Raqqa, Syria- March 1, 2050—In an unprecedented move, the government of the Islamic State announced that it was prepared to allow Western governments to open embassies in its capital, Raqqa.  The news was met which much excitement among the Islamic State West residing expatriates, as well as oil companies that have been eager to sign oil and development contracts with the Islamic State, which has been under sanctions for the past three and a half decades.

 

Hurting and bankrupt from decades of isolation and sanctions, and considered a pariah and a sponsor of terrorism around the world, the Islamic State has lately been attempting to portray a softer, more gentle image of itself. It has reduced the number of public beheadings and has replaced them more secret “indoor” hangings using cranes. It has also allowed limited access to foreign reporters and has allowed overseas travel by its citizens. It has also declared its support for universal justice, albeit in an “Islamic context.”

 

Russia and China—who deny any support of the Islamic State—welcomed the news of a possible opening in relations between the IS and the the rest of the world as “step in the right direction.”

 

In an editorial posted on Islamicstateian.com, a U.S. residing blogger who identifies herself as “Lotus Al-Arabi” cheered on the news of a rapprochement, saying “the West is the biggest criminal on the face of the of this planet. There is no proof or evidence of any crimes against humanity committed by the Islamic State. It’s all Jewish and Western propaganda. Had it not ben for the attacks by the West on the Islamic State 35 years ago, that country would have a beacon of freedom and democracy in this world. All those videos of beheadings were propaganda videos produced in Tel Aviv. The IS never killed anyone. In fact, human rights in the Islamic State are much better than some other countries such as….ahhh….the lawless areas of South Wazirestan.”

 

In another blog on the same site, Professor Ahmad Meslahi, a Syrian-American biologist at Northern Oregon University in the United States, whose brother was publicly beheaded by the Islamic State in the early days of the rise of that government, also welcomed the news of a possible opening between the IS and the West, calling it a “significant step forward.” Professor Meslahi said that his brother had made an error and that’s why he was publicly beheaded. “That’s what happens in revolutions, especially when foreign powers get involved,” he said. “My brother was a victim of foreign conspiracies, not the Islamic State per se. The IS was simply protecting the country against insidious foreign plots. That’s all. The most important thing that we should not lose sight of is the fact that the Islamic State is an independent nation. It doesn’t take orders from anyone. That’s what matters, and nothing else. As long as they can stick to their claims of independence, we should just ignore everything else and enter into a grand bargain with them that should result in the immediate lifting of sanctions. And let’s not forget about Palestine either. The sanctions on Islamic State also prevent the people of Palestine from getting their land back from Israel.”

 

The “grand bargain” language was also echoed by Abdullah Al-Faroosi, the head of the International Islamic State – American Council, a Washington, DC based organization with 200 members that claims to represent the interests of more than a million Islamic State citizens who live in the United States. After attending an international oil company symposium in Belgium, Mr. Faroosi said “I think that what the citizens of the Islamic State want more than anything else is for sanctions to be lifted immediately. Sanctions are the obstacles that prevent the Islamic State from becoming a modern, free state, and they are the driving force behind the human rights violations by the IS. The minute sanctions are lifted, the Islamic State will become a free, modern and progressive state.” When asked about how the lifting of sanctions can lead to such an immediate political and social transformation, Mr. Faroosi’s response was simple: “through the development of oil fields!”

 

It remains to be seen how the Islamic State will respond to the latest overtures by the West. Its aging leader, Imam Abu-Bakr Al-Baghdadi still remains a violent figure who displayed the State’s brutality just a few years ago following protests regarding a fatwa that stated that women should not leave the house after 2:00 pm. For supporters of rapprochement, however, those recent events are somehow inconclusive.  When asked about the matter, Lotus Al-Arabi said “what crackdown? The fatwa was the law. People should just obey the law. People who protested were foreign agents. All of them. They belonged to Israel and U.S. funded opposition groups who came onto the streets to topple the legitimate government of the Islamic State and install a puppet Western regime. I’m glad that they were stopped.”    

 

(originally published on iranian.com)