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After Israeli air strikes on Lebanon's power stations destroyed
generating equipment and caused major power shortages the Arab League of
Foreign Ministers meeting which was scheduled to be held on the 11th
March at the League's headquarters in Cairo was hastily moved to Beirut
as a show of support for the Lebanese people.
At the meeting the foreign ministers issued a joint statement condemning
the air strikes, along with Israel's continuing occupation of the south
of country. The League also condemned Israeli threats of even more
fearsome retribution for any further cross-border attacks. It stressed
the need for Israel to respect the 1996 Understanding and withdraw from
Lebanese territory and voiced full support for the Lebanese resistance.
The only difference between this declaration and the numerous others the
Arab League have issued in the past was the League's support for the
idea of establishing an international tribunal to try Israel war crimes,
like the massacre at Qana and pressing for compensation inflicted on
Lebanon by the occupation. It also urged the Arab states to reconsider
their relationships with Israel and to fulfil their pledges of long term
aid for Lebanon.
What wonderful words, what noble sentiments, but where is the action?
What are the countries of the Arab League doing to help the Lebanese
people who are on the receiving end of Israeli aggression? The sad
answer is nothing. As usual our governments are in love with the sound
of their own rhetoric. We cannot lift ourselves above self-interest to
produce an effective answer to the pressing social, political and
material problems of the confrontation with Israel.
We cannot even agree to pay what we have already pledged. The states of
the Arab League promised to make available US$2 billion at the Arab
summit in Tunisia in 1979 to rebuild war torn Lebanon. Twenty-two years
later Lebanon has only received around US$450 million of that sum and
time cost and inflation has considerably reduced the value of the
original sum.
So it is with little wonder that that this noble declaration, while
meeting with approval on the official level in Beirut, was greeted with
scorn in Israel and almost totally ignored in the Western capitals
involved in the peace-making process. They have heard it all many times
before, hot words but no action ? who pays attention to a timid
toothless tiger no matter how loud he roars? This failure lies in our
governments' inability to stop petty infighting and self-interest stand
in the way of unity of action.
Even as the foreign ministers were condemning Israel and calling for
unity, the various delegations at the meeting could not resist
squabbling amongst themselves. Rivalry surfaced between Damascus and
Cairo because Cairo, trying to upstage the Beirut meeting, had hosted a
summit between Yasser Arafat and Ehud Barak to relaunch the talks
between the PLA and Israel. Egypt had also welcomed the Israeli decision
to unilaterally pull out of southern Lebanon and that greatly concerned
the Lebanese government and its ally, Syria. A second issue of
contention was over the call for a freeze on the normalisation of
relations between Arab states and Israel. This was proposed by Syria and
Lebanon but was unacceptable to Jordan and Egypt. Other disputes arose
involving Iraq, the UAE and Oman.
This inter-governmental squabbling soured relations at the meeting to
such an extent that Syria's foreign minister departed ahead of time.
What is so disturbing is that this sort of infighting is not unusual and
has come to be expected by the rest of the world, who dismiss our
rhetoric. The Arab League's declaration did not stop Israel from
carrying out some of the heaviest air raids since the bombing of power
plants in Lebanon last June and shelling a Lebanese army post killing a
soldier and wounding a civilian.
Instead of this disgraceful lack of will on the part of our governments
let us act like brothers and combine together to meet our commitments.
Let Arab businessmen act where their governments cannot, let them form
venture capital funds to pump prime Lebanese industry, invest in
infrastructure projects such as roads sanitation, transportation and
housing. Let our financial resources be the heart that pumps economic
prosperity to every corner of Lebanese society.
Let us not just pay our financial obligation to the Lebanese people, but
let us go further, let us commit ourselves and redress the injustices of
the unlawful occupation of not only Lebanon but of Palestine as well.
We should send Arab troops to monitor the peace process. It is just a
matter of will. Soldiers from the UAE and other Arab countries have
already played a highly effective peace keeping role in Bosnia that has
shown what they can achieve when set a difficult task. Why not let them
play the same role in Lebanon?
Why don't we enforce No Fly Zones over Lebanon? Combined, the airforces
of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria and the UAE could achieve this. Perhaps if
we did so the West, and particularly America, would not be so quick in
ignoring our legitimate requests for more even-handed policies.
Allied to this peacekeeping role, we could, as the West has done against
Iraq, impose economic sanctions, particularly against countries that
supply war materials, including oil, to Israel. Israel buys its oil from
somewhere. And as most oil producers are members of OPEC it is surely
not beyond our ability to put pressure on Israel through her use of
Hydrocarbons. After all, you cannot bomb a country if you have no
aviation fuel to get your planes into the air.
If we showed determination and made it clear that we are prepared to
stand up to Israel in Lebanon by imposing sanctions on countries
supplying arms and to use our strength as oil producers to hinder Israel
the Americans would have to listen to what we say and take us seriously.
What a change it would make. For the first time in a long while Arab
people would have pride in their governments for making a stand and
committing their strength to the cause of a fair and just settlement to
a regional problem.
So no more ineffectual talking shops please. Let us all act together and
demonstrate that we as a people can solve our own problems.
Khalaf Al Habtoor
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Chairman's Message