This title is not a riddle nor it is meant to be one. For some time, any talk about Arab mind, i.e. planning, strategy or vision, looked like addressing a taboo, an impossible or an absentee.

We do not say today that the Arab mind has restored its presence comprehensively and perfectly, or that it has proved its eligibility as befit of this great nation. Arab mind is going through a state of imbalance and I decided to bring those ideas to activate proper discussion.

This test consists of a number of questions that came to my mind as I listened, stunned, like all Arabs, to the news of assassination of Shaikh Ahmed Yassin, that Palestinian cripple who awakened the nation in a time where people with perfect bodies and crippled minds are doing nothing.

We might differ or agree with the Palestinian freedom fighter Ahmed Yassin, on his methods to restore the usurped homeland, but we definitely support the rights of the sacred Palestinian cause, as well as condemn the state terror and crimes carried by Israel against the people of Palestine and elsewhere.

It is also worth mentioning that I do not mean any particular person by talking about "people with perfect bodies and crippled minds". It rather describes the general Arab atmosphere.

There are many questions that provoke more questions, words that generate words, and we reach the end of the journey without answers, without identity.

1. Who killed Shaikh Ahmed Yassin? Was he the victim of the Arab general defeatist attitude? Was he killed by the current Arab era, or was he destined to become a martyr since the first Arab defeat in 1948? Was it Sharon, and did Sharon kill him in cold blood, as he daily kills our hopes, children, women and wills? Was Ahmed Yassin the victim of Arab fear?

2. Who killed Shaikh Ahmed Yassin? Was it the Western forces that massacre our people mercilessly, or were the crime accomplices, states, rulers and the general atmosphere of defeat that paralyzed the nation?

3. Who stands behind the timing? Is it the humiliating capitulation that engulfs even our dreams? Does it have something to do with destroying the last Arab revolutionary bastion? Is Intifada ranking among the priorities in the list of organized assassinations? Who legalized and warranted the slaughtering of the Palestinian people? Is it Israel alone? Is it the Zionism, Arab collusion, Arab deafness and silence?

Was it the West that legitimized the annihilation of one people to replace it with another? Is Europe trying to sacrifice the Palestinians to compensate for the massacre and a Holocaust that could be genuine or gravely exaggerated, though we condemn all types of crimes, massacres and terrorism?

3. When did the conspiracy begin? Was it with Balfor Declaration, with the first Zionist Congress held in 1898, or with the occupation of Palestine in 1948? Did it start when the Arabs turned a blind eye to the struggle of the Palestinian people since the occupation? Was it finalized when the Iraqi regime collapsed and the US led forces occupied Iraq?

4. Who are the parties of the agreement? Is there anyone beyond suspicion and are there any innocent among those parties? Is the whole world involved or only part of it?

5. Who knows of the plot, or rather who does not know of it? Do all Arab rulers know? Do the people also know?

6. Is the decision-maker a partner in slaughtering that people? In other words, are there parties, individuals, people or rulers who did not take part in that crime? Who had the decisive and final word? Did everyone, on all levels, take part in this blood bath?

7. What would the Arabs do after the massacre? Would their weakness and silence continue, or would they rise? Would the conspiracy succeed in usurping a dear part of our homeland? Would Arab leaders hold a summit again to denounce and condemn and utter meaningless words?

8. Would the Arab and Moslem leaders call for justice and bring to trial their partners in that alliance as war criminals and would those be condemned by international justice bodies as mass killers?

9. Would the killers win any future elections in occupied Palestine? And what would happen in the UK and the US, after the events in Spain? Would the peoples have their say, or are they copies of their leaders? Would the experience of the Spanish Prime Minister be repeated elsewhere in the world?

10. Do some Arab leaders issue adequate denunciation statements? Aren't those statements ready to suit every occasion and event and is there anyone who demands that these words should be translated into action?

11. Does the Arabs presence in the UN have any significance, or should they quit honourably? Did their presence add anything to the UN resolutions- did it amend, change or influence UN decisions since its inception? Obviously, and with the exclusion of certain areas where the Arabs raised a voice through the nonalignment bloc, their presence in the UN has no effect whatsoever on any decision. This is further clarified in the light of Israeli huge influence not only on UN resolutions, but also on those of any international organization. Would it not be better for the Arabs to quit the UN for mere face saving, rather that staying their as marginal guests whose presence is not felt by anyone?

12. Did the Arabs wake up, or are their still sleeping? And if yes, what kind of awakening are we talking about? Is it the awakening of the will, resolution, determination and conscience?

13. Are Arab leaders conveying to Western Governments some of the facts related to the Palestinian issue and people, or are their meetings restricted to major issues that do not leave time to talk about the tragedy of the Palestinian people that is subjected to systematic annihilation?

Finally, I would like to apologize for raising all those questions that I have no clear answers for. I ask all these questions as a subject for discussion, hoping that would start a movement towards justice. Maybe some of you might have answers that help pave the way and throw a ray of light that puts an end to this utter darkness.

Khalaf Ahmed Al Habtoor