An open letter to Nick Kristof

Here is a comment that I posted on NY Times columnist Nick Kristof's comment page regarding his op-ed piece in today's NY Times. (To read the piece, click here) As of now I am one of 233 comments most overwhelmingly positive. His normal number seems to be about 5. Something may be happening.
Dear Nick:
It pains me to say this in a country that claims freedom of the press as one of its core values, but thank you for your courage in writing this important piece. People like you and Jimmy Carter may force the debate in the U.S. that, as you say, rages in Israel. You will probably feel the rage of the usual suspects, but I guess that goes with the territory. This weekend we had a conference in our town on Darfur with Brian Steidle sponsored by our Jewish community at which your role in bringing this tragedy to the front was praised by all attending. I hope that my Jewish friends will feel as positive about you today as they did yesterday. With a new unity government in the Palestinian territories I hope that the PA will claim the only piece of vacant land in Israel/Palestine - the moral high ground. Acceptance by the PA of the Arab League proposal for a two state solution would put enormous pressure on the US/Israel to engage on the serious issues. Your leadership may be important in making something happen. We would then see if a two state solution is really possible. It is not clear to me how 300,000 Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank can be made to disappear.

Who are the proliferators?

In the past few months there have been lots of discussions over adherence to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT). (For more than you wanted to know click here) The U.S. has threatened Iran with dire consequences if it doesn’t live up to its obligations under the NPT. Hans Blix, the former chief UN inspector in Iraq, said at a recent lecture in Boise that who the violators are is not as clear as the U.S. government and media would have us believe. The NPT was negotiated in 1968 and signed and ratified by 188 nation states. Three states (Israel, India and Pakistan) neither signed nor ratified the treaty and proceeded to develop, test and deploy nuclear weapons (NW) outside the framework of the treaty. One (North Korea) ratified the treaty, broke it and then withdrew. The treaty has three basic pillars:
1. Non-proliferation - The 5 nuclear weapons states (NWS), Russia, China, France, U.K. and U.S, agreed not to transfer NW technology and not to use NW unless attacked with NW. Non- nuclear weapons states (NNWS) agreed not to receive, manufacture or acquire NW.
2. Disarmament – The NWS states agree to reduce and liquidate their NW stockpiles.
3. Peaceful uses – All states are allowed to develop nuclear technology for peaceful uses.
The treaty has been generally successful. In forty years no NNWS is known to have developed NW under the IAEA inspection regime. Several states (Israel, Pakistan and India) have never let them in and have developed NW. One (North Korea) kicked them out and then developed NW. The NWS, however, have done almost nothing to live up to their disarmament treaty obligations. All proposals at the Disarmament Conferences have been rejected by the NWS under one pretext or another. The NNWS have fumed over this failure and some have used it as justification for their own nuclear development programs. The UK recently said that it needed nuclear missiles to defend itself from Al Quada. As Hans Blix said: “Attacking Al Quada with NW is like trying to kill a mouse with a cannon”. (To see Iran’s reaction to this, click here.)The US/Israel have said that they need NW to defend themselves from Iran, a state whose leader has said that he wanted to “wipe Israel off the face of the map”. A better translation of his statement from the Farsi is “this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time”. This translation has a somewhat different tone; unfortunately it doesn’t meet the political agenda of the US and Israel. (For more on this, click here.) If, in forty years, the 5 NWS had made some effort to live up to their treaty obligations to reduce and liquidate their NW stockpiles, they might have more leverage with countries like Iran and North Korea who feel the need to defend themselves from the overwhelming power of their adversaries. Hans Blix argued that NW have outlived their usefulness and the time is right for disarmament. In this age of globalization, it is not as though China would want to blow up its best customer or that the U.S. would want to blow up China. Nobody in the U.S. would have anything to wear or any TV’s to watch.

The New "Axis of Evil"

The BBC recently polled 28,000 people from around the world inquiring which countries they felt had a positive influence and which countries had a negative influence. (For the entire article, click here) The top four (or bottom four depending on your viewpoint) for negative perception were Israel, Iran, North Korea and the United States. Those with the most positive perceptions were Canada, Japan and the European Union. Some commentators have explained the difference between the countries as based on the degree of engagement (some might call it meddling) in world affairs. I am inclined to think that the difference is more related to the emphasis on the use of soft power rather than on hard power. This week two young people (an Arab Muslim man and a Jewish woman) from the Israeli village of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam spoke in our community. Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam is a village of 50 families half way between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv that has been intentionally established to have Arabs and Jews living alongside one another in peace. (To learn more about this, click here) When they discussed the fact that they get no help or encouragement from the Israeli government (the government refuses to sell them any more land to expand and gives the school the least amount of money they legally can) the Rabbi asked the question “What about support from Hamas; do they help you?” After pointing out that Hamas is a political movement in the occupied Palestinian territories and not in Israel, Naomi said “Hamas has nothing to do with us; we are just trying to live together in peace with justice.” Ahmed said; “I agree with almost nothing they say, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t talk to them and try to find a way forward." When Naomi was asked what her Jewish friends say when they find out that she grew up and lives in Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam and works to help Palestinian prisoners she said: “They say ‘Oh, you must be one of those’.” When Ahmed was asked “What needs to be done for you to have more impact?”, he said “The governments , not just the Israeli government, need to pick up on this model. We can help show that people of religious and ethnic differences can live alongside each other in peace, but only our governments can make a big difference.” Perhaps we need more of “those” to encourage the new “Axis of Evil” to pick up on this model of peace with justice and try to move it forward with soft power and not guns and armies.

Watch where you are going

Recently this picture of Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz inspecting troop deployments in the Golan Heights has made the rounds of Israeli and international media. (For the whole BBC article click here.) Mr. Peretz has received a lot of criticism and ridicule for looking through binoculars with the lense caps still on. (It is good to have something to laugh at occasionally in this part of the world.) It does seem to me, however, that this is a great metaphor for the whole situation in the Middle East. The U.S. cannot see the civil war in Iraq and therefore cannot figure out what to do. Israel can’t see that without justice for the Palestinians, there will not be peace. The Palestinians can’t see that without security for Israel, there will not be peace. Israel can’t see that without dealing with the issue of the Golan Heights, there will not be peace with Syria. It is not only lens caps, however, that keep people from seeing the path to peace. All parties are looking back at their history and are focused on past injustices, real and perceived. This hindsight affects their perspective on the present problems. When Linda Biehl, the mother of Amy Biehl who was killed by black rioters in South Africa, spoke to high school students in our town about her forgiveness of the perpetrators, she said: “I can’t do anything about the past; I can only affect the future.” Looking back at the past instead of ahead for opportunities is like trying to drive on the road to peace looking in the rear view mirror. If we did that in our cars and hit a tree, the police would probably say: “Why weren’t you watching where you were going?” Maybe when the peace process hits a tree we should ask the same question.

And a little child shall lead us

Do you suppose that this little girl chould show us something about living alongside each other in peace? Read this Haaretz article : Israeli girl found wandering through Hebron returned safely home

Hebron Reflection

I recently received this email from a member of the Christian Peacemaker Teams in Hebron. Hebron is a microcosm of the West bank. A small Jewish Israeli settlement has been built in the middle of a mostly Muslim Arab city. The small settlement is protected by over 2000 Israeli soldiers and security personnel. I can say from personnel experience, even if you are a privileged American, dealing with the Israelis in Hebron is pretty intimidating.

HEBRON REFLECTION:

"This is Our Life"By Abigail Ozanne

This morning I was reflecting that in the nearly four months I had been in Hebron I have been cursed, insulted, spat at, pushed, threatened with arrest, detained, tear gassed, had my home invaded by soldiers, stoned, and threatened with death. It is only a taste of what the Palestinians endure.Recently the soldiers arrested a journalist for taking pictures. The soldiers grabbed him, handcuffed and blindfolded him, and led him away. I expressed how sorry I was to his brother. The brother replied, "this is our life."
He said that at different times in the past Israeli forces had shot, beaten, and arrested him.Two weekends ago, after soldiers beat two men, one to unconsciousness, tear gassed everyone in an enclosed space, and arrested several people, including the journalist, I said what a terrible day it had been. Our Palestinian neighbor answered, "this is our life."
I am a member of the Undoing Racism Working Group in CPT. We have been working on addressing racism within CPT. Through this work, I have become more aware of my unearned privilege as a white American. In Palestine this means that I am asked for ID less. The soldiers cannot arrest me although police can. The soldiers are not likely to beat me. If I am arrested, I do not need to fear being tortured. I am allowed to go most places in the West Bank. Soldiers are less likely to invade our home. If they do invade, they are not likely to ransack it. If I am hurt, arrested, or killed, the international community will say that it is wrong. The Palestinians we work with do not have any of these privileges. This is racism.
As I go about my work, I seek to stand with the oppressed, to dare to be vulnerable. I try to listen to our Palestinian partners and friends about their experiences. I try to understand. And I acknowledge that what I experience is only a portion of the suffering of the Palestinians. I have many privileges here not shared by the majority of the population. Additionally, at the end of my time in Palestine, I can go home. For the Palestinians, this is their life.

Christian Peacemaker Teams is an ecumenical initiative to support violence reduction efforts around the world. To learn more about CPT's peacemaking work, visit our website www.cpt.org Photos of our projects are at www.cpt.org/ gallery A map of the center of Hebron is at http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/fullMaps_Sa.nsf/0/5618737E38C0B3DE8525708C004BA584/$File/ocha_OTS_hebron_oPt010805.pdf?OpenElement The same map is the last page of this report on closures in Hebron: www.humanitarianinf o.org/opt/ docs/UN/OCHA/ ochaHU0705_ En.pdf

The last word

There are a lot of words floating around our media that seem to be used indiscriminately without providing any definitions. Words like terrorist, militant, radical Islamic state and moderate Arab state appear everywhere, but I am not always clear who we are talking about. Unless we come up with a truth in labeling law for the media that requires a definition of terms be attached to each article, we may need another vehicle to decipher the information. Looking at examples of what is being described might be helpful. Under that method it appears that a radical Islamic state is a state that is unable to support US policies because it has sufficient democratic institutions that the government needs to be sensitive to the opinions of its citizens. A moderate Arab state seems to be an authoritarian state whose leaders do not have listen to their citizens and therefore can support US policies. This division does, at times seem to create some odd situations. Recently US intelligence officials showed media representatives a sampling of weapons that they claimed were provided by the “radical Islamic state”, Iran, to Iraqi “militants” and “terrorists”. The officials claimed that these weapons had killed 170 American troops since the beginning of the war. When I heard this I wondered where the weapons have come from that killed the other 3000 soldiers. For answers to questions like this it is generally useful to follow the money. In this case I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that road didn’t lead through the “moderate Arab state” of Saudi Arabia. These are the folks that brought us most of the 9/11 highjackers, the mujahadeen in Afghanistan including Osama bin Laden and who export the intolerant, fundamentalist Wahabist version of Islam throughout the world. This situation raises the question: “How do situations like this happen?”. A few years ago I learned in Sunday School that when one is reading the book known to the church as the Gospel of Matthew and one asks the question “Why is this story included?”, the answer is usually Moses. In the case of the Middle East, when one asks the question “Why is this odd behavior happening?”, the answer is usually oil.

Watch our for the boogie man

During my growing up years, I can remember being admonished by my parents that I had better behave or the boogie man would get me. This admonishment is a remnant of European colonial experience when the Islamic pirates of the Boogle coast of Suliwesi in Indonesia were the most frightening group they could think of. Hence the name “boogie man”. I spent much time looking under my bed and in my closet to be sure that the “boogie man” wasn’t there. On my recent trip to Tanzania and Rwanda, our group spent a day in a small village outside Arusha, Tanzania where I have been involved in projects to assist the local church and establish a health clinic. When we arrived, we were greeted with great fanfare by the residents and leaders of the village. As we mingled with the residents, one of my friends, who is the quintessential grandmother, knelt down to interact with a young girl. The young girl looked carefully at my friend and then burst into tears. As we discussed this reaction with our Tanzanian friends, they said that she had probably never seen a white person before and didn’t know what to make of this strangely colored person. They also said that for many Africans their only experience with white people is that of oppressors and American TV characters who carry guns and kill people. Parents admonish their children that if they don’t behave “the white man will come and kill you”. As the drumbeat towards war with Iran continues, we seem intent on insuring that Iranian parents will have a scary enemy with which to threaten their children. Although it might result in better behavior of Iranian children, I am not sure that we want another group of children growing up hearing “you had better behave or the Americans will come and kill you”. I recently received a photo collage of Iran from a friend. It portrays a country much different than the images that we receive from our media and politicians. A friend who is currently working in Iraq recently said “When my Iraqi friends go on vacation, they go to Iran. They tell me that I should go. It is such a beautiful place.” I encourage you to look at these pictures (click here) and ask yourself “Is this a country that we want to destroy?”.

A recipe for genocide

I have taken a brief vacation from blogging while traveling in Africa. Some was enforced vacation as internet access in the bush was pretty limited. As usual, upon my return from an enforced vacation from news and information, not much has changed. The same old intractable problems that were there three weeks ago are still here today. In these poorest countries in the world, just getting through the day is an accomplishment in itself. People have little time to concern themselves with big power politics and the ramifications of big power decisions for world peace. One of our stops was Rwanda, the isolated mountainous “Switzerland of Africa”. Although we were there to see the endangered Mountain Gorillas, it quickly became clear that even in this country only thirteen years separated from a genocide that killed over 1 million people in three months, big power political agendas affect peoples lives. Rwanda is a beautiful country of intense cultivation on steep mountain slopes. The people are lovely and friendly. One is left to wonder how these people could kill 1 million of their friends and neighbors in just three months. A visit to the Genocide Memorial yields a tale of the introduction of European imperialist racism into a culture that had existed for hundreds of years. Until the Europeans arrived Hutus and Tutsis were divided by economics and class. Wealth was measured by the number of cattle that you owned. (In the US we measure it by the number of cars or houses that you own) Tutsis were those that owned more than ten cows. The Europeans inserted the idea that one group was superior and more deserving than another that over time escalated into a civil war. As it appeared that the Tutsis were about to prevail in the conflict, France, under Francois Mitterand, decided to intervene on behalf of the Hutus. This intervention gave the Hutus the ability and the means to obliterate 1 million Tutsis and Hutus who would not participate. Our guide was a Hutu whose whole family was killed by his best friend because they would not participate in the murder of their neighbors. The resulting enmity toward France is palpable in this former French/Belgian protectorate. Perhaps we can learn something from this tragedy about the perils of big powers trying to impose their agendas and decide who the “good guys” are in civil conflicts that we don’t understand. The unintended consequences can be disastrous. Recent events, however, seems to indicate that these lessons have not been learned. In Somalia the US has intervened on behalf of the warlords and Ethiopian invaders against the Islamic Courts. These are the same warlords that we were fighting in the 1990’s and who have pillaged the “country” since then. In Palestine the US is arming Fatah in their domestic political conflict with Hamas. (To hear a chilling description by Laila el Haddad of her discussion with a leader of the Fatah death squads click here) Ryszard Kapusinski, a Polish journalist who spent over 25 years in Africa, writes in “The Shadow of the Sun”: “That is how the Rwandan drama is engendered, the tragedy of the Banyrwanda nation born of an almost Israeli-Palestinian inability to reconcile the interests of two social groups laying claim to the same scrap of land, too small and confined to accommodate them both. Within this drama is spawned the temptation, at first weak and vague, but with the passing years, ever more clear and insistent, of the “Endlosung” – a final solution.” Take a civil conflict, add dose of big power politics and simmer over increasing heat for a number of years and we may have a recipe for a “final solution”.

Muslims take over

Recently, newly elected Congressman from Minnesota Keith Ellison, the first Muslim American Congressman, announced that he would conduct his private swearing-in ceremony using the Quran. This decision was greeted with a hearty ho hum by the vast majority of Americans. However, Republican Congressman Virgil Goode of Virginia saw it as an event of near apocalyptic proportions. He announced that if this were allowed to happen Muslims would immigrate and take over the United States. (For a Virgil Goode op ed piece click here) This, for him, is an occurrence that should not be allowed to happen. I am not sure of the theology behind this statement. Would God be so pleased that someone would use the scriptures of those who follow Islam for an event like this that she would intervene in order to insure that they were able to take over the world? If that were to come about, it might not be the disaster that Congressman Foote envisions. I am currently in Dubai for a couple of days on my way to Tanzania. In this Persian Gulf city state with very little oil Sheik Muhammad and his people have created in a few short years an amazing edifice to modern culture. Jebal Ali port is one of the world’s busiest and most modern ports. This port is run by the same people who were deemed by Congress, in its wisdom, of being incapable of running American ports. There are modern hotels and office buildings going up everywhere. It is said that over 25% of the world’s construction cranes are currently in Dubai. (The rest are probably in Shanghai.) Tiger Woods is planning to build a golf resort here. (As if the place needs another golf course. There are at present 7 golf courses here that have been carved out of the desert.) Currently the World Shopping Festival is going on with pavilions from all parts of the world. Combine this with the world’s largest duty free store (a shopaholic’s delight) and you may have an apocalyptic scenario for a husband on a budget. They are planning and constructing a major financial center that is designed to rival those in London and New York. All of the big financial firms, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Citi etc. are opening offices here. No one seems to mind that many of the principal executives of these firms are Jewish. (Who says Muslims and Jews can’t get along? Let’s all make money together.) They are in the middle of a “world’s tallest building” contest with China. They have slowed down construction of the building to see how high the building in Shanghai will be so they can build their building taller. There is also a local competitor who is waiting to start their building to see how tall the current one will be. (“I can build my building taller than yours” is the motto) Dubai has also been described as Las Vegas on steroids. Many would not necessarily view that as a positive model for growth in the U.S. However, if this is what a group of Muslims can create in a short period of time, Congressman Goode should be careful what he wishes for, he might just get it.

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