The Americans' View of the Arab East

This article is by an Iraqi lady married to an American, in Washington.

Anxiety besets me whenever I think of the future of the Arab countries, above all when I think of these states' faintheartedness, their inability to profit from circumstances, and their slackness in building for the future — that is, the exact opposite of what the Zionists do.

Fear of the danger of Israel grows ever sharper: because of the multitude of self-sacrificing immigrants coming to it from the various European countries; because of the abundance of money flowing in upon it from worldwide Zionist donations, from the United States of America and other countries of the world; and because of the many specialists in the arts of war who make their way there to strengthen in it their personal and racial interests. In the face of these dangers we see the kings, princes, presidents, and holders of titles in the Arab East growing in number, and the Arab states growing in rivalry and disintegration; they are in a position that makes it impossible for them to form a strong front against the Zionist aggressions.

The Zionists claim that their victory — they being one million — over the Arabs — who are fifty million — is nothing but proof of a divine miracle, and that God, who helped them to recover the land of Israel, or the Promised Land, must fulfill His promise to the end; so people believe them and donate money to them for this “sacred” purpose. I have often met Americans in this important corner of the States and asked them: why do we see the men of politics and learning in this country siding with the Zionists and approving the allotment of ample sums to aid them rather than the Arabs? Various answers came back to me, which I gather up as follows:

First — Most of the Arabs are Bedouins, and even if they dwell in the cities their hearts still cling to individual liberty; they know neither the meaning of union nor the meaning of government and laws.

Second — Rule in every one of the Arab countries is shaky and unstable: every day we hear of a revolt or a coup taking place in Syria, or Egypt, or Iraq, or another of the seven states.

Third — The American government has to this day received from no country

among the Arab countries the plan of a comprehensive project for reform and the raising of the standard of living, for which sums of American dollars, large or small, might be set aside; whereas the leaders of Israel draw up numerous projects for the near and the distant future.

Fourth — The leaders of the Arabs and their politicians commonly become owners of vast fortunes in a very short time, the moment they assume responsibility for some public project; and this is proof that government there is conducted for the benefit of individuals, not for the benefit of the whole.

Fifth — The Arabs are marked by stagnation, indifference, and reliance on others; they undertake no effort, individual or collective, to change their manner of living and to turn away from their worn-out traditions. If we set the Arab villages beside the Zionist villages we find a vast difference between the two peoples in standard of living.

Sixth — On the strength of the above, Americans believe that the investment of their money in the hands of the Jews is of surer outcome than its investment in the hands of the Arabs; for while the Arabs boast of their glorious past, the Jews rely on their own efforts, and so they succeed.

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These six points are part of what Zionist propaganda conveys to American public opinion. It is difficult for the Arabs who live in the Arab countries to grasp the power of Zionist propaganda in the United States. Here the ruling party and the President of the Republic are elected anew every four years, and each time the pressure of the Jews upon the American government in its foreign policy shows itself. There is no doubt that the leaders of the Jews in the United States particularly, and in the world generally, are now studying the political situation in the United States and making ready for the coming elections, so as to impose their conditions in exchange for their votes at the polls. The reason the Jews' influence is so strong, despite their relatively small number, is that they own the instruments of propaganda, such as the radio and television stations, the bookshops, the publishing houses, and the presses, and they control the press, which plays an important part in the forming of public opinion: if a book appears against the Jews, it vanishes from the market on the day after its appearance. They have reached such power that they have made the stores and the factories centers for spreading their propaganda. They have here a great number of owners of capital, of banks, and of cinema houses, and of men of politics and law, all of whom work to consolidate good relations between the Americans and the Jews and donate generously to Israel, founding societies and holding functions to gather donations and to send millions of dollars to the little spot which they call the jewel of democracy and progress. Against this I should like to mention a single incident that sketches for us the plan followed by the leaders of the Arab East: when the United Nations resolved upon the partition of Palestine, the Arab Office in Washington closed its doors in protest; propaganda for the Arab cause was thereby cut off and the voice of the Arabs disappeared, and Zionist propaganda increased, since no rival was left to it — and this was just what the Jews wanted. To this day the Americans still believe that most of the Arabs do not understand the meaning of democracy and equality, that they know neither reading nor writing nor cleanliness, and that nothing remains for them but to submit to the Zionists and receive from them lessons in civilization.

Washington