The Arab League held another summit this week and the world, it seems, either yawned or protested in response. Vociferous critics charged that the 22-state body does not represent the wishes or interests of the citizens of the Arab countries, but only those of its leaders. And nine of them did not even bother to turn up at the summit. In fact, only Palestine and Iraq have had anything resembling democratic elections of their leaders, and both countries are under severe military occupation by outside forces. There is not much that democratically elected leaders can do for their constituencies under such conditions. Arab politics is in crisis; there are armed conflicts raging and brewing across the region; and there is a huge democracy deficit. But the summit did provide some potentially useful results, which tended to get buried under the din of justified, but perhaps overexposed, critics. Many of those results relate to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While dismissing the Arab League and its summits, many of the critics lend tacit support to Israel, which refers to the reactivated Saudi peace proposal of 2002 as a ‘non-starter’.
Granted, most of the analytic conclusions drawn from the summit are negative truths: aside from the obvious need for more democracy and transparency, there is no Arab unity. Because of this, but not only because of this, the Arab ‘World’ and the Arab states are weak, especially in comparison with the western power blocs and networks, e.g. NATO, the U.S.-led ‘Coalition of the Willing’ in Iraq, but also in comparison with constituent parts of those blocs, e.g. the EU, the G7, the individual western countries, etc. The disunity is especially alarming in this era of transnational networks. The Europeans have a union. The Africans have a union. The Americans have NAFTA, as well as the world’s only remaining superpower.
The positive results included a repetitious, but firm and consistent stand against Israel’s illegal occupation of Arab land since 1967. Despite Israeli power politics, including illegal annexations, illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian and Syrian land, as well as continued illegal oppression of Palestinians, the Arab League will not be swayed by the ‘might is right’ argument, which Israel and its powerful ally, the U.S., have used to bring members of the EU, Russia, and others closer to their position. There is obviously more than mere self-interest behind this stance. The vast majority of countries in the world support Palestinian liberation, but the most powerful countries do not. By siding with the disenfranchised and the weak, rather than falling for the rewards of U.S. patronage, the Arab League, perhaps despite itself, have by and large occupied the moral high ground.
This year’s summit in Algiers accentuated the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for a number of reasons. The historic Sharm El-Sheikh ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority has opened opportunities for peace and stability in the region. For the first time this millennium, the Palestinian president was allowed by Israel to attend the summit. The ongoing Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon puts the onus on Israel and the U.S. to withdraw from the countries they have invaded, as Syria eagerly pointed out at the summit. Libyan leader Muammar Ghaddafi found a forum to promote his one-state solution, ‘Israteen’. In short, there was a wide range of perspectives offered to ensure that Palestine will not be forgotten.
In the end, the Saudi peace proposal, originally launched at the 2002 summit in Beirut, was reactivated. In return for peace and normalization with Israel, the Arab League demands that Israel stop the war, ongoing since 1967. And fully in line with international law, it requires full Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders, a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and a just solution for refugees based on the 1948 U.N. resolution which gives them the right to go home or receive compensation. It is that simple. And it is just. But the work must not stop here. There must be comprehensive efforts to implement the proposal, as well. Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa said the Arab leaders had asked Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the chairman of the summit, to give the initiative fresh impetus “in the way he sees fit.” A group of Arab presidents could go on a tour to promote it, officials said on Tuesday. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday proposed to form an Arab delegation to visit U.S. President George W. Bush, pressuring him to put his words into action on the issue of a two-state solution. The envoys would visit Washington and other partners of the Quartet peace efforts, such as the European Union, the United Nations and Russia, to discuss “the urgent need for an active U.S. role to translate the U.S. President’s words and stances into action – a role that practically contributes to the setting up of mechanisms, which would lead to the implementation of the roadmap and the Arab peace initiative,” Abbas said. “In this context, we stress the importance of immediately heading to the final-status negotiating table.”
MIFTAH applauds and thanks the Arab League for its renewed initiative to achieve justice and peace for Palestine and reminds its members that democracy, transparency, and human rights need to be implemented throughout the region. However, a more detailed and wider plan for implementing the Arab League peace initiative would be preferable. Indeed, it is essential that more action be taken.
Believing in Jerusalem
Date posted: May 27, 2013
By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
Last week, Israel barred a UNESCO fact-finding mission from entering the country, charging that the Palestinians had ‘politicized’ the mission before it had even arrived. The mission was tasked with looking into conditions of historical sites in the Old City of Jerusalem, something Israel apparently found to be very threatening.
Looking at the state of Jerusalem’s eastern sector today, it is understandable why Israel would not want UNESCO or anyone else walking around the Old City, especially the Palestinian-populated parts of it. Because anyone who does, will see the devastation that Israel and its settlers have wreaked on one of the oldest and most beautiful cities in the world.
Excavation works are being conducted in and around the Aqsa Mosque to make way for more Jewish construction at the place where Waqf authorities say Ottoman and Abbasid artifacts have long been tucked away. A Muslim graveyard is being dug up just outside the Old City’s Jaffa Gate, to build – ironically – a museum of tolerance. Today, two stores were forcefully taken over by Jewish settlers in Al Hakari, one of the neighborhoods in the Muslim quarter and every day, it seems that more and more homes are either being demolished by Israeli municipality authorities or being taken over by Jewish settlers.
The “Judiazation” of Jerusalem is a term many Palestinians and Arabs use for what Israel is doing in the city. In a nutshell, it is the long-term plan Israel is gradually carrying out to change the Arab Palestinian character of Jerusalem. This means demolishing old and historical structures, displacing Palestinians, handing over their homes to settlers and trying to erase the Palestinian or Arab history of the city.
The sad truth is that, on the surface, Israel has succeeded in this to a large extent. Pockets of Jewish settlers now live in the heart of Muslim quarters and aim to take over more and more. Sheikh Jarrah, one of the more affluent Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem, is now pierced with Jewish flags waving from homes that have been wrestled from their Palestinian owners, and Israel’s light rail train cuts right down through Palestinian neighborhoods outside of the city center. The train, of course, is not meant to service the Palestinian population but rather to connect Jewish neighborhoods and settlements in the city, but the area confiscated from Shufat and Beit Hanina for its construction simply fell into the plan.
What the UNESCO mission would not have seen even if they made it into the Old City is the overall humiliation that the Palestinian population of Jerusalem must endure on a daily basis because of Israel’s military occupation. Trips to the Israeli ministry of interior must be made just to prove that one lives in the city for fear that their residency rights may be revoked; young Palestinian men are stopped randomly by Israeli soldiers to check their ID cards or just to harass them, and settlers are always given the luxury of maximum security whenever they walk the streets. If settlers want to march through the city, the Palestinians are told to close their shops, are barred for hours from reaching their homes if they run along the path of the march and are always the ones blamed if any kind of confrontation between the two sides breaks out.
Jerusalem is being squeezed by these measures more and more each day. But there is always that glimmer of hope, that strength that shines through proving that all is not lost. On Shavuot, Israeli settlers and extremists poured into the Old City, singing loudly, banging on the shop doors and waving huge Israeli flags. The sight was disconcerting to say the least. However, the afternoon of that same day, at Damascus Gate, passersby were met with a completely different scene. Palestinian flags waved in determined Palestinian hands under the threatening eye of heavily armed Israeli police and soldiers. The youths were fearless, demanding freedom, with strong, unrelenting voices.
The sight of the Palestinian flag waving at the entrance to Damascus Gate was a breath of fresh air. All is not lost and never will be because hope is eternal and determination and strength come from a never-ending spring.
That day at Damascus Gate is what all Palestinians must keep in their minds’ eye in spite of the daily oppression of the occupation. No matter how many missions Israel bars from entering or how many houses it takes over, there will always be those brave souls who, despite the risks, will always raise Palestine’s flag.
Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.
Let Mohammed rest in peace
Date posted: May 20, 2013
By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
There is no point falling into the pit of countering the claims being made about the death of Mohammed Al Durra, the 12-year old boy from Gaza whose videotaped killing was seen around the world. The boy, crouching in fear behind is equally afraid father as bullets whizzed around them, was killed admittedly by the Israeli army. Later, the army recanted after investigating the tape, saying Durra was killed by Palestinian fire instead. Well now, Israel is changing its story altogether, saying he was not killed at all. In fact, he was probably not even wounded and the French channel that broadcast the footage and brought some pretty bad rap to Israel, had most likely filmed a charade.
The reason why I will not waste my time countering this claim is that even with the great lengths the Israeli government went to to prove that the boy was never killed, it could not provide any irrefutable proof that Mohammed Al Durra – who would be 25 now – is still alive. No pictures, no testimonies, no hospital or morgue officials giving statements to refute his death, have been provided. Only sketchy information about ‘poor quality footage’ and the fact that it seems as though the boy moved his arm after he had slumped over his father following the explosion.
My point is this: indeed, Mohammed Durra’s death was at least one of the catalysts that fueled the second Intifada, and thus, was an important event in the history of the Palestinians. However, more importantly – most importantly to me –is the fact that this is about a boy who died in sheer terror, with his distraught father futilely trying to shelter him from the barrage of bullets coming their way.
Mohammed Al Durra was a boy, with a life, a family and friends. He died a horrible death and now he is being made to die a second one. I did not know Mohammed or his family, but I can only imagine how awful it must be for them to read these claims now and feel the pain of losing their child all over again. If nothing else, this is disrespect for human life of the worst kind.
Some may postulate that the rehashing of the Durra case is a personal jab at the French cameraman who shot the footage, Charles Enderlin. Perhaps. But as a Palestinian who has seen the pain endured by numerous families who receive the horrible news that their sons or daughters have been killed by the Israeli army, my concern is for his family and for his memory. He should be left to rest in peace. If Israel has axes to grind with French journalists or with the international community for holding it accountable for its actions, then so be it. Israel is not lacking in the public relations department.
That being said, there is just one decent thing left to do. Leave Mohammed Al Durra and his memory alone.
Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.
Recognition and justice is our demand
Date posted: May 13, 2013
By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
This week Palestinians will commemorate Al Nakba, the catastrophe that befell the Palestinian people when Israel was founded. Every year, Palestinians hang placards pointing to the right of return, they carry keys symbolizing the homes they were forced to leave and could not return to and remember the Palestine that was lost to them 65 years ago.
This year will be no different. Every May 15, Palestinian recall their catastrophe and demand justice. They demand that they are granted the right of return for those who were made refugees virtually overnight and were then relegate to a life they did not choose. But more than anything, they demand recognition of the tragedy that befell them rather than a denial that it ever happened, or worse, that it was of their own making.
It has been 65 years since Israel was established in 1948, which means those who were cast into exile are either very old or have long passed. Those who experienced the Nakba are now few and far between, clinging to those few precious memories of a small garden in front of their house in Jaffa or of the salty smell of the sea in their neighborhood in Haifa. The rest of us are either descendants of these refugees or ordinary Palestinians who feel their cause is our cause because we are one people.
But the Palestinians have made one thing clear. The refugee issue will not die with the last refugee. It is felt nationwide, the loss, the injustice and the fact that those who were forced from their homes have mostly passed, longing for their beloved homes.
We cannot turn back time. What was lost has been altered, destroyed, changed or taken over by Israel’s newcomers. What we can do is hold on to the right to be recognized, for the injustice to be rectified in word and deed and for Palestine to never be lost in our minds or hearts.
Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.
