24 - 30 May 2001
Issue No.535
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 24 - 30 May 2001 Issue No.535 |
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A case of double standards
A US report on religious freedoms is coming under fire for its failure to cite Israeli violations, rather than its statements on Copts' conditions in Egypt writes Omayma Abdel-Latif
When the US Commission for International Religious Freedom (CIRF) visited Egypt in March, top government and religious officials agreed to meet the three-member team despite a popular boycott. In doing so, the officials expressed hope that the CIRF would produce an accurate and straightforward report and not ignore what they referred to as the "severe discrimination happening next door," in a veiled allusion to Israel's continuing violations of Palestinian rights.
The commission, however, did not heed the call and decided against publishing a report on Israel due to what it described as "the complexity of the situation as well as differences of opinion." This move, coming at a time when Israeli atrocities against Palestinian civilians were escalating, was met with scathing criticism from the Egyptian press and human rights activists. Their ire was raised more by the exclusion of Israel than by the commission's statements on Copts.
Opposition newspapers described the move as yet another piece of compelling evidence exposing "the true intentions and biases of the CIRF."
The commission's decision not to mention Israel, in the words of Gasser Abdel-Razek, head of the Hisham Mubarak Centre for Legal Aid, is politically motivated. "It only reflects the political nature of this commission and that it is there to play a role in supporting US interests, not to document human rights abuses," Abdel-Razek told Al-Ahram Weekly. He said the decision was not surprising given that the commission was chaired by Elliot Abrams, known to be staunchly pro-Likud. "He had a moral obligation to protect the establishment to which he belongs and which has no respect for human rights and religious freedom," Abdel-Razek added.
It was CIRF members' unwillingness to criticise Israel that was behind the decision. "Commission members could not bring themselves to criticise Israeli practices against Palestinians. They just did not feel comfortable with the idea," Laila Al-Marayati, a Muslim member of the CIRF, told the Weekly in a telephone interview from Los Angeles. Al-Marayati opposed the commission's decision to refrain from commenting on the situation in Israel and the occupied territories and decided to publish her own account of the commission's trip.
The reason cited by the commission for its abstention, in Al-Marayati's view, is invalid since complicated situations exist all over the world. "It only reflected the lack of consistency among the commission members," she said. But it also adds to the credibility of the assessment that the US is in crisis with regard to its involvement in the domain of human rights. "This particular commission was the product of lobby groups and its composition tended to be influenced by those groups and this explains their discomfort with criticising Israel," said Al-Marayati. She herself was appointed to the commission's membership by then President Bill Clinton.
Al-Marayati's dissenting views were posted on the CIRF's Web site under the title: "Individual dissenting view of Commissioner Dr Laila Al-Marayati." Her report spoke of the great disparity between Muslims and Christians living in Israel, on the one hand, and the Jewish population, on the other, in terms of allocation of resources, social services and law enforcement. In the latter sphere, Jewish perpetrators of crimes against non-Jews are rarely held accountable. She also referred to the ongoing siege imposed exclusively on Palestinians while Israeli Jews move freely, the difficulties which Christian clergymen face in reaching their parishioners in the West Bank and Gaza and the humiliation, frustration and sometimes arbitrary questioning of those who seek permits to enter Jerusalem.
Unlike its passive stand on Israel, the CIRF did have time to offer yet another bleak account of what it described as the "serious problems of, and widespread discrimination against, two religious minorities" in Egypt. "The CIRF tended to be very critical and this was reflected in the report which came void of any [acknowledgment of] positive improvements achieved and focused on the negative areas," Al-Marayati explained.
CIRF's report mentioned an all too familiar list of complaints which it claimed were evidence of discrimination against Copts and Bahai'. It echoed the views of Coptic expatriates in the US and Canada who have been waging a vicious campaign against the Egyptian government. Accusations included "religiously-based discrimination in government employment, the military and the security services as well as required government permission to build or repair churches." Another accusation was that the government uses Coptic citizens' tax money "to help pay the salaries of all Muslim Imams." In response to this particular accusation, a top government source told the Weekly that "it defies the concept of citizenship according to which taxes are collected. They are collected regardless of religious affiliation and all citizens -- Copts and Muslims alike -- get services in return."
Al-Marayati argued that a more accurate assessment of the situation in Egypt would have been possible had the CIRF met with the human rights activists and civil society members who boycotted the commission. "Meeting them would have given us a broader view," she said. Nonetheless, Abdel-Razek, who turned down a request for a meeting with the commission, believes that little would have changed because they came "with their well-established pre-conceptions about the situation in Egypt."
The commission's recommendations to the US government regarding the situation in Egypt seemed to confirm Abdel-Razek's view. For the CIRF the picture was so bleak that it urged President George W Bush to raise his concerns about the upholding of religious freedom with the Egyptian president. It also urged the US government to closely monitor the conditions of religious freedom in Egypt.
Al-Marayati also had her own recommendations for the US government on the situation in Israel and the occupied territories. The most important perhaps is that the US government should urge the Israeli government to honour the internationally recognised guarantees aimed at protecting the rights of civilians living under occupation. It also demanded "the greatest degree of access to religious sites, according to the guidelines of international law."
"The US government should condemn official attacks on religious sites and call upon the Israeli government to refrain from such attacks during its military campaign and from using lethal force when dealing with unarmed demonstrators. It should also prohibit the sale and/or transfer [to Israel] of US weapons used in such attacks as required by US law," Al-Marayati wrote.
Al-Marayati believes that at no time has the need to implement such recommendations been as urgent as it is now. However, whether the US government will react positively to such recommendations remains an open question.
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