In Search of a Homeland—Israelis for peace

By Mahmoud S. Audi, Ph.D.

For a year in the early 1970s, I was the president of the Arab Students Association at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York. The University had Arab students from a number of Arab countries including Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Tunisia.
By attending the Friends of Sabeel—North America, conference “In Search of a Homeland: The Quest for Place and Peace in the Middle East” at Villanova University, on April 25 and 26, 2008, memories of a politically proactive year came to my mind.
The relationship between the recent conference and the year of a distant past and the now 84 year-old Uri Avneri, the Israeli peace activist, whom I had met in that year, when he and I were about 36 years younger are the subject matters of this post. The more general notes would refer to the intersection of my life routes, that far in the past year of activism, and the recent Christian conference at Villanova University.

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Governor Rockefeller of New York appointed in 1968 to the Senate Charles Goodell, to finish the term of the assassinated Senator Robert Kennedy. In the early 1970s that term was coming to an end. The senator was campaigning for a full term of his own, in the Senate. He came to Syracuse University. The Chapel was full. Four of us, from the Arab Students Association, were there. We sat where the available seats were, in the back, but we listened.
He began his partisan speech and continued until he came to the point to appease some in the audience. He said, in effect, that the government spends our tax money left and right, but it does not help Israel to defend itself against Naser (the President of Egypt and the President of the short lived United Arab Republic) who threatens to through the Jews to the sea.
During the question and answer period, I raised my hand to ask a question. When he picked me I said (in effect) you claim that Naser said he would throw the Jews to the sea, can you give me the exact quote, the date, and the place, when and where did Naser say that he would throw the Jews to the sea? He asked me to give him my name and address and he would send that information to me. I told him that he would not be able to do that, because it is a lie. On his way out of the Chapel others, from the Arab community, and I talked to him about the same subject. I remember this episode of my life every time I look at a picture where I appear with him. The Senator was not elected, and I vehemently deny any responsibility! Early in my life I learned that in America, the cradle of modern democracy one could express his political views without fear of retributions.

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Also during this year, I received a telephone call from Khalidi, a physician at the Syracuse University Hospital, who was an active member of the Arab community. He suggested that we invite an Israeli peace activist who was on a lecture tour in the United States. The doctor said that the community would contribute toward the expenses. I told him that I would call him back in the evening and talk with him about the matter.
Later I understood that Noam Chomsky, a moderate Zionist, and a renowned linguist, and an anti-Vietnam War activist was the main sponsor of the speaker. Years later I learned that the speaker I had invited was the leader of the Israeli Communist Party. He was Uri Avneri.
When I finished talking with the doctor I went to Ms Torrelli, the International Student advisor. I told her that we, the Arab Students Association, wanted to invite an Israeli speaker to campus (I intentionally used the nationality of the speaker) and we need your help. She was excited as I expected and within less than a minute she said that she could contribute $200. I told her that I would talk with her about the details later in the week.
I called each of the members of the Arab Student Association executive committee and discussed with each of them the details of the activity. In the evening I called the doctor and told him how much we could contribute, and we wanted the community to help with the balance. He agreed and we talked about the rest of the details.
On the day of the lecture I went to the Airport, picked him up and brought him to a packed lecture hall in the Maxwell School of Government. I introduced him to the audience, and he followed by given an outstanding lecture. At the end he had numerous questions, which he wrote on a yellow pad, before he answered them. The audience was also balanced. Many Arabs, more Jews, and a majority of Christians attended the event. We congratulated ourselves, and I took Uri Avneri to the Airport. Ms Torrelli did not get what she was expecting, and here is the last act of the story:

Few weeks passed, the Israeli Students Association invited a Canadian Zionist to give a talk. Ms Torrelli covered the expenses. The location of the lecture was on my turf— in the main auditorium, of the Edwin Link Engineering Building—my office was in the basement. Six members of the Arab Student Association (including I) were there. They made about half the audience. The essence of his presentation went as follows: Palestine was a land of swamps with no population, and the Zionists came and reclaimed the land and settled in it.
When the speaker finished I asked him if he were an Israeli. He said he was Canadian. I asked him about how many times had he been to Israel. He said few times. I asked him if he saw any swamps that had been reclaimed. He said no. I asked him if he would allow me to tell him what did the Zionists do in Palestine. He said okay. I went to the blackboard and wrote the name of the village of my birth, and how did the Zionists change it. There activity was a failure.

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During the same period, the late Israeli Yitzhak Rabin, a former Prime Minister of Israel, and a former Ambassador of Israel to the United States, planned to visit Syracuse University to address the community about the needs of Israel, among other stuff. We got the news, and sat out to prepare posters to protest his visit. Salwa was very active in this and other efforts of our Association. One of the posters, I still remember, one of the posters read ‘Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free,’ Salwa was a none; she knew her Bible. The visit was cancelled. There was a rumor that the Security Department of the University was afraid, violence might break out. The posters were trashed. Few weeks after the cancellation, unannounced, Rabin appeared at the Chapel. I called members of the executive committee, and told them about what happened; four of us were able to attend the speech. The Chapel was full.
He said many things, but one thing remains in my memory, that tells me a lot about the mentality of the Zionists, and their dreams. This is approximately what he said. Israel is a small poor country that needs your continuous help to defend itself. When he left Egypt, good old Moses, instead of turning right to the oil rich land, he turned left to Palestine a poor land. He did not elaborate. But what he meant was clear, and the audience laughed.
Fundraising from individuals, organizations, and governments, for Israel is a daily activity in the United States, and Western Europe. They say they need to pay to maintain the torch of freedom and democracy in the Middle East glowing. But the reality is different. Palestinians have been displaced, their homes demolished, their lands raped, their villages and towns encircled by high walls, they are being imprisoned and starved. All of that and more have been done in the name of democracy! There are many books that have recently been written about Israel and Palestine. The former president, Jimmy Carter’s book is one example.
Fundraising for the Palestinians is illegal in the United States.

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There are Israelis who believe that the Israel policy toward the Palestinians is bad for the Palestinians and bad for Israel because and it tarnishes the image of Israel abroad. Some of them are peace activists.
Jeff Halper was one of the speakers at the conference. He is the Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against [Palestinians] House Demolitions. As the conference pamphlet notes, he was a nominee for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. The topic of his presentation was ‘Reframing of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A View from the Ground.’
He is an Israeli-American activist, a professor of anthology, an author and an internationally known speaker. He had taught at universities in the United States, Israel, and other countries. He has published two books and numerous articles. I met him at the conference and told him about myself, and my village in Palestine. I bought his book ‘An Israeli in Palestine: Resisting Dispossession, Redeeming Israel. I promised him, I will read it once I finish reading the latest book by Bill Moyer:
The thrust of his lecture was about the framing of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There is the human rights framing, the historical framing, the Israeli Zionist security framing. The contents of the lecture was creative, and it cast some interesting light on the different aspects of the problem and the tools needed to reframe the issue and make other understand.
He also talked about the different solutions of the problem: the two states solution, the Israel plus and Palestine minus solution, the one democratic state solution, and the confederation solution.
When he talked about peace activism in Israel he put the pictures of four Israelis on the screen. One of those was Uri Avneri. That was the connection between the time in the early 1970s and the Sabeel conference about 36 years later. The speaker told me that Avneri was still alive and still active at 84 years old.
Another Israeli-American speaker at the conference was Marc Ellis who is the director of the center for Jewish Studies at Baylor University, Waco, Texas. His presentation focused on the after math of the Israeli creation in 1948. He argues against the current political policies, which are based on the Jewish vulnerability, and calls for Jews to seek justice for all. Justice for the Isalelis and justice for the Palestinians. Justic now! Justice now!