The Zionized Do Not Lead the Arabs

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

Saudi Arabia is afflicted with two obsessions: an obsession with alliance with the Zionists, and an obsession with hostility toward Iran, and it believes these two obsessions will place it at the head of leadership of the Arab homeland.

If we examine Adel al-Jubeir’s document on Iran and Hezbollah, published by the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar regarding a solution to the Palestinian cause, we find that al-Jubeir believes the presence of the two holy mosques in the Hejaz helps Saudi Arabia establish the tent of leadership, not just for Arabs, but for Muslims as well.

There is no doubt Saudi Arabia believes its money constitutes an element of attraction and subjugation over others. Its vision holds, as I hear through its media, that this world is hypocritical, and that many peoples and states can be made to obey in exchange for money.

There are foundations of leadership in the Arab and Islamic arenas, money among them. The Saudi Kingdom believes money attracts the crumbling — true, but what use are the crumbling to Saudi Arabia or any other state? The hypocrite cannot be relied upon, and the cheap man who sells himself for money can easily turn his back for another buyer offering a higher price.

As for the land of the Hejaz, it is sacred to Muslims, and the hearts of millions incline toward it, but has al-Jubeir asked himself how many millions have no desire to perform the Hajj pilgrimage because the Hejaz lies under Saudi rule? And has everyone who has made pilgrimage to Mecca fallen under the cloak of Saudi leadership?

There are several standards anyone aspiring to lead the Arab homeland must uphold, foremost among them commitment to the Palestinian cause and adherence to the fixed national rights of the Palestinian people. No Arab can lead the ranks if he is among the Zionized, who negotiate with the Zionists, normalize relations with them, and establish relations with them of any form.

We have prior experience in this field: Gamal Abdel Nasser’s stock collapsed in 1970 when he accepted the American Rogers Initiative. Abdel Nasser had not, at that time, spoken with the Zionists, had not shaken their hands, had not approached any of them, yet millions of Arabs turned their faces away from him, on the grounds that accepting initiatives that would mean accepting the Zionists in the region constituted a betrayal of the Arabs’ foremost cause. Despite Abdel Nasser’s ability to unite Arab opinion and influence the policies of the Arab regimes, the Arab masses did not accept what he accepted, which was a prelude to accepting the Zionists in the Arab region.

Egypt lost its Arab prestige the moment the Egyptian chief of staff met the Zionist chief of staff at Kilometer 101 in Sinai and shook his hand. Egyptian leadership of the Arabs collapsed at that point, and Egypt remains, to this day, incapable of leading the Arabs. It is true we say Egypt is the elder of the Arab nation and its leader, but this is mere media talk that does not reflect the reality of the Arab street. Egypt did not stop at the handshake — the Egyptian president went on to visit occupied Jerusalem, and opened the door of negotiations wide.

Through its agreements with the Zionists, Egypt gained nothing but a partial withdrawal from Sinai, while the vast majority of the peninsula remained under Egyptian self-administration, and Egypt cannot even bring weapons into Sinai now without Zionist permission.

It seems Egypt has still not realized that the costs of Zionization exceed the costs of confrontation. Egypt has tied itself to the Zionist entity, and is no longer convincing to Arabs. Whenever Egypt’s name appears as the “guardian of the sanctuary,” people question its capabilities and its will, while the Zionist flag flutters over Cairo. Egypt is no longer capable of leading the nation and working to confront challenges, because it ultimately factors in Zionist calculations, and their calculations can never serve the nation’s interest.

Even Syria, which still says it is for the liberation of Palestine, could not preserve its unifying Arab image after attending the Madrid Conference, and its foreign minister submitting to American pressure to accept a Zionist media interview. Syria has not been convincing to the Arab nation, and after every Zionist attack on its positions, it says it will respond at the appropriate time and place. This is why it was always unlikely that Syrian leadership would develop into leadership of the Arab nation.

Zionization did not save some Palestinians who decided to search for a peaceful solution with the Zionist entity. The Palestinian leadership stripped the Palestinian cause of its luster and standing when it recognized the entity in 1988, and led to the destruction of the cause’s standing after signing the Oslo Accords, which turned Palestinians into soldiers defending the security of the Zionist entity.

Zionization is the graveyard of leaderships, but it does not kill the Palestinian cause. There is no doubt it negatively affects resistance efforts and the recovery of rights, but the cause will not vanish, because there is a nation supporting a people that will never forget its rights.

After all the experiences of the Zionized, Saudi Arabia now appears before us, running quickly into the embrace of the Zionist entity. At the same time, it directs its arrows against Iran and Hezbollah. Zionization did not benefit those who came before in appeasing the Zionists, and will not benefit the Saudis now, especially since the Zionists do not respect the Gulf regimes. The Zionized are the enemies’ agents, and agents find those who support them, but the nation, and history, spit them out.

If Saudi Arabia believes the key to the gate of Arab leadership lies in Tel Aviv, it is not merely deluded — it is in the utmost naivety. And it is in even deeper illusion and naivety if it believes it will recruit the Zionists to wage war on Iran and Hezbollah. They waged war on Hezbollah and failed, and the Zionists have not yet recovered from that failure, and will not recover, because Hezbollah is not a rotten Arab regime distracted by nonsense, trivialities, and desires. Hezbollah’s eyes and ears are always open, and its arms never tire or weary of work and preparation.

Saudi Arabia is supposed to have become certain by now that the nation’s enemies are the Zionists and those who ally with and sign with them, not Iran. It is Iran that armed the Lebanese and Palestinian resistance movements, at a time when Arab regimes were conspiring with the Zionists to eliminate the two resistance movements, and with this weapon the two coming resistance movements achieved victory. It is always better not to drag the region into wars, but to search for solutions that satisfy us and satisfy our Muslim neighbors.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “المتصهينون لا يقودون العرب” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.