The recent World Economic Forum was held under the banner“Putting Diversity to Work.” For in the Arab world,diversity is a tool for conflict. This was borne out inspades at one particular session at the WEF when two panels,one made up of a Saudi, an Iranian and another comprising aPalestinian, an Israeli and two Americans (one Republican,one Democrat) convened to debate that hoariest of Arabchestnuts: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Prince Turki al Faisal al Saud argued that as the Kingdom ofSaudi Arabia was the home to the Kaaba and was thebirthplace of Prophet Mohammad, it was the most appropriatenation to propose an Arab peace settlement as it had done inBeirut years earlier. Not so, according to ManouchehrMottaki, the minister for foreign affairs of the IslamicRepublic of Iran, who argued that the Palestinian issue wasrather a Muslim issue and that Iran would champion the causeby continuing to support both Hamas in the PalestinianTerritories
