The *FREE ARAB VOICE*
October 15, 1997

In this issue of the Free Arab Voice we present:

1-The Assassination of Our Identity and Collective Soul: an editorial.

2-The Top Arms Sellers and Buyers in the World Today: A
"Middleeastern" Dimension, by Raed Aranki.

3-'The Day I Lost Palestine': Reflections on the Daily Meaning of     
Being Palestinian, from the Journal of Exile, by Fadia Issam         
Rafeedie.

4-Responses to the Declaration of Principles (DOP), and an Excellent  
Quote by Ibrahim Ebeid.

5-Action Alert: 
a - Join the Rallies for Jerusalem by IAP
b - Don't Forget the March to End Aid to "Israel" 
c - The Thirtieth Annual Convention of the Association of
Arab-American University Graduates (AAUG)

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For back issues of the Free Arab Voice and relevant
 articles, please go to:
*AL-MOHARER AL-AUSTRALI*  (Arabic/English)

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1 - Editorial: The Assassination of Our Identity and Collective Soul.

The similarities might be many, but what is the main difference  between 
Palestinians and Arabs nowadays on the one hand, and native Americans 
(Indians) a couple of centuries ago on the other??

Palestinians and Arabs are too numerous to be physically wiped out as a
people, like the American Indians were!  Had the ratio of Jewish
invaders to indigenous Arabs been even remotely close to that between
white settlers and native Americans, Zionists with modern American
weaponry would have had no qualms whatsoever about 'resolving' the
Palestinian problem the way white settlers did (resolved) the American
Indian problem!

Because the Jews in the artificial entity called "Israel" are too few
(only 4.5 million), and Palestinians and Arabs are too numerous (about
6.5 and 280 million respectively), the Israelis have realized that they
can't kill them all physically, and must instead assassinate their
collective soul and identity, and their will to resist Zionist and
colonial oppression.

To appropriate their resources, and make them into happy Zionist slaves,
the Arabs need to be turned into a body without a soul..addicted to a
culture of defeat and rationalization.

Unfortunately, many Palestinians and Arabs don't recognize the
importance of the spiritual and moral aspects of the struggle, and end
up calling those 'just talk'... 

How so few Jews can dominate so many Arabs, is a subject for another
discussion.  The point here is that abandoning our Palestinian, Arab, or
Islamic identity is a necessary precondition for Zionist and Jewish
domination not only of Palestinian land directly, but of the entire Arab
world indirectly as well.

Oslo, recognizing "Israel's" right to exist, and abandoning the armed
struggle, are necessary prerequisites for stripping our nation from its
holy right to self-defense.

This is exactly where allegedly pro-Palestinian Jewish liberals step in
to pound their chests and proclaim Palestinian political and human
rights, or to call for lifting the embargo off Iraq, in front of the
whole wide world, only to ask of us two little favors:

1 - that we change our identity from Arab and/or Islamic into the hollow
misnomer 'Middleeastern',  and 

2 - that we accept under different disguises and pretexts the imposition 
of millions of Jews on our land, many of whom are originally from 
Russia, Poland, or North Godknowswherestan.

In return, they'll speak out against this or that Zionist excess,
massacre, or human rights violation.

Yet the MAJORITY of Palestinians today are exiles who were displaced by
Jewish invaders, some of whom embraced the liberal creed.  And
eventhough Palestinians happened to pay the highest price for the
Zionist aggression, the state of "Israel" is but a colonial foothold
threatening first the Arabs, then the Muslims, then the third world, and
then the rest of the human race, because ZIONISM IS RACISM.

Consequently as far as resolving the Arab-Zionist conflict is concerned,
only the total overthrow of Zionism, and complete liberation, can
cleanse away the original sin of the rape of Palestine.

That's the bottom-line.
                                         The Free Arab Voice

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2 - The Top Arms Sellers and Buyers of the World Today by Raed Aranki

The following is a list of all the top arms sellers and buyers world-
wide from 1993 to 1996. The statistics are very clear. But what is not
clear is what the statistics imply.

The number one purchaser of military hardware is Saudi Arabia - $29.8
Billion. What a waste of money arming people that don't know how to use
what they are buying, or are they? Who is using all that weaponry
anyway?  And for what purpose?

One thought comes to mind: Oppressing the Arab people of the Arabian
Peninsula and keeping an unjust and genocidal sanctions on the Arab
people of Iraq.

What about Kuwait and U.A.E.?  Between the two they don't have more than
40,000 soldiers including their reserves.  But they paid $6.7 Billion
on weaponry. I think they should stop littering the desert with rusting
hardware and just give the money to their masters.

Egypt spent $6.3 Billion on armaments, What for? Is  Sudan or Libya
threatening to Egypt?

What the statistics don't show is also alarming. With all the forecasts
by political analysts of war breaking out in the Middle East being
forwarded, the absence of Syria from the list is very worrying indeed.

With the current amounts spent by the Zionists on weaponry ($2.4 billion
a year) , saving what the United States gives them without charge ($3
billion a year), the Six day war for example will seem by comparison as
backward as World War II.

Top Arms Sellers, Buyers:
There are the leading suppliers of arms to developing nations, 1993 to
1996. Figures are in millions of current U.S. dollars.
 Country: Deliveries
  1) United States: $32,551 
  2) United Kingdom: $18,600 
  3) Russia: $8,200 
  4) France: $5,400 
  5) China: $3,000 
  6) Germany: $2,300 
  7) Israel: $1,800 
  8) Canada: $900 
  9) South Africa: $700 
 10) Czech Republic: $500 
 11) Spain: $500



These are the leading recipients of worldwide arms deliveries, 1993 to
1996. These figures are also in millions of current U.S. dollars.
 Country: Deliveries
  1) Saudi Arabia: $29,800
  2) Egypt: $6,300
  3) Taiwan: $4,900
  4) Kuwait: $4,400
  5) South Korea: $3,800
  6) China: $3,000
  7) Israel: $2,400
  8) Iran: $2,300
  9) U.A.E.: $2,300
 10) Malaysia: $2,000

 Source: Congressional Research Service (report by Richard F.
         Grimmett, "Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations,
         1989-1996")
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3 - 'The Morning I Lost Palestine' by Fadia Issam Rafeedie

I committed a grave error last week on my way to school.  My 
mother gave me a beautiful gold charm in the shape of Palestine which I 
had faithfully worn almost daily since I left home for school.  But 
while standing in line to buy my Spanish textbook, I suddenly noticed 
how bare I felt, as though something were missing from a place that lay 
very close to my heart.  My necklace was gone and so was the lovely 
amulet. 
 

After I silently shrieked in panic, the search to find Palestine 
began.  I realized immediately how symbolic my task was.  What does it 
feel like to suddenly search for something dear that is now lost, 
misplaced, unattached from you a part of you? 
 

Clearly, the first strategy was to backtrack to see how something so
tragic could have ensued without my noticing.  I examined the steps I 
took to get where I was.  I realized how many times I had approached 
forks in the road on the way to campus from my residence hall, and how 
each choice I adopted was an independent decision.  Did I walk on this 
sidewalk or that dirt path?  On the left or the right? 

(Coincidentally enough, I was a leftist even in non-political arenas!) 
In which directions were my thoughts and attentions deflected while 
Palestine slipped away?  What were my chances of recapturing what I had 
lost? What could I have done differently to prevent this outcome?

These are familiar, far-reaching questions. 
 

The most overwhelming thing about my mission was that I felt so 
alone, so isolated from the other students around me.  While my heart 
was bleeding and my mind was racked with anger and regret, the pre-med 
and pre-law students ambled on swiftly and indifferently to their 
classes, filled with their own worries and concerns.  I wanted to shout: 
"Do you care that I have lost Palestine?  Will you help me regain it?"  

But I knew that would be useless.  They could not understand my 
attachment to that necklace or the crushed feelings I was suffering at 
its loss.  How could I explain to them what it looked like?  (It would 
hurt me more to explain its shape in terms of "Israel's" geographic 
outline anyway.)  I was also afraid they would respond with suggestions 
that I just "buy another" (there were over 22 like it for sure).  "Move 
on with your life," their underlying message would be.  "That's 
history."
        

I must admit, in all fairness, that some people did express their
solidarity with me.  They paused for a minute, heard my message, 
expressed their sympathies, and left.  Their empathy was comforting, but 
it too had its undeniable limits.  I actually expected less concern from 
them than from my Egyptian Arabic 1A professor because he was a fellow 
Arab.  Perhaps that is why it annoyed me so much that his response was a 
mere, "Asif." (which means: sorry) Then he moved on with his own agenda, 
not quite successful in suppressing the smile that escaped through the 
corners of his mouth in spite of himself.

Unfortunately, the end of my story is still a sad one. The 
necklace is so small and Berkeley's campus so large. I doubt that I will 
ever find it.  I do feel that I have learned some important lessons 
about the way I run my life, how the stability of my emotional 
priorities is threatened by the realities of my situation, how my 
patriotic beliefs clash with those of my counterparts in the same 
environment, why I only appreciate what I have until I realize that I 
have lost it, and how -- at times -- it can be easy to feel so alienated 
and misunderstood when I am not among those who are of my same 
background and who do not adhere to my same value system.
  

That morning when I lost my gold trinket, I thought that I had
metaphorically lost my country.  The parallels were strikingly similar.
 

In fact, my mind was analyzing the events far faster than my eyes were 
able to search. In the end, I came away certain of one item that defies 
a neat analogy or parallel.  We have not really lost our land.  
Unlike the location of my metal charm, we know exactly where Palestine 
is. Though we may not expect others to care as much as we do about her 
fate, we cannot lose hope that one day  through our own activism and 
determination -- we will repossess that part of our history.  In the 
process, we will find a large part of ourselves.
  

P.S. For those of you who have a necklace just like mine deep in 
your jewelry box, pull it out.  Wear it with pride, and promise yourself 
that you will remember what it stands for and why it is as important now 
as it has ever been.

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4 - Responses to the DOP, and an Excellent Quote by Ibrahim Ebeid.

Many readers responses to the Declaration of Principles (DOP), that we 
distributed on September 13th, were positive.  Space doesn't allow us to 
recite all, but maybe the most important of the not-so-positive 
responses we received accused us of excluding Arab Christians from the 
struggle, or pointed out that Islam and Arabism were not as compatible 
as the Free Arab Voice claimed.

As it happened, we fell upon a quote for Ibrahim Ebeid, of the 
Arab-American Democratic Committee, in a different context (from al-quds 
net), which we thought addressed appropriately and simultaneously both 
of the above criticisms of the DOP.  The text of Ibrahim Ebeid's quote 
follows-
          

'We must be very proud of our Islamic heritage for Islam had built our 
civilization and I believe that Arab nationalism, without Islam, is like 
a body without a soul'.
 

'Whether we were Christians or otherwise, Islam is part of our lives.
Do not forget we the Arabs are the carrier of the Banner of Islam since 
the days of Prophet Muhammad( SAAW)'
 

Sincerely
Ibrahim Ebeid, a Christian Arab, Roman Catholic.
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5 - Action Alert: a - Join the Rallies for Jerusalem by IAP
                  b - Don't Forget the March to End Aid to "Israel" 
                  c - The Thirtieth Annual Convention of the                       
Association of Arab-American University Graduates (AAUG)

a - Join the Rallies for Jerusalem [Mahrajanat AlQuds] organized by     
the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP):

The IAP will hold about 15 rallies or festivities (Mahrajanat) for 
Jerusalem under the title of [Mahrajanat AlQuds]. The 
preliminary schedule for these Mahrajanat is: Oct. 12 and 17 Chicago, 
Illinois, Oct. 13 Montreal, Canada, Oct. 18 Toronto, Canada, Oct.19 
London, Canada, Oct. 25 New Orleans, Louisiana, Nov. 1 Houston, Texas, 
Nov. 2 Dallas Texas, Nov. 9 New Jersey, Nov. 22 Los Angelos, California, 
Nov. 23 San Daigo, California, Nov. 29 Cleveland, Ohio, Nov. 30 Orlando, 
Florida, Dec. 6 Detroit, Michigan, Dec. 7 Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The 
exact dates for Seattle, San Francisco, Boston and
Denver, are to be announced later.

For more info call (972)669-9595, or fax (972)669-9597,
email iapinfo@iap.org



b - Don't Forget the March to End Aid to "Israel"

' Dear Friends,
The March on October 23-25 in Washington "END AID TO ISRAEL" should help 
the cause of Justice, fairness and truth. we need from you to call all 
your friends and tell them about it. We need to dare to speak out and 
stand with the moral and legal principles of the USA and the 
international community.

25 MILLION AMERlCANS want the United States to END AID TO ISRAEL 

Did you know that aid to Israel costs you -the American taxpayer- $14 
MILLION A DAY

Think about it! $14 MILLION A DAY to a nation that routinely violates 
the moral and legal principles of the U.S.and our Constitution by taking 
land away from Arabs, demolishing their homes, building illegal 
settlements, putting people in prison without trial and practicing 
torture even on Americans! 

Is this how you want your tax money spent? 

If the answer is "NO" you can add your voice to the 25 MILLION AMERICANS 
who want to stop this reckless spending.

Join the Council for the National Interest 1511 K St NW, Washington, DC 
20005

E mail: count@igc.apc.org
Website: http://cni.mynet.net
For more information call 1-800-296-6958'
 

c -  Come to the Thirtieth Annual Convention of the Association of 
Arab-American University Graduates (AAUG) will be held under the title 
of 'Arabs, Arab Americans, and the Global Community' on 
31 October - 2 November 1997 in Georgetown University Conference Center, 
Washington, D.C.

The Free Arab Voice endorses all attempts by Arab-Americans to organize 
and affect the political process.

For more info contact:
Association of Arab-American University Graduates
2121 Wisconsin Avenue NW - Suite 310
Washington, DC. 20007
Tel: 202/337-7717 - Fax: 202/337-3302
e-mail: aaug@igc.apc.org - (Home Page) http://www.aaug.org

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