1948 and 2006: A case of déjà vu?

By Magdi Mehanna

---

Arab governments seem to have taken Israel's side in the current debacle. Why else would Arab leaders have reprimanded Hizbullah for miscalculations? Other Arab capitals tried to play it safe, withholding any comments, though their silence spoke volumes. Yemen attempted to pressure for an Arab summit to be convened but no one else was interested.

In the two weeks that have passed since Israel began attacking Lebanon what have Arab countries done? Well, they have called for a ceasefire and the implementation of UN Resolution 1559, which calls for Hizbullah to be disarmed. That's where our governments stand. Yet the Arab street is decidedly pro-Hizbullah, with the public accusing their governments of selling out. Arab governments must have felt uneasy when Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbullah's chief, asked them to be kind enough to distinguish between the prey and the predator. Subsequently there has been a very slight toning down in criticisms of Hizbullah.

Apparently, our officials don't care what the public thinks. It is a situation that is reminiscent of 1948, when one war ended in major regime changes across the region. Will history repeat itself? The 1948 war robbed the then Arab governments of their credibility, and that is what the current war is doing. What makes this situation particularly alarming is that now we have foreign powers who want to redraw the map of the region and shape it in a way that suits their own purposes.

This week's Soapbox speaker is a veteran columnist at the daily Al-Masry Al-Yom .