The nation collectively rejects “Israel” and divided it normalizes with it

The past quarter century witnessed a clear decline in joint action at all political levels, and a steady escalation of unilateral action on the part of countries aspiring to expand their influence. At the international level, the work of the United Nations has almost disappeared after it was marginalized, as it no longer has a field presence in conflict areas, and was unable to contain political or military tensions, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations is no longer only a senior international employee who issues statements on international occasions such as International Women’s Day and today Universal Human Rights and others. With the deepening polarization in the UN Security Council, it has also become unable to influence international politics and issues of war and peace. The Ukrainian crisis is escalating, while attempts to obtain a Security Council resolution on it have failed as a result of polarization and the veto system.

At the regional level, the role of regional groupings has declined, including the European Union, whose presence has been targeted by the United States and Britain in particular. Former US President Donald Trump did not hide his hostility to the European Union and calls for its dissolution. Britain took the step of withdrawing from the Union under various pretexts, including restoring British sovereignty, liberation from the European Court of Human Rights, and getting rid of the European Parliament's financial and political burdens. Even after the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis, it can be noted the divergence in the patterns of dealing with this crisis, and the absence of a clear European position on the war or dealing with Russia, especially regarding oil and gas. Even in the issue of sanctions, there is a clear discrepancy in the extent of enthusiasm of the EU countries towards them, as well as the issue of direct military intervention. All parties outside the conflict were satisfied with providing humanitarian support to Ukraine, and they differed on other issues, such as military intervention or sanctions against Russia, and even its membership in the Group of 20, which some countries are calling for its expulsion from, with the reservation of others. His country's positions on issues of freedom, democracy and human rights in the world also varied. Gradually, it becomes clear that the Union is moving towards a decline in its role and importance, for many reasons, including the tendency to protect the borders of the country.

At the other regional levels, we can notice the decline of joint action as well, and its replacement by the expansion of the influence of some powerful countries. The Arab League no longer has a real presence at the level of joint Arab action. Rather, each country has its own policies and foreign relations. No clearer than that is the divergence of Arab countries' policies towards the Israeli occupation, and the absence of a common Arab position regarding the challenges that Israel poses to the Middle East. There is no longer any objection to talk of a meeting between Arab countries and “Israel” to discuss “Iranian influence” in the region and how to confront it. The last of which was the meeting held last Tuesday in Sherk al-Sheikh, which included Egypt, the UAE and “Israel”, which was praised by the White House. Last Wednesday, Morocco and Israel signed an agreement to cooperate in aviation projects. This week, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is visiting "Israel", Morocco and Algeria, in what he believes will put pressure on the latter to join the caravan of printers.

He notes here the nature of Arab diplomatic work, which has changed a lot in recent years after the weakening of the spirit of joint action and the dominance of the statements of “national sovereignty” over the psyches of the rulers within the policy of inflating the “national identity” confined to the narrow borders of each of these countries. Certainly, the policy of dividing the nation has made great strides until the circles of cooperation among them have vanished. Nevertheless, there are circles and common concerns that are still of interest to Arab governments: the first is the refusal to democratize and confront those who seek change. Joint work, including Egypt, Syria and Iraq. Fourth: Hitting the tendencies towards uniting the nation and promoting joint action, especially the Islamists who are subjected to the worst types of abuse under a false claim about fighting terrorism.

Perhaps the most important American achievement at the level of the Middle East is to remove the Palestinian cause from its traditional position as a title for joint action within frameworks such as the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the League of Arab States. To promote this, the nation's culture, priorities and perceptions have been influenced. This nation, which considered recognition of the Israeli occupation as a “treason,” has undergone a process of psychological, moral and ideological change that made it ready to change that logic. The Anglo-American pressure on the region was able to perpetuate the idea that “normalization is a point of view” after the two categories of normalization and betrayal were separated. Prior to this transformation, contact with the Israeli entity was completely rejected. When Anwar al-Sadat signed the Camp David Accords with the occupying forces, there was an Arab and Islamic consensus regarding this as a “treason.” But that is no longer the case after the Anglo-American efforts of the last decade contributed to reformulating the nation's priorities after the Arab Spring hit and striving to prevent its recurrence. Suddenly, joint Arab action projects were re-engineered according to new perceptions that prevent democratic transformation, besiege freedoms, and place normalization with the occupation forces at the core of the Arab reality. This required strenuous efforts over a period of ten years, foremost of which was the marginalization of the intellectual and ideological premises that established the centrality of the Palestinian cause in the Arab and Islamic conscience as an all-encompassing cause of the nation and an impetus for liberation and independence. Those Anglo-American efforts would not have continued without financial support, and here the petrodollar entered the line to provide what those efforts needed. Thus, it was planned to reformulate the joint Arab action by removing the question of Palestine from its priorities. This required extensive media campaigns to tear the nation apart and break its thorns and stubbornness. Extremism, violence, terrorism and sectarianism were among the most important manifestations of the last era of the nation’s history. Thus, the counter-revolutionary forces tightened their grip on the region, and joint action vanished and was replaced by bilateral relations with the Israeli entity. Some Arab countries realized this state of international rift, and began pretending to rebel against the Western alliance, and some of them drifted towards rapprochement with Russia. Even the Ukrainian crisis, there is no unified Arab or Islamic position. Rather, each country decided its own policy and determined its position on Russia until there was a clear polarization between a supporter of Russia and an opponent. This matter greatly disturbed Washington, but it could not do anything because, in the eyes of others, it is one of the most important reasons for the cracking of the Western position on the one hand and the fragility of the international position and the marginalization of international institutions on the other.

Joint work at the world level has also been marginalized as well, and gradually the international organization has been removed from its global role and its interest in issues of war and peace. The United Nations is no longer an inclusive entity, but has gradually turned into a rhetoric on which world leaders rotate in each session without being able to take decisions, and even if the majority of the members of the General Assembly agree on a resolution, it is unable to implement it due to the absence of mechanisms for that. In the absence of joint international action, the powerful countries are racing to establish their existence, sometimes by adopting policies that involve bullying and arrogance, and other times by flexing military muscle and deploying aircraft carriers in hot areas such as the Gulf, the Mediterranean, the South China Sea and Southeast Asia, and thirdly by forcing allies, secretly or openly, to implement the demands. At the forefront of which is the American normalization with “Israel”.

The question here is: Can the world continue on its current path in the absence of a political or legal reference that controls this path? Is it possible to rely on major countries such as America and Russia, for example, to establish the rule of law at the international and regional levels? In light of double standards, Westerners have become unable to exercise their role with impartiality or a desire for harmony and peace. Therefore, the world has become subject to blackmail, rift, war, and perhaps the spread of epidemics and poverty. As for the Arabs and Muslims, they will remain under the rule of tyranny and fragmentation unless they gather their strength again and plan to repeat a second Arab Spring to break the phenomenon of the monopoly of power. Activists, thinkers and scholars are required to return the map of Palestine as a title for the unity of the nation and an approach to resisting occupation, normalization and tyranny, as well as working to limit the Israeli expansion in the region politically, economically and culturally. Without that, the Israeli era will unfold at its peak in order to target the seekers of truth, rob the nation of what remains of its sovereignty, and divert between it and the directions of joint action. It is also required to return to the era of Arab and Islamic influence, which prevented normalization with the occupation, and kept the question of Palestine on the discussion table in international councils. Unless this happens, the main issue will continue to be marginalized, and with it the issues of awakening, renaissance, awareness and revolution aiming for change.