It's Time to Expose the Opportunists in Our Midst.

Yousef Abudayyeh

Part of my responsibility and obligation as a Palestinian is to safeguard, help educate and protect our community. I have major concerns about the upcoming "Palestinian Popular Conference" that is scheduled to be held in August in Chicago. My hope is to engage our community regarding some of these concerns, specifically our young Arab American activists who can carry the vision of the future. It is especially troubling that the genuine love for Palestine and deep passion this young generation has is being abused by certain organizers of this conference.

I will address identifiable patterns of deceit that, if allowed to continue unchallenged, will have serious impact on our community, including distrust and disappointments. There are other consequences caused by reckless adventurers that most certainly our community does not need.

Some of the organizers of this conference are using any possible means to be self-anointed as the representatives or leaders of the community. Many of these wannabe "leaders" have been expelled or had to leave other organizations because of the same destructive behavior they are exhibiting with while organizing for this conference.

Organizational Issues

During the early stages of conference preparation, names were listed as signatories who either had no knowledge that they were listed or who had understood that they were supporting something else entirely. While some of the names have been removed and corrected, this creates an atmosphere of trickery and dishonesty.

The program lists several main speakers, and the organizers are well aware that some of these speakers are not attending or are only delivering a taped message. However, this information is not made public allowing our community to be tricked into participating only to be faced with the disappointed after arrival. The individuals attending the conference are going with the assumption that they will hear and see certain keynote speakers. While the organizers of this event already have credibility problems, this will also impact the credibility of other organizations and could turn away the younger generations from all future activities.

Let's turn to the case of two organizations that were listed as supporters of this conference as yet another indication of complete misrepresentation of fact. The first is the Palestinian American Congress (PAC), which in reality has come out strongly against this conference, warning our community not to support it. Yet the PAC name still appears on the endorsement list. The second is Al-Awda, The Palestine Right of Return Coalition, of which some of the organizers were members. Ironically, in their feverish attempt to force an endorsement, these once-members tried very hard to split AL-Awda. And despite a split right down the middle of the Al-Awda leadership, and a position against the Chicago conference at both the Fifth (2007) and the Sixth (2008) Al Awda International Conventions, Al-Awda's name still appears on the list of endorsement. In fact, when the Chicago conference organizers market their event as the only grassroots effort in the US to protect the Right of Return, they glaringly ignore eight years of pioneering and hard organizing work by Al-Awda. To add insult to injury, organizers of the Chicago conference completely and actively boycotted the Al-Awda convention.

Advertising for this conference has been systematically laden with dishonesty. From the story of the conference inception to the events related to it. The organizers continuously use unrelated events and activities throughout the United States to link them to this conference creating the false perception that they are related. Again, there is a major concern with this use of false promotion especially when those activities with photos are posted on websites of concerns without the knowledge of the various events organizers and participants.

Ironically, organizers of this conference have courted Islamists and Palestine Authority supporters simultaneously, hoping for one or even both to be hooked. Of course, all the while they were telling two different stories to either side. Due to their deceit, and as would be expected, they nonetheless lost the support of both. Yet, they still advertise that they have that support. And now, when all failed, and because they stand exposed with no organizational support from the left or the right, they are courting young unsuspecting people.

In certain cases when these organizers were challenged, direct threats were used with the hope that the threats will silence others.

Political Issues

Young activist and community members are not aware that many of the original founders of this conference initiative have left due to the absence of clarity or intentional omission of certain political language. Here are some examples:

A clear position regarding Abbas and the PA was removed and avoided in an attempt to court the Palestinian American Congress

Palestine is not defined as Arab belonging to the Arab people, from the river to the sea, as was the original intent of the conference. The definition of Palestine was left open to interpretation to allow those who support Abbas' vision to join the conference. This creates a serious political confusion with our young activists.

While the Right of Return is mentioned clearly, the one group supporting this right as its primary political agenda (Al-Awda) is boycotted and sabotaged.

And while these same organizers claim they are for the Right of Return, some of them supported the slogan "Justice of Palestinians and Israelis" at a rally organized by the US Campaign to End the Occupation, a UFPJ outfit. Others of the same group were busy attacking the ANSWER Coalition, Palestine's foremost defender in the US-antiwar movement, in a clear sign of strong UFPJ influence on this grouping. In fact, some of the primary leaders of this conference are also key UFPJ organizers. This is the same UFPJ that systematically stood against Palestine and that refuses to condemn Zionism, considering our colonization to begin only 40 years ago, hoping that they could turn it into a peaceful occupation.

There is no clear position taken regarding Oslo and Madrid as was originally envisioned by the initiators of this project.

While millions of Arabs take pride in who they are and in the fact that Palestine is a flagship of liberation for the Arab people as a whole, some of the organizers of the conference have a serious problem with the notion that Palestine is Arab – very Arab. Ideologically and philosophically, they consider Arabism (Al-3rooba) a major problem to be defeated.

From what we have seen and experienced with the organizers of this conference, there is an atmosphere of dishonesty and distrust. Instead of building on a clear foundation with honesty and openness, we see that the organizers use shady tactics that do not belong in our community or even in the century we live in. I ask you that if you attend this conference, please keep an open mind and do not be discouraged by the actions of these few opportunists. You have a role in correcting and building a solid and bright future for our community here and back home.

Yousef

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