DOHA, 6 April 2004 — Arab states should consider US proposals for democratic reform rather than rejecting them outright, the ruler of Qatar said yesterday.
Emir Sheikh Hamad also said Arabs could no longer use the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and security fears to justify delaying much-needed political, social and economic change.
“The calls for reform coming from abroad need reflection by the people of our region before rejecting it...They should be carefully studied so that if it is accepted, it is with confidence and if it is rejected, it is justified,” he told the opening session of a conference on democracy and free trade.
“A peaceful settlement and reforms are not two alternatives that we can choose from but they are both priorities that we have to work toward with all seriousness and truthfulness,” said Sheikh Hamad.
US President George W. Bush believes lack of freedom in the Muslim world helps fuel terrorism and has pledged to promote democratic reform.
But many Arab countries have rejected the US initiative and warned Washington against imposing readymade recipes.
Arab leaders have complained the initiative does not address the Arab-Israeli conflict, which they see as key to the region’s woes. Some have also warned the West that free elections might bring fundamentalists to power.
“Honesty obliges us to stress that the wrath in our region does not spring only from the Palestinian cause but goes deeper and is due to problems of our own creation that have nothing to do with the outside world — problems that we allowed to grow unremedied and unchecked,” Sheikh Hamad said.
“For years, loud voices have been coming out from the region...claiming that if popular participation is broadened it would only result in bringing in those who would endanger peace and put an end to security.
“Yet, the adoption of reforms has always been the right way to stability,” said Sheikh Hamad.
Similar calls by Qatar have been ignored by some Arab leaders who were irked by the small Gulf state hosting the command center for the deeply-unpopular US war on Iraq and by Doha’s contacts with Israel.
The emir, however, has introduced limited reforms and last year Qataris supported in a referendum a constitution paving the way for an elected advisory body.
The proposed constitution was the latest step in political liberalization by Sheikh Hamad, who has pledged greater freedoms since he deposed his father in a bloodless coup in 1995.
