Pretzels and Policies with Mohammad Khatami

OSLO -- The confrontation between Iran and many Western and Middle Eastern countries reflects a number of different contentious issues that are unlikely to be resolved soon, or to be resolved at all by American or Israeli military attacks against Iran's nuclear facilities. It is striking how little contact there is between Americans and Iranians, let alone Israelis and Iranians. Much of what we hear about Iran is filtered through usually biased Western media.

So it was a real treat for me earlier this week to listen to former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami speak at a conference I attended in Oslo, and then sit down with him and some colleagues after his talk to share some pretzels, orange juice, and good conversation.

Khatami is important for several reasons: his sensible and humane ideas, his reformist Islamist ideology, and his determination to engage with the West and the world in a frank and mutually beneficial dialogue. Most importantly, though, he is not a lone voice. He was twice elected president of Iran (1997-2005) and, according to Iranians who closely follow public opinion trends within the country, he still enjoys significant support among the public.

My occasion to chat with him was the sixth Oslo Forum Network of Mediators, sponsored by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. This annual gathering brings together several dozen of the world's most experienced mediators and conflict resolution practitioners, for off-the-record discussions on the craft and politics of making peace and resolving conflicts.

Khatami was an appropriate guest, both for his efforts to promote reconciliation and for his country's stressful relations with many in the West. While he is unlikely to run for president again -- the dominant ruling elite would almost certainly prevent that from happening -- his views deserve wider attention, because they offer important insights into sentiments among many, perhaps most, ordinary Iranians.

He spends much of his time these days fulfilling his duties as founder and president of the Foundation for Dialogue among Civilizations, and also serves on the UN Secretary-General's High Level Group for Alliance of Civilizations. Both of these lofty groups focus their work on improving relations between Islamic and Western societies.

His main message is about the importance of dialogue, which he distinguishes from debate and negotiations, as a means to improve mutual understanding. Here's where it starts to get slightly mushy -- but remember, this is the twice-elected president of Iran -- when he says that "the basis of dialogue is kindness and fellowship."

The relationship between some Western powers and the Islamic region is badly distorted and a cause of tension and conflict, he believes, because of two unfortunate phenomena. The policies of some leading Western powers are characterized by hegemony, double standards, and violence, while much of the Islamic region suffers humiliation, backwardness, and dictatorships. This makes peace an impossibility.

Khatami suggests two things necessary to overcome this confrontational situation: a feeling of justice instead of fear and subjugation, and a culture of understanding instead of hostility. The West must see the Islamic East as a partner, not an adversary, with the security of both enjoying equal weight. Dialogue and negotiations should start without preconditions, he feels, and should reflect several common factors.

The East and West have common worries about insecurity in their worlds, and both can share the common goal of a world of peace, without aggression. If such common factors can be activated, he suggests, and both sides are prepared to talk to one another on the basis of mutual respect -- rather than domination -- we could define a common roadmap to achieve democracy, peace and security.

"Democracy must serve the interests of its own people, not foreign powers," he adds, noting that it needs time to take root. "The West needed 400 years to establish democratic societies, so we should not expect Islamic societies to have instant democracy after an election or two."

Khatami is a charmer and a dreamer, but that is not why we should listen to his words carefully and ponder his challenges seriously. We should do that because his views may reflect the sentiments of a majority of Iranians. Yet those majority sentiments do not drive Iranian government policies these days, which are defined rather by the more hardline policies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

If most Iranians share Khatami's penchant to "let the voice of wisdom, democracy and justice in Islamic societies be heard in freedom," it would seem worth the effort for the major Western and Arab powers to craft foreign policies that test those sentiments and let them emerge. Foreign powers and the Iranian people seem to suffer the opposite reality: Pressures, sanctions and threats against Iran allow the hard line leadership to consolidate its power, and to silence the majority's more benign tendencies.