February/March 1996, Pages 76-78

Arab-American Activism

AAI Observation Team Returns From Elections

Arab American Institute President James Zogby said he left a new and  hopeful Palestinian people when he returned Jan. 23 from observing elections  in the West Bank and Gaza. Zogby and 10 other Arab Americans made up the  AAI delegation sent to monitor the Palestinian Authority's first national  elections. He and Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) said the election and campaign  process had transformed Palestinians from a people struggling for basic  rights into a people in control of their future.

"The elections changed the whole landscape of the West Bank and  Gaza," Zogby said. "Slogans were written on banners instead of  graffiti on walls, and the slogans were about issues of change not complaints."  He added that the posters Palestinians carried in the streets had changed  from the portraits of people killed in the intifada to the portraits of  political candidates. "They depicted people who wanted change, not  people who died," he said.

Zogby and Rahall said they were amazed at the efficiency of Palestinian  election volunteers who registered more than a million voters, ran 1,000  polling booths and counted 900,000 votes in 24 hours. Rahall pointed out  that the elections were carried out by a people who had no elected officials  or established government of its own. They also were conducted under Israeli  laws and regulations that often hampered free and fair voting. "It  was for the most part a very free election," he said. "But Palestinians  weren't free before the election and they are not free after the election."

Rahall said the elections and campaigning ran smoothly despite the presence  of Israeli police and Israeli video cameras at some polling booths. He  added that areas such as East Jerusalem and Gaza were closed off to travel  before the election so Palestinians could not move in and out of those  places to vote.

"The army troops and police [at the East Jerusalem polling booth]  were overwhelming," the congressman said. "They far outweighed  the number of voters." Israeli police arrested some Palestinians who  were conducting exit-polls because they did not have the proper licenses,  Rahall said. Police also asked election officials to move a polling booth  in Hebron because it was too close to a Jewish settlement. Although the  poll takers were quickly released and police didn't force officials to  move the voting booth, Rahall said these policies only reminded Palestinians  that they were still under Israeli laws. "The first truly free elections  will be held when Palestinians are voting in their independent state."  he said.

Despite the obstructions, Zogby and Rahall said Palestinians were tenacious  in their first trip to the polls. They said many Palestinians waited in  lines for more than three hours to vote. In some towns, they said, 800  people were in line when the polls opened at 7 a.m. "We witnessed  Palestinians traveling to the polls via cars, trucks, buses, tractors and  donkeys, and once arriving having to wait in long lines due to huge voter  turnout," Rahall said. "But many have waited a lifetime to vote  freely—a couple more hours wait was very little."

In the presidential election, Yasser Arafat took 88 percent of the vote  compared to challenger Samiha Khalil, a 73-year-old political activist  and grandmother, who took 12 percent. To the observers, however, the vote  for the Palestinian Authority Council was much more significant. "It  is a new leadership form for the Palestinians," Zogby said. "And  those elected are an extraordinary group of people." There were 672  candidates running for 88 seats on the Council. Although a great majority  of candidates ran under the Fatah party—a party supportive of the PLO  and Yasser Arafat— nearly half of those elected to the council ran with  no party affiliation. To Zogby, this was a sign that Palestinians are ready  to take an independent course and break with past policies. "There  was definitely a defiant streak in the Palestinians going to the polls,"  Zogby said. "This is a people who are maturing politically and they  want to shape their own destiny."

—Geoff Lumetta

ADC Gains Extension for Palestinian Evacuees

Palestinians evacuated from Kuwait during the Gulf war will be allowed  to stay in the United States for a year longer, thanks to an Immigration  and Naturalization Service (INS) decision to extend their legal status.  The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee argued for the extension  of legal status, which the evacuees would have lost on Jan. 1 of this year.  ADC Legal Department director Mary Ramadan told immigration officials that  legal status for Palestinians should continue because most of them are  stateless. She said many cannot return to Kuwait and do not have a third  country to go to.

During the Gulf war, Palestinian families with U.S.-citizen children  were airlifted out of Kuwait by the U.S. government for their protection  and safety. Those families were taken to the United States and placed in  a program called "Deferred Enforced Departure," which allowed  them to remain and work in the United States lawfully until Jan. 1, 1996.  Due to the government furlough resulting from the federal budget crisis,  the extension was delayed and the families briefly had no legal status  in the United States. Some Palestinian evacuees who went to renew their  work authorizations reportedly were subjected to deportation proceedings,  while others had their work applications rejected.

Despite the extension, Ramadan said some families may have problems  with their status and work permits. "It is very important that anyone  who had problems report them immediately to ADC," she said. "There  are going to be some legal issues because of the gap in time while the  families fell out of status. We will try to iron them out with immigration  once we figure out what the issues are."

—Geoff Lumetta

Washington Film Festival Features Contemporary Arab Cinema

From the story of a Moroccan woman who discovers she has mystical powers,  to a young Tunisian boy who finds "magic" in a little box, a  two-month long festival of contemporary Arab films in Washington, DC has  offered audiences some of the most evocative and exciting cinema in the  country. The Center for the Study of the Global South at American University  and the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University have  sponsored the festival, which has featured movies from Moroccan, Algerian,  Lebanese, Syrian, Tunisian and Egyptian filmmakers.

Despite the difficult circumstances under which some of the films were  made, all have earned wide critical acclaim. Shirin Ghareeb, who chose  the festival offerings, calls Arab film-making a "progressive and  continuously evolving art form." Regardless of problems caused by  governments or by a lack of money, new films are turning up all the time,  Ghareeb said, adding that "Each new film expresses distinct dimensions  of Arab reality and creativity."

On Feb. 8, the festival will show a Syrian film by Nabil Maleh entitled  "The Extras." The story revolves around two young lovers whose  work has kept them apart. Their relationship alters drastically, however,  when they finally get time alone. Introducing the film will be Dr. Halim  Barakat, a novelist and research professor at Georgetown University.

The Tunisian film "The Magic" will be shown on Feb. 15. It  depicts a 10-year-old boy who is left at home in his village while his  parents go to France in search of work. Until they send for him, he finds  himself free to do as he pleases. But the boy's life is soon changed when  he makes a "magic box." "The Magic" will be shown with  a Sudanese movie called "Insan." It is the story of a shepherd  from the southern Sudan who leaves his village to escape poverty and boredom.  He settles in a nearby town only to find he is not happy there either,  but strange circumstances make it difficult for him to leave. Guest speakers  at this film are Barbara Stowasser, director of the Center for Contemporary  Arab Studies at Georgetown University and Zohra Ben Hamida of the Tunisian  Information Office.

The festival opened Jan. 11 with "Bab El-Oued City," an Algerian  film that won the 1988 international critics prize at the Cannes Film Festival.  "Bab" takes place not long after the October 1988 riots in Algiers  and centers around a bakery worker who works nights and sleeps during the  day. While he sleeps, the message of a local Islamist leader's movement  resounds through 15 loud speakers. One night the man can no longer bear  the noise and he tears one of the loudspeakers from the roof and throws  it into the sea. This leads the Islamist leader to take revenge. Algerian  Ambassador Osman Bencherif spoke following the movie.

The Moroccan movie "A Door to the Sky" was shown on Jan. 18.  The film traces the enlightenment of a young Westernized Moroccan woman  caught between alien modernity and patriarchal tradition. Returning from  France, she encounters a Sufi woman who introduces her to the mystical  path.

The other movies shown were "The Emigrant" from Egypt and  "Time Has Come" from Lebanon. "The Emigrant" is by  Youssef Chahine, one of Egypt's most famous and accomplished filmmakers.  His latest work is set 3,000 years ago in Pharaonic Egypt.

"Time Has Come" is a movie about two Lebanese who had fled  their homeland during the war and now decide to return. The film chronicles  their rediscovery of their country and their reconciliation with the past.

All of the films are shown at the Cineplex Odeon Foundry Theatres, 1055  Thomas Jefferson St., NW, in Georgetown, off M Street between 30th and  31st streets.

To purchase tickets or receive information on this series call (202)  274-6810.

—Geoff Lumetta

Smithsonian Photo Exhibition and Celebration Highlight Arab-American  Culture

The Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC,  celebrated Arab culture and history Jan. 20 with an afternoon of traditional  music, dancing and a movie focusing on the Arab-American community in Detroit.  The events were centered around a photo exhibition at the Smithsonian entitled,  "Arab Americans in Greater Detroit: A Community Between Two Worlds."  The exhibit is on display until March 31 and features 58 historical and  contemporary photographs drawn from family albums and the work of professional  photographers. The images document on-going Arab migration to America since  the 1880s in Greater Detroit, which is now an Arab-American community of  nearly a quarter-million people.

Divided into three sections, the exhibit includes photographs taken  at the beginning of Arab immigration a century ago up to today's contemporary  life in Detroit. The first section, "Always New Arrivals," focuses  on the initial immigration of Christians into the United States from Lebanon  and Syria. After World War II, the number of Arab immigrants grew with  the arrival of Muslims from a number of Arab countries. Section two, describing  "Daily Life," illustrates traditional Arab values in the family,  religion, work and leisure. The photographs show families sharing time  together, children at play in urban Detroit and Arab-American shop owners  tending their businesses.

"Becoming American," the final section, presents a contrast  between older and younger generations. These photos show Arab-American  children adapting to America's economic, political and popular culture.  One photograph of a high school graduation displays Muslim girls wearing  scarves under their mortar boards. The photo is intended to show the preservation  of Arab culture in everyday American life.

After a tour of the photo exhibit, the audience was invited to listen  to the Emil Kasses Ensemble. The group of Arab-American musicians from  the Washington, DC area encouraged clapping and dancing as they played  traditional Arabic instruments. The afternoon concluded with the showing  of "Tales of Arab Detroit," a documentary film that also shows  the tensions between younger and older generations of Arab Americans. The  film was produced by the ACCESS community center in Dearborn, MI, and by  filmmakers Sally Howell and Joan Mandell.

—Geoff Lumetta