The *FREE ARAB VOICE*
April 6, 1998

In this issue of the Free Arab Voice we again call upon *YOU* to act to
help release from jail Laith Shubailatt, the Jordanian Arab and Islamic
opposition leader and trade unionist, then we present:

1- 'Is There a Separate Palestinian Identity?' by T. Nasri

2- 'In Defense of the Radical Approach': On the Hypocrisy of the
Israeli Left and the Human Rights Organization B'Tselem
    by Fadia Issam Rafeedie

3-  Action Alert: Your Assistance is URGENTLY Needed to Save Iraqi
Children

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Join the campaign on the eve of this Eid Al-Adha Al-Mubarak
to release Laith Shubailatt from Jordanian jails...

To see how *YOU* can help, go to:
http://www.mindspring.com/~fav/freeLaith.htm

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1) Is There a Separate Palestinian Identity? by T. Nasri

The most sensitive issue for Palestinians is probably their identity.

A fifty-year long stress on the Palestinian character and the
independence of Palestinian stances can perhaps be better understood by
a quick glance at recent Palestinian history.

In the early years of this century, the Zionist movement adopted the
slogan of "A land without a people for a people without a land". This
indicated an attitude that continued for the best part of the century.
The official Zionist (and Israeli) claim was that there are no
Palestinians- simple and clear. "Israel"'s ex PM, Golda Meir, epitomized
this stance when she was quoted in the Sunday Times on 15 June 1969:
"There was no such thing as Palestinians. It was not as though there
was a Palestinian people in Palestine considering itself as a
Palestinian people and we came and threw them out and took their country
away from them. They did not exist".

The Arab regimes too participated in erasing the name of Palestine.
Immediately after the establishment of the state of "Israel" in 1948 and
the exodus of the refugees, the Arab regimes took control of the
remaining parts of Palestine and prevented the establishment of a
Palestinian state. The largest unoccupied part, the West Bank, was
annexed to Jordan in a move that was acknowledged by England and
Pakistan only.

It was understandable, therefore, when the PLO was set up in the
sixties, that it stressed the need to preserve the Palestinian identity
and independent stance, from whence came the continuous emphasis that
the PLO was the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian
people. The struggle that was pursued for the ensuing period was not
only directed to free Palestine, but more immediately for achieving
those objectives.

Subsequently in 1974 the Arab League acknowledged the PLO as the sole
legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. But in 1982
"Israel" tried to eliminate this player through its invasion of
Lebanon. However, the outbreak of the uprising in 1987 proved that such
a target can not be achieved so simply; and for such a task (the
elimination of the PLO) to be successful, it must be done by the PLO
itself.

The situation after the Second Gulf War and the readiness of the
Palestinian leadership to participate in a negotiated 'settlement'
ushered in a new era when the PLO started to eliminate itself through a
total break with its past and with what it stood for.

The politics of the 'peace talks' were based on a totally submissive and
subdued Palestinian leadership, that based its arguments in favor of
entering the Madrid Conference on the fact that that was a 'free and
independent Palestinian choice', and that it was its right as the 'sole
legitimate representative', and that 'otherwise, if the PLO is not
participating in the peace talks, the name of Palestine would disappear
again'.

This kind of analysis was, needless to say, a great relief for the Arab
regimes that could not enter that 'peace process' alone without risking
the wrath of their people and the Palestinians. But by entering the
Madrid talks, the PLO simply provided them with an easy response to the potential
embarrassment: "we respect Palestinian choices, and thus we issued our approval
only after the PLO issued its own"!!

On the other hand, the Israelis recognized the PLO and not the rights of
the Palestinians, and accepted the existence of a Palestinian people
(for the time being) as an ethnic minority and not as a people with
national rights. For some this seemed as a great victory, but for others
it was clear that the PLO leadership was more preoccupied with form rather
than content.

As matters stand now, the PLO gave up its right to a free Palestine. It
switched camp: it is not opposing imperialism anymore. In return, the
Palestinians were acknowledged as an ethnic minority with no political
rights, and THE ARAB REGIMES COULD WASH THEIR HANDS OF ANY PAN ARAB
RESPONSIBLITY TOWARDS PALESTINE.

In retrospect one can say that the Palestinian identity and the
Palestinian independent stance are ONLY IMPORTANT IN AS MUCH AS THEY ARE
USED TO OPPOSE IMPERIALISM.

The LEGITIMACY of the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the
Palestinian people came from its opposition to imperialist plans in the
region. It seems now that the PLO was accepted in the 'peace process'
only after those slogans were emptied of their anti-imperialist content
and were only used in an attempt to delude the people that the PLO has
thus started to achieve its goals.

This is a folly that convinces only those who do not go beyond the face
value of things.
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2- An 'Apologia of Radicalism' (negative connotations aside, please)!
   by Fadia Issam Rafeedie

A few weeks ago I attended, against my better judgment, a Hillel-house
event featuring Menachem Hofnung, former director of the Israeli "human
rights organization" B'Tselem. The organization had played a pivotal role
in lobbying for the release of my uncle, Wissam Rafeedie, from administrative
detention a few short months ago and it releases literature critical of Israeli
governmental human rights violations.

But my skepticism was not unwarranted. Though Hofnung tried to soften his words a bit
so as not to sound callous and calculating, the essence of his words betrayed him and,
needless to say, infuriated me.

Transfer or Massacres?
- - - - - - - - - - - -

He began by giving a scanty, cursory review of the so-called "origins"
of human rights violations "beginning in 1967... oh, well, no... 1948,
really..." He threw out some deceptive statistics about how "Israel" was
1/3 Jewish during the mandate period (neglecting to mention the radical
demographic shift within a short period of time because of the influx of
colonizing immigrants) and how, by 1948, there had been a "population
transfer" leaving only 1/6 of the original Palestinian population on the
land that was their home.

Population TRANSFER??  How could this man dismiss the hundreds of
Zionist massacres so euphemistically that way, trivializing the genocide
to a pithy phrase absolving him and his cohorts of wrong-doing? HE, of
all people, the director of a so-called human rights organization?

A Martyr for the Front, Not a Traitor
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Completely not minding his historical inaccuracies, he proceeded to talk
about how much of a martyr he is, facing the criticisms of right-wing
Israelis who condemn him as a traitor for caring about Palestinian human
rights.

BUT, he assured a few disgruntled, distrustful, Arab-hating guests at
the meeting, not to worry.  B'Tselem has taken a stand NOT to litigate
for tortured or administratively detained Palestinians. "That would
change the nature of the organization," he briefly and smugly explained.

(Read: That would be going a bit TOO far for us. We do not want to do
TOO much in the way of defending Palestinians.) It is merely there as a
tool of advocacy, he said, releasing reports and papers here and there
for the world to see. It is important, he assured the audience, that
Israeli citizens project "an image" to the world that they DO care about
human rights, and that they are genuinely disturbed by their government's
maltreatment of Palestinians.

And that is when I clinched the bottom line: B'TSELEM EXISTS AS A FRONT
TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY, shallowly embracing the grand virtues of
human compassion and moral uprightness in order that they may circumvent
the REAL attacks on the integrity of the illegal state of Israel and its
despicable apartheid practices.

Indeed B'Tselem works to co-opt moral resistance - and by extension
silence radical oppositionists - through a sly tactic aimed at doing
just enough to show the world that they are not the brute animals of
force that they are, but not enough to even APPROACH changing the
horrific status quo that pits Palestinians as a permanent underclass.

Acts not to be Proud of !
- - - - - - - - - - - - -

When I pointed out these very things to him, in no uncertain terms, he
grew defensive, claiming that he has never been one to believe in being
a subversive in government. Ideally, IF he followed his moral conscience,
he said, he would have gone to jail rather than serve the compulsory Israeli
military term. But that is not his objective, he explained apologetically,
patronizingly. He did NOT feel that going against the government was healthy
for the state of Israel so he served in the army, even when that meant "taking
part in acts that [I'm] not proud of."

True Colors:
- - - - - - -

And what of those men, charged a man from the audience, who come close
to blowing up shopping malls: there is no ambiguity as to their culpable
role in the incident? Why bother with human rights in that case?

Hofnung proceeded to explain that ideally, theoretically speaking, human
rights should be kept under all circumstances because you need a "minimum
standard to appease [sic!] your citizens."

Reading the clinched faces of his audience, he added, "But... there are
different LEVELS of human rights". I could not believe my ears. He
explained: while "shaking" in interrogation is a bad thing because it
is an inhumane way of torturing while intentionally leaving no physical
marks on the victim and while an innumerable amount of Palestinians have
been tortured for a finite number of "crimes", sometimes the army
catches what he called "a ticking bomb". When we catch them, Hofnung
explained, we come across the contradiction between "human rights and
the rights of the accused". As though they are mutually exclusive!!

From an international human rights perspective, he prefaced, torture is
taboo. "But PERSONALLY," he said, unsuccessfully dancing around the
topic, "A ticking bomb is a very, very difficult moral and philosophical
question. I cannot say no torture under ANY circumstances". His true
colors shine through, sadly illuminating his hypocrisy.

The Hillel House Revisited
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

What is the point I am trying to make that you could have probably
expected the moment I admitted to attending a Hillel lecture?

Two things:

First: The tenuous marriage with the "Jewish left" is a theme FAV has
flirted with already. I have only to say, beware. Most probably, they
want to open a 'dialogue' that does not at all conform to our ideals as
Arab nationalists and, more subversively, carries germs of assimilation
and co-optation that we can be infected with if we are not careful.

For all their talk about "peace," "communication," and "wanting the same
thing in the end," etc., even the most liberal of liberal Jews will not
deny that "Israel" has a right to exist on the demolished homes of the
indigenous Palestinian population and that it is there to stay despite
our just clamoring for right of return and self-determination.

Second: Radicals represent the complete retreat from the
euphemistic, shrewd, dishonest hypocrisy that Menachem Hofnung
represents. Of course, we have our own (Arab) clowns in high places who
don a different mask depending on the group they address, never quite
sure if they are being too harsh or too soft because they cannot always
fully gauge the reaction of their audience..

Revolutionaries, in the true sense of the word - those who wish to
change the status quo with no holds barred, who fight unabashedly for
eternal truths about immutable human rights (and wrongs), and whose
position changes not with audience or title ... to these people I dedicate
this article, in defense and reaffirmation of the virtues of radicalism.

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3-  Action Alert: Your Assistance is URGENTLY Needed to Save Iraqi
Children

The Iraq Sanctions Challenge will defy the US/UN Sanctions by taking
tons of medicines and medical supplies to Iraq in May 1998 as an act of
friendship and solidarity with our Iraqi brothers and sisters. On May
6th approximately 100 people, in open defiance of US laws, will travel
from New York City to Baghdad.

Leading the delegation will be former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark,
Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, and Lucius Walker (IFCO). Over 50 organizations
across the US are already working in support of this effort, but it will
take MANY more to stop the killing of Iraqi children.

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT, AND THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW. It is urgent.

For more information, or if you can make a donation to aid in the effort
of bringing humanitarian aid to Iraq contact:

A tax deductible donation of $50 or more may be written to: Peoples
Rights Fund/ Medical Aid Project Peoples Rights Fund is a 501 (c)(3) Tax
deductible foundation.

Please send to:
International Action Center
39 West 14th St. #206, NY, NY 10011
call: 212-633-6646
website: http://www.iacenter.org.

or donate to: Iraq Project of the Bruderhof Foundation, 501 (c)(3) tax
deductible foundation. Please send to:
Iraq Project
Maple Ridge Bruderhof
10 Hellbrook Lane
Ulster Park NY 12487
website: http://www.bruderhof.org

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