In this newsletter are notes: on Middle East shifting
politics, on a baby fruit bat, on success of BDS campaign against Caterpillar, on
an upcoming trip to Germany, and a factoid on "anti-Semitism".
Many years ago, I started to state in my lectures and in
conversations and in my writings that we have only two paths going forward: the
path of "might makes right" (those with the bigger stick get what
they want right or wrong) OR the path of justice and human rights and
international law. I stated that we Palestinians wanted the second path but it
was full of land mines laid by people who chose the first path. I predicted that Zionism, which chose the
first path, will lose anyway. It can lose
by enforcement of International law (Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
International Convention for the Suppression of the Crime of Apartheid and
Racial Discrimination). It will also
lose if "might makes right" remains the path of governments like
Israel and the United States. This is because to every action there is a
reaction. Fundamentalism will be
answered with fundamentalism. Hypocrisy
cannot last forever unexposed. Why is
NATO criticizing Syria for shooting down a Turkish Jet over Syrian territory
when NATO said nothing about an Israeli attack on a Turkish civilian ship in International
waters including execution of 9 Turkish passengers?
The rise of Jewish fundamentalism and its intensifying
atrocities (e.g. in Gaza and the West Bank), is now facing a rising Islamic
tide. Its largest manifestation is amply
demonstrated in the results of election in Palestinian Occupied areas in 2006,
in Lebanon over the past two decades, in Tunisia, and most recently in the
Egyptian elections. Libya's model is
diffent (a coup backed by the West). These
dramatic changes in the geopolitical landscape need to be digested, and
properly responded to. The train to the future will leave behind any political
leader or party which does not act positively based on a deep understanding of
current and future trends.
It remains to be seen how Islamic oriented political parties
rule. Hamas is not an example here since Palestinians are under occupation and
only Israel rules the occupied areas including Gaza. Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese government
and it seems the system is an uneasy equilibrium between secular and Islamic
forces. In Iran, the Mullahs run the
government but the economy is in bad shape partly due to centralization and the
sanctions being imposed on Iran thanks to the Israeli lobby in Western
countries. Turkey has a moderate Islamic
party in power and seems to be doing very well economically. I think the era of
one man dictatorial rule is slowly giving way to a trend of Islamization but
also of empowerment of people. We must
insist first and foremost on freedom: of thought, of religion (and from religion
too), of movement, of assembly and demonstration etc. But governments (Islamic or Secular) must
also do more to educate citizens, empower them, improve economies, education,
health care etc. Consumerism must be replaced by improving production, responsible
development, protecting the environmental etc.
On a baby bat: I now have a baby fruit bat at
home. She is 2-3 weeks old. After the untimely death of its mother, it
took us a while to figure out how to take care of it. We now use a piece of
cloth as an artificial nipple and human baby formula. The delicate helpless baby is like human
babies in many ways. Their larger than
usual heads, chubby cheeks, tender skin, and feeble cries elicit a motherly
instinct in all who encounter it. I see the flood of emotion from any friend or
relative who visits and see the baby bat.
A baby elephant is helped by any member of the group nearby. A baby dog
is coddled by humans and dogs alike. These emotions remind us of the connectedness
of all living things. Babies grow to the
curiosity and inquisitiveness of childhood.
Among humans that leads to the idealism of youth. Among humans though, unfortunately some of us
grow up to do mean things to fellow human beings and other creatures around
them. Other animals do not kill for
greed or for sport or for a flag or a religion.
They kill only to feed if they are carnivorous or defend themselves from
being killed. If only humans remained young or reconnected with fellow
creatures. We could avoid war,
environmental destruction and much more.
Major US Retirement Fund Divests From Caterpillar
Trip: I will on a trip to Germany June 28-July 7
(Munich, Pfaffenhoffen, Heidelberg, and Karlsruhe) for a conference and talks.
Let me know if you are in one of these Southern German towns or if you know
anyone there to connect with.
Factoid: A Jewish German by the name of Heyman
Steinthal was actually the first person to use the words
"ani-Semitism" in 1860 in Zeitschrift fur Volkespsychologie und
Sprachwissenschaft 1:328 (The Jewish Question: Biography of a World Problem, By
Alex Bei, p. 594). Later the term was used by Wilhelm Marr (who had twice
married Jewish women with unhappy marriages) and was more well known after the "Anti-Semite
League was formed". The term is
misleading since most European Jews are not Semites. Arabs are of course Semites.
