In war on terror, Saudis try amnesty

Many Saudis say the amnesty is a good step; a fresh approach indicating the government is aware that a security crackdown alone will not solve the problem. A poll in the newspaper Al-Riyadh this week showed that 40 percent of respondents chose unemployment as the biggest challenge facing the kingdom, 39 percent said it was corruption, while 14 percent cited terrorism. The rest 7 percent said poverty.

Mediators Hawali and Awaji say that if they're able to convince about a half-dozen men to give themselves up, the attacks will come to a halt. But political analyst Mshari al-Thaidi says that will not take care of the problem. He and others advocate a more fundamental change in what's taught in Saudi mosques. "It's not a question of a number of individuals, it's a question of ideology. New people who believe in this ideology could always join. We need a serious religious confrontation of the ideology behind these acts of violence. I haven't seen that happen yet," he says.

Youssef al-Dayni, a Saudi researcher who follows militant groups closely says the militants should be exposed to various schools of Islamic thought, not just Wahhabism, the only one allowed in Saudi Arabia. "We need to teach them the ability to dialogue, to give and take and to accept different points of view," he says.

Hawali and Awaji, the controversial clerics leading the negotiations, have been accused of being too close to the terror suspects. Awaji was jailed, along with a number of other academics, for four years starting in 1994 after petitioning for more political freedoms and stricter adherence to Islamic law. Hawali rose to prominence during the 1991 Gulf War with his fiery sermons condemning the presence of US troops on Saudi soil. Cassettes of the sermons were widely circulated. He was arrested in 1994 for his continued criticism of the Saudi government for its close ties to the United States and what he considered it's lax implementation of Islamic law.

"Working with Safar al-Hawali is a big mistake. There's very little difference between him and [the suspects]They believe in the same basic principles," says Saudi writer Saud al-Sarhan. "Hawali has a very conservative agenda that is anti- secular and doesn't allow dissenting religious points of view."

But it is precisely because of their conservative views and years behind bars that they are able to reach out to the militants, argues Awaji, who runs a website called al-Wasatiya, or "middle of the road." "We have more credibility. We're independent," he says. Awaji argues that dialogue with the militants is a necessity despite the fact that they've resorted to violence. "The British had to talk to the IRA to resolve their problems. We, too, should open the door for dialogue with these people," he says.

Neither cleric would get into the details of how they get in touch with the militants, but Awaji said they post information and religious arguments on the Internet that gets through to the wanted suspects.

Hawali says he uses a simple Islamic doctrine when reaching out to the militants. "I tell them, 'Islam is about spreading the word and spreading the truth, jihad is only to be used when necessary.' " Hawali considers the terror suspects devout Muslims who've taken the wrong path and can be persuaded to use their religious fervor in charity work and in spreading Islam.

He says US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and support for Israel provokes them. "They see Israelis driving American bulldozers destroying Palestinians' homes. They see US violence on fellow Muslim brothers in Afghanistan and Iraq. Then they see their own government's close support of the United States and it makes them very angry. They're young and passionate, and they react to the violence they see with their own violence," he says.

Hawali says most of these young men are uneducatedand haven't traveled. He's trying to teach them an alternative means of resistance. "What we're suggesting to them is peaceful means of resistance against the US government, like economic boycotts, and engaging in dialogue with the American antiwar movement and American churches and explaining their point of view to the American public. They don't realize the American public is diverse, liberated, and accessible. They react with surprise when we tell them this."

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