For Obama and Netanyahu: 2009, a Year of Regional Hopes & Challenges
May 22, 2009 at 4:12 pm | In Integration, Peace Process, Security | Leave a CommentAny day when the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Israel work together is a great day, an example of the strong working relationship our two great countries share. The recent meeting was the second for President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu, the two having previously met as candidates for their respective offices. That meeting was a great success and we in Israel look forward to working with President Obama, as our new government comes together with the new American administration.
While this meeting was important, we know that Israel and the United States have a friendship that’s bigger than any single leader or government interest. Our two countries are bonded in every home and on every street corner, a relationship built on the shared grassroots values of everyday Americans and Israelis. The bedrocks of our open societies are our democratic ideals: voting rights, freedom of religion, minority rights, the rule of law, and individual liberty.
Our two countries have a common vision for the future, one that will allow us to create a lasting peace. To that end, Prime Minister Netanyahu has continued our country’s intensive peace negotiations. His commitment comes in spite of the Palestinians’ current state of division. The Palestinian leadership is severed in two, each side unwilling to work with the other. Dialog cannot advance unless we can have a unified partner open to peace and dialog. Yet in the face of these complications, our government has vowed to respect all of Israel’s obligations with the Palestinian people.
There can be no peace, however, while the Iranian specter looms over the region and attempts to taint every effort our countries make. Iran’s policies and rhetoric have no place in the modern civilized world. As the Prime Minister recently remarked, “it is inconceivable that, at the beginning of the 21st century, a country has said it is going to eradicate the Jewish state.”
Israel, the United States, and our Arab neighbors agree: Iran and its nuclear ambitions are a threat that we all must face. Tehran’s Hamas fighters have taken Gaza hostage, its Hezbollah proxies have undermined Lebanese democracy and independence, and its allies in Iraq have waged a bloody war against the Iraqi people and American forces since Saddam fell in 2003.
The meeting in Washington was likely the first of many and we can all expect the President and the Prime Minister to work closely over the coming years. These discussions serve to remind us of our commonalities. When you look past the headlines we are both merely freedom loving immigrant societies, countries built by the hard work of those seeking a better and peaceful life for their children and grandchildren.
I had the privilege to work along side Prime Minister Netanyahu while he served as Deputy Foreign Minister and as Prime Minister in his first government. I have experienced first-hand his many close personal relationships with leaders from all walks of American life and I know his deep commitment to strengthen the great alliance between Israel and the United States. I am confident will face our threats together and accomplish our common goals for peace.
Article originally appeared in the Atlanta Jewish Times on May 22, 2009
Consul General is an Arab Who Represents Israel Well
December 29, 2008 at 9:58 pm | In Integration, Peace Process, Security | Leave a CommentFrom the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By John Christensen
Wherever Reda Mansour goes, the rumor spreads quickly. It happened in San Francisco, in Quito, Ecuador, in Lisbon, and in Atlanta when he arrived two years ago as the Israeli consul general.
Within days, virtually everyone in the Jewish community knew that Mansour was not a Jew. Indeed, not only was he not a Jew, he was an Arab and a Muslim. And as anomalies go, that was just for openers.
Consider:
> He is also a Druse, a sect which broke away from mainstream Islam 1,000 years ago and has often been persecuted by other Muslims since.
> Although he champions the interests of a nation notable for its aggressive self-defense, he is also an award-winning poet who mourns violence, hatred and death.
> Although Arabic is his first language — he speaks five in all — he writes poetry in Hebrew.
> Although the proud descendant of a clan of farmer/warriors — and a combat veteran himself — he is first and foremost a peacemaker.
On a recent morning, Mansour relaxed in an easy chair in his bright corner office in Midtown. On his desk, two neatly stacked piles of paper awaited his attention. Balanced atop one stack was an indispensable tool of the career diplomat: a TV remote. The silenced television, nestled into a bookcase in the corner, flicked monotonously through the day’s affairs.
Mansour is of medium height with salt-and-pepper hair, dark soulful eyes and, at least in initial encounters, a detached watchfulness. He wore black slacks, a blue-and-white stripe shirt with a blue-and-yellow rep tie, and spoke in soft, accented English.
A consul general — Israel has nine in the United States and an ambassador in Washington — promotes cooperation between his country and local business, academic and cultural interests.
There are about 40 Israeli companies doing business in the Southeast, according to Jorge Fernandez, vice president for global commerce at the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, and Mansour is “very much involved in making sure that Atlanta is in the forefront of Israeli investments in the U.S. He is very approachable and very knowledgeable.”
Of particular concern to many, however, is how Mansour is regarded by the Jewish community.
‘We think he’s just terrific’
“Outstanding,” says Steven A. Rakitt, president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, “just outstanding. Ambassador Mansour is one of the most thoughtful, passionate and eloquent representatives of the state of Israel that I’ve ever met. He’s respected, appreciated and admired. We’re thrilled to have him in Atlanta.” Mansour, who is referred to as ambassador due to his position in Ecuador, was appointed in 1990 as the first non-Jewish career diplomat. “But a lot of people still don’t know,” he says. “It’s a very exceptional thing.”
He shrugs. “The Jewish community needs to deal with this idea, and the vast majority accept it very well. They have learned very quickly how important it is for them, and how there is added value in having a representative who is not Jewish or maybe Jewish but from other groups in the country.
“I don’t think there’s any other country in the world other than America with as diversified a population as Israel. We have people from maybe 70 different countries.”
Tom Glaser, president of the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce, says Mansour “has been totally accepted by the Jewish community. He is one of the brightest, most thoughtful and intelligent consul generals we’ve had. He’s authentic, he’s loyal, he makes a very good impression, he’s a quick study and he’s very cooperative. He’s a great representative of the state of Israel, and we think he’s just terrific.”
In Israel, Mansour says, acceptance is immediate when people realize he is Druse.
“My name is Arab, so it’s not hard to know this is not a Jewish person,” Mansour says. “But the Druse have recognition within the state of Israel because of their military service. We are the only non-Jewish minority that is drafted into the military, and we have an even higher percentage in the combat units and as officers than the Jewish members themselves. So we are considered a very nationalistic, patriotic community.”
Druse identity is a matter of enormous pride and not, Mansour says proudly, something one converts to: “You must be born a Druse.”
Mansour grew up in Isfiya, a Druse town of 12,000 in the Carmel Mountains near the industrial coastal city of Haifa. Isfiya is dominated by a few clans, including the Mansours.
“There are about 1,500 of us, and we’re all related.” He adds with a wry smile, “Weddings are very big events in our town.”
His father was a banker in Haifa and sent his three children to private schools. As a teenager, Mansour went to summer camps in the United States and Canada and involved himself in groups promoting dialogue between Arabs and Jews.
“It’s important to keep your traditions, but at the same time, it’s very dangerous to live in a world where you don’t have daily interaction within groups,” he says. “Because then each one develops its own images and conceptions, especially in rough times. And these misunderstandings can easily drift into violence.
“So I felt always the need, wherever I was, from primary school to now, to always be involved in ongoing dialogues with various groups.”
He credits his grandfather for this perspective. Akram Mansour’s graphic stories about Arab attacks on Isfiya and other Druse communities in the 1930s “were terrifying, horrible,” says Mansour. “I think that affected me, the need to prevent this from happening again.”
A diplomat’s poetic side
It was also as a teenager — he was 16 — that one of Reda Mansour’s poems was published in a national newspaper. Five years later, he published his first book of poetry, called “The Dreamer.”
The inspiration to write, he says, comes from “the mountains of the Carmel where I grew up. It’s probably one of the most beautiful places in the world. The scenery can’t help but leave you with some feeling that you need to produce some form of art.”
But he never knows when the muse will strike, and over the years has composed on envelopes, scraps of paper, even ammunition boxes.
He has also integrated poetry into his diplomatic life. He read two of his poems at a memorial service for the Holocaust in Atlanta last year, gave a reading this spring at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S.C., and is to give another this fall in Chattanooga.
His most recent book, “Tender Leaves of Conscience,” synthesizes observations about New England weather (he has a master’s degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University) with his experience in Lisbon and the discovery of mass graves in Bosnia.
The point, he says, was to affirm “how people can continue after these vicious discoveries.”
Mansour will return to Israel when his assignment here ends in 2010. Although unclear about his next posting, he has no doubt as to his mission: “Bringing Arabs and Jews together, and telling people that in my own story maybe I embody the solution for the future. That political solutions can be found when people want to live together.”
THE DRUSE AND THEIR ROLE IN ISRAEL
There are an estimated 1 million Druse around the world, most of them in Syria, Lebanon and Israel (which has an estimated 120,000).
The Druse began as a reformist movement within Islam and called themselves al-Muwahhidun, which means “the Unitarians.” But when their ideas were rejected, the Druse were regarded as heretics — a crime punishable by death — and they retreated to the mountains.
They built villages that could be easily defended and developed a system of smoke signals that enabled any village to summon help when attacked.
“They could pass fire signals all the way from the Carmel [Mountains] in Israel to the Syrian mountains in a matter of hours,” says Israeli Consul General Reda Mansour.
Their reputation as fierce fighters was enhanced by a bond called brit damim (covenant of blood), which developed between Druse and Israeli soldiers during the Arab-Israeli War of 1948.
There is now a Druse general in the Israeli army, Druse in the intelligence service and ten Druse in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — including the deputy foreign minister.
Bringing you news in a new way
September 26, 2008 at 2:04 pm | In Economics, Enviromental Conservation, Peace Process, Security | Leave a Comment
In our continuing efforts to meet you wherever you are, the Consulate to the Southeast is working with local media outlets to bring you the latest in Israel related video content. Our videos include in-depth information on Israel in the media, Israeli art & culture, the Mideast peace process, and Israel’s vibrant economy. We hope you enjoy our videos and check them out at our website, http://atlanta.mfa.gov.il or visit them directly by clicking here.
Save Lebanon to Save Democracy in the Middle East
July 18, 2008 at 4:41 pm | In Security | Leave a CommentFor the last fifteen years, Hezbollah has been trying to convince the world that they are the shield of their nation, the defenders of the Lebanese people. They forced the Lebanese to call them “the resistance” and to accept that the group deserved ever increasing allegiance and authority. But Hezbollah’s thirst for power left the group’s leadership blind, unable to perceive the moment when their “resistance” narrative would fail. The world now sees the real Hezbollah: a group that wants power and wants it now. Allowing Hezbollah to realize its desires will mean the ends of democracy in Lebanon and the fragile democratic revival taking place in the Middle East.
When Israeli forces were still in southern Lebanon the Hezbollah “resistance” narrative was easy to sell. The Lebanese were forced to agree with Hezbollah leader Nasser Allah that there was a foreign enemy that needed to be fought. However, when Israeli forces left, the group did not disarm and found itself in the advantageous position of being far more powerful than the national military. It was only a matter of time until Hezbollah would turn against the people they claimed to protect.
Last week Hezbollah stopped trying to fool the Lebanese people, the masquerade was over. Hezbollah gunmen dropped their “resistance” narrative and showed themselves for what they truly are: an Iranian-back terrorist group. They went into homes and offices, and attacked non-Hezbollah TV stations. The assault was all the more devastating because it came from the group that claimed for so long to be the guardians of Lebanese democracy.
Lebanon has never been an ideal democracy or a stable government, but it has been freest and most democratic country, other than Israel, in the Middle East. It has been a pocket of liberty in the region with the highest number of dictatorships and military regimes in the world. Lebanon’s freedoms made it the refuge of intellectuals in exile and political dissidents and also the hope of common people throughout the region.
Lebanon is also a fragile country. Its government has to keep a delicate balance between more then twenty deferent ethnic, religious and denominational groups, making it too divided to prevent invaders and rise of radical ideologies. These are the reasons why so much violence has been attracted to this sad country. Its enemies have been threatened by its freedoms and lured by its weaknesses.
Hezbollah’s cynicism had led it to believe that it can take over Lebanon by force. The group has the support of Iran and Syria, two of the region’s most powerful regimes. Backed by such strong allies, Hezbollah believes that the highly divided Lebanon will be able to muster little defense. This is the same feeling Hamas had when it too took over its national government and literally through its opponents out the window, leaving them to crash to their deaths on the harsh reality of the Gaza sands.
But Hezbollah’s attempt at conquest will fail. The pro-Iranian Islamic extremists will learn that Lebanon is not an easy place to conquer. It has been proved time and again that the country is manageable only by consensus. No internal or external parties have managed to change that; no matter how strong they were or how long they tried.
The diversity that is all too often Lebanon’s weakness is also its safeguard against tyranny and occupation. There is nothing that unifies the Lebanese like a common enemy. Hezbollah might gain some land, but it will suffer heavy casualties. It might burn down a TV station, but the views it opposes will simply be broadcast from elsewhere.
Most importantly, Hezbollah has lost its self-proclaimed title of “resistance group” and gained apt title of “militia.” Some Lebanese have gone so as to risk their lives by openly renaming Hezbollah the “party of Satan,” the direct opposite of the translation of the group’s name in Arabic, which means the “party of God”.
It is no longer possible for Hezbollah to invent enemies when Lebanon’s two neighbors are Israel, a country that remains behind its internationally recognized border, and the other is Syria, Hezbollah’s closest ally.
The Lebanese people have made it clear; they are no longer willing to be the victims everyone is willing to sacrifice in their war against Israel. They are sending a plain message to Hezbollah’s leaders that endless wars on their southern border must not continue. The “resistance” narrative that Hezbollah needs fifteen thousand rockets, one hundred thousand lines of communication, and thousands of armed gunmen to liberate one small farm in Shebaa is no longer expectable.
It is imperative that international community helps the brave Lebanese people hold onto their freedom and fragile democracy. The time has come to support them in any way possible, and by doing so send a clear massage to all extreme Muslim groups in the region: the world might protect their right to practice their religion freely in a democratic country, but it will not allow them to murder democracy in the name of their holy wars.
Article appeared in the Atlanta Jewish Times on July 4th, 2008
In the Middle East, the Footprints of Iran are Everywhere
July 18, 2008 at 4:36 pm | In Security | Leave a CommentReading the headlines, one might mistakenly conclude that Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons is the only threat posed by the extremist regime. In reality, the threat is much larger. Iran’s footprints can be found all over the Middle East. The extremist state is currently playing a role in creating or maintaining almost every conflict in the region.
Iran uses its vast oil wealth to extend its influence across the Middle East, buying allies and recruiting terrorists to fight its battles. Tehran’s aggressive posturing fuels the fires of ancient hatreds, disrupting the delicate balance of the region. The regime has renewed longstanding Arab and Persian resentment by forcing territorial and commercial disputes with Kuwait and United Arab Emirates. In Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Iraq, the Iranian regime has fomented unrest in the Shiite population with the hope of enlarging its powerbase at the expense of domestic authority.
In Iraq, the Iranian presence is visible in the explosion of nearly every roadside bomb. Tehran provides Shiite militias, radical insurgents, and vicious terrorists with arms, support, and IEDs. These are the same weapons that are used against U.S. and Iraqi soldiers. Iran hopes it efforts will topple the fragile Iraqi government and force a U.S. retreat, allowing Tehran to supplant American and Iraqi authority with its own.
In Lebanon, the Islamic regime trains, finances, and arms the terrorist group Hezbollah. The Iranian proxy is responsible for numerous political assassinations, kidnappings, and killings and has now threatened to take over its own country by force. Through Hezbollah, Iran is fighting to destroy the democratically elected moderate Lebanese government.
In Gaza, Iran has allied itself with the terrorists of Hamas. The terrorist group openly admits that its militants are trained in Iran. With Iran’s support, Hamas has declared war against the elected government of the Palestinian Authority and has started a bloody and horrifying civil war. Hamas is also using its Iranian supplies to attack the innocent population of its neighbors. Since January 1st, thousands of Hamas rockets have been launched against towns in southern Israel.
Given the regime’s dangerous habit of meddling in conflicts throughout the Middle East, Iranian nuclear development poses an even larger threat. The Islamic regime, enriched by its vast oil recourse and no longer held in check by a militarist Iraq, has spread misery and hatred. Iran’s track record leaves little reason to believe that, if armed with nuclear weapons, the country would act any differently than it has. Tehran is seeking to increase its own power and influence, and does not care at whose expense their goals are achieved. Obtaining nuclear weapons would only increase Iran’s ability to accomplish its mission.
Despite its obviously malicious intentions, some still believe Iran when it declares that it is peacefully seeking nuclear power. However, the regime sits on one of the world’s largest reserves of oil and natural gas, resources from which Tehran derives its power. Endowed with so much natural wealth, the country has absolutely no use for nuclear energy.
Others contend that after it successfully develops a nuclear weapon Iran could be deterred. Even without nuclear arms, Iran is already attacking its enemies directly and through its proxies. These behaviors are unlikely to change once the country acquires a nuclear bomb. The real question is not how to deter Iran, but how the international community could avoid being deterred by a nuclear Iran, as it continues to work toward its goal of dominating the Middle East.
Iran already poses a conventional threat to the international community. Soon Iran may become a nuclear threat as well. The extremist regime’s long history of aggression proves its intent. Tehran seeks to destabilize the region, to bring back ancient and violent animosities, and to become the unchallenged leader of the Middle East. Iran must be prevented from achieving its aims. The international community must take diplomatic action before it’s too late.
Article appeared in the Nashville Tennessean on April 13th, 2008; in the Atlanta Jewish Times on April 25th, 2008; and in the Deep South Jewish Voice on May 1st, 2008
Poetic Justice for Ahmadinejad
July 18, 2008 at 4:32 pm | In Security | Leave a CommentOn the very day that Iran’s President Ahmadinejad spoke at Columbia University, I happened to be reading poetry to thirty Holocaust survivors in Atlanta. Throughout the presentation, I felt uneasy; I felt as if I should be exposing the radical leader who not only denies the Holocaust, but calls for a new genocide in “wiping Israel off the map.”
But in actuality, the situation in Iran has already exposed him as a cruel and ineffective leader. The Iranians are tired of his empty promises “in the name of God,” although only a miracle could now save the failed Islamic Revolution. More than 20 % of the nation is unemployed, the educated are leaving the country resulting in a substantial brain drain, and despite its massive oil reserves, Iran is heavily dependent on imported fuel. It continues to scrape by because of the current high crude oil prices, but Ahmadinejad knows that this is only a weak patch for a bleeding economy.
The Iranian President is desperate, and has every reason to be: his beloved Islamic Revolution is almost thirty years old, but it has failed the Iranian people. Ahmadinejad is selling the nuclear illusion to his citizens to distract them from his and Khomeini’s monumental failure.
Scoffing at the 9/11 tragedy and denying the Holocaust are both dangerous and shocking behavior from a potential nuclear power, but these declarations say something even more disturbing about Ahmadinejad. He sees the world through the eyes of a street fighter, continuously spewing threats from the losing side of his global gang fight in the attempt to save face. After all, Ahmadinejad was among the mob that stormed the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979, a protected symbol of dialogue between nations- the dialogue that he was allegedly seeking at Columbia just last week.
This brutal mentality makes a nuclear Iran even more dangerous. We have no assurance that Ahmadinejad would not pass the bomb to one of his many proxy terrorist groups in Iraq, Lebanon and Gaza to be detonated in London, Paris, New York or Tel Aviv. In fact, I believe he would, for dictators never know when to stop, and in their desperation they don’t hesitate to take others down with them.
Despite the looming nuclear threat, I found a bit of poetic justice by the end of my poetry reading. Reading Hebrew poetry to a group of Holocaust survivors could possibly be the greatest act of defiance against the world’s most visible dictator. It was as if we were saying “we are still here, and we will be reading our poetry long after the champions of hate like you are gone.”
And so there we were: almost thirty Holocaust survivors and an Israeli diplomat gathered together during the same moments that Ahmadinejad was preaching hate and violence. Thirty survivors- one for each year of the failed Iranian revolution- all with shared hope that Ahmadinejad will continue to fail in bringing upon us his nuclear nightmare.
Article appeared in the Atlanta Journal Constitution on October 4th, 2007; in the Daily Alert on October 23rd, 2007; in the Deep South Jewish Voice on November 1st, 2007; in the Birmingham News on November 4th, 2007; in the Asheville Citizen Times on November 9th, 2007; and in the Durham-Chapel Hill Federation Menorah on November 20th, 2007
Iran’s Influence on the Middle East
July 18, 2008 at 4:25 pm | In Peace Process, Security | Leave a CommentWhat do all the current threats in the Middle East – the Hamas takeover in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah’s bid for power in Lebanon, political turmoil in Iraq and imminent nuclear weapons in the hands of a radical dictatorship – have in common? Iran.
Those issues are linked by Tehran’s drive for regional hegemony. Iran’s strategy has been in place since the 1979 Islamist revolution, but it has only recently begun to pay off. The often-stated goal of the revolution was to turn Iran into a utopian Islamist society and to spread the revolution throughout the Middle East and the Islamic world in general.
Iran has often been cautious in pursuing its program, especially given the war with Iraq in the 1980s and the possibility of Western opposition. But events have given the regime renewed confidence, and the extreme line taken by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has produced more daring – thus reckless and violent – behavior.
Iran tries to extend its influence in three ways: propaganda and incitement; the promotion of client groups; and the projection of the state’s own power. Iran sponsors radical Islamist groups in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon and among the Palestinians, as well as in other countries. Its two most important clients are Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Palestinian group Hamas.
Those organizations are not totally controlled by Tehran and do not have their every move dictated by it, but Iran finances them, provides weapons and training, encourages them to launch attacks, and shapes their ideology. Without Iran’s backing, they would lack most of their power.
The evidence indicates that Iran has urged them to be more aggressive and to launch terrorist attacks and more general offensives.
Take Lebanon, for example. Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim group, closely follows Iran’s line. The organization’s head, Hassan Nasrallah, is also the official representative in Lebanon of Iran’s “spiritual guide” or supreme leader – that country’s most powerful official. In 2006, Hezbollah launched attacks on Israel that led to a major war, steps it would never have taken without knowing Iran wanted such actions. Indeed, in an April interview on Al-Kawthar TV, Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general, Sheik Naim Qassem, said: “Hezbollah, when it comes to matters of jurisprudence pertaining to its general direction, as well as to its jihad direction, bases itself on the decisions of the spiritual guide [Iran's supreme leader]. … With regard to all the other details – whenever we need jurisprudent clarifications regarding what is permitted and what is forbidden on the jihad front, we ask, receive general answers and implement them.”
Since the end of the summer 2006 war, Hezbollah’s emphasis has been to control Lebanon, though it has also rebuilt its military power. On a number of occasions, Iran has been caught smuggling arms to Hezbollah through Syria and Turkey. Iranian Revolutionary Guards act as military advisers to Hezbollah. Opponents of an Iranian-Syrian takeover in Lebanon, politicians and journalists, have been killed in terrorist attacks. Iran is seeking to turn Lebanon into a satellite state.
The same tactics are employed with the Palestinians. Hamas and the even more extremist Palestinian Islamic Jihad follow Iran’s line. Tehran has publicly urged those organizations to carry out terrorist attacks and, in addition to training and arms, provides examples of anti-Semitic rhetoric duplicated in their propaganda.
This June was a turning point in Palestinian history. Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, expelled its nationalist Fatah rivals, executed many people because of their political views or activities, and made clear its intention of transforming the Gaza Strip into an Islamist state, following Iran’s example.
Many Palestinians and other Arabs state their fear and resentment at the idea that Hamas represents an Iranian effort to seize control of their land and cause. On June 20, Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior member of Fatah’s PLO executive committee, said in a press statement: “Iran helped Hamas to lead a military coup against the legitimate Palestinian leadership and to control the Gaza Strip.”
Egyptian Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit asserted in a recent speech that Iranian aid to Hamas in Gaza poses a threat to Egyptian security.
Hamas co-founder and former Foreign Minister Mahmud al-Zahar told Der Spiegel in June: “I personally once brought $20 million from Iran to the Gaza Strip in a suitcase. No, actually twice – the second time it was $22 million.”
Two of the Arab world’s top journalists have spoken out on this issue.
Tariq al-Humayd, the editor of the popular Arabic daily Asharq Alawsat, wrote: “The source of the funds is obviously Iran. Today, no one has control over Hamas … except Iran, its economic patron, and Syria,” where Hamas has its headquarters.
Ahmad Al-Jarallah, the editor of Kuwait’s Al-Siyassa, wrote: “By means of Hamas’ takeover in Gaza, the Iran-Syria axis has managed … to sabotage the Israeli-Palestinian peace” and become the main arbiter of regional politics.
On the horizon looms Iran’s nuclear arsenal. If Tehran gets the ultimate weapon of mass destruction, it will rally far larger numbers of radical and terrorist forces to attack the West and moderate Arabs, as well as Israel. Hiding behind its nuclear umbrella, Iran and its allies would be able to attack Western interests without fear of retribution. Iran would block any chance for peace and push the region into decades more of bloodshed.
Events in Iraq, in Lebanon and among the Palestinians reinforce the need to contain Iran and to ensure it does not obtain nuclear weapons.
Article appeared in the Hebrew Watchman on July 19th, 2007; and in the Atlanta Jewish Times on August 13th, 2007
Israel Wants Peace, Political Moderation
July 18, 2008 at 4:22 pm | In Peace Process, Security | Leave a CommentMake no mistake: the Hamas takeover in Gaza is not different from the Islamic revolution of Iran and the former Taliban’s role in Afghanistan, because the final goal of Hamas is not independent Palestine but Islamic Empire in the Middle East. However, the hope that emerges from this chaos in Gaza is that the national secular government of Mahmoud Abbas will finally understand the real enemy of Palestinians is not Israel but violence and terrorism.
Many people forget that immediately after the Six-Day War of 1967 that the Israeli government offered to return all lands gained, including Gaza and the West Bank, but the stark Arab answer was “no to peace, no to recognition of Israel and no to negotiation.” In May 2000, President Clinton, Prime Minister Barak, and Chairman Arafat were two yards away from the agreement but they failed and the second Palestinian uprising started thereafter.
Before the violent Hamas takeover started, we were debating in Israel if giving Gaza to some kind of international trust will do away with the violence and anarchy that started after our complete withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Hamas was being built by Iran to be the next Hezbollah and to start a war similar to the one we just had in Lebanon last summer.
It is important for me to reiterate what very moderate Palestinian should know: that most Israelis do not want to see a Palestinian civil war. We know perfectly well the value of human life and understand that unrest in Israel, too. But as we learned from our own history in Israel, no stable country can survive if the central government is not the sole military power. The Palestinian president needs to live by his own campaign slogan: “one nation, one armed force.”
Gaza and Sderot are not fighting each other, but anarchy in Gaza is creating violence that does not differentiate between Palestinian kids in Gaza or Israeli kids in Sderot. It is so sad to hear the leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad declaring that Israeli occupation needs to be reinstalled to prevent a Palestinian civil war. That instead of saying peace and nonviolence is the only way to prepare the human and material infrastructure to the future Palestinian state.
I was too young during the Six-Day War to remember anything, but I still keep the postcards from the front that my uncle, Waleed, sent my family. In these postcards he always asked about me and hoped that, when I am older, the draft will be ended and war will be over. That is still a very common prayer in Israel. My uncle’s wish was not granted, I was drafted, as well as his three sons, and more wards have followed. But the hope is still alive, and now it is the prayer of my generation that our kids will not go to war and that the draft in Israel will be ended. But this will be the challenge of our time: to make moderation prevail over extremism and make sure that these floods of violence in the Middle East end soon.
Article appeared in the Nashville Tennessean on June 26th, 2007
The Lebanon-Israel Tragedy
July 18, 2008 at 4:19 pm | In Peace Process, Security | Leave a CommentGrowing up in the 1970’s, Israel was like an island, nowhere to go without flying or sailing over the sea. The four bordering countries – Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt – were sealed off to anyone of the wrong faith or loyalty.
The first time I set foot outside my country, I was about 10 years old. On a particularly boring day, some other local children and I decided to stick our feet beneath a fence that marked the border between Israel and Lebanon. I remember our anxiety and amazement as we felt the warm foreign soil between our toes. In retrospect, the act of setting foot across that border should never have been filled with suck apprehension.
Three times Israeli forces entered Lebanon and fought on that country’s soil, but never against its people. In the 1970’s it was Yassir Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization who built a country within a country and chose Lebanon to be the frontline in their war of terror against Israel. In the 1980’s, Syria came to Lebanon claiming an attempt to keep the peace and chose instead to keep the country. Of late it is Iran that has chosen to make Lebanon its sacrificial lamb, with Hezbollah the executioner.
Of the many tragedies that can be found in the Middle East, the Lebanese-Israeli saga is one of the most unfortunate. We have never had any border dispute or insurmountable ideological conflict, yet for 30 years the border between Lebanon and Israel has been drenched in the blood of our youngest and bravest. A whole generation of those living in Northern Israel and Southern Lebanon has grown up knowing the horrors of wars designed not in Beirut or Jerusalem but rather in Tehran, Damascus, and Gaza.
During the one opportunity I had in my life to visit my family in Lebanon, I understood why Israel and her northern neighbor had been chose to play out this Middle Eastern version of a Greek tragedy. We were chosen because of the openness of our societies and the vibrance of our democratic systems.
Tel Aviv and Beirut are like sister cities of the Mediterranean. They welcome visitors from across the work with rich cultures and a firm embrace of diversity, while tediously working to give their guests and inhabitants a sense of normality shielded from the surrounding conflicts.
In the Middle East the struggle has always been between those who wanted to spread freedom and democracy and those who feel threatened by it. For decades Islamic-extremists have tried to destroy both Lebanon and Israel because of our way of life offers an alternative to their dark and oppressive existence.
What I saw in that trip to Lebanon I have also seen in places as distance as Buenos Aires and Los Angeles. In these communities Lebanese and Israeli immigrants work and flourish together. Lebanese families send their children to Jewish schools and befriend Jewish neighbors. Lebanese businesses even employ young Israeli men and women as security advisors. It was no coincidence that Iran chose to react to Israeli military success against Hezbollah in the early ‘90’s by bombing a Jewish Community Center and Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires.
When I was growing up, the elders of my community would tell stories of the days when they used to eat their breakfast in their homes outside Haifa, have lunch with their friends in Beirut and be back home again before dark. My hope is that the coastal road between Haifa and Beirut will one day be reopened and the old tracks will see new trains. My prayer is that we will end this vicious war, Israel’s kidnapped sons will be returned to their families and Lebanon will be returned to its people. If we allow the warmongers in our region to control our actions or hijack our right to self-determination, this tragic saga will only drag on.
Article appeared in the Charlotte Observer on April 6th, 2007
Israel Sets an Example of Freedom, Tolerance
July 18, 2008 at 4:13 pm | In Peace Process, Security | Leave a CommentMy grandfather, who lived to be more than 100 years old, used to say, “I’ve seen them all and there are none like the Jews.”
Our small Druze town had remained virtually the same for hundreds of years under Ottoman and later British rule. When Israel was established in 1948, rapid development ensued, and for the first time, our homes had electricity and running water and every child received a quality, free education.
Even among all that modernity and relative luxury, my grandfather’s greatest praise for Israel came as a result of how the young state treated its less fortunate citizens. For the first time in his life, my grandfather, a retired factory worker, received a pension and had access to quality health care. He said that a society could be judged by the way it treats the elderly, sick and unemployed and that Israel had proved itself both strong and compassionate. Certainly, he would say, such a nation would prevail.
That is the untold story of Israel, a nation that measures its strength not by its wealth or military prowess but by the vibrancy of its civil society and the diversity of its democratic system. In a country where the symphonic orchestra, the theater and the university were all built before the state’s political institutions, there are now more than 40,000 independent civic associations. They strengthen our system of education, protect our environment and work to bring peace and justice to our region.
Israel is an immigrant society with a diverse population: 1.3 million of its citizens are Arabs belonging to various religious and ethnic groups. Indeed, some still suffer from poverty and lack equal investment in their communities from the government, but Arab-Israelis still have a standard of living higher than any of their brethren living in the region. They are full citizens who can vote and be elected to public office. They have the right to worship, assemble and speak freely without fear of intimidation or oppression. Since the establishment of our young nation, the freest Arabs in the Middle East reside in the Jewish state of Israel.
With all the challenges it faces, Israel remains the only democracy in the Middle East. This alone does not make Israel’s political system perfect, but it is the endless pursuit of greater equality that sets Israel apart from its neighbors.
In my hometown, I have seen the fulfillment of the ‘Israeli Dream’: young professionals of all faiths who have established successful careers in law, medicine, business and diplomacy. We all come from middle-class families that used the public school system and government universities to create a better future for our children. None of us would have had that opportunity were it not for the free and open society in which we live.
Today, our freedom is threatened by the vile ideology of hate spewed by Hamas, Hizbullah and other similar organizations. With the support of their backers in Tehran and Damascus, these extremists rain rockets down upon Israeli villages and send suicide bombers into our buses and markets. Their supporters espouse a false narrative of eternal victimhood, attempting to justify every act of brutality and blaming Israel for every hardship. This empty rhetoric does not change the fact that the shrapnel of their weapons knows neither age nor ethnicity. And the resulting violence affects every Israeli regardless of race or religion.
The defense against this onslaught requires military action, but the solution to the complex issues that have brought us to this point is found in the strong bond that has developed between Arabs and Jews in Israel. If we peacefully coexist in Haifa and Asifiya, why not in Gaza, Beirut or the rest of the region?
Recently, I attended a ceremony at Georgia’s state Capitol commemorating the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Like Anwar Sadat and Yitzhak Rabin, he gave his life in defense of the dream of coexistence.
Because of what my grandfather saw, my children and I are able to live this dream as citizens of Israel. Today, we look to our borders wondering when our neighbors will embrace the dream of peace rather than the nightmare of war.
Article appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on February 5th, 2007; and in the Deep South Jewish Voice on April 1st, 2007
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