The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) has significantly contributed to the progress of global peace and promotion of global citizenship.
Nonetheless, recently, CEIP Vice President for Middle Eastern Studies, Jordanian Marwan Muasher, has made confusing comments that puts his stance on peace itself in question, and further sheds a doubt on CEIP’s overall commitment to its mission, which is: “dedication to advancing cooperation between nations”.
On 31 August 2016, Mr. Muasher published an OpEd in the Jordanian daily, AlGhad, entitled “Lets Support the Civil Democratic State”. In this article, he exhibits passionate support for a list of candidates running for the Jordanian parliamentary elections that took place on 20th of September 2016. The block of candidates is named “Maan List”, or “Together List.” All of these ‘candidates’ openly are anti-peace, pro-BDS and avidly against the United States, West, with their focus being Israel and the Jewish state.
With that in mind, let’s take a close look at the Maan list. On their “official website,” in which they provide a clear and unapologetic description of political stances and positions. Combined, or even at plain face value its quite clear that Muasher’s has supported a group that upholds and publicizes positions that are in direct conflict with the very values that CEIP stands for. Here are examples of what “Maan List” supports:
“Despite the very complicated regional circumstances, we keep our eyes on the Palestine of Arabhood which is fighting the Zionist occupation and the spreading settlement cancer which has become a threat to our holy Jerusalem and our Islamic and Christian holy places as well as our Arab identity. This is in the name of Jordan’s historical responsibility towards the land and the human of the beloved Palestine, and we shall remain the strong backbone for our Palestine as well as its lung through which it breathes and gains power against the occupier. We shall remain standing behind the global anti-normalization with Israel movement (BDS), which has become an effective pressurizer against the occupier all over the world, and we demand anti-normalization all through our Jordan of dignity and pride and we tell the government there is another option as the gas production of Arab brothers is much bigger than that of the occupation”.
The Maan list does not stop there, read this: “We also utterly reject the racist project of the Judization of the state and we demand the government to work avidly with our brothers from the beloved Palestine to sustain the human on his soil and hold on tight to the right of return, self-determination and the independent state.”
“And last but not least, all the freedom for our hero prisoners in prisons of the occupation, and a healthy recovery to the wounded, and glory to the martyr”.
Now, let’s see what CEIP’s Vice President, Muasher says about the group that supports the stances above, in his article:
* “I have to admit that my sprits have pretty much gone up since I have attended, days ago, the launch ceremony of ‘Maan List’ which calls for a civil democratic state”.
* “For the first time, I heard public talk about civility and democracy that was very frank and clear about the goals which the list is trying to achieve”
* “It is the right, in fact the duty, of this civil and democratic movement to be heard. I have always believed that large numbers believe in this movement, but nonetheless remained silent or [too] incapacitated to organize itself within a framework that allows it to express itself”
* “What I hope for is that the boredom of these groups with the classic approaches that do not meet its needs, would not only push it towards going to the launch ceremonies of the lists that support such argument, but also would go on the day of elections to voting box and to vote for whom it believes is aligned with its dream of a civil and democratic state”.
* “This should not be an obstacle from going to vote, especially to ideological lists like “Maan” that does not depend on tribal foundations, but rather calls for ideas which we could never become an advanced society without.”
To make matters worse, the CEIP even provided a link from their site to the article in question.
This raises a variety of questions about the CEIP and the VP’s statements, for one, was Mr. Muasher speaking for himself, or because of his position, an extension of the CEIP?
Also, does the CEIP actually know what the Maan List stands for, and what it means to the countries in the region? How does comply with CEIP’s mission statement, and even further, its tax-deductible status?
In addition, was CEIP VP Muasher spreading innuendo and hate against Israel and Jews? Why is Mr. Muasher supporting a pro-BDS group? Does he support BDS himself? Does CEIP support the BDS movement?
At the same time, how does Mr. Muasher see supporting BDS as contributing to world peace and especially peace in our region? And in fact, why is CEIP’s VP playing a key role in helping Jordan’s king keep his people down while expanding his powers through radical groups such as Maan List, which Muasher supports?
CEIP is in a position where it must take a stance, clearly and utterly distancing itself from their VP’s statements. Especially that Mr. Muasher cannot claim he did not know of Maan List’s stances against peace and Israel, if he did not actually know; then why did he go the extra mile to support the list in one of Jordan’s most read dailies? Also, him being the head of
CEIP’s MidEast research; is it even possible he has failed to do the research before supporting anti-peace group, when all he had to do is check their website?
In closing, we believe that these statements were wrong and do not reflect the CEIP and its programming in any way. Even so, we do know that Mr. Muasher is a CEIP VP and as such, he is recognized around the world as a leader in the organization. As such, we believe that CEIP should clearly state that it does not support Muasher’s position.
Further, CEIP must not tolerate pro-BDS and anti-Semitic stances as they endanger Israel and thus the direct interest of Jordanians and Palestinians, and this is in turn directly compromises regional and global peace.
CEIP and other global political organizations must exclude, eliminate and besiege all supporters of hatred including those who promote BDS, which simply means: less jobs, less stability and more unrest as far as we Jordanians and Palestinians are concerned.
{Abed AlMaala is the Secretary of Commerce in the Jordanian Opposition Coalition; www.facebook.com/abed.almaala}