The Shape of Things to Come? Part I

European politicos, carrying water both for repressive Arab governments and the failed PA, told Secretary of State Colin Powell last week that resolving the “Palestinian-Israeli conflict” (i.e., rushing to create a thuggish Palestinian state in the absence of demonstrable Arab recognition of Israel’s legitimacy) is the key to Middle East “peace” and that democratic reform in the Arab world is unrealistic until then.

European politicos, carrying water both for repressive Arab governments and the failed PA, told Secretary of State Colin Powell last week that resolving the “Palestinian-Israeli conflict” (i.e., rushing to create a thuggish Palestinian state in the absence of demonstrable Arab recognition of Israel’s legitimacy) is the key to Middle East “peace” and that democratic reform in the Arab world is unrealistic until then.

Mr. Powell rightly rejected both points. Statehood for the Palestinians, he said, would come at the end of a process that includes democratization and the development of trust with Israel. Furthermore, he said, “We can’t keep pointing to the Middle East peace process as the reason (Arab countries) don’t undertake reform efforts.”

He took that message to the “Forum for the Future” conference in Morocco over the weekend, attended by about 20 Arab and Islamic countries plus the industrialized Group of Eight. The Forum was to have dealt with democracy and political liberalization, but was watered down only to economics. Even at that, it quickly devolved into the usual whine that dozens of countries and hundreds of millions of Arab/Muslim people couldn’t POSSIBLY be expected to enter the 20th Century (never mind the 21st) while the U.S. supports the single democracy in the region.

But lest you think it was all a waste of time, be assured that something truly fascinating did happen – unintentionally, they said. In remarks intended to be private but piped (deliberately?) into the pressroom, the Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Saud Faisal, was heard to say, “Let us face it. We perceive no clashes of civilization or competing value systems. The real bone of contention is the longest conflict in modern history.”

Saudi Arabia sees no “competing value systems” with the U.S.? Saudi Arabia sees no “clash of civilizations” with the U.S.?

We do and they are not on the American side of either divide. The competing value systems are repression and fascism vs. liberty and democracy. The clashing civilizations are the 14th Century vs. the 21st. And we have bad news for the Prince: there are plenty of Arabs/Muslims on our side and the Internet is working overtime in their favor.

Thanks to MEMRI, the indispensable translation service for Middle Eastern press (www.memri.org) we can read Arab language writers, columnists and intellectuals beginning seriously to assess the implications of the liberation of Afghanistan and Iraq. We are watching them conclude that THERE MAY BE SOMETHING SERIOUSLY WRONG IN THE ARAB WORLD NOT RELATED TO ISRAEL!!!!! (Emphasis because we like it.)

Electronic transmission helps these brave voices not only reach a wider audience, but also connects individual thinkers to one another. Knowing they are not alone can only strengthen their determination. Knowing the U.S. believes in them can only help them change their world – and ours – for the better. Next, we’ll see what they are writing.