US must check nationalists who clash with Islam: Arab league chief

48 minutes ago

HOUSTON, United States (AFP) - The United States must check the internal voices of nationalism that are promoting a "clash of civilizations" with Islam, the head of the Arab League said.

"You have to stand firm against all negative forces with agendas," Arab League secretary general Amr Moussa told the US Arab Economic Forum in Houston, Texas.

"We fear it in the Middle East. Many of us read what they say and we are angry about this nationalist agenda that is gaining some ground."

While acknowledging the problem of Islamic extremists, Moussa said there is a deep misunderstanding of the US-Arab relationship among members of the American public, fuelled by inflammatory statements from politicians.

He also said there is a "political agenda" behind the promotion of the clash.

"The Arab world is the friend of America. The question of hating America is not there. We've never hated America," he said while explaining that the Arab world may disagreed with US policies but does not project that distaste upon the country as a whole.

Moussa vowed to fight extremists in the Arab world and asked US policy makers to do the same at home.

"Let us not give the negative forces on both sides any chance to continue their policies and practices and achieve any success. Their success is our failure."

An important way to improve the US-Arab relationship is for the United States to shift its policy towards Israel and deal with Arab nations in a more balanced way.

"The image of the United States would certainly benefit from a difference course than is projected," he said. "An honest brokership (in the Arab-Israeli conflict) and the political will to contain this clash with Islam."

Moussa said the Arab-Israeli conflict is the greatest threat to instability in the Middle East.

"This conflict is the one that will make or break stability in the region," he said.

"There is no doubt that this conflict cannot be resolved without the active involvement of the United States as an honest broker."

Moussa said the United States needed to acknowledge that the conflict was not a result of "terrorists" but of a military occupation by Israel. The policy of aiming for "security now and peace later" will not work, he said.

He said the United States needed to stand behind the withdrawal of Israel from the occupied territories, deal with the issue of Jerusalem and push for the adoption of UN Security Council resolutions and the enforcing international laws.

"Only the role of honest broker played by the US will save the situation, will clear and change the reputation of US policy and lessen to a large extent the frustration."

Moussa also urged the UN Security Council to intervene in Tuesday's ground offensive into Gaza by Israeli military forces.

The Security Council "must order the Israelis not to occupy the occupied territories and not to continue its maltreatment of the people of the occupied territories," he said prior to the invasion.

He also said the United States cannot denounce Iran's nuclear program while accepting Israel's possession of nuclear bombs.

"This will ultimately bring the Middle East to further instability and there will be an inevitable arms race," Moussa said.

The United States is locked in a standoff with Iran over its uranium enrichment program. Washington and its allies suspect the program masks a nuclear bomb-making effort.

The US administration turns a diplomatic blind eye to widely held suspicions -- including by the International Atomic Energy Agency -- that Israel already has a nuclear weapon.

"We do not believe there is a good and bad nuclear program," said Moussa.

"There is no moral and legal ground to distinguish them. Both are bad and all military nuclear programs or programs of weapons of mass destruction should not be allowed."

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