11 - 17 April 2002
Issue No.581
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 11 - 17 April 2002 Issue No.581 |
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War by other means
Sabre-rattling can do graver damage than any the enemy hopes to inflict, warns Ibrahim Nafie
At one of the most critical crossroads ever, the Arabs face the risk of jettisoning all the progress they have made towards stability, peace and development over the past decades. Together, the Arabs have fought for war and peace. Regardless of their differences, when put to the test they have always been able to demonstrate unity, rendering the Arab world a concrete force despite attempts to disparage it.
History has shown that at times of duress Egypt has never stood alone. Differences did not prevent the other Arab nations from rushing to our side following the tripartite invasion of 1956 and the 1967 defeat. Similarly, when, in October 1973, Egypt and Syria joined forces against a common enemy, the Arabs from the Atlantic to the Gulf rallied behind them. Because the Arab nation has been able to sustain a minimum level of solidarity, it could confront the challenges of the transition to the post-Cold War period, the Iranian Revolution and the Gulf War, and emerge not only with the boons of oil, peace and friendship with the world's sole remaining superpower, but also liberated territory in the Sinai, Jordan and southern Lebanon, as well as the knowledge that the Palestinian flag flew over an internationally recognised Palestinian Authority.
Yet the Arab governments are now being taunted as weak and negligent by those whose only contribution has been to leave us the tab for their demagogic follies. The Arab world, as a result, is currently under assault on two fronts. On one side are the gangsters of the Israeli extreme right, determined to slight Arab moderates, overthrow Yasser Arafat and the PA, and roll back any progress made toward peace. On the other are Islamist groups, Arab nationalists and Nasserists. Also clamouring to turn back the clock, they exploit the Palestinians' torment at the hands of Sharon to denounce Arab governments and, beneath fine-sounding slogans, push our leaders to precipitous action that would imperil vital regional and national interests.
Arab governments must also act in the knowledge that the US and Europe are so thoroughly immersed in Israeli propaganda that they too have come to see the Arab world as a terrorist nest best obliterated. Thus while the wholesale massacre of Palestinians rages in Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin and Bethlehem, the West remains absorbed with its plans for invading Iraq and punishing Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Libya.
For Israel's sake, too, the US and Europe remain ever ready, not only to neglect their vast interests in the Middle East, but to set aside human rights, self-determination and humanitarian intervention, principles which they have trying to promote in the region for years. When a fanatic attacked a church in Upper Egypt, the US Congress and European human rights groups cried out in alarm and rushed to Egypt. Today, when the Israelis are bombing the Church of Nativity, no one in the West, not even the Vatican, raises more than a feeble murmur of protest. Equally ironic are calls issuing from the democratic West to dismantle the democratically elected PA government on the grounds that Sharon feels that it is not a suitable peace partner.
US credibility in the Arab world has hit rock bottom. It began to plummet before 11 September because of America's veto on an international force to protect the Palestinian people. Washington hoped to recuperate some of its credibility by allowing the Security Council to pass the recent resolution condemning Israel for its reoccupation of Palestinian cities, but we have not forgotten that Washington gave Israel the green light for this offensive in the first place.
In the UN, too, President Bush refused to shake hands with President Arafat, a veteran soldier in the struggle for his people's liberation, while he had no compunction about fawning on Sharon, universally recognised as a war criminal. US Secretary of State Colin Powell also deliberately snubbed the Palestinian president in his visit to the region.
The pressure confronting us demands unity among Arab nations and between Arab governments and their people. Nothing would serve Israel better than a rift, which it would gladly widen through deliberate provocation. And while Sharon gloats over our divisions, he enjoys the support of the overwhelming majority of the Israeli people, having convinced them that the very future of their state is at risk, and that in Israel unity has priority over party and ideological affiliations.
Our current battle requires a media policy commensurate to the challenges before us. The public must realise that poison can taste sweet, but that the result of rhetorical one-upmanship is fragmentation. Assailing our governments and leaders at this time will open a wound far more gaping than any the enemy can inflict. The Arab media must know not only how to raise the Arabs' awareness, but how to get the message out in a world where public opinion counts for so much. It must reflect an awareness of the power the media now wields in international conflicts, a power that in Israel's hands has turned premeditated murder into "self defence," ethnic cleansing into minor demographic changes and a brutal occupying power into a defenceless country drowning in a sea of savage Arabs.
We do not have to delve deep into the past to find painful examples of how the Arab media have hampered vital decisionmaking processes. Making war is the most dangerous and potentially costly activities a nation can engage in. Egypt, perhaps more than other countries in the region, knows the sacrifices entailed. The purpose of war, however, is to accomplish a political end that diplomacy failed to achieve. War also entails risk calculation and potentially enormous human and material losses, particularly in these times. Certainly, Egypt is prepared to sustain all necessary sacrifices if it has no choice but to wage war in defence of its interests and integrity. Yet there is a vast difference between a responsible and reasoned decision to wage war, and sabre-rattling broadcast by people who know only how to shout.
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