Arabs against new state

CARL ALPERT SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

It is becoming increasingly clear that the Arab/Muslim world is not the least bit interested in the creation of a state of Palestine. Indeed, while lip service is paid to the Palestinians, genuine assistance is being withheld. Pledges of aid have totalled billions of dollars, but actual payments have been received only in drizzles. At a time when the Palestinian economy has practically collapsed and the Palestine Authority is making desperate calls on the neighboring Arab countries to be more receptive to their agricultural products, there appears to be little genuine desire to help.

The Arab refugee camps, where hundreds of thousands of people are kept in sub-standard living conditions, are managed by the Palestinians themselves. It would have been expected that the plight of the refugees would have drawn generous philanthropic help from their kinfolk and co-religionists, but financial maintenance of the camps is left to UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in the Near East.

Where do the funds come from? In recent years the United States provided 30 per cent of the budget. Less than one per cent came from wealthy Saudi Arabia. The records show that Syria gave $37,000 US and Egypt only $10,000 US. Iraq and Libya gave nothing.

This, despite the fact that continued existence of the camps is recognized as a political weapon against Israel. UNRWA's representative, Saheil Alhinadi, has praised Hamas suicide bombers for their attacks on Israel.

The Palestinians are well aware of the lack of enthusiasm by the neighboring states for their nationalist goals, though normally they are reluctant to air it. Yet Sheikh Muhammad Ibrahim Al-Madhi, in a sermon from a Gaza mosque broadcast live on Palestinian TV and recorded by the Middle East Media Research Institute, was outspoken. He said: "There is a secret resolution decided upon by, unfortunately, many of the Arab and Muslim nations. While [the Palestinians] sacrifice the last Palestinian child and the last Palestinian fetus, [the Arab nations] will satisfy themselves with victories on the soccer courts, with music summits and with Arab and Muslim summits. Where are the summits? Where are their decisions?"

The basic objections to a Palestine entity by the neighboring states are that such a state, if and when it comes into existence will, under international pressure, and with Israel as a model, be democratic in nature and, by its very existence will constitute a challenge to the existing autocratic Muslim governments. That is one fundamental reason for their objection to Israel's presence in the area as well. Underground revolt movements will draw inspiration from the Palestinian demonstration that Islam and democracy need not be contradictory. Israel's presence in the Middle East has been bad enough, one of the few countries in the Middle East where Muslim women can vote. In Saudi Arabia, where a secret underground movement is said to exist, King Fahd has been quoted as saying that, next to the Jews, he hates the Palestinians the most. This, because of what they have learned from Israel during their exposure to it.

Further, they are well aware that a tiny Palestine state, squeezed alongside Israel, can never be viable. With no natural resources, no water, no national tradition of self-government, the little state will constitute a perpetual drain on their resources.

It is obvious that many of the Arab states are armed to the teeth. Over a 10-year period, the Unites States has provided 11 Middle Eastern states, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, Lebanon, Oman, Yemen and Qatar, with more than 74 billion dollars worth of arms and military training. There has been an enormous stockpiling of armaments, but acute observers believe the menace is not to Israel. The Muslim states know that in the event of a regional war, the United States would support Israel. Besides, they have already experienced disastrous defeats in previous assaults on Israel. Their defence is against threats from within, on the one hand from revolutionary, pro-democratic movements and, on the other hand, from rogue states. They have not forgotten Iraq's sudden invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and the threat to Saudi Arabia at the same time.

Kathleen Christison, author of Perceptions of Palestine: Their Influence on U.S. Middle East Policy, put it very well: "Most of the Arab states that purchase arms in such large quantities do indeed see the arms as some kind of guarantee of their own internal stability."

Carl Alpert is a freelance writer living in Haifa.

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