September 1989, Page 21, 22

Religion

Arab-American Activism

By Catherine M. Willford

Papp Explains Decision to Drop Palestinian Play

Joseph Papp, producer of the New York Shakespeare Festival, met with representatives of the American-Arab Relations Committee and the National Council on Islamic Affairs to discuss his cancellation of a Public Theater production by the El Hakawati Palestinian Theater Company of East Jerusalem. The company was to have presented "The Story of Kufur Shamma," a play about a Palestinian man's 40-year search for his family and neighbors following the 1948 war. The well-known producer, denying that he had faced pressure from Jewish board members at the Public Theater, took full responsibility for his decision, stating that it was the result of personal soulsearching as "a committed Jew."

Expressing concern about the sensibilities of Jewish theatergoers in New York, Papp said that presentation of a Palestinian play about the Middle East without also presenting an Israeli script could "be construed as a declaration of my position on the Palestinian-Israeli issue." The impresario said he intends to reschedule the El Hakawati production to appear with an Israeli play.

"The Palestinians will be seen at the Public Theater [one of the theaters in the Shakespeare Festival consortium] when the timing is right," said Papp, "I expect they'll return later this year."

Papp said that he has "strong feelings about oppression everywhere" and though he is "very active in Jewish affairs" he considers himself neither pro-Israel nor pro-Palestinian.

Dr. Mohammad T. Mehdi, secretary general of the National Council on Islamic Affairs, criticized the producer for assuming that "New York Jews are intolerant and have the power to suppress the First Amendment rights of others." Mehdi also pointed out that "Only when the Palestinian issue comes up is there talk of presenting in a 'balanced' fashion."

Critics of Papp's decision have pointed out that Papp did not feel the need to "balance" his searing production of David Rabe's virulent anti-Vietnam war play, "Sticks and Bones," with a pro-war piece. No stranger to controversy, Papp has also been involved in groundbreaking plays such as "Wedding Band," which dealt with interracial romance, and "A Chorus Line," one of the first Broadway plays to deal sensitively with homosexuality. His decision to cancel the El Hakawati Palestinian theater presentation marks the first time in his career that Papp has dropped a play that he had agreed to present.

NAAA Continues Pressure on West Bank Schools

The National Association of Arab Americans (NAAA) both welcomed and criticized Israel's reopening of schools in the occupied West Bank. NAAA Executive Director Jawad George noted that the Israeli action is selective and comes with conditions attached. "Education as parceled out by Israel to the Palestinians becomes a political instrument of oppression to be withdrawn at any time as a punishment or dangled as a reward for submission to Israeli control," George said. "The right to an education is basic, and to take away that freedom from any people is blatant tyranny."

Until Israel commits itself to open all schools in the West Bank and Gaza, including universities, NAAA plans to continue its nationwide "I Want to Learn" campaign. The campaign asks Congress to continue pressing Israel for immediate, unconditional and permanent reopening of schools. Legislation to this effect introduced in the House by Representative Howard Nielson (R-UT) and 27 cosponsors and in the Senate by John Chafee (R-RI) and six cosponsors was widely credited for the Israeli decision to open some West Bank schools that had been closed intermittently for two academic years even before the issue could be brought to a vote.

ADC Member Wins Major Victory Against INS

Fouad Rafeedie, an Ohio member of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), won a major legal battle against the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) on July 21 at the US Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia. The precedent setting decision, Rafeedie vs. INS, held that Rafeedie, a permanent resident of the United States, could not be excluded from entering the country under a provision of the Immigration Act which allows for exclusion without a hearing and based upon secret evidence. Calling the decision a victory for the fundamental protections of due process, ADC President Abdeen Jabara stated that "first amendment rights of speech and association as well as the right of an accused to face his accusers were at issue in the case." ADC supported Rafeedie by conducting legal research and contacting government officials and the public on the civil liberties issues involved.

AAI Calls for End of Settler Violence

The Arab American Institute (AAI) coordinated a letter campaign calling for congressional hearings on the involvement of American citizens in settler paramilitary activities in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The July 7 letter, discussing increasing acts of violence and intimidation by settlers against Palestinians, charged that "the documented involvement of American citizens in such acts constitutes a degree of US complicity which can no longer be ignored."

Signed by American peace and religious activists (including the publisher and chief editor of theWashington Report), the letter also urged Congress to require documentation that US funds are not used to either support or promote existing or future settlements. It has been US policy in the Carter, Reagan and Bush administrations that Israel's Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza violate international law. Commenting on the issue, AAI Executive Director James Zogby stressed the contradiction between US policy and the presence of American citizens in the settlements.

"State Department protests against settlements and acts of violence by their inhabitants mean very littler when our Congress continues to appropriate billions of dollars in aid to Israel without knowing just where it goes," Zogby said.