Saqr Abu Fakhr
Saqr Abu Fakhr (صقر أبو فخر) is an Arab writer living in Lebanon who is the Assistant Editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies. He is a researcher and author specialized in Arab Affairs, with special focus on Palestinian Affairs. He first started writing in 1973, and his writings were published in As-Safir newspaper, the journal Arab Studies and the journal Palestinian Affairs.
Saqr has held a variety of editorial and research positions; he was appointed as the Editorial Secretary for the “Palestine Supplement”[1] in Assafir, a leading Arabic daily newspaper. Since 1981, he was the editor or the assistant managing editor for a number of journals and research institutes, namely the PLO Planning Center[2] and the Institute for Palestine Studies.[3] He has written extensively about Palestinian history, culture, and the situation of refugees in Lebanon. His writings have been translated to various languages (such as Turkish, Kurdish, Persian, French and English). He is a member of a number of professional associations (such as the General Union of Palestinian Writers and Journalists, the Information Committee in the International Council for the Palestinians in the Diaspora -Geneva) and other advocacy societies (such the Arab National Congress, the Right of return, Aidoun [We will return]). Additionally, after discovering a collection of unknown short stories by the Palestinian writer Samira Azzam, he edited and published them. Abu Fakher obtained his BA in Economics in 1976.
He is the author of the article "Seven Prejudices about the Jews" published in Al-Hayat newspaper (November 12, 13, 14 1997). He criticized ignorance, narrow-mindedness, and denial prevalent in the Arab world, and described Arab thought regarding the Jews and the history of the Arab–Israeli conflict as full of misconceptions and myths.
Saqr examined and refuted seven common subjects of Arab myths about Israel:[4]
- That Judaism is not a monotheistic religion.
- That the blood libel and the matzah of Zion stories are true.
- That the Israeli flag represents the goal of the borders of Israel be from the Nile to the Euphrates
- That The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is true.
- That there is a Zionist Jewish conspiracy and that Jews wield hidden power
- That there is a unique Jewish ingenuity.
- That there is an all-powerful Zionist "Jewish lobby" in the United States.
Saker Abu Fakher is currently a Researcher and Editor at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies.