Words, deeds and the heart of the Arab struggle for justice
by
Hady Amr
April 8 is my birthday.
Thirty-five years ago, today, I was born in Beirut. Then, the city was
a thriving cultural capital. Then, the West Bank and Gaza were not
under Israeli military occupation. Then, my relatives and their
friends could easily travel from Lebanon to the Muslim and Christian
holy sites, Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem and the Church of the Nativity in
Bethlehem, without even a passport.
Today the world is very
different. The tragedy that has befallen the people of Jordan, Lebanon,
Palestine and Syria has severely damaged the Arab people wreaking
havoc in our lives and our economies. And for the past 10 days, Israel’s
televised onslaught against the Palestinian people has united the Arab
world behind Palestine and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat like
never before in my adult life.
Demonstrations in solidarity
are burgeoning across not only Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan, but even the
people of Dubai, Bahrain and Kuwait are rising up in opposition. The
question is, given their grievances, can the people of the Arab world
chart a successful path to justice and peace? Can they successfully use
their hearts and minds to shape the world?
The Arab world is a vastly
different place today than it was in 1967 when Israel defeated the
Jordanian, Egyptian and Syrian armies, conquering the West Bank, Gaza
and the Golan Heights. The Arab world now has a level of literacy and
interconnectedness unparalleled in its history. Arab satellite TV
channels spread across the region, connecting people and their
sentiments, dramatically reducing the ghetto-ized mentality that has
afflicted the peoples of the region since the time of colonialism.
E-mail and mobile telephone popularity is skyrocketing, also connecting
people and their feelings.
And economic progress has
transformed a largely illiterate and impoverished region. For the
majority of Arab countries, in the past decade alone, the percentage of
children dying before their fifth birthday has fallen drastically, to
about 3 percent. And the percentage of children enrolled in primary
school has skyrocketed to between 90 percent and 99 percent. This looks
nothing like the fragmented, poor and illiterate Arab world I was born
into.
The past 10 days have seen
remarkable, heartfelt and intelligent expressions of solidarity along
with clever uses of technology to express outrage at Israel’s illegal
and inhumane treatment of the Palestinian people.
Sizeable vigils and
demonstrations have taken place outside parliaments, embassies and
United Nations offices across the Arab world, demanding protection for
the Palestinian people. Some students are starting to write letters to
the editor and articles to major publications.
And on Friday, the Jordanian
government held the nation’s largest-ever fund-raising telethon. Even
the mobile telephone company got in on the act, sending text messages to
cell phone users to advertise the event. The event netted at least 9.5
million Jordanian dinars ($13 million) for emergency aid for the
Palestinian people. While $13 million may not seem like much, for a poor
country like Jordan it is actually of gargantuan proportions. In one
day, the Jordanian people donated a larger portion of their GDP to
Palestine between 0.15 percent and 0.2 percent than the US annually
gives in economic aid to the whole world 0.1 percent. Indeed, about
$2.50 for every man woman and child in Jordan is a lot for a country
with per capita GDP of $1,500 per year.
The event was significant
because it enabled the population of Jordan to directly help the
besieged Palestinian population and dramatically demonstrates to the
world particularly, Israelis, Americans, Palestinians and other Arabs
that Jordan is willing to make truly great sacrifices for Palestine in
a nonviolent and non-hateful manner.
This dignified,
compassionate and intelligent expression of solidarity follows on the
Beirut Arab summit, which presented a unified offer of negotiations for
peace to Israel. In recent years, there has been other progress in the
Arab world’s approach as well. For example, the people of Palestine,
long walled off by the Arab boycott of Israel, have been reconnected to
their brethren and finally allowed by Arab governments to travel to the
majority of the Arab countries despite Israel’s ongoing occupation. But
in recent days there have also been hateful, un-strategic
expressions which the people of the Arab world must learn will not serve
their cause. While many Arab demonstrators are demanding intervention
and protection for the Palestinians, others succumb to hateful calls for
Arab armies to attack Tel Aviv or for more suicide bombings.
Such violent expressions are
not only disastrous because the human heart gives in to hatred, but
because they reinforce the Western Orientalist stereotype that Arabs are
killers and terrorists. We are not, and we should be smart enough by now
not to play into the hands of those who seek to demonize us.
Throughout history, wars
have indeed been won by force, but vastly weaker peoples have rarely
brought themselves dignity and freedom solely through military means.
The people of the Arab world through their increasing literacy and
access to satellite TV and the internet should have realized that
calls to bomb Tel Aviv probably won’t help their cause. But
letter-writing campaigns to American newspapers, or nonviolent
expressions articulating a pragmatic policy that those they are trying
to influence could actually endorse, can have an impact.
American Adam Shapiro
recently risked his life by escorting medical aid workers to Arafat’s
besieged compound. His Jewish American family has since received death
threats from extremists over their son’s bravery. The people of the Arab
world will need to embrace similar creative, dignified and savvy
approaches to ending Israel’s occupation if they are to succeed.
Those in the Arab world who
call for more attacks against Israeli civilians need to learn that their
voices will not help end Israel’s occupation and will not help the
Palestinian people. Instead, it is leaders like Martin Luther King and
Mahatma Gandhi who used forceful nonviolence to confront oppression
whose names will be remembered as courageous leaders.
The success of the Arab
people’s struggle for democracy, justice and peace will depend on
whether they channel their creativity and newfound interconnectedness
into a visionary, pragmatic message that the world is ready to hear.
Hady Amr was formerly the National Director of
Ethnic American Outreach for Al Gore’s presidential campaign and served
in former President Bill Clinton’s Department of Defense at the Near
East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies. Amr is currently an
independent consultant who divides his time between Arlington, Virginia
and the Arab world. He writes for
The
Daily Star (Lebanon) and permitted Media
Monitors Network (MMN) to publish this commentary.
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