21 - 27 February 2002
Issue No.574
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 21 - 27 February 2002 Issue No.574 |
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Arafat is the key
The events of the past few months show clearly that the main challenges Muslims generally and Arabs in particular face are economic development, social change and political reconstruction. Terrorism grows in soil sown with poverty, corruption and lack of political representation. These are not the only causes, of course. There is no democracy in international relations, and double standards are the rule; these factors, too, have created an international environment hospitable to terrorism.
Upgrading living standards, political openness and the state of law are necessary for the future. Al-Qa'eda members, in leaving their countries, escaped from the world we know -- not only in space but also in time. They emigrated from history. Their destination was a different world, one of centuries past. They cannot adapt to the conditions prevailing today. This explanation does not justify their crimes, but, as an analytical approach, underlines the need for political reconstruction. Our starting point must be expanding political participation, improving education and reforming all aspects of life. Self- criticism is especially imperative at this juncture; a speech the crown prince of Saudi Arabia made in Muscat at the end of last year could be a turning point in this respect.
Modernising political systems and focusing all our efforts on economic and social growth: these efforts are the underpinnings of a modern state in this part of the world. If Arabs or Muslims are accused of fostering or harbouring terrorism, they are also its principal victims. The Palestinians, for example, have suffered greatly from the consequences of 11 September. But the Palestinian resistance must change its approach to liberation, paying more attention to the political aspects of the struggle. International circumstances are unfavourable to the Palestinian cause; America's stance is negative, Europe's ineffective, the Arabs' very weak. These factors impose another perspective. Political struggle should take the upper hand over armed resistance, for the latter feeds distortions of the Palestinian issue. Israel has excelled in equating terrorism with legitimate armed struggle in Western minds.
State modernisation in the Middle East will have a beneficial impact on the future of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Palestinian struggle to regain their legitimate rights. The battle is about modernisation. Our civilisation holds great reserves upon which we can draw: equality, democracy, development and transparency are our tools in a great confrontation with individualism, lack of political participation, poverty and corruption.
*The writer is head of Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee and a former high-ranking diplomat.
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