The Muslim News - The GCC and Gaza, a reflection of Arab impotence

Issue 237, Friday 30 January 2009 - 4 Safar 1430

The GCC and Gaza, a reflection of Arab impotence

By Dr Saeed Shehabi

The public feelings of outrage and despair due to the lack of action by Arab regimes in defence of the people of Gaza have become a distinguishing feature associated with the latest Israeli aggression. Despite the ceasefire, blame is particularly directed at Egypt and Saudi Arabia for what many view as their tacit support for the failed attempt to destroy Hamas.

While Egypt refused to allow free passage of aid to Gaza from Rafah crossing, Saudi Arabia has maintained its political and “religious” pressures against Hamas. Both countries have maintained their anti-Hamas positions through political, media and economic means. Both have failed to take any measure that could be construed as effective pressure on the Israelis and their backers in Washington to stop the attack by Gaza.

The Egyptian President, unlike President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Juan Evo Morales of Bolivia, has refused to heed the calls for freezing the diplomatic contacts with the Zionist entity by recalling the Egyptian Ambassador in Tel Aviv or expelling the Israeli Ambassador in Cairo. Egypt’s Foreign Minister, Abdul Gheit, attacked Sayyid Hassan NasrAllah, the Hizbullah leader, for his calls on the Egyptian people to demonstrate in the streets against the Israeli aggression. The Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt has been targeted with mass arrests and media attacks for its pro-Hamas stand and organising anti-Israeli protests.

Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, has failed to heed the calls for a limited oil embargo as a means of pressurising the West into effective action to stop the war. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was reportedly furious when he was asked by an Islamic delegation led by Shaykh Yousuf Al Qaradawi, to undertake efforts to support the Palestinians. The meeting lasted for only few minutes as the Saudi monarch launched his attack against Hamas and its supporters, and rebuked the scholars for their pro-Palestinian stand. The Saudi authorities have banned any demonstration in support of the Palestinians. When a demonstration was staged by Muslims in the Eastern Province, they were mercilessly attacked, and some demonstrators sustained injuries. The authorities later denied that any protest had been staged, while Reuters had managed to report on the attack and issued testimonies of those who had been injured.

While the governments of the Arab states of the Gulf have done little to help the Palestinians of Gaza, the people’s feelings could not be suppressed. In Bahrain, demonstrations have been waged regularly, called for by the religious scholars despite the official ban on such demonstrations. Some of these protests were attacked by the security forces. In Kuwait, however, the Members of Parliament took a different stand. They signed a petition calling for banning the Palestinian President, Mahmood Abbas, from attending the Arab Economic Summit which was held in Kuwait on January 19. When a special summit on Gaza situation was held in Qatar on January 18, both Saudi Arabia and Egypt not only boycotted it but acted collectively to dissuade other countries from attending. The summit was eventually held as a “Gaza Emergency Summit” not an “Arab Summit” as the Arab countries who attended could not make the quorum, thanks to Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Following a sudden visit by President Hosni Mubarak to Riyadh on January 13, both countries agreed not to attend the proposed Doha summit. The Egypt-Saudi axis has thus become an alternative to the Arab consensus and is operating within the US and Israeli agenda.

It is widely believed that the latest Gaza crisis was a war between two distinct political ideologies. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan represent an axis that is becoming more submissive to the Israeli and American politics and pressures. The countries which supported the resistance to occupation of Palestine and the US domination over the Arab and Muslim world are headed by Iran. Hizbullah, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood fall within this axis which is also supported by Syria.

The Israeli aggression has solidified the position of each party, and this may explain the reluctance of the Arab regimes to take a principled stand to defend the Palestinians. Most of them believe that Hamas is a threat to “peace” exemplified by the US-brokered treaties that have not been able to withstand the public scrutiny and have largely remained ineffective.

Gaza is surrounded from all sides except from the sea which is controlled by the Israeli naval forces. When an Iranian ship carrying medical and food supplies attempted to dock at Gaza, it was prevented by the Egyptian forces after an alert from the Israelis.

The bickering among the Arab rulers encouraged the Israelis to continue their aggressive offensive, while the international community was unable to implement UNSC Resolution 1860 which had called for a ceasefire. There is a growing disparity between the Arab masses and their rulers especially as the horrific images of the slaughtered Palestinian women and children continue to be flashed across the world despite the ceasefire. It is a situation of anger and despair that could herald more instability, fanaticism and terrorism, only to create more failures of the so called US War on Terror.

George Bush has now left the scene but will his legacy last? Or will Barack Obama be different? Whatever happens to the Israeli-driven US policy towards Palestine, the scene may have been set for an eventual showdown between the Arab people and their governments who have failed them in their hour of need. The GCC countries, in particular, have failed to heed the call for a halt in oil exports, or at least, the threat of it.

That would have been a great help to the Palestinians who were slaughtered in the killing fields created by Israel and their supporters in the West and in the Arab world.

*The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh, said that street demonstrations, which are strictly banned in the kingdom, “are unnecessary and meaningless.” The mufti instead recommended donating money and sending aid to Palestinians in Gaza.