May/June 1996, pgs. 62-68

Waging Peace

Jews, Muslims, Arabs and Others Join in Condemning Israeli Attacks

Human rights groups of nearly every denomination and every ethnicity have condemned Israel’s 16-day bombing campaign in Lebanon that began April 11 and took some 150 civilian lives. From Amnesty International to Arab, Muslim and Jewish-American organizations, criticism of Israel’s policy, and U.S. support for that policy, has been strong.

“Israel claims that the strikes have been targeted at precise Hezbollah strongholds, but Israeli commanders have made it clear that the real target of the indiscriminate destruction has been Lebanon’s civilian population,” said Rabbi Machael Feinberg, a member of an ad-hoc coalition of Jews and Arabs brought together to protest the attacks. “Both Deputy Defense Minister Ori Orr and the prime minister have said that they intend to use the agony of Lebanon’s civilian population to force its government to act forcefully against Hezbollah. But doing so might plunge the entire nation back into the chaos of civil war.”

A member of the International Jewish Peace Union, based in New York, pointed out the clear political motives for the bombing. “Israel is acting with the most cynical of purposes: to demonstrate to the Israeli electorate that the Labor Party is no less willing to injure, kill and dislocate innocent Arabs than is Likud,” said Laura Wernick, whose group is also part of the ad-hoc coalition. “Once again the Israeli government shows its flagrant disregard of international law.”

These comments were echoed by Amnesty International, which called on the Israeli government to cease its attacks. Calling the bombing “direct and indiscriminate,” Amnesty Secretary-General Pierre Sane said Israel is creating a humanitarian crisis. “The Israeli authorities’ declaration that parts of Lebanon are a free-fire zone is tantamount to a death threat against almost half a million civilians,” Sane said in a Washington press conference April 17. Amnesty also condemns the attacks by Hezbollah but it believes the Israeli reprisals do not necessarily act as a deterrent to more violence and often only escalate it further.

Amnesty and other human rights groups have appealed to the governments of the United States, Iran, France and Syria to help stop the fighting.

The U.S. responsibility in the events of southern Lebanon was pointed out in a statement by the Council of Presidents of Arab-American Organizations. The Council said the blame for these attacks lies equally on the United States and Israel because “it is American military equipment and U.S. political cover that allow such carnage to take place.”

The Council, which includes leaders of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the Arab American Institute (AAI), the National Association of Arab Americans (NAAA), and other Arab-Americans groups, said the Clinton administration’s “muted” reaction to the deaths of Lebanese civilians is “shocking and morally indefensible.” It pointed out that when Israel sustained 59 victims in terrorist attacks, the administration moved quickly to hold a world summit. “Why, then, is it too much to expect a similar reaction from the Clinton administration for the victims of Lebanon?” the Council asked. “Is the value of 60 Arab lives in south Lebanon not equal to that of the 60 Jewish lives in Israel?”

War-torn Lebanon also is receiving humanitarian aid from groups such as American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) and Save Lebanon. ANERA has provided a $10,000 grant to the Lebanese Red Cross for immediate relief and humanitarian assistance to the estimated 400,000 refugees created by the bombing. ANERA said the Lebanese Red Cross is the most effective humanitarian organization currently functioning in the affected areas of southern Lebanon. Its 32 ambulances have been the only vehicles that have been able to pass through Israeli shelling zones. But they have not been completely immune to Israeli attacks. Red Cross and United Nations relief vehicles were hit by sea and land-based Israeli missiles on several occasions during the fighting.

Save Lebanon also made a continued effort to aid Lebanese civilians. On April 24, the group said it was sending $10,000 worth of medical supplies to Lebanon. A California-based member of the Save Lebanon Board, Dr. Souhail Toubia, collected the urgently needed medical supplies from stores and hospitals. “In the end, what matters is what we can concretely do to help the innocent children and their families who are in dire need of emergency assistance,” Dr. Toubia said. “How can we just sit around and do nothing?”

—Geoff Lumetta

Palestinian Refugees Ignored by Oslo Accords

Are Palestinians who were forced to leave their country in 1948 still Palestinians? According to Israel and the Oslo accords, the answer is no. The accords, signed in October 1994, define “Palestinians” as only those who currently live within the West Bank and Gaza. This point is crucial to Israel, which cannot account for the displacement of millions of Palestinians without paying a heavy moral, financial and political price.

The general opinion of the speakers at a Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine conference on the Oslo accords March 29, was that diaspora Palestinians could not allow Israel and the world to pretend they don’t exist. “No final arrangement can be agreed to unless it provides for Palestinian refugees,” said John Quigley, a professor of law and political science at Ohio State University. “Israel cannot prevent us from calling for our international and legal rights.” The lawyer and prolific writer added that Palestinians have little bargaining power with the Israelis, but they can withhold their approval of the peace agreement. “We must be prepared to withdraw from negotiations,” he said.

Ghada Karmi, a research associate at the Center of Near and Middle Eastern Studies at London University, said Israel always has worked on the pretext that Palestinians who left in 1948 did so of their own accord. By negotiating under this premise, Karmi said, the Palestine Liberation Organization has given legitimacy to the notion that the 1948 diaspora can be ignored. “Palestinian representatives in the 1991 Madrid conference were only from occupied territories,” she said. “The agreement reached there accomplished finally and formally the ignoring of Palestinians outside for Palestinians inside.”

Karmi pointed out that the Oslo accords do make some mention of Palestinians displaced during the 1967 war, but the accords do not give a full right of return to these Palestinians either. There is also considerable dispute over how many Palestinians were displaced in 1967 and if their displacement was due to the war or other factors. According to Arab estimates, there were between 800,000 and 1.5 million Palestinian refugees from 1967, but the Israeli estimates are much lower. Regardless of the number of 1967 refugees, Karmi said, Palestinian negotiators have disregarded any injustice that happened before that year. “The PLO agreed to an unspoken arrangement that the problem emanates only from 1967,” she charged.

Labib Kamhawi, a businessman and vice president of the Arab Organization for Human Rights in Jordan, said the PLO agreements have considerably damaged Yasser Arafat’s credibility with Palestinians outside the occupied territories. He said many Palestinians tried to unite under Arafat in the beginning to “cement the Palestinian cause,” but the more concessions he makes, the more support he looses. “We allowed Mr. Arafat to be our spokesman, but we didn’t allow him to sacrifice the legal rights of Palestinians,” Kamhawi said. “People are becoming less and less supportive of what he’s doing.”

Karmi pointed out that Israel is in violation of international law by not allowing the open return of 1948 diaspora Palestinians. She added that United Nations Security Council Resolution 3236 gives this “right of return” to all Palestinians.

During the question and answer period, however, one audience member asked how Palestinians could depend on the United Nations to enforce their rights when it was this same organization that, in 1948, allowed Israel to be created on their land. John Quigley acknowledged the U.N.’s culpability in the injustices done to Palestinians, but he said the United Nations also has been one of the only bodies supporting Palestinian rights over the last 20 years. “Its position on refugees is pretty respectable,” he said. “At this stage, if it could enforce its resolutions, the U.N. could be a great help.”

—Geoff Lumetta

2,000 Turn Out in L.A. to Protest Lebanon Bombing

An unexpected phenomenon of the latest Israeli onslaught on Lebanon is the unity it forged among Lebanese Americans, Maronite priests, Shi’i sheikhs, Sunnis, Druze, Orthodox Christians, Armenians—not to mention Syrians, Palestinians, Egyptians, Jews and anyone who loves the tiny beleaguered country. All joined, 2,000-strong, on April 21 in Los Angeles to protest Israel’s air, land and sea bombardment.

Even the local ABC and CBS-TV reports (famous for underestimating Arab-American and Muslim-American demonstrations) used terms like “massive” and “several hundred protesters.”

It was a perfect April Southern California Sunday as hundreds of Arab Americans gathered at Hancock Park on Wilshire Boulevard, their American flags wafting in the breeze while others unfurled 9-foot-long banners in preparation for a six-block procession to the Israeli consulate. One particularly conspicuous red banner brandished enormous yellow letters reading: “Israeli Values + U.S. Aid = Bombed Lebanese Shelters & Ambulances.”

As this reporter walked with head-scarfed moms pushing baby carts, an Arab- American judge, two famous actors and an exceptional number of Christian clerics, it seemed almost biblical the way people joined the throng as we proceeded. When we neared the Israeli consulate, we were stunned to see a large crowd already assembled across the street in front of its 6360 Wilshire Blvd. address. Were we to face a confrontation? Then we saw the Lebanese flag and realized even more demonstrators already had assembled at the site of our protest. Police cars with red lights flashing assisted with crowd control. And what a crowd it was!

As dramatic and colorful as was the visual display, it was exceeded by the audio track. The chants of the protesters were coordinated. Motorists passing by honked, presumably in approval, police pedestrian instructions were broadcast over loudspeakers, and over all was the cacophony of ululations, the attention-getting call of Arab women, and the syncopated chants from numerous voices:

“Is-ra-el Stop Bombing Am-bu-lances”

“Israel Out—Now.”

“How Many More Massacres Does Peres Need?”

My favorite placard however, was, “News Editors Go Back To Israel.”

—Pat Twair