A recent report that airline reservations from the Kingdom to the United States were 40 percent of what they were last year shocked me. I had hoped that the number of Saudis traveling to the United States this year would be only five percent of what they were last year. It is understandable that there are emergency situations in which businessmen or students will have to go to that country.
How can we Arabs want to go to the US when we read everyday about the countless ways we are humiliated there? A large number of Muslims have been arrested and jailed for no apparent reason. US officials are reportedly considering a fingerprint file of every Muslim in the country and also of those who enter the country.
I have also been shocked by the normal level of sales of US products at shops in Jeddah. It is disappointing to note that people have returned to US fast-food restaurants, proving that either they are taken in by advertisements — which emphasize that the restaurants are 100 percent Arab — or tempted by the discounts offered there. People ignore the fact that the boycott is a form of jihad, involving a bitter struggle with oneself which will bring rewards from God. These people also seem to be unaware of the rulings banning both American and Israeli goods. We should shun these goods until substitutes are found to replace them.
According to a report released in March, the sales of American goods and services in the Arab world dropped considerably as a backlash for American support to Israel. Those who disagree with the boycott argue that it will harm the interests of Arab investors and workers. On the other hand, we should remember that we have to make sacrifices in order to earn greater rewards from God. I would also pray for the success of businessmen such as Prince Amr Al-Faisal who canceled his business contract with an American company. He is a role model for all Arab and Muslim businessmen who are committed to the jihad aiming at the liberation of Palestine and Al-Aqsa Mosque.
We should support not only Muslim countries but all other countries which express solidarity with us openly or passively by not cooperating with anything detrimental to our interests. Our priority should be countries with pro-Arab or neutral policies when we go abroad for studies or in matters of trade and tourism.
The boycott should lead us to alternatives for products from anti-Arab countries. The boycott should also encourage us to be self-dependent as much as possible. It has been heartening to note Bahrain’s overwhelming welcome to Zam Zam Cola, an Iranian substitute for Coca-Cola. The success of the new drink would encourage Arab countries to manufacture substitutes for Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Despite attempts to make the people aware of the harmful effects of the drinks, they are still attached to them.
I wonder why we don’t establish factories to manufacture harmless drinks to substitute for the American drinks. The required raw materials are available in Muslim countries. We should also encourage Muslim countries to cultivate the plants required. The move would ensure Muslim countries getting a profits from these drinks. A considerable share of Pepsi Cola and Coca-Cola profits return to the United States since the basic ingredients are imported from there.
There are Saudis who disapprove of a boycott against the US. They are determined to go there as tourists and long to visit Disneyland and Disney World. They are not deterred by humiliating punishments, imprisonment, the freezing of bank accounts or hate campaigns flooding the media. They should read Khaled Al-Maeena’s recent “In In” column in Al-Eqtisadiah, a local Arabic daily, dealing with the hate messages coming from the West. The article cited the example of a Westerner praying to God to allow the defeat of the Saudi team at the World Cup! Another Westerner hoped that the possible nuclear war in the Indian subcontinent would contaminate Arab lands and destroy Saudi Arabia so that the earth might be cleansed of Muslims. Some extremist groups in the US and Britain have declared their plans to avenge the deaths at the World Trade Center by attacking Arab tourists this summer. They warned that travelers to America or Britain would be targeted.
Give the boycott an opportunity to bear fruit by making this summer a season of dull business for the American tourist industry. Let us deprive it of the billions of dollars Arabs and Muslims spend annually so that the afflicted US businessmen exert pressure on their government to return the rights taken away from Arabs and Muslims.
