Henry Siegman

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Henry Siegman
Born 1930
Frankfurt, Germany
Occupation Writer and journalist
Nationality American
www.cfr.org/bios/bio.html?id=122

Henry Siegman is a German-born Jewish American nonfiction writer and a journalist specializing in the Middle East policy towards Israel, and a visiting professor at the University of London.[1]

Contents

[edit] Early life and education

Siegman was born in 1930 in Frankfurt, Germany.[2] In America, he studied at City College and New School for Social Research. He was ordained as an Orthodox Rabbi by Yeshiva Torah Vadaath. He served as a chaplain in the Korean War, where he was awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.[3]

[edit] Career

He is a former Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.[4] Prior to that, he was the Executive Director of the American Jewish Congress (1978–1994). He appeared on Charlie Rose to comment on Israel related topics and contributed to the International Herald Tribune, the Financial Times, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times and other publications

[edit] Political writings

Siegman is a critic of the Israeli policies in the West Bank.[5] Former Israel ambassador to the United States Itamar Rabinovich identified his views as similar to that of Meretz's left wing.[6] Siegman supports the two-state solution and the moral equivalence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.[7] He advocates engagement with Hamas[8][9] and visited Khaled Mashal, Hamas leader exiled in Syria.[10] He says that Yasser Arafat made a "disastrous mistake" in rejecting the peace offer, but that "based on my 14 years of dealings with Arafat, I reject the notion that he was bent on Israel's destruction."[11] Siegman is critical of Ariel Sharon, about whom he wrote: "The war Sharon is waging is not aimed at the defeat of Palestinian terrorism but at the defeat of the Palestinian people and their aspirations for national self-determination."[12] He strongly defended former president Jimmy Carter's book Palestine Peace Not Apartheid.[13] He has also criticized the peace efforts by Ehud Olmert and George W. Bush.[14] Siegman has described the process as a “scam” because of a “consensus reached long ago by Israel’s decision-making elites that Israel will never allow the emergence of a Palestinian state”.[15] Writing in CounterPunch Magazine, Siegman wrote: "Their goal remains to prevent a peace process that would require them to halt Israel's expansion of its settlements and its effort to cut off East Jerusalem from its Palestinian hinterland."

[edit] Reception

Radio Free Europe calls him "a leading U.S. expert on the Middle East."[16] Jewish daily The Forward credits him for publicizing the "Saudi plan".[17] Journalist David Rieff calls him "the most perceptive American observer-participant in the last two decades of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.".[18] On the other hand, CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) has stated that Siegman's reporting is full of "Falsehoods that distort and denigrate", "Hypocrisy and double standards", and that "An examination of his body of work reveals his analyses to be little more than thinly veiled propaganda promoting the Palestinian perspective on the conflict with Israel." [19]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Brief biography at The International Herald Tribune website.
  2. ^ Brief biography at the Euro|topics magazine.
  3. ^ Separating Spiritual and Political, He Pays a Price, by Chris Hedges, The New York Times, June 13, 2002.
  4. ^ Henry Siegman's biography, on the Council on Foreign Relations website.
  5. ^ New Jewish Lobby Counters Neocons, by Ralph Seliger.
  6. ^ What will happen after Bush? by Itamar Rabinovich, Haaretz, October 29, 2007.
  7. ^ Is 'moral equivalency' really so wrong? by Henry Siegman, Los Angeles Times, June 18, 2006 (from CFR website)
  8. ^ Hamas: The Last Chance for Peace? by Henry Siegman, The New York Review of Books, April 27, 2006.
  9. ^ The Hamas factor by Robert Malley and Henry Siegman, The International Herald Tribune, December 27, 2006.
  10. ^ Hamas and Gaza Emerge Reshaped After Takeover by Ethan Bronner, June 15, 2008.
  11. ^ Yasir Arafat, Father and Leader of Palestinian Nationalism, Dies at 75 by Judith Miller, The New York Times, November 11, 2004.
  12. ^ Sharon's Phony War by Henry Siegman, The New York Review of Books, December 18, 2003.
  13. ^ Hurricane Carter by Henry Siegman, The Nation, January 4, 2007.
  14. ^ The Great Middle East Peace Process Scam by Henry Siegman, The London Review of Books, 16 August 2007.
  15. ^ The Great Middle East Peace Process Scam Henry Siegman, London Review of Books, 16 August 2007
  16. ^ Middle East: Will Israel's Killing Of Hamas Leader Affect U.S. Policy? by Jeffrey Donovan, Radio Free Europe, March 23, 2004.
  17. ^ Saudis Push Bush Team On Peace Plan by Nathan Guttman, The Forward, January 19, 2007.
  18. ^ Arafat Among the Ruins by David Rieff, The New York Times, April 25, 2004.
  19. ^ http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=139&x_article=1197
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