Practice what you preach

By Amr Al-Faisal
Arab News
April 16, 2002

Aldaleel Information Systems is a new company, one that specializes in geographical information systems (GIS). This is a new technology and has only recently been introduced to Saudi Arabia. For the past four years the company and I, as its owner, have been attempting to work with an American company, which is a leader in the field.

In the end the American company finally agreed to our participation in Saudi Arabia as a first stage and in other parts of the Middle East at a later stage.

As far as we were concerned, this amounted to recognition from an international company of our efficiency and a sign of its confidence in our potential and our professional capabilities.

We expected the agreement to lead to more than $25 million worth of projects over the next five years.

With all this in mind, I wrote the following letter to the director of the company.

Dear Mr. D,

We have received your letter agreeing to work with us. We are pleased by your confidence in our abilities and professionalism. Sir, I am sure that you have not failed to witness on many TV screens the continuing massacre of the Palestinian people by the Israeli Army. This army, without the US government’s unconditional support, would be incapable of committing the atrocities they are currently perpetrating on our brothers in Palestine.

The military, political and economic support the US government is providing to Israel can only be interpreted as an act of active animosity and enmity toward the Arab and Islamic peoples.

Public opinion polls taken of the US public and the continued overwhelming support the American people give to their government’s actions in the Middle East can only lead us to believe that the animosity I have mentioned extends deeply into the American people.

For these reasons, we unfortunately find it impossible to work with your company.

Yours sincerely,

Amr Al-Faisal

I always ask God: Do not include me among those who ask others to do righteous deeds but neglect to do anything themselves.