O Little Town of Bethlehem

At this time of year when faithful Christians remember a town in the Holy Land where the Gospel writers place the birth of Jesus and celebrate God's presence with humanity, it might be well to also remember the real Palestinian city that exists today on the occupied West Bank. A recent two country survey revealed large gaps between the perceptions of most Americans and the reality on the ground. Almost sixty percent of Americans believe that Bethlehem is in Israel and that its population is Israeli rather than the reality that Bethlehem is on the occupied West Bank and is populated by Arabs, a mix of Christians and Muslims. (to see the entire poll results, click here) As I struggled to write something appropriate at this time of year about the situation in Bethlehem, I was saved by a friend in Colorado who wrote the following column for the local paper:

Rich Mayfield wrote:

Although I’m no longer in the business, I still find myself planning the Christmas Eve worship service for an imaginary congregation. Christmas Eve is particularly vexing for pastors, priests and other worship planners as they seek to somehow extrapolate the church’s ancient message from its current commercialized morass. Trying to tell the tale of a displaced couple living in an occupied territory, temporarily homeless, decidedly pregnant and totally dependent on the kindness of strangers is a challenge on the best of days. Any preacher prepared to proclaim the social injustices inherent in this story, mythological or not, should also be ready for the antipathetic aftershocks from their tradition-demanding congregation. Sentimentality is synonymous with this time and woe to the man or woman who points to the corollaries between the unjust then and the unjust now.

Several years ago, during a December Sunday worship service, a young man, nicely dressed and of a swarthy complexion, asked if he could address the congregation. Control freak that I am, I found myself caught between the poles of self-proclaimed hospitality and self-protecting jurisdiction. Acquiescing toward the former, I pretended to be at ease and invited the gentleman forward.

He quietly introduced himself as a Palestinian from the town of Bethlehem traveling through the United States and then he said, “I bring you sad tidings of great sorrow…” He went on to describe the current conditions in his hometown; the lack of jobs and its accompanying poverty, the despair in the hearts of many and the growing violence among the young. He portrayed a less than “little town” that was anything but a place for “deep and dreamless” sleeping. Random rocket fire, illegal search and seizures, the destruction of ancient family homes, made Bethlehem a place with little hope and lots of fears.

That was three years ago. Life in Bethlehem has only grown worse, unimaginably, much worse. In a news release this week, the mayor of Bethlehem, Dr. Victor Batarseh, described the current situation: “(There is) a rise in the rate of unemployment, reaching 65 percent and all are living under the poverty line as a result. Thousands of students can no longer reach their schools as the Wall and settlement roads prohibit them, and more still cannot reach Bethlehem University in the heart of Bethlehem. Hospitals are now unreachable for many in the District as they are trapped in the ghettos that checkpoints, the Wall and its gate system have created. The Mayor joked bitterly that "Santa Claus will not make it to Bethlehem this year." The 50,000 dollars approved by the Palestinian government for Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem, for decorations and beautification, has not yet reached the city, despite being told that the funds had been deposited into the municipality's bank account.”

Anyone remotely familiar with the current condition of Bethlehem will find the singing of sentimentalized accounts of Jesus’ birth amidst a setting of angelic harmony and goodwill for all difficult if not impossible to intone. This year especially, Christians should hearken back to the warning of an ancient prophet, “They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, “Peace, peace, when there is not peace.”

I once hosted, for just a day, a Lutheran pastor from Bethlehem. He was a Palestinian who had beaten the odds against his countrymen by earning a Ph.D. from a prestigious university. He was a brilliant scholar who could be teaching in any number of academic settings. Instead he chose to return to the place of his birth, the traditional place of Jesus’ birth, where he has fought the overwhelming odds and managed not only to ply his pastoral trade in a vibrant congregation but has built a school for Palestinians, both Muslim and Christian, formed an institute for cultural understanding, a college for higher education, a wellness center and more. (www.mitriraheb.org)

We spent our time discussing the deep theological issues as well as our own personal ones. We commiserated over the similar problems we shared as parish pastors, laughing over some and soberly nodding over others. I was deeply impressed by his commitment both to providing opportunities for his people and seeking peace for the world. When the day was over, he got on a plane to Palestine and I drove back up to my home in the tranquil and beautiful mountains. On occasion, I hear of his activities back in his hometown. He’s been harassed and hassled by the authorities. His office and home have been occupied and vandalized. His work has been interrupted by official sanctions and unofficial threats. This is life in Bethlehem these days.

I wonder what hymns he will choose for his congregation to sing tomorrow night?

As we pray for "peace on earth good will toward men" (and women), it might be appropriate to also pray for the real Bethlehem as well as the Bethlehem of legend.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Proxy War II or how to create a civil war

For the past several months there has been an ongoing debate in Washington as to whether or not there is a civil war in Iraq. The violent struggle for power between various factions in Iraq probably meets the dictionary definition of “war between geographic or political factions of the same country”. Since we were so successful in creating a civil war in Iraq, it seems that we have turned our attentions elsewhere. This summer in our proxy war with Iran in Lebanon we succeeded in creating conditions for a civil war there. Two for two; lets try for a hat trick in the Palestinian territories. We can have another proxy war with Iran and in the process create a civil war between Hamas and Fatah. Since Hamas won the parliamentary elections earlier this year, US policy has been to isolate the elected government of Hamas and support President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah party. Political support for Fatah from the west did not succeed in driving Hamas from the government so we are upping the ante. The Bush administration has recently asked Congress for tens of millions of dollars to provide arms to the Fatah security forces/militias in the growing conflict with Hamas security forces. (This seems a little odd since it has been the armed wings of Fatah who have carried out the attacks on Israel in the past year) At the same time Iran has committed to support the Hamas militias. (Proxy War II – In this case only Palestinians get to die.) We are also working with Jordan to bring the Badr Brigade from Jordan to the Palestinian territories. The Badr Brigade is a Jordanian trained army affiliated with Fatah and its return would shift the balance of power in favor of Fatah. The conditions are certainly right in Gaza for a Palestinian civil war. Amira Haas, a Haaretz correspondent who is a daughter of Holocaust survivors and the only Jewish Israeli journalist to live in the Palestinian Territories, recently wrote these troubling words. “The experiment was a success: The Palestinians are killing each other. They are behaving as expected at the end of the extended experiment called ‘what happens when you imprison 1.3 million human beings in an enclosed space like battery hens.’” (To see then entire article click here)

Ignoring advice

Three years ago after a trip to Jordan to help build a house with Habitat for Humanity International, I was touring the sights of Jordan with a guide who had attended college in Baghdad during the regime of Sadaam Hussein. Sami and I were discussing the Iraq war and its impact. This was a time when almost everybody, including myself, felt that we were making progress toward a democratic Iraqi state that would be a positive force for a more peaceful Middle East. Sami’s reaction was that Sadaam Hussein was a really bad guy and the Middle East was better off without him, but the Iraqis should have done it themselves. He said “you guys have no idea what you are getting into. There are 1300 different ethnic, sectarian, tribal and political groups in Iraq. Without a really strong leader there isn’t a country there.” How prescient he was. The concept of a “nation state” is very much a western concept. In the Middle East people relate much more to the umma (the Muslim community) and to their tribe. When Gertrude Bell drew the lines in the Middle East after WW I, she not only brought the western idea of a nation state and the political and imperialist expectations of the victors to the process, but also a very British penchant for straight lines. Although she understood the area better than almost anybody else, she ended up with Arabs, Kurds, Persians, Sunni, Shia, Christians, Druze etc. scattered among the countries of the region. It makes the Balkans look like a unified society. The Iraq Study Group seemed to implicitly recognize this reality by inserting this caveat after they opposed devolution of Iraq into three regions – “…if events were to move irreversibly in this direction (i.e. devolution), the United States should manage the situation to ameliorate humanitarian consequences, contain the spread of violence and minimize regional instability.” In the recent election the American people expressed strongly that they weren’t satisfied with our policy in Iraq. Since satisfaction is the difference between expectations and reality, George Bush seems to have decided that it is better to improve satisfaction by lowering expectations than by changing the reality. We have come down from defining success as a “free and democratic Iraq that is an ally in the ‘war on terror’ and model for the ‘new Middle East’” to an Iraq that “can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself”. The Iraq Study Group has made a number of suggestions about how to improve the reality on the ground, but George Bush appears to be about to ignore most of them. He would not be the first recent President to ignore the recommendations of bi-partisan study group designed to give him political cover for difficult decisions. In 1998 President Clinton appointed a bi-partisan commission headed by moderate Louisiana Senator John Breaux to recommend changes necessary to prevent the bankruptcy of the Medicare program. When the commission issued its report, he proceeded to ignore the whole thing. I’ll grant that Bill Clinton was a little preoccupied with Monica at the time, but he might have done something with it. Even though George Bush doesn’t appear to have an intern problem, he is probably going cherry pick a few recommendations and call it good and end up “staying course”. Since he doesn’t have to check this out with the American people at the ballot box, he is likely to show his usual stubbornness. His Republican supporters who do have to run again may start heading for the exits. Meanwhile, while the politicians dither, America’s sons and daughters are still dying to try and create a reality that may not exist.

Crossing over

A year ago Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice announced with much fanfare the negotiation of an agreement between the Palestinian Authority and the Israel government regarding the operation of border crossings between Gaza, Israel and Egypt. The agreement was designed to allow commerce between Gaza and its neighbors while addressing Israeli security concerns. Surprisingly the UN has gone back and looked to see what has actually happened in the past year. Here are their conclusions:
AMA Provisions/Progress

1. Rafah will operate as soon as it is ready to operate at an international standard with a target date of 25 November 2005. - The crossing opened on 25 November and operated almost daily in the presence of international observers until 25 June. Since this time it has been closed by the Israeli authorities on 86% of days due to security reasons.

2. Rafah will also be used for the export of goods. - Rafah has not opened for the export of goods.

3 The passages will operate continuously and … the number of export trucks per day processed though Karni will reach … 400 by the end of 2006. - Karni crossing operations improved during the first two months of the AMA but since 15 January Karni has opened erratically, negatively impacting the import of humanitarian aid and commercial trade. The number of exported trucks have averaged 12 per day in 2006.

4 Israel will permit the export of all agricultural products from Gaza during the 2005 harvest season… Israel will ensure the continued opportunity to export - Less than 4% of the harvest was exported. In relation to the operation of other crossing points: (1) No progress has been made towards opening Kerem Shalom crossing for commercial traffic as the PA object to its use as it is wholly located in Israel; and (2) Work on the Erez commercial crossing is due to be completed at the end of 2006 although operating procedures have not been discussed.

5. Israel will allow the passage of convoys to facilitate the movements of goods and persons between Gaza and the West Bank. - These have not been permitted by Israeli authorities and no talks have been initiated on this subject between the GoI and PA as required under the AMA.

6. Consistent with security needs Israel will facilitate the movement of people and goods within the West Bank and minimize disruption to Palestinian lives. - The number of physical obstacles to movement has increased by 44%; in the West Bank. Further restrictions to movement have been imposed on individuals through the extension of the permit system.

7. Gaza seaport construction can start. The GoI will undertake to assure donors that it will not interfere with the operation of the port.- The GoI has not given assurances to donors and no work has started on the construction of the seaport.

8. Discussions will continue on the issues of security arrangements, construction and operation of an airport in the Gaza Strip.- Discussions ceased

(To see the entire report click here)
It is easy to sit in the comfort of your office in Ramallah, Jerusalem, Washington DC or Hailey, Idaho and say “this is terrible” or “this is a result of security concerns”. It is harder to have a detached viewpoint when you are sitting at the Rafah crossing waiting with your 2 year old to enter Gaza. Laila al Haddad, a Harvard educated, Palestinian from Gaza, who currently lives in North Carolina, writes this in her blog about her time at the Rafah checkpoint. (Her Al Jazeera article on this is here)

what do I tell a two-year-old?

He keeps asking me about the border. Yousuf, I mean. He overhears things, ma3bar this and ma3bar that…and so naturally inquisitive, he asks what we are doing and why are we still here and each question if followed by another and another..
“Mama can I ask you something?”
“Anything, my love”
“Why are we still here, in Arish?”
“Because we are waiting to enter Gaza, dear”
“But then why don’t we go to Gaza?
Because the ma3bar is closed, my love.
“Why is it still closed??”
[silence]
“Mommy why is still closed?”
“I don’t know.” I know my, dear, but do you really want to know? Do you really need to know?
“Well who’s closing it mommy?”
What do I tell him? “Some bad people.”
“You mean like in the stories, like Sheer Khan in the Jungle Book?”
“Yes, sure, like Sheer Khan.”
“But who are they? Who are these bad people? Is it the yahood?” He asks, mimicking what he’s heard on the border.
What do I say? I hesitate. “Look, there are some people; some are good, some are bad. And the bad ones are closing the border.
"But why? What did we do?
I wish I knew, my dear. I wish I had all the answers, my love, so I could answer all your questions. I wish I didn’t have to answer such questions to start with. But now I do, and what can I say to you?
“Mommy, please tell them to open it.”
“I tried, my dear.”
“Try harder. Try again. Tell them again. Please, tell them ‘Yousuf wants to enter Gaza’.”And so it goes:

Dear Mr. Peretz: My son Yousuf, 2 years and 9 months, would like me to inform you that he wants
to enter Gaza. He has asked me to tell whoever it is who is keeping it closed to open the border for him immediately. In fact, he asks me everyday. And now, asking is no long sufficient: he wants answers, too. Why is the border still closed? And who is keeping it closed and why? So, in addition to asking you to open the border, I am also writing to ask you what I can tell a 2 year old to satisfy his insatiable curiosity. What can I tell him of borders and occupation and oppression and collective punishment? What would YOU tell him? Lying doesn’t work-2 year olds are like natural born lie detectors. And so he figures it’s the bad guy-like in the stories that we all read growing up. And now, he demands to know who the bad guy is. What do I tell a 2 year old, Mr. Peretz, about the bad guy who won’t let him return home?

A Palestinian mother

(To see her blog site click here)
Maybe George Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Omert, and PA Prime Minister Ishmail Haniya and all of us should go to Rafah and explain it Yousef.

Israel
Palestine
Gaza

What's happening 2

Last week I, along with some of my interested friends, were surprised to see a prominent article in the NY Times regarding illegal (under Israeli law) confiscation of Palestinian lands for settlements on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem. It is not normal to see this type of frank discussion of the issues in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in the American media. This week the release of Former President Jimmy Carter’s new book “Palestine – Peace not Apartheid” has also provoked a surprisingly open debate on the nature of the conflict. Clearly his intentional use of the “A” word and his high profile status have contributed to the discussion. As he points out this kind of open debate is common in Israel and Europe, but is almost non existent in the US and it was his intention to be provocative in order to encourage discussion. Some major media outlets, namely the NY Times and the Wall Street Journal, have managed to miss the story, but other major outlets have picked up on it and a lively debate has ensued. National Public Radio, ABC’s Good Morning America and Public Broadcasting’s News Hour interviewed President Carter. (To see the PBS interview click here) The Atlanta Journal Constitution published a lengthy op-ed piece by John Dugard and predictably Harvard professor Alan Dershewitz weighed in on right wing website Front Page Magazine. Mr. Dugard points out that President Carter walks very softly in his comparisons of the Israel/Palestinian situation to South Africa’s apartheid system. Even so it didn’t take long for Democratic Party leaders like Nancy Pelosi to disavow that she even knew this guy Jimmy Carter. It is much easier for politicians to take on the Jewish/Israeli lobby after they have retired. Republican Congressman Henry Hyde did not get around to writing President Bush about the treatment of Palestinian Christians until after he had decided to retire. Although I have been critical of the actions and inactions of the Bush administration in the Middle East, you can see from the following quotes assembled by Churches for Middle East Peace they have been pretty forceful in criticizing Israeli behavior in the occupied territories.

President George W. Bush
“As I have stated in the past, achieving peace demands action from all parties. Israel must continue to work with Palestinian leaders to help improve the daily lives of Palestinians. At the same time, Israel should not undertake any activity that contravenes its road map obligations, or prejudices the final status negotiations with regard to Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem. This means that Israel must remove unauthorized posts and stop settlement expansion. It also means that the barrier now being built to protect Israelis from terrorist attacks must be a security barrier, rather than a political barrier. Israeli leaders must take into account the impact this security barrier has on Palestinians not engaged in terrorist activities.” October 20, 2005, Press Conference with President Abbas

“Israel must continue to take steps toward a peaceful future, and work with the Palestinian leadership to improve the daily lives of Palestinians, especially their humanitarian situation. Israel should not undertake any activity that contravenes road map obligations or prejudice final status negotiations with regard to Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem. Any final status agreement must be reached between the two parties, and changes to the 1949 Armistice lines must be mutually agreed to." May 26, 2005 Press conference with President Abbas

Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State
“We have been very clear about the Israeli obligations under the Roadmap not to try and do anything that will prejudge a final status outcome. We’ve expressed our deep concern about the route of the wall particularly around Jerusalem and we have expressed the American policy on settlement activity remains that it should stop. We will continue to work towards exactly that.” July 23, 2005,
Press Conference with President Abbas

“I traveled to Ramallah and I saw your [settlement] construction with my own eyes. It is not possible to operate in the territories in a manner that will change the situation before discussions on final status. True, the president promised the prime minister to consider the realities on the ground and concentrations of population--this is very important and the United States stands behind this commitment. But the president added that it is clear to all sides that the final borders will be determined only through negotiation. We cannot sanction creating a new reality on the ground by actions that continue today. I mean by this those activities in Jerusalem and its environs meant to change the reality on the ground. I saw these things with my own eyes and I am very concerned. “We want very much to support Israel in this critical period, and we recognize the sensitivity of the situation, but it is impossible to sanction the continuation of construction and its influence on the final border. This is very important to us. I traveled close to Ma’ale Adumim, and I saw the construction along the way.” Conversation with Israeli foreign minister Silvan Shalom, as reported in Ma’ariv, June 26, 2005

“Now, our position on settlement activity has not changed. We have said to the Israelis that they have obligations under the roadmap, they have obligations not to increase settlement activity. We expect, in particular, that they are going to be careful about anything -- route of the fence, settlement activity, laws -- that would appear to prejudge a final status agreement, and it's concerning that this is where it is and around Jerusalem. But we've noted our concern to the Israelis -- and David Welch and Elliott did. We will continue to note that this is at odds with the -- of American policy. So full stop we will continue to do that and we have noted our concerns about it.” March 24, 2005 Interview with LA Times

The key here is that we have ahead of us a Roadmap; we have ahead of us a way toward the vision of two states living side by side. We have been very clear that we would expect our friends in Israel to do nothing that would somehow prejudge the outcome of a final status agreement in terms of territory, that this is something that really must be negotiated with the Palestinians. February 6, 2005 Interview With Udi Segal of Israel TV Channel 2

The problem has been that words have not translated into action. President Bush has always said that he is a man of action. Maybe the more open debate that seems to be happening will prompt some action. Let’s hope so.

Israel
Palestine

What's happening?

I was amazed yesterday to read in the NY Times an article on an Israeli government report that was leaked to the Israeli peace advocacy group “Peace Now”. The report documents that 40% of the Israeli settlements on the West Bank are built on Palestinian owned land that was confiscated from its owners. The amazing news wasn’t the contents of the report, (anyone who has spent time talking to Palestinians could tell you that) nor that it was published in the Israeli press. The amazing news was that it made the front page of the NY Times. (Click here to see the entire article) This may put a monkey wrench in the Israeli plans to retain these settlements even after the formation of a Palestinian state.

Birth Pangs

During the Israeli-Lebanese war this summer Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice famously (or infamously) described the war as the “birth pangs of the new Middle East”. It is hard to understand how an event that killed over 1000 Lebanese and Israelis and only succeeded in strengthening the position of Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria and Iran can be written off in this flippant statement. However, if we want to see “birth pangs of a new Middle East” a war with Iran will get that done. The Lebanese/Israeli war would be mild labor pains compared to the pain of a war with Iran. In addition to massive casualties, it is easy to envision $100 per barrel oil, $4.00 per gallon gasoline, a regional Middle East conflict and a worldwide recession or depression out of such a conflict. It appears, however, that such a conflict is still on the radar screen. An upcoming article in the New Yorker magazine describes debate among U.S. and Israeli government leaders of all political persuasions on how to justify such a war. (To see the complete article click here) In a recent Jordan Times op-ed piece, James Zogby, an Arab American businessman, discussed a conference held by the U.S. State Department with State Department and Arab American leaders. (To see the complete article click here) This conference was the first of its kind under the current administration. They were periodically held in this format under the Clinton administration, but the Bush administration changed them to Middle East conferences and only invited their friends. The purpose of the conference was to facilitate dialogue (some of it was heated) on U. S. Middle East policy and to encourage citizen diplomacy by Arab Americans to explain and sell U.S. policy in the Arab world. The overwhelming response that the State Department got was – you’ve got the cart way before the horse. First you have to have a policy that makes any sense at all to the Arab world before you have any chance of explaining and selling it. I don’t think that a policy of “preemptive attack” on Iran is one that I would want to try and sell.

Beit Hanoun

I have been struggling to find away to make sense of the killing of 19 Palestinian civilians from the same family in the town of Beit Hanoun in Gaza by Israeli Defense Forces. After coming up with no answers, I decided to let my Palestinian friends in the West Bank and Gaza speak for themselves. Here is an email that I received last week.





Usama writes:
Dear Friends,
Greetings from Bethlehem. I hope you are well in these days. Here in Bethlehem we are excited to see the weather changing as we begin to make preparations for an exciting winter.Please absorb this poignant email written by a friend of ours who is working in Gaza City. I watched the news from Gaza in my neighbor's house last evening and we saw Ali on the television. It doesn't matter what your politics or religion may be. There is no justification for any of this. Children are being killed every day. When will it be enough?I was struck by the image of the candle. Could you respond in one simple way to this email? Could you, at some point today, light a candle in your own home and say a prayer for all of those who are sitting in the dark silence mourning? Peace to you,
Usama
This is Beit Hanoun
by Philip Rizk
From the main road the town of Beit Hanoun looks like any other part of Gaza. Cars are driving in and out, although most of them are leaving, going far, far away, but where, I don’t know. There are only 365 km2 to this place called the Gaza Strip and over the past week 80 human beings have been killed in Beit Hanoun.
I entered the town from a back road since the main road was torn up by bulldozers and is inaccessible. At first things seems rather normal, just another bumpy road, one of many in Gaza, but then through the darkness you see, something else. Many homes remain only skeletons with gaping holes staring through walls, streets turned into mud piles, lamp posts are broken like match sticks, the whole place is covered in a semi darkness, there is no electricity in Beit Hanoun. In the midst of all the chaos an electrician is up one of the electricity poles trying to fix something. The stench of sewage fills the air, the Israeli tanks and bulldozers also broke many sewage pipes.
I got to the two homes that had been shelled that morning after the Israeli troops had pulled out of Beit Hanoun. There was an eerie silence in the area. It was dark and quiet. The first home I entered was lit up by a candle, sitting on a counter. Behind it you could see what was once a well kept kitchen, the windows looked expensive, but the huge hole in the wall and the rubble covering the floor let any visitor know something was not right here. I met Ali there. He lost relatives and neighbors. 17 people in total, 13 of them from one family. Ali’s eyes were swollen, I could see the grief in his face, his spirit was broken. A tank shell had gone through the roof of the building he lived in. He escaped unscathed, others were not so fortunate. "Life and death are the same", Ali exclaimed. He explained to me how just days before the Israeli soldiers had occupied the very home which had been shelled that morning. They had been tired and had slept in the beds of the Palestinians who that day were killed in the very same beds. One couple was found dead, lying in their bed, with their young child sleeping in between them. The attack happened at 5:30am. Ali was among the people that fled the scene and fire followed them, to the next building where they tried to take refuge. "What religion allows this?" Why? was the question he kept asking, and the question that goes through my mind still.
Why are we silent?

Mathew Price, the BBC correspondent in Israel/Palestine wrote a moving piece about this tragedy in which he talks about his driver in Gaza:
“How many of your family have you lost, I asked? "All of them. They all had the same grandfather."
"I feel hate," he added. He did not spit it out like people so often do. He just said it. "I hate George W Bush. I hate Israel of course. I hate the Arab world. I hate Europe." His eyes, though, did not say hate. They said pain.” (To see the whole article click here)

Israel
Palestine

Thinking about immigration

A few weeks ago our small mountain town held what is becoming one of our most popular festivals – “The Trailing of the Sheep”. The festival celebrates the sheep industry in Idaho and its contributions to our state’s history. It also celebrates the contributions that have been made by various ethnic groups who have immigrated to Idaho as part of the sheep industry and have grown to become part of the cultural fabric of the state. This year the focus was on the Basque community from Spain and France. As I listened to a number of first generation Basque immigrants talk about arriving in the U.S. forty years ago unable to speak English and with tears in their eyes praise the ranchers and others in the western U.S. who gave them their first chance, I wondered whether or not today’s immigrants feel as welcome as those of the recent past. When I commented about this to some of my friends they responded “at least they could speak English”. Trouble is – forty years ago they didn’t “speak English”. Today they are successful investment managers, ranchers, restaurant owners, etc. Our community would be a poorer place without their presence. As we struggle to formulate a immigration policy that makes sense in today’s connected world, perhaps we should be thinking “outside the box”. A recent article in Foreign Affairs magazine Immigration Nation by Tamar Jacoby talks about immigration in terms of supply and demand. He argues that the demand for immigrant workers in the U.S. workforce is 1.5mm per year and that this demand is going to be filled by foreign workers with or without legal status. Any effort by the government to repeal the law of supply and demand absent police state tactics of border control, check points, random raids, and mass incarceration is doomed to fail. (Our government does seem to make periodic efforts to repeal the law of supply and demand without much success – witness prohibition) Some have called for the deportation of all immigrants in this country without legal status. The generally accepted number of these undocumented workers is 12 million. By my calculation this would require 250,000 bus loads to get them back to our borders. It would create a heck of a traffic jam at the border. (There might be an investment opportunity in bus companies.) The most recent U.S unemployment number is 6.7mm people. Assuming that all of the unemployed would fill these jobs if we deported all undocumented workers (a highly suspect assumption), we would still be short 5mm workers. The only solution for companies would be to move the jobs to where the people are instead of moving the people to the jobs in the U.S. It seems to me that any successful immigration policy must allow 1.5mm immigrant workers to come to the U.S. each year to fill the demand. If the guest worker program currently being debated does not allow for filling the demand, illegal immigration will continue. Once the demand is filled the immigration supply will dwindle. People won’t come here to be unemployed. If you are going to be unemployed, you might as well stay home and be unemployed. This debate really never got off the ground in the last Congress; perhaps the recent changes of this week’s election will make a difference.

Immigration

Working from the same playbook

In August 2005 the German periodical Der Speigel published an article outlining the points made by Jordanian journalist Fouad Hussein in his book “Al Zarqawi – The Second Generation of Al Qaeda”. Hussein is known for his contacts with senior Al Qaeda leaders and his ability to have them be open with him. He spent time in a Jordanian prison with Al Zarqawi. In the book he outlines Al Qaeda’s strategy for establishing an Islamic caliphate over a 20 year period. Here is the seven step plan as presented in Der Speigel :
· The First Phase Known as "the awakening" -- this has already been carried out and was supposed to have lasted from 2000 to 2003, or more precisely from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York and Washington to the fall of Baghdad in 2003. The aim of the attacks of 9/11 was to provoke the US into declaring war on the Islamic world and thereby "awakening" Muslims. "The first phase was judged by the strategists and masterminds behind al-Qaeda as very successful," writes Hussein. "The battle field was opened up and the Americans and their allies became a closer and easier target." The terrorist network is also reported as being satisfied that its message can now be heard "everywhere."
· The Second Phase "Opening Eyes" is, according to Hussein's definition, the period we are now in and should last through 2006. Hussein says the terrorists hope to make the western conspiracy aware of the "Islamic community." Hussein believes this is a phase in which al-Qaeda wants an organization to develop into a movement. The network is banking on recruiting young men during this period. Iraq should become the center for all global operations, with an "army" set up there and bases established in other Arabic states.
· The Third Phase This is described as "Arising and Standing Up" and should last from 2007 to 2010. "There will be a focus on Syria," prophesies Hussein, based on what his sources told him. The fighting cadres are supposedly already prepared and some are in Iraq. Attacks on Turkey and -- even more explosive -- in Israel are predicted. Al-Qaeda's masterminds hope that attacks on Israel will help the terrorist group become a recognized organization. The author also believes that countries neighboring Iraq, such as Jordan, are also in danger.
· The Fourth Phase Between 2010 and 2013, Hussein writes that al-Qaeda will aim to bring about the collapse of the hated Arabic governments. The estimate is that "the creeping loss of the regimes' power will lead to a steady growth in strength within al-Qaeda." At the same time attacks will be carried out against oil suppliers and the US economy will be targeted using cyber terrorism.
· The Fifth Phase This will be the point at which an Islamic state, or caliphate, can be declared. The plan is that by this time, between 2013 and 2016, Western influence in the Islamic world will be so reduced and Israel weakened so much, that resistance will not be feared. Al-Qaeda hopes that by then the Islamic state will be able to bring about a new world order.
· The Sixth Phase Hussein believes that from 2016 onwards there will be a period of "total confrontation." As soon as the caliphate has been declared the "Islamic army" it will instigate the "fight between the believers and the non-believers" which has so often been predicted by Osama bin Laden.
· The Seventh Phase This final stage is described as "definitive victory." Hussein writes that in the terrorists' eyes, because the rest of the world will be so beaten down by the "one-and-a-half million Muslims", the caliphate will undoubtedly succeed. This phase should be completed by 2020, although the war shouldn't last longer than two years.
The key to this plan according to Hussein is dragging the US into conflict with Iran; overextending its forces and creating chaos in the oil markets and thus disrupting western economies. I assume that the US government has read this play book. It doesn’t mean that we have to follow it. So far, however, we are pretty much on schedule. Al Qaeda has a plan. Do we?


Middle East
Al Qaeda

Water, water nowhere

Frequently the conflicts in the Middle East are portrayed as religious conflicts; conflicts between Jews and Muslims, Muslims and Christians, Sunni and Shia etc. Although many of the conflicts certainly have a religious component, I would argue that they are more about competing claims for political and economic power, land, oil and water. As a resident of the arid mountain western United States, the water component certainly resonates with me. As we flew over the region on our first trip to Jordan, Marcia commented “I wonder why anyone wants to fight over this desolate piece of desert”. It seems to me that it looks a lot like southern Idaho. Four years ago when we were in Northern Jordan along the Syrian border, there was discussion about a Jordanian – Syrian plan to build a dam on the Yarmouk River which forms the Jordanian/Syrian border and is the primary tributary of the Jordan River. This plan seems to have legs as last week environmentalists were complaining in a Haaretz article that this would dry up the Jordan River. They are probably right. As you can see from this picture taken at the legendary baptismal site of Jesus, the Jordan is no longer the rushing river of our Sunday school images. The flow is now 10% of its historical level and as it is the primary source of water to the Dead Sea the decrease is causing the Dead Sea to recede 3 feet per year. There is even a plan to build a canal from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea to refill it. As the Jordan River resource is depleted, Israel has become more and more dependent on the Eastern Aquifer on the West Bank for water resources not only for the settlements but also for Israel proper. Of the 46 MCM of water produced by Israeli wells inside the West Bank, 90% is used by the Israelis in the settlements and in Israel. Under Israeli law, Israelis are allowed to drill wells 250 ft deeper than Palestinians. This is conveniently enough to allow the Israelis to reach the aquifer, but not the Palestinians. The separation wall/fence is located so as to insure that access to the aquifer remains on the Israeli side of the barrier. None of this is sustainable by either side as the aquifer is being depleted at a rate higher than its recovery rate. This is a phenomenon familiar to those of us who live in the arid western U.S. Two maxims of the water conflicts in the west are “Water flows uphill towards money” and “Whiskey’s for drinking and water’s for fighting over”. They seem to apply in the Middle East as well.

Israel
Palestine

How to build a better city

One of the thoughts that has stayed with me since my trip to Israel and the West Bank with Palestinians in April is “now I have some idea what it was like to be black in the U.S. in the 1960’s”. This thought came back to me last week when I read an op ed piece in the center left Israeli English language paper Haaretz concerning land planning in Jerusalem. As I was reading the article, I wondered how its point of view would play in the U.S today. Using the miracles of modern technology I did a little editing. With apologies to the good folks of Richmond, Virginia I substituted the words Richmond for Jerusalem, Virginia for Israel, white for Jew and black for Palestinian. This is what I got.

A small Richmond is better
By Moshe Amirav

On October 17, the National Council for Planning and Construction is supposed to discuss a new plan that will change the face of Virginia's capital. At issue is the construction of 20,000 residential units west of Richmond, which will dramatically change the direction of the city's expansion and will weaken it economically and politically. The public uproar surrounding the new plan, which has led to the submission of 15,000 objections, stems from fear that the planning mistake of the 1970s is repeating itself. At that time, Virginia invested huge sums in the construction of about 40,000 residential units in East Richmond. These turned into seven neighborhoods, including Ramot, Gilo and Pisgat Ze'ev, which today house about 180,000 white residents. The plan, which was initiated by Golda Meir's government in order to "strengthen the capital," was severely criticized by all the experts. Thirty years later, its destructive consequences have become evident: From a compact city of 37 square kilometers, Richmomd has turned into a huge metropolis that covers 120 square kilometers, twice as large as the area of Tel Aviv and Haifa combined. Instead of channeling government investments into infrastructure, industry and tourism, they were channeled into the construction of these neighborhoods, which led to the flight of businessmen and the economic elites from the city.
During the past two decades, about 300,000 whites have left the city, most from the middle or upper class. Richmond has turned into the poorest city in Virginia, and today, white neighborhoods comprise only one-third of the city's eastern part. The other two-thirds house about a quarter of a million blacks, who have upended the demographic policy designed to reduce their proportions. The white majority has shrunk to only 66 percent, and there is a fear that in another 20 years, the city will be biracial- half its residents will be black. The idea that a "bigger Richmond" would strengthen the city turned out to be mistaken. A "small Richmomd" is preferable. Now, the National Council for Planning and Construction is about to repeat exactly the same mistake, but the consequences are liable to be far worse. A group of wealthy businessmen and a world-famous architect, Moshe Safdie, have joined forces to convince the municipality and the government that Richmond is not big enough, that it lacks built-up areas, and that 120,000 whites must urgently be brought to it. Here lies the trap of the mistaken idea: There is no need to enlarge the city; just the opposite - it should be made smaller. The solution is to strengthen the downtown area and invest in employment infrastructure, on one hand, and to relinquish the black neighborhoods, on the other. All the studies have proven that these two steps would strengthen the city economically and politically. They would raise the city's economic level from 90th (last) place, where it is now, to a respectable place in the top decile of Virginian cities. They would also increase the city's white majority from 66 percent to 96 percent and ensure white hegemony in the Virginian capital. But who listens to experts when wealthy businessmen promise the magic formula: the construction of 20,000 residential units on the slopes of the mountains west of the city? The consequences of the Safdie plan, which calls for these thousands of new apartments, are liable to be a disaster for the capital. The plan would destroy the green landscape west of the city, while the economically strong population that the entrepreneurs promise to bring from the coastal plain to Richmond will not come. Tens of thousands of whites will migrate from the city to private homes and cheap apartments in the luxury neighborhoods that will be built. The percentage of whites in the city will decline to 50 percent within the coming decade, and Richmond will collapse economically and politically. But now, just like 30 years ago, the experts' warnings will apparently be rejected under pressure of the entrepreneurs. Dozens of Knesset members from Labor, Yisrael Beiteinu, the National Religious Party and Meretz have signed a manifesto against the plan. But unless the interior minister and the prime minister intervene to stop the plan, or at least to downsize it, Richmond will continue on its planning march of folly, which holds that a "big Richmond" is the solution for strengthening the city.

I have no idea which program will be more effective insuring a Jewish (white) hegemony in Jerusalem but I think that even discussing this as a goal might cause a bit of an uproar in the U.S. But maybe not, we are learning a lot from the Israelis about how to deal with a minority population.


Israel

Parallel History

When Linda Biehl, mother of Amy Biehl, an American Fulbright scholar who was killed by a mob of young black men in South Africa, was in our community talking about forgiveness and reconciliation, she also talked about the history of the conflict in South Africa. She brought a Diane Sawyer “Turning Point” video which discussed the history of South Africa and its people. As I listened to this history, I was struck by the parallels between the history of the South African conflict and that of the current conflict in Israel/Palestine. Both countries were founded by religiously motivated Europeans who felt that God had given them this land. In South Africa they were Dutch Reform Protestants and in Israel Palestine it was European Jews. Both groups of Europeans drove the indigenous population from their land and isolated them as second class citizens in poverty stricken enclaves. The Afrikaans found Bible passages that told them that the two races should be separated and the radical Zionists have found passages that tell them that all of Palestine belongs to them. In both cases the oppressed and occupied indigenous populations have fought back both violently and nonviolently. Many leaders of the resisting populations have been killed and imprisoned by the governments established by the Europeans. In South Africa Nelson Mandela spent over 20 years in prison. In Israel/Palestine Marwan Bargouti has been sentenced to three life terms in prison. In both countries young American women were killed while participating in the struggle for justice and reconciliation; Amy Biehl in South Africa and Rachel Corrie in Israel/Palestine. Both women became heroines to the people that they were trying to help. However, the parallel tracks of history have diverged during the last two decades. Although South Africa still has many problems and there remains much residue of the apartheid regime, a just and democratic system of government has been established and blacks and whites live alongside each other in peace. This came about in large measure because of enlightened leadership on both sides and condemnation of and pressure on the white apartheid government by the developed countries of the west led by the U.S. In Israel/Palestine the developed west seems to accept the situation on the ground despite its contribution to instability in the region. In this case it might be good for the parallel tracks to converge and for history to repeat itself.

Email from Bethlehem

Last week I received an email from my friend Ashley Wilkinson. Ashley is an intern with the United Methodist Church working at the Wi’am Center for Conflict Resolution in Bethlehem on the West Bank. The Wi’am Center was our host for our visit to the West Bank and Israel in March and April. The Casa Nova Hotel that she refers to is the hotel that we stayed in while in Bethlehem. Somehow one has a different perspective on Israeli incursions and targeted killings when it happens to your friends and to people that you know.
Ashley writes:
On Tuesday, September 12, 2006 a little before 4:00 PM my boss received a phone call from his sister-in-law telling him that there were about 10 Israeli soldiers with dogs surrounding our homes and coming into our area. She lives in a street side home and my boss’s house is just behind hers – there is a small courtyard between the two homes, so his is not directly on the street. I live in a small apartment on the roof above his home. In front of me are the homes of his brothers and behind me are more homes.
Immediately after hanging up with her, my boss called his house to check on his kids. He has four kids – 14, 12, 11 and 9. The youngest answered the phone. He said he was scared, but okay. He advised them to stay put in the house and to stay away from the windows. If the soldiers knocked or asked to come in, then the kids should let them.
After this we jumped in the car and decided that we wanted to try to get home to be with the kids and to see what was going on. We contacted my boss’s wife, picked her up from work and headed towards their home. Along the way several people stopped us and told us either not to go home or to be careful because there were soldiers at our home.
As we entered Manger Square (which is an open area just up the hill from our home, and the central area for the Nativity Church, the Mosque, the Bethlehem municipality, the International Peace Center, restaurants, etc), we came to a halt behind an ambulance and a crowd of people. The people were looking down the hill trying to see what was going on. It was clear that this was as far as people were either willing to go, or as far as people were being permitted to go.
Not quite sure of what to do, we parked the car on the other side of Manger Square and decided to go wait inside a restaurant – the Casa Nova, a pilgrim guest house and restaurant run by the Franciscans – located next to the Church of the Nativity.
We remained there for the following 4 ½ hours and received updates by phone from the kids, as well as from people like us who were entering the restaurant and seeking shelter there . During our time there we heard loud explosions and lots of gunfire. At several points during the first 3 hours we had to close all the windows and doors because tear gas had been fired. Two of these tear gas canisters were shot into the courtyard of the Casa Nova.
We saw four people carried out of Manger Square and into either taxis or ambulances and then rushed off to hospitals. After about three hours, a few Israeli Army jeeps came into view. They were in the street just beneath the windows of the restaurant and they opened fire there. We obviously did not stay close enough to the windows to see what or who they were firing at, but it was very loud and felt very near. At this point several of us decided to go downstairs further so that we could be out of the way of any danger – as it felt like the jeeps were going to remain just 20 yards away. While downstairs we talked with my boss’s wife (an American who has lived here for the last 20 years) about other incursions and what they were like. We could still hear explosions every now and then.
We soon returned upstairs and were starting to leave to go back to the car when we heard some rapid gunfire that was VERY close to us. Naturally we retreated back into the building. We waited there for another 30 minutes or so.
When we finally felt it was safe to go to the car, just as we arrived at the car we heard more rapid gunfire – it was around 9:00 by this point. We jumped into the car and drove away from Manger Square. The kitchen had been closed at the Casa Nova, so we decided to go try to eat something since we were still unable to get home. Soon after we sat down to eat we received a phone call saying it was safe to go home. We did not arrive home until a little after 10:00 PM.
During the time that we stayed in the Casa Nova, we were in touch consistently with my boss’s kids, with his sister-in-law and with his nephew – all of whom were trapped inside their homes while the soldiers were present. Though the adults tried several times to leave their homes in order to go over to see the kids and simply sit with them, they were prevented from doing so. The courtyard between the homes is not very big – just a few steps from door to door. One of them was finally able to go sit with the kids, but he was threatened 2 or 3 times by the soldiers the moment he left his home.
During this time as well, my boss’s nephew (who has a view to the roof, where my apartment lies) told us that he could see the soldiers had gone into my apartment and were walking around inside and on the patio. Thus we knew they had either broken the door down or broken the lock in order to get in (it turns out it was the latter).
We also were informed while at the Casa Nova that a young boy of 13, Mohammad Ali Showria, was shot and died shortly after receiving the wound.
Upon arriving home we walked up to my apartment to find it very dirty and messy, though only one small trinket was broken. Some furniture was turned over and the bed comforter, couch cover and some old curtains that were in my closet had been taken out and thrown around. There was a lot of dirt (I suppose from the shoes), and it was clear that the soldiers had used the apartment as both a place of protection, but also as a place from which to perform their offensive. They had taken the windows out of their frames (thankfully they did not shatter them) and there were gun shell casings everywhere – especially near the windows and the doors.
Upon talking with the kids and neighbors, we learned that there were about 12 soldiers present and that they had basically set up camp in my apartment in order to fire on the home behind mine. This home apparently housed a young man who was wanted because the Israeli Army claimed he had participated in armed resistance activities. From what I hear, this young man was captured several hours before all the shooting came to an end. Why they continued their offensive, we do not know.
On Wednesday, September 13, I cleaned up my apartment and my boss came up with two of his sons to fix the lock. I heard and saw the funeral procession of Mohammad. His body, wrapped and held on the shoulders of his family, was carried from the hospital in town to the small village where he lived just 8 kilometers away. Reports say that he had been attempting to go home via the taxi station (just 30 yards up the hill from the location of our homes) when he was shot in the chest. All commercial businesses were closed on Wednesday in both a strike for the invasion by the Israeli Army and as a sign of solidarity and mourning for Mohammad’s family and the family of the young man who was taken.
Throughout the days Tuesday and Wednesday I took many photos and interviewed my boss and his wife with the office camera. I hope to compile these at a later date.
Ironically enough, September 12 was the second day of a 10-Day Celebration of Non-Violence which we were holding at the Wi’am Center where I work. And in the coming days we met to talk about issues of Justice and Peace, Non-Violence movements around the world, and the struggle that comes with the daily realities of Occupation.
In many ways I still feel bewildered one week after these events. In many ways I question if anyone cares.

Sanctions

As the world debates what to do about the Iranian nuclear development program, sanctions are the most frequently discussed weapon to be wheeled out in this battle. It seems as though sanctions are the weapon of choice when we are mad at someone, but not so mad as to have a war. This is not a new phenomenon as sanctions have been used for many years in this way. The questions are : “What is the outcome that we expect from imposing sanctions on a country with which we have a disagreement?” and “Is the expected outcome likely and desirable?”. During the Cold War with the USSR we imposed a wheat embargo on the Soviet Union and ended up punishing American farmers who lost one of their best customers. We also boycotted the Olympic Games in Moscow and ended up punishing a bunch of American athletes. The sanctions on Iraq during Sadaam Hussein’s regime impoverished ordinary Iraqis and enriched Sadaam and his cronies. Long running sanctions on North Korea have starved the peasants and have had no impact on the policies of the North Korean government. Do we expect that ordinary Iraqis and North Korean peasants will become angry and pick up their pitch forks and overthrow authoritarian governments supported by large well equipped armies? There are some examples of positive outcomes from sanctions. Sanctions may have an effect on democracies that have advanced economic systems that are well connected to the rest of the world. South Africa was such a case. Putting economic stress on the elite brought pressure for change. The sanctions did enrich some members of South African society as wealthy businessmen were able to purchase at fire sale prices the South African operations of international companies who pulled out. Sanctions would also most likely have an effect on Israel and lead to a behavior change, but that policy is not likely to happen. There are, however, de facto travel restrictions on military and political leaders of Israel who have been warned not to travel to Europe as they may be subject to arrest. There are numerous lawsuits in process in Europe against Israeli leaders for war crimes. Recently a retired Israeli army general could not get off his El Al flight in the UK for fear of arrest. Sanctions, however, will almost certainly not have much effect on Iran. They have an authoritarian government, lots of oil money, a very large customer, China, to support them and travel restrictions on the mullahs will probably not disturb them too much since they do not likely have plans for a European vacation. We perhaps should consider who we are punishing before we run out and initiate sanctions- ourselves, the poor, the elite, the government - might make a difference in our actions.

God bless America

This week, as part of our remembrance of the 9/11 attacks, our community was privileged to have Linda Biehl in our midst to promote dialogue on the subjects of forgiveness and reconciliation. Linda is the mother of Amy Biehl, a young American Fulbright scholar, whose was murdered in 1993 in South Africa by a mob of black militants in the township of Gugulatu. She told an inspiring story of growing to understand her daughter and her love for South Africa and its people She also spoke of growing to understand and forgive her killers through participation in the process of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission under the leadership of Bishop Desmond Tutu. The TRC was created after the demise of apartheid in South Africa to allow South Africans to deal with the atrocities that occurred on both sides and to promote amnesty and reconciliation for politically motivated crimes. This story touched almost everyone who heard her. The Biehls lived through the legalities of trying and convicting the perpetrators of their daughter’s murder and, 5 years later, of pleading for amnesty for them. In the process they developed a relationship of understanding, forgiveness and reconciliation with the killers of Amy. Two of the young men now work for the Amy Biehl Foundation. which endeavors to continue the work in South Africa that was so important to Amy. (If you are interested in more information on what they are trying to do click here.) Not everyone in the audience understood what the Bielhls were able to do. They said “How can you forgive that terrible crime?”; “Aren’t you condoning what they did?”. Linda’s response was “You can’t do anything about the past-you can only change the future” and “Amy showed us that individuals with a passion can make a difference and we are trying to honor her memory by continuing her work of helping those who are so oppressed and frustrated that they do things that they would not otherwise do”. This message of forgiveness and reconciliation is an important one to hear at a time when our media is filled with politicians exhorting us to hate the “Islamic fascists” and to condone the mistreatment of enemies who were “masterminds of 9/11”. As I recall there was some crazy Jew who was walking around the Middle East 2000 years ago saying nutty things like “love your neighbor” and “love your enemy”. He wasn’t saying things like God bless America, God bless Israel or God bless Iran. Instead he was saying things like God bless the meek and God bless the poor of spirit. Come to think of it, that got Him killed too.

Why Bother?

On the fifth anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, there has been a lot of discussion about whether there will be another attack. Maybe if you are Usama Bin Laden you are asking the question “Why bother?”. The objective of terrorism as a tactic is to terrorize the civilian population of the target country in order to change behavior and to cause economic dislocation and civil discord. Usama Bin Laden achieved these objectives in spades with his attack on the U.S. on 9/11/2001. Not only did he inflict much more damage and injure and kill many more innocent people than he anticipated, but his timing was perfect. Although he probably didn’t realize it, by attacking two months before the U.S. elections, he insured that American politicians remind us every year of how dangerous the world is and how vulnerable we are. No need to instigate another attack; Americans can continue to relive the old one.

The Older Generation

Yesterday I received a phone call to tell me about the passing of my mother. It was not an unexpected call as she was 103 years old and had been in poor health for a number of years. Nevertheless, it is a milestone when the last family member of your parent’s generation passes away and suddenly you are part of the “older generation”. The same day James Zogby, a successful Lebanese American businessman, wrote an op ed piece for the Jordan Times on the same subject. His is a story, not only of the passing of generations, but also of immigration and its contribution to America. Although my mother’s family probably immigrated some time around the Pilgrims, succeeding generations of immigrants, legal and illegal have made enormous contributions to growth and well being of America. We turn them away to our peril.
James Zogby writes:
My father’s last remaining sibling, Wadih, passed away this summer at the age of 98. It was, for my family, a transformative event. Ammi Wadih was the youngest of the five brothers and two sisters who had come to America to begin a new life in the early part of the 20th century. With his death, my cousins and I became the “older generation”. And with this passing of the torch, we took time to reflect on our immigrants’ story.
Like many immigrant families, our story had an epic-like quality, combining a mix of adventure, bravery and commitment.
It began in 1910, when the oldest brother, Habib, at the age of fourteen, left Lebanon to come to America. Traveling with an uncle and a cousin, his mission was to find work and, he hoped, to prepare the ground for the others to join him in the New World.
World War I hit Lebanon hard and faced with economic problems and threats to their security, my grandfather, Roshide, led the family and others from their village to the relative security of the Bekaa Valley. There they settled and farmed until faced with advancing Turkish forces in 1916. They were forced into resistance. He died in that year and, as he was considered a hero by those whom he led, he was buried in a tomb in the Bekaa.
At war’s end, my grandmother took the family back to their village of Kfartay, and began plans to join Habib in America. As my father was the next oldest, it fell upon him to be the next to travel. Because he could not secure a visa, he found work on a ship to Marseille where he worked for six months until he secured a position on another ship leaving for New York. On landing in America in 1922, he disembarked and remained as an illegal immigrant (he secured amnesty and became a citizen in the 1930s).
Habib and Yousef were reunited and laid plans for the rest of the family to join them. Six months later, my grandmother and her other five children arrived. We have a photograph of their reunion in 1923. In it, there are five young men, two young women and my grandmother, clearly tired and almost gaunt after their month-long voyage, but also clearly excited about their reunion, after 13 years, and ready to begin their new life together in America.
And what a great life it has been. From one home and one small business, they multiplied and prospered. They produced a generation of professionals, businesspeople and public servants. And they remained a close family unit. Their story is an American story and it is one to be proud of.
And now the last of that great generation, Wadih, has passed away.
Though never formally educated, Wadih read The New York Times and several Arabic newspapers every day. He annually traveled to Lebanon and retained close ties with our family there, and he taught our family here to love and respect their heritage.
Because our father had died when we were still quite young, it was from Ammi Wadih that I learned about what life had been like in their village of Kfartay, where my grandfather was buried in the Bekaa, and the story of our family’s passage to America. It is a blessing that his stories have been preserved by Utica College in their oral history archives.
Wadih and his brothers and sisters taught us well. From them we learned to cherish the tremendous opportunities and freedoms they had found in America, and to continue to hold close to our hearts the land of their origins. The incredible trajectory of their lives, in just one generation, is always with us. From that one room, stone home with a hard mud floor clinging precariously to a steep hillside in Lebanon, to their lives, and our own, in America, it is a story worth remembering and retelling.
And, it was from that group of eight brave travelers that we also learned the importance of family and country. By their example, we learned the importance of helping and protecting each other, of remaining close, and of maintaining honour and avoiding shame.
They were a great generation. But their story, while extraordinary in many respects is also ordinary — it is the story of so many other families who came in similar ways to America and accomplished so many great things in this country.
While remembering them, it is, I feel, equally important to recall that this American story is still being played out in communities all across our country by new immigrants who are coming with the same hopes and the same determination to succeed. This is our American story

Prisoners of History

I remember when I was in high school (pretty good long term memory for an old guy, hey) my history teacher saying “those that don’t learn history are doomed to repeat it”. This was an effort on her part to get someone who was mostly interested in math and science to show more interest in history. As I was preparing for our now canceled trip to North Korea, I was reading about the history of the relationship between North and South Korea and with the U.S. , Japan and China and how it informs what is going on today in that part of the world. In many ways all of the players know the history and are prisoners of it. Maybe, because they understand it, they are doomed to repeat it. The Koreans know exactly what happened with the Japanese invasion and occupation of Korea and this memory shapes the relationship between them and Japan in the modern era. North and South Korea have more in common with each other in this regard than they do with Japan. North Koreans can remember the history of the U.S. strategic bombing and destruction of their cities during the Korean War. This memory shapes their feelings toward the perceived threat that the U.S. presents and tends to drive their need for a strategic defense. The effect of remembered history on current policy is especially important in North Korea which is the most closed society in the world. There is no internet, radio and TV are controlled and no one can talk to foreigners. The history is, therefore, what the government makes it. There are many other examples of remembered history driving current attitudes and policies. As one who grew up in the eastern U.S., the history that I learned was taught from a European colonial prospective. When I arrived in the west, I realized that U.S. history as understood by Mexican Americans in New Mexico and Native American Indians gave them a completely different perspective on the moral values and decency of the government in Washington D.C. Kenneth Pollack, in his book “The Persian Puzzle” about modern Iran states that “Iranians can remember exactly why they should hate the U.S. for prior slights, both real and perceived. Americans, on the other hand, are serial amnesiacs. We know that we should hate someone, we just can’t remember why”. Perhaps this is because, as my son said after his return from a tour of duty with the Air Force in Aviano, Italy – “Dad, I realized that American history is an oxymoron.” Other cultures and countries have much more history and much longer memories. The Serbian-Kosovo conflict of the 1990’s was driven, in many ways by a battle between the Serbs and the Ottomans 600 years ago. Muslims remembered 12th century Christian invasions when George Bush declared a “Crusade” against terrorism after 9/11. Even if we remember history, the challenge is to understand it’s lessons properly. The Israelis remembered their success in driving the PLO out of Lebanon in 1982 and thought that this history applied to the current effort to drive Hezbollah out of Lebanon. They neglected to consider that in 1982 that they had the support of Shias in southern Lebanon who had been oppressed and tormented by the Palestinians. Hezbollah, supported and embedded in Shia culture, is a much different enemy and, thus, the current disastrous conflict. Our challenge, therefore, is to not only remember history, but to understand its lessons in a way that we are not doomed to repeat it even if we remember it.

Who won?

As the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has reached a stalemated cease fire everyone seems to be claiming victory. George Bush, Ehud Olmert, Hassan Nasrallah and Prime Minister Ahmadinejad of Iran have all announced that their side has emerged victorious in the military conflict. It seems to me that there can be no victors in a conflict where over 1000 innocent civilians have perished to reestablish in the words of Condi Rice the “status quo ante”. You might be able to argue that Hezbollah won because they didn’t lose and Israel lost because they didn’t win, but that is a pretty pyrrhic victory. It is, however, pretty clear who is winning the political battle. Hezbollah and Iran have emerged as the clear victors on the political front. While the west has dithered and the Lebanese government has talked, Hezbollah, with a blank check from Iran, is moving rapidly and efficiently to compensate people who have lost their homes to the Israeli bombardment with bundles of cash and promises to rebuild their homes. (Perhaps we should hire them to help with the response to the next major hurricane.) Hezbollah, Iran and the Syrians have established themselves as major players in the post conflict Middle East. Israel’s stated objective in the war was eliminate Hezbollah south of the Litna river and to destroy their arsenal and to prevent their rearming by Syria – mission impossible. Trying to drive Hezbollah out will not succeed has long as Lebanese Shia come back. It is like New York trying to drive Republicans out of Idaho. As soon as the people come back the Republicans come back. Hezbollah’s fighters are primarily reservists who keep their weapons in their closet and under their beds. When they are needed, they pick up their weapons and go fight. (To see an interview with one of these guys click here.) The long porous border between Syria and Lebanon makes any attempt to prevent rearmament a hopeless cause. The only way to accomplish the objectives is to talk to Hezbollah, Syria and Iran. Although the peace oriented left in Israel has lost its voice, (much as it has in the U.S.) the realists on the Israeli political scene are beginning to examine the concept of negotiations with Syria and Iran. Amir Peretz, the Israeli Defense Minister, has called for negotiations with Syria. (He was immediately attacked by members of his own party.) Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has appointed a “project manager” for possible negotiations with Syria. There certainly are those in Israel who are clamoring for another war with Lebanon and the current Israeli government will probably be short lived, but one hopes that reason will prevail. (To see the hawk point of view click here) Any negotiations with Syria will bring the Golan Heights into play. The Golan Heights is the strategic high ground in the Galilee. It is understandable why Israel would only agree to relinquish it as part of a firm peace agreement with Syria. Not a bad outcome. Peace agreements with Jordan and Israel have remained stable for a number of years. They may not like each other, but they live alongside each other. Condi Rice said that this conflict is “the birth pangs of a new Middle East”. It might not be the new Middle East that she envisioned and the birth did not need to be as painful, but she may have been right for the wrong reasons.

Message from the Galilee

I recently received a communication from my friend Abuna Elias Chacour, Bishop of the Melkite Catholic Church in the Middle East. I have been concerned about him and his community as his school and offices are in Ibillin in the northern Galilee, an area that has seen a great many rocket attacks during the current conflict. His letter provides a wonderful perspective on peace at a time when everyone else is talking about war. It is too bad that the governmental leaders involved don't have this prospective. As Abba Eban, former Israeli diplomat once said "People and governments usually do the wise thing, after they have exhausted all other possibilities"


Dear Beloved Friends,

We used to write newsletters about hope and development but this time the circumstances have changed drastically. We used to think that Galilee was very safe, even the safest in the Middle East. This is true with regards to the past. Presently for the past ten days we have the experience that we live and survive. It is because of mere luck nobody is any more safe from the rockets which rain everyday on the city of Haifa, they also fell in Nazareth, Akko, Nahariyah and almost all the cities, villages and settlements in the Galilee region. These rockets fall indiscriminately on anyone who happens to be at the place of their falling. Exactly as on the other side in Lebanon, no one is protected.

We find ourselves between the fires of hatred on both sides: the occupation and resistance. Both use the languages of hate and revenge and uncontrolled threats. They use the language of total destruction of the enemy. The result is the systematic destruction of the civil infrastructure of Lebanon with thousands of people sacrificed in an absurd way. On the other side equally absurd but a smaller destruction inside Israel and destabilization of everything in the country, add to that the tragedy and free hand to destroy whatever exists in Gaza and the West Bank. It is billions of dollars that have been wasted on the altar of war, pride and arrogance. All sides are angry, all sides are bitter, every side has its own claims, everyone is repeating with modern dimension the first crime we witness in the Bible. One brother was angry. He called his brother outside the house and killed him thinking that his anger will be eased. What happened is that the earth saturated with Abel's blood was crying to God for vengeance while God was asking, "Where is your brother? What have you done to your brother?" The same answer comes out, a denial of responsibility. At the same time a justification of the violence of killing. Today the same situation in their anger the political leaders fearing for their pride, bring out their armies and the machines of destruction, started this time also in Galilee. No one is sheltered; the first rocket fell short 200 meters away from where I was while traveling to Haifa.

Our message to you is a distressed one. Many lives have been lost, many properties destroyed, and many hopes shattered. Again, the Arab community in Galilee, and very specially the Christian community on the border with Lebanon, finds itself with no jobs, no livelihood and no shelter, unlike the neighboring Jewish settlements. Many among our community members were directly hit. Mainly in the villages of: Jish, Rama, Eilaboun, Fasuta, Miilya and Tarsheeha. Besides the several rockets that hit the heart of Nazareth and Haifa not to exclude Ibillin. Thanks be to God, that the students are at home on their summer holidays.

The reason for this conflagration is the conflict between the Lebanese resistant movement, the Hezbollah, and the Israeli government. Israel withdrew from South Lebanon keeping a piece of territory pretended by Israel, being Syrian territory but for Lebanon and Syria it is Lebanese territory. One more reason is the hundreds of Lebanese prisoners inside the Israeli jails. No way to get them free. Hezbollah kidnapped three Israeli soldiers hoping to negotiate and exchange of prisoners but the pride of Israel on one side and the stereotyped image of Hezbollah as being a terrorist movement, blinded the authorities from negotiating. Some say there was a pre-set agenda to find an excuse to invade Lebanon and destroy all the Hezbollah people. It appears that the Israelis were badly informed and the Hezbollah is stronger than what they thought and it enjoys the sympathy of the major part of the Lebanese population and the Arab Moslems who they have trained in guerrilla warfare and it seems that Israel has been humiliated since its creation. Instead of negotiating they used all the weapons they received from oversees to destroy and create havoc in Lebanon. The outcome is contrary to what they expected. The Lebanese population is more determined to help the resistance, the re-destruction of Beirut is a stronger rebirth of violence. Would it not have been better than an instantaneous reaction to wait some time, negotiate the liberation of the Israeli soldiers and save the population on both sides from that immense trouble and widespread destruction, and from the overwhelming fear and the immense economic waste?

We have now more reasons as Christians to voice out loud our mind and call for moderation and appeal to all sides to give up weapons and start negotiating. We feel it is our prime responsibility to get away from the pre-historic attitude and from awkward beliefs, "Tooth for tooth and eye for eye." In fact no one has anymore teeth to exchange or eyes to offer, we have no more teeth. We are blinded because we got deaf from the noise of explosions on both sides. No one hears anymore the whispers of children, frightened, scared to death before they are massacred!

Indeed we are not afraid for our lives, because sooner or later our lives will come to an end. We are rather concerned for our children and grandchildren who deserve life whether they are Jewish, Palestinians or Lebanese. Would they come to terms with military opinions and practice God's commandments or, God forbid, will they implement the Roman saying: "Man to Man is a Wolf". This is not what Christ lived for and taught his disciples. This is not what he believed and this is far from what he invited us to do, " Love your enemy, bless those who curse you and do not return evil for evil but good for evil.”

Allow me to thank you for your concern, your prayers and those who send us some money to help affected families. Your friendship makes a difference in our life and you continue giving us hope that there is so much goodness in human beings. Please keep in touch and be sure we shall be representing you in the building of justice and integrity with the hope to obtain peace and security for all sides here in the Middle East.

Be assured bombs shall stop, jet fighters shall be crippled. Children shall be able to play once again on the streets of our villages; they shall go to school to learn that "Together and only together they are stronger than the storm".

Yours sincerely with tears and hope,
Abuna Elias Chacour† Archbishop of Akko, Haifa, Nazareth and Galilee

President
Mar Elias Educational Institutions

Acting like children

As I look at the ongoing 50 year conflict in the Middle East I can’t help but feel that the players are acting like a bunch of children. The “he hit me first” rhetoric that we hear so often reminds me of what I heard from my own children as they went through the sibling rivalry phase, but it didn’t take them fifty years to get over it. (fortunately) I am also, however, reminded that in one of my favorite bible verses in the Gospel known to the church as Mark, the Gospel writer has Jesus say “whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child shall not enter it”. For me the writer is saying unless we have the open, accepting attitude of a little child we will not find the kingdom in our lives. In the words of the musical South Pacific “you have to be taught to hate and to fear”. That is why I was disturbed to see this picture of Israeli school children writing messages on artillery shells before they were fired into Lebanon which appeared last week in the Israeli English language paper Haaretz. This picture, along with many other graphic pictures from the conflict, has flashed around the Arab world on the internet. (If you are interested in what the Arab world is seeing, click here. Be aware that this is not the sanitized version of war that we get in U.S. on CNN and MSNBC. Parental guidance suggested.) The subject of the impact of this seemingly endless conflict on children was explored by the James Miller documentary Death in Gaza. We only see the Palestinian side as Miller was killed by Israeli soldiers before he could go to Israel to film the Israeli side of the conflict. In the film two young boys show how to make hand grenades from a cocktail of household chemicals and Coca Cola cans. They describe in detail how they had to score the can with a drill so that the explosion will create shrapnel which will be more effective in killing and maiming the targets. Another documentary film on the conflict, Jenin Jenin, describes the Israeli invasion of Jenin during the second intifada. In the film we meet a young girl, probably not much older than twelve, who is very attractive, very bright, very articulate and very angry. I remember thinking as I watched the film that the Israelis should probably be very afraid of her. These are the children who will grow up to be leaders of their societies. In the words of the Hebrew prophet Isaiah “a little child shall lead them”. The question is, where will they lead?.


Israel
Palestine
Middle East

Whose war is this?

Today the New York Times reported that the U.S. is rushing shipments of missiles to Israel to support the aerial attack on Lebanon. (Evidently the Israelis are running short) As I read this article it occurred to me that one way to understand this conflict is as a proxy war between the U.S. and Iran. The U.S arms and finances the Jews and Iran arms and finances the Muslims. That way only the Israelis and Lebanese get to die and have their infrastructure destroyed while the Americans and Iranians can sit peacefully at home and watch. One wonders why the Israelis and Lebanese don’t say “Wait a minute, if you guys want to have a war, fight it yourselves”. Perhaps they love war so much that they would do it anyway without any help from the U.S. and Iran, but after a while they would be reduced fighting with swords. It could be different looking eye to eye with your enemy rather than dropping bombs or shooting missiles at people that you can not see. They could still kill each other, but they would be a lot less efficient at it. It’s possible that the Israelis may tire of fighting this war. My impression is that the Israelis are a lot like Americans when it comes to war. They are pretty tolerant of casualties on the other side, but a lot less tolerant of their own casualties. There was a large anti war rally in Tel Aviv today led by Israeli Arabs and left wing Jews. The unique thing about this rally was that it was not only anti-war, but also anti-American. The anti-American and anti-Bush slogans were reminiscent of the rallies in Arab capitals. “We will not die, we will not kill in the service of the United States.” (For more on this click here) Maybe the Israelis are beginning to realize that the U.S may not always have their best interests at heart. Is the U.S. saying “Go fight Hezbollah; we’re right behind you all the way”? If the Israelis back out before the “job is done”, maybe the U.S. needs a plan B. The U.S. could arm and finance the Lebanese Christians and Druze to fight Hezbollah. The U.S. has a history of proxy wars in recent years and the results have not been all that good. In the 90’s in Bosnia the U.S. armed the Christians and the Iranians armed and supported the Muslims. The result was that a lot of people died to reach today’s marginal state. In the 80’s the U.S. fought a proxy war with the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. In that case it was our Afghanis versus your Afghanis and the result was a failed state where only the Taliban, the war lords and Usama Bin Laden were happy. With Iraq at the top of the list of potential failed states in the region, the continued destruction in Lebanon and the possibility of a civil war will make what remains of Lebanon a prime candidate for the list. The only person who will be happy with that state of affairs will be Usama Bin Laden who will take advantage of the chaos to advance his war against the west and modernity.


Israel
Middle East

One man’s opinion

I had hoped that I would be able to get by the Middle East and go on to other subjects. We had planned a trip to North Korea which would have provided a treasure trove of topics to explore, but courtesy of DPRK’s changing visa restrictions the trip was canceled. So, back to the Middle East. Several people have asked about my thoughts on the current escalating conflict in the region. With the caveats that it has been three months since I have been on the ground in Israel and the West Bank and so my first hand information is getting stale and nothing that you think about the situation in this region survives the next news cycle, here are some thoughts. When we were in Bethlehem the Italian Franciscan monk who managed the Casa Nova Pilgrimage Center on Manger Square where we stayed, told us that he expected a third intifada (uprising) to begin. He said that we did not need to worry as it would not happen right away, but that the ongoing targeted killings, military incursions and arrests/kidnappings by the Israeli forces were leading even moderate Palestinians to say “enough is enough”. He felt that the objective of the Israelis was to provoke the intifada in order to justify their position that they had no negotiating partner and that they would probably succeed. My own conversations with Palestinians led me to agree with him. The phrase “enough is enough” was pretty common. It was clear that once the intifada began, which it did with increased Qassam rocket attacks and the kidnapping of an Israel soldier, that the Israelis were prepared to strike Gaza with overwhelming force. At the same time they massed their forces on the Lebanese border in the north. It was easy to predict that this would provoke Hezbollah to take action to protect themselves from a preemptive Israeli attack and to accomplish their long stated objective of taking Israeli prisoners to trade for Lebanese prisoners and an accounting of the “disappeared”. Since at that time there were meetings between Hamas and Hezbollah in Damascus, there probably was a component of taking the pressure off of Hamas in Gaza and forcing the Israelis into a two front war. (The enemy of my enemy is my friend) The Israelis were always a little leery of the Lebanese situation given the disastrous consequences of their last invasion. Hezbollah in Lebanon is a different animal from Hamas in Gaza. With 30,000 trained fighters and 15000 rockets, some capable of reaching Tel Aviv, it is a formidable enemy capable of inflicting considerable damage. But war fever has infected Israel, (as one columnist said “We should be grateful to Hezbollah for giving us this window of opportunity to launch an offensive…”) and they struck devastating blows on Lebanese infrastructure and population centers. For awhile it appeared that Israel was also intent on bringing Syria into the conflict. They over flew Syrian territory (What would happen if the Syrians shot down an Israeli plane?) and attacked the Lebanese/Syrian border crossing. (They claimed that they only hit the Lebanese side, but it wasn’t clear that the Syrians would see the distinction.) For a few days I was convinced that we were not far from bringing in the Syrians and thereby their allies the Iranians (They’re not natural allies, but once again the enemy of my enemy is my friend) and that may still happen. If the Bush administration was right in their claims that Saddam Hussein’s WMD were not found because they were transferred to Syria, casualties would rapidly escalate from hundreds to thousands. The comparison that occurred to me was the beginning of WW I. The assassination of one man in an obscure part of Europe (Who knew where Serbia was?) led to the destruction of an entire generation of European men because no leaders had the political courage or will to make the difficult decisions necessary to prevent the conflagration. Everybody thought that it would be a quick easy little war. (As if such a thing exists) Here the kidnapping of one Israeli soldier could end up involving the whole region and the U.S. in a major conflict for the same reasons. This morning, however, it appears that some sanity may be returning. The Israelis, after initially rejecting the proposal by Britain and Russia for an international force in Lebanon because it would restrict their military options, appear to be softening their position. Martin Indyck’s comments appear to indicate that AIPAC will give the U.S. permission to support the force. The kicker will be that Hezbollah will have to be part of the solution and nobody wants to talk with them. The Syrians and Iranians will have to play and they have their own agendas. Can the U.S./Israel get by this problem? If the international force works and succeeds it may have long term positive results. (Optimist) It might spread to the West Bank and Gaza and give Palestinian fighters the space to disarm and then Israel would no longer have an excuse not to negotiate. (Israel’s worst nightmare) Nevertheless, hope springs eternal, until the next news cycle.


Israel
Palestine
Current Affairs