The Muslims of Sri Lanka have a rich heritage and this is no better seen than in the Eastern Province which has the highest concentration of Muslims in the island with two of its three districts having Muslim majorities. This book, a first of its kind, covers a wide range of topics relating to the Muslim heritage of the East contributed by the leading scholars in the field.

This includes history, rites of passage at birth, marriage and death, folklore, literature, architecture, arts and crafts, foods and beverages, dress and ornamentation, economic life and social organization. It is hoped that this book would kindle an interest in preserving the arts and crafts, the customs and traditions and all that we know by the general meaning of culture, of the Muslims of the East that has for so long enriched their lives and made it an altogether happier one.

This work is published by the Muslim Women’s Research and Action Forum, an organization of Muslim Women dedicated to empowering and safeguarding the rights of women and preserving cultural traditions and values that contribute to their progress and wellbeing.

Stories of the Prophets in the Holy Qur’an by Ruth Woodhall and Sharelle Abdul Haqq tells the stories of all the great 25 prophets of Islam from Adam to Muhammad (peace Be Upon Them). As the lives of all these great prophets are full of lessons for humanity and are role models for us to follow, it is thought that children could benefit considerably from reading about them. Since the length of the narratives of the prophets varies in the Qur’an with some being very long such as the story of Joseph and others relatively short like the story of Elijah while in the case of some only the name is mentioned like Dhul Kifl, it has been deemed necessary to expand on some of these stories with additional information from the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (Upon Whom Be Peace) and other narrations such as the Qisas Al-Anbiya by Ibn Kathir.

Among the stories of the Prophets are Prophet Adam, the Father of Mankind, Prophet Noah and the Great Flood, Prophet Hud and the Storm, Prophet Salih and the Camel, Prophet Abraham the Friend of God, Prophet Ishmael and the Sacrifice, Prophet Lot and the People of Sodom, Prophet Isaac the son heralded by the Angels, Prophet Jacob the Wise Father, Prophet Joseph the Forgiving, Prophet Job who Endured, Prophet Moses and the Pharoah, Prophet David the Valiant, Prophet Solomon the Gifted, Prophet Jonah the Repentant, Prophet John the Forebearing, Prophet Isa the Healer and Prophet Muhammasd the Seal of the Prophets.

Price USD 22.95

Published by Tughra Books

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No American president has probably touched the lives of so many outside in a positive way than Jimmy Carter – the 39th president. For the past three decades, since leaving the White House, he has been a resolute voice for human rights and democracy. It was for such activism in the world arena that the Nobel Committee honored him as the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2002, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office. To most of his admirers he genuinely deserved the award, something that cannot be said of President Obama, who earned the award in 2009.

President Carter is very vocal about the Palestine-Israel conflict and believes that the USA has a strong role in any peace effort involving the Middle East. Is America ready to play its historic role for peace-making? Can it be trusted by all the parties to the dispute? President Carter’s book “Palestine Peace Not Apartheid” makes it abundantly clear that America has failed in that task rather miserably. Still, his observation is right. After all, the USA has been Israel’s greatest benefactor since the Jewish state was recognized by President Truman. Had it not been for America’s economic aid and security guarantees, plus the abuse of the veto power inside the UN Security Council, the rogue state would have long been a distant memory, much like the short-lived crusader state in the 12th century.

Most people would have hard time realizing that in spite of such blind (and often criminal) support, rendered by the USA, the official U.S. policy in matters relating to the Palestine-Israel conflict is predicated on a few key UN Security Council resolutions, notably 242 of 1967 and 338 of 1973. In his book, president Carter says, “Approved unanimously and still applicable, their basic premise is that Israel’s acquisition of territory by force is illegal and Israel must withdraw from occupied territories. More specifically, U.S. policy was that Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza were “illegal and obstacles to peace.”” (pp. 38-39)

Israel, however, has always put confiscation of Palestinian land ahead of peace. It was these illegal settlement activities during the Bush Sr. administration that provoked an official White House statement: “The United States has opposed, and will continue to oppose, settlement activity in territories occupied in 1967, which remain an obstacle to peace.” From the State Department, Secretary Baker even added, “I don’t think there is any greater obstacle to peace than settlement activity that continues not only unabated but at an advanced pace.” (pp. 131-2) After George H.W. Bush was no longer in office, a major settlement between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, previously halted because of U.S. threat of cutting aid to Israel, was rapidly completed. (p. 132)

After Carter’s presidency ended, there was no sustained American leadership in the Middle East peace process until the Gulf War against Iraq in the spring of 1991, when Secretary Baker made several trips to the region. During Clinton-era there was a 90% growth in the number of settlers in the occupied territories, with the greatest increase during the administration of Prime Minister Ehud Barak. By the end of the year 2000, Israeli settlers in the West Bank and Gaza numbered 225,000. The best offer to the Palestinians – by Clinton, not Barak – had been to withdraw 20% of the settlers, leaving more than 180,000 in 209 settlements, covering about 10% of the occupied land, including land to be “leased” and portions of the Jordan River valley and East Jerusalem. (pp. 150-1)

According to Carter, “The percentage figure is misleading, since it usually includes only the actual footprints of the settlements. There is a zone with a radius of about four hundred meters around each settlement within which Palestinians cannot enter. In addition, there are other large areas that would have been taken or earmarked to be used exclusively by Israel, roadways that connect the settlements to one another and to Jerusalem, and “life arteries” that provide the settlers with water, sewage, electricity, and communications. These range in width from 500 to 4000 meters, and Palestinians cannot use or cross many of these connecting links. This honeycomb of settlements and their interconnecting conduits effectively divide the West Bank into at least two noncontiguous areas and multiply fragments, often uninhabitable or even unreachable, and control of the Jordan River valley denies Palestinians any direct access eastward into Jordan. About 100 military checkpoints completely surround Palestine and block routes going into or between Palestinian communities, combined with an uncountable number of other roads that are permanently closed with larger concrete cubes or mounds of earth and rocks. There was no possibility that any Palestinian leader could accept such terms and survive, but official statements from Washington and Jerusalem were successful in placing the entire onus for the failure on Yasir Arafat.” (pp. 151-2)

A new round of talks was held at Taba in January 2001, during the last few days of Clinton presidency. It was later claimed that the Palestinians rejected a “generous offer” put forward by PM Barak with Israel keeping only 5% of West Bank. Carter says, “The fact is no such offers were ever made.” (p. 152)

In April 2003 a “Roadmap” for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was announced by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan on behalf of the US, the UN, Russia and the EU (known as the Quartet). This was before George W. Bush invaded Iraq. Annan stated, “Such a settlement, negotiated between the parties, will result in the emergence of an independent, democratic Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbors. The settlement will end the occupation that began in 1967, based on the Madrid Conference terms of reference and the principle of land for peace, UNSC Resolutions 242, 338 and 1397, agreements previously reached by the parties, and the Arab initiative proposed by the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and endorsed by the Arab Summit in Beirut.” (p. 159)

As we all know, the Palestinians accepted the roadmap in its entirety, but the Israeli government announced 14 caveats and prerequisites, some of which would preclude any final peace talks. According to Carter, “The practical result of all this is that the Roadmap for Peace has become moot, with only two results: Israel has been able to use it as a delaying tactic with an endless series of preconditions that can never be met, while proceeding with plans to implement its unilateral goals.” (p. 160)

In October 2003, seeing no progress with the “Roadmap”, with involvement of the Carter Center, a final draft for a new initiative was concluded, which was later disclosed by Carter in Geneva. A majority of the Israelis and Palestinians approved the Geneva principles, despite strong opposition from some top political leaders. Sharon condemned the Geneva Initiative and there was silence from the White House, but Secretary Powell supported the Initiative and met with key negotiators – Yasser Abed Rabbo and Beilin. (p. 167) Later George W. Bush, a born-again Christian, mindful of not repeating his father’s “mistakes” (in chiding the Jewish state), had no interest in any peaceful resolution of the conflict.

Taking advantage of diplomatic vacuum left by GW Bush, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon came up with a unilateral decision to encircle Palestinians by constructing a wall that’s at least 3.5 times Israel’s international recognized border. According to Carter, the wall effectively divided Palestinian villages, separating the farmers from their fields, and not just separating Palestinians from Jews but rather Palestinians from Palestinians. (pp. 189-194) He observes, “There has been a determined and remarkably effective effort to isolate settlers from Palestinians, so that a Jewish family can commute from Jerusalem to their highly subsidized home deep in the West Bank on roads from which others are excluded, without ever coming in contact with any facet of Arab life.” (p. 190) In July 2004, the International Court of Justice determined that the wall was illegal and called on Israel to cease construction of the wall, to dismantle what has already been built in areas beyond Israel’s international recognized border, and to compensate Palestinians who have suffered as a result of the wall’s construction. But Israel has ignored the ICJ verdict.

During the Israel-Lebanon conflict of 2006, the Bush administration strongly supported Israel, encouraged their bombardment of Lebanon, and blocked the efforts of France and other nations to impose an immediate ceasefire. According to Carter, during this period of conflict, while world’s attention was in Lebanon, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) killed more than 200 Palestinians, 44 of them children, in Gaza. (p. 200) In September 2006, Prime Minister Olmert authorized construction bids for another 690 homes in the occupied West Bank. He also rejected an offer from Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, to negotiate an exchange of prisons. (p. 202)

According to Carter, from September 2000 until March 2006 (before the book went for publication) , some 3,982 Palestinians and 1,084 Israelis were killed in the second Intifada and these numbers include many children: 708 Palestinians and 123 Israelis (p. 206). President GW Bush shares great responsibility for letting such massacre to continue.

The question of land – who owned what percent before the infamous Partition plan was announced in 1947 – is very important to understand the root cause of the ensuing conflict. Zionist leaders have always claimed that the Partition plan in which the Jews were given a bigger share of the pie was fair. Land records, however, show that Jewish ownership was only 2.5% of the land before Israel declared its independence in 1948. Carter reminds us that in 1880 there were only 30,000 Jews in Palestine, scattered among 600,000 Muslims and Christian Arabs. When Britain conducted a census in Palestine in 1922, there were about 84,000 Jews and 670,000 Arabs, of whom 71,000 were Christians. By 1930, thanks to the British policy of Jewish immigration from Europe to Palestine, their numbers had grown to more than 150,000 (p. 65). By the time the area was partitioned by the UN, these numbers had grown to about 600,000 Jews and 1.3 million Arabs, 10 percent of whom were Christians (p. 58). That is, there were two Palestinians for every Jew, and yet, the Jews were given 56% of the land! It does not require a genius to understand the reasons behind Arab rejection of the unfair plan.

As a result of the war of 1948, more than 710,000 unarmed Palestinians were expelled by the Zionist terrorists from their ancestral land. The return of these refugees and their children and grandchildren, born in Diaspora, now remains a serious bone of contention. Israel is adamant about disallowing return of the Palestinian refugees while it remains open to Jewish immigration from anywhere in the world to the holy land.

Carter reminds us that by 1964 when the PLO was formally organized, there were, according to the UN estimate, 1.3 million Palestinian refugees, with one-fourth in Jordan, about 150,000 each in Lebanon and Syria, and most of others in West Bank and Gaza refugee camps (p. 58). Nor should we forget that when Israel launched pre-emptive strikes on June 5, 1967 and within six days occupied the Golan Heights, Gaza, the Sinai, Jerusalem, and the West Bank another 320,000 Arabs were forced to leave the additional areas in Syria, Egypt, Jordan, and Palestine that were occupied by Israel. A number of UN resolutions were adopted with U.S. support and Israeli approval, reemphasizing the inadmissibility of acquisition of land by force, calling for Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories, and urging that the more needy and deserving refugees be repatriated to their former homes (p. 59).

In the popular Jewish-owned western media the Palestinians, and their political leadership, are portrayed as the “bad guys,” who aspire to drive the Jews into the sea and reject the two-state formula. President Carter discloses that in a 1990 meeting the PLO chief Yasir Arafat stated, “The PLO has never advocated the annihilation of Israel. The Zionists started the ‘drive the Jews into the sea’ slogan and attributed it to the PLO. In 1969 we said we wanted to establish a democratic state where Jews, Christians and Muslims can all live together. The Zionists said they do not choose to live with any people other than Jews… We said to the Zionist Jews, all right, if you do not want a secular, democratic state for all of us, then we will take another route. In 1974 I said we are ready to establish our independent state in any part from which Israel will withdraw.” (p. 62)

According to president Carter, PLO Chairman Arafat sent a letter to PM Rabin in September 1993 in which he stated unequivocally that the PLO recognized the right of Israel to exist in peace and security, accepted UN Resolutions 242 and 338, committed itself to a peaceful negotiated resolution of the conflict, renounced the use of terrorism and other acts of violence, affirmed that those articles of the PLO covenant that deny Israel’s right to exist were not longer valid. Although Israel recognized the PLO as the sole representative of the Palestinian people in the Oslo Peace negotiations, Arafat failed to obtain other specific concessions concerning a timetable for Israel’s withdrawal from occupied territories. (pp. 134-5)

Hamas has been portrayed as a Palestinian resistance group that is totally opposed to peace, and rejecting the so-called two-state formula for co-existence. According to Carter, much in contrast to Israeli claims about Hamas’s intention for a Palestinian state in all the territories, the Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh stated in June of 2006, “We have no problem with a sovereign Palestinian state over all our lands within the 1967 borders, living in calm.” (p. 203)

Well, such shocking revelations may sound unbelievable, but fact remains that Israel has never been serious about letting Palestinians live in an independent state of their own.

In the popular western media, Israel is portrayed as a model state with equal rights for all its citizens. However, facts are much uglier. It remains the last of the apartheid states in our world. During his many trips to Israel, President Carter met with local Palestinians who emphasized that they were deprived of their most basic human rights. They claimed that that any demonstration against Israeli abuses resulted in mass arrests of Palestinians, including children throwing stones, bystanders who were not involved, families of protesters, and those known to make disparaging statements about the occupation. Once incarcerated, they had little hope for a fair trial and often had no access to their families or legal counsel. Most of these cases were tried in military tribunals, but 90% of the inmates were being held in civilian jails. One of the attorneys told, “Here there is one system under civil judges and another under the military. Most of our cases, no matter what the subject might be, fall under the military. They are our accusers, judges, and juries, and they all seem the same to us.” (pp. 118-9)

The apartheid character of the Israeli state is too visible through its persecution and harassment of the Palestinian people. International human rights organizations estimate that since 1967 more than 630,000 Palestinians (about 20%) of the total population) in the occupied territories have been detained at some time by the Israelis. According to President Carter, in addition to time in jail, the pre-trial periods can be quite lengthy. Palestinian detainees can be interrogated under special laws for a total of 180 days and denied lawyer visits for intervals of 90 days. Accused persons are usually in military courts in the West Bank, and incarcerated in prisons inside Israel, in violation of the 4th Geneva Convention. (pp. 196-7)

Access to water, e.g., remains a persistent issue. Each Israeli settler uses five times as much water as a Palestinian neighbor, who must pay four times as much per gallon. There are Israeli swimming pools adjacent to Palestinian villages where drinking water had to be hauled in on tanker trucks and dispensed by the bucketful. Most of the hilltop settlements are on small areas of land, so untreated sewage is discharged into the surrounding fields and villages (p. 121).

Only in an apartheid state can one expect to see such outright discrimination and harassment of a people! Israeli state policy forces exodus upon the Palestinian people.

Consider also the disproportionate privilege enjoyed by the settler Jews in the Gaza Strip before June 2004 when Israel’s cabinet approved a plan for disengagement from the territory. Living among 1.3 million Palestinians, the 8,000 Israeli settlers were controlling 40% of the arable land and more than one-half the water resources, and 12,000 troops were required to defend their presence. (p. 168) According to Carter, the Palestinian people had little freedom of movement or independent activity. (p. 170)

In 1948 there were 90,000 natives in Gaza. The population more than tripled by 1967, and there are now more than 1.4 million – 3,700 people living per sq. km, making it one of the most densely populated places in our planet. Israel does not allow air and sea transportation from Gaza. Carter observed that fishermen were not allowed to leave the harbor, workers were prevented form going to outside jobs, the import or export of food and other goods was severely restricted and often cut off completely and the police, teachers, nurses, and social workers were deprived of salaries. Per capita income decreased 40% during 2004-06, and poverty rate reached 70% (pp. 175-6). This was the situation before reinvasion of Gaza in July 2006 and its latest demolition in December 2008 – January 2009 by the IDF (during the last days of Bush administration) .

A reading of Carter’s book reveals that the US government, far from being an honest peace-broker, has actually aided in strengthening Israel’s apartheid character. As to the reality of settlements in the West Bank, Carter observes, “It is obvious that the Palestinians will be left with no territory to establish a viable state, but completely enclosed within the barrier and the occupied Jordan River valley. The Palestinians will have a future impossible for them or any responsible portion of the international community to accept, and as Israel’s permanent status will be increasingly troubled and uncertain as deprived people fight oppression and the relative number of Jewish citizens decreases demographically (compare to Arabs) both within Israel and Palestine.” (p. 196)

There is no denying that the unwavering support of the US government has emboldened the Israeli leaders to believe that they are above the international law and have the right to confiscate and colonize Palestinian land, and sustain subjugation and persecution of increasingly hopeless and aggravated Palestinians. The latter see that suicidal activities are ways to shorten their pathetic condition. This madness on both sides must come to an end.

Carter concludes, “Peace will come to Israel and the Middle East only when the Israeli government is willing to comply with international law… It will be a tragedy – for the Israelis, the Palestinians, and the world – if peace is rejected and a system of oppression, apartheid, and sustained violence is permitted to prevail.” (p. 216) He is absolutely right.

Palestine Peace Not Apartheid is a courageous work of a man who is sincere about finding peace in one of the most troubled areas of our world. President Carter has visited the Occupied Territories many times and has firsthand knowledge about America’s failed and half-hearted diplomatic initiatives in the Middle East. I strongly recommend this book to anyone serious about understanding the root of the Palestine-Israel conflict and the fallacy of the American ‘balanced’ diplomacy in the Middle East.
 

Pages: 479

Binding: Hardback

Size: 6×9" (15×22 cm) 

ISBN: 9960-850-36-6

(9960850366)

Publisher: IIPH

At a time in which the Muslims are beset with trials from every periphery and within, comes this heartening book rooted in the commandments of Allah (swt), the Sunnah and the excellent guidance and examples of the Muslims that have come before us.

Don't Be Sad is an absolute must-read for all people. It is full of practical advice on how to replace sadness with a pragmatic and ultimately satisfying Islamic outlook on life. It exposes to the modern reader how Islam teaches us to deal with the tests and tribulations of this world.

So, take heart and hold firmly onto the rope of Allah (swt).

REVISED SECOND EDITION

Author: Aaidh ibn Abdullah al-Qarni; Faisal ibn Muhammad Shafeeq (translator); Yusuf Riyaz (editor); Haroon Vicente Pascual (cover design)

Keywords: Dont be sad, do not be sad, upset, depressed, angry, feel despair, frustrated, fed up, anxious, anxiety, jealousy, over stressed

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Almost three decades of bloodshed and destruction have brought us full circle to the gross realization that the destinies of all communities share common goals and are inextricably interwoven. The earnest desire of every community, Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim and others, is to live together in harmony. Thus a permanent peace, though still a distant dream, remains the cherished goal of all and, inevitably, the need of the hour is for a political solution for permanent peace.

In this context the book “Nobody’s People – The Forgotten Plight of Sri Lanka’s Muslims” by well known journalist and author Lather Farook is a timely publication as it highlights the plethora of problems, sufferings and grievances of Sri Lankan Muslims and their pathetic predicament owing to discriminatory policies, Tamil militancy  and the failure of the community itself to resolve its burning issues.

As rightly pointed out by the former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva “Muslims have been a peaceful ethnic group interacting with other religious and ethnic groups, cordially interlinking those cultures with their own culture. They never organized themselves for armed insurrection or destruction”.

Contrary to the common belief that Muslims are a wealthy community, the reality is that around 70 percent of the community lives below the poverty line. More than 130,000 northern Muslims, forcibly and mercilessly driven out from their homes and lands on pain of death by the LTTE, languish in refugee camps in appalling conditions for almost 19 years. Around one percent of the community perished in the tsunami and,adding insult to injury, Muslim survivors were discriminated even in the disbursement of aid that flowed from donor countries.

Muslims were discarded by the now defunct 2002 February Ceasefire Agreement between the government and the LTTE and taken for a ride in the P-TOMS agreement that died a natural death. It is a tragedy that the entire population of Mutur and Thoppur who were 95 percent literate and self-employed were reduced to paupers and made refugees when the LTTE and the Government fought their battle there.

In the East, they face numerous obstacles in trading, farming, paddy cultivation, fishing and livestock breeding activities jeopardizing their very means of livelihood while, in the rest of the country, poverty, unemployment, educational and several other problems have raised their ugly heads in this gloomy scenario.

Despite frustration and privation, Muslims always sought peaceful solutions to their grievances for co-existence with the other communities, notwithstanding diabolical efforts   to sideline them. Nor were the Muslims party to the ethnic crisis. They vehemently opposed calls for the division of the country and firmly stood for territorial integrity and unity only to face death, devastation, loss of properties, deprivation of livelihood and displacement with no appreciation from the authorities.

In spite of their miserable plight, it is a travesty of justice that peacemakers, columnists, commentators and others, both here and overseas, call for solutions to the grievances of the Tamils and conveniently ignore the plight of Muslims as if they are non-existent.  In the midst of this calamitous situation, there is a growing feeling among the community that Muslim parliamentarians have abandoned them for power and benefits and do not represent their desires and aspirations any more.

Under the circumstances, the book also suggests Muslims should shed disastrous communal politics and join hands with reasonable and moderate mainstream political forces to face challenges under the present unfolding political scenario in the aftermath of   the LTTE’s crushing defeat.

Thus, this book seeks redress for the numerous grievances of this downtrodden community, particularly in any initiative to solve the ethnic conflict in the larger interests of the country. It is only by considering each group as stakeholders in any future settlement that we could ensure lasting peace to the country so that all its citizens could live with dignity.

During and soon after the riots which took place in June 1915, the Government declared Martial Law and the shootings and atrocities committed and the fines imposed, found Ramanathan as the champion of the down-trodden Sinhalese people, speaking alone in the Legislative Council. He condemned the imposition of Martial Law. He said that though riots were taking place frequently in India, Martial Law was not declared, and the riots were suppressed by the police and the military under the normal laws. For several weeks he kept on his agitation and spoke on behalf of those who were arrested, and those who were fined drastic sums which they could not possibly pay, individually or collectively. He raised question after question on behalf of individuals and organizations about complaints of executions, arrests and enormous fines, without legal sanction. The Governor tried to suppress him from the Chair and in a reply to him in the Legislative Council in August l915, he said, “I have to perform my duty and private friendship has nothing to do with public duty.”

In his book “Riots and Martial Law in Ceylon in 1915″, published in England in 1916, he gives a clear and bold description of what happened. His speeches are printed here, with summaries of the 120 petitions presented in the Legislative Council complaining of the acts of injustice and oppression done by the Government.

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One State, Two States – Resolving the Israel/Palestine Conflict. Benny Morris. Yale University Press, New Haven, NJ. 2009
This is a rather oily work to deal with, operating under the pretence of academic objectivity that “does not flatter anyone’s prejudices.” And while Benny Morris obviously knows his historical facts, “One State, Two States” reveals more of a prejudice than the original reviewers seemed capable of understanding.

The main theme – resolving the Israeli/Palestine conflict – is poorly introduced without a lot of contextual information that could change the reader’s perspective on the situation.  What Morris arrives at through implication and cherry picking information is that the Israelis are the good guys (generally, with only one mention of the “grinding, stifling Israeli occupation of the territories” near the end of the book) and the Palestinians are the reluctant, recalcitrant, demagogic perpetrators of evil. Okay, that is overstated, but it is an overstatement as an example of the kind of language used occasionally by Morris that seriously erodes his academic pretensions of neutrality.

There are several faults with the development of his arguments that should be noted, some being omissions of information, others being a working of the information to fit the author’s preconceptions.
Unequal Partners

One of the more subtle misinformation themes is that of the ongoing dialogue of whatever form, through negotiations, written tracts, informal talks or whatever, that leaves the implication that the two sides – Israelis and Palestinians – are equal partners in the negotiations, with an occasional underlying motive of the adaptations the Israelis have to make in order to accommodate the Palestinians’ demands. An informed reader will understand that the two sides are far from equal and even from the very beginning with the support of the Balfour Declaration (never an official government policy) and the British rule of Mandatory Palestine, the Jewish settlers had a bias in their favor.
The continual complaints of the Israelis that the Palestinians have no leaders needs to be put beside the information that the Israelis assassinate as many of the Palestinian leaders as they deem necessary or possible. Historically this also occurred during the Arab revolt in the 1930s. After the recent democratic elections of Hamas in 2006, Morris’ argument is that Hamas set up government then took over Gaza. What is not mentioned is that the U.S., the EU, and a few others never recognized the democratic process that they had so long advocated in the region, stopped their already minimal funding to the Palestinian government and did everything in their power to alienate and eliminate Hamas from the Palestinian government. Thus the democratically elected partners were not ever accepted as anyone worth negotiating with, yet in contradiction to Morris’ own suggestions, successful negotiations with terrorists have occurred elsewhere (South Africa, Ireland).

Palestinian Terror

Anyone reading this as their first history book on the Israeli/Palestine situation would receive this bias along with the associated bias of the Palestinians being the terrorists, the Israelis the victims of that terror. Yet as much as the British assisted the Jewish settlers to a degree, the settlers were also considered terrorists in their own fight as in later years they fought with the British in order to establish their own dominance of the territory. As for later terrorism, the only terrorism mentioned by Morris is that perpetrated by Hamas and Fatah, without any mention of the Israeli tactics in the occupied territories that could also be fully considered as terror.
Arab Ethnic Cleaning

Much of the history of the conflict elucidated by Morris is that of the 1920s and 1930s with very short shrift given to the actual war of independence/nakba of 1947-8 and the subsequent developments through to the Clinton-Arafat-Barak negotiations whose failure Morris places squarely and completely on Arafat. Most of the quotes throughout his development are chosen to highlight the single minded non-democratic desire of the Arabs to push the Zionists back into the ocean (his definition of their one state solution), and the benign nature of the Jewish response in accommodating and accepting a two state solution (demonstrating how peaceful and practical the Israelis are by contrast).
Again for the informed reader, this one state, two state polarity is nonsense. The Zionist plans have always accounted for a monolithic Jewish state from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, although earlier versions included the east bank of the Jordan as well. The means used and posited to establish that have varied from outright expulsion, to murder and assassination, to transfer of populations. The latter, the transfer of people, is strangely enough part of Morris’ solution to the problem of the one state, two state argument.  Ethnic cleansing is very much a part of the Israeli unstated belief system, ready to raise its ugly head if a convenient opportunity arises. Morris also ignores the current Liebermann-Netanyahu coalition and its rather overt witness to this underlying theme. Admittedly this is a very recent work, but several other less recent works have at least included this in their discussions in light of the 2006 Hezbollah war and the 2008 Christmas attack on Gaza.
At the same time, in spite of Morris’ arguments that the charter of the PLO and of Hamas have never been changed, both groups have demonstrated their ability to accommodate and be flexible towards the idea of a two state solution. Morris defines the Camp David agreement as being one of concessions from Israel – without considering that for the Palestinians to accept a nominal sovereignty they had already conceded eighty per cent of their original territory to the Jewish people and would have to accept less with that accord (notwithstanding the offer of land elsewhere, land certainly of much less value than that stolen by the settlers in the West Bank).

Arab Terror and the Holocaust

A rather transparent attempt is made by Morris to conflate the Holocaust with many of the incidents perpetrated by the Arabs before the Second World War. There is no direct connection, but the juxtaposition and wording of his writing would leave a reader with the impression that the acts of aggression against the Jewish settlers were of the same calibre and intent of the Holocaust under Nazi Germany. This not so subtle connection only serves to make the whole argument one not of fact and historical record, but one of emotion and sentiment based on the justified grievances of Jewish genocide in the Second World War. Its intent is of course to create a sympathetic response in the reader to the plight of the Jewish people, a response that is only justifiable if it is not used an excuse for Jewish excesses (which are not elucidated by Morris at all) and the Zionist desire for a pure theocratic Jewish state in Eretz Israel.

Christianity

Christianity is mentioned in the book as being oppressed by the Arabs as well. The argument ignores much more fully developed information that indicates that the Israeli government is an equal opportunity oppressor, as convenient, and the exodus of Christians is as much if not more about Israeli policies towards Christians as towards any other group that could interfere with theirdesired Jewish state.

A recent National Geographic article (a magazine that bends over backwards to achieve balance) indicates the Christian population began its long decline from the time of the Crusades as during that time (1095-1291) Arab Christians were slaughtered along with the Muslims. Currently, the economic situation and the ID pass regimen between Israeli and Palestinian sectors interfere with the lives of Arab Christians:

“You’re surrounded by this giant wall, and there are no jobs,” [Mark] says. “It’s like a science experiment. If you keep rats in an enclosed space and make it smaller and smaller every day and introduce new obstacles and constantly change the rules, after a while the rats go crazy and start eating each other. It’s like that.”

The U.S. receives its due share of the blame for the Christian situation in Israel as well:

“It’s because of what Christians in the West, led by the U.S., have been doing in the East,” [Razek Siriani] says, ticking off the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. support for Israel, and the threats of “regime change” by the Bush Administration. [1]
Zionism and the Amorphous Arab

Another implication of the work is that Zionism is the dominant strain of Jewish philosophy without taking into consideration the ideas of a secular Jewish state or of the religious beliefs that a Jewish homeland will not arrive until the Messiah returns, and until that time, the Jews will remain in exile. The differing positions within the Jewish faith are not elucidated or clarified.  For that matter, little is elucidated or clarified in the work as it is too short to accommodate all the parameters of the arguments that need to be considered for any one state, two state argument, whether discussing the various Arab positions or the various Jewish positions.

On the other side, Morris accepts the Orientalist perspective of the Arab as developed by Western writers generally ignorant of Arab culture (I don’t know if Morris is ignorant of Arab culture, but the manner of his writing about Arabs in this book would indicate yes to a degree). In this view, the Arabs are an “amorphous” uniform lot spread throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa (and the text would not make it clear if the author is aware of the boundaries of various Muslim beliefs and the overlaps of the Arab world with other Muslim nations), yet at the same time he indicates they are a tribal, clan and family based society – so if they are all so amorphous how does one differentiate the different clans and groups within their societies?

Questions

One technique of arguing and avoiding making any commitments to an argument or advocating a position yet still conveying one’s bias and suggesting the ‘proper’ response is to ask questions such as I did above. While discussing the Hamas charter Morris asks “What Muslim Arab society in the modern age has treated Christians, Jews, pagans, Buddhists, and Hindus with tolerance and as equals?” Apart from being a bit of a stretch to include the Hindus and Buddhists, my response is I simply do not know, but I will not accept the implication from the question that none of them do. Further, the same question could be phrased “What Jewish country….?” with the same implications and a similar response.

The following question adds emphasis to this implication as Morris asks, “Why should anyone believe that Palestinian Muslim Arabs would behave any differently?” Perhaps because the majority of Muslims are not fanatics and like many other members of the human species are able and willing to accommodate their neighbors in order to live peacefully. Would the Zionists do the same? Oh my gosh, another question with implications.

His final question concerning the nastiness of the Palestinian Muslim Arabs is “Why…have black Africans, who over the centuries have suffered infinitely more at Western…hands than the Arabs ever did, never resort to international terrorism and suicide bombings against Western targets.” Perhaps because the black Africans never achieved the societal status that the Arabs achieved (although from Morris’ description one would never know this); or perhaps because the extreme poverty in Africa necessitates a purely survival regimen for the peoples of the area; or perhaps because there are no actual occupiers of the land at the moment with no biased religious interpretations creating a dominant elite who are determined to mine the wealth of the region for their own exclusive purposes. That is without arguing Morris’ usage of “infinity” and “never”, absolutes that work poorly in any academic argument.

Where To?

All those questions arise at the beginning of his final chapter “Where to?” in which he reiterates the nastiness of the Muslim Arabs and the reasonableness of the Zionists while leading to his own solution. Part of his argument, one that always accompanies the reasonableness of the Israelis in negotiating with a “partner” is that as well as being reasonable in the face of their victim hood, they are also weak and vulnerable against the armed Arab hordes who wish to do them in. Morris argues rather fancifully that the “attritional contest between the two”, being “primitive Qassam rockets” against the overwhelming U.S. supported regular military might of the IDF and the covert activities of the Shin Bet “could impoverish Israel and render the defensive systems ultimately inoperative.” That argument hardly deserves rebuttal, but if the recent vicious attack on Gaza is any indication, Israel is fully capable of destroying any Palestinian resistance fully if it chose to do so, notwithstanding international verbal disapproval or sanctions.

The clear nuclear dominance of the region is never mentioned in any of the arguments but needs to be considered with his own answer to the problem, one that neatly sidesteps some of his own arguments. Morris’ answer is that of union between the West Bank, Gaza, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. In the manner in which it is phrased, little weight is given to the democracy values that he advocates so strongly, and he also includes population transfer (ethnic cleansing in any other language) as a means of achieving this final status. Other than this vague outline, there is no definition of the terms that this would occur under, if the area would truly be sovereign or simply be a line on a map still under Israeli control.

The latter is very likely, as Morris also entertains the idea of a region of federated states with all boundaries guaranteed and accepted by everyone else. Here the nuclear dominance re-enters the picture. Ironically, nuclear weapons are useless against the Palestinians as that would render useless land that the Israelis wish to control (or to ask another Morris style question, how could they bomb the Arabs out of Haifa or Jerusalem?).

The purpose of the nuclear weapons is twofold. The first purpose is to guarantee that the surrounding Arab states will always be subservient to Israeli goals (Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are already very compliant). The second purpose is so that other nuclear nations would think twice about attacking and using nuclear weapons in retaliation against Israel for any of its nuclear aggression in the Arab/Muslim world.

Any Solution?

The reality of a final answer to the problem of one state, two state or whatever is currently highly intractable. With ongoing U.S. support, with ongoing Israeli influence in Congress through AIPAC, with ongoing U.S. intentions for geopolitical control over the Middle East, any solution, although perhaps easy to conceive would be very difficult to implement. That is not because the solution is difficult; it is because the humans that are dealing with the situation carry heavily weighted biases and strategic interests to render them (the humans, the government elites) intractable. Morris denies both the one state and the two state solution; his own solution is poorly developed and leaves the region clearly under the influence of a dominant Israeli nuclear power supported by the U.S.

This book then is essentially a standard apologia for the Israeli centric view of its own goodness, its own justifications, and its own victim hood and vulnerability, the latter being myths created for public consumption wherever it would be accepted. So read the book, but also read it in conjunction with the following list of works that provide ample information to rebut much of what Morris writes.

Bibliography (author, title only – all books have been reviewed in Palestine Chronicle):
Abunimah, Ali : One Country
Baroud, Ramzy: The Second Palestinian Intifada
Cook, Jonathan: Blood and Religion
Cook, William : The Rape of Palestine
Dunsky, Marda: Pens and Swords
Friel and Falk: Israel-Palestine on Record
Gordon, Neve: Israel’s Occupation
Gregory, Derek: The Colonial Present
Haddad and Honig-Parmass: Between the Lines
Kanaaneh, Hatime: A Doctor in Galilee
Makdisi, Saree : Palestine Inside out
Mishal and Sela: The Palestinian Hamas
Pappe, Ilan: The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine; A History of Modern Palestine; The Israel Palestine Question
Rabkin, Yakov M.: A Threat From Within
Reinhart, Tanya: The Roadmap to Nowhere; Israel/Palestine
Schanzer, Jonathan: Hamas vs Fatah
Simons, Geoffrey: The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine
Sorkin, Michael: Against the Wall
Tamimi, Azzam: Hamas – A History From Within
Thomas, Amelia: The Zoo on the Road to Nablus
Wolf, Robert:  Violence in the Holy Land
Zertal and Eldar: Lords of the Land
For a Christian perspective:
Fleming, Eileen: Keep Hope Alive; Third Intifada Uprising
- Jim Miles is a Canadian educator and a regular contributor/columnist of opinion pieces and book reviews for The Palestine Chronicle.  Miles’ work is also presented globally through other alternative websites and news publications.
Notes:
[1] See “Arab Christians” National Geographic Magazine, June 2009; and also Eileen Fleming’s work at www.wearewideawake.org/  and her writings in various alternate web media.