Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, January/February 1998, Pages 74-77

California Chronicle

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Toes Likud Line at L.A. Press Conference, World Affairs Council Speech

By Pat and Samir Twair

The Southern California media turned out en masse for a Nov. 17 press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu prior to his address to the World Affairs Council of Los Angeles. Obviously reveling in the attention of scores of journalists, Secret Service and Shin Bet security personnel and news cameras focused on him, the right-wing ideologue appeared unruffled at barbed questions. In fact, he seemed to thrive on hostile queries.

When asked if he felt snubbed because President Bill Clinton failed to meet with him while both were in Los Angeles that day, he replied, "I think elected leaders should meet, but we have a meeting already scheduled for December."

Another journalist asked his reaction to Likudniks who would like to oust him from office. "Political adversaries always want to oust each other—or haven't you heard of this in the U.S.?" Netanyahu replied.

A definite first for most of the journalists on hand was to have a press conference interrupted midstream. When the U.S.-educated prime minister explained that he had to take an important phone call, reporters looked at each other warily, wondering if the United States had launched an air strike on Iraq.

Leaving the dais, Netanyahu upped the dramatic pitch by commenting: "When I come back, maybe I'll tell you the nature of the call." Returning 10 minutes later, Netanyahu emphasized that terrorism is all around his country and said he had just talked to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to extend his condolences on the terrorism Egypt had undergone with the shooting deaths of 59 tourists in Luxor.

Apropos of the crisis over United Nations searches for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, theWashington Report asked Netanyahu about the status of inspections of nuclear and chemical weapons in his country. He responded that Israel is not a signator of the nonproliferation agreement, "but when it becomes one I'll let you know about inspections."

Repeatedly, representatives of the U.S. Jewish weeklies asked the controversial Likud party leader why he is supporting Orthodox Jewry over Reform and Conservative Jews in Israel. His response was that in the history of Israel, no other prime minister had ever established a commission to study all three streams of Judaism. In fact, he applauded himself for creating such a commission that could have answered Napoleon Bonaparte's question 200 years ago when he asked Jews to define themselves.

"The Oslo paradox is that Israel keeps the accords but is accused of violating them."

Netanyahu went so far as to note that the day before he had told 4,000 delegates to the General Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations in Indianapolis that he was the first Jewish leader in 2,000 years to establish procedures as to who has power to conduct marriages and religious conversions. The commission is supposed to release its findings by Jan. 31, but Netanyahu has specified that the vast majority of American Jews who adhere to the Conservative and Reform sects of Judaism must expect less than full religious equality in Israel, where the majority of religious Jews practice Jewish orthodoxy.

Netanyahu's answers didn't seem to mollify at least one-third of the 1,000-plus audience in the Beverly Hilton Hotel who failed to stand when he entered the ballroom and who left before the program was finished. Much of the dissatisfaction was voiced by Rabbi Harvey J. Fields of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in a Nov. 16 op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times. The Reform rabbi criticized Netanyahu for attending a $10,000-per-person fund-raiser for the Orthodox Aish HaTorah group despite turning down all invitations from the Reform movement since he took office in June 1996.

The Nov. 17 event was to channel funds to Aish HaTorah's headquarters in East Jerusalem. This includes a seminary in the Old City that overlooks the Western Wall. Co-chairs of the dinner given in the home of Merv Adelson, the founder of Lorimar Pictures, were Larry King, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Michael Ovitz and Lew Wasserman. Actor Kirk Douglas, who has funded land purchases in East Jerusalem, was to receive Aish HaTorah's King David award, which previously has been presented to Ronald Reagan and Steven Spielberg.

Netanyahu's decision to attend the Orthodox gala clearly sent a message to Reform and Conservative Jews.

Likewise, his ad lib speech to the World Affairs Council—which he repeatedly referred to as the Foreign Affairs Council—toed the Likud line. Early in his talk Netanyahu inexplicably stated that "the colonial period was over almost a century ago." (The British withdrew from Palestine in 1948.) Then he complained that Israel's enemies compare Zionism to the Western colonization of Algeria, Vietnam and India. "Why, a hundred years ago when my grandfather came to Judea, there was nothing there, not a soul," he maintained.

Netanyahu charged that Israel has upheld the Oslo accords, but the Palestinians have not. "The main problem we face is that we are not surrounded by democracies. We know you have some tough neighborhoods in Los Angeles, but ours is tougher," he said. "The Oslo paradox is that Israel keeps the accords but is accused of violating them."

When asked why he could not accept an Egypt-type peace with other Arab states, he replied: "If we had the Sinai between us and Syria, we would have peace in minutes."

The hopelessness his line of thinking presents to the Palestinians, who would have only 22 percent of Palestine even if Israel withdrew from all of the Jewish settlements to within its June 4, 1967 borders, was reflected in his statement that the Jordan Valley would serve as a buffer alongside the "Palestinian-administered areas," that Israel would control all of the air space and jointly share the West Bank and Gaza water resources while Jerusalem would be "the single undivided capital of the Jewish people."

Israeli/Palestinian "Sesame Street" Spotlighted

American Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam has presented its first Peace Builders Award to the executive producers of the first Israeli/Palestinian co-production of "Sesame Street." The impressive setting for the Nov. 23 event was the Skirball Cultural Center and Museum, where a wine reception and music by the Ladies' Choice String Quartet set the mood for a ceremony celebrating peace. Jewish-American television actor Edward Asner and Arab-American radio host Casey Kasem were co-hosts for the event, which everyone present agreed was a milestone in proving cooperation between both groups can not only happen but also be enjoyable.

Co-chairman Myer Sankary told the audience: "Many of you came here probably not knowing what to expect." From the expressions of amusement and pleasure as excerpts from the Israeli/Palestinian "Sesame Street" production were screened, however, it was obvious that this audience still had hopes for a better future in the Middle East.

Joanna Goodwin, executive director of the Southern California Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, explained the name means "Oasis of Peace" in Hebrew and in Arabic. It is a community founded in 1973 midway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem where Jewish and Palestinian families live together. In the 1980s it established Israel's only bilingual school, Zel Lurie Primary School, attended by the village's 50 children as well as another 100 youngsters from the surrounding area.

Half of the students are Jewish and half are Muslim and Christian. In addition, the NS/WAS School for Peace conducts rigorous reconciliation workshops for Jewish and Palestinian teenagers, adults, educators and professionals. More than 20,000 people have participated in these exercises geared to advance tolerance and mutual respect between both groups.

Because the forthcoming 63 half-hour "Sesame Street" segments are a joint American, Israeli and Palestinian project, the award was presented to Lewis J. Bernstein of Children's Television Workshop, New York, Daoud Kuttab of Palestinian Education Television, and Dolly Wolbrum of Israeli Educational Television.

The uniqueness of the new Palestinian/Israeli co-production of Sesame Street made it an ideal recipient of the NS/WAS Building Bridges to Peace award. Since its inception in the United States 29 years ago, the American production of "Sesame Street" has become the longest-running children's educational program in the world. A Hebrew-language version of "Sesame Street," "Rechov Sumsum," and an Arabic version, "Ifta Ya Simsim," produced in Kuwait, have been shown for many years. But production on both of these shows stopped years ago.

In accepting his award, Bernstein explained that while watching the September 1993 handshake between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn, the Jim Henson group was inspired to create a united program for Arab and Israeli children using new puppets.

"This was a real challenge," Bernstein noted. "Never before had we conceived of a series with two sets of characters with two languages and three religions." However, on the eve of a seminar to develop working methods for the new TV show, Rabin was assassinated. Production went ahead but then, on the eve of the Palestinian taping of the show, the first suicide bombing took place.

"Despite the backdrop of assassinations and bombings, we proceeded," Bernstein continued. "Now, in response to the darkening peace process, we want even more for kids on both sides to respect each other.

"At first, each production team viewed the other as an enemy," Bernstein continued. "Now they are friends. We learned about the culture of the Palestinians and their difficulties in working under curfews and real danger...and we admired their initiative and innovative spirit in catching up with the Israeli teams. For the Israelis, it was difficult to reach past the bombings in order to work for the future."

In accepting his award as director of the Palestinian contribution, Daoud Kuttab noted that three principles went into the "Sesame Street" project. All of them, he said, would work in any Israeli/Palestinian dialogue. First was self respect. Secondly, each team was recognized as the most knowledgeable about its own group, and no one could veto the other's interpretation of itself. Thirdly, asymmetry had to be recognized inasmuch as the Palestinians were at a disadvantage of being 30 years behind the Israelis in television production. Kuttab acknowledged that considerable money was invested in training the Palestinian side to catch up with the Israeli TV team.

Broadcaster Casey Kasem presented the award for Israeli Educational Television to Dr. Nurit Yirmiya of Hebrew University.

Screened segments demonstrated how Israeli and Palestinian children will be able to understand each other's languages and customs through the show. Youngsters who appear on the program initially were apprehensive. One Israeli child was fearful of the puppet Karim, the Palestinian Rooster, who, he said, looked like "a terrorist." A Palestinian child, on the other hand, said the Israeli puppet named Uufnik acted like an "American settler." But over time the barriers came down.

Hanna Elias, an Israeli Arab who graduated from UCLA's film department, co-chaired the award program and directed many of the "Sesame" Palestinian street scenes.

Ed Asner struck a chord of hope when he commented: "As the deterioration of Oslo continues unabated, this jewel, this seed, this germ must be nurtured intensively because with it comes peace."

SAAA Program Honors Poet al-Jawahiri

Poet Mohamad Mahdi al-Jawahiri has inspired Arabs for most of the 20th century. The Iraqi-born poet, known as Abu Farat (Father of the Euphrates), died in Damascus Aug. 28 at the age of 98. His life, which has been compared to that of seventh-century poet Mutanabi, was praised during a commemorative program sponsored by the Syrian Arab American Association in St. Anne's Church. Samir Twair emceed the event, which featured violin solos by Dr. Nabil Azzam and an original composition performed on the nye, an Arabic musical instument, by Saleh Kanakri.

Dr. Sahib Dahab and Hanna Kalabat discussed the achievements of al-Jawahiri, who preserved the Arab qasida, a rhythmical form from the time of al-Mutanabi. Although he grew up in Iraq, al-Jawahiri was regarded as a pan-Arab poet, and his nationalistic poems regularly appeared in textbooks. His best-known poem, Ya dijlata alKheir (Calling the bountiful Tigris), was written in Prague in 1962 and became the lyrics for a famous song. Many critics placed him in the same category as his noted 20th century contemporary poets, Mahmoud Darwish and Nizar Kabbani.

Hasib el-Johari of Lebanon and George Saad of Syria read original poetry dedicated to al-Jawahiri. Others reading selected works were Fadil Pola of Iraq and Mouatha Kifah al-Aridi of Lebanon.

Lebanon Marks 54th Year of Independence

More than 1,000 transplanted Lebanese gathered Nov. 23 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel to celebrate the 54th Independence Day of Lebanon with Consul General Gebran Soufan. Judge James Kaddo was master of ceremonies for the program, which featured a song by the children of the Druze Cultural Society, folk dancing and a live orchestra performing classical Arabic music.

Consul General Soufan thanked the hundreds of Lebanese Americans who responded to his invitation as well as those "who came, even uninvited, thereby making our celebration warmer and the task of reaching them easier."

"Our policy," he continued, "is evenhanded, equally open to welcome those who propose and those who oppose, as long as they uphold the banner of a united and sovereign Lebanon, a final homeland for all its citizens, equal in rights and obligations, irrespective of their religious faith and political beliefs. For the very few among Lebanese, cynical about government policies, I couldn't find better than George McGovern's comparison of sitting presidents, exposed to harsh criticism and personal attacks, with 'punching bags for unloading frustrations.' So, while I would like them to diffuse their tension, I hope they will not hurt their hands, which are much needed for the reconstruction process."

In assessing his nation's galloping rehabilitation from a 15-year civil war, Consul Soufan said net capital flows have led to a balance of payments surplus as the Lebanese pound continues to gain strength and inflation remains moderate. Up to July of this year, a total of 317,000 tourists visited Lebanon, and the number is expected to rise dramatically now that the U.S. travel ban has been lifted. Noting that it is no easy task to bear the heavy cost of reconstruction because no Marshall Plan is available for Lebanon, the diplomat pointed out that a major post-war problem is Israel's continuing occupation of south Lebanon.

ADC hosts Alex Odeh awards

Arab journalists Hisham Melhem and Daoud Kuttab shared the podium at the 1997 Alex Odeh Humanitarian Award banquet Oct. 24 sponsored by the Orange County and Los Angeles Chapters of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. The award is presented each year in memory of Odeh, who was killed in 1985 when a booby-trap bomb exploded when he opened the door of his Santa Ana office. At the time, Odeh was regional director of the ADC. His alleged killers, one of whom is serving time for another California murder, and another of whom, according to the Israeli government, has died in a Jewish West Bank settlement, have never been tried.

Recipient of this year's award was Father Labib Kobti, editor of al-Bushra magazine and al-Bushra Web site. Since his appointment in 1992 by Patriarch Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem, Dr. Kobti has been serving the Arab-American Roman Catholic community in California.

A caustic assessment of Middle East politics was offered by Melhem, a Washington-based representative of the Lebanese daily newspaper As Safir. Referring to the Israeli Mossad's botched assassination attempt on Hamas leader Khaled Meshal in Amman, Jordan, Melhem commented, "It was a beautiful sight to see the Israelis acting like a confederacy of dunces in the aftermath.

"Consider," he continued, "that [Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu came to power on a platform of fighting terror, yet he was compelled to release Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin from prison and Bibi's Mossad henchmen were forced to reveal the antidote for the poison used on Meshal."

Melhem predicted that Netanyahu is likely to survive his elected term, but he believes Israel's arrogance is catching up with it as it watches its army bogged down with rising casualties in southern Lebanon.

Stating that the flaw in the Oslo agreement is that a Palestinian state is not mentioned, Melhem added, "Don't expect progress in the peace process so long as Netanyahu is in power.

"Washington wants Israel to receive the fruits of peace without delivering on its commitments," he said, referring to U.S. pressure on Arab states to attend the November Middle East-North Africa regional economic conference in Doha, Qatar, which had been designed to bring Arab and Israeli businessmen and politicians together.

The Washington-based correspondent for Radio Monte Carlo in France said Vice President Al Gore is preventing any U.S. pressure on Netanyahu. Despite the debate going on between the majority of American Jewry and Israel's Orthodox rabbis, Melhem said Congress is looking the other way. "The new breed of Christian fundamentalist congressmen make the ayatollahs look enlightened," he quipped.

He praised Syria's President Hafez Al-Assad for his ability to get along simultaneously with Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Admitting he tends to look at the dark side in the mode of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, Melhem said it looks as if the Arab states will have no choice but to live in the shadow of Israel's dynamic economy, particularly as the Israeli-Turkish alliance unfolds.

Lastly, he said the new cottage industry for Western journalists is to portray Islam as the new threat to the U.S., which therefore should establish close ties with Israel.

Kuttab discussed the obstacles he is confronting in Jerusalem and the West Bank as head of the Palestinian Audio Visual Union and director of the Institute of Modern Media at Al-Quds University. It is through the institute that he operates a 40-watt transmitter for a tiny TV station. Last April he experimented with airing live meetings of the Palestinian Legislative Council. Kuttab managed to broadcast six of these sessions, live and unedited. He also made taped copies of these telecasts and sent them to Palestinian cities to be rebroadcast.

"I saw a change in the council members," he noted. "They knew they were on camera and they began to act bolder." On May 20, the Palestinian Authority budget was presented publicly for the first time. Kuttab said it was immediately evident that mismanagement had taken place, particularly in phone bills exceeding a couple of thousand dollars. Because he had aired the scandal live, Kuttab said he soon was being questioned by the Palestinian police. He was incarcerated for seven days while demands for his release were wired to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat from all parts of the world.

Kuttab said his arrest was for the best. "Palestinian newspapers now have full-page coverage of legislative council meetings, more visitors sit in on meetings, and the council eventually called for the resignation of the cabinet on grounds of corruption."

Iranian-Armenian Artists Showcased in New Book

Alice Minassian Navasargian loved art from her earliest days in Tabriz, Iran. Persian architecture and miniature painting fascinated her. As a student at the University of Isfahan in the early 1970s, she became acquainted with most of the Armenian artists living in Iran and compiled their biographies for her graduate thesis.

Marriage, motherhood and beginning a new life in California preoccupied her for the next two decades. But, she said, she visited Armenia in 1996, after it had received its independence, and was thrilled to see the land her parents had talked about so nostalgically. It was particularly rewarding to see the works of Armenian artists in the National Gallery of Art in the capital of Yerevan. All the aspirations of Navasargian's university years were revived. Within four months, she made a second trip to Armenia—this time to have the works of Armenian artists who had lived in Iran photographed. Her goal was to publish a full-color book, entitled Iran-Armenia Golden Bridges: Twentieth Century Iranian-Armenian Painters.

As the director of Armenia's National Gallery of Art states in the foreword of her book, many Armenian artists settled in Iran toward the end of the 19th century. Navasargarian's effort collectively presents this unique group of artists and reveals their unique contribution to 20th century art.

Another message in her book is from Karekin I, the supreme Patriarch Catholicos of all Armenians. He mentions that in 1971-73 when he was prelate of the Irano-Indian Armenian diocese in Isfahan, he lectured at the university and Navasargian was one of his students. It was Karekin I who initially encouraged her to prepare a thesis on Iranian Armenian painters.

The book is in two parts. The first is devoted to Armenian painters of the first half of the 20th century and the Iranian world as they perceived it in their work. The second half is dedicated to modern painters "tied to their homeland by birth and childhood," who now live chiefly in England, Germany and the United States. Navasargian noted that of the 58 artists represented in her book, 24 live in California.

She writes: "The new generation of artists are also choosing and have chosen the same direction, and independent of the country they live in, and of the artistic movement they follow, in the depths of their art there is beating the pulse of a national character nourished in the fields of the spirit."

The author opens her narrative with the ties between Armenia and Persia from antiquity. An Armenian city, known as New Julfa, emerged in Isfahan in 1605. It was in the second half of the 19th century that young Armenian artists trained in Europe returned to Iran and started their own art circles.

One of the greatest artists of the 20th century, Navasargian opines, is Archile Gorky (Vostanik Adoian) who emigrated to the U.S. "He remained true until the end to his childhood memories," she writes. "He lived with the longing of that memory, as a fragment plucked from his homeland."

Navasargian opens the second half of her book with Marko Grigorian, who was born in 1925, studied in Rome, founded a studio in Iran where he gathered a new generation of artists in his "esthetic" school and founded the Near East Museum in Yerevan.

Montreal printers Razmik and Houri Hakimian have published the exquisite reproductions of Grigorian's work and Gorky's stylized oils. The book cover is Edman Aivazian's gouache on paper, entitled "Armenian Woman from Namakert." Only a limited number of books have been printed. All proceeds from their sale will go to a fund to renovate museums in Armenia. For more information on Golden Bridges, call the Armenian Assembly of America at (310) 360-0091.