April/May 1995, Pages 69-70

Arab-American Activism

By Abdullah Khayat

NAAA Director Discusses "Ominous" Omnibus Counter-Terrorism Act

National Association of Arab Americans executive director Khalil Jahshan was among three speakers invited to discuss pending U.S. anti-terrorism legislation (see report on p. 106) by the Foreign Correspondents Association on Feb. 16, 1995 in Washington, DC. Jahshan had participated in a series of meetings on the subject with other Arab-American and Muslim-American groups and Clinton administration officials.

Pointing out that since its founding in 1979 NAAA has "expressed our unequivocal opposition to any targeting of civilians," Jahshan warned against "carelessly equating opposition to the peace process with terrorism." He asserted also that "to insinuate that opposition to the foreign policy objectives of the U.S. is a crime, I think, is 'un- American.'"

He noted that the Clinton administration is trying "to facilitate the job of law enforcement agencies in combatting terrorism," but "by making the job easier they are making our lives harder." The reason, he explained, is that Americans are likely to fear giving to any organization providing humanitarian services in the Middle East because of confusion about the law.

The other speakers were Dr. Michael Collins Dunn, editor of The Estimate, and Dr. Kenneth Katzman of the Congressional Research Service.

ADC Starts Comeback With National Convention in May

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) will hold its 15th anniversary convention from May 4 to 7 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Arlington, Virginia, adjacent to Washington, DC's National Airport. Scheduled speakers include Faisal Husseini, head of the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East peace talks; Palestinian human rights activist Hanan Ashrawi; and ABC anchor Sam Donaldson. Registration information can be obtained from ADC at 4201 Connecticut Ave. N.W., Suite 500, Washington, DC 20008, phone (202) 244-2990.

ADC's national staff, pared down to four persons plus volunteers led by Washington, DC activist Dr. Hala Maksoud, expects the event to begin the organization's comeback from its most stressful year since its 1980 founding by Senator James Abourezk when he stepped down after serving 12 years in the House and Senate.

Since then, ADC had grown into the largest Arab-American membership organization, with active chapters in many parts of the U.S. and in the Middle East, including Amman and Kuwait. As with all Arab-American groups, ADC's serious troubles began on Aug. 2, 1990. Saddam Hussain's invasion of Kuwait split the Arab-American community just as badly as it split the Palestinian diaspora and the entire Arab and Islamic world. If half of ADC's members were most concerned about reports leaking out of occupied Kuwait of summary executions of children before the eyes of their parents, and how these events reflected upon American perceptions of the Arabs, the other half were equally concerned at the alacrity with which the U.S. responded militarily to Iraq's illegal military occupation measures in Kuwait, while refusing to "link" or compare them to Israel's illegal military occupation measures against participants in the intifada then raging in the West Bank and Gaza.

However, the full extent of the damage to ADC did not immediately become clear. Eventually it became evident that perhaps half of ADC's members no longer were renewing their membership, and that the dropouts included many of the organizations's most generous patrons. Meanwhile, ADC's Kuwait chapter, an important source of funding, never reopened, and members of its Amman chapter, another important source of funding, were extremely hard hit by the economic dislocation that accompanied the war and its aftermath.

The strains reached critical mass in the fall of 1994, starting with the resignation to go into private law practice of Albert Mokhiber, who had served ADC for 11 years, 4 of them as executive director. This increased the fund raising burden on Board Chairman Abourezk, who had left Washington, DC several years earlier to practice law in his native South Dakota.

His nomination of Candace Lightner, an Arab-American founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), as interim executive director, became controversial in itself. Seeking to put the organization on a sound financial footing she dismissed staff members most identified with the "Arab Heritage" aspects of the organization (a key part of which is support for the Palestinians), while planning to restrict ADC's activities to its original function of combatting negative Arab stereotypes in the United States and assisting Arab-American victims of discrimination. The immediate result was about what might happen to the funding and membership base of a national Jewish organization that suddenly decided it no longer would concern itself with Israel.

At a Jan. 23 ADC board meeting, Abourezk tendered his resignation, but agreed to remain available to assist ADC whenever called upon by the board. The board installed him as chairman emeritus, elected Hamzi K. Moghrabi, president of ADC's Colorado chapter, as chairman, and accepted Lightner's resignation.

Moghrabi, president of the Consulting Engineering Group (CEG) of Colorado, was born in Acre, Palestine, and became a refugee in Lebanon at age 14. As a Lebanese citizen he became a Kuwait-based contractor who built hotels, industrial plants and highways throughout the Middle East. He was active in Kuwait's ADC chapter and, since moving to Colorado in 1985, has been active in Arab-American and human rights causes while continuing to run his business. ADC members will have an opportunity to meet Moghrabi and to honor founder Abourezk at the upcoming 15th anniversary convention.

Nineteen U.S. Universities Participate In Model League of Arab States

Delegations from 19 U.S. colleges and universities participated in this year's National Model League of Arab States, held in mid-March in the national capital at Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, one of the sponsoring organizations. The sessions were opened by keynote speaker Dr. Khaled Abdallah, a Palestinian who is chief representative of the League of Arab States in the United States. The closing keynote address was by Leslie Janka, former assistant secretary of defense for Near East and South Asian Affairs, who is on the board of the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, another of the sponsoring groups. Other sponsoring organizations were the League of Arab States and the U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce.

Mideast Coordinator Dennis Ross Briefs Correspondents

State Department Middle East Coordinator Dennis Ross defended U.S. Middle East policy before an audience composed largely of correspondents for Middle Eastern and Israeli newspapers at a Feb. 23 briefing before the Foreign Correspondents Association in the National Press Club. Admitting that "we're clearly at a phase in this process where there are difficulties and problems that have to be dealt with," Ross maintained that "there is a continuous American involvement in the process as a full partner."

"There is on this track an effort being made by both sides," Ross told a polite but skeptical audience. "The Israelis get security and the Palestinians get control over the political and economic decisions that most affect their lives, at least pending the final negotiations." He noted that "one thing that is very clear is that settlement activity is of great concern to the Palestinians." He added that "as time goes by, those who are committed to this process aren't strengthened by delays in the process...

"I think it is important to measure progress in months, not years," Ross said. "Ultimately for the peace process to work it has to yield tangible benefits."

AAUG, ADC and Jerusalem Fund Condemn Moynihan, D'Amato

The president of the Association of Arab-American University Graduates, the chairman of the ADC and the president of the Jerusalem Fund called upon Senators Daniel Moynihan (D-NY) and Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY) to withdraw a letter they circulated in Congress calling upon the State Department to transfer the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. A total of 93 of the 100 senators eventually signed the letter.

The statement charged that the letter "cannot be motivated by any genuine concern for a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East" but rather by "political expediency."

The senators "would be strongly advised to broaden their sensitivity to be inclusive of other constituencies than that which unconditionally and unabashedly supports whatever Israel wants and seeks to achieve," the statement said.