Focus on Jews and Israel

By Andrea Barron

American Jews Fight for Religious Pluralism in Israel

American Jews breathed a sight of relief last month after the Israeli Knesset rejected, by a small margin, two bills which would have invalidated conversions to Judaism made by Conservative and Reform rabbis abroad. The bills, sponsored by Israel's ultra-orthodox political parties with the support of the right-wing Likud bloc, would have given the Orthodox Chief Rabbinate the right to approve all conversions performed outside of Israel.

The number of individuals who would actually be affected by the bills—Jewish converts living in Israel—would be very small. The real significance of the legislation is that it would effectively tell Reform and Conservative rabbis that they are not genuine rabbis, like the Orthodox, and should therefore be deprived of the right to perform conversions.

American (and Canadian) Jews are not about to sit back passively while Israel's Orthodox parties regroup and prepare for the next battle on what has generally been referred to as the "who is a Jew" question. (The ultra-Orthodox claim that only they should be able to decide which converts are the real Jews.) Seven Jewish leaders, including top officials from the United Jewish Appeal, cabled Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, who supports the legislation, that the new law would "irreparably damage support for Israel and its institutions by (Reform and Conservative Jews) who would feel shut out and delegitimized."

The results of elections for the 31st World Zionist Congress, regarded as the "parliament of the Jewish people," confirmed diaspora Jewry's concern over the lack of religious pluralism in Israel. The big winners in the elections were ARZA and MERCAZ, the Reform and Conservative slates respectively. ARZA's delegation almost doubled while MERCAZ increased its representation from 0 to 20. Ben Cohen, president of the American Zionist Federation, which administered the elections, said that the election results amounted to a "declaration of independence" by diaspora Jews who clearly oppose a change in the "who is a Jew" legislation.

New Jewish Agenda Holds National Convention in Los Angeles

At its biennial national convention last month in Los Angeles, New Jewish Agenda confirmed its support for negotiations between Israel and the PLO as well as for the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Agenda, which has over 4,000 members nationwide, was founded in Washington, DC in 1980 to serve as "a progressive voice among Jews and a Jewish voice among progressives." It has been denounced by many "establishment" Jews for its position on a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as on other controversial foreign and domestic policy issues.

Agenda members risked alienating some members of the Jewish community even further last month by voting for a territorial solution to the Mideast conflict "based on pre-1967 lines, with any modifications to be mutually agreed upon by the involved parties." The term "modifications" was meant to apply to Jerusalem; Agenda was putting itself on record as opposing exclusive Israeli control over Jerusalem (unless the Palestinians are willing to accept this control—an extremely unlikely possibility).

Besides the Middle East, another heated issue discussed at the Agenda conference was the question of Soviet Jewry. Many members fear that by calling attention to the plight of Soviet Jewish dissidents, they would be feeding into the "cold war rhetoric" of the Reagan Administration and possibly damage the prospects of a Soviet-American arms control agreement.

Agenda decided to organize a tour to the Soviet Union to "explore issues of peace and human rights," called for "an increased exchange between US and Soviet Jews, including refuseniks, dissidents, assimilated and integrated Jews," and set out to "influence Soviet policy to resolve the problems" concerning the American Jewish community.

Boston Group Lobbies Against Anti-PLO Legislation

Six Massachusetts activists paid a visit to Senator John Kerry's Boston office in July to express their opposition to the legislation being sponsored in the House and the Senate to close the PLO observer mission to the United Nations and New York and the Palestine Information Office in Washington. Kerry is the Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Communications. The group included two Jews—this writer and Gordon Fellman of New Jewish Agenda—as well as George Najamy of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and Sibyl Belmont, a Palestinian Quaker born in the United States who grew up in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The group argued that the United States could serve as an "honest broker" in the Mideast peace process only if it has relations with all parties to the Arab-Israeli conflict, including the PLO. Instead of trying to shut down the PLO's US offices, Congress should be urging the Administration to open a dialogue with the organization. Closing the offices would also violate the civil liberties of Americans, it was pointed out, by setting a precedent for outlawing the activities of other unpopular political groups. Najamy added that the legislation could stir up anti-Arab sentiments in this country, frightening Arab-Americans who are already worried about violent attacks against members of their community.

Another delegation that included this writer and Sibyl Belmont met in August with an aide to Senator Ted Kennedy, a sponsor of the anti-PLO legislation. Kennedy has generally sided with the underdog—the poor, refugees, those whose civil rights have been violated—and the delegation hoped he would reconsider his sponsorship. "We need more rather than fewer PLO offices in this country," Belmont told Kennedy's aide. "Americans need to become more aware of the Arab point of view, particularly if the Mideast peace process is to gain momentum."

Andrea Barron, a PhD candidate in international relations at the American University in Washington, DC, writes frequently on Middle East issues. She is a member of Washington Area Jews for an Israeli-Palestinian Peace (WAJIPP) and New Jewish Agenda (NJA).

Focus on Arabs and Islam

By John P. Egan

Two Arab Americans Arrested at Peaceful Protest in East Jerusalem

Two members of an 11-member fact-finding delegation sent by the Association of Arab-American University Graduates (AAUG) to Jordan and the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip were arrested near the American Consulate in East Jerusalem after a peaceful protest in which they were participating was forcibly broken up by Israeli police and soldiers. The two Arab-Americans, Samir Zakaria El-Sayed, 23, and Karima Bennoune, 20, spent 24 hours in the "Russian Compound" detention center in West Jerusalem before being released on August 14. While in detention, Israeli officials tried to coerce El-Sayed and Bennoune into signing confessions in Hebrew, a language neither understands. Israeli officials also threatened Bennoune and El-Sayed with prison sentences of six years or more. Both said that the US consular representative was "very unhelpful."

A front-page photo of the demonstration in the Chicago Tribune showed Israeli police and soldiers in full-battle dress wading into the demonstration, which AAUG officials contended, and the US Consulate in East Jerusalem subsequently confirmed, was "peaceful." Some 45 American and European students who had participated in Bir Zeit's annual summer work camp were protesting Israeli harassment of the camp.

Samir El-Sayed, whose arrest and interrogation by Israeli police is described in this article, is the former promotion director of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. He will begin a one-year program of graduate study at the London School of Economics starting this month. The October issue of the Washington Report will present his personal experiences at the Bir Zeit summer work camp and his arrest and interrogation by Israeli authorities.

ADC Work Pays Off for Palestinian and Lebanese Charities

Palestinian, Lebanese, and American orphans are the grateful recipients of funds generated after nearly a year of work by the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). Last fall, after learning that the English rock band the Cure entitled one of its songs "Killing an Arab," ADC began negotiating with the group for ways to address the concerns of the Arab American community. ADC's efforts resulted in the Cure holding a special benefit concert in New York on August 11. Roughly $35,000 was generated by the concert, and the Cure donated one-half of the total ($17,000) to the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, and one-quarter ($8,600) each to In'ash El-Usra (West Bank) and Zahrat Al-Ihsan (Beirut) charities.

Speaking before a packed press conference in New York last January, Robert Smith, the Cure's lead singer and composer of "Killing an Arab," said he was "shocked and dismayed that this song has been so insensitively and sensationally abused" by "brainless and irresponsible" radio disc jockeys in America. Although the song "Killing an Arab" is actually a condemnation of bigotry and the violence which frequently flows from it, ADC pointed out that the title was offensive, regardless of the lyrics.

ADC is also helping promote Marcel Khalife and Al-Mayadeen Musical Ensemble's month-long concert tour across the US. The internationally-renowned Lebanese musical group will donate proceeds from the concerts to Lebanon's Center to Protect Mothers and Infants in Tyre and the Bekaa Maternity Clinic. Khalife and his ensemble will play concerts in September in Dallas, Houston, New York, Washington, Boston, Cincinnati, and Portland.

Attiyeh Foundation Conference on Jerusalem

The Attiyeh Foundation and the Detroit Presbytery will sponsor a conference on "Peacemaking in the Middle East: A Role for US Churches" at the Kingsley Inn in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan on September 22. The conference will address Christian-Muslim dialogue, effective liaison with Congress, and the religious and political issues surrounding Jerusalem. Confirmed speakers include: US Representative John Conyers (D-MI); Fr. Lawrence Martin Jenco, a former American hostage in Lebanon; and Les Janka, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense. For more information, call the Attiyeh Foundation at (217) 352-1661 or Catherine Willford, conference coordinator, at (313) 933-3741.

NAAA Testifies on US Middle East Policy, Aid to Israel

In testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, David Saad, executive director of the National Association of Arab Americans (NAAA), urged Congress to reform US foreign aid policies so as to better secure US interests in the Middle East. Saad, noting that Israel received 30 percent of US world-wide foreign aid in fiscal year 1986 and 39 percent in FY 1987, said that the US sends "distressing signals to the region" by giving Israel such a disproportionate percentage of US foreign aid funds. (In the FY 1988 foreign aid bill recently passed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Israel's proposed share of the US foreign aid program jumps to 42 percent.) Saad criticized as "woefully inadequate" the $775,000 allocated to Lebanon in the current foreign aid bill, and recommended increasing the amount of US aid to the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza.

Saad also testified that Congress' refusal to sell arms to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait was a contributing factor in the US decision to reflag and escort Kuwaiti oil tankers through the Straits of Hormuz. Congress' reticence to sell arms to these states has left "our friends in the Gulf vulnerable and uncertain." Saad recommended increased military sales to members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.

The NAAA Foundation will convene an awards banquet in Washington, DC on September 17 for winners in its essay contest on the topic "The Development of American Middle East Policy: Is Free Speech Threatened?" Syndicated columnists Tom Braden and Carl Rowan will address the banquet.

PHRC Conference Marks Sabra-Shatila Massacre

The Palestine Human Rights Campaign's annual conference will convene in Washington, DC's Quality Inn Hotel at 415 New Jersey Avenue, NW on September 18-19. This conference marks both the five-year anniversary of the massacre at the Sabra-Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon and PHRC's tenth year in operation. Confirmed speakers include South African anti-apartheid activist Rev. Alan Boesak, Columbia University professor Edward W. Said, Northwestern University professor Ibrahim Abu-Lughod, the Nation's columnist Christopher Hitchens, and families from the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.

John P. Egan is managing editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.