Contrasting Faces of Iran Launch Islamic Summit

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei assailed the United States and Israel on Tuesday as he opened the largest summit of foreign leaders ever held here, accusing American “arrogance” and the “global Zionist media” of a full-scale assault against Islam.

But the tirade by Iran’s supreme leader received only polite applause, and its fiery tone contrasted sharply with a later speech by Mohammad Khatami, the new face of Iranian politics, who surged into this nation’s presidency six months ago on a tidal wave of electoral sentiment for greater moderation.

At the summit, the two leaders’ competing philosophies stood out for all to see. Khamenei offered a call to heads of Muslim countries to unite in a fresh, glorious campaign against the enemy. Khatami, in a departure from the rhetoric employed by Iranian leaders since the 1979 revolution here, spoke of achieving peace through mutual knowledge and even of copying the best from Western culture.

Together, their two approaches--at least for the Western world--were the mild and the malign, the yin and yang, of Islamic thinking on display Tuesday before an unprecedented gathering of Muslim leaders. They were inaugurating the three-day summit of the 55-member Organization of the Islamic Conference, a meeting that would have been unthinkable for Iran to host even a few years ago.

Khamenei, long-bearded and resolute, is the uncompromising disciple of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and he portrayed Islam as beset by enemies without and within.

If only the Muslim countries of the world would unite, he insisted, they could take the initiative to oust American forces from the Persian Gulf--that “Islamic sea”--and remove the stain of Zionists’ having “usurped entirely” Palestine.

“Isn’t the time ripe for the world of Islam to respond to this spirit of arrogance?” he demanded. “If we regulate our ties and make them brotherly, we will have the power. . . . What can the U.S. do vis-a-vis the united front of the Islamic countries, ranging from Indonesia to North Africa?”

But Khatami, elected in May in a landslide in which he captured 70% of the vote, spoke less of confrontation than of dialogue. His principal theme was how the world’s 1 billion Muslims could create a new “Islamic civil society” in which tyranny would be banned, minorities would be protected, the rule of law would prevail, and governments would exist as servants of the people.

“Understanding, planning and common endeavor” are the keys to helping Islamic countries achieve their place in an emerging pluralistic world order that, “God willing, will not be the monopoly of any single power,” he told the delegates here, whose countries stretch from West Africa to Southeast Asia.

Khatami called it unfortunate that certain “expansionist tendencies” try to make “an imaginary enemy of Islam.”

To counter them, Muslim countries should continually strive for peace and security at the regional and global levels and seek ways to build confidence, he said, adding: “The world needs peace and tranquillity. It is obvious, however, that for peace to be lasting, it should be just and honorable.”

Both Khamenei and Khatami had harsh criticism for Israel. But Khamenei’s statements were more bellicose. Speaking in front of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, who has chosen to negotiate with the Israelis over such topics as land for peace, Khamenei railed against surrendering any piece of “Palestine.”

And in an apparent allusion to violent Islamic groups, he praised the “faithful and dignified youth of Palestine and Lebanon” who are the only ones resisting Israel “with might and main. . . . Hail to them!”

As for Khatami, he also called for the “liberation of all the occupied territories,” especially the city of Jerusalem, which both Israelis and Arabs claim. He asserted that Israel’s “Zionist regime” has shown itself to be “racist, aggressive and violent.”

But he also used language similar in tone to that employed by the Palestinians, suggesting a need for some give and take with the Jewish state: “History shows that no peace has ever embraced success without justice and consideration for the aspirations of the people concerned.”

Unlike their Arab neighbors, the Islamic rulers of Iran have never conceded Israel’s right to exist. They do not accept the idea of Israel’s trading land for peace with its Arab neighbors, and Tehran has never endorsed the U.S.-sponsored peace process.

But Iran did bow to the majority at this session by accepting a draft resolution, hammered out at a pre-summit meeting of conference foreign ministers, that asks Islamic countries to “reconsider” relations with Israel and affirms “full support” for the peace process.

Tuesday’s opening speeches by Khamenei and Khatami were followed by addresses from other leaders, including Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

In what could be viewed as a veiled criticism of his Iranian hosts, Abdullah made a strong plea for Muslims to reject militancy and violence. The heir to the Saudi throne said no one “should try to dictate to his Muslim brothers how to think and how to work.”

He condemned as loathsome and barbaric “heinous crimes being committed in the name of Islam” under the pretext of the desire for an Islamic form of government. “Are these killers who slit the throats of their victims . . . to be trusted? Are they qualified to create an Islamic state?” he asked.

The summit opened in an elegant new conference center, bedecked with flowers, that presented the dignity and variety of the world of Islam. A singer chanted a blessing from the Koran, and the proceedings began beneath huge television screens and an opulent black-and-gold tapestry brought from the holy city of Mecca by Abdullah, the highest Saudi official ever to travel to post-revolutionary Iran.

Adding to the colorful scene on view Tuesday was the dazzling array of dress: Saudi royals in flowing brown robes; lavender-turbaned Omanis; African presidents in loose gowns; business-suited Europeans from Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina; and the chiffon-sari-bedecked Bangladeshi prime minister.

Organizers say the main purpose of this eighth summit of the conference, founded in 1969, is to imbue the Islamic world with a sense of unity to deal with issues of concern to all Muslims. Khamenei, who noted that Muslims make up one-fifth of the world’s population and control about the same proportion of the world’s wealth, argued that the conference deserves a seat on the U.N. Security Council, with veto rights comparable to those of the powers who are permanent members of that group.