Quo Vadis, U.S.A.?

Panel 2

'The essential aim of the Fulbright program is to encourage people in all countries, and especially their political leaders [...] to develop a new manner of thinking about how to avoid war rather than to wage it'

J. William Fulbright

Sponsored by

In Search of Mutual Understanding: America, Europe and the Arab World

The Middle East has gained increased prominence in U.S. and European security policies. The United States needs European support in this region more than in any other world region. Unfortunately the strongest of all transatlantic foreign policy disagreements are also over the Middle East, especially over Iraq and Iran. Transatlantic cooperation is needed more than ever and requires support from the Arab world as well.

Within the Arab World, there is a distinct mistrust of the U.S., which hinders better cooperation and promotes anti-American actions. While the U.S. considers solving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, preventing Saddam Hussein from attacking his neighbors or the U.S. and its allies and promoting democracy as its primary goals, the Arab states and even more so the Arab people have a different interpretation. They criticize the U.S. for what they perceive as unlimited support for Israeli aggression toward the Palestinians and blame the U.S. imposed sanctions on Iraq for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children.

As Fulbright Alumni we are deeply shocked by the horrific attacks on September 11 and feel the need to reduce the hatred of the U.S. that provided the breeding ground for terrorism. Senator Fulbright's idea of promoting mutual understanding through the acquisition of empathy might help to improve the U.S. image in the Arab world and to make Americans more aware of the concerns Arab people have regarding U.S. Middle East policies. In this spirit we would like to discuss (mis)perceptions of U.S. policies toward the Arab world and to identify possibilities for more cooperation, especially in regard to Iraq.

Our hope is that if Arabs and Americans understand and respect each other in a better way, then there might be less motivation for terrorist attacks, less sympathy for terrorists, and the U.S. and Arab governments will be able to work more closely to combat terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, as well as solving the Arab-Israeli conflicts.

Israeli policies will definitely NOT be discussed as we have not invited any Israeli representative to be on the panel. We have invited prominent members of the Arab and Israeli communities to attend this panel discussion and comment on the presentations. We are looking forward to an open and frank but also respectful discussion in the Fulbright spirit.

If you have any questions or concerns or would like to comment on this panel framework please send an email to Jörg Wolf.