RIYADH, 3 December — The US-led war on terrorism has seen Western states discriminate against Arabs and Muslims, and led to a confrontation between the West and Islam, according to press comments here yesterday.
“Let’s admit that there is a confrontation now between the West and the Islamic world,” Al-Riyadh daily said in an editorial.
“Under the pretext of fighting terrorism Muslims and Arabs are being targeted. The damage cannot be undone or minimized by organizing iftar meals or visiting Islamic centers,” the paper said.
It said the campaign against terror has replaced “freedom of religion, human rights and equal citizenship rights by giving police and security men the power to imprison and question any Arab or Muslim for the least suspicion including their color, language or even going to the mosque.”
The paper said the world’s three monotheistic religions were not “born in London or Washington” and that Jesus Christ was “not blond with blue eyes” as depicted in the West, because he was born in Palestine.
“The campaign against Islam is part of a hidden struggle that exploded as a result of events in America,” a reference to the Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington.
It said that Western governments were applying a “double standard” policy in this respect.
“The double standard policy of Western governments is very unfortunate, as their attempt to assure the Islamic world by statements is contradicted by deeds on the ground and changes in legislation ... specifically against Arabs and Muslims,” the paper said.
Separately, the executive director of the American Islamic Relations Council Nehad Awadh said abuses on Arabs and Muslims in the United States have multiplied after the Sept. 11 attacks.
He told Okaz daily that in the two and a half months after the attacks, the council had received 1,450 complaints of abuses from Muslims as opposed to a yearly average of 300.
