An opportunity for Arabs before it is too late [Archives:2007/1026/Opinion]
Dr. Abdulaziz Al Tarb
I do not think I am exaggerating when I say that 2007 is to be one of the most dangerous in the life of the Arab nation for several reasons.
In Yemen we are experiencing a crisis between the government and the business sector, the locomotive of development, about the sales tax and the problem rebellion in the governorate Sa'ada and its ramifications on stability and development.
The wounds of the nation that are open for a long period in more than one sensitive spot of the Arab body especially in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, and Sudan have begun to fester because of their too much uncleanliness that threatens to make them perish.
The Arab regimes seem to be ready now to entrust the matter of remedying the open wounds to the same doctor that context has been the disease and this context it can be understood the reality of the stands of a number of those regimes regarding the latest movements of the American administration.
Without playing down the importance of building strategic relations between the Arab countries and the United States it is important and necessary at the same time the Arab rulers have to comprehend that Bush and the neo-conservatives are not the United States but rather a sample of evils insisting on leading the whole world towards a real catastrophe and the American people have to be aware of its danger. We have not to surrender the destinies of our peoples to the ruler of the White House be it republican or democrat and see how he deals with the hot issues in the Middle East region; the issue of Palestine, the situation in Lebanon and Sudan and what he has been doing in Iraq.
Would we be exaggerating if we say that the current crisis gives the Arab countries that are friends of the United Sates a rare opportunity to withhold some of the cards they offer? I do not think that there is any kind of exaggeration in this saying. Here comes forward the specification of one of the most current paradoxes, unlike what the ruling elites think of rejecting Bush's new policy categorically and embarking on a serious dialogue with Syria and Iran and maybe Turkey, aimed at achievement of a group for integrated goals:
1- An end to bloodletting in Palestine and helping to form a national unity government and lifting the blockade imposed the Palestinian people immediately.
2-An end to the Lebanese crisis by putting pressure on the two conflicting parties and a return to the negotiating table to the solve their pending problems in the way that preserves Lebanon's independence, but without harming requirements of the Syrian security.
3-Putting pressure on all Iraqi factions to hold reconciliation preserving the unity of Iraq and establishment of a turning-point for a new political process aiming at establishment of a government representing all without any consideration of sectarian affiliation.
4-Open bridges for dialogue with the American leadership opposing Bush's policy inside Congress with personalities from both parties as a means of pressure on the present government so that to put their weight and support the idea of holding an international conference to be taken part by all regional parties with no exception of any one in quest for a settlement coinciding and balanced for all interrelated crises of the region at one time and for good in addition to building an agreed upon order for collective and human security in order to guarantee that those settlements are to be accepted internationally and regionally.
It is wrong to believe that what is going on in Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan and Palestine are the beginning of civil wars. They are, in reality, political conflicts made by an American-Israeli project to dominate the area. Unless all join forces to abort that project Israel will be able to take advantage of these conflicts and change them to civil wars.
Will those possessing live consciences awake and begin to prepare for saving their peoples from danger of a coming deluge? All are equal in wrong and think that their well-equipped ships are capable of protecting them against the danger of this deluge.
It is our opportunity while we are preparing for holding the Riyadh summit conference to think about all the issues of the nation and to present an accurate account of has happened and what is happening since the previous summit, taking into consideration all promises of the American promises since its invasion of Iraq.
Prof. Abdulaziz Al-Tarb is an economist and a professor in Political Science. He is the head of the Arab Group for Investment and Development
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[archive-e:1026-v:14-y:2007-d:2007-02-19-p:opinion]
