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Seeds of crisis: the u.s., israel and the middle east
At a recent Palestine Center briefing, experts analyzed the current developments in the Middle East and addressed the root causes of the conflict. Halim Barakat explained the historical context which allowed for the eruption of the recent events and Laurie King-Irani discussed the meaning of democracy, terrorism and international law. Sam Husseini pointed out that the media could do a better job in informing the public of the events in the Middle East and Jim Lobe analyzed U.S. Foreign Policy toward the Middle East since 9/11. [Editor's Note: The briefing was also televised on C-Span]
Samar Assad:
Good morning and welcome to the Palestine Center. Today's panel will address the current crisis in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, particularly its root causes. With each day that the Bush administration blocks attempts for an immediate cease-fire more civilians are losing their lives and the scope of the destruction of infrastructure widens and deepens. The grim proof of this is the overwhelming loss of civilian life, mostly children, in a single bombing in Qana on Sunday, a repeat of a similar bombing in April 1996. The Bush administration is talking about a new Middle East. We first heard this in 2004, when at the UN, Bush spoke about America's campaign to spread democracy and freedom in the Middle East. Today, the people of the region, in Lebanon and occupied Palestine, who exercised democracy and held free elections, those people as they hide from relentless bombings, believe that what Bush meant by a new Middle East is one of which the aim is to deliver a debilitating blow to the resistance against occupation.
Now to our experts. I will introduce them briefly and in the order in which they will speak. Dr. Halim Barakat is an author, sociologist and retired research professor of Society and Culture at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University. Dr. Laurie King-Irani is an editor, anthropologist and freelance writer. She is co-founder of Electronic Lebanon and Electronic Intifada. Mr. Sam Husseini is Communication Director for the Institute for Public Accuracy. Mr. Jim Lobe is Washington Bureau Chief for Inter Press Service, an international wire service. Since 9/11 he has written extensively on the Middle East.
Halim Barakat:
From the perspective of the present Israeli-Lebanese confrontation - which I would love to say something about at the end if I have a few minutes - I wish to focus on some relevant events since 1982 when Israel also invaded Lebanon. I wish also to point out that the 1967 war, the June war, has created conditions conducive to the emergence of the spirit of resistance all over the Arab world. I perhaps can say at the present time that there are going to be a lot of events as a result of Arab anger against their own governments.
Let me being with the year 1982. The year 1982 was a decisive year in the modern life of Lebanon and a landmark in the history of the Palestine-Israel conflict. It brought to the forefront the harsh Israeli commitment to the annexation of the territories occupied in 1967, and consequently the resurgence of an Israeli peace movement. This year [1982] witnessed the Israeli invasion of Lebanon on 4 June, which brought about the Sabra and Shatila massacres that followed.
The Israeli army allowed and observed the Phalangist members doing their dirty work, although Israel had promised U.S. Representative Philip Habib not to set foot in West Beirut. The 1982 Israeli invasion aimed at that time to dismantle the PLO and the Palestinian movement that was born out of the wounds of the 1967 war. This marked the disaster of the exile of the PLO. At that time [Israeli Prime Minister] Menachem Begin in the Israeli Kensset said, "And they come to hang the Jews."
In 1983, the French intellectual Jean Genet wrote a piece in the Journal of Palestine Studies entitled "Four Hours in Shatila." I cannot share with you the scenes he described without losing my composure. Suffice it to mention his remarks, "I had to go to Shatila to understand the obscenity of death."
"It will be very easy for Israel to clear itself of accusations. Journalists of all European presses are already at work clearing them."
A Lebanese writer told Genet, "It will be very easy for Israel to clear itself of accusations. Journalists of all European presses are already at work clearing them." I say that the American press not only protected Israel, it has misrepresented the victims by portraying them as aggressors.
The final report of the Israeli commission of inquiry into the events at the refugee camps in Beirut, 14-18 September 1982, held Israel responsible for these massacres. The link between the Phalangists Lebanese forces was formed during the civil war of 1976-1990. The Mossad was responsible for this linkage, though the founder of the Phalangist party often warned that he may resort to the Devil, meaning Israel, and never concealed his opinion that it would be necessary to use acts of violence in order to impose the exodus of Palestinian refugees.
I move to the year 1987. An incident on 8 December 1987 led to the intifada, the Palestinian uprising. An Israeli tank suddenly swerved into a line of cars on a road in Gaza, killing four men waiting near a checkpoint into the territories. Four men died and seven sustained serious injuries. Rumors spread quickly that the incident was deliberate throughout the towns and refugee camps. Over 6,000 in Jabalyia refugee camp arrived to bury the dead. The funeral erupted into a massive demonstration that continued the next day. The Israeli military used live ammunition, beatings and arrests and tear gas to disperse the angry protestors.
The news spread in the West Bank that another youth was killed on 10 December at Balata refugee camp near Nabuls. Again protestors pored into the streets, which in turn promoted further protests that lasted days and weeks, and extended into months and years to 1993 and beyond the Oslo Accord. The intifada has never been crushed. However, the [1991] Madrid Conference and the negotiations gradually shifted the focus.
In 1988, in his speech to the UN General Assembly, [Palestinian Leader Yasser] Arafat presented the Palestinian Peace Initiative on 13 December, pointing out that the PLO would seek a comprehensive settlement within the framework of the International Conference for Peace on the basis of UN Resolutions 242 and 338, to live in freedom and the right to exist in peace and security for all.
The Palestinian National Council met in Algiers from November 12-15 and announced a declaration of independence which proclaimed the state of Palestine. In the Stockholm Statement of 7 December, the Palestinian National Council agreed to enter into peace negotiations to establish a Palestinian state and accept the existence of Israel, to declare its rejection of terrorism in all its forms, and called for a solution to the Palestinian refugee [question].
The Palestinian National Council issued a political statement on 28 December 1991 that included the following salient points: securing complete Israeli withdrawal from the Occupied Territories, the reaffirmation of Jerusalem as an integral part of Occupied Palestine, and the cessation of [construction of Israeli] settlements.
On Friday 19 April 1996, Israel attacked a UN building in Qana, in which some of [Lebanon's] residents sought refuge, and killed 106 men, women and children. The dead were buried by families-16 members of one family were buried in one tomb. (I will say something more on Qana and what is taking place now.)
In 1997, I listened to an interview with an American journalist in which he explained his image of the Gulf War. He said, "Imagine Iraq as a body. What do you do to destroy the body? You hit the nervous system. This is how you can paralyze it." This is what Israel is trying to do at the present time in Lebanon.
In 1999, Arabs lived in a state of war in a time of peace-would it be possible to say that people can live in peace at times of war? Lebanon is trying to do so since then. Perhaps it is the only country of the world in which the people do not seem to be interested in having a state-up to that point-or even a country. And the Lebanese state behaves as if there is no such thing as people. That is taken out of a journal that I have been writing. Maybe it's ambiguous but, I am trying to translate from Arabic to English.
In 2000, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said about war, or described war, as a human action. He talked of war as an act of humanity. On Friday 4 November the United States administration knew that there would be innocent victims, but for them this was part of what is called necessary evil and that you do what you have to do.
In 2003, it became clear that Arab governments are very weak and powerless. It turned out that they are powerless beyond what even the pessimists used to think. Perhaps Israel is the only country in the world that talks to America from above and from the position of power. Today [U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza] Rice convinced the Israelis to have a cease-fire. The Israelis announced it, but then they changed their minds. And [now] we are told that Ms. Rice accepted their explanation for continuing the war. I think I will be able to address some questions you may have on the present situation in Lebanon later. Thank you.
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