BILL TAMMEUS Mideast conflict key to war on terror

If George W. Bush wants to fight terrorism in his new term as president, he should help solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, a visiting Muslim scholar says.
Ahmed al-Kibsi, a political science professor at Sana'a University in his native Yemen, says the Middle East conflict "is the root cause of all terrorist actions in the whole area for the last 50 years. If this problem could be solved, the whole area could be changed and turned into an island of peace."
Al-Kibsi has been at William Jewell College in Liberty, Kan., since mid-October on a Fulbright program that supports visits by scholars and other professionals.
New map needed
It's vital not only for peace in the Middle East, but also for America's national and security interests for Bush to commit his administration to helping the region find peace, al-Kibsi said in a phone interview. He dismissed Bush's previous road map to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying, "There was no road and no map."
"I hope that the new Cabinet of President Bush will have a new strategy for how to deal with that area," he said. Bush's failure to help solve the Middle East conflict and his decision to invade Iraq, al-Kibsi said, have given "the radical groups strength. I hope that he'll go back and look to his allies. This will save American lives. This will work against radical groups that are active in that area."
Listen to proposals
Among other things, he said, the United States should listen to peace proposals coming from Arab nations.
"All Arab states now want a peaceful settlement," he said, and they need the United States to be "a neutral judge in the area."
Al-Kibsi, a member of Yemen's current ruling political party, said the way to undermine terrorism is through "democratization." He pointed to his own country as an example of what can happen. Since North and South Yemen were formally united in 1990 into Yemen, "we are promoting democracy and human rights. It is one of the most successful experiences in the area" despite a civil war in the mid-1990s.
Islam, he said, is fully compatible with democracy. People who say otherwise, he said, have "a biased look."
XTammeus is a columnist for The Kansas City Star. Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.