Arabs, where to now?
By Mohammed Al- Asa’adi *
The hopes and dreams of the Arab people were dashed by the outcome of the
emergency summit of Arab leaders in Cairo last Saturday, October21/22.
Unfortunately, their attitudes are getting more feeble by the day. Now the
Arab leaders are jointly guilty of murdering the Palestinians and handing
them over to Israel, whose name is impure and pollutes the Arab Holy lands
as well as the Middle East region.
The most tragic and heartbreaking aspect is that Israel expected extremely
tough decisions and resolutions from the summit, but this did not happen.
Israel therefore continues its attacks on unarmed Palestinian youth - it
kills children and women while Arab leaders wring their hands and discuss
what to do. Israel knows the limits of these enfeebled leaders. It is now
perfectly clear, dear brothers in Palestine, that we are unable to help you.
Our feeble minded leaders with their armies and sophisticated weapons are
cowards waving the white flag of internal defeat. But we, the people, have
a great passion to fight to the death to rid us of the cobra that poisons
our hearts. Though you fight with small stones against Israelis' bullets
and rockets, and we have a lot of volunteers as well as arms and weapons,
we could not help you to free our Holy Mosque. As a Muslim and Arabi citizen,
I would say that humanity itself condemns Israel, that people everywhere
share your sufferings - but the blame for inaction goes to our indecisive
leaders. Yemenis and Arabs applaud President Saleh's brave attitude and
appreciate Tunisian breaking its relations with Israel. Similarly we admire
the idea of financial support from Saudi Arabia to our brothers in Palestine.
Iraqi's call for a Holy Jihad has inspired all Muslims and made them think
of victory or martyrdom. But we condemn Egypt and Jordan who have no sense
of responsibility and keep their ties with Israel. To my surprise, I met
a 15-year old Yemeni boy who swore that if the doors were opened to a Jihad,
he would rush through them to fight against the Israeli enemies. I felt very
happy to see a child with that sense of responsibility, while our so-called
mature leaders have none. We will continue our support to our brothers in
Palestine whether it be with money, arms or at least faithful prayers. We
watch all that happens to you with tears running down our faces, and appeal
to those who care for human rights to come to the aid of the Palestinians.
Where are the United Nations, UNICEF, etc…? I wonder: is Israel stronger
than the whole world? Are UN decrees and laws applied to all countries except
Israel? If so, what are the reasons? If there is no good answer, don’t
talk nonsense about human rights.
Dear brothers, you are more brave and courageous than the Israeli armed forces,
and ultimately you will be victorious. Continue with your INTIFADAH and
don’t surrender. Fight bravely, throw the stones that are stronger than
the enemy’s bullets and rockets. Go on - Allah, the Almighty will support
all your deeds. Amen.
* Mohammed Al- Asa’adi is the Managing Director of Yemen Observer- Sana'a
Posted: October 25, 2000
