Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Page 50

Muslim-American Activism

KinderUSA Hosts Iftar

The Masjid Omar Ibn al-Khattab near the University of Southern California was the setting for a Sept. 13 fast-breaking Iftar by KinderUSA. More than 200 guests heard Dr. Hatem Bazian and Dr. Laila al-Marayati speak on conditions in Gaza in the aftermath of Israel’s three-week post-Christmas offensive against the walled-in enclave.

Bazian is a senior lecturer in Islamic studies at the University of California at Berkeley and founder of the Center for the Study and Documentation of Islamophobia. His talk was a response to any who deny that Gaza is an Israeli-controlled prison camp.

“Gaza has no air space, it is attacked without warning, it has no control in exiting or entering the area and all trade is subject to Israeli approval,” he began. “A Palestinian can’t change his residence or alter his status without Israeli permission, which means a Palestinian studying abroad must renew his residency yearly or lose it; whereas this doesn’t apply to Jewish students.”

Land residency rules are particularly odious for Palestinians in the West Bank, where settlers can claim their land regardless of Ottoman deeds which Israel doesn’t recognize. Nablus, Jenin and Tulkarm once were the breadbasket of Palestine, Bazian stressed, but Israel’s apartheid wall cuts farmers off from their lands, which Israel then claims are deserted.

“You can’t lock up 1.5 million people because they elected the wrong party,” Bazian concluded. “The population shouldn’t be starved into submission—the 4th Geneva Convention on Human Rights states an occupied population must not be collectively punished.”

—Pat McDonnell Twair