" From Iraq to the Occupied Territories: Counting the Cost of America's Middle East Policy ."
Report from a Palestine Center briefing by William and Kathleen Christison

William Christison described the war on Iraq as a "catastrophe," and derided the Bush administration's stated goal of "transforming the Middle East." Further, he utterly denied that "spreading democracy through military action" was possible and went on to portray the current incarnation of that policy as "a travesty of human values." Deflating the Bush administration's claims of Iraq's threat to peace and stability, Christison described the "disastrous and worsening Palestinian conflict" as "perhaps the principal cause of unrest in the Middle East." He believes that the U.S. could press the parties to find a peaceful solution if it so desired, but has rather chosen to support Ariel Sharon's violent policies and refrain from active engagement.

Christison discussed the focus on Islamic fundamentalism and dismissed it as narrow and one-sided. All fundamentalism is dangerous, he claimed, and cited as examples Jewish fundamentalists terrorizing Palestinian residents of the West Bank, which the U.S. at least tacitly supports, and Christian fundamentalists in the U.S., who provide a good portion of the support the Bush administration enjoys. The latter two regressive ideologies will likely unite with the Bush administration to propagate, in Christison's words, "a new colonialism in the [Middle East], dominated by…the U.S. and Israel." It is not only hypocritical, but also extremely dangerous according to Christison, to provide support to violent fundamentalists of one stripe while attempting to wipe out another religion's zealots by military force. Instead, it is advisable to encourage moderate religious forces by "all peaceful means" to rein in their own extremists.

Next Christison dissected the U.S. policy towards weapons of mass destruction (WMD). He noted that while claiming to oppose the spread of WMD to countries that do not already possess such capabilities or that have not signed any non-proliferation treaties, the Bush administration follows policies which inevitably increase the risk of proliferation and the motivation of non-WMD states to acquire a deterrent. The ease of developing or procuring WMD has increased considerably over the last sixty years, and Christison singled out North Korea as an example of a small state that has apparently developed nuclear weapons. He also pointed out that North Korea's nuclear option has guaranteed it better treatment at the hands of the U.S. than Iraq, whose alleged WMD remain elusive. These two "vastly different" approaches make rapid proliferation more likely as other nations observe the disparity. Undoubtedly, other small nations and even sub-national groups will "see a greater value" in procuring their own WMD.

Kathleen Christison detailed a two-week odyssey through the West Bank and Gaza, which included conversations with Palestinian political and intellectual leaders and Israeli peace activists. Beginning with the plane trip into Tel Aviv from Jordan, and continuing on the ground, Christison was assaulted with the inescapable image of the unprecedented growth of Israeli settlements in Palestinian lands. The Palestinians, according to Christison, "live in ghettoes surrounded by Israeli settlers." Every settlement is placed on a hilltop, to strategically dominate the Palestinian village it is near, and the settlement access roads that Arabs are forbidden from using cut right through Palestinian fields and olive groves. The settlement of Har Homa in Jerusalem, which actually earned the Israeli government a rebuke from the U.S. when construction began, is now almost complete. Christison recounts how one Palestinian man whose family owned the land before it was confiscated for Israel's colonization project still lives in its shadow. He is forced to watch his patrimony desecrated daily by construction machines and imposing apartment blocks which, despite their modernity, resemble nothing more than a crusader castle in Christison's words.

Leading Palestinian intellectual Hanan Ashrawi told Christison that the principal aim of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is not just dismantling the infrastructure of a Palestinian state, but also dismantling any hint of a Palestinian identity. Sharon is attempting to eliminate a nation, and render the Palestinian people docile. To do so he must put down and delegitimize all resistance. Mustafa Barghouti, head of the West Bank's principal relief organization, concurred with Ashrawi's assessment and beseeched Christison to tell Americans "how vulnerable" the Palestinian people are.

Israeli peace activist Jeff Halper called Zionism a "self-absorbed bubble" which enables Israelis to ignore the suffering of others and concentrate only on their existence. He denied the Christisons' suggestion that Israelis simply live in fear of the Palestinians, and asserted that they "just don't give a damn about anyone else." He continued arguing that Israelis are able to perceive themselves as the victim at all times and can accordingly justify whatever actions they take.

Despite repeated setbacks, and a generally bleak assessment of the future of the Middle East, Kathleen Christison encountered tremendous optimism on the part of the Palestinians she met. William Christison also expressed optimism of a sort when he said that the Bush administration's schemes were doomed to failure. In his words, "the opportunity for global domination is already lost," and the U.S. will eventually have to start living as an equal and peaceful partner in an international environment.