Since news of the Bush administration's "Greater Middle East" initiative broke in late February, it has not ceased to generate headlines in the Arab press. The US plan for democratic reform in the region has received a negative response from most countries. But small Gulf state and US ally Qatar said Tuesday that Arab states must consider US proposals for political reforms rather than rejecting them outright.
"Honesty obliges us to stress that the wrath in our region does not spring only from the Palestinian cause but goes deeper and is due to problems of our own creation that have nothing to do with the outside world - problems that we allowed to grow un-remedied and unchecked," said Qatari foreign minister Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.
Analysts say the failure of Arab League nations to find a united response to the leaked plan forced the recent, last-minute decision to postpone the League's summit, which was scheduled to take place in Tunisia last week. "Why the Tunis summit failed is still not clear but it appears that at the core of the various disputes that broke out was how to react - if at all - to the Bush administration's Greater Middle East Initiative," writes freelance journalist John Munro in an Al Bawaba opinion piece.
Maggie Mitchel Salem, a public affairs and media consultant in Washington, points out in a piece in Arab News that the document published in Al-Hayat (an Egyptian weekly paper) was not a formal plan, but a "sherpa" paper intended for internal distribution only. She claims that the document "was formulated in Washington with little or no consultation with embassies in the region." Ms. Mitchell ends her piece with some "unsolicited advice."
Bush should stop talking and start listening, not to Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz but to voices in the Arab world - from leaders to businesspeople to activists.
He'll find that the Middle East is a complicated place, not easily summed up in a two-page memo or five-minute conversation.
But by showing some respect for a proud people and a rich culture he might find that he has allies even among those who are seemingly against him now.
Gamil Mattar is the director of Cairo-based Arab Centre for Development and Futuristic Research. He writes in Al-Ahram that "Washington's reform offensive" has been effective.
It has been no secret over recent months that Washington hopes to "break" the bonds that bind people to governments that refuse to change or have not succeeded in changing. Some form of shock tactic was needed to produce this rupture, even if it triggered another bout of hatred against US policy, and I must confess that if I were one of the architects of Washington's reform offensive, I would feel quite smug at the effect I produced. Arab governments have scurried into action, some even making outright commitments and mobilizing a segment of their civil society, as well as their security forces and media apparatuses, to exonerate themselves.
The US is not the only country from outside the region that's calling for democratic reforms in the Middle East. As the editor-in-chief of Arab News, Khaled Al Maeena, puts it: "Messages, advice, and suggestions from every Tom, Dick, and Michael are now pouring on the Arab world from all over." According to Mr. Maeena, Japan and India will also offer their own reform package "pretty soon."
The Arab countries urgently need to reform, not as a reaction to Bush, Cheney, Howard, or Friedman but because reform in the Arab world is both overdue and indispensable. ... Our region has highly competent women and men who can play a vital and positive role in reforms. There is no shortage of people who care about the progress, stability and security of their country. We pray for that day and night. But in addition to prayers there must be action, and therefore reforms in the region are imperative."
Proposals for action on democratic reforms likely would have come out of the Arab League summit postponed last week. In remarks published Tuesday, the Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa said the summit may take place in mid-May.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0407/dailyUpdate.html?s=entt