Peter A. Gubser

Until June 6, 1982, Peter Gubser, as President of American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA), spent most of his time absorbed with the task of helping Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza carry out projects for their social and economic development. But the invasion of Lebanon changed all that. ANERA, as its name indicates, is also very much in the business of helping refugees stay alive and well, and now had its work cut out for it.

"Relief for Lebanon is now our number one priority," says Dr. Gubser in his office at ANERA's headquarters in Washington, D.C. "The big boys in the immediate relief effort, of course, are organizations like the International Committee of the Red Cross and UNWRA. But we are trying to help fill in the gaps."

From the first day, ANERA plunged into a crash program to raise funds in the U.S. This involved not only advertising in the media—especially in publications aimed at Arab Americans—but making contactswith U.S. corporations which might provide services in cash or in kind. "As of now, we've asked about 300 corporations for money donations," says Dr. Gubser, "and have approached—successfully, I might add—a number of pharmaceutical companies to provide drugs and medicines."

Working with Red Cross

Dr. Gubser says that in Lebanon itself, where the big international relief agencies are already dealing with emergency needs, ANERA will be backing up their efforts by working with indigenous relief institutions—such as the Lebanese Red Cross and Red Crescent—with which ANERA has long had close working relationships. Its representative in the Middle East, who is based in Jerusalem, will direct operations from the ground, and at the time of writing was trying to get into West Beirut itself.

In slightly more normal times, Dr. Gubser concentrates on operations in the West Bank and Gaza which do more than just provide relief, but create jobs and enhance incomes. For example, ANERA provides capital and expertise to cooperatives to help them improve land for farming; supports municipal governments in the expansion of municipally-owned industries; and gives assistance to vocational institutions and to literacy programs.

Some building projects which are now underway include a soap factory, a chicken-feed mill, and a seedling nursery for olive trees. To finance this help, ANERA spent $1.4 million last year.

Even to make this modest contribution is not easy, Dr. Gubser makes clear. "In any developing country," he says, "there are problems caused by the fact that the government wants to contain and direct all the activities carried out by foreign aid organizations. But in the West Bank and Gaza the problems are more acute, because the government that's trying to control you is an occupation government that does not represent the people you are trying to help." He says that ANERA could have spent quite a bit more money on the West Bank last year if the Israeli authorities had been quicker to approve suggested projects. "But other U.S. volunteer organizations have the same problem," he says with a philosophical shrug.

Dr. Gubser says that funding for ANERA is a three-legged stool. "We get money from the U.S. government, through the Agency for International Development (AID); from 25,000 individual donors; and from about 45 to 50 American corporations, many of them quite well known." When U.S. government financing was added to their funding mix for the first time in 1975, Dr. Gubser says, there was suspicion on the part of many of the West Bank and Gaza Palestinians, who had little reason to trust the U.S. government. "But," Dr. Gubser notes cheerfully, "now they know that we are a body that is completely independent from the U.S. government, and they get along with us fine."

Apt Credentials

Dr. Gubser came to ANERA as president in 1977 with particularly apt credentialsfor a job that focuses on Middle East development. After graduating from Yale and getting his M.A. in Middle East Studies from the American University of Beirut, he spent a year in a small Jordanian town to do research on its politics and modernization-a project which led to a thesis and to a Ph.D. in Social Studies from Oxford University. He did 15 months of field research on the political structure and dynamics of Zahleh, Lebanon, and spent two years as a research scientist in a Washington, D.C. think-tank. Then, just before coming to ANERA, he was with the Ford Foundation for three years as a social science project specialist, serving in Beirut and in Amman, where he was the Foundation's local representative.

Dr. Gubser said he likes being with ANERA because "you are doing something to promote the U.S. interest that doesn't just focus on narrow economic and strategic goals, but involves human values. You also are doing something practical, on the ground, and you can actually see the results."