Demonstrating that dependable obsessive hatred of Israel, an Omani scholar (“dean” of a “college” of “arts” and “social sciences”) tells an Arab “news service” that the US should stop pushing so hard for democracy, that Arabs are doing just fine without our interference, that we should let the Arabs develop their own democracies (how long are we supposed to wait?), and that this whole democracy thing is an evil Jewish plot anyway so what’s the big deal? US must stop pushing for democracy.

“We want justice more than democracy,” said Dr Isam Ali Ahmed Al Rawas, Dean, College of Arts and Social Sciences at the Sultan Qaboos University, in an interview with Gulf News. He was referring to the injustice meted out to Palestinians.

“Democracy is not always freedom,” he pointed out, while stressing that Omanis do enjoy freedoms. “We enjoy freedom of expression, that’s the reason why I can freely give my opinion on political matters,” he said.

“Whereas, in a democracy like France, people don’t even have the freedom to dress,” he said acerbically, referring to the ban on wearing the headscarf in public schools.

Even in the US, Dr Al Rawas feels people need more freedom than democracy. “The American people don’t need State of Emergency,” he said.

Like many others in the region, Dr Al Rawsa is not against democracy. But, “instead of blindly importing the mechanism of democracy from the West, we should be allowed to develop our own model of democracy”, he said.

“It (democracy) will gradually settle and stabilise in our country but we must follow our own ways as we have strong tribal loyalty and family kinship,” he explained.

“We have a different way of ruling for thousands of years and we never allowed people to buy ‘the chair’ by dealing and wheeling,” he said. “We are on the right track as far as reforms are concerned.”

Citing some African states as examples, Dr Al Rawas said: “I feel sorry for democracy in these countries.”

Praising the reign of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, he said that in the last 33 years Oman has seen great development and progress and was transformed into a modern state.

“In Islam it is said that a nation should not be ruled by those who want to rule but by those who are asked to rule by people,” he said.

Dr Al Rawas reiterated that reforms are taking place in the region and although there is still need for more reforms, reforms cannot take place by merely taking decisions.

“We have to involve the society,” he said. He was critical of the double standard of Western countries, heavily influenced by “a particular lobby”.

“Look at the irony; on one hand, they are ready to kill our people and then in the name of democracy, they extend a hand of help,” he said.

He blamed Western powers for turning the Middle East region into a ‘war zone’, and said: “We are not living in a normal Middle East region.”

Dr Al Rawas blamed the British for creating boundaries and problems of existence after they left this region. “They sucked us dry and left us alone,” he said.

He urged the Western powers to respect human dignity while dealing with the people of this region.

Pointing a finger at the US, he said the UN was hijacked. “They don’t represent the will of their own people, but the Zionist lobby,” he said of US policy-makers.

He also blamed the US for supporting the arch-enemy of the Arabs � Israel even while they talk about befriending the Arabs.