Joseph Farah

[/ dave /]

I wonder if the LBO list archives are being trolled for email addresses
to be sent unsolicited messages like the attached, which I received in
my box today - ?

Or perhaps it's a lurking listmember compiling them from posts. Or maybe
it's just spam emanating from the conservative hacks at
worldnetdaily.com (BTW, Farah was involved in that antiwar.com
conference with Cockburn and Buchanan, no?)...

--

/  dave  /


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: An Arab-American Looks At The Middle East
Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2001 08:17:29 -0400 (EDT)
From: info at americancoalition.org
To: arouet at winternet.com


An Arab-American Looks at the Middle East
By Joseph Farah 

It is a sad statement about the Arab-American community that I find
myself virtually alone publicly denouncing the violence of the
Palestinian Arabs. It is sad because it shows how little diversity of
opinion exists among Arabs in America, where we have the freedom to
speak out without repercussion. In the Arab world, by contrast, there is
less freedom to state opinions. With more freedom here than anywhere in
the Arab world, more Arab Americans should speak out. 

I published a column titled "Myths of the Middle East" on October 31,
2000. I received in response 15,000 e-mails from just Israel, and
thousands from the United States as well. The Jerusalem Post reprinted
the piece and told me that it evoked more reaction than anything the
paper had ever printed. 

But the reaction was not all positive. I received death threats that
were turned over to the FBI. Indeed, many Arab-Americans were quite
distressed over the things I had written. But 10 to 20 percent of the
Arab-Americans who responded said that my message was long overdue. 

The column was designed to debunk two central myths about the Middle
East. Myth-shattering is important to a journalist like me.
Interestingly, I have two specialties as a reporter: the Middle East and
Hollywood. The two fields have a lot in common, for both are
characterized by myths. 

The first myth is that the conflict in the Middle East today is about
the struggle for a Palestinian state because Palestinian Arabs were
displaced by the creation of Israel, and the world is now responsible to
assist in the establishment of a Palestinian homeland. Regarding
Palestinians as a distinct people, however, is a notion that must be
reconsidered. There is no distinct Palestinian culture or language.
Further, there has never been a Palestinian state governed by
Palestinians in history, nor was there ever a Palestinian national
movement until after the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israel seized Judea and
Samaria. 

The Palestinian national movement has one primary goal: the destruction
of Israel and the creation of a Palestinian state to supplant Israel,
with Yasir Arafat as its leader. 

A second myth deals with the issue of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.
The myth is that Jerusalem is really an Arab city, and that the Temple
Mount is the third holiest site in Islam, and a central focus of Islam.
The truth is that the Palestinians expressed very limited interest in
the Temple Mount before 1967. Further, Jerusalem has always been a city
with a substantial Jewish population, even during the period of Ottoman
rule, 1517-1917. 

There are other myths which I explored in subsequent columns. If you
believe the Western media, Arafat is a Nobel Prize peacemaker who is
central to any settlement. He is portrayed as the place where the peace
process begins and ends. But this is not the truth about Yasir Arafat. 

I recently interviewed an analyst who worked for the National Security
Agency in 1973. This man intercepted communications between Arafat and
his murderous Black September organization in Khartoum, capital of
Sudan. The communication involved the 1973 kidnapping of two U.S.
diplomats and one Belgian diplomat. In the end, Arafat gave the order to
kill all three. Why do the American people not know about this incident?
Where are the investigative journalists? And why has the U.S. government
not charged this man with the deaths of two U.S. diplomats? Because
Arafat is thought to be Israel's "partner for peace." The charade
continues. 

There is only one country in the region with an acceptable level of
freedom, and that is Israel. When I go to the Middle East and visit
Syria or Lebanon or Egypt, there is no question that I am in a police
state. And believe me, working as a journalist in a police state is no
fun. By contrast, when I am in Israel, I feel that I am in a free
country. 

So, why is the media always critically focused on Israel? It is one of
the few places you can take a television camera with virtually unlimited
access. Why can't we take cameras to Syria when the president there
decides to destroy an entire town? Simple: we are not allowed. 

The West has a different standard for the Arab Middle East than it does
for the rest of the world. It is not a healthy thing, but shows a kind
of disdain. Arabs need to be judged by the same standards as everyone
else. 

When I engage in debates with Arab-Americans, I constantly raise this.
Their families came to the United States for freedom and opportunity,
just like mine did. So, why, when they look at the Middle East today, do
they side with the regimes that perpetuate the oppression that their
parents or grandparents fled? Why do they think that they are standing
up for Arabs when they justify the murderous actions of someone like
Saddam Hussein? 

Joseph Farah has worked over twenty years as a journalist, including
stints as executive news editor of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and
editor-in-chief of the Sacramento Union. He founded the Western
Journalism Center in 1992 and has taught journalism at UCLA. He is
founder and CEO of the Internet news site WorldNetDaily.com


AMERICAN COALITION FOR ISRAEL

We hope you found the above article informative. Please visit our
website www.americancoalition.org where you will find the latest news
direct from Israel, as well as informative articles on every aspect of
Israel, the Arab-Israel conflict, media bias and Biblical prophecy. You
will get the news and views you are not receiving from the major media.

AMERICAN COALITION FOR ISRAEL IS AN ORGANIZATION COMMITTED TO: 
World-wide dissemination of the facts and the truth about Israel and the Arab-
Israel conflict in all of its aspects, historical, political, current
and Biblical.

You can contact u or send your tax-deductible contribution to:

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More of Joseph Farah’s articles can be found at www.worldnetdaily.com 

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