بحث بعنوان المملكة العربية السعودية في دراسات مركز موشيه ديان

The 12^th Annual Conference of

The German Middle East Studies Association for Contemporary Research and Documentation

Hamburg, Germany

27-19 October 2005

Saudi Arabia in the Studies of Moshe Dayan Center

 For Middle East and North African Studies

By

Mazin S. Motabagani, Ph.D

Associate Professor Orientalistics,

Department of Islamic Studies, Faculty of Education

King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Introduction

Almost ten years ago at Leiden University, I met Professor Martin Kramer director of Moshe Dayan Center then and the author of Sands on Ivory Towers.. When I saw the badge, I said to him I know you Dr. Kramer you are the student of Professor Bernard Lewis. When I needed information about Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies- long before the internet-, he was generous to send me the material through a friend in Leiden. When the internet started in Saudi Arabia in 1999, I looked for Moshe Dayan Center on the web, and became interested how this Center takes interest in Saudi Arabia in particular and in the Muslim World in general.

I think that Moshe Dayan Center's interest in Saudi Arabia springs from the idea that it holds a key position in the Arab and Muslim World; it also became the subject of interest of many leading research centers and institutions.  These studies focused on different issues pertaining to the currant affairs in Saudi Arabia such as the political, social reform or the social structure of Saudi Arabia or economical statues in this country. Moshe Dayan as one of the leading research centers in the area and in the world has shown real interest in the affairs of Saudi Arabia in the past and present. The center has conducted studies on the conflict between King Saud and Faisal in the past as well as the studies on the contemporary social and economical situation in Saudi Arabia.

This paper will be divided in three sections: the first will be a survey of interest at Moshe Dayan Center in the Arab and Muslim World in general. The second section will also be a survey of Moshe Dayan Center works on Saudi Arabia. The third section will focus on some examples of the research conducted at the Center such as social issues such as women, family laws and gender relations.

Section I

Moshe Dayan Center interest in the Arab and Muslim World

Israel in terms of academic research can be considered part of the first world –if such categorization is accepted- It depends heavily on support and the expertise of the west and particularly the United stated of America. We in the Arab world need to learn a lot from the Israeli experience. However, we should be aware of the objectivity and bias of the research. Another precaution we should be aware of is the politicization of the research.

What is Moshe Dayan Center?

The center was established as a branch of Tel Aviv University, and annexed to Shilwah Institute in 1983. The center focuses on the Arab World including North African countries, Turkey and Iran. In introducing the center, the site of the center describes its researchers as follows: "most members are trained in history, with its rigorous requirements for documentary research and command of Arabic, Turkish and Persian." It also describes its mission in the following words:" seeks to contribute by research, documentation, and publication to the study and understanding of the modern history and current affairs of the Middle East. An international board of overseers headed by Lester Pollac governs the center govern the Center. Moreover the center has a board of Governors headed by Haim Israeli.

The Center is

 The site identifies the following fields:

·        Islamic Politics. With special focus on the Islamic movements or the so-called 'fundamentalism'.

·        The New Guard and Elite Chang.e

·        Economics and Demography.

·        Role of Jewish Scholars in the Study of Islam.

·        Women in Middle Eastern Politics.

·        The Persian Gulf.

·        The Maghrib.

·        Arab-Israeli Relations.

·        Turkish Modern studies under the Suleyman Demirel Program.

In order to cover all these topics the Center has been active in holding conferences and lectures and utilizing the strong relation with western and particularly American institutions to publish its findings and thoughts. And To provide support and finances to its activities. Examples of these ties are with the following institutions:

1-     Council for Foreign Relations in New York

2-     Turkish Foreign Policy Institute in Ankara

3-     Washington Institute for Near East Policy

4-     Middle East Technical University in Ankara.

5-     Royal Institute for International Relations in London.

The Center also promotes what is called the 'academic embassy' to the United States of America in which the Center appoints one ot its most senior staff to teach and lecture in an American host University. And the American host for the year 2005/2006 is Emory University. In addition to all the above the Center benefits from the good relations it has with prominent Jewish and non Jewish Western Scholars who visit Tel Aviv and spend sometime lecturing or rendering academic services to Israeli students and academics. Just to name but one example is Professor Bernard Lewis who visits Tel Aviv annually spending two months there. He also wrote in his well that his library be given to Moshe Dayan Center after his death. ([1])

Overview of the Center interest in the Muslim World:

Looking at the list of publications of the center one can deduce the following:

- Areas of interests in the Muslim world tend to look for sensitive topics depicting the negative side of the issues. Here are few examples of these studies. First, one is the study published in Hebrew only titled: "Women who write History- Feminism and Social Change in Morocco." Another example is the study titled "Holier Than Thou: Saudi Arabia's Islamic Opposition". To this effect the correspondence of Al-Jazeera Satellite Channel wrote about a number of Israeli research centers and especially Moshe Dayan center saying: "But Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies involved itself in the Orientalistic Studies and discussions of women issues in the Arab World. The Center also discusses the issue of Islamic radicalism –as he calls it- and issues pertaining to the contemporary political and civilizational realities in many Arab and Islamic countries."([2]) The same writer mentions three more examples of the Center studies, which lack in his view objectivity and depth. These studies are Turabi the spokesman of Islam,(in Hebrew) a book about Fadhullah the Shie leader, and a book on the economic situation in the Gulf Countries.

Fahmi Huwaidi a well known syndicated columnist wrote about a book written by a member of Dayan Center  titled Israel and Southern Sudan Liberation Movement: The beginning. The author Moshe Vergi is an x army officer. His knowledge of the topic shows that he is in very close contact with the intelligence services of Israel. This book is important according to Huwaidi because it describes in details the role Israel played in supporting the Liberation Movement of Southern Sudan. Secondly it shows the strategy Israel used to weaken the Arab World specially Egypt even after the  signing of the peace treaty with Israel in 1979.([3])

When writing on the subject of the conferences held in the west about the Arab and Muslim World I wrote the following about Moshe Dayan Center:

Moshe Dayan Center has held a symposium on Jihad and Peace: Islamists allegiances in a changing Middle East 30 March till 1April 1996. I have included Dayan Center among Orientalists centers since it follows the Orientalism in methodology. These conferences are attended by western scholars and financed by western establishments. Such symposiums are effective in western political decisions. In this particular conferences the former Israeli minister of foreign affairs gave the opening speech indicating that Islamic terrorism “fundamentalism” is the principal threat to the peace process. In this same symposium Daniel Brumberg of Georgetown University and head of the Establishment for democracy and Change proposing that Islamists use the democratic language and slogans in order to convince the west that they are not a threat. And once they reach power they will become even more radicals.

My comment on this that this is only a repetition of what many specialists and experts in the Middle East proclaim when talking about the Islamic movements. They never produce solid proof to these allegations. Is it true that one of the aims of  the Islamic movements is to please the West? ([4])

The Center has shown its interests in the Arab and Muslim World through the different activities such as publications, lectures …etc. Here are some examples of the publications of the Center:

-         Eyal Zessor. In the name of the Father: Bashar al-Asad's First years in power.

-         Eyal Zessor . Faces of Syria Society, Regime and State.

-         Ofra Bengio, Turkish Israeli Relations: varying ties in the Middle East.

-         Middle East Monarchies: The Challenge of Modernity, edited by Joseph Kostiner

-         Islam and Democracy in the Arab World.

-         Population Growth, Migration and Socio-Demographic Policies in Qatar.

-         The Jewish Discovery of Islam. Edited by Martin Kramer.

-          Martin Kramer. Arab Awakening and Islamic Revival.

-         Meir Litvak, Sh'ii Scholars of Nineteenth Century Iraq; The Ulema of Najaf and Karbala

-         Minorities and the State in the Arab World. Edited by Ofra Bengio and Gabriel Ben Dor.

-         Women in the Middle East Between Tradition and Change([5]).

A center with the size of Moshe Dayan Center should have drawn more attention in the Arab World. In 1993, Ibrahim Abdul Karim published his book Orientalism & Conflict Researches in Israel in which he allocated eight pages to the Center.  There is also an M.A thesis undertaken at Faculty of Da'wa in the year 2000 by Abdullah Ganem Al-Juhani in which the student studied Israeli Orientalism. Then I turned to practical method by investigating the internet. I found that this interest is minimal. Only a number of articles appeared in some Arab websites. One of them is the web site of Al-Jazeerah Satellite Channel. Another site is called Gulf Park in which a book review appeared about the Center's book on Oman. In this review, the writer questioned the legitimacy and importance of writing about Oman, when Oman is far from Israel and not one of the major states in the Arab World.([6])

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[1] - Martin Kramer who was the director of the Center in 1996 told this piece of Information and said this proudly.

[2] - Niszar Ramadan " Israeli Research Centers portray radicalism and discrimination' in

 www.aljazeera.net/News/aspx/print.htm  Oct. 20.2005.

[3] - www.hedayah.net

[4] - Mazin Motabagani, “Western Conferences on Islam and Muslims” in Journal of Sharia and Islamic Studies. Kuwait , Kuwait University.

[5] - www.dayan.org/newbook.htm

[6] -  "الباحثين الإسرائيليين وعُمان، قراءة في كتاب عوزي رابي، إصدار مركز موشيه ديان لدراسات الشرق الأوسط وإفريقيا". Israeli Researchers and Oman: a reading in Ouzi Rabi book New Oman published by Moshe Dayan Center,2000

www.gulfpark.com/discussion/showthered.php?theadid=22390