This issue
of Middle East Report is intended as a counterpoint to the
celebrations of Israel's 50th anniversary and Zionism's 100th. In
representing perspectives that have not been addressed during these
celebrations, we emphasize those people who have been victimized,
marginalized and excluded by the creation of the state of Israel.
In doing so we attempt to answer the question not posed by these
celebrations, namely, "who paid the price of Israeli state-building?"
It has also been 50 years since the drafting of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 19 of the Declaration
declares that "everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and
expression; this includes freedom to hold opinions without interference
and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any
media regardless of frontiers." Perhaps the cornerstone of the entire
Declaration, this article is of particular interest to progressives
involved in news media. While numerous human rights organizations
work for the implementation of the Declaration in the Middle East,
journalists throughout the region continue to face extensive government
censorship, harassment, imprisonment and execution. In fact, it
is difficult to speak of the free press anywhere in the Middle East.
In an ironic admission of the role of government
in censorship in Algeria, Algerian Communications Minister Habib-Chouki
Hamraoui announced on March 19 that "a forthcoming information law
would 'guarantee' freedom of the press and access to information
... and that journalists would no longer be arrested, prosecuted
or jailed for their reporting activities" (Index on Censorship,
3/98). The Algerian government is not alone in targeting journalists.
During that same week in Palestine, the Israeli
army shot and wounded 14 Palestinian journalists covering clashes
between the Israeli army and Palestinian demonstrators in Hebron.
Putting this in the larger context of Israel's 50th year and the
continuing abuse of Palestinian human rights, Edward Said recently
wrote (Index on Censorship 3/98), "There can be no concept
of human rights, no matter how elastic, that accommodates the strictures
of Israeli state practice against 'non-Jewish' Palestinians in favor
of Jewish citizens. Only if the inherent contradiction is faced
between what in effect is a theocratic and ethnic exclusivism on
the one hand and genuine democracy on the other, can there be any
hope for reconciliation and peace in Israel/Palestine."
This issue of Middle East Report also marks
my last as editor. As a member of the MERIP staff for the past three
years I have had the privilege of working with many talented people
who continue, with me, to support the work of MERIP with dedication
and commitment. Laurie King-Irani, who joined the MERIP staff in
May, will take over as editor of this magazine in July. Formerly
editor of al-Raida (the Lebanese quarterly journal of the
Institute of Women's Studies in the Arab World), Laurie brings to
MERIP a background in Middle East anthropology and a commitment
to progressive politics and social justice.
-Geoff Hartman
MERIP
OP-EDS
A Country at a Crossroads The Austin-American Statesman (Austin, Texas) November 9, 2007
Kamran Asdar Ali
"A
very frank discussion"— so President Bush described
his Nov. 7 telephone
conversation with Pervez Musharraf, four days after the Pakistani
general
imposed a state of emergency and dissolved the high court expected
to rule
his continued presidency unconstitutional. And frank the discussion
probably
was: In the face of spirited protest in Pakistan, and a querulous
press in
Washington, back-channel pressure succeeded in persuading Musharraf
to
promise parliamentary elections. Yet the generous U.S. aid earmarked
for
Pakistan — on top of nearly $10 billion since 2001 — is
quite evidently not
at risk.
What may be at risk is Musharraf's tenure as head
of the military government. Full
story>>
The
war debate in Washington is bogged down. Partisan rancor is one
reason why, and bipartisan desire for US hegemony in the oil-rich
Persian Gulf is
another. But many Americans are vexed by a nobler concern: that
a
“precipitous” US departure from Iraq would leave intensified
civil war,
ethnic-sectarian cleansing and massive refugee flows in its wake.
This
concern is legitimate. Unfortunately, the sad fact is that Iraq’s
civil war
and humanitarian emergency have grown steadily worse as the US
military
deployment there wears on. Full
Story>>
Should
the United States, seeking to recalibrate the balance between
security and liberty in the "war on terror," emulate
Israel in its treatment of Palestinian detainees? That is the position
that Guantanamo detainee lawyers Avi Stadler and John Chandler
of Atlanta, and some others, have advocated. That people in U.S.
custody could be held incommunicado for years without charges,
and could be prosecuted or indefinitely detained on the basis of
confessions extracted with torture is worse than a national disgrace.
It is an assault on the foundations of the rule of law. Full
Story>>
There
is an oft-told Palestinian allegory about a family who complained
their house was small and cramped. In response, the father brought
the farm
animals inside -- the goat, the sheep and the chickens all crowded
into the
house. Then, one by one, he moved the animals back outside. By
the time the
last chicken left, the family felt such relief they never complained
of the
lack of elbow room again. Full
Story>>
