Adonis Diaries

A Jew against Zionism and State of Israel: Who is Alico Baydha?

In Feb. 28, 2011, Alico Baydha died, probably in France.

The Lebanese journalist, Ussama Aref recalls: “Ghassan Fawaz, living in France for the last 35 years, told us Kamal Bekdash and I of this sad news.  We were close friends with Alico Baydha since the 60’s, as we were university students 47 years ago.

Paul Cassia introduced me to Alico. Alico was a very intelligent, strong-willed person with confidence in his beliefs.  He was a staunch communist, convinced that Capitalism is on its death-bed, and that mankind will be liberated of all the restrictions that prohibit him from enjoying natural rights.

Once, he was explaining to his nephew of 17 of age, Henry Bitshoutu, that private properties are blatant robbery.  Henry went home and stole all his mother’s jewelry and gave them to Alico to sell and distribute the proceed to the poor people.  Alico handed the stolen goods to his mother, who knew better how to return the jewelry to her sister.

Alico was an attractive pole to women, but the one he fell in love with refused to marry him.

One day, he invited me to his home for lunch, located in Karacon Duruze (Beirut): Alico parents were taken by surprise, and Alico bluntly said to his mother Henriette: “Ussama is a Moslem Sunni, you know one of those who want to kill the Jews in the future.”

A few months later, Alico confessed that he is planning to organize a student political party in order to make education democratic to all Lebanese.  The first cell of this progressive student association was constituted of Yola Pauletty, Jad Tabet, Sullie Turkieh, Albert Naccash, and the French Jean-Claude Garssan.

Within months, this new student association won the student election in the departments of Law, Engineering, Dentistry, and Pharmacy at the Jesuit University (St. Joseph), and in the departments of Literature and Law at the Lebanese university, and in few other schools.

The Phalanges Party was very upset since this fascist party considered the Jesuit university its bastion.  The Maronite Patriarch summoned the parents of the leaders of this association to make some sense in the mind of their children, but no pressures worked.

Study groups were formed to present reports on several issues and problems.  Alico was in charge of reporting that the Palestinian cause was central to this movement.  Two issues were levied:

First, it was witnessed that proportionally the Jews had high ratio in the new association and whatever resolution on the Palestinian analysis would be biased, and

Second, what interactions are there between democratic education and the Palestinian cause?

The girls in that association visited Palestinian camps in Lebanon and studied the daily difficulties for survival.

Soon, it was discovered that late members Nakhleh Mutran, Edmond Aoun, and Agbash Agbashian were planning to create an alternative communist party.

The communist party (affiliated to Moscou) managed to rally the members of this association to its political lines and Alico had a substantial influence in that reversal of allegiance.  The communist party refused membership to Alico and other Jews on the basis that the party would be suspicious to society since the Soviet Union and the Lebanese communist party agreed on partitioning Palestine in 1947.

The mufti of Palestine, Amin Husseini, who was located in Beirut in 1967, disseminated a falsehood in an article published in the magazine Al Hadaf:  The article contended that the Jewish leaders in the student association were meeting regularly in Vienna, once a year, with Israeli officials.  The Communist party demanded that the association disband.

Consequently, Alico immigrated to Paris and resumed his activities with African movements.

A judge granted Alico political asylum since his parents were Iranians by origin, and his father worked as engineer in Aleppo (Syria) before his wife coaxed the father to move to Lebanon.  Alico was very frank and honest and told the judge that he is a member of the Palestinian faction Fateh.  The judge was very confused and said: “I refuse to understand your complications; obviously you deserve an asylum”

Alico got involved in a coup d’etat in Congo Brazzaville: He managed to flee, but his girl-friend Paule was incarcerate for a long duration.  Alico was terminally ill with cancer and he committed suicide.

Many of his friends attended the burial ceremony: Amin Maaluf, Heine Srour, his girl friend Paule and his younger sister Andree, along with the original leaders of the student association.

Note:  The parents of Alico and Andree immigrated to Israel and died in Israel.  The children refused to pay their parents any visit in Israel.