Pakistan-Israel Peace Forum

The Forum

Pakistan-Israel Peace Forum [1] is an astroturf lobbying group established by pro-Israel interests in the United States to mold public opinion in Pakistan towards the recognition of Israel. According to its website, the organization was created by "three friends, Waleed Ziad (Pakistan), Dror Topf (Israel), and Michael Berenhaus (US), all currently based in Washington, DC". According to the Washington Jewish Week, Berenhaus, a staunch Zionist, "assisted" Ziad and Topf "in setting up the group" and he also serves on its advisory committee now. [2] In its own words, the organization is "dedicated to promoting dialogue and establishing relations between Pakistan and Israel at the political, cultural, social and economic levels".

Founding Members

Michael Berenhaus

Berenhaus, an American Zionist and a veteran pro-Israel lobbyist, is the founder of Eye On The Post, an organization that purportedly monitors the Washington Post for its "anti-Israel bias". [3] Before setting up this organization he had also organized a campaign to boycott the newspaper through the BoycottThePost.org website. The acts of perceived bias include the Washington Post's reference to the West Bank and Gaza as "occupied territories" [4] -- the designation given to the territories by the UN and even recognized by Ariel Sharon, Israel's current right-wing Prime Minister. [5]

Eye on the Post's "strategic alliances" include the neo-McCarthyite CAMERA and Honest Reporting.

Waleed Ziad

Ziad, a Pakistani, is a a principal at the Truman National Security Project, a think-tank that "envisions a Democratic Party that is preeminent in national security once again". It's advisory board is composed of individuals from various right-wing think-tanks, from the Hoover Institution to the Council on Foreign Relations. According to its founder Rachel Kleinfeld the organization is "very much as a counterpart to the neoconservatives of the 1970s". [6]

Ziad has written for the New York Times, International Herald Tribune and The News (Pakistan). Following are some interesting passages from one of these articles:

Yes, the Muslim world had an unfortunate introduction to post-Enlightenment ideals, which came in the context of invasion, colonialism and exploitation. But the Arab philosophical and political movement that came out of that experience was not inherently anti-Western. In fact, in traditional Islamic thought the concept of violent resistance against an unjust ruler was virtually unheard of; for classical jurists, tyranny was preferable to the anarchy that accompanies revolt...

At the same time, our corporations should guide local entrepreneurs to promote a free market, the backbone of democracy. If anything is going to come of the neoconservative hope of making Iraq into a beacon of our values, it will be along these lines. [7] (emphasis added)

In another article, Ziad offers advice on opening a new front in the War on Terror: "Permanently dislodging these extremists calls for educational, economic and cultural development" through funding "functional education" and "real economic opportunities" with "Western money" so that the US is seen not as an occupier but a "purveyor of prosperity". [8]