Achievements that did not go beyond denouncing statements
An institution that bears a great title of unified Arab feeling, but unfortunately we discovered too late that it carries within it the titles of failure and defeat, an institution that made us live a long time of illusions as it did not succeed in solving a single Arab problem among its members, and that failure crossed the Arab borders. Its achievements and activities did not go beyond statements of condemnation. The denunciation, and in the best cases, the speech is in a strongly worded language. The annual subscriptions and the amount of financial and moral support that the institution receives, in whose corridors and vestibules the members of the Arab countries gather, suggest to the viewer that it has an effective political presence.
It is the League of Arab States, which is said to have been a British idea to attract public opinion and push the Arabs to stand with it in World War II against Germany, by addressing their feelings and the dreams of unity that they had by issuing a statement by Anthony Eden, who was appointed by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill as Minister of Foreign Affairs in December 23, 1940. Aiden was the first to put forward the idea of establishing the League of Arab States, in a speech in May 1941.
What is strange about the implications of this institution is the absence of the concept of the Arab nation, the Arab homeland, or even one people, as if the title suggests the existence of multiple peoples united only by coordination and cooperation, and one of the ironies of its decisions is that they are not binding on the members.
◙ The League of Arab States has expired, and a new league must be established, as happened in the founding of the United Nations on the ruins of the League of Nations.
This university was not able to achieve harmony and consensus between Iraq and Kuwait, or clarify its position on the events in Syria and Libya, or even clarify its position on the Arab Spring revolutions. Rather, it was not able to stop the invading armies that set foot on the Gulf in its first and second wars and remained idly by due to the dominance of external decision-making. on her.
I can’t find any analogy for it except that it is a union of presidents and leaders and a gathering of retirees and senior politicians.
We will not criticize its role in addressing Arab issues, “what harm does it have to do with Mit Eelam?” In the end, it is an organization like any other that is subject to pressures that go beyond it and prevent it from expressing an independent opinion.
The secretaries of the Arab League are not good at their jobs except feelings of deep anxiety. What is happening to the Arabs has proven their league’s permanent inability in the face of what is happening to the people of Gaza, especially that fruitless statement issued by the extraordinary session of the Council of Arab Foreign Ministers on October 11, 2023, which was held following Operation Al-Aqsa flood and the Israeli escalation on the Gaza Strip, as the second paragraph of it stipulated condemning the killing and targeting of civilians on both sides and all acts contrary to international law and international humanitarian law, and emphasizing the need to protect civilians, in keeping with common humanitarian values and international law, and the need to release civilians and all prisoners and detainees. It is as if the Arab League statement equates the killer with the victim. Frankly speaking, the League of Arab States has expired and a new league must be established, as happened in the founding of the United Nations on the ruins of the League of Nations. Here two basic questions come to mind that I know have no answer, namely: Why is the idea of rotating the position of Secretary-General of the League not put forward? All Arab countries where the Secretary-General’s affiliation with the headquarters country (Egypt) has become a prevailing custom? Why is an Arab Christian not allowed to run for the General Secretariat? Aren’t Arab Christians part of the Arab component in the region?
O Arabs, your institution that claims to be a university for Arab countries has become clinically dead when it announced its failure to solve your problems, and it is time for you to look for an alternative. It is said that former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat had proposed converting the Arab League building in Cairo into a hotel, and we will add nothing more to this proposal than what we proposed: that the university headquarters be a café for retirees and off-duty politicians to have cups of tea and coffee.
