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MiddleEast.Org
6/19 |
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MER FLASHBACK, 2 Years Ago - Washington Scene:
REALITIES OF THE AMERICAN ARAB
ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE (ADC):
"Don't Eat those Bagels!"
"Edward Said is our 'baby'"
"Screaming Hala Maksoud"
MER - Washington - 10 June 1998:
What happens in the Middle East is greatly affected by what happens,
and doesn't happen, in Washington. After all, Washington is the
capital of
the modern-day American Empire and home to the Israeli/Jewish
lobby
whose ability to twist and manipulate affairs relating to the
Middle East
has never been greater.
And consequently the interaction of government, lobbying organizations,
p.r. firms, and organizations of various types in Washington
is of growing
importance; hence MER's emphasis on the "Washington Scene" in
addition to
the Middle East. This emphasis has been further stimulated of
late by the
censorship and attempts to cast aspersions about MER coming both
from the
Zionist organizations as well as Arab-affiliated "client organizations",
among them the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
which
holds its annual conference in Washington this weekend.
Quite a few Arab-Americans come to the convention since they have
nothing
else to bring them together -- but as one of those attending
writes to MER
"I was an ADC intern...and I agree that the organization is fairly
useless as a
political entity. I basically go to the convention to see my
Arab buddies that
I only see at conventions".
The sad and tragic reality is that at this critical time in the
history of the
Middle East the Israeli/Jewish lobby has never been more powerful;
the
Arab "lobby" never more politically corrupt and deceptively misleading.
The following article is from a Palestinian graduate student who
recently
worked with ADC but was told to take a hike after appearing on
the weekly
MER-TV program to oppose U.S. and Israeli policies in the Middle
East.
One note of caution. Everything that MER does it does in the open
for all
to consider and debate. Not so with ADC which has a long history
of
behind-the-scenes deceptions and self-serving duplicitous rumor-mongering.
So please don't hesitate to get in touch with anything that comes
to your
attention regarding these matters; we'll continue to do what
we can to
let you know the "realities" of what is going on, and if you
prefer
anonymity just let us know...of course we understand.
PALESTINIAN AMERICAN SPEAKS UP
THREE MONTHS AT THE ADC
By Omar Qourah*
"DON'T EAT THAT BAGEL!" the baffled secretary was interrupted
while
creaming her bagel with cheese by a scream from a lady who works
at
the Washington National Office of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee (ADC).
"Its Jewish food" she insisted.
Shocked and surprised at the remark, I ventured to say that bagels
have
actually originated in a Muslim province in China and were introduced
to
Europe through the commercial routes of the Silk Road in the
Middle
Ages. I added that this is a good example that cultures are hybrid.
She
looked at me in deep disbelief and kept silent. However, the
same
exchange occurred again several times in the next two weeks.
The lady
also frowned at me when I asked her if she had watched the previous
day's episode of the popular TV series "Seinfeld".
At first, screaming seemed to be the norm in that office. In the
same
week, while chatting with a new intern in the office about issues
facing
Arab Americans, the screams of ADC National President Dr. Hala
Maksoud at one of the senior ADC staff in the conference room
interrupted us and caused us to look at each other in utter surprise.
A
journalist who was waiting to meet with the media director also
tuned in.
The hollering went on for half an hour. I tried to engage the
visitor by
talking to her, trying to distract her attention from the screams
coming
from the conference room. I later found out that the legal director
of the
office was forced to resign after all the screaming because she
publicly
supported a letter sent to the president of ADC calling for more
democracy in running the organization in addition to financial
accountability. The letter which was signed by 21 local chapter
presidents and ADC activists all over the country also called
the ADC
annual convention "tasteless" and designed for the well-heeled,
famous
Arabs and for the Ambassadors and their friends.
Three months ago my uncle called me to tell me that a position
has
opened up at the ADC and that it would be a good idea to work
there on
the side while going to school. Fine I said. I have not really
gotten involved
with Arab Americans organizations before and I thought that this
could be
a rewarding experience now that I live nearby and attend American
University. I got employed working twenty hours a week
as an
administrative assistant.
Since my field of studies is management information systems, I
quickly
realized that the office could use serious help. In addition,
interns and
workers complained about the outdated phone system and how a
basic
voice mail system could save everyone time. I expressed disbelief
at the
fact the media director's computer lacked Internet access. The
office's fax
machine frequently had a waiting line and broke down often. There
was
terrible lack of good office management. The slogan of the Office
was: "I
have no idea."
Maybe by the mediocre standards of many of the Arab world's institutions
and organizations the ADC National office would pass fine. But
this is an
organization that claims to be involved in everything from standing
up to
AIPAC (the Israeli/Jewish lobby) to fighting discrimination against
and
stereotyping of Arab Americans. It always claims to be the "largest
grass-roots Arab American organization." Reality, however, is
sadly
different.
One of the most important tasks at the ADC National Office I found
out is
monitoring the daily press for any possible mention of the ADC.
Never
mind the Bantustanization of Palestine. Never mind the sanctions
killing
Iraq. Never mind the seething frustrations throughout the Middle
East.
"We want to know what they say about us," I was told; and that
seemed
the most important thing of all.
Whenever there was a positive mention of the ADC in the press,
clips of
the article would quickly be faxed to supporters around the country.
The
Middle East, I realized, could be going up in flames as far as
they are
concerned, but at the top of the ADC's concerns was any mention
of
ADC.
The major project that the ADC was involved in while I worked
there were
the Quilt (Lihaf or sharshaf in Arabic), a large blanket consisting
of
interwoven 418 panels displaying Palestinian embroidery each
representing a Palestinian village destroyed by the Israelis
in the process
of creating Israel fifty years ago.
The quilt is currently touring the country travelling from one
city to
another. It is scheduled for display at the Capitol Hill in Washington,
DC
on June 14. Amazing as it may sound, this Quilt campaign was
supposed to counter Israel's extensive and widespread celebrations
of
fifty years of its founding! The Quilt project, we are told,
is important
because it represents the combined efforts of a dozen or so Arab
and
Palestinian-American organizations and associations. In fact,
what it
really represents is the lowest common denominator that these
do-little-too-late groups were able to agree on.
Even with all these efforts, and all these organizations, I heard
that only a
handful of people bothered to attend the kick-off rally in New
York City
last month outside the U.N. There is no serious plan to follow
up on any
of this, no real "50th anniversary" agenda, and certainly no
realization of
the gravity of what is happening in today's Middle East. A related
project
was selling T-shirts and buttons to the different ADC chapters
around the
country -- not much success here either.
All this while Israel's anniversary celebrations included various
TV
specials and documentaries, and art performances in the J. F.
Kennedy
for the Performing Arts.
When Mid-East Realities (WWW.MiddleEast.Org) published a short
and
factual article about "The Quilt," an article which honestly
spoke up about
this whole farce ("The Arabs - More Impotent and Co-opted than
Ever"), I
read the article and went to work the next day trying to hold
back my
laugher (and disgust) about all this. Shortly, someone called
in about the
article telling them they "have been attacked"! The office erupted
in
frenzy, and then someone from Dr. Jim Zogby's office (Arab American
Institute) called in eager to have the article sent to them too.
The eruption caused by that one little e-mail reminded me of my
days of
living in Lebanon when the sirens warning of Israeli bombing
sparked a
desperate search for shelter. When people at ADC found out that
I
regularly read MER, know well MER publisher Mark Bruzonsky, and
even
assisted a couple of times in producing the cable TV show (which
never
mentioned ADC), they approached me as if I was doing something
surreptitious and awful. Nothing of the sort actually. I told
them there was
nothing secret here, that I had even interviewed the ADC Media
Director,
Sam Husseini, for MER-TV, months ago back in February outside
the
White House, along with Mark Bruzonsky. And then I was glad to
be
asked to appear on another MER program that was highly critical
of U.S.
and Israeli policies. The program is shown weekly on cable in
Washington -- and its actually quite good; far better than anything
ADC is
doing about these subjects.
Even so, the reaction from senior ADC people was pretty much like
the
bagel - you are "associating with the Jews" they insisted, apparently
referring to Mark Bruzonsky being Jewish, even though many Arabs
and
Palestinians eagerly follow and strongly support MER. The organizing
director then told me, that MER "aims at undermining Arab American
achievements" and cited an example a Palestinian organization
called
ROOTS from many years ago that "failed because MER spread rumors
about it."
After this I found out that ROOTS really failed because of all-too-typical
incompetence and corruption; and that MER didn't even exist when
Roots
did. Back when Roots was in Washington I now know large amounts
of
money was sent by Arafat to Washington for that organization
as well as
for two publications, "Jerusalem Report" and "The Return". These
large
sums, totalling into the millions of dollars, accomplished very
little and
everything they supported isn't even in existence now and few
even
remember. Furthermore, I now have learned, these two publications
were
those of Ramonda Al-Tawil, Yasser Arafat's mother-in-law, and
her family
members, who I am told got considerable sums of money sent to
them
and much of it was used by her and her family for such personal
things
as homes in Washington and Paris. Back in Palestine we had always
heard rumors about these kinds of things; now in Washington I'm
finding
out most of them were true.
What was further despicable about what I found out at ADC is the
use of
prominent intellectuals such as Prof. Edward Said to prop-up
ticket sales
for the annual convention, and little else. One day I heard the
chairperson
of the ADC board of directors refer to Prof. Said as their "Baby".
She
added they knew how to get him to do whatever they wanted him
to. The
ADC did not seem to pay attention to the fact that Said's views
about the
"Peace Process" need to be heard by as many people as possible;
for
they spent little effort toward this goal and I never heard them
discussing
it. Rather, just as with the monitoring of the press mostly for
mentions of
ADC, really educating and mobilizing the American public is an
afterthought at best. What matters is that people come to the
annual
convention, support ADC, and follow whatever ADC tells them to
do.
Others convention speakers too were invited on the basis of how
supportive and on-board they were, not how effective or truthful.
One week before the convention, after I had worked long and hard
calling
people all over the country to come to the convention and received
the
praise of all of my supervisers for my energy and hard work,
I was
abruptly told that my services were no longer needed. Right then
and
there I decided to write something and send it to MER, as MER
had been
quite right about these things all along. When I asked if I would
get to
attend the convention as an ADC employee since I had worked so
hard to
register people I was told flatly by the blond, blue-eyed president
of ADC,
Dr. Hala Maksoud: "With all honesty, No, because you work with
MER."
At least she was honest this one time. Not much different it seems
about
the Arab-American organizations in Washington and the regimes
we
suffer from in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, "Don't Eat The Bagels!", and cheers for "the Quilt".
The author, Omar
Qourah, can be reached at
OMAR@MiddleEast.Org
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