With Israel fighting an undeclared Israeli-Arab war in the occupied territories and the US upping its anti-Arab rhetoric, life for the Palestinians is not getting easier. How should the Arabs react, asks Gamil Mattar The Arabs and the Palestinians expect more of each other than they can possibly give. It is easy for writers like us to call, from Cairo, Beirut, and London, on young Intifada militants to fight till victory or death. It is easy, for afterwards we put down our pens, send our articles to the press, and sit comfortably back, smug in the illusion that we have done our share, have participated in the struggle, have given the Intifada our words of wisdom, like coals to keep the fires burning. Some of us even take the trouble to organise demonstrations and marches in the streets, chanting slogans against America and Sharon, and pledging allegiance to the Intifada and to an independent Palestine. When such demonstrations end, whether peaceably or not, the demonstrators feel that their consciences have been assuaged: they have declared out loud their everlasting solidarity with the Palestinians and with their Intifada. They have paid homage to the Palestinian youths who sacrifice their comfort, safety, and lives in the struggle. However, there is still a catch, for while the demonstrators on such marches can go home to sleep in their own beds, activists in Palestine itself may very well not have a home or a bed to go to. Yet still we ask the Palestinians to keep on making sacrifices. We never tell them the truth, which is that we can do nothing for them other than the few, easy actions that we are presently undertaking on their behalf. The Palestinians seem to be acting in a similar manner, albeit in a very different context. The Palestinians have sacrificed, for their country and freedom, more than any other Arab nation has ever had to. They have given thousands of martyrs, having had to deal with an unimaginable range of horrors. It is therefore not surprising that when the Israeli noose around their necks seems to be growing ever tighter, snuffing out every remaining hope, they cry out for help from their Arab brothers. Today, the Palestinians have reached what seems to be a dead end in the struggle. Their leaders are being insulted and humiliated by Washington as well as by Tel Aviv, the Israelis abducting and murdering them at will, destroying their homes and trampling peace treaties under the feet of occupation soldiers. The Palestinians have little access to weapons, and they can no longer manufacture even rudimentary arms. Their very economic survival is at stake, with 70 per cent of Palestinians now living under the poverty line. Over half of Palestinians of working age are unemployed, Palestinian Authority funds are frozen in Israel, and European assistance, when it arrives, is irregular and conditional. Under the combined pressure of the Israeli occupation and foreign opinion, and with martyrdom looming on the horizon, the gap between the Palestinian public and the Palestinian Authority has also widened. Palestinian leaders have failed to live up to the expectations of their people. They should have acted better, avoiding any suspicion of misconduct, given that the country is in an emergency situation and Palestinians are dying at the points of Israeli guns. While the Palestinian public still supports its leaders whenever they are insulted, doubts have begun to emerge, these being fed by a US media that makes much of the corruption, the chaotic governance, and the lack of freedoms and political participation that have characterised life under the Palestinian Authority. Yet, while many of these allegations are distressingly true, the motives of the US in emphasising them at the expense of all else are malevolent and are part of a defamation campaign aiming to widen the gap between the Palestinian people and the Authority. This gap has always been there, the Palestinian Authority having failed to close it when the time was right. It failed to close it when the PLO leadership was in Tunisia, for example, when it was able to mobilise international opinion behind it. Corruption was widespread in Palestinian circles in Tunisia, and articles in the Arab press warned against it. However, the response of the Palestinian leadership to all such criticisms was simple: the battle against the enemy, it said, is ongoing and time is precious. Let us, therefore, postpone the issue of corruption until we return to the homeland. However, when the Palestinian leadership did return it did nothing to curb corruption. The Palestinian Authority is now paying the price for this failure, since what were once criticisms made by friends are now conditions laid down by enemies. The Palestinian Authority will probably be forced to act against corruption, but it may be that any such action will now come too late. Under these circumstances, the Palestinians have every right to hope for further Arab backing. And the Arabs also have the right to ask the Palestinians to institute reforms, improve their organisation and focus on the hard tasks ahead. It would also be helpful if both sides, the Arabs and the Palestinians, were able to recognise each other's limitations and acknowledge the narrow range of options available. These options have shrunk yet further since the United States declared its war on terror. Arab-US friendship has been one of the early victims of this new war. Washington has now adopted a hostile, even bellicose, manner in its dealings with many Arab capitals, letting fly with insults, mockery, and even open threats. Arab countries have for years expected continued US cordiality, Washington also expecting continued Arab cooperation, knowing that Arab interests depend on US goodwill. This background of good relations has meant that when relations declined precipitously after 11 September 2001 the results were all the more painful. Both sides have discovered that the cordiality linking Arab governments and the US has long concealed undercurrents of anger against US foreign policy among the general population. It is also clear that the options of Arab countries have narrowed since the beginning of the US war on terror, and that certain Arab countries are now living, like the Palestinian Authority, under a constant barrage of fire from the US media. The US now makes no secret of its "undeclared war" against some Arab countries, hinting that it will preempt any threat by attacking without prior warning, whether that threat comes from a country or from a militant group within a country. Today, Arab and Islamic countries are doing all they can to let Washington know that they understand this message. Nothing can be done that might annoy or raise the suspicions of Washington's ruling elite, with the Arab states helpless to act against Israel, or to impede Israeli plans in Palestine. There is now an Israeli-initiated, Israeli-Arab war taking place in the occupied territories, and if the aim of this was to make Arab governments feel helpless, it has been achieved. If the aim was to make the Palestinians feel that their Arab brothers have let them down badly, this has also been achieved. If the aim was to prepare all the Arabs, psychologically, morally and materially, to expect a brutal offensive against Iraq, this has been achieved. Three aims have already been achieved, and war is still only warming up. This is perhaps the first time that an exclusively Israeli war can be described as an Israeli-Arab war, since this is the first time that all the Arab countries have made a decision not to go to war in the face of such Israeli aggression. However, the war, whether the Arabs participate in it or not, is taking a terrible toll on the Arab countries. And it is only just beginning. Related stories: See AL-AQSA INTIFADA SPECIAL
