The tangled Mideast web

Chicken Soup fails to comfort terrorism fears of local Jews.

PAT JOHNSON REPORTER

Chicken soup, as any bubbe knows, is a cure-all for everything from the common cold to emotional upset. However, little comfort was supplied by the opening event of the Chicken Soup for the Mind series' fourth season. A packed house at Temple Sholom Sunday night listened to David Makovsky speak on the state of Middle East affairs after Sept. 11.

Makovsky is a senior fellow at the American Institute and director of the think-tank's Project on America, Israel and the Peace Process. He is former executive editor of the Jerusalem Post and is a former diplomatic correspondent for that newspaper, as well as for the Israeli daily Ha'aretz.

Makovsky broke down the all-too-often simplistic analysis of the Mideast found in much of the mainstream media. He outlined the diplomatic intricacies of the Arab states and their relationships with America and with their own internal opposition movements. In the question-and-answer session, some audience members acknowledged his message had alarmed them.

Makovsky debunked some of the perceived wisdom, including the idea that America has been targeted by extremists because of its support for Israel.

"They don't hate America because of Israel," he said. "They hate Israel because of America."

Israel is seen as a Western outpost in the Middle East, supported as it is by America, Makovsky said. More ominously, he suggested, the Arab states that are joining with the United States in the war on terrorism are doing so out of a particular self-interest.

According to Makovsky, Arab leaders have traditionally permitted pent-up frustration with their own regimes to be directed outward, either toward Israel, against the United States or against more generalized concepts of non-Islamic heterodoxy, such as fast food franchises or North American culture.

The Arab states have permitted, even encouraged, mass demonstrations against external "enemies." Yet allowing this outlet of rage has always been a risky endeavor, he said. Once the rage is unleashed in mass rallies on the street, it may be a short leap before the anger and frustration turns toward the regimes.

When the rage has turned inward, he said, regimes in Syria and elsewhere have summarily executed much of their opposition. Therefore, the opposition has been forced deep underground. Many have gone to places with little central authority, such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia. Though some of the Arab regimes might not be viewed as moderate, their Islamic militant opponents are far more hardline, seeking to impose theocracies across the Arab world. One of the bulwarks against their success is the presence of the United States in the region.

Thus, whatever tacit support exists between the Arab status quo and the American administration, it is seen by the extremists as the only thing standing between them and their goal of strict Islamic fundamentalism.

He characterized the attitude as "If we can only get rid of the United States, these guys will fall like dominoes."

If continued terror attacks make Americans question their activities in the Middle East - as the loss of American lives in Vietnam turned public opinion against the war there - it is possible that opinion could mount in favor of a withdrawal from the region. In that scenario, Makovsky warned, the relatively stabilizing Arab regimes could fall and Israel would be left alone amid the chaos. Makovsky said it is worth noting that the Palestinian question has never been high on the agenda of Osama bin Laden. The presence of U.S. military bases in Saudi Arabia is his most common complaint.

With regard to the effectiveness of terrorist attacks, the extremists have reason to believe their violence can work, Makovsky added, citing a series of terror attacks which were followed by a lessening of American presence in the vicinity of the attacks. It will be necessary for the United States and its allies to show resolve and force in order to keep the terrorists from smelling victory and stepping up their attacks.

The Americans were drawn into a Faustian bargain a decade ago, according to Makovsky, when Arab allies in the region insisted that, if America facilitated a solution to the Palestinian issue, all would be well in the region. American administrations spent the 1990s working toward a peace agreement on the assumption that Arab leaders would lean on Yasser Arafat to accept it. They didn't live up to their part, Makovsky claimed.

Makovsky noted some recent equivocations by U.S. State Department officials, who have differentiated between terrorism of the World Trade Centre sort and terrorism such as that against Israel, which has a "political" root. He criticized this stance as hypocritical and added that it is precisely the kind of equivocation used by Arabs, who roundly condemn attacks on civilians, but continue to describe suicide bombers in Israel as "martyrs."

Though President George W. Bush and others have urged people to differentiate between terrorists and Muslims at large, Makovsky said there is one simple act that Muslim clerics have avoided: Muslim clerics have to say that terrorism is wrong.

"Look at how the words are parsed," he said. Islamic leaders have said they are appalled by Sept. 11, but for the most part stop short of criticizing anti-Israeli terror, he said.

Chicken Soup for the Mind continues Nov. 18, 7 p.m. at the Norman Rothstein Theatre, with Prof. Yaffa Eliach who will discuss her effort to create a full-sized replica of her ancestral shtetl. For information, call 604-257-5100. The series is sponsored by the Diamond Foundation, Yosef Wosk, the Jewish Education Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver and six synagogues.

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