>From today's Boston Globe
http://www.globe.com/dailyglobe2/244/oped/They_can_t_will_the_Palestinians_o
ut_of_existenceP.shtml
They can't will the Palestinians out of existence By Hussein Ibish, 09/01/99
Edward Said, the most prominent Palestinian-American intellectual, has often written about the precariousness of Palestinian identity in a world that has no place for Palestinians: ''Do we exist? What proof do we have?'' he famously asks. An article just published in the intensely pro-Israel magazine Commentary that questions Said's own status as a Palestinian and claims that he ''fabricated'' his childhood, once again demonstrates the lengths to which some will go to call this existence into question.
The article, ''`My Beautiful Old House' and Other Fabrications by Edward Said'' claims that as a child Said did not live in Jerusalem but lived only in Cairo and has hidden this fact, that his family did not own a house in Jerusalem, and he did not attend school there. The clear implication is that he, the leading spokesman for the Palestinian cause in the West, is not really a Palestinian but a fraud.
In some extraordinarily shoddy and irresponsible journalism, these claims have been repeated and embellished by several well-known American newspapers. But, as even a cursory glance at the record shows, it is his accusers, not Said, who are inventing fabrications.
The facts are these: Said has always clearly stated that, as a son of Palestinians living in Egypt, his childhood was spent traveling between ''the Cairo-Jerusalem-Beirut axis, which is the one I grew up in,'' as he puts it. He spent a good deal of time in Jerusalem and went to St. George's School there. His family did indeed own the ''beautiful old house,'' which was legal property of his father's sister. This house and the family business were seized from Said's family after 1948 through the notorious ''absentee property law'' by which Israel took all the property belonging to Palestinians who fled or were ''ethnically cleansed'' by Israel.
Moreover, all of Said's extended family, including aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents, were expelled by Israel, and he and all his relatives were no longer allowed to live in their homes and homeland. All of this is easily verifiable by any honest investigator, and the details are spelled out in Said's forthcoming memoir ''Out of Place'' (Knopf).
As for the core allegation, that Said has concealed the fact that he was a Palestinian living in Cairo for much of his childhood, one need only point to the countless articles, interviews, and speeches over the past decades in which he has not only mentioned, but thoughtfully reflected on this condition.
For example, in a 1989 interview that concludes the book ''Edward Said: A Critical Reader'' (Blackwell), Said says, ''To go back to the early years of my awareness of Cairo: I grew up there, spending a large part of my youth in the place, but strangely not as an Egyptian.'' As a Palestinian living in Cairo, Said adds, ''I always felt that I wasn't of the place.'' Hardly the words of a man concealing this chapter of his past, and only one example among many such remarks. Said was never directly contacted by Commentary about the details of his childhood.
The question is not whether Commentary's preposterous allegations are true, since they clearly are not, but rather why anyone would make or repeat them.
This brings us back to the point that Said and other Palestinian intellectuals constantly make - that there is an imperative for many supporters of Israel to will the Palestinians out of existence and deny their collective experience. Since only Israelis have a right to Palestine and Palestinians are usurpers and interlopers, so the thinking goes, then their collective and individual narratives must be frauds and their spokespersons liars.
Commentary's pathetic attempt to ''debunk'' Said's unquestionable Palestinianness harkens back to Golda Meir's notorious assertion that ''there is no such thing as the Palestinian people.''
The rights of the millions of Palestinian exiles and refugees have acquired an urgent relevance because this is supposed to be a major issue in the next phases of the peace process.
In the wake of the Kosovo war, which was fought in the name of the right of refugees to return to their homeland, the immorality and inconsistency of denying Palestinians their right to return has become harder than ever to defend. Commentary's attack on Said's narrative of exile openly aims to challenge his championing of these rights, thereby calling them into question.
But if their history proves anything, it is that no matter the odds against them, the Palestinians are not going to allow themselves to be bullied out of their human rights and national identity.
As usual, Said put it best when he observed that ''I have never met a Palestinian who is tired enough of being a Palestinian to give up entirely.''
Hussein Ibish is communications director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Washington, D.C.
This story ran on page A23 of the Boston Globe on 09/01/99. © Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.
-----Original Message----- From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com [mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com]On Behalf Of William S. Lear Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 1999 10:12 AM To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com Subject: Re: Jacoby Smears Said
On Tuesday, August 31, 1999 at 08:00:49 (+0000) Jeffrey St. Clair writes:
>[Boston Globe edit page returns to ignomy.--jsc]
I had to endure Jacoby's lunatic ravings in the Globe while living in the Boston area many years ago. It seems that the Boston branch of the New York Times has decided to maintain their level of integrity by keeping him on board.
Jeff, if you see a rebuttal to this, would you pass it along, please?
Bill