c. 1999 Religion News Service

(National Correspondent Ira Rifkin covers Jewish and Muslim issues for Religion News Service.)

WASHINGTON _ Score another victory for American Jewish political muscle.

Muslim activist Salam Al-Marayati has been removed from the National Commission on Terrorism following a barrage of criticism over his appointment from Jewish community groups who perceive him to be an apologist for Muslim terrorists.

House Minority Leader Rep. Richard A. Gephardt, D-Mo., who appointed Al-Marayati to the commission, released a fig leaf of a letter in which he insisted his reason for dropping Al-Marayati was that the requisite security background check would take longer to complete than the commission is scheduled to exist.

It didn’t seem to matter that Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles, has previously been cleared to attend White House and State Department briefings, and to fly to the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty signing on Air Force II as a guest of the U.S. government.

What did matter was the opposition to him from the Council of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the Zionist Organization of America, the American Jewish Committee and other Jewish watchdog groups.

So it’s another short-term Jewish political victory. But it could well end up a long-term defeat _ and self-inflicted at that.

To be sure, Al-Marayati _ who was born in Iraq, came to the United States when he was 4 years old, and at 38 is a naturalized American citizen _ holds opinions most Jews would dispute, to say the least. That would include me.

He is highly critical of Israeli policy toward Palestinians in particular and the Arab world in general. He argues that Israel’s actions _ its”brutal occupation”of Palestinian land, as he puts it _ are in large part responsible for the terrorist attacks it has suffered over the years, thereby ignoring the Arab rejection of Israel that has prolonged the conflict and hardened Israeli attitudes.

Additionally, he includes Algeria, which has experienced unspeakable atrocities at the hands of Muslim extremists, in his list of”Islamic movements with genuine grievances.”He rails against U.S. policy vis-a-vis Iraq and, in a recent statement on the 13 Iranian Jews arrested on espionage charges, he included a gratuitous reference to Jonathan Pollard, saying”the history of Israeli spies is well known,”even as he urged”due process in the case.” Would he weep if Israel were to be overwhelmed by its foes? I doubt it, despite his stated support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But what must not be forgotten is that Al-Marayati’s strongly held views are shared by most in his community. As extreme as he might sound to Jews, he is a moderate in his world. He has worked for Jewish-Muslim dialogue for more than a decade in Los Angeles. His organization is one of the few American Muslim or Arab groups that has issued statements condemning Palestinian terrorism against Israeli civilians in recent years. When it comes to domestic politics, Al-Marayati is a liberal-leaning Democrat in the mold of many of his Jewish critics.

I first met Al-Marayati in the mid-1980s when I worked in Los Angeles as a reporter. In the years since I have interviewed him numerous times, and have informally spoken with him on even more occasions about Middle East and American Jewish-Muslim issues.

In my current position as a writer and editor for Religion News Service, I have edited columns he and his wife, Dr. Laila Al-Marayati, a Clinton appointee to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, have written for RNS.

I cannot vouch for what’s in his heart, but my knowledge of his thinking allows me to trust that he sincerely sees greater Muslim-Jewish understanding as a way for both communities to gradually disengage from the mistrust _ and hate _ keeping them at each others’ throats, figuratively in the United States, literally in the Middle East.

But for the Jewish community, more is at stake here than Salam Al-Marayati.

The American Jewish community wields extraordinary power in Washington. The future may be different. As the Jewish community continues to stagnate from assimilation and apathy, and its interest in Israeli security recedes, the American Muslim community continues to grow. No one knows for sure, but the two communities may already be about equal in size.

Clearly, the Muslim community continues to lack the political sophistication, involvement, money and acceptance enjoyed by American Jews. But what about a generation from now? Will Muslim influence have grown to the point where it seriously challenges Jewish influence? If so, are Muslims likely to practice the same take-no-prisoners politics that too many in the Jewish community model? Or will bridges have been built allowing both communities to understand the other’s concerns?

The time to develop these bridges is now. For the Jewish community, it makes sense to approach this daunting task from its current position of strength. Continuing to fight a rear-guard action will only make the situation worse.

The Jewish community cannot pick the Muslim community’s leaders. Israel learned that lesson in dealing with Yasser Arafat. The American ideal of religious and political pluralism mandates that Muslims, given their centrality to the terrorism issue worldwide, deserve a voice on the commission to express their concerns.

The”peace of the brave”comes in many forms.

DEA END RIFKIN