmy of reporters, and applauding thebeautiful, virtuous, moral Israel. ❑

SpecialReportSpecialReport

Killing in Gaza, Saving in Nepal: Israel’s Moral HypocrisyBy Gideon Levy

Injured Nepalese women wait to be treated by IDF medics at the Israeli field hospital on thesecond day of their missin in Kathmandu, April 29, 2015.

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Gideon Levy is a columnist for the Israeli dailyHaaretz. Copyright © Haaretz Daily Newspa-per Ltd. All rights reserved.

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The sounds of sirens, surveillanceplanes, helicopters and armored mili-

tary vehicles filled the streets of Baltimore,MD on April 27 following the funeral forFreddie Gray, 25. Another young blackman dead from wounds sustained in policecustody. More nonstop news coverage,playing and replaying images of mayhem,looting, arson—and ignoring other scenesof peaceful protesters condemning yet an-other brutal police action committed in ablack community in America. Three days later, on April 30, a similar

scene played out in Tel Aviv, when Israel’sEthiopian community launched protests inRabin Square following the release ofdamning video footage showing two Israelipolice officers beating up Demas Fekadeh,an Israeli soldier of Ethiopian origin, inuniform on April 28. Israel is home to morethan 135,000 Ethiopian Jews and, likeblacks in America, they are disproportion-ately targeted by police. In fact, Israeli po-lice gave black protesters “the Palestiniantreatment,” firing tear gas, water cannons,stun grenades and “skunk water.”

The timing, topic and speakers couldn’thave been more relevant for Sabeel DCMetro’s 4th annual spring program, “Pales-tine and Zion: The Journey for CivilRights,” held May 2 at the Sixth Presby-terian Church in Washington, DC. Rev.Kenneth H. King, pastor of New Hope Bap-tist United Church of Christ in Laurel, MD,promised to explore ways for AfricanAmericans and churches to respond to suf-fering and discrimination experienced byPalestinians, blacks and others “who havebeen cast aside” in their communities.After spending days helping his fellow

citizens get through the crisis, Rev. Dr.Heber M. Brown, III, senior pastor at Bal-timore’s Pleasant Hope Baptist Church,drove to DC to discuss the similarities ofthe civil right struggles facing Palestinians,Ethiopian Israelis and black Americans.Freddie Gray’s controversial in-custodydeath was but the latest in a “receivingline of state violence” in Baltimore, Rev.Brown observed. In July 2013, TyroneWest was stopped for a broken tail light bypolice driving an unmarked car. West wasdragged from his vehicle by his dread-locks, beaten, maced and tased. The offi-cers involved in West’s death remain on ac-tive duty today.

The American Civil Liberties Union re-cently reported that between 2010 and2014, 109 people died after encounterswith police in Maryland—31 in Baltimore,including Anthony Anderson, TrayvonScott and George V. King. For decadesAfrican-American citizens have sufferedfrom police brutality. “So don’t use theword riot,” Reverend Brown instructed hisaudience. “That’s for a senseless action.Monday an uprising, a rebellion, began.” That being said, Reverend Brown sug-

gested that corporate news had sensation-alized Baltimore’s uprising in much thesame way it has treated protests by Pales-tinians—focusing on the “rage instead ofthe reasons.” Where were the cameraswhen rival Baltimore gang members—Bloods, Crips and Black Guerilla Family—joined men from the Nation of Islam andother clergy and street organizers to standshoulder to shoulder to keep the peace andstop looting? Brown asked. Social media described the troubles as

Baltimore’s intifada, posting and tweeting aphoto of a young black man throwing arock beside another photo of a Palestinianbrother with a rock in his hand, ReverendBrown said. Why can’t Americans get behind and

SpecialReportSpecialReport

Getting Past the Optics of Resistance toFight Racism in Baltimore and IsraelBy Delinda C. Hanley

LEFT: Protesters throw rocks during clashes with police on April 27, 2015 in Baltimore, MD.; RIGHT: Israeli security forces assault anEthiopian-Israeli demonstrator during a May 3, 2015 protest in Tel Aviv.

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support either rebellion by a besiegedcommunity calling for dignity? “Whothrew rocks at a giant?” he asked, referringto the Biblical story of David and Goliath.“I’m not saying you should go throwrocks, but you should see what is beingexpressed,” Brown emphasized.It’s easy to be critical of those being op-

pressed by state violence, Brown said, buthe urged people to look past the expres-sion of pain and examine the oppression.Then he painted a grim picture of Balti-more: It’s a “food desert—it really is.There’s lead in our water system. Schoolsaren’t equipped: they close if it gets toocold or too hot. Brown, black and poor aremoved out to make way for gentrification.“Don’t just be concerned with how peo-

ple are crying out but why they’re cryingout,” Brown urged. “They want safeschools for their children, hospitals, jobs.Are we different from one another? Don’twe want the same thing?” Brown advised supporters to push past

the “optics of resistance.” Recalling an In-terfaith Peace-Builder trip he took to Israeland the occupied territories in 2010,Brown said he was impressed by the greatcreativity Palestinians use to express them-selves, including murals on Israel’sapartheid wall and raps by hip hop artists.Brown was in Ramallah when the Israelimilitary attacked the Gaza-bound flotilla.“I jumped on the bus and joined in amarch,” he recalled. “I met my cousins, myaunties and uncles. My fist was pumpingalong with everyone. You don’t have toknow the language to recognize injustice.” Reverend Brown said he was struck by

an interview with “a sister” who told him,“I know you are good people in America. Iknow about Rachel Corrie [killed by a bull-dozer operator as she tried to stop it fromdemolishing a home in Gaza]. Please lookwhere your taxes are going.” Even thoughthe U.S. acts like a neutral broker, Browninsisted, our money is supporting Israel’smilitary and backing oppression.

“It’s time to repurpose our priv-ilege,” Brown suggested. “What do

you do with what is given to you? Bendour privilege in the direction of justice. Ifwe have a U.S. passport, it’s a symbol andsign of privilege; white males in this coun-try are a symbol of privilege; heterosexu-als are a symbol of privilege; Christians area symbol of privilege. If you’ve had break-fast this morning, that’s a symbol of privi-lege.” Brown urged listeners to “Lean inand be sensitive to someone else’s story.Show up when you don’t have to, whenyou have a choice not to.”Jews use the excuse that they are the

chosen people of God to justify occupa-tion, Brown continued. It’s the same justi-fication people used to enslave or hang ourancestors. Throughout history that’s thejustification used to oppress others. Rev.Brown concluded: “God is bigger than onereligion.” In that final meeting God willcall together Bloods, Crips, Blacks, Jews,Christians, Palestinians, Muslims and oth-ers in the human family. “Until then,” hesaid, “we don’t have to agree on everythingto work on something. We can agree onworking against oppression wherever wesee it rear its ugly head.”

Black Lives Matter, in Tel Aviv andBaltimore Rev. Graylan S. Hagler, senior pastor at Ply-mouth Congregational UCC in Washington,DC, was born and raised in Baltimore. Infact, his grandmother’s house was in theneighborhood where the protests erupted.Blocks of boarded-up vacant homes,

poverty and social inequity have little to dowith the riots of 1968 [following the assas-sination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.],Reverend Hagler said. It was divestment byBethlehem Steel and General Motors thatcrushed Baltimore. Then politicians built astadium and developed the Inner Harbor,he said, but ignored the despair of neigh-borhoods with 60 percent unemployment.“Monday it looked like the intifada to

me,” Hagler commented. Young folks fac-ing police cars and GLOCKs without fear.

Step into this situation and turn aroundthe focus to the occupied territories, Haglersuggested. Young Palestinians feeling theirleaders are misrepresenting them, and theylead—risking their own lives— and theirleaders have to follow.When political leadership fails, and law

enforcement officers use military force intheir communities, young people feel likethey’re living under occupation, Hagler ex-plained, and they respond. “God blessyoung folks,” he added, before reading astatement from Baltimore church leaders inresponse to protesters: “It is imperative thatwe understand that this situation is deeplyimbedded in institutionalized racist prac-tices that must stop. The lives and future ofour families and communities are at stake.”Condemning the use of words like

“thugs and hooligans” to describe whatmay be the germination of an intifada orrebellion, he urged listeners to dig deeper.As Hagler watched a sea of young peopledrained of hope pouring out to face policecars, he said, he realized they were makinguse of the only tools at their disposal.“Who’s to say what tools people shoulduse to gain their own freedom?” Haglerasked. “What tactics are justified whileyour oppressors are carrying out geno-cide?” If people are beaten and abused andthere is no system in place to supportthem, who can presume to tell them howto liberate themselves? This is looking like an intifada, Hagler

reiterated. There are parallels betweenracism on the streets of Baltimore,Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Americans are “mixed up biblically,”

Hagler continued. He recently visited achurch whose leaders proudly told himtheir congregation was “building a bombshelter” to protect besieged Israelis. Amer-icans are wanting to do good. Reverend Hagler is also trying to do good

in his own DC church. Responding to theubiquitous signs on U.S. synagogues sup-porting Israel, Hagler says he has proposedputting a sign on the church lawn saying,“End the Occupation. Free Palestine,” likethey did to protest apartheid in South Africa.He said he tells his congregation, “You can’tpick or choose racism—if it exists in the U.S.or Palestine or South Africa. You’ve got tostand up against racism wherever it is.”Hagler closed with a quote from Dr.

King’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lin-coln Memorial promising that “we will notbe satisfied until justice rolls down like wa-ters, and righteousness like a mightystream. God bless the young people. Blacklives matter.” ❑

JUNE/JULY 2015 21THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Rev. Dr. Heber M. Brown, III.

Rev. Graylan S. Hagler.

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The announcement by Sen. BarbaraMikulski (D-MD) that she would not

run for re-election in 2016 caused theWashington Jewish Week to lament in aheadline, “With Mikulski’s Retirement,Community Loses Ally.” The article went onto note that “Jewish political organizationspraised Mikulski’s championing of Jewishcauses, both foreign and domestic.”Within days of the Catholic Polish-

American senator’s March 2 announce-ment, two Democratic House membersfrom Maryland announced they would viefor her seat: Chris Van Hollen on March 4,and Donna Edwards on March 10.Initially it seemed that their campaigns

would be perceived as Van Hollen’s expe-rience vs. Edwards’ progressivism. OnMedicare and Social Security, for example,Edwards took jabs at Van Hollen for hav-ing said he would be “willing to consider”cuts to the two programs.Another, perhaps more significant, issue

is also at play, however: the candidates’support for Israel. Former AIPAC employeeM.J. Rosenberg addressed that at the April10 conference on The Israel Lobby co-sponsored by the Washington Report and

the Institute for Research: Middle EasternPolicy (IRmep). Noting that Van Hollen“has raised a million dollars for his Senatecampaign and has two million more in thebank,” Rosenberg explained: “That would not be the case had he not

changed his tune on Israel. Back in 2006,Chris Van Hollen got into deep hot waterwith the lobby when he criticized Israel’sconduct of the war with Hezbollah. He ex-pressed support for Secretary of State Con-doleezza Rice’s statement that Israel wasnot taking care to avoid civilian casualties.“Poor Chris. He was new then; didn’t

know that such an audacious stand—ex-pressing support for his own secretary ofstate—would cause the lobby to go nuts.But it did. He was summoned to explainhimself to the Jewish Community Councilof Greater Washington, the local branch ofthe lobby, which he did. And then he is-sued a statement which retracted his ear-lier statement, but his mea culpas were notaccepted. They insisted that he go to Israeland do his repentance there. And he did.“The lobby types still didn’t trust him,

but now, a decade later, with Van Hollendemonstrating his devotion, he is thelobby’s candidate, with his opponent, Rep.Donna Edwards, assigned the former ChrisVan Hollen role of Israel critic.” (A com-

plete transcript and video of Rosenberg’sremarks are available at <www.IsraelLobbyUS.org>.)Edwards, too, got off to a bad start with

the lobby, but she has not apologized. InJanuary 2009, shortly after she took officeand in the midst of Israel’s Operation CastLead attack on Gaza, Edwards joined 21other House members in voting “present,”rather than for, a nonbinding resolution“recognizing Israel’s right to defend itselfagainst attacks from Gaza.” Five Housemembers voted against the bill.A June 1, 2009 article in Politico titled,

“Should Edwards Be Shvitzing?” reportsthat Edwards said “she chose not to backthe resolution because Congress ought toinstead support the United Nations’ call foran immediate cease-fire in the Middle East.”The article continues: “Her explanation

did little to quell the controversy, and inthe weeks after Jewish leaders complainedthat an Edwards-sponsored forum on theIsrael-Palestine conflict failed to include ahawkish, pro-Israel voice and that the first-term congresswoman was unresponsive torequests to organize a meeting with subur-ban Washington Jewish leaders to discussthe vote.”Following a 2009 trip to Israel and the

occupied territories with her DemocraticHouse colleagues Brian Baird of Washing-ton state (among whose constituents wasthe family of Rachel Corrie) and PeterWelch of Vermont, Edwards said, “As anAfrican-American woman, I really didn’thave a perception of a significant minoritypopulation in Israel, and there is.” In February 2012 she was one of 6 con-

gresswomen and 14 leading women phil-anthropists on a J Street-sponsored trip toIsrael and the West Bank. “In Jerusalemand Tel Aviv it’s so easy not to see much ofwhat we saw,” Edwards commented aboutthe trip. “But what does it mean fordemocracy when you are willing to sacri-fice so much in the name of security?”Not surprisingly, there have been at-

tempts to unseat Edwards. Former PrinceGeorge’s County prosecutor Glenn Ivey con-templated running against her in 2010 and2012, but ultimately withdrew. And follow-ing the 2010 census, both Edwards’ and VanHollen’s districts were drastically altered,with both representatives losing much ofweathy, and heavily Jewish, MontgomeryCounty, a suburb of Washington, DC.

ElectionWatchElectionWatch

Will Maryland’s Democratic Senate Primary Race Unmask the Israel Lobby? By Janet McMahon

Maryland Democratic Senate candidates Reps. Donna Edwards (l) and Chris Van Hollen.W

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22 JUNE/JULY 2015THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Janet McMahon is managing editor of theWashington Report on Middle East Affairs.

mcmahon_22-23_Special Report 5/7/15 10:41 PM Page 22

The question was, would the main-stream media—specifically, The Washing-ton Post—report on this simmering con-troversy over Israel, or would only readersof the Jewish press—and the WashingtonReport—be in on the secret? It’s been ap-parent for years that the Post is loath to putthe words “Israel lobby” next to eachother. In its story about Edwards announc-ing her decision to run for the Senate, thePost described her as a “liberal hard-liner.”

Elephant in the Room or Cat out of the Bag?But who should pop up amid the discussionof social welfare progressivism but enter-tainer Barbra Streisand, who contributed$2,600 to the Edwards campaign. “The con-tribution is a sign that Edwards is on theradar of deep-pocketed national liberals,”the Post noted. Then, taking a deep breath,it continued, “It’s also noteworthy becauseStreisand, who is Jewish, is a longtime sup-porter of Israel, while Edwards has beencriticized by some as insufficiently so.”Ten days later, on May 1, the Post ran an

article headlined, “Edwards’s Israel Votesan Issue in Campaign,” by Rachel Weiner.“As she campaigns forthe Democratic nomina-tion,” Weiner wrote,“Edwards is facingpushback over stancesshe has taken in issuesinvolving Israel thathave some questioningher support for the Jew-ish state. Whether thatrecord will stymie herSenate bid reflects alarger concern amongIsrael’s liberal critics:the extent to whichcandidates can questionIsrael’s policies withoutjeopardizing their polit-ical futures.”Pointing out that Jews

make up about 4.3 per-cent of Maryland resi-dents, Weiner went onto note that “Edwards isnot ignoring this con-stituency. She placedPassover greetings inlocal Jewish newspaperslast month, and visitedBeth Am Synagogue inBaltimore recently.…ButJewish leaders are moreconcerned about whatEdwards has done inCongress.”Edwards has the sup-

port of Emily’s List and

other national organizations. Indeed, ac-cording to The Baltimore Sun, “Nearly 80percent of the money Rep. Donna F. Ed-wards raised for her Senate campaign [inMarch] came from out-of-state donors.…[while] Rep. Chris Van Hollen…raised 74percent of his cash from Maryland—muchof it from Montgomery County.”

Alluding to Streisand’s star power, theSun’s John Fritze noted, “Perhaps the mostinteresting name on Van Hollen’s donor listwas Judy Gross, wife of Alan Gross—theformer Marylander who was imprisoned inCuba for five years.” (See May/June 2011Washington Report, p. 20.) As Gross’ rep-resentative, Van Hollen worked hard to se-

cure her husband’s re-lease.Whoever wins the

Democratic primarynext April, Marylan-ders will lose an effec-tive and knowledgeablerepresentative, sinceneither Edwards norVan Hollen, as Senatecandidates, can run forre-election to theirHouse seats. (Ivey isnow running for theseat Edwards is vacat-ing.) As Rosenberg sum-

marized the race at therecent Israel Lobby con-ference: “This [is] goingto be one of the biggestissues in Maryland, inthe primary, that DonnaEdwards is an enemy ofIsrael, the Jewish peo-ple. None of it’s true.And Chris Van Hollen,who has the same viewsas she does, he’s smartlyinsulated against themby making all his apolo-gies.”Let’s hope the voters

of Maryland are giventhe information theyneed to make a truly in-formed decision. ❑

JUNE/JULY 2015 23THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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The April 2 an-nouncement

that a “framework”agre emen t h adbeen reached be-tween Iran and the“P5+1” group ofcountries (perma-n e n t S e c u r i t yCouncil membersBr i ta in , China ,France, Russia andthe U.S., plus Ger-many) drew pre-dictable criticismsfrom Israeli PrimeMinister BinyaminNetanyahu and hisLikudnik support-ers in Congress, aswell as from AIPAC(aka Likud-USA).The final deal is tobe concluded by the end of June. Appar-ently panicking over the prospect of losingthe specter of Iran’s “existential threat” toIsrael to frighten and distract the Israelipopulation, Netanyahu claimed the dealwould threaten Israel’s survival.Most of the congressional arguments said,

basically, that the deal isn’t good enough—even though the majority of objective ob-servers described it as better than expected.For the most part, congressional critics arguedthat any agreement that would let the Irani-ans “keep their nuclear infrastructure inplace,” in the words of Senate MajorityLeader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), is unaccept-able. Of course, totally dismantling Iran’s nu-clear infrastructure is not going to happen, sothese critics essentially are arguing for noagreement, returning to the situation beforelast year’s interim agreement. In addition, crit-ics of the agreement seem to be convenientlyforgetting that it is not just between the U.S.and Iran – five other nations are involved.

Senate Passes Iran Nuclear Agreement Review BillAfter the framework agreement was an-nounced, congressional attention turned to

gaining Senate passage of S. 615, the “IranNuclear Agreement Review” bill, intro-duced in February by Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN). According to Corker and other sup-porters of S. 615, it is only reasonable toprovide for congressional review and over-sight of agreements relating to Iran’s nu-clear program. However, as introduced, thebill would have gone well beyond provid-ing for congressional review. It included anumber of “poison pill” provisions thatTehran would certainly find unacceptable,and would probably walk away from thenegotiations as a result. Among other things, the bill would have

required that a final agreement, along withan extensive “verification assessment,” besubmitted to Congress within five calendardays of the agreement being signed, whichwould pose an administrative challenge.Also, the agreement would not be imple-mented for 60 days following transmittal ofthe verification report, to give Congresstime to review the agreement and, presum-ably, act on it. During this time Iran wouldreceive no benefits from the agreement.There was also a provision that would elim-inate all presidential waiver provisions inexisting sanctions legislation, and anotherthat would impose an additional conditionthat Iran is not supporting or engaged interrorism anywhere in the world.

As reported inthe May “CongressWatch,” Senate Ma-jority Leader Mc-Connell on March 3reintroducedCorker’s bill as S.625, announcedthat he was “fast-tracking” it, andsubmitted a “clo-ture motion” to cutoff debate, bypass-ing regular commit-tee procedures. Butleading Democratstold McConnell thatthey would notsupport the bil lun t i l a f t e r t h eframework agree-men t wa s c on -cluded, so he with-

drew action on his S. 625.On April 14 the Senate Foreign Relations

Committee held a “mark-up” session on S.615. After negotiating with Democrats—in-cluding new ranking committee memberSen. Ben Cardin (D-MD)—Corker submittedan amendment as a substitute text for thebill. The amended bill still requires that afinal agreement, along with an extensive“verification assessment,” be submitted toCongress within five calendar days of theagreement being signed. The period forcongressional review, however, is reducedfrom 60 to 30 days. During that period thepresident may not waive or suspend anylegislated sanctions—but this does not in-clude other sanctions against Iran, such asthose imposed by executive action or by in-ternational bodies. Unrelated provisions,such as the condition that Iran is not sup-porting or engaged in terrorism, are not in-cluded. Congress can pass either a resolu-tion of disapproval, which would be subjectto a presidential veto, or a resolution of ap-proval, in which case sanctions relief underthe final agreement may go forward. If Con-gress passes neither resolution during thereview period, sanctions relief under thefinal agreement can also go ahead. The committee passed the amended

measure unanimously, by a 19-0 vote, onApril 14. The bill was approved by the full

CongressWatchCongressWatch

“Framework” Nuclear Agreement With IranDraws Predicted Reaction From LikudniksBy Shirl McArthur

24 JUNE/JULY 2015THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Shirl McArthur is a retired U.S. foreign ser-vice officer based in the Washington, DCarea.

mcarthur_24-26_Congress Watch 5/7/15 10:09 PM Page 24

Senate on May 7 by a vote of 98-1, withSen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) casting the solevote against the bill. In a statement, he ob-jected to the fact that the nuclear deal willnot be presented to Congress as a treaty.Treaties require a higher bar—67 votes—in order to be passed.It has been widely reported that a signif-

icant result of Corker’s negotiations withDemocrats was an agreement (not includedin the text of the amended S. 615) that, be-tween now and the scheduled June 30 con-clusion of final negotiations, Congress willenact no further Iran sanctions legislation.This would seem to put S. 269, the “Nu-clear Weapons Free Iran” bill on hold, atleast until the summer (see below).Understandably, Obama had threatened

to veto the bill as introduced. But after theamended bill passed the committee, theWhite House spokesman said it was “thekind of compromise that the presidentwould be willing to sign.” McConnell gaveanother bone to the White House on May5 by filing a “cloture motion” to end debateon the bill. This was done to prevent Sens.Cotton and Marco Rubio (R-FL) from forc-ing a vote on an amendment requiring Iranto recognize Israel’s right to exist as part ofa final deal. Rubio, perhaps alluding to thepower of Israel’s lobby, accused his col-leagues of being “terrified” to vote againsthis pro-Israel amendment. Meanwhile, on March 12, Corker wrote

to Obama complaining about the several re-ports that the administration planned tobypass Congress regarding a nuclear agree-ment with Iran. He said “there is signifi-

cant and growing bipartisan support forCongress to consider and, as appropriate,vote on any agreement that seeks to relievethe very statutory sanctions imposed byCongress that were instrumental in bring-ing Iran to the negotiating table.”On March 16, five Democratic House

members signed a letter to McConnell, origi-nated by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), con-demning the outrageous, widely reported“open letter” to Iranian leadership originatedby Senator Cotton and signed by 47 Repub-lican senators, attempting to scuttle the ne-gotiations with Iran. The House letter callsthe Cotton letter “yet another action that ap-pears politically motivated to subvert theObama administration’s international diplo-macy.” Citing several nuclear-related recentexecutive agreements executed by presidentsof both parties, the letter notes that “nego-tiators of these agreements were not sub-jected to congressional attempts to obstructthem by introducing a resolution of disap-proval or up-or-down vote, or by sending awarning letter incentivizing parties to walkaway from the negotiating table.”On March 19, 367 House members

signed a letter to Obama originated byForeign Affairs Committee chair Ed Royce(R-CA) and ranking Democrat Eliot Engel(D-NY) that was widely touted as layingout “red lines” for any agreement. But, infact, probably in an effort to get as manysigners as possible, the letter is relativelymoderate and comes close to the Obamaadministration’s position. Its key provisionreads: “Should an agreement with Iran bereached, permanent sanctions relief from

congressionally mandated sanctionswould require new legislation. In review-ing such an agreement, Congress must beconvinced that its terms foreclose anypathway to a bomb, and only then willCongress be able to consider permanentsanctions relief.”

“Nuclear Weapons Free Iran” Bill Apparently on Hold—for NowPassage of the Corker bill would seem to puton hold—at least until after June 30—thelong and complicated S. 269, the “NuclearWeapons Free Iran” bill, introduced in Jan-uary by leading Iran hawks Sens. RobertMenendez (D-NJ) and Mark Kirk (R-IL). LikeS. 615, it would require the president to sub-mit to Congress the text of any agreementand a “verification assessment” report. Evenif there is an agreement, however, there isalso a provision prohibiting the presidentfrom exercising any waiver or any other ac-tion to limit the application of sanctions“until the date that is 30 days of continuoussession of Congress after the president trans-mits these comprehensive solution and as-sessment reports.” Since Congress seldom isin session for 30 continuous days, this wouldmean that, even with an agreement, no sanc-tions could be waived until at least mid-No-vember.If there is no final agreement by July 6,

the sanctions imposed on Iran during the“interim agreement” would be reimposed,and an escalating series of new sanctionswould be imposed each month for the re-mainder of 2015. The section includes apresidential waiver provision, but only

JUNE/JULY 2015 25THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

S.Res. 40, introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) inJanuary, “supports the diplomatic efforts of the U.S. and themembers of the P5+1 countries to reach a comprehensiveagreement with Iran that prevents Iran from acquiring a nu-clear weapon”: still has 14 co-sponsors, including Feinstein.

S. 669, introduced in March by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA),would “provide for the consideration of legislation to respondto a violation by Iran of an arrangement relating to its nuclearprogram”: still has 7 co-sponsors, including Boxer.

H.R. 825, introduced in February by Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL),promoted by AIPAC, and misleadingly titled the “U.S.-IsraelTrade and Commercial Enhancement” bill: has 27 new co-sponsors, for a total of 53, including Roskam.

S. 619, introduced in March by Sens. Ben Cardin (D-MD) andRob Portman (R-OH), “to include among the principaltrade negotiating objectives of the U.S. regarding commer-cial partnerships trade negotiating objectives with respectto discouraging activity that discourages, penalizes, or oth-erwise limits commercial relations with Israel”: still has 6co-sponsors, including Cardin and Portman.

H.R. 114, introduced by Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) in January, to

“recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and relocate toJerusalem the U.S. Embassy in Israel”: now has 18 co-sponsors, including Garrett.

S. 11 7, introduced by Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) in January, to“recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and relocate toJerusalem the U.S. Embassy in Israel”: still has 8 co-spon-sors, including Heller.

H.Res. 126, introduced in February by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), “expressing the sense of the House of Representativesregarding U.S. efforts to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace”:has gained 3 co-sponsors and now has 4, including Lee.

Bills to Cut U.S. Aid to the PalestiniansS. 34, introduced in January by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY): still no

co-sponsors.H.R. 277, introduced in January by Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL):

still has 3 co-sponsors, including Hastings.H.R. 364, introduced in January by Rep. Curt Clawson (R-FL):

still has 5 co-sponsors, including Clawson.S. 633, introduced in March by Senator Paul: still has no co-

sponsors. —S.M.

Status Updates

mcarthur_24-26_Congress Watch 5/7/15 10:09 PM Page 25

subject to a report and certification that itis in the national security interest of theU.S., or if the waiver would make a long-term agreement with Iran more likely. Thebill, which has been strongly pushed—ifnot written—by AIPAC, has 53 co-spon-sors, including Kirk and Menendez.S. 269 was referred to both the Foreign

Relations and Banking Committees. Theformer has not acted on it. But, perhaps re-flecting an administrative mix-up, the billbeing marked up in the Banking Commit-tee was similar to, but different from, S.269, and on March 18 committee chairRichard Shelby (R-AL) introduced it as S.792, with no co-sponsors, and reported itout to the full Senate, where it was placedon the Senate calendar.Two new bills were introduced to “termi-

nate the authority to waive certain provisionsof law requiring the imposition of sanctionswith respect to Iran.” On March 19 Sen. TedCruz (R-TX) introduced S. 825, and on March23 Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) introduced H.R.1540. Neither bill has any co-sponsors.

Another Bill Targeting “BDS” Movement Against Israeli ColoniesOn March 24 Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO),

with one co-sponsor, introduced H.R.1572, a thinly disguised measure aimed atthe “boycott, divestment and sanctions”(BDS) movement by individuals and orga-nizations in response to Israel’s activities inthe occupied Palestinian territories. Thebill is intended “to oppose restrictive tradepractices or boycotts against other coun-tries friendly to the U.S. or against any U.S.person.” Two bills were introduced to authorize

cooperation with Israel to develop and es-tablish an anti-tunneling defense system.H.R. 1349 was introduced March 10 byRep. Gwen Graham (D-FL) and 8 co-spon-sors, and H.R. 1649 was introduced March26 by Lamborn with no co-sponsors. H.R.1649 would also authorize such arrange-ments with other U.S. allies. And H.R. 825and S. 619 (see “Status Updates” box), bothtargeting the BDS movement, have gainedlittle support.Following several unhelpful comments

by Netanyahu in the days leading up tothe March 17 Israeli elections, the WhiteHouse announced that it is “re-evaluating”the administration’s policy toward Israeland the Middle East peace process. Royceand Engel on March 25 wrote to U.S. Am-

bassador to the U.N. Samantha Power ex-pressing their “concern,” and asking her toassure them “that the U.S. will veto resolu-tions at the U.N. that are biased and one-sided against Israel.” Similar letters weresent to Obama by five senators, led byCardin, on March 30, and by Sen. BarbaraMikulski (D-MD) on April 9.

New Bill Would Promote Israeli-Palestinian PeaceOn March 19 Reps. Joe Crowley (D-NY) andJeff Fortenberry (R-NE) introduced H.R.1489, urging “the president to make everyeffort, in conjunction with the governmentof Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and theinternational community to establish an In-ternational Fund for Israeli Peace.” AndH.Res. 126 (see “Status Updates” box)would, among other things, reaffirm theHouse’s commitment to supporting U.S. ac-tions that promote peace between Israel andthe Palestinians; call on Hamas to recognizeIsrael’s right to exist, denounce violence,abide by existing agreements, and stop fir-ing missiles and rockets into Israel; and callon the Israeli government to “cease supportfor and to prevent further settlement ex-pansion in the occupied territories.” ❑

26 JUNE/JULY 2015THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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mcarthur_24-26_Congress Watch 5/7/15 10:09 PM Page 26

There is nothing likewatching the great

powers at work todemonstrate just howephemeral “eternal”principles are, and howexpedient their imple-mentation. It is re-ported that Washing-ton is trying to per-suade the French, inparticular, to back-pedal on their attemptto lay down the ac-cepted principles of atwo-state solution forIsrael and Palestine.This would essentiallyemphasize the illegalityof settlement activityand the applicability ofthe 1967 boundaries asenshrined in numerousrepeated U.N. resolu-tions over the yearsand accepted by everycountry in the world except Israel.But for once, the Obama administration

is not doing this simply as a favor to Israel.It is a different kind of pandering: Wash-ington is discreetly asking the other coun-tries to hold back so that the White Housecan concentrate on the Iranian deal and getit through Congress in the teeth of Israelilobby opposition. It is demeaning, ofcourse, but over the decades not uncom-mon for American diplomats to plead forforbearance with foreign colleagues so thatthey can cope with geopolitically illiterateAmerican legislators.In this case there is an extra twist, in

that the U.S. is hinting that once the Irandeal is done, it can get around to dealingwith Binyamin Netanyahu’s recalcitrance,with the further hint that Israel cannottake the American veto at the U.N. forgranted.

That raises the question of why PresidentBarack Obama could not say that before theIsraeli election. Netanyahu has gratuitouslyinterfered in domestic American politics allhis political career, and in particular overthe Iran issue. If Obama and Secretary ofState Kerry had forcefully announced to theworld that should Netanyahu persist in dis-avowing agreed terms for peace and refusedto stop settlement, there would be no guar-antee of a U.S. veto in the Security Council,it might well have cost him the election. Is-raeli voters see no downside in Netanyahu’schutzpah, and clearly a majority of themagree with his hard-line stance—as long ashe can get away with it.In a chain of connections, the Marshall

Islands is one of the few countries that fre-quently supports the U.S. on Israel. Ofcourse, it has to! It was one of the formerU.N. strategic trust territories in the Pacifictaken from Japan and administered by theU.S., and Washington only agreed to its“independence” if it relinquished its rightto its own defense and consulted with the

U.S. on foreign affairs. Even at the time,

that raised eyebrows,since these are some ofthe crucial indicators ofsovereignty. Nonethe-less, the General As-sembly accepted thenew micro states as fullmembers, and theyhave consistently votedwith the U.S. on Mid-dle Eastern issues.Among the few sourcesof revenue were annualgrants from Congress,so no wonder the is-landers were so inter-ested in Middle Easternaffairs. One other rev-enue source was feesfrom the islands’ side-line as a flag of conve-nience, where Ameri-can shipowners couldescape domestic labor

and safety regulations.But at the end of April unforeseen con-

sequences cropped up when Iran arrestedan American ship that was flagged out ofthe Marshall Islands. Some Israeli com-mentators immediately tried to get the U.S.Navy to fulfill its defense obligationsunder international law—for them, ofcourse, it is always a good day to attackIran. Interestingly, the Marshall Islandswould have recourse to the InternationalTribunal for the Law of the Sea since it is asignatory—unlike the U.S., Israel and Iran!Quite why the U.S. should risk World WarIII for a shipping company that expatriatedits ships to avoid U.S. taxation and regula-tion is a question that remains unan-swered.While Arab states and others—such as

France—are quick, and correct, to call at-tention to how U.S.-drafted Security Coun-cil resolutions bend over backward tocover for a certain state on the eastern endof the Mediterranean, they remain res-olutely silent over France’s cover for an-

U.S. Protects Israeli Occupation, U.N. Reinforces Morocco’s in Western SaharaBy Ian Williams

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (r) meets with Kim Bolduc, his Special Representativeand Head of the U.N. Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

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Ian Williams is a free-lance journalist basedat the United Nations who blogs at <www.deadlinepundit.blogspot.com>.

United NationsReport

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other state at the opposite end of theMediterranean that flouts previous resolu-tions and international law.

A Free Pass for MoroccoMorocco’s continuing occupation of theWestern Sahara, with its own separationwall, the Berm, snaking across the desert,continues to get a free pass in Resolution2218 passed April 28 in New York.The name of the U.N. operation that the

resolution extends for yet another yearsays it all. MINURSO, in full, is the UnitedNations Mission for the Referendum inWestern Sahara, and it was set up in 1991with a timetable of one year. Almost aquarter of a century has passed, with Mo-rocco still impeding any attempt to im-plement the “self-determination of thepeople of Western Sahara in the contextof arrangements consistent with the prin-ciples and purposes of the Charter of theUnited Nations” that the resolutionbreezily refers to in its preamble, even asits substance robs it of meaning. Back in 1991, Johannes Mantz, the first

head of the mission, promised the U.N.

press corps that the operation would beopen within a year, since a Spanish census18 years before had identified the votingroll and even the infants had now come ofage. There is now an entirely new genera-tion of Sahrawis born and come of votingage. Many of these are young, unemployed

and disaffected, and the secretary-gen-eral’s report gives evidence of unrest anddemonstrations on both sides of the Berm,in Polisario- and Moroccan-controlled ter-ritories alike. After decades in which theworld seemed happy to let the Sahrawiswallow in their misery as long as therewas no spillover, there are now increasingworries at the possibilities of destabiliza-tion in the region. The possibilities forsmuggling and cross-border crime arenow joined by apprehension at theprospects of extremist recruitment of un-employed youth with few if any prospectsand facing rampant injustice exacerbatedby the “benign neglect” of the worldcommunity.The African Union, whose membership

includes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Re-public (SADR), has taken a renewed in-terest in the issue and has been pushingfor a referendum. After all, one of thefounding principles of the Union was thatthe old colonial boundaries had to be re-spected, not so much because of theirown inherent value but rather becausethe belligerent consequences of trying toredraw them would be so bloody. Mo-rocco did not join the Union because ofSADR’s membership—and objected inApril when the Union tried to get theSADR delegate to speak on non-prolifera-tion in Africa. A veritable chorus of forked tongues

speaks on the issue, with words gettingnew and Orwellian meanings. The U.N. re-ports praise Morocco for its progress onhuman rights in the territory, while Mo-rocco and France, with active U.S. andBritish support and Russian connivance,fought to ensure that the resolution did notmandate an active human rights monitor-ing mission called for by the AfricanUnion. The West often castigates Africa for its

allegedly lackadaisical attitude to humanrights violations. But in this case the greatpowers actively fought to keep MINURSOthe only U.N. peacekeeping mission with-out a human rights component, and forthe even more singular honor of being theMission for the Referendum on self-deter-

mination on the Western Sahara that isnot allowed to carry out a referendum ormention that Rabat has repeatedly an-nounced that it will not allow self-deter-mination. Polisario has raised Morocco’s sale of off-

shore oil rights to foreign oil companiesand had the chutzpah to justify it by refer-ence to the 2002 letter on the matter fromHans Corell, who was then U.N. undersec-retary-general for legal affairs. As he hasrepeatedly said since then in several arti-cles, the legal opinion he gave was that sell-ing the oil contracts was in flagrant breachof the Geneva conventions on OccupiedTerritories—and that the companies ac-cepting the contracts were in breach of in-ternational law.While even the U.S. does not insist on

praising Israel for its cooperation when itso clearly does not cooperate, the AprilU.N. resolution praises Morocco for itsprogress in the teeth of its flamboyant de-fiance. Principles can be so tedious for politi-

cians. ❑

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williams_27-28_United Nations Report 5/7/15 10:34 PM Page 28

In 2010 South African Presi-dent Jacob Zuma asked me toserve as the country’s ambas-sador to the United States. Com-ing straight from Cape Town’stough political battlefield, whereI had most recently served as thegovernor of the Western Capeprovince, I had very little needfor diplomacy. I suspect I wasgiven the ambassadorshipmostly because I had the fore-sight to engage the unknownvisiting senator from Illinois in2006, on issues ranging fromHIV in Africa to the future ofthe Middle East, for almost twohours in my office. Two yearslater, he would be elected thefirst black president of theUnited States.I arrived in Washington in2010 amidst an outpouring oflove for Nelson Mandela, whosefrailty and mortality at the timecreated fears that he may soonbe no more. At the same time,the hope and change on whichPresident Barack Obama sailedto victory was being hobbled bya more pragmatic managerialismin the face of a persistent eco-nomic recession, declining ap-proval ratings and a governancesystem that was divisive andgridlocked.I soon realized that I represented morethan South Africa’s interests. I was also arepresentative of an heroic anti-apartheidstruggle and the resulting transition thathad inspired countless Americans. At thesame time, I was also a Muslim representa-tive arriving in the wake of the “war onterrorism” and the rising tide of Islamo-phobia in the West. There was a palpablecuriosity by those in the anti-apartheidmovement, the Muslim community and

those familiar with my thinking, about thetype of diplomacy I would bring. Would Ibe ideological, moralistic and strident, orquiet, cautious and acquiescent?Although I came to the United States asa representative, I left as an observer ofAmerica’s strengths and shortcomings.Five years on, I look back at a fascinatingand enriching period of my life, and reflecton five critical lessons.First, I learned that diplomacy is the artof telling the truth intelligently and gently,whether speaking about South African orU.S. foreign policy, which I believe remainsinconsistent and historically reliant on mil-itarism. Points of disagreement, I believed,should be discussed and debated, withouteither diminishing the crucial role that theU.S. plays in the world or allowing any of

my own predispositions to re-duce the ability to be heard orheeded.Second, I learned the U.S.shifts by degrees and decades,not dramatically. For all its val-orization of individualism, theU.S. is governed by a deeply em-bedded institutional system, re-sistant to change while con-stantly appearing to change. Theplayers may be replaced, but theplaybook endures. When the2011 Arab Spring protests pro-vided the U.S. with an opportu-nity to strike out a new path inthe Muslim world toward theless predictable but more sus-tainable path of human rights,freedom and democracy, itblinked at the first signs ofmurkiness. Yet recent efforts atdétente with Cuba and Iran showthat we may be witnessing theassertion of a less militaristic andunilateral approach.Third, Washington can’t helprelating to Africa other thanthrough the lens of aid, disasterrelief and security, rather than asa continent of economic oppor-tunity. To its credit, the U.S. hasdone great work on matters suchas preventing the spread ofHIV/AIDS, and it has been vocalin supporting democracy and

human rights in parts of sub-SaharanAfrica. But Obama’s Africa policy is largelyrooted in symbolic commitments. Duringhis most recent trip to Africa and at lastyear’s first U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit,Obama talked about $33 billion of U.S. in-vestment in Africa, made up largely of pre-committed private investments. Even thenew initiative, Power Africa, is limited toadvancing renewable energy and would beinsufficient to help kick start Africa’s in-dustrial revolution, which would require asignificant base of energy sources. Tradeprovisions such as the African Growth andOpportunities Act and the Third CountryFabric laws need regular congressional re-newal, and are renewed mostly as an after-thought at the eleventh hour, when cancel-lation of export orders are already looming.

SpecialReportSpecialReport

The World Needs a Better United States By Ebrahim Rasool

The Hon. Ebrahim Rasool.

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Ebrahim Rasool was South Africa’s ambas-sador to the United States until 2014, and isnow a distinguished scholar in residence atthe Al Waleed Center for Muslim-ChristianUnderstanding at Georgetown University. Heis also the founder of the World for All Foun-dation.

rasool_29-30_Special Report 5/7/15 10:20 PM Page 29

Fourth, I learned that despite signs ofanti-immigrant intolerance, the U.S. re-mains fundamentally attractive to foreign-ers. The American dream promises free-dom and rewards initiative. As the world’slargest economy, it has a consumer base of350 million people, all of which have madethe U.S. an attractive market for exportingcountries. Its huge educational and tech-nological base often allows the country toinvest in research and development, as wellas provide the requisite development aid toextend the frontiers of science and accessproducts and expertise to fight diseasessuch as HIV and Ebola.The final lesson is evident in an obser-

vation made by U.S. Supreme Court JusticeRuth Bader Ginsburg, who during the2011 Egyptian revolution recommended,amongst others, the South African consti-tution—and not the U.S. constitution—as the model for post-Arab Springsocieties. South Africa’s constitution,approved in 1996, establishes equal-ity and dignity as cornerstones, andincludes such socio-economic rightsas the rights to health, shelter andpensions. America’s founding docu-ment, by contrast, excludes socio-economic rights in favor of basic lib-eral rights such as freedom of ex-pression and outmoded ones such asthe right to bear arms.Such fundamental limitations are

beginning to reveal fault lines in U.S.society with greater frequency. Al-though the public voices sympathyfor victims of brutal shootings, curb-ing gun violence through robustpolicies remains impossible. Thecontinuing police mistreatment ofyoung black men sparks protests,but not substantive reform. Resis-tance by congressional Republicansto the Affordable Care Act drama-tizes the fragile commitment the U.S.has to the equality and well-being ofits citizens, as more and more peoplewill be excluded from basic rightsand privileges as inequality widens.For the U.S. to continue to become

a better country and partner to theworld, it must make several transi-tions. It must go from militarism andunilateralism to engagement and dé-tente in solving global problems. Itshould move from Africa as an after-thought and security problem toAfrica as the last economic frontierto be developed in the mutual inter-est of the U.S. and the world’s mostyouthful continent. And it must

shift from its rampant individualism to amore balanced social solidarity to manageand overcome the fault lines that continueto emerge in American society. The worldneeds the U.S. to be at peace with itself. ❑

“Netanyahu has once again proven sur-vival is more important than improvingthe welfare and quality of life for all citi-zens of Israel who are yearning for changeand hope,” said Herzog.Head of Israel’s third largest party and

leader of the Joint Arab List Ayman Odehtold Mondoweiss, “The Netanyahu-Bennettcoalition is a social disaster and danger fordemocracy. This coalition buries down allhope for a peace agreement and solving the

Palestinian-Israeli conflict.” He said thenew government would cause deep riftsbetween Palestinian and Jewish citizens ofIsrael, promoting “racist laws which will[most] harm…the Arab citizens in thecountry.”With such a thin margin of support, Ne-

tanyahu cannot afford any moves thatwould cause his coalition to crumble. Al-though in the wake of his silence on thecoalition deal, some commentators specu-lated it is Netanyahu who is playing Ben-nett.“This is only round one,” wrote Aaron

David Miller for The Wall Street Journal.Miller suggested Netanyahu accepted Ben-nett’s terms in bad faith, writing the primeminister could have made the agreementwith plans to later swap out Bennett’sparty for the center-left Zionist Unionheaded by opposition leader Isaac Her-zog.There is logic to this ploy. By sign-

ing a truce with Bennett, even onethat leaves Netanyahu (temporarily)powerless, Netanyahu gets to keephis mandate as prime minister. If hehad dropped Bennett and forged amore stable coalition with Herzogstraight out of the gate, Herzog wasthought to demand sharing theprime minister position on a two-year rotation. “A national unity gov-ernment with Mr. Herzog wouldsolve some of Mr. Netanyahu’s prob-lems and leave him in the center,”wrote Miller. “But Mr. Netanyahuwon’t agree to rotate.”This all means that in a matter of

weeks Bennett could be out andHerzog, or someone else, could be in.Although Herzog has not given anyindication this might happen, Ne-tanyahu does at least have an oppor-tunity to surface with strength yetagain. When elections were calledfor last year he was initially regardeda clear front-runner, although therace proved tight. He did clear sixseats above Herzog in the final ballotcount. Then when the polls closed,it was obvious that Netanyahu facedmajor hurdles in coalition building.He has political enemies. And hisfriends in his coalition are notfriends with each other. Still, if Ne-tanyahu can keep his government to-gether and complete his full four-year term, he will surpass DavidBen-Gurion’s time in office and be-come Israel’s longest serving primeminister. ❑

30 JUNE/JULY 2015THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Netanyahu’s Coalition…Continued from page 11

An unprecedented, frank andoverdue look at the power of theIsrael Lobby in the United States,with must-see speeches, photosand commentary.

Pre-order extra copies of theWashington Report’s special “Israel Lobby” issue ($3.50, in-cluding postage). All subscriberswill receive this special issue.

To pre-order your DVD ($19.95),visit <www.MiddleEastBooks.com>or call (202) 939-6050 for moreinformation.

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rasool_29-30_Special Report 5/7/15 10:20 PM Page 30

After a long period of al-ternately stalled, post-

poned or abandoned peacetalks, hope of a settlement tothe decades-old division ofCyprus flickered back to lifeagain in late April, with theelection of a new TurkishCypriot leader.

On April 26, Mustafa Ak-inci, a one-time mayor of theTurkish Cypriot side ofNicosia, the Eastern Mediter-ranean island’s de facto di-vided capital, won a land-slide second round electionvictory over the incumbent,Dervis Eroglu, for the posi-tion of Turkish Cypriot“president.”

Akinci’s election alsocomes at a time when U.N.-sponsored talks on the is-land’s future are due to re-sume after a Greek Cypriotwalkout last September.

The new Turkish Cypriotleader is known for his com-mitment to achieving a settle-ment, and for his ability to work with theGreek Cypriots—thus sparking hopes that,finally, after many decades of division andunsuccessful rounds of talks, a settlementreuniting the island may not be impossibleafter all.

Akinci’s election also casts light on someof the dynamics of current Turkish Cypriotand Turkish politics, with the new Turk-ish Cypriot leader almost immediatelyfalling into a war of words with Turkey’spresident, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Talks About TalksAkinci comes to power on an island splitapart by years of inter-communal violence,foreign invasion and occupation. He is“head of state” of the breakaway “TurkishRepublic of Northern Cyprus” (TRNC), thenorthern third of the island that was occu-pied by the Turkish army following its1974 invasion.

That landing was mounted following acoup by hard-line Greek nationalists,backed by the then-military junta inAthens, who wanted to join the island toGreece and who were known for their vio-lent hostility to the island’s TurkishCypriot minority.

Now, after 41 years of division, a peacethat is mostly an absence of the previousviolence prevails on Cyprus.

Barbed wire, minefields and sandbagsremain, but since 2003 Greek and TurkishCypriots have also been able to travel freelyacross the U.N. Buffer Zone that separatesTurkish and Greek Cypriot forces—al-though a surprising number of GreekCypriots still have never done so.

Indeed, a recent U.N.- and U.S.-spon-sored survey conducted by the Center forSustainable Peace and Democratic Devel-opment (SeeD) showed that relations haverecently soured further between the twocommunities, particularly since the 2013economic meltdown in the Greek Cypriotsouth. Many Turkish Cypriots who lived

in the north but worked in the south sub-sequently lost their jobs, along with accessto health care and other benefits. At thesame time, Greek Cypriots have felt moreeconomically threatened by lower-wageTurkish Cypriot workers.

Meanwhile, the U.N. has grown increas-ingly weary of negotiations. Its special rep-resentative on the island, Espen BarthEide, told reporters in March that “peoplehave to realize that we cannot go on yearafter year without any progress.”

In such an atmosphere, some havelargely despaired of any future reunifica-tion.

“The whole U.N. idea of a bizonal, bi-communal federation has become mostunlikely to work,” says Hugh Pope withthe International Crisis Group. “The twosides have grown too far apart. It wouldbe much better for them and Turkey towork on two separate independent stateson the island, free of Turkish occupation,and with both states reunited within theEU.”

SpecialReportSpecialReport

Hope Springs Eternal—for Now—onCyprusBy Jonathan Gorvett

Mustafa Akinci (c) celebrates in Nicosia with his wife, Meral (r) and relatives after being elected presidentof the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), April 26, 2015.

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With Akinci’s election, however, hopeappears to have been rekindled, at least forsome.“I think for the first time,” says activist

Mertkan Hamit of the bi-communal groupFamagusta Initiative, “Greek Cypriots trav-eled to the north to celebrate with the Turk-ish Cypriots” on hearing of Akinci’s election.

Radical ProposalsAkinci inspires such a surge of optimismbecause he has long made no secret of hisdetermination to reunite the island.Serving as mayor of the Turkish Cypriot

side of Nicosia from 1976, he worked withthe Greek Cypriot mayor to restore servicesacross the divided capital.He has also long advocated a confidence-

building peace process running in parallelwith the talks.This would involve the Turkish Cypriots

reopening the closed and abandoned cityof Varosha, a resort city whose 45,000mainly Greek Cypriot inhabitants fled enmasse in 1974. Surrounded by Turkishbarbed wire, it is now one of the world’slargest ghost towns.In return, the Greek Cypriots would lift

their EU- and internationally-backed em-bargo on ships using Famagusta harbor

and Ercan airport in the TRNC. This posi-tion was also advocated at one time by theGreek Cypriots, but rejected by Eroglu.If this proposal were accepted, it would

be by far the most radical change in the is-land’s make up since 1974. That TurkishCypriots united behind a candidate advo-cating such a change also shows their deepdesire to move on.“Turkish Cypriots voted for change be-

cause they live in such an uncertain limbohere,” says Mete Hatay of the bi-communalresearch center PRIO in Nicosia.The TRNC remains unrecognized by any

country except Turkey, meaning TurkishCypriot students leave school or collegewith internationally dubious qualifica-tions, while dependency on Turkey growsever deeper.This last point triggered the post-election

war of words. Akinci reacted to Erdogan’scomparing the Turkish Cypriot-Turkey re-lationship to that of “a baby toward itsmother.” Akinci said he wanted the rela-tionship to be more like brother to brother.Erdogan responded by reminding Akincithat the TRNC is largely bankrolled byAnkara, while claiming Turkish troopssaved the Turkish Cypriots with their 1974invasion.

Ankara does indeed send an annual$500 million grant to the breakaway state,while around 35,000-45,000 Turkishtroops are still based on the island.Akinci’s popularity is due partly to his

reputation for standing up to Ankara,however. This strikes more of a chord thesedays, as many Turkish Cypriots are moresecular than many Turks—or indeed,Greek Cypriots—and thus find themselvesincreasingly at odds with Erdogan’s pro-Is-lamist government.Many on the Greek Cypriot side also

have long claimed that it is Ankara that re-ally calls the shots when it comes to theTurkish Cypriot negotiating position. Ak-inci’s independence might allay some ofthese concerns.It takes two to tango at the talks, of

course, but so far the Greek Cypriot gov-ernment has responded positively to Ak-inci’s election, suggesting some confi-dence-building measures of its own.This time, then, the U.N.-sponsored talks

resume in a more positive atmosphere thanthey have had in years. For many of thesurviving refugees from Varosha, in par-ticular, this might just give them a momentto hope that, after four decades, theymight soon be going home. ❑

32 JUNE/JULY 2015THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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(Advertisement)

Alalusi Foundation is caring for over 2,650 Orphans in Iraq

gorvett_31-32_Special Report 5/7/15 5:17 PM Page 32

Community media nonprofitAccess Sacramento hon-

ored Basim Elkarra, executivedirector of the Council onAmerican-Islamic Relations,Sacramento Valley Chapter,with its third annual “Power ofVoice” (POV) award for his“outspoken support and leader-ship in the area of free speech,tolerance and civil liberties.”Presenting the award,

JoAnn Fuller, chair of AccessSacramento’s board of direc-tors, noted, “As a visionaryleader in our community,Basim Elkarra helped encour-age and spread the opportu-nity for reasoned thought andthe power of our communityvoice.” Particularly now, withthe evening news reports ofviolence and conflict, “Elkarrahelps us interpret that infor-mation and challenges us tostrive for understanding andan informed perspective onthe intercultural misunderstandings in ourworld today,” she said. Citing the civil rights leader’s many ac-

complishments over the past 10 years—in-cluding sponsoring informational rallies anda Muslim Youth Leadership program at thestate Capitol, coordinating other AmericanIslamic events, creation of a job and careerfair at Sacramento State University, ongoingwork for the Los Rios Community CollegeDistrict Bond Oversight Committee and theCalifornia Democratic Party’s AffirmativeAction Committee—she said, “All of thesethings speak to his dedication to empower-ing the many voices in our community. Andwe thank him for his voice and for helpingothers share theirs.”Former California Assembly member

Mariko Yamada shared her thoughts abouther longtime friend whom she mentored.“With his demeanor, leadership skills andthe strength of his character, Basim’s in-tegrity is really unquestionable,” Yamadasaid. “In the countless hours that he spendsin advising community members who are infear, he is a calming voice.”Taking to the podium, Elkarra empha-

sized that the struggle for civil liberties, as

well as protection of constitutional rightsand workers’ rights, along with immigra-tion reform, continues. “CAIR can only dothis work because of its partners,” he as-serted, “and Access Sacramento has beenan amazing partner by sharing with otherswhat we are doing.”Access Sacramento has covered rallies

and information-sharing American-Is-lamic events sponsored by CAIR and localhuman rights groups. To honor this work,Elkarra presented the group with a paint-ing titled “The Marshes of Iraq” by mur-dered Sacramento resident Hassan Alawsi.The 46-year-old Baghdad-born artist wasfatally shot in the parking lot of a HomeDepot store one year ago. (See September2014 Washington Report, p. 48.)The POV award was presented during

the April 2 “Sacramento Has Talent” livestage show at the city’s historic Crest The-atre. Host Ahmed Hassan of HGTV’s“Landscape Smart” entertained the audi-ence while keeping the two-and-a-half-hour program of spectacular and diverseperformances moving at a lively pace.First place in the competition went to vi-olinist and singer-songwriter Joe Kye forhis unique musical blend of classical, jazz,rock and hip-hop. Element Brass Bandtook second place, while Generation Y

spoken-word artist SalvanChahal placed third.The fund-raising evening

benefited Access Sacramentoand its youth media journal-ism training program.

San Francisco ActivistsCall for Ending All WarsMarking the 12th anniversaryof the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq,some 300 human rights ac-tivists rallied in San Francisco’sHallidie Plaza on March 21.With their chants of “moneyfor jobs and education, not forwar and occupation” and signsdemanding the end of all U.S.military actions, the protestersmade clear their views thatwars are immoral, illegal andneed to end.Passersby in the popular

tourist area paid particular at-tention to the World Can’tWait’s large poster stating“War on Iraq Has Never

Helped the Iraqi People.” Placards with themessage to “Boycott Israeli Goods” werealso in abundance. Members of the localFilipino community showed their supportfor Palestinians with signs reading “Fil-ipinos for a Free Palestine.”Recently returned from a major anti-

drone protest at Nevada’s Creech Air ForceBase sponsored by CODEPINK and Veter-ans for Peace, Father Louis Vitale was oneof several speakers at the rally. “We haveto stop these crazy wars,” said the 82-year-old Franciscan priest, who has been ar-rested more than 400 times for civil rightsdisobedience. “San Francisco is the city ofSt. Francis and love, and we should be theleadership of the peace movement.”Concerned that Israeli Prime Minister

Binyamin Netanyahu’s comments in hisMarch 3 speech to Congress—“Even if Is-rael has to stand alone, Israel will stand”—were a prelude to Israel bombing Iran anddragging the U.S. into another illegal andcostly war, many in the crowd carriedsigns reading “No War On Iran.”Lara Kiswani of the Arab Resource and

Organizing Center (AROC) emphasized thegroup’s support for those suffering in theongoing tragedy in the Middle East, in-cluding Iraqis, Palestinians, Syrians, Kurdsand Yemenis.

Basim Elkarra Awarded Access Sacramento’s“Power of Voice” CommendationBy Elaine Pasquini

Flanked by Access Sacramento executive director Gary Martin andBoard of Directors chair JoAnn Fuller, Basim Elkarra holds his“Power of Voice” award which, he exclaimed, was “the coolest look-ing award I’ve ever received.”

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World Can’t Wait and the ANSWERcoalition sponsored the afternoon event.

Christians, Muslims Honor Victims ofMideast ViolenceAs violence in the Middle East continuesunabated, with civilians killed everyday—Iraq Body Count estimates more than17,000 Iraqi civilians were killed lastyear—Crossing Church of Natomas and theSacramento Valley chapter of the Councilon American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV)held a March 8 interfaith gathering tohonor the many innocent victims of vio-lence, especially in Iraq and Syria.“We’re here to stand for those who can-

not,” Crossing Church treasurer NickRodgers told the crowd on the north lawnof Sacramento’s state Capitol. “Though wemight be from different faiths, beliefs andpaths that have brought us here today, weare of one mind, one heart and one convic-tion on this issue—that all should have therespect of their humanity. As one of us suf-fers, so we all suffer.”

The small group listened closely as CAIR-SV executive director Basim Elkarra, aMuslim, related fond memories of growingup with many friends—as well as familymembers—in San Francisco’s Christiancommunity. “This issue of Christians, Mus-lims and others getting killed is personal formany reasons,” he said. “As forces of hateoverseas are trying to divide Muslims andChristians and folks of other faiths, we saythat this is a time when the message of love,peace and forgiveness taught by Jesus andaccepted by all believers must be reinforcedtoday more than ever.”Andria Giorgi of the Sacramento Bud-

dhist Meditation Group presented a Bud-dhist meditation on loving kindness. “I in-vite everyone to think about all of thosewho are suffering that we are rememberinghere today,” she said, “as well as those whosuffer so deeply that they feel the need tohurt others to be heard.”CAIR-SV president Dr. Irfan Haq deliv-

ered heartfelt words of sadness, supportand hope. “This world has been created for

a purpose where we make it a better worldevery day by loving each other, by doingjustice to one another, by being kind andfair and sharing the love that God has givenus,” he averred. “God has prohibited usfrom taking human life. In the Qur’an Godsays very clearly: one who takes one life isas if he has killed all humanity.”Directly addressing ISIS’ vicious killings

of civilians, Haq unequivocally stated: “Myfaith has been hijacked by the people whocall themselves ISIS. These are the actions ofpeople who have no faith, who are simplythugs and criminals who practice savagebutchery. They are not Muslim by any stan-dard, no matter what they say or what theyclaim. They have contravened every rule,principle and law of Islam as all the Muslimsin the world know it. The taking of humanlife is prohibited,” he emphasized. “We wantto let you know that today the Muslim com-munity is with you. Our prayers are withyou and what is happening saddens us.”The event ended with prayers, music,

songs and informal conversation. ❑

34 JUNE/JULY 2015THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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Andria Giorgi of the Sacramento Buddhist Meditation Group offersa Buddhist meditation at a Sacramento interfaith gathering.

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LEFT: Father Louis Vitale speaks at anti-war rally. RIGHT: Members of the local Filipino community show their support for Palestinians.

pasquini_33-34_Northern California Chronicle 5/7/15 5:20 PM Page 34

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SHAREHOLDER RESOLUTIONS

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MY AMERICAN STRUGGLEFOR JUSTICE IN

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“No one has done more than Fr. Mc Manus to keep the U.S. Congress on track regarding justice in Ireland.”

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PLEASE SUPPORShareholder resolutions are proposals submitted by shareholders for a vote at the com

s annual general meeting. pany’tions this year (GE, Corning and Intel) and will present one at the Cisco annual meeting in

.November

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holy_land_principles_ad_35_Holy Land Principles Full Page Ad 5/7/15 5:26 PM Page 35

For 26 years, Rotary International Dis-trict 5300 has sponsored a peace con-

ference. This year, however, when it an-nounced that its keynote speaker would beDr. Norman Finkelstein, author of the best-selling The Holocaust Industry (availablefrom AET’s Middle East Books and More),all hell broke loose, with a barrage ofanonymous threatening phone calls. Com-mented chairman Dr. Garbis Der-Yeghian,“I didn’t know people could be so nasty.”But when the March 14 event on “The

Middle East in Crises: Prospects forPeace” took place at Glendale HighSchool’s John Wayne Performing ArtsCenter, the vociferous opposition wasnowhere to be seen or heard. In additionto Finkelstein, speakers were ChehabElAwar, Dr. Laila Al-Marayati, Dr.Richard Dekmejian and Dr. Ilai Saltzman. Finkelstein, who was denied tenure at

Chicago’s DePaul University due to a cam-paign led by Israel defender Alan Der-showitz, now teaches at Sakarya Univer-sity in Turkey. Even though world opin-ion favors a Palestinian state, he noted,the U.S. bias for Israel outweighs the con-sensus of the majority of United Nationsmember states. In United Nations Resolu-tion 242 of 1967, he pointed out, the finalstatus obligations of borders, right of re-turn of refugees and Jerusalem were leftblurry. Since then, Finkelstein continued,the U.S. and Israel, traditionally joined byMicronesia and the Marshall Islands—

and, in the most recent General Assemblyvote, Canada—vote against the Palestini-ans, while the overwhelming number ofmember states vote for the Palestinian po-sition, whatever the issue may be.In the recent Israeli elections, Finkel-

stein said, Binyamin Netanyahu spokevaguely about a Palestinian state as if itwere to be on the far side of the moon. Ne-tanyahu’s primary opponent called for thesettlers to be allocated the West Bank’smost arable land and water resources. Dr. Laila Al-Marayati, chairman of

KinderUSA, discussed Gaza in the after-math of last summer’s Israeli aggression onthe unprotected coastal strip, which killed19 members of her family. She has been de-nied entry to Gaza even though her fatherwas born and raised in Khan Younis. If leftunaided, Al-Marayati said, Gaza will be nolonger inhabitable in the year 2020. Shewent on to note that the eastern edge ofGaza bordering Israel has been turned intoa no-man’s-land by Israeli bombs.USC Prof. Richard Dekmejian prefaced

his overview of the Middle East situationwith the statement that Israel’s over-whelming fear is of genocide—whichvery nearly occurred in the early 20thcentury to the Armenians. He said Hitlerreplicated that earlier genocide attempton the Jews of Europe. The blowback tothe Israeli takeover of the West Bank,Gaza and East Jerusalem was Arab terror-ism—Israeli violence against the Pales-tinians is the other side of the coin.During the question-and-answer ses-

sion, Dekmejian predicted that peace in

the Middle East could beachieved during the finalterm of the Barack Obamapresidency. Finkelsteinsigned his new e-book,Method and Madness: TheHidden Story of Israel’sAssaults on Gaza.

Dead Sea ScrollsNearly half a century afterIsrael’s victorious war onneighboring Arab coun-tries and its conquest andoccupation of EastJerusalem, the West Bank

and Gaza, the Israeli government has de-vised a clever public relations ploy—animpressive archaeological exhibition sup-posedly documenting a Jewish presencein the Holy Land for two millennia.

So on March 10, the Dead Sea Scrollsexhibition opened at the California Sci-ence Center to much fanfare and expen-sive advance TV and newspaper advertise-ments. Portrayed as the most significantarchaeological find of the past century, theexhibition showcases fragmentary sec-tions of the Dead Sea Scrolls in addition toa three-ton stone from Jerusalem’s West-ern Wall and 600 artifacts dating from theBronze Age to the Byzantine era.The famed scrolls were accidently

found in 1947 by a Bedouin shepherd in acave near Khirbet Qumran on the shoresof the Dead Sea in Palestine, then underthe jurisdiction of Jordan. Excavations ofthe caves continued to 1956 under Jor-danian supervision. The texts date from250 B.C. to 68 A.D. and are believed tohave been recorded by Essenes or otherJewish sectarians on leather parchmentand occasionally on papyrus. The manu-scripts are chiefly in Hebrew and rarelyin Aramaic and Greek. The more than 200

Southern CaliforniaChronicle

Southern CaliforniaChronicle

Despite Phone Threats, Norman FinkelsteinIs Keynote Speaker at Rotary EventBy Pat and Samir Twair

Pat and Samir Twair are free-lance journal-ists based in Los Angeles.

36 JUNE/JULY 2015THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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Rotary peace conference panelists (l-r) Dr. Richard Dekmejian, Dr. Ilai Saltzman, Chehab ElAwar, Dr. Nor-man Finkelstein and Dr. Laila Al-Marayati.

A fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls on viewat the California Science Center.

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biblical texts are the oldest version of theHebrew Bible. After the 1967 War, thescrolls fell under the custody of Israel.For the ensuing year, public school

classes will visit the exhibition, whichgives the impression there was a state ofIsrael at the time the scrolls were writtenand that it and its people have prevailedever since in the region. Reinforcing thenotion is the movie “Jerusalem 3D,”showing at the adjacent IMAX Theater.

Judith (Judy) Bustany (1939-2015)

News of the March 11 death of JudithBustany surprised the many Los Angelescircles to which the vivacious writer,human rights activist, Democrat and hu-morist devoted her time. She is survivedby her husband of 42 years, Donald, adaughter, Kristen Kessler, and a son,Geof frey Kessler. She died of cancer.At the age of 10, Bustany appeared in

Broadway plays—a feat that impressedher classmates, noted one of many life-long friends who traveled from the EastCoast to speak at her March 21 funeral. Agraduate of St. John’s University, Bustanyinitially taught high school. Her activism to help the oppressed in

the Middle East began in the late 1980s,when her husband became involved withthe American-Arab Anti-DiscriminationCommittee. She took supplies to thePalestinians on 16 trips, during whichshe coached young Palestinians to writefor TV. In 2002, she lived in a West Bankvillage in a hut over a chicken coop, hop-ing her presence would ward off settlerharassment. On one occasion, shegrabbed stone-throwing settler hooligansand put the fear of God in them as only a

stern school teacher could. At the heightof U.S. sanctions of Iraq, she took suit-cases full of medications to Baghdad toalleviate the rising death toll of children.An accomplished TV writer with cred-

its for “Who’s the Boss?” Bustany waspresident and a board member of P.E.N.West and served as Los Angeles presi-dent of Americans for Democratic Actionin 1994. Her last project was to co-writewith the late Billy Barnes a musical play,“Murder at the Villa Ragacci.”

Israeli BDS Speaker“Israel no longer is a democracy. It neverhas been a democracy to begin with. It’san apartheid system.” So said Israeli ac-tivist Ronnie Barkan, co-founder in 2008of Boycott from Within, who spoke March18 at the Levantine Cultural Center.Referring to his organization, Barkan

explained that Israel had passed a lawthat people who boycott Israeli productscould be incriminated, but AIPAC wasagainst it for the poor image it would cre-ate. “The Israeli Left is declining and thepeace camp barely exists,” he continued,“the society is explicitly fascist. Todayyou hear Israelis say ‘death to Arabs andleftists.’” He went on to note that 95 per-cent of Jewish Israelis supported lastyear’s crushing war on Gaza, and someregret that it didn’t use enough force.

Pasadena Peace MarchPounding drums, singing voices, colorfulbanners and people carrying palm frondsdrew crowds of observers to the 13th an-nual Palm Sunday Peace Parade at thebusy Paseo Colorado shopping centerMarch 29. Eleven local churches and pro-gressive organizations sponsored thisyear’s event.

As the procession completedits noisy one-mile parade, itheard brief speeches on ways tohalt global warming and war,then burst into original songs tostop using fossil fuels and pre-vent new wars. A litany of resis-tance to violence capped theprogram. Marchers proceededone more mile to offer prayers atthe location where Kendrec Mc-Dade, an unarmed 19-year-oldAfrican American, was shot andkilled by police in 2012. ❑

JUNE/JULY 2015 37THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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Judy and Don Bustany.

Ronnie Barkan (r) and Electronic Intifada editor NoraBarrows-Friedman.

IndextoAdvertisersAbusharar & Associates . . . . . . . . . . 17Alalusi Foundation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

American Friends of BirzeitUniversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) . . . . . . . Inside Back Cover

Holy Land Principles. . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Kinder USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Mashrabiya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Muslim Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Palestinian Medical Relief Society . 23The Israel Lobby conference . . . . . . 30United Palestinian Appeal(UPA) . . . . . . . . . Inside Front Cover

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Randy Heyn-Lamb marches in theforefront of Pasadena’s Palm Sun-day Peace Parade.

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His Excellency Maen Rashid Areikat,Chief Representative of the PLO Del-

egation to the United States, fieldedquestions from a skeptical audience in aMarch 9 discussion moderated by AlonBen-Meir at NYU’s Center for Global Af-fairs.

Hamas was a major concern: Israel sup-posedly can’t deal with Hamas because ithas never accepted Israel, has a violentcharter, and is now part of a dysfunc-tional unity government. Areikat notedthat Israel has cabinet ministers (and nowa prime minister) who say they will neveraccept a Palestinian state. “We cannot saywe won’t talk to them. Israel cannot dic-tate who is in the Palestinian cabinet.” Hethen urged his listeners to see the situa-tion from Hamas’ point of view: the PLOrecognized Israel in 1992 and revised itsnational charter in 1996. At Prime Minis-ter Binyamin Netanyahu’s request, in1998 the PA again recognized Israel. Yetthe situation has only deteriorated.Hamas asks, “why give up that card be-fore Israel ends the occupation? Israelfirst withdraws, then we negotiate.”

Asked if Hamas would accept anagreement signed by the PLO,Areikat replied that even whenHamas won elections in 2006, itagreed that the PLO would be incharge of negotiations and that itwould accept any agreement rati-fied by a plebiscite of the Palestin-ian people, keeping in mind thatany future agreement will affect 11million people, not only those liv-ing under occupation. But now,after 22 years of a futile peaceprocess in which the U.S. supportsonly what Israel is willing to ac-cept, Areikat insisted that Pales-tinians are entitled to explore avail-able venues, such as asking the Se-curity Council to establish a limit tothe period of negotiations.

In response to the question,“When will Palestine recognize Is-rael as a Jewish state?” Areikat saidit was not his business what Israel

calls itself, but he questioned whether itis a good idea—especially now, with at-tention focused on the violence of ISIS—for any state to define itself by its reli-gion. The most important step, in the am-bassador’s view, is that neither side de-monize the other and thus make reconcil-iation impossible. Israel is in the MiddleEast. In order to be a natural country inthat part of the world, Areikat observed,Israel needs to make peace with itsneighbors and not pretend to be Euro-pean. Asked if a Palestinian state wouldbe able to guarantee Israel’s security,Areikat advised viewing the day after atreaty as a new era of peace, not a contin-uing threat.

Eyal Weizman on ForensisEyal Weizman discussed “forensis: thearchitecture of public truth” at PrincetonUniversity on March 23. The Israeli ar-chitect and author of many books, in-cluding Hollow Land: Israel’s Architectureof Occupation (available from AET’s Mid-dle East Books and More), is the directorof the Centre for Research Architecture atGoldsmiths, University of London. Animportant agency within the Centre isForensic Architecture, which provides a

different kind of evidence in cases in-volving urban conflict and human rightsviolations.

Since the 19th century, forensics hasbeen seen as the use of science in the ser-vice of the state, a process familiar todayto fans of “CSI” television programs.Weizman prefers the term “forensis,” fromthe Latin for “those things pertaining tothe forum,” which he sees as an inversionof forensics because the Centre’s investiga-tions often concern state violence. Foren-sic Architecture has several ongoing inves-tigations, including drone strikes, deathcamps in the former Yugoslavia, and actsof genocide in Guatemala (see <www.forensic-architecture.org>).

Weizman described in detail a com-pleted case, “The Nakba Day Killings,”that led to the arrest and indictment of anunidentified Israeli border policeman.Weizman explained that the case is impor-tant for two reasons: of some 400 Palestin-ian teens shot dead, this is the first that re-sulted in an investigation; and this inci-dent set off a series of escalations that ledto Israel’s assault on Gaza last summer.

Last May 15, 17-year-old NadeemNawara was walking alone and unarmedin the West Bank village of Beituniawhen he was shot dead by live ammuni-tion. Later that day 16-year-old Moham-mad Abu Daher was killed in the sameplace, also with live ammunition. The Is-raeli military claimed that the shootercould not have been one of their soldiersbecause they did not use live fire in thatplace at that time. Defense for ChildrenInternational, acting on behalf of theteenagers’ families, commissioned Foren-sic Architecture to take on the case.Weizman was principal investigator.

May 15 is Nakba Day. Commemoratingit is illegal, according to Israeli law. Nev-ertheless, every May 15 there are demon-strations that often lead to clashes, andmedia often are present. A CCTV camerain front of a shop captured both killings.But CNN was also on the scene, filmingIsraeli soldiers when the first fatal shotwas fired. Through video analysis, whichinvolved syncing the two videos, coordi-

PLO Ambassador Areikat on Hamas, Palestinian Recognition of IsraelBy Jane Adas

38 JUNE/JULY 2015THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

New York City andTri-StateNews

New York City andTri-StateNews

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

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nating the distance and angles of thefilm, and calculating the trajectory of thebullet, the investigators were able toidentify the shooter. The soldier’s rifle had an extension on

it, which the IDF claimed meant it couldonly shoot rubber bullets. Weizmanasked the manufacturer if live ammuni-tion could be shot through an extension:yes. Unlike a live bullet, when a rubberbullet is fired, there is not enough forceto eject the spent cartridge. The soldiermust cock the gun to eject the cartridge.In the CNN footage, the cartridge can beseen flying out at the time of the shot.This provided conclusive evidence forthe first killing.For the second killing, the CNN crew

had left. A Palestinian crew was there,Weizman explained, but they could not,as CNN could, aim theircamera at Israeli soldiers.However, they caught thesound of the shot.Through sound analysisof rubber and live bullets,the investigators wereable to demonstrate thatthe second lethal shot alsowas a live bullet, andprobably, but not cer-tainly, fired through thesame rifle with an exten-sion. Forensic Architecture

has been accused of beingpolitically motivated andnot neutral. Weizman said nobody neu-tral would spend months on 20 secondsof film, and that “forensis is not aboutneutrality, but about the truth.” Truth byitself, he concluded, is only meaningful ifit leads to political action and account-ability.

American Media vs. Israeli Reality Because, other than attacks from liberalZionists, the mainstream media has ignoredMax Blumenthal’s Goliath: Life andLoathing in Greater Israel (available fromMiddle East Books and More), the authorhas spent the year and a half since its pub-lication on an “unending book tour”where he has found much energy on thisissue. Chris Hedges, a former New YorkTimes foreign correspondent who is cur-rently with the progressive websiteTruthdig, and Ronnie Barkan, an Israeliconscientious objector and co-founder ofBoycott From Within, joined Blumenthalin a discussion initiated by student organi-zations at Princeton Theological Seminary.

In Goliath Blumenthal examines the pol-itics and structure of society in Israel—how education is militarized, how a ma-jority of young Israeli Jews favor coercedremoval of Palestinians, how the wall is ademographic rather than a security bar-rier. His book, he said, “challenges theidea that good will emerge from within Is-raeli society.” Blumenthal felt vindicatedby the results of Israel’s recent election, inwhich Netanyahu triumphed for reasonsoutlined in Goliath. Israel’s allies no longerare liberals, but the Republican Party,backed by billionaire casino magnate Shel-don Adelson, and CUFI (Christians Unitedfor Israel), who “view Israel as the landingpad for the messiah.” Gaza, “where Israel virtually destroyed

25 percent of the area,” is old news. Blu-menthal went to Gaza during last sum-mer’s assault and wrote about what hefound there in The 51-Day War (due outin July, along with a documentary film).The first comment from an audiencemember was by a Gazan who had lost

several family members. Blumenthalasked his family name: “Abadla.” Blu-menthal knew of the family and related aparticular incident eyewitnesses had toldhim about: an ambulance crew enteredKhuza’a to collect the body of MohamedAbadla, who had been tied to a tree andriddled with bullets. Israeli soldiers or-dered one of the medical workers to exitthe ambulance, walk forward, and light acigarette lighter. They then shot him,killing him in front of his colleagues.Chris Hedges deemed Goliath the best

account of modern Israel. He spoke about“powerful forces within U.S. societyseeking to obliterate what is happeningto Palestinians,” beginning with themedia. Hedges criticized “he said/shesaid” reporting, giving as an exampleEthan Bronner’s reporting for The New

York Times after Israel’s Cast Lead as-sault, in which every interview with aneyewitness victim was followed by acomment from an IDF spokesman whowas never at the scene. To write truth-fully about the damage to Gaza, Hedgesadded, kills a journalist’s career in main-stream media, where the unwritten pol-icy is, “Do not significantly alienate thosewho provide access and money. Do notdrive away advertisers.” Ronnie Barkan began by noting that he

comes from a country that does not rec-ognize its own Israeli nationality, has noborders, no real immigration policy otherthan more of us and fewer of them, anddoes not accept its own U.N.-sanctionedmandate. Because his country exists toprivilege Jews at the expense of natives,he continued, anything that applies thesame rights to all of its residents under-mines Israel. Even liberal secular Zionistsbelieve a Jewish majority state is essen-tial, demonstrating that Israel is Jewishby ethnicity rather than by religion.

JUNE/JULY 2015 39THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

TOP: Architect and author Eyal Weizman. ABOVE (l-r): Author Max Blumenthal, journalist ChrisHedges and Israeli activist Ronnie Barkan.

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At a demonstration in Bil’in in April2009, an Israeli soldier fired a high-veloc-ity tear gas canister at close range, killingBassem Abu Rahmah. Barkan was stand-ing right beside Abu Rahmah, yet he wasnever questioned. The investigation wasclosed for lack of evidence, even thoughthree cameras filmed the incident, includ-ing the award-winning “5 Broken Cam-eras” (available from Middle East Booksand More). The demonstrations continue,Barkan reported, but they are mostly sym-bolic and will not end the occupation. All three speakers agreed that positive

change will not come from within Israelisociety or its legal system, nor throughPalestinian efforts alone, but ratherthrough international pressure on Israel.Hedges views the U.S. as the epicenter ofthe struggle because the weapons, diplo-matic cover, and billions of dollars comefrom here. He urged building a move-ment to impose economic and militarysanctions on Israel. Blumenthal said Ne-tanyahu’s re-election was like a shot ofsteroids for BDS (boycott, divestment,and sanctions), which is already achiev-ing results faster than anyone expected.Barkan hoped that Palestine’s signing ofthe Rome Statute of the ICC would leadto tribunals, adding “We know we are onthe right path. Things are changing now,even at the White House.” ❑

sufficient grounds for allegations of warcrimes, crimes against human rights andviolations of international humanitarianlaw. Among the cases Palestinian civil society

is keen to submit to the ICC is that of a spe-cial needs facility which sustained three di-rect missile hits from Israeli F16s on July12, killing two female patients, Suha AbuSada, 47, and Ola Washahi, 30, who werebeing treated for physical and psychologi-cal disabilities. Three other patients, alongwith their caregiver, were seriously in-jured. (See September 2014 WashingtonReport, p. 13.) Israel also accused Hamas of committing

war crimes by firing rockets on Israelicities. Nevertheless, Hamas supported PAPresident Mahmoud Abbas in the move tojoin the Rome Statute and the ICC, sayingit fears nothing, as it is resisting an occu-pying power. In March, Israel had decided to release

NIS 1.37 million in tax revenues to the PA,

which it had collected on behalf of the PAfor the months of December, January andFebruary. Israel withheld the monthly feetransfer to protest the PA’s decision at theend of December to formally apply formembership in the ICC. Now that the PA has officially joined the

ICC, no one knows how Israel will react.However, said Sarhan, “whatever the re-sult is—justice has to take its trajectory,and war crimes should stop. For now, whatwe need is to work on solid files with clearevidence of war crimes.” Israel transferred the revenues anyway,

based on an understanding that the PAwould not pursue war crimes complaints atthe ICC after it joined. But it not only with-held the March fees, but used NIS 160,000of the tax revenues to pay for outstanding

debts, particularly to the Israel ElectricCompany, to which the PA owes NIS 2 bil-lion.Angry that Israel had not returned all

the funds, Abbas threatened to return themoney and to turn to the ICC. Israel is ob-ligated to transfer the money, he argued,and doing so was “not a favor and shouldnot be conditional…Either they give it tous in full, or we go to arbitration or to thecourt [ICC]. We will not accept anythingelse.”What remains to be seen, however, notes

attorney Adel Abu-Jahel, is to what degreeIsrael will cooperate by allowing ICC in-vestigators into the Gaza Strip. “I fear the U.S. might pressure the PA to

choose between going to the internationalcourt or losing its U.S. aid,” he said. ❑

40 JUNE/JULY 2015THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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Gaza on the Ground…Continued from page 12

adas_38-40_New York City and Tri-State News 5/7/15 6:33 PM Page 40

Together with other ele-ments of the Israel lobby,

neoconservatives—the samepeople who successfullypushed the nation to warwith Iraq, a country whichnever attacked us and neverpossessed “weapons of massdestruction”—are now pro-moting a war with Iran, acountry more than threetimes the size of Iraq.The war in Iraq, it should

be noted, left a regionalpower vacuum that helpedpromote the growth of ISIS,helped increase the chaos inSyria and increased the re-gional importance of Iran.Writing in The New York

Times, former U.N. Ambas-sador John Bolton had thisadvice: “To stop Iran’s bomb,bomb Iran...Force is the onlyoption.” Posing the question“Is our only option war?” inThe Washington Post, long-time neoconservative JoshuaMuravchik with the JohnsHopkins University’s Schoolof Advanced InternationalStudies answered “Yes.”William Kristol, whoseWeekly Standard is a voice for neoconserv-atives, not only echoes these views, buthas even suggested that Dick Cheneywould be a worthy Republican presiden-tial candidate in 2016!Evidently, these men and their fellow

travelers have learned nothing from theIraq war, which they successfully pro-moted. For Americans to follow their ad-vice again would be folly.Neoconservatives have been obsessed

with Iran for years. Norman Podhoretz, formany years editor of Commentary, wrotean essay in 2009 depicting Iran’s presidentas a revolutionary “like Hitler...whose ob-jective is to overturn the going interna-tional system and replace it...with a newworld order dominated by Iran...The plain

and brutal truth is that if Iran is to be pre-vented from developing a nuclear arsenal,there is no alternative to the actual use ofmilitary force.” The panic about Iran seems in retrospect

to have been mostly emotional hyper-bole—as it is today. In 2006, Princetonscholar Bernard Lewis, an adviser to Presi-dent George W. Bush and Vice PresidentCheney, predicted in a Wall Street Journalop-ed that Iran’s then-President MahmoudAhmadinejad was going to end the world.The date, he explained, “is the night whenmany Muslims commemorate the nightflight of the Prophet Muhammad on thewinged horse Buraq, first to the farthestmosque, usually identified with Jerusalem,and then to heaven and back. This mightwell be deemed an appropriate date for theapocalyptic ending of Israel and if neces-sary the world.”Many have pointed to the close ties of

many neoconservatives with Israeli PrimeMinister Binyamin Netanyahu and Israel’sright wing. Prominent neocons Richard

Perle, Douglas Feith, James Colbert andDavid and Meyrav Wurmser wrote a memoto Netanyahu in 1997 entitled “A CleanBreak,” which recommended the reorder-ing of the entire Middle East to the benefitof Israel.Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) was an unknown

before he prepared a letter signed by 47 Re-publicans to leaders in Iran warning againsta nuclear agreement. He echoed all thepoints made by Netanyahu and by Ameri-can neoconservative spokesmen. The Emer-gency Committee for Israel, led by Kristol,spent $960,000 to support Cotton in hisSenate race in Arkansas. In that same race, afirm run by Paul Singer, a hedge fund bil-lionaire from New York and a leading donorto pro-Israel causes, contributed $250,000 toArkansas Horizon, an independent expen-diture group. Seth Klarman, a Boston-basedpro-Israel billionaire, contributed $100,000through his investment firm.The political action committee run by

Bolton spent at least $825,000 to supportCotton. That PAC is in part financed by

Neocons and the Israel Lobby Are PromotingWar With Iran, as They Once Did With IraqBy Allan C. Brownfeld

Surrounding Sens. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Charles Schumer (D-NY), standing at podium, are (clockwisefrom top left) neocons Paul Wolfowitz (photo Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images), John Bolton (photo DarrenMcCollester/Getty Images), William Kristol (photo Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) and Sen. John Mc-Cain (R-AZ) (photo Win McNamee/Getty Images).

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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 theAmerican Council for Judaism.

Israel andJudaismIsrael andJudaism

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42 JUNE/JULY 2015THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

other major pro-Israel donors, including“bingo king” Irving and ChernaMoskowitz of Miami, who fund illegalJewish-only settlements in East Jerusalem. Although Senator Cotton claims to have

personally composed the letter to Iran’sleaders, this seems less than likely. Afterall, it is highly unusual for a freshman sen-ator to take a bold step like the Iran letterand then persuade dozens of colleagues toendorse it. Kristol admits having had aconversation with Cotton about the letter.There continues to be much speculationabout who really composed it. “It may be obvious, but it is worth em-

phasizing how deranged all of this is,”wrote political commentator Daniel Larisonin The American Conservative. “It is alreadyquite strange when anyone in this countryhas such a strong ideological attachment toanother state, but to demand that all of aparty’s candidates must share that attach-ment and share it to the same degree ismadness. If the relationship with that othercountry were extremely useful to the U.S. itwould still be absurd, but it might be a lit-tle easier to understand. When the rela-tionship does virtually nothing for the U.S.and imposes significant costs on the U.S., asis the case with Israel, requiring all candi-dates to give reflexive support to the otherstate is bizarre and indefensible.”While no Democrats signed Cotton’s let-

ter, that doesn’t mean they are supportingtheir president. As Josh Nathan-Kazis notedin the April 8 Forward, “The path to a billthat would effectively scuttle PresidentObama’s deal with Iran on its nuclear devel-opment program runs through two Jewishsenators: Ben Cardin of Maryland andChuck Schumer of New York.” Both men are Democrats who, before a

compromise was reached with the WhiteHouse, had indicated they might vote tooverride a threatened presidential veto of abill sponsored by Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN)which, according to the Forward,would re-quire that “any agreement with Iran be puton hold for two months after signing asCongress reviews its details. Congress couldthen pass a resolution against the deal,which would bar the president from liftingsanctions that Congress had previously im-posed on Iran.” Because overriding a veto requires 67

votes, and there are only 54 Republican sen-ators, a veto by President Obama wouldstand unless at least 13 Democrats joinedtheir Republican counterparts. Both Cardinand Schumer are in positions of influence—Cardin as the new ranking Democrat on theSenate Foreign Relations Committee, andSchumer as Sen. Harry Reid’s (D-NV)anointed successor as minority leader—andpresumably could lobby Senate Democratsto vote with the Republican opposition.

In Israel itself, there are many who op-pose any march to war with Iran. EfraimHalevy, former head of Israel’s Mossad in-telligence agency, said, “Even if the Iraniansdid obtain a nuclear weapon, they are de-terrable, because for mullahs, survival andperpetuation of the regime is a holy obliga-tion. We must be much more sophisticatedand nuanced in our policies toward Iran.”In fact, attacking Iran would have an ef-

fect opposite of what the neoconservativesand Netanyahu claim to seek. As Prof.Stephen Crowley, chairman of peace andconflict studies at Oberlin College, explains,“Since nuclear weapons provide the ultimatedeterrent, nothing could better persuadeIranian hard-liners to abandon negotiationsand to develop such weapons full speedthan calls to bomb Iran. Mr. Bolton specu-lates that bombing could set back Iran’s nu-clear program ‘by three to five years.’ Whatthen, Mr. Bolton? Where does it end?”Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has a

history of interfering in American politicallife. In 2002, he stated before a congressionalhearing that Saddam Hussain was “pursu-ing with abandon, with every ounce of ef-fort, weapons of mass destruction, includingnuclear weapons...Saddam is hell bent onachieving atomic bombs as fast as he can.”Netanyahu went on to charge that Sad-

dam had sprinkled Iraq with “nuclear cen-trifuges the size of washing machines” andthat nothing short of an U.S. invasion orregime change would stop Saddam frompassing out nuclear weapons to terroristgroups. According to Netanyahu, an inva-sion of Iraq would be a great success. “Ifyou take out Saddam, Saddam’s regime, Iguarantee you it will have enormous posi-tive reverberations around the region,” heconcluded. Of course, as everyone nowknows, it didn’t quite work out that way.

Inaccurate and AlarmistNetanyahu’s predictions about Iran alsohave been less than accurate—but alwaysalarmist. In 1995, he wrote that Iran wouldhave a nuclear weapon in “three to fiveyears,” and in 1996, speaking before a jointsession of Congress, he warned that thedeadline for Iran acquiring a nuclearweapon was “getting extremely close.” In2012, Netanyahu spoke at the U.N., warn-ing that Iran was mere months away fromproducing a nuclear weapon. Now, with the U.S. engaged in sensitive

negotiations with Iran concerning its nu-clear program, Netanyahu again has inter-fered in domestic American politics, criti-cizing the president and secretary of stateas naive and about to enter into a danger-ous agreement. No other foreign leader—much less the recipient of the largestamount of U.S. taxpayer dollars in our his-tory—has ever acted in this way.

Mossad’s formal assessment of Iran’s nu-clear capacity and intentions clearly con-tradict the scenario outlined by Netanyahuat the U.N. According to the Mossad re-port, Iran was “not performing the activ-ity necessary to produce weapons,” de-clared The Guardian. “The report high-lights the gulf between the public claimsand rhetoric of top Israeli politicians andthe assessments of Israel’s military and in-telligence establishment.”As Prof. Juan Cole of the University of

Michigan notes, “Iran does not have a nu-clear bomb and is a signatory to the Nu-clear Non-Proliferation Treaty...In contrast,Israel refused to sign the Non-ProliferationTreaty and has several hundred nuclearwarheads, which it constructed stealthily,including through acts of espionage andsmuggling in the U.S. and against thewishes of Presidents Kennedy and John-son...Iran has not launched an aggressivewar since 1775, when Karim Khan Zandsent an army against Omar Pasha in neigh-boring Iraq...Modern Iran has not occu-pied the territory of its neighbors.”In Israel itself, many commentators argue

that Netanyahu’s focus on Iran is simply ameans to avoid dealing with the question ofthe continued occupation of the West Bank.In its March 3 edition, the daily newspaperHaaretz editorialized: “Netanyahu andother Israeli candidates are ignoring the realexistential threat to Israel...the unending oc-cupation of the territories. Israel’s insistenceon ruling over millions of Palestinians in theWest Bank who lack civil rights, expandingthe settlements and keeping residents of theGaza Strip under siege is the danger threat-ening the future.”The idea that either Netanyahu’s cam-

paign against an agreement with Iran, orthe machinations of the far-right Israellobby and its associated neoconservatives,in any way represents American Jewishopinion—a view its advocates promote—isclearly untrue. Polls show that the majorityof American Jews support efforts to achievean agreement with Iran. The widely readJewish newspaper The Forward has en-dorsed moving forward with an agreement,and groups such as J Street and JewishVoice for Peace are seeing their member-ships booming. Rabbi Brant Rosen, one ofthe founders of Jewish Voice for Peace,laments, “The State of Israel is now the liv-ing embodiment of Judaism as empire. Itdemonstrates all too tragically, the conse-quences of this quasi-Faustian bargain wehave made with political nationalism.”A decade ago the U.S. permitted neocon-

servatives and the Israel lobby to take usto war with Iraq on false premises andwith disastrous results. To permit them tolead us down this path once again, thistime with Iran, would be ruinous. ❑

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June 11-14, 2015

Sunday, May 31, 2015.To register online, visit convention.adc.org

June 11-14, 2015

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First National Arab-American Cultural Festival a Huge Success Staff photos by D. Hanley and DaleSprusansky

Every year, Middle East-related events inthe nation’s capital multiply. With the re-gion in turmoil, every think tank worth itssalt holds an array of weighty panel dis-cussions, impressive conferences and fund-raising dinners. When the American-ArabAnti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) an-nounced its inaugural National Arab-American Cultural Festival in the heart ofDC and invited the Washington Reportand our bookstore, Middle East Books andMore, to join its day-long street festival onSaturday, April 25, we have to confess ourtired staff groaned.

But we marvelled as, on a chilly day atFreedom Plaza, blocks from the WhiteHouse and the Capitol dome, a bustlingcovered bazaar materialized. We soonjoined in the day’s sheer light-hearted en-joyment, as out-of-town visitors joinedlong-time residents to explore and cele-brate the culture, food and arts from theMiddle East and North Africa. We also ap-preciated a priceless opportunity to intro-duce our magazine and bookstore to thou-sands of new readers.

The region’s diversity was on full dis-play—our booth was sandwiched betweenMrs. Al-Omari, a Syrian artist who hand-paints glass (and makes a scrumptioushariseh, which she generously shared withher neighbors) and a booth selling elegantcalligraphy.

There was also an NGO Pavilion inform-ing passersby about tourism and travel op-portunities, as well as charities and Arab-American cultural organizations. Otherbooths and food carts offered traditionalArabic food and even a hookah bar, wherevisitors smoked flavored pipes. The stageoffered continuing entertainment, includ-ing a fashion show featuring colorful Ara-bic costumes. Talented musicians andsingers performed contemporary and clas-sic Arabic music—and enticed passersbyfrom blocks away. An enthusiastic audi-ence enjoyed folkloric dancers, and youngand old joined in a rousing dabka in thestreet.

One DC resident paused at our boothwith a wide grin. “Day after day Fox Newstells us Arabs are a bunch of terrorists. Ijust knew the media was lying. It’s abouttime you guys showed up to say who youreally are! Keep doing it.”

Our staff will be first in line next year tosign up for our booth!—Delinda C. Hanley

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46 JUNE/JULY 2015THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Students Celebrate Arab AmericanHeritage Arab-American students were in the spot-light at this year’s celebration of Arab Amer-ican Heritage Month at Bohrer Park inMontgomery County, MD on April 20. Thecity of Gaithersburg’s Multicultural AffairsCommittee sponsored the event, organizedby committee members Samira Hussein, par-ent May Shraim and Andi Rosati, the Mul-ticultural Affairs Committee staff liaison. Artand calligraphy by Germantown artistOuafae Taame adorned the room. Nearly theentire city government, including MayorJud Ashman, Vice Mayor Ryan Spiegelwatched as Maryland students Majdal El-Shawahin performed Arabic folk dances andNoorah Jaouni played the violin.Other students selected a famous Arab

American, created a poster about his or herremarkable achievements, and told the au-dience a little about them. Areej Ramadantalked about heart-pump inventor Dr.Michael DeBakey; Amani Idris chose ac-tress Salma Hayek; Alaa Muhtaseb de-scribed Apple co-founder Steve Jobs;Rehab Abdullah Halim chose Nobel Prizewinner for chemistry Dr. Elias Corey; GydaMurrar described the inventor of the solarcell Hassan Kamel Al-Sabbah; and HassanEdwan described Dr. Ahmed H. Zewail, an-other Nobel Prize winner for chemistry.Hannah Shraim, a Palestinian American

11th grader and the president of her Mus-lim Student Association at Northwest HighSchool in Germantown, selected award-winning poet and author Naomi ShihabNye, who just happens to be one of myown favorite writers. After e-mailingShraim’s photo [see inset above, right] toNye, I received a reply from the poet, whowas in Belfast, Northern Ireland: “So pre-cious! Please give her my love!”After the presentations, Catherine

Provost, a representative from Congress-man Chris Van Hollen’s office, said, ”Thisis a great sample of students as well asgreat Arab Americans who have done somuch for our country.” Longtime memberof the Multicultural Affairs CommitteeKenneth Weiss told the students as theevent concluded, “In a couple of yearswe’ll be talking about your achievements.”

—Delinda C. Hanley

American Task Force for LebanonGala Awards NightThe American Task Force for Lebanon(ATFL) honored geneticist Dr. Huda Zoghbi

and CNN correspondent Sara Ganimat their 17th annual fund-raising galaat the Fairmont Washington Hotel inWashington, DC on April 16. Members ofCongress, diplomats and other dignitaries,including Gen. George Joulwan, formerNATO Supreme Allied Commander, and Dr.Charles Elachi, director of the U.S. JetPropulsion Laboratory, joined their fellowAmericans of Lebanese heritage for theevening’s celebrations. Lebanese-born Dr. Zoghbi is a physician

and Howard Hughes Medical Institute re-searcher who founded the Jan and Dan Dun-can Neurological Research Institute at TexasChildren’s Hospital. Sara Ganim is a CNN in-vestigative news reporter based in NewYork. Her reports for The Patriot-News inHarrisburg, PA exposed the Jerry Sanduskyscandal at Penn State University and earneda Pulitzer Prize for local reporting in 2012.Proceeds from the gala support the Cedar

Project, which provides young Lebanese-American professionals with the opportu-

nity to receive hands-on work experienceand also enrich their knowledge ofLebanese current events and culture.

—Delinda C. Hanley

Inaugural Palestinian Advocacy Dayon Capitol Hill Bringing Palestinian Americans to CapitolHill on April 14 was one of the first ordersof business for the American Muslims forPalestine (AMP), after opening an office inWashington, DC in February.About 20 delegates from several states

participated in the first-ever Palestine Ad-vocacy Day, holding nearly 50 meetingswith House and Senate staffers over twodays, which also included Muslim Advo-

Arab American Activism

Muslim American Activism

Dr. Huda Zoghbi (l) accepts her Ray R. IraniLifetime Achievement Award from CharifSouki, chairman of Cheniere Energy, Inc.

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cacy Day, organized by the U.S. Council ofMuslim Organizations. They asked theirelected officials to hold specific Israeli mil-itary units, such as the Golani Brigades, ac-countable under the Leahy Law for humanrights violations. They also highlighted anew resolution on Israeli settlements. “Congress people are telling us that they

do not hear from Palestinian Americansabout Palestine in the same way they dofrom other social justice groups,” said AMPdirector of media and communicationsKristin Szremski, who coordinated the spe-cial event. “Palestine Advocacy Day ismeant to challenge this, and to get Pales-tinian Americans, especially young leaders,engaged in a process that hopefully willhelp shift U.S. foreign policy in the MiddleEast so that the occupation will end.”AMP, a national education and advocacy

organization based outside Chicago, has forsix years been working to raise awarenessof Israel’s occupation of Palestine and howU.S. taxpayers support these illegal and un-just Israeli policies. After years of gettingthe Palestinian narrative into the nationaldialogue through the use of advertisingcampaigns, educational materials, nationalconferences and more, AMP knew it wastime to move to the nation’s capital to di-rectly engage the national media andelected officials. In its first six weeks in DC, in addition

to Palestine Advocacy Day, AMP has run abus ad campaign in advance of IsraeliPrime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’sspeech to Congress; participated in the#SkiptheSpeech coalition that prompted60 members of Congress to boycott Ne-tanyahu’s speech; the #ShutDownAIPACevents, created by CODEPINK, and otherevents. AMP also took part in the JewishVoice for Peace annual conference held inBaltimore (see May 2015 Washington Re-port, pp. 57-59).

“In our decades here in the U.S. as Pales-tinian Muslims and Christians, and as ac-tivists, we won’t leave the advocacy arenasolely to pro-Israel lobby groups anymore,”said Sayel Kayed, AMP-New Jersey Chap-ter chairman. “Our feedback from CapitolHill was amazingly positive. Our represen-tatives told us this was the first time they’dheard our voices. This empowers us to ex-pand this work.”“To be clear, AMP does not lobby

elected officials. The organization’s strat-egy is to educate lawmakers about issuesthat not only will bring justice to Pales-tinians but also will benefit Americans aswell,” said Osama Abu Irshaid, AMP na-tional policy director. “The U.S.’s uncondi-tional support of Israeli policies that con-travene international laws and oppressPalestinians weakens the American stancethroughout the world and also threatensour national security.”While Palestine Advocacy Day 2015 was

small in scale, it will become an AMP sig-nature program, with plans for major ex-pansion next year. For more informationon AMP’s new DC office, or to inquireabout Palestine Advocacy Day, [email protected].

—Muna Howard

War-weary Libyans Fleeing to TunisiaAs the Syrian refugee crisis enters itsfourth year, another disturbing humani-tarian crisis is taking place in the region.Since Libya’s violent summer of 2014, anestimated 1.5 million of the country’s 6.5million citizens have sought refuge inneighboring Tunisia. Another 700,000 orso have fled east to Egypt. An additional400,000 are internally displaced withinLibya. Making matters worse, smugglers

have capitalized on Libya’s instability andare increasingly using the country’s portsto traffic desperate migrants (most ofwhom are from Eretria and Somalia) acrossthe Mediterranean. Many of these mi-grants end up dying at sea.To discuss this emerging issue, the

Brookings Institution held an event titled“An Overlooked Crisis: Humanitarian Con-sequences of the Conflict in Libya” at itsWashington, DC offices on April 24.Megan Bradley, a nonresident fellow at

Brookings’ Project on Internal Displace-ment, noted that international relief agen-cies have been unable to reach most ofLibya’s internally displaced persons be-cause of the instability in the country.This, she explained, has left this popula-tion vulnerable to violence and deeply im-poverished.The situation facing Libyans in Tunisia

is less dire, according to Bradley. Most ofthese individuals are middle class and havebeen able to use their savings to live com-fortably in Tunisia, she explained. This,however, is not sustainable over the long-term. “Reliance on the displaced persons’own resources is just not tenable,” Bradleywarned.Despite their momentary economic well-

being, many Libyans in Tunisia nonethe-less live restless lives, Bradley noted, asthey have ties to the deposed Qaddafiregime and fear retaliatory violence. Shewas quick to note that “this is more a caseof guilt by association,” as most of theserefugees did not carry out violence orhuman rights violations on behalf ofQaddafi.Other refugees, while thankful for

Tunisia’s hospitality, live in perpetual fearof a policy change that would force themto return home. Given this anxiety, “manyLibyans in Tunisia are effectively trying tolive under the radar,” Bradley said.Kais Darragi, chargé d’affaires of the

Tunisian Embassy in Washington, said thepresence of relatively well-off Libyans hashad a mixed impact on his country. On theone hand, Libyans have provided an eco-nomic boost by injecting about 1 billionEuros into the Tunisian economy. How-ever, he added, Libyan refugees—whonow comprise 10 percent of the country’spopulation—have caused rents to rise,strained schools, hospitals and transporta-tion systems, and placed pressure on foodand energy subsidies.Darragi also noted that the flow of indi-

viduals from Libya has created securityconcerns. Because Libyans do not need avisa to enter Tunisia, he said, it is difficult

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Members of the New Jersey chapter of American Muslims for Palestine pose with theirelected representative, Democrat Bill Pascrell, Jr., on Palestine Advocacy Day.

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for government officials to keep track ofwho and what is entering the country. Theopen Tunisia border has additionally madeit difficult to monitor refugee flows, asmany Libyans have simply crossed the bor-der without declaring their refugee status.While their exact numbers are not

known, Shelly Pitterman, regional repre-sentative of the U.N. High Commissionerfor Refugees (UNHCR), said the interna-tional community must think of creativeways to support Libyan refugees and theirhost countries—particularly Tunisia—be-fore the situation becomes dire. Resourceswill eventually run dry for refugees, hewarned, and “when that happens, thosepeople will suffer more clearly and it willhave a dramatic impact on Tunisia.”For its part, Darragi said, the Tunisian

government is preparing for the worst.Tunis received a wake-up call, he said,when it was caught off-guard by the highnumber of refugees that entered the coun-try following the February killing of Coptsby an ISIS-linked Libyan group. Humanitarian measures aside, Bradley

emphasized the central importance ofbringing peace to a conflict-plagued Libya.This is the only way to end the humanitar-ian crisis and allow refugees to returnhome, she said. Stressing the importance ofurgency, she noted that the longer the cri-sis drags on, the less likely it becomes thatLibyan refugees will ever return home.

—Dale Sprusansky

ADC Holds Forum on Women’s Empowerment To celebrate 2015 International Women’sDay, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimina-tion Committee (ADC) held a panel discus-sion, awards ceremony and dinner at theRitz-Carlton Hotel in Washington, DC onMarch 31. ADC president, attorney SamarKhalaf, described the re-focus of ADC’s

Women’s Initiative,which tackles issuesconfronting Arab-American women.Last year women inthe media discussedtrials and successes,and passed on adviceto others in their field.ADC has also held dis-cussions on sexual ha-rassment and domes-tic violence.Women’s Day for -

um speakers, startingwith AmbassadorWendy Chamberlin,

president of the Middle East Institute since2007, examined the plight of women inconflict zones. Chamberlin said she is dis-mayed by the “sweeping generalities” shehears about Arab women, with no differen-tiations made for rural women or urbanwomen.Ambassador Chamberlin condemned the

extremists who have hijacked and reinter-preted the Qur’an and created the conflictsconvulsing the Middle East. She called forthe moms living inside the conflict zonesto become mediators. Kurdish women have taken up arms to

defend their people, Chamberlin remindedlisteners, and Maj. Mariam al-Mansouri, afemale UAE fighter pilot, took part in thefirst airstrikes against ISIS. On the otherhand, women have traveled from aroundthe world to become “jihadi brides” inSyria or suicide bombers. But most womenare the vulnerable victims of conflict.Melanie Greenberg, president and CEO

of Alliance for Peacebuilding, agreed thatwomen’s voices should be amplified andlistened to. She pointed out that how a so-

ciety treats women is the litmus test for itscapacity for peace. An unstable nation pro-duces a stressed-out society, and the levelof violence against women can serve as abarometer.Moroccan-born Souleyma Haddaoui, a

visiting researcher at Georgetown who isresearching the status of American Mus-lims after 9/11, discussed why women arejoining ISIS. Young girls are lured by “dol-lar scholars” they see on the Internet whoglorify and justify violence. They may feelmarginalized and rejected by the Islamo-phobic West, although Haddaoui cau-tioned that “there is no one-size-fits-all rea-son people join ISIS. Dania Korkor, a legal analyst at the Cen-

ter for Voting and Democracy, urged gen-der balance in public offices in the UnitedStates—more women need to ”run, winand lead,” she said. Democracy should bemore reflective of demography—and 51percent of the population is underrepre-sented.During the question-and-answer period,

Ralph Nader couldn’t resist comparing ourown “violent society” to “death cult ISIS.”It’s not only ISIS that has a propensity forviolence. Why are we blowing up coun-tries all over the world? Who has commit-ted sociocide for more than 100 years? Theaudience erupted in cheers and applause.Next came the award ceremony, with

Egyptian TV media anchor Jihan Mansourreceiving the Excellence in Media award.Jordanian MP Hind Al-Fayez acceptedADC’s Excellence in Public Service Award.She opined, “ISIS is a distraction from themajor problem: Israel....Who is supportingand feeding ISIS? Who benefits from cre-ating ethnic divisions?” she asked.Nader, the consumer advocate, lawyer,

author and former presidential candidate,

Kais Darragi (l) and Shelly Pitterman argue that more attentionmust be paid to the Libyan humanitarian crisis.

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(L-r) Georgetown’s Osama Abi-Mershed (moderator), Melanie Greenberg, Dania Korkor,Ambassador Wendy Chamberlin, Women’s Forum chair Dr. Doaa Taha and Souleyma Haddaoui.

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received the Excellence in Defense ofWomen’s Rights and Civil Rights Advocacyaward. Nader said that his parents had twoboys and two girls, and it was taken forgranted that each would be highly edu-cated and succeed. He reminded the audi-ence that all great advances and work forchange starts with two people. “People getbehind you if you’re passionate for jus-tice,” he concluded.May Rihani, a pioneer in girls’ educationand an advocate for women’s rights, re-ceived the Leadership Excellence in GlobalWomen’s Rights Award. She believes socialjustice is a pathway to peace, Rihani said,and Arab Americans must become majorplayers on that path. She urged her audi-ence to value their diversity and religions,work relentlessly to minimize poverty, il-literacy, domestic violence and improvehealth care, education and job opportuni-ties. She concluded, “We need to make adifference and put ourselves on a path topeace.” —Delinda C. Hanley

Syria’s Humanitarian Crisis: What IsTo Be Done?A group of human rights observers gath-ered at the Washington Court Hotel onCapitol Hill on April 21 to provide an up-date on Syria’s humanitarian crisis. Theevent, which challenged speakers to offersolutions, was sponsored by the MiddleEast Policy Council.Karen AbuZayd, a member of the U.N.’sIndependent International Commission ofInquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic andformer commissioner-general of UNRWA,began by providing the latest gut-wrench-ing figures on the crisis, which has dis-placed roughly half of the Syrian popula-tion. “Over 220,000 Syrians have beenkilled, 6.5 million are internally displaced,and at least 9 million more inside Syria arein need,” she noted. “Tens of thousandshave been forcibly disappeared or torturedin detention, and 4 million refugees arehosted in neighboring countries.”The refugee crisis exists, she said, be-cause all sides of the conflict—especiallyBashar al-Assad’s forces—have committedgrave human rights abuses. AbuZayd saidthe Syrian government is “responsible formany more crimes than the opposition andmany more types of crimes, particularlygiven its monopoly on air power and alsoits heavy use of indiscriminate weapons,including, more recently, barrel bombs.”AbuZayd implored global powers to stoppermitting weapons to enter Syria andsuggested an arms embargo be established.“Those states and individuals who re-

source the various parties at the same timeas they are proclaiming support for the ne-gotiations…could be indicted for warcrimes committed by those they are arm-ing and training,” she warned.The international community must alsodo more to provide assistance to refugeesand internally displaced persons, AbuZaydcontinued. “U.N. appeals have garneredpledges for under half of the money re-quested. And of those pledges,” she noted,“only half have been paid.” Prof. Denis J. Sullivan, director ofNortheastern University’s Boston Consor-tium for Arab Region Studies, urged gov-ernments to begin viewing the crisis as aprotracted refugee situation. Accordingly,he said, ways to strengthen relations be-tween host communities and refugees mustbe developed. This can be accomplished, he said, bysending international aid directly to citiesin Lebanon and Jordan that house a largenumber of refugees. “These are the peoplewho are overwhelmed. These are the peo-ple who have to manage the schools, man-age the health facilities, manage the clin-ics,” he explained. “So there’s a doublebenefit here… you’re hitting the refugees,but you’re also hitting and helping thelocal towns, the people of those cities andtowns, as well as developing a long-terminstitutional development.”Sullivan said Syrian immigrants alsomust be permitted to seek employment intheir host countries, a privilege they arecurrently denied. “Providing work permitsto Syrian refugees is fundamentally impor-tant. Also, business licenses,” he stated.Humanitarian issues aside, Sullivan saidWashington must do more politically anddiplomatically to bring an end to the vio-lence in Syria. “I think fundamentally theUnited States needs to mobilize our diplo-matic and intelligence and economic andmilitary might toward cease-fires, safety

zones, [and] humanitarian corridors,” heargued. “It won’t stop by itself. I’m notsure what we’re waiting for—a bettertime? We need to move in this direction.”According to Susan M. Akram, a clinicalprofessor at Boston University School ofLaw, countries such as Lebanon and Egyptare frustrated that Western nations havenot accepted more Syrian refugees. Syria’sneighbors, she noted, have insisted on re-settlement as a condition of agreeing toprocess refugees. This has yet to happen,however, as the U.S. and Canada have ac-cepted only several hundred asylum seek-ers, with a low likelihood of that numberincreasing significantly. Akram noted that Syria’s neighbors alsoare hosting a large number of refugeesfrom Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia,Afghan istan and Iraq—“some of whomhave been waiting for years for resettle-ment.” These long-existing refugee popu-lations are frustrated that their applica-tions for resettlement are now being de-layed due to the pressure the Syrianrefugees have placed on the internationalsystem, she said.Particular attention must be paid to Syr-ian refugees of Palestinian descent, Akramadded, given the legal quagmires they areencountering across the region. The situation facing Palestinians fromSyria is particularly desperate in Egypt,Akram added. “Palestinian refugees inEgypt comprise one of the largest pre-ex-isting refugee populations in the country,but Egypt excludes Palestinians from pro-tection or assistance from UNHCR anddoes not recognize them as refugees,” sheexplained. “Many are being detained and arrestedfor illegal presence,” Akram continued.“There have been over a thousand Pales-tinians from Syria detained. And the gov-ernment has made their release conditionalon obtaining airline tickets out of Egypt.

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(L-r) Karen AbuZayd, Thomas Mattair, Prof. Denis J. Sullivan (at podium), Susan Akram,Sara Roy and Ambassador Ford Fraker.

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Since there’s nowhere most Palestinians cango, they’ve been trying to leave Egypt ille-gally by boats, heading to Italy, or gettingout of Egypt any way they can through theuse of smugglers. And they’re among thehighest number of casualties in the drown-ings in the Mediterranean.”Palestinians from Syria are not faring

much better in Jordan, Akram noted.“The Jordanian government early on [inthe Syrian conflict] put a policy in place ofnot one more Palestinian in Jordan,” sheexplained. This has resulted in the depor-tation of hundreds of Palestinians back toSyria and the separation of mixed Pales-tinian-Syrian and Palestinian-Jordanianfamilies.In Lebanon, Palestinians fleeing Syria

“have primarily gone to reside in the pre-existing Palestinian camps, exacerbating ahuge problem, because the poorest peoplein Lebanon are in the Palestinian refugeecamps,” Akram noted. “So Syrian Pales-tinians who have been used to quite a highstandard of living are now living in themost impoverished conditions.”Matters are better in Turkey, which

Akram described as “the only country[neighboring Syria] that makes no distinc-tion between Syrian nationals and Pales-tinians from Syria in the granting of pro-tection.” —Dale Sprusansky

Sara Roy: How to Prevent Syria FromBecoming the Next GazaHarvard University professor Sara Royconcluded the April 21 Middle East PolicyCouncil event by pointing to the failed his-tory of humanitarian action in Gaza as anexample of what the international commu-nity should avoid in its approach to theSyrian humanitarian crisis. Israel has intentionally made Gaza de-

pendent on humanitarian aid, Roy argued,in order to stifle its economic developmentand thus prevent the creation of a self-sus-taining Palestinian state.“In the mid-1980s I was [in Israel] con-

ducting research for my doctoral disserta-tion,” she recalled. “I spent a good deal oftime with Israeli government officials, allof whom make one point clear almost im-mediately, some more explicitly than oth-ers: There would be no economic develop-ment in the Palestinian territories, I wastold. There were two reasons for this. Thefirst, and relatively less important, was theneed to eliminate any source of competi-tion with the Israeli economy. The secondand far more crucial reason was to pre-clude the establishment of any form of aPalestinian state.”

Matters have gotten worse in recentyears, Roy said, as Israel has moved from apolicy of economic stagnation to one ofeconomic destruction: Tel Aviv wants Gazato be utterly helpless. According to Roy, “Whereas prior to the

first intifada Israel sought to control anddominate the Palestinian economy, shapingit to serve its own interests, current policyattacks Gaza’s economic structure with theaim of permanently disabling it—in theprocess, transforming the population froma people with national, political and eco-nomic rights into a humanitarian problem,charity cases in need of relief.”Israel has been able to avoid responsibil-

ity for Gaza by using Hamas as an excusefor its economic and military assault onGaza, Roy pointed out. “The West haslargely come to accept Israel’s recasting ofits relationship with Gaza from one be-tween occupier and occupied to one be-tween warring parties,” she added, “whichhas facilitated Israeli attacks on Gaza andrendered as illegitimate any notion of free-dom or democracy for Palestinians.” Noting the culpability of Western gov-

ernments, Roy said they must no longerallow Israel to use the humanitarian crisesit creates as a deflection from the centralissue of its occupation. “Any discussion ofhumanitarian aid must confront and en-gage this political fact directly,” she in-sisted. “Without a political resolution, this[humanitarian] approach is as unsustain-able as it is volatile.”Given the unlikelihood of Western gov-

ernments getting tough on Israel, Roy sug-gested that it might be time for humanitar-ian groups that work in Gaza to take astrong political stand. “Donor agenciesneed to hold Israel and their own host gov-ernments accountable for the very real anddamaging cost of occupation,” she said.“While humanitarian action cannot substi-tute for political intervention or compen-sate for the absence of a political process, itshould not allow itself to become instru-mentalized or weaponized by that process.”Offering lessons for Syria, Roy stressed

the importance of growth instead of re-building. “For too long the approach offoreign assistance providers has not beenabout moving Gaza forward into the futurebut at best about restoring Gaza to a less-compromised position of the past,” shestated. “Will Syria’s displaced be similarlycondemned to this approach—to relief in-stead of progress?”Video and a transcript of Roy’s impres-

sive remarks can be found at <mepc.org>.—Dale Sprusansky

Bethlehem’s First Female Mayor onGoverning in Occupied PalestineSpeaking at an April 30 event sponsoredby the Middle East Institute in Washing-ton, DC, Vera Baboun, Bethlehem’s first fe-male mayor, discussed the challenges fac-ing municipal governments in the occupiedWest Bank.Mayor Baboun began by lamenting the

dual and incompatible identities of hercity: Bethlehem the eternal symbol ofpeace, and Bethlehem the city under occu-pation. “This city that gave us the meaningof peace is walled...a pure irony,” she com-mented.Baboun noted that the reality of the oc-

cupation and the presence of Jewish-onlysettlements limit her power as mayor.Eighty-two percent of Bethlehem gover-norate is in Area C, she explained—mean-ing that it is under complete Israeli control.This essentially means that, as mayor, shehas virtually no authority over the admin-istration of much of her city. “We can donothing in these [Israeli-controlled] areas,”she noted.Turning to the negative economic and

social ramifications of the Israeli occupa-tion, Baboun showed her audience picturesof the separation wall and checkpoints.She decried that Palestinians are consis-tently humiliated by Israel’s policies. “Onething we lack is dignified living,” she said.Economically, Bethlehem is crippled by

the occupation, Baboun emphasized.While the city’s residents are highly edu-cated and capable workers, she said, the re-ality of the occupation is that very fewskilled, high-paying jobs are sustainable.Pointing out that 400,000 Bethlehemiteslive in Chile alone, she noted the detri-mental impact that Israel’s immigration andcitizenship policies have on her city’s abil-ity to capitalize on the great wealth and in-novation of its diaspora.Even though Bethlehem welcomes two

million visitors per year, Baboun notedthat the city receives minimal economicbenefits from their presence. This, she ex-plained, is because many tourists bus infrom Israel, visit the Church of the Nativ-ity, pray, maybe visit a souvenir shop, thenleave. While the local economy suffers from

visitors not booking hotel rooms, Babounpointed out that there also are unfortunatesocial consequences of Israel-centrictourist itineraries. It’s a shame, she said,that outsiders do not get the opportunity

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to walk Bethlehem’s streets and interactwith locals. Ultimately, she believes thislack of engagement does little to promoteunderstanding and peace. “Let the peaceprocess start from Bethlehem,” she urged.

—Dale Sprusansky

Bethlehem’s Youth Offer Reason forHopeSeveral youth leaders from Bethlehem alsospoke alongside their mayor, Vera Baboun,at the April 30 Middle East Institute event.Lana Abu-Hijleh, a Palestinian develop-

ment expert who has helped establishyouth programs throughout the WestBank, said the delegation from Bethlehemwas in Washington to encourage legislatorson Capitol Hill to continue funding Pales-tinian youth counsels. Official USAID-funded youth councils

exist in 40 communities in the West Bank,Abu-Hijleh noted, and have influenced thecreation of similar institutions in 20 otherPalestinian cities. The youth councils provide an opportu-

nity for young people to become involvedin the social and political future of theircities, Abu-Hijleh told the audience, bypromoting community engagement and of-fering leadership experience. They also help lay the groundwork for

strong local institutions and civil societyorganizations, all of which she considerscrucial to the prosperity of a future Pales-tinian state. Betty Ba’baish, a member of Bethlehem’s

Youth Council, credited the program withhelping her and other young Palestiniansfind a reason for hope. The council, shesaid, encourages young people to realizethat in the midst of occupation their nat-ural gifts and abilities can be put to gooduse in their community.Jacob Qara’a, the current president of

the Bethlehem Youth Council, noted that

the 800 or so mem-bers of his city’scouncil work withgovernment authori-ties in a number ofareas, such as makingpublic spaces accessi-ble to the handi-capped and offeringrecommendations forBethlehem’s masterplan. The councils, Abu-

Hijleh concluded, are“a populist move-ment that reflect thereal spirit of the

Palestinian youth.” —Dale Sprusansky

Accountability for Gaza: Updates onDomestic, International Legal EffortsTwo lawyers, Nadia Ben-Youssef and BradParker, who are working with the UnitedNations’ Independent Commission of In-quiry on the 2014 Gaza war, spoke April16 at the Palestine Center in Washington,DC. Palestine Center executive directorZeina Azzam said both speakers were “in-tensely involved in current internationalefforts calling for justice and accountabil-ity, and for the end of the impunity that Is-rael seems to enjoy.” Since the beginning of the Israeli occu-

pation of the West Bank, East Jerusalemand Gaza, Palestinian children have bornethe brunt of discrimination, violence andmilitary offenses, noted Parker, a staff at-torney and international advocacy officerat Defense for Children International Pales-tine (DCIP). Invariably, both Israeli author-ities and the international community failto investigate allegations of war crimes,human rights or child rights violations,Parker insisted, so Israel’s military enjoys“systematic impunity.” Since 2006, there have

been six military offensiveson Gaza, Parker observed.Israel’s attacks during Oper-ation Cast Lead targetedresidential neighborhoodsand civilian homes. Lastsummer’s Operation Protec-tive Edge “sort of set thehigh water mark for thelevel of violence,” he said,killing 547 children: “225 ofthose kids were killed inairstrikes, using bombsdropped on kids in theirhomes throughout Gaza.”Weaponized drones killed

another 164 kids, Parker continued.“There was no safe place for children.”Using drones in highly urban settings is

a violation of international humanitarianlaw, Parker pointed out. “Drones have thetechnical capacity to identify targets, andyet you still have children out in the open,4 or 5 years old, during daylight hoursbeing directly struck with weaponizeddrones.” The facts speak for themselves:there was direct targeting of children, and“yet there’s still structural impunity forthese violations.” For more informationand documentation, read DCIP’s latest re-port on its website <dci-palestine.org>.Ben-Youssef cautioned listeners not to be-

come desensitized as they listen to thesenumbers. “I think that’s critical for humanrights advocates to keep in mind: these arelives,” she said. Ben-Youssef described whather organization, Adalah, the Legal Centerfor Arab Minority Rights in Israel, does toexpose the flaws in the Israeli legal system. After Operation Cast Lead, the U.N.

Human Rights Council called for a fact-finding mission. The Goldstone Commis-sion concluded that there were seriousdoubts about the willingness of Israelis tocarry out investigations in accordance withinternational law. A follow-up mechanism, led by New

York Supreme Court Justice Mary Mc-Gowan-Davis, agreed that Israel opens onlya small number of investigations. After Op-eration Cast Lead and the killing of 1,400people, Israel examined 400 incidents,opened 52 investigations and ended upwith only 3 indictments. “The most severepunishment was for credit card theft,”Ben-Youssef revealed. Investigators work-ing with McGowan-Davis (who is nowleading the Commission of Inquiry onGaza) agree that “something is wrong.”After encountering difficulties obtaining

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Mayor Vera Baboun (l) and Lana Abu-Hijleh share stories fromoccupied Bethlehem.

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Brad Parker and Nadia Ben-Youssef are working on a U.N.Independent Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza war.

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access to Israel and the Gaza Strip, Mc-Gowan-Davis has delayed the release of herlatest report to the U.N. Human RightsCouncil until this June.

—Delinda C. Hanley

Volunteers Describe LEAP’s Work inLebanonTwo returned volunteers from Learning forthe Empowerment and Advancement ofPalestinians (LEAP) found their way intoMiddle East Books and More one weekendwhile this writer was manning the book-store. I admitted I didn’t know a thingabout LEAP, which sends young Americanvolunteers to Palestinian camps in Lebanonfor five to seven weeks each summer. Volunteers often find sponsors at their

schools, community centers or places ofworship and pay their own airfare. Once inLebanon they share housing with othervolunteers and enjoy delicious food pro-vided by Beit Atfal Assumoud, a Palestin-ian-run organization. Volunteers teach in-tensive summer courses to improve stu-dents’ English proficiency, and help moti-vate them to continue their academic stud-ies. In return, they get to know Palestinianrefugees and learn a lesson or two aboutlife. That sounds like the Peace Corps,which changed me, so I decided to attend afund-raiser for LEAP’s SHINE 2015 sum-mer project, held April 15 at the 14th andV Sts. Busboys and Poets. LEAP is a U.S.-based grassroots, volun-

teer-run program launched in 2010. Thissummer LEAP volunteers will provide anintensive summer experience to 600refugees in Lebanon. LEAP is a programfor concerned individuals who believe inAmerican core values of peace, freedom,and equality for all people, as well as inhuman rights, international conventions,humanitarian law, and refugee rights. Returned volunteers showed movies

their students had made about their livesin the camps. They described staying in anapartment with other volunteers in Beirut’sShatila camp, waking up early to teachtheir classes and going home to spend atleast three hours preparing for classes thenext day. Volunteers taught yoga, photog-raphy and social media skills, as well asEnglish, and took kids to the beach onfield trips. They talked about studentsthey’d worked with, who want to be den-tists, doctors, poets and filmmakers. It wasobvious to me that those students had for-ever changed their teachers. Next to speak was Nour Joudah, associ-

ate professor at American University, whoused to teach 9th graders at the Friends

School in Ramallah until she was deniedre-entry after a vacation in 2013. She fo-cused on the vulnerability of Palestiniansin Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and wherever elsethe stateless refugees are living. Theevening ended with a marvelous perfor-mance by DC’s Foty Fusion, whose uniqueblend of traditional and modern Arabicmusic is a family enterprise. For more information on LEAP, visit

<www.leap-program.org>. —Delinda C. Hanley

Land Day Commemoration HonorsPeople Who Won’t Be SilencedThe General Delegation of the PLO to theU.S. and the American Federation of Ra-mallah Palestine teamed up to host a spe-cial dinner to commemorate Prisoners’ Dayas well as the 39th Palestinian Land Day onApril 17 at the Westin Hotel in Arlington,VA. Following the playing of the Palestin-ian National Anthem, Ambassador MaenRashid Areikat told the audience that LandDay honors the six Israeli Palestinians whowere killed and hundreds who were in-

jured and arrested as they peacefullyprotested Israeli plans to steal tens of thou-sands of acres of land in the Galilee. Turning to the dinner’s theme, “Your Si-

lence Is Their Power,” Areikat decried ef-forts by U.S. colleges, mainstream mediaand community leaders who use Islamo-phobia, false charges of anti-Semitism andother tactics to silence criticism of Israelipolicies. “Criticism of policies is legitimateand moral,” Areikat emphasized, urgingPalestinians to use their votes, forge al-liances and contribute to their communi-ties. “We need you to be Palestinian Amer-icans,” he concluded, “and not Palestiniansliving in America.” Mohammad Saba’aneh, a political car-

toonist from Jenin for Al Hayat newsletter,told attendees that he has been jailed by Is-raeli authorities for his art. He endured un-bearable interrogations, Saba’aneh said,and resisted descending into madness bystealing a pen from his interrogators anddrawing. He asked prisoners who weregoing home to smuggle out his drawings,which focus on the plight of Palestinianprisoners in Israeli detention. “Only drawing saved me,” Saba’aneh

said. “I will not drop my pencil. It’s myway to resist and protest...Palestinians arepaying a heavy price living under occupa-tion. We need you to work in the U.S. andthe rest of the world. Without it, ourvoices will continue to be unheard. Pleasedo not be silent.”Palestinian organizers honored United

Nations Relief and Works Agency forPalestine Refugees in the Near East(UNRWA), American Near East Refugee Aid(ANERA), United Palestinian Appeal (UPA)and Islamic Relief USA for their “heroic ef-forts” to provide services for Palestinians. Also honored were Northeastern Uni-

versity students Sean Hansen, a senior an-thropology major, and Zeina Abu-Hijleh, aPalestinian journalism and law student.The students took turns describing thesuspension of their university’s Studentsfor Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter afterposting mock eviction notices on dormsand other protests. After every setbackand attack, more students, including theentire rugby team, joined their rallies toshow solidarity, and eventually Northeast-ern reinstated SJP.Professor Iymen Chehade, who created

an Israeli-Palestinian Conflict course at Co-lumbia College in Chicago, described hav-ing his academic freedom violated whensome students complained he made themuncomfortable by showing the AcademyAward-nominated film “Five Broken Cam-

Nour Joudah describes Palestinians’ rightsto eduction at the LEAP fund-raiser.

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eras.” After losing his course, he gathered7,000 signatures in a grassroots nationalcampaign, and his course was reinstated.“If you see injustice anywhere, fight it,”urged Chehade, who is now founder anddirector of Uprising Theater, the first the-ater that will prioritize Palestinian playsand art. Comedian Amer Zahr, who also served as

master of ceremonies, concluded theevening with a stand-up routine that leftguests in stitches. —Delinda C. Hanley

Rabbi Brant Rosen Explains BDS inDes MoinesRabbi Brant Rosen, Midwest regional di-rector of the American Friends ServiceCommittee (AFSC), discussed the Boycott,Divestment and Sanctions Movement(BDS) before a standing-room-only audi-ence at the Des Moines Social Club onMarch 26.“There is no equity in the so-called

peace process,” he declared, “and therenever has been.” Rosen summarized BDS’ three goals:

ending Israel’s occupation and colonizationof all Arab lands and dismantling the wall;recognizing the fundamental rights of theArab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to fullequality; and respecting, protecting and

promoting the rights of Palestinianrefugees to return to their homesand properties as stipulated in U.N.Resolution 194.Rosen noted the oppressive con-

ditions Israel imposes on Palestini-ans, who live under a set of JimCrow laws very different from thelaws under which Jewish Israelislive. “We have a legally enforcedseparation between two peoplebased on their ethnicity, and that iswhat we are talking about when wetalk about apartheid,” said Rosen.“There is structural racism in all

societies,” he acknowledged, “but the kindof structural racism that results from Zion-ism is built into the very idea of Zionism it-self. It is painful to say that as a Jew, but itis a reckoning that we have to seriouslydeal with. The issue is not simply the oc-cupation…but goes to the heart of what itmeans to found an ethno-national state, astate that is predicated on the identity ofone people.” Rosen, who is based in Chicago, joined

AFSC in October 2014 after serving as acongregational rabbi for some 20 years. In2008 he was recognized by Newsweekmag-azine as one of the Top 25 Pulpit Rabbis inAmerica. A former president of the Recon-structionist Rabbinical Association, Rosenis a co-founder and co-chairperson of theJewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council.The BDS call is a way of appealing to the

international community for popular sup-port the way other successful movementshave done throughout history. There areways for everybody out there to partici-pate in this active nonviolent resistancemovement, Rosen said.“I look forward to working with you to

find new ways to create discomfort, toleverage people power, to change the nar-rative,” he added, “so that Palestinians andIsraelis can have the future together thatthey deserve.”This writer asked Rosen about the con-

text of an extremely inflammatory sluraimed at President Barack Obama by Caro-line Glick, a Jerusalem Post editor, Chicagonative, and former Netanyahu foreign pol-icy adviser. On Feb. 13, under her blogheadline “Mainstreaming Jew hatred inAmerica,” Glick sought to smear the presi-dent as an anti-Semite who, she wrote, was“mainstreaming anti-Semitism in America.”Rosen described Glick’s remarks as “crazy.”“I think Caroline Glick is an Israeli ver-

sion of Fox News,” he said. “Seriously,that’s the context in which she exists. It’s aheavily politicized form of journalism that

focuses on ad hominem attacks. What shesaid isn’t all that different than what wehear people on Fox News saying aboutObama. I think there is a racist undercur-rent to it,” Rosen added.“It is important to keep in mind that in

Israel there is a very wide spectrum ofjournalistic attitudes,” he continued. “Ifyou read Haaretz, for instance…they real -ly write very passionately about a signifi-cant portion of the Israeli public that ismortified by what Netanyahu is doing.…My concern is that in Israel it is the Caro-line Glicks who are becoming ascendant,and many of the more progressive voicesare throwing up their hands and literallyleaving the country,” Rosen warned. The event was sponsored by AFSC in

conjunction with an art exhibit titled“Boycott: The Art of Economic Activism,Posters from Historical and ContemporaryBoycott Movements.” —Michael Gillespie

Des Moines Christians March in Annual Palm Sunday Peace ProcessionSupport for Palestinian Christians was strongamong some 80 Iowans who turned out on acool and blustery March 29 Palm Sunday af-ternoon to walk in the annual Peace Proces-sion sponsored by the Des Moines Area Ec-umenical Committee for Peace. “I’m here today on behalf of my Pales-

tinian Christian brothers and sisters, manyof whom were not able to go to Jerusalemto walk in the traditional parade today be-cause of the occupation,” said Pastor ChrisCowan, an ELCA Lutheran pastor who hastraveled to the Holy Land several times.“I’ve had the wonderful opportunity offreedom of religion, so I support those whodon’t,” she explained.Cowan said the human rights abuses she

witnessed during her first visit to Palestinein 2008 made an impression that led her toreturn to Palestine as a participant in theEcumenical Accompaniment Program inPalestine and Israel sponsored by theWorld Council of Churches.John Fairweather of First Christian

Church in Des Moines said he has beenmarching for peace since he was a civilrights activist in the 1960s. A supporter ofPresident Barack Obama’s efforts to avoidanother war in the Middle East and South-west Asia, Fairweather said, “I do thinkdiplomacy can work.”Fairweather said he would support an

economic boycott of Israel if the Israeligovernment doesn’t halt settlement con-struction on Palestinian land and find away to make a two-state solution possible.“I support Israel, but the Palestinians have

Northeastern University students Sean Hansen andZeina Abu-Hijleh.

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Rabbi Brant Rosen speaks at the DesMoines Social Club.

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gotten a bad deal,” said Fairweather.According to Ryan Arnold, senior min-

ister of First Christian Church, “Peace isthe answer, not violence, or hatred, or big-otry, or bullying. That is the radical, won-derful message of Palm Sunday.”Retired ELCA Lutheran minister Russell

Melby said he was wearing a Palestiniankeffiyeh “as a symbol, a way to be in soli-darity with our Palestinian brothers andsisters who continue to suffer under op-pression.” The Palm Sunday walk pro-claimed a message of peace and hope, notonly to Christians, Melby said, but to thewider world.Erika McCrosky of the Catholic Peace

Ministry said she was walking in solidar-ity with all those who want to imagine amore peaceful world. “I believe in the mis-sion of ending our perpetual war econ-omy,” she said. “One day I hope we will beable to say we were successful in that.”

—Michael Gillespie

New York’s MTA Board Tries to EndIsrael-Palestine Ad War New York City’s Metropolitan Transporta-tion Authority’s board passed a resolutionon April 29 banning all political advertisingon its subways and buses. The cash-strapped transit system voted to eliminatepolitical ads because the previous week, onApril 21, federal Judge John Koeltl ruled infavor of a lawsuit filed by the ironicallynamed “American Freedom Defense Initia-tive,” led by Islamophobic blogger Pamela

Geller, whose cartoon con-test in Texas captured re-cent headlines. The adGeller wanted to plaster onNew York buses and sub-way walls shows a coveredface next to a so-calledquote from “Hamas MTV”saying: “Killing Jews isWorship that draws usclose to Allah,” followedby the words: “That’s hisjihad. What’s yours?”Geller ran the same offen-sive ads in San Franciscoand Chicago in 2013.

According to Monica Klein, spokes-woman for New York City Mayor Bill deBlasio, “these anti-Islamic ads are outra-geous, inflammatory and wrong, and haveno place in New York City, or anywhere...”Klein warned, “These hateful messagesserve only to divide and stigmatize whenwe should be coming together as onecity...While those behind these ads onlydisplay their irresponsible intolerance, therest of us who may be forced to view themcan take comfort in the knowledge that weshare a better, loftier and nobler view ofhumanity.” Even though Koeltl ruled thead was protected speech, the MTA hadhad enough, and voted to halt all politicalads. There was an immediate outcry thatMTA was blocking New Yorkers’ FirstAmendment rights.Philadelphia’s transit system accepted a

federal judge’s March 26 ruling that it mustaccept provocative ads that include a 1941photograph of Adolf Hitler with a formerPalestinian leader. Those American Free-dom Defense Initiative’s ads claimed: “JewHatred: It’s in the Qur’an.”In 2010, the Seattle Mideast Awareness

Campaign submitted ads that criticized U.S.support for Israeli war crimes. After protest-ers threatened to vandalize the buses, Seat-tle’s transit system canceled the ads. Next,pro-Israel groups created ads charging Pales-tinians with committing war crimes, illus-trated with a burning bus and bloody pas-sengers. Seattle’s county executive decidedto bar any ads relating to the Israeli-Pales-

tinian conflict becausethey could lead to“harm to, disruption of,or interference with thetransportation system.” In March Judge Paul

J. Watford’s Ninth Cir-cuit federal appealscourt agreed with thatdecision, adding that

barring any ads relating to the Arab-Israeliconflict is acceptable under the FirstAmendment because it was “viewpointneutral.” A transit agency isn’t required bythe Constitution to sell advertising to pro-ponents of various causes. We suspect thatthis controversy won’t end until the Israel-Arab conflict is resolved.

—Delinda C. Hanley

Morocco’s Plan to Counter ViolentExtremismTwo representatives of the Moroccan gov-ernment appeared at the Atlantic Councilin Washington, DC on April 8 to discusstheir country’s efforts to combat andcounter violent extremism. MbarkaBouaida, Morocco’s minister-delegate forforeign affairs and cooperation, began bydenouncing extremism and stressing theimportance of not letting atrocities com-mitted by terrorist groups go unpunished. As Morocco and its neighbors work dili-

gently to combat extremism they will needthe assistance of the global community,Bouaida said. Countering Da’ish and otherdangerous organizations, she emphasized,must be a universal effort. “The world hasto be conscious that the responsibility isglobally shared,” she said.In partnering to fight terror, govern-

ments must rely on more than militarymight, Bouaida argued, saying, “It is nec-essary to complement this strategy with aglobal vision that includes economicgrowth and human development, one thatis careful to preserve the cultural identityof each country.”With this in mind, in October 2012 Mo-

rocco launched the thus-far-successfulRabat Plan of Action—an initiative thatcalls for the promotion of tolerance.Bouaida noted that several countries in theregion have asked Morocco to help themimplement certain facets of this initiative,such as its imam training program. Ahmed Abbadi, secretary-general of

Morocco’s Rabita Muhammadia of ‘Ulamas,a council of religious scholars appointedby King Mohammed VI, spoke next. He ar-gued that in order to defeat Da’ish theworld must understand why the grouprose to prominence.Da’ish is branding itself as a solution to

the many disappointments and injusticesexperienced by the people of the region,Abbadi explained. He said many recipientsof the group’s propaganda are, amongother things, frustrated by the region’swars, the issue of Israel, the perceived hu-miliation of Muslims in the media and on-line, the draining of the region’s wealth,

A blustery day did not discourage Palm Sunday Peace Proces-sion walkers in Des Moines.

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colonialism, the destruction of traditionalvalue systems, and the perceived conspir-acy to scatter the Muslim world.According to Abbadi, this smorgasbord

of issues helps explain Da’ish’s appeal.“This is why when you witness their waysof recruiting, and especially when this re-cruitment is directed to some frustrated,angry, high testosterone young males inthe region, with all those disappointments,with all those angers that are internalizedin themselves, they are very prone to re-spond to the appeals.”Abbadi added that Da’ish’s lure is en-

hanced by the fact that it controls a signif-icant swath of land—the so-called IslamicState—that it can present to recruits as atangible realization of their dreams.The utopian dreams of naïve individuals

are precisely what Da’ish is capitalizing on,Abbadi said. The dreams of unity, dignityand (religious) purity, he noted, have allbeen hijacked by the group in order to fa-cilitate its existence. Da’ish “is trying tocollect all those energies, all those dreams,and brand them as being theirs,” he said To counter the duplicitous Da’ish narra-

tive, Abbadi said it’s important that cur-ricula and programs anchored in undis-torted interpretations of the Qur’an be es-tablished for young people. This alone, however, is not enough, he

emphasized. Passionate and engagedyoung people who feel as though theyhave been given ownership over their fu-ture must lead such programs, he argued. Addressing what must be done with for-

mer or returning Da’ish members, Abbadiencouraged reintegration over imprison-ment. Rehabilitation programs led by re-covered fighters can heal extremists, he be-lieves. In making this argument, Abbadisaid that instead of demonizing extremists,it is important to realize that most radical-ized individuals are normal people whochose to respond to real problems in un-

productive and dangerous ways.In the end, Abbadi said, it is impor-

tant to remember that Da’ish and otherextremist groups are severely outnum-bered in the world. With this in mind,individuals must not let themselves beparalyzed with fear. “The venom offear,” he said, “just impedes your hopeand stops you from taking initiatives.”

—Dale Sprusansky

Debating the War in YemenThe National Council on U.S.-Arab Re-lations (NCUSAR) hosted a high-profileevent on April 2 called “Yemen inChaos” at the Rayburn House Office

Building on Capitol Hill. Discussing the re-cent developments in Yemen, mainly theSaudi-led anti-Houthi military campaign,were panelists Jeremy M. Sharp of theCongressional Research Service, David DesRoches of the Near East South Asia Centerfor Strategic Studies, Yemeni journalistAbbas Almosawa, and Sama’a Al-Ham-dani, a Yemeni analyst and writer. SaudiArabia’s new foreign minister, Adel A. Al-Jubeir, who at the time was serving as theKingdom’s ambassador to the U.S., was theguest of honor, and undoubtedly the rea-son for much of the media’s interest.The event began with an introduction

by NCUSAR founding president Dr. JohnDuke Anthony, who gave a detailed back-ground of Yemeni history, with a specialfocus on regional differences. The programthen moved to remarks from the four pan-elists, followed by a question-and-answersession. Al-Jubeir arrived about an hourinto the event, taking questions for the re-mainder of the time.The panelists offered two sets of per-

spectives, and the contrast of views couldnot have been greater. Des Roches andSharp provided military-based analyses:how to define appropriate military targets,what type of equipment is being used, thethreat of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula(AQAP) and ISIS in Yemen, and how theSaudi campaign fit into those security con-cerns. Al-Hamdani and Almosawa pro-vided their own perspectives as Yemenis.

Sharp had no doubt that the Houthishad crossed what he deemed a “red line”in Yemen, and considered it imperativethat the U.S. support the Saudi campaign,although he offered no specifics on whatthat support entailed besides providing be-hind-the-scenes logistics. As the operationcontinues, he warned, there will be morechaos, and thus more space for al-Qaedaand other groups to exploit.Sharp also explained that the Saudi mil-

itary campaign aimed not just to force theHouthis back from their advancing posi-tions, but to end the alliance between themand former President Ali AbdullahSaleh—an ironic position, given that SaudiArabia has since 2011 preserved Saleh’s po-sition in Yemen as a powerful political fig-ure, providing him immunity from hiscrimes against the Yemeni people.Acknowledging this irony, Des Roches

said that, in retrospect, it was a mistake togrant Saleh immunity. He also concededthat the Houthis maintain popular legiti-macy in many parts of Yemen, and thatmilitary operations alone may not be suffi-cient to eliminate their hold on Yemeni pol-itics. Only a political solution along withthe military campaign can bring about alasting peace, he argued. Des Roches expressed a measure of faith

in the Saudi campaign, contrasting it withpast campaigns against the Houthis, inwhich the Houthis were victorious. Thistime, he said, the Saudis were well-equipped and much better prepared todeal with the Houthi threat.Almosawa’s remarks were less analytical

and more condemning of the violence re-sulting from Saudi Arabia’s bombing. Hewas unequivocal in his disapproval of theairstrikes, and firmly believed that the warwas unnecessary and that a peaceful,diplomatic solution was always on thetable; the Saudis, he charged, just chosenot to use it. Furthermore, he had nodoubt that the violence of the Saudiairstrikes on Yemen has in fact emboldenedthe Houthis, whose strong anti-imperialistcredentials have been bolstered by thesudden foreign attack on their country.

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Ahmed Abbadi (l) and the Stimson Center’sGeneive Abdo tout Morocco as a success story inthe fight against extremism.

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(L-r) Sama’a Al-Hamdani, Abbas Almosawa, Dr. John Duke Anthony, Jeremy Sharp andProf. David Des Roches discuss the war in Yemen.

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The final panelist, Sama’a Al-Hamdani,spoke passionately about her homeland.She began by explaining that she leftYemen to study and is now unable to re-turn, then proceeded to list numerous factsand figures to help paint a picture of whatis happening in Yemen. She pointed to the63,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs)as of April 2, the massive inflation, the lackof electricity and water, the expansion ofAQAP, the environmental and heath dam-age caused by the airstrikes, and the 40,000Yemeni Americans trapped in Yemen withno help from the U.S. government. As discussions continue in Riyadh and

Washington, what about the 26 millionYemenis who are being bombarded withno way to leave? Al-Hamdani asked. Shecriticized the Saudi-led coalition for claim-ing to have an interest in saving people,while so many Yemenis are stuck aroundthe world with no country giving themvisas. Ironically, despite Yemen having anopen-door refugee policy, accepting hun-dreds of thousands of refugees over theyears, only Somalia is letting Yemenis ac-quire refugee status.Questioning the very basis of the Saudi

campaign, Al-Hamdani asked how bombscould curb the Houthi ideology. Shelamented the lack of any true developmentplan for Yemen. By destroying the militaryinstitutions, she noted, Saudi Arabia wasdestroying the one thing that had the abil-ity to hold her country together. How areYemenis supposed to build a new statewith no ability to control it? she asked,and pointed to the targets of the airstrikes,including factories and food supplies. Shespoke of a weapons depot in downtownSana’a that was bombed, triggering mis-siles and projectiles which flew every-where in a heavily civilian area.Al-Hamdani called on Saudi Arabia to re-

veal its targets so that civilians would knowwhich areas to avoid. She called on the in-ternational community to support an im-mediate cease-fire, which at the time of thiswriting has not happened, and to allowshipments of aid into the country tohelp stem the humanitarian disaster. The sharp contrast between Almo-

sawa’s and Al-Hamdani’s remarks andthose of Sharp and Des Rochescaused John Duke Anthony to ques-tion if this was indicative of a lack ofempathy among Americans to suffer-ing in the Middle East. While hisquestion went unanswered, therewas no doubt about the uncomfort-able atmosphere caused by analystsdiscussing the value of military oper-

ations while Yemeni civilians were dying ingrowing numbers.Despite a fruitful panel discussion, the

highlight of the event was the entrance ofthen-Ambassador Al-Jubeir, who had unof-ficially adopted the role of coalitionspokesperson to the Western media. As ahigh-profile diplomat, his words were mea-sured. He did suggest that a milk factorythat had been bombed a few days earlierhad been bombed not by the Saudis, but bythe Houthis to rally support against theairstrikes—a claim that has yet to be sub-stantiated. He also asserted that the Houthishad committed terrorism, and that SaudiArabia had no choice but to respond to thecalls of the “legitimate” President AbdRaboo Mansour al-Hadi for intervention tosave Yemen. In the ambassador’s eyes, theairstrikes would protect the Yemeni peopleand were the only option to take. In the end, the event was very revealing

and indicative of the tension and passionthat the war in Yemen provokes. It also re-flects a growing disconnect between U.S.policymakers and Yemenis struggling tosurvive as a result of the actions thesepower brokers make. One can only hopethat events like this slowly awaken thepublic to the consequences of foreign in-terventions and the horror that Yemen iscontinuing to witness on a daily basis.

—Kevin A. Davis

Call for a New Social ContractThe decline in oil prices was a focal pointat the annual spring meeting of the WorldBank and the International Monetary FundApril 17 to 19 in Washington, DC. TheWorld Bank’s Middle East and North Africa(MENA) office convened three panels todiscuss how lower oil prices are affectingjobs, social services and social safety netstructures in the region. Because of loweroil prices, oil-exporting countries are col-lecting less revenue and finding it difficultto fund subsidies for their citizens. “This is the moment for both oil im-

porters and exporters to finally reform

those oil subsidies that have been weigh-ing down [the region] for the last 15years...unemployment among MENA[countries] is largest in [the] world,” ex-plained the World Bank’s chief economistfor MENA, Shanta Devarajan.He and other experts, including Merza

Hussain Hasan, executive director of theWorld Bank Group, and Hafez Ghanem,World Bank vice president for MENA,urged governments and citizens to “rene-gotiate a social contract” and cut down onoil subsidies. The World Bank and IMFrecommendations are not new, speakersnoted. Some oil-importing countries, likeMorocco and Egypt, have taken steps toimplement subsidy reform and better tar-get help for the poor. This call for a new social contract is the

result of a 2015 World Bank survey thatfound “50 percent of Arab world citizensare dissatisfied with public services intheir area.” Many of the comments tweetedafter the survey described daily life strug-gles by MENA citizens receiving publicservices. Others tweets complained abouttheir country’s lagging education and pub-lic health services. Dozens shared over so-cial media the World Bank survey resultthat “one-third of Arab world citizens paidinformal fees for a public service.” Suchcomments supported the call for a new so-cial contract in the MENA region.Asked one Egyptian respondent, “pub-

lic services? What does that mean?” In re-sponse to the survey findings, Egypt’sMinister of Social Solidarity, Ghada Waly,said that “We need to be humble....manygovernment officials think that they aredoing a favor for the citizen.”When asked if Arab countries would

share a uniform social contract and provideaccountability for government services, adifference of opinions surfaced. Hasan urgedoil-exporting countries to review oil subsi-dies, whereas Devarajan stated that the erais over for governments trying to quell citi-zens’ concerns by offering those subsidies. On that note, government is only one

arena—albeit the slow one—whereeach country’s respective social con-tract will be renegotiated, ShantaDevarajan noted. The other two arethe government agency responsiblefor delivering services and civil so-ciety in its power to engage. One example of a struggle to en-

gage surfaced in an earlier civil so-ciety panel. Reem Barghouti repre-sented a Jordanian civil society or-ganization of female entrepreneurs.She argued that, once political re-

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Moderator Ed Crooks, U.S. industry and energy editor ofthe Financial Times, and Egypt’s Minister of InternationalCooperation Naglaa El Ehwany discuss falling oil prices.

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forms are initiated, economic reformswould follow. From her group’s perspec-tive, Barghouti said, political reform isneeded to “actualize a new social con-tract”—which is why her organization islobbying to raise the quota for women inparliament. —Mehrunisa Qayyum

Chief Complaint: A Country Doctor’sTales of Life in GalileeOn March 20, a Jerusalem Fund audiencein Washington, DC listened—amused andamazed—as Dr. Hatim Kanaaneh, promot-

ing his new book, Chief Complaint: ACountry Doctor’s Tales of Life in Galilee,spun the wonderous tale of his life. Dr.Kanaaneh went to high school in Nazarethand taught for two years before coming tothe United States to study in the ‘60s. He returned to the Galilee with a Har-

vard medical degree, a degree in publichealth, a Hawaiian wife and a VW camper.Dr. Kanaaneh became a public health doc-tor in the sub-district of Acre in 1973, serv-ing both Jewish and Palestinian populationcenters, which were almost completely seg-regated, with little intermixing except atwork. Palestinians “provided the musclepower” for construction and agriculturalwork, Dr. Kanaaneh observed, and Arabvillages became “bedroom communities.” When he came home from work each

night he started his second job as the solehealthcare provider for thousands of Pales-tinians in the Galilee. Eventually, in 1981,he and three other health-care profession-als founded the Galilee Society (the ArabNational Society for Health Research andServices), the largest Arab NGO operatingin Israel.After retiring in 2005, Dr. Kanaaneh won-

dered how he could help Europeans andAmericans (who he believes decide what

happens in the Middle East)know about Israel’s “big se-cret”—the existence of its Pales-tinian citizens. Dr. Kanaaneh re-alized the general public likes toread stories, so he spent a yearat New York’s Writers’ Institutelearning how to write “Ameri-can-style”—which, it turns out,is not how people tell stories inhis homeland. Arab storytellersgo off in tangents, he joked, cit-ing the example of The Thou-sand and One Nights. In fact Chief Complaint, a fic-

tionalized collection of short stories featur-ing composite personalities ofDr. Kanaaneh’s patients butvery real incidents and conver-sations, is full of humor. Heshared a hilarious story aboutshowering in his rural village,which involved traipsingacross rooftops to his brother’sshower with heated water andthe rumors that ensued (you’llhave to read the book, availablefrom Middle East Books andMore, to get to the joke behindthat story). All jokes aside, the doctor also

described caring for his patientswith no equipment save for his stethoscope,and sneaking blood and urine samples tolabs. He also talked about major sewage dis-posal problems and the absence of cleanwater in Arab villages, comparing them withnew, planned Jewish communities—whichhave electricity, water, telephone and sewagedisposal services before the first (non-Mus-lim or Christian) resident moves in. TheGalilee Society is working to rectify this,providing sewage plans for local villages andsecure drinking water connections for un-recognized Arab villages in Israel. Meanwhile, Dr. Kanaaneh’s new book is

rectifying another injustice. Readers willdiscover Israel’s best-kept secret: the exis-tence of its underserved and ignored in-digenous population. His unforgettablecharacters capture readers’ hearts as theyconvey the universal pain and joy ofeveryday people struggling to live on theirown land. —Delinda C. Hanley

Al Ab W’al Ibn (Father and Son)The Jerusalem Fund Gallery in Washing-ton, DC features the art of Zahi and BesanKhamis, a unique father and son art ex-hibit, from May 1 to May 30. The openingreception was packed, despite the collapseof the storied Watergate building’s parking

garage across the street. As sirens blared inthe background visitors admired Zahi’smodernist paintings and the artwork of hisson Besan, a Maryland Institute College ofArt (MICA) student, including multimediasculptures and looped film art. The opening was to be even more of a

family affair, including a poetry reading byBaltimore poet Kim Jensen (who happens tobe Zahi’s wife). A flat tire prevented thatfrom happening, and Palestine Center’s ex-ecutive director, Zeina Azzam, read Jensen’spoems as well as poetry by Mahmoud Dar-wish. Gallery director Dagmar Painter fol-lowed with a lively Q/A drawing out theBaltimore artists, who discussed genera-tional differences, resistance, and politicson campus (Baltimore was on everyone’sminds), as well as the growing internationalinterest in Arab artists living in Americaand Europe. —Delinda C. Hanley

Ambassador Lukman Faily on the Future of IraqIraq’s Ambassador to the U.S. LukmanFaily joined Johns Hopkins School of Ad-vanced International Studies (SAIS) pro-fessors Abbas Kadhim and Daniel Serwerat the school’s Washington, DC campus onApril 7 for a discussion on the future ofIraq. The event was co-sponsored by SAISand the Middle East Institute.Ambassador Faily began by dismissing

the notion that anyone can truly predictthe future of Iraq. “If anybody can tell youthe future of Iraq within a decade or more,then I’m afraid he will move more into thefiction than the reality,” he said. This, Failyexplained, is because there is no way to de-finitively judge how the numerous domes-tic, regional and global factors impactingthe country’s future will play out.With this caveat, Faily expressed opti-

mism about Iraq’s future. The rise of ISIS

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Dr. Hatim Kanaaneh and his publisher, Helena Cobbanof Just World Books.

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has made the country’s different communi-ties and sects appreciate the importance ofnational cohesion, he said, noting that, “Ascommunities, they have realized more andmore that they have interdependencies.” Many Iraqis are now thinking together

about the post-ISIS scenario, he added, andare asking how the government can be sta-bilized and strengthened. “I think that’s agood healthy political position to be in,”Faily commented. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s inclu-

sive governing style has helped unifyIraqis, the ambassador said, as the primeminister is careful not to make an impor-tant decision until he has consulted and re-ceived positive feedback from a broadrange of political officials.Despite these encouraging signs, Faily

warned that Iraqi unity would not beachieved overnight. Aware that they needeach other, Iraq’s factious groups must nowslowly and cautiously begin rebuildingtrust, he said. Given the condition of Iraqipolitics, this time-consuming process will bedelicate and rely on a series of confidence-building measures, the ambassador noted.Aside from the issue of unity, Faily said

al-Abadi’s government is committed to im-plementing greater decentralization, re-structuring the military and police, fight-ing corruption, promoting economic de-velopment and implementing a zero toler-ance policy for human rights abuses.Going forward, Faily hopes Iraq learns

from its mistakes. The country has notbeen reflective enough in the past, he ad-mitted candidly. “That’s not something Ilike,” he said, “but that’s the reality of it.” Professor Kadhim used his remarks to

emphasize three “r’s” that he believes willbe essential to Iraq’s future: reclaiming, re-construction and reconciliation. Attempts to reconstruct Iraq and recon-

cile its citizens will be futile unless all ofIraq’s territory has been reclaimed from ISISand other extremist groups, Kadhim stated.

“You cannot leave ungoverned,semi-governed, or weakly gov-erned spaces in the country andthen do any kind of governingfrom Baghdad,” he said. Reconstruction must not be lim-

ited to restoring Iraq’s physical in-frastructure, Kadhim said. Political,social and economic reconstructionare equally important, he argued,and vital to protecting against a fu-ture collapse of the Iraqi state. Iraq must be humble as it pur-

sues reconstruction, he continued,and realize it will need to learn

from the experiences of other post-conflictsocieties. International assistance also willbe vital for Iraq, added Kadhim, who be-lieves the country simply does not have theexpertise needed to carry out a successfulreconstruction effort. When it comes to reconciliation, Iraq

must think out of the box, Kadhim said,meaning that reconciliation must takeplace at not just the political level, but alsoat the popular level. “You need to reconcilethe people with each other,” Kadhim ex-plained. “We have not done any reconcili-ation at the popular level.”According to Professor Serwer, the acad-

emic literature shows that mutual acknowl-edgment of harm is a prerequisite for recon-ciliation. “That’s a very difficult thing todo,” he conceded. “It’s not easy when youfeel you’ve been harmed to acknowledge theharm that’s been done to others. But that’sthe step that gets you out of the downwardspiral of violence. I haven’t seen that hap-pening yet in Iraq, but I look forward to theday when it begins.” —Dale Sprusansky

Turkish Consul in LA: A Woman WithMany GoalsRaife Gülru Gezer has a daunting responsi-bility as Turkish consul general in Los An-geles. She represents an estimated 70,000Turkish citizens living in Alaska, Arizona,California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Mon-tana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washingtonand Wyoming. Gezer, who holds a master’sdegree in political science from the Collegeof Europe in Brugge, Belgium and is fluentin both English and Russian, joined theMinistry of Foreign Affairs in 2002 afterworking as an international news editor forTurkey’s NTV news channel. When asked about her goals, Gezer said

she hopes “to improve cultural and tradeties between Turkey and California....I’dlike to see more Californians traveling toTurkey.” Those numbers should increaseafter the April 13 launch by Turkish Air-

lines of direct flights from San Francisco toIstanbul. Turkish Airlines already has di-rect flights from Los Angeles, New York,Chicago, Houston, Washington, DC, andBoston. Turkey exports food and textiles and im-

ports hi-tech goods, as well as research, de-velopment and new energy concepts. “In2013, we had $825 million in exports toCalifornia,” the young diplomat said, “and$428 million in imports from California.” Turning to the challenge Turkey faces

trying to absorb refugees fleeing from war-torn Syria, Gezer stated there are 735,884registered refugees, 30 percent living incamps and 70 percent living with theirfamilies throughout Turkey. “Aleppo is critical,” she continued.

“Aleppo must not fall. We took in 150,000refugees only from the city of Kobani—thisnumber equals all of Europe’s Syrianrefugees. We have an open door policy forour Syrian brothers and sisters,” Gezer said.“So far, Turkey has spent $5 billion on re-

lief,” she added, “and other countries paida half-billion dollars in aid. As for educa-tion, we have provided 2,900 Arabic-speak-ing teachers. We have 30,000 students ingrades 1 to 12, and another 70,000 inkindergarten. There is no lost generation.” Shortly after the Feb. 10 murder of three

Muslim students in Chapel Hill, NC, the con-sul general called representatives of nearlyall Los Angeles Muslim organizations to herresidence to get their reaction. MuslimAmericans took positive steps to ensure theAmerican public learned about this tragic in-cident, she added, which wasn’t just a fightover a parking space. “We should not letthis happen again,” she insisted, noting thatthe local Muslim community are highly ed-ucated upstanding citizens. “The U.S. is our ally and should remain

so,” Gezer concluded. “We look for a com-prehensive solution in Syria. The securityissue is important to us and the wholeworld. The role of the U.S. is crucial andshould support us.” —Samir Twair

58 JUNE/JULY 2015THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Iraqi Ambassador Lukman Faily (l) and Prof. AbbasKadhim.

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JUNE/JULY 2015 59THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Let Peace with Iran GrowTo The Sacramento Bee, April 6, 2015Re “Iran nuclear deal reached”: Oppo-

nents of the nuclear agreement with Iranshould consider two old quotations.“They have a right to censure, that have

a heart to help: The rest is cruelty, not jus-tice.” (William Penn, 1644-1718)“Distrust all in whom the impulse to

punish is powerful.” (Friedrich Nietzsche,1844-1900)The agreement can grow peace in one part

of our violent world. Let’s not destroy itbefore it blooms.Jim Eychaner, Carmichael, CA

A Fable Fitting for IranTo The Wichita Eagle, April 7, 2015Remember the fable about an evil king

who demanded his dog be taught to talk?He would execute one man every day untilsomeone could work this miracle. A braveman came forward and claimed he could doit, but it would take a year. The evil kinggranted him a year.People asked the man how he planned to

accomplish this impossible task. He replied:“Within a year, many things could happen.I may die. The dog may die. The king maydie. Or—the dog may talk.”Any nuclear deal with Iran backed by

President Obama will naturally be met withcriticism from Republicans who say it’s a“bad deal” without offering an alternative.The status quo is good enough. They don’tseem to realize that during the next decade,when Iran scales back its nuclear enrich-ment to an acceptable level and agrees to in-spections, much additional progress willalso be made.The Iranians will get relief from crippling

economic sanctions, be able to participatein the world economy, and communicate

more freely with the West. Because of that,they will see that the democracy they oncehad is again within reach. In other words,the dog may talk.Laura Brown, Wichita, KS

The Effect of U.S., Israeli WarsTo the Asbury Park Press, April 1, 2015Before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and the

uprisings in Syria and Egypt, there was noISIS. Before Israel’s invasion of Lebanonthere was no Hezbollah, and before Israel’s1967 war and continued occupation therewas no Hamas.There are consequences that come with

invading, occupying and oppressing a pop-ulation of people. With time, resisters riseup and fight back any way necessary.Should radical responses to invasion

really surprise anyone? With Iraq, pro-Israel hawks in the Bush administrationand AIPAC pushed for this invasion, andour puppet Congress happily climbed onboard. Many in the U.S. have never heardof the Downing Street Memo—proof thatinformation on Iraq was false and the warpre-planned.The now defunct think tank, Project for

the New American Century, had a list ofsignatories that reads like the Who’s Whoof the Bush administration and includesJeb Bush. Their policy involved destabiliz-ing, then reshaping, the Middle East.Israel benefits here by becoming the re-

gional superpower, armed with nuclear,chemical and biological weapons, but howdare any other country that thinks aboutgoing nuclear.Israel has the longest-running conflict

and occupation in [modern] history. Thiscountry snubs international law, defiesmore than 70 U.N. Security Council resolu-tions, and ignores decades of U.S. requeststo stop taking Palestinian land. Israel listensto no one, and continues its aggressiontoward the Palestinians. The Israeli govern-ment gave up opportunities for security along time ago, because land is more impor-tant than peace.Cheryl Quigley, Toms River, NJ

Is the U.S. an Honest Broker?To the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, April14, 2015For the last 20 years, the U.S. solution to

the Palestine-Israel conflict has been the es-tablishment of two states side-by-side,Israel and Palestine. Over and over it’s beenclaimed that Israel has had “no partner forpeace,” that the Palestinians were the ob-stacle to this vision. Inexplicably, Palestini-ans were required to “recognize Israel’s

right to exist” although it was Palestinethat, in fact, didn’t exist.Indeed, the U.S. and Israel have punished

the Palestinians economically for everysingle move they have made toward estab-lishing just such a state (notice the asym-metry of power here—who has the abilityto punish whom). Even as Israel has con-tinued to transfer Jewish Israelis into set-tlements in a slow motion, macabre danceof conquest, it has been the Palestiniansthat have been held as the obstacle topeace.Just last month, though, Israeli Prime

Minister Netanyahu, in the midst of a tightelectoral contest, unequivocally declaredthat he absolutely would not accept a Pales-tinian state. He obviously felt that that po-sition reflected what a significant numberof Israelis support (and that position has ac-tually been part of his Likud party’s statedplatform for years). Lo and behold, he wasre-elected.If the U.S. is an “honest broker” of peace

and we’ve been serious about a two-statesolution all these years, our response to thisIsraeli declaration should be immediate andunequivocal—make all aid to Israel condi-tional on their acceptance of a Palestinestate and that aid should be immediately re-duced to the same level as what the Pales-tinians receive, since it is abundantly clearthat the Palestinians have no “partner forpeace” either.Tricia Saenger, Temple, NH

Israeli Culpability for YarmoukTo the Los Angeles Times, April 23, 2015 Tamar Sternthal from the pro-Israel

media watchdog CAMERA says that Israel isnot responsible for the suffering of thePalestinians at the Yarmouk refugee campin Syria or for any Palestinian suffering.(“Don’t blame Israel for Palestinian miseryat Yarmouk,” Readers React, April 21).In fact, Israel is directly to blame for the

suffering of Palestinians in the diaspora.By forcing Palestinians off their land,

either by acts of terrorism (the Deir Yassinmassacre in 1948 was the direct cause ofthem fleeing the war zone) or by actuallyevicting them at gunpoint and then not al-lowing them to return to their homes at theend of the war, Israel is absolutely the causeof what has happened to them.Civilians are expected to flee a war zone;

if they don’t, we think they’re idiots. Notallowing them to return to their homes isnot only a violation of international law, itis also an act of profound immorality andcruelty.Blain Brown, Alhambra, CA

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60 JUNE/JULY 2015THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Recalling All Drone VictimsTo The Washington Post, April 24, 2015President Obama acknowledged that the

families of American and Italian hostageskilled in January drone strikes by the CIAdeserve to know the truth [“Obama:‘Regret’ for hostages’ deaths”]. His demon-stration of transparency was a welcomestep, but U.S. acknowledgment of killingsshould not be limited to U.S. and Europeancitizens. The Pakistani and Yemeni familieswho have lost their loved ones to U.S. dronestrikes—including the grandchildren of awoman killed while she was picking veg-etables in fall 2012—deserve to know thetruth, too. With this double standard, theUnited States is creating the ugly appear-ance that it will meet the deaths of U.S. andEuropean citizens with empathy and regretwhile meeting the deaths of non-Western-ers with a stubborn, indifferent silence.Naureen Shah, Washington, DC. The

writer is director of Amnesty InternationalUSA’s security and human rights program.

Mediterranean Migrant CrisisTo the London Evening Standard, April 23,2015Since the start of the year 1,727 migrants

have died in the Mediterranean, and fig-ures suggest the death toll by the end of theyear could reach 30,000. Many of the deadare children, who make up half the popula-tion of refugees and displaced people. Theleaders of the EU countries face a test ofEurope’s commitment to save the lives ofmigrants.Similarly, the next UK government has a

legal and moral obligation to ensure thatchildren seeking asylum have their rights

protected, including access to educationand healthcare, regardless of their countryof origin.Gavin Crowden, head of policy and

public affairs, World Vision UK

Military Aid to Egypt ResumesTo The New York Times, April 2, 2015You report that President Obama re-

moved the weapons freeze against Egypt(front page, April 1). This action was takendespite the increasing repression of all op-position throughout Egypt.In January, a peaceful activist, Shaimaa

el-Sabbagh, was shot dead by the Egypt-ian police. This week, witnesses who wereprepared to testify were criminallycharged in an effort to intimidate them.It is another example of why Egypt now

ranks high among the most restrictiveregimes in the region.Despite its increasing suppression of de-

mocratic expression, President Obama haselected to reward the government in Cairowith $1.3 billion in military assistance.This support of yet another despotic

regime not only undercuts aspirations ofdemocracy but also creates an environ-ment that encourages supporters of the Is-lamic State to open a new front in Egypt.It is an ill-advised action by Mr. Obama.David Schermerhorn, San Francisco, CA

Wrong Kind of Aid for Tunisia To The Washington Post, April 27, 2015The April 10 World Digest item “U.S. to

triple military aid in wake of attack” re-ported that the United States is increasingmilitary aid to Tunisia threefold. Our solu-tion to the problems in Tunisia is to pay formore guns so Tunisians can more effec-tively kill each other.Tunisia’s problems don’t spring from a

shortage of arms. They spring from a short-age of opportunities. Deposed dictator Zineel-Abidine Ben Ali did many terriblethings, but he did one thing right: He madeeducation universal and free. If a Tunisianstudent could get into a university, the gov-ernment picked up the tab. Unfortunately,the result was a huge number of educated,unemployed young people.Guns won’t fix anything. But an aid

package that provided investment oppor-tunities, explored economic partnershipsand sought to use the accumulated skills ofa new generation of healthy, creative andambitious Tunisians could reap benefits forgenerations to come.When did we lose our vision? When did

we lose our ability to think creatively, to actin benign self-interest? When did we con-

tent ourselves with simply being arms mer-chants?Michael Keating, Olney, MD

Investing in Tunisia’s FutureTo The New York Times, April 7, 2015 Re “Tunisia’s hour of need”: Mustapha

Tlili makes a number of compelling pointson the importance of supporting Tunisia asa fledgling democracy in the Arab world.His most salient argument is that Tunisia’sfuture political stability depends on inclu-sive economic growth. However, in propos-ing government-to-government assistanceand a public-sector “donor conference,”Mr. Tlili undermines his argument by as-serting that governments will drive eco-nomic opportunity in the Middle East.Decades of stagnation in the region haveshown that economies need foreign directinvestment as much as governments needforeign support. While it is critical toensure that the Tunisian government hasfull backing, sustainable and organicgrowth can only come from the privatesector—and that’s where international in-vestment should be directed.This was the position taken by the

United States commerce secretary, PennyPritzker, and former Secretary of StateMadeleine Albright on March 5, when theydemonstrated America’s ongoing commit-ment to Tunisia at the 2015 Investment andEntrepreneurship Conference hosted by thePartners for a New Beginning, a public-pri-vate partnership, in Tunis. They werejoined by representatives from Amazon,Boeing, Cisco, Coca-Cola and Microsoft,among others, who also recognize the im-portance of foreign direct investment forstability in Tunisia.President Obama’s Cairo speech in June

2009 articulated a framework for a “new be-ginning” with the Muslim world. Tunisia isone of the only countries left in the MiddleEast where that vision is still alive. We mustdo all we can to uphold it, especially byhelping private sector growth and economicopportunity for all Tunisians, with a specialfocus on the youth. It is the youth inTunisia who will drive this change over thenext generation through entrepreneurshipand translating ideas into realities on theground. We must work alongside ourTunisian partners to create a framework toattract investment, aid those entrepreneursand bridge the skills gap so youngTunisians are prepared and equipped forthe work force of tomorrow.Toni Verstandig, Washington, DC. The

writer is chair of Middle East Programs atthe Aspen Institute. ❑

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The New York Times Syndicate, New York

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The Economist, London

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cartoons_61_June-July 2015 Cartoons 5/7/15 5:37 PM Page 61

BooksReviewed by Kevin A. Davis

BaddawiBy Leila Abdelrazaq, Just World Books,2015, paperback, 125 pp. List: $20; MEB:$18.

Those of us whospend much of ourtime learning andreading about thePalestine issue oftencan feel over-whelmed, the histori-cal tragedies are sogreat and the currentreality so daunting.

We will surely be grateful for Leila Ab-delrazaq’s Baddawi—a breath of fresh airand a perfect companion for both veter-ans and newcomers to the Palestine issue.The title takes its name from a Palestinianrefugee camp in northern Lebanon wherethe story takes place. In fact, the book is aseries of mini-stories depicting life grow-ing up in the refugee camp, told in theform of a graphic novel.Abdelrazaq’s first book is nothing short

of a masterpiece, at once brilliantly nar-rated and beautifully illustrated by theChicago-based writer and artist. The book starts off strongly with the

1948 Nakba in the small Palestinian villageof Safsaf. The residents are massacred, andthe fictional character’s parents flee andfind themselves in Baddawi. The storiesfollow Ahmed as he adjusts tolife in the camp, progressinghistorically through the his-tory of Palestine. Ahmed moves to Beirut

after his father gets a job there,but returns to Baddawi shortlyafterward because of the startof the Lebanese civil war.Moving continuously betweenBaddawi and Beirut, he expe-riences the difficulties facingPalestinian refugees in both lo-cations. He is constantly moti-vated by his desire for an edu-cation, excelling in schooldespite the odds.In the end, Ahmed is faced

with difficult decisions aboutschool, marriage, and work.His choices are dictated byhis refugee status, andthrough him readers learnabout one example of the

Palestinian experience. Abdelrazaq’s sto-ries personalize Palestine in a way thatother books are not able to do. While the stories are at times light and

humorous, many are also very dark. Therefugee camp goes through a lot over theyears, including peace agreements, warsand massacres. Readers will appreciatepersonal insights into Palestinian historyand culture throughout the book, whicheven includes a glossary of Arabic terms.The black-and-white illustrations arestunning throughout and are the perfectmedium for Abdelrazaq’s stories. This book is ideal for anyone interested

in Palestine, from those immersed in theissue to those who may be picking up abook for the first time. In fact, Baddawiwould make an ideal introduction to Pales-tine for people of all ages. It is relativelyshort, easy to read, engaging, and intro-duces readers to the hardships of life forPalestinians in a tasteful but powerful way.

Baddawi is sure to become an instantclassic, and is already grabbing headlines.Fans of this, Abdelrazaq’s first full-lengthbook, will be left yearning for more.

My House in Damascus: An Inside View Of the Syrian RevolutionBy Diana Darke, Haus Publishing, 2014,paperback, 254 pp. List: $24.95; MEB: $18.

My House In Damascus is an account ofa British woman in Syria and the productof the author’s decades of experience as aprofessional researcher in Syria. It is at

once a story of herown time there aswell as the stories ofthe many closefriends she made.In the mid-2000s,

Darke decided tolook into buyingproperty in the oldcity of Damascus, adecision rarely made by non-Syrians dueto the formidable bureaucratic obstaclesfacing foreigners. But the seemingly mun-dane details of this process can providegreat insight into Syrian life, and Darke’saccount is a fascinating and gripping taleabout a foreign woman in Syria who de-cides to create a home there.It is Darke’s everyday stories of Syria

that demand the attention of readers—from a short trip to Homs, to a café en-counter to discuss a potential marriage, toseemingly endless meetings with lawyersand bankers. These colorful anecdotesprovide a fascinating picture of contempo-rary Syrian society at a time when newsfrom Syria rarely goes beyond the war. It is not until past the book’s halfway

mark that Darke begins to discuss theSyrian revolution in any real detail—and even then, the story is still heavilyfocused on her house. Readers wantingan in-depth examination of the politicsof the civil war should look elsewhere. As the protests of 2011 slowly trans-

form into what we now describe as theSyrian civil war, Darke’s story grows in-creasingly dark. Eventually she is un-

able to return to Syria, as theembassy in London is nowclosed. The friends we havebecome so familiar withthroughout her book gradu-ally come to live in herhouse with their families astheir villages are destroyed,her house becoming some-thing of a sanctuary for herdisplaced friends. A final bonus of the book

is that a portion of the pro-ceeds go to benefit a HigherEducation Fund for Syri-ans—further evidence ofDarke’s commitment to andlove for Syria and its people,who have given her so muchover the years. ❑

Kevin A. Davis is director ofAET’s Middle East Books andMore.

62 JUNE/JULY 2015THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

bookreview_62_Book Review 5/7/15 10:04 PM Page 62

Voices of the Arab Spring:Personal Stories from theArab Revolutions by Asaad al-Saleh, Columbia University Press,2015, paperback, 244 pp. List:$22.95; MEB: $22. While mostreaders with an interest in the Mid-dle East are well aware of the ArabSpring events of 2011 and beyond,some books continue to provideground-breaking insight and perspective. Voices of theArab Spring is one of those books, combining multiplestories from Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Syria tocontrast various experiences that provide unique insightinto the successes and tragedies of 2011.

Middle East Books and More

The War on Women in Israel: AStory of Religious Radicalismand the Women Fighting forFreedom by Elana Maryles Sztok-man, Sourcebooks, 2015, paperback,354 pp. List: $14.99; MEB: $14. Thisrare account of women in Israel re-veals how ultra-Orthodox leaders arespearheading a movement to oppressJewish women in social and political life within the stateof Israel. In some parts of Israel, women are being moreand more segregated, and Sztokman shows how differ-ent activist groups are now fighting back. Her book is aneye-opening account of women’s equality in a state thatclaims to be based on democratic principles.

Zionism and Its Discontents: ACentury of Radical Dissent inIsrael/Palestine by Ran Green-stein, Pluto Press, 2014, 232 pp.List: $30; MEB: $22. In this pivotalnew book, Greenstein argues thatstories of nationalism in Israel andPalestine have for too long focusedon dominant narratives while doinglittle to show resistance withinthem. Instead, he offers the stories of different organiza-tions and movements since the 1920s that have opposedthe Zionist project, both within and outside Palestine, in-cluding the Palestinian Communist Party and theMatzpen group. This book is a much needed corrective tomainstream histories that do little to question Zionism asan overwhelmingly popular political movement.

On Palestine by Noam Chomskyand Ilan Pappé, Haymarket Books,2015, paperback, 215 pp. List:$11.95; MEB: $11. This great newbook by two heavyweight Palestin-ian advocates is the sequel to their2010 book Gaza In Crisis (availablefrom AET’s Middle East Books andMore). In an interview format,Chomsky and Pappé discuss Israel’s recent OperationProtective Edge and affirm why solidarity with Palestini-ans is more important now than ever. They also suggesta roadmap for the future and ways in which the interna-tional community can come together to help impose abetter future for the Palestinians.

Letters to Palestine: Writers Re-spond to War and Occupation byVijay Prashad, Verso Books, 2015, pa-perback, 232 pp. List: $14.95; MEB:$13. This brilliant collection of essaysfeatures such numerous influential fig-ures as Teju Cole, Junot Diaz, NajlaSaid, Mumia Abu-Jamal and manyothers on growing American solidarity for the Palestin-ian cause. This diverse group of writers presents a show-case of moral clarity and intellectual power, masterfullyput together by scholar Vijay Prashad. Letters to Pales-tine is a testament to shifting American attitudes towardthe Palestine issue, narrated by some of the greatestthinkers in contemporary America.

The Bells of Memory: APalestinian Boyhood inJerusalem by Issa J. Boullata,Linda Leith Publishing, 2014,paperback, 87 pp. List: $12.95;MEB: $12. In this wonderfulnew memoir, Boullata tells ofhis childhood in Jerusalem inthe 1930s and 1940s, when itwas ruled under the BritishMandate. His well-written, en-gaging, and incredibly descrip-tive account reveals his personal stories that beauti-fully narrate pre-Nakba Jerusalem and put the readerin the young author’s place. This book is strongly rec-ommended for anyone interested in the history ofJerusalem and Palestine before 1948.

Revolution Is My Name: AnEgyptian Woman’s Diary fromEighteen Days in Tahrir byMona Prince, American Universityin Cairo Press, 2014, paperback,191 pp. List: $16.95; MEB: $14. Inthis powerful memoir translated bySamia Mehrez, writer and professorMona Prince documents her experi-ence in the 2011 Egyptian uprisingthat led to the fall of Hosni Mubarak. Both a story and anexploration of Egyptian society, Prince weaves among herpersonal background, judgments, and daily experiencesto bring a unique and useful perspective to familiarevents.

Children of the Stone: ThePower of Music in a HardLand by Sandy Tolan, BloomsburyPublishing, 2015, hardcover, 453pp. List: $28; MEB: $22. From theauthor of The Lemon Tree comesthe refreshing story of Ramzi Hus-sein Aburedwan, a young boy froma Palestinian refugee camp who,despite incredible odds, is able toachieve his dream of founding a music school to helpPalestinian children become educated in music. Tolanfollows Ramzi as he works toward this dream andcomes into contact with numerous important characters,such as Daniel Barenboim of the West-Eastern Divan Or-chestra. This is a rare uplifting Palestinian story that caninspire hope for a better future.

Sectarian Gulf: Bahrain, SaudiArabia, and the Arab SpringThat Wasn’t by Toby Matthiesen,Stanford University Press, 2013,paperback, 192 pp. List: $12.99;MEB: $12. In 2011, as waves ofpopular protests swept the regionto overthrow authoritarian sys-tems, less-covered uprisings tookplace in Bahrain, Kuwait and SaudiArabia. However, these massprotest movements in the Gulf did not result in regimechange. Matthiesen investigates this fact and brilliantlyexplores the dynamics in the Gulf states to discuss theimplications of these failed uprisings.

JUNE/JULY 2015 63THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

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L i b r a r y p a c k a g e s (list value over $240) are available for$29 if donated to a library, or free if requested with a library’spaid subscription or renewal. Call Middle East Books and Moreat 800-368-5788 ext. 2 to order. Our policy is to identify donorsunless anonymity is specifically requested.

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64 JUNE/JULY 2015THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Upcoming Events

The 5th Annual Orlando Arab Fest willtake place May 17 at Lake Eola Park in Or-lando, FL. The festival, hosted by the ArabAmerican Community Center of Florida,will feature performances, vendors andfood. Visit <www.aaccflorida.org> for in-formation and tickets.

The 12th Annual Lebanese Festival willbe held May 22 in El Cajon, CA and willfeature rides, food, entertainment andmore. Visit <www.stephremchurch.com>for more information.

Ali Deek and Joseph Attieh will performat the Sheraton Premiere Hotel in TysonsCorner, VA on May 22. The event will alsofeature the Miss Lebanon EmigrantPageant 2015. Visit <www.fusionee.com>for more information and tickets.

From May 23-25 the annual ICNA-MASConvention will be held at the Baltimore,MD Convention Center. The event will fea-ture such speakers as Imam Siraj Wahhajand Naeem Baig, as well as a youth confer-ence, Qur’an competition and a bazaar. Toregister, visit <www.icnaconvention.org>.

Team Palestine for PCRF will host Bike theDrive on May 24, a bicycle fund-raiser forthe Palestine Children’s Relief Fund alongChicago’s Lake Shore Drive. Visit <www.bikethedrive.org> for more informationand to register.

The Halal Food Festival of Toronto 2015will be held May 30 and 31 at the Interna-tional Centre in Toronto, Canada. The festi-val is the largest halal food show in NorthAmerica. Visit <www.halalfoodfestto.com> for more information.

The Indiana Center for Middle East Peacewill host its Arab Festival on June 6 and7 at Headwaters Park in Fort Wayne, IN.The festival will feature food, music and ac-tivities for all ages. Visit <www.indi-anacmep.org> for information and tickets.

Islamic Relief will host a Walk for Wateron June 7 in Ridgefield Park, NJ. Proceedswill benefit IR USA’s water and sanitation

programs around the world. Visit <www.irusa.org/walk> for registration informa-tion.

The 13th Annual Arab-American &North African Cultural Street Festivalwill be held June 13 on Great Jones St. inManhattan’s East Village. The festival willfeature live music, food, cultural activitiesand vendors. Visit <www.naaponline.org/ny> for more information.

Announcements

At a March 20 celebration, the Arab Amer-ican National Museum (AANM) inaugu-rated a new 4,700 square foot expansion tothe museum in Dearborn, Michigan. The ex-pansion reflects the growing influence of theAANM and the importance of its mission. Atthe ceremony, AANM also announced thatits “Little Syria” exhibit would be on displayat Ellis Island. Visit <www.arabamericanmuseum.org> for more information.

ObituariesDinkha IV, 79, the Catholicos-Patriarch ofthe Assyrian Church of the East, diedMarch 26 in Rochester, MN of unknowncauses. Born in Iraq, he quickly rosethrough the ranks of the Assyrian Church,serving in both Iran and Iraq early in hiscareer. As Patriarch, he announced the endof a 500-year-old hereditary bloodline,opening the post of his successor to anyonequalified through experience. During theIran-Iraq war, Dinkha relocated to Chicagoand established headquarters there, onlyreturning to Iraq in September 2006 for abrief visit. In successive wars, he became aspokesperson for the growing Assyrian di-aspora, both in the U.S. and worldwide.

Basil Soda, 47, a Lebanese fashion de-signer, died of cancer March 30 in Beirut.He became well-known in the capitals ofworld fashion for his own clothing linesfrom his East Beirut design house. Soda’soutfits have been worn by such celebritiesas Paris Hilton and Katy Perry.

Abdelhadi Tazi, 94, a Moroccan scholarand diplomat, died April 2 of unknowncauses in Rabat. Born in Fez, Morocco, hestudied at the University of Al Karaouine,

the Moroccan Institute for High Studies,the Mohammed V University, the LanguageInstitute of Baghdad and the University ofAlexandria. Known for his translation ofnumerous texts from English and Frenchinto Arabic, Tazi was also a well-knowndiplomat, serving as his country’s ambas-sador to Iraq, Libya, the United Arab Emi-rates and Iran. He was a founder of the Mo-roccan Diplomats Club and a member of theAcademy of the Kingdom of Morocco. Hispublication on the works of Ibn Battuta wasparticularly celebrated among his peers.

Sid Ali Kouiret, 82, an Algerian actor,died April 5 at his home in Algiers of com-plications from diabetes. Born in Algiers toa poor family, as a child he stabbed his alco-holic father, a taxi driver, and was forced tolive on the street at an early age. In lateadolescence, he began acting in amateurtroupes. Within the next few years, his act-ing engagements would take him to Berlin,Paris and Bucharest. In 1955, during Alge-ria’s struggle for independence, he wasforced to flee to Marseille, France, after ha-rassment from the DST, the French intelli-gence in Algeria. There, he performed for atroupe affiliated with the FLN, Algeria’santi-colonial guerrilla organization. Kouiretreturned to Algeria following its indepen-dence in 1962, and his acting career beganto take off. From 1963 until 2007, he wasfeatured in numerous TV shows and films,including 1971’s “L’Opium et le Bâton,” di-rected by Ahmed Rachedi.

Jehan Rajab, 81, a Kuwaiti author, diedon April 5 in Jabriya, Kuwait of unknowncauses. Born in 1934 in Brazil, she studiedin both Gibraltar and Britain before settlingdown in Kuwait. She was famous for herbook Invasion Kuwait: An English Woman’sTale, about Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait.She was married to Tareq Rajab, a promi-nent Kuwaiti artist, and founded the TareqRajab Museum as well as the New EnglishSchool, both in Kuwait. ❑

Upcoming Events, Announcements & Obituaries —Compiled by Kevin A. Davis BulletinBoardBulletinBoard

bulletin_board_64_June-July 2015 Bulletin Board 5/7/15 8:36 PM Page 64

Robert Keeley was born in Beirut,Lebanon, where his father was a U.S.

diplomat. Following high school in Wash-ington, DC, he enrolled at Princeton Uni-versity, from which he graduated in 1951with a B.A. degree in English. He was firstin his class. Afterwards he did graduatework, led an importing company andserved for two years as an officer (Lt. j.g.)in the U.S. Coast Guard.In 1956 he was appointed a junior officerin the U.S. Foreign Service. Two years laterhe was assigned to Amman, Jordan as a po-litical officer. In 1959 this writer wasposted from Jerusalem to Amman as politi-cal counselor. Amman was Keeley’s first for-eign service post and, I believe, one of hismost satisfying—despite the fact that hewent on to great honor as ambassador tothree countries, Mauritius, Zimbabwe andGreece.

Bob Keeley and his wife, Louise (also aPrinceton graduate), were stars in Amman.They were well liked by the Jordanians,more than half of whom were Palestiniansfrom the Nakba, Arabic for catastrophe,when Israel was established in 1948. He andLouise were invited—co-opted—into KingHussein’s “go-carting” group which racedonce a week. Sometimes they bested theking—but being careful not to do so often.Keeley and I became fast friends inAmman, and our friendship lasted all of hislife. He made his home in Washington afterhis retirement from the Foreign Service. Inretrospect, our reporting from Amman washonest and pulled no punches. The Zionistshad not yet discovered us and they wereless arrogant in those days. We knew thatour efforts from Amman were consideredsuperior by the State Department. Alto-gether those were the halcyon days.Keeley thought poorly of Henry Kissinger,secretary of state, for many reasons, but espe-cially for his judgment on Cambodia. Despitehaving escaped from the Nazis himself,

Kissinger ordered the U.S. Embassy in PhnomPenh to be evacuated except for AmbassadorJohn Gunther Dean and Keeley (number twoat Phnom Penh) despite looming danger fromthe murderous Khmer Rouge. In an iconicphotograph which appeared in many Ameri-can newspapers, Dean was seen carrying theAmerican flag, while Keeley bore a sack fullof sensitive papers, after barely escaping theapproaching danger.The ambassadorship to Athens was enor-mously fulfilling to Keeley. His father hadserved there before, and Bob, who hadlearned Greek as a boy, later had served aspolitical counselor in Athens. He also wasfluent in French.Bob Keeley had worked for a pollsterafter graduating from Princeton. He laterwrote a good book called The Tode Pollabout his experiences as an employee. Hewas generally dubious about polls, espe-cially their accuracy on the basis of too fewpeople questioned. He was especially leeryof telephone polls.

Robert V. Keeley (1929-2015)By Andrew I. Killgore

Ambassador to Cambodia John Gunther Dean (l) and Deputy Chief of Mission Robert Keeley (r) arrive at an air base in Thailand afterevacuating the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh, May 5, 1975.

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JUNE/JULY 2015 65THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

Andrew I. Killgore, a retired foreign serviceofficer and former U.S. ambassador to Qatar,is publisher of the Washington Report.

InMemoriamInMemoriam

Continued on page 66

killgore_65_In Memoriam 5/7/15 8:25 PM Page 65

After retirement he established a smallindependent publishing company calledthe Five and Ten Press, which produced 24original paperbacks. He wrote for the Fiveand Ten Press himself and invited others towrite as well. I remember one of his articlesabout poetry that he liked. Several of themwere poems that I liked from the OxfordBook of English Verse.Another creation of his was the Black

Sheep Society. People wanted to join be-cause of their affection for Keeley. Therewere no rules and only one officer, Bob

Keeley. A special necktie was a symbol ofmembership. Not wearing the tie where“black sheep” might be involved warrantedsome kind of severe putdown. In fact, therewas no putdown, but the Society was sim-ply an element of Bob’s sense of humor.Keeley was president of Washington’s

prestigious Middle East Institute from 1990to 1995. Established in 1946, the Institutewas a private place where the Arabs andthe Israelis could be sensibly discussed. Itwas privately financed and the fund-rais-ing part of his job as president was notsomething that Bob enjoyed. He was alsochairman of the Council for the National In-terest for a period.

The Keeleys kept an open house in Bob’sretirement years, literally helping dozens ofpractically destitute Cambodians find theirway in America. Their large circle of friendswere often welcomed at their home, whererefreshments were plentiful. Their chil-dren, Michael and Christopher, were almostalways present at their parties. Michael wasa little girl in the Amman days, andChristopher was a baby.Bob Keeley died Jan. 9 at an assisted-liv-

ing center in Washington of an apparentstroke. A large party to say farewell to himand to remember the good days of his lifewas held at the Cosmos Club here on April18. My family and I were all there. ❑

AET’s 2015 Choir of AngelsFollowing are individuals, organizations, companies and foundations whose help between Jan. 1, 2015 and April 22, 2015 ismaking possible activities of the tax-exempt AET Library Endowment (federal ID #52-1460362) and the American Educa-tional Trust, publisher of theWashington Report on Middle East Affairs. Some Angels helped us co-sponsor the April 10 con-ference, “The Israel Lobby: Is It Good for the U.S.? Is It Good for Israel?” We are deeply honored by their confidence and pro-foundly grateful for their generosity.

66 JUNE/JULY 2015THE WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

HUMMERS ($100 or more) Fatima Abdulla, Oak Hills, CA Rev. Fahed Abu-Akel, Atlanta, GAShukri Abu Baker, Beaumont, TXDr. Bishr Al-Ujayli, Troy, MIHamid & Kim Alwan, Milwaukee, WIDr. Robert Ashmore, Jr., Mequon, WIAhmed Ayish, Arlington, VADr. & Mrs. Roger Bagshaw, Big Sur, CANader Barakat, Moorpark, CAJohn Carley, Pointe-Claire, CanadaRoger W. Carpenter, Denver, COAndrew and Krista Curtiss, Herndon, VALynn Ellen Dixon, Woodward, PAKassem Elkhalil, Arlington, TXM.R. Eucalyptus, Kansas City, MORenee Farmer, New York, NYClaire Bradley Feder, Atherton, CAWilliam Gefell, Turnbridge, VTDr. Fawwaz Habbal, Cambridge, MADelinda C. Hanley, Kensington, MDShirley Hannah, Argyle, NYLoretta Krause, Little Egg Harbor Twp., NJ Anthony Mabarak, Grosse Pointe Park, MIAllen J. MacDonald, Washington, DCAmal Marks, Altadena, CAHadeel Naqib, Baltimore, MDNeal & Donna Newby, Las Cruces, NMShirley O’Neil, Cleveland Hts., OHPeter P. Pranis, Jr., McAllen, TXNeil Richardson, Randolph, VTDr. Wendell E. Rossman, Phoenix, AZAntone Sacker, Houston, TX Ramzy Salem, Monterey Park, CAHenry & Irmgard Schubert, Damascus, OR

Jean Snyder, Greenbelt, MDRobert Snyder, Greenbelt, MDEdward Stick, Phoenix, MDMahmoud Zawawi, Amman, Jordan

ACCOMPANISTS ($250 or more) Mohamed Alwan, Chestnut Ridge, NYAnace & Polly Aossey, Cedar Rapids, IA Dr. & Mrs. Issa Boullata, Montreal, CanadaJohn Dirlik, Pointe-Claire, Canada Eugene Fitzpatrick, Wheat Ridge, CO Indiana Center for Middle East Peace,Fort Wayne, IN

Stanley McGinley, The Woodlands, TXMaury Keith Moore, Seattle, WAMichel Nasser, Beirut, LebanonMr. & Mrs. W. Eugene Notz, Charleston, SCSam Rahman, Lincoln, CAMichel & Cathy Sultan, Eau Claire, WI

TENORS & CONTRALTOS($500 or more) Mr. & Mrs. John P. Crawford, Boulder, CO Richard H. Curtiss, Boynton Beach, FL*Gregory DeSylva, Rhinebeck, NY Mr. & Mrs. L.F. Boker Doyle, New York, NYEdouard C. Emmet, Paris, FranceGary Richard Feulner, Dubai, UAERonald & Mary Forthofer, Longmont, COBrigitte Jaensch, Carmichael, CALouise Keeley, Washington, DC**William Lightfoot, Vienna, VAWilliam & Flora McCormick, Austin, TXGerald & Judith Merrill, Oakland, CAMary Norton, Austin, TX

Dr. Robert Younes, Potomac, MD

BARITONES & MEZZOSOPRANOS ($1,000 or more) Asha A. Anand, Bethesda, MDWilhelmine Bennett, Iowa City, IAG. Edward & Ruth Brooking, Jr.,Wilmington, DE

Rev. Rosemarie Carnarius & Aston Bloom, Tucson, AZ

Forrest Cioppa, Moraga, CA Dr. & Mrs. Clyde Farris, West Linn, OREvan & Leman Fotos, Istanbul, TurkeyDr. & Mrs. Hassan Fouda, Berkeley, CAGeorge Hanna, Santa Ana, CAJudith Howard, Norwood, MAJack Love, San Diego, CAJohn Mahoney, AMEU, New York, NYSahar Masud, Mill Valley, CA Bob Norberg, Lake City, MNJohn Van Wagoner, McLean, VA

CHOIRMASTERS ($5,000 or more)Donna B. Curtiss, Kensington, MDJohn & Henrietta Goelet, New York, NYAndrew I. Killgore, Washington, DCVince & Louise Larsen, Louvin Foundation,Billings, MT

*In Memory of Richard H. Curtiss**In Loving Memory of Bob Keeley

Robert V. Keeley…Continued from page 65

angels_66_June-July 2015 Choir of Angels 5/15/15 10:54 AM Page 66

ANERA: The most effective way to donate to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon’s refugee camps.Learn why that's true and what happens with your money when you give to ANERA.

Contact Hani Almadhoun, ANERA director of donor development, directly at [email protected] or call him at 202-266-9711.

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American Educational TrustThe Washington Report on

Middle East AffairsP.O. Box 53062

Washington, DC 20009

June/July 2015Vol. XXXIV, No. 4

Displaced Sunni Iraqis fleeing the violence in Ramadi arrive at the outskirts of Baghdad, April 19, 2015. AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images

cover4_June/July 2015 Back Cover 5/7/15 5:08 PM Page c4