Attend March 3 Speech by
Daniel Pipes
The Issue:
An editorial by Daniel Pipes in the February 29, 2004 Kansas City Star (page B9) attempts to depict the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as "trivial" and within international law.
The editorial makes the following false claims, among others:
Daniel Pipes will be speaking Wednesday, March, 2004 at 7:30 at Congregation Beth Israel Abraham & Voliner, 9900 Antioch Street, Overland Park, Kansas. Open to public, but reservations required. To attend call or write - Phone 913-341-2444 or Email pipes@biav.org. Subject: “Update on the Palestinian-Israeli war, and the global surge in Moslem anti-Semitism”. Pipes is controversial, to say the least, and last summer was given a “recess” appointment by George Bush to the Directors of the United States Institute for Peace, over the strenuous objections of some in Congress.
For background information and talking points on Daniel Pipes click here >>
What You Can Do:
1. ATTEND DANIEL PIPES' MARCH 3 OVERLAND PARK SPEECH AND ASK QUESTIONS DURING Q & A PERIOD.
> Wednesday, March 3, 7:30 PM / EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC - ADVANCED RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED - CONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL ABRAHAM & VOLINER, 9900 Antioch Avenue, Overland Park, Kansas / To attend call or send an email - Phone: (913) 341-2444 / Email: pipes@biav.org
> Suggested questions for audience members:
- Why are Israel and backers in the U.S. nearly the only nations that claim the settlements created since the 1967 war are not illegal?
- Why do you make claims that Palestinian leaders have not acknowledged the right of Israel to exist? Did the PLO make this statement in 1988 and subsequently?
2. WRITE A LETTER TO THE KANSAS CITY STAR RESPONDING TO DANIEL PIPES EDITORIAL IN THE 2/29/04 KC STAR (PAGE B9) | TIPS FOR WRITING LETTERS
Kansas City Star -- E-mail: letters@kcstar.com / Phone: (816) 234-4636 / Fax: (816) 234-4926 / Address: 1729 Grand Blvd, Kansas City, MO 64108-1458
3. Send an email to info@cjme.org and let us know that you attended the speech or wrote to the KC Star on this issue.
3/5/04 - Report on Daniel Pipes lecture by Charles Thornton
LECTURE BY DR. DANIEL PIPES
AT CONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL ABRAHAM & VOLINER
9900 ANTIOCH RD., OVERLAND PARK, KANSAS
WEDNESDAY, 03 MARCH, 2004, 7:50 TO 9:00 PM
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON THE PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI WAR, AND THE GLOBAL SURGE IN MOSLEM ANTI-SEMITISM
INTRODUCED BY RABBI DAVID FINE (OF THE CONGREGATION) AND BY MARTY ROSENBERG, LEADER OF THE SYNAGOGUE'S RECENTLY ESTABLISHED POLITICAL ACTION GROUP
This was the initial lecture in a new series to be held by the Congregation. About 800 people attended, many from other Jewish congregations in the Kansas City area. Although scheduled to start at 7:30PM, the program did not commence until about 0750. No explanation for the delay was given. Security was provided by at least five uniformed members of the Overland Park Police Department. One stood prominently outside the entrance to the auditorium and scrutinized the approaching visitors. Two or three stood at points in the entry hallway, observing the incoming crowd, and at least one inspected women’s purses and other carry-in equipment. One also stood near the check-in table just inside the auditorium, where each visitor’s name was checked off on a large, neatly printed roster, reminiscent of a voting name check. A small poster on the auditorium entrance door stated that this was a meeting on private premises and that anyone could be asked to leave. A list was on that table for name and e-mail address entries of those wishing to be added to Pipe’s e-mail newsletter. Also, 3x5 cards were available for audience members who might want to ask questions of the speaker. These cards were either left on that desk or collected from the aisles at the end of the lecture. About 10 such cards, presumably selected at random, were then read to the speaker by Marty Rosenberg. About 50 cards having “good questions” on them were left over, according to Rosenberg. Despite a robust PA system, the last word in some of the speaker’s sentences was often difficult to hear, because of his speaking manner.
Pipes, at the outset, dismissed the settlements as a serious problem, placing it much subordinate to Israel’s right to exist.
Most of the lecture dealt with the notion that the Palestinian rank and file had not yet accepted the right of the Israeli state to exist, and that all negotiations between the two sides were doomed to failure until the Palestinian people accept that right. The speaker asserted that a state of war exists between Palestinians and Israelis and that any concessions granted to the Palestinians by the Israelis only have been shown to reinforce or increase the aggressiveness of the Palestinians in fighting to throw out the Israelis. Pipes cited a number of examples to bolster his argument. Among these examples were the White House handshake ceremony between Arafat and Shimon Peres, and the Oslo Accords.
One side, he said, has to win this war, and only then can negotiations be productive. Although his verbiage was not always clear, the speaker seemed to refer repeatedly to “anti-Semitic Moslems” or Moslem extremists” in what appeared to be a pejorative sense.
Pipes asserted that Israel, he believed, is now winning this war. He went on to pose a few what-if scenarios – Israelis not winning, Palestinians winning, etc., that did not seem very important or clarifying. In any case, the tone of his discussion was disturbingly hard-line, war-like, and denigrating to any attempts at dialog, reconciliation, etc. He criticized the Road Map, any notion of a Marshall Plan for Palestinians, the recent Geneva Accords, a two-state solution, “getting people back to the peace table”, and other initiatives, as unworkable and counterproductive.
He several times asserted that the Palestinians were in a much better position than the Israelis to benefit from Palestinian acceptance of the right of the Israeli state to exist. Otherwise, he seemed to ignore the relative impoverishment of the Palestinians and the unjust treatment dealt them by the Israeli government. None of the conditions known to be provocative of Palestinian frustration and suicidal behavior, such as house demolitions, checkpoints, military harassment, etc., were mentioned.
Nor was any mention made of the United Nations, Resolution 242, the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, or any significant part of the history of the current conflict. It was as if the Palestinians were in full control of their own destiny and simply chose to bullheadedly and aggressively oppose Israel, as a matter of free choice. He cited the hate-filled education given to young Palestinians – from birth on.
In response to a question about an allegation that 80% of Moslems were anti-Semitic, Pipes said that was incorrect, that he believed that most of the mosques throughout the world, however, harbor a small, perhaps 10% core of extremist anti-Semitic officials, but that they influence, negatively, some 80% of the Moslem population.
Pipes asserted that a lot of the misinformation and confusion we tend to hear on the general subject comes from Israel itself. He asserted that a lot of Israelis “don’t know what is going on”. He said that you can see this by listening to a lot of the Israeli media – especially that in the English language, like Ha’arretz. Pipes suggested that someone here should initiate a Hebrew language news source which would tell the story “as it is”.
In response to a question about Sharon, Pipes said that he did not have a pipeline to what goes on in Sharon’s head, but that Sharon seems to understand many of the basic realities (this may mean the condition of war between the two sides).
On the 3x5 card I picked up at the sign-in desk, I eventually composed two questions. Although I turned this card in, it was not read to the speaker. My questions were as follows:
What do you believe, specifically, that Palestinians, individually and collectively, must do to merit determination, by a majority of Israelis in Israel, that the Palestinians have truly accepted the right of the Israeli state to exist? When will this occur?