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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1999, pages 110-113 Arab-American Activism
Every year Diaspora Palestinian families living in North or South America who are originally from the towns of Bethlehem, Beit Jala, and Beit Sahour gather for a poignant yet jolly reunion in a different American city. This year the Bethlehem Association gathered for three days of parties, dances, fund-raising, sightseeing and panel discussions from Aug. 12-15 at the Hilton Hotel in Tyson’s Corner, VA, a suburb of Washington, DC. Organizers Linda and David Handal, Edward and Joan Hazboun, Maro Hazou, Hanna Canawati and Nina Bazouzi Cullers worked hard to plan the weekend activities for 400 participants. They were helped by many of their family members. Attendees from more than 100 Bethlehem families came from the U.S., Canada, and Central and South America. Dr. Edward Hazboun, current president, said that the size of the conventions varies with the location. Reunions in Florida and California have drawn more than 700 participants. The Bethlehem Association’s social and cultural work helps its members remember their roots as they catch up with friends and families. A non-profit, charitable foundation, the group raises money for humanitarian and educational projects in the Bethlehem area. It has contributed to 12 established charities and medical clinics in the Bethlehem district, and in this academic year the educational fund granted 21 scholarships to qualified and needy students attending Bethlehem University. Clustered together only five miles from Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour were traditionally Christian towns. Only Beit Sahour now has a Christian majority. Bethlehem was 95 percent Christian until 1948. After the influx of Palestinians made refugees in 1948 and again in 1967 and emigration of many original residents, the demographics had completely changed when the towns returned to Palestinian rule in 1995. There were about 140,000 Palestinians living in the district and Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus and Christianity, is now less than 30 percent Christian. The oldest standing church in Christendom is the Basilica of the Nativity, built on the traditional site of Jesus’ birth. It consists of three churches, the Orthodox Church of St. Helena, the Catholic Church of St. Catherine and the Armenian Church. In addition to the Nativity grotto under the Church of St. Helena, the Church of St. Catherine contains the living quarters of St. Jerome, who in the fourth century translated the New Testament from the original Aramaic to Latin. The city is of religious interest also to Jews and Muslims. Rachel’s Tomb on the outskirts of the city used to be visited by pilgrims of all three religions, but is now primarily a Jewish shrine. However, the three towns have more than 50 churches and 12 mosques serving a rich variety of religious groups which include Lutherans, Anglicans and even Presbyterians from South Korea. Bethlehem Association member Albert Hazboun recently visited Bethlehem. “It was an awesome experience,” he said, “ but it was also disheartening to see some of the troubles.” He recommended a trip in the year 2000, when the Bethlehem Association plans to hold its 14th reunion there. Convention chairwoman Linda Handal, a Palestinian-American from New Jersey, said the Bethlehem Association started with only 15 members 14 years ago, but now has a membership of around 4,000. It attracts young people looking for their roots as well as older people who welcome the chance to reunite and reminisce with their families and friends. Although diaspora Palestinians from Bethlehem have done well, Mrs. Handal says, “we can never forget our roots. We also work hard to alleviate the unfortunate situation back home.” Denise Jaar from New Jersey and her brother, Victor, from Canada spent 40 years in Haiti after being forced to leave their home in 1948. They learned Spanish, French and Creole in those early years in Haiti, giving Victor a distinct linguistic edge in his career as a U.N. translator. Denise visited Bethlehem last year, but when asked if she would ever return to live in her homeland, she said, “It is too difficult to go back. I’ll stay here. My daughters are married and they have babies. I couldn’t ever live so far from them.” On the other hand, several members who recently visited Bethlehem said they were interested in developing their properties or starting businesses there but found they could not stay because the Israeli authorities, who control all borders and checkpoints, would not grant them more than one-month visitor visas, or three-months if they had U.S. passports. Until all Palestinians are given the choice of returning to their homeland or remaining in their adopted countries, the Bethlehem Association and similar groups from other Palestinian towns will continue to meet to remember and support their homeland from afar. And as participants in this year’s Bethlehem reunion go about their lives in their new homelands, many will act upon the words of Bethlehem University vice chancellor Brother Vincent Malham, who enjoined them to “always remember your heritage” in the birthplace of Jesus and to “share that grace of your heritage with everyone with whom you live and work.” For further information see the Bethlehem Association Web site at <www.Bethlehemassoc.org> or write them at P.O. Box 111, Media, PA 19063 —Delinda C. Hanley
Dr. Laura Drake of American University, a long-time first-hand observer of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, spoke July 29 at the Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine in Washington, DC on the probable outcome of upcoming negotiations between newly elected Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Drake, a professor of international relations and a political consultant specializing in strategic affairs, said four principal issues define the Israeli-Palestinian problem: borders, refugees, settlements, and Jerusalem. On these issues, Drake continued, Barak’s positions are the same as all previous Israeli governments, including that of Binyamin Netanyahu. “In relation to Netanyahu, the difference is one of degree, not basic structure,” Drake explained. “There may be differences in percentages of redeployment, but not necessarily in the central aspects of the conflict, the issues that will affect the shape and structure of any future Palestinian state, or the everyday lives of ordinary Palestinians.” Drake also noted that Barak has objected to relinquishing control of Israel’s external borders. “This is particularly relevant in view of upcoming final status negotiations because it relates not only to the retention of certain lands immediately adjacent to the Green Line, lands that affect Israel’s so-called ‘narrow waist,’ but refers specifically to the retention of the land that constitutes Israel’s de facto eastern border, the Jordan River,” Drake said. Discussing each of the four categories in detail, Drake suggested that borders are the most critical issue. Even though Palestinians have established legal presence and organizations on the ground, Drake said, “it is control of borders that allows for the all-important freedom of movement....It bears more than any other factor on the nature of the Palestinian state that is coming into existence. What we most need to know now is whether the Israeli closure, which Rabin first instituted in early 1993, before Oslo, will be continued into the final status, whether it will continue into the context of a Palestinian state, and whether or not a Palestinian state will or will not have control of its external borders—its borders with adjacent Arab states.” In terms of percentages of land that will constitute a future Palestinian state, Drake said, Barak may be willing to cede larger pieces of land, “but the percentages in and of themselves are not important to the structure or shape of the Palestinian state if the pieces aren’t contiguous to each other, or if they don’t include the lands bordering the neighboring Arab states.” According to Drake, if the Palestinians hope to establish a self-governing state with a functioning economy, an army to protect its civilians, and unconstrained communication with other states, the Palestinian Authority will have to insist on exclusive control of its external land borders. “Otherwise,” she said, “the Palestinian state will be instantly disconnectible with the outside world at the whim of Israel. Palestine will have to be open if it is to survive; it cannot at once be a ‘closed country’ and have a viable economy of any kind.” Discussing refugees, Drake suggested that if the Palestinian state were in fact sovereign, the issue of refugees would simply disappear. As a sovereign state, Palestine would have the power and authority to allow entry for any individual. “So, if refugees from 1948, or any expelled persons for that matter, are somehow forbidden from returning to a sovereign Palestinian state, whether it is by force or by ‘agreement,’ by objective standards that state is not in fact a state.” We can expect, Drake said, that the Israelis will deal with the refugees as a social and economic issue, rather than as a purely political question. More significantly, there are two ways in which Barak could prohibit the return of Palestinian refugees. “One is by retaining control of Israel’s external borders, meaning the eastern and southern borders of a Palestinian state, by military force. The second way is to insist that a refugee non-return or numerical limitation clause be written into a secret annex of the final status agreement, and we have to watch out for this.” Discussing settlements, Drake reasserted the importance of territorial contiguity, rather than the amount of land being taken by the Israelis. “This is the post-intifada reality,” Drake said. “If the recent decision to expand the settlement bloc of Ma’ale Adumim near Jerusalem is retained, then the northern part of the West Bank will be severed from the southern part, and we can forget immediately about a real Palestinian state.” According to Drake, the repercussions of a severed Palestinian state at the hands of Israel would be profound. “We know about how Israel deals with territorial discontiguities, both those it creates and those that are already there. It establishes them as chokepoints that people are forbidden to move through without a permit, on a regular or spontaneous basis.” This would result in keeping Palestinians confined within their homes, isolated from family and friends, and without the possibility of an operative economy. In terms of Jerusalem, Drake said, it is expected that Barak will reduce the importance of the city by discussing it as merely a religious issue. “Israel will seek to reduce the entire issue of Jerusalem from that of a city that is central to Palestinian existence in all of its aspects to an issue of physical control over a series of buildings, namely, the holy sites of Islam and Christianity.” Drake also cautioned that if the Palestinian Authority remains passive regarding Jerusalem, the city and its holy sites will be lost permanently to Palestinians. Moreover, Drake said, East Jerusalem as an economic lifeline for the Palestinians would cease to exist and Israel would achieve its goal of creating a separation between the Palestinian Authority and its people. As she explained, “In the six years since closure the Palestinian economy has entered a state of desperation that grows deeper and more severe with each passing year, and the people, unable to see past the nearest checkpoint, are blaming the Palestinian Authority, which is exactly what Israel wants. Israel’s strategy has succeeded in creating a fundamental and growing rift between the Palestinian people, such that both are ending up weaker as a result.” In concluding, Drake commented on the growing dissonance between the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Authority. “Right now,” Drake said, “there is a major gap between what the PA expects to achieve in the way of independence and what the population thinks the PA expects to achieve.” According to Drake, the division between the PA and the Palestinian people has reached a pivotal stage. As Drake said, “The people have entered a condition of deep disillusionment and disenchantment with the concrete expression of Palestinian nationalism as they are witnessing and experiencing it.” Drake attributed the growing sense of apathy to a number of reasons, such as the way in which the PA has governed, the system of patronage by which it governs, and its failure to function in even the most reduced bureaucratic capacity. “It has to do with the wealth that was brought in to exist alongside a situation of dire poverty. It has to do with the secular social values and mores that were suddenly imported into a religious and conservative society,” Drake continued. Although the Palestinian Authority understands that it is drifting further from its grass-roots support, Drake said, it does not have any viable solution. The Palestinian people, she said, are beginning to question their involvement in anything politically organized by their leadership. “The way one Palestinian put it to me is, ‘why should people go out and martyr themselves at the call of the PA, when they know that the next day the same PA is going to back and co-operate with the Israeli security forces as if nothing had happened?’” Drake noted. “If tomorrow the PA leaders called for national rebellion of the first order, it cannot be taken for granted that the populace would even listen to them.” —Sadia Razaq
A book signing party for veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas was held Aug. 20 at the Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine. In brief remarks, Thomas, who has been United Press International correspondent for the White House since 1961, summarized in a few warm-hearted words the principal achievements of each of the eight presidents she has covered. Thomas was born in Detroit to Lebanese parents. As the longest-serving member of the White House press corps and the representative of United Press International, Thomas for many years has been privileged to ask the first question at presidential press conferences, and also has had the responsibility of bringing each conference to an end by saying, “Thank you, Mr. President.” Her new book, Front Row at theWhite House: My Life and Times, recounts many of her experiences not only as a pioneer among women political reporters, but also as an Arab American who came to prominence at a time when the community seemed virtually invisible in U.S. national life. —Richard Curtiss
As Bethlehem mayor and keynote speaker Hanna J. Nasser gazed around the crowded ballroom at the 1999 Bethlehem Association reunion, he said, “We are like the Irish. There are more people living outside [Palestine] than inside the country. There are 150,000 Bethlehem citizens living abroad, and people are still emigrating due to the deteriorating economic situation.” With 24 percent of workers in Bethlehem unemployed, family incomes average only $1,325 per year, Nasser said, adding that Gaza is even harder hit with a per capita income of only $600 per year due to border closings and other restrictions placed on Palestinians who work in Israel. “Tourism is vital to Bethlehem’s economic recovery plans,” Mayor Nasser said. A key part of those plans is the Bethlehem 2000 project, funded by the U.N. and countries around the world, which are helping Bethlehem prepare for a 16-month millennium celebration by restoring and improving the tourist infrastructure. Of the $212 million pledged by various countries, only about $80 million has been received. Sweden has been the most generous. While the United States has helped, it should do a lot more. “Bethlehem 2000 still needs $100 million more to make Bethlehem an attractive tourist city,” the mayor said, as well as better cooperation from Israel. “Tourists cannot skip Bethlehem in the year 2000,” Nasser said, because everyone must visit the Basilica of the Nativity built over the cave where Jesus was born. Bethlehem’s challenge is to get tourists to stay or at least pause to purchase some of the area’s crafts, which include traditional colorful embroidery and objects made of olive wood and mother-of-pearl. While the Oslo agreements were supposed to encourage Israeli tour companies to bring groups to Bethlehem, the spirit of Israel’s pledge is missing. A Bethlehem Association participant from Canada, Victor Jaar, told the mayor about his recent visit to the basilica. Jaar joined a tour group from Mexico for a visit to Bethlehem led by an Israeli guide who constantly warned the group to go directly from the bus to the basilica. “The guide said Bethlehem was not safe,” Jaar said. “The guide kept telling us, ‘Don’t stop. Don’t talk to Arabs.’” Jaar was also deeply upset when the guide told the group, “They say that Jesus was born here.” Jaar said that Israeli tour guides should “stop lying and tell the truth. They’re talking nonsense. They spend day after day spewing propaganda to visitors from all over the world.” Jaar and Mayor Nasser agreed that Bethlehem needs those tourists to spend some time and money and to learn the truth about Palestinian hospitality, not just get back on the bus to be rushed off to spend the night in Israel. “Every country in the world is pulling walls down that separate people,” Nasser said, “But Israel is building walls. Israel is splitting cities from one another.” Nasser said he thinks there can be no lasting peace while there are Jewish settlements on Palestinian land. The settlers “endanger coexistence every day as they grab land, build roads and walls, and waste water,” the mayor said. “They harm the peace process.” Now Israel is creating another wall, splitting Jerusalem from Bethlehem. On the road that brings the tour buses from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, Israel is building what is unaffectionately called “Erez II,” a new checkpoint through which tourists will have to pass to enter Bethlehem. (See report by Matthew Brubacher on p. 68.) The barrier cuts two ways. Last Easter, 15,000 Christians from the Bethlehem area were barred from participating in Easter celebrations in Jerusalem, or even visiting their holy sites there. Bethlehem officials fear that the new impediment to travel between Jerusalem and Bethlehem will provide Israeli tour operators with an excuse to keep visitors inside Israel, destroying Bethlehem 2000’s hopes for a revival of tourism within Palestinian-administered areas. “Israel has benefited from our [Palestinian] ‘no’s’,” said Mayor Nasser. “Now we are saying ‘yes’ and Israel is saying ‘no.’ But we’re too late. We lost our country.” “Israel has been fooling the world for 50 years,” he continued. But it “can’t keep lying all the time. The moment of truth has come. The world has come to realize that Israel has done a lot of harm in the area.” The mayor believes that Israel will never have security until it recognizes the complete rights of its neighbors. Palestine must be an independent state with East Jerusalem as the capital, he said, adding that Israel must also recognize the right of Palestinian refugees to return. “Do we need another resolution to carry out the resolutions that aren’t being implemented?” Nasser asked. “[Israeli Prime Minister Ehud] Barak must implement Wye to prove he is a man of peace. Only then can we talk about final status issues.” The mayor continued, “We have been patient. How is Palestine different from Kosovo? Everyone is defending the rights of Kosovars to return, but there is a double standard. We paid the bill for European atrocities against Jews. We continue to pay the bill. But to survive economically the neighboring states of Israel, Palestine and Jordan will have to join in a confederation to help each other with our economy, jobs, and water. Everyone needs everybody. We should learn from the past but not live in the past or there will be no future.” —Delinda C. Hanley |
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