Al-Ahram Weekly | Opinion | Wishing you success

		Al-Ahram Weekly Online 28 Feb. - 6 March 2002 Issue No.575
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue \| Previous issue \| Site map

Wishing you success
Osama El-Ghazali Harb* addresses an open letter to President George W Bush
Dear Mr President,
I write this letter days before President Hosni Mubarak embarks on a trip to Washington to meet you. As an Egyptian citizen, I believe I am speaking for a large sector of Egypt's public opinion when I say that I eagerly look forward to this visit and its outcome. I am especially concerned about the current crisis in the Arab-Israeli peace process. We know that President Mubarak candidly expresses the sentiments and hopes of the Egyptian people, and all pro-government and opposition forces are united in backing his foreign policies. This is a fact which your diplomats or your information-gathering agencies in the region can easily verify. Nonetheless, I believe it would be beneficial to convey to you directly some of the impressions and ideas prevalent in Egyptian public opinion (which, as you know, is part of the larger Arab public opinion extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Gulf). This I will do without mincing words.
Mr President, more than at any time in the past 25 years, we feel disappointed and let down by American policies in the region. These feelings are rooted in our anticipation that Washington would take a firmer, more just position than it has on the peace process, an in our inability to fathom how the US assesses its interests and relations in the region. Allow me to elaborate further.
Egypt and the US are working to achieve two goals: eliminate terrorism and achieve a comprehensive solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. In your State of the Union address on 29 January, Mr President, you said that the war against terror is still at its beginning. But we in Egypt, began our battle against terrorism long ago, in the mid-'70s. President Mubarak has frequently called for a comprehensive, international effort on this issue. Therefore, we agree that terrorism must be rooted out.
As the world's superpower, concerned with defending its interests in the Middle East and, primarily, with buttressing Israel's security, the US is searching for peace in the region. We initiated peace with Israel in 1977. We are still interested in expanding this process to include all other Arab parties, first and foremost the Palestinians, who have the right to an independent state -- a goal for which you have expressed your support. Therefore, both Egypt and the US aspire to a comprehensive peace in the region.
Despite these shared goals, however, we do not always see eye to eye on priorities and methods.
First, we believe that there is an inherent link between fighting terrorism and a comprehensive solution of the Arab- Israeli conflict. We believe that resolving the conflict will remove one of the root causes of terrorism. It is no coincidence that those who carried out the 11 September terrorist attacks were Arab Muslims. The perpetrators were driven by frustration, despair and anger against what they considered America's blind bias toward Israel.
We were relieved when, soon after the attacks, the US administration reiterated the need for a just political solution to the Palestinian issue, and voiced support for Palestinian statehood. It soon abandoned this policy line, however, and insisted on dissociating its policies in the region from the fight against terrorism. A sudden spate of reports from the media and from research institutes singled out "deficient democracy," the economic gap between rich and poor and religious fanaticism as the "true" causes of terrorism. Of course these factors played a role in sowing the seeds of terrorism; but US policies in the region make them grow, and cause terrorists to single out the US alone as the target for their resentment.
After the US had succeeded in eliminating Al-Qa'eda, which it had accused of organising the attacks, when asked what would happen after Afghanistan, Mr President, you said that the US would pursue terrorists to the ends of the earth, and prevent regimes hostile to the US from possessing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.
Mr President, we disagree with you on this point. We believe that the coming phase should aim at eradicating the real root causes of terrorism, not hunting for "terrorists" around the world. We believe that the rapid settlement of the Arab- Israeli conflict is no less important than the pursuit of terrorists. Indeed, it is more important.
We are surprised, then, when you include on the US's list of terrorist organisations the names of groups which -- as you well know -- are defending their land against foreign occupation. You know, too, that all colonial and occupation powers call the forces that resist their presence "terrorists." How can the US, while advocating freedom worldwide, condone the oppression and persecution of those who wish only to liberate their homeland? Mr President, surely you must realise the anger, bitterness and resentment these people feel toward the US as a result.
We are still wondering, too, why you chose to include Iraq in the "axis of evil," and why you insist so determinedly on toppling Saddam Hussein 11 years after his defeat in Kuwait. You and your European allies chose to clip his wings during the battle to liberate Kuwait in 1991, and not to eliminate him. Now, you want to get rid of him under the pretext that he is not cooperating with the UN weapons inspectors. In 1991, the US was the liberator of an Arab state; today, it has adopted the delusions and paranoia of the Israelis as its own. Mr President, your intervention against Iraq this time can only ignite the region, both in defence of the Iraqi people -- who have struggled to survive for many long years -- and even in empathy for Saddam Hussein. An attack will present him with a golden opportunity to pose as the challenger of Israel's ally.
What really surprises us, however, especially after 11 September, is that your information-gathering agencies and think- tanks are unable to calculate the damage caused by your continued bias in Israel's favour, which so decisively turns Arab and Muslim opinion against American policies. Many of those who influence public opinion in your country not only ignore this effect, but often claim that Arabs and Muslims hate Americans for who they are, that we reject your values and your way of life. These lies are evidence of either severe ignorance or a hysterical desire to defend Israel at any price. Your diplomats and intelligence operatives know that we disagree with you for a simple reason: your refusal to recognise Arab rights. Otherwise, Mr President, you of all people should know the magnitude and depth of our relations, shared interests and importance to each other.
Finally, Mr President, we are not asking you to oppose Israel or even diminish your support. We only ask that you refrain from conducting your special relationship at the Arabs' expense, and to the detriment of legitimate, universally recognised rights -- rights you yourself acknowledged not so long ago.
A comprehensive, just and balanced peace will be the shortest and surest way to eliminate terrorism and achieve peace for you, us and the world.
* The writer is editor-in-chief of the quarterly Al-Siyasa Al- Dawliya (International Politics), issued by Al-Ahram.

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