Khaled Abu Toameh, an international journalist living in Jerusalem, gave a lecture at the UCLA School of Law on Tuesday evening where he presented his perspective as an Arab Israeli man with a Palestinian mother and Israeli father.
He spoke on his experience as a journalist in the Middle East, recent intra-Palestinian violence in the Gaza Strip and the situation for both Palestinian refugees and Arabs living in Israel.
Abu Toameh started out speaking about his early career in journalism working for a Palestinian newspaper, which he called frustrating due to the lack of free speech.
He told the audience he then went to work for an Israeli newspaper in order to have control over his own writing.
His lecture progressed to the international community’s criticism of Hamas, which he said encourages, in part, Palestinian support of the party.
“You have to understand Palestinian culture,” Abu Toameh said. “It is one of defiance.”
He explained that Hamas has done positive things for the Palestinians, such as building hospitals and universities.
Abu Toameh said he believes the international community does not understand this aspect of the party, and though it has used terrorism as a tactic for accomplishing its goals, it started on the platform of improving the conditions in the Palestinian territories.
Abu Toameh also described the escalating violence between Palestinians, which he said is reaching a high point.
“I’ve never seen a Palestinian be so cruel to another Palestinian,” he said of his latest trips to the area.
The key to curbing the violence, he said, is improving the condition of the Palestinian refugees, who he said live in hunger and poverty-stricken “refugee camps.”
He said while Palestinians in cities are well-off, the refugees’ conditions cause 80 percent of the problems facing Palestinians.
“It’s people who have nothing to lose who always resort to violence,” he said.
He urged the international community to try to improve the refugees’ conditions, calling it “a humanitarian issue.”
When an audience member asked Abu Toameh for his predictions for the Palestinian people over the next 50 years, his response was good-humored, but pessimistic.
“In the Middle East you can go to sleep with one reality and wake up with another reality,” he said. “You don’t know what’s going to happen in the next five minutes.”
His tone turned more serious as he continued, “To tell you the truth, I’m not optimistic.”
He also condemned what he said he believes is the Israeli government’s discrimination against Israeli Arabs.
“What Israeli Jews need to understand is that Israeli Arabs are fighting for integration,” he said.
The lecture was open to the public, and about 80 people attended.
Jamison Power, a second-year law student and co-president of the Democrat Law Student Association, one of the lecture’s sponsors, said the lecture was intended to open the audience’s mind on Palestinian society and related issues.
“It’s important to get a different perspective from maybe what we’re getting in the mainstream media,” Power said.
Liya Arushanyan, a third-year English and sociology student, said she attended the event because of Abu Toameh’s unique heritage.
“I thought it’d be interesting to get the perspective of someone who’s half Israeli, half Palestinian,” she said.
She added that since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is so controversial in both the international and local communities, she wanted to hear a more balanced take on the issue.
Though the audience became tense during a few controversial questions, it laughed frequently and Abu Toameh remained good-humored.
Tuvia Korobkin, a first-year law student, gave the lecture high marks.
“He was open-minded. I was encouraged to see someone from the Arab world speak fairly on both sides of the issue,” Korobkin said.