During Ukraine War, Remember Yugoslavia
Should we forget what the West did in the former Yugoslavia, not only against the Muslims in Bosnia Herzegovina, but against all the peoples of that country, which was reduced to pieces? Aren’t the peoples of Yugoslavia Christian and European? Have they been spared from the destruction which the Europeans did against each other? Do you remember what the American aviation did in Serbia in the nineties?
There is no doubt that many accuse the US and the West of conspiring against the Arabs, destroying their homelands and displacing them in millions. This is because the US did not support the popular revolutions, and the West stood with the tyrants against the people. This is true. But why did the US and Europe leave millions of Ukrainians victims of the Russian invasion to do whatever they can? What did America do to Ukraine other than providing it some military and financial aid, which the Ukrainian president himself ridiculed. Haven’t some Ukrainian cities now looked like those of Syria? What about the fate of the largest European country Ukraine? In the American mind, is a Ukrainian different from a Syrian or an Iraqi.
How can we forget the history that European Christians killed each other during the World War II? More than sixty million people were killed during this war. Can we forget the Thirty Years’ War between Protestants and Catholics in Europe, which destroyed countries, displaced, and killed millions of peoples?
[by Faisal AlKasim in Al-Quds Al-Arabi]
Negev Forum Set to Fail
The foreign ministers of Israel, the United States of America, Egypt, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain held a meeting in Negev on March 27-28, 2021. The meeting was called by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Yair Lapid, to create an Israeli-Arab alliance under US sponsorship, to confront Iran’s nuclear project and its regional policies. This was clearly aimed at diverting the main conflict in the region from the struggle between the Arabs and Israel – which began with the rise of the Jewish national project before 1948, and the appropriation of Palestine and other Arab lands – to a fight between the Arabs and Israel on the one hand, and with Iran on the other.
Israel did not achieve its main objective from the Negev meeting, to expand its alliance with the UAE and Bahrain (and partially with Morocco,) to include Egypt as well. This is because Egypt has reservations about that “idea”. Despite this, Israel considered that mere holding of the meeting was a great political and diplomatic achievement for it, particularly since it was held in Kibbutz “Sde Boker” which was made by David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, his headquarters after his retirement. But it seems clear that, on the parallel with the Israeli efforts to divert the conflict in the region from its true direction, the Palestinian insistence on resisting Israel’s attempts to delegitimise the Palestinian cause is increasing and a new comprehensive intifada could begin.
[Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies]
Compiled and Translated by Faizul Haque