Pro-Palestine Activism During the War on Terror: Towards a Twenty-First Century Narrative

• In Event: Solidarities with, of, and alongside Palestine

Abstract

On September 11th, 2001, Thomas Friedman suggested in the New York Times that Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, in the fearful heat of the Second Intifada, had become so disfigured by separation walls that it was no longer obvious who was “jailing” whom. Despite the institutional credentials of its author – at this point, Friedman had won his second Pulitzer Prize for “balanced” coverage of the First Intifada – the op-ed was relegated to Page 23 of that day’s issue and, presumably, forgotten. “Walls” was not, of course, the biggest story that day.

But to assume that the ensuing War on Terror did not concern the question of Palestine, not least for those Arab Americans who had long sought to answer it, would be to leave an auspicious rock unturned. The Second Intifada (2000-2005), a period of intensified Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation, and Israeli repression thereof, has been subordinated to domestic issues of Islamophobia, state surveillance, and cultural representation in histories of Arab American activism. After all, how could Arab American activists voice support for Palestinian rights, given the violence of the intifada, without exacerbating the suspicion and jingoistic violence to which they were already subjected?

This paper seeks to build upon narratives of post-9/11 anti-Arab and anti-Muslim repression which, while acknowledging pro-Palestinian activism, have maintained ultimately what Pamela Pennock calls an “‘over here’ orientation.” For example, while arguing that Arab American News constituted a “counterpublic” during the War on Terror, and one certainly capable of critiquing U.S. and Israeli foreign policy, David Kaufer and Amal Mohammed Al-Malki restrict their scope to the vulnerability of communities in Dearborn, Michigan, where the newspaper was based. Similarly, when Melani McAlister notes the complexity of international reactions to 9/11, including footage aired on U.S. networks of Palestinians celebrating the attacks, it is to show how Arab Americans used displays of patriotism as a “self-defense mechanism” against an onslaught of hate crimes and bigotry.

In contrast, this paper will explore the ways in which pro-Palestine activism also adopted an “overseas” disposition during the Second Intifada. To do so, it will rely on correspondences, newsletters, publications, and other archival sources from Eastern Michigan University, which houses comprehensive records from the Association of Arab-American University Graduates, one of America’s leading Arab advocacy groups from 1967 until its disbandment in 2007, as well as the Arab-American Staff and Faculty Association, an academic-led organization founded during the War on Terror itself.

The theme of this year’s conference asks us to question whether late-stage American empire is upon us. My contribution will suggest not just that it is but also, in part, how it arrived. By putting post-9/11 defenses of Palestine in conversation with current protests against the U.S.-Israeli “special relationship,” I suggest that a cohesive story of twenty-first century Arab American activism, one complex and rich in its ambitions, is not just possible but essential to understanding how American exceptionalism, if not void, has at least been hollowed out.

Biographical Information

Jonah Fox (he/him) is a Ph.D. student and Columbian Distinguished Fellow in American Studies at George Washington University. His work concerns the relationship between twentieth-century progressive activism and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, with an emphasis on Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation. His dissertation research will aim to connect intellectual histories of radical discourse, media critique, ethnic studies, and cultural memory among immigrant and refugee populations. In 2022, he earned his B.A. in History from University College London with First-Class Honours and placement on the Dean’s List. Graduating at the top of his class, he is the recipient of the 2021/2022 Faculty Prize from UCL’s Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences.

Author

• Jonah B Fox, The George Washington University