Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, June 1999, pages 68-69

Northern California Chronicle

Arab Cultural Center of San Francisco Hosts Iraqi Cultural Evening

By Elaine Pasquini

The Arab Cultural Center of San Francisco hosted an Iraqi Cultural Evening at the center facility in San Francisco on March 26, 1999. After a dinner of Middle Eastern cuisine prepared by members of the ACC, the guests were shown “Let Iraq Live,” the video made by Bay Area filmmaker and activist Gloria La Riva that documents the May 1998 trip to Iraq by Iraq Sanctions Challenge.

This group, organized by Ramsey Clark’s International Action Center, delivered $4 million of medicine to Iraq in defiance of the U.N. sanctions imposed on Iraq after the Gulf war. The audience watched in horror scenes of infants and children devastated by illness and malnutrition as a result of the sanctions that limit all items sent to Iraq. Drug supplies which are considered by the committee controlling the imports adequate to last the entire country three months in actuality last 10 days, La Riva said.

After the video presentation, ACC member Emmanuel Ashoo spoke of his trip to Iraq with his wife last year, his second since the end of the Gulf war. Ashoo, 68, born and educated in Iraq, who is eager to inform the general public of the terrible conditions in Iraq, hopes Americans will not have to look back regretfully and think, “Where was I when the children of Iraq were dying?”

He saw firsthand the devastation and destruction caused by sanctions, saying, “Simple illnesses are death sentences.”

One major cause of illness is that chlorine and spare parts needed for water purification plants are not allowed into the country, as the U.N. Sanctions Committee considers them “dual-use” items having potential military use. This is the reason water-borne diseases are killing the children.

Ashoo also described the lack of discipline and motivation in the schools because there are no job prospects upon graduation. There is a lack of desks, chairs, and even pencils in schools. Pencils also are controlled by sanctions and are considered a “dual-use” item because they contain graphite. Ashoo pointed out that some families are selling all of their possessions to make up for lack of income and because of the horrific devaluation of the dinar. Prior to the Gulf war a single Iraqi dinar was worth $3. Today, 2,000 dinars equal $1.

One result of this currency devaluation has been the elimination of the middle class in Iraq. Approximately 10 percent of the professionals have left the country. Professionals who remain, if employed at all, have menial jobs.

Another distressful result of sanctions is the loss of dignity and breakdown of the traditional Iraqi family. The divorce rate and school dropout rate have increased dramatically, as has corruption in every aspect of daily living.

Ashoo urged members of the audience to contact President Clinton and their representatives in Congress to voice their opposition to the inhumane sanctions, which he called “a weapon of mass destruction.”

The Arab Cultural Center, founded in 1973 by concerned Bay Area Arab Americans, provides educational and cultural services for the local Arab community, as well as seeking to facilitate a positive change in attitude of the general community toward Arabs and their culture.

The Cultural Center provides the opportunity for individuals and families to meet, study, share and communicate ideas and generally strengthen their ties with their rich heritage. The Center offers children’s classes in Arabic on Saturdays and has frequent programs with diverse speakers and artists from around the world.

Thousands attended the Center’s Fourth Annual Cultural Festival held in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park last October, commemorating the Center’s 25th Anniversary. The Arab Cultural Center enjoys the support of the San Francisco Mayor’s office and the Board of Supervisors. Through the hard work and dedication of the ACC members, on Nov. 4, 1998, San Francisco’s Affirmative Action Ordinance, which grants Arab Americans the rights and benefits of other minorities, became law.

Jews, Judaism and Islam Lecture by San Francisco Professor

“Jews, Judaism and Islam” was the topic of a March 21 lecture by San Francisco State University professor Dr. Fred Astren in San Francisco. Dr. Astren, acting director of the Jewish Studies program, is a specialist in the Jews of Islamic countries and a scholar of the Qur’an, as well as the Torah. Speaking to a small group at Congregation Ner Tamid, Astren spoke of the similarities and differences between Judaism and Islam. “Jews and Muslims share the same God, but different Prophets,” he stated. He also pointed out that Lebanese Christian Maronite bishops use the term “Allah,” the Arabic word for God, in their sermons.

In addition to discussing the similarities and differences between Judaism and Islam, Astren traced Islam from its beginning almost 14 centuries ago to the present, when it has more than a billion followers and has become the fastest growing religion in the world. He described the vast area of Islamic influence from Spain to China. He debunked as myth the idea that Jews were forcibly converted to Islam. Although Jews and Christians were taxed differently from Muslims in Islamic countries, because of their belief in monotheism they were allowed to practice their religions unmolested.

Astren concluded his lecture on a contemporary note by recounting his recent trip to Jordan. He related fascinating conversations he had with Jordanians, both Bedouin and Palestinian, regarding their Israeli neighbors. The responses he received varied widely. Some said they cried when Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. Some believed the Israelis were more successful than the Jordanians because they were more religious. (This is an extraordinary observation since many Israelis, such as Rabin and Shimon Peres, are not religious.) Others expressed the opinion that since they had “waited out the Crusaders,” they “could wait out the Israelis.” Astren noted there had been no “peace dividend” for the average Jordanian as was hoped would occur after the peace treaty between the two countries was signed in 1994.

San Francisco State University’s Jewish Studies program is only three years old, but is quite successful, offering 10 or 12 classes every semester. Not all of the 300 students enrolled are Jewish. The Hebrew classes are particularly popular among a number of Palestinian students.

Red Sea Photo Exhibit at City College of San Francisco

Kamel Ayoub, honorary consul of Jordan, and director Mohammed Agami of the Egyptian consulate’s press and information bureau, were among guests viewing the photo exhibit “Beneath the Red Sea” at City College of San Francisco, April 7, 1999. The underwater photographs of Phil Pasquini, City College of San Francisco sculpture instructor who is also a free-lance photographer, were taken on Pasquini’s visits to Egypt, Israel, and Jordan over the past two years. The photographs showed the beautiful array of underwater life in the Gulf of Aqaba from the shores of Aqaba and Taba to the Straits of Tiran.

Pasquini described his love of diving and underwater photography as “a natural extension of my lifelong fascination with the ocean.” With specific reference to diving in the Red Sea, he noted: “When diving adjacent to the Sinai Peninsula and the deserts of Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, one is immediately overwhelmed upon entering the water by the diversity of color and life that eludes the observer in the desert landscape that surrounds this great body of water.”

He explained his love of this area of the Middle East stating: “For me, personally, this part of the world has everything: wonderful people, history, desert, palm trees, camels, high mountains, incredible sunsets, expansive beaches, and beautiful azure waters.”

The diverse student body of City College includes students from around the globe. Many students from the Middle East were thrilled to view the photos of the spectacular forms and colors of the creatures living in this unique underwater aquarium. Pasquini has students from Israel, Egypt, and Jordan, but most of them have not had the opportunity to dive and see the beautiful underwater life firsthand.

Elaine Pasquini is a free-lance journalist based in Ignacio, CA.