Talk:Edward Said/in Lebanon

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This page is an extract from a prior version of the article on the late Edward Said.

In July 2000 Edward Said travelled to Lebanon, where along with other Arabs he threw a rock at an Israeli guardhouse. Agence France Presse released a photograph showing him during this. When asked about this event, Said told reporters that this was "a symbolic gesture of joy", and aimed at an empty place.

Dr. Said was criticised for this action by the moderate Arab Press. A report in the Beirut Daily Star stated that they were disappointed that a scholar "who has labored . . . to dispel stereotypes about Arabs being 'violent'" reversed course, and let himself "be swayed by a crowd into picking up a stone and lofting it across the international border." The student newspaper of Columbia University, where he taught, the Columbia Daily Spectator, commented that Said's "hypocritical violent action" was "alien to this or any other institution of higher learning."

Political overtones
United Press International reported on July 4, 2000, that "Edward Said, a U.S.-nationalized Palestinian writer, visited the Lebanese-Israeli border and threw stones at Israeli soldiers ... Tuesday's As Safir newspaper published a front-page picture of Said as he was throwing stones at Israeli soldiers across the border fence at the Fatma gate." According to the London Daily Telegraph (July 6, 2000), Said said he threw the rock "as a symbolic gesture".

Said was roundly criticized in Israel for the act. Some in the U.S. claim that it an act of violence: The Zionist Organization of America demanded from Columbia University that Said be sanctioned. ZOA President Morton A. Klein wrote: "'There is no such thing as 'symbolic' rock-throwing just as there is no such thing as a 'symbolic' stabbing or shooting. Bullets, knives, and rocks can kill and maim. Eight Israelis have been killed, and thousands maimed, by Arab rock-throwing attacks. If Edward Said threw rocks at people in the United States, he could face a lengthy prison term.  Columbia University and the Modern Language Association should issue statements making it clear that Edward Said's violent behavior is unacceptable, and appropriate disciplinary action should be taken against him for his participation in violence.'"

Given Said's prominence, it's highly unlikely to speculate that Said actually targeted Israeli soldiers with stones. And according to eyewitness accounts, Said and his sons targeted no one specifically with their stones. But the outrage came from not from the potential violence of the act, but its political symbolism -- perhaps something Said was not aware of at the time. The picture portrayed was that of a prominent Palestinian intellectual standing in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance, and their trademark symbolic David versus Goliath act of throwing stones against far heavier weapons. That Said was a teacher, and was in fact engaged in this act with his sons seemed to create the image that Said was teaching "violence" to his sons. Like all political and religions issues in the region, symbolism carries a powerful and resonant message.

And while it's an honest argument to decry Said for teaching "violence", it's not clear that that was the case, just as it's not clear that the act of throwing stones, not being directed toward anyone, was a truly violent act-- even though the stones were directed toward Israel, they were not directed at Israelis. Nor can the case be made that his act was explicitly anti-Semitic, or even anti-Israeli-- since the extracted or implied symbolism of physical actions tends to be separate from the person and the action itself. Ultimately Said thought of the issue as being blown far out of proportion.