Professor Ussama Makdisi of Rice University spoke Wednesday on the roots of anti-Americanism in the Arab world, mentioning especially the gap between the United States' democratic rhetoric and its foreign policy in the Middle East.
Makdisi opened his talk by calling on everyone to be "prepared to listen to what Arabs from all walks of life are saying," something he said Americans often fail to do.
Speaking to an audience of primarily mostly of Fletcher School students and faculty, Makdisi cited U.S. support of Israel as the foremost source of antipathy towards America in the Arab world.
"Americans were told we are hated because of what we stand for," Makdisi said. But it is not American society, but rather U.S. foreign policy, that most angers the average Middle Easterner, he said.
According to Makdisi, Americans were generally well liked in the Middle East during the 19th and early 20th centuries as a result of extensive missionary work, which was primarily aimed at increasing the availability of modern, secular education.
Popular opinion in the Arab world was further buoyed by the self-determination doctrine espoused by President Woodrow Wilson at the conclusion of World War I.
Makdisi said disillusionment with the U.S. arose when it was the first country to endorse Israel's legitimacy in 1948.
In criticizing this decision, Makdisi cited the findings of the King-Crane commission, a fact-finding initiative that reported, "If self-determination is to be upheld, Zionism must be abandoned." Essentially, the commission placed the establishment of unified Arab states as a first priority.
On a practical level, Makdisi pointed out that Jews made up one third of the population of Palestine and owned only seven percent of the land in 1947, compared to the 55 percent they would gain after the establishment of the Israeli state.
Since then, "anti-Americanism has reached all time heights, in almost direct proportion to support for Israel," he said.
To resolve this discord, Makdisi said Americans and the rest of the world need to stop "consistently humanizing and historicizing Jews at the expense of humanizing and understanding Palestinians."
Makdisi said the U.S. has given $74 billion dollars in weapons to support a conflict which fails to truly align with American ideals of justice and democracy.
This dissonance is especially clear in light of the fact that Palestinian refugees have the right, under international law, to return to their land - a fact which is backed up by U.S.-supported United Nations resolutions.
Makdisi concluded that Americans need to revaluate the simplistic idea of the origins of antipathy toward the U.S. that the government and media have provided, which attributes the hateful sentiments to the differences between Arab and American societal values.
The problem lies much more in perceptions of U.S. policies as unjust and undemocratic, he said.
