March 23rd, 2011 by Contributed Photo Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh, a Christian-Palestinian-American professor in Bethlehem, Palestine, will be speaking at Oliver Wolcott Library on Thursday. Members of the local Jewish organization, Chababd Lubavitch, plan on protesting the lecture on the professor's new book.
By RICKY CAMPBELL, Register Citizen Staff
LITCHFIELD — Dr. Mazin B. Qumsiyeh brings his book tour to town Thursday, but his controversial discussion topic will be met with opposition from the local Jewish community.
Dr. Qumsiyeh, also a professor at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in occupied Palestine, will speak on “A History of Hope and Empowerment in Palestine” at the Oliver Wolcott Library.
According to Dr. Qumsiyeh’s website, his new book, “Popular Resistance in Palestine: A History of Hope and Empowerment”, addresses his ideals on human rights in Palestine, media activism, public policies and popular, non-violent resistance. The lecture, which begins at 1 p.m., is sponsored by Middle East Crisis Committee of New Haven (MECC) and is free to the public.
“What we are witnessing today is the second great mutation of Antisemitism in modern times, from racial Antisemitism to religious anti-Zionism with the added premise that all Jews are Zionists,” wrote Rabbi Joseph I. Eisenbach in an e-mail. “It uses all the medieval myths. The mutation is this; that the worst crimes of anti-Semites in the past-racism, ethnic cleansing, attempted genocide, crimes against humanity-are now attributed to the Jews and the state of Israel.”
[More:]
Eisenbach said participating members of the Chababd Lubavitch of Northwest Connecticut will gather at noon at their building, 7 Village Green Drive, for “Pro-Israel bagels and coffee” before moving on to the library.
The Rabbi said many in the Litchfield area are outraged that the library is allowing use of its community room for what he believes is Qumsiyeh’s “erronous account of the conflict.”
“He has all too often resorted to false claims in order to cast Israel in the most vicious terms while absolving the Palestinians of any responsibility for their current circumstances,” he wrote. “The facts matter in any worthwhile exchange of views and they do not support his many extreme contentions. As Alan Dershowitz has stated, ‘Peace can’t be built on a foundation of lies.’”
Library Director Ann Marie White spoke to both parties regarding the controversial decision to host the event.
“One really key point is that this is not a library event,” White said in a phone interview Tuesday. “The library has a community room, which in legal terms can be considered an open forum.”
White, who related the community room to the Green as a public area for free speech, also added in a press release, “All messages and points of view are legally permitted.” Continued...
The library’s policy “designates the Community Room as a public forum and is available for use by anyone. The Community Room is available on an equitable basis regardless of the benefits or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use. However, granting of the permission to use library facilities does not in any way constitute an endorsement of the group’s particular beliefs or purposes by the Library Board, Staff or Town.”
Event organizer Joe Mustich, also president of the American Civil Liberties Union Northwest Connecticut Chapter, said he understands the Rabbi’s point of view, but unlike Eisenbach, he believes the speaker should be heard. Mustich said it should be noted that Qumsiyeh is a Christian-Palestinian-American, born outside Bethlehem in the Middle East and the term “anti-Semitism” also relates to any group of Arabic-speaking peoples.
“I think he is speaking more toward anti-Zionism, not anti-Semitism,” Mustich said.
Dr. Qumsiyeh, who has worked at Yale, Duke and the University of Tennessee, spoke at the Gunn Memorial Library in Washington, Conn. in 2004, following his previous book’s release. His discussion of the book, “Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle”, caused many people to leave during the presentation, though according to Mustich, the author enjoys dissent and debate.
According to its website, the MECC is made up of “activists in the struggle for peace and justice that have been fighting for the rights of Palestinians and oppressed people of the Middle East since the 1982 invasion of Lebanon.”
Chababd Lubavitch of Northwest Connecticut is embroiled in a lawsuit that claims plans for creation of a synagogue and Jewish community center were improperly denied.
“The reality is we’re just frustrated that the town of Litchfield, which is in the midst of a federal lawsuit concerning anti-Semitism, is hosting a renown anti-Semite,” said Eisenbach.
Ricky Campbell can be reached by e-mail at rcampbell@registercitizen.com. Follow us online at http://www.registercitizen.com/ and on Twitter.com/registercitizen.
COMMENTS
EdD wrote on Mar 22, 2011 7:59 PM:
" Why is it that people can't present their point of view without having to get the approval of everyone else in Town? Does the Rabbi have veto power over anyone who wants to express their views? When he wants to issue press releases or get his views across nobody tries to stop him so why should he have the ability to stop other people from speaking out? "
Report Abuse
Pete wrote on Mar 22, 2011 9:16 PM:
" My, my. The good Rabbi is a bit touchy, no? Someone please remind him that you can *indeed* criticize Israeli policy without being an Anti-Semite. "
Report Abuse
David K wrote on Mar 22, 2011 11:57 PM:
" The good Rabbi needs to remember that Connecticut is the Land of Steady Habits. A quiet appeal to reason will win you an audience - while overwrought rhetoric will lose you one. "
Report Abuse
Palestine is Israels secret shame wrote on Mar 23, 2011 6:55 AM:
" Settlements: The Facts
- There are currently 121 Israeli colonies, often referred to as "settlements", and approximately 102 Israeli outposts built illegally on Palestinian land occupied militarily by Israel since 1967 (West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights). All of these settlements and outposts are illegal under international law and have been condemned by numerous United Nations Security Council resolutions. Israeli outposts are considered illegal under Israeli law.
- These settlements and outposts are inhabited by a population of some 462,000 Israeli settlers. 191,000 Israelis are living in settlements around Jerusalem and a further 271,400 are further spread throughout the West Bank. The settler population has grown consistently between 4-6% per year over the last two decades, a much higher rate of growth than Israeli society as a whole (1.5%).
- Approximately 385,000 settlers in 80 settlements will be located between the Separation Wall and the Green Line if Israel holds to projected plans.
- In 2008, amidst the ‘settlement freeze’ agreed upon in the Annapolis framework, tenders for new settle-ment building increased by 550% from 2007. Actual settlement construction has increased by 30% since the launching of the new round of peace talks. Settlement building around Jerusalem has increased by a factor of 38.
- A total of 9,000 further housing units have been approved in East Jerusalem, and approximately 2,600 new housing units are being built east of the Separation Wall, comprising 55% of all settlement construc-tion activity.
- Settlements are built on less than 3 percent of the area of the West Bank. However, due to the extensive network of settler roads and restrictions on Palestinians accessing their own land, Israeli settlements domi-nate more than 40 percent of the West Bank.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article7 "
Report Abuse
Who is Mazin Qumsiyeh wrote on Mar 23, 2011 8:19 AM:
" He is an American scientist of Palestinian origin who is a leading propagandist for the Palestinian cause. There's plenty of information out there about his anti-Israel views (he frequently likens the Israelis to Nazis), but a little digging shows something more disturbing.
Despite his own vigorous denials that he has anti-Semitic intent, Qumsiyeh's advocacy for the Palestinians and criticism of "Zionism" shades, as it all too often does, into rather obvious prejudice against Jews. In particular, he appears so one-sidedly devoted to his (fantastical) interpretation of the Arab-Israeli conflict that he invokes conspiracy theories about nefarious Zionist plots to suppress the Palestinian cause, perhaps because he can't imagine that other informed people might simply disagree with his perspective. And, as is not uncommon among rabid "anti-Zionists," he manages to often lose sight of his own asserted distinction between Zionists and Jews. In short, unlike traditional right-wing anti-Semites who start with hatred of Jews and a belief in Jewish conspiracies, and naturally go from that to hatred of Israel, Qumsiyeh seems to start with a hatred of Israel that he assumes all reasonable people should share, and then progresses (or regresses, really), to a belief in conspiracy theories reflecting longstanding anti-Semitic themes, and implicitly, strong prejudice against Jews. Evidence was not hard to come by, from his own website and an initial 15 minutes of Googling, and I've recounted it below. And yes, the student organizations in question are aware of this.
See More: http://volokh.com/posts/1206746685.shtml "
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
By RICKY CAMPBELL, Register Citizen Staff
LITCHFIELD — Dr. Mazin B. Qumsiyeh brings his book tour to town Thursday, but his controversial discussion topic will be met with opposition from the local Jewish community.
Dr. Qumsiyeh, also a professor at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in occupied Palestine, will speak on “A History of Hope and Empowerment in Palestine” at the Oliver Wolcott Library.
According to Dr. Qumsiyeh’s website, his new book, “Popular Resistance in Palestine: A History of Hope and Empowerment”, addresses his ideals on human rights in Palestine, media activism, public policies and popular, non-violent resistance. The lecture, which begins at 1 p.m., is sponsored by Middle East Crisis Committee of New Haven (MECC) and is free to the public.
“What we are witnessing today is the second great mutation of Antisemitism in modern times, from racial Antisemitism to religious anti-Zionism with the added premise that all Jews are Zionists,” wrote Rabbi Joseph I. Eisenbach in an e-mail. “It uses all the medieval myths. The mutation is this; that the worst crimes of anti-Semites in the past-racism, ethnic cleansing, attempted genocide, crimes against humanity-are now attributed to the Jews and the state of Israel.”
[More:]
Eisenbach said participating members of the Chababd Lubavitch of Northwest Connecticut will gather at noon at their building, 7 Village Green Drive, for “Pro-Israel bagels and coffee” before moving on to the library.
The Rabbi said many in the Litchfield area are outraged that the library is allowing use of its community room for what he believes is Qumsiyeh’s “erronous account of the conflict.”
“He has all too often resorted to false claims in order to cast Israel in the most vicious terms while absolving the Palestinians of any responsibility for their current circumstances,” he wrote. “The facts matter in any worthwhile exchange of views and they do not support his many extreme contentions. As Alan Dershowitz has stated, ‘Peace can’t be built on a foundation of lies.’”
Library Director Ann Marie White spoke to both parties regarding the controversial decision to host the event.
“One really key point is that this is not a library event,” White said in a phone interview Tuesday. “The library has a community room, which in legal terms can be considered an open forum.”
White, who related the community room to the Green as a public area for free speech, also added in a press release, “All messages and points of view are legally permitted.” Continued...
The library’s policy “designates the Community Room as a public forum and is available for use by anyone. The Community Room is available on an equitable basis regardless of the benefits or affiliations of individuals or groups requesting their use. However, granting of the permission to use library facilities does not in any way constitute an endorsement of the group’s particular beliefs or purposes by the Library Board, Staff or Town.”
Event organizer Joe Mustich, also president of the American Civil Liberties Union Northwest Connecticut Chapter, said he understands the Rabbi’s point of view, but unlike Eisenbach, he believes the speaker should be heard. Mustich said it should be noted that Qumsiyeh is a Christian-Palestinian-American, born outside Bethlehem in the Middle East and the term “anti-Semitism” also relates to any group of Arabic-speaking peoples.
“I think he is speaking more toward anti-Zionism, not anti-Semitism,” Mustich said.
Dr. Qumsiyeh, who has worked at Yale, Duke and the University of Tennessee, spoke at the Gunn Memorial Library in Washington, Conn. in 2004, following his previous book’s release. His discussion of the book, “Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle”, caused many people to leave during the presentation, though according to Mustich, the author enjoys dissent and debate.
According to its website, the MECC is made up of “activists in the struggle for peace and justice that have been fighting for the rights of Palestinians and oppressed people of the Middle East since the 1982 invasion of Lebanon.”
Chababd Lubavitch of Northwest Connecticut is embroiled in a lawsuit that claims plans for creation of a synagogue and Jewish community center were improperly denied.
“The reality is we’re just frustrated that the town of Litchfield, which is in the midst of a federal lawsuit concerning anti-Semitism, is hosting a renown anti-Semite,” said Eisenbach.
Ricky Campbell can be reached by e-mail at rcampbell@registercitizen.com. Follow us online at http://www.registercitizen.com/ and on Twitter.com/registercitizen.
COMMENTS
EdD wrote on Mar 22, 2011 7:59 PM:
" Why is it that people can't present their point of view without having to get the approval of everyone else in Town? Does the Rabbi have veto power over anyone who wants to express their views? When he wants to issue press releases or get his views across nobody tries to stop him so why should he have the ability to stop other people from speaking out? "
Report Abuse
Pete wrote on Mar 22, 2011 9:16 PM:
" My, my. The good Rabbi is a bit touchy, no? Someone please remind him that you can *indeed* criticize Israeli policy without being an Anti-Semite. "
Report Abuse
David K wrote on Mar 22, 2011 11:57 PM:
" The good Rabbi needs to remember that Connecticut is the Land of Steady Habits. A quiet appeal to reason will win you an audience - while overwrought rhetoric will lose you one. "
Report Abuse
Palestine is Israels secret shame wrote on Mar 23, 2011 6:55 AM:
" Settlements: The Facts
- There are currently 121 Israeli colonies, often referred to as "settlements", and approximately 102 Israeli outposts built illegally on Palestinian land occupied militarily by Israel since 1967 (West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights). All of these settlements and outposts are illegal under international law and have been condemned by numerous United Nations Security Council resolutions. Israeli outposts are considered illegal under Israeli law.
- These settlements and outposts are inhabited by a population of some 462,000 Israeli settlers. 191,000 Israelis are living in settlements around Jerusalem and a further 271,400 are further spread throughout the West Bank. The settler population has grown consistently between 4-6% per year over the last two decades, a much higher rate of growth than Israeli society as a whole (1.5%).
- Approximately 385,000 settlers in 80 settlements will be located between the Separation Wall and the Green Line if Israel holds to projected plans.
- In 2008, amidst the ‘settlement freeze’ agreed upon in the Annapolis framework, tenders for new settle-ment building increased by 550% from 2007. Actual settlement construction has increased by 30% since the launching of the new round of peace talks. Settlement building around Jerusalem has increased by a factor of 38.
- A total of 9,000 further housing units have been approved in East Jerusalem, and approximately 2,600 new housing units are being built east of the Separation Wall, comprising 55% of all settlement construc-tion activity.
- Settlements are built on less than 3 percent of the area of the West Bank. However, due to the extensive network of settler roads and restrictions on Palestinians accessing their own land, Israeli settlements domi-nate more than 40 percent of the West Bank.
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article7 "
Report Abuse
Who is Mazin Qumsiyeh wrote on Mar 23, 2011 8:19 AM:
" He is an American scientist of Palestinian origin who is a leading propagandist for the Palestinian cause. There's plenty of information out there about his anti-Israel views (he frequently likens the Israelis to Nazis), but a little digging shows something more disturbing.
Despite his own vigorous denials that he has anti-Semitic intent, Qumsiyeh's advocacy for the Palestinians and criticism of "Zionism" shades, as it all too often does, into rather obvious prejudice against Jews. In particular, he appears so one-sidedly devoted to his (fantastical) interpretation of the Arab-Israeli conflict that he invokes conspiracy theories about nefarious Zionist plots to suppress the Palestinian cause, perhaps because he can't imagine that other informed people might simply disagree with his perspective. And, as is not uncommon among rabid "anti-Zionists," he manages to often lose sight of his own asserted distinction between Zionists and Jews. In short, unlike traditional right-wing anti-Semites who start with hatred of Jews and a belief in Jewish conspiracies, and naturally go from that to hatred of Israel, Qumsiyeh seems to start with a hatred of Israel that he assumes all reasonable people should share, and then progresses (or regresses, really), to a belief in conspiracy theories reflecting longstanding anti-Semitic themes, and implicitly, strong prejudice against Jews. Evidence was not hard to come by, from his own website and an initial 15 minutes of Googling, and I've recounted it below. And yes, the student organizations in question are aware of this.
See More: http://volokh.com/posts/1206746685.shtml "
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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