Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March/April 2024, p. 72
Obituaries
DR. IBRAHIM M. OWEISS, 92, professor emeritus at the School of Foreign Service in Georgetown University and one of the founding members of the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, died on Nov. 27, 2023, in Bethesda, MD. Born in Alexandria, Egypt, Oweiss taught economics at Georgetown University from 1967 until his retirement in 2009. He was proud to count future president Bill Clinton as one of his students. In his final years, he taught at the School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University in Qatar, which he helped to launch in 2005, recruiting faculty and staff in only three months. During a 2007 trip to Qatar’s Education City, we observed him in action teaching future leaders. His autobiography, A Tale of Two Cultures, was published in September 2011.
A longtime friend, adviser and occasional columnist for the Washington Report, Dr. Oweiss was the subject of a personality piece we published in 1983, which noted that it was he who coined the word “petrodollar” and described how the Gulf could use the “petrodollar weapon” to improve U.S. policy in the Middle East. His “Newton-Oweiss” law explains the far-reaching consequences of economics in sociology, history and political actions.
During Georgetown’s memorial service on Dec. 10 it was clear that the energetic and enthusiastic Dr. Oweiss had profoundly shaped and inspired foreign students he’d mentored, making them a part of his family when their own was far away. Dr. Oweiss is survived by his wife of 48 years, Céline Lesuisse Oweiss, who taught French at Georgetown, his daughter, Yasmeen, and son, Kareem, who shared memories like, “How come 300 students hang on my every word and you don’t listen to a word I say?” and invited the standing-room only audience to join in and give their dad’s “signature wink.”
John Pilger, 84, Australian journalist, scholar and documentary filmmaker died in London on Dec. 30, 2023. Based mainly in Britain, he was also a visiting professor at Cornell University in New York. His dedication to the causes of Indigenous people, from Australia to Palestine to Indonesia, were all reflected in documentaries, such as “Utopia,” “Palestine is Still the Issue,” “The New Rulers of the World,” “Breaking the Silence: Truth and Lies in the War on Terror,” “Stealing a Nation,” and many others, most of which are available to watch on his website <Johnpilger.com>.
In his powerful remembrance column, Dr. Ramzy Baroud wrote: “Pilger brilliantly connects the dots of major global issues—social injustice, inequality, the so-called war on terror and more—demonstrating the powerful maxim that ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’” In Pilger‘s 2009 Sydney Peace Prize acceptance speech, he said, “We are beckoned to see the world through a one-way mirror, as if we are threatened and innocent and the rest of humanity is threatening, or wretched, or expendable.” Pilger uncompromisingly defended free speech and remained a supporter of Julian Assange in his war against censorship.
Margaret Ann Hanson, 83, Voice of America radio correspondent, died on March 19, 2023 in Washington, DC. She and her first husband served in the first group of Peace Corps volunteers to go to Türkiye to teach English. She remained deeply connected to Türkiye, its people and fellow volunteers throughout her life. Hanson also lived in Yemen, and drove a Land Rover from London, UK to Sana’a, Yemen. After returning to the U.S., she worked as a teacher, a secretary for CARE International, and then ran her own language school before she was hired as the Voice of America’s oldest intern. She quickly rose to become a renowned VOA radio correspondent, covering major global events. She moved to New Delhi, India, and later to Jakarta, Indonesia, where she continued to write, publishing two mystery novels, Deadline Yemen and Deadline Istanbul. She also led a group of close female friends, the self-described “Turkish Delights,” on excursions all over the world.
Fadel Abu Hein, a professor and psychologist at Gaza’s al-Aqsa University for more than 20 years, was killed by an Israeli sniper on Jan. 23, 2024 in Khan Yunis. In 2003, Dr. Abu Hein was arrested from his Al-Shuja‘iyya home in Gaza City by Israeli forces. After Israel killed three of his brothers and blew up their home, he was brutally interrogated and released. He was considered an expert in treating trauma and mental health conditions, especially in children in Gaza. In an interview with The Guardian in 2005, Dr. Abu Hein said that Palestinian children had become “indifferent to death” after enduring Israeli shooting, night raids and demolitions. Israel has killed at least 94 other Palestinian academics since Oct. 7.
Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah, 86, the emir of Kuwait for the past three years, died Dec. 16, 2023. While his predecessor Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah was beloved for his diplomatic and peacemaking roles, Nawaf was remembered for his inaction as defense minister during Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait. He focused on domestic issues, including the overhaul of Kuwait’s welfare system during his short tenure.
