Anti-American sentiment will continue to fester in the Arab world unless the United States alters its Middle Eastern foreign policy and changes its stance on Israel, a Lebanese government official said in a speech at Harvard University yesterday.

Adib Farha, the advisor to Lebanon’s Minister of Finance and economics professor at the Lebanese American University, presented his ideas to an audience composed of many nationalities and ages.

He emphasized that the United States is going to great lengths to support Israel and the nation’s current foreign policy in Iraq only continues to lead to widespread resentment of the United States and its actions. He also explained what he called a ‘simple and straightforward’ solution to the conflict that continues to divide the United States, Israel and Palestinians.

Farha emphasized the similarities between Arab and American values.

‘Until 1956, Arabs viewed the U.S. as a friendly nation,’ he said. ‘We found the Wilson Doctrine inspirational and saw the U.S. as a country representing human rights and fairness.’

Arab loyalties began to shift in 1956 when Israel attacked Egypt and took over land in the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula, and Arabs accused the United States of aiding Israel in their military attacks, Farha said

‘There is no fundamental reason why Arabs and Americans should be enemies. We admire the American way of life and we want very much to be friend but want to reclaim our land and pride as well,’ Farha said. ‘Legitimacy is all we ask.’

The problem mainly lies with U.S. support for Israel and its failure to follow through with a U.N. resolution that called for Israel’s withdrawal from the lands it took over during the Six-Day War, Farha said.

He also said that Arab resentment of the United States in relation to their support for Israel also grows from the United States condemning Arab nations for violence and terrorism in the Middle East but only finding actions on Israel’s part ‘regrettable.’

It is no surprise that resentment to U.S. policy is widespread among Arabs and that anti-American sentiment is on the rise, Farha said, when U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell makes statements that the United States is ‘[reshaping the Middle East] region to better serve U.S. interests’.

‘It is certainly not in the Arab interest when you combine Powell’s statement and the U.S. interest and American support for Israel,’ he said.

Farha also spoke on the Arab view of the current situation in Iraq.

While he said he did not support initial U.S. intervention in Iraq, he emphasized that at this point the best thing for the United States to do is ‘wrap up their job up and hand over the rest to Iraq’ and the United Nations.

‘The sooner the U.S. is out, the better and the more thankful the Iraqi people will be’ because of the inevitable growing resentment Farha predicts will come from any foreign occupation in a country.

It is difficult to decide whether it is best to keep a tyrant or replace a tyrant through foreign power, Farha said.

However, ‘no matter how good foreign power is, there’s still dignity, self-pride and nationalism,’ he said. ‘The United States’ continued action in Iraq is very offensive to the Arab people and they will continue to grow bitter toward the U.S.’

‘The current welcome in Iraq will soon change [if the United States takes over completely],’ Farha said. ‘Even though 99.99 percent of Arabs hate Saddam Hussein with a passion, our hatred does not mean foreign countries are welcome in our countries and that they are allowed to occupy our land.’

He said he feels that current U.S. actions in Iraq are counterproductive.

‘Why can’t Bush’s simple ‘you’re either for us or against us’ doctrine offer a third alternative?’ Farha asked. ‘We don’t want Saddam Hussein either, but we do want to be able to handle this situation ourselves.

‘Change has to come at a pace that is appropriate to each society,’ he added.

Farha stressed that the United Nations and its agencies are the only appropriate unbiased organization that should be given power to take over in Iraq.

As for the solution to changing the Arab perception of the United States, Farha said enforcing the U.N. Resolution that the Arabs feel Israel has not followed is key.

‘We have waited for international legitimacy and for the resolution to follow through,’ he said, ‘and the U.S. can’t expect [our] change without the change of Israel.

‘You can’t tell Arabs to stop arms struggle until some positive change is on the horizon — they have to have reason to believe you,’ Farha added. ‘There needs to be conviction that all sides want peace, and right now it doesn’t seem like Israel and Sharon want it.’

The next challenge in Iraq, Farha said, is for the Americans to see if they can sustain victory politically.

‘Will they look back and say it was all worthwhile in 10 years? The United States got rid of Saddam Hussein, but they also destabilized Arab countries, alienated one billion Arabs and Muslims, spent over $100 billion dollars and contributed to terrorism on the rise.’