Focus on Jews and Israel

By Andrea Barron

In January, when Professor Elie Wiesel received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, he noted that "Human rights are being violated on every continent."

He added: "More people are oppressed than free. And then too there are the Palestinians, whose plight I am sensitive (to) but whose methods I deplore. Violence and terrorism are not the answer. Something must be done about their suffering, and soon."

Those who hoped that Wiesel, a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps and a world famous author of books on the Holocaust, would bring the full moral force of his life's work to bear on the Palestinian issue were quickly disappointed. Wiesel said he was no politician, nor was he particularly knowledgeable about Middle East history. However, in his speech, he not only declared that he opposed the Palestinians' "methods," he also declared that he opposed the Palestine Liberation Organization and would refuse to meet with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat if ever asked to do so.

Wiesel's comments still provoked serious criticism in Israel. Boston's Jewish Advocate reported that one Israeli connected with Wiesel's campaign for Soviet Jewry said, "No one wanted to speak out against him openly or on the record. But some people were pretty disturbed that he used the (Nobel) award ceremony to appear to criticize Israel." Right-wing Knesset Member Geula Cohen was so angry with Wiesel's remarks that she tried to prevent him from sitting in on a discussion of Soviet Jewry held in Israel.

When Wiesel said the Palestinians in refugee camps were "suffering," he almost certainly didn't mean to imply that Israel was entirely responsible for the Palestinians' plight. He probably believes that the Arab states should share the blame as well. Why, then, was Israel upset? Wiesel's big mistake, it seems, is that he didn't place all the responsibility for the Palestinians' misery on the Arab states, as Israel would have liked.

Wiesel said he intends to continue writing about the Holocaust and pressuring the Soviet Union to allow Jews to emigrate. At the same time, however, the Nobel Prize winner said he will "study" the Palestinian issue and continue to speak out against all human rights abuses in the future.

One big question, of course, is what Wiesel will say about the Palestinian issue, and when he will say it. Also, why did Wiesel wait so long to speak out in support of the Palestinians, when the violence of Israel's occupation has been apparent for years, even decades?

Wiesel essentially has two paths to choose from. He could go the way of Anatoly (Natan) Scharansky, the former Russian Jewish prisoner of conscience whom Soviet authorities finally permitted to emigrate to Israel last year. Although Scharansky held several meetings with West Bank Palestinians opposed to Israel's occupation, he broke off all contacts with these Palestinians after being sharply criticized by right-wing groups in Israel.

On the other hand, Wiesel could follow the path of the late Nahum Goldmann, the founder of the World Jewish Congress, who spent over 60 years working for the Zionist cause and for the welfare of the Jewish people throughout the world. Towards the end of his life, Goldmann decided that the best way to help Israel was to criticize honestly its policies towards the Palestinians and work to change them.

It may be that Wiesel will neither back away from the Palestinian issue, like Scharansky, nor face it head on, like Nahum Goldmann. Instead, Wiesel may continue to mention the Palestinians when he discusses the broad issue of human rights, but choose to remain focused on the Holocaust and Soviet Jewry.

There is one other path Wiesel could follow, though it appears extremely unlikely that he will do so. He could study Palestinian history thoroughly, come to understand that the Palestinians overwhelmingly support the PLO as their representative, and offer to serve as an intermediary in talks between Israel and the Palestinians. That would be the greatest service Wiesel could perform for the Jewish people and for Israel—the state he cherishes.

Andrea Barron, a Ph.D. candidate in international relations at the American University in Washington, DC, writes frequently about the Middle East. She is active in Washington Area Jews for an Israeli-Palestinian Peace (WAJIPP) and New Jewish Agenda (NJA).

Focus on Arabs and Islam

By Samir El-Sayed

Abourezk Scores Arab-Bashing in Movies

Appearing on the "Today" show on January 13, former Senator James Abourezk, Chairman of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, discussed the negative portrayal of Arabs in such commercial films as "Delta Force," "Paradise," "Iron Eagle," and the forthcoming "Death before Dishonor." Abourezk said that since many people, especially young children, take these movies seriously, "one day people will wake up and see Arabs as all bad people." Asked if it was significant that many of these films are shot in Israel, Abourezk said: "How can you escape the conclusion that the Israeli government is part of this racist drive to stereotype Arabs?" Abourezk condemned the "whole concept of depersonalizing and dehumanizing" Arabs, whether in the Middle East or the United States.

ADC "Cures" Rock Band

When the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee learned that a recent album by the English rock band, the Cure, contained a song entitled "Killing an Arab," ADC began negotiations with the band's management. Although the song did not exhort its listeners to kill people of Arab descent, ADC pointed out that such a title was unacceptable, and attempts to rectify the situation yielded possibly the greatest single accomplishment by an ethnic minority fighting negative media stereotyping.

In a press conference on January 20 at the New York Plaza hotel, ADC, the Cure's management, Elektra Records, and Warner Communications announced a joint agreement to halt future sale and distribution of the Cure song "Killing an Arab," which appears on the album Standing on a Beach.

To show their opposition to racism and stereotyping, the Cure will hold a concert in New York City and the proceeds will be used to help Palestinian, Lebanese, and American orphans. Also, radio stations that have the record will be sent a label to place on the sleeve of the album that directs disc jockeys not to air the song unless a preceding statement is made reaffirming the groups' opposition to Arab stereotyping.

Chacour Visits US

In a five-city speaking tour sponsored by the Palestine Human Rights Campaign, Palestinian priest Father Elias Chacour brought his word of Palestinian-Israeli reconciliation to the United States. Echoing Voltaire in a speech to Rice University students and faculty in Houston on December 8, the Melkite Christian proclaimed, "Those who make you believe absurdities will make you commit atrocities." Author of the best seller Blood Brothers, Chacour challenged audiences to change US policies of unthinking support and excessive military aid to Israel. Fr. Chacour noted that the US policy of continually increasing aid to Israel has contributed to a rise in extremism in Israeli governments. This extremism, according to Chacour, "harms both Jew and non-Jew" and prevents the creation of a Palestinian homeland.

West Bank Palestinians Receive Award

Also spreading Fr. Chacour's message of peace and justice in the Holy Land were former President Jimmy Carter and philanthropist Dominique de Menil, who in Houston on December 10 presented Rothco Chapel Awards for Commitment to Truth and Freedom to Palestinian attorneys Jonathan Kuttab and Raja Shehadeh, co-directors of the West Bank legal services organization, "Law in the Service of Man." The Palestinian human rights activists were among seven individuals and two organizations chosen from around the world to receive the awards.

Human Rights Data Bank

The Chicago-based Human Rights Research and Education Foundation (HRREF) has begun a database project that will provide periodic reports and computerized data bank services to the US media, government offices, UN bodies, and other interested persons or organizations in an effort to document and publicize human rights violations of Palestinians living in Israel and the occupied West Bank and Gaza. The project operates through the coordinated efforts of the Jerusalem-based Palestine Human Rights Information Center (PHIRC), which provides field workers, translators, archivists, and data processors to collect data, and the Chicago-based HRREF, which will disseminate and publicize the information in the US. The project will provide reliable and verifiable data and coverage of human rights violations including expulsions, collective punishments, torture, illegal detentions, and land confiscation.

Muslim World Day

More than 400 persons attending the third Muslim World Day banquet in New York City on December 20 attested to the success of efforts to unite American Muslims of diverse ethnic backgrounds to support well-defined goals within the United States. The American Muslims and their guests, who included wounded Afghan freedom fighters in the US for medical treatment and representatives of the National Council of Christians and Jews and the World Sikh Congress, were addressed by Qutbi Mehdi, president of the Islamic Society of North America which, along with 40 associations in the tri-state area of Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York, sponsored Muslim World Day activities.

Imam Qasim Baqeruddin, representing American-born Muslims, discussed community action. Richard Curtiss, Executive Director of the American Educational Trust, spoke on building a Middle East issues coalition based upon eight million American Muslims, two million Christian Arab-Americans, another two million Americans with first-hand Middle East exposure, and activists from other Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and secular peace groups.

UPA Scholarship Effort

United Palestinian Appeal announced the donation of $180,000 in scholarships to West Bank Palestinian children. UPA, modeled after United Jewish Appeal, is a non-profit organization founded in 1978 and devoted to providing humanitarian assistance to Palestinians.

Congressional Delegation

The National Council on US-Arab Relations sent a delegation of eight Administrative Assistants of US Congressmen on a 12-day study tour of Saudi Arabia, North Yemen, and Oman on January 9. The tour is designed to offer the legislative aides a first-hand introduction to the significance of relations with Arab countries of importance to American national interests.

Samir El-Sayed is Promotion Director for The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.