Beyond disaster

How much worse does the situation have to become before the Arab world takes the steps necessary to effect a remedy? Iraq is occupied, Palestinians face a daily onslaught, Syria is openly threatened, Saudi Arabia covertly so and Sudan is on the verge of disintegration. Such is the backdrop against which President Mubarak recently issued warnings about the costs of continued Arab disunity.

Nor will it suffice for Arab states to continue to call on the US, the UN and other members of the international community to sympathise with the plights of the Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese and their attempts to restore occupied land, or with the right of Iraqis to exercise control over their own sovereignty, or with the desires of various Arab populations to ensure their own development and build democracies tailored to fit specific social and religious contexts.

The situation will only improve when Arab countries decide, once and for all, that they can no longer spend time and energy arguing among themselves as their world collapses, and instead close ranks. Without bringing inter- Arab squabbling to an end there is no doubt that Washington, let alone Tel Aviv, will move towards accommodating the concerns of Arab capitals regarding the situation in the Palestinian territories, Iraq or elsewhere in the Arab world.

It is up to countries with the political weight of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to facilitate the changes necessary in the collective Arab political performance. Joint initiatives by these countries, combined with efforts to enhance the role of the Arab League, are essential if we are to move beyond the disasters that currently plague the region.

The Arab world must finally emerge from the dark tunnel it entered with the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and it must do so now, before it is too late.