Whose Israel Shall It Be?

Here's another op-ed that I found interesting. Please tell me what you think.



Whose Israel Shall It Be?


By Richard CohenTuesday, February 24, 2009; Page A13, The Washington Post



The day after the United Nations created the state of Israel, the country's first president, Chaim Weizmann, found time to work on his memoir, "Trial and Error." In it, he issued a warning to the Israeli leaders of today: "I am certain that the world will judge the Jewish state by what it will do with the Arabs." It was Nov. 30, 1947.
Weizmann was an astonishingly accomplished man -- chemist, diplomat, statesman -- but maybe his most uncanny talent was that of seer. Peering into the future, he glimpsed the ugly turn Israeli politics has recently taken and how it is now acceptable to talk in repulsive ways about the country's 1.3 million Arabs. "There must not be one law for the Jew and another for the Arabs," he wrote.
Weizmann's admonition may not be known to Avigdor Lieberman, an immigrant from the former Soviet republic of Moldova and now one of Israel's most important political leaders. Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu party placed third in the recent election, meaning he will almost certainly be part of the next government. Lieberman is often called a "nationalist." Maybe so, but he is also an anti-Arab demagogue.
The Arabs of Lieberman's antipathy are not Israel's traditional enemies -- either in Gaza, the West Bank or elsewhere in the Middle East. He focuses instead on the Arabs of Israel proper, about 20 percent of the population. They are his fellow citizens, some of them of dubious loyalty, it is true, and most of them with genuine grievances, it is also true. In essence, Lieberman wants to swap them for Jewish settlers now living provocatively in the occupied West Bank. It's half a good idea.

But it is the other half -- the one that would rid Israel of its Arabs -- that has propelled Lieberman to the front rank of Israeli politicians. The Israeli electorate, feeling besieged, has moved to the right. The centrist Kadima Party narrowly won the election, but it is the right that gained strength overall, and now Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu, not Kadima's Tzipi Livni, is trying to form a government. Lieberman ought not to be part of it.
The issue of Israel's Arabs is complicated. They are not Jews, yet they are expected to be loyal to a Jewish state. They are Arabs, yet they are expected to stand by while their fellow Arabs are pounded -- as in Gaza -- by Israeli guns.
Yet, in an odd way, Israel's Arabs ought to represent the best of Israel. They can vote. They hold seats in parliament. They have more civil rights in Israel than they would in any Arab nation. They ought to be a point of pride. Their civil liberties, their standard of living, their political participation ought to show the world what sort of country Israel is. That's what Weizmann wanted.
Weizmann was no dreamer. His century -- the 20th -- was fast becoming the bloodiest in history. The world was just completing an orgy of genocide, ethnic cleansing and population transfers -- Greeks for Turks and Turks for Greeks, Germans for Poles and Poles for Germans, a decades-long brawl culminating in the Holocaust and followed by the expulsion of millions of ethnic Germans from all over Eastern Europe. Pakistan and India were created in a similar manner -- a population swap of many millions of people. This was the way things were once done.
Israel, too, engaged some in ethnic cleansing -- or why else all those Palestinian refugees? But the attempt was both chaotic and, as we can see, not wholly successful. More important, the concept was anathema to important members of the Zionist establishment such as Weizmann. The way of the world -- eliminating ethnic minorities -- would not be practiced by the very ethnic minority that had suffered the most.
It is clear that the world has grown weary of Israel. Its problems seem intractable, insoluble. Its solicitous critics suggest it imbibe the hemlock of proportionality -- a missile for a missile, a rocket for a rocket. To do otherwise amounts to "state terrorism," in the felicitous phrase of Bill Moyers. It turns out winning isn't everything; losing gracefully is.
Lieberman's rhetoric has excited some concern in the American Jewish community, but, as usual, most of the leaders are mum. They ought to open their Weizmann, Page 461 to be precise, and see what Israel's founding fathers had in mind. Israel can swap land for peace, but not Arab for Jew. That would leave an empty space -- not only where the Arabs once were, but where Israel once kept its values.

My Father in Albaidha

Here's another piece of history that landed on my lap. This is a 50 year old picture that Akhi Ibrahim Alkibsi gave to me a few weeks ago. It shows my father in Albaidha, about three weeks before I was born in Sana'a. I believe that he was the governor of that province at the time. We need to check with Grandma. Boy! Doesn't Baba Khaled look exactly like him? (Zainab says that he's a thinner version of Baba Khaled.) Masha'Allah.

Like all his pictures, I'm intrigued by the intense look in his eyes and the charisma. He reminds me of Ahmad Shah Masoud, the late leader of the Mujaheddin in Afghanistan. Note the two men with guns in front of him and the body language. It's like they're saying "we'll take a bullet for you." Note also how they are on either side of him without blocking him, as compared to the others around him. Abi Yehya is the second from the right. Akhi Mohammed Ahmad Alkibsi (Amma Moghitha's and Nabila's brother) is second from Baba's left.

I'm so sorry I never knew my father. I would have learned a lot from him. He was a great man, a leader, who would've changed Yemen, if given a chance. But God, in His infinite wisdom, took him at a very tender age (at about 30). I also understand from so many people that he was the most generous man alive. May Allah bless his soul.

A Poem by Uncle Qassim

Oh, wow! Look what I found!!!! Uncle Qassim wrote this poem for me and Mom for our wedding 24 years ago. It's so special.

What I have to Endure at Work

Hi guys,



Mom and I were going about refinancing our home at the title company this morning and taking advantage of historically low interest rates. For a few sane moments, I was oblivious to what was going on in the office sans-Abdu, until I paid attention to my Blackberry and noticed a deluge of emails from work with the same subject line: "Abdulwahab on TV yesterday." Here's a sampling.

• Linda: Hi Abdulwahab. I couldn't believe it when I spotted you on the news last night. Well done - it was a great story. In case you didn't catch it you'll be pleased to know I recorded it. Congratulations again. (I go:Hmmm! I wonder what I did that what on the news last night. Must be an old story.)
  
• Shirin: Sir Abdu…we’re not worthy (I’m doing the Wayne’s World bow as I write this).(What?????)
  
• Julie: We knew how great you are, Abdu, and now the whole world knows it, too. Congratulations!! Julie. (I really want to get to work and find out what's going on!!!!)
  
• Oksana: Boy, I am sorry I missed it yesterday. BTW, if you don’t see many people in the office this morning, it is because they are getting tattoos on their backs…. With Abdu’s name….. Long Live Abdu!!!!!!!!!
  
• Nigina: Oksana got hers already!
  
• Oksana: No, my appointment is in the afternoon. Suhaib is getting one now. ("Office!!! Now!!!!! RUN")
  
• Marie: Really? I didn’t know Maura gave tattoos in her office! Maura, you are so multi-talented! Me next, me next!
  
• Oksana: By the way, are your new tattoos itching?

Well, I finally was able to reach the office and get my hands on the video. Please take a look at it. Outch!

Fareed Zakaria in the Washington Post

Fareed Zakaria wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post, titled Israel's Existential Dilemma. The version in the print copy of the WP is a bit different (even the title is different: Israel's Arabs Within.) I thought Zakaria brought home an issue that has been absent from many American readers' calculations and shed light on one of the many complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian issue. I'm very interested in what you think.

On Alhurra

Here's a video on YouTube of my appearance about there weeks ago on Alhurra. It's in Arabic, without captioning. Sorry Zaiza.

There are a few others if you want to torture yourself a bit further. Check the videos YouTube lists as suggestions.

Damascus wama Adraka ma Damascus

What I learned from my trip to Damascus in January 2009, one cannot read in any book. The amazing Syrian people; the unbelievable history; the stunning old souk; the little picturesque boutique hotels in the middle of Old Damascus; and the food... Ah!!! the food. What a city! I would recommend a visit to everyone. (Honey, please come with me next time)

The country is also experiencing a sort of economic revival and a quasi economic reform movement that is tempered by entrenched political and economic interests. However, this is not the forum for such a discussion. However, let me ask this: how many mosques around the world do we know house a mausoleum for a Christian saint? What about a baptism font? Is there a mosque that has four Mihrabs (niches), one for each of the four schools of Sunna, and also a Shiaa mazar for Sayyedna Alhussain? The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus has all that and more. St. John the Baptist (Prophet Yahya for Muslims) is buried in the middle of the mosque! Really! Actually, the Umayyad mosque was split in two: one side for Muslims and another for Christians, until the Khalifa bought the Christian side and expanded the mosque.

Did you know that Muslims built the first Me'thana (prayer call minaret) after they saw the church tower there. One of the Ummayad Mosque's minarets is still called Me'thanat Jesus. The Mehrab was copied from the Christian niche.

Here are some pictures:


Inside the Ummayad Mosque





This is the Minaret of Jesus

The beautiful Sayyeda Ruqaiyah Mosque

The Souk