The center for Arab-west Understanding (legal registration in The Netherlands and, as a civil company, in Egypt) was first established in 1997 as the privet initiative of a number of concerned individuals, scholars and religious leaders based in Egypt with the aims of promoting understanding between the Arab world and the west and of mitigating the polarizing effect of media reports by providing independent and accurate information on and analysis of contentious cultural, social and religious issues and distributing them to the media, scholars and institutions. A basic operating principle is that development cannot take place in a climate of tension and fear.

The events of September 11, 2001 have greatly increased the polarization of the Arab(read "Muslim") world and the West, eroding principles of tolerance, human rights world. Conspiracy theories, rumors, exaggerations and other distortions serve to promote the view that West is deliberately attacking Islam and Muslims. Media campaigns targeting those perceived as connected to the West, including Arab Christians, civil society and human rights organizations and Muslims holding non-mainstream views of Islam have hindered their active participation in civil society, not only in the Arab World, but also in the West.
Further organizational aims are:
• To broaden the balance of faith-based and secular supporters and advisors and
• to develop strategies for self-suitability and 2) the 100% transfer of management and expertise to Egyptian hands.
• to build on training opportunities for Arab journalists-so far, only one training session has been held, at the Ahram Center for Strategies Studies??? It is important that journalists understand and appreciate the need for careful and contextualized reporting .
• Presently, most of the information goes out from the Arab World to the West and we hope to establish a reverse process, informing the Arab World of Western perceptions issues.