What is wrong with the Arabs? [Archives:2006/1000/Opinion]

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November 20 2006

This year will probably go down as one of the worst years of Arab history. Except for the dramatic victory of Hassan Nasr Allah and his band of devoted and faithful Hezb-Allah fighters, the people of the Arab World have never seen so much let down in the space of 11 months that one simply could not wait further to the end of the year to do a solemn review of all the sad events.

Of course the bloody massacre of Beit Hanoun was the crowning event that brings to the back of many a faithful Moslem and patriotic nationalist Arab mind the reminder that notwithstanding the bright light at the end of the tunnel that the victory of the Lebanese against Israel may have seemed to many, we still have a bloody and dangerous enemy lurking in our midst.

The Beit Hanoun massacre and all the senseless massacres we are daily hearing about in Iraq are a clear reminder that the enemy will go to all lengths to undermine any positive sign that might beam a ray of hope that indeed things can be different here in this most volatile part of the world. Yes, there is a very strong tie-up between the senseless bloodletting in Iraq and the Zionist agenda and there is ample documentation to prove the link, if one wishes to explore. This is added by the fact that when the situation gets tough for Israel and now for the American right, one cannot help but notice the increase of the senseless killings that have become a normal element of the situation in Iraq.

This is further strengthened by the presence of a sizable Mossad force in Baghdad and the unusual seemingly inexplicable nature of the bloody executions that are unearthed almost on a daily basis. The Zionist movement is a movement that is nourished by the spilling of blood and all that one has to do is recall the long list of massacres the Israelis have instigated, not only in Palestine, but also in Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. For sure had the Israelis made it to other Arab states, those states will also be able to have their land smeared with the spilt blood of hundreds of civilians as well.

If many Arabs are counting on the results of the American Mid-term Elections, then they are still fooled by illusions fostered by surface optimism that shows they have yet to fully learn about the American political mind-set. That the Zionist lobby is entrenched with the Democrats just as much as it was entrenched with the Republicans is a reality that no Arab or Moslem should ever overlook.

The observer is obviously impressed with the way that the American people have come out and unabashedly expressed their scorn for the failure of the Administration of George W. Bush to achieve a victory in Iraq, just as they once expressed a more militant stance for their government's fumble in Vietnam.

But Vietnam was not the Middle East and the Zionist lobby was not then entrenched as it is now (see the Walt and Mearshimer study on the Israeli Lobby, text of which can easily be found in the Internet by searching under either of these names). What one expects is that the Bush Administration will do all it can to maintain the status quo, at least until it finishes the last two years of its tenure.

In this case, the Democrats will not really push for much change, since they do not have the majority that can ensure that they can override any veto by President Bush and they will stay free from blame, noting that they are not fully in a position to bring about the changes they wish to instate.

But American politics is not the main concern here. The main element of worry that the observer is inclined to focus on is that the situation in the Arab World is not such that this vast and rich geographical expanse stretching from the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf does not take the shape of one nation, blessed with all the elements for easy cohesion and the right attributes for harmonized collaboration, even when it comes to seeing so many people from this nation become victims of senseless slaughter or Zionsit bloodthirstiness, which can easily become the fate accorded to any habitats within this expanse.

The issue is not so much that most of the Arabs (in the streets) are not keen to this. The general Arab population is fully conscious of the sad predicament that has befallen the nation, but the tragedy is that after the fate of the once reclusive and seemingly untouchable Saddam, his counterparts in the other Arab states continue to act as if they have God given immunity to any harm coming to them. Sooner or later, it is bound to come, either from within or from the outside. In the case of the latter, as can be seen in Iraq, the tragedy becomes generic.

Hassan Al-Haifi has been a Yemeni political economist and journalist for more than 20 years.
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