In regard to your article Prof. Blacklisted (Oct. 2, 2002), it appears that the problem associated with Professor Alam is not about him being blacklisted – his employment has not been terminated due to his anti-Israel position, nor is it a free-speech issue. The issue is that he presents very selective facts, distorted information, false statements and inflammatory language.
Professor Alam’s criticism is that the site www.campus-watch.org -“alleges that the professors in question [i.e., professors with a similar ideology to his] are not sufficiently Pro-Israeli, therefore, they are anti-American as well.” The reader is invited to review the mission statement of the site, which is very different, and reads as follows:
“Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum, monitors and critiques Middle East studies in North America, with an aim to improving them. The project mainly addresses five problems: analytical failures, the mixing of politics with scholarship, intolerance of alternative views, apologetics and the abuse of power over students. Campus Watch fully respects the freedom of speech of those it debates while insisting on its own freedom to comment on their words and deeds”
What could bother Professor Alam? Israeli occupation? Not really, since the Palestinian Authority by the year 2000 have been in control of all of the large cities in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and over 90 percent of the Palestinian population. Another possibility for his concern might have been a desire to see an independent Palestinian state side-by-side to Israel. Not really, since two years ago, President Clinton and the very leftist Israeli Prime Minister Barak had come up with a two states proposal (where the Israeli borders would be more or less consistent with the 1967 borders, and most of the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be allocated to the Palestinians). This proposal was accompanied by financial support to the Palestinian people as well as a de facto division of Jerusalem. Arafat has not accepted the proposal. My conclusion is that Professor Alam is not interested in a Middle East that includes a Jewish state.
Indeed, Alam and company are doing their best to blacklist, defile and discredit Israel in many public forums (i.e. New York Times, October 6, 2002) while Iran and Syria develop missiles specifically aimed at the destruction of Israel and while Israel is preparing for biological attack by Iraq.
Despite his complaints, Professor Alam has not been blacklisted- a term that historically has been associated with the loss of income or employment. Furthermore, his freedom of speech right, exercised by Arab members of the Israeli parliament who advocate similar ideologies to his, has not been infringed.
There are 22 Arab dictatorships in the Middle East (not including the Palestinian Authority or Iran, which certainly are not known for a democratic modus operandi). As a humanitarian and a free speech advocate, Professor Alam might consider supporting free expression as well as being vocal about the oppression in those countries. As an economist, the good professor might want to investigate the disappearance of millions, if not billions, of dollars given to the Palestinian Authority and targeted for the improvement of the quality of life for the Palestinian people.
