Fatina Salaheddine, pictured with
Patrick Mancino of ADC,
and Farah Atassi of the UAE Embassy

Fatina Salaheddine, pictured with Heba Alferwali and Aya Batraway

Fatina Salaheddine pictured with Heba Alferwali and Aya Batraway

HRH Prince Al Waleed Recieves Global Achievement Award in Washington D.C. and Returns the Recognition by Pledging 2.8 Million Dollars to ADC!

At a gala dinner on May 28, 2005 attended by nearly 2,000 Arab Americans from throughout the United States, Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal Al-Saud announced he is giving $2.6 million to support the struggling American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) to buy its own office building.

The event at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill was attended by emissaries from all the Arab embassies in Washington, the Arab League, the United Nations and individuals from the Arab world. The dinner was the highlight of a 3-day annual convention May 27-29. ADC has members in 80 chapters throughout the U.S.

The dignitaries who attended the ADC's 25th year Silver Anniversary event included, Congresswoman Mary Rose Oakar, MD Senator James Abourezk Senator George McGovern Congressman John Conyers, Jr., Delano Roosevelt - (Grandson of President Roosevelt) Hon. John Sununu, H.E. Clovis Maksoud, H.E. Hussein Hassouna, League of Arab States H.E. Arab world ambassadors also attended the Convention, ambassadors from Saudi, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Libya and Yemen. Messages of well-wishes were received from former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George Bush.

The convention included speakers, media and political workshops, musical and film presentations. American civil, ethnic, media, business, government and academic leaders also attended. Entertainment was provided by Simon Shaheen and his group Qantara, and Kulna Sawa. Stand-up comic Maysoon Zayid’s sharp ability to laugh at herself and the fun oddities of being Arab brought the house down.

ADC awarded Prince Al-Waleed its "Global Achievement Award" citing his support for eradicating poverty, and his promotion of women’s rights, medical relief and education, peace in the Middle East, the need for a Palestinian state, and better Arab-American understanding. “Although he doesn’t like to talk about it, Prince Al-Waleed shares a lot of his resources with the needy,” said ADC President Mary Rose Oakar. “He has donated $19 million to the tsunami victims, $10 million to Palestinian causes, $5 million to the Carter Center for Peace and Health Programs in Africa, and food and housing to support about 10,000 families in various countries. And now he is helping ADC survive.”

Al-Waleed is the grandson of Saudi Arabia's founder King Abdul Aziz. On his mother's side, he is the grandson of the first Prime Minister of Lebanon, Riad Al-Solh. At the ADC convention he was hugged by the grandson of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who had met King Abdul Aziz in 1944 on the battleship Qincy in the Suez Canal.

Prince Al-Waleed was given four standing ovations for praising the contributions of Arab Americans to their homeland, the United States, and for promoting Palestinian, women's and democratic issues. ADC is a non-profit private U.S. association dedicated to promoting Arab American civil rights, and better understanding of Middle East conflicts.

"Our relationship with the American people, indeed our image in America, cannot be allowed to fluctuate in tandem with the rise and fall in the price of a barrel of oil," said Prince Alwaleed. "We had to help enlighten Americans and Europeans about our history, culture, religion and values, and at the same time to inform in a systematic way our own people, especially the young, about the west."

The Prince referred to the admiration of Arabs in general for American institutions and principles of governance. "We applaud American creativity, entrepreneurship, its unbridled optimism and sense of fair play," he said, adding that America's hospitality to new ideas, and its receptivity to change, are unmatched anywhere in the world.

Fatina Salaheddine and Farah Atassi

ADC Welcoming Reception at UAE Embassy,
Fatina Salaheddine pictured with Imad Hamad of ADC Michigan

ADC Welcoming Reception at UAE Embassy,
Fatina Salaheddine pictured with Farah Atassi

ADC Welcoming Reception
at UAE Embassy,

Fatina Salaheddine
pictured with Farah Atassi

ADC Welcoming Reception at UAE Embassy,
Fatina Salaheddine pictured with Lucy Mancino

ADC Welcoming Reception at UAE Embassy,
Fatina Salaheddine pictured with
Heba Alferwali of Michigan Arab Ch. of Commerce

Fatina Salaheddine & Sam Abukiah

Meeting HRH Al Waleed Bin Talal in Washington, DC - May 2005

HRH Al Waleed Bin Talal & Fatina Salaheddine

ADC Reception, Fatina Salaheddine, Nabila, and Farah Atassi

ADC Reception, Imad Hamad, Fatina Salaheddine, Farah Atassi, and friend Nabila

The following is the full text of the Prince's speech.

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

In the Name of Allah, The Compassionate, The Merciful

Thank you (Mr./Ms) for your introduction and for your kind words.

Allow me at the outset to say how delighted I am to be with you today and to be part of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of ADC’s annual convention. It is indeed an occasion to be proud of, particularly when one looks back at what ADC has accomplished in those years. It has galvanized the Arab-American community in fighting discrimination, in seeking to have Arab-Americans play a more meaningful and effective role in the American political process, and in correcting the unflattering image in which Arabs and Muslims in general are often portrayed. This it has done through systematic organization, conventions, and the establishment of chapters in many of the fifty states. It has utilized the avenues and channels that are readily available to one and all in the magnificent open forum that the American political system affords. In that way, the Arab-American community has finally taken its place among other ethnic interest groups in having a significant political impact and in safeguarding its core concerns. And it has allied itself with other interest groups in reaffirming and promoting the values on which this great country was built, and which, regrettably, a few sometimes are prone to forget. Prejudice is prejudice, whatever its source or intended victims. We are all diminished whenever or wherever it surfaces in our midst. And it runs contrary not only to our respective faiths, but to one of the basic tenets enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, namely, that all men are created equal. And it certainly goes against America’s call to the rest of the world, as is inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” It is an open invitation to the rest of humanity, without any hint of preference or discrimination, to come and partake of the American dream through unfettered access to the unlimited opportunities which this country uniquely provides.

Within this vibrant American context, the Arab-American community, has certainly distinguished itself. In almost every field of endeavor, be it in education, medicine, law, business, banking, retailing, construction, politics, entertainment, what have you, Arab-Americans have made their mark. Their achievements have certainly demolished the myth that Arabs, and Muslims, are, by virtue of their culture and religion, innately incapable of certain attainments and cannot mesh with the norms of western life. By almost every measure, Arab-Americans today stand well above the crowd. A few statistics from data collected by the US Census Bureau in the year 2000, and recently cited in an article in the Financial Times, (May 4, 2005) can illustrate my point. In education, 40 percent of Arab-Americans are college graduates, in contrast to 24 percent for Americans as a whole. The median annual income of an Arab-American family in the U.S. is 52,300 dollars, 4.6 percent higher than the figure for all other American families. 42 percent of people of Arab descent work as professionals and managers, while the same is true for only 34 percent of the general American population. Furthermore, more than half of Arab-Americans own their own homes.

Needless to say, we in the Arab World derive a good measure of pride and reflected glory from your attainments and gains. Furthermore, your accomplishments provide a corrective antidote to what is often said about us abroad. And they deepen the recognition that such success can indeed be realized in the Arab World if only we were to create a suitable setting to foster and unleash the abundant talent that we have at home. To succeed, however, we have to institute reforms in governance, law, banking, finance, education, to mention a few. Above all, we have to nurture the notion of civil society, with all the participatory citizen involvement that this term connotes.

There is no denying the fact that the Arab region has for long lagged behind other parts of the world. Except for sub-Saharan Africa, it is at the bottom of the heap. Nearly fifty percent of the Arab population is illiterate. Expenditure on research and development is so pitifully small that it barely counts. Many of the so-called institutions of higher learning are in reality no more than adult day-care centers to occupy the young. The combined GDP of all the Arab states is considerably less than that of the state of Texas . In fact, Florida alone has a GDP greater than that of all the so-called oil rich Arab states of the Gulf put together. The unemployment rates are so high, particularly among the youth, that, before long, they are certain to pose a threat to the stability of the political and social orders in many of the Arab states. And to make matters worse, the incredibly high birth rates that characterize their demographics will soon be overwhelming in their effect. Furthermore, Arab women are so marginalized that Arab societies cannot fully benefit from the talents that they have and that they would bring. Arab countries attract only a very miniscule portion of total foreign investment world-wide All of this, and much more, is fully documented in the recently published United Nations’ reports on Human Development in the Arab World. As you can see, you and your forbears certainly did not miss much by having left the Arab World. I fear that I may have just dissipated any sense of nostalgia you may have had for the old country, or any desire to return.

There is of course nothing in Islam or Arab culture that disposes or predestines us to this sorry state. As you are all well aware, there was a time when Arab and Islamic civilization was a shining light. In virtually every field of knowledge it led the world. In philosophy, medicine, astronomy, sociology, mathematics, the names of those such as Al-Farabi, Ibn Rushd, Ibn Sina, Ibn Khaldun, Al-Khwarizmi, are to this day acknowledged and paid homage to throughout. And far from what is often propagated by certain circles in the West, it was the over-arching precept of Islamic tolerance that afforded the requisite conviviality among the different faiths and communities which led to the flourishing cultural life that characterized such cities as Damascus, Baghdad, Cordoba, Granada and Seville.

It is not my intention to dwell on the past, or to burden you with what you, as heirs to this civilization, already know. Nor is it my wish to preach to the converted, so to speak. My purpose is to affirm that we have the capability to escape from our current malaise. History teaches us that civilizations have their ups and downs, and that they can be revitalized provided their citizenries have the will to change and reform. Who would have thought after World War II that China, with the tremendous upheavals that it had for centuries endured, would within the span of a few decades, attain the heights that it has now reached?

For us in the Arab World to develop we shall need the help and support of the West, particularly of the United States. Your role in this enterprise is critical, for you are the natural linchpin, the bridge if you will, that can connect us to this great nation in a manner that transcends strategic interests or oil. Our relationship with the American people, indeed our image in America, cannot be allowed to fluctuate in tandem with the rise and fall in the price of a barrel of oil. Nor can we allow ourselves to be viewed merely as gas station attendants who sole raison d’etre is to supply gasoline for thirsty cars and SUV’s. And as Arabs and Muslims, we can never let a few shrill and radical fanatics in our midst drown out the voices of tolerance and moderation, or to undermine the cordial relationships that have been developed over time.

There is no escaping the fact that 9/11 dealt a terrible blow to the amicable ties that had hitherto existed between the American people and those in the Arab and Islamic worlds. The image of Arabs and Muslims was suddenly and radically transformed on that fateful day. True enough, the caricature of the Arab in America was not always flattering, but it did not have the very threatening and sinister connotations that it acquired after those tragic events. The Arab, or Muslim, was no longer the object of puzzlement or curiosity, but an enemy who posed a mortal threat. This applied not only to those from abroad, but to American Muslims as well, as recent surveys have shown. According to a poll released by Cornell University this past December, 44 percent of all Americans believe that the U.S. government should restrict the civil liberties of Muslim Americans. 27 percent were in favor of requiring all Muslims to register with the Federal authorities in the areas in which they lived. Furthermore, 22 percent of the respondents favored racial profiling in an effort to identify potential terrorists, while 29 percent thought that undercover agents should keep tabs on Muslim civic organizations by infiltrating their ranks.

But whatever stresses and strains the Arab and Muslim communities in the United States have had to endure in the wake of 9/11, they really pale when compared to the vilification that was hurled at the Arab and Muslim worlds. What perhaps began as a well intentioned discussion in the American media aimed at understanding the roots of the fanaticism that would drive individuals to commit such depraved acts quickly degenerated into sustained attacks on virtually every aspect of Arab and Islamic institutions and thought. There was hardly anything that was deemed sacrosanct, or that was spared. Saudi Arabia, of course, became the principal object of scrutiny, and a prime target of this onslaught. Saudi Arabia was now under a microscope, and every facet of its society was dissected, examined and weighed. There was little that was judged worthy of even the faintest of praise.

There was, of course, no escaping the fact that fifteen of the nineteen perpetrators of the attacks on the United States were Saudi nationals. And it was perfectly understandable that with the raw emotions that were unleashed immediately by those events, Americans would fail to appreciate that the fifteen Saudis involved were not in any way representative of the Saudi population as a whole, and that the brand of Islam that they espoused was contrary to the explicit emphasis on tolerance and forbearance that Islam taught.. Happily enough, a moderation of attitudes can now be discerned, and American-Saudi relations, at least at the official level, are gradually reverting to their previously amicable course.

The events of 9/11 were for many of us in the Middle East a wake-up call. It jolted us into taking a closer look at the ideologies that were being disseminated among our youth, and at the deviant behavior that such thoughts induced. We re-examined our text-books, and listened closely to sermons, with a view to excising whatever prejudice and intolerance that was being propagated and preached. We recast our school curricula to bring them in tune with what we truly believed.

Quite a few among us strongly felt that salutary though these steps were, a great deal more needed to be done to bridge the gulf that separated the Arab and Muslim worlds from Western countries, particularly the United States. We had to help enlighten Americans and Europeans about our history, culture, religion and values, and at the same time to inform in a systematic way our own people, especially the young, about the West. I, personally, was appalled to learn that there was not a single center of American studies and research in the entire Arab World, this despite the fact that the United States has had more of an impact on our region than any other major power over the past sixty years. So I took it upon myself to establish two such centers, one at the American University in Cairo and another at the American University of Beirut. And to help stimulate interest among young Western scholars in our region, I endowed a scholarship fund at the University of Exeter in the UK to make it possible for European and American students to travel to the Arab countries in order to study and to conduct research. And clearly, the task would not be in any way fulfilled unless we were to broaden and deepen American understanding of the complexities of our societies and to foster greater appreciation of the religious and cultural dynamics that have shaped our history, and that continue to color our view of the world. As such, my office is currently discussing with various institutions in the U.S. the possibility of establishing centers of Arab and Islamic Studies in their midst.

The more I reflect on the state of relations between the United States and the Arab and Muslim worlds, the more I am convinced that what unites us is infinitely greater than the elements that divide. Many of the fundamental values of each of our three great monotheistic religions, Christianity, Islam and Judaism, are shared by all. And the admiration that Arabs in general have for American institutions and principles of governance, especially as articulated in the U.S. Constitution, runs deep and wide. We applaud American creativity, entrepreneurship, its unbridled optimism and sense of fair play. America’s hospitality to new ideas, and its receptivity to change, are unmatched anywhere in the world. Above all, the guarantees of freedom of speech, due process, and equality before the law, as enshrined in its basic laws, set a standard that we in the Arab World aspire to and someday hope to attain. And as you well know, the hundreds of thousands of Arabs who have studied in the U. S continue to harbor the most intense feelings of affection and gratitude for the American people, as well as a deep nostalgia for the years that they have spent there. In that respect, the Arabs, in general, can easily be characterized as pro-American, as I am.

We cannot, of course, gloss over the fact that there have been over the years, and there still are, major differences between the U.S. and Arab governments in regard to a number of issues, chief among which is the seemingly intractable Israeli-Palestinian dispute. For us Arabs, this is a highly volatile and emotive question that insinuates itself into the way American policy toward the Middle East is assayed and judged. What has happened in Palestine in the past sixty or more years represents for us a grave injustice to which, in the eyes of many, the U.S. has lent a helping hand. It is a source of puzzlement, not to mention of disappointment, that this great country, with its lofty principles of justice and fairness, could be complicit, directly or indirectly, in the pain and suffering that our Palestinian kin continue to endure. Such complicity would have been expected of certain European powers, whose history of betrayal and perfidy in the region was well known, but not of the United States, the country of Jefferson, Lincoln and Wilson. The United States is deemed to have different and higher standards, and therefore the disillusionment has been all the more great. But let us hope that a resolution to the Palestinian issue will soon be found, and that a Palestinian state will emerge before long.

That should not signal, however, an end to our efforts to build bridges and to promote greater understanding between us and the West. A great deal needs to be done to acquaint westerners with our culture and Islamic norms. Too many stereotypes about us abound, and far too many distortions of our beliefs are spread. We have to engage key elements in American society to dispel what many in the media, wittingly or unwittingly, propagate. A more meaningful and pervasive dialogue between the three faiths has to be initiated and sustained. And a certain perspective has to be added to the discussions in the corridors of power, be they at the official or public levels. The strategy followed should be measured and proportionate, and we have to complement and reinforce each other to have maximum effect. We have to be clear in our focus, and confident that our goals can be met. In this process of acculturation we have to be aware that the gains are slow and incremental and that it takes time to reach the desired end. But the task before us cannot wait, for there is too much at stake. That is why I, through Kingdom Holding Company, have already begun the process of establishing think-tanks, foundations and centers, as well as partnering with institutions of higher learning in the United States. Needless to say, we are more than prepared to work with organizations such as ADC, CAIR, Arab-American Institute, to name only a few, and to provide needed support. What we have before us will not be easy, but I am convinced that with your help, and the help of others, God willing, we will eventually succeed. Rest assured that I for one will spare neither effort nor treasure in reaching our common goals. Thank you.

HRH Al Waleed Bin Talal giving his speech at the ADC Dinner

HRH Al Waleed Bin Talal having a conversation with Jim Abu Rizk

HRH Al Waleed Bin Talal having dinner and posing for the camera

HRH Al Waleed Bin Talal having dinner

ADC Reception with HRH on stage

ADC Reception with HRH on stage

ADC Reception with HRH on stage

ADC Reception with HRH on stage

ADC Reception with HRH on stage

ADC Reception with HRH on stage

ADC Reception with HRH on stage

ADC Reception with HRH on stage

HRH Awarded by ADC

HRH Al Waleed Bin Talal Giving a Speech at the ADC Reception