Gulf Still Quite Wide in East-West Attitudes : Culture: Jordanians express disbelief that Hussein’s use of children in TV appearance horrified Westerners.

AMMAN, Jordan — Jordanians often express frustration over Westerners’ lack of understanding of Arab attitudes, but the reaction here to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s televised appearance with a group of Western hostages shows that the path of misunderstanding is a two-way street.

On Friday, many Jordanians expressed disbelief that Westerners were horrified by Hussein’s use of detained children to convey a benign image to the world.

It was difficult to tell if the reactions resulted from a genuine belief that Hussein means no harm or from the overwhelming support here for his invasion of Kuwait.

Jordanians justify almost everything that the Iraqi strongman does these days on the grounds that Arabs, and especially Palestinians, have suffered at the hands of the West and that Hussein, by reaching for military and economic power, is poised to redress the wrongs.

“He was just trying to show that children and families were safe,” said Mohammed Maktub, a university student. “It was meant as a message of peace.”

“He wanted to show only that he likes children,” said a sandwich salesman who identified himself only as Taher. “He was trying to erase the image of the ugly Arab that is spreading everywhere.”

Even groups that have frequent contact with Westerners seem to be surprised that people in the United States and Britain would take offense at the Iraqi television broadcast, in which Hussein was shown Thursday with a group of English-speaking adults and children who are part of the Western community that he has ordered held in Iraq.

At a meeting of the Rotary Club in Amman dedicated to explaining Arab attitudes to Westerners, a speaker took no exception to the broadcast. “We were very, very pleased to see what took place on television,” said Issa Dallal, a lawyer, as he spoke in front of banners from fellow clubs in places such as New York, Wisconsin and El Centro, Calif.

“Contrary to what has been said, I don’t think Saddam Hussein is fond of war--this was not a performance. I think he really meant it (his expression of fondness for the Westerners, whom he called his ‘guests’).”

Jordan does not have a history of support for hostage-taking. Some observers view the unwillingness to criticize Hussein as a reflection of the workings of the Arab mind. In these traditional views, Arabs are often struggling within themselves between the demands for gentleness and humility called for by the teachings of Islam and the requirements in traditional desert culture for bluster and aggression.

“The West cannot understand that we are different,” said a well-known newspaper columnist.

Others attribute the attitudes to passions unleashed by the emergence of an Arab leader who has pledged to turn the Arab world on its head and end its perceived submission to the West. In this view, Hussein stands for the long-awaited Arab leader who does what he says he will do.

Those who expressed opposition to the Iraqi president’s holding of children as hostages attribute the roots of his support to a process of dehumanization brought on by long years of ill treatment. The sense of injustice in Jordan over the Palestinian issue makes this a popular explanation.

“Who in the West cares about Arab children killed by Israel?” asked a Palestinian lawyer. “It is sad to say, but there is an inescapable feeling here that others should see what it is like to have their children in jeopardy. No one cries in the West when an Arab child is shot by the Israelis. People feel we are not human beings in the eyes of the West.”

Jordan’s government, treading lightly on criticizing Saddam Hussein, has made little reference to the hostage-taking. On television the other night, Prince Hassan, the brother of Jordan’s King Hussein, said he was horrified by it. However, he suggested that the solution lies in ending the overall crisis and not in a unilateral release of the foreigners.

Government television, which aired the broadcast of Saddam Hussein and the Western hostages, was still referring to foreigners held in Iraq as guests, even while noting that they were moved to military installations in case of attack.