A key recommendation from the 9/11 Commission Report discussing the future of the war on terror calls on America to work with Arab moderates: “The United States has to help defeat an ideology, not just a group of people … How can the United States and its friends help moderate Muslims combat the extremist ideas? … If we heed the views of thoughtful leaders in the Arab and Muslim world, a moderate consensus can be found.”

One such opportunity is the recent initiative by Arab reformists to garner support from the Arab public for a petition to be presented to Secretary-General Annan, demanding that leading Arab sheiks who encourage terrorism through fatwas be put on trial before an international court.

The petition states: “As it is difficult, if not impossible, to prosecute these extremists in their native Arab or Islamic countries, they continue to issue and publish their Fatwas inciting acts of terror under the false umbrella of Islam … We, the signatories of this letter, a group of Arab and Muslim liberals, would like to draw your attention to an extremely dangerous source of terrorism. This source is the purported religious pronouncements, ‘Fatwas,’ issued by some psychotic members of dogmatic Muslims encouraging the commission of terrorist acts in the name of and under the banner of Islam … By these Fatwas all terrorists have died, or will die, fully convinced that they will immediately enter Paradise.”

The fact that Arab reformists are calling for action against leading Muslim clerics who incite terrorism is an important and unprecedented development. It may represent the birth of a movement of Arab reformists, working to purge the Muslim faith of its violent interpretations. The sheiks targeted by this petition are prominent leaders in mainstream Sunni Islam, who have supported jihad and attacks on American troops, and who exercise increasing influence on Muslims in the West.

Al-Azhar-trained Sheik Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, who is a spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood movement and a prominent leader of Sunni Islam, is mentioned in the reformists’ petition.

As recently as December 14, 2004, he publicly called for attacking American troops in Iraq. He has significant influence over European Muslims, and heads the European Council for Fatwa and Research and the London based International Council of Muslim Clerics. Sheik al-Qaradhawi was also honored during a summer visit to London sponsored by the city’s mayor, Ken Livingstone.

The reformists’ petition calls for trying Sheik al-Qaradhawi for his religious rulings, which permit “the killing of ‘fetuses’ [unborn] Jews, because when Jews are born and grow up they will join the Israeli army. Furthermore, on September 3, 2004, [at the Egyptian Journalist Union] al-Qaradhawi issued a fatwa to kill all American civilians working in Iraq.”

Among those leading the charge against the sheiks are Tunisian intellectual Al-Afif al-Akhdhar and former Iraqi Minister of Planning Jawad Hashem. A researcher and author, Shaker al-Nabulsi – who writes for the progressive Arabic Internet sites Elaph and Middle East Transparent – has stepped forward as the movement’s leader.

Mr. al-Nabulsi calls for “a group of progressive Arab intellectuals ready to put their lives in danger [to] meet and write a humanistic, international, progressive statement, written in the language, way of thinking, and logic of the 21st century. It must present this statement to the U.N. and demand that the Security Council discuss it and pass a resolution on it that will grant the U.N. [the authority] to establish a tribunal, which will be called the ‘Terrorism Court.’ All those who foment terrorism and disseminate Fatwas encouraging terrorism … will be brought before this tribunal.”

To date, the American government has not offered any public support for this initiative. Secretary of State Rice’s first diplomatic trip to the Middle East this week includes preparatory work for the March summit on reform in Egypt. Words of encouragement for this petition, by any American government official, could serve as an important initiative in the fight against Islamic fundamentalists and worldwide Jihad.

Support by America for the reformists could also provide protection against threats to them, as Sheik al-Qaradhawi’s issued a fatwa on July 3, 2004, permitting the killing of Muslim intellectuals, and claiming that Islam justifies killing such apostates.

Mr. Stalinsky is the executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute.