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Arab League and OIC to Enhance Arabs and Muslims Image in America
The first meeting of the Joint High-level Committee of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the League of Arab States (LAS) convened at LAS headquarters in Cairo , to discuss the best ways and means to correct the stereotyped image of Arabs and Muslims. The meeting, which brought together Arab and Islamic institutions, discussed OIC reports on Islamophobia as well as documents prepared by LAS General Secretariat and by other institutions on the cultural and media activities that have been conducted or could be implemented in the future to respond to the media spin campaigns targeting Islam and Islamic civilization.
The OIC delegation was led by the Organization’s Assistant Secretary General Amb. Abbullah Abdurrahman Alim, who delivered a statement at the opening of the two-day meeting, in which he stressed the OIC’s readiness to further boost its existing outstanding relations with the Arab League, and its desire to map out modes of cooperation and coordination with the League on all issues of common interest to the Arabo-Islamic world and to face up to the phenomenon of Islamophobia and the widespread hate campaigns in the West against Islam and Muslims.
Amb. Alim outlined the various actions undertaken by the OIC in countering the phenomenon and invited the Arab League at the same time for joint action in various fields, particularly in the area of information.
Amb. Alim also emphasized the need to remove the confused picture held by the public opinion in the West and in America where a deliberate amalgam is made between Islam and terrorism, and the need to underline Islam’s inherent rejection of all acts or manifestations of violence and extremism.
The work program of the meeting included examination of documents on the ways and means likely to help correct the stereotypical image of Arabs and Muslims in the West, particularly in the US . The documents included notably a concept paper that laid forth the motives and background of existing stereotypes and a roaster of proposals for across-the-board action.
Participants in the meeting agreed on a principles paper on the key themes and components of the action plan to be undertaken in the US in terms of implementing an Arabo-Islamic cultural and media program in a bid to correct the image of Arabs and Muslims. The Joint Committee will meet in the near future at the OIC headquarters in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , to carry through its work.
George Haddad
Arab Detroit