Public relations and politics
Many rulers and officials in the Arab world agree that the US role in resolving the Arab- Israeli conflict is indispensable. In fact most of the political and diplomatic efforts -- and sometimes the financial input -- of Arab governments are an attempt to appease the US and urge it to exercise its influence over Israel.
The US has responded to these calls and presented several "peace proposals", the most recent of which, the roadmap, was recently stillborn.
The US jealously guards its position as the sole sponsor of any peace plan and defies anyone from interfering, be they the EU or the UN. Thus does every peace plan become a cover to defend Israel's interests.
John Whittbeck, a US attorney, recently published an article calling on the US to wash its hands of the Arab- Israeli conflict and quickly remove itself from the Palestinian problem altogether because it has become obvious -- over many years -- that US involvement has served only to complicate the situation. Whittbeck argues that US military and economic aid to one party or another -- and especially to Israel -- has resulted in a situation in which peace cannot prevail. If the US ended its military and economic aid to all parties and abstained from using its veto at the UN Security Council to serve Israeli interests, relieving the Middle East of the burden of its proclaimed role as an honest broker, then perhaps the two sides might realise that there is no option beyond peaceful co-existence.
The US attorney knows full well that the rulers of Israel and the supporters of the right wing alliance between Christian fundamentalists and Zionists in the US would oppose the notion with all their might. Typically, the committee created by US President George W Bush charged with formulating a strategy that would improve the image of the US in the Arab world recently issued a report. Published in The New York Times, it requires little discussion. It begins and ends with the same point: that US policy requires better presentation, and that publicity and cultural events must be supported. Written by several Arab- Americans, the report did not even mention the possibility that Washington's policies might themselves be the cause of the loss of American credibility. So, rather than conclude that the US, if it is to salvage its reputation, must adopt a more even- handed approach, they suggest a harder sell of policies that have already outraged vast swathes of Arab public opinion.
Given the above it is inevitable that US efforts to improve its image are doomed to end in failure, though only after millions of dollars have been wasted on publicity, advertisements and public relations consultancy fees.
Perhaps the only way to save America's reputation in the Arab world is, as Whittbeck suggests, for the US to remove itself from the equation, though this is never going to happen. Nor does it seem at all likely that Washington will abandon its habitual disregard for the intelligence of the Arab people and their ability to distinguish between truth and fabrication .
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 9 - 15 October 2003 (Issue No. 659)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/659/op4.htm