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By Antonio Padron in Geneva

Anouar Gharbi was born in Tunisia; he is the president of Right for all/Droit pour Tous, created in 2000. He and his family live in Geneva.

I first met Anouar Gharbi on a clear and beautiful day in April. He does not at first look like an activist involved in pro-Palestinian activities, but more like a lawyer representing angry wives and jealous husbands. When you speak with him, you notice that his soft-spoken voice disguises an iron determination to have his voice heard.

When he talks about the Middle-East, Gharbi is candid but frank. He thinks the “Arab Awakening” is a positive step in the right direction. But he quickly points out that the Arabs have a long way to go. It is not enough that the Egyptian and Tunisian people and many others have said “enough is enough”.

“Democracy is a process, not a quick militant action.” He notes that Israel can no longer call itself the only democracy in the Middle East. “Hope is alive,” Gharbi says, after seeing the millions who turned out to protest and demand change.

On Osama Bin Laden: Gharbi comments that Al-Qaida’s philosophy of violent jihad has become irrelevant, even completely outrageous. “The people want change. The men in power in the Middle East need to hear the voices of their populations. It is not enough to change faces; it is necessary to change policy. Many Arab leaders have supported the anti-Israeli resistance, but have not heard the cries from their people. In order for there to be progress, the people must be heard.”

On Syrian President Bashar Al Assad: Gharbi will tell you that his support for the many Arab resistance groups such as Hamas, PFLP and
Hezbollah, has been exemplary. “A strong Arab, but he has lost the support of his people by repressing them.”

Gharbi calls the situation in Gaza “catastrophic. The people in Gaza lack medical supplies and they live on donations. It does not help that the Israeli government has stopped all necessary aid from reaching the Palestinian population. That is the main idea of the flotilla to Gaza, to break the siege imposed by Israel. The international community must understand that in order to help the population in Gaza, the right amount of pressure must be put on Israel.”

When asked if Palestinians and Israelis can live side by side, he quickly points out that the Palestinian people must first be allowed to choose their own government without facing negative consequences from the international community. “They must be supported,” he says. “There are extremist forces on both sides.  There are those who want peace and those who want confrontation. In order for both people to live side by side, both sides must be heard and their opinions and rights must be respected. In relation to the rocket attacks by Hamas, both sides have accused each other of starting the offensive.”

Gharbi’s decision to establish his organization, Droit pour Tout, followed the 2000 visit by then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to the Al Aqsa-mosque. “We are different peoples. This does not mean we can’t live together, it just means that we must each respect our differences.”

We turn our conversation to the September 11th terrorist attacks against the United States. When asked about conspiracy theories, he pauses and reflects. “While the attacks were most definitively perpetrated by Al Qaida, it would be a terrible mistake to think that the attacks did not help to serve long-held American interests to control and occupy the Middle East” for the region’s vast natural resources. “It was a shame that Osama Bin Laden could not be brought to trial. A lot of questions remain on this subject.”

The decision to form a no-fly zone over Libya is a controversial one for him. Western governments’ intentions might appear honest but their economic interests are ever-present and no one seems to pose the question, why Libya and why not Syria. “It is a dangerous game that Nato  is playing,” Gharbi says.

Gharbi argues that “pressure must be put on the Israeli government to respect United Nations resolutions”, noting that the only resolution the Israelis seem to respect is the foundation of the Jewish state. “Why hasn’t Israel been bombarded yet?” The international community decided to bomb Iraq because it did not respect the international community’s decisions, he points out, and Arabs are still waiting for the international community to say to Israel that “enough is enough”.

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