CAIRO,
April 21, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – America's allure for the Middle
Easterners has been waning with the economic rift between the Mideast
nations and the United States opened after the 9/11 attacks has
widened into a chasm, reported the Washington Post on Friday,
April 21.
Once
their first stop for visits, education and entertainment, people of
the Middle East countries are now turning away from the United States
to more Arab-friendly environments in Europe and Asia.
Investors,
tourists, students and patients are now abstaining from the US over
the ongoing visa hassle and security concerns, hurting Arab businesses
and spending in the US and affecting its service sectors.
A
6.8-billion-dollar deal reached on February 13 between the US
administration and Dubai Ports World to operate six major American
ports was brought to a halt over national security concerns despite
trials from President George W. Bush himself to save the mega
contract.
Jay
Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, said the US share
of international travel has dropped by "about $20 billion a
year" since 2000, to its all-time low.
US
Commerce Department figures show that visits by Saudi tourists, for
example, sharply fell to 18,573 in 2004, from 72,891 in 1999.
Tourist
dollars, consequently, dropped as Saudi visitors spend three times
more per person than any other group of US tourists with $9,368 per
trip.
Students
Alienated
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The visa hassle and security concerns have scared away thousands of Arab and Muslim students.
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The
post said that the education sector suffered most from the US visa
restrictions with Gulf heavyweights brining US universities to their
capitals.
The
steep drop of students from the Middle East countries have caused
losses worth as much as $43 million a year.
The
sharpest decline was from Saudi Arabia, which sent 14 percent fewer
students to the United States last year, according to the Institute of
International Education.
Qatar,
for example, has provided funds to bring US universities -- including
Texas A&M, Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and
Cornell University's medical school -- to its capital, Doha.
Saudi
Arabia's minister of higher education also recently unveiled a
"look East" strategy for education.
He
said that an increasing number of students will be sent to Japan,
China, India, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea.
The
Newsweek magazine has warned that the US visa restrictions
posed threats to its competitiveness due to the dramatic decline of
foreign students in the country.
It
noted that 38 percent of doctorate holders in America's science and
engineering work force are foreign-born and that foreigners make up
more than half the students enrolled in science and engineering
programs.
The
National Science Board (NSB) sounded the alarm in a recent report
showing that the US ranked now 17th in the proportion of college
students majoring in science and engineering while it ranked third in
1975.
High-Profile
Patients
The
visa hassle has also harmed the health-care sector in the country.
The
number of Arab patients at leading US medical centers fell by 20
percent to 50 percent in the wake of the September attack.
High-profile
Arab patients, including kings and presidents, often came to the
United States for lengthy treatments accompanied by large families and
staffs.
To
overcome the shortage, US clinics have embarked on intensive efforts
to draw back Arab patients.
The
Mayo Clinic in Rochester has recently opened a cardiovascular clinic
in Dubai, which coordinates travel to the United States for further
treatment, if necessary.
The
US has further denied visas to famed Muslim and Arab professors and
intellectuals over suspicions of "endorsing terrorism."
The
latest of whom is Tariq Ramadan, one of Europe's best known Muslim
intellectuals, who was offered a teaching post at Indiana's Notre Dame
University's Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.
A
US federal judge, reviewing a lawsuit filed by the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU), criticized on April 13 the Bush administration
for being inconsistent in its handling the visa application of
Ramadan.
Al-Azhar
Al-Sharif, the highest seat of religious learning in the Sunni world,
has also decided to shun American officials and freeze cooperation
with all US institutions after Washington denied one of its senior
officials an entry visa.
