It is a mistake to paint recent unrest in Libya and Egypt with a broad brush, said Hatem Bazian, a senior lecturer of Near Eastern and ethnic studies at UC Berkeley, on Thursday at International House.

Appearing during a panel discussion on Abrahamic religions and politics in the Middle East, Bazian said he believes they were at their root “sinister” attempts to provoke “Islamophobia” and undermine the new regimes in both countries.

Increasingly, suspicion is turning toward a group with direct or indirect ties to al-Qaida as those who carried out the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens, a Davis native, three other Americans and Libyans who were defending the consulate.

“It should not be seen as the Libyans attacking the U.S. Embassy, it should be seen as a group of individuals intent on carrying out a terrorist attack undermining the Libyan government as well as the U.S. presence in Libya,” Bazian said.

In Egypt, the U.S. Embassy traditionally has been well-guarded. In recent days, however, Bazian said, protesters have been able to mass outside its gates, decrying a video made in the United States mocking the prophet Muhammad.

This, Bazian believes, is counter-revolution — the handiwork of the remnants of the regime of Hosni Mubarak, who continue to control the military, interior ministry and much of the economy — aimed at embarrassing the newly elected Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, who was attempting to garner economic support for Egypt.

By “creating a wedge between him and the United States, (they) essentially are raising the flag, saying, ‘These are the people that you allowed to take the government. We are the ones you should trust.’ ”

Bazian and Nasser Elias Al-Khoury expressed some optimism at the prospects for peace in the region. Al-Khoury, who holds a master’s degree in Christian-Muslim studies from Balamand University in Lebanon and has taught at colleges in Jordan and at UC Berkeley, discussed Christianity in the Middle East.

Zeev Maoz, a UC Davis professor of political science and distinguished fellow at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel, said he was increasingly pessimistic. He outlined the rise of Jewish fundamentalism, alongside the swelling number of hard-liners of other faiths and sects — “wholesale radicalization,” he called it.

“We see no religious authority in the Muslim world, the Christian world or the Jewish world condemning the violence that his or her own people commit against people of another religion. They’re very adept at blaming other religious communities for everything that is bad in their own world,” Maoz said, adding, “Maybe the answer is atheism.”

While the speakers and audience questions veered from the Crusades to America’s thirst for oil and disagreement over religious sites and Israel’s role in the Lebanese civil war, they did find some common ground on the belief that the problem — and solution — in the conflict between Israel and Palestinians lies not in religion but in politics.

In response to an audience question about the separation of church and state, Maoz said it has been a “win-win” in countries like France and the United States, often resulting in progress in gender equality and other areas.

Bazian said it would be a mistake to think that’s the only way: “We should allow and think that other people will have their own processes and they will reach their own conclusions.”

Rather than judging a society based on the American model, he said, human rights, distribution of resources, access to political involvement, health care, education — “these are the principles on which we judge a society.”

Online: http://www.internationalhousedavis.org

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Zeev Maoz, Hatem Bazian, and Nasser Elias Al-Khoury discuss Middle East politics and the roles of the three major religions there. Wayne Tilcock/Enterprise photo

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Hatem Bazian, a visiting professor of religious studies at St Mary’s College, gives his opening presentation on a Muslim perspective of the situation in the Middle East. Wayne Tilcock/Enterprise photo

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Don Marco, right, from Pennsylvania who is visiting family in Davis , talks with Zeev Maoz, left, and Nasser Elias Al-Khoury, center, following Thursday’s discussion on Middle East politics and Abrahamic religions at the International House. Wayne Tilcock/Enterprise photo

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