November 2004
Dear friends and colleagues,
Some
of you still use my JHU e-mail address. This e-mail ceased to be active. Please
use either ralmagor@soc.haifa.ac.il
or rcohen@univ.haifa.ac.il.
Bush
Congratulations
to George W. Bush for a great win. Against all odds, he had a smooth and sweet triumph.
He has all reasons to be pleased.
Many
people had to swallow their heats. Against predictions, some of which were
wishful thinking, Bush had a decisive win. All those who said that a large
turnout will work for Kerry were wrong. People came to vote in huge numbers,
and they voted Bush. Only a minority of states voted for Kerry. Kerry paid the
price for his unsophisticated politics. For a long time he refrained to say something,
trying to appeal to the wide common denominator, not to aggravate anybody. When
he realized that this policy actually worked against him, because he did not
offer an alternative and remained ambiguous, only then he became vocal in
promoting certain policies. He concentrated his attention on
I
must say that I have many question marks regarding the polls that were
published before the elections. Some of them were so way out wrong, beyond
acceptable margin of error, that it seems that the people conducting them were
not completely honest. They tried to influence the results by publishing untrue
numbers. Statistics has become a matter of ideology. Prostitution substituted
professionalism.
The
Israeli newspapers welcomed the result. Maariv
headlines on 4 November 2004 was: "The Friend Remains."
I wish
Bush all the success in the world to tackle some of the most difficult issues. I
wish him success in improving the healthcare system, the most inefficient
healthcare system in the western world. I wish him success in improving public
education. I hope Bush will see fit to improve the country's infrastructure:
the state of the roads; public transportation; cleaning and improving the well-being
of many poor neighbourhoods. It is time that the
Internationally,
the future of
Yassir Arafat: 1929-2004
On
Arafat's
death entails the reborn of Bush's Road Map. Now there is a new partner.
Whether he's viable we don't know. Time will tell, and we won't need to wait
for long. The Road Map, which was dead and buried, is back to life. It was
ridiculous to insist on it during the past few years. Frankly, I was surprised
to hear the extent people I met last year at the State Department insisted on
it. Now Bush needs to insist to make it part of this place.
Two days
ago Abu Mazen made a pledge to the man in the grave, and to all listeners that he is committed to the
right of return, to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with
Gershon Baskin
passed me an article written by Daoud Kuttab.
He is a Palestinian journalist from
A blessing and a curse
By Daoud Kuttab
building in Ramallah. While everyone was
there to see the place
where Yasser Arafat made his last stand in
his long struggle for his
people's independence, I remembered this compound as the location
where I was imprisoned for seven days in 1997. At the time Arafat
ordered my incarceration because the television station I was in
charge of, Al Quds Educational Television,
dared to broadcast
sessions of the Palestinian Legislative Council dealing with
corruption.
But I didn't feel bitterness as I looked at the compound. I felt
that in his own way Arafat was true to himself and his principles.
He did
everything he could to fulfill the hopes of millions of
Palestinians.
In the process he no doubt broke many rules and
betrayed
the trust of many people. The world wanted him
to shed his
military uniform, throw away his gun, and follow Israeli orders to
pacify his own people while they were still under occupation. He
refused; he insisted that the revolution was not over until the
occupation ended. In life and in death Arafat would not allow anyone
to put him
in any predictable classification. He was so dedicated to
the
Palestinian cause, so obsessed with it, that he was both a
blessing
and a curse for
He was a blessing in that his dedication to the cause brought him
the love of his own people and their willingness to forgive any
mistakes he committed. He was able to unify Palestinians behind one
national
cause that became a worldwide cry for freedom and
independence.
This obsessive dedication, however, sometimes stood in the way of
good judgment. Arafat's mistakes cost Palestinians dearly. His
failure to
stand up to the popular and emotional Palestinian support
for Saddam
Hussein's invasion of
result
nearly 400,000 Palestinians were evicted from
Palestinians
lost much Arab and international support.
In the
granted to the Palestinians. His insistence on control rendered the
Palestinian Authority inefficient and corrupt. He also failed to
understand the possibilities that
offered: He threw away a potentially honorable agreement reached in
Taba without being able to offer an
alternative strategy to end the
occupation and to establish a Palestinian state.
Perhaps Arafat's death was also a blessing. Having withstood
tremendous
physical and psychological pressures for almost three
years, Arafat's
last stand at the Muqata will become an integral
part of
his political legacy. Leaders that follow him will have
difficulty
in yielding any more concessions than he did.
During his
career Yasser Arafat took on many titles. And to
understand
what the Palestinian cause will look like without Arafat,
we must
consider the various titles that he last held. Arafat was
chairman
of the PLO Executive Committee, president of the
Palestinian
National Authority, commander in chief of the
Palestinian
forces, and head of the Fatah movement.
The PLO embodies Palestinian national aspirations for independence
and statehood. It is the highest political body for all
Palestinians, both those living in
other Palestinians in the diaspora. Arafat's
successor will need to
juggle between negotiations with Israel, which will require
concession on refugees' "right of return" to Palestine, and
the
aspirations of more than 3 million Palestinians who wish to come
back to the homes from which they were expelled in the wars of 1948
and 1967. And he must do this while dealing with the daily needs of
Palestinians living under occupation.
As the commander of the Palestinian forces Arafat was able to keep
the various Palestinian military, security and intelligence units
under his own control. The successor will not only have to deal with
these forces, which have been torn apart by the Israelis, but he
will also have to deal with local paramilitary units. These
units,
most of which are not controlled by the PNA's
central leadership,
are more loyal to grassroots figures than to uniformed PNA officers.
Local Fatah leaders like Marwan
Barghouti have tremendous power over
the nationalist armed units that are loosely organized under the
name Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
Barghouti advocated internal Fatah elections and was trying to
implement them when the Israelis arrested him and charged him with
conspiring with terror bombers. As a street leader who had been
elected the head of the
gained legitimacy by being chosen by his peers. When the
process began, he refused to accept any official position within the
Palestinian Authority, choosing instead to remain close to the local
Fatah cadres. Whoever fills Arafat's
shoes will need to make sure
that these brigades are satisfied that their status, demands and
leaders are respected.
Indeed, the power struggle that will ensue in the post-Arafat era
will ultimately center on Al Fatah, the backbone
of the PLO.
A
worldwide
assembly chooses Fatah's 100-member revolutionary
council,
which in
turn elects a 20-member central committee, where most of
the
insist on
an emergency meeting of the revolutionary council, or even
that a
sixth general assembly be convened (it would be the first
since
1988). Events in recent months have shown that the Al Aqsa
Brigades
forced even Arafat to take their demands into
consideration.
Marwan Barghouti
has the credibility that the official Palestinian
leaders, Mahmoud Abbas
and Ahmad Qurei, lack. As a result, many
Palestinians
are searching hard for a way to achieve his release
from
Israeli prison. Some hope that the Egyptians
will trade Israeli
spy Azzam Azzam for
Barghouti; others predict that he will be
released as part of a trade with the Lebanese militant
group/political party Hezbollah, which has the bodies of a number of
Israeli soldiers.
But Barghouti and others of his generation will
most probably have
to wait. A transition period will no doubt take place in which
people like Abbas and Qurei
will be a bridge to the next wave of
Palestinian leaders.
Of course,
the succession problem in
Arab
countries, is greatly complicated by the absence of an
accepted,
regular structure by which authority is passed on. In the
absence of
such a structure, leaders are reluctant to handpick a
deputy,
let alone allow one to gain experience and competence.
Elections,
whether at the presidential, parliamentary or municipal
level,
could do a lot in helping to nurture and develop a
representative
leadership. The absence of these democratic
mechanisms is even worse inside the various liberation movements.
Internal elections are not happening in the Islamic and left-wing
groups generally, and in the nationalist movement that Arafat headed
there have not been internal elections since the late 1980s.
While much of the
nationalist camp, one must not overlook the Islamist camp led by
Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Although the Islamists
are unlikely to
interfere
in the post-Arafat power struggle, they will
not sit idly
by if the new leadership moves in what they consider the wrong
direction. Of course, the new leadership will have to reach some
agreement
with the Islamists regarding the rules of the game, both
domestically
and vis-à-vis
and the
new leadership cracks down hard on the Islamists, a violent
civil war
could erupt.
Most important, to consolidate his leadership the next Palestinian
leader must make some hard decisions and show some tangible results
quickly.
The experience of the first Palestinian prime minister, Abu
Mazen (Mahmoud
Abbas), who resigned largely because of his inability
to deliver
any improvements to his people -- whether strengthening
personal
and collective security, restoring the rule of law, or
bringing
an end to chaos in Palestinian areas -- remains fresh in
the
public's memory.
Which is why an Israeli freeze on settlement activities, the
release
of Palestinian political prisoners, and the removal of the hundreds
of checkpoints between Palestinian cities would revive a feeling of
hope, without which no Palestinian leader can negotiate what the
world wants: a peace settlement.
The problem is that no Palestinian leader, no matter who he is, can
deliver these changes without help from other players. The Israeli
occupiers, the neighboring Arab countries, and the international
community, led by the
help out if they expect the new leadership of Palestinians to be
able to withstand the pressures they will be under to raise the bar
higher than Yasser Arafat did during a
lifetime dedicated to the
cause of Palestinian freedom.
New
European Initiative
The European
Union will shortly unveil a plan to ensure the viability of a Palestinian
state, based on the 1967 borders. Frustrated with what they see as U
A recent article
by Michael Tarazi, the PLO's legal adviser, which explicitly
rejects a two-states solution, suggests that the EU
initiative is running against the grain of current Palestinian strategy. Tarazi argues that "the quest for equal statehood
should now be superseded by a struggle for equal citizenship" within a
single Palestinian and Israeli state.
The
Tarazi's article, infra,
suggests that any chance for progress in the peace process, based on mutual
understanding and agreement, is an illusion as long as Arafat conducts the
affair. While road maps, declarations, delegations, and other efforts may
contribute to peace in the long-term, in the immediate context they are useless
exercises in wishful thinking.
Two Peoples,
by Michael Tarazi*
New York Times,
__________________
As Christians and Muslims, the millions of
Palestinians under occupation are not welcome in the Jewish state. Many
Palestinians are now convinced that Israeli support for a Palestinian state is
motivated not by a hope for reconciliation, but by a desire to segregate
non-Jews while taking as much of their land and resources as possible. They are
increasingly questioning the most commonly accepted solution to the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict - "two states living side by side in peace
and security," in the words of President Bush - and are being forced to
consider a one-state solution.
To Palestinians, the strategy behind
Yet while Israelis try to allay a
demographic threat, they are creating a democratic threat. After years of
negotiations, coupled with incessant building of settlements and now the
construction of the wall, Palestinians finally understand that Israel is
offering "independence" on a reservation stripped of water and arable
soil, economically dependent on Israel and even lacking the right to
self-defense.
As a result, many Palestinians are
contemplating whether the quest for equal statehood should now be superseded by
a struggle for equal citizenship. In other words, a one-state
solution in which citizens of all faiths and ethnicities live together as
equals. Recent polls indicate that a quarter of Palestinians favor the
secular one-state solution - a surprisingly high number given that it is not
officially advocated by any senior Palestinian leader.
But in this de facto state, 3.5 million
Palestinian Christians and Muslims are denied the same political and civil
rights as Jews. These Palestinians must drive on separate roads, in cars
bearing distinctive license plates, and only to and from designated Palestinian
areas. It is illegal for a Palestinian to drive a car with an Israeli license
plate. These Palestinians, as non-Jews, neither qualify for Israeli citizenship
nor have the right to vote in Israeli elections.
In
Most Israelis recoil at the thought of
giving Palestinians equal rights, understandably fearing that a possible
Palestinian majority will treat Jews the way Jews have treated Palestinians.
They fear the destruction of the never-defined "Jewish state." The
one-state solution, however, neither destroys the Jewish character of the
For those who believe in equality, this is a
good thing. In theory, Zionism is the movement of Jewish national liberation.
In practice, it has been a movement of Jewish supremacy. It is this domination
of one ethnic or religious group over another that must be defeated before we
can meaningfully speak of a new era of peace; neither Jews nor Muslims nor
Christians have a unique claim on this sacred land.
The struggle for Palestinian equality will
not be easy. Power is never voluntarily shared by those who wield it.
Palestinians will have to capture the world's imagination, organize the
international community and refuse to be seduced into negotiating for their
rights.
But the struggle against
__________________
*Michael Tarazi is a legal adviser
to the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The International
Atomic Energy Agency's confidential report, made available to The Associated
Press on November 15, said all nuclear material
The key dispute that
prolonged negotiations between Iran and the Europeans was over the conversion
of uranium into gas, which when spun in centrifuges can be enriched to lower
levels for producing electricity or processed into high-level, weapons grade
uranium, and the length of any suspension.
Two World Views
A youth educational talk at Yachad, the liberal civil rights party:
"A man is born free and
would like to remain free. Stop the occupation".
A youth educational talk at
National Unity, the extreme right-wing party:
"What is this nonsense of
a man is born free? A man is not born free. A man is born with placenta that
provides the newborn with its lifeline. We provide the Palestinians their
lifeline. And how do they show gratitude? By terror".
Peres'
Disappointment
Shimon Peres had all the right
to expect an invitation to join the government after providing
European scholars and
scientists who unequivocally condemn the call for a moratorium on research and
cultural links with
Please sign.
Building
Business Bridges MBA Program
I was asked to post the
following:
The Center for
Jewish Arab Economic Development, in cooperation with The University of Haifa
and the Palestinian Media & Development Institute
is launching a 6th
cycle of the Building Business Bridges MBA program, a unique program that
includes:
The program accepts
30 students: 20 Israeli (Jewish and Arabs) and 10 Palestinians.
The Center for
Jewish Arab Economic Development is now accepting candidates for the new cycle
beginning in May 2005. We are asking your assistance in promoting this program
by sending this letter to persons who you know who might be interested in
participating in the program.
The prerequisites
to be accepted are:
Other relevant
information:
For more
information please contact Ronit Sassoon at telephone
09-957-1379 ext.105 or email municipal@cjaed.org.il
Thank you for
assisting us in promoting this program.
Sincerely,
Ronit Sassoon
****************************************************
Ms. Ronit Sassoon
Director of the
Municipal Unit and
Center for Jewish
Arab Economic Development
16 Galgalei Haplada, POB 12017, Herzlyia Pituach 46733
Tel: 09-954-1379
ext 105
Fax: 09-954-0136
Faculty For
Israeli-Palestinian Peace
I wish to bring to your
attention the mission and objectives of Faculty For
Israeli-Palestinian Peace.
FFIPP, the Faculty For Israeli-Palestinian Peace, is a network of faculty
endeavoring to achieve just peace and end the occupation in Israel/Palestine
and the region.
FFIPP is organized by the Executive
Committee with the invaluable advice of the Advisory
Board. Our Campus
Contacts help coordinate activities at their local universities. A
large number of faculty supports the network and makes
their support known on the list of Endorsers.
About FFIPP
International
|
What Do We
Stand For? |
Peaceful coexistence between
We have no doubt that it is possible to reach such
a brighter future[1],
and we strongly believe that actions and policies moving in that direction are
not only crucially needed, but that they can and must be pursued NOW[2].
We strongly believe that no peace and no justice
can be achieved without Israeli withdrawal from all occupied territories[3],
and that anybody truly and honestly favoring peaceful coexistence must support
such withdrawal.
Furthermore, we are certain that any delay in
beginning this process will result in increasing suffering and loss of human
life. We, therefore, urge all faculty, and others, who care about the two
peoples and the
The bias of a large part of the
The sharp escalation of violence since late March
2002, makes all the above even more urgent, and it appears that without
international, including faculty, involvement, stabilization is unlikely.
|
Our Goal |
Our goal is to achieve just peace and end
the occupation in Israel/Palestine and the region.
|
Our
Objectives |
The objectives
of FFIPP are these:
|
|
To build an effective faculty network that will influence |
|
|
To influence policy and opinion makers and others to
implement policies to stop the violence; |
|
|
To cooperate with those who work for a just peace and assist
Palestinian and Israeli faculty. |
|
Our
Activities |
We
believe that the sector we represent can have impact in
In addition to building and strengthening the
network, planned activities will include,
|
|
Organizing symposia throughout |
|
|
Sponsoring Israeli and Palestinian faculty to speak on US
campuses, educating/updating the academic community on the situation |
|
|
Arranging faculty delegations to |
|
|
Sponsoring delegations for faculty and students to members of
the United States Congress |
|
|
Sponsoring campus campaigns to promote human rights and just
peace in |
|
|
Creating media awareness |
|
|
Sponsoring ad campaigns in the media (e.g., in the New York
Times) |
|
|
Writing Op-Ed articles |
|
|
Efforts to help Palestinian universities with some immediate
needs that they might have |
Further information at
http://www.ffipp.org/
With my very best
wishes, as ever,
Rafi
My last communications are available on
http://almagor.blogspot.com
Earlier posts at my home page: http://lib-stu.haifa.ac.il/staff/rcohen-Almagor
Books archived at
http://almagor.fetchauthor.info