Arabs without a Palestinian cause

Since its birth, the Palestinian issue has been a central and major challenge for the Arab world as a whole, and for each Arab state individually, and that is why the Arab-Israeli conflict acquired its name from this centrality. Due to the impact of the birth of Israel as a foreign state on the countries of the region, the conflict entered the internal components of the Arab nation-state, and was employed within the framework of the internal struggle for power, whether this state was close to Israel or far from it.

Over the course of these decades, and because of the constant preoccupation of Arab politics with the Palestinian issue, it was not possible to imagine the Arab world without the Palestinian issue, which covered up not only the crooked internal policies, but also the crimes within the national states, and every time under the slogan of the centrality of the conflict with Israel, and “no voice is louder than the voice of battle.”


This was not only the view of the official Arab authorities on the Palestinian issue, but this view sometimes included the Arab opposition as well, and many Arab intellectuals, as everyone was preoccupied with the central conflict, which was considered an “existential conflict” between the Arabs and Israel, and that every Arab political force must determine its position on the Palestinian issue, and be a direct actor in this conflict, and thus, it is a component part of the forces aligned (theoretically) in the conflict with Israel, aligned in the internal national conflicts (practically), which gives it the right to take whatever positions it wants, and to interfere in Palestinian affairs, in a way that it cannot interfere in another Arab country, on the basis that the Palestinian issue is the issue of the Arabs, and not the issue of the Palestinians alone.

Within this utilitarian view of the Arab-Israeli conflict by Arab authorities, oppositions, or loud-mouthed intellectuals, the Palestinians were given a role as the vanguard of the conflict with Israel, and the first barricade that must remain in place forever, because the conflict is endless.

Because of this, no settlement is suitable for it, which is what gave birth to the no’s of the Arab Summit in Khartoum in 1967, after the June defeat: “No peace, no negotiations, no recognition.” The Palestinians were not treated as human beings who deserve a normal life, and who deserve not to be continuous fuel in the holocaust of conflict that has been ongoing for more than a century.

Some of them did not hesitate to burden the poor Palestinians with the responsibility of historical tasks that the Arab countries were unable to carry out together. Any solution to this conflict that affected its status in the Arab imagination was a rejected solution, on the basis that this status was more important than the fate of the Palestinian people, who are steadfast, struggling, sacrificing, and fighting... etc., from sloganeering expressions, but for how long?... No one asked himself this question.

But this reality soon changed, and the Arab countries began to search for their own interests, and justify them with new nationalisms and special interests, born through the first settlement with Israel, when Egypt concluded a separate peace with it, which was known as the Camp David Accords of 1978, which was justified by former President Anwar Sadat by saying that Egypt had regained its national lands.

This restoration took it out of the conflict, and it became linked to Israel through peace agreements and diplomatic exchanges under American auspices. These agreements opened the door for other Arab countries to withdraw their connection to the Palestinian cause. Calls for new nationalisms appeared in many Arab countries, which would sever ties, not only with the cause, but also with the Arab countries, on the basis of priority for the national state.

These calls have found their promoters, even among the opposition circles in these countries, especially the countries in which the slogans of the Palestinian cause have been used to suppress the internal opposition. Some countries have come to consider the cause a burden on them, because they want to establish relations with Israel, considering that Israel is their ally, while the existence of the Palestinian cause hinders these relations. On the other hand, it has become necessary to get rid of this cause among some elites, because it hinders the development of the opposition in countries ruled by dictatorships that suppress the country under the pretext of the conflict with Israel.

Some countries bet that this problem would be solved with the promises of peace at the Madrid Conference in 1991, and the Palestinians were left alone in these negotiations. The Arabs began to say that they agree to what the Palestinians agree to, and that they are not more Palestinian than the Palestinians, hoping that this abandonment would put pressure on the Palestinians to make concessions that would push them to reach agreements with Israel.

But it turned out that Israel is not serious about finding a solution and reaching a compromise with the Palestinians, despite all the concessions they have made, at a time when it is seeking to normalize its relations with the Arab countries and leave the conflict with the Palestinians under control and without a solution.

Many Arab countries have established secret relations with Israel, which used to be the open secret in the region, but this type of secret relations is no longer enough, neither for Israel nor for the Arab countries. Some countries waited for Donald Trump to become President of the United States to finally sever their relationship with the Palestinian issue, and to enter into agreements and diplomatic representation with Israel, through the Abraham Accords.

These agreements established a new type of relations in the region, surpassing all the foundations on which the political map of the region was built after the establishment of the State of Israel, and the channels of alliances and conflicts that prevailed for decades, which was evident in the brutal war that Israel is waging against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. This brutal Israeli policy did not lead to any reaction from the normalizing countries, or even the threat of withdrawing ambassadors. On the contrary, inter-relations, even military ones, are developing between Israel and some of these Arab countries, at a time when the massacre is taking place in the Gaza Strip.

What is happening at the official Arab level is not only a liberation from the Palestinian issue, but also a turning away from the Palestinian blood being shed, as if what is happening in Palestine does not concern these countries, nor does it affect their national security, if these countries have such security.