Palestinian commentator: BDS hurts us

 

Other items in today’s column include:
*Democratic Presidential candidates quizzed on Israel and Palestinians
*Chabad of Chula Vista now conducting a 36-hour fundraising drive
*Political bytes
*Coming our way

By Donald H. Harrison

FAIRBANKS RANCH, California – Bassam Eid is a Palestinian author and commentator, who may be seen frequently on Israeli television.  While he is critical of various Israeli policies, he also speaks out frequently against corruption in both the Palestinian Authority and Gaza.  On Tuesday evening, at the Fairbanks Country Club, in this affluent community wedged between northern San Diego and Rancho Santa Fe, Eid condemned the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement as being harmful to ordinary Palestinians.

He cited the case of Soda Stream, a company which had located a plant in the disputed territories and which had employed 1,500 Palestinians.  After BDS launched an international boycott against the company—supposedly to help the Palestinians—the company relocated from the territories to southern Israel.  That put 1,500 Palestinians out of work.  As for Soda Stream, Eid said, it is making three times as much money in its new location as it did in the territories.  So, he asked a gathering sponsored by StandWithUs, who did BDS help? Certainly not the Palestinians.

“BDS is using the Palestinians for their own agenda; they are just victimizing us,” Eid declared to local contributors of StandWithUs, which combats BDS and other ant-Israel initiatives on campuses across North America.

Ordinary Palestinians, according to Eid, don’t care about settlements, nor the political struggle to create a new state.  “Palestinians are seeking dignity, not identity,” he said.  “What they want is a job, and education for their children.”  For them, he added, “a homeland is a place where you find dignity, justice, and freedom.”

He heaped scorn on Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority.  “Who does he represent?” he asked.  “His two sons and his wife,” he answered.  “The majority of Palestinians have lost trust in him.  We know that the leadership is corrupt, but we (although not Eid himself) are not allowed to speak about it.”

He noted that once it was proposed that the minute Israel made peace with the Palestinians, 54 Arab and Muslim countries would normalize relations with Israel.  However, even without that peace, he said “it is already happening.”

“The Saudis say if the Palestinians want to keep fighting Israel, they can, but we (Saudis) want to make peace,” Eid commented.

He added that the Palestinian Authority prefers the status quo to resolution of the conflict.  With continued unrest, he said, the PA. receives “more and more aid,” offering more opportunities for corruption.  “The P.A. is not interested in any kind of state,” he declared.  “Don’t believe Mahmoud Abbas when he says we must have our own state.”

The commentator lives in Jericho, commutes to East Jerusalem, and describes himself as a former refugee.  As a child he lived in the Old City of Jerusalem, in what even then was known as the Jewish Quarter, though it was under the control of Jordan.  A year before the Six Day War of 1967, in which Israel captured that portion of Jerusalem, he said, the Arab families living in the Jewish Quarter were forced to move to the Shufuat refugee camp.  “So,” he said, “it was Jordan, not Israel, that made me a refugee.”

Unlike nearby Arab countries, Israel does not impose building restrictions on the refugee camps within its territory, he said.  If you go to Shufuat, he said, you will be surprised that it is called a refugee camp.  Residents have been allowed to build nice homes, and tall buildings.  This is opposite to what has happened in Lebanon, where nice permanent structures in refugee camps are discouraged because, supposedly, the refugees are just “guests,” not permanent residents.

Eid criticized the countries of the European Union, which “are becoming part of the conflict, not the solution.”  He said the European Union cynically uses the Palestinian Authority against Israel, not to help the Palestinians, but rather as a pawn in what he described as “an anti-Semitic war between Europe and Israel.”

Concerning Gaza, he said that Egypt and the Palestinian Authority both would like to see the area remain crushed, whereas Hamas and Israel have a common interest in Gaza’s reconstruction from the impact of the 2014 Gaza War.  Where the two differ, of course, is that Hamas would like to rebuild its military capability, whereas Israel would like to see homes and civil society reconstructed.

Beginning in January 2019, with the approval of Israel, the Arab nation of Qatar started contributing $30 million per month in cash to Hamas.  Eid said Israel, under the leadership of Bibi Netanyahu, believes that the more money that goes to Gaza, the less violence there will be.  However, Qatar stopped the flow of money to Hamas last December, resulting in negotiations between Israel and Qatar for the resumption of the funding.

Eid said in the convoluted politics of the area, Hamas often fires rockets at Israel as a way of getting the attention of Egypt, which wants to tamp down the violence.  When rockets are fired, he said, Egypt asks Hamas what it wants, and it will respond that it wants more favorable treatment from Egypt, such as the reopening of a closed crossing between them.

Although the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is forever in the news, Eid said “as an Arab, I don’t want to be in Libya, Syria, Iraq, or Lebanon.  It is much safer for me to be living under the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”

If ever peace comes to the region, he said, a two-state solution (Israel and Palestine)  is better than a 3-state solution (Israel, West Bank, Gaza) but that can’t occur so long as “Hamas’s agenda (like Hezbollah’s in Lebanon) is the Iranian agenda.

“Forget right now about any kind of peace,” he said. ” Let us put politics aside, and talk instead about economics.  Economic prosperity will pave the way to peace.”

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Democratic Presidential candidates quizzed on Israel and Palestinians
In Tuesday night’s debate, CBS correspondent quizzed presidential candidates Bernie Sanders, Michael Bloomberg, and Elizabeth Warren on Israel and the Palestinians.  Amy Klobuchar also offered a comment.  Here is a transcript of that portion of the debate, as provided by CBS:

MAJOR GARRETT; If elected, Senator Sanders, you would be America’s first Jewish president. You recently called a very prominent, well-known American Israel lobby a platform for, quote, “bigotry.” What would you say to American Jews who might be concerned you’re not, from their perspective, supportive enough of Israel? And specifically, sir, would you move the U.S. embassy back to Tel Aviv?

SANDERS: Let me just — the answer is, it’s something that we would take into consideration.

GARRETT: Which would…

SANDERS: But here — excuse me. But here is the point. I am very proud of being Jewish. I actually lived in Israel for some months. But what I happen to believe is that, right now, sadly, tragically, in Israel, through Bibi Netanyahu, you have a reactionary racist who is now running that country. (APPLAUSE) And I happen to believe — I happen to believe that what our foreign policy in the Mideast should be about is absolutely protecting the independence and security of Israel, but you cannot ignore the suffering of the Palestinian people. (APPLAUSE) We have got to have a policy that reaches out to the Palestinians and the Americans. And in answer to your question, that will come within the context of bringing nations together in the Mideast.

GARRETT: Mayor Bloomberg, would you like to weigh in on that, please?

BLOOMBERG: Well, the battle has been going on for a long time in the Middle East, whether it’s the Arabs versus the Persians, the Shias versus the Sunnis, the Jews in Israel and the Palestinians, it’s only gone on for 40 or 50 years. Number one, you can’t move the embassy back. We should not have done it without getting something from the Israeli government. But it was done, and you’re going to have to leave it there. Number two, only solution here is a two-state solution. The Palestinians have to be accommodated. The real problem here is you have two groups of people, both who think God gave them the same piece of land. And the answer is to obviously split it up, leave the Israeli borders where they are, try to push them to pull back some of those extra over the — on the other side of the wall, where they’ve built these new communities, which they should not have done that, pull it back.

GARRETT: Mayor Bloomberg, thank you very much.

Senator Warren?

WARREN: Look, the way we have to think about this is I think we have to start with the values and what has to be protected here. Israelis have a right to security and the Palestinians have a right to be treated with dignity and to have self-determination. That is a two-state solution. But it’s not up to us to determine what the terms of a two-state solution are. We want to be a good ally to everyone in the region. The best way to do that is to encourage the parties to get to the negotiating table themselves. Donald Trump’s big mistake is he keeps putting a thumb on the scale on just one side, and that moves the parties further away from working out their own solution here. We need to be an ally by supporting them to come to negotiate to find a lasting peace.

GARRETT: But, Senator Warren, just on the question of the embassy, what was your position on that?

WARREN: It is not ours to do.

GARRETT: Would you move it back?

WARREN: It is not ours to do. We should let the parties determine the capital.

GARRETT: Would you move it back or not, yes or no?

KLOBUCHAR: It’s our embassy.

WARREN: We should let the parties determine the capitals themselves.
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Chabad of Chula Vista now conducting a 36-hour fundraising drive

Chabad of Chula Vista is in the process of trying to raise $36,000 in 36 hours.  Rabbi Mendy Begun said the money “will enable us to build a lounge of our youth; a place they could call their own as they experience Judaism. It will give them a relaxing space for Hebrew School, Bar/Bat Mitzvah lessons, Shabbat/Holiday kids programs and so much more. It will also enable us to increase our 2020 youth programming, so that your children and all of our Jewish children get what they deserve and what Moses gifted them at Sinai.”  The drive ends tomorrow, Feb. 27.
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Political bytes
*The latest San Diego Union-Tribune/ News 10 poll in the 50th Congressional District shows Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar with a comfortable lead of 35 percent over a field of Republicans led by former Congressman Darrell Issa with 21 percent.  Former San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio has 15 percent and State Sen. Brian Jones has 7 percent.  Democrat Marisa Calderon came in at 5 percent, Republican Nathan Wilkins with 3 percent, and independent Helen Horvath with 1 percent.  Three other candidates did not register in the poll, and 12 percent of the voters were undecided.  This poll contrasts dramatically with one issued by DeMaio, which indicated that Campa-Najar had 44 percent of the vote, DeMaio 22 percent, Issa 17 percent, and Jones 13 percent.

*San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Michael Smolens reports celebrities are adding their luster to the races in the 53^rd Congressional district with Senator Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsing San Diego City Council president Georgette Gomez and actress Mia Farrow endorsing Janessa Goldbeck in the race which polls show Sara Jacobs leading comfortably.  Another U-T story by Andrew Dyer reports questioning over whether Goldbeck is following rules by listing herself on the ballot as a USMC Captain.  Republican candidate Chris Stoddard, who is a major in the Marine Corps Active Reserve, said Goldbeck is a member of the Ready Reserve, not the Active Reserve.  “It’s misleading,” he told the U-T.  “You don’t drill; you don’t do anything – you’re basically a civilian.”

*Morgan Hill, a spokesperson for 53^rd Congressional District candidate Sara Jacobs, has responded to criticism from San Diego City Council President Georgette Gomez, a rival candidate, and San Diego Democratic Party Chair Will Rodriguez Kennedy that her advertisements contrasting her positions with those of Republican Chris Stoddard are an underhanded way of boosting his candidacy among Republican voters in an attempt to increase his chances of being a runoff candidate.  Said Hill: “Recent Public polling shows that the top two contenders in this race are Sara Jacobs and Chris Stoddard. Chris Stoddard proudly supports President Trump’s border wall and wants to loosen restrictions on guns in our communities. Sara believes that any candidate who supports Trump’s dangerous policies does not share San Diego values and should not represent the 53rd District in Congress. Sara pledged to run a positive campaign against other Democrats in this primary because it’s going to take all of us to beat Donald Trump and Republicans in November. It’s sad to see other Democrats not doing the same.”

*In a poll of students at San Diego State University,  The Daily Aztec found that 34.4 percent favored Bernie Sanders for President, 18.8 percent Elizabeth Warren, 9.3 percent Joe Biden, and 8.1 percent Pete Buttigieg.

Drawing a contrast between himself and Bernie Sanders, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced he will speak at the March 1-4 conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), The Times of Israel reports.  Sanders had declined to attend the Jewish organization’s meeting, saying he was “concerned about the platform AIPAC provides for leaders  who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights.”

U.S. Rep. Scott Peters (D-San Diego) will appear in campaign commercials paid by the Michael Bloomberg presidential campaign.  In the commercial, he says: “California’s a source of great innovation, but we’ve got some challenges too. Some of them come from climate change–whether it’s sea level rise or wildfires.  Mike Bloomberg has been a national leader on climate change. He’s worked to close over 300 coal plants, and he’s determined to tackle the climate crisis, and move this country to a clean energy economy.  We need action and we need answers.  And Mike’s going to set us on the course to get this thing fixed.  That’s the kind of leadership we need from the President of the United States and Mike will get it done.”

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Coming Our Way

Young Israel of San Diego hosts its annual Purim party at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 10, with reservations and further information available via this website.

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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World.  He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com