"We are digging a hole, merrily-a-way, assuming that everything's just fine," James Zogby said, referring to America's relations with Arabs and the Middle East.
The president of the Arab American Institute spoke against this assumption to a group of about 60 students and other community members in Robinson Hall Wednesday night.
Zogby, whose speech was sponsored by Tufts' Arab Students Association, said despite the amount of exchange between the Arab World and the West - in both people and capital - "we are ignorant to what's going on."
He used examples from U.S. foreign policy from the aftermath of World War I to the current war in Iraq.
The speech began with an example of what Zogby said was America's one-sidedness in the Middle East. "Hillary Clinton goes to Israel to get the lay of the land and assess the situation in the Middle East, yet does not meet with a single Palestinian," he said.
He also spoke about the restrictions and conditions put on financial aid for the Palestinians, as well as the press coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He described the impoverished conditions of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip and said the primary problem is unemployment - a problem he said is worsened by the separation barrier.
He called the separation barrier an "oppressive concrete barrier" that imprisons the Palestinians.
Zogby - the brother of polling firm Zogby International CEO John Zogby - spent a great deal of time addressing the current war in Iraq. "Do you ever fight a war with a country you know nothing about?" he asked.
He compared the American perspective at the onset of the war with the historical British colonial perspective, with the Arabs playing the role of the helpless "savages."
Americans "see the world through caricatures and stereotypes," he said. In this war as in the past, "we never understood or needed to understand," he said.
The U.S. can no longer afford to see the enemy as one-dimensional "caricatures," and increased understanding is the first step towards improving relations with the Arab World, Zogby said.
He said American politicians were self-serving and cared most about being reelected. Many Congressmen, he said, support reconciliation and evenhandedness in principle but do not try to change U.S. foreign policy. He described the group as the "I'm really with you guys, but..." club.
Most of the anger of Arab-Americans is directed towards President George W. Bush and his policies, not the American citizens or their culture, Zogby said.
In dealing with stereotypes of Arabs in America, Zogby said a small part has come to represent the whole. "After 9/11, 19 faces became the Arab world," he said.
Zogby blamed poverty and lack of economic opportunity for Palestinians as the cause of suicide bombing. He described a generation of children raised with a "sickness" Without the opportunity to gain honor in a conventional way, he said, the source of honor becomes killing oneself.
At the end of his speech, Zogby addressed possible solutions for America's problems. "How do you put Humpty Dumpty back together again when it's been shattered?" he said.
Zogby endorsed a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and said even an interim settlement would help ease tensions.
As for Iraq, he said regional cooperation is a necessary component of any solution: "We got into this alone, but we need help to get out," he said.
Zogby recommended the Bush Administration start by admitting its mistakes. "You can't find a cure if you don't know you have a disease," he said.
