Russell Peters Punk'd By the King of Jordan?

Stereotypes About The Middle East; A Rising Concern

Was searching YouTube for something to feed my boredom last night, when I came upon Queen Rania's YouTube channel. For those who haven't heard, Queen Rania of Jordan has launched an initiative - or several - on YouTube and Twitter, to communicate to the Western world and talk about various stereotypes westerners have about the Middle East, Arabs, and Muslims. Some have even taken to calling her the 'cyber queen of the Middle East'. I thought it would be interesting to jot down my thoughts on the matter of stereotyping:

Firstly, a common, deeply flawed misconception is that all Middle Easterners are terrorists. Well, going back to 9\11 there sure were 17 terrorists who all came from the Middle East, were Arabs and Muslims. But how far can we take that fact to say that we all are terrorists? We can hardly say that such a vast population of over 360 million people are reflected by those 17 who performed this disgraceful act of suicide in the name of religion. Sure there are terrorists in the Middle East, but the same goes for any other country in the world. Middle Easterners are generally peaceful people, as a matter of fact, Jordan itself is known for its wonderfully warm hospitality to foreigners!

Middle Easterners live in desert tents and get around using camels. To be honest I have never heard such an absurd statement without letting out a sincere laugh. Cars are well used in society here, an amazing fact is that oil-rich countries in the Gulf, mainly Kuwait, have a higher number of cars than people! The world's tallest building is in the Middle East, namely 'Burj Khalifa' - more commonly known as The Dubai Tower - which exceeds a height of 828m, making it the highest man-made structure in the world!

Architects and engineers are fully present in the Middle East (some people may think we are all desert dwelling Bedouins), doing a wonderful job of ensuring citizens' comfortable and stylish accommodation.

Arabs are all Muslims; Muslims are all Arabs Neither of these statements are correct. Muslims make more than 1.5 billion of the worlds population. Arabs make only about 360 million people straddling North Africa and Western Asia. Now the second statement has been debunked, what about the first? Are Arabs all Muslims? Definitely not, a significant population of Arabs follow Christianity, with myself being one of them. Personally, having many Muslim friends whom I consider brothers and sisters, the respect I have towards Islam is concrete. Islam itself does not teach enmity and war, but peace and love, just like the other heavenly religions.


Women are given no rights in the Middle East.  This stereotype varies significantly from one country to the next. For instance, Saudi Arabia has yet to permit woman to drive, whereas the Jordanian female population enjoy plenty of rights and can be seen in various positions about the country, from university professors to taxi drivers to ministers.

Middle Easterners hate Jews. This also, is a common misconception. The hate Middle Easterners have is directed to the Zionist Israeli government, and not the religion Judaism, which has our utmost respect. The causes of this hate are vast, and for one to know how it all began, he would have to go back to the formation of the Zionist Israeli state, which in fact was formed by betrayal of Sherif Hussein of Mecca, who had been promised the land as part of his Arab state after WW2 by the British. At present day, however, this hate is due to the daily killing and slaughter of Palestinians, their expulsion from their own lands and the numerous other mistreatment they receive.

Arab countries are oil-rich. Partly true in the Arabian gulf region, but countries such as Jordan, Lebanon and Syria have negligible oil resources or none! Electricity generated in Jordan is 96% from oil and natural gas imported by neighboring countries. Jordan is now aiming at building renewable energy resources such as wind and solar, as well  as building nuclear power reactors for peaceful purposes due to the significant amount of uranium found in the Kingdom.. and yes, I can assure you I said peaceful. Car oil in Jordan as a matter of fact is ridiculously expensive!

I hope I have given you a reasonable perspective on these matters and please feel free to contribute your feedback if you may have a different point of view or would like to discuss these matters in a deeper manner.

Please spare some time to view Queen Rania's pages on YouTube and Twiter at http://youtube.com/queenrania and http://twitter.com/queenrania

Israeli - Jordanian Peace on the Brink

It has been more than fifteen years since Prime Minister of Jordan Abdelsalam al-Majali declared an "end to the age of wars" and Shimon Peres declared that "the moment of peace has arrived", since King Hussein and Yitzhak Rabin held their legendary meeting with President Clinton at the White House to sign that treaty that was to bring peace to the region... to the Palestinians, and to end that everlasting conflict that has been raging ever since I can remember.

Looking around today, you can hardly say that the Middle East is at rest. With Iraq shattered to pieces, Iran's nuclear revolution, Yemen's civil wars, AlQaeda still at large and with no doubt, the walls going up around the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. We hear of suicide bombings, blood and death daily in our community, which has become accustomed to this outrageous news. Not to mention the endless protests that are held against various parties in our countries.

 

When it comes to the Israeli - Jordanian peace, to what extent has it really been effective? Well we can say that mutual recognition has been achieved, borders and security cooperation too, but even those matters are subject to debate.

With the Israeli Knesset announcing last year that "Jordan is Palestine", I would say what was the point of the treaty in the first place?!

Daily reports about excavations and building of trenches under and Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem have been a primary cause in the building of hate in the Arab mind towards Israel.
Article 9 of the treaty states: "Freedom of access to places of religious and historical significance. Israel would respect the special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem."
From my point of view I can hardly see any Jordanian influence in Jerusalem these days!

What about refugees? Article 8 clearly states "The problem of displaced persons would also be discussed together with Egypt and the Palestinians, and the issue of refugees would be discussed in a multilateral manner in conjunction with and at the same time as the permanent status negotiations pertaining to the territories."  Palestinian refugees are increasing by day, with no dispute or talks whatsoever - with the able fleing to neighbouring countries including Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt. To add to that Israel accuses Jordan of consisting of a large population of Palestinians and even proposes a Palestinian state East of the river in Jordan. What hypocrisy, as if Israel is not to blame!

If we were to observe matters from another perspective, how often do Netanyahu and King Abdullah organise talks and debates? Haaretz reports: "Since becoming prime minister last year Netanyahu has met King Abdullah only once, in May, a few days before the premier's visit to Washington. The king urged Netanyahu to declare his acceptance of a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and delivered stern criticism about construction in the settlements and Israeli activities in East Jerusalem."

Israeli and Jordanian sources point to Abdullah's lack of trust in Netanyahu, which the king expressed in a May 2009 interview to The Times of London, just a few days before meeting with the prime minister. "I had three months with the overlap (after the death of King Hussein in 1999, during Netanyahu's first term). These were probably the least pleasant of my 10 years."

To add to that, a statement was issued by Prime Minister of Jordan Samir Rifai when asked if "Jordan will grant permission for Israeli aircraft to pass over Jordan to Iran". His reply was "Israeli aircraft will be shot down if this were to occur." Another sharp statement was made by the King himself about a year ago, giving Israel a 12-18 month ultimatum saying "Peace now, or its war next year." King Abdullah has tagged Israel with the term "fortress Israel" many times in his various interviews worldwide, accusing Israel of remaining as a fortress with no diplomatic relationships with its neighbours rather than "integrating into the neighbourhood".

On other note, yesterday claimed the 48th birthday of his Majesty the King where he issued several strict statements that “We will not be a new occupation in Palestine” , he stated that peace, supported by most Palestinians and Israelis, is the only solution to the conflict. This peace, he added, is based on the two-state solution, and added that he will not accept any talks or even hints of a Jordanian role as a power controlling Palestine.

The King further stated that Jordan will always assist the Palestinians in achieving their own state on their land.  During his speech at the Economic Forum in Davos, King Abdullah said that his army will not be the new army the replaces the Israeli forces in Palestine, and that the Palestinians are demanding to achieve their legitimate right of an independent state.