Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, June/July 1997, pgs. 63-69, 119

Muslim American Activism, Arab American Activism, Human Rights, Diplomatic Doings and Waging Peace

Robert Fisk Shows U.N. Film of Israel's 1996 Qana Attack

American University's Center for the Global South hosted award-winning British journalist Robert Fisk for an April 21 presentation on media coverage of the Middle East and Bosnia entitled "Threats, Lies and Videotape." The highlight of the two-hour presentation was the first public showing in Washington, DC of the full 8-minute video of Israel's April 18, 1996 shelling of the U.N. compound in Qana that killed more than 100 Lebanese and 2 American civilians.

Fisk, who currently is a Middle East correspondent for the London Independent, has received more British journalism awards than any other international correspondent. He spoke at length about reporting from the Middle East and Bosnia, the role of television in interpreting and often distorting reality, and the role of special interest groups in inhibiting objective reporting from the Middle East, particularly when it portrays Israel negatively.

The exponential growth of demand for news, manifested in the proliferation of 24-hour news stations like CNN, dozens of quality international newspapers and magazines, and the recent explosive growth of the Internet and its corollary on-line news services, has not translated into increased knowledge about international affairs, according to Fisk. "How odd it is these days to see our views narrowed with an increase of available information," he remarked.

Fisk also spoke at length about the role of special interest groups on suppressing objective reporting about the Middle East, particularly from Israel/Palestine. Tactics used against Fisk's employers (and other newspapers, magazines and television stations) have included barrages of letters to his editor, threats to cancel lucrative advertising contracts, and other forms of pressure to omit coverage deemed threatening or offensive to some special interests. "Lobby groups are most effective today," Fisk said. "They seek to hide the truths uncovered by journalists and to inhibit our telling of the truth."

The presentation's finale was the screening of 8 minutes of videotape of the Qana bombing taken by a United Nations soldier from a location adjacent to the Qana U.N. compound where civilian refugees had sought shelter from Israeli bombing and artillery attacks. The footage made it absolutely clear that Israel's attack was either deliberate, or wildly irresponsible.

Although the compound was mostly obscured by clouds of smoke billowing from a conference room set on fire by the first barrage of Israeli artillery fire, the viewer could clearly see artillery shells landing with precision inside the walls of the relatively small U.N. base. Particularly eerie were the small clouds from explosions 15 to 20 feet off the ground, signaling the bursts of anti-personnel artillery shells designed to spray shards of metal in all directions, killing or maiming anyone within the blast radius.

Also captured by the videotape was an Israeli reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) hovering over the area. Israeli officials first insisted that there was no UAV in the area. They later said it was in the area but was not observing the Qana compound. That it was flying almost directly over the U.N. compound makes the latter explanation almost impossible to accept.

Although it is not shown on the videotape, Fisk's brief description of entering the Qana compound after the bombing offered a first-hand account of the horror of the Israeli attack. Bodies of Lebanese civilians, who were in Qana for protection from Israel's "Operation Grapes of Wrath," were strewn all around the U.N. base. One particularly gruesome sight described by Fisk was that of a decapitated human head, literally blown from the victim's body, that had come to rest in the branches of a tree.

—Shawn L. Twing

Teachers Describe "Oasis of Peace"

An Israeli and a Palestinian teacher from the Lurie primary school at Neve Shalom/ Wahat al-Salam in Israel made an April 21 appearance at Washington, DC's Cosmos Club at the end of a national speaking tour to describe their work in the only village in Israel where Jews and Palestinians choose to live and work together. The program was arranged and moderated by David Hitchcock, a former counselor for public affairs at the American Embassy in Tel Aviv, and a member of the U.S. support group for the village, whose name means "Oasis of Peace" in both Hebrew and Arabic.

The two teachers, Bob Mark and Diana Shalufi-Rizek, visited San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Wilmington, DE, Detroit, Baltimore, Reading, PA, and Florida in addition to Washington, DC, to describe the village, which consists of 32 families, half of them Jewish and half of them Muslim and Christian Palestinian. Ten more families are scheduled to move in this year, and more than 200 families are on a waiting list. The Lurie school has 130 pupils from the village and surrounding communities, who are taught in both Arabic and Hebrew and who also study English. The students, like the village families, are kept evenly balanced between Jews and Muslim and Christian Palestinians.

Also housed in the village is the School for Peace, established in 1979 to heighten awareness of the complexities of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and improve understanding between Palestinians and Jews. More than 20,000 teenagers, university students, educators, social workers, psychologists and discussion facilitators have participated in its workshops.

Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam was founded in 1973 by Father Bruno Hussar, a Dominican priest who was born of secular Jewish parents and who grew up in Egypt. Nominated five times for the Nobel Peace Prize, Father Bruno died in February 1996.

The village is situated on a hilltop midway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on land leased from the Latrun Monastery. It also has a guest house offering 40 modern air-conditioned units for visitors on its site, on the edge of the Jerusalem hills overlooking the coastal plain.

Further information is obtainable from American Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, 121 Sixth Ave., Suite 507, New York, NY 10013, (212) 226-9246.

—Richard H. Curtiss

Students Become Diplomats at Model Arab League

If you think that students from the American Middle West can never understand the Middle East, then you should have visited the 15th Annual National Collegiate Model Arab League held April 2-5 at the Georgetown Holiday Inn in Washington, DC. More than 300 students from 21 different colleges formed teams to represent individual countries from the Arab League. Team members studied for months to learn everything they could about their country and how it interacted with other Arab League members.

Each "country" placed delegates on political affairs, economic affairs, social affairs, security affairs, and Palestinian affairs committees. In the committee sessions, students built coalitions and made deals, while the best prepared and most articulate delegates quickly stood out from the crowd. In order to lend structure and order to the proceedings the students mastered Roberts Rules of Order and used them masterfully to defend their resolutions.

Most importantly, while researching their particular country, students went beyond stereotypes and learned for themselves what individual Arabs are like. "I never really understood the Palestinians before this," said Daniel Sullivan of the University of Massachusetts (Lowell). "But being from an Irish-American family, I can compare their struggle to the Irish, and I know exactly how they must feel." For other students the Arab-friendly environment was a welcome one. Said Salma Audi, a senior at the University of Pennsylvania, "Over 60 percent of the students at my school are pro-Israel. It's sad, but the Arab student group has basically given up."

National Council President John Duke Anthony, in his opening speech, called on delegates to take leadership roles not only in the Model Arab League but also in their communities. "I call on you to couple your convictions with your commitments," he said. "To match them and move forward with them." From the positive student response to the speech and the subsequent debates, there is little doubt that they will.

(For more information about the Model Arab League, contact Andrea Akova at the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations at [202] 293-0801.)

—John Vandenberg

Dr. Eyad El Sarraj at CPAP

The Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine hosted Dr. Eyad El Sarraj, director of the Gaza Community Mental Health Program and board member of the independent Palestinian Commission on Human Rights, for an April 21 luncheon meeting where he discussed the viability of a "one state/two peoples" solution to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"I am against a Jewish, Islamic or Muslim state," Sarraj said. "I hope in the future to live in a state where people are equal." While acknowledging that a nationalist state may be a necessary transition, he was adamant that, not only for Palestinians, "democracy and peace have to go hand-in-hand. Israel will never be secure otherwise."

When asked if the peace process might have been viable if overseen by a truly neutral power, Sarraj responded, "Absolutely! In many ways, we Palestinians believe that our tragedy rests here." With unconcealed anger he added, "And our futures are being decided here, while Americans are drinking beer and watching TV."

He recounted a visit to Capitol Hill where he asked a congressman if the Israel lobby really wields so much influence over American legislators that it determines U.S. Middle East policy. His interlocutor answered affirmatively, confiding, "The worst hour in my life is when AIPAC comes to my office."

Dr. Sarraj has personally observed the pressure the U.S. exerts on the Palestinian Authority, but cannot or will not apply to Israel. During his imprisonment by the Palestinian Authority for criticizing the leadership of Yasser Arafat, Dr. Sarraj was visited by an American Embassy officer. By contrast, members of the elected Palestinian Council, as well as international human rights activists, were denied access to him. Sarraj believes that such interest by the U.S. Embassy and State Department was, in fact, responsible for his release, which came four hours before a scheduled meeting in Cairo between Palestinian President Arafat and then-U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher. George Washington Students Hear Mideast Experts

"The Oslo agreement was a coup d'état that offered the Israeli government an opening to the Arab world," said Said Erakat, a Palestinian activist and former director of the Palestinian Commission of North America. Erakat maintained that, unfortunately, Oslo was about the security of Israel and not about righting wrongs done to the Palestinians. The peace process has resulted in the elimination of the Arab economic boycott, a potential gain worth tens of billions of dollars to the Israeli economy, in exchange for which Palestinians have gained only limited access to their Israeli-controlled resources. In fact, with their continued subjugation to the Israeli import and tax regimes, Palestinians have obtained only slight access to the Israeli market, and none to Arab markets.

Erakat was one of three Middle East experts who spoke April 9 at a panel discussion at George Washington University on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the future of the peace process. The program was sponsored by GWU's Arab Student Association.

Erakat compared Israeli-Palestinian relations to the relationship between slave and master. He concluded by saying that there was no future for the peace process until there was equal treatment for the Arabs.

Jerri Bird, president of Partners for Peace, a support group for community activists, expressed her conviction that even though few Americans understand clearly what is going on in the Middle East, most question why Israel receives between $3 billion and $6 billion of their tax dollars every year since it is not a "developing" nation anymore. Bird encouraged the audience to take the initiative to inform the public and the media that U.S. ties to Israel are rooted in narrow domestic political considerations. She recommended networking with other organizations who share the same goals; presenting facts and not generalities; and developing a strategic plan to inform the local media and the public.

The panel's final speaker was Wafa Nassim Nasr, a former official of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and now a private consultant. Nasr told the audience that, "No one who is honest with history can deny the rights of the Palestinians." Defending these rights, he said, has nothing to do with either anti-Semitism or defending the Jewish faith.

"It is the media that has tarnished the picture," said Nasr, "portraying it as Arabs versus Jews, Islam versus Judaism." Sharing the lessons he learned as a student and activist at the American University in Beirut, he urged the students to be more visible in informing others about the Palestinians' struggle.

Nasr pointed out that the role of the Clinton administration in the peace process is dictated by domestic political considerations and has little to do with facts. He also noted the daily battles between Israeli troops and Palestinian youth sparked by construction of a 6,500-unit Jewish-only settlement on Jabal Abu Ghneim, and called for the upholding of U.N. Security Council Resolution 465, which urges Israel "to dismantle the existing settlements and in particular to cease the establishment, construction, and planning of settlements." Nasr concluded by saying that peace cannot be established unless there is "justice and fairness.",

—Roshan Khadivi

MEI Presents Libya's Man-Made River

Western engineers say it happened by accident, Muammar Qaddafi says it is a public works project comparable to the great pyramids of Egypt. Regardless of its antecedents, Libya's water-pumping system, which takes fresh water from a giant reserve in southern Libya and delivers it 700 to 900 miles north to the Libyan coast, is a marvel of modern engineering both in its efficiency and its simplicity.

"To some, this shows that even the most lunatic of governments can actually do something right by mistake," said Thomas Stauffer, a former Harvard professor and an internationally known authority on water and energy issues. He described Libya's recently completed water distribution system at the Middle East Institute April 3.

Known as the "great man-made river," Stauffer said this pipeline carries eight times the flow of the Jordan River at half of what it costs to pump water into Los Angeles. "This is a sizable amount of water, especially by Middle East standards," Stauffer said. "And the water is of very good quality."

As far back as the 1960s, oil drilling in Libya had revealed large water reserves in the mid-south and southeast regions. The water reserve, called "fossil water," accumulated below the surface of the earth thousands of years ago. The reserve lies 150 meters under the desert and contains trillions of cubic meters of water. "This is an 800-year supply of water at the expected demand," Stauffer said.

Even more remarkable is the project's efficiency. Libyan engineers use natural gas, which normally would be burned off, to power the pumping station. This means it costs nearly nothing to bring the water out of the ground. And, because everything is automated, the operation can be run by 800 people, a small number of workers for a municipal water system.

The need for water on the coast became critical in the 1980s when saltwater from the Gulf of Sidra began to intrude into Libya's drinking reserves. Desalination costs became too high, so Libya turned to its desert for water. "It is profoundly ironic to take water from the desert and move it to the coast," Stauffer said. But the project is a success story in a region where water is precious and where there are dozens of grand schemes for moving water and "making the desert bloom."

There has been talk of pumping water from Eastern Turkey to the Levant, from the Nile to the Negev and from the Mediteranean to the Dead Sea. While these grandiose schemes generally sound good to politicians, Stauffer said they are ridiculous from an engineering and economic point of view. Compared to the Libyan system, he said, these plans are just "pipe dreams."

—Geoff Lumetta

Texas PSC Jerusalem Conference

Three speakers, each appearing on separate evenings, delivered keynote addresses at the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) of the University of Texas at Austin's "Where Lies Jerusalem?" conference April 17-19. Students of the PSC raised the funds themselves from the University of Texas Student Union, Texas Arab Americans, and the university's Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures.

Each of the keynote speakersHarry Hagopian, director of the Middle East Council of Churches; Dr. Ian Lustick, professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania; and Dr. Salim Tamari, professor of sociology and anthropology at Birzeit Universityspoke about the nature of Jerusalem and the emotional, political, and legal battles for its control.

"Har Homa is what convinced me, the eternal Armenian optimist, that peace is in real danger," Dr. Hagopian said. "Jerusalem suffers not from too little, but too much attention Its only sin is being home to three religions."

He predicted that as economic conditions worsen, increased radicalization and rising frustration will lead to more violence. "When people tell me that there will be no negotiations without cessation of violence, I answer that negotiations are the only hope of stopping the violence," he said.

While many editorialists write about the overwhelming emotional attachment Jews feel for Jerusalem, Hagopian quoted recent polls from Hebrew University to illustrate that this may be overblown. The polls show that 57 percent of Israeli Jews have never visited Jerusalem, and don't care to. In addition, the Geocartographic Institute in West Jerusalem showed that 51 percent of Israeli Jews would accept a Palestinian state in return for peace.

Dr. Ian Lustick, who gave the most impassioned keynote address, argued that the generally accepted notion that Israel has "annexed" East Jerusalem is false, and the Israeli government knows it. "Despite [Neyanyahu foreign affairs adviser] Dore Gold's assertion that the 1967 Levi Eshkol government annexed East Jerusalem, it didn't. In the last official announcement ever made by an Israeli government on the subject, it declared that the expanding of the municipality of Jerusalem didn't entail annexation and was only for administrative convenience," Lustick said. Further proof is a 1967 Israeli reply to U.N. Secretary- General U Thant, which explicitly denied that Israel's actions in expanded East Jerusalem constituted annexation.

When compared to other areas that have been inarguably annexed to Israel, such as the northern Negev and the Western Galilee, the arguments for an annexed Jerusalem also fall short, Lustick said. "These territories were transformed from 'occupied territories' to parts of the state not by a declaration but by the imposition of both Israeli citizenship and law upon all inhabitants."

Dr. Salim Tamari, the final evening's keynote speaker, who currently is a visiting professor at Cornell University, spoke of how West Bank and Gaza Palestinians have almost completely lost access to Jerusalem following the 1991 Gulf war. According to Tamari, 95 percent of all Palestinians have not had access to or through Jerusalem in the past six years; and the lucky 5 percent who have gone into the city were given day passes valid only from 5 a.m. until 7 p.m. "Why is this the case four years after a peace agreement was signed?" Dr. Tamari asked. "Jews should have access to all of Jerusalem, and Palestinians should have residency rights. Why are Palestinian rights less holy than those of Jews?"

Bashar Tarabieh, of Temple University, gave the conference a social worker's ground-level view of Israel's neglect of Palestinians in Jerusalem. "The 20,000 Palestinian elderly of Jerusalem receive in one year the same amount of assistance that the Israeli settlement of Neve Ya'acov (pop. 20,000) receives in one month," Tarabieh said. "It is estimated that an Israeli resident of Jerusalem receives 95 cents back from every dollar he pays in municipal taxes Palestinians receive five cents back, and that is an optimistic estimate." By this means, Israel intends not to evict the Palestinians from Jerusalem, but rather to turn "their neighborhoods into ghettos and places of poverty."

In a witty talk, Simona Sharoni of American University in Washington, DC stated, "Har Homa marks the perfect opportunity to finally pronounce the Oslo process as dead. Fine! Let us see if there are any 'organs' that are still usable."

According to Sharoni, the Oslo agreements were flawed from the beginning, and Netanyahu's tacit acceptance of them at Hebron made things worse. "Netanyahu was a used car salesman in Jersey....Now he has sold the Israeli people this 'peace with security.' In fact he has sold them a car without an engine, a car without wheels, going nowhere!" She characterized the peace process as a necessary and good thing, but impossible under the Oslo framework.

One of the most heartening events was the children's workshop on Saturday afternoon. Fifteen students from a local elementary school and children from the Arab Community Center, all aged 11 and 12, had prepared for the workshop by studying books and films about Israel and Palestine for three months. On Saturday, groups of "Palestinians," "Israelis," and "Americans" wrote questions they wanted to ask each other, many focusing on the building of settlements and Palestinian rights. When the "Palestinians" were told that Israel had to build settlements on their side of Jerusalem because they needed the room, they told the "Israelis," "It's like you building schools on our side of town, but not letting us go to school there. Why not build some houses for us, too?" The best questions were mailed to President Clinton.

At a later event, Dr. Hagopian summed up the conference with an insightful quote. "No one wants a wall dividing the city," said Dr. Hagopian. "But it is already true that you never see Israeli Jews in East Jerusalem. Why not acknowledge that the city is already divided, and apply what we know in our hearts, sharing is best."

—John Vandenberg

Georgetown Symposium Focuses on Arab Americans

Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies held its 22nd annual symposium April 3-4, which focused on the Arab-American experience and brought together an impressive array of Arab-American scholars, political leaders, journalists, and entrepreneurs to speak on issues of identity, history and demography, media portrayal, and national political participation.

The keynote speaker for the event was John Sununu, who once served as governor of New Hampshire and later as chief of staff for President George Bush. Sununu, who is of Lebanese and Palestinian descent, is now president of JHS Associates and also serves as a co-host of CNN's nightly "Crossfire" program.

Governor Sununu touched upon issues of Arab-American participation and influence in the U.S. political system, which many Arab Americans feel has ignored them. Sununu, however, did not blame the system, but rather blamed the Arab-American community's lack of a cohesive, consistent message in articulating its issues and concerns to presidents and to members of Congress.

He described how, upon setting up meetings at the White House between Arab-American leaders and President Bush, Sununu would rehearse the agenda and the message with the leaders for two hours, only to have the discussion break down just a few minutes into the meeting, leaving Bush confused as to what the participants really wanted. "Never, not once, were we able to have a meeting where we heard a single, cohesive, undivided message," Sununu asserted. He warned his audience that, in dealing with U.S. elected officials, "a lack of consensus equals no constituency; a divided message equals no message."

Arab Americans frustrated by U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East must realize, Sununu advised, that in the vacuum created by indecision and the lack of a common agenda, those who "control the medium" gain favor and influence. In short, the U.S. takes the Arab point of view lightly because, according to Sununu, "there is no Arab point of view."

A similar discussion occurred during a panel on Arab-American participation in national politics, which was aired by C-SPAN and included panelists such as Hala Maksoud, president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee; James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute; Khalil Jahshan, president of the National Association of Arab Americans; and Nadia Hijab, president of the Association of Arab American University Graduates.

Zogby countered the criticism that Arab- American leadership is fractured and disorganized by pointing out that "you don't know where you are until you look at where you've been." He said the community has come a very long way within a very short period of time and is enjoying increased access to the White House as well as in the halls of Congress.

Zogby gave his own sobering view of how the U.S. political system behaves: "Politics is not morality. You don't win because you're right Political power wins and right now, we don't have it." Zogby went on to characterize the Arab-American experience in the political arena as "a struggle to define ourselves instead of letting others do it for us."

Author and journalist Jack Shaheen spoke candidly about the misrepresentation of Arabs and Muslims in both films and television programs. Shaheen described how he and his wife recently monitored television programming during a two-week period in March and documented 25 separate negative portrayals of Arabs and Muslims during the first week and 29 during the second week. Furthermore, this significant number of negative portrayals was recorded from television movies only.

Shaheen attributed this continued misrepresentation to a number of factors, including lack of Arab-American presence in the industry, "Islamophobia," ignorance, and "the greed factor" (these films make money). But the most serious problem, according to Shaheen, is Arab-American apathy. Shaheen quoted Georgetown Professor Michael Hudson in order to drive home his point: "A conspiracy is not needed, just complacency."

John Zogby, president of the John Zogby Group of New Hartford, New York, an international polling firm, provided the symposium with demographic indicators of the Arab-American community based on recent polling data. (Zogby's polling techniques proved to be the most accurate of any polling firm during the 1996 presidential election, the outcome of which he predicted within just one-tenth of 1 percent.

One of John Zogby's more interesting findings was that Arab Americans out-rank all other ethnic groups in the U.S. in terms of level of education achieved. In light of this statistic, it should come as no surprise that Zogby also found that Arab Americans are more likely to be found in managerial and professional positions and least likely to be working as farmers or fisherman. Zogby cautioned his audience that the U.S. Census Bureau significantly undercounts Arab Americans, and stated that it is necessary to multiply the census numbers by a range of 3.2 to 3.9 in order to obtain a more accurate depiction of the size of the community. Zogby arrived at this conclusion as a result of his work in over 100 communities throughout the United States.

—Steven Keller

Palestinians Ask U.S. and EU to Put Peace Process Back on Track

Hanan Mikhail-Ashrawi, the Palestinian Authority's minister of higher education, visited Washington as one of President Yasser Arafat's envoys sent to explore the resuscitation of the peace talks. She discussed the current status of the Middle East peace process at an April 10 Arab-American Forum organized by the National Association of Arab Americans (NAAA) in Washington, DC, at a time when the peace process was unraveling with tragic loss of life.

"Left unchecked, the Israelis are not only derailing the peace process, but they are destroying it altogether," Ashrawi said. "The Israelis are behaving like occupiers, dissolving the partnership for peace. There is a sense of urgency felt by all. The effect of the collapse of the peace process would be felt regionally and globally."

Ashrawi said the Palestinians are seeking a more active role by the European Union. "We welcome European ideas and proposals. We're not saying they are an alternative to the Americans but we welcome the Europeans working alongside the Americans," she explained. She criticized refusal by the U.S. and Israel to allow the United Nations or Europe to play much of a role to date. Peace isn't something that can be single-handedly dictated by one party, Ashrawi said.

She pointed out that the Arab world, Europe, and Japan have invested a large amount of money in Palestinian reconstruction, and all of Israel's regional neighbors have a great deal at stake in creating a lasting peace.

"Europeans are traditionally more even-handed when it comes to international law and Palestinian rights," Ashrawi said, while U.S. credibility among the Palestinians and in the Arab world on the whole has eroded. She explained that if the United States insists on co-sponsoring peace, it can't just be a spectator. It must exert pressure on Israel. If it is to be a peace broker, the U.S. has a responsibility to be even-handed.

Ashrawi said she and the other Palestinian envoys have asked the United States to intervene to stop such illegal Israeli acts as Binyamin Netanyahu's campaign to speed up settlements and create more facts on the ground. She noted that while Jewish settlements are accelerated, Palestinians are prevented from building on their own land. It takes years and years and tens of thousands of dollars to get a building permit, she pointed out. In fact, although since the beginning of the occupation Israeli authoritities have promised to permit the building of 7,000 housing units with Palestinian money on Palestinian land, none have ever materialized.

With regard to Jerusalem, Ashrawi said, "Netanyahu is circling East Jerusalem with Jewish settlements and changing the city's demographics. The Israelis say Jerusalem has been their capital for 3,000 years. But this is unbelievable. They've only had a state since 1948. How could they have had a capital for 3,000 years? They are attempting to make God take sides. Emotional commitment does not give you claim to a city as your own. We are willing to have freedom of religion and access for everyone in a shared Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a crucial issue and the core of the peace process. Israel cannot claim it for itself alone. Jerusalem does not belong to only one party."

Commenting on Netanyahu's newly proposed "fast track approach," Ashrawi said, "We have always advocated speeding up the permanent status talks. But we cannot bypass the interim phase agreements

Netanyahu has created a public relations smokescreen so he won't have to implement any signed agreements. Signed agreements are binding."

Asked about the Israeli charge that Arafat gave a "green light" to violence, Ashrawi said, "This was a false accusation. There is no evidence. This is not a traffic violation. This is extremely serious. We will punish extreme acts within the law. However, we will not allow Palestinian human rights to be violated. We value human life, Israeli and Palestinian. Extremists in the Israeli government are feeding the extremists on the Palestinian side."

Ashrawi delivered her remarks in Washington, DC's Willard Hotel. A plaque outside the building states that it was the site of the last major effort to restore the Union and prevent the Civil War in which 700,000 Americans died. It is a somber reminder of the bitter price paid by individuals when peace negotiators fail.

—Delinda Hanley

ADC Holds Teach-in on Jabal Abu Ghneim

As part of a program of nationwide teach-ins about the Israeli Har Homa settlement on Jabal Abu Ghneim, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee's Washington, D.C. chapter held a March 12 teach-in at George Washington University. The event featured the short film, "Seeds of War." Afterward, Geoffrey Aronson, Jim Matlack, and Simona Sharoni presented their insights on the settlement and the future of the peace process.

Jerusalem Fund president Hisham Sharabi introduced the speakers and added his own thoughts about the Har Homa settlement. "Madrid was all about land for peace, equal rights, and reconciliation," he said. "Now the international community must be strong against this merciless, relentless force in their neighborhood." He urged every member of the audience to go out and show that "might isn't right in this world anymore. Reasoning, discussion, persuasion must stop brutality, horror, cynicism, and bad faith."

Director Geoffrey Aronson of the Foundation for Middle East Peace said that the Har Homa complex is both an old and a new problem. Israel, he said, "has been building for 30 years around Jerusalem. Israelis don't understand why all of a sudden the world cares." Aronson believes the difference is that, during Oslo, both Israelis and Palestinians made what they thought were worthwhile trade-offs. "Now," Aronson continued, "Arafat is having to ask himself if his trade-offs for the peace process are worth the 1.4 percent real gain in territory Netanyahu gave him in the last scheduled redeployment."

Dr. Simona Sharoni of American University put into perspective the claim by apologists for Israel that more than half of the land for the Har Homa settlement had been in the hands of Jewish owners. "Everyone talks about how much land at Har Homa was owned by Jews," she said. "But since when? When the Israeli government took over, Palestinians had to sell land because they couldn't use it and because they needed the money." She urged audience members to adopt a sense of community, and when they step outside the classroom to make known their perspectives on settlements and their effect on the peace process.

Director Jim Matlack of the Washington office of the American Friends Service Committee brought a Christian religious perspective to the discussion. Criticizing the American Jewish community's attacks against a Middle East Council of Churches and calling for a shared Jerusalem, he said, "the Friends were attacked and charged with supporting a re-division of the city. The reason we spoke up was because it was clear we couldn't be silent. We had to raise our voice for shared access to the city." He also dispelled the widely held myth that all members of all religions have equal access to the city. "If you are a Western tourist, you will get to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on Easter" Matlack said. "If you are [a Palestinian Christian] from Beit Sahour, you will not."

After the speakers finished there was a lively question-and-answer session. The best part of the presentation, however, was the realization that similar teach-ins were being conducted in 100 cities throughout the United States.

For more information about Jabal Abu Ghneim, contact the American Committee on Jerusalem at (202) 237-0215.

—John Vandenberg

Back to Academia

Dr. Syed Rifaat Hussain, press minister for the Pakistan Embassy, is returning to his position as professor of international relations at Islamabad's prestigious Quaid-i-Azzam University after three lively years in Washington. Dr. Hussain's excursion into diplomacy was at the request of former Pakistani Ambassador Meleeha Lodhi, who departed Washington in January to return to her career in journalism.

Because Pakistan was engaged in a largely successful struggle in Congress to force the U.S. either to release arms and aircraft for which Pakistan already had paid, or return the funds, Lodhi, Hussain and other embassy officers adopted a high profile in the media and in the halls of Congress. During his tour in the U.S., Dr. Hussain published 80 letters to the editor concerning the impounded arms, nuclear proliferation, Kashmir and Pakistani-Indian relations in major U.S. newspapers. He also traveled extensively in the U.S., speaking to Pakistani-American, Muslim-American and other groups.

Dr. Hussain, who was accompanied in Washington by his wife, Sammia, and three children, said his experiences in the U.S. will be invaluable when "I put on my thinking cap and return to the ivory tower." He admitted, however, that he won't be leaving all aspects of press activities behind. Ambassador Lodhi already has returned to journalism in Pakistan, he said. "So when she asked me when I could provide my first newspaper column, I told her June 1." He hopes to write a weekly column for The News, a daily published in Pakistan's three major cities.

—Richard H. Curtiss

Resistance Group Attributes Dhahran Bombing to Iranian Government

Three officials of the National Council of Resistance of Iran accused the Iranian government of "planning and directing" the truck bomb explosion in which 19 American military personnel were killed in Saudi Arabia in June 1996. Sarvi Chitsaz, NCR representative in the U.S., and Ali Reza Jafarzadeh and Soona Sansani, members of the NCR foreign affairs committee, made the charges at an April 16 press conference in the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC.

"According to a series of reports that have reached us from our resistance network inside Iran, the explosion at the Khobar Towers in Dhahran was planned and directed by the Iranian regime," Chitsaz said. "The Dhahran bombing was actually a joint operation of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry and Revolutionary Guards Corps. The terrorists who conducted it, some of whom have been arrested, were in contact with Guards Brigadier Ahmad Sharafi when they launched the operation."

Chitsaz said Sharifi is "one of the Revolutionary Guards' most proficient commanders." She said he "commands the 6th Corps of the Qods Force, known as the 6,000 Corps." She added that "the Qods Force's 6th Corps is responsible for carrying out terrorist and subversive operations in countries in the Persian Gulf region."

Alluding to the April verdict by a German court holding top Iranian leaders responsible for assassinations of three Iranian Kurdish leaders and their translator in the Mykonos restaurant in Berlin several years ago, the three NCR officials detailed the chain of command they said was implicated in the explosion in Saudi Arabia.

"Sharifi's immediate superior is Guards Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, commander of the Qods Force," Chitsaz said. "Originally, Vahidi was commander for Guards Corps intelligence. After the Qods Force was formed, he was appointed to its command. Vahidi reports directly to the Revolutionary Guards commander-in-chief, Mohsen Reza'i. During Rafsanjani's recent trip to Turkey, Vahidi was among the delegation accompanying the regime's president. Iranian television referred to him as the 'deputy defense minister.' He attended all of Rafsanjani's official meetings and was shown a number of times standing at Rafsanjani's side in the regime's televised report."

The NCR officials also pointed out that the office in which Ahmad Sharifi works is situated on Pasteur Avenue in Tehran, adjacent to Rafsanjani's office.

—Richard H. Curtiss

AMA Iqbal Conference in Sacramento

The Sacramento chapter of the American-Muslim Alliance observed the 50th year of Pakistan's existence and honored that nation's celebrated poet-philosopher Allama Muhammad Iqbal with a gathering that included prominent Pakistani, American, and Pakistani-American speakers.

The April 19 Iqbal Day dinner event at Sacramento's J.J. North Restaurant opened with a recitation from the holy Qur'an and a short talk on Iqbal by Imam Mumtaz Qasmi of the Sacramento Muslim Mosque. Master of Ceremonies Shahid Chaudhry of the AMASacramento chapter then paid tribute to Iqbal and invited Mohammed Sabir Chisti to present Allama Iqbal's work in song, which was very well received.

Asghar Ali Chaudhry, a Muslim community representative from Reno, Nevada then gave a fiery speech in Urdu. He spoke of the difficulty of encompassing the day's topic (the work of Iqbal) and said, "Aap talab ka pani aik chotay say bartan main nahi rakh sakte" (You can't put the depth of a lake in a small container).

Another poetry recital by Sabir Chisti was followed by a talk by Bahrouz Farhangi on the rapid emergence of Muslims as a political force in the largest state, California. Mr. Farhangi is a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Muslim Americans and also of the Azerbaijani-American community.

Dr. Agha Saeed, national chairman of the American Muslim Alliance, who has presided over its phenomenal expansion in less than three years to 63 chapters and more than 5,000 members across the United States, then challenged his fellow speakers and the audience. "Why is the AMA holding an event on Iqbal?" he asked. "What is the relevance here?"

Noting that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, Dr. Saeed added that "the strength of a civilization lies in the strength of its leading thinker" (referring to Allama Iqbal).

After a discussion of the role of Malcolm in helping African Americans regain their personal sense of identity, Dr. Saeed reviewed the 1996 U.S. elections, where Muslim voters provided the winning margin in a close senatorial race in North Dakota and a congressional race in New Jersey. He also praised Washington Report editor Richard Curtiss for his magazine's help in providing Muslim voters with inspiration and information to help make their votes effective.

But Dr. Saeed closed his speech by reminding his Muslim audience of negative developments, as well. "More Muslims have been killed in Afghanistan than in Bosnia," he said. "Why are we massacring our children?" He also criticized the Pakistan government for engaging a lobbyist with a history of turning on his employers who then created problems for "our best friend in Washington, Congressman Dan Burton."

The next speaker, Professor Jahangir Hamdani, a poet in his own right, discussed Iqbal's concepts and view of the world as they appear in his writing. Speaking of the two makers of Pakistan, "Iqbal and Jinnah," he asked, "Why are none of their thoughts being enforced or practiced in Pakistan?"

Turning to the topic of ijtihad, or personal effort, he said that "Iqbal had a very special feeling about ijtihad" and believed that "the door to ijtihad had to be opened." On more controversial notes, he said that "Iqbal believed in modernization but not Westernization," but also "spoke against the tyranny of the mullah." In conclusion Professor Hamdani said, "If we do not criticize ourselves we will remain defeated," and that "salvation can be achieved by being kind to your own people."

Washington Report editor Curtiss, a former diplomat with long service in the Middle East, spoke of the relevance of Iqbal's message of personal fulfillment through selfless service "to all people and all times" but particularly to the "diverse, scattered but growing American Muslim community,"

Noting that the Muslim community as yet has no member in the Clinton cabinet, nor at the policy-making level, nor even in Congress, Curtiss said, "America desperately needs what Muslims can contribute to the U.S. political scene."

He then described activities of the Muslim community in the 1996 elections, particularly in its interactions with the campaigns of Robert Dole and Bill Clinton. He concluded with suggestions for future election strategies, adding many more of the listeners to his list of friends from the California Muslim community.

Press Minister Dr. Rifaat Hussain of the Pakistani Embassy in Washington concluded the event with a keynote speech in both English and Urdu. He served as spokesman for former Pakistani Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi's dynamic team as they battled successfully for passage of the Brown Amendment to return Pakistani funds or release U.S. military hardware for Pakistan previously frozen by the Pressler Amendment.

"Allama Iqbal should be read in reference to today and Pakistan's existence," said Dr. Hussain, who is returning in June to resume a teaching position at Islamabad's prestigious Quaid-i-Azam University. He noted that non-Muslims now are acknowledging the work of Iqbal and the contemporary Islamic revival, of which "Iqbal is being proclaimed as the master."

Dr. Hussain went into what Mohammad Ali Jinnah, considered the father of Pakistan, had to say about Iqbal, whom he called this "Muslim first and Muslim last." Dr. Hussain listed the relationship of Islam and democracy and the issues of war and peace within Islam and its relationship with the West as "intellectual challenges we have to face."

The program concluded with audience suggestions to Dr. Agha Saeed that he consider taking the conference to other large AMA chapters in the United States or, if not, recommend it to Pakistani-American organizations for use as Pakistan's 50th anniversary approaches.

—Ras Siddiqui