The Arab Crisis and Their Future

In a lecture delivered by the late Heikal in Paris on 7-12-1995...and about 24 years ago, he spoke before a large audience of notables interested in general Arab affairs in the French capital Paris..and the substance of his lecture delivered on that date...the echoes of it and the late Heikal’s views on the general Arab situation and its future...still reverberate.

The great writer and journalist Heikal pointed at the start of his lecture in Paris that when Nazi Germany occupied France in 1940 in the World War, voices rose advocating submission to the factual reality of the occupying Nazi force...where the “Vichy government” led by “General Pétain” was the first to call for and rule according to the notion that reality imposes its judgments, “that realism is more likely to be safe than stubbornness” — this was the general view held by the “Vichy government,” and its submission to the factual reality of the occupying forces in that period!!...and the Vichy government cooperated with the Nazi occupation at that time, and some French people rallied around it, justifying acceptance of the reality to preserve what remained, while the majority of the French saw it as a great betrayal..until President Charles de Gaulle came resisting..afterwards hiding in Britain and Algeria and led the clandestine resistance then and succeeded in liberating his country France..in cooperation with the Allies in World War II...!

In his lecture the late Heikal compared the “French Vichyists”..then and the “Arab Vichyists” among the rulers from after the October 1973 war to the present day...saying (the actual and practical Arab reality has become “Vichy-like” in its features and traits..but the official and media Arab rhetoric decided to be “Gaullist” in rhythm and tones)..!! It was a process intended to multiply illusions and dreams....and forces emerged in the Arab world defending the status quo in favor of those forces within it.!!

And it is logical in such circumstances that “opportunity-seeking groups meet with the local and regional political administrative elites and with international demands..” and a relationship of common interests arises among them which seemed hurried in its purpose, so it supported its influence and expanded its opportunity, and this “led to a kind of corruption in the Arab world of an unprecedented form”..!!

The late “Heikal” added in his lecture: that an authority that wants to remain without burdening itself with "the cause of legitimacy"...has no way but "to remain by force in its positions"..and these groups of common interest showed that the Arab nation faced a coercive choice, meaning that those who object to the status quo, including the unbalanced peace with Israel, "have no option but to face a dark future under the rule of religious extremism"...

Civil war occurred in Lebanon and lasted decades, and the war in Afghanistan drew in Arab citizens who were called (the mujahidin) to Afghanistan..to fight!! against the Soviets at that time and were supported by America and its allies from the Arab world..and Iraq was destroyed!! ...All these forces that did what they did in Arab countries created an on-the-ground alliance between Arabs and Israel...and the Arabs went to the Madrid Conference... whether they were in the front row or the back row.."they were united with Israel in one framework in one form"!!! giving the whole world the impression that peace had arrived..nothing remained of it except signatures and seals!!
He asked participants at the Madrid Conference to distinguish between two types of peace...: “a ‘political peace’ that is related to history and its legacies and lifting these legacies requires time!!..and an ‘economic peace’ related to the future and its requirements and to obtaining its rewards rapidly!!” He also lifted the veil on a new scene in the corridors of the Madrid peace conference, which was the birth of a “new order for the Middle East.”..and that for its establishment it was necessary that certain elements be present!..among them “an element of interests”..at least not conflicting!! “and an element of security”..at least not colliding!! “and an element of culture” if not shared..then at least connected!!

Despite that, the Arabs were ready to rush down the post-Madrid paths...and they began to accept the principle of separating an accelerated “economic peace”!! and a slower “political peace”!! And because they rushed to “economic peace,” movement on “political peace” was hampered..which caused some Arabs to pause there, and the Arab arena became full of doubt and confusion..for the Israeli role was not only “a dominant role” but also “a contractor role” in these conferences and in the region..when economic summit conferences (Davos) began to be held regularly..as for the Arab side, some of its circles were flooded with the tone of unconditional normalization on the premise that the present time is “the age of prevailing interests” and that political problems are “the baggage of a past era”..!! Supporters of normalization were prepared to go along with Peres, the champion of the idea of a new Middle East..and prepared to look the other way on any political issue even if it was Jerusalem..!! and they removed “Jerusalem” from the agendas of economic summit conferences..indeed the matter grew more bitter when Rabin – Prime Minister of Israel at the time, said at the economic summit in Amman in 1995 to those present at the conference "I come from Jerusalem, the united eternal capital of Israel" and Shimon Beitaz added in completion: ".the issue of Jerusalem is not open to any discussion today or tomorrow" while the U.S. Congress in that year had approved a law to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem...!!
Arab conditions then became more tragic when the Palestinian issue shifted to “Oslo”...and the late Heikal likened this Arab and Palestinian race to what the great late poet Mahmoud Darwish called the condition of the Arab nation the slogan “the suicide of meaning,” as the Palestinian issue’s transfer to Oslo..led to Israel obtaining a legal legitimacy of its existence that it had not had since 1948..for the matter in Madrid had been related to the role of Israel in the region and the transition from one era to another..!!

How like today to yesterday ...24 years ago.....and what the late “Heikal” spoke of is happening in some of its details and terms today!!...for economic peace and normalization and Israel’s entry into the new Middle East “as a security contractor” and its absolution from the charge of terrorism...are what the Arabs implemented from the Madrid Conference...and Jerusalem was declared the capital of Israel..and the U.S. embassy was moved from Tel Aviv..to Jerusalem...without storms..and without real Arab anger...and the Golan was transferred to Israel...the Arabs denounced the moves..denounced them bitterly....and they continued to treat their wounds here and there..and Israel began its overt role..linking the arms of Arab officials...to appear in intimate public relations..without fear or trembling. A new enemy for the Arabs was invented, considered the greatest danger to the Arabs and to their neighbors...and Israel began to fight together and alongside some Arabs under the term “terrorism.” And Israel seized most of the remaining Palestinian land quietly, cunningly and by exploiting opportunities..and the Palestinians froze in place..failing to stop the settlement expansion...which extended significantly in the past twenty-five years!! and the Palestinians acknowledged mistakes in the negotiations especially regarding settlements, while the Israelis insisted on calling the West Bank “the areas” or “Judaea and Samaria” until the U.S. administration through its ambassador in Tel Aviv stated that the term “occupied territories” is not to be used for the Palestinian territories after 1967 but rather “disputed territories” and some Arab regimes tightened the screws on the Palestinians in an unprecedented way to force them to carry out a deal whose lines were not seen, but some of its clauses were passed..which is the “Deal of the Century.” Internal fighting continued to bleed in many Arab countries..until every Arab state became trying to care for itself...with the help of external powers ..!!...Corruption spread throughout the Arab world..and discord arose among some Arab countries..between them..until the Arab League..could do nothing except endorse decisions and visions dictated by Arab alliances..against other Arab states..!!

Mr. Heikal pointed out in his aforementioned long lecture that the future belongs to the Arab nation.!!..and that change and the re-scripting of the nation’s future can be achieved generation after generation by two basic means: “education and legislation” and that the nation feels despite its wounds that “the future is born in the hearts of the people and from their hearts to their minds and from their minds to their will.”..So the late Heikal’s state of mind says: that the Arab will remains...and will triumph..but by changing the pattern of thinking and by enacting laws and systems that protect people’s rights, freedoms and creativity, and respecting their minds and thinking, equality and spreading democracy.