Saturday, April 21, 2007

Ali Abunimah in Buffalo

Ali Abunimah visited Buffalo this week. He had been slated to appear in February, but a snowstorm forced postponement. The extra time allowed actions to catch up with good intentions: of all the campuses he has visited, said Ali, Buffalo was the one where the greatest number of people had read his book and come prepared with questions. (There's a lesson in here somewhere...)

There was a small group discussion in a seminar room in the English Department at 3:30 on Thursday. Ali Abunimah, photo by Nigel Parry Ali is a striking figure entering the class: tall and slender, a steady and soulful gaze, with something almost south Asian about his bearing. He speaks eloquently and with an accent that sounds British, though not localisable, rather like "world" English. He comes by the accent honestly, having spent his youth in England and Belgium. He spoke about how his book came into existence and said that his sister had designed the cover. His book doesn't situate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the context of the American desire to control access to oil, so I asked him about that, wondering if the prolonging of the conflict doesn't serve the energy sector's interest somehow. He disagreed, and said he doesn't "see the mechanism" through which any such benefit comes into play, and doesn't view the American military exploitation of Israel as a primary obstacle to peace. He frames the discussion as one taking place between two cultures, each with a large diaspora, with stakes and claims in a common territory, now dominated by a sectarian government which enfranchises only one of them. Jim asked about an important difference between the South African anti-apartheid effort, which had roots and support in the multiracial labor movement, and the analogous possibility in Palestine/Israel, where the Palestinian role in the Israeli economy has diminished, as has the power of organized labor. The leader of the campus Muslim Student Association asked questions, and appeared to have been actively engaging with Israeli student organizations.

We ate dinner (mezze and shawarma) at Byblos before the lecture. There were many lines of conversation, and above the bar I could see CNN, where clips of "Gonzo" testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee were juxtaposed with the surreal video manifesto of the psychotic Virginia Tech gunman. Occasionally the lines converged, as when someone at the table asked whether other countries have mass murders that are not politically motivated.

There was a lovely Lebanese-American man seated to Reham's left. He tested some phrases learned from his immigrant parents in South Buffalo, which inspired a discussion of local variations on ritual expressions of courtesy. For instance, Reham had learned in Palestine to describe tasty food as "zaki," but then discovered that this compliment was meaningless to Egyptians (but ma'alesh -- she rarely had occasion to praise the food in Egypt). There are many gracious exchanges during leave-taking, almost a competition in verbal virtuosity. Ali said, with a wistful look, that hosts in Palestine say to departing guests, "Yareit ma t'arrifnakum" ("We wish we had never met you").

The cavernous lecture hall was more than half full, and people were energized. I saw faculty from four departments, a prominent human rights advocate considered one of the top experts on the genocide in Rwanda, five of my former students, and other familiar faces. Peace Center volunteers distributed packets at the door, and other handouts were distributed by a group which might have described its function as defending Israel. The documents are of the same type always handed out at such events -- images of dead and wounded under the heading "terror victims," selected quotations from the Qur'an, claims about how women and gays will be mistreated in a Palestinian state, etc. The people who distributed these flyers sat together near the back, and several of them asked questions at the end of the talk. The UB police had sent over security officers, but nothing erupted other than an energetic dialogue.

Police officer from the security detail, Ali Abunimah, and Jim Holstun

An architecture professor had requested permission to videotape the lecture, explaining that he has a teaching and research interest in "the relationship between architecture and social behavior." As part of a graduate course on Architecture and Society, he has begun to focus on "spatial disruption and reconstruction," including those disruptions caused by "political movements [and] ethnic conflict." The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is among those currently under discussion, he explained. Permission was immediately granted, although the request aroused considerable suspicion that this was an intimidation tactic posing as a research interest. The professor is one of two dozen signatories to a screed attacking the Peace Center for its efforts to provide direct local access to Palestinian perspectives and critiques of Zionism, so I fear the skepticism was justified.

Professor Edward Steinfeld capturing the lecture on video

The lecture itself was a longer version of what may be seen online of Abunimah at the Doha debates speaking for the right of return. (The entire proceeding lasts 46 minutes, of which only about 20 are for the presentations, with the rest being Q&A. Abunimah first speaks at about minute 16.) He says that the population of about 11 million is roughly evenly divided between Israeli Jews and Palestinians -- this is the full population living within the borders Israel defends as its territory. He argues that there is only one government, since the so-called Palestinian Authority is an illusion which controls neither territory nor borders nor tax revenues nor the safety of its population. He argues passionately for a single, binational country to be organized through negotiation and with full rights and dignity for all its people and safeguards to protect its distinct cultures. He points to bi- or multi-national models such as South Africa, Canada, Northern Ireland, and Belgium, as evidence that a history of conflict does not preclude peaceful coexistence.

A History professor asked what constituencies supported this proposal on either side. Ali replied that Palestinians tell him it's a "nice idea," but one that Israelis will never accept. He reports no objection from Palestinians based on anything other than that expectation of failure. Among Israelis, he cited Ilan Pappe and others in the peace movement. He reminded his listeners that as recently as a decade or so ago, anyone who suggested the creation of a Palestinian state was treated as "Satan's spawn," whereas now it is anathema to call for anything other than that. Thus he felt that there has been some movement in consciousness and was hopeful about momentum growing behind the idea.

A middle-aged man was seated just behind the defenders of Israel, and he watched them ask questions, interrupt the speaker's responses, laugh among themselves and make remarks. Gesturing towards them, he said that seeing the "hardening of this generation," he didn't know how Arabs and Israelis would be able to come together to make one country in which he could feel at ease and at home. Ali repeated as he had done all day that it would be very very difficult, and yet that it was realistically the only way forward.

"Besides," he added, "has there ever been a state called the state of Palestine?"
"No," said the man, with the defenders chiming in.
"But do you feel any less Palestinian because of that fact?"
"No."
"And you introduced yourself as a Palestinian-American. Do you feel less Palestinian for being in America, or less American for being Palestinian?"

One student identified herself as an Israeli who had emigrated from Iraq. She asked about the right of return or compensation for Jews from Arab countries, some of whom were forced to leave their homeland with the hardening of tensions in the region. She said that this talk of peace and harmony is all very nice, but that she knew victims of terrorism and couldn't forget the danger faced by Israelis. She said that Israel had made countless peace overtures and that the Arabs weren't interested in peace but in driving them into the sea.

Ali responded in favor of a right of return for Jews to Arab countries as a fundamental human right, and said that a group of Syrian Jews had in fact returned to live in Damascus. He said that he deplores violence and has "written thousands of times against it." But he told the student she was reciting the familiar narrative according to which "we" (=Israelis) want peace and offer peace, and "they" always refuse. He said that the problem with reciting these comfortable familiar narratives is that they demand nothing of us. He said that there would be no peaceful solution, neither his nor anyone else's, unless we all challenged ourselves and our familiar ways of thinking.

In his book, Ali Abunimah frequently praises the African National Congress in whose Freedom Charter white Afrikaners could see themselves living and prospering alongside black compatriots. He knows that the Palestinians have yet to articulate a vision of a post-Occupation future. And although he would be too modest to claim as much for himself, he is surely already both a visionary and a compelling spokesman for that future. His message has a moral clarity and relentless fairness which inspire trust. People watched this eloquent ambassador, so different from media caricatures, and thought: yes, we could be neighbors. I thought: he's changing minds.

Thank you, Ali Abunimah, for taking the time to come to Buffalo, and for proposing a solution that I can endorse without hesitation or reserve, and for exemplifying a forgotten ideal of patriotism through scholarship and discursive exchange.

And although we are enriched for having met you, you will understand when we say yareit ma t'arrifnak.

One Country: a bold proposal to end the Israeli-Palestinian impasse
Abunimah.org
The Electronic Intifada
Chicago Palestine Film Festival

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