"The leaders should not bow to U.S. pressures to reform the syllabi," Al-Tabtibai

KUWAIT CITY, December 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – As leaders of the oil-rich Gulf Arab countries meet Monday, December 22, for the second and last day in Kuwait, a charter for "reformulating" school curricula – a key issue on the agenda – is expected to be adopted.

Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) said the summit – the first to be held after the invasion and occupation of Iraq – would study proposals for removing  school curricula that "instigates for hating the West".

Although he gave no further details, expectations ran high that the leaders would adopt the initiative of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz to "develop education" in members of the bloc's six member countries.

"Reformulating curricula would be the main issue upon which the foundations for combating terrorism and unemployment would be set," Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabas said.

"This is a summit for planning what we should do within the coming ten years," the official publication said.

Saudi paper Al-Jazeera said King Abdullah's initiative – which the Saudi crown prince had tabled the initiative at the previous GCC summit – would be underlined in the final communiqué of the two-day gathering.

After the September 11 attacks on Washington and New York, the United States claimed that 15 of the 19 suspects are Saudis, who had been affected by an education system "encouraging extremism and raising hatred for the West in the minds of school children".

"All terrorist ideas and extremist curricula – that have taken roots by some parties in the Gulf region - the should be removed from the education system," said Yaaqoub Hayati, a member of the GCC higher committee.

"We have to admit that some people in the council with a mentality ignoring and holding the other as an atheist," Hayati told the BBC on Sunday, December 21.

He also admitted that some foreign parties also seek to "export their terrorist ideas and extremist syllabi" to the region's educational schools.

Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad al-Sabah had said before the beginning of the summit that the GCC leaders are expected to approve a charter for educational reforms with the aim of "reformulating school curricula" in the member states.

"This will be an essential factor to prevent deviancy and stop our children from falling prey to destructive ideologies espoused by parties who do not wish security and stability for us," the minister said.

"Certain (domestic) groups, with foreign connections, which have ideas based on a corrupt ideology, aim at destabilizing... our countries," he added.

The GCC groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

In statements on arrival, the leaders said they were determined to strengthen the GCC and make it an effective body.

"We are working to strengthen this council and determined to confront the challenges and overcome it, and forge into the future with new concepts and visions," King Hamad of Bahrain said.

Nevertheless, these commitments have drawn the anger in the Gulf region, with some say they are rather a response to U.S. pressing calls to make the curricula more friendly to the West.

"The leaders should not bow to U.S. pressures to reform the syllabi," Kuwaiti Parliament member Waleed Al-Tabtibai said.

'Democratize'

"The colonization is now manifested in the foreign military bases in the Gulf countries," Al-Mutayri

The GCC leaders also face up to other challenges – domestic calls for political reforms and ending the foreign military presence almost in all of the six member countries.

"Moves for allowing people to share of power and wealth should be precipitated, a Shura council with guarantees for a peaceful circulation of power should be adopted," the Islamic constitutional movement said in a statement.

"A genuine Shura system that guarantees a peaceful circulation of power should be also adopted," the movement said in a statement.

"Maintaining the right of minorities and fighting political, moral and financial corruption should be also sought," it said.

Kuwait's Salfist Movement also warned the GCC leaders against "a return of colonialism" to the region – in reference to the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

"The colonization is now manifested in the foreign military bases in the Gulf countries," the movement's secretary general Hakim Al-Mutayri said.

Al-Mutayri urged the regional countries to "boost their military defense capabilities to protect themselves and relinquish dependence on foreign military presence as soon as possible".

Former GCC Secretary General Abdullah Bishara has also urged the leaders to upgrade their internal security, cut dependence on the United States and establish normal ties with Iraq and Iran.

"The first thing Kuwait's GCC summit should do is to build a Gulf security network by establishing a credible security infrastructure ... We must not continue to depend on the United States," Bishara said.