Why not train Israelis in decolonisation art?

Recently I read a report that the daughter of U.S. Vice President Cheney, Elizabeth Cheney, a deputy assistant to the U.S. secretary of state, had supervised a training programme on democracy for some 50 Arab women from 12 countries. Among the women were two Saudis. (I did wonder what qualifications Ms Cheney had for this particular job. Does she have one other than her father's being vice president? To be fair to her, I admit that I have no idea about her qualifications. At the same time, it seems certain that her father's job was not a liability in her being employed by the State Department. So the long arm of "wasta" is even alive and flourishing in the United States.)

Now throughout my life, I have always been an advocate of training. I have believed in it for years, going back to when I worked for Saudi Arabian Airlines. At the time - early 1980s - Saudia's training facilities and procedures were among the best in the world, better even than those of Lufthansa and KLM, synonyms respectively for German and Dutch airline efficiency. What particularly drew my attention to the news item, however, was not only the word "training" but the word "democracy."

Just as I am an advocate of training, so I am also an advocate of democracy. And believe firmly that it is our God-given right to express ourselves freely and without fear on any subject.

Islam stresses human rights, the need for dialogue and the need to be compassionate and kind to our fellow human beings. It focuses on tolerance and many political ideals which the West today claims as its own are in fact also Islamic ones.

If Arabs and Muslims unfortunately choose not to follow these ideals, that is their problem and the results are too familiar for me to comment on.

What seems strange to me is that the State Department decided to conduct such a programme at this very sensitive time. On its agenda were meetings with the vice president's wife (Miss Cheney's mother?), Condolezza Rice and other senior officials. Education in any form is good and I am in favour of it.

Though I am not a medical doctor, I sometimes attend medical conferences and seminars just to keep up with what is going on.

With the desire to disseminate information ever present, I must respectfully offer a suggestion to Mr. George W. Bush, Mr. Cheney, Ms Rice and the entire American administration: Why not sponsor a similar training programme for Sharon, Peres and the other blood-thirsty Israeli politicians and generals?

The Arabs may need to learn what democracy is all about but the Israeli need to learn some basic lessons in humanity is far greater. They could be taught the meaning of "Peace through Withdrawal." They might also have a class or two on "Rage Control," "How to Treat Children" and "How to Deal with Those who Clamour for the God-given Human Rights of Self-Determination and Self-Government"!

Surely these items could be included in the extremely generous annual American aid package to Israel. After all, American economic and military aid to Israel over the past 50 years is approaching $90 billion! With a budget that size, the State Department will surely be able to hire the best psychologists, analysts and PR people to educate Sharon and his supporters. With any luck, the State Department might even slip in a few experts who would be able - or who could at least try - to change the Israeli mindset and attitudes which bear a large share of responsibility for the present situation in the Middle East.

In the event of a failure to appropriate funds from the usual U.S. government sources, there are surely quite a few Arabs who would willingly pull out their chequebooks. Wouldn't they consider that a worthy cause?

Now speaking of worthy causes and aid to the region, do you know what the Americans - in fact Colin Powell himself - have just announced? The United States, ever willing to take on new and virtually impossible burdens, has decided to undertake a programme "to modernise Arab society." Exactly what this means and encompasses, I cannot say nor do the articles I have read give a very clear idea.

Does it mean the "Americanisation" of the Arab world? The amount that is mentioned - $29 million - is ludicrously small for the 22 Arab countries if the aim of the programme is genuinely "to deflect radicalism and help educate Arab children and liberate women from illiteracy and poverty."

Those are noble aims, though one suspects that "radicalism" is defined as not agreeing 100 per cent with the American line or way of doing things. Along with many Arabs, the Americans have rightly been worried and very uneasy about a recent UN report revealing the extent of illiteracy and the low level of education in the Arab world. No doubt these need to be addressed - immediately and in all seriousness. If we are to get value for that $29 million, we need some more details, some idea of how things are to work and be implemented. It might even be possible that those same Arabs who would reach for their chequebooks to enlighten the Israelis would be equally willing to help the Americans in "modernising Arab society." Isn't that also a very worthy cause?


Khaled Al Maeena is the editor of the Arab News.