"I'd like to portray a rosy picture for you about that part of the world," said Abdel al-Bari Atwan, editor-in-chief of London-based Arabic language daily newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi, on the Middle East, particularly Israel/Palestine, "but this is our area; we know it very well. We know peace is extremely... far away."
Atwan gave a lecture last Friday entitled "Palestine: The Way Forward", in the Frank Dawson Adams Auditorium to a sympathetic crowd. The event was organized by the Badr Islamic Centre, the Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine and Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights.
Despite the title of the talk, Atwan admitted he was not optimistic about a possible peace settlement between the Israelis and Palestinians, asserting that he did not choose the title, going as far to call it a mistake. Instead, he discussed a number of issues affecting Israel and Palestine as well as the greater Middle East, including U.S. involvement in the region, the rise of Iran and the positions of moderate Arab states.
Atwan cited the polarization between Hamas and the President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction as a major obstacle towards peace. He argued that Hamas's confrontational approach and Abbas's more reconciliatory angle have resulted in much friction and division.
"I cannot see a Palestinian national unity. I can't see some sort of unified front in Palestine," he said.
Atwan was also very critical of Arab governments for their excessive authoritarianism and tendency to kowtow to Israel and the United States, which is a position his newspaper often takes. This has led to censorship, and in some cases, bans of al-Quds al-Arabi in a number of Arab nations.
However, Atwan saved his harshest condemnations for Israel and the U.S, claiming that Israel does not want peace, and that the governing coalition of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is too weak to make substantive progress. He also condemned the U.S.'s involvement in the region, claiming that the U.S. is attempting to shift focus away from the Arab-Israeli conflict to Iran, adding that the Bush administration is rallying support amongst Arab states for possible military action against Iran.
2008 Woodie Awards
Be the first to comment on this story