Arab-Iranian Relations

The editor claims that this is the first book of its sort, and he is no doubt right, just as he is right to assert that "the theoretical joinder between Arabs and Iranians is of far broader sort than that exists between Arabs and other neighboring states." Confirming this observation, a large number of leading intellectual and cultural figures from the Arab countries and Iran fill a hefty tome with serious analysis of their connections. A few essays deal with the long historical record; a much greater number take up current issues. Their topics include bilateral politics (governmental signals, territorial disputes), international topics (the "Middle East order," Kurdish and Palestinian issues), and domestic matters (women, economics, civil society, textbooks).

Unfortunately, what could be a highly innovative collection of essays is marred by two main drawbacks. First, many of the writers are constrained by their governments to parrot the official line; and so than a few of the essays sound like propaganda tracts. Second, the study has an explicitly activist agenda (for Arabs to look at Iran "as a part of the Islamic strategic depth to the Arab nation") that puts a premium on getting along, no matter what tensions must be buried to do so. Symbolic of this, Ghoulam Ali Haddad Adel of Iran writes approvingly that Iranian textbooks never ascribed the "slaughter" of Iranian visitors and pilgrims in Iraq to "Arab fanaticism"; a coy formulation that permits Adel to appear broadminded even as he criticizes Arabs. Only when the participants are free to express their own views, and to do so disinterestedly, will the quality of such a project as this one notably improve.

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