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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 January 2000 Issue No. 463 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 January 2000 Issue No. 463
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Heritage Millennium Features Profile Living Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Domestic divisions
Ugly sectarian clashes in the village of Al-Kosheh near Sohag this week, reported attacks on priests and churches in Lebanon and the ongoing dispute between Muslims and Christian Palestinians in Nazareth are all extremely alarming events, but should not come as a surprise.At the beginning of a new century, many Arabs seem to have lost the main principles on which their states were built in the second half of the 20th century. National unity and the concept of citizenship regardless of religion or ideological beliefs were indispensable factors in the formation of these new states. They had also been the backbone of the Arab peoples' struggle to oust foreign occupation.
In the case of Egypt, the famous picture of a priest and an Azharite scholar raising the Egyptian flag together during the 1919 Revolution is not just a memory, but a symbol of one of the main cornerstones of this country's formation. As for the Palestinians, their long years of struggle against Israeli occupation would not have been possible if the internal front had not been united. In the recent dispute over the building of a mosque next to a church in Nazareth, however, warnings that Israel would be the only beneficiary of any internal Palestinians disputes, were ignored by the parties involved despite their long common history in the struggle against occupation. The Lebanese, finally, are more aware than any other Arab country of the devastating consequences of sectarian strife.
Some experts believe that the Arabs need to rethink their identity and agree on a new project of domestic and regional unity. Democracy, development, social justice and improvement of living standards are all very difficult challenges, which need to be addressed immediately throughout the Arab world. Yet they cannot be confronted unless each of the Arab states is internally united. We need to think not only about how to restore unity, but also to remind ourselves that, without it, our existence as nations is in danger.
