Points of weakness
Got a problem? Well, get others to solve it, or else spend your time complaining you cannot do anything yourself. This is what the Arab approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict seems to boil down to.
The US, it is said endlessly, has all the cards, all the means of pressuring Israel while the Arabs have nothing and cannot affect the course of events. It is an attitude that has seeped from the political arena to infect our daily lives. We produce less than we consume, export less than we import, we spend more than we earn and depend on the outside world for technology and research. And then we feign surprise when we are short-changed.
Of course we need allies, particularly with regard to the Arab-Israeli conflict. But this is no justification for our sense of powerlessness. The world will only help us if it perceives us to be useful. What happened in Iraq should furnish a salutary lesson. Morality, righteousness, and due process can all be twisted to fit the interests of the powers that be.
Weakness has become our mantra. Pundits expound on the limitations of our freedom of movement as if they are making interesting scientific discoveries. But would it not be more useful to focus on why we are so weak, and how to reverse the processes that got us into this fix? Perhaps we should make more effort to understand the particulars of our ailments and muster the resolve to change things.
This week's Soapbox speaker is assistant director of the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 22 - 28 May 2003 (Issue No. 639)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/639/op7.htm