Resistance justified: Unmasking deceptive neutrality

January 28, 2024

Source: Al Mayadeen English

Genocide in occupied Palestine isn’t a mere mistake to correct; it’s an enduring Israeli policy, bolstered by its allies. The time has come to stand for justice.

The Palestinian Resistance emerged in response to the occupation of Palestine making its existence inherently righteous and its endeavor to liberation ever so relevant. (Illustrated by Hady Dbouq)

By Myriam Charabaty

We have all heard the question “What do you think would be a proportionate response to what happened on October 7?” But let us step away from the reductive perspective where every event is dealt with as an isolated incident disconnected from the root cause from which it was birthed.

The real question, in the face of occupation, is: “What is a proportionate response to the colonization of the Middle East and the occupation of Palestine?” To be able to have that conversation, we must first bring forth the numbers of what truly happened in 1948 when Palestine was occupied. The occupation of Palestine is also often referred to as the great catastrophe known in its Arabic translation only: The Nakba.

The Nakba resulted in the displacement of 957,000 Palestinians out of 1.4 million in 1,300 villages and towns. The majority ended up in neighboring Arab countries, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and other nations. Thousands who stayed in Israeli-occupied areas were driven from their homes and lands. This period also witnessed over 51 massacres, with more than 15,000 Palestinians martyred. 

Moreover, since 1967, there have been over 1 million detention cases (Palestinians detained by “Israel”), as well as over 1,000 reported attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians. This is only part of the injustice and oppression suffered by the people of Palestine on their own land. More could be said regarding stolen properties, land grabs, demolitions, cultural genocide and systematic killings through medical negligence, raids, and collective punishment to name only a few.

Let’s revisit the question once more:

Is the Palestinian and Arab response proportionate to the actions taken by the Zionist lobby that led to the establishment of Israel in 1948? What about the crimes it has committed since?

For most, at least those who possess the capacity to make a sober assessment, and with kind hearts who were genuinely fooled by false rhetoric and narrative that have been propagated for decades, neutrality fails after this simple and brief historical presentation. But now what? Let’s delve deeper into the concept of neutrality and how it speaks nothing but the colonizer’s tongue amid a case of severe occupation-turned-genocide. This explanation can only be brought forward in contrast with Resistance aimed at liberation.

Murderers in fancy suits and shiny dresses

“Our revolution is not a public-speaking tournament. Our revolution is not a battle of fine phrases. Our revolution is not simply for spouting slogans that are no more than signals used by manipulators trying to use them as catchwords, as codewords, as a foil for their own display. Our revolution is, and should continue to be, the collective effort of revolutionaries to transform reality, to improve the concrete situation of the masses.” –Thomas Sankara

Using eloquent words and dressed up nicely in suits and dresses, the colonizer has often set itself at a higher standard and is responsible for upholding ‘equality’ through imposing a value scope of idealism and neutrality upon the ‘other’ [those that do not look like the colonizer or speak their tongue].

An idealism that held the “other”, from now on referenced as the oppressed, to the highest standard all the while they use eloquent speech to veil their double standards. While any deviation from the colonized gets marketed, through multi-billion dollar media empires, as ‘radicalism’, their impunity and murderous policies have often weighed on a very different scale.

Their actions, including massacres, systematic cultural genocide, wars, and unholy interventions, have followed one of three patterns:

1. In some cases, these actions were only acknowledged decades later, with a grim cinematic apology designating the atrocities as ‘a mistake’ and a dark stain on their history. This was notably seen in the case of France in Algeria and Rwanda.
2. Alternatively, they have been veiled with eloquent words that charm the listener but lack meaningful substance, all the while serving imperial interests. An example of this can be observed when the collective West claimed ‘neutrality’ in the Arab-Israeli conflict, brought ‘democracy’ to Libya, and funded terrorist groups in Syria to bring forth ‘freedom’.
3. Lastly, there are instances where they openly admit to the killing of hundreds of thousands but claim “the price was worth it,” as former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright famously did in a 1997 interview when speaking of the killing of 500,000 Iraqi children to preserve Western interests.

That being laid out, alongside the brief history of the Nakba massacres, the final straw I to show that “Israel” is in fact a necessity for the collective West and a very important asset without which American influence, and consequently European influence, recedes greatly allowing for the rise of a reformed Arab world. Such a rise threatens major economic and geopolitical interests for the West that has for so long survived, in its luxurious form, on the plunder of the Global South.

The collective West today, led by NATO, and including “Israel”, have sought after their own interests at the cost of human life forgetting that in the same way that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” genocide, ethnic cleansing, subjugation, and plunder were colonial and occupation practices, no matter how often they are called “peace”.

In this post-World War II era, although genocide has occurred before, the October 7 operation launched by the Palestinian Resistance represents a significant turning point, coinciding with the decline of Western influence.

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It has reaffirmed what has always been, though most recently veiled in clauses of human rights, development, and cooperation:  the US, which drives both NATO and Israeli decision-making and policy, continues to impose its influence by force of economic means, but when it fails, it returns to its old-school habits and brings back its policy of genocide, plunder, mass destruction, and subjugation.

When we speak of such policies, we do not only speak of the doers but also those suffering on the other end of these policies. The people suffering the price of genocide and plunder are without doubt those paying an incredibly higher price. A price that has been inked in blood, trans-generational trauma, and identity crisis.

When weighing financial losses against the human cost, it becomes indisputable that anyone with even a modest amount of compassion and common sense would unequivocally stand in solidarity with the oppressed.

In the tragic case of occupied Palestine, the people of Palestine (and an argument can be made for the entire Arab world) have endured the heartbreaking loss of their ancestral lands and the relentless, systematic ethnic cleansing that has unfolded over decades. Their lives have been marred by the profound sorrow of witnessing generations of ancestors, parents, siblings, children, and grandchildren suffer unfathomable pain.

Neutrality sidelines justice, reaps only an equation of ‘either subjugation or violence’

“The colonial regime is a regime established by violence. It is always by force that the colonial regime was established. It is against the will of the people that other peoples more advanced in the techniques of destruction or numerically more powerful have imposed themselves. Violence in daily behavior, violence towards the past which is emptied of all substance, violence towards the future.” – Frantz Fanon

The latest atrocity, the Gaza genocide, stands as a harrowing testament to the depths of suffering endured. This genocide, characterized by deliberate and calculated brutality, has left an indelible mark on the Palestinian people. It is within this context that the Israeli occupation President, Isaac Herzog, shockingly confessed: “This war is not only a war between Israel and Hamas [falsely isolated from Palestine’s popular choice of Resistance], it’s a war that is intended, really, truly, to save Western civilization. To save the values of Western civilization.”

President of the occupation state Isaac Herzog on MSNBC: "This war is not only a war between Israel and Hamas, it's a war that is intended, really, truly, to save Western civilization. To save the values of Western civilization." pic.twitter.com/qRiAA1Rhn1

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) December 5, 2023

Prior to that, US President Joe Biden decades ago, in 1986, announced that if there were “Were there not an Israel, the United States of America would have to invent an Israel to protect her interest in the region.”

Also, significantly, back in 1999, Samuel Berger, who then served as the US assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, stressed, in an address titled The Middle East On The Eve Of The Millennium: Building Peace, Strengthening America’s Security, that “How the Middle East evolves matters,” adding that “it matters, of course, most directly, to the people of the Arab world.”

However, Berger, in what could have possibly been one of the most straightforward speeches in the history of the US, further explained that the “Middle East” matters not only to the Arab people who live there but also “matters to the American people as well, because of the strategic, political and economic interests that are at stake.”

After the US interests in the Arab world, Berger emphasized that the region “also matters – profoundly — to the people of Israel,” justifying that argument by saying, “For them, the difference between a Middle East focused on economic development and looking to the future and a region mired in poverty and in hatreds inherited from the past is the difference between peace and conflict…lasting security and…perpetual threat…a normal life and the lives they have been forced to live.”

That being said, it’s important to note that any claim of neutrality falls short of ‘impartiality’ when considering the evident Western interests. In brief, ‘Israel’ is viewed as a vital geopolitical entity (better described as a ‘barrier state’) and plays a crucial role in preserving the nation-states established as a result of the Sykes-Picot Agreement. This historic agreement divided the Arab world into spheres of influence and established countries in service of Western interests.
Consequently, the potential loss of “Israel”, yes I do mean the complete liberation of occupied Palestine, is perceived as a significant challenge for the West. It could threaten the emergence of a prosperous Arab world, regardless of its specific shape or form. Moreover, the rise of a highly effective Resistance movement that has excelled on various fronts could lead to a reduction in Western influence in the Middle East. This, in turn, may open the door for liberation movements across the Global South to gain momentum.

These potential developments have far-reaching consequences for the global influence of the West, potentially marking the end of its era of hegemony. Additionally, they could pose obstacles and disruptions to multi-billion dollar interests both within the region and worldwide.
Beyond neutrality is justice and vengeance

Do you condemn the Resistance and stand with occupation, oppression, ethnic cleansing and genocide?

In the face of occupation, ethnic cleansing, gentrification, forced displacement, dehumanization, illegal detentions, torture, and genocide, in the face of such immense suffering and ongoing atrocities, the pursuit of justice becomes an urgent moral imperative, starkly contrasting with the notion of neutrality. Confronted with the stark reality of oppression, neutrality is not a virtue, rather it is merely a colonial narrative; it is a passive stance that inadvertently perpetuates injustice.

To truly stand for justice is to actively advocate for the rights, dignity, and freedom of the oppressed, in this case, the Palestinian people. It is to recognize that silence in the face of oppression is a tacit endorsement of the oppressor’s actions. Justice demands that we confront and challenge the systems and forces that perpetuate suffering, and it calls for solidarity with those who seek liberation and a brighter future.

Justice demands us to stand with the Resistance. The Resistance was born of the people and remains a popular choice among all the oppressed peoples of this region. Our moral duty is to engage the enemy by all means available to us, not just in words and chants. Real support seeks to advance the liberation movements on the ground and hinder or obstruct the capabilities of the enemy and all those who seek to support them.

The blood of over 100,000 people has already been spilled in occupied Palestine alone. These martyrs’ blood must not go in vain and that is our duty, those who remain steadfast in this land and on this path. Retribution is an unavoidable outcome, as the adversary, having resorted to shedding the blood of the innocent, has sown the seeds of inevitable retaliation. Despite exhausting all peaceful avenues, and with the occupation, along with its supporters, persisting in promoting violence and denying the oppressed their rightful claims, the concept of vengeance, which in Arabic carries profound significance in seeking retribution or repayment, has been declared. In recent years, it has been presented by the Resistance, as a path to full liberation.

Read more: A century of colonialism crushed at the feet of Resistance

Operation Al Aqsa Flood

The Future of Arab Christians: One path, one destiny

July 7, 2023

Source: Al Mayadeen English

Arab Christian face a common existential threat that can only be overcome through unity amongst themselves and with their counterparts across the lands under the umbrella of a single collective identity.

By Myriam Charabaty

The destiny of all ethnic and religious groups in the Arab world, in their multitude, is intertwined, making it only possible for Arab Christians to survive the current existential threat by taking up their responsibilities as an integral component of the historical and unifying collective identity, which is made up of the frameworks of the spiritual and social values which Arabism overshadows.

“Will there still be Arab Christians in the next 50 years?” This question has been brought to the forefront on several occasions in the past decade, whether directly or indirectly. However, it was not until 2022 and 2023 that this question was put before the leaders of the Church in the Middle East. It comes as no surprise that the continued presence of Christians in the Middle East is integral to the historical and unifying collective identity [whose social fabric encompasses a multitude of diverse faiths, cultures, and ethnicities] that is made up of the frameworks of the spiritual and social values which Arabism overshadows, and must be addressed thoroughly and swiftly. 

Understanding the social fabric of Arab identity

Over the past century and a decade, the region currently known as the Middle East [whose name reflects a geolocation vis-à-vis Europe, and thus becomes inherently entrenched in Eurocentric misconceptions] has been divided into “spheres of influence” by Mark Sykes and François Georges-Picot since the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

Despite the deep-rooted hatred of most Christians toward the Ottoman Empire, which is mostly grounded in the final century of a 400-year-old empire, it must be clarified that throughout Ottoman rule, at least until the empire was weakened in the 1800s, multiple sects have had their churches preserved under the empire.

It is important to note that the Crusades, which happened much earlier, were actually a greater threat to the region that was later divided into spheres of influence between the French and the British. This is mostly because Latinization, as explained in my previous writings, had threatened a multitude of Christian denominations that were indigenous to the land given that any Christian church that does not follow the Latin rite was condemned as heretic.

While a debate of history is not the topic, it serves to remind us that at the core of the identity of Arab Christians has been their coexistence in parallel to other ethnicities, which in turn coexist within the larger Arab national identity. It also underscores that the same religion could extend across a number of ethnicities. For example, Assyrian and Coptic Christians, both of which are part of the Arab national identity, consist of an ethnicity that adopted a Christian religion. In another example, the Kurdish people, an ethnic group that is also a constituent of the Arab national identity, comprises Sunni, Shia and Alawites, Christians, and Zoroastrians.

Arab Christians beyond borders

Since its inception, Lebanon has been dubbed the protector of Arab Christians, however, Arab Christians have never been limited to the Lebanese border. While much can be explained by drawing from a century and a decade of a policy of divide and conquer launched by the West, today, the existential crisis faced by Arab Christians requires a holistic response rather than preoccupation with secondary disputes. Humbleness must be at the core of any solution as the Christians of the Arab world suffer a great deal, and mere rhetoric will not alleviate their pain.

Christians across the Arab world must unite under the banner of Arab Christianity as they suffer the same existential threat, as the invasion of Iraq, the war on Syria, and the occupation of Palestine have altogether targeted Christians of all denominations and ethnicities. The same applies to Egypt and Jordan. While many would like to blame Islam for the slaughter and immigration of Christians, this Western-led heresy must be silenced, for all Arabs face the same destiny if they do not unite. 

Read more: Liberation movements in a historical echo: Latin America to West Asia

In Syria, Iraq, Palestine, and Lebanon, [These countries are merely examples given their recent histories] Muslims have time and time again fought alongside Christians for the war was never against a denomination but rather against a larger national identity that once emerged will threaten large-scale economic gains achieved by the West, in the Middle East, throughout the past century and decade.

In Jenin, Palestine, a now majority Muslim city, where Israelis have time and time again attempted to falsely depict Palestinians as not only Muslims that threaten the existence of other religious groups, but also as savages, the fourth oldest church in the world still stands: the Burqin Church of the Greek Orthodox church. This is to show that Islam, in and by itself, has not been a threat to Christians, for the constituents of the Arab national identity have historically established mechanisms of coexistence that had proven successful until their fragmentation through colonization and imperialism.

Also in Jenin, there is a Latin Parish that has also long been protected by the people of Jenin. However, yesterday, the church suffered at the hands of the Israeli occupation Forces who targeted and damaged it. While circumstantial at best, the incident serves to show, once again, that Christians are threatened by the West and Western-supported entities. With that in mind, it would be good to turn to the statements made at some of the latest synods discussing the issue of Christian existence in the Middle East.

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UN Humanitarians Want Syria’s Borders Open to NATO

JUNE 17, 2022

MIRI WOOD

UN self-proclaimed humanitarians continue to border on meltdown at the possibility that Security Council Resolution 2585 (2021) will finally not be renewed upon its expiration, 10 July. UNSC resolutions that have deprived the Syrian Arab Republic of its sovereignty were launched in 2014. Though having a full decade to ruminate, these reputed humanitarians have never concerned themselves with the mass deaths of Syrians via the various machinations of NATO ‘regime change’ against the Levantine Republic, whose civilization is 12,000 years old.

Though not Syrians, a group of UN saviors spoke on behalf of the Syrian people, in an open letter published in ReliefWeb, “a humanitarian information service provided by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).”

Continuing to ignore the facts that Syria was self-sufficient pre-NATO Spring, that the United Nations has stood by while its Member States breach its noble Charter with illicit “sanctions,” that it stood by while Trump bombed Syrian wheat fields, that it stands by while Biden steals Syria’s oil, that NATO Turkey terrorist al Qaeda proxies withhold humanitarian aid deliveries, and Israel war criminally bombs three to four times monthly, these NATO klansmen urge the Security Council [Russia and or China] to not only renew UNSCR 2585, but to further expand NATO’s updated Sykes-Picot against Syria.

The passage of UNSCR 2165 (2014) allowed for foreign entities to deliver alleged “humanitarian” goods via corridors not explicitly opened by Syria. It was quickly celebrated when around 50 children were killed by intentionally poisoned measles vaccines brought in from Turkey. It was renewed via UNSCR 2393 (2017), followed by 2449 (2018), and then a six-month compromise via 2504 (2020) which was rolled over into 2533 (2020) for another year. Any member of the P5 could have refused the Syria-excluded compromise; instead, the colonialist P3 persist in clamoring for the reopening of other imperial corridors, obsessively, Yarubiyah — breaches of sovereignty that none would tolerate against their own countries (it is possible that 2504 broke the UNSC record; only France voted yes, while US, UK, China, and Russia abstained.)

UN Security Council Resolution to breach Syrian sovereignty resulted in the murder of upwards of 50 children.

The author notes that this group of not-elected-by-popular-vote gaggle of UN saviors of the Syrian peoples just coincidentally is aligned with the supranational World Economic Forum (WEF), the oligarchs who have dictated that by 2030, we peons? serfs? will own nothing, and will be happy (they have not mentioned who the owners of everything will be, though).

Please note that some of the signatories are WEF agenda contributors while others may simply be considered among the new humanitarians.

These UN humanitarians out to save Syria are all affiliated with the WEF.

UN Syria savior and the supranational, unelected, WEF.

UN and WEF.

agenda3

agenda4

UN and WEF.

agenda6

agenda7

agenda8 new humanitarian

What the UN Fund for Population Activities does.

What the UN International Organization for Migration does.

The unelected, supranational World Economic Forum has told us we shall have nothing.

The author also stands amazed that these people who have ignored every atrocity inflicted upon Syrians — some of whom are ‘agenda contributors’ to a gang of oligarchs who will even dictate to us when we may roll over and beg for a piece of meat — dare to declare themselves humanitarians who will function as saviors.

Let us call out this latest scam: The UN wishes to carve up Syria, permanently. The UN has repeatedly demonstrated its desire to institute a new Sykes-Picot upon the Syrian people.

We can only hope that Russia and China will stand on their hind legs and vote “no” at the UN Security Council meeting on 10 July.

— Miri Wood

It’s just the two of us — please consider helping to support Syria News.

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Syria News is a collaborative effort by two authors only, we end up most of the months paying from our pockets to maintain the site’s presence online, if you like our work and want us to remain online you can help by chipping in a couple of Euros/ Dollars or any other currency so we can meet our site’s costs on time; you can also donate with Cryptocurrencies through our donate page.
Thank you in advance.

Biden Forces Continue Trump Looting of Syrian Oil in Ethnic Cleansing

 JUNE 17, 2022

MIRI WOOD

Biden criminal forces in Syria continue looting Syria’s oil reserves launched by Trump. This supremacist theft is part of the neo Sykes-Picot plot to ethnically cleanse Syria of its indigenous population, by depriving the citizenry of its essential raw materials. The latest mass theft was stolen from the al Jazirah region of Hasakah governate, which happens to be in Syria, which is not part of the United States.

Biden regime, like the Trump regime, can not read a map.

Syria News reminds its readers — particularly the minority of western colonialists who are so engrained with their entitlements as to almost be functioning at the level of deformed genetics — that when Trump stood outside the White House to announce how much he loves stealing from another people’s country, even those suffering Trump Derangement Syndrome were stricken deaf, dumb, and blind to this savage war crime.

We remind our readers — particularly those suffering the fantastic delusions that there is a difference between the war crimes of the Democrats and the war crimes of the Republicans, that Biden illegals in Syria have also continued the Trump legacy of stealing Syria’s essential foodstuffs.

On Thursday 16 June, the ‘Brandon’ regime military illegals in the Levantine Republic, exited the country with forty-two vehicles, most of which were tankers laden with stolen Syrian oil.

To further flaunt exceptional American right to invade, occupy, and steal, the Biden regime forces exited Syria via the illegal al Walid crossing into Iraq, another country that the US continues to criminally occupy, despite the Iraqi Parliament having convened to vote, and then subsequently voting for our supremacist yanquis to leave, more than two years ago (the vote was met by threats of illicit sanctions, by Trump, and the ongoing, squatting by the Biden forces).

Biden regime criminals continue to loot Syria’s oil, transporting the booty into Iraq, via illegal al Walid crossing,

In other Syria news, which continued to be ignored by NATO-affiliated media, NATO-supported terrorists bombed houses in Kasab, Latakia, on Wednesday, and two more children were injured in a landmine blast on Thursday,

The supremacist Biden regime forces will continue to loot Syria’s wealth, as the UN will continue to ignore it, and colonialist media will continue to normalize it as part of the new, undeclared Sykes-Picot balkanization and ethnic cleansing until Syria finds a way to destroy all terrorists occupying the homeland.

— Miri Wood

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Syria News is a collaborative effort by two authors only, we end up most of the months paying from our pockets to maintain the site’s presence online, if you like our work and want us to remain online you can help by chipping in a couple of Euros/ Dollars or any other currency so we can meet our site’s costs on time; you can also donate with Cryptocurrencies through our donate page.
Thank you in advance.

في ذكرى النكبة… الأسطورة التي أغفلها غارودي

السبت 15 أيار 2022

المصدر

موفق محادين 

هذه هي الأسطورة الغائبة التي أغفلها غارودي والعالم، ولم ينتبها إلى دورها وأهميتها البالغة في تضليل الرأي العام الغربي.

ربما كان مهدي عامل أوّل من أضفى بُعداً معرفياً على الطائفية، بوصفها أيديولوجيا ما قبل الرأسمالية، في خدمة الرأسمالية، مميّزاً بينها وبين الدين، كمرجعية إيمانية خالصة.

في ذكرى النكبة… الأسطورة التي أغفلها غارودي

ولم تجد مقولة عامل هذه صداها، كما وجدته في الأيديولوجيا الصهيونية.

فبالرغم من كل ما قيل عن الصهيونية كتعبير عن البورجوازية اليهودية الكبيرة (اليسار العربي الكلاسيكي) أو عن البورجوازية الصغيرة (أبراهام ليون)، فإنّ الوقائع والمعطيات وبنية الخطاب الصهيوني لا تغادر هذه المقولة، وتجعلها ملائمة وقابلة للاستنتاج أن الصهيونية هي أيديولوجيا ما قبل رأسمالية، سواء في مفاهيمها النظرية الأولى، كما كرّستها كتابات الصهاينة الأوائل ومؤتمر بال، أم في مشروعها السياسي، الذي رافق الإعلام الصهيوني عن قيام الدولة العبرية على الأرض العربية في فلسطين.

هذه هي الأسطورة الغائبة التي أغفلها غارودي والعالم، ولم ينتبهوا إلى دورها وأهميتها البالغة في تضليل الرأي العام الغربي، وإعادة إنتاجه في كل مرة، وفق المقاييس السرية لتقارير وملفات وزارة المستعمرات البريطانية، وهي تصمّم محميّة رأسمالية شرق المتوسط، بأيديولوجيا ما قبل رأسمالية.

لقد قدّمت الصهيونية نفسها كأفضل ممثل للغرب في الشرق، وكخطوة أولى في رحلة الألف ميل، من أجل شرق ديمقراطي معاصر! وتمكّنت أيضاً من اختراق العديد من الأوساط الثقافية العربية، المثقلة بالتخلّف، والتي لم تدرك بعد أن هذا التخلف يعود في واحد من أهم أسبابه إلى دور الصهيونية في احتجاز مشروع الاندماج القومي، وإعاقة هذا المشروع بالهويات الجهوية القطرية البدائية، التي يجري تسويقها كهويات وطنية مستقلة جداً.

فهل تعبّر الصهيونية عن الأيديولوجيا الرأسمالية حقاً، أم هي صورة كاريكاتورية لهذه الأيديولوجيا في مضامينها ودلالاتها ما قبل الرأسمالية؟ وماذا عن القراءات والملاحظات التالية:

أولاً: لم تتأسّس “إسرائيل” كدولة قومية بورجوازية خارج الدين الذي كان فصله عن الدولة شرطاً أساسياً من شروط النمط الأوروبي لهذه الدولة. بل تأسّست كداعشية توراتية لليهود، الذين ينتسبون إلى عشرات القوميات والأعراق والأجناس.

والدين اليهودي كما سجّله عزرا في السبي البابلي، ليس مثل أي دين آخر. ففي التلمود تتساوى النفس اليهودية مع العزة الإلهية، ويصبح اليهود شعباً مقدّساً مكتفياً بذاته. ولذلك لم يحاول اليهود التبشير بدينهم، لأنهم لا يقبلون خفض مستوى واجبهم نحو تجسيد النموذج الأرقى بجعله واجباً لكل البشر.

ولا تزال بنية الخطاب الصهيوني، الذي ينتج العقل اليهودي الجمعي كل صباح، بنية محكومة أو مسكونة بهذه الحالة، التي لا تعتبر دم اليهود ودم الأغيار من القوميات والأديان الأخرى دماً متساوياً، والتي لا تسمح لغير اليهودي بتسلّم أيّ منصب مهم في الدولة، ولا تسمح ببيع الأرض والبيوت والحقول للأغيار، ولا تسمح بإنقاذ غير اليهودي يوم السبت.

وهناك عشرات الأمثلة التي يعرضها إسرائيل شاحاك في أعماله المنشورة، التي تكذّب كل ما يقال عن الطابع العلماني للدولة العبرية.

ثانياً: لم تتأسّس “إسرائيل”، بصورة طبيعية، كما كل البلدان الأخرى، ولم تعبّر عن مصلحة بورجوازية معينة في بناء دولة سوق خاص بها.

وإضافة إلى التأكيدات المعروفة في التاريخ الصهيوني بشأن الدور العام الذي يمكن لليهود أن يلعبوه بين السويس وطريق الهند الشرقية، وأن يمنعوا عودة روح محمد علي إلى مصر ثانية (وفق تحذيرات البارون روتشيلد، وناحوم سوكولوف، وجابوتنسكي…).

إضافة إلى كل ذلك، وبالاشتقاق من الوظيفة غير الطبيعية للصهيونية السياسية المذكورة، اشتقت الصهيونية من هذه الوظيفة أيديولوجيا غير طبيعية في ملامحها ما قبل الرأسمالية، من جهة، ومن قدرتها على الاستمرار كذلك، كواحدة من مظاهر الرأسمالية نفسها. ومن ذلك:

· فكرة التطويب المقدّس للأرض، بوصفها حالة خلق جديدة، مماثلة للخلق الأول، وصورة عن الفعل النموذجي، الذي قامت به السماء وجسّدته في هبوط نوح على البرية وبناء مملكة الله الأرضية وسط عالم من الخطايا، فتكون “إسرائيل” معادلاً لنوح، وتكون الكوارث التي سبقت قيام “إسرائيل” معادلاً للعماء الكوني الأول، والوحش المائي الذي يرمز إلى ذلك. ويكون مصرع هتلر، والإخفاق العربي في حرب 1948، معادلين لهزيمة الوحش المائي، وما تستدعيه من قرابين بشرية ضرورية للتطويب المقدس الجديد.

· فكرة الألفية أو العود الدوري، والتي لا يمكن تصور الأيديولوجيا الصهيونية من دونها. فهي الفكرة التي تضفي على الهزائم والكوارث طابعاً مقدساً، بوصفها المسوّغ التاريخي للانبعاث مرة أخرى. وهي الفكرة التي توفّر جسراً أو صلة ما بين أيديولوجيا ما قبل رأسمالية كالأيديولوجيا الصهيونية، وبين الأيديولوجيا الرأسمالية في حقبتها الإمبريالية، كما عبّر عنها “فوكوياما” في نهاية التاريخ.

·       فكرة الأمة المزعومة أو الشعب المقدّس، التي تتعالى على التاريخ والسيرورة، وتلغيها بإحالة المعرفة البشرية كلها إلى حدوس صوفية، وما عداها ضرباً من الخطيئة.

ومن المفهوم أن الحدوس المقصودة في البنية التوراتية للخطاب الصهيوني، هي حدوس محسومة بصورة ربانية للشعب المختار: (روح الله عند أبراهام كوك، والقدرة العليا عند آحاد هعام، والأسطورة الحية عند هرتزل).

ثالثاً: لم تتأسّس “إسرائيل” على أسس ديمقراطية بورجوازية، بل وفق ديمقراطية أخرى، هي الديمقراطية الجرمانية، وما تستدعيه من عرقية خالصة (مفبركة) لتسوّغ علاقة السيد اليهودي (الأنا) بالعبد العربي (الآخر).

فالدولة هنا ليست مؤسّسة قائمة على الحق، بل مؤسّسة قائمة على تصوّر أيديولوجي مرتكز على العرقية.

والحرية والديمقراطية شرط داخلي لإنتاج فاشية خارجية،  وليستا نموذجاً إسرائيلياً لديمقراطية فريدة في الشرق الأوسط.

رابعاً: لم تؤسّس الصهيونية دولة مدنية حديثة، بل أسّست نموذجاً لدولة قديمة ما قبل رأسمالية، هي الدولة-القلعة. وكانت في كل ذلك تعبيراً عن نموذج الدولة الحامية والجغرافيا السياسية التقليدية القديمة، القائمة على التخادم السياسي.

وبالارتباط بذلك، لم تؤسّس الصهيونية لمجتمع حديث مؤهّل لإنتاج دولة معاصرة، بل إنّ الدولة هي التي أنتجت المجتمع، وكان بالضرورة وجهها الآخر.

فكما ولدت وعاشت الدولة العبرية على الريع الخارجي والعائدات الإقليمية للوظيفة التاريخية، ولد المجتمع اليهودي على شاكلة دولته. واتّسم بطابع ريعي مماثل، وظلّ يعيد إنتاج بنيته وآلياته الداخلية على إيقاع الوظيفة السياسية الخارجية، واستعاد صورة المجتمع الذي شهدته إسبارطة وروما، وكان ينقسم، كما هو معروف، إلى سادة ونبلاء وبيروقراط من جهة، وعبيد منتجين، من جهة ثانية.

فمقابل النبلاء والسادة في أثينا، يتولى الأشكينازيم في الكيان الصهيوني المناصب الرفيعة في الجيش والاقتصاد والمجتمع. ومقابل العبيد، يقوم الأغيار من العرب والعمال الآسيويين بالأعمال اليدوية.

خامساً: وبالارتباط بالدولة الحامية ومجتمع الدولة الريعي، ظل الاقتصاد الإسرائيلي، بالرغم من عمليات الضخ الخارجي الكبيرة، اقتصاداً شديد الارتباط بالموقع الإقليمي لـ”إسرائيل” داخل لعبة الأمم بين أحواض النفط والطرق والممرات الكبرى، وخطوط التصدّع العالمية.

وأعاد إلى الأذهان اقتصادات الدول-القلاع القديمة، التي كانت تعيش وتتغذّى على طرق التجارة وحماية القوافل والغارات المأجورة.

فبخلاف الطابع المستقل للعسكرة عن البنية الاقتصادية – الاجتماعية في بلدان الديمقراطية الرأسمالية، تمثّل العسكرة في “إسرائيل” جزءاً لا يتجزأ من بنية الدولة والاقتصاد والمجتمع.

وبخلاف الاقتصاد المفتوح في بلدان الرأسمالية الكبرى، التي ترعى الدولة العبرية، تحتفظ هذه الدولة باقتصاد مركزي، ليس له ما يبرّره سوى اعتبارات الوظيفة الخارجية، وما تستدعيه هذه الاعتبارات من شروط اجتماعية داخلية لتعزيزها والتقاطع معها باستمرار.

سادساً: لم تؤسّس “إسرائيل” تقاليد أو مناخات وحدة وصراع طبيعية مع أحد، لا مع الأصدقاء وخاصة الولايات المتحدة، ولا مع العرب.

فعلاقاتها الخاصة مع واشنطن ليست علاقة قائمة على قانون الوحدة والصراع في إطار الوحدة، كما هي حال العلاقات التي تميّز الدول والقوى الصديقة أو المتحالفة، بل علاقة قائمة على اعتبارات أخرى، تحيل “إسرائيل” برمّتها إلى حالة أميركية داخلية، تجعل أيديولوجيا الأنظمة اليهودية، ما قبل الرأسمالية، مجرد تنويعة خاصة على أيديولوجيا نهاية التاريخ الإمبريالية.

وعلاقاتها مع العرب لم تقم، في المقابل، على قانون الوحدة والصراع في إطار الصراع، بل أخذت، وبالضرورة، شكلاً صراعياً من نوع مختلف، لا يستهدف الإخضاع وتقاسم النفوذ الإقليمي، داخل منطقة عربية أصلاً، بل يستهدف الإقصاء والنفي في مستويين مترابطين: نفي الشعب الفلسطيني لا إخضاعه، وتفتيت البنى العربية، وتحويلها إلى كانتونات وجزر معزولة، على غرار دولة البانتوستانات القبلية التي صنعتها جنوب أفريقيا في ما مضى، كأحزمة وأشرطة حدودية حولها.

ولدينا هنا أكثر من مفارقة: الأولى أن “إسرائيل” لا تسعى من وراء الاتفاقيات التي وقّعتها مع غير طرف عربي إلى تكريس أيّ من هؤلاء الأطراف والتعايش معهم، بل إلى تحويل التسوية معهم إلى مناخات موضوعية لتفكيك هؤلاء الأطراف أنفسِهم وتحويلهم إلى مكعبات متناثرة وظواهر إسرائيلية داخلية يتحمّلون في الوقت نفسه الأعباء الأمنية والاجتماعية المباشرة في دوائرهم الخاصة، ويعيدون إنتاج هذه الظواهر في المدار الإسرائيلي بأقل التكاليف الممكنة.

والمفارقة الثانية أن السياسات الإسرائيلية المذكورة لا تتّسم بالطابع الرأسمالي التقليدي المعروف لدى المتروبولات الدولية والإقليمية، بل بطابع أقرب إلى النمط الإقطاعي، وذلك بفضل الموقع الحاسم للأيديولوجيا الصهيونية التوراتية، داخل الوظيفة السياسية الخاصة للدولة-القلعة، والشعب-الطبقة.

صحيح أن مشروع التفتيت الصهيوني للمحيط العربي يقوم على فلسفة السوق وإملاءات البنك الدولي، مقابل مشروع المركزة الإسرائيلية، الذي يقوم على رأسمالية الدولة وقانون الكتل الانتخابية، إلا أن هذه الآليات الرأسمالية تتحرك عملياً ضمن تصورات وبنى اجتماعية ما قبل رأسمالية أو متماهية معها.

فالمعادلة السابقة هي التي تجعل دولة اليهود هذه أقلية طائفية كبرى، وسط أقليات عربية صغيرة، متطاحنة.

أخيراً…

كان متّى يقول: كل ما يؤخذ بالسيف، بالسيف يهلك.

وكان البيتار ينشدون: بالدم قامت يهوذا، وبالدم سقطت، وبالدم ستبعث من جديد.

فكان السؤال: لماذا لا تزول ثانية، فكل ما ينبعث، بحسب غوته، جدير بالزوال.

إلى ذلك، وإضافة إلى مصالح بريطانيا الاستعمارية في إقامة قاعدة عسكرية شرق المتوسط لحماية طريقين مهمّين وتأمينهما، طريق شركة الهند الشرقية، وطريق السويس، فإن الذي نفّذ المشروع الصهيوني فريق بريطاني كامل مرتبط بالصهيوني وايزمان، ويتألف هذا الفريق من كل من:

1. كامبل بنرمان

2. ونستون تشرشل

3. اللورد سايكس

4. الجنرال اللنبي

5. اللورد بلفور

6. شبكة سارة التجسّسية

7. لورنس العرب وشبكة الجواسيس المرتبطة به

8. هربرت صموئيل

9. إيلياهو ساسون.

وقد لعب بنرمان دوراً مهماً في التنبيه إلى أهميّة عزل مصر عن مشرق الوطن العربي عبر إقامة كيان يهودي في فلسطين، وكانت تجربة محمد علي الذي وحّد مصر وبلاد الشام ماثلة في ذهنه.

وأخذ سايكس على عاتقه تمزيق سوريا الطبيعية إلى أربعة أقاليم، سوريا الحالية، ولبنان، وشرق الأردن وفلسطين، مقدمة لوضع فلسطين بتصرّف الحركة الصهيونية. وجاء بلفور بوعده المعروف تتويجاً لاتفاقية سايكس-بيكو، واستكمل ذلك كل من تشرشل والجنرال اللنبي، الأول بتأسيسه للفيلق اليهودي في القوات البريطانية، والثاني باحتلال فلسطين وطرد الأتراك منها وتسليمها للبريطاني الصهيوني هربرت صموئيل، الذي كان ابنه ضابطاً في الفيلق اليهودي.

كما عهد إلى شبكتين للتجسّس وتجنيد المرتزقة توفير الظروف المواتية لإطلاق المشروع الصهيوني كما أداره الصهيوني وايزمان بالتنسيق مع هرتزل وروتشيلد (الصندوق المالي). فإضافة إلى شبكة لورنس المعروفة، لعبت اليهودية سارة وشبكة التجسّس والدعارة التي تديرها دوراً كبيراً في اختراق أوساط عربية عديدة واستمالتها، أما إيلياهو ساسون أو إيلياهو إيلات، فقد عهد إليه بتقديم نفسه كمستشرق بريطاني مهمته دراسة الأحوال العربية المحيطة بفلسطين، حيث أمضى، فعلاً، سنوات عديدة بين الأهالي في مصر وسوريا وشرق الأردن ولبنان، تمكن خلالها من إقامة علاقات واسعة مع زعامات وشيوخ في هذه المناطق، وفّرت له الاطلاع عن كثب على أحوالهم وطرق تفكيرهم ومصالحهم من جهة، كما لعب دوراً في إشاعة ثقافات كيانية تدعو إلى الاستقلال عن سوريا والتخلص من نفوذ أكبر حزب كان يدعو إلى استقلال ووحدة سوريا الطبيعية آنذاك، وهو حزب الاستقلال السوري. وبحسب مذكّراته (إسرائيل وجاراتها) التي تقع في ألف صفحة تقريباً، فقد قدّمت الحركة الصهيونية دعماً مالياً للعديد من الزعامات والقوى (الجديدة) المعادية لوحدة سوريا الطبيعية، وكان يرى أن سيطرة اليهود على فلسطين لا يمكن أن تحدث وتستمر بوجود سوريا الواحدة الموحّدة.

إن الآراء المذكورة في هذه المقالة لا تعبّر بالضرورة عن رأي الميادين وإنما تعبّر عن رأي صاحبها حصراً

France Throws Hypocritical Hissy Fit over Russian Satirical Cartoon

MARCH 26, 2022

MIRI WOOD

France has thrown a hypocritical hissy fit over a satirical cartoon, ”L’Europe en 2022.” So exceptionally exquisite are the decent sensibilities of the French Foreign Ministry, that the Office summoned Russia’s ambassador to France, to whine that the tweeted caricature was “unacceptable,” in its reputed mockery of Europe.

Per Reuters, France’s European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune described the cartoon as a “disgrace,” apparently particularly painful once given that “We [France] are trying to maintain a demanding channel of dialogue with Russia and these actions are completely inappropriate,” according to the Reuters report.

France’s Macron had a much more liberal view of free speech during his second trip in less than one month, to soothe “traumatized Lebanon” after the massive and deadly explosion which destroyed the Beirut Harbor.

France’s Macron took a different stance on “free speech” when in Lebanon.

France’s Macron took a different stance on “free speech” when in Lebanon.

In a speech during his 1 September 2020 visit — related to Charlie Hebdo, and to a Muslim-majority audience — he stated: “It’s never the place of a president of the Republic to pass judgment on the editorial choice of a journalist or newsroom, never. Because we have freedom of the press…[T]here is in France a freedom to blaspheme which is attached to the freedom of conscience. I am here to protect all these freedoms. In France, one can criticize a president, governors, blaspheme.”

He did not explain how he was in Lebanon to protect Lebanese freedoms (though there remains a sulfuric stench Sykes-Picot residual).

Perhaps an entitled, imperialist mindset is required to consider a series of humorless, baseless, and vile caricatures which seem to have the intention of inciting anger decent and proper free speech, while one based in accuracy demands universal condemnation.

According to Macron in Lebanon, politicians can be criticized, and the rudest blasphemy is doubleplusgood.

Also according to Macron in NATO Brussels, an honest cartoon is ‘false propaganda,’ and completely “unacceptable.”

Reuters did not include the ‘mocking’ caricature of NATO and the US destroying Europe in its report, maybe fearing it would be sanctioned by the regime that selectively promotes freedom of speech.

France’s hypocritical hissy fit over Russia’s concise polemic is a call to political cartoonists to up the ante.

— Miri Wood

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Meaning and Validity of Bilad al-Sham

Nov, 26, 2021

Source: Al Mayadeen Net

Pablo Sapag

After a long decade of an imposed, cruel and bloody winter, the political recovery of the Arab block as an international actor is taking shape precisely around Bilad al-Sham.

Bilad al-Sham is much more than a mere geographic reference, as western outsiders seem to believe every time they equal what is an ancient rich and comprehensive social, cultural, and political reality with that of the Levant. The latter is indeed a purely physical tag. This misunderstanding is at the core of those western catastrophic cyclic policies towards Bilad al-Sham and beyond. It’s also the cause of the systematic failure of their interventionist schemes in what by far transcends a landscape.

Since the time of the crusaders, one after the other, all and each of western attempts to divide and conquer has ended up with the invaders expelled, puzzled and for a long time searching for the causes of their recurrent defeats. An example of this is what happened during the 20th century’s first half, when the French and British plot to dismember Bilad al-Sham according to the Sykes-Picot secret terms ended up shamefully on April 17th, 1946. On that date, the last of the defeated French soldiers evacuated off the core of Bilad al-Sham, nowadays the Syrian Arab Republic. In parallel, the other member of the aspiring terminator duo struggled to impose to the region a Zionist entity that 73 years later is still psychologically insecure and desperately trying to make true the impossible dream of its British putative father. Palestine, the Syrian Golan, and Lebanon are the mirror that every single day reflects a fiasco that cannot be overcome through a wishful thinking so-called “normalization”.

More recently, the war imposed on Syria with the declared aim to quarter it into confessional and ethnic cantons, or mini-states depending on outside powers, has failed once again. Now as then the reason is the same. Bilad al-Sham’s main strength is the will of its diverse people to live together, regardless of their ethnic and religious different affiliations. In short, they just keep adhering to what has been there the natural state of things for several millennia, a social way of life which defines a culture. In case of necessity, such a rich legacy gives a formidable impulse to resistance and becomes an unbeatable defense shield vis-à-vis any invader.

Ten years after the beginning of the conspiracy against the Syrian Arab Republic, and by extension against the whole Bilad al-Sham, this solid ancient reality that westerners don’t identify because they simply don’t understand it, is showing all its economic and political possibilities, not to mention its social and cultural ones. Umm Kulthum, Fairouz, Sabah Fakhri, Nizar Qabbani, Mahmoud Darwish, George Wassouf, or Edward Said –just to remind some- are the cultural voices that trespass the imposed borders to Bilad al-Sham, exposing in every concert, book, reading, or listening session the futility of the dismembering endeavor.  

The energy crisis imposed on several Middle Eastern countries is being solved in a natural – let’s say Shami, successful way that challenges those borders imposed one century ago by the infamous Sykes-Picot treaty. Lebanon is already receiving Iranian petrol transported through the Syrian Sea to the Syrian Arab Republic port of Banias and from there to Lebanon. The latter will also increase very soon its gas and electricity supplies thanks to the agreement that will facilitate Lebanon to receive from the Egyptian Sinai gas or gas transformed into electricity through Jordan and Syria. All the countries involved have in one way or the other been historically core components of Bilad al-Sham.  

After a long decade of an imposed, cruel and bloody winter, the political recovery of the Arab block as an international actor is taking shape precisely around Bilad al-Sham. Trust and bonds among Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon have resettled. Some non-Bilad al-Sham countries have understood it and are rushing to reconcile with Syria. The UAE’s constructive policy shows that Abu Dhabi understood that any Arab attempt to counterbalance the western diktat to the Arab region and especially the pernicious Turkish aggressive policies must be built around Bilad al-Sham in both, geographically and cultural terms. From the Gulf, however, others insist to establish a new Arabness based on the radical interpretation of a religion that they believe is the only one possible. One spiritual current among many others that they feverishly pretend has to shape everything, from the government to the rule of law and even personal behavior. An extremist and short-minded ideology exported to the rest of the world from the desert south of Jordan and from the lands north of the Taurus Mountains.

Michel Aflaq and Salah Bitar’s Pan-Arabism is linked to a collective Arab identity developed around political struggles for independence and the use of Arabic as a language of understanding. As a means of communication, Arabic was embraced long before by the people of Bilad al-Sham, a useful and valuable tool to express its culture, thoughts, and social unity. In that sense, the UAE is siding with those like Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, or Algeria. The latter has always realized that the political unity of Arab states is based on a common language and a pragmatic approach to counterbalance an unfair world order. That unity can only be possible if social and cultural differences are respected. Above all, the Emiratis have understood that without Bilad al-Sham other schemes of convergence are simply not possible. That’s the meaning and validity of Bilad al-Sham. No more, no less.    

The opinions mentioned in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Al mayadeen, but rather express the opinion of its writer exclusively.

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XXI Century: The Abolition of Israeli Expansionist Colonial Anachronism

13 Nov 2021

Source: Al Mayadeen Net

Susana Khalil

There will be no free and peaceful Arab-Persian world as long as the Israeli colonial Euro-Zionist regime exists.

I. By way of dialogue

1907      

ABDALLAH: Mustafa, British colonialism prepared a scientific report (Bannerman), in order to prolong itself as an empire. The report says that the Arab world is an obstacle to the European colonial order, and for this, it is necessary to articulate our disintegration, division, and separation. Imposing politicians to serve imperial interests. To combat any movement of unity, whether intellectual, cultural, ethnic, historical, political, religious, economic, scientific, military, etc. And to achieve this it must be through the establishment of an “agent state”, with a foreign population affectionate to Europe and its interests.

MUSTAPHA: That is absurd, it is impossible to achieve that, and even less so within the Arab idiosyncrasy. It’s ridiculous, it’s nonsense.

1915

ABDALLAH: Mustafa, the French and British colonialists are making a secret agreement called Sykes Pico. Creating borders to divide our Arab lands between them.

MUSTAFA: Let’s abolish any colonizing savage.

1917

ABDALLAH: Mustafa, you remember when in 1907 I told you about the Bannerman Report. British colonialism has just passed The Balfour Declaration. It is for the establishment of a Jewish “Home” here, in our Palestine.

MUSTAFA: Home? It’s a trap and they will never, never achieve it. The Arab spirit will never allow these Europeans to impose colonialism under the mantle of the Jewish religion in our Palestine. Today we must free ourselves from this British colonial yoke and our Palestine will be free.

1947

ABDALLAH: Mustafa, do you remember when in 1917 I told you about the Balfour Declaration? A newly created international organization, I think it’s called the UN, the United Nations. It has voted a resolution for the creation of the “State of Israel” in our Palestine. They gave it 64% of our homeland.

MUSTAFA: I don’t believe that a newly created international organization has that power. It is absurd and impossible.

May 14, 1948

ABDALLAH: Mustafa my love, I knew your sister was beheaded. The European Zionist movement has proclaimed, The Declaration of the Creation of the “State of Israel”. Terror, panic, macabre killings, this is genocide, Al-Nakba. The British handed over our Palestine to the Jewish Europeans.

MUSTAFA: We will go to war, we will liberate our Palestine. The Arab world will rise up. Long live Arab love.

1967

ABDALLAH: Mustafa, Israeli colonialism in 1948 took away part of our Palestine, and today, they have colonized all of our historic Palestine. And they have also taken territories from Egypt and Syria.

MUSTAFA: We must continue to fight my beloved Abdallah.

1978

ABDALLAH: Mustafa, the dictator of Egypt, Anwar El Sadat, has recognized the colonial regime of “Israel” in exchange for the return of the Egyptian territories in the Sinai that were taken by colonization in 1967.

MUSTAFA: Abdallah, Anwar El Sadat is a traitor and all these Arab dictators are traitors, that’s why they are in power. We must fight and we will win.

1987

ABDALLAH: Mustafa my love…The Intifada…how beautiful and divine is this popular uprising against colonialism. It’s a popular uprising, it has no leaders, it comes from the entrails of the people. It is magical, it is wonderful, it is loving… Mustafa my love. It must not stop, it must go on until victory until the liberation of our Palestine.

MUSTAFA: Yes, the Intifada must not stop. How divine is the Revolution, how sweet is this love, Palestine, Palestine, Palestine! My two great-grandchildren are imprisoned and they destroyed my brother’s house. The world is watching our pain. When Israeli colonialism falls, all the Arab dictatorships will fall, and above all the bloody Gulf dictatorships.

1993

ABDALLAH: Mustafa they have stopped the Intifada. The PLO in Oslo recognizes the colonial regime of “Israel”. They talk about two states. They do not talk about the right of return of Palestinian refugees. They only give us 22% of our homeland. It is a hoax, it is a trap.

2000

MUSTAFA: Abdallah, Israeli expansionist colonization has been defeated in Lebanon, it has had to withdraw from Lebanon. This is a victory for our Lebanese people. They withdrew without imposing any conditions. Long live Hezbollah and long live the armed resistance! This is the greatest victory we have achieved.

ABDALLAH: Yes Mustafa, it is a victory, it is the unquenchable faith and determination in the struggle. And thanks to the union, the union between Hezbollah and Iran, we Palestinians, in Oslo, accepted humiliating conditions. Colonialism was supposed to give us 22% of the territory and far from withdrawing, they have taken more of our homeland.

2003      

ABDALLAH: Mustafa, the Zionist lobby is asking the United States to invade Iraq, they created the attacks of September 11 to justify this cruel invasion, slandering that Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction.

MUSTAFA: It is about dismembering the Arab world bit by bit.

2010

ABDALLAH: Mustafa, there is a popular revolt in Tunisia against the tyrant Ben Ali, that puppet of France. This is going to have a domino effect in the Arab world. Oh, I have fear and hope.

MUSTAFA: Abdallah, remember that the Intifada was popular and then it was hijacked and now we are worse with this Palestinian Authority which is a collaborator of colonialism. We have to be very careful, we cannot be naïve.

2020

ABDALLAH: Mustafa, the Gulf monarchies already shamelessly recognize the colonial “state of Israel”, they do it to perpetuate themselves in power, they are making astronomical economic investments. The shedding of our Palestinian blood is the throne of these macabre Arab traitors. They are falsifying Islam and making it look like the enemy is Iran. These traitors do not see that by defending Palestine they are protecting their own nation, as colonialism will come after for them, they are putting the sovereignty of the Arab peoples at risk. I thought these traitors were smarter.  

MUSTAFA: Yes, I also thought these miserable traitors were smarter.

2062

MUSTAFA: Abdallah, our noble cause of Palestinian liberation is no longer in the conscience of the international community, as it once was. Today we are a tourist attraction of the Israeli colonial regime. In Jerusalem we sell Tatriz (embroidery), we dance Dabke, we sell our typical culinary dishes, as typical of the colonial regime of “Israel”. Arabs come from the Gulf and say they are happy to be in “Israel”, in the land of their “cousins”.  

2073

MUSTAPHA: Abdallah, “Israel’s” expansionist colonialism has occupied part of Jordan…

II. The Mutilated Arab-Persian History

Walking through the streets of Damascus, Syria.

– Uncle, uncle, Habibi, good morning, where is the train station? I have to go to Jerusalem for a few days. Then I have to go to Baghdad and Iran. By train, it is cheaper and I will be able to see all those landscapes and villages…

III. Zionism, radiography of the end of the Arab-Persian world. This is impossible, absurd, nonsensical, and ridiculous.

“When the truth is too weak to defend itself, it will have to go on the attack.”

 

– Bertolt Brecht 

At this stage of the Zionist colonial process, in its advance to put an end to the original Palestinian people, there are two aspects that I want to point out in this article: the return to armed struggle as an alternative for national liberation and the end of “Israel’s” colonial regime.  

After the imposition of “Israel’s” colonial regime in Palestine from Europe, which was seen and felt like an impossible, absurd, nonsensical, and ridiculous project from the point of view of logic; today, from logic, the same will be said when it is considered that the Arab-Persian and Kurdish world and culture can be plundered, falsified… modalities of dispossession for its disappearance.

It could be said that there will be no free and peaceful Arab-Persian world as long as the Israeli colonial Euro-Zionist regime exists. But that is not the point, the point is that the Arab-Persian world is threatened to disappear.

Since the Oslo accords, fewer Palestinians are talking about the liberation of Palestine, about the independence of historic Palestine. Fewer Palestinians are expressing their struggle against the colonial yoke and anachronism of “Israel”. And especially the Palestinians in the Diaspora, because Western repression is so strong. The Palestinians have submitted and are dragging themselves to the Western Euro-Zionist agenda by only debating on one or two states. While colonialism has it clear and is moving to put an end to the original Palestinian people.

There are honest Western souls devoted to solidarity with the Palestinian people, sincere beings, but I am opposed to them, I’m opposed to the ones who demand the right for “Israel” to exist in our historical Palestine. The concept of peace does not come from the comfort, fear, functionalism, immediacy, and naivety of a trade unionist, feminist, academic, intellectual, politician, student, artist, activist. There is implicit colonialism there, even if they act in good faith.  

Every native people has the dignified right to abolish their respective colonizer and that is always a contribution to humanity.

This would be an artificial and dead struggle, if it is not fought from the raison d’être of the Palestinian cause, from the essence and root of the Palestinian cause, that is, the struggle of a native people against a colonial yoke, today, in the 21st century.

As anti-Zionists, we must be a philosophical and moral challenge to the obscurantism of the academic-intellectual priesthood.  

I find it degrading, contrary to the spirit of the human thinking verb, to exclude, ban, censor, repress, and silence from the world of debate the end of “Israel’s” colonial regime in Palestine, on the pretext that we must think about peace. One has to be realistic, especially because of the fear of not being accused of anti-Semitism. Everyone has the right to express his or her belief that this colonial regime should exist in Palestine. What should not be accepted is that this point should be banned from the universe of debate. 

In the liberation of the Palestinian people against the colonial yoke and anachronism of “Israel”, it is intrinsic to never, ever expel the so-called Israeli, otherwise, it would be a philosophical and moral betrayal. The figure known as an Israeli would become a Palestinian citizen. That is what the statutes of the extinct League of Nations demanded, where thousands of thousands of Jews applied.

If you tell me that this is impossible and that I must be realistic, I say: don’t be creative people with complex and articulate cowards. Let us be able to position justice, to transcend intellectuality.  And as Ernesto Guevara said: Let’s be realistic, let’s do the impossible.The opinions mentioned in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Al mayadeen, but rather express the opinion of its writer exclusively.

أزمة لبنان.. من هم أعداء الوطن والشّعب؟

31 تموز 2021

المصدر: الميادين نت

حسني محلي

هذا هو سرّ كلّ الأحداث التي يعيشها لبنان الآن وسابقاً، ولنقل اعتباراً من قرار مجلس الأمن الدولي رقم 1559 بتاريخ 2 أيلول/سبتمبر 2004.

يريد الجميع أن ينتقموا من هذا البلد وشعبه، لأنه رفض الاستسلام للأعداء والعملاء والمتآمرين.

من دون العودة إلى تاريخ لبنان القديم والحديث، وخصوصاً بعد أحداث ما بعد الاستقلال، يكفي التذكير بما عاشه هذا البلد اعتباراً من الحرب الأهلية التي يعرف الجميع كيف بدأت ولماذا وكيف انتهت، ويعرف الجميع أيضاً أطماع الصهاينة، حتى قبل “قيام الدولة العبرية”، بلبنان أرضاً وبحراً ومياهاً، وهو ما يفسّر كلّ التدخلات الإسرائيلية اللاحقة بأشكالها المختلفة، كما يفسّر تآمر الأنظمة العربية والدولية المتحالفة مع “تل أبيب” ضد هذا البلد الذي كان، وما زال، محط أنظار الجميع، بسبب مقاومته الاحتلال وبسبب الخيانة بكلّ أشكالها الداخلية والعربية والإقليمية!

يريد الجميع أن ينتقموا من هذا البلد وشعبه، لأنه رفض الاستسلام للأعداء والعملاء والمتآمرين الَّذين لم يستطيعوا تحقيق أهدافهم، ليس في الحرب الأهلية فحسب، بل خلال الغزو والاحتلال الإسرائيلي للجنوب أيضاً، ثم في حرب تموز/ يوليو 2006، فاتّفقوا على تدمير لبنان بمن فيه، انتقاماً لصمود المقاومة، كما أقسموا على تدمير سوريا لأنها وقفت إلى جانب المقاومة ولبنان.

هذا هو سرّ كلّ الأحداث التي يعيشها لبنان الآن وسابقاً، ولنقل اعتباراً من قرار مجلس الأمن الدولي رقم 1559 بتاريخ 2 أيلول/سبتمبر 2004، إذ أكد ضرورة انتخاب رئيس جديد للبنان وحلِّ الميليشيات اللبنانية، التي كانوا يقصدون بها “حزب الله”، ونزع سلاحها، وبالتالي انسحاب القوات السورية، وهو ما وافق عليه الرئيس بشار الأسد في نيسان/أبريل 2005 بعد المؤامرة الكبرى، ألا وهي اغتيال رفيق الحريري، وما تلاها من مؤامرة أكبر، وهي الحملة التي استهدفت سوريا سياسياً وإعلامياً، من دون أن يتذكر أحد أن كل الرؤساء الأميركيين الذين التقوا الرئيس الراحل حافظ الأسد وكانوا يشترطون عليه التخلي عن دعم المقاومة والقضية الفلسطينية مقابل إعطائه كل ما يشاء عربياً ودولياً، وهو ما رفضته دمشق دائماً.

وجاءت حرب تموز لتؤكّد من جديد عزم الأعداء وإصرارهم على الانتقام من لبنان وسوريا، إذ أرادت “تل أبيب” من خلال هذه الحرب أن تنتقم لهزيمتها وانسحابها من الجنوب اللبناني، وقبل ذلك لضحايا التفجيرات التي استهدفت في تشرين الثاني/نوفمبر 1982 مقر قيادة “الجيش” الإسرائيلي في صور، ومقر “الشاباك” الإسرائيلي قرب المدينة، والتي أدت إلى مقتل 131 إسرائيلياً. 

ويفسر كل ذلك أيضاً اهتمام واشنطن وباريس معاً بما يسمى “أزمة لبنان الحالية”، وعبر التدخلات المباشرة وغير المباشرة، من خلال حلفائهما في الداخل أو في المنطقة، إذ لم تنسيا معاً ضحايا الهجمات التي تعرَّضت لها الثكنات الأميركية والفرنسية في بيروت في 23 تشرين الأول/أكتوبر 1983، وأدت إلى مقتل 241 من العساكر الأميركيين و58 من الفرنسيين. 

وفي جميع الحالات، قد يرى البعض في هذه الذكريات أحداثاً طوى التاريخ صفحاته عليها، ولكن التاريخ علمنا أيضاً أن الدول الإمبريالية لا تنسى كلّ من انتصر عليها وأهانها بشكل من الأشكال، كما لا تنسى كل من خدمها ما دام مستمراً في هذه الخدمة، مهما اختلفت أشكال الخدمة المباشرة وغير المباشرة، كما هو الحال في لبنان. وقد صمد شعبه بكل فئاته أمام أعتى أنواع التآمر والخيانة داخلياً وإقليمياً ودولياً، وأثبت أنه صاحب المعجزات في الصبر والانتصار. 

ويبقى السؤال: إلى متى سيستمر تآمر المتآمرين اللبنانيين ضد شعبهم، وهم يعرفون أن أسيادهم لا يكنّون إلا مشاعر الحقد والعداء للبنان وكل شعوب المنطقة التي ترفض الاستسلام، وهو ما أثبتوه في سوريا ولبنان واليمن والعراق ودول أخرى في المنطقة؟

ليس للجميع إلا هدف واحد، هو التخلص من سلاح المقاومة وغطائها السياسي “حزب الله”؛ مصدر الذعر الحقيقي الوحيد لـ”إسرائيل”، وباعتراف قياداتها، وهي ترى دائماً في الأنظمة العربية والإقليمية ملاذها الوحيد، لأنها ساعدتها وتساعدها وستساعدها دائماً للتآمر على دول المنطقة وشعوبها برمتها.

ويفسّر ذلك كلّ التطورات الأخيرة التي يعيشها لبنان بكلّ فئات شعبه، الذي يريد له المتآمرون أن يكون ضحية خياناتهم، بعد أن أثبتوا جميعاً أنّهم لن يرحموا أحداً، أياً كانت انتماءاتهم الدينية والطائفية والقومية. وإلا، لماذا لا يريد البعض من أعداء الوطن والشعب للبنان أن يستورد المازوت والبنزين من إيران التي أعلنت استعدادها لتقديم هذه المساعدة من دون أي شروط؟ ثم لماذا هذا التأخير في الاتفاق مع العراق في هذا المجال؟

والسؤال الأهم: لماذا لا تفكر أنظمة الخليج المتآمرة في تغطية احتياجات الشعب اللبناني “الشقيق” من هذه المشتقات النفطية، ولو لمرة واحدة، بدلاً من أن تفكر في التعاون مع “إسرائيل” التي تغطي معظم احتياجاتها من هذه المشتقات من أذربيجان وكردستان العراق، وعبر الموانئ التركية؟ ومن ثم من يؤخّر التحقيق في حادث انفجار المرفأ، وبالتالي قصص الفساد الخطيرة التي طالت معظم رجال المال والسياسة، الذين يعرفهم المواطن اللبناني بالأسماء والألقاب؟ ولماذا؟ ولِمَ لا تفكر تركيا بدورها في تسخير بواخرها ذات المولدات الكهربائية المتورطة بقضايا فساد لتغطية احتياجات لبنان من الكهرباء مجاناً، وهي التي تغطي جميع احتياجات الفصائل المسلّحة في سوريا وليبيا؟

كما أنّها تقوم بما تقوم به في هذين البلدين، بعد أن أقامت قواعد عسكرية في العراق والصومال، وهي تتدخل في كل بلد عربي بشكل أو بآخر، وخصوصاً بعد ما يسمى بـ”الربيع العربي”. وكان هذا الربيع كافياً لوضع تركيا في خندق العداء لسوريا ومن معها، إذ دخلت أنقرة بعد ذلك التاريخ في حوارات وتحالفات سريعة مع كل الأطراف اللبنانيين (زارت أنقرة أكثر من مرة) المعادين لـ”حزب الله” وسوريا، على الرغم من زيارة رئيس الوزراء إردوغان الشهيرة إلى بيروت في 24 تشرين الثاني/نوفمبر 2010، إذ أعلن آنذاك “استعداد بلاده للانضمام إلى المساعي السورية السعودية من أجل إنهاء الخلاف حول المحكمة الدولية”.

وقد قال “إنَّ لبنان انتصر على إسرائيل في الحرب التي شنّتها عليه في العام 2006، وسينتصر عليها في أي حرب قادمة”، من دون أن ينسى آنذاك زيارة بلدة الكواشرة في عكار، ليفتتح آباراً ارتوازية، ويدشّن مدرسة أنشأتها تركيا في هذه البلدة التي يقطنها مواطنون من أصول تركمانية، ويتكلمون اللغة التركية، والذين أطلقوا هتافات “قومية”، ورفعوا لافتات كتبوا عليها بالتركية: “أهلاً بأحفاد السلطان عبد الحميد”، الذي أصبح اسماً لفصيل تركماني مسلّح يقاتل الآن في سوريا، وهو ما كان بداية الاهتمام التركي بلبنان داخلياً، في محاولة من أنقرة لموازنة الدور الإيراني/ السوري الذي تحول بعد ما يسمى بـ”الربيع العربي” إلى مصدر قلق جدي بالنسبة إلى تركيا وأنظمة الخليج ومن معها في المنطقة وخارجها، فكان لبنان منذ هذا “الربيع” هدفاً لكل المؤامرات الخفية والعلنية بكل أطرافها الداخلية والخارجية التي لم تبالِ بمقتل مئات الآلاف من أبناء العراق وسوريا واليمن، والتي شرَّدت الملايين منهم.

كما أنَّها لا تبالي بما يعانيه الشعب اللبناني، ولن تفعل، لأنها السبب في هذه المعاناة بكل أشكالها، وستكون معالجتها سهلة جداً عندما يرى المتواطئون أنّ لبنان للجميع، وهو أغلى بكثير من حفنة دولاراتهم، كما كان دائماً منذ زمن الكنعانيين، الذين عاشوا في لبنان وسوريا وفلسطين قبل زمن طويل جداً من اليهود ودويلاتهم، كما كانوا فيها قبل قرون عديدة من اكتشاف كولومبوس لأميركا وخرائط “سايكس بيكو”!

On Nasser’s Fight for Arabic Independence and a Free Palestine

Cynthia Chung

June 15, 2021

Nasser became the catalyst for an Arab Revolution for independence, a revolution that remains yet to be finished, Cynthia Chung writes.

In the 1950s the so-called enemy of the West was not only Moscow but the Third World’s emerging nationalists, from Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt to Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran. The United States and Britain staged a coup d’état against Mossadegh, and used the Muslim Brotherhood, a terrorist movement and the grandfather organization of the militant Islamic right, in an attempt to remove Nasser, the leader of the Arab nationalists.

In the 1960s, left wing nationalism and Arab socialism spread from Egypt to Algeria to Syria, Iraq and Palestine. This emergence presented a threat to the old imperialist game of Great Britain, to which the United States was a recent recruit of, and thus they decided to forge a working alliance with Saudi Arabia intent on using Wahhabi fundamentalism as their foreign policy arm in the Middle East, along with the Muslim Brotherhood.

This paper will go through the carving up of the Middle East under Sykes-Picot, the British creation of Saudi Arabia and Israel and the British occupation of Palestine, the origin of the Muslim Brotherhood and Nasser’s fight for Arab independence. In a follow-up paper, I will discuss the role of the City of London in facilitating the bankroll of the first Islamic fundamentalist state Saudi Arabia, along with the Muslim Brotherhood and its terrorist apparatus.

An “Arab Awakening” Made in Britain

“The renunciation will not be easy. Jewish hopes have been raised to such a pitch that the non-fulfilment of the Zionist dream of a Jewish state in Palestine will cause intense disillusionment and bitterness. The manifold proofs of public spirit and of capacity to endure hardships and face danger in the building up of the national home are there to testify to the devotion with which a large section of the Jewish people cherish the Zionist ideal. And it would be an act of further cruelty to the Jews to disappoint those hopes if there existed some way of satisfying them, that did not involve cruelty to another people. But the logic of facts is inexorable. It shows that no room can be made in Palestine for a second nation except by dislodging or exterminating the nation in possession.”

– the concluding paragraph of George Antonius’ “The Arab Awakening” (1938)

Much of what is responsible for the war and havoc in the Middle East today has the British orchestrated so-called “Arab Awakening” to thank, led by characters such as E.G. Browne, St. John Philby, T.E. Lawrence of Arabia, and Gertrude Bell. Although its origins go as far back as the 19^th century, it was only until the early 20^th century, that the British were able to reap significant results from its long harvest.

The Arab Revolt of 1916-1918, had been, to the detriment of the Arab people, a British led rebellion. The British claimed that their sole interest in the affair was the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire and had given their word that these Arab territories would be freed and allowed independence if they agreed to rebel, in large part led and directed by the British.

It is a rather predictable feature of the British to lie and double cross and thus it should be of no surprise to anyone that their intentions were quite the opposite of what they had promised and thanks to the Sykes-Picot Russian leak, were revealed in their entire shameful glory.

If the Sultan of Turkey were to disappear, then the Caliphate by common consent of Islam would fall to the family of the prophet, Hussein ibn Ali the Sharif of Mecca, a candidate which was approved by the British Cairo office as suitable for British strings. T.E. Lawrence, who worked at the Cairo bureau is quoted as saying:

“If the Sultan of Turkey were to disappear, then the Caliphate by common consent of Islam would fall to the family of the prophet, the present representative of which is Hussein, the Sharif of Mecca….If properly handled the Arab States would remain in a state of political mosaic, a tissue of jealous principalities incapable of cohesion…” (1)

Once the Arab Revolt was “won” against the Ottoman Empire, instead of the promised Arab independence, the Middle East was carved up into zones of influence under British and French colonial rule. Puppet monarchies were created in regions that were considered not under direct colonial subjugation in order to continue the illusion that Arabs remained in charge of sacred regions such as Mecca and Medina.

In central Arabia, Hussein, Sharif of Mecca, the puppet leader of the Arab Revolt laid claim to the title Caliph in 1924, which his rival Wahhabite Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud rejected and declared war, defeating the Hashemites. Hussein abdicated and ibn Saud, the favourite of the British India Office, was proclaimed King of Hejaz and Najd in 1926, which led to the founding of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Al Saud warriors of Wahhabism were a formidable strike force that the British believed would help London gain control of the western shores of the Persian Gulf.

Hussein ibn Ali’s son Faisal (under the heavy tutelage of T.E. Lawrence) was bestowed as King of Iraq and Hussein’s other son, Abdullah I was established as the Emir of Transjordan until a negotiated legal separation of Transjordan from Britain’s Palestine mandate occurred in 1946, whereupon he was crowned King of Jordan. (For more on this history refer to my paper.)

While the British were promising Arab independence they simultaneously were promising a homeland in Palestine to the Jews. The Balfour Declaration of November 2nd, 1917 states:

“His majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object…”

Palestine had been seized by the British during the so-called Arab Revolt on December 11^th, 1917 when General Allenby marched into Jerusalem through the Jaffa Gate and declared martial law over the city. Palestine has remained occupied ever since.

Britain would receive the mandate over Palestine from the League of Nations in July 1922.

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s violent confrontations between Jews and Arabs took place in Palestine costing hundreds of lives. In 1936 a major Arab revolt occurred over 7 months, until diplomatic efforts involving other Arab countries led to a ceasefire. In 1937, a British Royal Commission of Inquiry headed by William Peel concluded that Palestine had two distinct societies with irreconcilable political demands, thus making it necessary to partition the land.

The Arab Higher Committee refused Peel’s “prescription” and the revolt broke out again. This time, Britain responded with a devastatingly heavy hand. Roughly 5,000 Arabs were killed by the British armed forces and police.

Following the riots, the British mandate government dissolved the Arab Higher Committee and declared it an illegal body.

In response to the revolt, the British government issued the White Paper of 1939, which stated that Palestine should be a bi-national state, inhabited by both Arabs and Jews. Due to the international unpopularity of the mandate including within Britain itself, it was organised such that the United Nations would take responsibility for the British initiative and adopted the resolution to partition Palestine on November 29th, 1947. Britain would announce its termination of its Mandate for Palestine on May 15th, 1948 after the State of Israel declared its independence on May 14th, 1948.

The Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood

In 1869, a man named Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, the intellectual founder of the Salafiyya movement, went to India where British led colonial authorities welcomed him with honors and graciously escorted him aboard a government owned vessel on an all expenses paid voyage to the Suez. (2)

In Cairo he was adopted by the Egyptian prime minister Riad Pasha, a notorious enemy of the emerging nationalist movement in Egypt. Pasha persuaded Afghani to stay in Egypt and allowed him to take up residence in Cairo’s 900 year old Al Azhar mosque considered the center of Islamic learning worldwide, where he received lodging and a monthly government stipend (paid for by the British). (3)

In 1879, Cairo nationalists in the Egyptian Army, led by the famous Egyptian hero Ahmed ‘Urabi, organised an uprising against the British role in Egypt. Afghani was expelled from Egypt by the Egyptian nationalists that same year.

Ahmed ‘Urabi served as prime minister of Egypt briefly, from July 1882 to Sept 1882, however, his movement for Egyptian independence was eventually crushed by the British with the shelling of Alexandria in July 1882 followed by an invasion which resulted in a direct British occupation of Egypt that would last until 1956. It would be Gamal Abdel Nasser who would finally end British colonial rule of Egypt during the Suez Crisis, whereupon the Suez canal was nationalised and the British military bases expelled.

While Egypt was fighting its nationalist fight from 1879-1882, Afghani and his chief disciple Muhammad Abduh travelled together first to Paris and then to Britain, it was in Britain that they would make a proposal for a pan-Islamic alliance among Egypt, Turkey, Persia and Afghanistan against Czarist Russia (4).

In addition, the crisis in Sudan, was in the middle of a tribal religious rebellion against the British led by a man named Mohammed Ahmad a Sudanese sheikh who proclaimed himself the Mahdi, or savior, and was leading a puritanical Islamic revolt. (5)

What Afghani was proposing to the British was that they provide aid and resources to support his formation of a militant Islam sect that would favour Britain’s interest in the Middle East, in other words, Afghani wished to fight Islam with Islam, having stated in one of his works “We do not cut the head of religion except by sword of religion.”(6)

Although it is said that the British refused this offer, this is not likely considering the support Afghani would receive in creating the intellectual foundation for a pan-Islamic movement with British patronage and the support of England’s leading orientalist E.G. Browne, the godfather of twentieth century Orientalism and teacher of St John Philby and T.E. Lawrence.

E.G. Browne would make sure the work of Afghani would continue long beyond his death by immortalising him in his 1910 “The Persian Revolution,” considered an authoritative history of the time.

In 1888, Abduh, the chief disciple of Afghani, would return to Egypt in triumph with the full support of the representatives of her Majesty’s imperial force and took the first of several positions in Cairo, openly casting his lot with Lord Cromer, who was the symbol of British imperialism in Egypt.

Abduh would found, with the hold of London’s Egyptian proconsul Evelyn Baring (aka Lord Cromer) who was the scion of the enormously powerful banking clan (Barings Bank) under the city of London, the Salafiyya movement. (7)

Abduh had attached himself to the British rulers of Egypt and created the cornerstone of the Muslim Brotherhood which dominated the militant Islamic right throughout the twentieth century.

In 1899, Abduh reached the pinnacle of his power and influence, and was named mufti of Egypt.

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In 1902, Riyadh fell to Ibn Saud and it was during this period that Ibn Saud established the fearsome Ikhwan (translated as “brotherhood”). He collected fighters from Bedouin tribes firing them up with fanatical religious zeal and threw them into battle. By 1912 the Ikhwan numbered 11,000 and Ibn Saud had both central Arabia’s Nejd and Al-Ahsa in the east under his control.

From the 1920s onward, the new Saudi state merged its Wahhabi orthodoxy with the Salafiyya movement (which would be organised into the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928).

William Shakespear, a famed British agent, forged the first formal treaty between England and Saudi Arabia which was signed in 1915, which bound London and Arabia for years before Saudi Arabia became a country. “It formally recognized Ibn Saud as the independent ruler of the Nejd and its Dependencies under British protection. In return, Ibn Saud undertook to follow British advice.” (8)

Harry St. John Bridger Philby, a British operative schooled by E.G. Browne and father to the legendary triple agent Kim Philby, would succeed Shakespear as Great Britain’s liaison to Ibn Saud under the British India Office, the friendly rival of the Cairo Arab Bureau office which was sponsoring T.E. Lawrence of Arabia.

In Egypt 1928, Hassan al-Banna (a follower of Afghani and Abduh) founded the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan al-Muslimeen), the organization that would change the course of history in the twentieth century Middle East.

Banna’s Muslim Brotherhood was established with a grant from England’s Suez Canal Company (9) and from that point on, British diplomats and intelligence service, along with the British puppet King Farouq would use the Muslim Brotherhood as a truncheon against Egypt’s nationalists and later against Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser.

To get the Muslim Brotherhood off the ground, the Suez Canal Company helped Banna build the mosque in Ismailia that would serve as its headquarters and base of operation. (10) The fact that Banna created the organization in Ismailia is itself worthy of note. For England, the Suez Canal was the indispensable route to its prize possession, India and in 1928 the town Ismailia happened to house not only the company’s offices but a major British military base built during WWI. It was also, in the 1920s a center of pro-British sentiment in Egypt.

In the post-WWI world, England reigned supreme, the flag of the British empire was everywhere from the Mediterranean to India. A new generation of kings and potentates ruled over British dominated colonies, mandates, vassal states, and semi-independent fiefdoms in Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan, Arabia and Persia. To varying degrees those monarchies were beholden to London.

In the half century between 1875 and 1925 the building blocks of the militant Islamic right were cemented in place by the British Empire.

Nasser Leads the Fight for Arab Independence

In 1942, the Muslim Brotherhood would earn their well-deserved reputation for extremism and violence by establishing the “Secret Apparatus,” an intelligence service and secret terrorist unit. This clandestine unit functioned for over twelve years almost entirely unchecked, assassinating judges, police officers, government officials and engaging in goon squad attacks on labor unions and communists.

Throughout this period the Muslim Brotherhood worked for the most part in an alliance with King Farouq (and thus the British), using their clandestine forces on behalf of British interests. And throughout its entire existence it would receive political support and money from the Saudi royal family and the Wahhabi establishment (more on this in part 2 of this series).

The Secret Apparatus would be smashed into pieces by Nasser in 1954.

After WWII, the faltering Farouq regime lashed out against the left in an intense campaign of repression aimed at the communists. The Cold War was beginning. In 1946, prime minister Isma’il Sidqi of Egypt who was installed as head of the government with the support of Banna, openly funded the Muslim Brotherhood and provided training camps for its shock troops used in a sweeping anti-left campaign. Sidqi resigned in Dec 1946 after less than one year as PM due to massive unpopularity.

As King Farouq began to lose his grip on the Egyptian people, the Brotherhood distanced itself while maintaining shadowy ties to the army and to foreign intelligence agencies and always opposed to the left.

The Palestine War (1947-1949) resulted in the establishment of the State of Israel at the cost of 700,000 displaced Palestinian Arabs and the destruction of most of their urban areas.

The territory that was under British administration before the war was divided between the State of Israel (officially formed May 14^th, 1948), which captured about 78% of it. In opposition to Israel, the Kingdom of Jordan captured and later annexed the West Bank, and Egypt captured the Gaza Strip, with the Arab League establishing the All-Palestine Government, which came to an end in June 1967 when the Gaza Strip, along with the West Bank, were captured by Israel in the Six-Day War.

The Egyptian people were furious over these developments, and the reign of British puppet King Farouq who had done nothing to prevent the dismantling of Palestine was on extremely shaky ground. In response to this, Farouq’s accord with the Muslim Brotherhood broke down, and in December 1948, the Egyptian government outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood. Weeks later a Brotherhood assassin murdered prime minister Mahmoud El Nokrashy.

Two months later, in Feb. 1949, Banna was assassinated in Cairo by the Egyptian secret police.

For Arab nationalists, Israel was a symbol of Arab weakness and semi-colonial subjugation, overseen by proxy kings in Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.

On the night of July 23, 1952, the Free Officers, led by Muhammad Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser, staged a military coup that launched the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, overthrowing the British puppet monarch. The Free Officers, knowing that warrants had been issued for their arrest, launched the coup that night, storming the staff headquarters in Cairo.

Cairo was now, for the first time, under the control of the Arab people after over 70 years of British occupation.

The seizure of power by the Free Officers in Egypt came during an era when the entire Arab world from Morocco to Iraq was locked in the grip of imperialism. Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia were French colonies; Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, Oman and Yemen were British colonies. Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia were kingdoms ruled by monarchies installed by London. And Egypt under King Farouq was the political and economic center of the Arab world.

A growing surge of Arab nationalism arose in response to the Free Officers’ actions in Egypt. The powerful Voice of the Arabs radio in Cairo was reporting to the entire Arab world that they had found their independence movement, and that Nasser was at its helm.

From 1956 to 1958 Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon underwent rebellions, Iraq’s king was toppled, and Syria united with Egypt in Nasser’s United Arab Republic, part of Nasser’s strategy to unify the Arab world.

In Algeria, moral and material support was given from Cairo towards the Algerian revolution that finally won them independence from French colonial rule in 1962.

That same year, Yemen underwent a Nasser-inspired revolt, triggering a proxy war pitting Saudi Arabia against Egypt, with Nasser stating in a 1962 speech, “Yemen’s fight is my fight. Yemen’s Revolution is our Revolution.”

Nasser’s leadership and the inspiration he stirred were so strong that even as late as 1969 the year before Nasser’s death, Libya’s king was overthrown and Sudan’s right-wing regime was eliminated by military leaders loyal to Nasser.

Nasser had managed to threaten the very heart of Anglo-America’s post-WWII strategy in the Middle East. Nasser understood, that if the vast oil fields in Saudi Arabia were under Arab control, the potential for an economic boom would be enormous for all Arab states, such that the old game of imperialism by Britain and France could no longer retain its chokehold on Arab independence.

Not only was Egypt a military rival to Saudi Arabia, not only did Cairo clash with Riyadh in a shooting war in Yemen, not only did Nasser inspire Arabs in Saudi Arabia with republican ideals but the Egyptian leader even won over some of Saudi Arabia’s royal family. This group was led by Prince Talal to form the ‘Free Princes’, which defected to Egypt demanding the establishment of a republic in Saudi Arabia!

What was really going on during the period of 1954 to 1970, under Nasser’s leadership, was a war between two competing visions for the future of the Middle East; an Arab world of independent but cooperative Arab republics utilising their natural resources to facilitate an economic boom in industrialisation vs a semi-feudal scattering of monarchies with their natural resources largely at the West’s disposal.

The real reason why the British and Anglo Americans wanted Nasser removed, was not because he was a communist or because he was susceptible to communist influence; it was because he refused to obey his would-be foreign controllers and was rather successful in this endeavour, bringing their shadowy actions uncomfortably close to the light and inspiring loyalty amongst Arabs outside of Egypt including those sitting on top of the oil.

What especially worried London and Washington was the idea that Nasser might succeed in his plan to unify Egypt and Saudi Arabia thus creating a major Arab power. Nasser believed that these oil wells were not only for the government of those territories to do with as they wished but belonged to all Arab people and thus should be used for the advancement of the Arab world. Afterall, most Arabs are aware that both the monarchies themselves and the artificial borders that demarcate their states, were designed by imperialists seeking to build fences around oil wells in the 1920s.

Nasser understood that if Cairo and Riyadh were to unite in a common cause for the uplifting of the Arab people, it would create a vastly important new Arab center of gravity with worldwide influence.

In 1954 Egypt and the United Kingdom had signed an agreement over the Suez Canal and British military basing rights. It was a short lived. By 1956 Great Britain, France and Israel concocted a plot against Egypt aimed at toppling Nasser and seizing control of the Suez Canal, a conspiracy that enlisted the Muslim Brotherhood.

In fact, the British went so far as to hold secret meetings with the Muslim Brotherhood in Geneva. According to author Stephen Dorrill, two British intelligence agents Col. Neil McLean and Julian Amery, helped MI6 organize a clandestine anti-Nasser opposition in the south of France and in Switzerland, (11) in his book he writes “They also went so far as to make contact in Geneva…with members of the Muslim Brotherhood, informing only MI6 of this demarche which they kept secret from the rest of the Suez Group [which was planning the military operation via its British bases by the Suez Canal]. Amery forwarded various names to [Selwyn] Lloyd, [the British foreign secretary].”

British prime minister Anthony Eden, Churchill’s handpicked successor, was violently anti-Nasser all along and considered a British coup d’état in Cairo as early as 1953. Other than such brash actions, the only political force that could mount a challenge to Nasser was the Muslim Brotherhood which had hundreds of thousands of followers.

Nasser’s long postponed showdown with the Muslim Brotherhood occurred in 1954, this was timed to add pressure during the rising frustration concerning the British-Egyptian negotiations over the transfer of the Suez Canal and its military bases to Egypt. The British, after over 70 years of direct occupation in Egypt, were not going to give up on one of their most prized jewels, their gateway to the Orient, so easily.

From 1954 on, Anthony Eden, the British prime minister was demanding Nasser’s head. According to Stephen Dorrill’s “MI6: Fifty Years of Special Operations”, Eden had ranted “What’s all this nonsense about isolating Nasser or ‘neutralising’ him, as you call it? I want him destroyed, can’t you understand? I want him murdered…And I don’t give a damn if there’s anarchy and chaos in Egypt.”

Nasser would not back down, and in the first few months of 1954 the Muslim Brotherhood and Nasser went to war, culminating in Nasser outlawing them as a terrorist group and a pawn of the British.

On Oct. 1954, a Muslim Brotherhood member Mahmoud Abdel-Latif attempted to assassinate Nasser while he was delivering a speech in Alexandria, which was live broadcasting to the Arab world by radio, to celebrate the British military withdrawal.

Panic broke out in the mass audience, but Nasser maintained his posture and raised his voice to appeal for calm, and with great emotion he exclaimed the following:

“My countrymen, my blood spills for you and for Egypt. I will live for your sake and die for the sake of your freedom and honor. Let them kill me; it does not concern me so long as I have instilled pride, honor, and freedom in you.”

The crowd roared in approval and Arab audiences were electrified. The assassination attempt backfired, and quickly played back into Nasser’s hands. Upon returning to Cairo, he ordered one of the largest political crackdowns in the modern history of Egypt, with the arrests of thousands of dissenters, mostly members of the Brotherhood.

The decree banning the Muslim Brotherhood organization said “The revolution will never allow reactionary corruption to recur in the name of religion.” (12)

In 1967, there was a Six-Day War between Israel and the Arab states Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq, which was started by Israel in a coordinated aerial attack on Egypt, eliminating roughly 90% of Egyptian air forces that were still on the ground, followed by an aerial attack on Jordan, Syria and Iraq. Israel then went on to conduct a ground attack with tanks and infantry, devastating whole Arab regions.

Despite the disastrous loss to Israel, the people of Egypt refused to accept Nasser’s resignation and took to the streets in a mass demonstration calling for Nasser’s return. Nasser accepted the call of the people and returned to his position as president where he remained as until his death in Sept 1970.

Five million people turned out on the streets of Egypt for Nasser’s funeral, and hundreds of millions more mourned his death throughout the world.

Although Nasser had devastatingly lost a battle, the Egyptian people along with their Arab compatriots understood that the fight for Arab independence was not lost. The dream of dignity and freedom, in forever opposition to the shackles of tyranny could not be buried now that it had been stirred to its very core. Nasser would be the catalyst for an Arab Revolution for independence, a revolution that remains yet to be finished.

Also by this author

Cynthia CHUNG

Cynthia Chung is a lecturer, writer and co-founder and editor of the Rising Tide Foundation (Montreal, Canada).

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عودة الروح لفلسطين وانهيار القرن العشرين

ناصر قنديل

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تميّز القرن العشرين بكونه على الصعيد الفكري والسياسي والاقتصادي قرن العقلانيّة، التي لا يرى البعض منها إلا كونها تبشيراً بالخير والعدل والسلام، توافقاً مع الشعارات التي رفعتها الثورة الفرنسية التي افتتحت عهد العقلانية في الفلسفة والسياسة والاقتصاد، لكن ما يتجاهله الكثيرون هو أن هذه العقلانية التي نهضت تحت رايتها إمبراطوريات الغرب الكبرى، تحوّلت الى إنتاج أنماط للدول والنظام السياسي والنظام الاقتصادي، والإفراط بمنح العقل تفويض التدخل لتعليب التاريخ والجغرافيا بإنتاج علب، يجري السعي لفرضها على شعوب العالم، بما يرافق فرضها من عبث إرادوي في التاريخ والجغرافيا، ولعل منطقتنا كانت خير مثال عن هذا العبث، الذي طال العالم كله، حتى أتاح انهيار الاتحاد السوفياتي لنا رؤية روسيا تستعيد حيويتها وقوتها بمصادر حضور مؤسسة على عناصر تستمدها مباشرة من التاريخ والجغرافيا، وليس من وصفة وضعيّة اسمها الشيوعية، حوّلتها قوة عظمى لكنها سلبتها الروح، فعادت الروح الناتجة عن تزاوج الروح الإمبراطورية مع المسيحية الشرقية والقومية الروسية. كما أتيح لنا ونحن نرى تركيا كدولة ذات أطماع بجوارها ومخالب تمدّها في المنطقة، تفعل ذلك بعدما تزاوجت طورانيتها السلجوقية مع خلفيتها الإمبراطورية المتمثلة بالعثمانية، بعدما تحررت من الوصفة العلمانية القسرية المهجنة التي فرضت عليها لتحمي الخاصرة الأوروبية، وأتيح لنا أن نرى إيران المتطلعة لدور فاعل في آسيا تفعل ذلك تحت راية إسلامها بخصوصيّته المؤسسة على الكربلائية الرافضة للظلم، بنكهة إمبراطورية متصالحة مع تاريخ بلاد فارس، بعدما تحرّرت من القفص الشاهنشاهي الذي وضعت بداخله، وأجهضت لأجله ثورتها مرات عديدة، لتلعب قسراً دور شرطي الخليج وسند كيان الاحتلال.

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في منطقتنا تم التلاعب بالتاريخ والجغرافيا بصورة شديدة المرضية، لدرجة غير قابلة للتصديق لمجافاتها كل ما هو طبيعي، فكيف تم تحويل مصر أم الدنيا وزعيمة العالم العربي الى دولة ضعيفة مهددة بالجوع والعطش، وتم تنصيب السعودية بقوة المال والنفط زعيماً بديلاً بلا أي مقومات موضوعية لدور الزعامة؟ وكيف تم الطغيان على دور اليمن التاريخي صاحب الفضل بنشر اللسان العربي وتأصيله، وأصل القبائل العربية وصاحب أكبر تاريخ عمراني منذ مملكة سبأ وسد مأرب، ليتحول مجرد مصدر للعمال في دول النفط الخليجي، وهو الذي يمثل أكبر كتلة بشرية في الخليج يتحوّل مجرد ملحق في السياسات والبحث عن مصادر الحياة؟ وبالعقلانية التي منحت الغرب تفويضاً من الإله الجديد، المسمى بالمصلحة، تم إطلاق الوهابية لتحل مكان الإسلام المتجذر في تاريخ الأزهر وعلماء بلاد الشام والأندلس، وبالعقلانية فرض شطب ابن خلدون وابن رشد وابن عربي من التاريخ العلمي الإنساني ومن التراث العربي، ليحل مكانهم مشعوذون يملكون فضائيات مفتوحة على مدار الساعة لتوزيع النصائح الفلكية للنجاح والتعويذات لمعالجة المرضى، لكن تبقى أكبر عملية عبث بالتاريخ والجغرافيا هي تلك التي شهدها المشرق العربيّ، حيث رسمت خرائط الكيانات الوليدة من اتفاقية سايكس بيكو، على قياس ضمان أمن وهيمنة الكيان المولود بقوة وعد بلفور، كوطن قومي لليهود الذين تمّ جلبهم بالشعوذة والتهجير والإغراء، لإقامة كيان يتحدّى كل ما يتصل بالتاريخ والجغرافيا، ليكون حارساً لأنابيب النفط وتقاطعاتها، وكل ذلك باسم العقلانية، فما يريده العقل وتسخر له الأموال والسلطات والأسلحة يمكن له أن يلغي كل حقائق التاريخ الموروث الذي تسهل شيطنته والجغرافيا العذراء التي يسهل تطويعها.

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منذ عام 1990 مع سقوط جدار برلين الذي أسس لاستعادة أوروبا وحدتها التي مزقتها العقلانية، كما أسس لاستعادة روسيا لروحها خارج صيغة الاتحاد السوفياتي العقلاني، بدا أن القرن العشرين ينهار، لكن بدا بوضوح أن هذا الانهيار لن يكتمل إلا عندما يلامس حدود المشرق العربي، وخصوصاً عندما تهتز أركان الكيان الذي يحمل أعلى مراتب الدلالة على ماهية العقلانية التي أسست للسياسة والاقتصاد والفكر في القرن العشرين، والذي قام على أعلى درجات العبث بالتاريخ والجغرافيا، ومن هنا تنبع أهمية ما يجري في فلسطين، حيث يقوم الفلسطينيون بإبداع مثير للذهول بتفكيك الكائن الخرافي فرانكشتاين المولود الأهم للعقلانية، فقد ثبت وسيثبت أكثر أن المال والسلطة والسلاح التي أنجبت هذا المسخ العلمي هي مصادر قوة خرساء وتبقى خرساء عندما ينطق التاريخ وتتحدث الجغرافيا، فيتهاوى ما بدا أنه بنيان عصيّ على الرياح، وفلسطين المنتفضة من أقصاها الى أقصاها وفي قلبها القدس وأقصاها، تقول ذلك بما لا يحتمل التأويل، وتثبت أن ما توهّمه البعض من موت القضية الفلسطينية كان مجرد سراب، وأن الهوية الجامعة التي تشعل جذوتها فلسطين والقدس بين شعوب المنطقة لا تزال تحمل سحرها وكلمة سرها، رغم كل عمليات التخريب المبرمج للهويات، وأن الإسلام لا يمكن ان يكون تكفيرياً، وأن المسيحية ترفض أن تكون صليبيّة، فلا غورو المنتقم من صلاح الدين يمثل المسيحية، ولا أبو بكر البغدادي وأبو محمد الجولاني قادة بقر البطون وأكل الأكباد والقلوب يمثلون الإسلام. فالمنطقة اليوم تستردّ روحها من فلسطين، لتدفن الكثير الكثير من موروثات مرحلة العقلانية، فلبنان مأزوم وسورية مهدّدة والعراق تائه والأردن في خطر، ولا أمل بحلول عنوانها كذبة لبنان أولاً وسورية أولاً والعراق أولاً والأردن أولاً، بل الحل الجامع هو فلسطين أولاً، والتسليم بأن الحل الجامع هو بالعودة لمحاكاة المصير الواحد الذي عبثت به خرائط سايكس بيكو، ولو بصيغ تحفظ الخصوصيّات الناشئة.

برنامج اسرار الصراع تقديم الراحل أنيس النقاش

They say that great myths die hard

February 28, 2021

By The Ister for the Saker Blog

They say that great myths die hard, but as it fades into obscurity will anyone really miss the Saudi state?

Because the Kingdom’s cosmopolitan elite longed to be like the West, they imported European sports cars and erected enormous skyrises using slave labor. Riyadh and Jeddah transformed into shopping centers and hubs of oligarchic largesse while the oil-rich sheiks appeased the conservative populace by sanctioning Wahhabist doctrine, public beatings and beheadings, and other backwards symbolic gestures.

Saudi Arabia is essentially based on this great contradiction: posturing itself as the hardline leader of the Islamic world while aligning with America and carrying out a foreign policy that has killed countless Muslims, a contradiction that exists because it is an artificial construct of imperialism.

In the early 1900s, British spies in the Middle East sought to partition off Ottoman claims in the Arab Peninsula with the help of Arab rebels such as Emir Faisal. These spies who included Edmund Allenby and the famous T E Lawrence led the Arab Revolt of 1916 and successfully revoked Ottoman control of the region.

A little-known fact is that Israel and Saudi Arabia share this same point of origin. In December of 1918 after the success of the Arab Revolt, Lord Walter Rothschild held a banquet for Emir Faisal culminating in the signing of the Faisal-Weizmann agreement, used to demonstrate Arab support for the Balfour Declaration: the document that laid the foundation for the state of Israel. The rebels who had been promised a unified Arab state stretching from Aden to Aleppo had been lied to however, as the leaked Sykes Picot agreement revealed a plot by imperial powers to divide and conquer the Middle East along sectarian lines.

Today the pan-Arab doctrine of the government of Bashar al-Assad is the ideological progenitor of those early rebels who fought to unite the Arab world against the wishes of imperialists. The stoking of the Syrian Civil War was just an extension of century-old divide and conquer tactics, as the West sought to enrage Sunnis against the secular Syrian Arab government for the betterment of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, and Israel. Recall too that neo-Ottoman Turkey is aware of the imperial history and sees Syria as Ottoman territory lost to the West.

If the Syrian revolution ever had a grassroots base it was in the impoverished Sunni Idlib governorate, where Turkey and Saudi Arabia had for decades financed Salafist mosques and imams with the intention of eventually breaking this region off from Syria. Although the remaining terrorists in Idlib have yet to be defeated, Saudi Arabia’s failure to achieve full regime change in the Syrian Civil War marks its waning power: previously both Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein spoke out in favor of pan-Arabism and denounced the Saudis at the cost of their lives. Unlike the ideological and religious bonds that tie America and Israel, America’s commitment to Saudi Arabia was always strategically contingent and several developments suggest that it is declining.

America has abandoned support for the war in Yemen

The war against the Houthi movement in Yemen has been fought with a threefold strategy: sanctions to starve the Yemeni population, targeted assassinations to kill Shia imams and others tied to the Houthis, and traditional military force by Saudi conscripts. The Kingdom’s force has performed poorly and relied heavily on support from America. In one case in 2019, the Saudis were planning an attack in the disputed town of Najran in retaliation for missile strikes on Riyadh oil facilities. They were baited into a trap and over 2,500 were captured by Houthi forces. In blind retaliation, they struck a Houthi prison in Yemen and killed over 290 of their own prisoners.

It is no surprise in such conditions that morale is low among the Kingdom’s soldiers and that Iran has supported the Houthi side with weapons and intelligence.

Why has America abandoned its ally in the conflict? Simply, we don’t need Saudi oil as much anymore. Shale gas technology completely changed the nature of the global oil and gas industry and broke the Saudi monopoly. Recall my article The Empire is Losing the Energy War. Since then, more confirmation of this thesis has come around as prices have risen – beneficial to Russia, and oil experts have broadly agreed that Russia has won the most recent price war with the Saudis. America’s withdrawal in Yemen is an acknowledgement of their diminishing role and a reason which under Trump’s “Middle East Peace Plan” Saudi Arabia panickedly sought to tie its future not to oil production but to the creation of a joint security bloc against Iran.

Pipeline developments: NordStream 2 and Goreh Jask

By mid-2020, two major new pipelines are expected to be built. The first is the NordStream 2, which will cement Russia’s control of European energy markets. Washington is moving in slow motion to try and stop this pipeline but it is basically already done. Only 100 miles of pipe remain and the Biden admin’s early smackdown of the American energy industry with the Keystone XL cancellation means that there will not be enough American gas to provide an alternative to Russia. The German public retains a dislike for Russia but the industrialists have pushed ahead regardless.

NordStream 2 serves two other geopolitical purposes. First, Ukraine will be deprived of $1-2 billion of energy transit revenue, a big deal for a country with a $150 billion GDP. This also lowers NATO’s interest in Ukraine, which will suddenly have less of an ability to bottleneck Russian energy shipments to Europe. Second, the pipeline also reduces Russia’s exposure to Turkey as an energy transit and will allow Russia to be more “gloves off” in northern Syria without risking economic retaliation.

Iran’s Goreh Jask pipeline is expected to be completed by June 2021, and the development will improve the country’s energy situation by limiting its reliance on the Strait of Hormuz and opening up Southeast Asian markets to Iranian oil. In addition to promoting economic ties with the rest of Asia the move also allows Iran to potentially shut off the Strait of Hormuz in a crisis situation, a hypothetical move which never made sense in the past given that it would kill its own energy exports. Naturally, sanctions have been applied to the project but this has simply been used as an opportunity to develop domestic industrial capacity: over 95% of the parts for the Goreh Jask pipeline have been sourced domestically.

Iran is increasing its influence in Iraq and Syria

The increased Iranian influence on Iraq suggests that supporting the overthrow of Saddam Hussein may have been a miscalculation by the Western bloc. The government of Hussein was aggressive on Iran-Iraq border issues and had a large and powerful military. With Iraq’s expensive military infrastructure largely destroyed and a diminished American presence, Iran has grown its soft power both through religious and economic outreach.

In southeastern Iraq, Iran is massively expanding and developing Shia shrines at sites like Kerbala as a method of promoting its influence. Some of these developments are enormous, for example the $600 million expansion of the Imam Hussein shrine, which was mostly constructed with Iranian funds and parts. These developments also give economic opportunity to both Shia and Sunni Iraqis who are paid to work in construction and benefit from increased tourism. Conducting business in eastern Iraq also gives Iran an opportunity to transact in a region unaffected by sanctions.

Political power is another way that Iran has expanded its reach. The prime minister of Iraq is aligned with the Saudis and Americans but outnumbered in parliament by pro-Iranian MPs, and has been able to do little to diminish the Iranian presence.

As far as Syria, the Iranian angle must be considered. In July of 2015, Quds force General Qasem Soleimani visited Moscow to work out the details of the Russian intervention with Vladimir Putin. Although Moscow denies this likely to maintain good relations with Israel, Hassan Nasrallah of Hezbollah recently stated that it was Soleimani that convinced Putin to enter the conflict. What was exchanged during that conversation in July of 2015? It is impossible to know but it can be reasonably assumed based on how things unfolded that the Russian intervention was largely a cover for Iranian movement into Syria.

The majority of the leg work performed in the Syrian Civil War was done by Syrians and Iranians. While Russia provided crucial air support and logistics, the on-the-ground troop counts have remained small. What Russian intervention did however was to provide the stamp of legitimacy of a powerful, nuclear armed nation to the Syrian/Iranian side, to prevent any major invasion, and to quickly soften the tones on the Assad government. By clearing ISIS out of central Syria, Iran has now created a contiguous path through Syria and Lebanon and upheld its Syrian ally at the expense of the Saudis.

Pakistan is drifting to Iran

In recent history Pakistan has been heavily dependent on Saudi Arabia, in part due to a Sunni majority and a large amount of outstanding loans financed by the Kingdom. As Sheikh Imran Hosein put it unflatteringly, Pakistan has served as “a shoeshine boy for the Saudis.” Several wedges are growing between this strong historical relationship.

First, Pakistan is warming to its neighbor Iran and the new prime minister of Pakistan has accelerated ties with its western neighbor in many areas. One is the accelerated development of a massive Istanbul-Tehran-Islamabad railway which highlights an emerging challenge to Saudi supremacy: the nascent Turkey/Iran/Malaysia/Qatar bloc in the Muslim world could potentially expand to include Pakistan. Keeping Pakistan away from Iran has long been an intention of the Saudis, who sought to fuel tensions with their neighbor by financing anti-Shia terrorism in Pakistan in the 80s and 90s. Nevertheless, the two countries seem to be getting over it and the populations of both nations rate each other positively in opinion polling.

Another sign of nervousness in the West about Pakistan-Iranian integration is the failed attempt to stop the construction of the new Iran-Pakistan oil pipeline with threats of sanctions. This will further pull Pakistan into the Iranian orbit.

A new major straining factor on the relationship with Saudi Arabia is Riyadh’s unwillingness to defend Pakistan’s claims to the disputed Kashmir border region. Pakistan has hoped that the Kingdom would defend its claim, but Saudi Arabia has been unwilling to do so.

Finally, there is the issue of Israel. Saudi Arabia would like to recognize Israel as soon as possible but doing so would cause massive protests in Pakistan and ruin the Saudi reputation there. Therefore it is trying to pressure Pakistan to first recognize Israel, something which would be unpopular and put the Pakistani government in a precarious situation domestically.

The Saudis are losing their status as the head of the Muslim world

Consider the Iranian ambassador to Pakistan’s recent comments while promoting the D-8 organization of Islamic nations:

“Countries like Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, Russia and China have the potential to form a new alliance for better future of the region”

None of this economic integration would be occurring if not for the US sanctions policy. The impact of sanctions has been to lay the groundwork for creation of a “Zone B” which circumvents the Empire entirely. A model that replaces proxy wars, regime change, and terrorist funding with peaceful economic integration and diplomacy. If Iran had full access to international markets it would have been content to sell its exports to the highest bidder and would not be forced to expand its influence regionally as it is currently doing.

What does this emerging “Zone B” look like? Well, let’s start with the Muslim countries labeled an “Axis of Evil” by George Bush and John Bolton:

Syria, Iraq, Iran. And of course we can add in Lebanon, Yemen, and Palestine right off the bat to this anti-imperial bloc. The growing ties between Sunni Pakistan, heterogeneous Syria, and Shia Iran foreshadow a geographically contiguous model of peaceful relations between Islamic nations untainted by the Takifirism of Saudi Arabia, with Syria and Lebanon serving as a tolerant bridge between the Sunni and Shia regions of the Arab world.

This bloc could then be combined with the D-8 Muslim countries: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey. D-8 alone represents one billion people and over 60% of the Islamic world. Iran, as a major advocate of inter-Islamic integration through organizations such as D-8 would be the lynchpin connecting the resistance nations of the Arab world with the larger emerging Islamic economies in a new trade network to bypass sanctions. (It is worth adding that all D-8 nations other than Turkey supported Syria’s side against Saudi in the civil war, so such an alliance is not much of a stretch by any means.)

Add in China, Russia, Mongolia, Myanmar, and the ‘stans and this new Asian empire would come to span a lion’s share of the planet’s population, GDP, energy resources, and habitable surface area. Moscow and Berlin would emerge as gates between East and West while the sprawling trading network of China would provide an alternative to the overregulated and strings-attached commerce and financing available in the West. China has already replaced America as the major trading partner for most nations.

Though there are other concurrent factors at play, the state of Saudi Arabia which once served as the lynchpin for dividing the Islamic world is diminishing, as Eurasian integration progresses naturally. No color revolutions or regime change are required for this process to continue because:

Zone A’s claims to upholding human rights and other civil liberties increasingly appear like a bad joke: undermined by lockdowns, tech censorship, and politically correct speech codes

Zone B is working past historic rivalries in the pursuit of development while Zone A embraces legally enshrined racism and creates complex taxonomies of privilege to delineate tiers of citizenship

Zone B’s population is growing while Zone A’s is declining

Zone B’s share of global wealth is growing while Zone A’s is declining

Zone B has a burgeoning middle class while Zone A’s middle class is disappearing

Zone B is doing away with extreme politics while Zone A is swept by cultural revolution

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The Ister is a researcher of financial markets and geopolitics. Author of The Ister: Escape America

بعض «اللبنانيين» ومرضهم المزمن مع أحفاد «سايكس» و«بيكو» !

السيد سامي خضرا

لا ينقضي العَجَب عندما نرى كلّ يوم مَن يتذمَّر ويُعْرب عن غضبه وقلقه من الحالة التي وصل إليها لبنان من جهةِ حضور مقاومتِه المُظفَّرة والتي استَطاعت حقيقةً وليس وهماً أن تُثْبت مكاناً له على الساحة الإقليمية بحيثُ أنّ هذه المقاومة أصبحت هي الوجود الأكثر ثِقْلاً على الكيان الاستعماري المُصطنَع.

فالغريبُ أنّ بعض اللبنانيين الذين لا يُحبّون لبنان إلا من خلال الأغاني والعنتريات والكِبَّة والدبكة عندما يُطرحُ أمامهم الاِستقلال الحقيقي عن كلّ التاريخ الاِستعماري السابق يُبادرون فوراً إلى الإنسلاخ عن مظهرهم «الإنساني» ذي النكهة اللبنانية ويَنكفئون إلى نفوسهم «الضَّبعيَّة» لأنّ طباعهم الأصلية غَلَبَت تطبُّعَهم المُتَصنَّع.

والمُتَتَبِّع لهؤلاء يلقى منهم عجباً:

ففئةٌ منهم تفضحهم مواقفهم وسقطاتُ ألسنتهم وقسماتُ وجوههم عندما يَنسونَ أحياناً أنّ ما يقولون ويُعلنون سوف يُنقل بوسائل مختلفة فيغوصون في ساعة تخلّ إلى أعماق نفوسهم ويغفلون عن الذي هم فيه من مكان وزمان ومحيط وظروف فينطقون بما يعتقدون حقيقة دون رتوش ويبُخُّون سمومهم من دون تكلُّف أو تصنُّع اعتادُوه.

لذلك نسمعُ أحياناً وعلناً كلماتٍ ومصطلحات لا يُمكن قَبولها بأيّ ميزانٍ من الموازين.

ومثال ذلك ذاك الذي يتحدثُ عن أهل وطنه وبعض محيطه على أنهم «غرباء» بحيثُ لا تُميِّز في خطابه بين صديقٍ وعدوّ:

فكلّ مَن جاراهم في أكاذيبهم ومهما كان أصله وفصله ومواقفه وتاريخه ومن أيّ جنسيةٍ أو قوميةٍ أو خلفية أو ثقافة… يُعتبرُ صديقاً!

بينما كلّ مَن خالفهم أعتُبِر من المنبوذين ولو كان من أهل الغيرة والأصالة ومن نفس الوطن أو المدينة أو القومية.

وها نحن اليوم نرى على وسائل التواصل كما نسمع من ذاك «الطبيب المُثقف» أنّ لقاحات الكورونا ينبغي أن تكون للبنانيين حصراً وليس للغرباء!

ولا ندري ألِهذا مرجعية سياسية ساكتة أم مُتغافلة أم مُتبَنِّية أم تقبل وتغضّ النظر؟!

وعلى كلّ حال فإنَّ مثل هذا «الطبيب المُتحضر والمُثقف الفينيقي» لا شك ولا ريب أنه أرعنٌ أحمق.

فلكلّ هؤلاء الذين يقفون على الأطلال التاريخية اللصيقة بوحشية الإستعمار نقول لِمن يفهم منهم أو يَعي:

إنّ الأحداث والأوطان لا تُقاس بالعقود الزمنية، فإذا كنتم تعتمدون على تاريخٍ أو وطن مُخترع ومُدعَّم بالأكاذيب والأضاليل فنتيجة ذلك إلى زوال لأنّ النصر يكون لِمن يعتمد على تاريخ الشعوب والحقائق والروابط الجغرافية والإنسانية الضاربة في عمق التاريخ.

فالذي اخترع «لبنان الكبير» وحدَّد بدايته هو ذاته وبيده وبإرادته وبقراره مع شركائه وطبقاً لمصلحته يُحدِّد نهاية لبنان الكبير لو استطاع!

فلبنان اليوم هو بالأصل جزء من «الشام الكبير» بعائلاته وعاداته واجتماعياته وجذوره وتاريخه وعلاقاته وسائر تفاصيل وجوده ومعيشته… وإنْ أنكر ذلك بعض مَن له أقارب وأرحام في كلّ بقاع الشام العزيز من أجل أن يبدو مُتميِّزاً مُتعالياً عن أهله وأصله وأصوله وإخوته وبني عمومته!

فَكُفُّوا عن نغمة الحدود النهائية للكيان، فالبدايةُ لم تكن بأيديكم والنهاية لا تكون بأيديكم.

لأنَّ الجديد الذي تتجاهلوه أنّ مقاومةً باسلةً جهاديةً مَنَّ الله بها على «بلاد الشام» فلم يعد للمستعمر فضلاً عن أذنابه وأبواقه صوتٌ مسموع، فالقرار ليس بيده والأمور تغيَّرت ويبقى أن تتغيّر عقولكم.

والذين اخترعوا سايكس بيكو بكلّ تفاصيله ليكون مع دولةٍ يهودية هي بمثابة حاملة طائرات للغرب ما زالوا أحياء مستمرّين في أحفاد «سايكس» كما أحفاد «بيكو»، ولكن الفرق أننا اليوم لدينا عصا غليظة تَضرب على رؤوسهم فينقلبُوا خائبين.

Naqqash’s solution for Middle East: A Levantine Confederation (Pt. 1)

September 29, 2020

Description: 

In a recent conference held on Zoom and published on YouTube, senior Middle East political analyst Anees Naqqash spoke about his 2014 book titled The Levantine Confederation: The Battle of Identities and Policies.

The book proposes that the solution to the chronic problems of the war-ravaged and tumultuous Middle East region lies in the establishment of a confederation that unites the states of the Levant, or what Naqqash often calls the ‘West Asian region’.

Middle East Observer will gradually be publishing English translations of the author’s online talk over several posts. This is part one, which revolves around Naqqash’s initial motivation for developing the concept of a ‘Levantine Confederation’.

(Read Part Two here)

Source:  Kalam Siyasi (YouTube Channel)

Date:  Aug 26, 2020

(Important Note: Please help us keep producing independent translations for you by contributing as little as $1/month here)

Transcript :

One does not need to be a political or strategic expert in order to know that our (Arab and Islamic) countries are (currently) living through numerous wars, whether internal wars or those of an external (nature); and that international and local powers are participating in these wars; and that the (Arab and Islamic) nation’s capabilities are being exhausted by these wars and violence. Its unity, territorial integrity, potentials, property and civilization are being consumed (as a result).

The worst thing about these wars is that they often tarnish and distort (true) Islamic thought, thus proving that many of those who bear arms (in this region) are in a state of aimlessness regarding the actual and necessary track that they should pursue in order to confront the true enemies of the nation. In other words, it has been proven that many activists and local actors have a weak (level of) awareness. Thus, these topics must be highlighted in order to put things back on track.

The idea of a Levantine Confederation stems from two points. First, history shows that for more than 1400 years our region lived in a state of empire, starting from the Umayyads, to the Abbasids, all the way to the Ottoman Sultanate. Apart from some perversions during the Crusades and the Tatar and Mongol wars, the region lived in (a state of imperial) unity. No foreign power was allowed to intervene in its military, intellectual or economic affairs. However, following the two world wars, the (Arab & Muslim) nation was faced with a set of programs, plans and schemes resulting from its military defeat against the Western powers. This defeat enabled these (Western) powers to set up a very dangerous triangle for us: the Sykes-Picot-Balfour triangle.

The Sykes-Picot Agreement (in 1916) divided the Arab states in the region into small(er) states, while the Balfour Declaration (in 1917) fulfilled the promise of giving Palestine to the Jews for the establishment of a (Jewish) entity, one of the most brutal entities that the (Arab and Muslim) nation has ever faced in the modern era in terms of military, conspiratorial and intelligence capabilities. Today, this (Israeli) entity is posing a new danger, penetrating deep into the nation and the minds of its people.

In addition, these geographical divisions (created by Sykes-Picot and Balfour) established two types of regimes. First, there were the regimes that were built for religious-sectarian reasons, such as the Lebanese state established as a favor for the (Christian) Maronites in Lebanon. However, Lebanon has changed due to shifts in different kinds of balances as Maronites are no longer the largest demographic group (in Lebanon), nor do they occupy the main role in the country. Therefore, Lebanon always suffers from political problems because of its system that is based on sectarian identity, while it is demographically changing in relation to its sects, as some sects weaken and others grow stronger, which causes continuous security disturbances.

In fact, a part of Syrian land was cut off during the drawing of the map of Lebanon. The map of Syria was not drawn by the hands of its people. Rather, it was established based on the lines and borders demarcated by the French, who at that time gave Turkey a part of Syrian territory. Turkey was the only country (in the region) to demarcate its own borders via blood (i.e. through the military sacrifices that it made), because it was defending what was left of the Ottoman Empire. In other words, historically, Turkey was the only country whose borders were drawn with the blood of its people. Meanwhile, Lebanon’s borders were determined by the French Commission (the French body that controlled Lebanon). Many parts of Syrian territory were cut off, and what was left became the Syrian state.

The good thing about Syria is that it preserved its unity against the four-zone division project that the French were planning for. (The French) wanted to establish (four states): an Alawite state, a Druze state, and two Sunni states, one in the north and another in the center; but this project was foiled by the national unity of the Syrians.

Iraq did not demarcate its (own) borders either. Not one Iraqi was involved in the drawing up of the map of Iraq. It was Miss Gertrude Bell – an advisor at the British Foreign Ministry – who drew up the map (of Iraq) and proclaimed Faisal the King of Iraq, based on a sectarian equation that would satisfy both the Shias and Sunnis, and she added some Kurds to a part of the current Iraqi map because (she deemed them) as fierce fighters who would fight against Turkey if a clash broke out between Iraq and the new Turkey.

(Winston) Churchill established Jordan and drew up its map. There was no country called Jordan. The establishment of Jordan fully complemented the British project to establish the State of Israel, in addition to Iraq which was also a British protectorate.

In conclusion, the Levant was suffering from the delineation of borders that were carried out without consultation with its people. (The Levant) was divided up, and new, quasi-national territorial identities were established alongside the sectarian and religious identities that continued to play an (important) role too.

(Read Part Two here)

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Analyst: An Islamic and United Front against Normalization

By Nour Rida

There has been recent agreements between the UAE and Bahrain with ‘Israel’ to open formal diplomatic ties as total departure from the Arab consensus over the resolution of the Palestinian issue. ‘Israel’ and the UAE on August 13 reached a deal that will lead to full normalization of diplomatic relations between the two sides, in an agreement apparently brokered by US President Donald Trump. Bahrain also signed the controversial and US-brokered normalization agreements with ‘Israel’ during a ceremony in Washington on Tuesday.

Commenting on the matter, political analyst and expert on Palestinian affairs, and also professor at the University of Tehran Dr. Hadi Borhani told al-Ahed news “At a certain point, all the countries of this region had opposed the presence of the ‘Israeli’ entity in the Middle East and this totally makes sense. ‘Israel’ and the ‘Israelis’ do not belong to the Middle East, they came from thousands of kilometers away from Europe. Their issue was an issue with Europe to begin with, and the British colonialists were the ones who exported this issue to the Middle East by bringing the ‘Israelis’ to the region. The people of the region are well aware of the Sikes-Picot agreement, the Balfour declaration issued by the British government and they saw with their bare eyes how ‘Israel’ occupied Arab and Muslim lands, kicked out its people and removed Palestine off the world map.”

According to the analyst, every person who has reason understands the ‘Israeli’ project and its aggressions and acknowledges it is an occupation. “The majority of the people of the region do enjoy this sense of reason and have eyes that see the reality, including regular people and rulers and officials. This is the general atmosphere. However, some country rulers and governments were pushed into this treason, as ‘Israel’ exploits their weakness points. The major issue in the region, in my opinion, is that Arab governments are busy accusing each other of extremism, westernization, and orientalism and turned these conflict with ‘Israeli’ to one among themselves.”

He went on to explain “You see this in the wars between Arab nationalism and Arab kingdoms, Islamist versus nationalist, etc. If these countries try to respect each other and put differences aside, then they can remain united in face of the ‘Israeli’ occupation and presence in the region. We also see pressure put on Egypt by cutting off the Nile waters, and on Sudan by promising it will be removed off the list of supporters of terrorism if it acknowledges ‘Israel’ as an independent state, and so on.”

Dr. Borhani also noted that “The region does not stand in a right position. If the governments of the region do not wake up and decide to take a serious stance on the presence of the ‘Israeli’ occupation, then the situation will keep deteriorating and it will take the region into historical misery. The countries of this region must be able to see and understand the history of this issue well and make a serious decision to get out of this cycle of humiliation. The first step towards such an accomplishment would be to recognize each other’s existence and differences in opinion and position. The countries of the region must avoid division and enmity and find areas of cooperation and synergy.”

As the expert expresses, “According to Imam Khomeini, if Muslims do not disperse, and unite together, and each one of them pours a bucket of water on ‘Israel’ that would be enough to solve the problem. But without such cooperation, even the most advanced weapons cannot do anything because these weapons are used to weaken each other and that strengthens ‘Israel.’”

Touching on Kuwait’s stance, Dr. Borhani praised Kuwait for its good position on the Palestinian issue. “Kuwait’s relations with Palestine are rooted in history. This position is not only limited to its rejection to the normalization with ‘Israel’ today. Many Palestinian refugees grew up in Kuwait. Many pro-Palestinian organizations were supported by Kuwait as well. This all goes back to the status of Kuwait; its democracy is the best among the GCC and many Arab league countries. Also, the Assembly of the nation of Kuwait is a real assembly and that makes the voice of the people heard. The majority of people in Kuwait oppose ‘Israeli’ presence, and so the resistance against ‘Israel’ will continue in that small country. Moreover, Kuwait is a country of education and culture and this matters a lot. Hence, we can say that the Kuwaiti people are aware of the history of the region and the history of colonization and the occupation of Palestine. This awareness for sure has a positive effect on Kuwait’s position on the Palestinian issue and all Arab countries should follow its lead.” 

As for Iran’s position, Dr. Borhani said that Iran is the most important provider of security in the Persian Gulf. “The security of the Gulf waterway is vital for Iran and the region. ‘Israel’s’ presence in these waters is a matter of concern and could affect the security of the region. Iran has made it clear to the UAE and Bahrain that the countries that provided the ground for ‘Israel’ are responsible for any insecurity and disturbance in the region.”

In terms of Iran’s position, the analyst concluded that “Iran must avoid unilateralism and take positions that are supported and approved by Arab nations and the countries of the region. Iran must enter into serious cooperation with Arab countries to counter the normalization of relations and form an Islamic front against normalization. Many countries in the region oppose normalization. Turkey, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, Pakistan, Malaysia, Palestine and other countries are in this group.”

History: The Zionist Origins of Saudi Arabia and Its Royals

Part I

By Rez Karim

Global Research, September 22, 2020

Recognizing the contentious nature of the subject, this two-part article relies only on official treatises, pacts and primary sourced evidence to compile a historically accurate account of the founding of Saudi Arabia and Al Saud family becoming ‘Royals’.

Growing up Muslim in a Muslim majority country, I spent most Friday afternoons at a mosque, attending the Jummah prayer. First part of a Jummah prayer calls for the Imam to perform a Khutbah – a weekly sermon of sorts. It was in one of those Khutbahs that I, as a very young boy, learnt about the plight of the Palestinians for the first time.

Indeed, it’s a common practice among Imams around the world to bring up the Palestinian issue at mosques, especially during Friday sermons, and pray for the Palestinian people. In those prayers and discussions, Israel’s name comes up inevitably. In fact, Israel’s oppression of Palestinians bears no ambiguity in Islamic thoughts. And condemnation of Israel, therefore, comes naturally to Muslims around the world.

However, what escapes awareness in almost all Muslims is the connection between Israel and Saudi Arabia. While zealously castigating Israel for its atrocities, Muslims often revere Saudi Arabia as the custodians of Islam’s holiest sites; completely ignoring the Kingdom’s role in founding the Zionist state in the first place.

Notwithstanding the existence of a deep-seated bias against Israel among Muslims, it’s important to recognize that the lack of criticism for Saudi Kingdom, alongside Israel, doesn’t come from bias. Indeed, this absence finds its roots not in bias, but in a complete lack of knowledge. Knowledge among current generation of Muslims, as well as among the world population, about how Saudi Arabia and its founding king, Abdel Aziz Ibn Saud, played a critical role in establishing the Zionist state of Israel.

Suffice it to say, this ignorance about one of the most critical periods in world history seems anything but normal. Amazingly, the world, especially the Muslim world, had been kept in darkness about this momentous chapter in Middle East history. Propaganda and omissions run rampant within the historical accounts of this period. Official Saudi sources like House of Saud website, for example, avoids any mention of British involvement in founding the KSA. Although this omission seems predictable to many, it’s worth noting that even mainstream media outlets like the BBC, and prominent historians such as Professor Eugene Rogan etc., routinely portray Ibn Saud as having acted independently during WWI, and not as an instrument for the British Empire.

Therefore, recognizing the contentious nature of the issue – and to avoid becoming yet another ‘perspective’ on the subject – this article relies only on primary sourced evidence and the following four official treatises and declarations to compile a historically accurate account of the events:

1. The McMahon-Hussain Correspondence
2. The Treaty of Darin
3. The Sykes-Picot Agreement
4. The Balfour Declaration

1. The McMahon-Hussain Correspondence

To properly understand the events that led to the creation of both Israel and Saudi Arabia, we must travel back to the early 1900s’ Middle East. At the outbreak of WWI in the region, Sir Henry McMahon, then British High Commissioner in Egypt, offered Hussain bin Ali, Sharif of Hijaz (or ruler of the Hijaz – the western Arabian region in which Mecca and Medina lie), an independent Arab state if he would help the British fight against the Ottoman Empire. Hussein’s interest in throwing off his Turkish overlords converged with Britain’s war aim of defeating the Ottomans. McMahon made this offer via a series of letters exchanged between him and Sharif Hussain, collectively known as the McMahon-Hussain Correspondence. On his 14 July 1915 letter to McMahon, Hussain stated, among other things, the following as one of his propositions:Palestine: Britain Should Apologise for the Balfour Declaration, Not ‘Celebrate’ It

“Firstly.- England will acknowledge the independence of the Arab countries, bounded on the north by Mersina and Adana up to the 37th degree of latitude, on which degree fall Birijik, Urfa, Mardin, Midiat, Jezirat (Ibn ‘Umar), Amadia, up to the border of Persia; on the east by the borders of Persia up to the Gulf of Basra; on the south by the Indian Ocean, with the exception of the position of Aden to remain as it is; on the west by the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea up to Mersina. England to approve the proclamation of an Arab Khalifate of Islam.”

In response, McMahon wrote on 24 October 1915:

“I regret that you should have received from my last letter the impression that I regarded the question of the limits and boundaries with coldness and hesitation; such was not the case, but it appeared to me that the time had not yet come when that question could be discussed in a conclusive manner.

“I have realized, however, from your last letter that you regard this question as one of vital and urgent importance. I have, therefore, lost no time in informing the Government of Great Britain of the contents of your letter, and it is with great pleasure that I communicate to you on their behalf the following statement, which I am confident you will receive with satisfaction:-

“The two districts of Mersina and Alexandretta and portions of Syria lying to the west of the districts of Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo cannot be said to be purely Arab, and should be excluded from the limits demanded.

“With the above modification, and without prejudice of our existing treaties with Arab chiefs, we accept those limits.”

Interestingly, throughout history, there has been much disagreement as to whether this promise included Palestine. However, as we can see above, the area promised to the Arabs in McMahon’s letter excluded only the territory to the west of a line from Damascus north to Aleppo. Palestine, far to the south, was, by implication, included. Nevertheless, the British subsequently denied that they included Palestine in the promise and refused to publish the correspondence until 1939.

At the time however, Sharif Hussain believed this official promise from the British Government. He went on to make the most significant contribution to the Ottoman Empire’s defeat. He switched allegiances and led the so-called ‘Arab Revolt’ in June of 1916, which removed the Turkish presence from Arabia.

The defeat of the Ottoman Empire by the British in WWI left three distinct authorities in the Arabian peninsula. Sharif of Hijaz Hussain bin Ali of Mecca (in the west); Ibn Rashid of Ha’il (in the north); and Emir Abdel Aziz Ibn Saud of Najd and his religiously fanatical followers, the Wahhabis (in the east).

2. The Treaty of Darin

On 26 December 1915, Sir Percy Cox, on behalf of the British Government, signed the Treaty of Darin with Abdel Aziz Ibn Saud. Also known as the Darn Pact, the treaty made the lands of the House of Saud a British protectorate. The British aim of the treaty was to guarantee the sovereignty of Kuwait, Qatar and the Trucial States (later UAE). Abdul-Aziz vowed not to attack these British protectorates. He also pledged to enter WWI in the Middle East against the Ottoman Empire as an ally of Britain.

Britain’s signing of Darin Pact in December went against their promises of mutual protection made to Sharif Hussain in October; because Britain’s treaty with Ibn Saud does not oblige him to not attack the Hijaz.

The treaty also saw Abdel Aziz receiving £5000 per month ‘tribute’ from the British Government. After World War I, he received further support from the British. Support included substantially more monetary rewards and a glut of surplus munitions.

3. The Sykes-Picot Agreement 

On May 19, 1916, representatives of Great Britain and France secretly reached an accord, known as the Sykes-Picot Agreement. The accord aimed at dividing most of Arab lands under the Ottoman rule between the British and the French at the end of WWI. In its designated sphere, it was agreed, each country shall be allowed to establish such direct or indirect administration or control as they desire and as they may think fit.

Two diplomats, a Briton and a Frenchman, divided the map of one of the most volatile regions in the world into states that cut through ethnic and religious communities. The secret agreement largely neglected to allow for the future growth of Arab nationalism; which at that same moment the British government was using to their advantage against the Turks.

A century on, the Middle East continues to bear the consequences of the treaty. Many Arabs across the region continue to blame the subsequent violence in the Middle East, from the occupation of Palestine to the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), on the Sykes-Picot treaty.

Indeed, Britain’s signing of this treaty went directly against what it promised to the Sharif of Hijaz in October of previous year. As we will see in Part II of this article, Britain’s betrayal of their promises of an independent Arab state eventually led them to unleash their attack dog, Ibn Saud, on Sharif Hussain and topple him. This allowed the British to effectuate the Sykes-Picot accord, and subsequently establish the Zionist state of Israel.

Read Part II

*

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Author Rez Karim is an Electrical Engineer and Chief Editor at VitalColumns.com.

Featured image is from the authorThe original source of this article is Global ResearchCopyright © Rez Karim, Global Research, 2020

خلافات الفلسطينيين وقود التطبيع العربي ـ «الإسرائيلي»

د. عدنان منصور

منذ توقيع اتفاقية كامب دايفيد عام 1978، بدأ تراجع الدور العربي وانحداره، ليأتي بعد ذلك اتفاق أوسلو عام 1993، واتفاق وادي عربة عام 1994.

إنّ اتفاق أوسلو جاء بكلّ تأكيد، ليطوّب هذا التراجع، ويؤكد على الانحدار الذي تمّ في ليلة ظلماء، على يد أصحاب القضية المركزية الفلسطينية، والذي أفسح المجال دون أدنى شكّ، للوصول الى حالة التراجع والتفكك والضعف، التي يعيشها الفلسطينيون والعرب منذ ثلاثة عقود وحتى اليوم. وبما أنّ صاحب القضية الأول، وللأسف الشديد، قد فتح بابه على مصراعيه أمام العدو وكيانه الصهيوني، دون ضوابط أو حذر أو عواقب وخيمة، واعترف بكيانه وبوجوده، فإنّ الموقف الفلسطيني والعربي، والقيّمين على المقدسات الإسلامية والمسيحية، أصبح موقفاً هزيلاً، ضعيفاً، منقسماً على نفسه. إذ كيف يمكن للقيادة الفلسطينية التي اعترفت بالعدو، أن يكون دورها وموقفها قوياً، مؤثراً، جامعاً، حازماً، حاسماً، عندما تطالب الآخرين في العالم العربي وخارجه بعدم التطبيع! لأنّ من يجب عليه أن يحافظ على القضية الفلسطينية بالدرجة الأولى، ورفض الاعتراف بالعدو الصهيوني، هم الفلسطينيون أنفسهم، قبل غيرهم. لأنّ الآخر لن يكون ملكياً أكثر من الملك، ولن يكون فلسطينياً أكثر من الفلسطينيين أنفسهم، بحكم الواقع والمنطق والمصالح والتحالفات.

إنّ انقسام الفلسطينيين على بعضهم البعض لسنوات طويلة، وتضييع العديد منهم بوصلة النضال، باعتمادهم الحوار والمفاوضات السلمية والوسائل الدبلوماسية، والتعويل على القوى الخارجية التي وقفت دائماً ضدّ مصالح الأمة وحقوق شعوبها، وعلى الرهان على أنظمة، ما كانت إلا في خدمة هذه القوى، ما بدّد آمالهم في تحقيق أهدافهم، لإقامة دولتهم الفلسطينية المستقلة. تعويل ورهان، جعل العدو وحلفاءه في العالم والمنطقة، ان يستغلوا الفرص، وينتهزوا النوايا “الطيبة” لرئيس السلطة الفلسطينية وقادتها، وكلّ من سار في فلكها، مستغلين ضعفها، وخلافاتها، وتنافسها، وتفككها. سلطة فلسطينية ارتكبت بحق فلسطين وشعبها خطيئة كبيرة فظيعة لا تغتفر، عندما لزمت وأناطت حلّ قضية فلسطين للعراب الأميركي ووثقت به، ليفعل ما فعله باتجاه التطبيع، دون أن تتعلم من دروس التاريخ ووقائعه شيئاً، وتأخذ العبرة من سياسات وأفعال المتآمرين على حقوق شعوب أمتنا، ناكثي العهود، من مارك سايكس الى فرنسوا جورج بيكو، مروراً بالانتداب البريطاني، وصولاً الى أشنع مؤامرة قذرة، قامت بريطانيا بحياكتها وتنفيذها بحق فلسطين وشعبها، قبيل وأثناء إعلان الكيان الصهيوني عام 1948.

إنّ التنديد، والإدانة والاستهجان، والرفض، لا ينفع. ما ينفع أولاً وأخيراً، هو توحّد الفلسطينيين حول هدف واحد، ونضال ومقاومة واحدة، ومن ثم العمل الجدي على استنهاض صحوة شعبية عارمة على مستوى الشعب الفلسطيني والأمة كلها، وتحريك الأطياف والحركات، والفعاليات الشعبية والرسمية للقوى المناضلة القومية، وذلك باستخدام السبل كافة لتصحيح المسار، وبث روح المقاومة والانتفاضة من جديد في جسد الأمة، وانتشالها من المستنقع الذي وضعها فيه العدو، ومعه قوى الهيمنة والمتواطئون على قضايانا الوطنية والقومية على السواء.

أحوج ما تكون إليه شعوبنا اليوم، ليس البكاء على الأطلال، والتحسّر على هضاب فلسطين، ورفض التطبيع مع العدو، ونظم أشعار التنديد والهجاء، وإبداء مشاعر الحنين، وعدم الرضوخ للأمر الواقع، إنما التحرك السريع لوقف الانهيار والتدهور والانقسام الحاصل داخل الصف الفلسطيني والعربي، جراء التخبّط الرهيب، وتباين الأفكار والرؤى والانتماء والولاء، الذي قلب العمل والنضال الفلسطيني المقاوم رأساً على عقب. إنّ خطورة المرحلة الحالية تحتم على الفلسطينيين، كلّ الفلسطينيين، سلطة وحركات مقاومة، وفعاليات وتنظيمات شعبية، العمل فوراً على إعادة تجميع قواها الوطنية والقومية من جديد. إذ أنّ خلافات أهل البيت الواحد شجعت العدو وحلفاءه، على التمادي في قراراتهم، والانتقال من الدفاع الى الهجوم، حيث نتحمّل الجزء الأكبر من المسؤولية، بسبب أخطائنا، وتهوّرنا، وتشتتنا، وتبعثرنا، وخلافاتنا، وانشقاقاتنا، وعداواتنا، وأنانياتنا، وتذبذبنا في مواقفنا مع طرف ضدّ آخر، ورهاننا على المكان الخطأ ثم العودة عنه. كلّ ذلك أدّى إلى هذا التدهور والانحراف، وتضييع البوصلة، وصولاً إلى التصدّع، والانهيار، والتفكّك، والانفصام في الموقف العربي الواحد.

لا بدّ من محاسبة الذات قبل محاسبة الآخرين، وهذا ما يستدعي مراجعة كاملة للحسابات، والرهانات، والتحالفات، وتقييم المواقف والأداء من جديد، وتحديد من هم أصدقاء القضية الفلسطينية الحقيقيون ومن هم أعداؤها، وتحديد من هم العابثون بحقوق الشعب الفلسطيني بشكل قاطع وحاسم، أكانوا فلسطينيين أم عرباً أم أجانب، دون أيّ تردّد، أو مواربة، أو خوف، أو مراوغة، أو مجاملة، وفرز أصحاب القضية، المقاومين الحقيقيين، المناضلين في الداخل الفلسطيني، عن الانتهازيين المزيّفين، بائعي القضية وتجارها، اللاهثين وراء السلطة، والمال، والمناصب، والمكاسب، وما أكثرهم، وهم الذين آثروا دائماً على بيعها في بازار المصالح الشخصية والسياسات الدولية!

وحدهم الفلسطينيون الشرفاء، أصحاب القضية دون منازع، الذين يستطيعون حماية قضيتهم من الضياع، والحفاظ عليها، وانتشالها من المستنقع، ومنع طي صفحتها ودفنها، وجرّها الى عالم النسيان.

اننا أمام نكبة ثانية جديدة متمثلة بالتطبيع، وهي أخطر من النكبة الأولى. لأنّ النكبة الأولى ولدت صحوة ووعياً قومياً عربياً، وجيلاً جديداً مقاوماً رافضاً للكيان، متمسكاً بأرضه وحقوقه. أما التطبيع فيأتي ليشرع ويؤكد على وجود الكيان الغاصب، ويعمل على إخماد الصحوة والرفض، ومن ثم القضاء على المقاومة، وإلغاء فلسطين من الخارطة التاريخية، والجغرافية، والقومية، والوجودية، شعباً وأرضاً ودولة.

لا مجال للانتظار، لأنّ الأمة كلها، وجودها ومستقبلها وأمنها القومي على المحكّ، وأمام الاختبار. فإما المواجهة والمقاومة، وإما الاستسلام والسقوط والانهيار.

*وزير الخارجية والمغتربين الأسبق

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سورية الأسد… وإعادة رسم خطوط التماس بألوان النفط والغاز!

محمد صادق الحسيني

فيما تمضي القيادة السورية وحلفاؤها الإقليميون بخطى وطيدة دفاعاً عن ثوابتها وملفاتها القومية والوطنية من فلسطين والجولان وصولاً الى الداخل السوري الخاصة بالدستور والسيادة ووحدة الأراضي، تحركت القيادة الروسية في اندفاعتها الجديدة الاقتصادية السياسية نحو دمشق من أجل وضع ملامح مرحلة مستجدة لا بدّ منها في مواجهة تحوّلات شرق المتوسط المتلاحقة…

مصادر واسعة الاطلاع على مطبخ صناعة القرار الروسي تقول بأنّ الوفد الروسي الكبير الذي زار دمشق في الساعات الماضية برئاسة نائب رئيس الوزراء بيسلوف وكلّ من رئيس الديبلوماسية الروسية لافروف والسيد بوغدانوف باعتباره نائب وزير الخارجية المكلف بالمنطقة، حمل معه ورقة سياسية اقتصادية متكاملة تحمل ثلاثة بنود مرحلية أساسية فيها مصلحة دمشق أولاً ومن ثم لكلّ من موسكو وحلفاء دمشق الآخرين أيضاً وهي التالية:

أولاً: تجميد الميادين السورية والصراعات السياسية من الآن الى حلول الصيف المقبل بهدف إنجاح الاستحقاق الانتخابي الرئاسي السوري بحيث تجري الانتخابات في أوسع المحافظات والأراضي السورية بشكل قوي داخليا ومقبول دستورياً ويكبّل ألسنة المجتمع الدولي المتطلب والمعاند…

في هذه الأثناء تقوم الدول الضامنة في أستانة بتثبيت مناطق خفض الصراع في ادلب وتعزيز الإنجازات فيها

كما تضمن روسيا احتضان الورقة الكردية والمعارضات «المعتدلة» باتجاه ضبط اندفاعتها تحت مظلة الدولة الوطنية السورية.

ثانياً: ضخّ الدم في دورة إعادة بناء الاقتصاد السوري انطلاقاً من حقول النفط والغاز غير المنتجة بعد ولكنها الجاهزة بالمسح الجيولوجي من خلال تنشيط العمل فيها تحت مظلة روسية حفاظاً على حقوق الطاقة السورية من أن تذهب سدى أو أن تتعرّض للضياع وسط صراعات الطاقة شرق المتوسط التي تتناهشها القوى الإقليمية والدولية الطامعة بثروات المتوسط الهائلة…

تجدر الإشارة مثلاً الى انّ بئراً واحدة من النفط في الحقل ١٤ شمال طرطوس يحتوي على كميات يُقال إنها ثلاثة أضعاف إنتاج الكويت…

ثالثاً: إدراج سورية كلاعب أساسي وتنشيط دورها وحقها القومي والإقليمي والعالمي في الدفاع عن أمن واستقرار المتوسط، وهو ما تراه روسيا بأنه ينبغي ان يصبّ في إطار «تحالف المصلحة الواسع» مع تركيا عملياً ومن معها بضمانة روسية لمواجهة ما يسمّونه بديل خط نابوكو الذي دمّرت سورية من أجله (كان يُراد أن يمرّ من سورية بديلاً لخطي الغاز الروسي والإيراني لأوروبا) واليوم انتقل ليكون عبر الكيان الصهيوني بالتعاون مع مصر وقبرص واليونان وبرعاية فرنسية وناتوية (الناتو)…

وتعتقد موسكو في هذا الاتجاه بأنّ مثل هذا التحالف الموسع من شأنه أن يوقف الاندفاعة الاستعمارية الفرنسية ضدّ لبنان وامتداداً الى السواحل الليبية..

الأهمّ من كلّ هذا فإن موسكو ورغم أولوية مصالحها الاقتصادية ترى بأنّ مثل هذه الخطوات الثلاثة: ايّ تثبيت خطوط الميدان، وتنشيط الاقتصاد السوري عبر مظلة الطاقة الروسية، وتحالف الطاقة الموسع ضدّ الاندفاعة الفرنسية الغربية، من شأنه ان يمرّر السنة الأصعب اقتصادياً وسياسياً على سورية في ظلّ الحصار الأميركي، بأقلّ الخسائر فضلاً عن تثبيته لحكم الرئيس المقاوم بشار الأسد السيادي والقوي على عكس ما يروّج الغرب الاستعماري بأنّ موسكو تبحث عن فيدرالية او حكم انتقالي أو إعادة بناء سورية بتفصيل معاد للعروبة…!

وهو ما نفاه رجال الاقتصاد والديبلوماسية الروسية بشكل واضح وصريح في مؤتمرهم الصحافي المشترك مع الوزير وليد المعلم يوم أمس في دمشق.

مرة أخرى علينا كدول وقوى محور المقاومة التسريع في إعادة رسم خطوط دفاعاتنا الداخلية الوطنية والقومية والحضارية بالصلابة اللازمة حتى نخفف دفع أثمان تحالفات الأمر الواقع التي تفرضها الأحداث المتسارعة…!

وحدة الدم ووحدة الساحات بوجه ما يُراد لنا من مشاريع سايكس بيكو جديدة او للتقليل من إطالة صراعنا مع العدو الرئيسي بسبب حاجاتنا الخارجية التي لا بدّ منها حتى لصديق معتمد مثل روسيا…

والأهمّ من ذلك إعادة ترميم وتدعيم وتعزيز محور المقاومة وهو السلاح الأمضى والقاطع أمام كلّ التحديات.

بعدنا طيّبين قولوا الله…

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دوافع التحرك الفرنسي في لبنان وحظوظ نجاحه

العميد د. أمين محمد حطيط

فجأة يجد لبنان نفسه أمام اهتمام فرنسي غير مسبوق بنوعه وحجمه وعمقه، تحرك يقوده الرئيس الفرنسي إيمانويل ماكرون شخصياً، وينفذ وفقاً لخطة عمل واضحة مقترنة بجدول زمني لا يحتمل المماطلة والتسويف، ما يؤكد جدّيتها البعيدة المدى ويظهر انّ صاحبها قرّر ان ينجح ولا يتقبّل فكرة الفشل في التحرك، فرصيده الشخصي في الميزان كما قال. انه الاهتمام الفرنسي بلبنان الذي يثير أسئلة مركزية حول دوافعه، ثم عن حظوظ نجاحه في منطقة يُعتبر العمل فيها صعباً ومعقداً ومحفوفاً بالمخاطر.

ونبدأ بالدوافع والأهداف، ونذكر أنه في العلاقات الدولية ليس هناك ما يسمّى جمعيات خيرية وتقديمات مجانية فلكلّ شيء ثمن ولكلّ عطاء مقابل. وبالتالي عندما نسأل عن دوافع وأهداف فرنسا من التحرك يعني السؤال ضمناً عن المصالح الفرنسية خاصة والغربية عامة التي تريد فرنسا تحقيقها عبر تحركها الناشط هذا.

وفي البحث عن تلك المصالح والأهداف نجد أنها من طبيعة استراتيجية سياسية واقتصادية وامنية، تفرض نفسها على فرنسا في مرحلة حرجة يمرّ بها الشرق الأوسط والعالم. حيث اننا في مخاض ولادة نظام عالمي جديد يلد من رحم الشرق الأوسط، الذي يتعرّض الآن لأكبر مراجعة لحدود النفوذ والسيطرة فيه. وتعلم فرنسا انّ من يمسك بورقة او بموقع في هذه المنطقة يحجز لنفسه حيّزاً يناسبه في النظام العالم الجديد، الذي ستحدّد أحجام النفوذ فيه وترسم حدودها انطلاقاً من فعالية تلك الأوراق التي يملكها الطرف ومساحة النفوذ التي يشغلها وحجم التحالفات التي ينسجها في إطار تشكيل المجموعات الاستراتيجية التي يقوم عليها النظام العالم العتيد.

وفي هذا الإطار تعلم فرنسا انّ ما أخذته من معاهدة التقاسم في سايكس بيكو يلفظ أنفاسه اليوم، وانّ هناك توزيعاً جديداً بين أطراف منهم من جاء حديثاً ومنهم من يريد استعادة دور سقط قبل 100 عام ومنهم من يريد المحافظة على مواقعه التي استقرّ بها بعد الحرب العالمية الثانية. ولأجل ذلك ترى فرنسا انّ لبنان هو المنطقة الأسهل والموقع الأكثر أمناً لتحركها واحتمال النجاح فيه أفضل بعد ان تهدّدت مواقعها في معظم المنطقة. وتراهن فرنسا في ذلك على خصوصية بعض المناطق مشرقياً ولبنانياً ثقافياً وعقائدياً بما يعقد حركة أقرانها الغربيين ويسهّل حركتها بعد ان احتفظت بعلاقات مميّزة مع فئات محدّدة خلافاً للموقف الانكلوسكسوني منهم. (إيران وحزب الله)

كما تعتبر فرنسا انّ لها في لبنان صلات مباشرة او غير مباشرة، قديمة او مستحدثة مع جميع الطوائف والمكونات اللبنانية بشكل يمكّنها من حوار الجميع وليس أمراً عابراً أن تلبّي جميع القوى السياسية الأساسية ذات التمثيل الشعبي والنيابي الوازن في لبنان، أن تلبّي دعوة الرئيس الفرنسي إلى طاولة برئاسته ويضع معهم او يطرح او يملي عليهم خطة عمل لإنقاذ لبنان ويحصل على موافقتهم للعمل والتنفيذ ضمن مهلة زمنية محدّدة.

ومن جهة أخرى نرى انّ فرنسا تريد ان تقطع الطريق في لبنان أمام المشروع التركي لاجتياح المنطقة بدءاً من العراق وسورية ولبنان وصولاً الى لبيبا التي كانت فرنسا أساساً في إسقاط حكمها بقيادة القذافي ثم وجدت نفسها اليوم خارج المعادلات التي تتحكم بالميدان الليبي حيث تتقدّم تركيا هناك على أيّ أحد آخر.

بالإضافة إلى ذلك ترى فرنسا أنّ انهيار لبنان كلياً سيضع الغرب أمام مأزقين خطيرين الأول متصل بطبيعة من يملأ الفراغ ويقبض على البلاد بعد الانهيار، وفي هذا لا يناقش أحد بأنّ المقاومة ومحورها هم البديل، والثاني متصل بالنازحين السوريين واللاجئين الفلسطينيين الذين لن يكون لهم مصلحة في البقاء في بلد منهار لا يؤمّن لهم متطلبات العيش وستكون هجرتهم غرباً شبه أكيدة بما يهدّد الأمن والاقتصاد الأوروبيين.

أما على الاتجاه الاقتصادي المباشر، فانّ فرنسا تعلم عبر شركاتها التي تداولت بملف النفط والغاز المرتقب اكتشافه في لبنان، انّ ثروة لبنان تقدّر بمئات المليارات من الدولارات وانّ حضورها في لبنان يضمن لها حصة من هذه الثروة التي تعتبر اليوم عنواناً من أهمّ عناوين الصراع في شرقي المتوسط.

أضف الى كلّ ما تقدّم الخطر الاستراتيجي الكبير الذي يخشى الغرب من تحوّل أو إمكانية تحوّل لبنان الى الشرق والصين تحديداً ما يحرم الغرب وأوروبا وفرنسا باباً استراتيجياً واقتصادياً عاماً للعبور الى غربي آسيا.

نكتفي بهذا دون الخوض بأسباب تاريخية وثقافية وفكرية إلخ… تربط فرنسا بلبنان وتدفعها الى “شنّ هذا الهجوم” لإنقاذه من الانهيار، وانتشاله من القعر الذي قاده السياسيون اليه. فهل ستتمكن فرنسا من النجاح؟

في البدء يجب لأن نذكر بأنّ أكثر من لاعب إقليمي ودولي يتحرك او يحضر للتحرك او يطمح بالعمل على المسرح اللبناني ذي الخصوصية الاستراتيجية التي ينفرد بها، وبالتالي ان الفشل والنجاح لأيّ فريق يكون وفقاً لإمكاناته ثم لقدراته على الاستفادة من إمكانات البعض دعماً لحركته، وتخطيه لخطط البعض الآخر التي تعرقل تلك لحركة. ففرنسا تعلم انها ليست بمفردها هنا وانّ المكونات السياسية في لبنان ترتبط طوعاً او ضغطاً بمرجعيات خارجية لا تتخطاها. ولذلك نرى انّ حظوظ فرنسا بالنجاح مقترنة بما يلي:

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ـ العامل الأميركي. حتى الآن تعتبر أميركا صاحبة اليد الأقوى في القدرة على التخريب والتعطيل في لبنان، وصحيح انّ أميركا فقدت سلطة القرار الحاسم في لبنان بسبب وجود المقاومة فيه، إلا أنها احتفظت الى حدّ بعيد بالفيتو وبالقدرة على التخريب والتعطيل إما مباشرة بفعل تمارسه أو عبر وكلائها المحليين. وعلى فرنسا ان تتقي خطر التخريب الأميركي ولا تركن الى ما تعلنه أميركا من تطابق الأهداف الفرنسية والأميركية في لبنان، والى قرار أميركا بإنجاح المسعى الفرنسي، فالموقف الأميركي المعلن متصل بالمرحلة القائمة في أميركا والإقليم وحتى الانتخابات الرئاسية فقد تكون أميركا استعانت بفرنسا للتحرك لملء فراغ عارض من أجل تأخير انهيار لبنان ومنع وقوعه في اليد التي تخشى أميركا رؤيته فيها. وقد تكون الحركة الفرنسية بالمنظور الأميركي نوعاً آخر أو صيغة عملية من القرار 1559 الذي صنعاه معاً، ونفذاه معاً ثم استحوذت أميركا على المتابعة فيه. نقول هذا رغم علمنا بتبدّل الظروف بين اليوم والعام 2004، ما يجعلنا نتمسّك بفكرة التمايز بين الموقفين الفرنسي والأميركي وهذا التمايز يضع المسعى الفرنسي في دائرة خطر النسف او التخريب الأميركي الذي احتاطت له أميركا فربطت النزاع فيه من خلال موقف وكلائها من المبادرة الفرنسية بدءاً برفض تسمية مصطفى أديب رئيساً للحكومة.

2

ـ عامل المقاومة ومحورها. يجب على فرنسا ان تعلم وتتصرف بموجب هذا العلم انّ المقاومة في لبنان هي الفريق الأقوى بذاتها والطرف الأوسع تمثيلاً في لبنان والجهة الأبعد عمقاً إقليمياً فيه استراتيجيا، وبالتالي لا يمكن لأيّ مسعى في لبنان ان يُكتب له نجاح انْ كان في مواجهة المقاومة او على حسابها. ونحن نرى حتى الآن انّ فرنسا تدرك جيداً هذا الأمر وقد برعت في التعامل معه بواقعية ومنطق، لكن لا تكفي رسائل الطمأنينة بل يجب ان يكون الأمر ملازماً لأيّ تدبير او تصرف لاحق، ونحن نسجل بإيجابية السلوك الفرنسي في هذا المضمار حتى الآن.

3

ـ العامل الإقليمي. وهنا ينبغي الحذر والاحتياط في مواجهة أحداث وسلوكيات إقليمية طارئة او عارضة. فعلى فرنسا ان تعلم انّ جزءاً من مبادرتها يتناقض مع السعي التركي والأداء السعودي في لبنان، فضلاً عن الإمارات “المزهوة اليوم بصلحها مع “إسرائيل” وتطمح بفضاء استراتيجي لها في لبنان. لذلك يجب النظر لدور هذه الأطراف التي لها أو باتت لها أياد تخريبية واضحة كما انّ للسعودية قدرة على الضغط لمنع فرنسا من النجاح. ويكفي التوقف عند التناقض الرئيسي مرحلياً بين فرنسا والمعسكر الذي تقوده أميركا ومعها السعودية والإمارات حول حزب الله وسلاحه والعلاقة به لمنع فرنسا من النجاح لأن نجاحها مع تأجيل ملفّ السلاح خلافاً للرغبة السعودية الإماراتية الأميركية لا يروق لهم. ومن جهة أخرى يمكن الاستفادة إيجاباً من الموقف المصري الذي قد يعطي زخماً للتحرك الفرنسي.

4

ـ عامل الوقت. ليس أمام فرنسا سنين للتنفيذ بل هي فترة لا تتعدّى الأشهر الثلاثة، فإنْ نجحت كان لها ما أرادت وإنْ فشلت فإنّ متغيّرات ستحصل أميركياً وإقليمياً تجعل من متابعة المبادرة أمراً صعباً وتجعل النجاح مستحيلاً، وعليه إما ان نطوي العام على نجاح في الإنقاذ بيد فرنسية اوان ننسى كل شيء متصل بها.

أستاذ جامعي ـ باحث استراتيجي

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