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Interview with Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Abu Lughod
Name: Ibrahim Abu Lughod
Age: 69
Place of Birth: Jaffa
Occupation: political scientist
I was born in Jaffa in Palestine in 1929. My family and I lived in a quarter of the city called the Manshiya quarter. There I grew up, went to school, graduated and eventually fled.
I remember the irony of my secondary matriculation examination scores. In 1948, the British realized that trouble was on the way, so they moved up the date of the exam from June to March. I took my exam on March 30, 1948. Little did I know that I would hear the results of my exam in July of the same year, by accident, over Israeli radio, as I was sitting in my new home as a refugee in Nablus. I immediately sent a telegram to a close friend who had fled to Beirut. The results of his exams were so important and I knew he had no way of finding them out.
What was it like to live in Jaffa in 1948?
I was a high school student at the time, which meant that I was very aware of the political situation around me. I remember when the United Nations decided on the plan to partition Palestine. The students of Jaffa organized a three-day sit-in to protest the resolution and later followed with a mass demonstration throughout the entire city. As a student body, we always organized ourselves on major occasions such as the Balfour Declaration.
Anyway the day of the demonstration marked the beginning of what could be called the bi-communal war between Arabs and Jews. For the first time, there was a crossfire between the two sides near the Hasan al-Beik mosque, the border between Tel Aviv and Jaffa. It was a battle between a purely Jewish town _ Tel Aviv had actually grown out of Jaffa _ and a town which until 1936 was purely Arab.
In the early months of 1947, a national committee was established in Jaffa to organize the affairs of the people and prepare them for the imminent prospect of war. I could fairly say that the committee was representative of both the middle and working class. Later on, Jaffa became semi-organized into a part-time militia comprised of shopkeepers, students etc. They were provided with very primitive weapons which they acquired from the Mufti and other sources from whom they had asked for assistance. The ratio was absurd, however. There was a total of 1,500 militia to defend a city of 70,000. They would work in three shifts to maintain the borders of the city which was surrounded by Zionists from all sides _ Tel Aviv to the north, Beit Yam to the south and Netar settlement to the east. This settlement cut straight through the highway and the Zionists could easily stop the traffic whenever they wanted.
The first time we were forced to move from our home was in December of 1947. The Manshiya quarter overlooked Tel Aviv and both sides [Jews and Arabs] could easily shoot at each other. Eventually the entire area had to be evacuated when the mutual bombardment became too intense. We moved to a new neighborhood for two weeks and then settled in an apartment in yet another area of the city until May [1948] when we finally left for good.
During this time, I was still a student, of course, and somehow we still were able to attend classes. We had established a sort of organization which could be called the modern-day GUPS [General Union of Palestinian Students]. Some of us volunteered to be a part of a first aid team. We would see actual battles and assist the wounded. The national committee also recruited some of us students who spoke English to patrol at checkpoints. We were to identify Zionists from the Hagana and Irgun gangs by asking for ID cards so they would not enter Jaffa. Looking back, I realize how elementary the endeavor was given the fact that the British were also "foreigners".
As the war grew closer, the national committee began to feel the panic of the people. Fearing that they would leave Jaffa, the committee took the decision to prevent people from leaving. However, they realized that they could not force them to stay because the British were the ones who controlled the borders, so they decided to place an _exit tax_ to discourage anyone who wanted to leave. Of course this did not totally prevent the people from leaving, it only made it a bit more difficult. I worked for the committee and I saw the exodus. So many people paid the tax just to get out. The money the committee collected from the taxes went towards buying weapons and to factories which made license plates for our military jeeps.
We even had volunteers from Arab armies, such as Iraqis, and Bosnian Muslims who had apparently escaped from communist Yugoslavia. Even one of our commanders was Bosnian. When he was killed, the front collapsed.
What happened in May 1948?
By May of 1948, the city was emptied of its people. I had tried to remain. I continued to tax the people who left and even sent my family away, except for my oldest brother. However, it became apparent that even I had to evacuate. There was no food, nothing. On May 1, I left Jaffa to follow my family to Nablus. My brother left on May 6. Jaffa officially surrendered on May 13, 1948. I was not to see Jaffa again until my return in 1991. What Israel did to the remaining Arab population of Jaffa served as an example [of what they would do] to Arab populations in other cities taken over. They disarmed the few families left and herded them into small ghettos. This same policy was implemented into other Arab cities such as Haifa and Akka and, frankly speaking, this is what Israel is doing to this day.
We lived as refugees in Nablus for six months. In December of that same year [1948] I knew we would never return. We had originally left Jaffa thinking that we would be able to return to our homes in two weeks. However, after observing the political developments and having conversations with some Iraqi officers we had met in Nablus, I came to the bleak conclusion that Israel was there to stay and the Arab armies were not going to do anything about it. That is when we decided to move to Amman to find work. I only stayed in Jordan for a year and a half and then I left for the States. I stayed there for eight years, during which I obtained my Ph.D. in political science. I then moved to Egypt for four years where I worked for UNESCO before I returned to the States.
How were you able to travel?
I had a Palestinian passport issued by the British Mandate authorities with which I entered Jordan. However, the United States did not recognize the Palestinian passport, so I had to get a Jordanian travel document (a laissez-passer) and a visa to enter the US.
Where were you during the 1967 war?
I was teaching in Massachusetts when the war broke out. To me, it was more devastating than 1948. Not only did we as Palestinians witness the defeat of the Arab armies once again, but I personally experienced the blatant racism against Arabs and Muslims in the US. The attack waged against non-white, non-Christian Arabs by the media was horrendous. Arabs at that time were represented by [Egyptian leader Gamal] 'Abdel Nasser whom the West saw as a threat to their interests and a doorway for Communism to enter the Middle East. The assault was on all fronts, combined with the realization that more of Palestine was lost.
When did you return to Palestine?
I used to visit the West Bank between 1948 and 1966 when it was under Jordanian rule. But after 1967, I didn't come back until 27 years later in September 1991 on my first visit for years. In 1992 I returned for good. I was encouraged by the resistance of the Palestinian people and wanted to contribute something to Palestinian education. So I became a professor in Birzeit University.
How would you assethe situation now?
Things are both better and worse. In terms of the Palestinians' every day lives, things are better. They are now able to live more decently. They no longer have to endure curfews, can go to school and work more freely and practice a considerable amount of control over their own lives. Although there are still people imprisoned and killed, the numbers are noticeably less.
However, in many ways things are worse. Israel will never relinquish control and the Palestinians are not free nor are their prospects for freedom great. They [the Israelis] are determined to expropriate our patrimony and control Palestine. The only thing I can say is that the prospect for independence is dimmer than it was in 1992 and the future looks grim.
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Birzeit University Mourns the Late Professor Dr. Ibrahim Abu Lughod
May 23, 2001.
It is with deep sorrow and regret that Birzeit University announces the passing away of Dr. Ibrahim Abu-Lughod after a brief period of illness. He is described by the President of the University as one of the most distinguished professors who have joined Birzeit in recent times. His dedication and commitment were exemplary.
Dr. Abu-Lughod left Palestine in 1948 and returned in 1991 on a visit and decided to stay for good, leaving the United States and his post as Chairman of the Political Science Department at Northwestern University. His decision to return and stay in his native Palestine came due to his commitment to help in the development of its institutions.
In 1992, Dr. Abu-Lughod joined Birzeit and was immediately appointed as a vice president. He stayed in that post for its duration of four years. During that period he was a pioneering champion in establishing the faculty of graduate studies at the University. He realized that there are many capable faculty members at the University and that a graduate studies faculty will make it possible for students to do their graduate work at Birzeit itself, rather than leave the county and study abroad.
Among the first graduate programs to be offered was that of International Studies. When asked few years ago about the rationale behind establishing the program, Dr. Abu-Lughod stated, "We are on the verge of new developments in Palestinian governance and the University should be capable of training foreign service experts and other personnel for this new era." Until his untimely death, Dr. Abu Lughod was a professor in this program.
Two years ago, the University honored Dr. Abu Lughod with its special plaque for that year in recognition for his scholarly vision and achievements - especially in the field of graduate studies.
Dr. Ibrahim Abu-Lughod was born in Jaffa in 1929, and received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1957. His first tenure was with UNESCO as head of its Social Science Division in Egypt, and later went to the United States and became a research associate at Princeton University. In 1967, he taught political science at Northwestern University and later served as director of the Graduate Studies there, where he stayed until 1988. He held two more UNESCO posts, one in Beirut, Lebanon, and one in Paris, France. Dr. Abu-Lughod has also lectured extensively and participated in seminars and conferences dealing with Palestinians issues all over the world.
Dr. Abu Lughod has been an inspiration to many students and faculty members as well. One faculty member, Dr. Hisham Ahmed-Farargeh, professor of Political Science at Birzeit University, said that it was because of Dr. Abu-Lughod's inspiration that he himself also decided to return to Palestine. He said that Dr. Abu Lughod was a humanist, a distinguished scholar, a true teacher, kind and generous. Dr. Farargeh is now writing a biography of Dr. Abu Lughod.
One of the people who will greatly miss Ibrahim is his long-time friend Professor Edward Said who came especially from the United States today to be with his friend during his sickness. Unfortunately, Ibrahim passed away few hours before Edward Said's arrival.
Dr. Abu-Lughod is survived by three daughters and a son: Leila, Mariam, Dina and Jawad. According to his wish he will be buried on Friday in his beloved hometown, Jaffa.
The University, its Board of Trustees, faculty, staff and students share with the family in the mourning of Ibrahim. May his soul rest in peace and grant his family and friends the courage to cope with this tragic loss.
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Dr. Hisham Sharabi
Biography Of Hisham Sharabi
Sharabi, Hisham
intellectual
1927 in Jaffa
Born into a well-to-do family, Hisham Sharabi spent his childhood in JAFFA and ACRE. He studied at the Friends School in RAMALLAH and at the American University in Beirut, where he graduated in 1947 with a B.A. in philosophy. He earned an M.A. in philosophy in 1949 and a Ph.D. in the history of culture from the University of Chicago in 1953. Sharabi's political activism started at an early age, when he joined the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) in 1947. He was deeply influenced by its leader, Antun Sa'ada, whose charisma and stern, uncompromising determination, especially on the issue of Palestine, appealed to the young Sharabi. Sa'ada confided in Sharabi, showing great interest in the promising young intellectual.
While Sharabi was studying in the United States, Palestine fell to the Israeli forces in 1948. At Sa'ada's behest, Sharabi returned in 1949 to resume his activities with the SSNP and became the editor of SSNP's monthly magazine, al-Jil al-Jadid (The new generation). In June of that year the Lebanese regime cracked down on the SSNP, putting most of its members in prison and executing Sa'ada. After fleeing to Jordan, Sharabi went back to the United States to resume his studies. In 1953 he started teaching history at Georgetown University. He attained full professorship in only eleven years. In 1955 he officially ended his affiliation with the SSNP.
Until 1967, Sharabi was in what he himself calls "silence in exile," writing and publishing in English only to fulfill academic requirements. The 1967 defeat and the 1968 student movement transformed Sharabi both intellectually and politically. He abandoned his liberal views and became a leftist, rereading Marx and Freud with a fresh eye and incorporating them into his ground-breaking analysis of Arab SOCIETY. He became very active in Palestinian and Arab affairs. After giving numerous talks across campuses, Sharabi moved to Beirut in 1970 to work in the Palestine Planning Center and was visiting professor at the American University in Beirut in 1970-71. At around the same time, translations of his English work Arab Intellectuals and the West began to appear in Arabic, al-Muthaqqafun al-Arab wa al-Gharb. The eruption of the Lebanese civil war in 1975 thwarted his plans to settle in Lebanon. Instead he stayed at Georgetown, where he was professor of European intellectual history and holder of the Omar al-Mukhtar chair of Arab culture.
Sharabi has had an important role in building institutions to promote awareness and understanding of the Palestine issue and the Arab world. In 1971, Sharabi was chosen to be editor of the loumal of Palestine Studies, published by the INSTITUTE FOR PALESTINE STUDIES. He co founded the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University , the only academic center solely devoted to the study of the Arab world in the United States, in 1975. In 1979, he founded the Arab-American Cultural Foundation and Alif Gallery in Washington, D.C. In 1990, he founded the Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine, a Washington, D.C. based institution that provides information, publishes papers, and sponsors talks and symposia pertaining to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Sharabi is also the founder and chair of the Jerusalem Fund, a Palestinian charitable organization that provides scholarships for students from Palestine. Sharabi retired from his post at Georgetown University in 1998.
Sharabi is best known as a committed, influential writer and scholar who remains a unique phenomenon as an Arab intellectual living in the West. Despite half a century of exile, he has maintained a lively dialogue with the Arab world through his substantial contributions in Arabic and English. He has been one of the few intellectuals who dar,ed to critique and propose a break with the leftist and nationalist establishments in order to chart a new epistemological horizon for Arab intellectuals. His Muqaddimat li Dirasat al-Mujtama al-Arabi (Introduction to the study of Arab society), published in 1975, was a trail-blazing work and has had, and still has, a great impact on Arab intellectuals and educators, especially Palestinians. His two-volume autobiography, al-Jamr wa al-Ramad: Dhikrayat Muthaqqa Arabi (Embers and ashes: Memoirs of an Arab intellectual), published in 1978, and Suwar al-Madi: Sira Dhatiyya (Images of the past: An autobiography), published in 1993, are already classics. Unparalleled in their candor, the two volumes eloquently depict and critique the experience of a whole generation of Arab intellectuals, most of which has ended in compulsory or self-imposed exile,
replete with dreams, disillusionment, and defeat. Neopatriarchy: Theory of Distorted Change in Arab Society appeared in 1988 and was published in Arabic as al-Nizam al-Abawi (1989) and in French as Le Patriarcat (1996). It provided an alternative way to understand Arab society and has had a great impact on scholarly and intellectual circles in the Arab world. Sharabi's other work in Arabic, which is organically linked to the works discussed, is al-Naqd al-Hadari li al-Mujtama al-Arabi (Cultural critique of Arab society (1990).
For Sharabi, social change cannot be achieved merely by a revolution or a coup. In a post revolutionary world, change is a very complicated and dangerous process that entails a complete transfer from neopatriarchy to modernism on all levels. Arab intellectuals must carefully walk an independent route through which they are capable of choosing what is suitable from the tools and concepts of both modernism and postmodernism in order to achieve modernism. Aware that a new critical discourse by itself cannot effect sociopolitical change directly and must go hand in hand with praxis, Sharabi stresses that such a discourse is the first step to serious change. Intellectuals can influence the battles for sociopolitical change. Prerequisites for this new critical discourse are putting an end to the hegemony of metaphysics and philosophers and engaging in horizontal dialogues in society, not between ideological theorists. Another prerequisite is a new understanding and attitude toward language, reading, and writing (texts). Patriarchal language is ceremonial and ritualistic, leaving no space for dialogue and discussion. Sharabi confesses that even he himself writes under its hegemony. Reading equals writing in its critical role and importance. In order to liberate themselves and break with patriarchal structures, Arab intellectuals must master a foreign language in order to be able to translate the new intellectual concepts and categories and lay the grounds for a new language and new consciousness. The new critical discourse must overthrow the hegemony of anyone discourse, even the secularist or revolutionary-nationalist. It must provide more than a description of the alternative to existing structures, but rather a social and intellectual preparation for the terrain required for establishing alternative structures. If read correctly, the critical-secularist text can challenge, and pose a serious threat to, the dominant powers and their ideologies. As for the fundamentalist movements, they should be confronted only as political forces. Engaging in theological debates or appeasing such movements is a lost battle.
The issue of women is the most crucial for Sharabi. He was deeply affected and transformed by his readings of feminist writings and realized how this issue was never addressed seriously and was given only lip service, even by secularist and leftist intellectuals. The oppression of women is the cornerstone of the (neo)patriarchal system. Therefore, women's liberation is an essential condition for overthrowing the (neo)patriarchal hegemony. Women are the time bomb at the heart of ( neo )patriarchal societies.
Sharabi's other works include Government and Politics in the Middle East in the Twentieth Century (1962), Nationalism and Revolution in the Arab World (1966), Arab Intellectuals and the West (1970), and al-Rihla al-Akhira (The last journey), a novel in Arabic (1987). He has also edited The Next Arab Decade: Alternative Futures (1988) and Theory, Politics and the Arab World: Critical Approaches (1991).
The above was quoted from Encyclopedia Of The Palestinians edited by Philip Mattar.
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Dr.Hisham Sharabi |
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Salah Khalaf (Abu Iyad)
Biography Of Salah Khalaf (Abu Iyad).
Khalaf, Salah
Abu Iyad; PLO leader
1933 in Jaffa - 1991 in Tunis
Abu lyad was born to a middle-class family in JAFFA, where he attended the Marwaniyya School and joined a paramilitary youth organization. Then, in 1948, his family was displaced when ISRAEL was created; they settled in Gaza, where he completed his secondary education. In 1951, he enrolled in a teachers' college in Cairo, where he met YASIR ARAFAT. When Arafat was elected president of the Palestinian Student Union in 1952, Abu Iyad served as his deputy, in 1956 he succeeded Arafat as president. In 1957, he earned a degree in philosophy and returned to Gaza to pursue a career in teaching. In 1959, he joined Arafat in Kuwait, where he obtained a teaching position. Abu Iyad became one of a select group of Palestinian activists who founded the Fatah movement. As a result, he left Kuwait to join other Fatah members in Damascus, which was hospitable to the Palestinian movement at the time. There he emerged as one of the architects of PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION (PLO) policy toward Arab governments and helped the PLO establish ties with Jamal Abd al-Nasir, who had initially been suspicious of Fatah's intentions.
Abu Iyad was considered a major leader of the leftist camp within Fatah. He was critical of conservative Arab regimes, particularly of their influence over Arafat. Like other founders of Fatah, he harbored some sympathy for the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood. His leftism was, however, de~oid of any Marxist tendencies. His ideology, like that of Fatah as a whole, was ill defined, although he did prefer to work with the "progressive" Arab regimes. For him, the aim of the liberation of Palestine was a "clear thought" and ideology, although he did not (unlike other Palestinian leaders) feel the need for the elaboration of a political vision.
Abu Iyad was put in charge of security and intelligence, including counterintelligence, and in that capacity he succeeded in sending infiltrators to rival Palestinian organizations, including the Fatah Revolutionary Council, led by ABU NIDAL. His intelligence work displeased some military cadres within Fatah, who thought he was intruding on their territory. Abu Iyad enjoyed strong support within the movement, however, especially among students, from whom he promoted such key leaders as Abu al-Hawl and RANI AL-HASAN.
Abu Iyad's role in Palestinian activism extended far beyond Fatah: he protected Palestinian leftist groups in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a time when more conservative Fatah leaders recommended the suppression of rival Left organizations. He maintained close ties with the POPULAR FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE (PFLP) and the DEMOCRATIC FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE (DFLP) over the years and was often assigned to promote Fatah's views to other PLO organizations. Abu Iyad was probably the first PLO leader to declare officially that the movement's goal was the establishment of a "secular democratic state in Palestine" comprising both Palestinians and Jews-an idea favored by the PLO's left wing, which fiercely opposed the two-state solution until the late 1970s.
Khalaf's role within the Palestinian national movement became more important in 1970 in Jordan, where he advocated nonconfrontation with the Jordanian regime, although-in contrast with the PLO's right wing-he later refused to blame the PFLP and the DFLP for the massacres that resulted from the Jordanian war against the Palestinians. (Both organizations became easy targets for Fatah leaders, who avoided self-criticism. ) Nevertheless, he was arrested by the Jordanian government and forced to issue declarations that did not conform to his own views; his comrade, Muhammad Yusuf al-Najjar, had to disavow his statements. Abu Iyad was later accused by Israel and the UNITED STATES of creating the BLACK SEPTEMBER organization and masterminding its violent operations.
Western publications also reported that Abu Iyad had hired Ali Hasan Salama as its operational chief. The Fatah leadership, however, never admitted any role in the creation of that organization.
Abu Iyad's role in Lebanon made him one of the most famous Palestinian leaders. He used the relative safety of Lebanon to solidify his security and intelligence apparatus and to establish contacts with regional and international intelligence services. He often cooperated with European intelligence agencies to thwart attacks by rival Palestinian organizations, providing them with crucial information about Abu Nidal and his followers in return for diplomatic and financial support.
Abu Iyad was bitterly criticized by some Lebanese for getting too personally involved in the Lebanese civil war. He was not reluctant to take sides among the numerous warring factions and is best remembered for asserting, "The road to Palestine passes through Junya [a Christian town in Lebanon]." He favored a policy of active military and political support of the Lebanese National Movement, which championed the Palestinian cause in Lebanon. (Other Fatah leaders, including Arafat, were reluctant to commit PLO forces in Lebanon to the Lebanese National Movement's total victory.) As a result, Abu Iyad's relations with the Syrian regime deteriorated in 1976, when Syrian forces intervened in Lebanon against the PLO and its Lebanese allies.
In 1982, Abu Iyad opposed the withdrawal of PLO forces from Beirut. He assured Lebanese and Palestinian leaders that Israel would not dare send its troops into West Beirut, but his words did not calm the fears of those who had been exhausted by the Lebanese civil war. After the evacuation of PLO forces from Lebanon in the summer of 1982, Abu Iyad settled in Tunisia with other PLO leaders. He refused to join the dissident movement within Fatah in 1983, despite the appeals of the leftist leaders SA'rn MURAGHA (Abu Musa) and Abu Salih.
Abu Iyad remained personally loyal to Arafat despite their many political differences. Like Arafat, he moderated his views in his later years and came to advocate face-to-face negotiations with Israel. He also made direct appeals to the Israeli public, and in 1988 he even endorsed peaceful existence with Israel. In 1990, Abu Iyad took another dissident position: he publicly disagreed with the PLO's support for the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait in 1990.
Abu Iyad was assassinated in January 1991 by what PLO sources identified as a bodyguard of the PLO leader Abu al-Hawl, who was also assassinated that night. Reports suggested that the gunman belonged to Abu Nidal's organization, although the PLO has never investigated the assassination.
The above was quoted from Encyclopedia Of The Palestinians edited by Philip Mattar.
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Salah Khalaf (Abu Iyad) |
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