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here’s an endemic perception among American youths about Arab culture and this region. It’s an issue which might not bother most Americans, but for those who have spent a considerable amount of time in this region, this lazy perception can be a source of embarrassment.

Dr. John Duke Anthony first visited Qatar prior to its independence in 1971, and subsequently wrote a chapter (one of the first American-authored publications in English to appear on Qatar) in his book Arab States of the Low-er Gulf: People, Politics and Petroleum. Since then, he has spent a significant amount of his time in this region and developed a strong opinion regarding these ignorant perceptions that were being fostered in the US.

The National Council on US-Arab Relations (NCUSAR) was founded in 1983 to combat the problem – as Anthony saw it – through the most po-tent weapon available to him, education, and the association has gone from

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strength to strength ever since. Its mission is defined as ‘seeking to enhance American awareness, knowledge and understanding of the Arab countries, the Mid-east and the Islamic world through education’.

Vice President of NCUSAR Amy Greenlee explains: “It really was by the relationships Dr Anthony built up here in the region, and through his regular visits back to the US, he garnered this impression that young Amer-icans needed to be educated about the Arab world. They needed to have the correct facts about policies, politics and general life here. Not necessarily Islam.”

Qatari InternshipsAfter years of promoting this organisation in the US, NCUSAR is now striving to devel-op it here in Qatar. Greenlee is working on an initiative to help young Qataris under-stand American culture, see what it’s like to work there, and leverage this experience in their careers thereafter.

“Our summer internship programme hosts 35 college students in Washington, DC, and we accept international students as well as US students.We place these students with organisations focused on Middle East developments and US relations, where they are required to work 35-40 hours a week.

“I am working on a Qatari student-specif-ic internship programme in Washington, DC, and ideally in time we would certainly like to host US students in internship po-sitions in Qatar. The Qatari Ambassador to the US, HE Ali bin Fahad Al-Hajri, has expressed an interest in being supportive of this. One of my goals is to encourage the patriot students here in Qatar to work for a summer in the US. One area in particu-lar we are focusing on is journalism at the Washington Post or Al Jazeera English.

“However, there are many suitable or-ganisations which are happy to accom-modate Qatari students, such as ANERA, AMIDEAST, Al Jazeera English, Al Jazeera Arabic, the Middle East Policy Council, Qa-tar Airways, the League of Arab States, the Embassy of Jordan, and the Center for Con-temporary Arab Studies.

“This programme would give young Qa-taris a well-grounded, fully-informed way of looking at things. To bring them to DC and place them with cultivated organisa-tions, they get to understand and appreci-ate how Americans do their business and gain a better understanding of the way they operate.”

The students are expected to attend

lectures every week at George Washington University – often given by Dr Anthony – which are focused on the Middle East, while special field trips are arranged to bring vari-ety to the learning process. In the past, the students have visited the White House, the Office of the Defence Attache of the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Islamic Centre of DC (the National Mosque).

Model Arab LeagueThe Council’s flagship event is their ‘Model Arab League’ which is mirrored from the ‘Model United Nations League’, and they hope that they can try something similar in Qatar in 2012. It gives students a real chance to research an argument and under-stand why a particular Arab nation might take a certain stand.

“Since the Council was founded, 35,000 students have participated in it,” says Greenlee. “We have a national competition twice a year at Georgetown University for 2,000 high school and university students.

“Team of students from each high school, from each university, represent an Arab country and they must decide how that country might debate an issue that is before them. Whether it is political, or regarding the environment or economics, we teach them how to debate, how to write a resolu-

tion. We take students into the Model Arab League regardless of their major, and it re-ally empowers them to be leaders in their field.

“I’m sure the debates have been much more interesting and heated since Septem-ber 11, 2001. Most of these students have lived their lives in the aftermath of this trag-edy, so it’s very much engrained in them. Thankfully, since then, they’ve had the op-portunity to learn more about the Middle East and the Arab World, which have made them a little bit more informed.”

Art and FilmGreenlee is looking to diversify the pro-gramme a little in Qatar, and has some in-teresting ways of extending the message. She’s an advocate of using art and film as a medium of translation, and has been work-ing with some groups on ways to help her with her vision.

“An area of interest that I have person-ally and professionally is art and film,” she explains. “I believe they are a way to educate and open minds, and the National Council is supportive of education in many forms. Film can be one of those ways to cap-ture people of all ages and engage them in dialogue.

“A good friend of mine is currently in post-production in Los Angeles with her film Mars at Sunrise, which depicts the re-lationship between an Israeli soldier and an imprisoned Palestinian painter. The Na-tional Council will host a screening of it and a question and answer session with the writ-er, Jessica Habie, afterwards. The film stars Ali Suliman (who starred in Paradise Now) as Khaled, Guy Elhanan as Eyal and Haale Gafori as Azzadeh. The director’s passion behind this film stems from seeking peace through art, not war, guns or violence.

“Something else we are trying is a docu-mentary about a member of the Saudi Ara-bian royal family journeying through eight states in America’s mid-west. A ‘Middle-East meets mid-west’ type show. Over the next five years we’ll be engaging in all areas, because we are focused on policy, education and culture, because I feel there is so much to be found in art and films.”

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way they operate”

founded in 1983, the ncusar is an american non-profit, non-governmental, educa-

tional organisation dedicated to improving american knowledge and understanding

of the arab world. it is not a membership organisation; its supporters are primarily

philanthropists, individuals, and institutions in the united states and the arab world

that have hosted or participated in one or more of the council’s programmes.