From Azman Ujang
LONDON, Jan 23 (Bernama) -- Both the West and the Muslim world must give the greatest priority to end the protracted conflict in Palestine, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said here Tuesday.
He said this when posing the question of what could be done to moderate the tension and close the divide between both sides in a speech at Britain's International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
He said Palestine remained the "single most powerful factor" dividing them and much of the roots of the conflict and instability in the Middle East, including international terrorism, would disappear if the issue was resolved justly and equitably.
Abdullah said the campaign against militancy and terrorism would be much more successful if effective progress was made to address the issues of Palestine and lately Iraq.
"Much of the resistance and militancy in the Middle East, as well as terrorism, will begin to subside," he said, adding that both Hamas in Palestine and Hezbollah in Lebanon would disband their militant wings with Palestine's liberation.
"Palestinians can then lead a dignified life in their own country. Hamas and Hezbollah can then continue to exist as legitimate and peaceful political parties".
Abdullah argued that hostilities between some countries in the West and Iran and Syria should also decline once the Palestinian issue was resolved and the situation in Iraq returned to normal, as neither Tehran nor Damascus would be providing assistance to Hamas and Hezbollah, or supporting sectarian violence in Iraq as alleged.
Once this was done, the only issue that should remain to be peacefully resolved was the nuclear issue involving Iran, the prime minister said in his lunch-time speech entitled: "The West and the Muslim World: Defusing the Defining Tension of our Times".
And the prime minister gave hopes of resolving the Palestinian conflict if those involved were prepared to act as genuine and honest brokers in peace talks, especially in enforcing the 1967 border equally on both parties.
"When we have secured withdrawal and full confidence to the 1967 border, it will be easier to follow up on other U.N. resolutions," he said.
Abdullah was quick to add that a certain level of terrorism would persist for some time because today's terrorists were the product of the past but they would be robbed of a cause while sympathy and support for them would decline.
As he put it: "Terrorism that is driven by domestic conditions and that pursues a domestic sectarian agenda will remain, but it will be rid of any anti-Western impulse. There will be no international terrorism."
The prime minister also rejected the widely-held view that the ensuing great tension between the West and the Muslim world was due to a "clash of civilisations".
Describing the West/Muslim world divide as the "defining tension of our times", Abdullah said it was not a clash of civilisation but rather a clash of fundamental interests.
"But to cast the present tension as a clash of civilisation would be to distort the nature and causes of the confrontation completely. There is nothing violently incompatible in the two civilisations that make conflicts inevitable or natural. Indeed, there is so much common ground in the religion, values and cultures of the West and the Muslim world," he said.
Abdullah said Muslims in fact share the same Prophets as Jews and Christians, as well as the same basic values -- respect for life, morality, justice, freedom, peace and security.
"We respect the same principles of international law that are enshrined in the United Nations Charter. Muslim nations want to protect their sovereignty, land, resources and people as much as those in the West do.
"And while we are divided on many fronts, the West and the Muslim world find common cause on so many other issues. We stand together in the fight against poverty and in the struggle to improve the human conditions across the globe," he said.
In further arguing why the West/Muslim world was not caused by a clash of civilisations, the prime minister said both were actually burdened by the consequences of their inability to construct a global order that could maintain peace, restrain the strong and protect the weak.
Obviously referring to the United States' invasion of Iraq, he said in such a global order, the strong was tempted to resort to the use of force to impose their will on the weak when convenient or necessary.
"Nations invade and attack each other, seize territory and resources and subjugate or evict the local population".
He also said many in the West would identify the critical point of the clash between the West and the Muslim world as the terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001 which prompted the U.S. to embark on its war against international terrorism that led to the invasion of Afghanistan and occupation of Iraq.
But for the Muslim world, the critical point occurred much earlier -- when Israel was created out of Arab land and when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced from their homeland.
That the West/Muslim world divide was not over culture or civilisation were also borne out by the fact that neither side was monolithic and united on all issues, while some Arab states assisted the U.S.-led coalition which invaded Iraq and some European countries protested against the invasion.
On Iraq, Abdullah said Western governments would indeed be more popular even with their own people if they could revise their policies and rehabilitate the situation in the country now ravaged by sectarian violence.
"I am confident that the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) will play a more active role in the reconstruction of Iraq once peace has been restored," said the prime minister, who is also OIC chairman.
Turning to his own country, Abdullah voiced confidence that Malaysia, noted for its tolerance, moderation, economic growth and commitment to peace, could be a positive example for the Muslim world.
"I have sought to establish Malaysia as a constructive force for peace and development. As the chair of the 57-nation OIC, Malaysia has taken the lead to transform that body.
"We want to change it from a forum that spends much of its time on political issues and rhetoric, to become an institution that engages in concrete financial and economic cooperation," he said.
He also called on the more well-off Muslim countries to assist those less fortunate, saying they had a responsibility to do so.
-- BERNAMA
