Afrasianet - Hassan Qadim - The sight of children in Gaza struggling to death with unbelievable hunger, if not for the pictures as a witness to it, and the massacres filling the screens day after day.. hundreds of thousands are trapped without food, water or medicine!
Famine preys on the elderly and children, and murder does not exclude a woman or an infant. Despite all this, the Arab scene seems to be static, with little movement, except for statements of condemnation that no longer convince anyone and do not change the reality of the situation.
If the regimes have failed, the people are still alive. The millions who take to the streets despite the oppression, who boycott despite the campaigns, and who raise their children to love Palestine despite the failure of the world, these are the remnants of the pulse of Arabism. But the big question is: how long will the people be alone?
In the face of what is happening in Gaza, we have the right to ask frankly: Is the Arab brotherhood dead?
The division that colonialism sowed, since Sykes-Picot, was later watered with the water of political subservience. Today, we are living the harvest of this division, after Palestine has turned from a sacred issue into a "disturbing file" in the eyes of some regimes.
What the war on Gaza has revealed, since October 7, 2023, the date of the start of the flood, and until today, is the extent of the political and humanitarian fragility in the Arab position! Palestine is no longer the "central issue" as some claim, but has turned – in the eyes of many regimes – into a complex file that prefers to be avoided, or, at best, managed within the minimum limits, without crossing the "red lines" drawn by the major powers.
America does not hide its bias, and Israel practices genocide without fear of punishment. As for the Arabs, their positions ranged from timid condemnation to complete silence, as if Palestinian blood had nothing to do with them and they were not bound by the bond of belonging and Arabism, or as if they had lost the ability to act, or even the desire to do so.
What we are seeing today confirms what many have warned about in the past: we have become like a torrent, with no political weight, no international influence, and no prestige that preserves rights or deters aggressors. Israel does not account for Arab anger, nor does America think twice before its unconditional support for the killing machine.
The division that colonialism sowed, since Sykes-Picot, was later watered with the water of political subservience. Today, however, we are living the harvest of this division, after Palestine has turned from a sacred issue into a "disturbing file" in the eyes of some regimes. The division, normalization, and the invocation of "higher interests" were all a prelude to depriving us of the ability to confront, even with words.
Failing the regimes this time is not only silence, but also indirect participation in crime, when collusion turns into politics, and indifference into attitude
There is no scene more cruel than Gaza, which is being annihilated daily, while Arab summits are held and shaken off without changing anything on the ground.. statements of condemnation no longer convince anyone, and initiatives no longer go beyond linguistic evasion. The silence of the Arab regimes – or their contentment with minimal symbolic positions – revealed an unforgivable impotence and an unjustifiable abandonment.
Has loyalty to international alliances become more important than loyalty to the cause of the nation? Some capitals have opened the doors to normalization, while others have hidden behind "political realism" and "regional complexities," while Gaza's children are buried under the rubble.
The Arab regimes were not asked to declare war, but what is required is an honorable, courageous stance commensurate with the enormity of the scene; it is unreasonable for an Arab city to be allowed in this way, without the Arabs having political weight or action that forces the aggressor to stop.
This time the abandonment is not only silence, but also indirect participation in the crime, which is when collusion turns into politics, and indifference into attitude. This official Arab absence was not only scandalous, but also exposed, and history will write this chapter of abandonment with ink that does not dry up.
Arab pride, or what is left of it, dies every day that a Palestinian child is killed without reply, it dies every time the lifeline of Gaza is blocked and this is met with official Arab inaction, it dies when the unarmed Palestinian is left to face the killing machine alone.
It seems that what we are witnessing today is a natural extension of a phase that began decades ago; since the Nakba of 1948, the Arabs have been talking about the "Palestinian right," but most of them have not gone beyond slogans. Regimes have changed, and discourses have changed, but the decline has remained constant, even upward.
When our regimes failed to deter the occupation, they began to tame their people to accept the fait accompli. Today, however, we have reached a new stage: dealing with Palestine as an embarrassing file, not as a sacred issue. The Palestinians alone bear the burden of resisting an internationally backed military machine, while regimes are content with surveillance, justification, or worse: behind-the-scenes security and political coordination.
What is more painful than all of the above is the general feeling, which has taken root in the conscience of our Arab peoples, that Arab blood no longer worries anyone, and that the Arab man is the cheapest in the international political arena. No one is angry at a massacre, and the conscience of the world is not shaken by a child dying of hunger in Gaza, or under the rubble of a house in Rafah, or in a cold tent in Khan Younis.
In fact, the most serious question that imposes itself is: Have we lost our sense of dignity? Arabism has become hollow slogans, after it once meant victory for the oppressed, and the defense of land and offer, even at the expense of interests.
Whoever has not been shaken by the famine in Gaza, the blood of its children, and the tears of its mothers, let him review his humanity first, and his Arabism second.
The Arab pride, or what is left of it, dies every day that a Palestinian child is killed without reply, it dies every time the lifeline of Gaza is blocked and this is met with official Arab inaction, it dies when the unarmed Palestinian is left to face the killing machine alone, while the capitals are opened to festivals and celebrations as if nothing is happening.
Much has changed in the conscience of this nation, but what must not change is our realization that what is happening in Palestine is not only a "humanitarian crisis," but a moral and existential test for all Arabs: to be or not to be... either to regain the meaning of dignity, or to recognize that we are peoples without a cause, without a voice, without influence.
The final chapter of this war has not yet been written. Men, women and children are still in the square who face hunger with steadfastness, death with hope, and abandonment with faith! But these people do not only deserve sympathy, but action, they need more than tweets and statements, they need a stance that restores the meaning of Arabism and the weight of pride.
Whoever has not been shaken by the famine in Gaza, the blood of its children, and the tears of its mothers, let him review his humanity first, and his Arabism second.