MEDIA REACTION: ARABS AND HUMAN RIGHTS/

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 001573 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARP; NEA/PPD; NEA/RA; INR/R/MR; PA; INR/NESA; INR/B; RRU-NEA IIP/G/NEA-SA WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE; NSC SECDEF FOR OASD/PA USCINCCENT FOR POLAD LONDON FOR MCKUNE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OIIP KMDR KPAO AE TC SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: ARABS AND HUMAN RIGHTS/ PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE/IRAN'S NUCLEAR CAPABILITIES ¶1. Summary: A columnist in "Al-Ittihad" explains why Arabs usually fail human right's assessments stating that their culture does not carry such values. A female columnist in Al-Bayan comments on Iran's nuclear capabilities stating that Iran, instead of focusing on nuclear technology, should work on improving the welfare of its citizens. End Summary. ¶2. Under headline "Why do we fail human rights exams?," a columnist, Dr. Ahmed Al-Baghdadi, wrote in a 4/17 op-ed in Abu Dhabi-based Arabic daily "Al- Ittihad," (circulation 65,000): "It is required for every Arab individual to obey his parents and his teachers during his childhood, whether he likes it or not, to obey his professor at the university, obey his boss at work or obey her husband if that individual is a woman. A man who suffers from oppression at work practices this same oppression and dictatorship on his servants, wife and children... The field of human rights is not part of our Arabic legacy. I know that many people will argue with this opinion... but this is the truth which no one wants to hear. Can I refer to a book titled as "laws of non-Muslims in the Islamic society" written by Ibn Al- Qayyim, or the topic of religious differentiation between free men and slaves which is extensively covered in many "legal code" books?... Teaching human rights in schools or dealing with them during our lives and applying them in laws needs an element that is not present in the Arab world's culture. It requires the separation of religion from the state, and that is one of the many requirements of human rights' that is impossible for us to succeed in. I know very well that any Arab today would prefer to live in a religious environment, under whatever conditions, even if he had no human rights... But can he, as a human being, continue living like this?" ¶3. Under headline "A nuclear question," a female columnist, Suaad Al-Majal wrote in a 4/19 op-ed in Dubai- based Arabic daily "Al-Bayan," (circulation 90,000): "With Iran's announcement to join the group of countries owning nuclear technology, and its persistence in trying to reach industrial levels of enriched uranium, the very critical Middle East region enters a new era of conflict between regional countries... It is regrettable that the Iranian situation, which was preceded by the Indian and the Pakistani one, has worked on its nuclear achievements at the expense of development projects and the welfare of its citizens! Poverty is the main common factor among these nuclear countries which confirms the fact that the pretext of catching up with the developed countries as promoted by Iran being one of the reasons of its insistence in carrying on with its nuclear project is a feeble pretext and unhealthy at all! The nuclear project in Pakistan and India does not assist the lives and affairs of their citizens. It is just the opposite! Nuclear projects in these countries and especially in Iran come at the expense of their citizens and are not for their benefit at all!" SISON