Hzem Saghieh
12 - 5 - 2006
Iranians' traditional attitudes to Arabs and the west are being supplemented by a growing regional confidence, says Hazem Saghieh political editor of the London-based Arab newspaper al-Hayat.
It is a pity that in the middle east we can never think about the slightest event going on around us without dredging up the past. Current affairs, which have a bearing on the future, are as closely tied to the past as a newborn child is to its mother.
Whether recent or remote, the past is always more than a mere background to events. This is as true of Iranian politics as it is of anything else. Thus, whenever Arab-Iranian relations undergo some development or other, there are always scholars reminding us of the Safavid dynasty established in 16th-century Iran. At that time, the Safavids embraced Shi'ism, not from religious zeal but because they wanted to distinguish themselves within the Islamic world from the Sunni Arabs.
รข€¦ Continued @ Open Democracy
