Syrians have been let down by the international community, the support has not ended but it has gone in hibernation, said Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Tawakel Karman (pictured) during the US-Islamic World Forum yesterday.

She was speaking on the sidelines of confronting change, challenge and opportunity at the Ritz-Carlton.

“We should not wait to see Syrians killed. The International community should support the national council. There should be enough logistic and material support for the people of Syria,” she said.

Karman also blamed the Islamic states for not doing enough to back the people of Syria.

“There should be economic sanctions against Bashar Al Assad. He is a war criminal. The international community should move now. Youth, women and children are drying on daily basis,” she added.

The 2011 Nobel Peace Laureate suggested that perhaps Yemen can be a model for Syria. “We have to choose between the people or the regime. We do not need to have another massacre to decide who to choose,” Karman said.

“We have corruption in all the Arab states. The reason behind corruption is that there is no accountability,” she explained. Karman argued that all regimes who want to be dictators will be toppled. She also credited the youth for being instruments of change in the Arab world.

“The pressing issue is this: What can we do to make the right people win?” said Saeb Erekat, chief negotiator of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, who was also speaking on the panel.

“If we still have people who say ‘I am an Arab, Shia, Kurd, or Sunni’ then it can be dangerous. We must belong to the state.” Erekat said that in the past regimes wanted to strip the legitimacy of the people but now the people are ready for democracy.

On the question of how a society with diverse opinions can conform to a consensus on the path of change, Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah, said that it should be the objective and responsibility of the elite, philosophers and religious scholars of the world to represent universal values.

Bayyah, who teaches at the King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia, explained that it is the narrow interpretation of Islam that creates obstacles.

“We need to find bases for cooperation, wisdom and see how we can inject them in the lives of people,” he said.

Bayyah said he hoped that Qatar will help to promote the voice of mercy and moderation, which is higher than the voice of warmongering