Report on Arab American Institute conference
Originally published in the Stamford Advocate
Lieberman criticized by audience members at Arab American political conference
Associated Press
October 17, 2003
DETROIT -- Democratic presidential candidate Joe Lieberman spoke Friday about restoring peace and trust in the Middle East, but did little to calm anger among Arab-Americans critical of his support for Israel.
"What about the wall?" shouted several of those attending the Arab American Institute leadership conference in Detroit.
They were referring to Israel's plan to build a barrier that juts into the West Bank.
Israel insists the barrier is essential to prevent suicide attacks and by doing so would help create an atmosphere conducive to peace talks. The Palestinians call the project a blatant grab for land before talks on the borders of a Palestinian state.
"It has nothing to do with security. It has to do with stealing from the Palestinians," shouted Greta Berlin, a Los Angeles resident who had just returned from the West Bank, where she was working with the International Solidarity Movement, a pro-Palestinian group.
Lieberman, who is Jewish, insisted the wall is temporary.
"I regret the confiscations," the U.S. senator from Connecticut said, referring to the Palestinian land that has been taken in the effort to build the wall.
U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat also running for president, spoke Friday via satellite.
"We must use our considerable influence with Israel to ask Israel to stop building walls ... to stop building settlements," Kucinich said to applause from the audience.
Mark Brewer, executive director of the Michigan Democratic Party, gave Lieberman credit for appearing.
"I give Joe Lieberman a lot of credit because it's not easy to come in and talk about these things," Brewer said. "This is really a genuine attempt on his part to engage in a dialogue about very divisive issues."
Lieberman blamed the lack of progress toward peace between Israelis and Palestinians on the failures of the Bush administration.
He received applause for some of his comments, including his calls for tolerance and unity.
Lieberman was the first in a series of Democratic presidential candidates scheduled to speak at the conference Friday and Saturday.
Kucinich was applauded when he called for removing U.S. troops from Iraq.
U.S. Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina spoke later Friday via satellite from Washington, where they were to vote on President Bush's $87 billion plan to sustain American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Lieberman missed the vote to be in Detroit.
Kerry focused on civil rights and developing a better peace plan for the Middle East.
"America is not a nation of secret knocks at the door in the dead of night. No one will be stronger (than Kerry) in defending this nation, but we are better than secrets and indefinite detentions," he said to applause. "When law enforcement wastes resources on those who have done nothing wrong, it makes it all that much harder to track down those who are truly dangerous."
Kerry also criticized comments made by Lt. Gen. William Boykin, who recently said of a 1993 battle with a Muslim militia leader in Somalia, "I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol."
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was wrong not to condemn the comments, Kerry said.
AAI president Jim Zogby read a statement from retired Gen. Wesley Clark of Arkansas, who was scheduled to speak but did not attend because he had lost his voice.
"The Bush administration seems to have adopted a strategy of treating everyone as a threat," Clark said in his speech. "I know what this administration is doing does not reflect American values."
Speaking of the war in Iraq, Clark said, "The war was an elective war, and it's been a huge strategic mistake for this country." However, he added, the U.S. must now succeed in making Iraq a country that can live in peace.
U.S. Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri was to speak later Friday.
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