MIDEAST POLITICS

 

The Cancer Within

 

Mohamad Bydon

 

           In 1958, a little known Iraqi revolution a ry‑da ring              Arabs a modern day Ishmael. Within the Palestinian saga,

           enough to assassinate a king‑distinguished himself           one finds echoes of the biblical and Qur'anic tale of a first

           among his peers by arguing that the future of Iraq lay        born son and his Egyptian mother expelled out of their

           not with the Soviet Union but with the United States         home for the sake of young Isaac, father of the Jews.

and Western Europe. Saddam Hussein ultimately rose to                   Over these past decades, Arab leaders from Gamal Abdel

become president of Iraq and became a close, not to mention      Nasser to Amr Mousa have learned the political

convenience

secular, American ally throughout the 1980s. His invasion of       of using the Israeli‑Palestinian conflict to deflect domestic

Kuwait had more to do with a steep        The Palestinians have  anger. It is not always what Israel does, but

national debt and plummeting oil prices come to symbolize for  rather what Israel has come to represent: a

than anything else; but when the invasion     the Arabs a modern tiny non‑Arab, non‑Muslim state that has backfired,

 drawing him into a conventional                                      day Ishmae.l   in the course of fifty years defeated every

showdown with the United States and the                                                                      major Arab military power while advancing

Western powers, Saddain attempted to gar‑                                                        to levels of "first world" economic devel­

ner support for his regime in the Arab                                                                             opment. The implications of such a situa­-
world. So he bombed Tel Aviv.                                                                          tion in a decisively underdeveloped region

      Around the same period, a lanky                                                                                of the world have been enormous. Instead

mujahid (Muslim fighter) begged his father                                                                     of blaming their leaders for their miserable

not to lease land to American authorities in need of regional        conditions, the Arab peoples have accepted the explanation

military bases in Saudi Arabia. When his father refused to           that Israel has conspired to retard Arab development. Thus

listeD, the son began a crusade. Osama bin Laden, whose            the Iraqi people, who are among the poorest and most mis­

family originates from a town in Yemen called Hadramawt             treated beings, are subjected to thirteen hours a day of

(literally "death of civilization"), began preaching against the      "intifada footage" on their major television channels. And

insulting presence of U.S. troops on Saudi soil, the malice of       countless spokesmen explain the 1991 Gulf War as a Zionist­

U.S. sanctions on Iraq, and the complicity of the Saudi royal       American plot to destroy what was at the time the most pow­

family. The Israeli ‑Palestinian conflict was not a vital issue         erful Arab nation in the Middle East.

for bin Laden at the time. In fact, he had long considered                   Far from explaining the state of affairs in the Arab world

opposing American intervention in East Africa to be a more        today, such rhetoric has released Arab dictators from

significant priority. But after September 11 and before the            accountability and made reasonable discourse about peace

impending U.S. attack on Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden             with Israel almost impossible. If Israel is guilty of dispos­

saw the need to win support for himself on the Arab street,         sessing the Palestinian people, then peace would require

so he declared defiantly that "America will not know peace          that Israel compensate the Palestinians and respect their

until peace reigns in Palestine."                                                          national aspirations. But, if Israel is conspiring with the

      For both men‑the first reared in Arab nationalism and             great superpower of the world to ensure that the Arab

the second in Salafi Muslim fundamentalism‑the question            nations remain an economically deprived, militarily incom­

of Palestine had been of secondary importance. But both             petent group, then peace with Israel is impossible.

Saddam and bin Laden recognized, correctly I might add,                   Additionally, Arab conspiratorial plots centered on

that raising the issue of Palestinian suffering is the most reli‑       Israel have ushered in a whole new wave of anti‑Semitism.

able path to heroism in Arab society today.                                     Even after Jordan signed a peace treaty with the state of

      Though heavily mistreated in many of the Arab nations         Israel, the Jordanian government allowed the vendors of

U witnessed this myself in Beirut's Sabra and Shatila refugee       Amman to continue stocking hateful literature, including

camps), the Palestinians have come to symbolize for the               translated copies of Hitler's Mein Kampf and The Principles

                                                                                                                  of*the Elders of Zion.

Mohamad Bydon is a graduate student at Johns Hopkins Uni‑                    Given fifty years of warfare, George Bush's declaration

versity. He was a senior fellow in Near Eastern Studies at                      that Ariel Sharon is a "man of peace," and European silence

Dartmouth College.                                                                                  over the latest Israeli incursions, the Arab world must realize

 

that a just resolution to the Palestinian crisis will not come          stifled reasonable discourse on the Middle East in this coun­

from third party intervention. it will come from a reasonable         try. The alliance between some Jewish groups and right wing

and direct dialogue between Israel and the Arab states.                fundamentalist Christians is particularly unfortunate, as it has

      The onus for internal reform falls upon the shoulders of         promoted a language of hate towards Arabs and Islam. The

Arab peaceniks, who instead of focusing their efforts on a          same Christian leaders who have pledged their support to the

boycott of Starbucks, should be fighting to promote a more        Jewish state (at least until the Messiah arrives) have made

reasonable discourse on peace in the Middle East. Contrary        statements referring to Muslims as "evil," with one Christian

to the claims of Arab leaders, the cancer at the heart of the          Zionist leader going so far as to call the Prophet Muhammad,

Arab world is not Israel, but rather the ignorance that made         ,a demon worshipping pedophile. " Such inflammatory lan­

mass‑murderers like Saddam Hussein and Osama bin                    guage will undoubtedly aid the enemies of Israel in the

Laden heroes to large segments of                                                                                             Middle East, while disarming the

Arab society. This is the same igno‑                                                                                          supporters of peace. As a state in

rance that led entire populations to                   Arab supporters of           the midst of 300 million Muslims,
cheer Saddam's occupation of          Palestinian nationalism have Israel can ill‑afford to be associated

Kuwait while simultaneously decry‑   yet to realize the potential      with Christian fundamentalist, anti‑

ing Israel's occupation of Palestine.              alliance with left wing        Muslim hate‑mongering.

      Arabs argue that Israel is a state             movements across Israel             Today, as liberal Jews and Arabs,

guilty of gross human rights violations                                                     we find ourselves in a battle against

against the Palestinian people. They                                                                                         he rhetoric and reality of fundamen­

are right. In the West Bank and Gaza,                                                         talism. Our two groups have drawn a

Jews are granted the luxury of driving                                                                                       significant number of supporters in

on well‑maintained Jewish‑only highways while Palestinians       Europe and the United States, but we have failed to realize

are relegated to sub‑par roads. Palestinian homes are demol‑       that our most important alliance will be the one we build

ished and Palestinian land is usurped to make room for an           with each other. If we succeed in forging ties together, we can

expansion of Jewish settlements, harkening the communal           begin the arduous process of building neighborly societies.

Arab consciousness to the days of French colonial settlement   But if we fail, the cancer within may swallow us both. U

in Algeria. As Israeli cabinet members openly talk about

"transferring" Palestinians, the Israeli Defense Forces have

enclosed Palestinian cities with ditches and barbed wire, turn­

ing entire towns into open‑air prisons complete with curfews

and restrictions on movement. Recently, the Israeli cabinet

approved a bill that would allow Israelis to prevent Arabs            I 0i vi, n

from moving into "Jewish" cities in Israel proper.                           enlightenni4eiiii1l, "Andrew Cohen's new book, Living

      My Jewish friends understand as well as I do how                                                               Enlightenment, demonstrates a

destructive such measures are both for Palestinians and the                                                    creative spiritual intelligence that

                                                                                                                                                             breaks new ground in applying the

state of Israel. At the same time, these friends have taught                                                  I   spiritual wisdom of the East to the

me that the policies of the current Israeli government con‑                                                       contemporary world."

tradict Jewish traditions, which uphold a respect for human                                                                          Rabbi Michael Lerner

                                                                                                                                                                             Editor, Tikkun magazine,

and civil rights. Indeed, some of the fiercest activists for                ISBN 1‑883929‑30‑X $14.95                      author of Spirit Matters

Palestinian rights are themselves Jewish. A tremendous                  Foreword by Ken Wilber

number of Israelis have mobilized in opposition to their                      "This is one of the most passionate calls to awaken that I have

government's policies only to be met with suicide bombers               ever heard. Andrew Cohen's words are crystal clear, fierce ‑

                                                                                                                       and urgent. If you like to procrastinate and wait fill you're ready,

and the rhetoric of hate‑the worst of Palestinian society.                    don't read this book. If you're ready to jump in and risk all, then

Too often, Arab demands for the freedom of Palestinians                  Living Enlightenment is for you."                Roshi Bernard Glassman

have been couched in calls for the destruction of Israel,                                                                                  author of Bearing Witness

rather than assurances of its safety. Arab supporters of                     "Andrew Cohen is a true tzaddik, possessed, on the one hand,

Palestinian nationalism have yet to realize the potential                      by a clear ontological vision and, on the other, by the gift of

alliance with left wing movements across Israel.                                   sharing if. Living Enlightenment comes with an ethicist's concern

      Here in the United States, right wing Jewish groups sup‑             for living right and helping the universe along, a perfect amalgam

porting Israel have made egregious miscalculations, similar to          of Buddhist and Jewish practice. I was eight times kinder to

                                                                                                                       myself and to everyone else after absorbing Cohen's tomette."

those made by their Arab opponents in the Middle East.                                                                                       Andrei Codrescu

AIPAC's refusal to criticize the settlement project, its unwa‑                                                             NPR commentator, author of Messiah

vering support for even the most hawkish of Israeli govern‑                       MOKSHA 800.376.3210

ments, and its recent ties with Christian fundamentalists have          IM‑1 P R F S S www.LivingEnlightenment.com

 

  50                           TIKKUN                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Vot   17, No. 5