Al-Aqsa Contents

Published By VOLUME 8 NUMBER 2 SPRING 2006

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Surviving on the Margins: Life Stories of Palestinian
ISSN 1463-3930 Refugee Women in Lebanon 5
MARIA HOLT
EDITOR
Ismail Adam Patel Human Rights Violations, War Crimes and Crimes
Against Humanity – Why an Economic Boycott
SUB-EDITOR
of Israel is Justified 15
Rajnaara Akhtar
PROFESSOR NORMAN G. FINKELSTIEN
PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS
Nasreen Ibrahim An Obligation to Act 19
Azizul Hoque HILARY WISE

PRINTERS Ariel Sharon: A Napoleon, Made in Israel 23

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© 2005 Friend of Al-Aqsa Settlements in Jerusalem 27
MAZEN NUSEIBAH
WE WELCOME

Papers, articles and Waqf – The Eternal Legacy 35

comments on any issue
relating to Palestine and
the Middle East conflict.
We especially encourage
writings relating to the
History, Politics, BOOK REVIEW 39
Architecture, Religion,
International Law and Landscapes of the Jihad
Human Rights violations. by Faisal Devji
The word count should RVIEWED BY I SMAIL P ATEL
not exceed 2,000 words.
Reviews of Books relating Britain, The Hashemites and Arab Rule, 1920-1925:
to the issue of Palestine The Sherifian Solution
are also welcome and
by Timothy J. Paris
should not exceed 1,000
RVIEWED BY ANTHONY M CROY
words. Letters on any
related topics can also be
sent and the Editor The Modern Middle East
reserves the right to edit by Ilan Pappe
letters for the purpose of REVIEWED BY A NTHONY MCROY
clarity. All contributions
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size 12 and sent to the Edward Said
Editor either via email by Nur Masalha
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Bethlehem Besieged: Stories of Hope in Times of Trouble
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REVIEWED BY SAMUEL JACOB KURUVILLA

Al-Aqsa 1
2 Al-Aqsa
 E D I T O R I A L

2
T
o Allah belongs the East and the West, wherever you achieved. Unless there is a show of unity, the external
turn, there is the presence of Allah. For Allah is All- suppression of funds and aid will make an already
Embracing, All-Knowing. difficult task impossible. Israel is withholding vital tax
May Allah’s blessings be upon all His Prophets from Adam funds, and the US and EU have followed suit with
to His final Messenger, Muhammad (saw). economic aid on the condition that Hamas ‘renounce
violence’ and recognise Israel. The demand by Israel
In January 2006, the Palestinians called the American that Hamas ‘renounce violence’ is a contradiction in
and European bluff by participating in the widely terms. Israel is the state that has established itself on
acclaimed, fair and transparent elections. The occupied violence, persisted in an illegal occupation, refused to
people of Palestine elected a new government despite apply Geneva Conventions to an occupied people,
all the odds being stacked heavily against them. Israel’s illegally annexed land, imposed numerous restrictions
occupation policies and imposition of voting restrictions and punishments amounting to war crimes; and yet it
were intended to bar any meaningful election results, with demands that the Palestinians give up their legitimate
the Israeli choice of Fatah the only ‘acceptable’ option. and internationally recognised right to self-defence and
However, in droves, Palestinians voted out the old regime resisting occupation. The paradox is clear, and Hamas
with its decay and corruption, bringing in the new blood has thus far shown a steely resolve against conceding to
of Hamas, which has spend years serving Palestinians at Israeli demands.
the grass roots. It is apparent that the ordinary people of Palestine
The impact of the results still reverberate weeks and will be the ones who once again suffer in this political
months afters their initial upshot. The most galling stand-off, and in recognition of this, the EU took the
response from some of Israel’s allies was a rejection of steps of releasing funds for aid which would be directed
the results, as democratic as they were, on the basis that by other than the PA. But what does this mean for the
Hamas is not viewed as an acceptable choice to them. future of Palestinians? The PA is recognising its friends
Ironically, these are the same nations and governments and allies, and relying increasingly on its Arab neighbours
that espouse democracy as a mark of civilisation and a for financial support. For the West, this is a catastrophe
concept that they would die for. The Palestinian example in the making, as it is States such as Iran and Syria who
serves as a reminder that to these nations, it seems are the most sympathetic to the Palestinians cause.
democracy outside their borders is subject to their However, a sharp signal to Washington came from its
political interest. allies in Saudi Arabia who refused to abandon the PA
For Hamas, the reigns of power will not be easy to despite a highly publicised tour of the region by the
command. The first parliamentary session broke down Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. This unwillingness
into a commotion with Fatah officials deserting the to ditch the Palestinians was unexpected, yet belies the
room in protest. A sign that many bridges need to be exasperation in the political realms of the Muslim world
built within the new Palestinian Authority and trust and with Western policies regarding Israel. Even they are now
respect for each other is the highest target to be refusing to tow the line.

Al-Aqsa 3
 A YOUTH EXCHANGE PROGRAMME WITH
AN NAJAH NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, NABLUS, PALESTINE

4 Al-Aqsa
Surviving on The Margins: Life Stories
of Palestininan Refugee Women in
Lebanon

Dr Maria Holt*

F
or Palestinians, 1948 is mourned as the of hopelessness and to appreciate the
year when “Palestine ceased to exist. It unique community that has emerged in
lost its name, it lost its territory, and it response to exile, violence and despair; to
lost many of its people”.1 It was the year of consider, in Edward Said’s words, the
al-Nakbah (the catastrophe), in which the state “transition from being in exile to becoming
of Israel was established in a large part of the Palestinian once again”.4
former British Mandate territory of Palestine, In this article, I will explore how
and as many as one million Palestinians fled to Palestinians’ experiences in exile have shaped
neighbouring countries, just across the borders their identity and their outlook in the early
from their homeland. Approximately 100,0002 21st century, and enabled them to become
travelled north into Lebanon, where they Palestinian again. I am interested in
waited to return home. But 57 years have understanding how being – but not
passed and they are still waiting. belonging – in Lebanon has influenced
Today the majority of Palestinians living in refugees’ perceptions of themselves. My
Lebanon, despite their determination to article will focus on refugee women and
preserve their identity as “an integral unity of will ask what impact “living on the margins”
land and people”,3 remain stranded on the has had on their development. By listening
fringes of their former land and have few to the life stories of women living in the
tangible connections with it. Nonetheless, the camps of Lebanon, 5 I will investigate
refugee community, and particularly the whether women’s sense of “Palestinian-
women of the community, has sought to ness” differs from men’s, what impact their
inspire in successive generations a powerful living experiences in Lebanon have had on
sense of what it means to be Palestinian. Ask their current state of mind, and what
any Palestinian child, born and raised in a solutions they envisage for a more tolerable
Lebanese camp, where “home” is and he or future.
she will name “their” village in Palestine and
insist upon their right to return to it. But,
beyond their shared sense of being a nation, a Outside the interior
key element of Palestinian identity in Lebanon “Every direct route to the interior, and
is marginalization, both in the sense of living consequently the interior itself, is either
on the borders of their homeland and of blocked or pre-empted. The most we can hope
being marginalized by the state in which they for is to find margins – normally neglected
temporarily reside. surfaces and relatively isolated, irregularly
Anyone who becomes acquainted with the placed spots – on which to put ourselves”.6
situation of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon
will reach the conclusion that it is hopeless, Even after over half a century,
and that there is little that can be done. In my Palestinian refugees who reside outside the
view, it is necessary to look beyond perceptions borders of Palestine,7 whatever their status

* DR MARIA HOLT is a Research Fellow in the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of
Westminster. She has been researching and writing about Palestinian women, both in the occupied territories
and in Lebanon, for many years. Her PhD compared the effects of violent conflict on Shi’i and Palestinian
women in Lebanon. She is currently working on an AHRC-funded project about the experiences of Palestinian
refugee women in Lebanon, in terms of memory, identity and change. This article is based on a paper presented
at the “Borders and Borderlands” conference, Corfu, September 2005.

Al-Aqsa 5
 or individual circumstances, are still regarded identity is characterized by “continuing
as “strangers” and continue to regard attachment to the notion of Palestine, the
themselves – first and foremost – as collective loss and trauma of exile, the
Palestinians. But it is an identity characterized outrage over the injustice of dispossession
by contradictions. On one level are memories and mis-recognition, the idea of return, and
of Palestine, which have been handed down the concept and practice of resistance”.14
through generations and, to some extent, It emphasizes “the sacredness of ‘the
mythologized as, for example, in the following Cause’ and the importance of sacrifice for
account: “We were living in Alama, in the the homeland”.15 It is expressed in grass-
country, amongst the plantations and the olive roots commemorations of life in Palestine
trees. There was bounty all around. Amongst and “becomes for subsequent generations
the blossoms, the orange blossoms. Oh, how not merely a narrative or practice of
beautiful it was”.8 remembering and reconstructing, but the
On another level, the idealization of the basis of their political identity and the
lost homeland contrasts with an everyday life motivation for their political mobilization”.16
of violence and impoverishment, as expressed For Nabulsi, “identity is based
in the anguish of an elderly woman living in exclusively on the general will” of the
Ain el-Hilweh camp in southern Lebanon, who Palestinian people, wherever they are.17
asked “how she should explain to her However, while they claim to be a single
grandchildren, who had known only the stench “nation”, possessing certain characteristics
of the camp’s open sewers, what it was like in common, Palestinian exile communities
to wake up to the scent of fresh lemons”.9 throughout the Middle East have also
The violence of traumatic upheaval cannot evolved into unique entities, stemming
be underestimated. Bereft of place, people from “different senses of what it means
“become homeless in at least three existential to be Palestinian engendered by more than
senses. First, they suffer the angst of being forty years of dislocation and dispersion”.18
dislodged from their most enduring A third strand of identity can be located
attachments and familiar places. This is in the conflict between the national
compounded by being beset, chronically, by narrative of determination and resistance,
problems of adjusting to new surroundings. and the complex reality of everyday life in
Second, they also suffer banishment and the the various sites of exile.This can lead, on
stigma of being outcasts… Finally…they are occasion, to what may be described as
impelled by an urge to reassemble a damaged “proclaimed” memory. Sometimes the
identity and a broken history”.10 refugees relate their memories not in order
This raises the question of the particular to paint a true picture of the past but either
meanings of “identity” for Palestinian women to proclaim their shared story of national
in exile, and how these sometimes conflict with suffering or to put a stop to intrusive
each other. The first focuses on “gender questioning. While individual refugees may
identity” which, as Skjelsbaek argues, is express certain reservations in private, they
“negotiable… Masculinity and femininity are often prefer to wax “ideological and
negotiated interpretations of what it means to be eloquent, announcing that ‘as a Palestinian,
a man or a woman. These interpretations like any other, I long to return no matter
determine male and female actions, behaviour, what the conditions’”.19
perceptions and rationality”.11 Recognition of Khalili too has noted a dissonance
our “identity”, according to Arneil, “is to make between the refugees’ memories and how
explicit where we exist, historically, culturally, the national leadership presents these. She
geographically”. 12 It is likely that refugee speaks of “PLO posters and postcards
women experience difficulties negotiating from the mid-1970s “…brimming with
between a consciousness of “gender identity” references to orange groves, wheat and
and traditional notions of being a woman in olive har vests, keys to lost houses,
a largely male-dominated environment where, picturesque village architecture, and
as Steans notes, the “desire to achieve changes traditional dress”. 20 Palestinians “went
in the position of women can easily be through the trauma” 21 of becoming
portrayed as a betrayal of culture or national refugees, and those who found themselves
identity”.13 in Lebanon inhabit an insecure and fearful
A second strand of identity, and one that situation, the antithesis of home. Their
is arguably given more weight, is that of being uprooting is commemorated as a tragic
part of a larger Palestinian Diaspora. This event, which endowed the refugee

6 Al-Aqsa
community with the identity of victim. This, both of geography and the routines of
in turn, has produced what Hoffmann daily life. But, in Lebanon, besides the loss
describes as “the transmission of traumatic of their homes and communities, meaning
experiences across generations”.22 also disappeared. Women throughout the
It is clear that women and men share a Diaspora, as Fleishmann notes, “became
loyalty to the larger story of “Palestine”; as caught up in family and communal
Sayigh observes, “though national struggle survival”.27
involves men and women equally, part of this The refugees sought comfort in the
struggle is to preser ve women’s role in familiar rituals of religion and tradition and
reproducing national culture and morality”.23 women were usually treated with respect
At the same time, their responses are within their own communities. However,
coloured, firstly, by men’s control and as Sayigh suggests, a “negative effect of
politicization of the national narrative; and, exile was that, since the Lebanese
secondly, by the misery of their current environment was perceived as alien and
circumstances. Although the notion of a aggressive, the entire camp community
“general will” of the Palestinian people tends focused on women’s behaviour, condoning
to override the “desire to achieve changes in ‘honour’ crimes and hiding them from the
the position of women”, it has also had Lebanese authorities”.28
unintended consequences. The bearing and She argues that the camps became
raising of children remains women’s prime “moral communities”, wherein the
responsibility and, it has been argued, their reputation of a family, neighbourhood or
most important contribution to the national whole camp “would be discussed in terms
cause. However, as a result of their of the behaviour of its banat (young
participation in the national struggle, many unmarried women)”.29 At the same time,
women – as I will discuss in the next section – women experienced various forms of
have had the opportunity to access less familiar violence. According to one refugee: “I was
forms of “gender identity”. a teenager in Beirut when one day I arrived
home at the camp…to discover that a
group of drunken policemen had forced
Experiences of exile their way in and beaten up my mother and
“When we had locked the house up my mother two sisters, apparently for failing to
put the key in her pocket and said, ‘I must get produce an identity card or UNRWA card
that veranda repaired when we get back’. She or some other wretched document”.30
still has the key”.24 They suffered from lack of opportunity
and harsh living conditions. One woman
The first few years after 1948 were “ones told me how she and her family fled over
of physical hardship, material deprivation, and the border and lived for a time in a village
psychological trauma over the loss of kin, close to Palestine. Eventually they moved
homes and country. Conditions at the further from the border and established a
beginning were very bad, as one survivor rudimentary camp. The camp grew
describes: ‘Seven families to a tent, some gradually but, as it was not registered by
families lived in caves. There was UNRWA,31 its population had few facilities;
overcrowding and sickness. Many old people residents did not obtain running water until
and children died’”.25 1985.32
The refugees experienced abrupt Women, like men, continued to mourn
dislocation from the only homes they had ever the lost homeland. Peteet argues, however,
known and a new condition of having nothing. that “the collective nature of loss …
This resulted in intense insecurity, affect(ed) the sexes differently. Women’s
bewilderment, a sense of loss and grieving and traditional role as socializers of children was
uncertainty about the future. These former infused with new significance in the exile
peasants were “uprooted” and “felt powerless community, where a specifically Palestinian
in the wake of the sudden loss of control over identity was emerging and memories of
their destiny and an intense frustration over the past were highly valued”.33
the inability of any person, institution, or Yet, although women assumed
government to remedy their situation”.26 responsibility for keeping alive the memory
In pre-1948 Palestine women had taken of Palestine for successive generations –
part, with men, in the struggle against British through songs, food, stories and particular
rule. They had a sense of belonging, in terms modes of speech – society remained

Al-Aqsa 7
 patriarchal. In spite of changing circumstances, behaviour constitute feminism”.39 At the
most camp families were “hostile to the same time, however, the transgression of
employment of women outside the home and boundaries remains difficult for women.
preferred their daughters to marry as soon as A woman in her early fifties told me how
possible after leaving school. Once married, her husband, who had been a fighter, was
women were seen as being obliged to give killed in the first Israeli invasion of the
priority to child-rearing and running the south. Only 22 when her husband died and
household”.34 with a week-old baby, she found life very
In the absence of a homeland, Palestinians difficult. Society, she said, does not look
in Lebanon sought other meanings. For the kindly on widows and cannot accept that
generations born outside Palestine, “political a woman might choose to live alone. She
consciousness is the supreme good, the key to was not able to re-marry and therefore
successful struggle”,35 and, in the 1960s, a prevented from having the large family she
resistance movement began to develop under had wanted.40 My research revealed that
the auspices of the Palestine Liberation most women continue to see themselves
Organization (PLO). Stamatopoulou-Robbins primarily in terms of marriage and
argues that “the emergence of the Palestinian childbearing; this is both a personal and a
national movement resulted in a narrative very political identity.
different from the stories of the generations After the Israeli invasion of 1982, which
before the ‘Generation of the Revolution’ (jil resulted in the removal of the PLO from
al-thawra)”,36 and this raises the question of Lebanon, Palestinians – men and women
whether the “new” narrative diminished – were beset by feelings of profound
women’s role as transmitters of Palestinian hopelessness; they had struggled to assert
memory or empowered them to challenge what they regard as their fundamental
traditional practices. rights, but their efforts have led neither to
The PLO and its commitment to an regaining their homeland nor living in
“armed popular revolution”, together with dignity. As the women’s narratives illustrate,
greater autonomy within the camps, provided violence has contributed towards the
an opportunity for some women to become construction of a Palestinian identity in
politically active. There is no doubt that, during exile. Violence has been described as
the period of the resistance movement, “nothing more than the most flagrant
women’s status underwent significant change. manifestation of power”.41
As a result of UNRWA’s educational services, The other side of the coin is
the majority of girls for the first time had the powerlessness. Without the right to live a
opportunity to go to school. In addition, the “normal” life, women are exposed to
“meaning of work” for women was inadequate health care provisions, few
transformed during this period as to work educational opportunities, a lack of jobs
became “a national endeavour and a statement even if a person is educated, highly sub-
of women’s increased autonomy and standard housing, no security about the
participation in public life”.37 future nor sense of belonging, an absence
One could argue that, for many young of legal protection and the negation of
camp women, the opportunity to contribute national identity, and these are all
to the widely respected “national endeavour” experienced, to varying degrees, as forms
was a form of liberation. A woman in of violence.
Rashidiyya camp in southern Lebanon, for Many women reported health
example, told me how she was raised within problems. A woman in Bourj el Barajne
the PLO. She described herself as “a fighter told me she feels frustrated; she is very
for Palestine”, ready to encourage her five depressed and suffers from bad
children to join the fight and even herself to headaches.42 Another said that, as a result
become a “martyr”. She declared that she of the war, she is diabetic and afflicted with
would never give up the struggle against Israel high blood pressure.43 Many were injured
but would fight “to the last woman”.38 during the course of the conflict, causing
Although it would not be accurate to long-term disabilities, or have developed
describe this behaviour as part of a conscious illnesses as a result of stress and poverty.
quest for greater “liberation” for women, their The lack of affordable health care
“very acts of participating publicly, sometimes exacerbates the situation.
even violently, in the major issues of their day, Others allude to the problems of
and transgressing gendered norms of schooling for their children. Almost all

8 Al-Aqsa
bemoan the injustice of their lives in Lebanon. vast majority said they would prefer to return
The camps tend to be claustrophobic to what is now Israel, although they reject
environments, in which a woman must Israeli citizenship.52 Several women I met
constantly guard against threats to her echoed this conclusion, asserting that their
reputation. A woman in Chatila camp objective is to return to their land where, in
confirmed that “women must bear the weight the words of one woman, they can continue
of special scrutiny”.44 In her words, a woman to fight “to get rid of the Israelis”.53
“should be controlled because eyes are fixed The notion of hopelessness, which was
on women…she must respect her house, and the starting point of this article, fails to do
respect herself ”.45 justice either to the refugees’ lived
A woman official of a political experiences or their aspirations. In this
organization told me that, in her view, the section, I would like to discuss some of
greatest violence experienced by women the responses that have been advanced to
refugees in Lebanon is being forced to live address the apparently “hopeless” plight of
outside their own country, 46 a sentiment the refugees, resting on a recognition of
echoed by many of the so-called “ordinary” their unique circumstances as a people
women of the camps. “bereft of place”. I would also like to
Another “political” woman said: “Women consider the particular impacts of these
have lost sons, husbands, and have been forced “solutions” on women. There are several
to become responsible, but they do not enjoy levels of response.
full rights because they are women; this is While it is possible to analyze the current
another form of violence”.47 Not being able plight and evolving identity of women, such
to live on one’s land, said the head of the discussions fail to address the core issue,
General Union of Palestinian Women in which is one of return. All Palestinians to
Lebanon, creates feelings of insecurity. whom I spoke in Lebanon, without
Palestinians exist in a constant state of exception, insisted on their moral and legal
“temporariness”, which has persisted for over right to return to the land and villages they
50 years; they are condemned always to resist were forced to leave in 1948. Both the
yet never to enjoy the fruits of resistance. The Palestinian leadership and individual
suffering of the Palestinian woman, she refugees cite United Nations Resolution 194
asserted, “is because she is deprived of her of December 1948, which calls for the
humanitarian rights in Lebanon. Women feel repatriation of the Palestinian refugees.
they are living in a place of refuge, which causes Although the resolution is reaffirmed every
psychological problems”.48 year by the General Assembly, Israel refuses
to implement it, arguing that mass return
will destroy the Jewish character of the
Peacemaking and the right of return state. But scholars such as Salman Abu Sittar
“The right of return, but to where? Only to believe that the impracticality of return is a
our homeland, only to our villages. Not to another “persistent myth”.54 He has carried out
place”.49 considerable research in this area and argues
that the concentration of Israeli Jews today
Clearly, as Rami Khouri remarks, “the single “is largely in and around pre-1948 Jewish
most important component of peacemaking land and that Palestinian land is still largely
has been and remains today the status of the empty”. 55 In his view, if the Lebanon
Palestinian refugees – not how to resettle them refugees were to return to their homes in
or find them jobs, but how to restore to them Galilee and elsewhere, the impact would
their full human rights and dignity within the scarcely be felt by the Israelis.56
context of their national community”.50 Haifa Jamal notes, too, that “the
Having suffered so much and for so long, problem is not geography”. 57 But the
what do the refugees themselves want? solution of return seems increasingly
According to a 2003 working paper, the unlikely since the Israeli government,
“starting point in crafting durable solutions for supported by a growing body of world
refugees are the wishes of the refugees opinion, insists that the refugees should now
themselves”.51 Many acknowledge they would be settled in the states where they reside.
simply like a place to live which is safe and At best, some of the refugees currently in
permanent. However, a recent poll reveals that, Lebanon may be permitted to take up
if they had a choice, only ten per cent of residence in a future Palestinian state in the
refugees would opt to stay in Lebanon. The West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Al-Aqsa 9
 Another level at which the debate over websites, she says, “have provided camp
possible solutions is taking place is that of the youth and Palestinians across the Diaspora
Palestinian Diaspora. At official and personal with virtual spaces in which to meet and
levels, the link with Palestine and with the share their experiences”.63
community in exile seems to be as strong as It then becomes possible to be part of a
ever. Many of the women I interviewed in larger Palestinian community without
Lebanon referred to the West Bank and Gaza inhabiting the same territory. For Hanafi, “a
Strip. A female leader in the south explained new model of nation state must be
that “all Palestinians, wherever they are, face conceptualized based on flexible borders,
the same suffering. And all consider the cause flexible citizenship and some kind of
is their own cause; they are suffering as one separation between the nation and state”.
people”.58 Palestinians in Lebanon today, as He calls it the “extra-territorial nation state”.64
Sayigh notes, “have not lost sight of national Peteet suggests that, for refugees, “place
issues”. 59 In the words of one: “Our first is a lived experience – an elsewhere – that is
priority is to preserve our national identity”.60 carried from one site to another in exile.
Many undertake solidarity activities for As it travels, attachment to original place
Palestinians living under occupation; they intersects with new places to nuance
collect money for families in Palestine and identity…identity remains territorialized but
organize marches and demonstrations to not necessarily confined by any single place.
express their national cohesion. It is grounded in specific villages and
In addition, live coverage of the al-Aqsa regions or cities yet de-territorialized and
intifada, which began in the West Bank and Gaza re-territorialized: as identity travels, it is re-
Strip in September 2000, “has been a powerful configured in new places and takes on new
mechanism for generating solidarity and contours”.65
nationalist sentiment among Diaspora A fourth consideration in the search for
Palestinians”.61 It has created, in the words of a just solution is the pressing need of the
one commentator, “a new Palestinian narrative”. refugees to live in dignity in their place of
He writes: “So intense has been the exile. The lack of civil rights is high on the
suffering that the power of the new narrative agenda for most Palestinians, who insist that
has potential to replace the old Palestinian other forms of violence and deprivation
narrative as the central theme of their collective stem from this basic condition. In the
identity. Since 1948 the Palestinian absence of a realistic expectation of return,
narrative…has been one of loss and suffering, the refugees are entitled to lead a decent
of exile and refuge. That is why the refugee life in Lebanon. But the Lebanese
issue and the demand for right of return has government takes the view that return is
become the most fundamental facet of their the only option for the refugees and that
collective identity. The narrative being shaped giving them rights in Lebanon would
in the past four years is one of heroism, of absolve Israel of responsibility.
strug gle for freedom, liberation and Advocacy groups such as the Palestinian
independence. It is a narrative of the meek Human Rights Organization in Beirut are
against the mighty, of resistance and of the firm opinion that “Palestinians must
determination”.62 be recognized as refugees, not aliens, and
The question then arises as to how this granted the rights outlined in such
“new narrative” can be applied to Palestinians covenants as the 1951 Geneva Convention
living in Lebanon, whose expectations of a on Refugees and, more broadly, the
satisfactory resolution to the conflict are not International Covenant on Social,
high. The debate is occurring on two levels: Economic and Cultural Rights”.66
the level of realistic expectation of return and For some Palestinians, there is a
the level of solidarity with the larger Palestinian determination to stay where they are. In
Diaspora. the words of a woman who defended
A third level of engagement for exiled Beirut with the PLO during the Israeli siege
Palestinians takes place in the “virtual” world. of 1982: “Most of the people were
In a recent article, Diana Allan argues that evacuated. But in the camps, in Bourj al
young Palestinians living in Lebanon are finding Barajneh, people stayed to the end. No
new ways of connecting with the wider exaggeration. For them it was an important
Palestinian community, not through stories point. We left Palestine in 1948. In 1967 it
passed down through families but through happened again. Then we left the south.
new media technologies. Chat rooms and Now we’ve had it. We’re not leaving”.67

10 Al-Aqsa
 Since many are convinced they will never many Palestinians took the opportunity of
be able to return to Palestine, some of the travelling to the border so they could finally
refugees believe that the only solution is to see their homeland. A busload of
leave Lebanon for “somewhere better”, for Palestinians from Rashidiyya camp, making
example Europe, Canada or elsewhere, to their first visit to the border, were
pursue dreams of a better life. But there are described as “singing and clapping almost
differences in this respect between men and all the way”, and then, as they caught sight
women. In the opinion of a woman in Bourj of their homeland, “there were tears,
el-Barajneh, Palestine is now more important longing, anger and nostalgia”.70
for women than for men. Many young men, A group of children living in a camp
she said, want to leave Lebanon – this is their in southern Lebanon “had been to the
solution – but the women cannot leave so they border…after the withdrawal of the
are more attached to their Palestinian identity.68 Israeli army … They were anxious to go
back and see Jerusalem. One of the
children commented that when they
Conclusion: living on the margins returned to Palestine their rights would be
“We were besieged for five months and the world guaranteed … One boy said that everyone
said, `Let them be destroyed.’ But insh’allah we called them ‘Palestinians in Lebanon’, but
shall remain strong and hold our heads high. that they would rather be called ‘those who
We have a cause. Our goal isn’t Lebanon. If would return’ (aydun)… They all wanted to
they offered me the whole of Lebanon, I’d tell go back to their homeland”.71
them it’s not equal to one Palestinian olive”.69 In the early days after they fled or were
uprooted from their homes in Palestine,
Throughout this article, I have tried to women played an important role as
make a balance between, on the one hand, the transmitters of an oral tradition of story-
pain and humiliation of living on the margins telling. But as time passed, it is likely that
of their land but not being able to return to it young people became less interested in
and, on the other, the empowering qualities hearing “the old stories”. According to a
of a dynamic identity for women. If we think woman in the south, most Palestinians in
in terms of boundaries and border crossings, Lebanon have forgotten Palestine; they
it is clear that Palestinian women have gone used to tell stories about Palestine but now
some way towards “crossing” into what has “everyone is tired of talking”.72 It may be
traditionally been defined as male-controlled that, while older people have grown weary
space. But the larger border remains, in the with repeating the old stories, the younger
sense, firstly, that Palestinians appear no nearer generation is no longer listening and has
to “crossing back” into their homeland; and, ceased to seek its identity through the
secondly, that the Palestinian Diaspora has not transmission of oral narratives. With
succeeded in creating a “borderless” entity (a education and technological advance, young
“virtual” nation or deterritorialized state) that people are finding other outlets. Refugees
adequately addresses Palestinian aspirations. imagine the future in terms of fear and
While Palestinians certainly speak to each other promise. Women, too, changed. They have
across national boundaries, such acquired education and skills, and they played
communication does not constitute a realistic an active role in the resistance movement.
alternative to the national state to which These were important developments in
Palestinians believe they are entitled. While the terms of psychological resilience but they
fact of living so close to the places they regard saw few tangible gains. The patriarchal
as home has had a traumatizing effect on character of society changed very little and
women it has also encouraged resistance, the hope of victory and return disappeared
resilience and alternative modes of being a after the Israeli invasion of 1982.
nation. Proximity has affected Palestinian As we consider the future for
behaviour since 1948 in terms of, firstly, a Palestinians in Lebanon, it is difficult not
belief that armed struggle would liberate their to feel pessimistic. They have moved full
land and enable them to return; secondly, of circle, from desperate exiles to
an unsatisfied yearning, nourished by memory revolutionaries and back again to an
and a sense of injustice; and, thirdly, of various unwelcome refugee problem. In the
forms of violence, past and present. process, their identity has passed through
When the Israelis ended their 22-year several phases. When they first arrived in
occupation of southern Lebanon in May 2000, Lebanon, their identity was grounded in

Al-Aqsa 11
 the reality of home; their memories were Bibliography
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Beirut and Nablus, who may never share a Palestinian Conflict, prepared for the IDRC
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with each other through the Internet. Ottawa, 18 – 20 June 2003.
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women reveal that violence has inhibited their of the Mirror, Reading: Garnet Publishing, 1994
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created opportunities for greater female Baskin, Gershon, “Heading toward a new Palestinian
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involvement in the reconstruction of meaning.
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still are men and many women say they see the Palestinian Nation from the Position of
little point participating in politics. Exile”, in Laclau, Ernesto, editor, The Making of
Political Identities, London: Verso, 1994.
According to a male representative of one
of the political factions: “Since the Palestinian Fleischmann, Ellen L, The Nation and its ‘New Women’:
revolution started, the woman has had an The Palestinian Women’s Movement 1920 – 1948,
important role in the struggle, along with the Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.
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to love their country and to sacrifice themselves Palestinians, London: Sphere Books, 1980.
for their homeland. Women are involved in
all work – political, social and voluntary work; Hanafi, Sari, “Opening the Debate on the Right of
a few are involved in military work. But there Return”, Middle East Report, 222, Spring 2002.
is no need to carry a gun to be a fighter… Hoffmann, Eva, After Such Knowledge: A Mediation on
There is another role for women in the the Aftermath of the Holocaust, London: Vintage,
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intifada in Palestine”.73 Joint Parliamentary Middle East Councils
Commission of Enquiry – Palestinian Refugees,
Although Palestinians in Lebanon remain Right of Return, London, March 2001.
a disempowered community, in terms of civil,
political and international rights, they have been Kadi, Leila S, Basic Political Documents of the Armed
able to restore to the “suffering nation” a sense Palestinian Resistance Movement, Beirut: PLO
Research Center, 1969.
of self-esteem. Their struggle, although a
failure in practical terms, has born fruit in the Kanafani, Ghassan (translated by Hilary
sense that they have not forgotten their land, Kirkpatrick), Men in the Sun, Washington DC:
they are still just as determined to return to it, Three Continents Press, 1978.
and they continue to hand down to their
Khalaf, Samir, Beirut Reclaimed: Reflections on Urban
children a strong sense of belonging. In other Design and the Restoration of Civility, Beirut: Dar
words, they have survived. an-Nahar, 1993.

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Khalili, Laleh, “Grass-Roots Commemorations: Responses to Political Strife, Basingstoke: Macmillan
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2004. Skjelsbaek, Inger, “Is Femininity Inherently Peaceful”
in Skjelsbaek, Inger, and Smith, Dan, editors,
McDowall, David, The Palestinians, London: The Gender, Peace and Conflict, London: Sage
Minority Rights Group, October 1987. Publications, 2001.

Murphy, Jay, editor, For Palestine, New York & London: Stamatopoulou-Robbins, Sophia Chloe, “Palestine
Writers & Readers, 1993. Online: An Emerging Virtual Homeland?” RSC
Working Paper No 28, Oxford: Refugee Studies
Nabulsi, Karma, “Being Palestinian”, http:// Centre, September 2005.
www.ucl.ac.uk/~uctytho/Being_Palestinian.html
Steans, Jill, Gender and International Relations: An
Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, Introduction, Cambridge: Polity Press, 1998.
Palestinian Refugee Surveys, Ramallah, 2003,
Steger, Manfred B, and Lind, Nancy S, editors,
Palestinian Human Rights Organization, Beirut, Political Violence and Its Alternatives, Basingstoke:
and Legal Status of Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon. Macmillan, 1999.

Peteet, Julie M, Gender in Crisis: Women and the Palestinian Turki, Fawaz, The Disinherited, New York: Monthly
Resistance Movement, New York: Columbia University Review Books, 1972.
Press, 1991.
Zureik, Elia, “Palestinian Refugees Must Be Allowed
Peteet, Julie, “From Refugees to Minority: Palestinians to Choose”, PLO Negotiations Affairs
in Post-War Lebanon, Middle East Report 200, July – Department.
September 1996.

Peteet, Julie M, “Lebanon: Palestinian Refugees in the Notes

Post-War Period”, WRITENET Country Papers,
December 1997, www.unhcr.ch/refworld/country/ 1. For more information, visit www.btselem.org.
writenet/wrilbn.htm Because of conditions in the Palestinian
Territories, confirmations of deaths often lag
Peteet, Julie, “Icons and Militants: Mothering in the behind their occurrence. Thus, B’Tselem’s
Danger Zone”, in Saliba, Therese, Allen, Carolyn, statistics for Palestinian deaths tend to increase
and Howard, Judith A, editors, Gender, Politics and over time. For this reason the numbers on
Islam, Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Palestinian deaths in this study slightly exceed
Press, 2002. the numbers noted in our previous studies.
2. Richard Curtiss, “The Cost of Israel to US
Said, Edward W, After the Last Sky: Palestinian Lives, Taxpayers, Washington Report on Middle East
London and Boston, Faber and Faber, 1986. Affairs, Dec. ’97, pp 43-45, http://
w w w. w r m e a . c o m / b a c k i s s u e s / 1 2 9 7 /
Said, Edward W, The Politics of Dispossession: The Struggle 9712043.html
for Palestinian Self-Determination 1969-1994, London: 3. For more information about the attack on the
Vintage, 1995. Liberty, visit http://www.ifamericansknew.org/
us_ints/ussliberty.html
Sayigh, Rosemary, “The Palestinian Experience: 4. Assault on the Liberty, James Ennes (Random
Integration and Non-Integration in the Arab House 1980; Ballantine 1986; Reintree Press
Ghourba”, Arab Studies Quarterly1, no 2, Spring 1979. 2002), http://www.ussliberty.org.
5. They Dare to Speak Out (Lawrence Hill Books,
Sayigh, Rosemary, Palestinians: From Peasants to 1989), Paul Findley, p. 161.
Revolutionaries, London: Zed Books, 1988. 6. http://www.ifamericansknew.org/us_ints/ul-
commfindings.html
Sayigh, Rosemary, Too Many Enemies: The Palestinian 7. http://www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/
Experience in Lebanon, London & New Jersey: Zed heroism.html
Books, 1994. 8. Deborah Sontag, “Suicide Bomber Kills 3
Israelis,” New York Times, March 5, 2001; it’s
Sayigh, Rosemary, “Palestinians in Lebanon: Harsh interesting to see how this situation was reported
Present, Uncertain Future”, Journal of Palestine Studies, elsewhere; for example, the Houston Chronicle
Vol XXV, No 1, Autumn 1995. carried Sontag’s story under the headline:
“Palestinian suicide bomber kills 3 Israelis:
Sayigh, Rosemary, “Remembering Mothers, Forming Attack gladdens West Bank mourners as conflict
Daughters: Palestinian Women’s Narratives in grows”
Refugee Camps in Lebanon”, in Abdo, Nahla, and 9. Neve Gordon & Ruchama Marton, Torture:
Lentin, Ronit, editors, Women and the Politics of Human Rights, Medical Ethics and the Case of Israel,
Military Confrontation, New York & Oxford: Berghahn Zed Books, London; See for example, Amnesty
Books, 2002. International Report, “Israel and the Occupied
Territories: Mass detention in cruel, inhuman
Sayigh Rosemary, and Peteet, Julie, “Between Two Fires: and degrading conditions”, May 23, 2002, http:/
Palestinian Women in Lebanon”, in Ridd, Rosemary, / w e b . a m n e s t y. o r g / l i b r a r y / i n d e x /
and Callaway, Helen, Caught up in Conflict: Women’s engmde150742002.

Al-Aqsa 13
14 Al-Aqsa
Human Rights Violations, War Crimes
and Crimes against Humanity –
Why an Economic Boycott of Israel is Justified

Professor Norman G. Finkelstien*

In early January Kristin Halvorsen, current violations, many rising to the level of war
Norwegian Finance Minister and leader of the crimes and crimes against humanity. These
Left Socialist Party (a member of the current include ‘Illegal Killings’, ‘Torture’ and
three-party governmental coalition), expressed her ‘House Demolitions’.
personal and party support for a Norwegian
boycott of Israeli goods and services. Almost
immediately the Israeli ambassador to Norway Illegal Killings
protested and Condoleezza Rice threatened Whereas Palestinian suicide attacks
Norway with “serious political consequences” if targeting Israeli civilians have garnered
Halvorsen’s statement represented the policy of much media attention, Israel’s quantitatively
the current government. Norwegian Foreign worse record of killing non-combatants is
Minister Jonas Gahr Støre then dashed off a less well known. According to the most
letter to Rice (addressed “Dear Condi”), assuring recent figures of the Israeli Information
her that the Left Socialist Party’s position on an Center for Human Rights in the Occupied
economic boycott of Israel “has never been and Territories (B’Tselem), 3,386 Palestinians
will never be” the policy of the Norwegian have been killed since September 2000, of
government. For her part Halvorsen distanced whom 1,008 were identified as combatants,
herself from her previous statements, as top leaders as opposed to 992 Israelis killed, of whom
of the foreign affairs department criticized her 309 were combatants. This means that three
and drew parallels between a boycott of Israeli times more Palestinians than Israelis have
goods and the Nazi boycott of Jewish shops. been killed and up to three times more
Palestinian civilians than Israeli civilians.

T
he recent proposal that Norway Israel’s defenders maintain that there’s a
boycott Israeli goods has provoked difference between targeting civilians and
passionate debate. In my view, a inadvertently killing them. B’Tselem
rational examination of this issue would pose disputes this:”[W]hen so many civilians have
two questions: been killed and wounded, the lack of intent
makes no difference. Israel remains
1. Do Israeli human rights violations responsible.”
warrant an economic boycott? Furthermore, Amnesty International
2. Can such a boycott make a meaningful reports that “many” Palestinians have not
contribution toward ending these been accidentally killed but “deliberately
violations? targeted,” while the award-winning New
York Times journalist Chris Hedges reports
I would argue that both these questions that Israeli soldiers “entice children like mice
should be answered in the affirmative. into a trap and murder them for sport.”
Although the subject of many reports by
human rights organizations, Israel’s real human
rights record in the Occupied Palestinian Torture
Territory is generally not well known abroad. “From 1967,” Amnesty reports, “the
This is primarily due to the formidable public Israeli security services have routinely
relations industry of Israel’s defenders as well tortured Palestinian political suspects in the
as the effective-ness of their tactics of Occupied Territories.” B’Tselem found that
intimidation, such as labelling critics of Israeli eighty-five percent of Palestinians
policy anti-Semitic. interrogated by Israeli security services
Yet, it is an incontestable fact that Israel were subjected to “methods constituting
has committed a broad range of human rights torture,” while already a decade ago

Al-Aqsa 15
 Human Rights Watch estimated that “the discrimination, applying two separate
number of Palestinians tortured or severely systems of law in the same area and basing
ill-treated” was “in the tens of thousands - a the rights of individuals on their nationality,”
number that becomes especially significant B’Tselem has concluded.
when it is remembered that the universe of “This regime is the only one of its kind
adult and adolescent male Palestinians in the in the world, and is reminiscent of
West Bank and Gaza is under three-quarters distasteful regimes from the past, such as
of one million.” In 1987 Israel became “the the apartheid regime in South Africa.” If
only country in the world to have effectively singling out South Africa for an
legalized torture” (Amnesty). international economic boycott was
Although the Israeli Supreme Court seemed defensible, it would seem equally defensible
to ban torture in a 1999 decision, the Public to single out Israel’s occupation, which
Committee Against Torture in Israel reported uniquely resembles the apartheid regime.
in 2003 that Israeli security forces continued Although an economic boycott can be
to apply torture in a “methodical and routine” justified on moral grounds, the question
fashion. A 2001 B’Tselem study documented remains whether diplomacy might be more
that Israeli security forces often applied “severe effectively employed instead. The
torture” to “Palestinian minors.” documentary record in this regard,
however, is not encouraging. The basic
terms for resolving the Israel-Palestine
House demolitions conflict are embodied in U.N. resolution
“Israel has implemented a policy of mass 242 and subsequent U.N. resolutions, which
demolition of Palestinian houses in the call for a full Israeli withdrawal from the
Occupied Territories,” B’Tselem reports, and West Bank and Gaza and the establishment
since September 2000 “has destroyed some of a Palestinian state in these areas in
4,170 Palestinian homes.” exchange for recognition of Israel’s right
Until just recently Israel routinely resorted to live in peace and security with its
to house demolitions as a form of collective neighbours. Each year the overwhelming
punishment. According to Middle East Watch, majority of member States of the United
apart from Israel, the only other country in Nations vote in favour of this two-state
the world that used such a draconian settlement, and each year Israel and the
punishment was Iraq under Saddam Hussein. United States (and a few South Pacific
In addition, Israel has demolished thousands islands) oppose it. Similarly, in March 2002
of “illegal” homes that Palestinians built all twenty-two member States of the Arab
because of Israel’s refusal to provide building League proposed this two-state settlement
permits. The motive behind destroying these as well as “normal relations with Israel.”
homes, according to Amnesty, has been to Israel ignored the proposal.
maximize the area available for Jewish settlers: Not only has Israel stubbornly rejected
“Palestinians are targeted for no other reason this two-state settlement, but the policies it
than they are Palestinians.” is currently pursuing will abort any
Finally, Israel has destroyed hundred of possibility of a viable Palestinian state. While
homes on security pretexts, yet a Human Rights world attention has been riveted by Israel’s
Watch report on Gaza found that “the pattern redeployment from Gaza, Sara Roy of
of destruction strongly suggests that Israeli Harvard University observes that the
forces demolished homes wholesale, “Gaza Disengagement Plan is, at heart, an
regardless of whether they posed a specific instrument for Israel’s continued annexation
threat.” Amnesty, likewise, found that “Israel’s of West Bank land and the physical
extensive destruction of homes and properties integration of that land into Israel.”
throughout the West Bank and Gaza is not In particular, Israel has been
justified by military necessity,” and that “Some constructing a wall deep inside the West
of these acts of destruction amount to grave Bank that will annex the most productive
breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention land and water resources as well as East
and are war crimes.” Jerusalem, the centre of Palestinian life. It
Apart from the sheer magnitude of its will also effectively sever the West Bank in
human rights violations, the uniqueness of two. Although Israel initially claimed that it
Israeli policies merits notice. was building the wall to fight terrorism,
“Israel has created in the Occupied the consensus among human rights
Territories a regime of separation based on organizations is that it is really a land grab

16 Al-Aqsa
to annex illegal Jewish settlements into Israel. exactly the reverse of the one Israel’s
Recently, Israel’s Justice Minister frankly defenders allege: Israel is held not to a
acknowledged that the wall will serve as “the higher but lower standard than other
future border of the state of Israel.” member States.
The current policies of the Israeli A study by Marc Weller of Cambridge
government will lead either to endless University comparing Israel and the
bloodshed or the dismemberment of Occupied Palestinian Territory with
Palestine. “It remains virtually impossible to comparable situations in Bosnia and
conceive of a Palestinian state without its capital Herzegovina, Kosovo, East Timor,
in Jerusalem,” the respected Crisis Group occupied Kuwait and Iraq, and Rwanda
recently concluded, and accordingly Israeli found that Israel has enjoyed “virtual
policies in the West Bank “are at war with any immunity” from enforcement measures
viable two-state solution and will not bolster such as an arms embargo and economic
Israel’s security; in fact, they will undermine it, sanctions typically adopted by the U.N.
weakening Palestinian pragmatists and sowing against member States condemned for
the seeds of growing radicalization.” identical violations of international law.
Recalling the U.N. Charter principle that it Due in part to an aggressive campaign
is inadmissible to acquire territory by war, the accusing Europe of a “new anti-Semitism,”
International Court of Justice declared in a the European Union has also failed in its
landmark 2004 opinion that Israel’s settlements legal obligation to enforce international law
in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
wall being built to annex them to Israel were Although the claim of a “new anti-
illegal under international law. It called on Israel Semitism” has no basis in fact (all the
to cease construction of the wall, dismantle evidence points to a lessening of anti-
those parts already completed and compensate Semitism in Europe), the EU has reacted
Palestinians for damages. by appeasing Israel. It has even suppressed
Crucially, it also stressed the legal publication of one of its own reports,
responsibilities of the international community: because the authors - like the Crisis Group
all States are under an obligation not to and many others - concluded that due to
recognize the illegal situation resulting from Israeli policies the “prospects for a two-
the construction of the wall in the Occupied state solution with east Jerusalem as the
Palestinian Territory, including in and around capital of Palestine are receding.”
East Jerusalem. They are also under an The moral burden to avert the
obligation not to render aid or assistance in impending catastrophe must now be
maintaining the situation created by such borne by individual states that are
construction. It is also for all States, while prepared to respect their obligations under
respecting the United Nations Charter and international law and by individual men
international law, to see to it that any and women of conscience. In a
impediment, resulting from the construction courageous initiative, American-based
of the wall, to the exercise by the Palestinian Human Rights Watch recently called on
people of its right to self-determination is the U.S. government to reduce significantly
brought to an end. its financial aid to Israel until Israel
A subsequent U.N. General Assembly terminates its illegal policies in the West
resolution supporting the World Court Bank. An economic boycott would seem
opinion passed overwhelmingly. However, the to be an equally judicious undertaking. A
Israeli government ignored the Court’s opinion, non-violent tactic, the purpose of which
continuing construction at a rapid pace, while is to achieve a just and lasting settlement
Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the wall was of the Israel-Palestine conflict, cannot
legal. legitimately be called anti-Semitic. Indeed,
Due to the obstructionist tactics of the the real enemies of Jews are those who
United States, the United Nations has not been debase the memory of Jewish suffering
able to effectively confront Israel’s illegal by equating principled opposition to
practices. Indeed, although it is true that the Israel’s illegal and immoral policies with
U.N. keeps Israel to a double standard, it’s anti-Semitism.

Al-Aqsa 17
18 Al-Aqsa
An Obligation To Act

Hilary Wise*

I
n 2005 the media focus, in relation to the Palestinians, especially now that AlJazeera
Middle East, was largely on Iraq, for and Arabiyya bypass the bland, state-
obvious reasons. It has everything: high controlled local TV channels, people see
profile violence, vital commercial and strategic what is going on; close-up and on a daily
interests, ‘our boys’ in danger, and so on. basis. When yet another Palestinian mother
People feel they can grasp the immediate is forced to give birth at a checkpoint,
background and history to the situation and, under the nuzzle of an Israeli gun, and the
more or less, what is happening there now. baby dies, they ask, “Don’t your people
(Even if many forget that the West backed know about this?” and I have to answer,
and armed Saddam at the height of his power, “I’m afraid not”. (The only occasion on
and turned a blind eye to his atrocities.) The which such an incident was covered was
vocal and widespread opposition to the war, when a woman gave birth to twins –
too, has been reasonably well covered. unusual and therefore worthy of media
However, in TV news and the popular interest.)
press the issue of Israel/Palestine has been no They see the utter hypocrisy of the West
more than a shadowy backdrop to the calling for respect for international law and
occasional suicide bombing – which of course compliance with UN resolutions, and
hits the headlines. The whole historical process extolling the virtues of free speech and
of colonisation, the ongoing expropriation of democracy, whilst actively supporting one
Palestinian land and demolition of homes, of the most lawless regimes in the world.
denial of access to workplaces or schools, the That simmering outrage has poisoned
assassinations with horrific ‘collateral damage’ our relations with the peoples of Arab and
– these are hardly a blip on the radar screen as Muslim countries across the globe and
far as our media are concerned. This is part undoubtedly sowed the seeds of 9/11 in
laziness, part cowardice in the face of the the US and 7/7 in the UK. Iraq was simply
powerful Zionist lobby. For most members the fuse that ignited the powder keg. This
of the general public the conflict is just too is not to excuse such acts of violence in
complex and intractable to wrestle with – and any way, but it is unimaginable that hatred
one that doesn’t concern us directly anyway. could be nurtured on this scale without our
I would argue that, on the contrary, the own decades-long involvement in the
issue is of direct and immediate concern to all region.
of us, for both practical and moral reasons. I A political solution to the Israel/
have travelled and worked in the Middle East Palestine question, based on justice, would
for over thirty years, and have seen how the at a stroke open the way for more
UK and US responsibility for the foundation harmonious relations across the globe.
of Israel, and their continuing unconditional Israel would benefit as much as the
support for it, is viewed by virtually everyone Palestinians, if they genuinely wish to live
you meet. From Morocco to the Sudan, even in peace within secure borders.
in the smallest village, people are much better Unfortunately, Israel is only too happy to
informed on the facts than the average exploit US readiness to rubberstamp any
Londoner. They are outraged by the apparent new piece of land grabbing it chooses to
absence of conscience shown by our pursue. Without external pressure, no
governments with regard to the plight of the progress can be made.

* HILARY WISE is Editor of ‘Palestine News’, the quarterly magazine of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
A booklet containing the basic facts relating to the conflict is available in the PSC booklet: ‘Why Palestine’ See
www.palestinecampaign.org.

Al-Aqsa 19
 In the UK, when you work in a national to strengthen the networks at the European
organisation like the Palestine Solidarity level.
Campaign, which campaigns at grassroots level A great deal of progress has already
to promote support for Palestinian rights, you been made. At the beginning of the second
come across a great deal of sympathy for the Intifada, about five years ago, virtually all
Palestinian people. It is usually sufficient to criticism of Israel was labelled anti-Semitic.
show a map of the area, indicating the Now it is possible to speak without being
expansion of Israeli colonisation, with the immediately reviled and discounted. Israel
illegal settlements swallowing up the farmland has done a good job in demonstrating its
and surrounding the remaining Palestinian own brutality and contempt for the law. It
towns and villages; the illegal Wall built on can no longer present itself as a weak,
Palestinian, not Israeli land; the illegal highways embattled little nation struggling for
crisscrossing the West Bank (that only Israelis survival, when it was offered 78% of
can use); and people here are outraged too. former Palestine by the PLO in 1988, in
But the reaction is typically: “The US is backing return for a mini Palestinian state, with the
them; what can we, as individuals in the UK, unanimous backing of other Arab nations.
possibly do?” The answer is: a great deal. UN resolutions are piling up, calling on
We have to begin by informing people – Israel to obey international law. The most
starting with ourselves. All the information is recent backed the 2004 ruling of the
out there, on the websites of campaigning International Court of Justice that the Wall
organisations and of international NGOs being built on Palestinian territory is illegal
working in the area, such as Save the Children, and should be dismantled, and the
the International Red Cross, War on Want, Palestinians compensated.
Christian Aid and many others. The arguments are being won, in the
Films showing very graphically just what is UN, on campuses, in conferences and on
happening are available on video or DVD; the rare occasions when they are properly
Palestinians living in the UK or visiting from aired in the media. (Hence the increasingly
the Occupied Territories speak at conferences hysterical tone of the Zionist apologists,
and meetings around the country, as do Israeli and the attempts we are witnessing in the
refuseniks and international observers and US to suppress discussion of the facts in
activists who have spent months in Palestinian universities.) Now is the time to redouble
communities. Both Palestinian and Israeli all our efforts.
historians have written volumes on the true Last July, 170 Palestinian civil society
history of the region. If you want to campaign organisations called for the boycott of all
actively it is important to have a solid Israeli goods and pro-occupation
grounding in the facts, as pro-Israel speakers organisations. Every week groups of
and writers still seek to promote the myths of people and individuals around the UK
‘the empty land’, the tiny helpless state even leaflet supermarkets stocking Israeli goods,
now threatened by powerful neighbours, and and stage events at checkouts to highlight
so on. They need to be confronted with the need to put direct pressure on the Israeli
accurate facts and figures – and with a few regime. (Europe is the biggest importer of
shocking quotations from Israeli leaders, Israeli goods; the disappearance of this
revealing the deep-rooted racism inherent in market would be a body-blow to the
Zionist ideology. Israeli economy.) This is, after all, how
Armed with information, the next step is South African Apartheid began to crumble,
to act. The old slogan says: “Strength through with the grassroots campaigners showing
unity” – and it still holds good, for all political government the way.
campaigning. One hundred people acting MPs are, by and large, surprisingly
separately can be an irritant. One hundred ignorant of foreign affairs. You can lobby
people acting together can be a real force for yours with hard facts, not rhetoric, and
change. There is already a complex network press them, politely but firmly, to state their
of organisations, both in the UK and own position. There are Early Day Motions
worldwide, involved in campaigning on the in the House of Commons that they can
Palestinian issue; some are religiously based, sign in support of Palestinian rights. (Last
some are secular. Every year at the massive year one calling for the removal of the Wall
European Social Forum (to be held in Athens attracted over 200 signatures.) There are
this year), Palestine is increasingly becoming a regular delegations of MPs visiting the
central issue, and the meeting is an opportunity Occupied Territories and an all-party

20 Al-Aqsa
organisation that actively campaigns within the close the debate through intimidation. Let
House of Commons. Press your MP to sign, us be clear: anti-Semitism is not merely an
to speak, to join, to visit, and to get involved. odious doctrine – it is highly counter-
Your vote matters to him or her. At the next productive. Zionists in general, and the
election, if enough people are sufficiently vocal Israeli regime in particular, clutch at any
in enough constituencies, the Palestinian issue manifestation of it with positive euphoria.
will become an election issue. At last – an excuse for Israel’s actions, in
Find out what is already happening in your the name of Jews worldwide!
part of the world and decide what your To ally oneself with the anti-Semitic
involvement could be. It might be putting in a camp, and in particular to deny the
few hours a week helping in an office, it might Holocaust, is to play the Zionist game.
be leafleting a supermarket, hosting visiting Those Zionists who cannot bring
Palestinian children in the UK for a holiday, themselves to use the weird biblical
forging a link between your local school and justifications for Jewish rule of the land
one in Palestine; it might be giving financial ‘between the Nile and the Euphrates’, so
help to a national or local organisation, or favoured by extreme Christian
organising a public meeting. Simply opening fundamentalists, prefer the argument that
up a discussion of the issue with friends, the Holocaust shows Jews can only be safe
colleagues or neighbours is of huge in a self-inflicted ghetto, bristling with
importance. weapons of mass destruction. If one
If you belong to a union, you can campaign seeks to refute that argument by claiming
– again, from an informed position – for your the Holocaust didn’t happen, one accepts
branch to affiliate to a pro-Palestinian the Zionist line of reasoning. Let us argue
organisation. This will lead to unions affiliating rather that the Palestinians played no part
at national level – a step which was crucial in in the horrors of WWII, and that Israel’s
the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa. policies of brutal occupation and
(Already 15 national trade unions have affiliated expansion make Jews in general and
to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which is Israelis in particular more, not less,
holding a conference this spring to bring vulnerable.
together British and Palestinian trade unionists.) Language matters. To call Israelis ‘Jews’
The national media may be difficult to is to fall into that same trap. Many Jews
penetrate but, even there, informed responses and some brave Israelis are utterly opposed
to biased material, and provision of more to Zionist policies; let us recognise their
accurate information can have a long-term contribution and work closely with them.
positive effect. The local media, both radio But before you adopt a new resolution,
and the press, are much more open. Activists to stand up and be counted on the vital
cycling to Jerusalem, or a group hosting issue of Palestinian rights, make no mistake:
Palestinian visitors, are very likely to get local there is no magic formula, no silver bullet.
coverage. Just provide plenty of information, Accept you will be in it for the long haul.
in advance, and keep up the dialogue once it Once you commit yourself, make sure that
has been initiated. commitment, however modest, is ongoing
The charge of anti-Semitism will still be and practical. Passive sympathy for the
made, of course: when arguments are lacking, Palestinian people is of no use to anyone –
the opposition will resort to insult, to try and except to the Israeli regime.

Al-Aqsa 21
22 Al-Aqsa
Ariel Sharon: A Napoleon, Made in Israel

Uri Avnery*

He was an Israeli Napoleon actually supporting the State of Israel. Can

there be a more sacred duty than to
From early youth, he was totally convinced
provide an assured income to the Israeli
that he was the only person in the world who
Napoleon, so that he can devote his entire
could save the State of Israel. That was an
energy to the fulfillment of his historic
absolute certainty, free of any doubt. He just
mission?
knew that he must achieve supreme power, in
On his long journey, Sharon easily
order to fulfill the mission that fate had
overcame such hurdles. They did not divert
entrusted him with.
him from his course. Personal tragedies and
This belief led to a complete integration
political defeats did not hold him up for a
of personal egocentrism and national moment. The accidents that killed his first
egocentrism. For a person who believes he has wife and his oldest son, his dismissal from
such a mission, there is no difference between office after being convicted by a board of
the personal and the national interest. What is inquiry of “indirect responsibility” for the
good for him automatically becomes good Sabra and Shatila massacres, as well as the
for the nation, and vice versa. This means that many other setbacks, failures and
anyone who hinders him from attaining power disappointments that struck him
is really committing a crime against the State. throughout the years did not deter him.
And anyone helping him to come to power is They did not divert him for an instant from
really doing a patriotic deed. his endeavor to achieve supreme power.
This belief directed all his actions for And now it was all coming true. On
decades. It explains the dogged determination, Wednesday, January 4, 2006, he could be
the tenacity, and the unbending perseverance certain that in three months time he would
that became his trade mark earning him his become the sole leader of Israel. He had
nickname “the bulldozer”. This attracted created a party that belonged to him alone
admirers, who fell completely under his and that was not only on track to occupy a
influence. central position in the next Knesset, but also
It also explains his attitude to money to cut all other parties into pieces.
matters. It has been said that he “does not stop He was determined to use this power
at a red light”, that “laws are not for him”. to change the political landscape of Israel
More than once he was accused of accepting altogether and introduce a presidential
millions from rich Jews abroad. On the day system, which would have given him an
before his fateful stroke, it came out that the all-powerful position, like that enjoyed by
police had formally accused him of receiving Juan Peron in his heyday in Argentina. Then,
a bribe of three million dollars from a casino- at long last, he would be able to realize his
owner. (It is quite possible that this raised his historic mission of laying the tracks on
blood pressure and helped to cause the massive which Israel would run for generations, as
stroke.) But not all these millionaires expected David Ben-Gurion had done before him.
a return. Some of them believed, as he did And then, just when it seemed that
himself, that by supporting him, they were nothing could stop him anymore, with cruel

* URI AVNERY is the founding member of Ghush Shalom, the Israeli Peace bloc. In his teenage years he was
anIindependence fighter in the Irgun (1938-1942) and later a soldier in the Israeli Army. A three-time Knesset
member (1965-1973, and 1979-1983), Avnery was the first Israeli to establish contact with the Palestinian
Liberation Organization leadership, in 1974. During the war on Lebanon in 1982 he crossed “enemy lines” to be
the first Israeli to meet with Yasser Arafat. He has been a journalist since 1947, including 40 years as Editor-in-
Chief of the newsmagazine Ha’olam Haze, and is the author of numerous books on the conflict.

Al-Aqsa 23
 suddenness, his own body betrayed him. What “all the world is against us” is deeply
happened resembles a central motif of the anchored in the national psyche and is
Jewish myth: the fate of Moses, whom God applied especially to Arabs.
punished for his pride by allowing him a On this moral base the aim emerged:
glimpse of the Promised Land from afar, but to establish a Jewish state, as large as
having him die before he could set foot on its possible, free of non-Jews. That could lead
soil. On the threshold of absolute power, the to the conclusion that the ethnic cleansing,
stroke hit Ariel Sharon. begun by Ben-Gurion in 1948, when half
While he was still fighting for his life in the Palestinians were deprived of their
hospital, the myth of “Sharon’s Legacy” was homes and land, must be completed.
already beginning to form. Sharon’s career began shortly after, when
As has happened with many leaders who he was appointed to lead the undercover
did not leave a written testament, every commando Unit 101, whose murderous
individual is free to imagine a Sharon of his actions beyond the borders were designed
own. Leftists, who only yesterday had cursed mainly to prevent the refugees from
Sharon as the murderer of Kibieh, the butcher infiltrating back to their villages.
of Sabra and Shatila and the man responsible However, Sharon became convinced
for the plunder and slaughter in the occupied quite early that another wholesale ethnic
Palestinian territories, began to admire him as cleansing was impossible in the foreseeable
the “Man of Peace”. Settlers, who had future (barring some unforeseeable
condemned him as a traitor, remembered that international event changing conditions
it was he who had created the settlements and altogether.)
kept on enlarging them to this day. In default of this option, Sharon
Only yesterday he was one of the most believed that Israel must annex all the areas
hated people in Israel and the world. Today, between the Mediterranean and the Jordan
after the evacuation of Gush Katif, he has without a dense Palestinian population.
become the darling of the public, almost from Already decades ago, he prepared a map
wall to wall. The leaders of nations crowned that he showed proudly to local and
him as the “great warrior who has turned into foreign personalities in order to convert
a hero of peace”. them to his views.
Everybody agrees that Sharon has changed According to this map, Israel will annex
completely, that he has gone from one extreme the areas along the pre-1967 border as well
to the other, the proverbial Ethiopian who has as the Jordan valley, up to the “back of
changed his skin, the leopard who has changed the mountain” (an expression particularly
his spots. All these analyses have only one thing dear to Sharon). It will also annex several
in common: they have nothing to do with the East-West strips to connect the Jordan
real Ariel Sharon. They are based on ignorance, valley with the Green Line. In these
illusion and self-deception. territories that are marked for annexation,
A look at his long career (helped, I may Sharon created a dense net of settlements.
add, by some personal knowledge) show that That was his principal endeavor throughout
he has not changed at all. He stayed true to his the last thirty years, in all his diverse positions
fundamental approach, only adapting his - Minister of Agriculture, Minister of
slogans to changing times and circumstances. Industry and Trade, Minister of Defense,
His master-plan remained as it was at the Minister of Housing, Foreign Minister,
beginning. Minister of Infrastructure, and Prime
Underlying his world view is a simplistic, Minister - and this work is going on at this
19th century style nationalism, which says: our minute.
people stands above all others, other people The areas with a dense Palestinian
are inferior. The rights of our nation are sacred, population, Sharon intended to hand over
other nations have no rights at all. The rules to Palestinian self-government. He was
of morality apply only to relations within the determined to remove from them all the
nation, not to relations between nations. settlements that were set up there without
He absorbed this conviction with his thinking. This way, eight or nine Palestinian
mother’s milk. It governed Kfar Malal, the enclaves would have come into being, cut
cooperative village in which he was born, as it off from each other, each one surrounded
also governed the whole world at the time. by settlers and Israeli army installations. He
Among Jews in particular it was reinforced did not care whether these would be called
by the horrors of the Holocaust. The slogan a “Palestinian state”. His recent use of this

24 Al-Aqsa
term is an example of his ability to adapt now, immediately. Only the stroke
himself, outwardly and verbally, to changing prevented this.
situations. The eagerness with which so many good
The Gaza strip is one of these enclaves. people on the left embraced the “Sharon
That is, the real significance of the uprooting Legacy” does not show their grasp of his
of the settlements and the withdrawal of the plans, but rather their own longing for
Israeli army. It is the first stage in the realization peace. They long with all their heart for a
of the map: this small area, with a dense strong leader, who has the will and the
Palestinian population of a million and a ability to end the conflict.
quarter, was turned over to the Palestinians. The determination with which Sharon
The Israeli land, sea and air forces surround removed the settlers from Gush Katif filled
the strip almost completely. The very existence these leftists with enthusiasm. Who would
of its inhabitants depends at all times on the have believed that there was a leader
mercy of Israel, which controls all entrances capable of carrying it out, without civil
and exits (except the Rafah crossing into war, without bloodshed? And if this has
Egypt, which is monitored by Israel from happened in the Gaza Strip, why can’t it
afar.) Israel can cut off the water and electricity happen in the West Bank? Sharon will drive
supply at a moment’s notice. Sharon intended the settlers out and make peace; all this,
to create the same situation in Hebron, without the Left having to lift a finger. The
Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin and the other areas. savior, like Deus, will jump ex machina. As
the Hebrew proverb goes, “the work of
the righteous is done by others”, who may
Is this a “peace plan”? be something quite other than righteous.
Peace is made between nations which agree Sharon has easily adapted himself to this
to create a situation where all of them can live longing of the public. He has not changed
in freedom, well-being and mutual respect and his plan, but given it a new veneer, in the
believe that that is good for them. This is not spirit of the times. From now on, he
what Sharon had in mind. As a military man, appeared as the “Man of Peace”. He never
he knows only truces. If peace had been cared which mask it was convenient to
handed to him on a platter, he would not have wear. But this mask reflects the deepest
recognized it. wishes of the Israeli people.
He knew perfectly well that no Palestinian From this point of view, the imaginary
leader could possibly agree to his map, now “Sharon Legacy” can play a positive role.
or ever. That’s why he did not intend to have When he created his new party, he took
any political negotiations with the Palestinians. with him a lot of Likud people, those who
His slogan was “we have no partner”. He had come to the conclusion that the goal
intended to realize all the stages of his plan of “The Whole of Eretz Israel” has
“unilaterally”, as he did in Gaza - without become impossible to attain. Many of these
dialogue with the Palestinians, without will remain in the Kadima party even after
considering their requirements and aspirations, Sharon has left the tribune. As a result of
and, of course, without seeking their consent. an ongoing, slow subterranean process,
But Sharon did indeed intend to make Likud people, too, are ready to accept the
peace - peace with the United States. He partition of the country. The whole system
considered American consent as essential. He is moving in the direction of peace.
knew that Washington could not give its The “Sharon Legacy”, even if imaginary,
consent to his whole plan. So he intended to may become a blessing, if Sharon appears
obtain their agreement phase by phase. Since in it in his latest incarnation: Sharon the up-
President Bush has submitted to him entirely, rooter of settlements, Sharon who is ready
and no one knows who will succeed him, to give up parts of Eretz Israel, Sharon
Sharon intended to realize the main part of who agrees to a Palestinian state.
his plan within the next two or three years, True, this was not Sharon’s intention.
before the end of the President’s term in But, as Sharon himself might have said: It
office. That is one of the reasons for his is not the intentions that matter, but the
hurry. He had to come to absolute power results on the ground.

Al-Aqsa 25
26 Al-Aqsa
Settlements in Jerusalem

Mazen Nuseibah*

I
sraeli settlements are communities built for 595 buildings that included residential
Israeli Jewish settlers in areas occupied by houses,1,048 stores , 5 mosques,
Israel during the 1967 war. These areas schools and market place. 6000
are in the West Bank including East Jerusalem, inhabitants were made homeless. A
the Golan Heights and formerly the Gaza Jewish neighborhood was built in the
Strip. Settlements are large housing projects area, and in 1995, settlers numbered
built illegally under international law and at the 24,000.
expense of Palestinians whose land is 2. In Neve Yacove, between 1968 and
confiscated to make room for the settlement 1980, 1,835 dunams were con-
buildings. fiscated to build 3800 housing units
Building settlements in and around for about 20,000 settlers.
Jerusalem has been an ideological objective for 3. In Ramot in 1970, 4,840 dunams
Jews since the middle of the 19th century in were confiscated to build 8,000
order to determine the political future of housing units for 37,000 Jewish
Jerusalem. This began with the Yemen Moshe settlers. This settlement was the
neighborhood in 1850 followed by Mea expanded to include 2,000 more
Sharem and Mafour Haim in 1858. units.
The British municipality during the mandate 4. In Gilo, 7,484 housing units were
added to the municipal boundaries built for 30,000 settlers.
neighborhoods with Jewish majorities such as 5. The Talpiot Mizrah settlement was
Givat Shaul, Montifeury, Beit Vegan and built on 2,240 dunams of con-
others, while it limited the municipal fiscated land in 1970. It is part of
boundaries in the east to the outskirts of a the Southern Belt around Jerusalem
number of Arab neighborhoods such as Attur, housing about 15,000 settlers.
Shufat and Isawya. 6. The Maalot Dafna settlement was
From 1918 to 1948, the built area increased built on 389 dunams of land taken
under the British mandate from 4130 dunams from what was known as ‘No Man’s
to 7230 dunams. In 1948 Jerusalem was Land’ during the years between
divided into two cities, East Jerusalem under 1948 and 1967. More than 1,164
Jordanian rule and West Jerusalem under Israeli units were built in this settlement for
rule. During the following 19 years, East 4,700 settlers. Part of this land is used
Jerusalem remained approximately the same by road Number 1.
area while the West grew larger. 7. The Hebrew University was
Within days of the end of the 1967 war, established in 1924 on land taken
Israel started its wide scale settlement building from Isawyah village. During the
in East Jerusalem. The main settlement areas years 1948-1967 it was under the
were as follows: control of the U.N force. After
1967, 740 more dunams of land was
1. Starting with the Old City, the Arab confiscated from the village to
neighborhood of Haret El Sharaf was enlarge the settlement and add
destroyed completely, thus abolishing dormitories to the University. The

* MAZEN NUSEIBAH’s family has lived in Jerusalem for centuries. He is a graduate of Jordan University (BSc
Biology), Al-Quds Open University (BA Islamic Education) and is currently an MA student in Islamic Studies at
Al-Quds University. His father’s land was confiscated in East Jerusalem in 1968. He petitioned the Israeli courts
for the return of the land in 1991, but lost the case although the land had been left derelict by the Israeli army
for 23 years.

Al-Aqsa 27
 settlement is inhabited by 24,000 settlers described as the inner belt or ring around
and has a strategic significance as it over- the city. This ring was then followed and
looks East Jerusalem from one side and strengthened by an‘outer ring’ which
the Jordan Valley from the other. completely isolates the city from its Arab
8. In 1970, 1,198 dunums of land was neighbours. This outer ring includes:
confiscated from Palestinians to make
way for the Reikhes Shufat settlement,
where 2,165 housing units were built. From the South
This settlement forms the Eastern Belt The Etzion Bloc isolates Bethlehem
of the ring surrounding Jerusalem, with from its Southern region. This bloc includes
Neve Yacove, Pisgat Zeive and Pisgat the Bitar Elite settlement with its extremist
Omer. settlers located between Arab communities
9. The Pisgat Zeive and Pisgat Omer extending westward towards the Hadassah
settlements were built on the land area. The second settlement in this bloc is
owned by residents of the Arab villages Kfar Etzion, extending to the tops of the
of Beit-Hanina, Shufat, Hizma and Jerusalem Mountains. Then comes Effrat,
Anatta. The whole area confiscated which blocs the road between Bethlehem
from these villages amounts to 3,800 and Hebron.
dunams. 12,000 housing units were Another settlement that is considered
planned for over 100,000 settlers. part of this bloc but falls in the East, far
10. The Ramat Ashkol settlement lies on from the Green Line, is the Teqoa
the Northern entrance of Jerusalem on settlement. It is connected by a bypass road
the road from the West Bank city of to the Har Homa settlement.
Ramallah. This was one of the earliest
settlements that has more than one aim:
in addition to settling more than 7,000 From the East
settlers, it is supposed to block the road The ring consists of the Kedar, Maaleh
from Ramallah and form a continuity Adumin, Mishor Adumin and Kfar
of buildings between East and West Adumim settlements. These are connected
Jerusalem, in order to make it look like to the center of the city by a road that
one city. Thus, Jerusalem becomes includes a tunnel under Mount Scopus
enveloped by Jewish settlers. toward road Number 1. This greatly
11. The settlement of Attarot was built as reduces traveling time for the settlers.
an industrial area on 1,200 dunams of
land confiscated in 1970 from Kalandia.
A number of manufacturers have been From the North
moved to it and there are plans to enlarge
This bloc forming the northern part of
the airport to export through it.
the belt includes the Alamon, Adam, Shaar
12. Givaat Hamatos was built on an area
Binyamin, Kochave Yacove and Psagot
of about 170 dunams of land
settlements. These are connected by an
confiscated from Beit-safafa village and
Eastern bypass road.
neighboring Beit-Jala city. It was
established in 1991 with 6,500 housing
units and contributes to the Southern New Settlements
Belt surrounding Jerusalem.
13. Givat Hasarfatit was built on the lands Beside the settlements mentioned
of the Arab villages of Shufat and Lifta. above, which already exist and are
There are 5,000 housing units on an area continually undergoing additional building
of 822 dunams. and expansion; there are a number of new
14. Har Homa was built on the lands of settlements that are in the planning stages
the Sur-Baheir and Im-Tuba villages. The or under construction. Of these new
land was confiscated in the 1970 ‘s as a settlements, there are:
natural reserve, but in 1991 plans were
made to build the settlement. a. Ras El Amoud: 132 units amide an
Arab neighborhood.
The settlements listed above were built close b. The Eastern Gate project: 2,000 units
to Jerusalem and are now considered to connect Givaat Hasarfatit with
neighborhoods of the city or could be Pisgat-zeive in East Jerusalem.

28 Al-Aqsa
 c. Abu-Deis: 200 units in Abu-Deis to These two roads will stretch 45
establish a Jewish presence in what was kilometers around Jerusalem from the east
supposed to be the Palestinian Autonomy and south and north of the city and will
Capital as some Israelis suggested. demolish at least 38 Palestinian buildings
d. Silwan: Jewish settlers and Yeshiva and more than 700 hectars of agricultural
students, with the help of the land to pave its path. It will also make any
Government, are planning to ‘recapture’ continuity between Jerusalem and the
what they call the City of David. nearby Palestinian villages, such as Abu-
e. The E-1 plan: a plan to build 1,500 units Deis, Mikhmas, Jabaa, Zeim and Kalandia
in addition to 3,000 hotel rooms to impossible.
connect Jerusalem proper with Maale All of these settlement building projects
Adumin. on confiscated East Jerusalem land obliged
f. Karem el Mufti: the millionaire Irwin the Israeli municipality to extend its
Moskovitz supported settlements in jurisdiction, and thus the area that it was
Jerusalem long ago, including the responsible for, from 6.5 sq. kilometers
building in Maale Adumin, Burj Al pre-1967 to over 123 sq. kilometers.
Laqlaq, Beit Orot in Al Tur and others.
Moskovitz rented the Shepered hotel in
1967 for the Border Police Force as a Settling in the Old City
camp. Plans are now being made to Jewish presence in the Old City began
demolish the hotel and build in its place, to be more apparent in the beginning of
and the surrounding 30 dunums (which the nineteenth century in the Jewish Quarter,
was confiscated from its Arab owners), which was less than one fourth of what is
90 housing units. This will link the illegal known today. Its location was important
Mount Scopus residence and Shimoun to Jewish people for a number of reasons:
Hatzidik Tomb residence, which
includes 8 families and 50 Yeshiva i No Muslim or Christian holy places
students, with neighboring government were there.
buildings and police headquarters. ii It was near to the Wailing Wall.
iii It overlooks the Mount of Olives
where, in Jewish eschatology, the
dead will be resurrected at the
apocalypse.

Sephardic Jews lived in the Jewish

Quarter in the early nineteenth century and
they were integrated with the Arab
community, having the same language and
habits. Later, when they grew in numbers,
they rented or bought houses in the Muslim
Quarter.
In the first three decades of the
Twentieth century, after the aims of the
Zionist movement began to be clear,
tension rose between Arabs and Jews.
Two main incidents occurred: the 1929
Buraq clashes and the 1936 Arab
These settlements, new and old, will be revolution. These incidents resulted in the
served by the construction of two new roads: movement of Jews from Muslim
Road 5 and road 45. These two roads are neighborhoods inside the walls to the
planned to: newly built Jewish neighborhoods outside
the walls. Jewish property was sold or
i Complete the siege around Jerusalem, leased or even abandoned. This
and isolate it from the West Bank. movement was through individual choice,
ii Connect all the settlements around and not under direct pressure from the
Jerusalem together. Arab residents. Palestine was under the
iii Connect these settlements with the British Mandate at that time.
coastal area inside Israel.

Al-Aqsa 29
 During the 1948 war, residents of the Jewish Settlers
Quarter left to the Western part of the city.
To encourage settling in East Jerusalem
After the war, their properties were rented by and the West Bank, consequent Israeli
the Jordanian Custodian of the Enemy Property governments have afforded to settlers:
to Arab refugees from areas occupied by Israel.
After 1967, as mentioned earlier, the first 1. Housing subsidies.
step taken by Israel was demolishing the Haret 2. Income tax reductions.
El Sharaf and Haret El Magharibeh 3. Low interest loans.
neighborhoods. More than 595 buildings were 4. Subsidies for water, electricity and
demolished, of which only 105 were owned telephone services.
by Jews before 1948. The area was expanded 5. Loans to cover moving expenses.
more than once and life was made more 6. Security provisions.
difficult for those living around it.
The other main step towards settling in the These subsidies have resulted in settlers
old city was made by establishing government receiving 12% of the Israeli domestic
associations under settlers’ names cover, to budget though they form only 2.4% of the
transfer properties from Arab to Jewish hands. Israeli population.
This was done secretly under the Labor party
before 1977, but more transparently under the Treatment of Arabs in East Jerusalem
Likud party with Ariel Sharon in different
Ministry Offices. Attareit Cohaneim was one One of the main objectives of the Israeli
of the main groups that implemented this policy, occupation of East Jerusalem is to replace
acquiring 123 properties from 1982 to 1992, the Palestinian population with Jewish
one of which was Sharon’s residence in the old settlers. To fulfill this objective a number
city. Sharon pumped millions of Dollars from of steps have been taken through-out the
different ministry budgets into these groups’ 38 years of occupation against the Arab
activities. He even used his authorities to grant population in Jerusalem such as:
them government properties, such as the land
near Herods Gate bought by the Jewish • Confiscation of land: in 1967, Arabs
National Fund from the Russian Church, then owned 100% of the land in East
moved to the Israel Land Department which Jerusalem, but today they own only
in turn handed it to Attaerit Cohaneim. 14% of it. This decrease in the area
Cooperation between settlers and where Arabs can live and build has
government personnel was paramount in not taken in to consideration the
locating properties owned by absentees. After normal population growth.
locating these properties, they were sold by • Destruction of newly built houses:
the government to the settlers or entered by buildings that are constructed
force by the settlers with the knowledge that without municipal permits are
nobody would go to court to restore them. demolished. It is impossible to
Other ways of obtaining properties illegally obtain the required permits as they
was through fake purchase agreements from are not given to Arabs in the first
unknown persons with no rights to the place. Thus, the Palestinians are
property. The settlers would then move into forced to build without permits to
the property and wait for the real owner to accommodate growing families.
take legal action to restore his property, a • New laws: new laws have been
matter that would take many years to imposed to decrease the number of
conclude. This was the case with the St. John inhabitants in East Jerusalem, such
Hospice, owned by the Greek Orthodox as loss of citizenship in Jerusalem
Church in the Christian Quarter. Eventually, in for those who lived outside the city
this case, the Church prevailed in court and for more than 7 years, even if they
settlers were ordered to leave the hospice. lived in the West Bank and not
outside the country. Confiscation of
Jerusalem ID cards under different
Different Israeli policy towards Settlers guises also prevents their bearers
and Arabs in Jerusalem from entering the city again, even if
Below is a comparison between what is their homes and jobs are there.
offered to settlers and the policy towards Statistics show that between the years
Arabs in Jerusalem. 1967 and 2004, 6,396 Palestinian

30 Al-Aqsa
 Jerusalemites had their residency rights i Article 49, paragraph 6 of the Fourth
revoked. Geneva Convention explicitly
• Increasing tax: Arabs are forced to pay stipulates: ‘The occupying power
high taxes under threat of different shall not deport or transfer parts of
punishments. This is especially difficult its own civilian population into the
to meet due to the bad economic territory it occupied”.
conditions resulting from the ii Article 46 of the Hague Convention
occupation policies. prohibits the confiscation of private
• Military barriers: The city is surrounded property in occupied territory.
by barriers, making life difficult or even iii Article 55 of the Hague Convention
impossible for workers, students, sick stipulates that: “The occupying state
people and everybody else. shall be regarded only as admini-
• Closing Palestinian institutions that strator and usufructuary of public
provide vital ser vices to the Arab buildings, real estate, forests, and
citizens in the city. agricultural estates belonging to the
• Enabling settlers to acquire estates inside hostile state, and situated in the
and outside the walls by different illegal occupied country. It must safeguard
ways such as the Law of Absentees, or the capital of these properties and
by buying the rights from somebody administrate them in accordance
who rents the estate and not the owner. with the rule of usufruct”. This
means that the occupying power
All these actions together have one aim: to does not become the owner of the
force Arabs to consider leaving the city. territories and properties of the
occupied country and does not use
The aims of settlements in Jerusalem them for serving the interests of its
Israelis from different factions and groups civilians. This rule applies to the
have decided among themselves, and against occupied territory’s natural resources.
the will of the entire world, that Jerusalem
must stay under their control. Not taking into B. Security Council resolutions
consideration international law or advice from concerning Israeli settlements:
their closest friends, the Americans or the
Europeans, and neglecting the calls of more i The United Nations Security Council
than 1.2 billion Muslims around the world, resolution 242 calls for: ‘just and
who cannot reach their third holiest place. lasting peace in the Middle East. The
To fulfill this ambition, settlements in confiscated areas upon which
Jerusalem are aimed at: settlements are built were illegally
confiscated.’
1. Solving the demographic problem to ii The United Nation’s Security Council
the benefit of the Israelis. resolution 465, which was un-
2. Preventing geographic continuity animously adopted, made it clear
between Arab neighborhoods around that: Israeli policy and practice of
the city and in East Jerusalem. settling parts of its population and
3. Forming more than one separating belt new immigrants in the occupied
or ring between Jerusalem and West territories constitute a serious
Bank cities around it. obstruction to achieve a comp-
4. Preventing normal population growth rehensive, just and lasting peace in
in the Arab community east of the city. the Middle East. The Security
5. Annexing large areas of land with as Council called upon Israel to
small a population as possible. dismantle the existing settlements and
6. Separating Arab citizens by building the in particular to cease on an urgent
separation Wall. 75,000 to 100,000 basis, the establishment, construction
Palestinians have been cut off from and planning of settlements in the
Jerusalem in the areas of Ram, Arab territories occupied since 1967
Samiramis and Dahiat el Barid. including Jerusalem.
iii Security Council resolution 446 (1979)
The illegality of Israeli settlements
- Stresses the urgent need to
A. Settling in occupied areas under the achieve a comprehensive and
international law: lasting peace in the Middle East.

Al-Aqsa 31
 - Affirms, once more, that the fourth because they have West Bank
Geneva Convention relative to the identity cards. Similarly, there are
protection of civilians in time of war millions of Muslims around the
is applicable to the Arab Territories world that are forbidden from
occupied in 1967 including East visiting Jerusalem).
Jerusalem. 4. (a) the government shall provide for
- Determines that the policy and the development and prosperity of
practices of Israel in establishing Jerusalem and the well being of its
settlements in the Palestinian and inhabitants by allocating special
Arab territories occupied in 1967, funds, including a special annual grant
have no legal validity. to the municipality.
- Strongly deplores the failure of (b) Jerusalem shall be given special
Israel to abide by Security Council priority in the activities of the
resolutions 237(1967) 252(1968) authorities of the state so as to
298(1971) and the consensus state- further its development in economic
ment by the President of the Security and other matters.
Council on 11 November 1976 and
the General Assembly resolutions The law was signed by Menachem Begin,
2253 and 2254 of July 1967. 32/5 as Prime Minister, and Yitzhak Navon, as
of October 1977 and 33/113 of President of the stat, on 30 July 1980.
December 1978. On the political arena, Israel has
maintained its goals in keeping Jerusalem
In addition to all the previously mentioned under occupation with a Jewish majority.
violations by Israel, building in Jerusalem after For 25 years, from 1967 to1993, the
the 1993 Oslo Agreement is a violation to this Jerusalem issue was not allowed to be
agreement which prohibits any of the tackled by any Arab negotiator such as
conflicting parties to take any action that may Egyptian-Israeli negotiations in the Camp
alter the outcome of final status negotiations David peace treaty of 1978.
over Jerusalem. In the 1993 Oslo Accords, the question
Although Israel violated all international of Jerusalem was postponed to the
laws concerning occupied lands and did not permanent status negotiation.
commit itself to any General Council In 1996, during secret negotiation
resolution; it still considers itself as a State of between Israel and the Palestinians, Israel,
Law thus giving itself the right to decide the under a Labour Government, proposed a
future of the city alone by ‘The Law of three point plan that kept Israeli sovereignty
Proclaiming Jerusalem the capital of Israel’ over the city which was refused by
which states: Palestinians.
At Camp David in 2000, President
1. Jerusalem, complete and united, is the Clinton proposed a solution for Jerusalem
capital of Israel. which divided the Eastern part of the city,
2. Jerusalem is the seat of the President inside and outside the wall, into
of the state, the Kenneset, the neighborhoods under Israeli and Palestinian
Government and the Supreme Court. sovereignties, although all neighborhoods are
3. The Holy Places shall be protected from Arabs, except the Jewish Quarter inside the
desecration and any other violation and walls. The strangest proposal in Clinton’s
from anything likely to violate the plan was dividing El Haram El Sharif
freedom of access of the members of horizontally and vertically, into apartments
the different religions to the places between Jews and Muslims. When the plan
sacred to them or their feelings towards was proposed to Barak, he refused it. Yet
these places. he returned the plan to Clinton to propose
(In reality, Al Aqsa mosque has been to Arafat so that the public refusal was made
attacked many times, under Israeli to look like it came from the Palestinians.
occupation, by armed soldiers. Also, fire
burned parts of it in1968. Tens of Arab Citizens Resistance to
Muslims were killed in these attacks and
Settlements
hundreds injured. In addition, Muslims
living a number of miles away from Arab citizens of Jerusalem, in spite of
the mosque are not allowed to reach it, the scarcity of resources that was available

32 Al-Aqsa
to them, resisted the policy of uprooting them Separation Wall resulted in Arabs
from their city in many ways, including: moving from outside the wall to
inside it, families were ready to live
i Forming committees to solve urgent in smaller houses and under bad
daily problems that Israel was not living conditions rather than leaving
interested in, either deliberately or their city.
because money was spent on the vii At the centre of the struggle is Al-
Western part of the city, such as Aqsa Mosque, and Arabs in
education, trade and personal security. Jerusalem have always been ready to
ii Building homes despite the restrictions defend the Mosque. Israeli settlers
imposed. and fanatics have always showed
iii Founding major establishments to create their will and intention to destroy the
roots in the city in spite of Israeli Mosque and build the claimed
obstacles, such as Al-Quds University Temple instead. This had resulted in
and the Arab Studies Establishment. a number of confrontations
iv Meeting high living costs despite unfair whereby hundreds of Palestinians
competition between the two parts of have fallen as martyrs or been
the city in trade, especially in the sector wounded. In the last decade
of tourism where tourists are directed Muslims put great efforts into
by different means to buy and repairing parts of the Mosque, so
accommodate in the West rather than as not to leave any abandoned areas
the East of the city. which the Israelis might claim for
v Resistance to confiscation of land has themselves.
not stopped throughout the 38 years of
occupation. Methods used vary in The building of settlements has always
range, and include recourse to the Israeli been a clear and strategic method used
courts or to the international by Israel to Judaize Jerusalem. In this
community. mission it has had some success, but
vi Despite steps taken by Israel to reduce Palestinians have shown that they will
the number of Jerusalem I.D. carriers, continue their struggle for their birthright
their numbers are still increasing. For to a land inhabited by them for
example, when building of the generations.

Al-Aqsa
Editor
The Articles published in this journal do not necessarily reflect the views of
the Editorial Board or of Friends of Al-aqsa

Al-Aqsa 33
34 Al-Aqsa
Waqf – The Eternal Legacy

1400 years ago a great social institution was established by It was one of the first hospitals to adopt medical
the Prophet Muhammad H. The tradition was carried on records and was also used as a medical school
by his companions and many subsequent generations. It from which many eminent physicians graduated,
provided immense benefit to the poor and created some of including Ibn Nafis, a scholar who discovered air
the greatest thinkers, scholars and institutions of Islamic circulation in the lungs. The hospital served for
civilisation. That great tradition is known as ‘Waqf ’ and it seven centuries and parts of it still exist today!
is fast being forgotten by Muslims around the world. Another hospital that benefited from Awqaf
was the Mansuri Hospital in Cairo, built by
Mansur Qalaun in 1248AD. Converted from a
What is Waqf ? palace, the hospital catered for thousands of
Waqf (plural: Awqaf) refers to the commitment patients with separate wards for men and women
of property or money, whose benefit or profit is and as well as different wards for various illnesses.
used for charitable or religious purposes. Central to The hospital was equipped with its own
the idea of Waqf is that it is lasting; the gift is pharmacy, library and lecture halls, and also had
regarded as belonging to ‘Allah’ and therefore cannot its own mosque as well as a chapel for Christian
be sold. patients. According to the rules of Waqf upon
Although Waqf is not expressly mentioned in which the hospital was founded, no one was
the Qur’an, it is mentioned in the teachings and deeds ever turned away and no limits were set as to
of the Prophet Muhammad H . In one such saying, how long a person could stay.
the blessed Prophet H said “When a person dies all In the field of education, countless schools,
their actions come to an end except three: ongoing charity, libraries and universities were built, with revenues
knowledge from which people continue to benefit and from Awqaf paying for books, teaching materials,
righteous children who pray for them.” The ongoing employee salaries, building maintenance and
charity to which the Prophet H refers is Waqf. stipends for students. Universities such as Al-
An eloquent example of one of the first recorded Azhar in Cairo, Al Qarawiyyin in Fez and Zaitouna
Awqaf, is that of a man named Mukhairiq who in in Tunis were founded upon Waqf and for
his Will bequeathed seven of his orchards to the generations have continued to produce great
Prophet Muhammad H . On his death, the Prophet scholars and reformers.
H took hold of the orchards and made them a Awqaf was used in various other spheres of
charitable Waqf for the poor and needy. life, including the building of roads and bridges,
There are many further instances of Waqf made providing drinking water for towns and villages,
by the Prophet H and his close companions, some setting up soup kitchens for the poor and the
of whom would stake much of their property as building and maintenance of mosques and
Waqf such as Umar al Khattab H , one of the chapels.
companions of the Prophet H who later went on
to become the second caliph. He approached the
Islamic Relief and Waqf
Prophet H for advice after obtaining some valuable
land. The Prophet H advised him to transform the Guided by the illustrious record of Waqf in
donated land to charitable Waqf so that it could Islamic civilisation, Islamic Relief started its
neither be sold nor gifted. Umar dedicated the land Waqf programme in 2000, and has a
to benefit the poor, needy relatives, ‘to set free slaves’ designated department that arranges for
in the way of Allah, for travellers and to entertain donations to be invested in accordance with
guests. principles of Islamic law.
Waqf continued to play a key role in the Donors are invited to make a donation which
development of Islamic civilisations. During the is preserved through investment. The annual
historic Malmuk and Ottoman eras, Waqf shaped profit that it makes is then used to help the poor
many aspects of life in the scientific, social and through various development projects. Since
economic fields. 2001, Islamic Relief has implemented Waqf
In the field of health for example, one of the projects in 16 countries worldwide.
many institutions that benefited from Waqf was the Recent Waqf projects have included providing
Al Noori Hospital in Damascus founded in 1145AD. emergency and relief aid to Tsunami victims in
Indonesia, building a computer training centre

Al-Aqsa 35
 for orphaned Palestinian children in Jordan and
providing specialist eye treatment for patients in
Bangladesh as part of its ‘restoring eyesight project’.

To find out more about Islamic

Relief ’s Waqf scheme visit:
www.islamic-relief.org.uk
or call:
0121 622 0622
for a free Waqf information pack

36 Al-Aqsa
Al-Aqsa 37
38 Al-Aqsa
 B O O K R EV I EW

Landscapes of the Jihad Al-Qaeda’s success or, as Devji proposes, factors that made
jihad into global movements are: ‘[1] the failure of local struggles
and [2] the inability to control a global landscape of operations
BY FAISAL DEVJI, Hardcover: 184 pages,Cornell University by the politics of intentionality (p. 31)’. Al-Qaeda’s jihad, beyond
Press (2005), ISBN: 0801444373, Price £15 the politics of causes, is argued as being objected to by Islamist
groups like Hamas, Ikhwan and Jamaat-e Islamia. Statements
post 9/11 by these groups expressed sympathy and sorrow at
the incident.
To many observers and politicians, Al-Qaeda’s success is
put down to the neglect of the plight of the Palestinians.
However, Devji argues that Palestine is only a tool for jihad
rather than the cause of it. ‘As far as Bin Laden is concerned a
cause like the Palestinian one must be subordinated to the
jihad as a global struggle (p. 69)’. In his evidence, Devji quotes
Bin Laden from an interview in October 2001, as saying ‘Jihad
is a duty to liberate Al-Aqsa and to help the powerless in
Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon and in every Muslim country. There
is no doubt that the liberation of the Arabian Peninsula from
infidels is a duty as well. But it is not right to say that Osama
put the Palestinian issue first…(p. 69).’
A significant section of his argument lies in the fact that
jihad has become metaphysical: ‘Conceptually, however, the
jihad’s global character is manifested in its abandonment of the

F
aisal Devji, Assistant Professor of History at New School
freedom struggle for the religious war. In other words, it is no
University, provides a mentally stimulating essay that
longer because Muslim populations in certain countries happen
smashes the conventional wisdom and narratives of Al-
to be oppressed by Christian or Jewish ones that the jihad is
Qaeda and the jihad. Not everything he says should be taken
declared, but rather because the war itself is also a metaphysical
verbatim but he does apply the brakes in any thinking person’s
one…(p. 74)’.
mental stride.
A chapter has been dedicated to the effect and use of media
Devji contends that post 9/11, with the Qur’an on the ‘New
by the jihadi. While there is no doubt that media plays a pivotal
York best-sellers list, one can justify in stating that Islam has
role in advancing jihad, Devji perhaps over steps the mark when
become an American phenomenon, to an extent that Americans
he says, ‘jihad is more a product of the media than it is of any
might even be more interested in and informed about it than are
local tradition or situation and school or lineage of Muslim
Muslims (p. xii)’.
authority (p. 87)’. To support his theory, he gives an account the
Devji’s purpose is not, he says, to provide a sociology of Al-
martyr Suraqah al-Andalusi’s conversion to the jihad after
Qaeda’s jihad, but rather the reverse: to encourage us to reflect
listening to an audio cassette.
on the landscapes of its global effect by a process of abstraction
Chapter 5 is rather provocatively titled, ‘The Death of God’
that is signalled by a profligate use of ‘the jihad’ as a term to
in which jihad’s ability to wrest authority from established
describe the global nature of Al-Qaeda.
institutes is argued. Devji contends, ‘given the jihad’s
The Essay’s premise of Al-Qaeda’s global nature is succinctly
dismemberment of the juridical authority that had for centuries
handled by highlighting the bombings and attacks from Kenya,
been located in a clerical class known as the Ulama ...(p. 112)’.
Tanzania, Sudan, Yemen and Afghanistan. ‘[This] remarkably
In the final chapter Devji assesses the impact of the ‘War On
dispersed sequence of events in which the killers and victims,
Terror’ on the West itself and America in particular. By subverting
causes and effects, countries and targets involved, shared neither
the constitution and undermining civil liberties and impeding
history nor geography and had nothing to do with each
the financial, demographic and technological mobility that provide
other…yet it was only in this temporary configuration of
the foundations of its own economic might, the ‘US becomes a
dispersed peoples and places that Al-Qaeda’s jihad was established
suicide state, its martyrdom mirroring the many martyrdoms of
as a global movement (p. 8)’. The resultant outcome of the
the jihad (p. 138)’. A parting shot to America is given when
globalisation of Al-Qaeda’s jihad may lead to wider demands
Devji warns that it is ‘ America’s very role as a superpower that
for democratisation of the Middle East, whereas the violent
makes it a political dinosaur, out-moded both because the enemy
element of jihad becomes finite.
it was made to fight no longer exists and because global politics
The conventional wisdom in the West for explaining Al-
is no longer defined in hemispheric or even properly geographical
Qaeda has been a group driven by fundamentalist Islamic belief,
terms (p. 136/7)’.
with the right wing adding ‘hell bent on destroying the west’.
This is a serious book argued in scholarly fashion and is a
Devji shows, with evidence, that most of the 9/11 and Madrid
must read for both the layman and the policy makers. There is
bombers had little knowledge of Islam. ‘[Jihad makers] not
no doubt many references will be made to this book by students
only are old methods of learning persuasion and practices made
of jihad and Islam, anthropologists and political activists.
parochial and sometimes even redundant by the jihad, but a new
kind of Muslim, too, is created in the process, one not defined
Leicester Ismail Patel
by any notion of cultic uniformity (p. 20)’.

Al-Aqsa 39
 Britain,The Hashemites and Arab Rule, Declaration essentially an act of betrayal: ‘it was intended to except
coastal Syria, not Palestine’, p. 209.
1920–1925: The Sherifian Solution It is also clear from the McMahon pledges that Transjordan
was never considered part of the area of exclusion from Arab
BY TIMOTHY J. PARIS, Frank Cass Publishers, 2003, ISBN rule, p. 209.
714654515, Hardback Pp. 392. The League of Nations approved Transjordanian exemption
from the Zionist provisions of the Palestine Mandate, p. 214.
Interestingly, both the US and the Vatican at first opposed the
Palestine Mandate, p. 210.
The first Hashemite rulers emerge as incompetent and self-
interested. Abdullah was inept in Transjordan, p. 188, and was
willing to accommodate British plans for Zionism so long as his
own power was assured, pp. 207-208.
Ben Gurion’s dictum that ‘the Arab states are Israel’s first
line of defence’ seems all too true; Sir Herbert Samuel, the Zionist
British Commissioner, referred to Abdullah as Britain’s ‘asset’.
Husain ruled Hijaz with ‘cruelty’, imprisoning and torturing
people incurring his displeasure; raising ‘staggering taxes and
exorbitant customs dues’ which stymied the economy, p. 253.
Hijazis would have shed few tears when he left.
One issue of particular interest to British Muslims, the
largest group of which are of South Asian origins, is the role of
the Imperial Indian government and the India Office in the
saga. British interests in Arabia included ‘protection of the sea
routes to India, the security of …pilgrimage routes for the
Empire’s immense Muslim population…’, p.1. Indeed, in regard
to Britain’s Arab policy, ‘India exercised an important and, at

P
aris’ book on British policy regarding the Hashemi family
around the First World War is detailed, lucid and times, decisive influence’, p. 321.
illuminating. What emerges from his book is how cynical It is a revelation to see how concerned the colonial Indian
and duplicitous British policy was in regard to the region, and administration was to secure free and safe facility of Indian
how unattractive and inept the Hashemi really were (so what else Muslims to perform the Hajj. This involved defraying costs of
is new?). There are several issues in the book of special interest. the passage from India, a Vice-Consul at Jeddah, and a ‘Hajj
The main emphasis of the book is that the Sherifian solution – Officer’ to look after their concerns, p. 306.
rule by the Hashemites, the family of Husain, sheriff of the Yet Husain proved both corrupt and incompetent in
Holy Places – was a British solution to a British problem: how administration of the rite. Husain later lost Hijaz to Ibn Saud,
to reconcile promises of Arab self-rule and war-time debt with Faisal’s family was killed in the 1958 Iraq coup, and Abdullah
the need to dominate the region. The method was indirect rule was assassinated because of his collusion with the Zionists.
by British-controlled clients: ‘If… Faisal…in Mesopotamia, knew Whether the remaining Hashemis in Jordan will survive remains
that his father’s position in the Hijaz and his brother Abdullah’s to be seen.
position in Transjordan were dependent on his own good
behaviour, he would be … amenable to British policies’, p. 2.
The origins of the British alliance with the Hashemites goes The Modern Middle East
back to two factors: the way the central Ottoman government BY ILAN PAPPÉ, London & New York: Routledge, (2005),
would often play-off rival branches of the family, and the effect Pp.344.
of the secularist C.U.P 1908 revolution, which Husain found
anathema, p. 12. There is no evidence that Husain before 1915
was attracted to Arab nationalism but his son Abdullah became
involved in 1914, p.22, and, after another son, Ali, discovered a
Turkish plan to depose Husain, he was eventually won over.
When the Sultan declared jihad in 1915, it was essential for this
to be backed by the Sherif. The British however, concerned at the
effect on their Muslim subjects, were interested in preventing
this.
Hence the Husain-McMahon correspondence, where the
British High Commissioner in Egypt promised both ‘an Arab
Khalifate of Islam’, p. 29, and Arab independence in all the areas
claimed by Husain with three qualifications: some of the border
area with what is now Turkey; ‘special administrative
arrangements’ by Britain in Basra and Baghdad (sound familiar);

I
lan Pappé is a prominent Israeli historian and his book is of
and exclusion of Syrian districts to the west of Damascus, Homs, a standard we have come to expect of his writings. It covers
Hama and Aleppo. Husain was only prepared to agree to everything: politics, economics, urban and rural history,
temporary exclusion of the latter two. It is quite clear that Palestine popular culture, theatre, writing, women, Islam and globalisation
was part of the area promised to Husain, making the Balfour – a veritable tour de force. Pappé defines the modern Middle East

40 Al-Aqsa
as beginning with Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt in 1798, p. 4, to political Islam as a result of an initial electoral alliance, p. 280.
and this perhaps reminds us that the history of the modern It can be seen that the Muslim-Left alliance we see in Britain in
Middle East is one of unwelcome Western intrusions. Pappé the form of the RESPECT coalition can claim a long pedigree!
sees the region as stuck in a transitional period between tradition The other point is how Palestinian Israeli citizens have considered
and modernity. Of course, it all depends on one’s interpretation campaigning for ethnic or national autonomy in the face of
of the latter. resistance from Israeli society to a more ‘democratized reality’.
Of particular interest is how Pappé presents the Ottoman
Empire as multiracial and pluralistic, p. 15, although he obliquely Catastrophe Remembered: Palestine,
notes that it was accompanied by ‘despotism and tyranny’.
However, he observes that Istanbul in 1893 was only half Israel and the Internal Refugees; Essays
Muslim, and included ‘a large Jewish community made up of
refugees from the Spanish Inquisition who had been welcomed in Memory of Edward Said
to Istanbul at the beginning of the sixteenth century by Sultan ED. NUR MASALHA, London: Zed Books, (2005), Pp.300.
Bayzeid II’. This is an issue which causes frequent consternation
among Muslims: they welcomed Jewish refugees from Europe’s
‘religious cleansing’ in Spain, and yet today they are often accused
of anti-Semitism.
Another significant observation is that ‘When Arab societies
were subjected to direct European rule, religion became an ideology
of resistance and, hence, “fanatic” and threatening to Western
eyes’, p. 17. Perhaps someone should bring this point to the notice
of Blair and Bush; instead of seeing ‘Islamist terrorism’ as the
fruit of ‘an evil ideology’ bent on world conquest, the destruction
of Western democracy and the physical destruction of Americans
and Britons, they might realise that it is the neo-colonial presence
that causes it. On the other hand, it can be seen that if Muslim
societies are repressive, especially to minorities, they give a ‘pretext
for European colonial intervention and invasion’, p. 18. This is
exactly what happened with the Ottoman State in the 19th century
over its treatment of Christians, but the kind of argument was
also employed to justify the invasion of Iraq.

C
One area in which Pappé is particularly good is in his analogy atastrophe Remembered, principally about the plight of Israeli
of the French colonisation of Algeria and that of Zionism in Arabs, is long overdue and, for that reason alone, most
Palestine: ‘In Algeria the power of the French Empire was utilized welcome. It has long been my opinion that the question
for confiscating land for the new settlers; in Palestine it was the of Israeli Arabs should be at the forefront of the concern for
Jewish capital that encouraged local landlords, most of who Palestinian rights, rather than at the margins, since so much of
were absentees, to sell their land with the tenants and peasants what the Israeli regime does to Palestinians in the Diaspora and
on it’, p. 19. He observes that Edward Said noted the parallels. in the Occupied Territories is only possible because of what it
Pappé notes that French rule was based on ‘a system of total can do (legally, according to its terms), to those Palestinians who
apartheid, discriminating against Algerians in every sphere of are Israeli citizens. A multiple-authored work always poses the
life’, p. 26. Similarly, another forgotten arena of oppression is problem of unevenness, but that is happily absent from this
Libya, where Mussolini killed half the population. book. Inevitably, however, there is much overlapping.
Another invaluable point made by Pappé is how US policy The racial oppression of Israeli Arabs is perhaps the regime’s
in the region changed. Following President Kennedy’s best-kept secret. So often we hear that Israeli Arabs are full citizens,
assassination ‘Israel was built into an American bastion in the despite the US State Department’s annual reports that prove the
region’, in a way that did not always benefit the Americans, p. 29. contrary is true. Perhaps even less well-known is that two were
However, this insensitivity to justice was not always a characteristic victims of the Nakba. Masalha’s essay illustrates the Orwellian
of US policy. At the end of the First World War, America was stance of the regime to internally displaced refugees: they are
quite positive towards Arab self-determination, pp. 21, 25, which ‘present absentees’, p. 24.
is a rebuke to those who see America as inherently evil. This 1984-style contradiction describes the fact that they are
Nonetheless, Pappé denounces the Americans as dishonest present in the state, but absent from their original homes. These
power brokers in the present situation, p. 36. account for 25% of the entire Israeli Arab population – a huge
Pappé is also good on demonstrating that Middle Eastern number, usually overlooked by everyone. It should be noted
Islam is not a monolith, and again he refers us to the work of that the displacement continued after 1948, giving lie to the claim
Edward Said, p. 269. This is as true of ‘political’ Islam as any that the destruction of villages occurred in the heat of war or
‘other’ kind; Pappé points to the difference between the Islamic was a security matter.
governments of Iran and Turkey, where Islam plays a major role In 1951 ‘residents of thirteen small Arab villages in Wadi
in determining foreign policy in the former, and none with the ‘Ara were expelled over the border’, p. 27. Similarly, 700 people
latter, p. 271. Again, the much-neglected Takfir wa al-Hijra group from Kafr Yasif village in Galilee were expelled. These were by
in Egypt took the response of not fighting the ‘apostate’ society’ no means isolated incidents. As well as displacement, a plethora
but in a rather literal understanding of the Sunnah of Hijra in of laws and military regulations prevented internal refugees from
the present age, withdrew into desert caves, p. 274. returning and enabled the state to confiscate their lands.
Two other areas of interest include the way the Islamists in Moreover, this should not be seen as a transfer from private to
Egypt took over the Labour Party and moved it from socialism public ownership; the properties then come under the Israel

Al-Aqsa 41
 Lands Authority, who often transfer it to the Jewish National
Fund – whose constitution reserves all ownership to Jews only,
p. 35. It should be noted that there has been no comment from
either Blair or Bush about Palestinian villages being ‘wiped off
the map’.
The situation has been particularly bad for ‘Unrecognised
Villages’. This especially affects the Negev Bedouin. The situation
affects about a tenth of Israeli Arabs, p. 200. Again, their
disappearance from the map has not resulted in any excited and
exasperated response from Prime Minister Blair. As a result of
the Planning and Construction Law of 1965, only 123 Arab
localities were recognised by the authorities; all others were deemed
illegal. This means that they are denied political representation,
resources, grants, etc. The authorities frequently demolish
buildings in these villages.
Two of the most helpful aspects of the book are its coverage
of the growing Israeli Arab resistance to the status quo and
emerging Israeli Jewish solidarity. In the 1990s there was
established a ‘National Association for the Defense of the Rights
of Internally Displaced’ Palestinians (ADRID), p. 97. This is
fighting for the right of Israeli Arabs to return to their original
villages. Parallel to this is the creation of Zochrot (‘remember’ in
Hebrew), a group of Israeli Jews committed to bringing the
reality of the Nakba to Israeli public attention, p. 219. This is
essential, because the Nakba is ignored or denied in the official
and educational discourse. It is at this point that a further chapter
could have been added. Nakba-denial is not peculiar to the Israeli
regime and its apologists. ‘Holocaust-denial’ is rightly
condemned in the West, as is denial of the Armenian massacres
of 1915, yet no criticism is ever directed at those engaged in one
of the biggest assaults on history by denying the Nakba. The
British government – despite its complicity in the disaster –
refuses to commemorate it. Yet what have Muslim and Arab
representatives in the West done to raise the issue of the Israeli
Arabs and their sufferings as a result of this Catastrophe?

Dr Anthony McRoy1

1
Dr Anthony McRoy is an Irish Evangelical Christian lecturer and writer, a specialist in Middle Eastern history and current affairs, British
Muslims, and the concept of Jihad. He writes for several Muslim and Christian publications, regularly appears on Middle Eastern TV, and
lectures in Islamics at the Evangelical Theological College of Wales. His first book is From Rushdie to 7/7: The Radicalisation of Islam in Britain.

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Bethlehem Besieged: Stories of Hope priests within the Church were being held captive by the militants
against their will. Rev. Raheb also reminds us that many ordinary
in Times of Trouble Palestinian civilians were also caught up in the Church, again in
contravention of the popularly held view that all the people who
BY MITRI RAHEB, Minneapolis, Fortress Press, (2004), ISBN had sought refuge in the Church were militants and terrorists.
0800636538, Pp.157. In his next two chapters, the Author describes how Church
life was conducted during the four months period when
Bethlehem and indeed much of the West Bank cities were under
curfew in 2002. He describes the extraordinarily humiliating and
cruel behaviour of the Israeli soldiers who made people caught
during curfew hours take off their clothes and walk home naked,
in addition to the thousands of shekels worth of fines, the
brutal interrogations, beatings, detention and even torture that
they would have to experience (p.47).
In chapter six, the Author describes how he himself once,
along with his mother, took refuge within the Church of the
Nativity in Bethlehem, his hometown. This occurred during the
June 1967 Israeli invasion of the West Bank of Jordan. The
Nativity church has had a long history of being a place of refuge
in times of trouble, running back hundreds of years. As a Church
dedicated to the memory of the mother of Christ, St. Mary, the
Church has a special significance for the local Muslim community
as well. During Ottoman times, Muslim pilgrims would often
visit the Church and the monks were committed as per the
requirements of the ‘status quo’, that all-embracing code of
conduct as far as the Christian institutions of the Holy Land

T
he Author, Rev. Mitri Raheb is pastor of the Evangelical
Lutheran Christmas Church in the occupied West Bank were concerned, to look after all their needs. Father Mitri describes
city of Bethlehem. This book is his second, the first being his life till the fateful day in 2002, as having been lived under the
an articulation of his theological convictions based on personal baleful glare of the Israeli occupation. It is no wonder that he
experiences, ‘I am a Palestinian Christian’ (Fortress Press, 1995). titles this chapter, ‘The land that swallows its children’.
The present book deals with the Author’s experiences during Chapter seven describes a routine faced by countless
the 2002 Israeli siege of Bethlehem and the Church of the Palestinians innumerable times in their lives, namely the delay
Nativity in Madbaseh Square, adjoining Manger Square in the and the roadblocks created by Israeli planners to disrupt
centre of the old town. He records the extreme and wanton Palestinian life as much as possible. In the Author’s case, it resulted
destruction suffered by his institution, the Lutheran Church and in the death of his own father-in-law, who suffering from a
its affiliated organs in Bethlehem. The book is styled in an serious heart attack was denied permission to enter Jerusalem to
inspirational fashion, with emotive pictures between chapters, go to hospital on the flimsiest of excuses and, when finally he
all to ensure that the spirit of hope and recovery must triumph was able to make his entry, it was just too late.
in the midst of destruction, subjugation and mindless prejudice. Chapter eight, while ostensibly dealing with the difficulties
The first chapter of the book acts as a sort of introduction as faced by the Author to get a driving license or even drive in
well as a conclusion as the Author telescopes us through the occupied Palestine, actually conveys the message of the almost
entire episode of the destruction of his buildings and institutions total blockade under which most Palestinians in the West Bank
and their extraordinary regeneration within a year or so. As he so labour at the moment. Conditions seem even worse than
fittingly states, ‘the compound has again been a beacon of hope apartheid South Africa in some instances. Chapter nine describes
during times of despair’ (p. 16). the painful and racist experience of being denied permission to
The second chapter gives us a blow-by-blow description of leave the country to visit the US despite having all paper work in
the incredible risks taken by the pastor in confronting the Israeli order, just for the sole reason of being a Palestinian. Chapter ten
troops that were destroying his house and Church buildings on reads rather like a sermon as the Author tries to analyse why the
that fateful Thursday, April 4th, 2002. We are held almost spell Palestinian people have to suffer as they do, bearing the brunt
bound as the Author, with an uncanny talent for detail, manages not only of their own sins but also those of other people like
to take us through his confrontation with the troops, in the the Europeans, the Israelis, other Arab nations and the
process revealing some of the misconceptions that the average Americans. In the midst of all this suffering, the Author feels
Israeli soldier has about Palestinians and Arabs in general. He that the only way is to persevere, until (in the Author’s words),
quotes one soldier as snarling at him that “Arabic in the ugliest ‘Israel and the world muster the courage to take their share (of
language in the world” (p.22). guilt)’.
In the next chapter, the Author describes an incident that The Author goes on to describe an incident that was often
would never otherwise be reported, as far as Palestinian-Israeli highlighted in the world media and consequently familiar to all
news is concerned. Apparently, one of the militants that had Palestine watchers, during the first Intifada, namely almost daily
taken refuge within the Church of the Nativity, a member of the shootings versus tank duels that used to take place between the
HAMAS group called Muhammad, fell ill and was taken care of Palestinian towns of Bethlehem and Beit Jala and the Israeli
by one of the Franciscan friars within the Church, a priest by the settlement of Gilo across the valley from them. Mitri narrates, in
name of Father Amjad. This incident took place right when the very touching terms, the human misery that must result from
Israeli and indeed much of the world media, that often does these incidents as well as the grand march for peace sponsored
nothing better than toe the Israeli line, was reporting that the by the residents of the two towns to reclaim their streets for

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 peace again. Mitri’s book is full of interesting anecdotes and
incidents. Witness his analysis of why a group of Palestinian
painters, Christian as well Muslim, but mainly Muslim, when
asked to draw their perceptions of Christ from a Palestinian
perspective, should, with just one exception draw Christ crucified,
despite the absence of this incident from the life of Christ in
Islamic historiography. His striking conclusion is that the best
way to present the modern Palestinian experience at the hands
of the Israelis is to draw Christ crucified. Mitri tries to explain
why his institution in Bethlehem has such a large number of
well-qualified and trained staff, who actually had no business to
be wasting their lives in such a thankless place as the Jerusalem-
Bethlehem-Ramallah triangle. He puts this down solely to
commitment and the desire to do some good where it is most
needed.
Mitri ends the books with some sound advise to his fellow
Christians in Europe and America. He exhorts them to stop
being spectators and, instead, to start being actors in trying to
convince their respective governments to stop funding the
military government of Israel and instead to invest in peace-
building initiatives. In the midst of this, he insists on the
importance of hope, both from the Palestinian as well as Israeli
point of view. Without hope of a better tomorrow there is no
future for the region. The alternative is too bloody to
contemplate. Again, as Christians, Mitri feels that ‘we are actors
on Christ’s behalf ’ (p. 156).
The book ends with a very colourful and emotive description
of the concept of Christian hope. To quote again, ‘if we plant a
tree today, there will be shade for the children to play in, there
will be oil to heal the wounds, and there will be olive branches to
wave when peace arrives. (p. 157).
A striking vision for the, as yet, seemingly unattainable
future.

Samuel Jacob Kuruvilla1

1
Samuel Jacob Kuruvilla is a PhD student at the University of Exeter in the Department of Politics. His area of speciality is Middle East
Politics.

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