Washington, D.C. In
his recent address to the National Endowment for Democracy, President
Bush called upon Arabs and Muslims to develop more freedom and democracy
in their countries. With special reference to Iraq, he argued, that
the failure of democracy "would embolden terrorists around the
world, increase dangers to the American people, and extinguish the hopes
of millions in the region."
While the President's message sounded reasonable in principle, it again
missed the crucial concerns of the peoples in the Middle East. While
condescendingly telling Arabs how backward they are, he has done painfully
little to bring freedom and peace to the region, except for the elimination
of Saddam Hussein's regime.
He asks for democracy in the Palestinian territories but condones the
36 years of Israeli occupation, the killing and maiming of thousands
of Palestinians, the wanton destruction of their property, the severe
curtailment of their freedom of movement, and their economic despair.
Oblivious to worldwide objections, the Bush administration has again
given Israel $6.3 billion so far this year to assure its military and
economy superiority over its Arab neighbors. To rankle Arabs further,
the dialogue with the Syrian government, which Secretary Powell had
started, is soon to be replaced by economic sanctions.
Congress and the President repeatedly assured the Sharon government
that Israel has the right to defend itself but never extended this right
to Palestinians. President Clinton's peace negotiations failed in part
because Israel insisted that a sovereign Palestine would have to submit
to Israeli military control on land and in the air indefinitely.
"How can we believe," asked Syrian professor Imad Fawzi Shueibi,
"that Mr. George Bush wants us to enter the era of democracy and
the era of freedom when he remains biased toward Israel despite its
violations of human rights, despite its long occupation of Arab land
and its apartheid system toward the Arabs in the occupied territories?"
More importantly yet, Arabs and Muslims see no end in sight for America's
military presence throughout the Middle East. The president lectures
them about democracy but shows no intention to allow them the kind of
independence from foreign rule that Americans have been taking for granted
since 1783.
"We are all oppressed. We are all being humiliated," complained
Malaysia's departing Prime Minister Mahatkir Mohammed at a conclave
of Muslim leaders. "Today we, the whole Muslim community, are treated
with contempt and dishonor. …There is a feeling of hopelessness
among Muslim countries and their people. They feel that they can do
nothing right. Our only reaction is to become more and more angry. Angry
people cannot think properly."
Several prominent Israelis have been asking, as in the Geneva Accords,
for an end to the occupation of the Palestinian territories. Yet, neither
Congress nor the President wants to hear that message. They do not even
recognize the legitimacy of the Arab League, although it voted for full
recognition of the state of Israel as a necessary element of peace in
the region.
Neither Congress nor the President want to weigh in with America's enormous
economic and military power to prod Sharon and Arafat toward an equitable
settlement of their differences. The "road map' to peace has so
far been no more than a flood of words.
How much longer, one has to ask, will the American people allow their
lawmakers to remain captives of Sharon's lobby in Washington at the
expense of America's national interest in a pacified Middle East? Ironically,
our political leaders eagerly discuss what is wrong with Iraq, Iran,
Syria, and North Korea but carefully avoid a frank debate about how
best to use America's unique leverage to settle the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.
Yet, it is America's role in this disaster that continues to breed more
hostility against us than any other cause.