“We discussed in the first part of the program sensitive issues in an atmosphere characterized by frankness,” said Geluk.

By Khaled Shawkat, IOL Correspondent

ROTTERDAM, February 1 (IslamOnline.net) – The Dutch city of Rotterdam sees Wednesday, February 2, the launch of the second version of a government-sponsored program seeking to cement Muslim integration into society.

“Islam and Integration 2” is scheduled to address a variety of pressing issues like altruism, the other, women in Islam, terrorism and Islam as a new religion in Rotterdam.

The program, which closes in April, will culminate in the adoption of an agreement signed by Muslim and non-Muslim citizens in Rotterdam, committing themselves to enhancing tolerance and dialogue.

The program’s first part kicked off in September, touching basically on obstacles to the integration of the Muslim community in the Netherlands.

All-inclusive Dialogue

Leonard Geluk, the Dutch official in charge of the education and integration portfolio in Rotterdam’s government, said officials realized the importance of holding an all-inclusive dialogue to thrash out the problems facing the Muslim minority.

“We are not discussing religion here but integration,” Geluk told IslamOnline.net. “We don’t backbite each other but we put our heads together to resolve our problems.

“We discussed in the first part of the program sensitive issues in an atmosphere characterized by frankness, openness and constructive criticism.”

Geluk said government officials and NGOs representatives listened attentively to leaders of the Muslim community, who bitterly complained about being marginalized and treated as second-class citizens.

“The government, in effect, felt it incumbent upon itself to rally around a Muslim current encouraging their fellow Muslims to adapt to values and basics of Dutch society,” he said.

But the official warned that stereotypes formed about Islam are a stumbling block to a fruitful dialogue.

“An Iraqi friend of mine told me the other day how he was offended when a Dutch man asked him naively whether he beheaded civilians like Iraqis,” Geluk said.

“It doesn’t only hurt my Iraqi friend but hurt me as well because the question showed how ill-informed the Dutch are, on the one hand, and because of the wrong notions about Muslims, on the other.”

The International Association of Muslim Scholars (IAMS) has vigorously denounced the kidnapping and killing of civilians in Iraq.

The year 2004 was indeed a tough year for an approximately one million Dutch Muslims as they greatly suffered from religious discrimination, xenophobic attitudes and racist attacks on their places of worship.

Observers said the Muslim community felt really hard done-by because of their religion, holding the right-wing and media accountable.