The Challenges Facing the Middle East are Challenges Facing Us All

The Challenges Facing the Middle East are Challenges Facing Us All
According to Nabil Fahmy, Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the United States, the greatest challenge facing the world today is not the clash of civilizations, but “a paucity of global understanding.” Speaking at Fletcher as part of the Charles Francis Adams Lecture series, the Ambassador used the challenges of terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, and the Arab-Israeli conflict to demonstrate how problems typically regarded as Middle Eastern are in fact global concerns, which can only be met with world commitment.

“In an interdependent and increasingly volatile world, the virtual proximity between nations and the revolution in information and technology demands faster reactions to an ever increasing number of crucial matters, with higher stakes, and the potential for the consequences of mistakes to impact the whole world.” Despite this unprecedented need for outreach across boundaries, Fahmy laments the tendency to seek “refuge in ethnic fundamentals rather than global culture.”

Rejecting the notion that terrorism is an Arab or Moslem phenomenon, Fahmy reminded the audience that “all societies have their terrorists,” and invoked the names of the German-based Baader Meinhof gang, Timothy McVeigh and the assassin of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to stress that “terrorism is not identified with certain people or specific culture.” He was quick to admit that “so-called Moslems” are among those “criminals who take legitimate causes hostage to defend their illegal acts, [yet] blaming the Muslim world for this insanity [is] judgmental and unsubstantiated.”
“The terrorist masterminds will not be convinced by moral persuasion and have to be dealt with as the criminals they are. Yet, we have to acknowledge that there are underlying causes that need to be addressed in order to limit support for terrorists in all communities,” Fahmy said. Citing the success of policies that Egypt employed to combat domestic terrorism, he argued that a combination of stringent, yet non-discriminatory, security measures, and efforts to create opportunities in regions where poverty and hopelessness prevail, can defeat terrorism. However, success is only possible if “we are united in our belief that terrorism is an international phenomenon that needs our collective efforts to be defeated.”

Ambassador Fahmy challenged the association between the Middle East and weapons of mass destruction, by pointing out that these weapons were first developed and used in the West. When Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak proposed the creation of a WMD free zone in the Middle East, it was Israel’s refusal to discuss its nuclear program that doomed the plan. “The notion that there is security for Israel without security for the Arabs or security for the Arabs without security for Israel is nonsense,” the Ambassador argued. “If America is serious about non-proliferation in the Middle East it must apply one standard to all in the region.”

The importance of re-vitalizing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process received special focus during the Ambassador’s comments. While he decried the loss of life on both sides, and condemned the targeting of Israeli civilians as criminal, he also stressed that Israel’s “iron fist policy…excessive and disproportionate force, confiscating lands, demolishing homes, restricting the transit of Palestinians across their towns and policy of targeted assassinations…must stop. …The will of the Palestinian people or for that matter the Syrians will not be broken by Israel’s military might or delusions of military conquests.”

“Unbalanced attempts to move the process forward will fail to the detriment of Arabs and Israelis,” he said. In his assessment, “there is no rationale for the position that you have to solve the problem before you solve the problem.” The condition that Palestinians must stop the violence before resuming talks ignores that the violence is a symptom of the absence of peace. “Steps towards peace must provide dividends to both sides.”

Building on Egypt’s record of engagement in the peace process, Ambassador Fahmy promised that Egypt would exert every possible diplomatic effort to bring the Palestinians closer to statehood, while making Israelis more and more secure. However, he said gravely, “we cannot do it alone.”

Ambassador Nabil Fahmy, became the Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the United States in 1999. He is a career diplomat who has played an active role in efforts to bring peace to the Middle East. He is internationally recognized as an expert on Disarmament and International Security.