I became aware of the nature of Mr. Qaddafi’s regime during an HIV/AIDS professional visit to Libya in 2006. I was in a taxi with a friend when the driver, as he learned that we were from Argentina, started talking enthusiastically about Maradona and Argentine soccer. As we were passing some military barracks my friend, rather naively, asked the driver if these were Qaddafi’s living quarters. The driver’s facial expression, a genuine friendly one until then, immediately changed to a hostile, fearful look.

Realizing that he had made a faux pas my friend immediately resumed his talk about Maradona. In spite of that, the driver never resumed his friendly way with us again. Although this was a small incident, we became aware of the climate of fear reigning the country, and of the obsessive nature of its ruler.

The way things are going in Libya, where he is massacring his own people with the help of mercenaries, indicates that the time has come to exert the greatest international pressure and make him go.

Qaddafi thinks that the present people’s rebellion is not the result of his abusing them for more than 40 years, leading a tyrannical and corrupt government and antagonizing many countries with his erratic, criminal behavior. Rather, he believes that it is the result of a flare-up of tribal rivalries bent on destroying what he considers is the people’s power in Libya. Since he took power in 1969, he has been able to maintain control of the population through the use of an omnipresent security apparatus.

Recent admissions from his own former officials throw necessary light on his regime, as African mercenaries are descending on Tripoli to help quell the rebellion. How miserable can a person be to use foreign soldiers to kill his own people? “We are sure that what is going on now in Libya is crimes against humanity and crimes of war,” said Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations.

And now we have an even more striking revelation regarding Qaddafi’s role in the Lockerbie bombing, as a result of which 270 people were killed in southern Scotland
in a Pan Am flight bound for New York. “I have evidence that Qaddafi ordered the Lockerbie bombing,” stated Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, Libya’s recently resigned justice minister.

During my stay in Libya I would learn about other incidents that profoundly troubled me, as was the case of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who had been in detention for many years, falsely accused of spreading AIDS in Libya. I realized that Libya’s ruler wouldn’t stop at anything to get revenge for what he thought was his unfair portrayal in the Western press.

The six health workers had been accused of infecting 426 children with the HIV virus. Many in Libya, and most of the international community, believed that they were trumped up charges. According to E.U. and U.S. officials and human rights advocates the six health workers were charged of these crimes to cover up poor hygiene conditions at the hospitals where infections took place (some of the children had been infected even before the health workers arrived). The six health workers were tortured to extract confessions.

Finally, a deal was reached under which Bulgaria, the United States, Britain and the European Union agreed to set up a nongovernmental organization to financially help the families of the infected children. Although the six health workers were eventually released, the incident showed once more that Qaddafi had no restraints in using false information for his own, devious goals.

With an increasing number of Libyan officials now abandoning his government, it is fair to assume that Qaddafi’s days are numbered. The United Nations and international community should continue to exert strong pressure to force Qaddafi to step down. To allow such a dangerous person to be in power is to risk the survival of thousands of Libyans.

Dr. Cesar Chelala, an international public health consultant, is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

At the Toussaint Louverture Airport in Port-au-Prince, I spot Ronal’s taptap, pick-up-turned-public-bus, painted to resemble an Argentine flag - a salute to his favored team in last year’s World Cup soccer match. Ronal’s first report is about his glee over last month’s return of Jean-Claude Duvalier. Duvalier’s ouster in 1986 following popular uprisings ended a three-decade regime which was one of the most brutal, neglectful, and corrupt regimes in the hemisphere’s history.

At age 47, Ronal lived through 13 years of the tyranny. The vagaries of memory and an odd – if currently common - interpretation of cause and effect have converged to give Ronal this analysis: “The thing about Duvalier, you had peace as long as you weren’t in politics. If you didn’t speak out, they wouldn’t arrest you. You had no problem.”

The peace of which Ronal speaks was the peace of the graveyard, as he himself immediately points out. “Now you see that man standing there? He was one who got into politics and paid the price.” He points to a person by the airport gates who, as chance would have it, is my former colleague Bobby Duval. Under Duvalier in 1976 and 1977, Bobby spent 17 months in Fort Dimanche, a prison which few ever left except as corpses. Bobby never knew of what crime he was accused, but it could have been anything. People were regularly imprisoned, tortured, or killed for literally any reason: not stopping in front of the Palace for the daily noontime playing of the national anthem; speaking – if you were a man - to the girlfriend of a government henchman; protesting that a cow got into your garden, if that cow’s owner had a friend in government. (At least one of my neighbors from the village where I lived during Duvalier’s regime was arrested or disappeared for each of these reasons.) When an intensive campaign by Jimmy Carter won liberty for Bobby and other prisoners, this normally burly man weighed less than 100 pounds.

Bobby is one of those who filed a grievance with the government for a case it’s mounting against Duvalier. Meanwhile, the fallen dictator is living as a free man after having likely returned, at least in part, to try to liberate from his frozen Swiss bank account $6 or so million which he allegedly came by illegally and over which he has been fighting a 25-year legal battle. Unfortunately for his aspirations, a new Swiss law, dubbed the ‘Duvalier law,’ went into effect February 1. The Swiss government now has greater authority to confiscate stolen assets from bank accounts and return them to their country of origin. Duvalier’s return is surely political, too, though the end goal is not entirely clear.

When I return to the taptap after greeting Bobby, I try to tell Ronal how wrong he is. He protests with a logic I can’t contest. “But compared to today, life was good. Everything wasn’t so expensive. Food was cheaper. The state owned its own factories. The country hadn’t deteriorated like it has today.

“It’s the people today who’ve left this country in rubble.”

I would like to believe that Ronal’s opinion is an outlier, but in the informal poll I will conduct amongst dozens of people in the days to come, I will find wide support for the return of the man who took over the nation as a dull-witted, motorcycle-racing, 18-year-old.

There are at least two ways to understand this. One is that government negligence to earthquake victims’ needs, failure of foreign aid to reconstruct in any noticeable way, and other social and political crises have been so grave since the earthquake that any other leadership looks better. It’s a pretty damning indictment of the status quo when ‘anything else’ extends even to a man who oversaw crimes against humanity.

The other way to understand the confusion is a faulty analysis of causality. Levels of poverty and social exclusion were not lower 25 years ago because Duvalier’s policies were kind. The variables are the global wave of structural adjustment, which is the condition of International Monetary Fund and World Bank loans, and other ‘free trade’ and deregulation policies which have ravaged many countries in the world, including Haiti, since the 80’s. Since Duvalier’s fall, foreign pressure has forced: the privatization of state-owned companies, lower tariffs on agricultural imports which had protected domestic production and allowed small farmers to stay on their land, the creation of new ‘free trade’ zones to encourage sweatshops, and other policies disastrous for the destitute majority.

This month, human rights, labor rights, youth, and popular education organizations throughout Port-au-Prince are holding public colloquia on the dictatorship, featuring survivor testimony, showings of photos and documentaries, and discussion. The objectives are to educate those who didn’t live under Duvalier and to reignite popular opposition for those who did. “We will never fall asleep forgetting,” read one program’s announcement.[1]

(Those of us from the U.S. might do well to never fall asleep forgetting that the American government gave the Duvaliers consistent financial and political support, except for a brief period under Kennedy and then in the final months, when widespread dissent made it clear that the dictatorship was doomed. At that time, the U.S. flew Duvalier to his exile in France aboard an American government airplane and negotiated a transition to a military-led dictatorship.)

As for future political leadership: The run-offs are moving ahead despite the fact that last November’s elections involved so much fraud and voter exclusion as to be illegitimate by any honest measure. Even the Haitian government’s electoral council failed to ratify them. Approval by the majority of the eight council members was needed for the election to be formally stamped as fair and honest, but only four endorsed its credibility.

Nevertheless, the Organization of American States recommended that two candidates, Michel Martelly and Mirlande Manigat, who got 4.5% and 6.4% of the vote, respectively, proceed to a next round. (Manigat was first lady to one of the figurehead presidents of the aforementioned military dictatorship that followed Duvalier.) Foreign governments and international institutions intensively pressured the Haitian government to accept the recommendation, with the U.S. even going so far as to send Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the island. The Haitian government bowed to the pressure.

Other events in Haiti are cascading with dizzying speed. Cholera is killing at least one person every thirty minutes. An increased risk of evictions of those living in tent camps. An increase in rape of children.[2] A diplomatic passport for former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who has been living in South Africa since having been ousted from power a second time in 2004. To this development, the U.S. government – which, a wealth of evidence shows, was involved in both ousters – panicked. In the words of State Department spokesperson P.J. Crowley, Aristide’s return might be “an unfortunate distraction” and that the U.S. would “hate to see any action that introduces divisiveness” before the second round of elections. Now the Haitian government appears to be stalling in getting him home.

And this: In December, the Department of Homeland Security informally announced that it would resume deportations of people with “serious criminal convictions,” after having granted temporary protected status to Haitians nine days after last year’s earthquake. Human rights and refugee organizations sounded cries of alarm given conditions in Haiti and especially in its deportee holding cells. Nevertheless, the U.S. proceeded. Among the many deported was Wildrick Guerrier, on January 20. Guerrier was held in a vastly overcrowded police holding cell, where he quickly developed the telltale signs of cholera: severe diarrhea and vomiting. Despite well-known World Health Organization epidemic protocol and interventions by a family member, Guerrier was left untreated and died a few days later.[3] The U.S. says it will continue deportations.

Perhaps the brightest element of Haiti today is the absence of political repression. For now, that is. Pretty much anything is possible, especially given the forces that might take power after the election run-offs.

But this is where Haiti’s long tradition of political protest comes in handy. It’s easy to forget, amidst all the media imagery of hungry, desperate earthquake survivors, that strong dissidence has been a constant in Haiti’s history since before it was an independent nation. I am reminded of a line by historian Rebecca Solnit from A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster: "Disaster shocks us out of slumber, but only skillful effort keeps us awake."

Tonight I join two friends, other survivors of Duvalier’s torture, to hear a compa band in a Pétion-ville club. It’s Carnival season here, surreally enough, and one of the features of Carnival during years of political repression was that veiled protest songs were allowed to pass as celebratory street music. The coded lyrics were sung all day long with jubilant defiance, exciting the popular imagination. Tonight, the musicians have worked into their show rebellious Carnival chants from the Duvalier days, call-and-response numbers where “Yes!” – in English – was the safe stand-in for “Let’s bring him down!” The middle-aged members of the crowd, who remember all too well the misery of that era, pump their arms in the air and shout.

“Yes!”

Beverly Bell has worked with Haitian social movements for over 30 years. She is also author of the book Walking on Fire: Haitian Women's Stories of Survival and Resistance. She coordinates Other Worlds, which promotes social and economic alternatives. She is also associate fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies.

[1] “3-Day Program of Activities on the Duvalier Period,” announcement by STAIA, MODEP, KRD, SEK GRAMSCI, AKP, UNNOH, CATH, GREPS, FRAKKA, GREAAL, CHANDEL, and Antèn Ouvriye, received by email Feb. 9, 2010.
[2] This is according to the women and children’s rights group Commission of Women Victim to Victim (KOFAVIV). From verbal testimony of KOFAVIV co-coordinator Malya Apallon Villard to author, January 25, 2011, based on outreach in IDP camps and reports filed by survivors.
[3] Email from Michelle Karshan, director of Alternative Chance, a re-entry program for Haitian criminal deportees, to Steve Forester, January 31, 2011.

Those of you who know me well know that I am quite the fan of microbrews, of which there are very few in Latin America. The best beer scene I've experienced was at the Largest Oktoberfest outside of Germany in Villa General Belgrano, Argentina. Throughout my travels in L. Am, I've noticed a direct correlation between light beers and hot climates. I mean, when it's 90 degrees out with 90% humidity, a Stout or Porter isn't really your go-to beverage.

That being said, the lighter pilsner-style lagers that are ubiquitous in Colombia (and the rest of near-Equator countries) all begin to taste the same after a while. In Bogota, a BJ's Brewhouse-type restaurant has sprung up recently called "Bogota Beer Company." Their house beers are quite delicious, as well as having an impressive selection of European imports. 4 years ago, Medellín made its foray into the world of "cerveza artesanal" (microbrews) with the beginning of the 3 Cordilleras Brewery. These guys have quite an impact on the tourist-frequented areas, with most places having taps for the 3 types: a hefewiesen, a pale ale and an amber ale. As you can see below, we're putting the finishing touches on The Wandering Paisa bar and last week, were able to get 3 Cordilleras on tap:

Needless to say, we are excited about having our first event with the bar this upcoming friday. As the bar is still yet unnamed, we are having a contest to see who can come up with the best name! (the winner gets a bottle of tequila) So far, the names we have brainstormed are: "The Stumbling Paisa", "Paisa Bar", "Paisa Pub". We will let you know the results when its finished! Until next time!

-Miles (and Brent)

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/02/10/18671755.php

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/02/13/18671945.php

My name is Magdalena Soul and I am a sexual abuse survivor in my childhood and my adulthood. I wrote two articles regarding this in indybay.org which is part of independent media center. I have a global message for women and the world. Please read my articles and share my message. My email address is musicamaria@yahoo.com

“Everyone expects there to be a new problem daily in Haiti. I can’t concentrate on problems each day,” said Roseanne Auguste, coordinator of a youth art program in the sprawling, under-resourced Port-au-Prince section of Carrefour-Feuilles. The program is run through the community clinic Association for the Promotion of Family Integrated Health (APROSIFA).

• Islande Henry with one of her paintings on women's rights. Photo: Allyn Gaestel.•

Roseanne, who is director of APROSIFA as well as a nurse and community organizer, held up one painting. It featured two hands nurturing a brilliantly colored women’s head; the hands seemed to be helping the woman open her mouth. “They’re envisioning all this despite the earthquake,” Roseanne said.

“These kids hear about violence every day,” Roseanne said. “We have to concentrate on what another country could be. That’s what interests me. If we had cultural centers in each shantytown, imagine what we could do. Culture and citizenship… if youth came and talked about this every day, found different ways to express their views on the matters, we could have a different country.”

“Other countries want to control us, giving us a little money for elections, a little money for development, while keeping the country as it is. But if we really had the chance to do for ourselves, if we had the means, you’d see what we could do.”

APROSIFA’s youth art program began in 2009 in a couple of cement-block rooms in the back of the clinic. A few professional artists donated their time to teach. Today, 68 youth from ages 8 to early 20s are painting and sculpting. A few of the youth who began learning two years ago are now teaching the others.

The artwork represents the daily stuff of Haitian life, like forms of labor, scenes inside village huts, vodou imagery, and landscapes. The work also feature historical heroes, maps of Haiti, and Escher-like clocks ticking away the country’s past.

When the young painters have canvas and paints, the images are bold, the colors brilliant. Often they have only sheets of typing paper and a pencil or a Bic pen. APROSIFA raises money to subsidize the supplies. “We give them string to fish with,” Roseanne said.

In late January, APROSIFA sponsored the Haitian Renaissance show at a hotel in downtown Port-au-Prince. On opening night, hundreds of people – journalists, artists, advocates for women, dignitaries, and especially youth from Carrefour-Feuilles - squeezed into several rooms whose walls were covered with art. The theme of the art was the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1979 and took effect in 1981. Haiti ratified the convention in 1981 (unlike the U.S., which never has), though it has never been applied. Roseanne had given copies of the document to the young artists and had asked them to express their opinions creatively.

One youth whose work was featured is 22-year-old Islande Henry. She spoke in front of one of her paintings, of two women talking in front of their home, inspired by Article 16 of CEDAW which protects women and children’s rights in family relations. Islande said, “To me, CEDAW is a beautiful thing. It speaks to the restavèk [child slavery] system and how those kids have no rights. It speaks to violence against women, and how women are mistreated in society, and how there are so many things they can’t do from serving in Parliament to playing ball.

“Our artwork says, ‘No! Women can do anything. Women must have access to everything this society offers.’”

Islande said, “I have a lot of capacity and I always knew I could paint, but I didn’t have any support. You know, sometimes your family can’t really step up and help with resources. But I found APROSIFA in 1999. I feel proud as a woman to sit with a canvas, with all my pride, and create paintings. We young artists come with our imagination, our inspiration, our understandings. We can paint anything.”

“What I’ve gotten from APROSIFA, I want to pass along to other youth so this country can have another future.” When asked what her hope is, Islande replied, “My hope is that I can be a great painter so the entire world can know my work and can know that Haitians need solidarity, unity, patience, love, and peace. I have a lot of hope for that.”

Beverly Bell has worked with Haitian social movements for over 30 years. She is also author of the book Walking on Fire: Haitian Women's Stories of Survival and Resistance. She coordinates Other Worlds, which promotes social and economic alternatives. She is also associate fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies.

While the eyes of the world are on Haiti’s illegitimate elections and the return of the deposed dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, about 1.5 million displaced earthquake survivors continue to live in sub-human conditions. In the absence of large-scale or systemic responses by the government, international community, or aid organizations, progressive civil society organizations are evolving strategies to win the right to housing.

“We’re supporting earthquake victims who are organizing themselves to form a social movement to claim their rights, first, for quality housing and, second, against being evicted,” said human rights lawyer Patrice Florvilus.

• An internally displaced girl sketches her new dream home. Photo: Ben Depp.•

No one knows how many people remain in the camps. Some have been evicted by private landowners, occasionally through Haitian police violence. This is despite a November ruling by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States that the Haitian government must put a moratorium on forced evictions unless they provide evictees with safe shelter. The Inter-American Commission’s ruling, following a petition brought by five Haitian and U.S. law centers, also mandates other protections and remedies from the government. The government has yet to fulfill one of the mandates.

The Interim Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti - the unconstitutional, Bill Clinton-led, international governing body – claims that half of the 1.5 million displaced people have moved from tents to housing. It also asserts that “Much of this is directly attributable to the I.H.R.C. and its partners.” In fact, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that only 31,656 transitional homes (‘transitional’ sometimes meaning only a slightly scaled-up tent) have been built as of last month. And according to Schuller’s research, most camps that have dissolved have done so “because of the complete failure to provide sanitation services following the cholera outbreak”,[1] not because they’ve been offered relocation options.

The Interim Commission is now encouraging a ‘market’ angle to respond to the crisis. In a confidential report which it produced together with the Government of Haiti and which was leaked to this writer, “Work Plan for Returning the Displaced to Their Homes and Reconstructing Housing” (no date), the Interim Commission calls on the private sector to “fully play its role [in the reconstruction] and assume a progressive leadership in creating markets.” And the World Economic Forum that just met in Davos, Switzerland formed a Rebuilding Haiti Initiative to “leverage the power of the private sector, working in partnership with the public sector and civil society, to help Haiti realize this untapped potential – a direct example of corporate global citizenship.”

Interim Commission politics and corporate profits aside, permanent, dignified housing is a right amply protected by national and international law. Attorney Florvilus said, “The legal principle of the Haitian state is that when a person is in danger, that person has the right to assistance. And Article 22 of the constitution guarantees decent housing for everyone. Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [of the United Nations] guarantees housing for all. The U.N. [Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs] Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement says that people may not be evicted. And then there’s the moratorium in evictions we got from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

“The right to housing is tied to other rights, like the right to respect of physical integrity, such as for women and girls, and to clean water - all the more important in a period of cholera. The International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights gives protections which complement the right to housing. It says that without other social and cultural rights, the right to housing isn’t being respected.”

Some Haitian NGOs have stepped outside their normal missions to provide housing, like the small-farmer support group Institute of Technology and Animation (ITECA). ITECA is building 1,700 houses that are environmentally sound (the roofs collect rain water, for example) and that use local building materials to the degree possible.

Other progressive Haitian non-profits, grassroots organizations, and camp committees are engaging in advocacy to claim the right to housing. Florvilus explained, “About ten groups, including camp committees, formed the Initiative against Eviction. We’re mobilizing, like during the week leading up to [the earthquake anniversary] on January 12. We brought visibility to the question of housing. We had teach-ins, photo exhibits, and film showings at different camps.” The Initiative against Eviction has also organized sit-ins on the days of the threatened eviction deadlines, distributed fliers and information packets, and hosted numerous meetings for camp residents and civil society groups to come together and discuss issues and possible solutions.

“We’re also articulating rights that people have to quality housing and property, using popular education. A couple of organizations have used theatre and dance in the camps, through a group called Ancestors. We help people see that their lives didn’t just develop haphazardly, but that they’ve evolved from social and economic history. Now from that place, we help them see that they’re social actors who can struggle to change their conditions, and then all together we can develop strategies.”

Legal support is another component. Florvilus said, “Through the Bureau of International Lawyers, we’re accompanying people to go to court when they’re evicted. But first we try to stop the evictions with legal arguments in the camps before we get to court.

“We have plans to start training volunteer community paralegals. These are people who might never have studied law but whom we train in the camps so they can collect evidence. When we’re bringing cases against evictions, they’ll have the facts to help us defend the victims. Another thing we’re going to be doing is working with law students who don’t have the possibility to finish their schooling. We ask them to give two years of volunteer service in exchange for the training. They’ll work with the community paralegals to train more and more people.

“The whole problem relates to who has control over land. We have to reflect on how a small minority of people in the country have almost all the land and the majority have no space where they can construct houses they’ve lost. Only 5% of Haitian land has legal owners. The state has to verify land titles and find out who are really the landowners. We’re taking people to court to verify titles, to see if the presumed landowners are the actual ones.

“We’re also showing people that no one can keep big landholdings vacant while others are living under tents. Article 36 [of the constitution] says that people have the right to private property and that their property can’t be arbitrarily taken away, but Section 3 [of that article] says that the right to private property can’t be contrary to the public good.”

We are very grateful for the tremendous work that Rachel Wallis has done to get these articles out far and wide since the earthquake. We wish her great success at her new post at the Crossroads Fund.

Beverly Bell has worked with Haitian social movements for over 30 years. She is also author of the book Walking on Fire: Haitian Women's Stories of Survival and Resistance. She coordinates Other Worlds, which promotes social and economic alternatives. She is also associate fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies.

As protests increase in several countries in the Middle East, it is becoming more obvious that a final agreement between Israelis and Palestinians is one of the most critical issues facing policy makers in the region. For the U.S., which is steadily losing control of events, it is also the time to help Israel define its real strategic interests in the area.

If one lesson can be learned from the tumultuous events in Egypt, it is that people cannot be held submissive forever while being denied their most basic rights. Dismissal of this lesson can bring harsh consequences, something that former president Hosni Mubarak refused to admit.

Until now, the Mubarak regime had played a stabilizing role in the region, and had been a key player in mediating negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). It is not yet clear what role Egypt will have now in this process, particularly after the September elections the military junta promised to hold.

The events in Cairo have thrown the Israeli leadership into turmoil. The greatest fear is that Egypt’s new government could terminate the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel signed in 1979. “The Israeli government is freaking out,” remarked Shmuel Bachar, of the Israel Institute for Policy and Strategy. That same fear is echoed by many in the U.S. “Things are about to go from bad to worse in the Middle East,” warned Richard Cohen in the Washington Post.

Those responses are obviously based on the concern that if the Islamic Brotherhood would take power it would develop a more confrontational attitude toward Israel. Those concerns ignore that the Islamic Brotherhood is a mosaic of different ideas and trends, whose positions have changed over time. Although nobody can predict how the movement will evolve, many among its members remain committed to a position of gradual reform.

There is a gap between the older, more radical generation and the younger one, more open to the world and eager to follow the Turkish example of democratic participation in their country’s political life. In addition, the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood had decided to support Mr. ElBaradei’s position in the recent upheaval shows a new, more flexible leadership in the movement.

Israel’s fear about Egypt’s adopting an aggressive attitude ignores the fact that Egypt, particularly after recent events, will need more than ever billions of dollars from the U.S. and the international community. In this situation, violating the peace agreement with Israel would work against its most basic interests.

Although Egypt’s peace agreement with Israel will probably not be abolished, it is possible to think of a scenario where new authorities in Egypt become more assertive in demanding respect for Palestinians’ rights. Continual denial of those rights will do more to stimulate the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood than the political situation in Egypt itself. Unless an agreement is reached in the near future, Israel – although it may continue to win territory - runs the risk of losing the peace.

Speaking recently at the Herzliya Conference in Israel Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO secretary-general said, “…The Israeli-Palestinian conflict may no longer be perceived as the only problem in the region, but it still constitutes a major impediment in addressing other issues that threaten regional stability. The lack of a solution to the Israeli – Palestinian conflict continues to undermine the stability of the region.”

And Uri Avnery, the Israeli leader of the peace movement Gush Shalom recently stated, “Peace with the Palestinians is no longer a luxury. It is an absolute necessity. Peace now, peace quickly. Peace with the Palestinians, and then peace with the democratic masses all over the Arab world, peace with the reasonable Islamic forces (like Hamas and the Muslim Brothers, who are quite different from Al Qaeda), peace with the leaders who are about to emerge in Egypt and everywhere.”

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award.

Negative stereotypes have been a constant source of friction and misunderstanding between Muslims and Jews. Can a level of understanding be reached between them that would make peaceful relations possible? It believe so. An almost forgotten episode during World War II could bring light to this issue.

During World War II, as Jews were being persecuted by the Nazis, they found refuge in Northern Albania. More than 2000 Jews were protected by the locals, who risked their own lives to do so. Although the Germans demanded that the Albanians provide them with lists with names of Jews in the country, the Albanians didn’t comply and instead sheltered them from the Nazis. According to the International School for Holocaust Studies, the Albanians didn’t turn over a single Jew to the Germans.

This episode was again brought to light by Norman H. Gershman, an American photographer, who has included photos of the Albanians’ descendants still living in the country in a book called BESA: Muslims Who Saved Jews in World War II. According to Gershman, only two countries in Europe refused to cooperate with the Nazis: Denmark and Albania.

Besa is an Albanian cultural concept that means “to keep the promise” and “word of honor.” The word has its origin in the Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini, an assembly of customary codes and traditions compiled by the 15th century chieftain and transmitted verbally over succeeding generations.

Besa means also taking care of those in need, protecting them and being hospitable. Both Catholics and Muslims participated in this effort. Since 70% of Albanians are Muslims it is safe to assume that it was they who were primary in aiding the Jews. Rather than hiding them in attics or in the woods, Albanians gave them Muslim names, gave them clothes and treated them as members of their own families.

Gershman tells the story of an Albanian man called Ali Pashkaj who received the visit at his store of a group of German soldiers surrounding 19 Albanian prisoners. Among the Albanians was a young Jew whom the Germans planned to assassinate.

Since Pashkaj spoke excellent German, he invited the soldiers into the store and gave them food and wine. While he was distracting the German soldiers, he gave the young Jew a melon containing a message instructing him to jump out of the truck at a certain location and run and hide in the woods. The young man followed the instruction and was able to escape.

The German soldiers were furious. They returned to the town and threatened to shoot the man and set the town on fire if the Albanians didn’t return the young Jew. The Albanians refused and the Germans finally left town. Pashkaj went to the woods where he found the young man and brought him back to his house and protected him. The young man, whose name is Yasha Bayuhovio later went to Mexico and became a dentist. In protecting him, Ali Pashkaj was practicing Besa.

As Gershman told the Jewish Chronicle, “Look, you are not talking to someone who is pro-Arab. It is really quite simply that there are good people in this world. I found Muslims who saved Jews. The perception of the religion of Islam as crazy is nonsense. I am a Jew to my core. I would lay down my life for Israel…However, we have objectified Muslims. They are just people. And in this little people (Albanians) they have a message for the world. I defy anyone to look at these people and say these are terrorists or terrorist sympathizers.”

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.