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Iman Darnika Al Kamali – college teacher
The Arab world has rarely needed to review its domestic and foreign policy as it is today! After the events of September 11, everything about Arabs was reduced to an image called “terrorism”, and to a single element called “extremism”. This made it necessary and even urgent to call for a dialogue between the Arabs and the West to dispel the blind misunderstandings, clarify the facts and reveal the facts of illusions!
However, how do you demand dialogue with others (the West), when we (the Arabs) inside lack the foundations for true dialogue and live in cracks, cracks and crises whose manifestations are emerging today? after day in all the Arab theater? Does it seem logical or realistic to call for a dialogue with the other, if we are fundamentally unable to establish a dialogue with ourselves? Is the “negative image of the Arabs” present only in the eyes of the West, or do the Arabs themselves view, in a negative and hostile manner, anyone who contradicts their views, positions and affiliations?
The Arab states have always been in a state of great disintegration and weakness. At the start of the 20th century, the Arabs were divided among states belonging to weak Ottoman rule, and the Arab states could not live up to the concept of the “Arab national nation” that Sharif Hussein called, and it remained. disintegrated under the European (colonial) mandate which sought to focus on protection. Religious and sectarian minorities, and the result has been the emergence of hybrid entities that have worked to politicize tribal, tribal and sectarian structures and recycle them to serve the interests of the mandated states …
Thus, the Arabs have entered the twenty-first century as they face countless internal challenges, some of which are due to the existence of tribal and sectarian groups and individual rulers. If we take a full look at the Arab arena right now, we will witness the contradictions that are reflected in stoking sectarian and ethnic conflicts, divisions, rifts, conflicts, accusations of atonement and murders and genocides in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Palestine and other Arab countries which reflect glaring examples of the lack of internal dialogue in all its components. And the conditions.
The same goes for Lebanon, which they have always told us represents the model that the entire Arab world aspires to trace up to democracy and intellectual freedom. The sectarian dilemma was able to penetrate and take root in its political system known as consensual democracy (knowing that it is far from democracy or even consociationalism) … and today we see Lebanese society live with a duality of political affiliation between sectarianism and nationalism … and the biggest dilemma is that loyalty to the sect The Lebanese leader has become more important than loyalty to the homeland, to the point that it is not possible to turn to sects or cancel their existence. The Lebanese “is born, lives, marries and dies sectarian” in the words of Dr. Adam Rabat, and the sectarian politician does little more than strengthen the position of his family and preserve the sectarian structure of the country This is what prevents and hinders the possibility of a real dialogue, so that harmony, brotherhood and consensus will be achieved only with the aim of reaching agreements and negotiations which necessarily lead to personal gains …
In short, there is no salvation for the Arabs except by establishing a real dialogue between them in order to get out of the circle of sectarianism and tribalism! Arab countries have failed to achieve comprehensive and sustainable Arab development. All it did in return was just launching ineffective national institutions, like the League of Arab States. We need new Arab thinking “crossing Qatari borders” to launch an Arab renewal project that gives Arabs a historic opportunity to participate in the new world order from the position of the actor and not the recipient. He – the project – is still absent. But we hope to evoke it by handing the flag to new national elites and to a new generation imploring dialogue to highlight the obstacles to Arab action and correct its course!
There is no doubt that Arabs today need enlightened leadership based on long-term planning coupled with a dialogue based on parity! Let us learn from the experiences of other peoples who have succeeded in moving their societies from a state of backwardness and disintegration to a state of progress and peace !! Enough of countries which invest their resources only to produce more crises and misfortunes !!!
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