Not Worthy of Tribute
Zuheir Kseibati Al-Hayat - 28/12/06//
If it happens one day that the Arabs remember 2006, they will describe it as the year of massacres, disasters and plans of collective suicide. We hope it was not the start of years of massacres to come.
The Orient is no longer united, and the Maghrebi cannot think deeply of the fate of his hopes in a federation. He prays to God to protect him from the forceful eastern wind, which does not fan the flames in Iraq alone, and which will not subside once Saddam Hussein is executed. The major massacre consists of several massacres, some of which were committed by the occupation and others were committed by the Palestinian and the Iraqi people, while the Lebanese are likely to be drawn into sedition.
How many Palestines are there? Can any one count? 2006 certainly is not worthy of tribute from the Arabs. Perhaps some of them hope that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will come up, at the beginning of the New Year, with other road maps that may encourage the Arabs to forget.
Among them, some may be right to underline the failure of US policy in the region; but it is half the truth, as they declines to admit the role of the Arab and the extent of his involvement. The American has certainly failed because of his arrogance and selfishness, but what the people of the region and its politicians succeeded in? This is just a question to dispel confusion and to abandon the slogans that have been increasing since 1948, as if every defeat brings sweeping victory and the more the cries against the enemy, the more this enemy penetrates into our ranks to the extent that it has become part of us.
Corpses, tents and 'Islamic' Courts bring another invasion, this time, in impoverished Somalia. The 'Islamic' government of Iran cannot persuade the Middle East with the priority of religion over its nationalism or with Tehran's concern for the stability of the region, while it brings more fleets into the Gulf, and stirs up the Israeli hornet's nest, as if it is not satisfied with what it did to the Lebanese. It seems that destruction has become an objective and an ambition, as long as the voices of heroism become louder and the lists of innocent victims accumulate.
There is a prospective 'showdown' project in the Gulf, when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad celebrates his victory by completing the nuclear program. In Iraq, the people are being promised with more killings. There is no difference between the militias, the death squads and al-Qaeda activists, as long as there is confusion over the meanings of 'Jihad', slaughter and suicide.
In Lebanon, some parties are opposed to the Tribunal. There is also confusion over justice and the attempts to strangle the country and arrest the murderer. In Palestine, the Israeli managed to elicit offers to turn the major Cause into wars to settle old scores with the Palestinians.
Certainly, the Americans have failed; but this failure is hidden behind the smokescreen of the success of the Arabs or some of them. Some condemn Bush then offer their hand, overtly or covertly, or make a deal with him, then accuse the other of collaborating with Washington. This is much bigger than the problem of striving to deal with the central issues in the region, or the hot spots, especially when the issue is the tragedy of bargaining on a people that is being slaughtered or waiting for the moment of their assassination.
No one will pay tribute to 2006 as a year of prosperity and stability in the Arab region, or of reducing the number of hungry people and creating job opportunities (if we exclude the torturers in Iraq). After the fall of all the taboos in the practice of politics, the loss of sovereignty of the borders under burden of achieving victory for the interests of the allies, the oppositions becoming lost in light of the engagement in battles threatening the homelands under the pretext of reform (like the case of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt), and driving Palestine to the madness of fighting: what is more important is that the ray of hope requires the miracle of returning to reason to get out of the dark tunnel that encircles the region with executioners.
This requires recognition that any victory is nothing but a total defeat, so long as it is a cause of national division, from the east to the west. There must also be recognition that schism begins when one party claims the 'absolute right', prompting the balance of citizenship to be tipped in favor of one party. It is the best way to plant the seeds of civil war.
What have the Arabs achieved? The answer definitely does not concern the Americans or whoever threatens to fight them, waiting for an improvement in the conditions set for a deal with Washington that will not be concluded. Meanwhile, Washington insists on betting on an impossible victory.
|
