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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 1999, page 138 Publishers Page
So quickly. We’ve always said U.S. Middle East policy could be nudged back to even-handedness if American’s six to eight million Muslims organize politically to capitalize on their potential voting strength in the key electoral states. Or if the 22 Arab states coordinate their economic policies to reward companies from countries that support human rights for Palestinians, and ignore companies from countries that don’t.
What we didn’t realize is that Muslims here and there could coordinate so effectively. Read on p. 105 of this issue about the Battle of Burger King, in which the national Muslim-American and Arab-American organizations coordinated demonstrations in 11 states on Aug. 19 because the company had opened a franchise in Ma’ale Adumim, the largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank. In less than a week Burger King capitulated, despite a threat by some major Zionist organizations to organize a nation-wide Jewish boycott if it did.
And what they had to balance was not just the threat of a boycott by at least 8 million Muslims and Christian Arab Americans versus a boycott by at most 5.5 million Jewish Americans. They also had to calculate the odds overseas, where of their 2,419 foreign outlets, the 46 in Israel are more than offset by outlets in such Islamic states as Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE—not to mention such predominantly Muslim countries as Malaysia, which alone has between 30 and 40 such franchises.
But some arithmetically-challenged members of Congress would do. And in going with the numbers, they also went with long-standing U.S. Middle East policy which calls the settlements “obstacles to peace.” And with international law since the Jewish settlements in Arab lands illegally seized by war are in clear violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Read also on p.106 about the speed with which Sprint folded a promotion on low-rate calls to Israel which featured a photo of the Dome of the Rock in the advertisements. And then, still on p. 106, read the most significant item of all because it involves conscious collaboration between…
Three organizations, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the American Committee on Jerusalem (ACJ) and American Muslims for Jerusalem (AMJ) didn’t get a straight answer from Walt Disney World in Orlando to their question about whether a central exhibit on Jerusalem, partially funded by the government of Israel, in Epcot Center’s new Millennium village, presents Jerusalem as the eternal, undivided capital of Israel, or words to that effect. The organizations expressed their concern publicly, and it was picked up overseas.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan threatened a boycott of all Disney merchandise in the United Arab Emirates, where half the population is under 15, if the exhibit contains such objectionable features. And he has called upon other Arab and Muslim states to join in any such boycott.
Will bring about the required changes. But if it doesn’t, the battle is joined. While the Muslim states organize economically over there, American Muslims may even be able to head off greater clashes by organizing politically over here, making sure that every eligible member of the community is registered to vote. That’s the one sure way American Muslims can help the Palestinians, and Jerusalem. And fast! Even we can quote the appropriate Hadith, narrated by Abu Sa’id Al Khudri: Allah’s messenger said, ‘whoever amongst you sees an evil, he must change it with his hand; if he is not able to do so, then with his tongue; and if he is not able to do so, then with his heart.’
For all people of goodwill, regardless of race or creed, that’s a call to effective action, over there and over here!
To Jerri Bird, president of Partners for Peace, and wife of CNI’s Eugene Bird, for her superbly planned and executed Aug. 26 Washington, DC press conference for three U.S. citizens tortured by Shabak, the Israeli security police (see p. 113), followed by visits with the victims to the State Department and White House. The media coverage motivated Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to bring up the subject with Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy. Whether it also affected the Sept. 6 Israeli Supreme Court decision outlawing torture isn’t clear, but what is clear is that Americans and Palestinians convicted on the basis of false confessions obtained by torture should be freed.
A Glitch at the Printer’sResulted in some copies of Other Voices bound into the September issue being mutilated, and a few copies of the magazine as well. If it happened to you, call Circulation Director Sadia Razaq at our toll-free number, 1 (800) 368-5788, and she’ll replace the Other Voices and send you photo copies of any mutilated pages in the magazine as well. We can’t replace the whole issue because unprecedented demand at the Islamic Society of North America’s (ISNA) Chicago convention depleted our entire stock of the September issue.
By stirring appeals to ISNA convention audiences by Chairman Omar Ahmed of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Chairman Dr. Agha Saeed of the American Muslim Alliance (AMA), and Executive Director Aly Ramadan Abuzaakouk of the American Muslim Council (AMC) to subscribe to the Washington Report to keep everyone informed. We’ve also long been proud of our special relationship with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), through which ADC members can subscribe, and we’ll renew our pledge to keep the overlapping Muslim-American and Arab-American communities both informed and in touch. And, in our next issue, we’ll have coverage of…
Our Angels’ Choir Has Grown…Well past its size at this time last year, and that’s very good news since our expenses grew too. (Rent for all of 1998 and 1999 so far is still unpaid.) The article on p. 120 of this issue also explains problems with our library donation program. You may think that subscriptions you donated to public and school libraries in previous years were renewed by the libraries themselves. But maybe they weren’t. While laboring with uncooperative computer software we’ve had to maintain hundreds of donated subscriptions at our own expense, and that’s one of the things that’s killing us financially. But it’s fine now, and fortunately our 4,000-plus library subscriptions have continued uninterrupted, even though the billing didn’t. We hope our readers can pitch in fast to help. This issue has a special book and video list order form for reader convenience in ordering holiday gifts, and our November issue will contain a wall calendar for the year 2000. In November you’ll also be receiving our second and last funding appeal of the year. In it we’ll tell you about format changes we plan for 2000. We’re planning more issues (10 per year), but fewer pages in each issue. Whether this will increase subscription prices remains to be seen. But when you renew, if you subscribe for three years, you’re immunized. Meanwhile, if you haven’t yet joined our Angels’ Choir please do now and… |
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