Arabs peacefully “lobbying” in the US

by Nael Alameh

December 2003

OHIO - “I see Israel, and never mind saying it, as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy. Peace for Israel means security and that security must be a reality”.

This was the half-page advertisement circulating with The Lantern, the daily student newspaper at the Ohio State University OSU. It was quoting Luther King, Jr. stating his views on Israel and its wars against the Arabs.

The ad then asks a question: Why?

I found the question quite in place, although to me it came from a different perspective. Why would one of the leaders of the American civil rights movement, who once said that “those of us who believe in non violence can be voices of reason, sanity and understanding amid the voices of violence, hatred and emotion, we can very well set a mood of peace out of which a system of peace can be built”.

Why would he consider Israel the oasis of democracy and brotherhood? The address King made was one month before his assassination took place, shortly after the 1967 Six-Day War, which was the final blow to pan-Arabism.

But then came the answer: Why not? What has changed since King’s days till today? Nothing, I believe. Nothing at all.

“At least nothing improved,” one might argue. One might safely assume, on the contrary, that things have worsened for the Arabs.

The 60,000 students and the 6,000 faculty members of OSU reading The Lantern will now respond more eagerly to the free trips offered to visit our neighbour in the south: “The Holy Land of Beauty and Peace, the victim of Arab barbarism,” as the Israel Action Committee (IAC) puts it in the flyers it circulates almost on a daily basis.

The OSU community will not think of the Palestinian children starving to death, unemployment, the refugees’ right of return, peace and a permanent settlement.

Americans are the last to be blamed for their ignorance. You can not blame a society that has been built on mere propaganda for not pursuing the truth. It is shameful that this is how Americans deal with such issues, yet what is more pathetic is this lack of activism among Arab students.

There are no governments suppressing activism here and no dictatorships.

All the talk about anti-Arabs seems trivial and naïve. It is surely a good way to put one’s conscience to rest, but I doubt anyone has tried to take a serious action.

The only “action” my Arab friends and colleagues have sponsored here was the watching Rambo movies.

In this part of the world, where democracy and freedom is the ruling force (should I say relative democracy and freedom, isn’t it always the case?), the Arab youth here is still trying to heal from the overdose of freedom they have been “forced” to accept and deal with.

An Arab Action Committee, for the time being, is nothing but a joke right now.

As they wait for the next American human rights activists to propagate their cause, the politician to oppose George W. Bush and his administration, and perhaps the next “historical” leader who will consider Israel “the symbol of equality and justice which should be further protected,” I leave you in “peace” until Arabs decide to do some action.

Nael Alameh is a graduate student working for his PhD in Biology at the Ohio State University, the United States. He wrote this analysis for Alternative