"Everyone Has a Right to Education"

From former guerilla fighter to the publisher of a news magazine: Palestinian Bassam Abu Sharif has undergone many transformations in his life. Since 2000 he has been publishing the independent news magazine Al-Democraty in Ramallah. By Rasha Khayat

In the year in which Germany commemorates the German Autumn, a set of events that occurred in late 1977, the name Bassam Abu Sharif also reappears in our media. The longtime advisor and companion of Yasser Arafat and later PLO spokesman made a name for himself in the 1970s first and foremost as a Palestinian guerilla fighter.

As a former PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) spokesman, he had close contacts with the RAF, was allegedly involved in planning the hijacking of the Lufthansa airplane "Landshut" in October 1977. Regular contact with the most wanted terrorists of the 1970s, Wadi Haddad and Carlos the jackal, put Abu Sharif on the front page of TIME magazine as the "Face of Terrorism."

All this occurred long ago. In 1972 Abu Sharif lost four fingers in a bomb attack and has since been deaf in one ear.

After Yasser Arafat went into exile, Abu Sharif withdrew from active fighting. He distanced himself publicly from his former activities and long before Arafat's return to Palestine in 1994 became his most intimate advisor and confidante, was one of the most first Palestinian politicians to support the two-state solution, and during the Arafat years was one of the principal figures in the Middle East peace process.

It is said that he persuaded Arafat to officially recognize the state of Israel in 1988.

Retreat from politics

After Arafat's death Bassab Abu Sharif withdrew almost entirely from the public stage of politics. Yet he does not hesitate to share his views and analyses of the Palestinian situation, the Middle East conflict, and international politics.

Since 2000 Abu Sharif has been the publisher and chief editor of his own news magazine, "Al-Democraty." At first only appearing as an insert in the magazine "Al-Hayat Al-Dschadida", since 2005 "Al-Democraty" has been published as an independent weekly magazine. Meanwhile the magazine has reached a circulation of 20,000, and is sold in Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, as well as the Maghreb countries and the Gulf region.

Visually as well as thematically Al-Democraty is modeled on international magazines such as TIME magazine and Germany's SPIEGEL. So what is special about Abu Sharif's publication?

"Al-Democraty is the first independent Palestinian news magazine. Since we are not financed by the state, we are in the position to report objectively and comprehensively, and we do not have to work together with state-approved authors," says Sima Michael-Mizrawi, managing director of Al-Democraty.

Al-Democraty, according to Michael-Mizrawi, also wants to be a forerunner in Palestine in the cultural and social sector.

"The problem with our press here is that ninety percent of the news deals with regional events. International politics are only mentioned when they involve Middle East politics. We want to create a magazine that shows us Palestinians the world 'out there.' We want our fellow countrymen to learn about art, literature, and theater from around the world and to know who and what Angela Merkel does."

A source for the international press

The idea behind Al-Democraty was to raise the level of the coverage of cultural and social news in Palestine and in the entire region, says Bassam Abu Sharif. "Everyone has a right to education – this I firmly believe. That's why I started Al-Democraty."

That an experienced politician such as Abu Sharif is working as a publisher is not without consequences. Thus, in broad analyses Abu Sharif had predicted the fighting between Hamas and Fatah long before the first acts of violence had even broken out. Al-Democraty and Abu Sharif's analyses often later served as a first source for the international press.

But the magazine does not want to build its reputation entirely on its news coverage. "We soon want to be able to organize workshops and seminars for Palestinians, for students and even journalists. We want to advocate strengthening women's rights and expanding the national education system," explains Sima Michael-Mizrawi.

Poor financial resources

But independence has its price. "Our financial resources are very poor. At the present we do not even have our own printing press and must produce the magazine in Jordan, since we cannot use the state-owned printing presses here in Ramallah. There are plans in the making to work with a few NGOs, but these talks are still in the early stages." Collaboration with internationally renowned journalists also strains their financial situation.

But Abu Sharif wants to lose Ramallah as their headquarters as little as he wants to lose his independence from state authorities. "We can only do something in Palestine for the Palestinians. Anything else would not be credible."

Thus Bassam Abu Sharif continues to fight for a free Palestine and is following the path of his longtime friend Yasser Arafat – only with less force than 30 years ago.

Rasha Khayat

Qantara.de

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