Palestine, no matter other threats, is the overarching issue for the Arab World
By: Abdelaziz Karraky
The Arab League held its 22nd meeting in Sirte, Libya, March 27-29, 2010. This summit emphasized, once more, the decline of the interest of Arab peoples in the Arab League’s meetings, as their expectations and aspirations are much bigger than what the Arab League seeks to achieve. However, this summit remains of particular importance, especially for the Maghreb countries, because it was held in a Maghreb country that had signed the convention of the Arab Maghreb Union; an union that is paralyzed because of the issue of the Sahara that has existed for a long time, and is now considered one of the oldest international conflicts that the Arab League has failed to solve, or prevent its outbreak at all. Arab leaders feel the weight of the Sahara issue today more than ever, which has led them to think about setting an Arab neighborhood policy, as stated in the declaration of Sirte, that prepares the ground for new Arab relations. But will that be enough to absorb all tensions that would arise between Arab countries in the future?
The Maghreb region is threatened today by terrorism, especially since al-Qaeda is seeking to penetrate this area, given its strategic importance. The Sirte declaration clearly condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, considering it a violation of human rights. Despite being held in the Great Maghreb, the Sirte conference did not attach great importance to the problems afflicting this region, due to the predominance of the Palestinian issue over recent global political events. While everyone expected the peace process to progress during the visit of the U.S. Vice President to the region, Israel declared in flagrant defiance the launch of a huge settlement project in Jerusalem, to the surprise of the entire world. When Netanyahu visited Washington, he did not offer any significant concessions; this put the United States in an awkward position regarding its leading role in the peace process on one hand, and its credibility in the Middle East on the other hand. This is probably what made the Arab summit in Sirte overlook many of the issues that the Arab world faces today, since the Palestinian issue is a fundamental one for the Arab nation and the Islamic world, and no other issue can compete with it.
Arabs today are called more than ever to incite the permanent Security Council members, especially the United States of America, to pressure Israel to put an end to its intransigence that will not bring but more instability, not only to the Middle East, but to all the other regions of the world. Let’s be frank, isn’t al-Qaida fueled by the failure of the peace process?
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Your Comments
commentsAnonymous About over 2 years ago
Dear professor, I like your optimism a lot, even if I do not agree with it at all. Do you think that the Security Council Members are able today to influence what is happening in the Middle East? Do you think that the United States of America wants to disturb its strategic ally that is Israel? And do you think that Arabs in this League of theirs, which was created at the behest of British authorities when the whole region was under colonialism, can have an influence on the global level? Or that Arabs can even control their own destiny? My answer is no. The solution to the problems that Arabs suffer from is primarily the generalization of true democracy that makes the voices of the people heard; then comes the gradual unification of the Arab nation based primarily on economic interests, and then move on to a political unity. Arabs should also have a permanent seat at the Security Council if they want to achieve anything; otherwise, the world’s history will be made away from them.
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Anonymous About over 2 years ago
When addressing Arabs, the West always argued that the former do not want peace, and that by choosing the military option as a path to retrieve Palestine, they will lose a lot. That happened indeed, as they lost so much of Palestinian lands, add to that other parts of some Arab countries. After a while, Arabs accepted the peace path, whose process went on very slowly to the extent of making those who chose this path seem in a position of weakness, and be subject to mockery by those who chose the armed option. This highlights the importance of supporting those who chose sitting at the negotiation table, and made substantial concessions. The U.S. President comes at the top of the list of those who understood this, as he emphasized it in his famous speech to the Egyptian capital, Cairo; but those who are against this option should be aware that the first to benefit from it are the forces that advocate terrorism, as the more restrictions on them, the soonest they can be eradicated, and the failure of the peace process only gives them a new dose of oxygen.
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Anonymous About over 2 years ago
What can Arabs discuss in a summit? This is definitely a relatively relevant question, because it seems to me that whether the Arab League meets in Libya or on the moon, the result will always remain the same. However, I think that Arabs have finally took the right decision by initiating the process of reforming our old Arab League, hoping that the reform will meet the expectations of the Arab population whose majority is young.
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Anonymous About over 2 years ago
Peace be upon you. It is true that the Arab League had held its 22nd meeting in Sirte, Libya, 27-29 March, 2010, and was scheduled to address the problems and security issues of the Maghreb countries, but new developments in the Palestinian issue and its return to the interface prevented that, given that the Palestinian issue is the cause of all Arabs and Muslims. For the Maghreb countries to address their security problems, they should entrench democratic principles in their countries and listen to their peoples… They should not count too much on the League of Arab States, whose resolutions remain on paper as long as America and its ally in the Middle East, Israel, put all their weight on the region.
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