The Bush administration, responding to negative reviews of an international conference on Middle East democracy last week in Morocco, said yesterday that the event provided a promising platform for human rights and other nongovernmental groups in the Arab world.
Media accounts of the conference almost universally focused on complaints by many Arab officials that U.S. policies, especially on Israel and Iraq, were responsible for planting the seeds of terrorism in the region. But two U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity under rules set by the White House, said yesterday that the focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict neglected what they called the gathering's positive achievements.
 
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"The Arab-Israeli issue is a very important issue in that region, just to state the obvious," one official acknowledged at a briefing for about two dozen journalists. But he said reporters, who were not permitted inside the conference rooms during the Rabat session, missed the bigger picture.
"There is a sense of urgency that you felt in the room as you heard countries talking about the importance of reform," he said. "What has changed is that we have created a mechanism now for countries to participate fully with their neighbors in the room to talk about issues of reform."
Representatives from nearly 30 countries, including foreign and finance ministers, attended the 3 1/2-hour meeting on Dec. 11. Some Arab officials have privately said that they attended mainly because they did not want to annoy the Americans. During the meeting, many appeared much more interested in winning economic aid than in confronting political issues.
At one point, representatives from business and civil-society groups addressed the ministers -- some of whom were from close U.S. allies that are also among the world's most repressive governments.
In their statement, representatives of civil-society groups from 13 Arab countries declared that "the main obstacle hindering reform is the lack of willingness on the part of most Arab governments to undertake reforms." They demanded that the Group of Eight industrialized nations "stop using double standards" on human rights and democracy in the Arab world, thus linking political and economic cooperation to progress on reforms.
Although the statement said the Palestinian issue should not be an excuse for not launching reforms, the groups added that they "firmly believe" the continuing Israeli occupation will "have a negative impact" on whether Arab elites support reform. Some participants in preparatory discussions even advocated calling for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to be tried for war crimes.
