February 1993, Page 59

Arab-American Activism

By Catherine M. Willford

ATFL Hosts Tribute to Hostages

Eleven former Lebanese-held U.S. hostages gathered in Washington, DC for a Dec. 2 tribute in their honor organized by the American Task Force for Lebanon (ATFL) on behalf of "a grateful Lebanese-American community." The event, held in the Grand Hyatt Hotel on the first anniversary of the release of Terry Anderson, the final American hostage held in Lebanon, was a celebration of thanksgiving for the hostages' safe return and an attempt to focus attention on the need for reconstruction and reinvestment in Lebanon.

Several hundred guests welcomed Terry Anderson, Joseph Cicippio, David S. Dodge, David Jacobsen, Father Lawrence Martin Jenco, Jeremy Levin, Robert Polhill, Frank Regier, Alann Steen, Jesse Turner, and Benjamin Weir, several of whom had not seen each other since their release. Terry Anderson was observed sneaking up and surprising Benjamin Weir. David Jacobsen, after meeting Madeline Bassile, fiancee of Terry Anderson, remarked, "You're even more beautiful than Terry talked about for 17 months." In remarks to the media prior to the banquet, as well as during the evening's program, all the former hostages expressed their concern for Lebanon and affection for the Lebanese people.

"Lebanon is a country that has a real chance to be what it was before, an entrepot between the West and the East, a place to come together and understand each other," said former Associated Press correspondent Anderson, who was held for almost six years. "The Lebanese are trying to establish a reasonable form of government and they need help doing that. They're impoverished, their country has been ruined and their infrastructure destroyed."

Anderson noted that during his past year as a free man he came to realize that Americans "see the faces of our captors snarling and waving a gun when they think of Lebanon, but that is not the face I see. Those who welcomed me and helped me learn about their country—those brave and courageous souls—that's the face of Lebanon to me."

Former Cable News Network (CNN)

Beirut bureau chief Jeremy Levin, addressing his remarks to the Clinton administration transition staff at the State Department, noted that "the hostage crisis is not over—any given day there are countless Lebanese and Palestinians held by Israelis or their Lebanese surrogates. Please ask President-elect Clinton to level the playing field."

Benjamin Weir, responding to events in Lebanon in 1992, condemned the Israeli assassination in February of Lebanese Shi'i religious leader Sheikh Musawi, calling it "a disastrous violation of international law, which Israel has done repeatedly to Palestinian leaders from the 1960s on." Weir described the non-participation of Christians in last fall's Lebanese elections as "a great mistake, leaving them with no significant role in the parliament, as such."

Trepidation was expressed by several of the former hostages regarding the U.S. role in the ongoing Middle East peace process. Weir hoped that the U.S can become "more than just a firefighter in the region, who waits till things get bad and then steps in. We have to expect and insist that U.S. Mideast policy will focus on issues affecting sizeable numbers of people in the region, and not on domestic issues and the pressures of special interest groups." Terry Anderson asked that the U.S. "try to be an honest broker—we can't impose our own ideas and favoritisms" in the Middle East.

Father Jenco felt that the Middle Eastern clergy should play a larger role in the peace process, and that "concurrent diplomatic and clerical initiatives should take place, with Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders invited in an open forum, because it is they who wield absolute control over the mosques, pulpits and synagogues of the region. "

The former hostages also expressed deep gratitude to the American people, officials of the U.N., including Giandomenico Pico, who was included in the tribute, and many members of the hostages' families who worked so diligently for their release. "They were far more victimized than we were, for we knew our own condition, and they were left in doubt,'' said David Jacobsen, speaking about the plight of the hostage families. Jacobsen paid special tribute to Peggy Anderson Say, sister of Terry Anderson, who worked tirelessly on behalf of all the hostages.

Father Jenco closed the program with a prayer for "the many other hostages in the world today—some are held by chains of poverty, some are held by chains of war like the people of Somalia and Yugoslavia. We are free, but we have an obligation to set them all free."

Disney's "Aladdin": Fusion and Frustration

The hit film "Aladdin," the 31st animated feature produced by Walt Disney Studios and inspired by the renowned Arab folk tale of the same name, is the first Disney production to have a Middle Eastern setting. The Arab-American community has expressed both pleasure at the film's occasional fusion of Arab and American cultures, and frustration with some of the production's narrative devices.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), while applauding the way in which the film's two young heroes countered traditional Hollywood stereotypes of Arabs, criticized the renaming of Baghdad, setting of the Arab folk tale, as the fictitious city of "Agraba." According to a letter from ADC to Disney Studios Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, this "precludes viewers from drawing the inference that Baghdad, Iraq can create admirable heroes and heroines like Aladdin and Jasmine. " The letter further noted that while there are both positive and negative Arab characters in the film, those who are "good" have Anglo-American accents and the "evil" characters have Arabic accents (a charge denied in The Washington Post by a Disney spokesman).

Of greatest concern to ADC are some Lyrics in the film's opening number "Arabian Nights," in which a character sings,

"Oh, I come from a land .

From a faraway place

Where the caravan camels roam,

Where they cut off your ear

If they don't like your face

It's barbaric, but hey, its home."

Calling the Lyrics "surprisingly vicious," ADC asked Disney Studios to replace the "anti-Arab Lyric" when the film is released on video.

On the positive side, ADC Media Coordinator Leila Gorchev noted, "Here we have a piece of important Arab folkloric history, modernized so that many Americans can understand it, which occasionally fuses Arab and American cultures, as when the Genie says, 'Wake up and smell the humus."'

A Special "Aladdin" Premiere

Manager Jay Baird of the Willowdale Cinema (Carmike Chain) in Durham, NC contacted local Arab Americans and invited them to create an Arab cultural display at his theater's premiere of "Aladdin." Volunteers organized by ADC/ North Carolina Chapter board member Wael Masri performed music on traditional instruments, wrote theater patrons' names in Arabic script and distributed pamphlets on Arab culture during Aladdin's 15th century Baghdad setting, and on the differences between the Disney version of the story and that in the Arabian Nights.

Baird originally contacted the international affairs office at North Carolina State University in Durham, who referred him to Masri, for suggestions in offering such a program because he felt, "There were so many stereotypes with this sort of material—the Middle East, genies and harem girls, the whole 'I Dream of Jeannie' thing—that it would be interesting to get the historical background." Baird told the Washington Report he has never been to the Middle East, but "would love to go." The theater manager called the cultural display a success. "There was a very good response from the patrons. They were really inquisitive, especially after seeing the film, and Wael did a tremendous job organizing the program."

NAAA and American Jewish Leaders Jointly Urge Active Clinton Role in Peace Efforts

The executive directors of a national Arab-American and a national Jewish-American organization issued a joint statement on Dec. 15 in Washington, DC calling upon then-President-elect Bill Clinton to take "an active role" in the Middle East peace talks. Khalil E. Jahshan, executive director of the National Association of Arab Americans (NAAA), and Henry Siegman, executive director of the American Jewish Congress (AJC), called the ongoing negotiations ''the best chance in our lifetime for a secure, comprehensive, and lasting peace."

Jahshan and Siegman issued their joint statement a day after NAAA and AJC hosted a meeting of prominent members of their respective communities. The participants were briefed on developments in the peace talks by Michael Shiloh, deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of Israel, Marwan Muasher, spokesman for the Jordanian delegation, and Hanan Ashrawi, spokeswoman for the Palestinian delegation.

Despite differences over specific aspects of the process, including the nature of U.S. involvement, both Jahshan and Siegman strongly support the peace talks and agree that vigorous U. S. brokering is necessary. The two also shared concerns that a loss of momentum in the peace process due to U.S. neglect during the presidential transition period could result in heightened tensions. "If the peace talks stall, they risk being overtaken by events and by forces of extremism," reads the joint statement. "History teaches that stagnation in negotiations leads to renewed risk of war.'

Jahshan and Siegman said they regard this statement linking the interests of two historically competing communities as the start of an ongoing "constructive dialogue" which is a direct product of the peace process. They plan to cooperate next on a call for more intensive U.S. involvement in settling the conflict in Bosnia.

Catherine M. Willford is the circulation director of the Washington Report.