Washington Scene:
HAMAS JOINS
THE WASHINGTON ELITE
ARAFAT REP TOLD TO STAY AWAY
MER - Washington - 11 Sept:
For the first time in memory -- or should we say in history -- the
elite, and very incestuous, Palestinian establishment in Washington invited an authentic
Muslim spokesman to one of its "august" (tongue in cheek of course) events.
Not introduced as an "official" Hamas spokesman, Azzam
Tamimi works out of a London-based "affinity" organization and was guided around
town by those working with a similar organization in the Washington area, innocuously
named the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR). But the thoughts and name of
Hamas Founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin were repeatedly invoked during Tamimi's short talk. And
quite noticeably, one of the top representatives of Yasser Arafat's "Authority",
Feisal Husseini, also visiting Washington and in the past repeatedly the honored guest of
the sponsoring organization, was this time told to stay away and not to speak. Indeed,
this same little Palestinian crowd that was so quick to jump on the "Peace"
wagon some years ago is now trying to atone for its sins, however inadequately and, truth
be told, pathetically.
This time around not a good word was said all day from the parade of
speakers about Arafat, his "Authority", or the "peace process" -- with
the exception of the luncheon speaker Eric Rouleau, a French Jew, a long-time
representative of French imperialism who has spent the past decade urging the Palestinians
on at Madrid and Oslo (about which he is now so self-servingly, and suspiciously,
apologetic).
It was the annual conference of Hisham Sharabi's little fiefdom,
"The Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine", an offshoot of the
long-established Jerusalem Fund. No, not the well-known and important Israeli-Zionist
"Jerusalem Fund"; rather the puny but highly self-congratulatory Palestinian
elite one. More on all this in an upcoming feature article. Just the title for now:
"Much
Much Too Little,
Much Much Too Late --
The Tragedy of Hisham Sharabi and the
Washington Palestinians." And what about the Hamas fellow from London? Former
Assistant Secretary of State for the Middle East, Lucius Battle -- long the captive of oil
and business interests and regimes in the region -- summed things up as he too expressed
his considerable surprise that Tamimi was invited to speak at all, even just as a member
of a panel.
"He was very persuasive," Battle started saying. But
reminded he was on the record, Battle quickly switched gears and went on to other
subjects.
