The *FREE ARAB VOICE*
March 21, 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 - 'Yes, We Support Peace in the Middle East!'
     by Ibrahim Alloush/The Free Arab Voice

2 - Action Alert: Words Have Meaning. Use Them Carefully..
                  by the Free Arab Voice

3- 'Singing the Secret of the Volcano' (from a Palestinian Arab poem)

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RELEASE LAITH SHUBAILATT FROM JAIL

*The prominent Jordanian Arab opposition leader and trade unionist Laith
Shubailatt has been in jail for about a month now, after demonstrating
peacefully against a military strike on Iraq, WITHOUT being formally
charged with anything!

*Laith is not allowed to see any visitors.  A Jordanian parliamentary
delegation that was allowed to visit 40 other political prisoners, some
of whom were accused of committing violence, were not allowed to visit
him.

*After finally allowing his wife and son to see Laith once, Jordanian
authorities attempted to weaken him by insisting that the wife and son
see Laith only from BEHIND iron bars.  In a heroic act of resistance,
Laith registered his objection by refusing to see his family under those
conditions.

Support Laith's release.  To see how *YOU* can help, go to:

http://www.mindspring.com/~fav/freeLaith.htm

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1 - 'Yes, We Support Peace in the Middle East!' by Ibrahim Alloush

Many of us are often awed by military, economic, or nuclear
power.  But perhaps one of the greatest weapons a superpower can wield
is the ability to coin definitions and establish reference points..

Take the term "Middle East" for example.. During the last
century, when western powers like Britain and France engaged in a
struggle to carve up the world into spheres of colonial influence, they
initially imparted the name "Middle East" to those regions that are now
countries like Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan in the middle of the
continent of Asia.

The westernmost part of south Asia, which includes the countries of
the Fertile Crescent: Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine, was
called the "Near East".   The "Far East" was reserved for those regions
on the Asian continent that are farthest WITH RESPECT TO EUROPE.

As the British Empire spread from what was then the "Middle
East", and from Egypt in North Africa, into Palestine and Iraq after
WWI, the concept of the Middle East broadened to encompass all of the
original plus other neighboring areas too.  The term "Near East"
all but vanished in the twentieth century, as it was displaced by an
expanded "Middle East".  Thus, as a concept, the "Middle East"
represented a perspective by which European, especially British,
colonialism viewed and claimed lands and peoples that they intended to
dominate..

Today, the "Middle East" still remains a colonial concept; the
region as markets and resources, as viewed through the eyes of foreign
invaders.

Consequently, adopting this concept alters or denies the
region's basic national and cultural identity: The "Middle East"
replaces the "Arab Homeland" or "Islamic World".  People cease to be
Persian, Pakistani, Arab, or Muslim, and become stereotype-friendly
"Middle Eastern" instead!  Then losing one's identity makes one's domination
much easier, and sets the stage for a divide-and-conquer strategy.

For example, if one said: "..the Arab or Islamic world..", then "Israel" would
not belong in either definition because it's neither Arab nor Islamic. That's why
terms like the "Middle East" are jammed down our throats daily by the mainstream
media to dilute the essential identity of the region, and thus make room for what would
have been recognized otherwise as nothing but a foreign occupation, physically and
culturally.

Hence we begin to accept that oppressive occupation once we present even a Palestinian,
Arab, or Islamic point of view on the peace process in the so-called "Middle East". Does
a lamb call itself "dinner"?!

The "Middle East" is a declaration of cultural war on the peoples of the region, and an
attempt to mystify then liquidate their true identity.

Moreover, the main difference between all of the past conflicts in the region, and the one
with "Israel", is that the latter has never been, and will never be, part of the cultural
tradition of the region it seeks to subjugate.

Therefore, terms like "Israel" and "Middle East" need to be quarantined in quotations here,
not out of sarcasm, but as a way of resisting normalization with what infringes on one's
identity, dignity, or rights- just like certain expletives in reference to some minority
groups in the U.S..  The name of the land is Palestine (without quotations).

To illustrate the point on how the "Middle East" is necessary for "Israel", I cite the
following example:

The Israeli flag, a Star of David bordered by two stripes of blue, was designed to represent
an old Zionist principle, which is that the land of the promised Israel (symbolized by the
Star of David), is to lie between the two major rivers of the region (as symbolized by the
two stripes of blue), the Nile river in Egypt and Sudan, and the Euphrates in Turkey, Syria,
and Iraq.

Yet these territorial ambitions are not presented in the media as the real cause for
instability in the "Middle East".  In fact, since its establishment on May 15, 1948,
until today, "Israel" remains a state without a constitution, partially because it
refuses to specify its international borders.

An updated version of the Nile-to-Euphrates "Israel" was voiced by Shimon Peres, a former
prime minister, in which "Israel" gives up literal physical control in exchange for becoming
the economic and political superpower of the region.

Either way, those who write the definitions and establish the reference points nowadays don't
seem to find any problems with a borderless "Israel", but in the quotation marks that protect
us from that version of "peace", in what everybody now calls erroneously the
"Middle East"!

As for peace in the Middle East,   yes, we do support  the idea that brother should not kill
brother, and that all should turn to building prosperity and love each other IN AFGHANISTAN!!

[The above article was reprinted courtesy of Arab Journal and Bir Zeit Society Newsletter]

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FREE LEBANON NOW
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
March 19 marks the TWENTIETH anniversary of U.N. resolution 425 calling
for full "Israeli" withdrawal from South Lebanon.  If you want the text
of resolution we'll send it to you.  Let's call upon those so eager on
using force to implement U.N resolutions elsewhere to implement 425
too!! Free Lebanon: IMPLEMENT RESOLUTION 425 NOW...
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2-  Action Alert: Words Have Meaning. Use Them Carefully..
                  by the Free Arab Voice

Words have meaning.  Use them carefully. When we carelessly use certain
words, we might end up enforcing certain concepts that are meant to
chain our minds, and make us accept our oppression.

The Zionists are pretty good at this game.  You know how they forced
'terrorist' and 'Palestinian, Arab, or Islamic' in the mainstream media
to become synonyms?  Other examples abound too, but there are FEW
efforts on our side to counteract this imposition of mental slavery.

In fact, the Palestinian delegation at the Arab League submitted a paper
in the summer of 1997 asking the Arab media to adopt certain expressions
to assert Palestinian and Arab rights and counteract the Zionist
domination of the international media.  The paper suggests that:

* It's better to use 'colonies' and 'colonizers' instead of 'settlements' and
'settlers' because the latter refers to inhabiting vacant land whereas the former
implies forcible eviction of the original inhabitants. In Arabic say 'Musta3marah'
instead of 'Mustawtanah'.

* It's better to use 'the Palestinian Arabs of the 1948 region' instead of the commonly
used 'Arabs of Israel" when referring to the Palestinians who remained in the land occupied
in 1948, because 'Arabs of Israel' implies denial of the unity of the Palestinian people.

* It's better to use 'Israeli occupation forces, or the minister of the Israeli army of
occupation' instead of 'Israeli Army' or whenever reference is made to the occupation's
military establishment.

* It's better to use 'national resistance of or to the occupation' instead of 'terrorism'
or the lame 'acts of violence'.

* It's better to always add 'occupied Arab' whenever [any part of] 'Jerusalem' is mentioned,
and to always use the original Arab names of Zionist-occupied places. For example say Abu
Ghneim mountain, not Har Homa!

The paper adds that it's better to use 'Palestinian President' instead of 'PNA President'
when referring to Arafat, and to say 'Israeli withdrawal' instead of 'redeployment'. But here
we DISAGREE... According to Oslo, ARAFAT ACCEPTED A REDEPLOYMENT NOT A WITHDRAWAL, IN
EXCHANGE FOR BECOMING THE PETTY PRESIDENT OF THE SELF-RULE AREAS.

Furthermore, we suggest that it's better to use 'Arab-Zionist conflict' instead of
'Palestinian-Israeli conflict'.

It's better to say Palestine or always engulf "Israel" in quotations. Avoid Middle East as
much as possible because it's meant to obliterate the identity of the region. Use Arab or
Islamic World instead, or if people know what you're talking about, just say 'the region' as
in the previous sentence.
                                       The Free Arab Voice

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3- 'Singing the Secret of the Volcano' (from a Palestinian Arab poem)

I am hard as these rocks when they try to squeeze them

..tough like the eagles if they try to beat them

I am solid like bridges when they overload them

And when I revolt,
the volcano again lends me back his fiery secret.


But I am good like the kernels when they seek them

I am kind like the lilacs even if they scrape them

I have the generosity of factories

From between the fingers of my palm seep, when I can, fountains..

I'm a child when I play

a storm when I rage

And when I revolt,
the volcano again lends me back his fiery secret.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[Translated from Arabic by Abu Naji ]

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