Arab League talking shop

This analysis from the supposed pro-Arab BBC looks at this week's Arab League summit in Algiers., Algeria. Arab leader talking shops are even more worthless than most others simply because they always say the same things.

Specifically:
-Israel is the root of all evil. America is its lackey. (or vice versa).

-The problems of repression in Saudi Arabia or corruption in Algeria are the fault of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

-Syrian and Saudi leaders will denounce Israeli and American terrorism and repression. They will do so with a straight face.

-The lack of rain is the fault of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

-If the Israelis totally withdrew from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, all the problems throughout the Arab world would be solved... at least for a few months when Arab leaders would make further demands such as the Syrian annexation of the eastern half of Israel proper and the Egyptian annexation of the western half.

-Now, the American occupation of Iraq can be added (belatedly) as a "cause" of those same ills.


At least as striking as what the Arab leaders will talk about is what they will not talk about, notes the BBC. They are unwilling to discuss democratic reform. And also absent from their deliberations will be the event which has plunged Syria and Lebanon into crisis - the assassination last month of a former Lebanese prime minister

Arab leaders won't mention how a UN human rights expert has praised Israel for taking steps to improve the condition of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

They probably won't discuss the call for Arab democratization made by UN Secretary-General Kofi Anna.

Jordan (and possibly Morocco) is probably the only country in touch with reality. Jordanian King Abdullah made a proposal for Arab states to normalise relations with Israel before any territorial withdrawal but this was rejected by other leaders even before the summit. Arab leaders don't want a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian question because they would lose their favorite scapegoat. As unjust as the Israeli occupation is and as important it is that they withdrew, leaders throughout the Arab world use the issue as a smokescreen to deflect their populations' attention from the often miserable conditions at home. The Israeli scapegoat provides a safe outlet for domestic anger.

So you'll hear a lot about the evil Israelis repressing the Palestinians, but not much about the Saudis or Egyptians repressing their own people. You'll hear a lot about the American occupation of Iraq, but you won't hear much about the Syrian occupation of Lebanon or the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara because they magically aren't on the summit's agenda. You'll hear a lot of hysterical talk about the 'genocide' of the Palestinians and Iraqis, but not much about the actual genocide of Africans by the Sudanese central government's militias in Darfur.

Go figure.