Ibtissam Al-Bassam • Special to Arab News

Dear Friends,

I am not a politician standing for election. I am not an officer or a soldier ready to kill or to be killed in the war. I am not a leader on whose decisions hang the fate of a nation, a region or the entire world. I am a simple woman who values her long-standing friendship in America and prays that the relationships between her country and the United States emerged unharmed from the present crisis.

Since Sept. 11, 2001 we have all been living in fear of terrorist attacks against unspecified targets in unspecified locations by unspecified suspects. Yet the history of terrorism did not begin on that specific date. Terrorism is as old as history itself. No country, no nation, no generation has ever been spared the agony, the destruction or the loss of lives that result from acts of terrorism.

Prior to Sept. 11 acts of terror were daily occurrences, but they drew little attention or went by unnoticed. You lived in the most powerful and the most advanced country in the world; you were sheltered and unaware of the existence of dangers known to most inhabitants of the world. Until Sept. 11, terrorism was the lot of the poor and the misfortune of the impoverished. Acts of terror were committed in remote lands and in cities unknown to the rich and powerful. They did not attract the attention of the media and the press. It is a sad truth that the tortured, the persecuted, the unfairly arrested, the unjustly imprisoned and cruelly massacred in the Third World have no faces and no names. Their screams, their cry for help are rarely heard; their tears and their mutilated bodies are hardly seen.

The attack on the World Trade Center was undoubtedly a horrific act. Because it was directed against the United States, it shook the whole world, marked the end of an era and caused a powerful, global political earthquake. It caused divisions, polarization, political agitation and a political crisis that will never be forgotten. It paved the way for a war, which the world tried to avoid, and which will have a very special place in history books. Today the world is divided into two camps, one that argues the second Gulf War is immoral and lacks legitimacy and a second group that insists that it is moral and legitimate. The final verdict will be passed by history, after we are long gone and forgotten. When the Twin Towers disappeared in September, 2001, with them disappeared a sense of happiness and freedom, which we had long enjoyed. The international sympathy and the goodwill which the United States received from people around the globe were alas short-lived. Today the inhabitants of our global village are divided into two groups, one pleading for peace, another supporting military action.

The Iraq issue has not been settled peacefully, despite the pleas, the protestations and the demonstrations of the international community. We will all suffer its consequences, regardless of where we live and to which region we belong. People away from the war zone may be spared the pain of direct injury, the destruction and loss of many lives; no one will be spared psychological and moral pain and conscience-pricking.

Every act, rational or irrational, had positive and negative consequences. The people could not stop the war, but we were able to unite for the first time and make our voices heard. To the ears of the supporters of the war, our voices were noises that would be ignored if they could not be silenced.

Dear friends,

The whole world holds its breath, waiting to see what the consequences of the second Gulf War will be, wondering whether we will have a new world. In the Middle East we fear an increase in violence. We fear the American and British bombs that will fall on Iraqi cities and kill innocent people.

We are geographically and psychologically nearer than we ever were in the past. We are afraid to visit each other’s lands. You are afraid to come to our countries because you fear the increasing anti-Americanism here, and we are afraid of traveling to the States because we fear the anti-Arab and Anti-Islam feelings in your country.

Under the rubble of the Twin Towers were buried people from all nations, all races and all religions. The victims of the Twin Towers were a great symbol of the diversity and unity of the world. They were together when they were alive. They lost their lives at the same time and were victims of the same terrorists.

It is difficult to be rational in a world gripped by irrationality. It is hard to be sane when surrounded by madness. Yet let us face the challenges that confront us with goodwill, patience, love and fortitude. We should struggle to preserve the formidable unity that our hatred of wars and bloodshed and our love of harmony and peace have created among us. Let friendship, compassion, honesty, truth, trust, tolerance, respect for cultural diversity, reverence for world faiths and love and care for humanity be our guide. Our common suffering should be our beacon and torch as we step into the dark, maybe endless, tunnel. We are too old to be prejudiced by the media and the press, and too young to be passive observers.

My voice is weak, but it gains strength when added to the millions calling for peace. Every day I pray with worshipers in mosques, churches, synagogues and temples that wisdom will prevail so love will conquer hate, international friendship will defeat hostility and peace and security will dominate. Like you, my friends, my heart bleeds for the death, pain, misery and grief inflicted on victims. Like you, I am shocked at the level of violence in the world, especially in the Middle East, and sad that the international community has not taken strong, effective steps to stop the bloodshed. We hope and pray that soon we will be able to focus our efforts on eradicating poverty, misery and production and sales of arms. The weapons we need to defeat terrorism are justice, honesty, compassion, and love for humanity. If the second Gulf War does not destroy the planet, we should together eradicate the causes of hatred and plant the seeds of love.

— Dr. Ibtissam Al-Bassam is academic adviser to the assistant director-general for education, UNESCO (Paris). She was formerly the dean of the College of Education for Women in Riyadh and King Fahd Academy in London. The views expressed are her own.