known to many in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

After Sept. 11, 2001 our American friends were psychologically ready to believe that all Arabs and all Muslims hated them and were plotting to ruin their country and all that it stands for. They kept asking, “Why do Arabs and Muslims hate us?”

It is a sad truth that in hard times and under miserable circumstances, there is never a shortage of evil spirits ready to fish in dirty water. The scared, traumatized American friends were provided with simple answers to their pressing question: Arabs and Muslims hate America because it is the only superpower in the world. Arabs and Muslims hate Americans because they envy them their prosperity, cultural superiority and the quality of life and freedom they enjoy.

Since the disaster of Sept. 11, hundreds of articles and tens of books that vilify Islam and distort the image of Arabs and Muslims have been published in the West. Hardly a month passes by without Islam being directly or indirectly attacked and Islamic values being ridiculed. Hardly a week passes by without Arabs, born Muslims or individuals who revert to Islam being portrayed as threats to Western civilization.

But there are many well-respected, international journalists pay regular visits to the Middle East. They conduct interviews with well-respected and well-informed individuals and write objective reports on a variety of issues. Their contribution to promoting intercultural understanding between the West and the Arab and the Muslim world cannot be underestimated. To them we will be eternally grateful.

Recently, however, a few prejudiced journalists, who had shown little interest in Arab and Muslim culture prior to the disaster of Sept. 11 and had rarely set foot in the Arab or Muslin world before the War on Afghanistan and Iraq, keep popping in and out of Arab and Muslim countries. During their fleeting visits, they write unflattering reports and articles on religious, social and cultural issues. They conduct interviews with a handful of Arabs and Muslims, who express opinions that often conflict with the opinions and aspirations of the majority of their fellow citizens. Such reports, articles and interviews rub salt in open wounds. They intentionally or unintentionally overlook facts, promote anti-Arab sentiments, fan Islamophobia and leave the Western readers under the impression that most Arabs and most Muslims are staunch enemies of the West, great threats to American national security and a menace to Western civilization.

They also reinforce wrong ideas, namely that Arabs and Muslims are enemies of democracy, that the majority of Arabs and Muslims are ill educated, that oil rich countries are gradually moving toward poverty, that many young Muslims are oppressed, frustrated and turning into “professional terrorists”, that most reverts to Islam are former criminals, who have discovered their new religion in prison cells and that Arabs and Muslims hate America. They even ignore the fact that Muslims and Jews are Semitic cousins and accuse Muslims of anti-Semitism.

No wonder the West thinks that all Arabs and all Muslims are potential terrorists. No wonder Americans keep asking, “Why do they hate us?”

I am not an eloquent politician, trying to win broken hearts and confused minds. I am a modest Muslim woman, proud of my cultural identity and truly respectful of the Western culture. I strongly believe that the world’s silent majority, to which I belong, can play a major role in defeating terrorism and in promoting global peace and security, if it participates in correcting misconceptions and wrong ideas that kill friendships and give rise to bloody conflicts.

I have conducted an informal survey to find out if Arabs and Muslims hate America and Americans. I have asked many Arabs and Muslims, from different age groups and different social backgrounds, how they view America and what their feelings are toward Americans. Today, I share my findings with any reader interested in gaining some understanding of the hearts and minds that America is trying to win.

Arabs and Muslims admire America, like Americans and respect the Western culture. They enjoy American cuisine, American films, American music and American songs. They understand and appreciate American humor. They dislike the attitude of America toward Arabs and Muslims. They hate American policy in the Middle East. They are angry at what they consider an unjust attack on Islam, a lack of respect for the Qur’an and an assault on their deeply cherished values.

Arabs and Muslims want a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction. They are angry that America threatens and punishes Arab and Muslim countries, which it suspects of developing nuclear weapons, while it turns a blind eye on the weapons of mass destruction and the large nuclear arsenal in non-Arab and non-Muslims countries in the region.

Arabs and Muslims appreciate that America is psychologically and emotionally tied to Israel and they understand that it is difficult for America to be totally objective in making judgments regarding the complicated and complex Palestinian-Israeli problem. Nevertheless, they are disappointed that America has not used its influence to stop the carnage in the Middle East.

Arabs and Muslims are shocked at the torture and humiliation of Iraqi prisoners. They are enraged at the policies of assassination of Palestinian leaders, the killing, arrest, humiliation and suffering of Palestinian men, women and children, the demolition of Palestinian homes, the destruction of Palestinian livelihood and annexation of Palestinian lands. They believe that America should not allow a wall of hatred to rise between Palestinian and Israelis. Instead, it should build a strong bridge of justice, respect and understanding, where innocent bloodshed is being daily spilled.

Past and present events and a centuries of struggle against the forces of colonization have taught Arabs and Muslims not to be blindly trustful and has turned their lands into fertile grounds for conspiracy theories, many of which have gained credibility over the years.

Arabs and Muslims are grateful to America for supporting the reform processes in their countries and for encouraging their governments to improve their Human Rights’ records. They are suspicious, however, of the sudden interest that America has taken in their welfare. They wonder why America is not sending the same democracy and human rights messages to non-Arab and non-Muslim countries, where human rights are systematically violated and democracy is a distant dream.

Arabs and Muslims are aware that their social, educational, economic and political systems are in dire need of reform. They are keen to benefit from the valuable expertise of America and the West. They are, however, totally opposed to any reform imposed upon them from the outside.

They aspire for homegrown democratic systems that respects their Islamic values, preserve their Muslim and Arab identity. They are opposed to a democracy that results in geographical changes, causes social divisions, promotes civil wars, creates bloody conflicts, insecurity and social instability.

Arabs and Muslims are keen to improve their education and social systems. They aspire for or an education that prepares their children for life in an interdependent world. They want curricula and textbooks that make their children proud of their culture, faithful to the teachings of their religion and respectful of world cultures and world faiths. They strongly object to textbooks that undermine their religious beliefs and are vehemently opposed to curricula that threaten their cultural identity.

Ironically enough, many Arabs and Muslims believe that America and Americans hate them and Islam and point out that, in American elections, candidates often seek to win hearts, minds and votes by directly or indirectly promising to hit at Arab and Muslim countries. They are deeply disappointed that that most of the countries that America calls “failed states” belong to the Arab and Muslim World. They keep asking, “Why do they hate us?”

Obviously, the prevailing unhealthy political situation and the polluted global climate have contributed to the promotion of dangerous misconceptions, mistrust and misunderstanding between America, Arabs and Muslims.

Unless the silent majority plays an active role in promoting confidence, respect, friendship, love and compassion in our world community, the war against terrorism will be lost forever. Instability, insecurity hatred and terrorism will be our life-long companions and the foster parents of our children.

(Ibtissam Al-Bassam is a former dean of King Fahd Academy in London and a present staff member of UNESCO. The views expressed are hers alone, and not those of UNESCO.)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------