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DECEMBER 1999, pages 71-75 Northern California Chronicle Khalil Jahshan Speaks on Middle East Peace at San Francisco World Affairs Council
Khalil Jahshan, president of the National Association of Arab Americans, addressed “Prospects of Peace in the Middle East” at the World Affairs Council in San Francisco, on Sept. 2, 1999. The noontime event was co-sponsored by the NAAA, Palestinian American Congress, and Arab Cultural Center. Jahshan addressed the issues that he believes contributed to the latest crisis in the peace process which, he reminded the audience, initially began Oct. 30, 1991, with the convening of the Madrid Peace Conference, the 76th attempt at peace in the Middle East since 1948. Initially, he said, the open-ended nature of the process, which set no definitive timetable, was a hindrance to reaching an agreement, as too many deadlines passed without any accomplishments. “Eight years after Madrid there is no peace dividend for the Palestinians,” Jahshan stated. “The Palestinians are no better off now than they were under Israeli occupation.” In the West Bank and Gaza, basic infrastructure still is lacking, jobs are scarce, freedom of movement is restricted, and the Palestinians’ standard of living has not improved. Secondly, the U.S. has exhibited a lack of even-handedness in its role as a supposed honest broker. It has not supported implementation of agreements already signed, and it has tried to mediate a dispute in which it has been an active party. “It is a basic fact which everyone knows” that the U.S. has frequently taken Israel’s side in the negotiations, Jahshan said, and that it is “biased and not a neutral party.” Jahshan said the Bush administration did not deviate from the U.S. government’s traditional policy of helping Israel and the Clinton administration has been “the most pro-Israel government since 1948.” Thirdly, Jahshan charged that the U.S. has been too lenient in acquiescing to Israel’s many demands. The U.S. has allowed Israel to exercise a veto power, which has been detrimental to the negotiations, including Israel’s demands that the U.S. take a less active role in the peace process. Nor did the U.S. demur when Netanyahu unilaterally chose to derail the Oslo accords signed by the Labor government in 1993. “The U.S. steps back every time Israel says ‘boo,’” Jahshan charged. He cited U.S. acquiescence when current Israeli Prime Minister Edud Barak decided to reconsider the Wye River Agreement, signed by his predecessor on Oct. 23, 1998, and dictate a change in its terms. Lastly, Jahshan said, there is a lack of clear independent objectives on the part of the U.S., which is the sole remaining sponsor of the peace process, since the original co-sponsor, the Soviet Union, no longer exists. Russia, which should have succeeded the U.S.S.R. as co-sponsor, declined to do so due to its own problems. Israel has balked at the suggestion that any other country assume the duties of a co-sponsor, particularly any European country, Jahshan said. “We [the U.S.] should not have allowed the process to drift in order to please the Israelis,” he said. “If there is going to be a just and lasting peace, the U.S. government needs to be more assertive.” Despite the U.S. failure, Palestinians in the occupied territories today believe they will eventually be self-governing, Jahshan said. It’s only a matter of when, not if, that is uncertain for them. Personally, Jahshan doubts Barak’s ability to complete any negotiations which would provide a long-term solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem. He spoke of Barak as suffering from “Rabin Syndrome,” which he described as having too small a base of support among the Israeli public. Jahshan believes Barak is “obsessed” with having a broad base of support, which will inevitably make it harder for him to accomplish his goals within his stated 15-month timetable. Jahshan predicts that with respect to the final status talks, which will address the future of Jerusalem, settlements, final borders, refugees, and the nature of a Palestinian state, Barak will stall and “we will hit a big brick wall.”
The day after his World Affairs Council address, the Arab Cultural Center of San Francisco hosted NAAA president Jahshan at a Sept. 3 evening reception. Following a dinner of Middle Eastern cuisine, Northern California NAAA chapter president Jamil Zeid updated the audience regarding chapter activities, which included calls by members on their local representatives in Congress. He also stressed the importance of grass-roots efforts in initiating changes in U.S. foreign policy at the national level. Dr. Jahshan then spoke briefly about the NAAA, which was created in 1972 in Washington, DC to lobby on behalf not only of Arab Americans, but for policies with which they agree. He stressed that about 15 percent of NAAA members are not Arab-American, and that it is not just an ethnic organization. He spoke of his admiration for the U.S. democratic system and marveled that “as a boy from the Galilee [born in Nazareth in 1948, five days before the creation of Israel] I now argue foreign policy with the president of the United States.” Speaking of major issues facing Arab Americans in the Middle East in the next two years, Jahshan dismissed the Wye River Implementation Agreement signed on Sept. 4 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, as “an agreement about an agreement about an agreement.” Similarly, he described Oslo II as an agreement about Oslo I, and Oslo I as an agreement about the Declaration of Principles which was signed at the White House on Sept. 13, 1993. Jahshan also addressed the inhumane sanctions against Iraq, which have caused the deaths of one and a half million Iraqis, including 650,000 children, since the U.N. imposed the sanctions in 1991. He called it “unacceptable morally and in every other way.” Because of the U.S. government’s opposition to the government of Saddam Hussain, 23 million Iraqis are suffering, Jahshan said. He believes Americans need to remind their government that its Iraq policy is definitely “a failed policy.” In one poignant response to a question about the situation in Iraq, Jahshan described visiting a relative in a Jerusalem hospital where he also encountered a patient who was undergoing a second kidney transplant. When Jahshan commented on the difficulty of obtaining even one kidney, the man responded that he had obtained the kidney for the second operation in Baghdad, where residents were lining up to sell their organs for less than $1,000. Responding to a question on the emotional subject of Jerusalem, Jahshan said the U.S. technically abides by U.N. Resolutions 242 and 338 regarding the status of Jerusalem. However, in 1995 Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Relocation Act which required that the U.S. Embassy be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by May of this year, in contradiction to U.S. policy since 1948. President Clinton then utilized a waiver that allows him to veto the act for reasons of national security. Jahshan pointed out also that the Israeli government does not hold a clear title to the West Jerusalem property it turned over to the U.S. government upon which to locate a new embassy. The land originally was owned by the Waqf (Higher Islamic Council), the Muslim religious trust which controls various properties in Jerusalem. The land, which also passed through British control, now is held by Israel, but the Israeli title to it would not be recognized by international law. At the conclusion of the question period, an Arab member of the audience vehemently expressed his disgust with Arabs and Arab Americans for constantly blaming Israel for their problems, instead of directing their energies in a united effort for positive change, particularly in the areas of human rights and democracy. The evening ended on a lighter note with a delightful performance by the talented Middle Eastern dancer Hileh Salme.
“Adona,” as Kujtesa Bejtullahu of Pristina, Kosovo, is known to millions around the world because of her highly publicized e-mail correspondence with 17-year-old Berkeley teen Finnegan “Finnie” Hamill, met her e-mail pal in person on Aug. 25. That was the day Ms. Bejtullahu, 17; Ereblir Kadriu, 17; Ligrid Begolli, 17; and Grese Sefaj, 16, arrived in San Francisco to complete their high school educations in California. Ever since hundreds of thousands of Kosovars were forced from their homes by the Serbs this past February and March, education in Kosovo has been sporadic or nonexistent. The four students were formally welcomed to their temporay new home by their sponsor, the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, in a special Sunday morning service on Sept. 12, attended by several hundred church members and community supporters. Kujtesa Bejtullahu spoke briefly to the congregation, thanking them for their support and generosity in bringing the students to California. Marek Zelazkiewicz, one of the organizers of the Kosovo Refugee Student Support Project at the Berkeley church, traveled on a peace mission to the Balkans at the beginning of 1999. Upon his return, he gave Kujtesa’s e-mail address to Finnie. Unlike many Kosovars, Kujtesa’s family had remained in Pristina, hiding out during the Serb ethnic-cleansing operation and the NATO campaign against it. Her e-mails to Finnie described the fear, chaos and devastation experienced by her family. Finnie shared her e-mails with Berkeley-based Youth Radio, National Public Radio, and eventually CNN and NBC, providing listeners with an unequaled opportunity to hear a day-by-day eyewitness account of the conflict. These emotional reports inspired Finnie to describe his e-mail friend as “Anne Frank with a laptop.” The four teens are part of a Kosovar youth organization called “PostPessimists,” which was formed four years ago to work toward peace and ethnic cooperation in the Balkans. One project was renovating the destroyed center of Pristina in cooperation with Lieutenant Colonel R. Bromwell, Royal British Army. In early August the group gave a guided tour of the capital city to Prime Minister Tony Blair. They hope the journal Postpesimistet will be revived in Pristina, including reports from PostPessimists living abroad. The students, all of whom have goals they wish to accomplish during their stay in California, are living with local families and attending high school in or around Berkeley. They hope to graduate before their visas expire in 10 months. In order to bring the students to the Bay Area, the Kosovo Refugees Student Support Project raised over $30,000. They estimate an additional $40,000 will be needed to pay the living and educational expenses of the students. For information and donations contact First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA 94704; telephone: (510) 848-3696; e-mail <marekzel@aol.com>. Make checks payable to FCCB for Kosovo Students. San Francisco State University professor Dr. Dwight James Simpson discussed the state of American-Iranian relations before an audience of 200 at the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco on Sept. 14. Simpson, professor of international relations at SFSU since 1968, visited Iran this past July. Although he has visited Iran several times, his most recent visit was at the invitation of Iran’s Foreign Ministry, where one of his former students is presently a deputy foreign minister. In his opening statement Simpson charged that as the U.S. government’s power increases, it understands less and less about the world, especially the Middle East. “Our government’s focus is lopsided and thus distorted,” he said, “demonstrating, basically, ignorance of Middle East realities.” He believes that in the Middle East the U.S. government is only concerned about Israel and oil. Regarding U.S. Iran policy, he said, “We are confronted daily with ignorance and omission on a grand scale.” Simpson also complained that he never hears U.S. government officials, including President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Defense Secretary William Cohen and National Security Adviser Samuel Berger, speak about Iran without using the words “rogue state” or “terrorism.” These words have been repeated ever since Nov. 4, 1979, when 52 Americans were seized at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held hostage for 444 days. He also faulted the U.S. media and the American people in this regard. Simpson recounted the modern history of Iran and America’s part in that history, beginning with 40,000 U.S. troops stationed in southern Iran in World War II. The short-term purpose of this troop deployment was to deliver military supplies to help the Soviet Union defend itself against the invasion of Nazi Germany. The long-term purpose, Simpson charged, was to establish a U.S. presence, effectively competing with Great Britain for control of Iran’s oil fields. He described U.S. meddling in Iranian affairs in 1953, when the popular nationalist prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh, was ousted with American complicity, and U.S. and Israeli assistance in training SAVAK, the shah’s secret police, in the 1960s. After the 1981 inauguration of President Ronald Reagan, Simpson said, “U.S. foreign policy moved from bankruptcy to lunacy.” Contrasting the lack of foreign assistance when Iraq’s troops occupied Iranian territory in 1980 with the international response when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, Simpson said he believes Iranians still resent this double standard. As a matter of interest, Simpson also pointed out that Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, co-commander of the coalition forces against Iraq in 1991, spent time in Iran as a teenager when his father was training the national police force there. Simpson is pessimistic as to any “new era of peace and harmony” or warming of U.S.-Iranian relations for several reasons. He believes the Clinton administration has given no cause for hope for any change in the status quo and that there is no dissension in Congress with respect to the U.S. attitude toward Iran. Also, the powerful pro-Israel lobby opposes any U.S. rapprochement with Iran because it believes Iran is a major threat to Israel. This will continue if Iran develops nuclear weapons, and so long as Iran funds Hezbollah resistance to Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon. Simpson noted also the irony of the fact that Israel carried out clandestine sales of U.S. arms to Iran during its eight-year war with Iraq.
Cinemayaat, the 1999 Arab Film Festival of the San Francisco Bay Area held Sept. 8 to 15 showed 30 films at three area theaters: the Roxie in San Francisco, Fine Arts Theatre in Berkeley and the Towne in San Jose. Among highlights of this year’s festival were screenings of works by Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine, including “Cairo Station,” “The Land,” and “Destiny.” These showings continued for a week after the festival closed. Films by Arab filmmakers about Palestinians included “Women in the Sun,” “The State of Palestine: Thorns of Peace,” and “My Very Private Map,” winner of the 1998 Biennale of the Institute of the Arab World for best short documentary. Documentary filmmaker Mai Masri gave two refugee camp children video cameras in order to express themselves in her film “Children of Shatila.” Sami Alkasim appeared in person at the showing of his film “Far From You,” a San Francisco Bay Area production; and Ziad Doueiri appeared at the Bay Area premiere of his film, “West Beirut.” Countries represented at the festival included Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, Palestine, France and Canada. Although the Bay Area Arab-American community consists of only 15,000 people, this year’s festival drew approximately 3,000 viewers, more than either of the past two years. The Arab Women’s Solidarity Association, a non-profit, non-political, non-governmental organization that provides cultural and educational awareness on women and Arab-related matters, sponsors the AFF. The AFF Web site may be visited at <www.aff.org>.
“Turkey in Turmoil” was discussed by former foreign service officer Frank Rettenberg on Sept. 21 at Dominican College in San Rafael, California, hosted by the Marin Chapter of the World Affairs Council. Mr. Rettenberg, a career foreign service officer from 1959 to 1989, spent seven years in Turkey as a student and diplomat and also served in Madras, New Delhi and Copenhagen. More than 150 persons attended the event, including Bonnie Jo Kaslan, Turkey’s honorary consul general in Northern California. Rettenberg, who continues to travel frequently to Turkey, described the political situation since Turkey’s April 18 elections, noting that “Turkey would be better off with fewer parties.” Turning to the situation of Turkey’s Kurds, Rettenberg believes separatism is not part of the Kurds’ agenda. “They want full recognition of their rights as a legitimate ethnic minority,” he says. At present, the Kurds are not legally recognized as a minority ethnic group. Rettenberg thinks the arrest of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan may help to resolve the Kurdish problem. He compared the situation to the Palestinian intifida in the occupied territories which began in 1987, pointing out that if the economic situation is hopeless, young people turn to militance. “The government and the military recognize this problem, but state revenues were tightly pressed,” he said, even before the devastating Aug. 17 earthquake. On the subject of the recent 7.4 earthquake, the epicenter of which was in Izmit, 50 miles southeast of Istanbul, Rettenberg said that Izmit was Turkey’s most prosperous city, with a per capita income of $7,000. Izmit and the surrounding area where the earthquake occurred generated 22.5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product prior to the quake. Rettenberg also discussed Turkey’s relationship with Greece. Although the media have played up the cooperation of Turkey and Greece since the earthquakes in both countries this summer, he said that warming of the relationship actually began earlier in the year with the capture of PKK leader Ocalan when he was leaving the Greek Embassy in Kenya on his way to the Nairobi airport. Rettenberg noted that the Greeks bungled the situation so badly that Prime Minister Costas Simitis fired several cabinet ministers, appointing George Papandreou, who wants to improve relations with Turkey, as the new foreign minister. Instead of having only Cyprus on the agenda, Papandreou wants to talk about trade and the environment. There was a lively exchange of questions and answers at the end of the program. California has the largest population of Turkish Americans in the U.S., and Northern California is home to 5,000, many of them in the Bay Area. When asked by one audience member: “Who controls the government, the elected officials or the military?” Rettenberg answered “the elected officials.” A Turkish member of the audience vehemently disagreed with this answer, stating that the military was in control and that it could change prime ministers at will. Responding to a question about religious freedom in Turkey, Rettenberg said the Christian population had dwindled over the years, despite the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate being located in Istanbul. Rettenberg noted that there is a vibrant Jewish community of 23,000 in Turkey, 20,000 of whom reside in Istanbul. And, according to an Armenian member of the audience from Istanbul, the Armenians also get along well in Turkey today.
The 28th Annual Marin County Grecian Festival was held Oct. 2 and 3 at the Nativity of Christ Greek Orthodox Church in Novato, California. Several thousand people attended the festival, which began as a fund-raiser in 1971 in order to build the church’s multipurpose building, and which continues each year by popular demand. A highlight of the event was the performance of the Minoan Dancers III, a younger version of the award-winning Minoan Dancers I and II. The Minoan Dancers, all members of the Nativity of Christ Greek Orthodox Church, was organized in 1986 by artistic directors Vasilis and Effie Fourakis for the purpose of preserving and presenting Greek culture throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and around the world. The Nativity of Christ Greek Orthodox Church collected funds for victims of the earthquakes that shook Turkey and Greece this past August. All funds were sent directly to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul for distribution.
“I wanted to show the beauty of Jerusalem. The world sees so much violence there,” said Palestinian-American photographer Said Nuseibeh at the opening reception for the exhibition of photographs from his book, The Dome of the Rock, at Rizzoli Gallery in San Francisco on Oct. 7. After the Gulf war, Nuseibeh read extensively about Islamic architecture, which brought him into contact with Islamic scholar Oleg Grabar. In 1992 Grabar asked Nuseibeh, an architectural photographer, to photograph the Dome of the Rock for a book he was writing on the subject. Nuseibeh went to Jerusalem in November of 1992 and remained there for three months photographing the structure’s fabulous exterior with its distinctive golden dome, its interior walls adorned with Qur’anic inscriptions, and the surrounding buildings located on the sacred precinct, the Haram al-Sharif. He returned to Jerusalem in the summer of 1994 to complete his on-site work on the project. His natural artistic and photographic ability is reflected in the beautiful photographs in the book and on display in the gallery. Nuseibeh, 42, has roots in Jerusalem going back centuries. His extended family of diplomats and politicians experienced the turbulence of the Holy City over many years. Although the Nuseibeh family is Muslim, for centuries they held the prestigious position of keeper of the keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, believed to be the place of Christ’s crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. The 175-page book, published in 1996 by Rizzoli, contains more than 75 photographs of the Dome of the Rock, the Jerusalem shrine revered by Muslims as the third holiest site of Islam, after the Kaaba in Mecca and the Mosque in Medina. Construction of the Dome of the Rock, Qubbat-as-Sakhra in Arabic, named because of the large rock, As Sakhra, over which it stands, began in 687 A.D. under the rule of Umayyid Caliph Abd al-Malik and was completed four years later. The rock beneath the shrine is believed by Muslims to be the place from which the Prophet Muhammad ascended to Heaven on his famous Night Journey as described in the Qur’an. The rock is also associated with sacred events in Judaism and Christianity. In 1994 King Hussein of Jordan paid $6.5 million to restore the cupola with a reported 180 pounds of 24-karat gold. In the Oct. 26, 1994 peace treaty between Israel and Jordan, Israel recognized King Hussein’s special status as guardian of the holy sites on the Haram al-Sharif. Nuseibeh’s exhibition of spectacular photographs from his book, Dome of the Rock, ran though Nov. 1, 1999. Elaine Pasquini is a free-lance journalist based in Ignacio, California. SIDEBAR
Due to an editing error, the photo presented as Iraqi artist Dr. Khalid Al-Qassab on p. 71 of last issue’s “Northern California Chronicle” was in fact of Dr. Zahi Hawass of Egypt, whose correctly captioned photo also appeared on p. 103 of that issue. Dr. Al-Qassab is pictured at right: Additionally, the photo of D. Ikbal Doughan on p. 72 incorrectly identified her as being from Yemen. She is in fact from Lebanon. |
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