Arab-Israeli journalist Khaled Abu Toameh, a reporter for the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post, spoke last Tuesday about his experience covering the Arab-Israeli conflict, corruption within the Palestinian leadership and about the need for free media within the Palestinian territories. Approximately 80 students attended the event in the Rapaporte Treasure Hall. The event was followed by a question-and-answer session. Toameh, a journalist for the past 26 years, started his career working for a Palestinian Liberation Organization newspaper. He attended Hebrew University in Jerusalem and said he now works for Israeli media because they offer freedom of press.

"As a journalist, I have absolutely no problem working for a newspaper as long as it provides me with a free platform," said Toameh, criticizing the lack of free media in Palestinian areas.

According to Toameh, corruption within the Palestinian leadership prevented any progress in the peace process after the Oslo Accords signed by Israel and the PLO in 1993 and again in 1995. "The idea of Oslo was excellent. The way Oslo was implemented brought about disaster," Toameh said.

After Oslo II, then-PLO chairman Yasser Arafat diverted peace process funds for personal use, thereby allowing Palestinian problems to worsen. "When you deprive your people of international aid, . they become disillusioned with the fruits of the peace process," Toameh said.

"The Palestinians didn't feel like there was real change in their lives. . They lost faith in the PLO and they lost faith in the peace process," he said.

Toameh also said that the al-Aqsa Intifada, which began in September 2000 and resulted in over 5,000 Palestinian and 1,000 Israeli deaths, was instigated by Arafat after a visit by Ariel Sharon to the Temple Mount, an important religious site in Jerusalem for Christians, Muslims and Jews. According to Toameh, who said he accompanied Sharon on his visit, Sharon "never set foot inside a mosque," but Arafat announced on television that Israeli forces were destroying the Temple Mount.

"This was Arafat's way of diverting attention from the financial corruption within the Palestinian authority," said Toameh.

Toameh also spoke about the need for Arab states to take responsibility for the Palestinian people, rather than letting the burden fall on Israel. Israel should have insisted on an Arab international role in the Gaza strip after withdrawing from Gaza in September 2005, Toameh said, instead of retaining control over such issues as immigration, imports and exports and airspace and sea access from Israel to Gaza and vice versa.

Toameh also said that there is a need for Israel to remove its presence from Gaza. "I would prefer to see Israel totally disengage from Gaza. . Gaza should be abroad for Israel. It should be another entity," he said.

There is a lack of effective leadership among the Palestinians, Toameh said, and because of this, any decision that is made as a result of the negotiations between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would not be able to be enforced. "Any agreement you reach with Abbas will be rejected by Hamas and the majority of the Palestinian people," Toameh said.

Toameh said that his opinions are reflective of what many Palestinians believe. "I'm not a self-hating Arab," he said.

Currently, Toameh said he sees a third Intifada occurring inside Israel as a conflict between Jews and Israeli Arabs resulting from a lack of societal integration, even though "Israel is not an apartheid state."

"Israel has to embrace these people and not corner them and alienate them," he said.

Even though Toameh said he has received some threats, "Journalists who cover a conflict are constantly under pressure," and situations rarely become violent. "For me, journalism is about writing and telling the truth. I enjoy my work. I like it," said Toameh.

Students attending the event said they enjoyed hearing a different Arab perspective on the Arab-Israeli conflict. "I wish there had been a larger turnout, because there is . a good amount of the Jewish population that hasn't been exposed to a liberal Arab-Israeli view," Garrett Nada '10 said.

Toameh was "a voice on Palestinian politics that you don't really hear at Brandeis. . In a certain way it demonstrates things which are lacking in dialogue about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict," Jason Lustig '08 said.

In his presentation, Toameh stressed the need for exposure to other sides of the conflict in Palestinian-controlled areas in order for any change to occur and said that the United States, as well as other countries that pour money into the Middle East, should use their tax money to pressure Palestinians to have free media.

Currently, said Toameh, Palestinians and Israelis are "liplocked" because the land cannot be shared or divided peacefully. "The gap is so wide. The issues are so deep, so complicated, that all you can do now is reduce the level of violence" and reach some sort of security agreement, he said.