Voices from the Arab press: Now is not the time for chants about Jerusalem
A weekly selection of opinions and analyses from the Arab media around the world.
By THE MEDIA LINEWORKERS BOARD up a branch of BLC Bank in Sidon, Lebanon, on May 1(photo credit: ALI HASHISHO/REUTERS)NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR CHANTS ABOUT JERUSALEM!Al-Arab, London, May 29Despite the chants coming from senior members of Hezbollah, who vow that we will all soon be praying in Jerusalem, there is only one truth in the region, at least in the foreseeable future: Israel was, and still is, the sovereign in Jerusalem. And it is not going to vanish overnight. There is, unfortunately, nothing other than this reality. Announcing that we will pray in al-Aqsa will not change the truth.Before Hassan Nasrallah and his aides prepare to pray in Jerusalem, it is necessary to look at some figures related to Syria and Lebanon.Today, 86% of Syrians live below the poverty line, while Iran considers how to recover the estimated $30 billion it spent in the country to protect the Bashar Assad regime. Syria needs at least $500b. to rebuild itself.Who exactly is going to come to Syria’s help, given the current financial crisis caused by the coronavirus epidemic and the drop in the price of oil? Frankly, no one.In parallel to the figures coming out of Syria, we’re also witnessing alarming figures in Lebanon. The Lebanese banking sector is quite literally on the verge of collapse, and the country’s education system is about to be obliterated. People who want to pray in Jerusalem forget that hunger and poverty threaten a million Lebanese citizens.This is what the regional director of the World Food Program and his representative in Lebanon, Abdullah al-Wardat, warned of. Wardat said that a million Lebanese are at risk of falling below the food poverty line this year, noting that the program is preparing to provide emergency food assistance to support some 50,000 Lebanese families exposed to the repercussions of the current economic crises.Yes, before praying in Jerusalem, there is hunger, there is suffering, there is death, and there is a need for real political leadership that speaks truth to its people. Syria and Lebanon are in shambles. Nevertheless, there are those who want to pray in Jerusalem.This does not mean, of course, that the Israeli occupation of the holy city can be justified. It also does not mean that we should condone Israel’s desire to perpetuate its occupation of Jerusalem and the West Bank. But before delivering promises to pray in Jerusalem, it might be wiser to think of ways to avoid a disaster in Lebanon and Syria. The numbers don’t lie. They show the raw and harsh truth unfolding around us. People must confront these figures before making empty promises.Turning Israel into a ploy or a distraction undermines the magnitude of both our problems at home, as well as the plight of the Palestinian people.– Kheir Allah Kheir AllahEND OF THE OSLO ERAAl-Masry Al-Youm, Egypt, May 28Despite the enduring COVID-19 crisis and the media’s preoccupation with covering the disease, the brutal wars unfolding in the Middle East have not waned.The Syrian crisis is still unfolding with great intensity, with regional powers such as Turkey and Iran and foreign powers such as the US and Russia getting increasingly involved. Despite the spread of the virus, fighting in the country has only intensified.In Yemen, despite a temporary ceasefire, clashes between the legitimate government and the Southern Transitional Council have renewed, leading to even more bloodshed.And in Palestine, Israeli plans to annex large swaths of Palestinian lands are moving forward despite the virus. Just last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed his intention to annex the Jordan Valley and Israeli settlements in the West Bank.In response, the Palestinian leadership finally announced the cancellation of the quarter-of-a-century-old Oslo Accords, which served as the basis for the establishment of the Palestinian Authority.This Palestinian move did not surprise anyone. The Palestinians have been keeping their mouths shut for too long. Even after the US revealed its humiliating “Deal of the Century” in January 2020, stripping the Palestinians of their rights and offering them nothing in return, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas remained diplomatic. But with the wake of continuous Israeli and American violations of the Oslo Accords and deep disrespect for the Palestinians, Abu Mazen finally decided to take action.This move is not without a price. The internal Palestinian divide is at its peak. There are deep-seated disagreements even within the PLO, making it even more difficult to unite the Palestinian leadership around the cause.However, despite the internal Palestinian divisions, the biggest difficulty faced by its leadership is actually its inability to make legitimate use of weapons. This situation completely prevents the use of armed force in service of the Palestinian national cause. With limited diplomatic tools at its disposal, the Palestinian leadership is highly limited in achieving liberation from the Israeli occupation.No less dangerous than that is the fact that the Oslo Accords also limit the Palestinians’ economic prosperity, by controlling the Palestinian economy, restricting who can and cannot work, and regulating travel throughout the West Bank.Sadly for the Palestinians, the present-day health crisis, combined with economic turmoil, has rendered the world oblivious to the Palestinian cause. The fact that public support for the two-state solution is declining on the Israeli side, coupled with US President Donald Trump’s blind support for the Israelis, certainly doesn’t bode well for the Palestinians.– Abdel Moneim Said BARACK OBAMA AND THE MIDDLE EAST REVOLUTIONSAl-Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 26I was asked a lot about the reason for which former US president Barack Obama was blind in his support for the Arab revolutions, a characteristic of his presidency that almost destroyed his country’s relations with the Arab world.The short answer to this question is that in Obama’s worldview, spreading freedom and democracy is paramount to anything else. Indeed, Obama’s worldview was shaped directly by the writings of scholars like Fareed Zakaria who believe that in order to fight terrorism, the Western world must first understand the reasons for its emergence. According to Zakaria, terrorism occurs due to the absence of democracy and the presence of oppression at the hands of dictatorial regimes. This idea clearly appealed to Obama, leading him to support the Arab revolutions with full force.Was Zakaria’s idea correct? Have the Arab revolutions succeeded in bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East, thereby eliminating terrorism?The answer here is very obvious. It suffices to look at the Muslim Brotherhood, the biggest winner of these revolutions, which failed miserably in governance in both Tunisia and Egypt.The most ironic part is that this failure could be attributed, in large part, to the strong tailwinds and backing that the movement received from leaders like Obama. In trying to eradicate terrorism through support and containment, Obama may have only helped spread terrorism. In seeking to replace one dictatorship with another, his vision for the Middle East was doomed to fail from the very beginning.– Hassan Al-MustafaTranslated by Asaf Zilberfarb.
