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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 May 1999 Issue No. 428 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 May 1999 Issue No. 428
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Special Focus Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Home of the brave
By Salama Ahmed Salama
The battle raging today in the wings of the US State Department is not about the war in the Balkans, the gross errors committed by NATO, or the deadly silence shrouding the Middle East peace process. The matter is far more grave. It concerns an ethnic cleansing campaign by Jewish and Zionist organisations against Arab Americans in the State Department's Middle East Affairs section.
The story began last September, when the State Department hired Joseph Zogby, a young American of Arab origin, the son of James Zogby, former Democratic representative and current president of the Arab American Institute, who publishes articles in the press in defence of the Arab and Palestinian cause and, lastly, who is one of President Clinton's reliable sources on Arab affairs.
Before he was hired, Joseph Zogby worked for the Palestinian Peace Project (PPP), a project aimed at sensitising Americans, particularly young lawyers, to the various dimensions of the Palestinian problem, and giving them more insight into the Arab-Israeli conflict and Middle East affairs.
It is well known that vehement Zionists, who use their religion for political advancement, dominate the key posts in the White House and the State Department: to cite but a few, Madeleine Albright, William Cohen, Samuel Berger, Martin Indyk and Dennis Ross can all be included in this category. Nonetheless, the appointment of a single Arab American to an insignificant post in the State Department seems to have triggered violent reactions among Jewish and Zionist organisations. Angry statements filled the press, calling for the young man to be fired.
One day after the campaign was unleashed, The New York Daily News published a banner which condemned the government for hiring someone who "hated Israel"; the paper described Zogby's appointment as "appalling", and stated that someone like Joseph Zogby should have never been appointed at the expense of the American taxpayer. Forward, the American Jewish publication, quoted the chairman of the National Workers' Committee in Israel as saying, that "biased as he is, Zogby cannot be of much use to the State Department." In their meeting, held last week with Assistant Secretary of State Martin Indyk (formerly head of one of the most extremist American Zionist lobbies), Jewish American organisations called for Zogby's dismissal.
Forward is quoted as having stated that Congressman Michael Forbes was collecting signatures for Zogby's expulsion, since someone like him should not be employed "as a dogcatcher" by the State Department. The Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz confirmed Indyk's promise that Zogby's service would be terminated on the grounds of a "conflict of interests", and that he himself would offer Zogby a post in another administration.
A junior Arab employee, with no authority to take decisions or to draft policies, prompted Zionist organisations in control of American decision making, to oppose his being hired to any post related to Israel or Israeli interests.
Although the US is supposed to be a melting pot, accommodating people of all ethnic and religious origins, the State Department is monopolised by one religious group. James Zogby, accused of being a fanatic, was in fact being condemned for his efforts to increase American awareness of the Palestinian cause.
While the US is supposed to oppose discrimination on the basis of race, religion and colour, and waging war in the Balkans to eradicate ethnic cleansing, it is itself mounting an ethnic cleansing campaign against its own citizens, if they happen to be of Arab descent. Advocating human rights is one thing; applying such principles at home is another.
