Following yesterday’s announcement, an official source at the Arab League confirmed to Al Bawaba that the league has not received any official notification about the closure of the Sheikh Zayed Center in the UAE.
“We have not yet received any notification regarding Sheikh Zayed’s think tank (Zayed International Center for Coordination and Follow-Up),” Arab League secretary general spokesperson, Hisham Yousef, told Al Bawaba.
Sources yesterday cited a UAE official as saying, “we have decided to close Zayed’s Center and stop financing it; however the final decision is left for the Arab league who is the official sponsor of the project.”
The UAE has hosted and financed the center since it was established in 1999.
The UAE official - in yesterday’s announcement - added that his country had “implied its concern over some of the statements released about its activities over the past few months; however he did not specify any of them.”
“We believe the center has been beneficial and has significantly contributed to clarifying many misconceptions - including the Arab stance regarding several issues - to the international community, and in acquainting the Arab public with the views and opinions of many foreign and western intellectuals. This has included cultural, economic, media-related, scientific as well as other aspects,” said Yousef in a statement to Al Bawaba. Although he admits that Zayed’s center had been exposed to a fierce ‘bashing’ campaign, he reiterated that such a campaign has no justification.
The UAE-based think tank faced much criticism and was accused of being anti-American and anti-Semitic. This was, in part, due to them hosting researchers who promoted the anti-Arab “conspiracy theory”. As an example, Cairo University professor, Mohammad Ahmad Hussein, who had been hosted previously by the center said, “The Jews, with their media machine, used the Holocaust to promote resentment towards non-Jews to cover-up the atrocities the Zionists committed (insinuating that the Holocaust had been committed by Zionists Jews).”
The center also hosted French writer Terry Mason, who published a book on the September 11 terror attacks in the US under the title “Big Lie”, in which he accuses American officers of participating in planning the attacks that leveled the twin towers of the NY World Trade Center.
The decision coincides with a ‘smear’ campaign that not only targeted the center, but also its host - UAE president Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan - who was accused of criticizing Israel and supporting the Palestinian’s financially. As a result, a recent decision by Harvard University to accept a donation from Sheikh Zayed was overturned due to the pressure the university faced from Jewish lobbyists. Harvard University’s School of Theology accepted a donation of 2.5 million US dollars from Sheikh Zayed aimed at financing an Islamic studies program.
Elsewhere, Zayed donated a sum of 15,000 US dollars to a California primary school that was later declined by parents of the students due to the criticism against the Zayed center. In the same context, Jewish lobbyist Gary Levin said, “I don’t know whether Sheikh Zayed is anti-Semitic or not, but the organization bearing his name and financed by him seems to promote anti-Semitism and denial of the holocaust, the fact that causes concern.”
For his part, Arab Knesset member, Jamal Zahalkah, told Al Bawaba that, “slamming Zayed’s center is part of a broader American strategy that aims to disparage any Arab institution or movement that works independently of US Middle East policy.”
“Had the US been honest in its policies, it should have dealt with the radical Christian organizations within the US who, with the help of extreme rightwing Israelis, blatantly call for the destruction of the Al Aqsa mosque and the rebuilding of Solomon’s temple in its stead.”
Several Arab intellectuals expressed to Al Bawaba their support for the Zayed center and condemnation of the US and Jewish ‘smear’ campaigns that aim to close it down. They have also expressed their desire for the center’s work to continue, as it represents an important platform for defending Arab issues.
“We see great importance in the continuation of the center’s work. If there are difficulties or problems, they should be tackled properly and not necessarily by closing the center down,” Younes concluded.
