The relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States of America go back to 1933 when the Saudi government signed a 60-year concessionary agreement with Standard Oil of California (Socal) that allowed the company to explore for oil. Through this concession, the world’s largest reserves of oil were discovered. Relations between the US and Saudi Arabia blossomed and became close in many fields — economic, diplomatic, military and strategic. Relations were not, however, always harmonious and were in fact strained at certain times.
The tragic event of Sept. 11, 2001, affected Saudi-American relations, increased tension and raised many question about the future of relations. The event also led to America demanding changes in the Saudi school curriculum and concerns for democratic reforms. Moreover, 9/11 provided an opportunity for a wave of criticism of Saudi Arabia in the American media in addition to a hate campaign against Saudis. This led everyone in Saudi Arabia to believe that constant efforts were required to counter such reactions. An institutional and professional dialogue, involving both the Saudi and American civil societies, was needed to support the existing excellent relations.
Unfortunately, the Saudi media failed to deal with the 9/11 event as professionally as it should have. The local media concentrated, right after the event, on addressing the Saudi people instead of the American audience. The Saudi media were expected to play a more effective role during that period, benefiting from the different American societal components, i.e., the economists, the politicians, the media specialists, the academicians and the lawyers, with emphasis on individuals and groups that are known for their sympathy for Saudi Arabia, its people, its causes and culture.
The dialogue between different components of the Saudi and American societies has many justifications. The first is religious. Dialogue is a fundamental element of Islamic belief. Islam has often called for dialogue, focusing on human interaction versus isolation. Muslims did, during many centuries, coexist with believers of other religions. Islam taught its believers to respect others, recognizing and acknowledging the existence of differences and contrasts between human beings. Another justification is the West’s hostile stance against Islam and Muslims. This has encouraged some Muslims to support Islamic fundamentalist movements and adopt their ideologies while the West condemned Islam’s religious, spiritual and human values. This hostile attitude toward Muslims and Islam helped the unilateral view of the conservatives to prevail, not only in the West but also in the East.
The third justification is that in such a political climate, we, the Saudis, ought not to ignore the importance of inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue. That is why those summits were initiated and organized by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, and were attended by Muslims, Christians and Jews, representing global leaderships in governments, religious groups and intellectuals.
Another justification is related to America itself. We, in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, fully understand that the Sept. 11 attacks constituted a real trauma for Americans, profoundly disrupting America’s relations with the Muslim world in general and Saudi Arabia in particular. Many people feel that Americans need to put 9/11 behind them and concentrate on policies and relations that will serve American interests and those of its strategic allies.
One more justification for the importance of dialogue with the Americans is the fact that America is the world’s largest political, military and economic power. That makes it vital for us, the different components of Saudi Arabian society, to establish and organize ourselves institutionally within America itself, and regularly conduct dialogues with American people in order to maintain and develop our long relationship.
A justification of great importance pertains to Saudi public opinion regarding Saudi-American relations. A telephone survey of Saudis was conducted by the Washington-based “Center for Public Opinion” between Nov. 30 and Dec. 5, 2007. The survey covered questions on a number of issues, one of which was relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States. The results showed that 69 percent of Saudis surveyed strongly support close relations with the United States while only 19 percent opposed strengthening the relations. These results make it important to exert greater efforts to improve relations by expanding dialogue to achieve as much understanding and interaction as possible.
In conclusion, no one denies that there are efforts being exerted by some nonofficial Saudi establishments and committees; however, they are fragmented and seasonal in nature. Besides, they do not emphasize cultural dialogue in their programs; instead they concentrate on trade and investment. What is needed is an institutional arrangement, i.e., creating an organization/umbrella under which all efforts could be placed.
I have learned that a forum was established in a major US city by the name of “The American Saudi Dialogue Forum.” The forum’s mission is “to create a society that appreciates the Saudi and American people’s diversity while moving forward with mutual respect, understanding and peaceful coexistence, through dialogue, intellectual cooperation and capacity building in fields such as education, culture, science, communication, human rights, democratic citizenship, sustainable development, knowledge and information.”
We hope this forum gets support from both Saudis and Americans.
— Ibrahim A. Al-Mutrif is a Saudi businessman. E-mail: [email protected]
