Middle East: The source of Israel's strength

The strength of Israel’s might comes not from the support extended by USA or the financial prowess exhibited by those currently controlling the global agenda, but from the lack of decisiveness amongst Middle Eastern nations.



The worst aspect of the onslaught by IDF against Palestinians is the impotence of the Arab "rulers" sitting all around Israel and not taking any stern actions to resolve the problem.

A few individuals dotted across the Muslim world, boycotting American or other companies perceived as sympathetic to Israel or owned by Jewish families might or might not help, since the global economy is heavily dependent on the financial institutions based on the western model which with all its flaws has been time tested and is likely to re-emerge alive and kicking with better governance and regulation, out of the prevailing economic crisis.

What could have solved this problem long time back would have been a simple ultimatum by oil-producing Muslim countries that the delivery of oil would be suspended unless the conflict was resolved? However, in non-democratic countries like Saudi, UAE and other Middle Eastern Arab nations, the voice of the ordinary public holds no value, perhaps other than outright street power. Had democracy been the system of governance in the Middle Eastern Arab world, perhaps the fear of reprisals by the electorates would have forced the respective governments to take stern actions to stop the bloodshed in Gaza.

Another problem compounding and prolonging this conflict is the very attitude of Arab nations (unfortunately that of the rulers and very much general public alike), who consider this ongoing conflict as one between "Arabs" and Israel and not an issue affecting the "Muslim" world as perceived by non-Arab Muslims across the world. For example the emotionally charged Muslims from Pakistan feel strongly about the plight of Palestinians, however, as has been my personal experience attending various meeting called by the British government, discussing this very issue and those closely related, Arab groups express their displeasure at non-Arab Muslims getting "involved" in discussions about Palestine. They do not feel that non-Arab Muslims should get involved, nor do they feel it is an Islamic or Muslim issue, rather a geographically-centric nationalistic issue affecting just Arabs.

It should also be remembered that when Iraq was invaded the entire Muslim world took to the streets including Muslims living in the West, however, when the Chechens were being massacred , or when Afghanistan was bombed in 2001, there weren’t any major protests from the Arab population living in Arab countries. Muslims esp. of South Asian origin feel strongly for the plight of all Muslim brothers and sisters whether belonging to the Arab or non-Arab world, however the sentiment is not reciprocated at the same level of intensity, actually nowhere near that felt by non-Arab Muslims, when Muslims of non-Arab origin are in distress.

Mahmood Abbas led a delegation of Arab League to diffuse the situation in Gaza, whereas OIC which includes several non-Arab nations was not mobilized other than few sentences uttered to protest against the destruction of Gaza, much to the dismay of the Muslim population across the world. Such is the level of disparity between the Arab and non-Arab world which has prevented this conflict from getting resolved.

We must pray for this distinction between Muslim Arabs and non-Arabs to become obscured so that many issues faced by the Muslim world could get resolved on the basis of unity alone, without having to resort to military interventions.

Middle Eastern nations also need to introduce democracy as a system of governance in order to ensure the best people capable of serving their nations get elected to run the country, however lame the system might be in the beginning but eventually political maturity shall prevail and their countries would become more independent of what they are now.

Above-all there is a dire need for investment in universities, colleges, and other venues of research and development in all fields, including science, arts and business without excluding one or the other on the basis of intolerant and narrow-minded religious doctrines.

Human intellectual development is what will make the Muslim world stronger, not nukes or oil or reciting Quran in Arabic without understanding the context... Nukes can be taken away and disabled, oil will eventually dry up and without understanding Islam or be allowed to practice as one deems appropriate, without intimidation or coercion, Muslims will have nothing else in the decades to come but internal strife, discontent and economic backwardness.

It is easy to take out street protest marches, donate a bit of money, crib and moan, but the situation has been brought upon by not investing in the development of the mindset, which would have manifested in the form of military, diplomatic and economic force to be reckoned with. Sadly this didn't happen because Muslims got bogged down between Arab-non-Arab, Shia-Sunni distinctions and whether or not the neighbour's beard should be long or short and how best to hide women away from the world, control their social development and curb related activities.... When mindset becomes entangled in such issues which only concern others on a personal basis, its intellectual capability becomes restricted and this is exactly what has happened to Muslims across the world.

There is a lot of investment in real estate in UAE, Qatar etc and even Saudi Arabia, but no investment in universities and other venues of innovation and research. Investment in human capital and intellectual development is what's needed most and which has given the edge to Western nations over the others.

Breaking out of the closed mindset that has engulfed us all, we need to expand our minds, indulge in research and innovation into all fields, whether its science or finance. There is an urgent need to promote arts and media and liberate the hearts and minds which have largely remained stagnant over a long period of time.

Bombing schools and forcing future mothers to give up education, as is the new trend in the areas controlled by militant pseudo-Islamists in North Western Pakistan, is simply not the way forward... it is simply forced regression and goes against every aspect of common sense. Funding thousands of Madressahs which produce tens of thousands of young men armed with no other skills but to serve the religious industry, or perhaps manual labour and low-skilled jobs is doing a disservice to the nation. The same institutions need to be reformed so that they equip the disadvantaged youth with skills which would allow them to compete against those from advantaged backgrounds and contribute to the human development.