Monday, November 13, 2006

How can Arab-American relations be normalized?‎ 




By Maati Monjib, Morocco MECA Chapter, Chairman
(This paper was published by The Daily Journal, Minnesota, June 6, 2006.)
 a Fulbright Scholar at Rainy River Community College-MN giving talks on the Arab-Islamic Arld and the Arab-U.S. relationship.
Click to read the artickle

posted by Rabi @ 6:23 AM   2 comments

2 Comments:

At 6:46 AM, Blogger Rabi said...

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At 7:39 AM, Blogger Rabi said...

How can Arab-American relations be normalized?
By Maati Monjib, Morocco MECA Chapter, Chair
This paper was published by The Daily Journal, Minnesota, June 6, 2006.)
My name is Maati Monjib and I’m a Moroccan historian who spent this year as
a Fulbright Scholar at Rainy River Community College-MN giving talks on the
Arab-Islamic world and the Arab-U.S. relationship. My stay among the
International Falls¹ population, college’s provost supported my activities
so effectively that I was able to speak not only to the local population
but also in many other localities within Minnesota and US. People received
me with curiosity and kindness. Sometimes, when visiting other towns I was
so “requested” to discuss topics that my vocal cords suffered. Anyhow, it was
worth the price. Imagine, that during a three day stay at Ely in mid-February
I gave 15 presentations and talked to approximately 1,300 people (i.e. about
50 percent of Ely’s population) and responded to numerous and diverse questions
about Islam and the occupation of Iraq and Palestine, etc.
Student and community meetings drew hundreds in Grand Rapids, Minneapolis,
St. Paul, Duluth, Florida, Wisconsin... The range of the audience¹s questions
was so wide, spanning from a junior high school student asking the precise
whereabouts of Bin Laden to very learned questions about Arab culture and its
seminal relationship to the West.
One frequently asked question is: how can Arab-American relations be
normalized? My choice has been to be sincere in order to help people here
understand what is occurring in minds there. My response, generally, was as
following:
- Violence has to stop from both sides: from the U.S. Government and “our”
extremist groups.
- The U.S. people, who believe deeply in democratic
values, should help pro-democracy movements in the Arab World, through
its civil institutions and NGOs.
- The U.S. Government and oil and weapons industry lobbies should understand
that petroleum resources are the property of Middle Eastern peoples and
that the wealth produced by the sale of these products must be invested for
the benefit of the region’s peoples and not to buy arms or be deposited in
western banks.
- The U.S. Government could greatly help in bettering the relationship
between Arabs and Americans by opting for a more balanced diplomacy between
Palestinians and Israelis because this conflict has been so far the most
harmful issue for these relations. The relations between the U.S. and the
Arabs had been good until the tragic 1948 deportation of the Palestinians.
This relationship worsened when the U.S. supported the 1967 Israeli attack
against Palestinians and Arabs. Believe me, it is not that difficult to be
balanced: Simply respect international law. The U.S. is the only world power
that has refused to ask the Israeli government to respect the international
legality by withdrawing Tel Aviv’soccupying forces from Palestine.
Arab public opinion will continue to support the resistance against physical
and “media” violence of the oppressor and its supporters as long as Palestinians
are not free from foreign oppression.

Dr. Maati Monjib
comments to Monjib mmonjib@yahoo.fr
comments to MECA ettehad@hotmail.com

 

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