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June 7, 2002
Arabs against new state
CARL ALPERT SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
It is becoming increasingly clear that the Arab/Muslim world is
not the least bit interested in the creation of a state of Palestine.
Indeed, while lip service is paid to the Palestinians, genuine assistance
is being withheld. Pledges of aid have totalled billions of dollars,
but actual payments have been received only in drizzles. At a time
when the Palestinian economy has practically collapsed and the Palestine
Authority is making desperate calls on the neighboring Arab countries
to be more receptive to their agricultural products, there appears
to be little genuine desire to help.
The Arab refugee camps, where hundreds of thousands of people are
kept in sub-standard living conditions, are managed by the Palestinians
themselves. It would have been expected that the plight of the refugees
would have drawn generous philanthropic help from their kinfolk
and co-religionists, but financial maintenance of the camps is left
to UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in the Near
East.
Where do the funds come from? In recent years the United States
provided 30 per cent of the budget. Less than one per cent came
from wealthy Saudi Arabia. The records show that Syria gave $37,000
US and Egypt only $10,000 US. Iraq and Libya gave nothing.
This, despite the fact that continued existence of the camps is
recognized as a political weapon against Israel. UNRWA's representative,
Saheil Alhinadi, has praised Hamas suicide bombers for their attacks
on Israel.
The Palestinians are well aware of the lack of enthusiasm by the
neighboring states for their nationalist goals, though normally
they are reluctant to air it. Yet Sheikh Muhammad Ibrahim Al-Madhi,
in a sermon from a Gaza mosque broadcast live on Palestinian TV
and recorded by the Middle East Media Research Institute, was outspoken.
He said: "There is a secret resolution decided upon by, unfortunately,
many of the Arab and Muslim nations. While [the Palestinians] sacrifice
the last Palestinian child and the last Palestinian fetus, [the
Arab nations] will satisfy themselves with victories on the soccer
courts, with music summits and with Arab and Muslim summits. Where
are the summits? Where are their decisions?"
The basic objections to a Palestine entity by the neighboring states
are that such a state, if and when it comes into existence will,
under international pressure, and with Israel as a model, be democratic
in nature and, by its very existence will constitute a challenge
to the existing autocratic Muslim governments. That is one fundamental
reason for their objection to Israel's presence in the area as well.
Underground revolt movements will draw inspiration from the Palestinian
demonstration that Islam and democracy need not be contradictory.
Israel's presence in the Middle East has been bad enough, one of
the few countries in the Middle East where Muslim women can vote.
In Saudi Arabia, where a secret underground movement is said to
exist, King Fahd has been quoted as saying that, next to the Jews,
he hates the Palestinians the most. This, because of what they have
learned from Israel during their exposure to it.
Further, they are well aware that a tiny Palestine state, squeezed
alongside Israel, can never be viable. With no natural resources,
no water, no national tradition of self-government, the little state
will constitute a perpetual drain on their resources.
It is obvious that many of the Arab states are armed to the teeth.
Over a 10-year period, the Unites States has provided 11 Middle
Eastern states, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt, Kuwait, United Arab
Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, Lebanon, Oman, Yemen and Qatar, with
more than 74 billion dollars worth of arms and military training.
There has been an enormous stockpiling of armaments, but acute observers
believe the menace is not to Israel. The Muslim states know that
in the event of a regional war, the United States would support
Israel. Besides, they have already experienced disastrous defeats
in previous assaults on Israel. Their defence is against threats
from within, on the one hand from revolutionary, pro-democratic
movements and, on the other hand, from rogue states. They have not
forgotten Iraq's sudden invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and the threat
to Saudi Arabia at the same time.
Kathleen Christison, author of Perceptions of Palestine: Their Influence
on U.S. Middle East Policy, put it very well: "Most of the
Arab states that purchase arms in such large quantities do indeed
see the arms as some kind of guarantee of their own internal stability."
Carl Alpert is a freelance writer living in Haifa.
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