If one has grievances concerning Hamas, it is never of a Christian nature because there was no Hamas misbehavior against Christians.

By Sherri Muzher
PalestineChronicle.com

Sherri Muzher: On April 11, the Reuters wire service quoted former MidEast envoy for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Canon Andrew White, and he was quoted as saying: "(Christians) are suffering from both Islamic extremists and Israeli security concerns.” Now, with the recent victory of Hamas, which has long stated that its goal is to establish an Islamic state in Palestine, what do you say to anxious Palestinian Christians?

Afif Safieh: First of all, I have known Canon Andrew White and I never agreed with him. I think he is profoundly pro-Israeli and was a poor choice for an envoy by the former Archbishop of Canterbury. I totally disagree with his vision that we Christians in the Middle East are cornered between Islamic fundamentalism and the Israeli Occupation. Palestinian Christians have suffered mainly from ethnic cleansing by the Zionist movement in ’48 with Christians abundantly present in those cities conquered in ’48, such as Jaffa, Haifa, Lyd, Ramleh, and West Jerusalem.

I have no ideological affinities to Hamas since I belong to the secular wing of Palestinian nationalism; however, Hamas is known to have been impeccable and extremely careful in its dealings with Christians. So, if one has grievances concerning Hamas, it is never of a Christian nature because there was no Hamas misbehavior against Christians. I can set everyone’s hearts at ease.

Hamas might not always make the wisest, strategic choices and one can have a dispute with Hamas on pragmatic and secular levels, but they have always been respectful of the Christian component of society. There is harmony between the Christian and Muslim components in Palestine. We are a diverse and pluralistic society, like any other society I know. And if one has reservations about some of Hamas’ ideology, it stems from one’s secular and dogmatic beliefs rather than because of their hostile attitude vis-à-vis a community or a minority in Palestine. No, luckily, we don’t have that type of problem in Palestine; we are burdened with many other problems. The dwindling number of Christians in Palestine is the result of that endless Occupation that has been as harsh against Christians as it is against Muslims.

And today, the Bethlehem area (comprised of Bethlehem, Beit Jala, and Beit Sahour) – the last area of Palestine where there is a significant Christian presence – lives in a horrible, horrendous, and demented situation where it is besieged by the Wall of Shame (the Apartheid Wall) that has totally strangled the city, suffocated its economy, and impeded the free movement of the society.

Today, all of Palestine is being deliberately plunged into what is called ‘de-development’ – a concept that was created by Jewish Harvard scholar Sarah Roy, the daughter of Holocaust survivors. She has qualified Israeli policy in Palestinian society and on the Palestinian economy in the Palestinian territories as the deliberate process of de-development.

The Bethlehem area, for example, is a prime target for that policy, and today, Bethlehem is caged in within those walls that have been erected in defiance of the international will and international law.

An article in the Jewish Forward called you one of the sharpest and most eloquent spokespersons on the Palestinian cause in the world, saying the job of pro-Israeli activists got tougher. What is it that you do that causes you to be viewed you as such a threat?

[Laughs] I found the article of Ori Nir to be a flattering article, and I hope that I can live up to the expectations that it might have given rise to. Only the future can decide if I’ve had a significant, noticeable impact or an insignificant passage in town. History has not yet given its verdict, but I hope that I will live up to the expectation that this segment of the article has given rise to ..

Israeli unilateralism. Helpful or hurtful to peace?

Very hurtful to peace because Israeli unilateralism is the Israeli dictation of their conditions on everybody else. I believe that since the peace process in 1991 in Madrid and in 1993 in Oslo, the Israelis (including the Israeli Labor party which has enjoyed an undeserved reputation around the world) wanted: a diplomatic outcome that would: deflect Israeli power and intransigence; the constant American alignment of the Israeli preference; Russian decline; European abdication; Arab impotence; and finally, what they hoped would be Palestinian resignation.

The name of the game constantly for successive Israeli governments has been how to acquire as much Palestinian geography as possible with as little Palestinian demography as possible. That’s the idea of the next unilateral move that Mr. Olmert is already planning. It’s a negative evolution; it would hurt Palestinian interests; and it would hurt the peace process and its credibility. Apparently, because of what I call the self-inflicted impotence of the international community, Olmert might again get away with it.

The self-inflicted impotence of the international community, in my opinion, is what has made the peace process for the last 12-13 years a farce. Too much was left to the negotiating partners to sort it out between themselves, but since we are speaking of two asymmetrical players – Israel the Occupier and the Palestinians the Occupied – the stronger partner was constantly tempted to dictate conditions, and the weaker party was left by itself to sort it out at the mercy of a very unfavorable military balance of power.

I have always been revolted at this self-inflicted impotence of the key players in the international system, and by that I mainly think of the American Administration – the Superpower of the world, yet it abdicates its responsibility and role in Israel/Palestine. And often, the American foreign policy is seen as a subcontract of Israeli strategy.

By The majority of the 78% of Palestinians who showed up on Election Day on January 25 voted for Hamas. If Hamas is forced to collapse, how will this affect the credibility of the US and its push for democracy in the Arab World?

First, Hamas received 44% of the votes and were the obvious winners. I believe Fatah succeeded in defeating itself in the elections because of multiple blunders they have committed. Yet I believe, as a democrat, that winners and losers have to behave gracefully . . . but it was no landslide.

Concerning American foreign policy, it has discredited itself, in my opinion. I have said so to my many interlocutors at the State Department. One cannot speak of democracy and democratization, yet then behave childishly when the results do not correspond to one’s preference. Sovereignty resides with the people.

We do not interfere in Israeli elections . . . and we do not change our expectations depending on who is elected in Israeli society. We consistently maintain the same demands independent of who the Israelis elect.

I think we Palestinians have become unreasonably reasonable and today, we geographically accept a two-state solution along the ’67 border, and if ever some territorial modifications are contemplated, they should be reciprocal on both sides of the border of equal quality and equal quantity. These principles have been accepted by the international community

The only capricious party has been the Israeli player. I would like for us to move from the dialogue by arms to the arms of dialogue. But what made the previous peace processes unconvincing was not terrorism, which I condemned, but territory. The territorial appetite of the Israelis has been a major factor of the collapse and failure of the previous peace processes. What we have witnessed since ’91 is the expansion of occupation, and not its withdrawal. During those years of theoretical peacemaking, the world has been the witness and the Israeli institutions have monitored that the volume of illegal settlements and settlers have doubled in number.

There are some who say that democracy is not compatible with the culture of the Arab World. Thoughts?

I think it is a very racist theory. Democracy is not a western invention, but a universal achievement, and I am a fully-convinced democrat. I believe democracy has four components:

1. Constitutional pluralism;
2. Rule of the majority;
3. Respect for the minority; and
4. The last election should not be the last election

I am proud that since the mid-1960s, the Palestinian national movement has constantly been a diverse movement, and we have respected, cultivated, and protected the pluralism within the national movement. We have already had a Presidential election in 1996, a Presidential election in 2005, and a second legislative election in 2006 – so democracy is very much embedded in Palestinian society. It is part of our political culture. It was not an American export . . . we did not wait for neo-conservatives to be part of an intellectual framework of an American Administration to export it to us in the Middle East.

I personally believe that we can be proud of our society because under duress and occupation, we conducted those elections. Insufficient tribute was paid to Fatah, the leading party for the last 30-35 years, for having organized an election, lost that election, and allowed the peaceful passage of power from the losers to the winners.

But I am worried about American foreign policy today because I believe what should have been done is to entice, persuade, and bring in Hamas into a credible peace process. Now, attempts to rob Hamas of their electoral victory by pushing them toward failure and financial collapse will push the majority of Hamas to more militant approaches. I think the approach of the American Administration, maybe instigated by the Israelis, is extremely unwise.

I believe that Hamas, within its own ranks, is a pluralistic movement. The last years saw the rise of a pragmatic, democratic, modernistic wing. If Hamas is robbed of their electoral victory, the militant wing might again ascend.

For the last 14 months, there has been a Palestinian policy of pacification, which means a Palestinian unilateral ceasefire. And Hamas has been the most disciplined Palestinian faction in respecting this unilateral ceasefire even though it was never reciprocated by the Israelis. Hamas is ready to prolong the policy of pacification if it is reciprocated by Israel – a fact that should have been seen as encouraging.

But there is a theory in international relations, which I do not fully agree with, and that is that only hawks can be peacemakers. Only a Nixon could make diplomatic overtures to China; only a Begin could sign a peace with a Sadat; only a Sharon could withdraw from Gaza. I wonder why this theory is not also applied to Hamas by saying that maybe only Hamas can be engaged in a useful, fruitful, and binding future agreement.

-Author’s Note: To read some of Ambassador Safieh’s writings, visit www.plomission.us

Copyright © 2003 palestinechronicle.com. All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners.

Abir Dandis, the mother of the two girls who were murdered in the Negev town of Al-Fura’a last week, couldn't find a police officer to listen to her warnings, neither in Arad nor in Ma’ale Adumim. Both police stations operate in areas where Israel wants to gather the Bedouin into permanent communities, against their will, in order to clear more land for Jewish communities. The dismissive treatment Dandis received shows how the Bedouin are considered simply to be lawbreakers by their very nature. But as a resident of the West Bank asking for help for her daughters, whose father was Israeli, Dandis faced the legal-bureaucratic maze created by the Oslo Accords.

The Palestinian police is not allowed to arrest Israeli civilians. It must hand suspects over to the Israel Police. The Palestinian police complain that in cases of Israelis suspected of committing crimes against Palestinian residents, the Israel Police tend not to investigate or prosecute them.

In addition, the town of Al-Azaria, where Dandis lives, is in Area B, under Palestinian civilian authority and Israeli security authority. According to the testimony of Palestinian residents, neither the IDF nor the Israel Police has any interest in internal Palestinian crime even though they have both the authority and the obligation to act in Area B.

The Palestinian police are limited in what it can do in Area B. Bringing in reinforcements or carrying weapons in emergency situations requires coordination with, and obtaining permission from, the IDF. If Dandis fears that the man who murdered her daughters is going to attack her as well, she has plenty of reason to fear that she will not receive appropriate, immediate police protection from either the Israelis or the Palestinians.

Dandis told Jack Khoury of Haaretz that the Ma’ale Adumim police referred her to the Palestinian Civil Affairs Coordination and Liaison Committee. Theoretically, this committee (which is subordinate to the Civil Affairs Ministry) is the logical place to go for such matters. Its parallel agency in Israel is the Civilian Liaison Committee (which is part of the Coordination and Liaison Administration - a part of the Civil Administration under the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories).

In their meetings, they are supposed to discuss matters such as settlers’ complaints about the high volume of the loudspeakers at mosques or Palestinians’ complaints about attacks by settlers. But the Palestinians see the Liaison Committee as a place to submit requests for permission to travel to Israel, and get the impression that its clerks do not have much power when faced with their Israeli counterparts. In any case, the coordination process is cumbersome and long.

The Palestinian police has a family welfare unit, and activists in Palestinian women’s organizations say that in recent years, its performance has improved. But, as stated, it has no authority over Israeli civilians and residents. Several non-governmental women’s groups also operate in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, and women in similar situations approach them for help. The manager of one such organization told Haaretz that Dandis also fell victim to this confusing duplication of procedures and laws. Had Dandis approached her, she said, she would have referred her to Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, which has expertise in navigating Israel’s laws and authorities.

John Kerry revealed his long-awaited plan for peace in the Middle East on Sunday, hinging on a $4bn (£2.6bn) investment in the Palestinian private sector.

The US secretary of state, speaking at the World Economic Forum on the Jordanian shores of the Dead Sea, told an audience including Israeli president Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas that an independent Palestinian economy is essential to achieving a sustainable peace.

Speaking under the conference banner "Breaking the Impasse", Kerry announced a plan that he promised would be "bigger, bolder and more ambitious" than anything since the Oslo accords, more than 20 years ago.

Tony Blair is to lead a group of private sector leaders in devising a plan to release the Palestinian economy from its dependence on international donors. The initial findings of Blair's taskforce, Kerry boasted, were "stunning", predicting a 50% increase in Palestinian GDP over three years, a cut of two-thirds in unemployment rates and almost double the Palestinian median wage. Currently, 40% of the Palestinian economy is supplied by donor aid.

Kerry assured Abbas that the economic plan was not a substitute for a political solution, which remains the US's "top priority".

Peres, who had taken the stage just minutes before, also issued a personal plea to his Palestinian counterpart to return to the negotiations.

"Let me say to my dear friend President Abbas," Peres said, "Should we really dance around the table? Lets sit together. You'll be surprised how much can be achieved in open, direct and organised meetings."

Thick locks hug the front gates of shuttered shops, now covered in graffiti and dust from lack of use. Only a handful of customers pass along the dimly lit road, sometimes stopping to check the ripeness of fruits and vegetables, or ordering meat in near-empty butcher shops.

“All the shops are closed. I’m the only one open. This used to be the best place,” said 64-year-old Mustafa Sunocret, selling vegetables out of a small storefront in the marketplace near his family’s home in the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City.

Amidst the brightly coloured scarves, clothes and carpets, ceramic pottery and religious souvenirs filling the shops of Jerusalem’s historic Old City, Palestinian merchants are struggling to keep their businesses alive.

Faced with worsening health problems, Sunocret told IPS that he cannot work outside of the Old City, even as the cost of maintaining his shop, with high electricity, water and municipal tax bills to pay, weighs on him.

“I only have this shop,” he said. “There is no other work. I’m tired.”

Abed Ajloni, the owner of an antiques shop in the Old City, owes the Jerusalem municipality 250,000 Israeli shekels (68,300 U.S. dollars) in taxes. He told IPS that almost every day, the city’s tax collectors come into the Old City, accompanied by Israeli police and soldiers, to pressure people there to pay.

“It feels like they’re coming again to occupy the city, with the soldiers and police,” Ajloni, who has owned the same shop for 35 years, told IPS. “But where can I go? What can I do? All my life I was in this place.”

He added, “Does Jerusalem belong to us, or to someone else? Who’s responsible for Jerusalem? Who?”

Illegal annexation

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, including the Old City, in 1967. In July 1980, it passed a law stating that “Jerusalem, complete and united, is the capital of Israel”. But Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem and subsequent application of Israeli laws over the entire city remain unrecognised by the international community.

Under international law, East Jerusalem is considered occupied territory – along with the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Syrian Golan Heights – and Palestinian residents of the city are protected under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Jerusalem has historically been the economic, political and cultural centre of life for the entire Palestinian population. But after decades languishing under destructive Israeli policies meant to isolate the city from the rest of the Occupied Territories and a lack of municipal services and investment, East Jerusalem has slipped into a state of poverty and neglect.

“After some 45 years of occupation, Arab Jerusalemites suffer from political and cultural schizophrenia, simultaneously connected with and isolated from their two hinterlands: Ramallah and the West Bank to their east, West Jerusalem and Israel to the west,” the International Crisis Group recently wrote.

Israeli restrictions on planning and building, home demolitions, lack of investment in education and jobs, construction of an eight-foot-high separation barrier between and around Palestinian neighbourhoods and the creation of a permit system to enter Jerusalem have all contributed to the city’s isolation.

Formal Palestinian political groups have also been banned from the city, and between 2001-2009, Israel closed an estimated 26 organisations, including the former Palestinian Liberation Organisation headquarters in Jerusalem, the Orient House and the Jerusalem Chamber of Commerce.

Extreme poverty

Israel’s policies have also led to higher prices for basic goods and services and forced many Palestinian business owners to close shop and move to Ramallah or other Palestinian neighbourhoods on the other side of the wall. Many Palestinian Jerusalemites also prefer to do their shopping in the West Bank, or in West Jerusalem, where prices are lower.

While Palestinians constitute 39 percent of the city’s population today, almost 80 percent of East Jerusalem residents, including 85 percent of children, live below the poverty line.

“How could you develop [an] economy if you don’t control your resources? How could you develop [an] economy if you don’t have any control of your borders?” said Zakaria Odeh, director of the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem, of “this kind of fragmentation, checkpoints, closure”.

“Without freedom of movement of goods and human beings, how could you develop an economy?” he asked.

“You can’t talk about independent economy in Jerusalem or the West Bank or in all of Palestine without a political solution. We don’t have a Palestinian economy; we have economic activities. That’s all we have,” Odeh told IPS.

Israel’s separation barrier alone, according to a new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTD), has caused a direct loss of over one billion dollars to Palestinians in Jerusalem, and continues to incur 200 million dollars per year in lost opportunities.

Israel’s severing and control over the Jerusalem-Jericho road – the historical trade route that connected Jerusalem to the rest of the West Bank and Middle East – has also contributed to the city’s economic downturn.

Separation of Jerusalem from West Bank

Before the First Intifada (Arabic for “uprising”) began in the late 1980s, East Jerusalem contributed approximately 14 to 15 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the Occupied Palestinian territories (OPT). By 2000, that number had dropped to less than eight percent; in 2010, the East Jerusalem economy, compared to the rest of the OPT, was estimated at only seven percent.

“Economic separation resulted in the contraction in the relative size of the East Jerusalem economy, its detachment from the remaining OPT and the gradual redirection of East Jerusalem employment towards the Israeli labour market,” the U.N. report found.

Decades ago, Israel adopted a policy to maintain a so-called “demographic balance” in Jerusalem and attempt to limit Palestinian residents of the city to 26.5 percent or less of the total population.

To maintain this composition, Israel built numerous Jewish-Israeli settlements inside and in a ring around Jerusalem and changed the municipal boundaries to encompass Jewish neighbourhoods while excluding Palestinian ones.

It is now estimated that 90,000 Palestinians holding Jerusalem residency rights live on the other side of the separation barrier and must cross through Israeli checkpoints in order to reach Jerusalem for school, medical treatment, work, and other services.

“Israel is using all kinds of tools to push the Palestinians to leave; sometimes they are visible, and sometimes invisible tools,” explained Ziad al-Hammouri, director of the Jerusalem Centre for Social and Economic Rights (JCSER).

Al-Hammouri told IPS that at least 25 percent of the 1,000 Palestinian shops in the Old City were closed in recent years as a result of high municipal taxes and a lack of customers. “Taxation is an invisible tool…as dangerous as revoking ID cards and demolishing houses,” he said. “Israel will use this as pressure and as a tool in the future to confiscate these shops and properties.”

Here we go again with another meaningless “couples’ therapy” session with no concrete goals or meaningful substance. Palestine is the spouse that wants to discuss tangible issues. Israel appears to be the spouse that doesn’t really want to be there but would rather just say, “Hey, I showed up. Isn’t that proof enough that I want this to work out?”

Ahem, right, and Hugh Hefner is going to give the keynote at the next major abstinence conference.

The reality is that the Palestinian economy continues to be strangled; Israeli settlements on private Palestinian lands thrive; children go to school malnourished and are unable to concentrate while hundreds of other children sleep on the cold concrete floors of Israeli prisons; the Wall is cutting into Palestinian towns and effectively halting the flow of goods between Palestinians; and Jewish settlers have burned thousands of Palestinian olive trees with impunity.

Palestinian fishermen cannot fish without being shot at by the Israeli Navy and Gaza continues to descend into deeper despair. One recent October 19 Reuters story brought the point home:

"I am Mr. Nobody," stated Mahmoud Jnaid, who recently doused himself in fuel and tried to set himself on fire before other Palestinian on-lookers overpowered him. "When I poured the petrol on my body I felt life was the same as death," the 25-year-old said while he sat next to his wife and children.

Israel won’t approve ID papers for Jnaid and tens of thousands like him, effectively prohibiting them from traveling, getting driver’s licenses, or even opening bank accounts. Apparently, the denial of these daily basics makes Israel feel more secure. Go figure that one out.

If you listen to the Israeli spin, Jnaid and others deserve what they’re getting because Hamas is in charge of Gaza . But the Israelis and their supporters betray their own knowledge of Israel ’s history when they conveniently “forget” that Britain did not rally the world into isolating Israel when Israelis elected former terrorist Menachem Begin as Prime Minister. After once blowing up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem and killing 91 British and Palestinians, Begin became the Osama Bin Laden of Britain. He was that wanted and hated.

Decades of forced dispossession and cruel occupation subsequently marked Israel ’s existence. The 600+ checkpoints in the West Bank and an intrusive Wall are supposed to be reminders of Israel ’s need for security. But after all these decades, Israel can’t find security. So, the vice keeps tightening and the iron maiden gets smaller.

The Palestinians make us do this to them, Israelis tell the world. That reminds me of the abusive husband who knows that hitting his wife is wrong but blames her for the abuse. If only she did what she’s told . . . And if only the Palestinians did what they’re told . . .

But few buy into this narrative outside our borders, which should tell fellow Americans something. It most certainly has not served our national interests to support those who neither deserve our tax monies nor deprive others of their basic freedoms.

Are there Palestinians extremists with their home-made rockets adding fuel to the fire? Sure, same as there are Uzi-toting Jewish settler extremists who endlessly abuse Palestinians and destroy their crops. Extremists exist on both sides, but why let them win out?

Now comes Annapolis 2007 with a real shot at dealing with the core issues that have led to so much unnecessary bloodshed. I’m not talking about the “generous” Barak offer that allowed for a Palestinian state to look like Swiss cheese. I am talking real solutions about Jerusalem , the right of return of refugees; real borders; the release of thousands of political prisoners; and a potentially real economic partnership.

Instead, we are likely to hear another general statement about issues that need to be resolved. “Peace, peace, peace, yadda, yaddda, yadda.”

More “fuzzy warm” couples’ therapy.

The problem with couples’ therapy is that it boasts few success stories if the will isn’t there for both partners. And most of us have little reason to believe that the Annapolis conference will be anything to boast about.

Sherri Muzher, an American of Palestinian descent, is a political writer and activist. She is the Director of the Michigan Media Watch: www.mmwatch.org

"I am Mr. Nobody," stated Palestinian Mahmoud Jnaid in an October 19th Reuters article. Jnaid recently doused himself in fuel and tried to set himself on fire before other Palestinian on-lookers overpowered him.

"When I poured the petrol on my body I felt life was the same as death," the 25-year-old said while he sat next to his wife and children.

Israel won’t approve ID papers for Jnaid and tens of thousands like him, effectively prohibiting them from traveling, getting driver’s licenses, or even opening bank accounts. Apparently, the denial of these daily basics makes Israel feel more secure. Go figure that one out. Ahem . . .

It was just the latest heart-wrenching story to come out of Palestine and I couldn’t help but wonder if Palestinian politicians and activists had lost sight of the Jnaids of Palestine with all of the ridiculous factionalism and meaningless infighting.

Sure, people are going to disagree on strategies and opinions. But there should be one sole driving force that unites people: Obtaining dignity and hope for the average Palestinian Joe.

Some argue that implementing laws is the prerequisite to obtaining that dignity and hope . . . so, the infighting continues over principles.

Well, most would consider that ‘living with dignity’ is an honorable principle in itself. The reality is that complicated and warped dynamics make the implementation of international laws unlikely in the near future. So until then, improving the lives of Palestinians should be the priority.

“What should move us to action is human dignity: the inalienable dignity of the oppressed, but also the dignity of each of us. We lose dignity if we tolerate the intolerable”

Those wise words came from civil rights activist Dominique de Menil. It’s applicable to so many crises around the world and especially to the Palestinian tragedy. So why aren’t some Palestinians remembering this as they waste valuable energies on marginalizing each other? The infighting is nothing short of self-destructive Also lost during the nasty disagreements is the civility and decency that signified our parents’ generation and the generations before them . . . but I digress.

To a large degree, it is understandable that many everyday Palestinians are now harsher and more mistrustful in their lives. They are responding to nearly 60 years of dispossession and 40 years of a cruel Israeli occupation -- they’ve learned to respond in kind in a tough world of survival. But the privileged in Palestine who’ve largely made their money through corruption and the activists who live in comfort here in the States? Please . . .

Palestine has now become about factions and ideology. There’s Hamas sitting on its “throne” in Gaza while the people’s suffering reaches epic proportions because of world isolation and there’s Fatah jousting for a meaningless spotlight by meeting with Israel while Palestinians are murdered in Israeli raids. There are the non-productive activists who spend their time labeling other Palestinians in the most repulsive terms and there are those who wish to negotiate with a self-righteous Opposition for the sake of negotiating. When exactly did self-respect and dignity go out of style? Sadly, every one of these behaviors illustrates a lack of self-respect.

W'aman La Yokarrem Nafsaho la Yokarram, which in Arabic means "he that doesn't respect himself shall not be respected.” Does this still mean something?

In a nutshell, there seems to be a huge disconnect between the politicians/activists and the Palestinian people they claim to champion.

Yes, that was a simplistic generalization to make because a lot of us feel blessed to know some brilliant diamonds in the coal. But there could be so many more diamonds if Palestinians and pro-Palestinians weren’t so turned off by the infighting. Add to this the huge feeling of burn-out among those few diamonds who are expected to keep producing and carrying the load.

People are naturally starting to ask, “what’s’ the point?”

Well, there is a major point and that point is to give hope to family and friends in Palestine . When a person has reason to hope, it’s easier to hold one’s head up high in dignity.

What can lead to this hope?

An abrupt stop to the new “us v. them” showdown is one important step. But no less important is the requirement of a different mindset so that progress is made It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that when a particular strategy hasn’t worked for decades, it’s time re-visit it until you get something workable and effective. There is nothing honorable or smart about clinging to useless slogans and strategies. Furthermore, history has proven that good intentions alone don’t matter.

I certainly don’t pretend to have all the answers but I’d like to suggest some new strategies:

-Build coalitions with mainstream organizations. There are so many issues that upset fellow Americans, especially paying taxes to support governments that don’t need it. Israel doesn’t need it.

- Break down barriers and dispel popular stereotypes. Take advantage of our precious freedom of speech by writing letters to the editors.

- Don’t assume that others have the same knowledge about the issue. Most people don’t know and get their knowledge from biased sources or pop culture. Don’t get mad; take advantage of the opportunity to calmly correct the misinformation. Note the world “calmly.” The popular stereotype is that people of Palestinian descent cannot control their tempers. Destroy that myth by example. People are more convinced by someone who is rational and calm.

- Quit pursuing the support of every leftist who claims to love justice. By now, I’d like to think that most activists are aware of the many insincere activists whose focus is to distract and sabotage relationships between pro-Palestinian groups. Besides, the Palestine conflict is a human issue, not a leftist issue.

- Passion has its positives and negatives, but use it to rejuvenate yourself and others. Don’t use it to tear people down because they disagree with you.

- Do unto others as you would want other to do to you. This Golden Rule sounds simple and yet some of the most rabid and rude individuals are activists. What exactly do people hope to gain by creating more enemies?

- Know the personal achievements of fellow Palestinians. There’s more to being Palestinian than just politics, and activists need to know these achievements. Celebrating the Palestinian identity is the single greatest thing activists can do.

- Remember that we are Americans, first and foremost. Vocalizing dislike for various policies just like every other American does is natural. Make sure to clarify that! Don’t hate this wonderful land of freedom. Big distinction but it is a distinction that often gets blurred in all the rhetoric and anger. The Opposition then manipulates the angry words for their dishonest PR efforts.

- If a political strategy doesn’t bring about understanding among the target audience (fellow Americans), then why bother? Preaching to the choir feels good up to a point. What’s the final goal though?

By no means should this piece be interpreted as blaming the victims. Israel has somehow convinced our nation though its intimidating lobbying that depriving people of their basic rights is a good thing. It’s a shame that they don’t look into the mindset of the Jewish instigators of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The defiance of Mordechai Anielewicz and others in the face of utter misery was nothing short of remarkable and honorable.

In the end, perhaps it is the United Arab Emirates ’ Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum who said it best in his recent Sixty Minutes interview with Steve Kroft. They were discussing the unbelievably fast development in Dubai:

KROFT: Why do you want everything to be the biggest, the tallest?

SHEIK MOHAMMED: Steve, why not? Why not? If you can have it in New York, why can't we have it here?

KROFT: Why are you in such a hurry? Most people would try and do all of this in a lifetime, not in five years.

SHEIKH MOHAMMED: I want--I want my people to live better life now, to go to high school now, to go to the good health care now. Not after 20 years.

Wanting a better life for one’s people now . . . It’s a refreshing message and a rare one in the Arab World. Our goal should be to improve the lives of Palestinians everywhere, especially those in the Occupied Territories and squalid refugee camps. This certainly doesn’t mean giving up on the principles of justice or not holding Israel responsible for its crimes, but it does mean realizing the principles of dignity and hope for every Palestinian individual now.

It’s also a goal that should bring some unity and reason back into the current Palestinian atmosphere of infighting and insanity. We owe it to our families and friends in Palestine.

“O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie/Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by/Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting Light/The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”

These are the words of one of the most popular Christmas songs, and yet one wonders how many are aware that this magnificent city is dying.

Growing up in a Palestinian Christian home, the cities in the Bible came alive through my parents’ stories of visits to nearby Bethlehem and Jerusalem. The family photographs allowed us to put an image with the stories. Bethlehem was obviously distinguishable for being the place of birth for the Prince of Peace, as well as for the unforgettable 14-point star on the marble ground that marks the site of His birth.

Before the 1967 war and subsequent Israeli occupation, the drive from the Ramallah district to Bethlehem was about 40 minutes. Today, with the Israeli wall and the checkpoints, that same trip could take as long as four hours.

In his new book, “Palestine: Peace, not Apartheid”, former president Jimmy Carter quotes Father Claudio Ghilardi discussing the enclosure of Bethlehem with the wall and the obstacle to attending churches for prayer: “For 900 years, we have lived here under Turkish, British, Jordanian, and Israeli governments, and no one has ever stopped people coming to pray. It is scandalous.”

He disregarded Israeli arguments that the wall was about keeping Palestinian suicide bombers out of Israel. “The wall is not separating Palestinians from Jews; rather, Palestinians from Palestinians.”

How painful has the plight of Bethlehem residents become.

Months ago, when I spoke to the Palestinian ambassador to the US, Afif Safieh, he made a specific mention of the Bethlehem area — the last in Palestine where there is a significant Christian presence.

Bethlehem “lives in a horrible, horrendous, and demented situation where it is besieged by the Wall of Shame (the apartheid wall) that has totally strangled the city, suffocated its economy, and impeded the free movement of the society,” Safieh said.

He went on to describe the policy of “de-development”, a term coined by Harvard scholar Sarah Roy, the daughter of Holocaust survivors. She characterised the Israeli policy of doom against the Palestinian society and economy as deliberate de-development — attracting international media attention, though not here.

Interestingly, Bethlehem became news in Congress this past summer … for the wrong reasons. Congressmen Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Joseph Crowley (D-NY) wanted to introduce a bill about the “persecution” of Palestinian Christians by the Palestinian Authority, without input from Palestinian Christians.

Each clause attempted to exploit the congressmen’s colleagues’ belief that the Palestinian vs. Israeli conflict was a religious conflict between Muslims and Jews.

One particular clause got Chief Executive of Open Bethlehem Leila Sansour’s attention — Clause: Whereas in 1994 Bethlehem was the most populous Christian town in Israel and the entire region…

Sansour wrote to Congressman McCaul: “Between the years 2000 and 2004, 357 Christian families (10 per cent of the Christian population) emigrated from Bethlehem alone. Indeed, this massive emigration threatens the existence of the indigenous Christian community, which has been safeguarding sacred Christian traditions since the time of Jesus. This flight is primarily a result of the fear generated by repeated Israeli military incursions, and has been exacerbated by the economic devastation of Bethlehem due to the Israeli closure imposed on the city.”

The bill was killed before introduction due to the organised efforts of Palestinian Christians, like Sansour.

The shame is that many of the Christian right, firmly entrenched in our political system, believe that unconditional support of Israel will hasten Christ’s Second Coming; never mind that Palestinians and Israelis are apparently supposed to continue dying to realise this prophecy.

On the upside, most Americans are insisting that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict be resolved. According to a UPI-Zogby International poll conducted on 6,296 Americans between December 4 and 6, 59.2 per cent answered that it is very important to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

It will be another sad Christmas in Bethlehem and the rest of Palestine.

As I sing, “O Little Town of Bethlehem”, I will also think of Jesus’ famous words: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.”

The writer, Palestinian-American Catholic, is media and political analyst in Mason, MI. She contributed this article to The Jordan Times.

He gently set down several bottles of olive oil from Palestine on the dining room table after having unloaded them from his vehicle. The bottles, still cool from the November chill, were being sold by the Michigan Peace Team. The proceeds were going to poor Palestinian farmers and their families in the Occupied Territories.

We then sat down for a cup of hot tea with anise, and we talked about his trips to Palestine. Always gracious, he also entertained questions about God and His Heaven. After all, how often does one have a priest in one’s home and the opportunity to ask those questions?

It was a refreshing talk as he didn’t pretend to know all the answers, but this soft-spoken man with a long-white beard was absolutely certain of one thing – “we’re here on earth to serve God . . .”

That conversation took place in 2005, and when a Michigan priest and nun recently made international headlines for standing at a Palestinian home to help prevent its destruction by Israeli air strikes, it was not hard to conclude that the priest was the man I had sat down with only a year ago.

Meet Father Peter Dougherty, a 72-year-old Catholic priest whose favorite quotation comes from Jesus Christ at the Last Supper, “Love one another the way I have loved you.” (John 15:12)

Born in Chicago, his family moved to Adrian, Michigan when he was six years old. A former altar boy who was further influenced by his mother, Father Dougherty knew his calling to the priesthood as far back as the 8th grade.

Years later, he went on to attend and graduate from both the Sacred Heart Seminary (Detroit, Michigan), as well as the St. John’s Provincial Seminary (Plymouth, Michigan) with bachelor’s degrees. Afterwards, he earned two master’s degrees from the University of Detroit in education and guidance counseling.

Not surprisingly, when asked what drives him?

“My faith motivates me very much,” Father Dougherty said. “That is certainly the person of Jesus, for me, as a heroic person who is an embodiment of the love and compassion of God, and wants justice for all people.”

Inspired also by the Jewish prophets who demanded justice for the weak, he then pointed to “all of the male and female saints of different faiths and persuasions who lived heroic lives for justice, healing, and love.”

Humble and with an unforgettably kind human spirit, Father Dougherty is one of those rare people who comes along in our lives and leaves deep impressions on our hearts and souls.

At this time, I’d like to introduce you to Father Dougherty through a recent conversation we had only days after his arrival from Palestine (November 30, 2006)
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Sherri Muzher: You’ve been described as a prophet of our times; fearless; a lawbreaker; saintly; a priest that doesn’t like structure; a peacemaker. Who is the real Father Peter Dougherty?

Father Dougherty: A guy struggling along to try to live out my humanness as a child of God.

SM: One week before you and Sister Mary Ellen Gundeck made international headlines while protecting a Palestinian home from Israeli air strikes, you had an asthma attack where the Israeli Rabbis for Human Rights proved very helpful. Can you talk about that?

FD: Oh, sure. The head cold I had that morning hit my chest and kicked up my asthma, terrible. I had such an attack about 15 years ago. Ordinarily, my asthma is low-level.

We (the Michigan Peace Team) were protecting a farmer near Nablus that day from a settler attack, along with members of Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR). All I could do was lay there and gasp for air. A connection was made to get an ambulance from a suburb of Tel Aviv, and when it came, it could not come to the farmer’s road (or field). So, some folks carried me 100 yards or so. The head of RHR (Arik) drove me to the ambulance some distance and then a female rabbi from RHR (Ruth) escorted me to the hospital in the Tel Aviv suburb. She stayed with me the three hours I was there and invited me to stay at her home in Jerusalem -- which I did. I was in no shape to return to the Team that night. I stayed at her house two nights and got better the next day, and then returned to the Team the following morning. So, I stayed with the family, (which included two lovely young children) while recuperating. They were wonderful, very hospitable.

SM: When a Michigan reporter recently wondered if it was unusual for a Roman Catholic priest and nun to stand in front of a Palestinian home amidst so much danger, you reportedly asked, “where else should we be?” How has this attitude guided you in your decades of peacemaking?

FD: We should be where people are suffering; we should be where violence is being perpetrated. That’s what came from the Jewish prophets, which has been of deep inspiration to me. And I’m inspired by the Palestinians and their suffering. I’ve been there about eight times with peace teams and lived in Palestinian homes. I’ve seen their courage in choosing to be alive in the midst of terrible violence against them.

The fundamental violence is the Occupation. Yes, I grieve for Israelis killed. I am opposed to all violence. I’m opposed to Palestinian violence against Israelis, and vice versa. I agree with Gila Svirsky of Israel’s Women in Black that the best security for Israeli Jews is ending the Occupation, and justice for Palestinians.

SM: Tell us about the Michigan Peace Team.

FD: In 1993, I became the first coordinator. We evolved to placing teams in conflict areas to reduce violence, giving people in that space the ability to develop their lives, and not just be victims. And we began to do that domestically at group events and so on. We also began to do non-violence trainings for all kinds of groups – such as beginning groups, and preparing other teams to do this kind of intervention work and conflict resolution.

SM: Is there a particular place where you feel the Michigan Peace Team has made the greatest impact?

FD: Certainly, here in Michigan where we have our office in Lansing, and we’ve had reach particularly in the Detroit area. We are national because we do go all over – we’ve done trainings in Washington DC, Kentucky, California, and so on. We place teams internationally -- regularly now in Palestine. We’ve got an exploratory team in Baghdad; teams in Bosnia, Haiti. We placed teams during the greater 90s in Chiapas, Mexico, hoping to protect Mayans brutalized by death squads and the military. We’ve sent teams to the US-Mexico border

SM: How do people react when they’ve learned that you’ve served a cumulative total of two years in jail for civil disobedience?

FD: Three general reactions.

One is that people are struck by it, impressed, and hopefully more willing to listen. The whole idea of non-violence . . . when people pay a price, that helps impress so hopefully they might hear what truth I have to say.

The second kind of reaction is negative. That I’m doing bad things, I’m breaking the law, that’s wrong and evil.

A third reaction might be that they’re kind of stand-offish; they’re not too interested in getting close to hear more. Not a strong reaction but they want to keep their distance.

SM: Former US President Jimmy Carter’s book, “Palestine; Peace, not Apartheid” was just released amid controversy over the word choice, “apartheid.” When you go to Palestine, what words come to your mind?

FD: What comes to mind is the creation of Indian reservations, Bantustans, apartheid. I use the image of the US, 150 years ago, driving Native Americans off their land and killing them. When they might retaliate with violence, they were labeled “savages.” And then came the national model that “the only good Indian is a dead Indian” as if they were less than human.

They created a myth that justified violence against a people who have lived here, and now the nation of Israel has created its myth of dehumanizing Palestinians and justified driving them off their land by brandishing them as “terrorists.”

Another analogy is South Africa and the creation of Bantustans for people considered to be less than human (the black Africans), and it was justified by the Afrikaner ruling elites of government.

SM: Back in 2004, you wrote that Gaza “hangs over you like a heavy fog that doesn’t break.” You specifically mentioned Beit Hanoun and said, “When I saw the complete destruction of everything for several blocks in Beit Hanoun, it shook me deeply.” In 2006, a tragedy happened in Beit Hanoun when nineteen Palestinian civilians were killed while sleeping. What was running through your mind?

FD: That I was there two years ago. I was taken around to see the destruction and to talk to people. One man in Beit Hanoun said that one time he counted 65 tanks and 12 bulldozers. And he is not a terrorist; he’s with his elderly father. I saw him clearly outside his house having suffered that two years ago. And now, Beit Hanoun is even more destroyed. Unbelievable. And knowing that it is the richest aquifer in Gaza -- the most fertile place – that’s what was targeted to be destroyed.

SM: The Israelis have issued an apology for killing those civilians. Do you think that the apology is acceptable or what do you think Israel should do to show true remorse?

FD: I think it’s a lie. They deliberately target places knowing they’re going to kill civilians.

When I was in the house in Gaza that had just done a marvelous non-violent act of calling people in and around the house to deter Israelis from carrying out its phone call message of ‘We’re going to destroy the house,’ an elderly man -- who hugged and kissed me and called me ‘his brother’ --’ took me to the edge of the roof to look down. He showed me that the next door houses are within a couple feet of that building. Any missile that would destroy the house we were standing in would destroy the surrounding houses. So the Israeli military knows what it’s doing. It is deliberately targeting places, knowingly killing innocent men, women, children, and babies. It’s deliberate.

SM: Is there a particular story during your time in Palestine that stands out and best captures the human spirit?

FD: Yes, Umm Nasha of Tulkarem. We visited her and her sister-in-law. Now, this was her third home. The first two homes had been destroyed by Israelis. Two of her sons had been killed by the Israeli military and two others are currently in Israeli jails. She had vibrancy about her. I asked her, “How can you appear so joyful, and even hopeful, with all this suffering you experience?” She said, “We must be like the mountain. Strong winds blow and blow and blow. Yet, the mountain stands strong.”

I carry that in my heart. That’s the spirit I see among so many Palestinians. To get up every day and choose to live is a resistance to occupation. It is the most beautiful expression of the human spirit.

SM: Given all of your years of peacemaking, what do you think the missing ingredient has been in the quest for Middle East peace?

FD: Making leaders do what is right. That means the Israeli government and the US government needs to stop deceiving their own peoples and keeping from them the horrors that their tax monies are doing in Palestine. This is the tragedy

One Israeli Jewish peace leader – a marvelous leader in Israel – said that she believes that what is going to have to transpire is that a war-maker general will have to run for president of Israel and then begin to implement the original Oslo and peace plans to create a true and viable Palestinian state. It would take a war-maker to be able to strongly tell his people that “we’ve got to do this,” and they would trust him. The current Israeli leaders are too afraid to appear weak by being peacemakers, and so they carry out their strong stance of continuing to take over Palestinian lands and the daily assault on Palestinians with the Occupation.

SM: And are you optimistic or pessimistic?

FD: I am neither optimistic nor pessimistic. The word truly is ‘hopeful.’ All brutal dictators fall, the brutality of the Israeli government will crumble, and the American support of the Israeli brutality will cease.

How, when, and where? I don’t know. The important thing is to be hopeful to carry on the struggle, whether or not I see the results here and now or not. I don’t want to operate like a drug addict who has to have his daily fix. Rather, be faithful to the struggle knowing that we are planting seeds and that we’re part of the transformation. We join with the Palestinians, the Israeli Jews, and the American Jews that are against the Occupation and see the truth. And we continue the struggle, doing humbly what we can.

Sherri Muzher, JD with emphasis in International Law
Director of Michigan Media Watch
Mason, Michigan
(517) 244-0535