by Jordana Starr | Ussama discusses the Middle East at Tufts.
When it comes to pinpointing the source of Arab hatred towards the United States, Rice University Professor Ussama Makdisi knows who to blame—the Jews. On December 2nd, this visiting scholar to the Fletcher School’s Fares Center presented his paper “Anti-Americanism in the Arab World,” in which he grossly oversimplified the Middle East conflict and presented an extremely inaccurate view of the Jews’ struggle to regain their historical homeland. Makdisi called for an end to US support of Israel, which he claims is the manifestation of the gap between American ideals of democracy and our actions in the Middle East.
In his lecture, Makdisi argued that anti-American hatred does not stem from a clash in cultural values. He claimed 19th century Arabs who knew of America’s existence “saw it as a land of opportunity,” thanks in large part to the work of missionaries who established secular colleges in the Ottoman Empire and laid the foundation for a benevolent image of Americans. “The Muslim world identifies with democracy,” he explained, and later remarked that the scarcity of Arab democracies is due to their authoritative, oppressive leadership, and not their authoritative, oppressive culture. The professor painted a picture in which Arabs appreciated Western values up until World War I, when the British and French “carved up” the Middle East. Following Britain’s later creation of a Jewish state in Israel in 1948, Makdisi alleged Arab hatred towards America began rising as a result of its involvement in supporting this nation.
Most appallingly, Makdisi proclaimed, “Palestinians have more legitimate claim, historically and legally, over the land.” Rather than actually discuss the historical facts that, in reality, lean grossly in favor of Israeli sovereignty, Makdisi suggested that the Western World “humanizes and historicizes Israelis at the expense of humanizing and understanding Palestinians.” Apparently, this professor isn’t ready to accept the history of the region for which he claims to be such an expert—probably because the facts prove him wrong.
In the same presentation, Makdisi conveniently ignored Israel’s existence as a nation in 1312 BCE—2,000 years before the rise of Islam. Since the Jewish conquest in 1272 BCE, the Jews have had dominion over Israel for 1,000 years, with continuous presence in the land for the past 3,300 years. Since the conquest of 635, the only Arab domination of this land lasted no more than 22 years.
Makdisi wants to “humanize and understand” Palestinians—but it is equally important that Israelis’ hardships be historicized. The visiting professor forgot to mention that brutal Arab persecution of Jews forced them to flee from Arab lands. He also neglected to mention the fact that out of a total of 100,000,000 worldwide refugees since World War II, Arabs remain the only refugee group that has never been absorbed or integrated into its own peoples’ lands.
Adding that “Jews have not forgotten their supposed exile from Israel 2000 years ago,” Makdisi argued Palestinians cannot be expected to forget theirs from 50 years ago. He hypocritically advocated the “Right of Return” for Palestinians, but then characterized a Jewish Right of Return as nothing more than an ambition or a dream.
Throughout his talk, Makdisi discussed what he perceived to be international law, hysterically alleging that Israel’s actions in defending its own sovereignty are “illegal,” even going so far as to claim that the very existence of Israel violates international law. International law, however, is not the product of a global legislature and amounts to little more than a collection of treaties. The truth is, Britain had control over the region, and giving it to the Jewish people was well within its authority. He also didn’t mention that the Arab nations initiated and lost all five wars they waged against Israel. By Makdisi’s reasoning, any treaties that have divided land or nations that have successfully fended off foreign invasion are in violation of “international law.” In this vein, every nation on earth could be considered guilty.
Makdisi wrapped up his talk by referring to Palestinians as “weak pathetic ones” and Zionism as “unconscionable.” Israel’s willingness to give Palestinians much of the West Bank and high degrees of autonomy under the Palestinian authority despite the PLO Charter’s call for the destruction of the State of Israel went unmentioned. Makdisi failed to discuss the desecration of Jewish holy sites. He didn’t say a word about the barring of Jews from their places of worship under Arab rule. Under today’s Israeli rule, all Muslim and Christian sites have been preserved and made accessible to followers of all faiths.
If Makdisi is correct in asserting that Arabs simply hate Americans because of US support for the only true Middle Eastern democracy—Israel—then let them be haters. There’s no glory in winning the hearts and minds of the morally corrupt.
Miss Starr is a junior majoring in Political Science and Philosophy.
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