Ibrahim Abu Lughod Institute of International Studies at BZU holds a lecture on “Arabs in the US and the Political Arena”

On 1 December 2010, the Ibrahim Abu Lughod Institute of International Studies hosted Professor Naseer Aruri to deliver a lecture on “The United States of America and the Political Arena: the role of intellectuals in the affairs of the Arab Communities”, chaired by Professor Roger Heacock.

At the beginning of the lecture , Dr. Aruri explained that the separation between the two words “ Arabs” & “Americans” does not mean that there is a lack of integration and coherence in a society, which is a vast melting pot of all nationalities and ethnic groups.

In his study, Dr. Aruri confirmed that the American society is cohesive and coherent within the framework of so-called " political arena”, characterized by a single and unified system, even though fragmentation signs tend to appear sometimes, yet it is strongly motivated to be the main dominant of the world order. in spite the fact that the American people do not constitute more than 5% of the total world population, but it consumes 46% of global output, while it is tremendously forced to strongly adhere to the "political arena."

He said that regardless of the solid coherence in the American society, it does not prevent the existence of scattered communities here and there, appearing like cantons occupying defined geographical areas, such as the African-American, communities , Latin societies, Chinese cities and Jewish communities, as well as the Arab communities in Detroit, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, and South California .

He emphasized the compatibility of the Democratic and Republican parties, which are the main factor in the formation of a single party system, led by the two parties, in absence of fundamental differences between these parties or between the so-called liberals or conservatives. Those parties have agreed on the goal, ideology and vision for one international community, through which the US emerges as the number one.

Dr. Aruri talked about the status of the Arab community in the America political map, and the impact of the Six Day War on the emergence of the identity crisis of Arab intellectuals and politicians in the US, and the emergence of the Association of Arab-American University Graduates in the US.

Dr. Aruri referred to a number of examples that illustrate that the American political decision in the Middle East is not made by the Jewish lobby, especially in cases of conflict between the interests of Israel and the US national interests, but in spite of that, the Jewish lobby is critical in such circumstances, and its impact on political decision might not be decisive, but it is strong and perhaps unprecedented in the U.S. political arena.