I am in Qatar's capital of Doha attending the fifth U.S.-Islamic World Forum, which is sponsored by the Qatari Government and the Saban Center of the Brookings Institution in DC. This gathering of political, academic, civil society and business leaders from across the Muslim world and the United States represents an ongoing effort by the Saban Center, headed by distinguished former U.S. Mid East diplomat Martin Indyk, to try to bridge the divide between the U.S. and the Muslim world through a series of panels and discussions on every issue confronting the U.S. and the Muslim world.
This three day gathering will bring together leading U.S. and Muslim leaders to take each other's political pulse, and tackle some pretty tough issues, including press freedom, religious extremism, social development, security, and other issues that divide our two worlds.
In fact, foreign policy advisors to the major presidential candidates will be attending to exchange views with their Muslim world counterparts -- another reason why the Saban Center's initiative so positively resonates in this troubled region.
When I attended the first such Summit in 2004, there was a great deal of acrimony that characterized the dialogue. Four years later, there is a palpable desire on the part of participants to constructively creat new social, political and interfaith programs that would go beyond dialogue to get U.S.-Muslim relations back to some degree of normalcy -- certainly a herculean task. It is truly a unique gathering and the the conversations, which I will report on each day, are surely going to be lively.
The Summit was kicked off by the showing of several television series produced to engage Arab and American audiences on key social and political issues that have divided us. One such program -- "On the Road in America -- produced by Layalina Productions (of which I am president) -- see is a 13-part series that showcases a two-month cross-country trip by four Arab youth across America and throughout its episodes tackles the issues that divide the U.S. and the Muslim world. "On the Road" was aired by Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC) -- the largest Arab satellite network during Ramadan and was the 2nd highest rated show in its time slot throughout the Middle East.
In the land that hosts Al Jazeera, it is with some irony that the Summit commences against a backdrop of increasing efforts by Arab governments to restrict press freedom. About a week ago, the Arab League (which is a sort of caucus of Arab states) adopted a charter that would ban broadcasting materials seen undermining "social peace, national unity, public order and general propriety" -- accusations that Arab governments, most notably Saudi Arabia and Egypt, toss at their opponents to throw them into the slammer. Egypt's paleo-government headed by Hosni Mubarak, is determined to curb press freedoms in Egypt and was the major force behind the Arab League's controversial initiative.
As I was watching Al Jazeera's English channel last night from my hotel, I was reminded why I have trouble with its coverage (its English language services is not carried in the U.S. because of self-censorship by U.S. cable and satellite providers that would not go near Al Jazeera with a ten foot antenna).
One of its shows -- "Global Focus" -- dragged out from underneath some rock a segment extolling the virtues of avoiding designating "terrorists" as "terrorists" if they are really "freedom fighters" or members of some "popular resistance movement." Showcasing Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and other killing organizations, Al Jazeera conveniently put on the air a variety of so-called "journalistic experts" (left-wing types such as the former head of Canadian Broadcasting Company, and a fringe pundit by the name of Eric Margolis, who asserted the importance of avoiding use of terror-terminology" if a group was a legitimate "resistance organization."
What was particularly galling to me was that Al Jazeera conveniently decided not to interview any current mainstream media personalities who would have given the segment some degree of balanced debate. But unfortunately, that remains Al Jazeera's MO and its chronic achilles heel. It would rather provoke rather than provide.
More from the Summit later today.