[Oman-l] Re: Omani attitudes

[BaaboodA@aol.com]

In a message dated 09/11/00, 786isa@omantel.net.om writes:

"I am deeply perplexed by two aspects of the Omani response among the young 
people.
1) The deeply held affection for Saddam Hussein...
2) The seeming contempt of young Omanis for non-Arab Muslims anywhere else.. "


I agree with Isa that Saddam Hussein has carried out many horrendous 
atrocities on his own people. He used chemical weapons, razed entire villages 
of the Kurds and slaughtered his Shia population in the South. The crime of 
his regime still continues and so does the plight of all those people living 
under his rule. While the Kurds throughout their tragic history have suffered 
the most at his hands the entire Iraqi population (except his own clan) are 
still suffering from the crimes of the Iraqi regime. No one with the right 
mind will support this kind of genocide or this kind of leader. 

The Arab governments and Arab public opinion are rightly criticised for not 
making a stand against such crimes against humanity. Western governments also 
(I am being general here) unfortunately had supported Saddam and kept quite 
about his crimes. Only when he crossed the line and went against their own 
interest, Western states (through the UN, etc.) woke up to such attrocities 
and subjected his country to all kinds of sanctions deepening even further 
the misery of the ordinary Iraqi.

Saddam Hussein is not without his APPARENT supporters in the Arab world and 
to lesser extent in the Gulf. However, the reality is that genuine supporters 
of Saddam, if any, are very few and are mostly ill informed. What might 
appear at first sight as a Saddam support is, in my opinion, only a show of 
defiance against Western policies in the Middle East, Israeli intransigence 
and obstinacy and is directed against some of the complacent Arab regimes. It 
should not be read as a support for Saddam or his crimes on humanity. Most 
people including those in area know that Saddam has only brought disasters to 
the region and is nothing but bad news. 

Having said that I find that I totally disagree with Isa on his claims that:  

(1) "the deep affection for Saddam..."  

Indeed while the Omanis have very deep affection for the Iraqis and are 
dismayed at their situation, the majority of the population abhor the Iraqi 
leadership crimes and policies. Remember that there is an influential small 
Shia population in Oman which if anything only hold hatred for Saddam given 
his crimes against the Shia. Officially, however, Oman has diplomatic 
relations with Iraq for reasons that are well understood.

(2) "The seeming contempt of young Omanis for non-Arab Muslims anywhere 
else". 
I must admit I find it very odd for someone even to contemplate that. While 
the majority of the Omani population are of Arab origins a large part, due to 
the country's maritime history, are not. One only needs to go to the soque in 
Muttrah to realise the diversity of origins of the Omani population. Oman is 
a melting pot for many races and many cultures. As an Arab/Islamic society, 
the Omani government and people is very sensitive to the plight of Arabs and 
Muslims around the world. Given the limitations of their means, the Omanis 
have been generally very supportive of all the Arab/Muslim just causes and 
are deeply touched by their sufferings. The action/attitude of some very few 
people (as Isa has pointed out) does not necessarily lead to a sweeping 
generalisation and defiantly not to a forgone conclusion that the Omani 
public does not care about other Muslims plight. Certainly there is no 
contempt for non-Arab Muslims anywhere else but I would agree that perhaps 
there is an unwelcome negative Omani youth attitude to some expat communities 
in Oman which deserves much more attention. I am surprised that Isa even call 
those Omanis who did such act, as he described, as friends! 

Having said that, I would argue that there is a difference in scale, 
magnitude and intensity in how the Omani/Arab population reacted to the 
recent atrocities against the Palestinians compared to other previous Arab 
(even previous Palestinian intifadah) and Islamic conflicts in: Kosovo, 
Chechnya, or anywhere in South or Central Asia or China. Perhaps this is what 
Isa meant and if that is the case then he is absolutely right. The way the 
Omani/Arab population reacted to the killing of Palestinians youth, in their 
Al-Aqsa intifadah, at the hands of the Israeli army was unprecedented and far 
exceeded the expectations of many observers. Although it's not limited to 
Oman, I think it has to do with many issues including the level of political 
awareness, the speed of communications and the power of Internet, see for 
example:
http://www.infopal.org/pics.htm 
http://www.themodernreligion.com/jihad/sniper.html
http://www.ahram.org.eg/weekly/2000/506/re9.htm
http://www.ahram.org.eg/weekly/2000/506/op2.htm

There is of course the plethora of Arab satellite stations with constant 
daily images, media coverage, talks, reporting and analysing of the situation 
in every home. It has also to do with the raising of the ceilings of civil 
liberties in many Arab countries with much more informed public opinion. 
Perhaps Arab population is coming of age where there is a trend for more Arab 
public voice which was not heard before. A trend worth some deeper analysis. 

I think it has also to do with the closeness the Omanis and other Arabs feel 
towards the Palestinians because there are more Palestinians that they 
interact with than say Kurds, Kosovars and Chechnyas, etc. It is not to say 
that these Muslims have a lesser just cause or deserve less support but the 
Palestine issue is of central importance in the Arab mind. Moreover, many 
Palestinians have lived and some still do in the Gulf and other Arab 
countries playing many different roles in the host society gaining sympathy 
and understanding of their own problem. I think it has also to do with the 
fact that the Arab society in general has reconciled itself with peace in the 
Middle East where Israel has been offered to take roughly 80% of historic 
Palestine and 20% is left for the Palestinians to form their own state but 
Israel, for many years, has been dragging its feet continuously changing 
facts on the ground (e.g. building more settlements in Arab occupied lands , 
etc.), ever forcing the Palestinians to the wall. The Arab public consider 
such continual occupation of Arab lands, Israeli tactics and attitude to 
peace, wasting a window of opportunity for peaceful coexistence, as a gross 
humiliation to their dignity and pride and a way of legitimising occupation. 
Last but not least there is also the central issue of Jerusalem which has 
profoundly inspired Arab and Islamic public opinion. I think that a 
combination of these reasons have cumulatively played a role in the recent 
outrage of Omani/Arab public opinion which for many reasons were not 
available before in previous conflicts.

Abdulla