I HAVE to admit, I was a complete skeptic regarding democracy's chances in Iraq. And to be frank, I still have my doubts about just how well the democratically elected government there will be able to handle the problems facing the country. But the fact that it is even possible at all to establish a democratic government where none previously existed in Iraq has changed the entire framework through which we view democracy's chances in the Middle East, and the picture no longer looks so bleak. Democracy could someday come to the greater Middle East, and with it could come the solution to a problem that has plagued the region for generations: the hatred between Arabs and Jews.
This week the University was paid a visit by Farid Ghadry, the president of the Reform Party of Syria, a U.S.-based opposition party that advocates for democratic reforms in Syria. While explaining the impact of the United States' policy in Iraq on movements for democracy in Syria, he mentioned that he had recently appeared on the Arab satellite network Al Jazeera to discuss the topic, and because he was taking the pro-American side of the argument he was derisively labeled a "Zionist," a reference to the movement that culminated in the formation of the state of Israel.
This practice of linking Jews with anything they don't like is a common one among Muslim fundamentalists, but Ghadry was able to illuminate just how deep the hatred of Jews and especially of Israel runs in Arab society. He explained that as a boy growing up in Syria he and his fellow students had been educated by the government "how to hate Jews." He said that Jews were depicted not as enemies but as inhuman monsters bent on the destruction of everything holy, an image cemented by a flood of government propaganda that began at an early age. When he was 13, Ghadry visited Dachau, a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust, and as a result of his education he could not comprehend the evil of the place. Why would a site that facilitated the destruction of thousands of "monsters" be designated as anything but righteous and good?
In his many years living outside of Syria since then, Ghadry explains, he has been thoroughly reeducated and no longer holds such hate-driven notions. But his case is a clear example of the indoctrination sponsored by Arab dictatorship governments across the Middle East. The chief reason that the striving for peace between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East has been and continues to be so exasperating is that many among the two peoples hate each other. As a government, Israel is less to blame here due to the fact that it is a democracy that does not openly propagandize its citizens on the malevolence of Arabs, but at the same time it is hardly actively promoting the kind of understanding necessary for peace. Israel's behavior, however, begins to look angelic when compared to the blatant misinformation supplied by these Arab dictatorships to their people. They have created a situation in which they could not bring about a true peace with Israel even if they wanted to.
Although Arab countries could declare a suspension of open hostilities, as most have done, this would and has amounted to little more than an uneasy truce. As Ghadry explained, "True peace is peace of mind." For peace to have any sort of significance the hatred that has prevented it for so long must begin to dissipate. It must be a peace "between the peoples, not just between their governments."
It is here that we turn to the rising tide of democracy in the Middle East for the sole solution to what has seemed for a long time to be a hopeless predicament. As has been shown in Iraq, it's possible to replace the current Arab dictatorships with Arab democracies that would not only stop actively indoctrinating their citizens to hate Jews but would also allow for free and open debate, the variety of which committed men like Ghadry are trying to promote. The result may someday be a Middle East that is capable of carrying on relations without the driving force of hatred. I wouldn't count on the majority of Arabs and Jews becoming fast friends anytime soon, but if they can learn simply not to see one another as mortal enemies, hey, that's a start.
A.J. Kornblith's column usually appears Friday in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at akornblith@cavalierdaily.com.
Read More
PATEL: Personal development courses support students beyond the gradebook
By Heer Patel | 4 days agoThe University must rethink its approach to education beyond traditional major-specific requirements and mandate personal development courses.
EDITORIAL: Commercialization threatens U.Va.’s educational mission
By Editorial Board | 4 days agoAfter all, measuring the University’s worth in terms of accrued capital, operational efficiency and numerical rankings molds this space into just another cookie-cutter institution.
YOUNIS: Why every U.Va. student should say yes to English
By Ayat Younis | January 9, 2025Every student at the University, regardless of their primary field of study, can professionally and academically benefit from engaging with the English department.
