I ask myself every day, what has happened to the political leaders in the Arab Gulf to put us in the situation that we are in today? Have they lost their minds and wisdom? Is this the curse they brought on to themselves when they helped the foreign powers in 1991, creating the current mess in Iraq? Is this because they have disregarded and neglected the Palestinian cause and allowed settlements and kibbutzim to take over the land? Is what is happening the result of a Yemeni curse cast on us because we allowed the people there to suffer under poverty, disease, illiteracy and the tyranny of Ali Abdullah Saleh, while we in the Gulf spend our money everywhere? Some Arab Gulf countries have spent vast sums of money on the military coup in Egypt, around $30 billion in less than eight months, while many people in the wealthy countries do not have suitable homes and cannot find places for their children to go to school.
Why have our leaders in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries disputed amongst themselves to the extent that moral and intellectual dwarves are slandering them in the media? These journalists have found themselves in an atmosphere that is conducive to slandering one leader in order to please another. I say this in all honesty and I want to give the journalists some sincere advice: no matter how serious the dispute is between our leaders, they are still honourable men and will not allow each other to be insulted and not do anything about it. Despite their differences they are prone to making up quickly. You must be careful who you upset, because it will be journalists and press freedoms which suffer.
The answer to my question in the first paragraph is, of course, that the GCC leaders have have differed with regards to Egypt. Some say that what happened last year was a coup, others that the military has struck back against terrorism in the country. I would like to ask, what terrorism are they referring to?
In order to break this vicious cycle, sources in Qatar have said that the government has presented a proposal to the Gulf countries suggesting that they should agree on a non-controversial Egyptian figure, accepted by the people but not a supporter of President Mohamed Morsi or of Field Marshal Al-Sisi, and invite him to form a transitional government to serve for five years. During that period a national constitution should be drafted with parliamentary and presidential elections held at the end of the five years. The Qatari proposal is that the Gulf countries must support this government, both financially and politically, in order to stabilise Egypt. This agreement was agreed upon in principle, but things took a wrong turn and, with no prior warning, the move failed.
Frankly, Egypt is living through a dark political, economic, security and social crisis that can only be resolved by an Egyptian-Egyptian agreement, as mentioned in the Qatari proposal. Even Al-Sisi admitted to the Farmer’s Union earlier this month that the country is dealing with a staggering economic crisis, with domestic and foreign debt reaching EGP 1.7 billion. With the population now at 95 million Al-Sisi said that this is so great a burden that he does not know how he will deal with it. He must, though, have been aware of Egypt’s financial situation before he decided to stage a coup against the legitimate government in which he was a minister.
I admit that I do not support the idea of the Muslim Brotherhood leading an Arab country for various reasons. I mentioned some of these in a programme on Al-Hiwar TV with Dr Azzam Tamimi, during which I said that the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt may succeed in the elections but it will not be allowed, neither by the Arabs nor by the international community, to govern the country, and this is a disaster. I said this on the eve of the second round of the presidential election between Morsi and Ahmed Shafiq.
We cannot discount the fact that the West still has a bone to pick with the Muslim Arabs as payback for the Crusades and that Islam reached France and spread to the gates of Vienna. It is our weakness that we are dependent on the entire world for our trade, which is controlled by the dollar, yen, sterling, euro and foreign banks. We need to build up our own capacity and only then consider establishing a strong Arab Islamic state.
The farce in Egypt sees the prosecution as “terrorists” of anyone with an opinion. This is combined with the preoccupation of Egyptian officials to guarantee their positions and their personal interests; the media accusing Qatar of being responsible for the crises in Egypt; the ongoing civil wars in Iraq, Syria and Yemen plus political, security and social chaos in Lebanon; a corrupt political system in Sudan; violations by many groups in Africa; and the absence of reason and wisdom in the Arab Gulf countries. Iran finds itself in a very happy position. All of the aforementioned troubles are opening the doors to Iranian expansion and extensibility from Afghanistan to Lebanon and from the Gulf to the shores of the Red Sea.
I appeal to the leaders of the Gulf States not to allow differences to divide them and give their enemies the opportunity to take advantage of their disunity. They must know that Egypt will still be there with or without their support but they are standing squarely in the line of fire. Do they not realise and understand this?
Translated from Al-Sharq newspaper, 18 March 2104
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