A lot of tears were shed on the day that Saddam was paraded on television. Some shed tears for him, and others cried because of what he did — and as usual the Arab world was divided into two camps.

Most Iraqis saw their jailer imprisoned, while a not insignificant group saw their hero humiliated.

That is the way of the Arab world, which with its huge population, varied countries and conflicting interests is big enough to encompass such a wide range of emotions.

For the last twenty years, whenever Kurds, Shiites and Kuwaitis cried out in pain, voices rose in praise of Saddam, applauding him.

I believe that these two camps within the Arab world will continue to exist — be it in Algeria, Morocco or Sudan, in the Gulf countries or Lebanon. All we can do is learn to accept and live with these differences.

The Arab in Palestine who awaits Saddam’s victory is not concerned about what he does in the north, in the south or in neighboring countries.

The Iraqi who wants to be liberated does not care what foreign policy his leader will adopt while his life remains on the line.

Some may be disturbed by these facts because they believe that Arabs should be one politically unified unit that must work together to fight a single battle. That is the kind of picture we have lived with for many decades in the shadow of meek statements from the Arab League.

Were the images of the imprisoned Iraqi leader insulting to Arabs, as some have said — or is this long delayed justice? It is pointless to expect any kind of agreement over Saddam. Some remember him with his finger on the nuclear button (or so it has been said) in 1990, declaring that he would burn Israel, and consider him their hero.

Others, who know of the mass murders he committed, consider him the number one criminal in the world.

Let us then pause and consider — are we forever to be divided? The answer is: Yes, because we have different visions and we will never reach an agreement no matter how many seminars are held.

What remains is for us to learn to deal with these differences rationally. There are many issues on which we will never agree; Algerians will never agree that the desert should belong to Morocco and Iraqis will never agree that Saddam should be seen as a hero, nor will we ever see the West in the same way. Such divergence is quite natural.

We must learn to accept it and hope to find common ground on other issues.