by Ahmed E. Souaiaia*
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Deconstructing cruelty in Arab societies |
On average, over one hundred people, many of whom
are civilians, have died every day in Syria for the past 20 months. The Syrian government
says that it is fighting terrorists financed by Arab rulers and the Turkish
Islamist government. The rebels say they are fighting a non-democratic regime. Nearly
twenty other Arab rulers govern without a public mandate. The rulers of Saudi
Arabia and Qatar insist that Bashar Assad step down or be removed by force
because the Syrian people want him gone. Yet, they ignore the fact that the Arab
peoples want them all gone, not just Assad.
For just five days now, Israel and Gaza armed groups
have exchanged fire that has resulted in 70 people dead (67 Palestinians and 3
Israelis), over 600 hundred Palestinians wounded, and hundreds of homes and
buildings destroyed. Since the firing of the first missile, the Arab rulers have
pressed Egypt and Turkey to mediate a ceasefire and called on world leaders and
international organizations to act “to stop Israeli aggression.” The Qatari ruler, the main supplier of deadly
weapons to Syrian militias, headed to Egypt to press President Morsi to help
end the violence in Gaza. So what gives? Are Arab rulers finally giving up on violence
and embracing peace?
While some countries, including Russia and China,
called for a ceasefire in Syria, the majority of Arab rulers threw their
support behind a newly formed body called the Syrian National Coalition for
Opposition and Revolutionary Forces (SNCORF). The latter vowed to continue to
fight the regime and insisted that it would not negotiate or accept a ceasefire
until Assad is ousted and all his security forces are dismantled. Days before
that, UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi’s proposed three-day ceasefire to allow for peaceful
celebration of a religious holiday was not honored. In contrast, just five days
after the start of the recent flare of violence in Gaza, the Arab rulers are suddenly
eager to talk peace. They are calling on world leaders to pressure Israel to
agree to a ceasefire.
The Arab rulers’ double standard is robbing them of
any credibility they had left. They are increasingly seen to be trading with
civilian blood to achieve their political goals. Importantly, they are
inculcating a racist message when they suggest that the lives and dignity of
Arabs can be abused by other Arabs but not by Jews and non-Arabs. They cry foul
when Israel attacks armed groups, but they supply Islamist groups with deadly
arms that prolong a civil war in Syria. They want the world to believe that
Israel is an “aggressor” because it caused the death of 67 civilians, yet they
are arming warring factions in Syrian to prolong a war that killed nearly
50,000 people. The Arab rulers need to be reminded that victimhood, like aggression,
does not have a nationality, a race, or a religion. A victim is a victim regardless
of the identity of the abusers, and oppression is oppression regardless of the
identity of the oppressed.
Arab rulers are using the plight of the Palestinians
to score political points, and they are vilifying Jews for the same acts of
cruelty Arabs inflict on each other. They want the Gaza war to end so that it
does not expose their impotence. They want the Syrian war to continue because
it serves their narrow sectarian and nationalistic interests. They also want
the Gaza war to end so that they are not asked to arm the Palestinian groups
with the same weapons they are sending to the Syrian Islamists. The double
standard Arab rulers have adopted exposes their hypocrisy, shortsightedness, and
supremacist attitudes.
___________________
* Prof.
SOUAIAIA teaches at the University of Iowa. Opinions expressed herein are
the author’s, speaking as a citizen on matters of public interest; not speaking
for the university or any other organization with which he is affiliated.
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