Show and Tell
“Hundreds of Palestinian high school and university students, meanwhile, marched in support of Iraq through the West Bank town of Bethlehem, burning U.S. and Israeli flags and shouting, ‘Saddam, we want the chemicals!’ and ‘Beloved Saddam, hit Tel Aviv…’” Associated Press correspondent Ibrahim Barzak, February 17, 1998, Gaza City.
“Hundreds of Palestinian high school and university students, meanwhile, marched in support of Iraq through the West Bank town of Bethlehem, burning U.S. and Israeli flags and shouting, ‘Saddam, we want the chemicals!’ and ‘Beloved Saddam, hit Tel Aviv…’” Associated Press correspondent Ibrahim Barzak, February 17, 1998, Gaza City.
Dozens of anti-American, pro-Saddam, pro-chemical-weapons-attacks-on-Israel demonstrations in Palestinian controlled areas, involving thousands of demonstrators offer an important insight into Palestinians as “partners” in the moribund Israeli-Palestinian “peace process.” One Palestinian Authority official was quoted as saying, “The Israelis are cleaning their (sealed) rooms. The Palestinians are cleaning their roof” – a reference to Palestinians cheering from their rooftops as Scud missiles landed in Israel during the first Gulf War.
The United States has protested this street-level Palestinian support for Saddam and told the Palestinian Authority to put a stop to the demonstrations – an ostrich-like response and a bad one. If anything, the audio and video should be widely disseminated to American policy-makers, as they are only a manifestation of widely held Palestinian opinion. A February 14, 1998 poll generated by the Independent Media Review and Analysis Center (IMRA), of 1,188 Palestinians over the age of 18, produced the following:
94% said they “support Iraq and sympathize with it in this crisis.” While only 4.5% of those based their position on simple support for Saddam himself, 17.3% based it solely upon their “position against the U.S. and its policies in the region” while another 34% considered U.S. policies to be at least partially responsible for their positions.
Nearly one fourth of the respondents did not know the position of the Palestinian Authority on the Iraqi crisis, but 59% disapproved of the “PA order banning demonstrations and marches that might lead to acts of violence and disturbances.”
If the U.S. launches a strike against Iraq, 77% “support Iraq launching a strike against Israel,” although by only a 52%-43% margin did they think Saddam would do so.
Rather than calling for the PA to ban demonstrations, the U.S. government should take careful note. “Hostile propaganda” and “incitement to violence” are, strictly speaking, violations of the Oslo Accord to which the PA and the people are presumed committed. But we would rather see their clear, unremitting and violent hostility toward Israel and the United States than have it hidden by those who don’t want to believe it exists.
Maybe Members of Congress could see the videos and read the polls when they debate further American financial assistance to the Palestinians. Maybe the Secretary of State could join them before calling Israel the obstacle to peace. Maybe the administration could take a lesson in the real linkage between the crisis in Iraq and the inability of Israel to find a peaceful modus vivendi with the Palestinians. The Palestinians are willing to show and tell, but the American government must be willing to listen to learn.