The past is just a good bye! (III and final) [Archives:2007/1064/Opinion]
Jalal now wanted an air of optimism to prevail in the room and was beginning to discuss issues close to home: “If Fatima is thinking that joining the GCC will solve all our problems, she better do some more contemplation. Yemen's' problems have become so deep and so intertwined that a mere change in the formal regional arrangements would hardly add any cause for optimism. However, one is indeed pleased that one of the present members in the GCC, the tiny but very active State of Qatar does display a considerable amount of interest in the Yemeni situation.”
“Look Brother, if you want to talk about the role that Qatar is playing in the region, a lot of people are thankful that Yemen could be of increasing interest to Qatar. For many in Yemen the role is life saving if you hail from Sa'ada. So do not knock Qatar's small size or anything like that. Remember David was smaller than Goliath when the ancient Philistines had it out with the Hebrews.”
Yasmine walked in with a kettle and four empty cups and started to pour some tea starting with the cup she had placed in front of her brother in law. Then she said: “Maybe this is what the Palestinians should listen to. The Palestinians might be better off going back to slingshots rather than useless Ghassan missiles that seem to zigzag in the sky 'like a frightened cornered cat in flight', as one of my favorite American journalist, Jennifer Lowenstein noted so eloquently once. In any case, when the Palestinians were throwing stones at the Israeli occupations forces two decades ago, they were much more successful at harnessing a lot of international support for their just cause. Besides they were less inclined to throw stones at each other than now, where they are lobbing all kinds of ordnances at each other for no real apparent reason to justify the extreme combativeness being displayed.”
“I would bet that the Israelis are glad that the leading Palestinian factions are so tenaciously enmeshed in mortal combat” pointed out Yasmine, continuing: “They are serving the Zionist cause better than the IDF could do so for another ten years. I think Olmert should give the Star of David award to Abbass and Henayih. Just imagine 33 fighting Palestinians a day. That is one of the latest casualty counts coming out of Gaza these days.”
Her daughter, Fatima was even more critical of the Palestinians: “I was really dismayed to hear one of the Palestinian factions declare in a celebrative mood: 'We have overtaken the building that housed the intelligence unit of the traitorous etc.' I had hoped they were going to say, we have today liberated the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the Zionist occupiers. But to declare victory against your own fellow victim of the most discriminatory occupations of all times is really pathetic. I would say our brother Palestinians have their marbles and forgotten their cause d''tre. If they do not get their act together, the situation for the helpless millions of Palestinians of Gaza and the West Bank will turn into a tragically disastrous situation one, which even Qatar would be unable to salvage.”
“Jalal, you have a fine daughter there with wide open eyes and a high sense of realization of how dreadful the state of the Arab nation has become.” Farid was noting his niece's high intellect.
“Look, Farid, what we are seeing in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, Somalia, and of course Palestine, indeed raises the contempt of most of the citizens of this tested nation of ours. We can always say it is the 'external enemies of the nation that are keeping the Arab Nation in such a helpless state'. However, in the end it really boils down to the nation being the ongoing victim of the failings of its leaders and their easy submission to the wishes of their masters in the Pentagon and to the wishes of the international Zionist establishment.” Yasmine also wanted to show that she had a knack at understanding what is really going on in the region.
“I think we can forget about the salvation of the Arabs coming from within the nation”, said Fatima. She proceeded with her prognosis: “Perhaps, our fellow Moslems from Chechnya or Bosnia will be the source of our liberation, as was the case when the Kurds gave us the Ayyubids, including Saladin, and the Turks gave us the Ottomans, both of whom came just at the right moment when the Moslems were about to be annihilated by the powers of their time, and were victorious notwithstanding the overwhelming odds against them.”
Hassan Al-Haifi has been a Yemeni political economist and journalist for more than 20 years.
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