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Ian Anderson
Author's Bio
Edward Wadie Said was born in Jerusalem in November of 1935, when Palestine was still under British rule. He attended Princeton, where he received an A.B. and an M.A. and received a Ph.D. from Harvard University. At Harvard, he was the recipient of multiple academic achievement awards and became the professor of Comparative Literature at Columbia University for several decades. He lectured throughout the world at the most prestigious colleges and was fluent in three languages. His books themselves were published in more thirty six languages. He passed away in 2003 after a long fight with leukemia.
The Palestinian Question
Edward W. Said's book From Oslo to Iraq and the Road Map is a collection of essays that examines the Israeli-Palestinian question in the Middle East and delves deeply into United States involvement in the situation. The book is divided into three sections: the first deals with the beginning of The Second Intifada--the second major period of military conflict between Israeli forces, Palestinian forces, and their allies occurring after 1967, also known as the Arab-Israeli War--and how the failure of Clinton and the Oslo accords contributed. The second deals with September 11, 2001, and how the events that unfolded that day have helped shape the current situation in the Middle East. The third deals with the relationship among the Iraq War, The United States, and Israel. Said exposes the role of the media--especially propaganda--as one of the greatest causes of grief, along with the rise of American Neo-Conservatism and Christian Fundamentalism. Led by the "intellectually disadvantaged George W. Bush" and sending "over $92 billion in aid since 1967," the United States has been fueling a conflict between two people in which it has no real part. The disillusioned citizens of the United States have been lied to over and over again and have been ignorant of the biased news tools that influence them. 1
Setting the stage for the events that are occurring in Palestine, Said provides much background information that aids us in understanding the situation in Palestine with less bias. Said accomplishes this particularly through a series of maps that highlight the sheer stupidity of statements praising the Oslo Accords as a generous offer to the Palestinians. Nearly all of Palestine--or at least the areas governed by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)--is separated from each other.2 Not only is the West bank separated completely from the Gaza strip, but within each of those regions there are vast spaces between the areas completely governed by the Palestinians; in other words, the Palestinian state (if it can be called that), is merely a massive collection of islands in a sea of Israeli dominated territory. Each of these islands, labeled "Area A"--areas of complete self government--are surrounded by "Area B"--areas where Palestinians are granted only partial self-government--and most importantly surrounded by "Area C"--areas that have complete Israeli domination. The Israelis gained Area C in the Six Days War of 1967, and upon acquiring it, built settlements along the borders with Palestinian islands and made it nearly impossible for the Palestinians to have a working economy, not to mention control over basic utilities such as electricity and water. Said also acknowledges the effect of the holocaust on the views of the Israelis as well as the ignorance Western Civilization has had on the true events of the original conflict. To point this out, Said states "few paid attention to the conquest of Palestine by Jewish forces [in 1948]."3 It is sad that a true event has been nearly completely erased from history books in the west due to Israeli propaganda. Perhaps if there were more men like Said around, the playing field would flatten out. Born in 1935 while Palestine was still governed by the British in a mandate following the First World War, Said, among many other Palestinians his age, has not "[accepted] the idea the Israeli Jews are here to stay."4 It must have been an interesting experience to see his native country be conquered by invaders and then supported by some of the most powerful nations of the world--namely the United States, which in recent years has become its sole true ally. Though the Jews lived in Palestine long ago, after the Diaspora and other events, they were undeservedly taken from their sacred homeland and scattered throughout the earth and treated poorly wherever they went--the Holocaust being the most horrid of examples. The grief endured by the Jews over the millennia due to the absence of a homeland is great, but in retrieving their traditional place, they have done exactly to another population of people what was done to them so long ago. This is the greatest injustice of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
Further developing his argument, Said states that "the Zionist movement has resorted to shabbier and shabbier techniques to try to stop [dissenters]."5 The sheer madness of Israeli propaganda in recent years must drive Palestinians mad. One instance where Said and others were photographed throwing a stone at an abandoned Israeli watchtower in southern Lebanon was used against him in the media. Even though the war there had long been over and there was not an Israeli to be seen for miles, Said was highly criticized for this mere act of celebration. Within the next few days, Said "appeared in newspapers all over the West¡ [and] was described as a rock-throwing terrorist."6 This ridiculous example of Israeli manipulation is only one of many that has occurred since the Israelis have been trying to justify their cause since 1948. While the Holocaust was by far the worst incident of ethnic cleansing in World History, the initial sympathy for the Jews after the Holocaust is wearing off because of the time lapse that has occurred and the dying out of the generations that survived it. Israel is now made up of a new group of Jews that, for the most part, had no direct participation in the Holocaust. No matter how horrible this event was, it cannot be used to justify more injustice against another people. Said also points out the effects of Israeli propaganda on United States politicians--namely Hillary Rodham Clinton. Not only was she impelled to "return $7,000 worth of Jewelry given to her by Yasir Arafat", she was also compelled to personally "[donate] $1,250 to Israeli settlers so that they could buy more gas masks and helmets."7 While her husband and country may have been a large influence in this, Clinton has demonstrated marked favoritism toward the Israelis. America now accepts that the alliance with Israel has no real factual explanation--its citizens merely expect their government to have a logical reason why their government has sided on this particular side of the fight. But of course there is no true alliance in a combat sense--the greatest contributions America has made to Israeli interests are military technology and money. The citizens of the United States have had much faith in their government--perhaps to a fault.
September 11, 2001 was one of the greatest turning points in American history, and Said describes the many ways that it has influenced American history since it took place. Due to the influence of Christian fundamentalism and conservatism in national politics, America has had an obsession with identifying everything on the planet as either good or evil. September 11 was the match dropped into the pool of gasoline that is American politics. Since the terrorist attacks on that day, there has been an explosion of military activity and terrorist witch-hunts, and leading us all is President George W. Bush. In reaction to this, Said states that "rational understanding of the situation is what is needed now, not more drum beating. George W. Bush and his team clearly want the latter, not the former."9 It has been a "harrowing, unpleasant time" for the seven million Muslims living in America since September 11, stated Said, speaking of the hardships American Muslims have had to endure.10 Surely much resentment and anger has come from them during this time over these events. Since that date there have also been many instances of the breakdown of Israeli support as where Said states "several hundred Israeli reservists have refused military duty in the occupied territory."11 This shows that, since September 11, even the Israeli's themselves have become unsure of their goals and their justification for this conflict.
Some of the final writings that Said completed can be found in the third section of the book, meeting deadlines and continuing to write until he died. It is here that Said begins to move further into current events but also analyze past occurrences on how they affect the current ones. Said delves deeply into the real reasons the U.S. has a presence in Iraq--whether or not that reason is for commencing a "'domino effect'" of bringing democracy to the Middle East, or for oil interests is still unclear.12 It truly is amazing that the Americans "voted to give Bush a blank check for the war" and also that "[there was] any thought in the decision."13 These chapters also talk of the contrast between the First and Second Gulf Wars as well as how these events are all interrelated with the larger picture of the Middle East.
Said's main focus in the book is to call for an action to end Israeli occupation of the west bank and the Gaza strip. Over and over again, Said calls for the withdrawl of Israeli troops, the resumption of peace talks, and the giving of equal footing for the Palestinians with the Israeli's in these peace talks. The need for renewed Arab leadership is also expressed throughout the book and ends with him stating "slowly, however, the world is changing, and the old regime¡ will gradually be replaced by a new set of emerging leaders all over the Arab World."14
Though Said's viewpoints are noble and logical, there may be a great margin of bias involved in his opinion due to the unique situation in Israel. Born there in 1935 only to witness the takeover of the Israelis in 1948 must have greatly angered him. As a member of the oppressed people he seeks to make a case not only for them strongly, but also for himself. The author himself is very passionate about the subject and perhaps leans a bit too much toward the side of the Palestinians without presenting the other side of the argument well. He makes repeated statements about the illegitimacy of Israel and the stupidity of many of their actions, but he fails to maintain a completely unbiased attitude that would act better in persuading his audience that Israel has no case whatsoever in its fight against the Palestinians. In some respect, he has portrayed the Israelis as so evil that he has nearly fallen victim to the type of writing style he aims to prevent. He does, however, make a slight conscious effort to be unbiased or acknowledge both sides, if only to gain more credibility for his own argument in statements such as "if we respect ourselves¡ and understand the true dignity and justice of our struggle, only then can we appreciate why¡ so many people all over the world¡ express their solidarity with us."15 While he is clearly in favor of the Palestinians, Said does make a conscious effort be unbiased in his writings. The resurgence of conservatism and fundamentalism from the mid-seventies and onward has greatly influenced the events presented in this book. While these resurgences may not have a direct effect on the Palestinian cause, they have tricked people into thinking that the right thing to do would be to unconditionally support Israel in favor of completely eradicating the presence of Palestinians in Palestine. The connection between the Palestinian question and the role the United States has had in supporting the Israelis is far too serious to ignore.
In two reviews of his book, Said has been described quite accurately. One review from the September/October 2004 edition of Foreign Affairs praises Said as an educator who has "shaped the way many view the Middle East and the West" and that who has encouraged "Martin Luther King Jr. like resistance [against the Israelis]."16 This review is great in describing the ideals of the book as a whole, however, as a book itself, the choppy, uneven, broken-up style of the book is "mind numbingly repetitive" according to Hussein Ibish, a writer from The Daily Star in Beirut, Lebanon. 17 In other words, the book is mainly useful "mainly because of its first chapter" all of the rest of the book being, as said, "mind numbingly repetitive".
Since the book is a largely unedited collection of articles written by Said shortly before his death, the essays lacked unity as a single entity. The ideas presented, however, remained common motifs throughout. Perhaps if had Said had still been around to publish the book himself, he would have edited it more extensively, being a professor of English, and the book would have flowed better. Instead, the incredibly numerous, short chapters partition the book into separate articles that have little or no flow from one to the next, and written at different time intervals between one another. The book does not to justice to the memory of so great a figure in the recording of the History of Palestine. The second review from The Daily Star, though more critical, has a much more complete analysis of both the pros and cons of the argument presented in the book, and praises the books ideals as well as its author--the book itself, however, will not stand as the English Masterpiece yardstick by which we will measure our own writings in the next century.
The Oslo Accords, the second Palestinian Intifada, and the events following have been a significant watershed in American History. Though America believes that it is fighting for a just cause, the world will continue to view America's support of Israel as despicable, immoral intervention in the foreign affairs of another country. Though the Israelis will continue to unjustly report events in the Middle East, hopefully the truth will eventually be heard by the entire world that "Israel kills a far larger number of mostly unarmed Palestinian civilians [than Palestinian car bombers kill Israelis]."18
Said's book presents a truly unique point of view in the fight over who should rule Palestine, and he makes a great case for a people who have largely stood alone in their fight against a group of oppressors that has occupied them since 1948--nearly the longest military occupation in history. Mahmoud Darwish's words following the PLO's exit from Beirut in 1982 would sum up the situation most appropriately: "The World is closing on us, pushing through the last passage, and we tear our limbs off to pass through¡ Where shall we go after the last frontiers, where should the birds fly after the last sky?"19
Endnotes
1. Said, Edward Wadie. From Oslo to Iraq and the Road Map. Random House, Inc. New York, 2004, 85; Said, Edward Wadie, 92
2. Said, Edward Wadie, 92
3. Said, Edward Wadie, 14-15
4. Said, Edward Wadie, 49
5. Said, Edward Wadie, 50
6. Said, Edward Wadie, 53
7. Said, Edward Wadie, 52; Said, Edward Wadie, 73
8. Said, Edward Wadie, 67
9. Said, Edward Wadie, 108
10. Said, Edward Wadie, 113
11. Said, Edward Wadie, 147
12. Said, Edward Wadie, 264
13. Said, Edward Wadie, 230
14. Said, Edward Wadie, 296
15. Said, Edward Wadie, 297
16. Brown, Carl L. "Foreign Affairs". September/October 2004, 179-180
17. Ibish, Hussein. "The Daily Star". Beirut, Lebanon, 18 September 2004, Article 2
18. Said, Edward Wadie, 238
19. Said, Edward Wadie, 137
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