There are heroes of Arab issues, especially the Palestinian one. I will not call them unknown, since their names are repeated every day. For me, they represent an oasis of hope amid a desert of inter-Palestinian disputes and an Arab inability to act. I receive a few hundred emails a day. Among them is the news that I inherited millions of dollars in Colombia, and the person who tells me exactly what God will ask me when I finally get to meet Him, as if he were His agent on this earth. There are also letters and items that are related to my work in think tanks and research institutions around the world. Meanwhile, I also receive around one hundred emails a day from activists who devote themselves to defending the Palestinian issue, and responding to its enemies in the form of extremist Likudniks and the fascist lobby, the thieving settlers and others, from Palestine to even the United States. I can give readers dozens of names of people in my emails day after day, of those who seem to be completely busy with defending the issue. However, readers might get lost, so I will choose just two examples of heroic Arab strugglers who sacrifice themselves for their people and nation – which leads me to believe that the future is ours. There is Mazen Qumsiyeh in the Palestinian territories, and Jess Ghannam in California. Both of them are university professors; the former has a Ph.D. in sciences and specializes in biology and genetics, while the latter has a Ph.D. in psychology. Dr. Qumsiyeh was born in Beit Sahour and obtained a Ph.D. from Texas Tech University. He completed his specialization at St. Jude's Hospital for pediatric research at the University of Tennessee. He taught at Tennessee University and Duke before returning to his country, to teach at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities. Moreover, he is continuing his scientific research at these institutions. I have followed Mazen Qumsiyeh for years, when he resided in the US. Nothing gets past him; he sends out one, two or more letters every day. He writes and lectures and publishes articles in the press. I thought at first that he had no other job, since his patriotic activity requires a full-time commitment. I then learned that he is a professor of sciences (not political sciences), and that his website, letters, studies and follow-up take place in parallel to his academic work. He is an authority in his field and has published countless papers on scientific topics. I do not know how to translate most of them into Arabic, in a way that the reader could follow. Two years ago, Dr. Qumsiyeh decided to return to his country. He is now an example of peaceful struggle against the occupation. We find him at every demonstration and protest, from Bil‘in to Nil‘in, and Ma'sara, Nabi Saleh, and other villages near Ramallah, Birzeit and Bethlehem. Occupation soldiers tried to arrest him recently, and caught him and either interrogated him or threw him out of the protest activity. I do not believe there is a local or international human rights organization, or popular resistance committee, in which Mazen Qumsiyeh is not a member, or a partner in its efforts to defend the Palestinians and defend their cause. He followed every Israeli lie in the attack on the Freedom Flotilla; he exposed them and recorded the truth of the Israeli aggression. Despite all of the sources I have, I benefit from the headlines he records, so that I can follow up the organizations, studies and activities of which he is a daily part. Dr. Qumsiyeh has authored a book entitled Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle. He will soon publish another book, Popular Resistance in Palestine: A History of Hope and Empowerment. We move on from the Palestinian territories to California, where Jess Ghannam resides. He was born in Detroit, Michigan and obtained a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley. He is now a clinical psychologist at the University of California at San Francisco. This son of Palestine competes with Mazen Qumsiyeh in sciences and patriotism. He also has published studies and reports, and (like Qumsiyeh) is an authority in his academic field. I am talking about a huge amount of scientific effort, accompanied by the same amount of patriotic activity. I receive emails from him every day through the Palestine Network and Al-Awda News. He never tires of being a patriot, and is a member of local and foreign humanitarian organizations, to which Mazen Qumsiyeh belongs. He visits the Palestinian territories two or three times a year, and is constantly involved in charity work. Not a day goes by without my receiving several emails from Jess and Mazen about their activities in connection with the Palestinian cause. There are many people like them, but I chose examples of Arab individuals who are highly educated and highly patriotic, which gives me hope about the future of this nation.
