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Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May-June 2008, pages 59-61 Southern California Chronicle Zionist Complaints Over Sabeel Conference Raise Attendance, Awareness of PalestiniansBy Pat and Samir Twair
WHEN THE FAMOUS All Saints Church extended an invitation to Friends of Sabeel to present their Feb. 15 and 16 regional conference, on the theme “From Occupation to Liberation,” at its Pasadena compound, event planners hoped they would draw a couple of hundred attendees. Publicity came in the form of articles in the Los Angeles Times and Pasadena Star-News quoting complaints of a Pasadena rabbi and pro-Israel members of the right-wing organization StandWithUs. Supporters of Israel object to sermons by Sabeel founder Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek, who draws comparisons of Palestinians suffering under Israeli military occupation to the travails of Jesus and early Christians. The Palestinian liberation theology movement also calls upon U.S. churches to divest from companies that have businesses in the occupied West Bank. All Saints rector Rev. Ed Bacon justified his invitation to Sabeel by describing Rev. Ateek as “one of the most courageous peacemakers of our generation.” The Zionist-fueled controversy backfired, however, and attendance was nearly double expectations. UCLA professor and keynote speaker Dr. Gabriel Piterberg stunned many in the audience when he proposed: “Let’s be realistic and throw out this charade of a peace process and the idea of a Palestinian state. “Why not dispense with collaborators who call themselves Palestinian leaders, “ he continued, “and allow a courageous Palestinian leadership to emerge who will say, okay, we’re not going to have a state, but make us equal citizens of Israel.” The Argentina-born and Israel-educated Piterberg said one doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to know who is the victim and who is the victimizer. Israel gets away with brutalizing the Palestinians because Europe and the U.S. have bought into the Israeli narrative of history. This situation leaves the Palestinians far worse off than the black South Africans, who, Piterberg noted, had the sympathy of Europe and the U.S. “Take advantage of the fact you’re still there,” he exhorted the Palestinians. “If they can’t eradicate you, then demand to be full citizens.” Israelis won’t easily grant equality, the scholar warned, but the struggle for it is the only alternative to suffocation or transfer. “Policy and Activism” Panel
Several standing ovations were accorded “Policy and Activism” panelists Dr. Laila al-Marayati, Marcy Winograd and Naji Ali (Chris Brown) at the the Sabeel conference. Pessimism shouldn’t release anyone from the burden of activism, Dr. al-Marayati stated. “If looking at the Big Picture disturbs you, then don’t look at it,” she advised. “Go to Palestine and insist on your right to report what is going on there.” Marcy Winograd, the chair of Los Angeles Progressive Democrats who ran unsuccessfully for Rep. Jane Harmon’s seat, said she grew up in a staunch Zionist family. “I didn’t want to know [the truth] because it’s so painful.” Once she acknowledged the truth, however, she signed a paper renouncing her automatic citizenship in Israel. Winograd quoted a saying of her mother’s: “You must go where you’re not wanted because that’s where you’re most needed.” Naji Ali, a San Francisco free-lance journalist, recalled the day of Sept. 29, 2004, when he was escorting Palestinian children as a Christian Peacemaker Team member and was nearly beaten to death by Israeli settlers. They struck his head with chains, kicked him with steel-tipped boots and slammed bats against his legs. In the Israeli hospital, medics showed a “what did you expect” disdain toward him. The son of a South African activist who was imprisoned by the apartheid regime, Ali says the racism in Israel is far worse. “I would like to recruit African Americans to go to Palestine,” he said, “but they would react with the attitude they don’t need to travel 9,000 miles to be gassed, shot at and beaten.” At the close of the Sabeel conference, Winograd, who also is co-founder of L.A. Jews for Peace, and Jeff Warner led a contingent of 40 activists on a march from All Saints Church to a busy intersection in Pasadena’s Old Town restaurant row. At the four corners of Raymond Street and Colorado Boulevard, activists handed out flyers describing the brutal Israeli siege of Gaza. Cars honked at banners proclaiming, “Not One More Death,” “Starving the Children of Gaza Is Not a Jewish Value,” and “End Israeli Occupation of Palestine Negotiate Now.” Vigil for Gaza Children
In an effort to lessen the impact of photos of Gazans slaughtered by Israeli blitzes of the walled-in strip of land, the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles staged a “Live for Sderot” concert Feb. 25 at the Wilshire Theater. Ten teenagers from Sderot were flown in to deliver their message of being shell-shocked by Qassam rockets fired from Gaza. Women In Black/Los Angeles decided to sponsor a candlelight vigil across from the theater. They held signs condemning missile attacks on children in Gaza as well as on Sderot, which lies a few miles north of the Gaza border. Right-wing Zionists screamed curses and made vulgar gestures at the 25 WIB demonstrators. One man ran across the street and tried to block out a banner reading: “Israel Must Stop the Siege of Gaza.” Since he was short-statured, the two women holding the banner simply lifted it above his head so passing motorists could read their message. Another WIB member handed out flyers to passersby which read: Celebration of Florence Richards
Florence Richards of Whittier was a long-standing Washington Report supporter and an advocate of the Palestinian people (see March 2008 Washington Report, p. 78). On Feb. 2, friends and activists celebrated her life at First Friends Church of Whittier, with the Rev. Elbert Newton offering the opening prayer and acting as emcee. Dr. Nabil Azzam, maestro of the MESTO Symphony orchestra, performed his composition, “The Crescent,” on the violin. Closing remarks were offered by Dr. Maher Hathout, spokesperson for the Islamic Center of Southern California. “One virtue missing in our national debate is courage,” he observed. “Florence was prepared to speak the truth. She uttered the facts courageously. Her death has left a void in our lives.” A moving tribute from Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, who worked with Florence on Stop Moskowitz, was read by Rev. Newton: “My encounter with Florence grew out of the effort to bring peace to the Middle East. When Florence understood that some injustice could be stopped by adequate policies that applied equally to all people, she began to pursue that goal more vigorously. That is when I started to get calls asking for updates, demanding to know if I had done this or that; called so and so? “I am convinced it is people like Florence who ensure our freedom. That does not mean they succeed, but their example and courage helps us to know how to live beyond despair. I doubt that Florence was ever on the winning side of many issues she cared about. That is not the prize of people committed to justice.” Commented George Hanna, co-founder of the Arab American Republican Club of Orange County: “Florence could take on any opponent. She was gunpowder. She cared very deeply for this country and said justice can’t be for one side only, but for everyone.” Elias Nizar Ibrahim (1986-2008)
In mid-June 1948 Ahmed and Aisheh Ibrahim and their children were forcibly expelled by Haganah forces from their village of Jimzu near Ramle (see special Nakba section, p. 16). Sixty years later, they experienced another Nakba, or catastrophe, when their grandson, Elias Nizar Ibrahim, died in a freak swimming accident at the University of California Los Angeles. During the chaotic years after 1948, the Ibrahims moved from one refugee camp to another. Their family farmlands, olive press and flour mill were plowed under by the Israelis to obliterate the presence of Palestinians. Today the site is called Mexico Park, for the trees planted there and paid for by Mexican Jews. Ahmed immigrated to the U.S. in 1956, and, over the ensuing 11 years, Aisheh and their nine children followed. Despite financial struggles and adjustment to a new society, their sons Mohammed, Nizar and Jamil became physicians. Son Mahmood is a professor of history at Cal Poly Pomona, daughter Fathiyya and son Hamdi own restaurants in Michigan and California, daughter Yusra is a chemist, daughter Naheel is an accountant, and son Dirar is a businessman. The third generation of Nakba Ibrahims numbered 27 U.S.-born grandchildren. Tragedy befell the family in the early hours of March 14, when grandson Elias struck his head against the wall of a pool and drowned before friends could rescue him. Hundreds of UCLA students mourned Elias that day on the UCLA campus, and again March 17 in Bruin Plaza. Earlier in the day, three generations of Ibrahims buried Elias in the city of Colton, near Riverside, where his parents, Dr. Nizar and Tatyana Ibrahim, reside. As professors, student activists, Theta Chi fraternity brothers and family members spoke about Elias, the loss of such a promising individual weighed heavily on all present. The golden boy, as some referred to him, was a member of the spring graduating class and was to enter UCLA’s School of Medicine. During his four years at UCLA, Elias maintained a Merit Scholarship GPA, participated in more than 15 student organizations, and was in the 99th percentile for his Medical College Aptitude Test. Family members recognized Elias’ potential almost from the day he was born in Russia, where his father was a medical student. Elias was reading Russian at age 3, and by age 5, after his parents moved to Newark, NJ, was reading English and Arabic as well. In kindergarten, he memorized all the bones in human and animal skeletons from an anatomy coloring book given to him by an uncle. On campus, effervescent Elias was recognizable for his infectious smile, curly, shoulder-length hair and the bicycle he rode to save time getting to classes and meetings. He was a vegetarian because he objected to the slaughter of animals. He wanted to help Third World people by serving in Doctors Without Borders after completing medical school. A founding member of Students for Justice in Palestine, the charismatic achiever represented Abraham’s Vision, a dialogue group between Jewish and Muslim students, at a February conference at United Nations headquarters in New York. Although only one year younger than Elias, his sister Diana, a junior premed major at the University of California Riverside, looked up to him as a confidante. His brothers, Yassin, 11, and Zacharia, 8, adored him. During the March 17 memorial, mourners held glass candle containers bearing a photo of Elias with the statement, “A candle that shines twice as bright, burns only half as long,” and the words “A son, a brother, a peacemaker and a friend to all…” Pat and Samir Twair are free-lance journalists based in Los Angeles |
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