An Arab academic at Cambridge University is outraged by Arab and Muslim stinginess and lack of human compassion, especially those of Muslim charities and oil-rich Arab nations, in regards to the Haiti tragedy in particular and their general unwillingness to help non-Muslim disaster victims.

(JPost) A commentator in an influential Arabic language paper says it is "an outrage, in every sense of the word" that wealthy Arab countries are not giving more money to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti.In an opinion piece published in the influential London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayyat, Khaled Hroub, a Palestinian academic at Cambridge University, wrote that while millions are being wasted in the Arab world on trivial matters, Arabs have failed to contribute respectable amounts of financial assistance in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake.

Hroub referred to a comparison of the pledges of aid by countries and organizations all over the world published in The Guardian. The British newspaper claimed that United States has pledged the most money, amounting to around $160 million, followed by Canada and the World Bank. No Arab countries were listed among the top 20 donor countries and organizations in The Guardian's list. The first appearance of an Arab nation is the United Arab Emirates, ranking in 23rd place.

"I don't see any pledges from the rich oil producing Middle East countries," one reader wrote in a talkback. "So much for partnership and reaching across... It seems to me the Western world always reaches out." Hroub also criticized non-Muslim nations such as Venezuela, Cuba, China and Russia, all of which he accused of sending minimal amounts of aid. Hroub said that despite a deadly 2003 earthquake in Bam, Iran, in which killed more than 26,000 people were killed, Iran only sent a symbolic contribution to Haiti.

"We don't know how [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad wants to confront the American arrogance throughout the world with that!" he wrote. Hroub argued that Arab and Muslim countries only opened their pockets and responded to catastrophes and natural disasters when the victims were themselves Muslim. "The Islamic charities are absent from these kind of catastrophes in a way that's scandalous," Hroub wrote.

"With the exception of a few very symbolic charity organizations and other semi-governmental organizations in Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, Jordan and Lebanon, these organizations' calls to duty end with helping other Muslims alone. It's as though these organization only respond to the pain of Muslims and the pain of non-Muslims does not deserve a response." "Some people say that Arab aid should be allocated to Gaza and its people, who are closed in on all sides, instead of giving it to Haiti," he writes. Read the whole thing here. Hat tip : Eye On The World