Popular on ‘Arab street’

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates

While tens of thousands of Iranians have protested the outcome of their presidential election and several Western governments are withholding recognition from incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, some ordinary Arabs have been quick to embrace the results.

They see Mr. Ahmadinejad as a modest man in comparison with their wealthy rulers and as someone who has stood up to Israel.

“Ahmadinejad is a humble man,” said an Iraqi who lives in Dubai, giving her name as Reema Ali. “His attire is simple. He is not corrupt and has proven that he is a very hard cookie to break.”

“Ahmadinejad will also achieve the nuclear balance in the region with Israel,” she added in reference to Iran’s nuclear program and Israel’s undeclared nuclear arsenal.

Some Arabs have appeared indifferent to the election, while several Arab intellectuals said they would have preferred a victory by Mr. Ahmadinejad’s challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, who campaigned on a promise of a less confrontational foreign policy and might have been more willing to cap Iran’s nuclear program.

“Undoubtedly, re-electing Ahmadinejad will not be, in principle, a cause of relief or cheer for Arabs,” said Mahjoub Zuweiri, an Iran specialist at Jordan University’s Strategic Studies Center.

Iran’s nuclear program has raised concerns among officials and intellectuals in almost all Arab countries, and several Arab heavyweights, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, have publicly accused Tehran of interfering in Arab internal affairs in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.

”Re-electing Ahmadinejad is exactly the same like America re-electing George W. Bush for a second term,” said Abdel Khaleq Abdallah, a political science professor at Emirates University. “People didn’t like America because he was around.”

Now “we have just to live with this fact for the next four years,” Mr. Abdallah said of Mr. Ahmadinejad, describing the Iranian president as “confrontational.”

“The man could be an honest man, but not diplomatic,” Sadaqah Fadel, member of Saudi Shura [consultative] Council said. “He lacks the required flexibility and diplomacy which qualify him to deal with the outside world in a smooth and good way.”

However, Mr. Ahmadinejad’s statements denying the Holocaust and threatening Israel have won him supporters on the “Arab street,” a term used to describe public opinion, especially when it differs from that of ruling elites.

“Their view towards Ahmadinejad is the same as their view towards Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah,” Mr. Zuweiri said. “Because Israel is a sensitive issue among Arabs, and it represents injustice [to Arabs], whoever says anything against Israel is looked at positively. Exactly like Arabs’ view toward Venezuela President Hugo Chavez.”

The Saudi daily newspaper Al Watan (the Nation) cast doubt on reports that the election results were inflated to benefit Mr. Ahmadinejad.

“A lot was said about the acute deviation in the results of the Iranian elections, which granted an overwhelming majority to Ahmadinejad at a time when the polls were tilting in favor of Mousavi,” wrote Abdul Nasser al-Fawzan in an opinion column. “However, I believe that these polls were relying on the necks of the wealthy and the prominent, as well as on the media outlets, which is why they emerged before the others.

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