A worldwide phenomenon

an interview with Sheikh  Kamal Khateeb

BI: Is it your impression that Islamophobia is on the rise in the world?

Khateeb: What we see happening is certainly beyond individual acts or statements. I believe that Islamophobia has become a phenomenon in the world and that there is a movement rife that defines Islam as its enemy. The discourse of this movement deals with Muslims in generalizations. Actions that were once attributed to extremist individuals or groups are now often spoken of in terms of fundamentalist or extremist Islam. This is a very negative attitude that ultimately points the finger at every individual Muslim.

BI: Can you give an example of this kind of discourse?

Khateeb: Violent actions carried out by Muslims are often designated as "Islamic terrorism". In contrast, Serbian violence in the former Yugoslavia was never described as "Orthodox Christian violence". In India, Hindu violence against Muslims is not referred to as "Hindu terrorism", nor in Ireland does anyone talk of "Protestant terrorism".

Some believe this attitude came as a reaction to 9/11. I think that the beginning came much earlier, when the US adopted Samuel Huntington's theory of the clash of civilizations. In my opinion, the former president Bush long ago adopted this theory--that there is a conflict between Islamic civilization and the West, a conflict between good and evil where the evil is Islam. This attitude simply gained rapid currency after 9/11.

The current President Bush made a very firm affirmation of this outlook in his speech after 9/11 where he spoke of a crusade. He also talked, and continues to talk, of being on a mission from God, indicating that he sees US policy in religious terms. In other words, US policy regarding Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the unswerving American support of Israeli policies and practices against the Palestinian people, is motivated by religious and cultural considerations.

For example, I think US support of Israel has a religious as well as a political motivation. There is a religious-ideological element behind the policy that holds that supporting Israel is a means to realizing the prophecy of the second coming of Christ.

BI: Do you feel that Muslims in Israel suffer from hostility and racism?

Khateeb: We don't only feel it, we have been living it for years. Look at the violation of our sacred places. Take for example the Red Mosque in Safed, which is today being used as a movie studio. A mosque in Caesaria was turned into a bar, and there's a mosque in the demolished village of Hitteen that is used as a barn.

Can you imagine anything more offensive than writing the name of the Prophet Muhammad on a pig's head and throwing it into the Hasan Bek Mosque in Tel Aviv? This particular mosque has been attacked three times in the last year by Jewish fundamentalists and the Israeli police have done nothing to put an end to these racist actions. Another example is what happened two weeks ago to a Muslim student at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where guards refused to allow her entrance just because she was wearing Jelbab and Hijab, and refused to take her Hijab off for a security check.

BI: How do you think the Israeli media deals with Islam?

Khateeb: The media works in the service of the government's Zionist policy, which is hostile to Islam. When the Islamic movement in Israel was warning of a possible attack on the Haram al-Sharif, we were accused by the media of incitement. But this threat later turned out to be real, when the Revava group tried to attack the Aqsa Mosque.

When Sheikh Raed Salah, the head of the Northern Islamic Movement in Israel, was arrested, the media portrayed him as a terrorist and our movement as one that supports terrorist acts. He was convicted in public before he was even brought to trial. When all charges against him were subsequently dropped, his acquittal was practically ignored.

BI: Is the Northern Islamic Movement working to address these issues?

Khateeb: We work on two levels, the legal and the popular level. Unfortunately, the legal system in Israel is biased and affected by political agendas. On the popular level, we organize demonstrations and rallies hoping to affect Israeli public opinion by sending the message that prejudice is an obstacle toward achieving peace, internally with Israel's Arab citizens, and externally with the Palestinians. Internally, this conflict is not national; it's a state of hostility against us for being Muslims, not for being Palestinian.

BI: To what extent do you think that the actions of extremists in the Arab and Muslim world have created this Islamophobia?

Khateeb: What is happening in the Islamic world is a reaction to the foreign military aggression against the Arab nation, as well as the bias toward the West of many Arab regimes. This is not to say that we agree with the violence done by Muslim against Muslim in Jordan and Saudi Arabia or the targeting of civilians in Iraq. We must distinguish between legitimate resistance and such indiscriminate violence.

We are against attacking civilians and against exporting conflict to other countries. Islam is not the property of anyone. We refuse to be implicated in such actions just because we are Muslims.- Published 22/12/2005 © bitterlemons-international.org

Sheikh Kamal Khateeb is the deputy head of the Northern Islamic Movement in Israel.