DETROIT — Interest in pro-democracy movements in the Arab
world has continued to grow, especially on college campuses, including Wayne
State University, which hosted an event titled “The Arab World: Changes
and Challenges After Tahrir Square,” on Monday, April 18.

A  four-man
panel of former international Canadian diplomats discussed a wide variety of
scenarios and handled a diverse group of questions  from audience members at the event, which was sponsored by
the Canadian Consulate of Detroit, University of Windsor Political Science
Department, and the World Affairs Council of Detroit.

John Bell

John Bell, a former UN and Canadian diplomat who served in
Cairo as well as in the delegation to the Refugee Working Group, offered a
perspective of the evolving conflict movements unique to many American pundits.

“Frankly, I don’t think there’s a bigger issue right
now that’s more important than the Arab-Israeli conflict,” he said.

Bell was answering a question from Houssam Diab, the current
Acting Consul General of Lebanon in Detroit, about why the mainstream media
hasn’t discussed the issues that arose from the creation of  Israel in regards to the creation of
authoritarian regimes in the Arab world.

“I put it this way, there’s no doubt the conflict has
played into the maintenance of the regimes, I agree with that completely, but I
don’t think it created them, they each came about in their own way, their own
dynamics…internal conflicts have permitted some countries to become close
with the Israelis.”

Michael Bell, the former Canadian ambassador to Jordan,
Egypt, and Israel was asked why the United States hasn’t supported or cast any
sort of spotlight on the brutalities and heavy violence committed against
peaceful protesters in Bahrain and why the U.S. seemingly picks and chooses
countries’ movements to support.

“Democratization pluralism has value to us, but not at
any cost,” he said. “The Gulf powers for instance got involved
because it was a strategic interest for their state, they were happy with the
status quo and wanted to see the revolt being put down.”

Former Ambassador to Jordan of Canada, Michael Molloy, noted
that the U.S. has stationed its 5th naval fleet in the Persian Gulf in Bahrain
in response to the question as well.

David Viveash, the former Canadian Ambassador to Libya and
Representative to the Palestinian Authority, talked about democracy movements
in general, specifically in Tunisia and Egypt.

“At the end of the day the values and interests of many
regimes offend our values and basic democratic principles,” he said.
“The approach was to our values, even though it was in our interest to
have them hang around as a source of stability in the Arab-Israeli conflict, in
Tunisia and Egypt we have taken a decision in favor of our values but we’re not
sure what’s going to happen in terms of our interests, that’s what’s going to
be interesting.”

Molloy spoke about Yemen as well, saying that  the movement was significant because it
was initiated by highly educated youth who want a better future for the
country. But he questioned whether or not the country would see real change in
the near future in terms of its governing system because of tribal systems,
among other issues.

“But these revolutions are still very important because
they make people realize we do have power as individuals and in forming groups
can make a change.”

Molloy said Israel is now in an interesting situation after
the historic, surprising turn of events in Egypt.

“The right-wing groups in Israel are saying that the
change in Egypt could be very dangerous for them,” he said. “But 15
years ago the same voices were saying, ‘We can’t make peace with them because
they’re not democracies, that shows how complex the situation is.”

John Bell said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu could become the target of mass protests if Palestine were to
unilaterally declare statehood as it is expected to attempt to do in the fall,
saying he heard it from a “center-leaning” source on the inside.

He said the declaration could be a further challenge to
Israel in terms of its image as it continues to occupy Palestinian land.

“Israel and the U.S. diplomatically have a big issue in
the fall and I’m not sure they’re ready for it if they can’t find rabbits out
of the hat,” he said.

Viveash concluded by echoing some sentiments of an audience
member in regards to what the West should do in response.

“I think the West needs to look in the mirror a lot
here and say, ‘To what extent is this the product of your own actions?'”
he said.

“They backed Mubarak and Tunisia’s regime and not so
long ago France was trying to sell Libya the same jets now flying over Libya
and bombing it.

“The best thing we can do now is celebrate the fact
that this is an organic development, let it happen and stay the hell out of the
way.”