But today serious reflections on why there is no serious and significant opposition to what the Israelis (and the Americans of course) are doing from the huge Arab American community, itself hijacked by a small group of Washington-based "client organizations" that have so little credibility that hardly anyone turned out for the White House demonstration the day Sharon was visiting last month, or the nearly unnoticed Israeli Embassy demonstration a few weeks ago even after months of nothing, or for "Nakba" day just a few days ago.

"Oh my nation, do you have among the nations a podium for the sword or the pen?"

Last month in New York City, a coalition of Arab American groups and theirAmerican supporters under the banner of a relatively new group called Al-Awda("The Return" in Arabic) marched down 2nd Ave in Manhattan. About five thousandpeople attended. Since the inception of the idea of promoting the Palestinianright of Return to their historical land, this has been second demonstration. Back in September, about 4 thousand showed up for a similar rally inWashington, DC. The starting point for this particular group has been Boston, where a conference promoting the Return idea was held in Boston University about a year ago.

While rallies and conferences, marches and events could some day form thebasis of serious mobilization to defend Palestinian rights in the US; theserallies by Al-Awda are definitely not a good beginning. Thankfully at least MERhas carried articles, time and time again, pointing out that the real purpose of Arab American organizations is to serve as fronts for the Arab Regimes that support andpromote them, financially and politically.

One has to keep in mind the big picture here. The Arab regimes are essentiallyjail keepers for the US and Israel; and they have to rely on different tools and different groups to control the Arab communities in the Arab world and in the West. The methods of control range from outright repression and terrorism of Arab people (state police, prisons, assassinations) to control of the media and the use of rumormongering and slander to discredit those who dare to speak up exposingwhat is really going on.

Similar to the West, where courageous journalists who may speak aboutIsrael would be labeled anti-Semites, the Arab equivalent is labeling thosewho criticize the sorry state of Arab affairs as Zionists, Jewish spies, andagents of Israel. Of course, in the West, the Arab front organizations haveno recourse except for deception and misleading their naive supporters tobelieving that these self-aggrandizing groups are really doing somethingimportant. So, in addition to the usual cocktail of conferences and politicalevents here and there, affairs that are largely limited to Arab Americans whodo not realize that non-Arabs should also be told what is going on in theMiddle East, whenever things heat up in the Middle East such as now, we haverallies. Of course, these rallies, hardly a new thing, are not aimed atgathering momentum, educating the American public, gaining allies, or findingways to advocate the Palestinian cause. They are aimed at absorbing whateverenergy Arab Americans may have and directing it nowhere.

Similar to the rally held by Al-Awda back in September, the rally in NY had nostrategy for the participants to debate, no grasp of reality, and no idea ofthe big picture. The rally this time had less speakers compared the past one,which meant thankfully fewer hours of slogans and misrepresentation. Thespeeches were distant from reality, where the Arab Summit that just took placein Jordan was not even mentioned.

Of course the inter fighting among the Arab American groups which always aimto lure the other's supporters to its own, if not working together to incestuously to deceive, continues. We are never told how corrupt the whole scene is, how the Arab regimes pull the strings of these organizations. We are never told how the so called largest of all Arab American grass-roots organizations has been controlled by the Maksouds for so long now (former Arab League Ambassadorand his wife), amidst continual unanswered calls for reform and democracy in the organizations from its members. We are never told that Jim Zogby, a Saudi P.R. flak, manipulates and bribes Arab American press into publishing his columns. We are never told how the "new" addition to ADC, the so called National Arab American Association (NAAA) has been run to ground and bankrupted by KhalilJahshan, who then ran to join ADC to sell himself and his mailing list so he couldkeep a title and make sure those lunch and press invitations kept coming. It is really beyond rational explanation how the Arabs, 300 million in all,could continue in this state of weakness, a laughing stock for the rest of theworld? It brings to mind a rhetorical question put by a modern Arab poet:

Oh my nation, do you have among the nations a podium for the sword or the pen?

In a time when little Israel has a military eight times stronger than all theArab armies combined, the Arab regimes allow the Palestinians to be cut topieces, the Iraqis to die needlessly in a country that has enough oil thatwould have allowed them to have an American middle-class standard of life,one has to wonder what is wrong on the Arab scene. Certainly the politicalcorruption and the social decay of the Arab society are a good start.

Another factor, equally important that pertains to the situation here in theUS, concerns the repeated failure of the Arab American groups in failing toorganize for twenty years. After years of disarray, confusion, badleadership, thee is not even an attempt for self-criticism. The leaders ofthese groups are in it for their personal gain. Those who follow are mostlynaive not knowing which end is up. What is most terrible is what Edward Saidcalls the Traison de Clerk, the silence of the Intellectuals, which sadlyapplies to himself as well in his failure to criticize, loudly, the failure of theArab American movements here in organizing for real. Consider this recent writing of his in the Egyptian English weekly, AL-Ahram (which by the wayeveryone knows is government controlled):

Therefore, we now need something that the situation demands, but that all theactors resist, i.e. a real statement of goals and objectives. These have toinclude first and foremost the end of Israeli military occupation and the endof settlements. No other way can lead to peace and justice for Palestinians orfor Israelis. There is no such thing as an "interim" peace (as Oslo had it allalong, to the tremendous detriment of the Palestinian people). Nor are theresome rights for Palestinians, and not others. That is unacceptable nonsense.One set of laws and rights, one set of goals and objectives. On that basis anew Palestinian peace movement can be organized that must include Israeli andnon-Israeli Jews, especially heroic individuals and groups like Rabbis forHuman Rights and the movement led by Jeff Halper to end house demolitions.(Al-Ahram Weekly, 19-25 April, 01)

Agreed. But, the problem with Edward Said, who of course gave a good talk at the NY rally, is that he continually shies away from in criticizing the failure to apply his own ideas. He speaks brilliantly when the topic is Israel, and gives excellent insights on what to do. Surely, he is a gifted thinker, writer, and intellectual. But when it comes to telling the Arab crowd about the manipulation by the Arab regimes of their political organizations in the US, he is very vague.He acknowledges what we all know about the despicable oppressive Arab regimes, but he fails to link the connections between the regimes and the political front organizations they support, and link that to the failure of any attempt by those groups to achieve any political goals. Why did the Arab American groups fail for twenty years in creating a list of demands and objectives? Why don't they have a strategy after years and years of failure? Why can't they even get morethan a handful of people to come to their demonstrations at the Israeli Embassyor the White House in Washington; even when they all say they are uniting?

The answer is that after years and years of disorganizing and demoralizing anddeceiving their supporters, those in charge of the Arab American organizations have nothing to show for all the time and money, and have little credibility even among themselves.

There is no grass roots following, no support from the mainstream media orAmerican politicians, and certainly no strategy. A few individuals who loveto throw conferences for each other run the organizations. And at these conferences they incentuously give awards to each other -- year after yearthe same farce proceeds no matter what else is going on in the world; no matterwhat is being done by the Israelis to the Palestinians.

As I said before, the crowd that is in charge of all these organizations, the ones running them, those in the organizations boards, are essentially the same. A good deal of social and political incest goes on here. Also, as I said before, those interested in seeing for themselves who the interrelations between these groups work, just get lists of the board members and financial backers of these groups, and those who get invited to speak at events, and compare names. What you will find is that that many of the people are pretty much the same. Some pretend they have an organization, which includes only them. Some are on the boards of these groups and are the ones invited for speaking at events held by these groups.

The rally held last month in NY was not an improvement over the conference held a year ago or the first rally held back in September. There has been nosignificant mobilization, just more disorganization. Those claiming to berepresenting Palestinian demands for justice and recognition are nothing butimpotent and misleading. They have failed to gather political clout and rallyany sections of the general public to the Palestinian cause. Furthermore,they have failed to outline the general problems plaguing the Middle Eastwhich surely include the collusion among the Arab regimes, the US and Israel. Predictably, they will not speak up against the Arab regimes at all; and the real reason is because they are the "client organizations" and "client persons" of these regimes.

And so, in these ways, while the Palestinians are being butchered in Palestineworse and worse, the Arab regimes of the region continue their ruinous stranglehold on the Arab Americans, courtesy of the Arab American organizations. Shame on them all.

* Rageb Damian is of Arab background and a student in the US. He can be reached at Rageb@MiddleEast.Org