In the space of just one month we have seen two elections of great significance in the Arab world. Palestinians came out in great numbers to select a successor to Yasser Arafat and to vote for a better future, while Iraqis defied both the insurgents and expectations to show that the Arab world is ready and willing to choose its own future.

Over the next months and years we will hopefully see a broadening of this process, with Arab countries moving toward democracy at their own steady pace. While the extent of elections will not fully please some in the West, it is necessary for Arabs to move toward a homegrown form of democracy that takes into account the makeup of society as well as history and traditions. What we do not need is occupation to teach us the democratic process.

Rumor in the West had it that Arabs were culturally unable to participate in a democratic process and that Islam was incompatible with democracy. The Palestinian and Iraqi votes, and the attention and enthusiasm they elicited around the Arab world, are the proof that these concerns are unfounded. Arabs have come together to prove to them and to the world that they are ready to move toward a new future and more participatory politics.

Equally as important is the fact that, both in Iraq and in Palestine, women’s participation in the elections was very high. This has demonstrated to us all that Arab women are already asserting their freedom — they are free by their own will and the confidence to assert their rights. It is they, not politicians, who are making their situation progress.

We in the Arab world take great pleasure in acknowledging to the West that the flame of democracy has been ignited in the Middle East. If this gives pride to Americans with regards to their ambitions for the Middle East we say thank you, your mission has been accomplished but ours is only beginning.

We must remember that democracy works both ways. Our growing democratic institutions will be expecting the United States and the West to live up to their commitments toward resolving, for example, the Palestinian issue. They will expect a just resolution with a full Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories and respecting Palestinian self-determination, whatever the result. We support American commitments in the Middle East and our people will judge both of us on how we apply our democratic values to resolve the very injustices taking place in Palestine.

Our own mission now is to make our societies progress, but especially to respect the differences and the diversity that characterizes Arab countries compared to the West. Diversity should be a source of enrichment, not conflict. When we disagree with the West it is over its methods, and such matters can be resolved by discussion; they need not give rise to conflict.

Today growing Arab public support is on the side of those leaders who want to see their region united in ever more participatory government and who want to improve understanding rather than fuel conflict.

Arab leaders should do everything they can to take advantage of this moment; it is a much dreamed-of opportunity to reduce the influence of the extremist opposition that forward-looking governments in the Arab world are facing today.

An open and democratic process is the best way to diminish the influence of those who threaten havoc. The elections in Iraq are beginning to show this.

It is a bright day in the Arab world and a bright day also for the West. A stronger and more confident Arab world has embarked on a new beginning and the West, if it is prepared to accept the pace of Arab change, is standing in front of a new and indispensable partner.

— Hassan Yassin is a Saudi businessman based in Riyadh.