Interview with Fouad Ajami
Interview with Fouad Ajami, Director of Middle east Studies at John's Hopkins about the Israeli Palestinian situation up to and including the start of the Iraq War. INTERVIEWER:,Can you state, first of all, first of all, just for the record, state your name? FOUAD AJAMI:,[OVERLAP] Sure, it's Fouad Ajami. INTERVIEWER:,Spell it, please? FOUAD AJAMI:,Ah, it's F-o-u-a-d, A-j-a-m-i. I'm Professor and Director of Middle East Studies, at John's Hopkins, a school of Advanced International Studies, in Washington, D.C. INTERVIEWER:,You write in depth, that even after Iraq, that (Inaudible). What can we do to stop ____? 00:30:36>>>, FOUAD AJAMI:,Well, I'm afraid to list them. And I don't think we can try, if you will, to talk people out of their furies, out of their rage It's not something - and there's this whole big campaign - public diplomacy - to win the hearts and minds of people in hostile places. It's very much in the American tradition, that people should accept America, they should understand America. Our president, President Bush, has been on record saying, over and over again, if they only knew how good this country is, then maybe they would change their mind. 00:31:06>>>,And I think that this kind of anti-Americanism is a fact of life. It's a fact of life in France, it's a fact of life now, increasingly, alarmingly, even inside Turkey, which was traditionally a very pro American land. And it's a fact of life in a place like Egypt, which is our second largest recipient of foreign aide. And there's no way we can argue, if you will, people out of their passions and out of their furies. I think you try to do the right thing by American policies, and American interests. And you hope, if you will, that our quests of our own interests, of American interests will correspond ____ to the, the course in many Arab and Moslem countries, and with individuals in those societies really want the best for their own land. 00:31:53:00>>>,But I don't think we can, we can spend enormous amount of time explaining America, because I just don't think these things work very much. I mean, can we have a radio station that will have music? Well fine. People will listen to the music. But, again, will they, will they buy what we are saying? That's a very different call. So, I don't think we should spend a lot of time trying to explain away America, if you will, and try to reconcile people to the American image, and the American idea. INTERVIEWER:,Microcosmically, to the Israeli-Palestinian problem; Palestine ____ people. Also, is there a policy that Israel could have done, that the west could have done, that would have bought off the rage and the ____ of the described (Inaudible)? FOUAD AJAMI:,Well, I don't think it's - I don't think it's that simple, if you will. I mean, I think even Prime Minister Sharon is - he fully understands, and is fully on record, that after this war between Israel and the Palestinians comes to an end, that there would be on the table some form of Palestinian-Israeli accommodation. He's even on record as saying, that there would be a Palestinian State. 00:32:52:00>>>,So, let's go back, if you will, and step back from today's headlines. There was, on the table, in Camp David 2000, a very generous proposal for the Palestinians, put forward by former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, a man of tremendous decency, and tremendous, in many ways, political instinct. And there was the deep involvement of Bill Clinton, who sought, at the time, a form of - kind of - almost penance, personal penance, and was deeply involved in the Israeli -Palestinian question. We do know that Bill Clinton gave Arafat something like thirteen meetings in the Oval Office, more than any other foreign head of state. But it wasn't to be. And I think, at some point, beyond this feud, beyond this war, the issue of a Palestinian form of self determination and faith-hood, is very much something that both Israeli and American diplomacy are committed to. ,But, in the year 2000, yes, Arafat refused it. He didn't want it. And he was on record as saying that, at one point, we know that he asked former President Bill Clinton, he asked him, Do you want to attend my funeral, the way you attended the funeral of Izrak Rabin? He was not really ready to accept the deal that was extended him at Camp David. He is going to. The best that Palestinian politics could get is something like what was offered at Camp David 2000. But nations sometimes go on these ruinous detours. And I think this is what happened, on the part of Yasser Arafat, in the year 2000. And far be it for me, if you will, to be the main critic of the Palestinians. There has been internal self criticism, within the Palestinian world. Abu ____, who is, I think, the number two man in the Palestinian world, gave a public statement in Gaza if, if I recall, which was much more self critical than anything that people would imagine. He was critical of the militarization of the intifada, he was critical of Palestinian diplomacy. So, I think, it's up to the Palestinians, themselves, to break with this legacy and to offer a kind of better alternative. 00:35:05:00>>>, INTERVIEWER:,What is the choice between? Is it between - were they simply being stubborn and wanted a better deal; more kilometers and less settlements? Or was there, was there a different path of Palestinians? FOUAD AJAMI:,That's a good question. I think it wasn't so much, you know, what were the Palestinians after? I just think, sometimes the history of Nationalism, is about leaders. There are occasionally nations of less with political leaders, who make possible great dramatic breakthroughs. So, the question is, what was on the table in front of the Palestinians, and were they interested in maximizing what was presented to them? I think it wasn't. I just think that basically Yasser Arafat is a man who was not able to tell his people hard truths about political life. He was not able to take the peace from Camp David, in the Summer of 2000, and take it to his own people. It was easier for him to go back and launch an indirection. And leaders require courage. And I think, in the case of Yasser Arafat, it's like, I'm your leader, I will follow you. It's the other way around. It was incumbent on him to show his people the right way. And sooner or later there will - Palestinian history will offer another leadership; a younger leadership, a more realistic leadership. It's bound to. Arafat is not immortal. And he has already hung around long enough. This is a drama. ,And this is a tragedy, in many ways, of our politics, not just Palestinian politics. There are many, many leaders who have been around a long time. Their truth has expired, but they have managed to hang on. And there are many Palestinian leaders, younger leaders, more realistic leaders, more educated leaders, who know the world for what it is, and who know what can be had and can't be had in the world of nations. Their time shall come. But for now, Yasser Arafat is the maximum leader, and Palestinian society pays for this. INTERVIEWER:,Dr. Lewis had a quote about that. He said, Yasser Arafat - For Yasser Arafat to stop terrorism, would be like Tiger Woods not playing golf. 00:37:09:00>>>, FOUAD AJAMI:,[OVERLAP] Yes, yes, I thought that was very, it was very interesting. That was very - it's a humorous advantage. It's exactly on the money, it's exactly on the mark. INTERVIEWER:,Could you incorporate that in the question? FOUAD AJAMI:,As you said, Bernard, Bernard Lewis, the great historian of the Middle East, said of Yasser Arafat, that Yasser Arafat - for him to give up terrorism, is like Tiger Woods giving up golf. I mean, I think - you know, this is a game, and a world that Yasser Arafat knows. But his time is up, and there is something, also, on the agenda of, of Yasser Arafat. There is fundamentally a veto on him, by the Bush White House. This president, this American President, is unlikely to meet and do business with Yasser Arafat. I think there is a road map that the president has put forward - President Bush - and there is a preference for a democratic leadership I in the Palestinian world. So, the Bush White House is on record, in favor of regime change, not only in Baghdad, but also in Ramala and Gaza. And I think, for the Palestinians, they have to make the choice; do they want American patronage, do they want American support, or do they want the leadership of Yasser Arafat? I think it's, it's their call. INTERVIEWER:,You said that there was a lot of Palestinians, probably on the street, who want a two-state solution. FOUAD AJAMI:,Right. INTERVIEWER:,But some of them are - the ones that are driving today's intifada, are clearly driven by something else. 00:38:36:00>>>, FOUAD AJAMI:,Right. INTERVIEWER:,Are they driven by a better offer than ____? What's driving them, if not statehood? FOUAD AJAMI:,Well, I think that -it's a very - you know, what drives, if you will, the street. The street is always driven by fury. The street is driven by passion. And whether it's, you know, the street in Ramala, whether it's the street anywhere else, I, personally, as a, as a student of politics and history, I don't really - I don't give the street the kind of deference that people give it, other interpreters give it. I think there's a kind of - there is a radicalism loose in the Palestinian world, today. And I think that radicalism will have to be addressed by Palestinians, themselves. ,And a while ago, there was a petition signed by a large number of Palestinian intellectuals. They took issue with this whole cult of martyrdom. They took issue with the violence. They took issue with where the violence will lead. And [BACKGROUND NOISE] they differed, they differed - sorry - and they differed with the main interpretation, and the main course, of Palestinian politics. 00:39:47:00>>>,So, it's - what drives the street? Fury drives the street. Radicalism drive the street. And you can't - a leadership doesn't advocate to the street. That's really the task of political leaders. And, the disappointment, if you will, the historical disappointment in someone like Yasser Arafat, who was brought into the world of nation, he was brought in, remember, by Israk Rabin and Shimon Peres. And he was taken into the political world by Bill Clinton, brought into the mainstream of American diplomacy. And he was granted a Nobel Peace Prize, for that matter. But he was not willing to tell his people about what can be had, and cannot be had, in the world of nations. And his deference to the streets was the undoing of much of, of Oslo, and the peace of Oslo. INTERVIEWER:,Do you believe in a movement among Palestinian people, and then the Arab peoples, in general, to, to plant this radicalism with a more moderate, (Inaudible) that will accept two-states, will accept a political solution? 00:40:53:00>>>, FOUAD AJAMI:,Do I accept, if you will, this - is there another alternative, and to this - the politics of violence, and the politics of extremism? And is there a possibility that there would be an acceptance in the Arab world; an acceptance of Israel's state, or Israel's legitimacy? I have a long book called, The Dream Palace of The Arabs. And the book, it could - part of this book is looking, if you will, for those thinkers, those novelists, those poets, those policy makers, those intellectuals in the Arab world, who understand that there's a deep connection between the majority of the Arab world, and peace with Israel. For a majority in the Arab, and secularism in the Arab world, and moderation in the Arab world to prevail, the conflict with Israel will have to be, in many ways, calmed down. And the conflict with Israel would have to be resolved. ,And it's not a favor to Israel, that's really my own politics, and my own reading of it. It's really something that the Arabs owed themselves. They need to take the energy of their people, and divert it to the deep troubles of the Arab world, the economic retrogression, and decay of the Arab world, the breakdown of the modernist idea of the Arab world, the retreat of secularism in the Arab world. So the more of the Arab street, and the more Arab life are hijacked by people who trade on this Israel-Palestine conflict, and by extremists, I think this is really, in fact, the ____ of the Arab world. And that's a condition. And large numbers of Arabs, today, are awakening to what has happened to the Arab world, over the last 50 years or so. A price has been paid in the body politics of the Arab world, for this kind of maximalism (?) and extremism toward Israel. It comes with a heavy price tag, which, in fact, we know what it is. 00:42:48:00>>>,Today, the Arab world has the one famous document which has become kind of a cannon of the modernist in the Arab world. There is this - the Arab Human Development Report 2002, when we realized that twenty-two Arab countries have a combined GDP, which is sixty billion dollars less than that of Spain, hardly a powerhouse in Europe. That tells you something about the future of the Arab world. So, I think the majority of the Arab world, the secularism of the Arab world, are at stake. And the more that the Arabs take this - the energy of, of their youth, and the energy of public life, and focus it on Israel, the more I think they pay a price in their own politics. INTERVIEWER:,So if it's their choice to make, is there anything the U.S. and Israel can do, to make it easier for them to make the choice? Or is it really not in our hands? 00:43:42:00>>>, FOUAD AJAMI:,Well, I think, is there something, if you will, that the U.S. and Israel can do. I mean, that's partly the - much of the debate in Arab life. If you pick up the newspaper. The big Pan Arab newspaper, ____, published out of London, it's full of things that Israel could do or should do. It's full of things that America could do and should do. But I think there is an abdication of responsibility in Arab land. The principal responsibility is the responsibility of the Arabs, for their own history. That's the logic of both colonial histories, that nations take control of their own destinies. And the Arab destiny, is in Arab hands. And there is this anti-Americanism, and anti-Zionism, and both of them have been kind of put together, if you will - wrapped together. They're offered as a kind of, in a way, a substitute for genuine politics, and for real debate about what ails the Arab world, economically, politically, and culturally. 00:44:46:00>>>,[BACKGROUND SIRENS] Step aside from the Arab world, and look at the country in the neighborhood of the Arab world, that is Turkey. The dominant model in, in Turkey, the ____ model, the _____ put together in the 20's and 30's, was about secularism and mustafism [PH]. [OFF CAMERA COMMENTS] But if you step aside from the Arab world, just for a moment, and take a look at the - at the politics of Turkey, the dominant model in Turkey, this ____ edifice, if you will, the Mustaf of ____, put together and left as an inheritance for the Turks, and did it in the 20's and the 30's. It was driven by a simple model, for the people, despite the people. It was a revolution from above. It was an attempt to bring and graft onto the body politic of Turkey; a belief in contemporary civilization, a belief in the superiority of the secular idea, and a belief in the superiority of modern civilization. And if these were simple guidelines, that was, if you will, the lone star of Turkey, at the time, in the 20's and the 30's. And there was, there was a sentiment in that direction, in Egypt, in the 20's and the 30's. There was a suffrage movement in Egypt, in the 20's and the 30's. There were liberal thinkers who thought that maybe Egypt could be rescued, and could be modernized and reformed. Today there is not this, this drive for modernity is not there in the Arab world. And that's the modern tragedy of the Arab condition today. INTERVIEWER:,You're talking about the self pity and resentment (Inaudible), and also about - could the United States at least deflect its own targeting for this by (Inaudible), by not supporting Israel. Yes, there would still be this backwardness, this, this disarray. But the U.S. could at least keep (Inaudible). 00:47:10:00>>>, FOUAD AJAMI:,Now, could the U.S., if you will, retreat from the lands of the Arabs and the world of the Arabs? I don't think it's in the cards. I mean, the main verdict of September 11th, 2001, is even if America doesn't go to the Arab world, the Arab world and its furies came to America. So the idea, if you will, of an American retreat, from the lands of the Arabs and from the world of Islam, in my opinion, is unattainable. And there is a kind of - a couple of historians sketched something which, I think, has a great deal of merit. That we now are in the middle of the third American Empire. The first American Empire was in the Pacific. And the origins of that empire lay in the American-Spanish War, of 1898. And this was really the origins of the American - heavy American presence in the Pacific. And East Asia has done well by this American protection. The second American Empire was in Europe. And it was in the aftermath of World War II. The third American Empire is in the lands of the Muslim world. It's in the successor state of the Ottoman Empire. Both, interestingly enough, in the Arab Muslim world, and even in the Vulcan states (i.e. Bosnia, the Kosovars and so on.) 00:48:27:00>>>,So there is an American presence in the land of the Arabs, and the Islamic world. And the shadow of America lies over these countries. And America is present in their minds. It's the ultimate alibi for their troubles. It's the ultimate enemy and the ultimate friend, and the ultimate source of resentment. And there is a - an Egyptian playwright, I like to always quote Ali Salin [PH], very brilliant man. And Ali Salin, whenever he talks about the Egyptian-American relation, and broadly the Arab-American relation, he calls it an Egyptian, just a common Egyptian proverb, which says that, I can't live with you and I can't live away from you, if you will. And that's the dilemma of America. ,It's not that these societies - these societies resent America, but they also need America. It's something like, Yankee go home, but please take me with you. And I think it's this combination. So, it's not that easy for America to disengage from the affairs of the Arab world, and the affairs of the Muslim world. INTERVIEWER:,Part of the grievance with Israel is the fact that Israel is - I mean, a quarter of the American (Inaudible)? 00:49:38:00>>>, FOUAD AJAMI:, I think it is some of the resentment toward Israel, in part the resentment of modernity, itself, and the resentment of American style modernity. Because Israel makes its peace with the American example much, much easier. Although there are a number of Israelis, Orthodox and others, who think that the Americanization of Israel is a calamity, is a cultural catastrophe. But by and large, Israel is a scientific, modern, democratic, secular state, and it can import America, and America's way, and Americanism in a much more grateful more natural way, than the Arabs have been able to do in recent years. ,So, yes, in part the success of Israel, the modernity of Israel, the secularism of Israel, the way Israel lives, if you will, its in the Middle East, but not of it, culturally. Its culture, its liberties, they are there on full display, in a world - in an Arab world, today, which is in deep, deep culture and malaise, and deep cultural crisis. So, there is definitely this cultural tension, very much is, is part of this animus toward Israel. Absolutely, no doubt. INTERVIEWER:,Didn't historically, the Palestinians say, that these Zionists came from afar and displaced the native people (Inaudible)? 00:50:59:00>>>, FOUAD AJAMI:,Right. INTERVIEWER:,They came from afar. This is a national, political grievance no matter where you are. FOUAD AJAMI:,Right. INTERVIEWER:,And whether it's a clash of civilizations or not. Isn't that a dif - a more accurate narrative of what's really going on? 00:51:11:00>>> FOUAD AJAMI:,Well is it, is it, if you will, legitimate to dwell, if you will, on what happened in the past, that's in Israel and the Palestinians. I've always believed that the best way for the Israelis and the Palestinians to move forward, is to look a lot more to the future and not talk so much about the past. I mean the past, we know, in the Middle East, the past, as someone said - a wise person - and this applies to the Middle East - the past is not dead, it's not even past. We know that. But I think that the way out for the Palestinians is not to dwell on their historical narrative, and not to dwell on what happened in the 1930's, and the 1920's, and the 1940's. I thought that the logic and the promise, and the appeal of Oslo was, if you will, this decision for the Israelis and the Palestinians to suspend talking about history, and talk about the present and talk about the future. Because you can't really go anywhere. ,You know, you can dwell on original sin, if you will. You know, people can talk endlessly about the, you know, what happened in, in the 1920's and the 1930's, and what happened in 1948, and the verdict of 1948, but nothing, nothing will really come out of this. INTERVIEWER:, You mentioned the, the old man's war. ,00:52:32:00>>> FOUAD AJAMI:,Yes. INTERVIEWER:,He says that he would like to stop it, but it's actually not - it's not his leadership that's ____, that Israel has shattered the peace camp, has _____, and actually that the modern Palestinians _____ rise up, if it was not for Israeli repression. That's really what's, what's on the line - not Palestinian choices. FOUAD AJAMI:,Could you phrase - I mean - INTERVIEWER:,What's - it, is, is it Israeli policy that's keeping the moderates among the Palestinians down? Or, is it really that the leadership is disingenuous, and really not trying? FOUAD AJAMI:,Well, is it - is it Israeli policy that's undermining the, the more, the more moderate Palestinians? No, I think the politics of Nationalism is always like this. Nationalism fronts (?) democracy. This is historically a verdict. It's not just a verdict among the Palestinians. You have to ____ the furies, and cap the passions of Nationalism, in order for the more moderate people to step to the floor. It's in the nature of Modern Nationalism. Whether it's in Serbia, whether it's in Croatia, whether it's among the Palestinians. It's in the nature of Modern Nationalism, that there will always be a scramble to the extreme. And that the extremists will always prevail and have the upper hand. This is just the law of modern mass based Nationalism. It's the law of modern, mass based Nationalism. And indeed the example of decent, successful Nationalism, that capped the volcano, accept the possible, cut a deal with reality, split the difference It's rare that nationalism makes these kinds of accommodations. 00:54:10:00>>>,I mean, for example, the leadership of David ____, was really about defeating the extremists, in many ways. You have to really take on the extremists. And nationalism's often win against their enemies, by first defeating the more mod - the more radical strain within their own world. This hasn't happened in the Palestinian National Movement. And broader than the Palestinian National Movement, take a look at Modern Art of Nationalism. Modern Art of Nationalism began as an upper class project, as a little upper class project, led, for the most part, by Christian-Arab intellectuals of high education. ,And if you, if you follow the trajectory of Arab-Nationalism, for example in 1938, an Arab of tremendous culture and education, George Antoines [PH], wrote the Manifesto of Arab Nationalism - the Arab awakening. From George Antoines, a man of Cambridge education and culture, to Saddam Hussein, it shows you what happens to Nationalism, when it succumbs to the extreme, or when it succumbs to the street. And the trajectory of mass based Nationalism, this journey if you will, the example I always like to point out, that if you take a look at George Antoines, in the 30's, this man of high culture, and then you take it to someone like Saddam Hussein, and someone like Omar Kadafy [PH] and all these representatives of Arab Nationalism, it tells you what happens to Nationalism. 00:55:43:00>>> INTERVIEWER:,So then what's - where's the hope for a solution, if it's a law of nature that this is the direction to go? Do they have to develop other national aspirations? FOUAD AJAMI:,Well, I don't think - I mean - if you will, what is the prospects for, for the future between Israel and the Palestinians? I think it's wrong for any, you know, political historian or someone who observes politics, such as myself, to offer false comfort and false absolution. And if you look at - if you had observed - and I will concede to this, if you had observed Israeli-Palestinian politics after Oslo, you would have thought, well, this conflict has already been resolved, and I should own up to something. I offer it, not as anything other than for what it is, as simply a fact of life. I took a small part, at his request that is, in the drafting of President Clinton's famous speech of, after, you know, on the south lawn of the White House; the children of Abraham have embarked on a bold new venture- - the famous speech he did about - when Arafat and Rabin came to the White House. It was this great historic opportunity, and in the nature of things, that people know that you have this expertise. People wanted - some people in the White House wanted some cultural, historical material added to their speech. And one was proud to do it, because, you know, if you receive an invitation from the White House to do such a thing, on such an occasion, it's something you rise up to and you try. ,And if you look back on that moment, if you will, the height, the high watermark of Israeli and Palestinian accommodations, the reluctant handshake that Rabin offered Arafat, on September 13th, 1993, if I even got the dates right - I think that's the date. If you go back to that moment, it's not like this conflict has run its course. And that Israeli - that Zionism has accepted Palestinian Nationalism, and the inevitability of statehood. And then, of course, that Palestinian Nationalism, in the prison of Yasser Arafat, and in - as the Chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, is that he had given up on the idea that Israel is the quote, unquote (as the Palestinians used to have it in the 50's and the 60's, a colonial settler state), that this was over. And this was the hope. 00:58:03:00>>>,Well, we know that our hopes have been betrayed. History is never linear. History is never linear. It goes - there are times when historical conflict from it - that there is an end in sight, and then there is a repeat - there is a retrogression. And this is, no doubt, a very terrible time in the history of Israel and the Palestinians. And I think we have to be realistic enough, and honest enough. And I don't think any, any historian or any student of politics should just live on false hope, and offer it as a diet. It's not a very good diet. INTERVIEWER:,Does Yasser Arafat reflect the will of the Palestinian people? Or are the Palestinian people subjugated to Yasser Arafat (Inaudible)? FOUAD AJAMI:, [OVERLAP] Right. No, the question is whether Yasser Arafat is, if you will, is a representative of the Palestinian people, or does he just follow their wishes. You know, the great Tolstoy once had this big debate about human history; is history, the history of great men, or does history use the life of leaders to work itself through them, if you will. In other words, is Yasser Arafat a master of Palestinian politics, or is he just an expression of the deep disorder, if you will, and the deep disquiet within Palestinian - modern Palestinian politics? I don't know if there is. Even Tolstoy left the question hanging there. He didn't resolve it. He didn't resolve it. ,00:59:32:00>>>,There is no doubt that Yasser Arafat has not served the interest of his people. There is no doubt. For me it's an easy call to make. Yasser Arafat has not served the interests of the Palestinian people. And for me, without naming them, because it's not my business to name them, I would - just what knows of the Palestinian world, there are many, many more talented people, more realistic people, more knowledgeable of Israel, if you will, within the Palestinian world, who could lead the Palestinians much better than Yasser Arafat. But he seems to have the levers of power; he has the money, he has the gun. And he may even have the guns and the power, even relative to the Hamas Movement. That even Hamas may be there because Yasser Arafat has not chosen to take on Hamas. Because it may be just a decision that he has made. INTERVIEWER:,Do you believe it's possible for Yasser Arafat to crush the Hamas (Inaudible)? 01:00:29:00>>> FOUAD AJAMI:,Is it possible for Arafat to defeat Hamas, if you will? Well I hold the historiography, and it's - in works I've written. That the states in the Arab world have the preponderant power when it comes to their confrontation with their - that their Islam is challenged. It's so in Saudi Arabia, it's so in Egypt, it's so in Algeria, it was so in Syria when the Muslim brotherhood contested the will of ____. So, if you go back over Arab politics, by and large, the political secular authorities had the upper hand when it comes to their confrontation with their Islam as challengers. But a decision has to be made by the leader or leaders in the saddle, that it's time to take on the extreme. That is the decision, for his own reasons, that Yasser Arafat has never made. INTERVIEWER:,You are (Inaudible), should you take any of this personally, as a heartbreaker, as a - do you feel this - FOUAD AJAMI:,[OVERLAP] Well I, I - you know, I - the question - you know, when people ask me, if you will, - I chronicle the problems of the Arab world. I have written a book called, The Arab Predicament, way early in my youth, since my first major attempt to diagnose the troubles of the Arab world. More recently, I wrote this book called the dream palace of the Arabs, in between a lot of other things. And in many ways, one chronicles the retreat from modernism, the retreat from secularism, and one does so with sorrow. Because, for my generation of Arabs, Arabs born in the mid 1940's, who came into their own in the 50's and the 60's, our lone star was modernity. Our lone star was, was modernity. And some of us were religious, most of us were not. Most of us were seculars. But the idea was to believe in the separation of faith, religious faith, and politics, and to commit that world to the modern, secular idea. 01:02:28:00>>>,I remain a total believer in universe - in the universalism of modernity. It's an inheritance of mankind. That's why I like Mustaf [PH] ____, the Turk, who never described it as western civilization, intentionally. He always described it as contemporary civilization. And I believe, and said so, in a debate in the pages of foreign affairs with the esteemed and vulnerable political scientist, Samuel Huntington, when he put forward his clash of civilizations. My response to him was to assert the universalism of modernity. Now, I know that after September 11th, 2001, people thought that Huntington had the upper hand. This is a very big debate, if you will, about the meaning of September 11th. And life will settle this in the future. But I still believe, that modernity is a universal inheritance. The idea of the state, as an agent of progress [BACKGROUND NOISE] that's a modern idea. The idea of the state as the bearer of progress and human welfare, that belongs to all of mankind. And the idea of a middle class, the idea of human welfare, the improvement in child labor laws, and so on. We can define modernity a hundred different ways. But, like pornography, in the old definition of justice, (Inaudible) that - you know, we know what is modernity. We would recognize it when we see it. And the retreat from modernity, from secularism, in the Arab world, is a modern tragedy of the Arabs, today. And, when you look at what young Arabs are being promised, we know that 41% of the Arab world is under fourteen. I don't know what the figure - the people throw it out. 60% is under eighteen. And it is to them that this modern inheritance must be passed, and it must be defended. And that's why, I think, the more the Arabs spend talking about Israel, the less time they spend on _____ the conditions of the Arab world; political, economic, cultural. 01:04:38:00>>> INTERVIEWER:,You are a ____, originally. They say that this new trend in the Arab world comes from a biblical Wajabism (Inaudible). FOUAD AJAMI:,Right. Well the question is, what are the origins of this new Islamism, and whether they come only from Saudi Arabia. You know, people say, is it only Wajabism? Is it the Muslim brotherhood? The Saudi's now have put the word out that all this can be traced back to the Muslim brotherhood. Because they are eager to put the problem at the doorsteps of Egypt, more than at their own doorstep. I don't know. ,I think it's about the broken pact of modernity; the retreat from the secular model. And I think it has many sources. There was a battle that was fought - it had nothing to do with Wajabism, by the way. It was a battle that was fought in Algeria, between the Algerian State and the Islamists. And the Islamists divided Judaism into two parties, simplified the life, if you will, in order to make it possible for them to kill and run amuck in politics. They divided Algeria into ____, the party of God, and Helfrancea, [PH] as they call it, the party of France. Well that's an Algerian story. The Egyptian drama is an Egyptian drama. What happened in Lebanon, where Shiazim [PH] which was generally a tradition of quietism, and withdrawal from politics, got excessively politicized. 01:06:01:00>>>,So, I think we need, we need to take religion - I speak as a confirmed and thorough secularist. We need to take religion out of the public life, out of political life. Religion should be about faith. And there was this expression which Arabs, of my generation, and the generation before me, honored, where they would always say, religion is for god and homeland is for all. I think that was good enough in the 30's, it was good enough in the 40's, it's good enough for all time, and dare I say for all places. It's good enough for India, because, you know, even beyond the Arab world, if India spawns Hindu Nationalism, it's a calamity. Because there must be 125 - 130 million, maybe 140 million Indian Muslims. What's their place in a Hindu state? ,So, I think the secular, modern idea that came into Europe and prevailed in the European world, holds out the prospects of deliverance. Because, if religion, in any strand of it, dominates the public life, a price will be paid for it. Thank you. [OFF CAMERA COMMENTS]