Only unity in action can save the Arab order from imminent collapse, and the Arab world from new waves of colonialism and desolation, writes Hassan Nafaa* "The Arab role has disintegrated and vanished. The Arab position is weak and in tatters. Palestinian ranks are divided and in disarray. These factors combined have given rise to a policy borne of arrogance and contempt of riding roughshod over the Arabs. In Egypt we have a folk saying that goes, 'Once you know it will pay, wring out the last drop.' Evidently Israel could see the Arabs as easy prey and set about wringing out the last drop by occupying their land, building settlements, imposing blockades and wreaking murder and destruction. This is the heart of the matter. We must change the way Israel looks at us. We must reassess our position in its entirety and forge a solid, respectable collective Arab position. The lives of nations in international relations are like the lives of individuals in society. Those that respect themselves will be respected. Those that abase themselves invite contempt. They might win some pity, or a feeble sympathetic smile, or even a bit of benefit, but they will also be dealt a large amount of mockery and scorn." With these moving words, Arab League Secretary- General Amr Moussa opened the extraordinary session of the Arab foreign Ministers Council on 31 December in Cairo. The fiendish Israeli killing machine was thrashing through Gaza reaping a huge harvest of innocent Arab lives. On 19 January, on the fringes of the Arab economic summit in Kuwait, Moussa addressed a large assembly of representatives of Arab civil society and the business community saying: "The Arab League has been placed on the defensive in the face of this assault that may lead to the collapse of the entire Arab order if this uneven situation that we perceive and are experiencing even at this moment persists. The Arab League needs our support against all who are trying to demean it or destroy it or circumvent it. The Arab League is the foremost manifestation of collective Arab action. Without it, Arab collective action will collapse and the League that assembles us together and that we seek to bind us closer together will collapse." This was three weeks after the bombardment of Gaza had begun and the carnage was still going on. The secretary-general's statement painfully drove home how the Israeli aggression and the sharp Arab divisions over how to respond threatened to abort a huge drive towards closer Arab economic cooperation that had been on the verge of bearing fruit in Kuwait. "We have seen Israel ravage our Palestinian people in Gaza, sewing death, starvation and devastation. It came as a profound shock to the Arab national conscience and proved a difficult trial of Arab capacities. Clearly, the Arab condition needs re-examination, proceeding from the premise that Arab and Palestinian divisions and fragmentation have cleared the path for Israel's arrogant brutality. If this condition persists it will lead to further deterioration in our position and mounting exhibitions of scorn for us. Therefore, I hope that it is clear that remedying the Arab-Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli dilemma is contingent upon the formulation of a vigorous unified Arab position and following through on it. This, in turn, urgently demands substantial reform in inter-Arab relations. The Arab ship is riddled with holes and we have reached the point where it threatens to sink." Moussa addressed this desperate plea to Arab heads of state themselves during the recent meeting at the economic summit that had been planned for more than a year and that followed a series of futile summits that stirred more ridicule from the Arab people than they aroused anyone's sympathy. It was therefore not odd that the Arab League secretary general would conclude his address to a summit that took place against a backdrop of the freshly spilled blood of thousands of women and children in Gaza with what seemed like a lament over an Arab order on the edge of its grave: "I know that my prime responsibility is to safeguard this Arab house against cracks and to develop and modernise it. Yet at the moment when we thought we were on the verge of success in achieving this end, we found our house once again threatening to collapse and the fault for this lies more with the family within than with outside causes... I pray that it is not too late to recover our senses and revive our collective spirit, will and determination." I cited these moving passages from Moussa's speeches during the three-week period that coincided with the Israeli massacre in Gaza in order to drive home the extent of the peril and the magnitude of the tragedy that faces the Arab world at present. It is rare for the senior official of the Arab League to speak so bluntly and bitterly about the house that he is charged to protect and that he fears is on the verge of collapse, and that he likens to a sinking ship with a hull full of holes. These grim images were in my mind when I met with Moussa in his home following his return from the summit in Kuwait in the hope of hearing his personal assessment of the Arab situation at this critical moment. Moussa is a seasoned professional diplomat who knows how to keep his feelings in check and chooses his words with care. Even so, I sensed that he was anxious, that he felt that matters had spun out of control and that he had lost hope in any improvement in the situation in the near future. I must stress here that I am not quoting the secretary general directly, but rather relating the impressions I formed in the course of our discussion. Our conversation focussed on two issues. The first was the question of Arab reconciliation. The suggestion that this was at hand at the end of the first day inspired a wave of hope that quickly proved unfounded following the feeble statement issued on events in Gaza. Moussa seemed more pessimistic than I had anticipated with regards to the possibility of solidifying Arab ranks, especially within the Egyptian-Syrian-Saudi triangle. To me, this has but one implication, which is that the Arab order has been reduced to something limp and headless. The second subject concerned the memorandum of understanding signed between Tzipi Livni and Condoleezza Rice on the last weekend of Bush's term in the White House. The secretary-general appeared greatly disturbed by the prospect of this development leading to the entrance of NATO fleets and forces into Arab territorial waters on the pretext of fighting arms smuggling to terrorist groups. I could not help sense the foreboding prospect that the Arab world is on the threshold of a new era of colonisation and total blockade. The only glimmer of hope that I could detect from the secretary-general during this meeting was in his cautious optimism regarding the new US administration's appointment of George Mitchell as its special envoy to the Middle East. His optimism was contingent on whether or not Mitchell would be carrying with him concrete ideas and proposals. At the time, Mitchell had not yet arrived. The fear was that if he were just coming to listen and solicit ideas, then he would merely be setting in motion again that same vicious circle that his many predecessors trod. In all events, it is obvious that to depend on solutions coming from others is a losing game. The reason for this is simple: the fault resides within us, the Arabs. If we do not set our own house in order, we cannot expect others to succeed where we failed, even if they wanted to and if they were sincere in this desire. In order to reform ourselves we must first identify the ailment. This I believe is apparent to all, including the secretary- general, even if some are in denial. Consequently, the real problem is not in our diagnostic abilities but in our refusal to take the necessary medicine. Some, of course, protest that the medicine does not even exist or that if it does it will not work. Others will pretend that it is far too bitter and painful to countenance. I have no doubt that Amr Moussa put his finger on the ailment when he told Arab foreign ministers: "Evidently Israel could see the Arabs as easy prey and set about wringing out the last drop by occupying their land, building settlements, imposing blockades and wreaking murder and destruction." In the same speech he also put his finger on the medicine: "This is the heart of the matter. We must change the way Israel looks at us. We must reassess our position in its entirety and forge a solid, respectable collective Arab position." Now what did Moussa mean precisely? Here is how I interpreted it: First, Israel is the problem. As long as its ambitions remain unbridled and its ruthlessness towards the Arabs remain unrestrained the Arabs will have no hope of realising stability and development, regardless of how ingenious their methods or how great their efforts. Second, the way in which the Arabs have handled the conflict with Israel so far, with some governments signing separate peace agreements and others at a later juncture rushing to normalise relations before Israel fulfilled the requisite obligations to conclude a comprehensive settlement, has proved fundamentally wrong. It only led Israel to growing bolder and more relentless. This is why the Arabs have to reassess their position in its entirety. Third, no single power in the Arab world can handle the conflict with Israel, whether through peaceful or military means, single-handedly. The conflict affects all Arabs without exception. Therefore, all must rally together to confront it within the framework of a unified vision capable of mobilising all our energies in a way that optimises on what each is capable of giving, without asking too much or too little. Did others understand Amr Moussa's words as I did? If so, did this message hit home? I doubt it. He was addressing Arab officialdom and where is the rest of the Arab world with respect to them? Before taking my leave from Amr Moussa I asked him, "When do you think you will come to a dead end and that you will have no choice but to hand in your resignation?" The question did not take him by surprise. He laughed and said, "That is a typical journalist's question." "No it's not," I objected. "It's more of a philosophical question." "What do you mean?" "I mean that it's not easy for a man in your position to determine when resigning in protest against practices he feels are wrong is the correct action to take and in keeping with the responsibility he is charged with. This is a complicated subject, not just a journalistic question." He smiled and said, "Then it's a subject that we could discuss in our next meeting." Will the next Arab summit convene as scheduled in March? That question suddenly popped into my mind as I headed to the airport. Then, just as quickly, it occurred to me that if the Arabs can not improve the way they handle the conflict with Israel then there is not much point whether the summit goes ahead or not -- or any future Arab summit for that matter. * The writer is secretary-general of the Arab Thought Forum, Amman, Jordan.
