December 8, 2006
When far-right leader Avigdor Lieberman
and his Yisrael Beiteinu party joined the Israeli government,
pro-peace Israelis expressed outrage. The Brookings Institution
extended an invitation.
Brookings' Saban Center for
Middle East Policy is holding the third annual Saban Forum in
Washington, D.C. from December 8 through the 10th. This year's
forum is entitled "America and Israel: Confronting a Middle
East in Turmoil" "turmoil," meaning pissed
off Arabs, of course.
In his new book Palestine
Peace Not Apartheid, Jimmy Carter charges that we lack a
national discussion about our nation's support for Israel. This
invitation proves his point, as does the entire forum which
doesn't think any Arabs, not even the empire butt-kissers, need
be present. For some reason, they invited Supreme Court justice
Stephen Breyer, but not a single Arab.
An Arab-less discussion of
the Middle East fits comfortably with one prominent guest's vision
of the holy land. Lieberman is one of Israel's leading advocates
of forcibly removing masses of Palestinians in order to alter
the country's demographic outlay permanently. This has a more
common name: ethnic cleansing.
A constant advocate for escalation
and extremity, Lieberman's repulsive ideas are more roundly condemned
in Israel than they are here. When Lieberman joined the government,
one cabinet minister, Ophir Pines-Paz, called him a "racist"
and resigned in protest.
In 2002, the Israeli daily
Yedioth Ahronoth quoted with dismay one of Lieberman's
many disgusting proposals. If the Palestinians did not comply
with Israeli dictates, he suggested, the occupying forces should
"bomb all the commercial centers... gas stations... [and]
banks."
Lieberman's ghastly plan for
Palestinian prisoners held by Israel was to drown them in the
Dead Sea. He offered to provide the buses to transport them.
In May, 2004, he said that
90 percent of Israel's 1.2 million Palestinian citizens would
"have to find a new Arab entity" beyond Israel's borders.
Lieberman, an immigrant from Russia, claimed the Palestinian
citizens of Israel "have no place here." Russians do,
of course. This newcomer has the nerve to tell Palestinians
with ancient lineage to "take their bundles and get lost."
More recently, he called for
the execution of Arab Knesset members who meet with the Palestinian
Authority.
Despite the vitriol of this
hatemonger, the Brookings Institution is proudly hosting the
former nightclub bouncer on his upcoming trip to Washington.
Officials at the Institution said they were "honored"
to host Lieberman's first address abroad since joining the government.
The sober-minded Christian
Science Monitor ran a headline that would raise serious questions
if Brookings were serious about Middle East policy. "Israeli
cabinet minister calls for Arab-free Israel," it read.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz editorialized that Lieberman
is "the most unrestrained and irresponsible man around for
this job." But, hey, he's in the can't-do-wrong Israeli
government now, so let's give him a forum in Washington, DC.
When Lieberman speaks on December
8, he will share the stage with Senator Hillary Clinton, as well
as Bill Clinton. Like every other Democrat, they failed to utter
one critical word about Lieberman's new role in the government
even though he was a rabid opponent of the Oslo peace process.
Hillary Clinton's willingness
to mingle with Israel's far right is nothing new. In 2002, she
met with Benny Elon of the Moledet party, which openly called
for the forcible transfer of Palestinians.
Many Democrats objected to
the electoral success of Hamas in the barely functioning Palestinian
Authority. They considered it a threat to peace. Senator Clinton
was "deeply troubled" by the Palestinian elections.
Instead of consistency, she openly embraces this fanatical
ideologue who calls for driving the Palestinians into the sea.
This is not to suggest the
Republicans have been honest brokers. President Bush is the
most pro-Israeli American leader ever. The bipartisanship of
support for Israel is reflected in the Institution's invitation
to Henry Kissinger to moderate the talk.
Kissinger would be an appropriate
moderator because he is moderate compared to Lieberman. He argued
for "transfer" publicly in 2004. In exchange for "some
5 to 8 percent" of the West Bank, "Israel would transfer
some of its current territory to the Palestinian state."
To "ease the demographic problem" of too many Arabs
in Israel, he advised stripping them of citizenship regardless
of their wishes.
Li/eberman is welcomed by
members of America's so-called pro-civil rights, pro-minority
party and their institutions. The hypocrisy of the Democrats
who are lined up against ethnic cleaning in Darfur, but
support it in Palestine is revolting.
This all strengthens President
Carter's point that the country lacks much-needed debate on America's
role in Israel-Palestine. You would think that the billions
of dollars of tax aid American hands to Israel would merit some
disagreement at the elite-level. In an interview with CBS, he
explained the void of sensibility: the "news media are acquiescent,
members of the Congress are acquiescent" while "the
rest of the world debates this intensely, particularly in Israel."
American policymakers show
reverence to Mandela and King, yet back an Apartheid state that
oppresses and dispossess people based on nothing more than ethno-religious
difference while claiming to be a democracy.
Contact the Brookings Institution:
202-797-6105 | communications@brookings.edu
Contact the Saban Center: 202-797-6462
| saban@brookings.edu
Will Youmans is a Washington DC-based writer for
the Arab-American News.