This is important. Gosh I wish I had the power to prick this balloon…
Yesterday on her blog, Helena Cobban noted that David Makovsky, Israel lobbyist par excellence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and co-author of a recent book on resolving the conflict (along with Dennis Ross, the Israel lobbyist/catspaw in State), had put himself forward as a spokesman for the Palestinians in a panel at the U.S. Institute for Peace last Wednesday. Cobban:
He claimed he was just back from a short visit to Ramallah, and
Everyone I talked to there was adamant that the US should not deal with Hamas. I talked to hundreds of people there, and they all said that to me!
What a gross misrepresentation of the facts about the attitudes and preferences of the people of Ramallah! Makovsky claims he talked to "hundreds" of people in Ramallah in his short time there?
I would love to know who just two or three of them were. He gave us no names.
But honestly, how do you talk to "hundreds" of people in Ramallah during a short visit– or even, a long visit? I spent more than a week there back in February/March, and I was able to gain meaningful interviews with no more than two dozen Ramallah residents. And I am, yes, considerably better plugged-in there than someone like Makovsky…
[W]hy did no other participants in the panel discussion call him on it?
At one point one of the other panelists– I think it was Nathan Brown Paul Scham, it may have been Amjad Atallah… indirectly challenged the general impression that Makovsky was presumably trying to convey, namely that "all of Fateh" wants the US to continue excluding and combating Hamas.
Of course that is not the case. As Nathan pointed out, Fateh is deeply split– on this issue as on a number of other issues.
This is an old habit for Makovsky. As we reported here earlier this year, Makovsky has twice gone before Congress to tell our representatives how Palestinians feel. Lately, he suggested that Palestinians would be happy with "biometrics" at checkpoints, to ease the lines. And five years ago, as David Bloom stated in that same link, Makovsky–
told Congress
that Palestinian residents of Qalqilya (the large city on the other
side of [the Lev Leviev-owned Jewish settlement] Zufim) would be willing to accept the loss of their lands if
they were compensated. In his testimony,
Makovsky stated that "there is hardship" for Palestinians impacted by the
fence, but asserted that most "are very happy to hear the Israeli
government coming out this week with a 2-billion shekel or $500 million
program on the hardship. I happened to speak to the mayor of Qualqilya,
and I saw the wall on the Palestinian side, and I asked him, I said,
'if there was a compensation program to offset some of these hardships,
would you be for it?' He said absolutely. "
Having spent three months in Qalqilya district, including Jayyous,
I never met a Palestinian who would accept compensation for
their land–regarding it as their ancestral and cultural heritage, the
selling of which amounts to collaboration with the Israeli occupiers
But Marouf Zahran, the mayor of Qalqilya, sent an email to the WW3 Report, stating the following:
"It is with deep regret that I learn that David Makovsky of the
Washington Institute for Near East Policy implied that I would accept
'compensation' for the impoverishing and destructive effects of
Israel's Wall as built around the West Bank town of Qalqilya, the town
of which I am Mayor. As I made clear to Mr. Makovsky during his visit
that while I would welcome any relief offered to the suffering
residents of Qalqilya, such relief would not be necessary if Israel
builds its Wall on the border [the Green Line] between what became
Israel in 1948 and Occupied Palestinian Territory. I made it very clear
to Mr. Makovsky, with the express intent that Mr. Makovsky not
misconstrue my statements for his own purposes, that under no
conditions would I or the residents of Qalqilya accept or otherwise
acquiesce to the construction of the Wall in exchange for compensation.
Our property and our human rights are not for sale."
Note that this is a hearing before a congressional committee on
"Israel's security fence." The only witnesses are Ross and Makovsky,
both then of WINEP. No Palestinians. no one even slightly neutral. Would things be different now–yes, I believe.
