Editor's
Note:
After studying the Middle East for over 35 years, it is
inescapable that so many of the problems encountered in
the area must be laid upon the door step of the Arabs
themselves. Without a doubt, one can trace problems back
to the Ottomans, to the British colonial period and
forward to the present joint Zionist-American colonial
period.
But without looking in the mirror Arabs will forever be
impotent to change their condition. Today, we offer a
very thoughtful piece that was originally published in
the Jordan Times.
There is enough blame and confusion to go around.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Palestine, Powell and Arab power- by Rami G. Khouri
Are the Arabs politically angry or docile? Eager to
embrace or chastise the United States? Ready to promote
or resist reform? Is there a single prevalent sentiment
that accurately describes the Arab people today?
The answers to these questions were evident at the three
days of private meetings and public discussions among
the nearly 1,000 participants at the World Economic
Forum (WEF) that just took place here along the
northeast Dead Sea coast. The participants predominantly
reflected the government, private business, banking and
mass media sectors of society; absent for the most part
were Arabs of low- and middle-income, Islamists and
leftist quarters. Yet, it provided valid insights into
the conditions and sentiments of today's Arab world.
The most important aspect of this peek into the Arab
condition is that there is no single condition. This is
a region of great variety and disparity. We, Arabs, are
defined by intense contradiction and some confusion in
the political and economic arenas, amidst emerging
pockets of clarity and dynamic modernization. Three main
tensions that dominate the Arab world repeatedly reared
their head here, and can be summarized in the three Ps:
Palestine, Powell and power.
Academic research, polls and media evidence repeatedly
stress how intensely the plight of the Palestinians
under Israeli occupation impacts on both ordinary and
ruling Arabs. I was struck by how often the Palestine
situation emerged here as a major deterrent to change
and progress in Arab countries (ponder this: I must have
had 150 conversations with people and attended at least
20 panels and lectures in three days; only once -- in
the panel on private equity investment -- were the
Palestine and Iraq issues not mentioned).
The WEF meeting coincided with an ongoing Israeli
assault on the Rafah region in the southern Gaza Strip
in occupied Palestine, where (American) bulldozers
smashed a wide swath of homes in Rafah town in order to
allow Israel easier military access by its (American)
tanks. Israel in Rafah is conducting the equivalent of
Sherman's March through Georgia in the American Civil
War. The most reliable and up-to-date United Nations
data shows that the Israeli army has destroyed 2,018
houses in Rafah in recent years, leaving 18,382 people
homeless.
Israeli bulldozers and bombs destroyed an average of
11.6 homes per month in Palestine in 2000; that figure
has increased steadily, to 25 homes per month in 2002,
and 104 homes per month in 2004 to date.
Like Arabs everywhere, delegates at the WEF in Jordan
watched these scenes every morning and evening. Once
again, as in 1948, 1967, 1982, and other times, Arabs
passively watched fellow Palestinians being killed and
made homeless. Over and over again, Arab speakers said
that we want to tackle the challenges of reform and
modernization, but it is very difficult to embark on
this process while the Arab region is emotionally and
politically devastated by Israeli military assaults
against largely defenseless Palestinian refugees. The
world ignores this issue at its peril.
Therefore, when US Secretary of State Colin Powell
addressed the gathering, his well intentioned words were
not well received. I asked perhaps 100 fellow Arabs what
they thought of his remarks, and all but one said they
were disappointed, even insulted and offended. He spoke
passionately about bringing peace, prosperity and hope
to Palestine and Iraq and the entire Arab region; but
his words were buried beneath the images of Israeli
bulldozers destroying thousands of Palestinian refugee
houses.
He symbolized the fact that most Arab participants at
the gathering desire to work closely with the US for
Arab political reform and economic change, but feel
repulsed by the US for its very late and soft criticism
of Israel's assault on Rafah.
Most Arabs at the gathering, I also sensed, were pleased
with the removal of the former Baathist regime in Iraq,
but dismayed by Washington's messy, confused and violent
policy in Iraq today.
Powell was at once a cruel symbol of the global values
we wish to embrace to live life to its fullest and of
the pro-Israeli American policies we abhor because they
promote death and suffering in different Arab lands.
The third dominant issue that manifested itself at the
WEF gathering was the reform of political and economic
power in the Arab world. The participants here strongly
support reform, and many are pioneers in those pockets
of reform that are under way throughout the region,
especially economic reform. Yet, here also, the
political tensions that plague the Middle East tend to
deter decisive movement on the reform front.
Three reasons seem to explain this, two of which are the
negative consequences of the Palestine and Powell
factors mentioned above. The third is the engrained
resistance to change by power elites or dependent
citizens who benefit from the existing Arab system (a
system which was succinctly if slightly narrowly
described by a French scholar as "Arab governments that
trade oil for armaments").
All the key actors in the Arab reform process seem to be
moving in different directions. Arab governments both
promote and resist change; the Arab League speaks of
change but rejects a foreign role in this, while some
Arab governments expect change to happen only with
prodding and assistance from abroad; the Arab private
sector includes great reform leaders and success
stories, alongside forces that wish to maintain the
existing protected, often monopolistic systems; and
civil society organizations -- especially political
parties, think tanks, and professional associations --
remain weak and marginal, beyond the useful role of
articulating broad goals and advocating reformist
values.
Arab governments that speak of political reform and
democratization are not widely believed by most of their
own people, who assume that ruling elites will not
voluntarily share or relinquish power.
The Arab condition is volatile, contradictory and
impassioned, deeply defined by the clash and interaction
of domestic, regional and global forces that at once
push for change and simultaneously promote stagnation
and regression. If anyone tells you the entire Arab
world is uniformly stagnant or changing, or all Arabs
hate or admire America, or wish to coexist or destroy
Israel, just ask them to live in the real world, and to
ponder the realities of Palestine, Powell and power.
**********************************************************
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http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Artic
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Where An Assassination Is Celebrated - The Iraqi Council
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http://www.antiwar.com/orig/jamail.php?articleid=2603 |