Afif Safieh, the official PLO representative in Washington, exemplifies the complexities of the Palestinian situation. He is a Westernized, Catholic, nonviolent intellectual, born in East Jerusalem, educated in France and Belgium and then unable to return home after the 1967 Six-Day War.
As a result, he blames Israel for most of the problems facing the Middle East, and faults the United States for “making U.S. foreign policy a subcontractor of Israel.”
At the same time, he claims to have not just a few but many Jewish friends around the world, and on Friday, July 28, he reached out and attempted to make a few more.
After he and his wife attended Friday night services at Kehilla Community Synagogue in Piedmont, Safieh gave the Palestinian version of history and the Middle East conflict. Approximately 80 to 90 people attended his talk.
Allan Solomonow, head of the Middle East peace program of the local American Friends Service Committee and a longtime member of the Kehilla community, along with the Rev. Lyle Grosjean, a retired Episcopal priest and member of the Interfaith Witness For Peace In The Middle East, arranged for Safieh to speak. Their initial bid to have him speak to the Jewish Community Relations Council was reportedly turned down.
Safieh said the Palestinian Liberation Organization formed during the 1960s as an idealistic movement dedicated to the idea of a one-state solution. He said that only after the Yom Kippur War of 1973 did the group give up this vision, in favor of a two-state solution. He claimed that the Israelis have an insatiable appetite for Palestinian land and are the real obstacles to peace.
“No Palestinian-U.S. dialogue can take place without the participation of American Jews, but AIPAC does not really speak for American Jews, only for the right wing of Israeli politics,” Safieh said of the pro-Israel lobby group. He urged listeners to speak out to help change U.S. policy in the Middle East.
The current “war in Lebanon did not start with the abduction of the two Israeli soldiers,” he stressed, “but was caused by Hezbollah’s unresolved grievances.”
Safieh’s talk drew a mixed audience.
One couple — longtime members of Kehilla who had not attended in three or four years — said they came specifically to hear Safieh speak. They agreed with a lot of what he said, if not all of it.
A rabbi who asked not be identified for fear of offending her employers at a Jewish educational institution, was also drawn to hear him speak.
According to Rabbi David Cooper, Kehilla was originally formed by progressive and concerned Jews, many of whom felt alienated and disillusioned after traditional congregations refused to discuss during High Holy Day services Israel’s invasion into Lebanon in the summer of 1982.
Cooper pointed out that some members of the congregation disagreed strongly with Safieh’s views, and expressed disappointment that none of them had chosen to speak up. Nonetheless, Cooper — who grew up during the 1960s and was inspired by the events of that time — felt it was important to hear Safieh’s point of view. He also felt that listening to Safieh would help his congregation learn the art of “compassionate listening.”
The idea is to hear and understand what’s being said from the speaker’s perspective, Cooper explained, whether or not you agree with him.
Safieh made it clear that the Palestinians will not accept peace until they get the world to listen to and understand their version of the conflict.