BEIRUT — The recent Arab League meeting in Cairo exposed the failure of Arab regimes to repel the plot to displace the residents of Gaza and the West Bank to Egypt and Jordan. 

They also failed to abort the Israeli expansionist threats they face, which make no distinction at all between a normalizing regime and one that rejects normalization.

This is not new! For decades, the Arab bloc has failed to agree on a unified defense vision, abandoning the framework intended to unite them. They have focused on preserving the interests of one nation at the expense of another.

The recent Arab League meeting once again announced its adherence to the “Beirut Initiative of 2002” that was repeatedly rejected by the temporary entity to achieve its mischievous project of fragmenting West Asia and annexing large parts of it.

In his book titled “People, States, and Fear: The National Security Problem”, Barry Buzan defines the concept of regional security as the interdependence of several states within a specific geographic area in the form of action and reaction, which ultimately produces a set of security dynamics. 

Accordingly, wisdom assumes that every shared interest is guaranteed. God Almighty says: {And thus We have made you a just community that you will be witnesses over the people…} [Al-Baqarah: 143] and {You are the best nation produced for mankind…} [Al-Imran: 110].

What constitutes a milestone for the Arab world are its foundations linked by factors of language, civilization, religion, history, and a common enemy. 

These are solid foundations that far surpass those of other regional blocs such as the European Union.

When the idea of the Arab League first crystallized, its principles centered around common issues such as the Palestinian cause. However, imperialist powers succeeded in directing each individual regime to focus on its own narrow interests, in addition to fabricating an imaginary enemy, i.e. Iran.

This, in addition to stoking differences among Arab peoples along sectarian, regional, and ethnical lines, led them to abandon their common causes and, in many cases, even fuel internal disputes.

The imperialist powers have succeeded in convincing some naive people of the feasibility of “peace” with the Israeli enemy, just as they have succeeded in pushing some to reject the resistance movements and disperse them from one country to another, not to mention depriving peoples of the right to elect ruling system that reflect their will and choices.

While the experiences of international unions have adhered to the principles of integration and solidarity as a means of preserving common interests, Arab countries have only succeeded in isolating themselves and building shameful alliances that have primarily harmed national security, as happened with the establishment of the Saudi-Emirati coalition to suppress the Yemeni revolution, and more recently, the so-called Prosperity Alliance in support of the Israeli enemy in the Red Sea.

These alliances have only contributed to weakening Arab countries by subjecting them to the US hegemony and their dependence on the red lines set by the colonial powers, preventing them from capitalizing on the resistance movement’s combined strengths, as is the case in Lebanon.

This has also prompted the Lebanese president during the recent summit to say: “Lebanon has suffered greatly. But it has learned from its suffering; it has learned not to be a target for others’ wars.”
Incidentally, Aoun’s words require a lengthy but pointless explanation on who are the OTHERS!

Since the heroic Al-Aqsa Flood Operation, most Arab countries have been content to observe and play the role of passive mediators. Some have even conspired against the resistance in service of the Israeli project.

They have gone so far as to hold the resistance forces responsible for the barbaric US-led aggression, ignoring the tragedy of the Palestinian people.

Thus, the Arab regimes’ abandonment of the foundations for which the Arab League was established has had a negative impact on Arab regional security, transforming the Arabs from a regional actor into a mere arena for power-sharing.

The Arab failure has prompted the Israeli enemy to openly declare—time and again—its intention to redraw the map of the region.