Did the idea of Arab unity fall before the birth of the idea of Arab nationalism at the beginning of the twentieth century, or after the birth of nationalist thought? We believe that the idea of Arab unity and a unified Arab world fell before the birth of nationalist thought,In reality, there were never any unified Arab countries, Syria and Egypt were neighbors like the others, and what happened after the conquests was the unification of the administration of these colonies by the Caliph, not the unification of the different regions, which were transformed by the conquests into Quraysh colonies, Even in the time of the Caliph, each colony had its own governor, as was the case in Egypt, Morocco, Spain, Syria, and others, The idea of Arab nationalism was based on the unity of the Ottoman colonies in confronting Ottoman colonialism, and it was a kind of alliance of resistance, After the departure of the Ottomans, that alliance of resistance began to fade, and the period of fading lasted for almost a full century, Now, Arab nationalist thought exists only in the grave!
The failure of Arab nationalist thought to establish Arab unity was accompanied by the growth of regionalist thought, especially after painful events such as the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq and the Assad regime’s occupation of Lebanon, To the extent that Arab nationalist thought was stunted and failed, regionalist thought and regional nationalist sentiment grew,It has been proven beyond doubt that the wave of Arab nationalist thought in the first half of the last century was nothing but slogans aimed at marketing dictatorships for control, exploitation, and tyranny by employing Arab nationalist thought for those purposes, The stunting of pan-Arab nationalist thought continues, to the point that recently there is no longer a presence of the ideological Ba’athist in the Ba’ath Party, and then the unifying Nasserism evaporated and Nasser’s socialist party disappeared.
To understand the stage that the monotheistic practices in this East have reached, it is enough to take a brief look at the previous relations between Baathist Iraq and Baathist Syria and the relations between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, then Algeria and Morocco, etc, It is rare in the history of countries for the break to be between two countries ruled by one party like Iraq and Syria as was the break between these two countries.
The rise of regional nation influence and the decline of Arab nationalist thought were not a hobby or a temptation, but rather a justifiable interest and a restoration of respect for homelands, The Syrian occupation of Lebanon led to the elimination of the model of fraternal relations between the two countries, and consequently, embassies were opened, Kuwait, with its bitter experience with Saddam’s Iraq, fortified itself with more protection agreements with the West and more Western military bases,Thus, the regional state sought, by its own means, to defend itself, its region identity, and its independence in the way it exists, and not in the way some want it to be.
The twentieth century was the golden age of Arab nationalist thought, and it seems that the twenty-first century will be the century that has to solve the problems that resulted from the inflation and failure of Arab nationalist thought in the twentieth century,This thought shrank and reached a high degree of shrinkage even at the beginning of this century, Imagine the state of this thought if the Palestinian problem had not remained unresolved, and if it had not been for Israel’s policy, which has not stopped provoking and blackmailing, Would there have been an Arab nationalist thought? Even the ability of the Palestinian problem to maintain some vitality of nationalist thought is on its way to fading away,It is said that a problem that has no solution is not considered a problem, Thus, the inability of Arab nationalism to solve the Palestinian problem has turned this problem into a “non-problem,” that is, into a situation that must be dealt with in its current form or in the form that Israel wants it to be, and not in the form that Arab nationalists promote , Arab nationalism has harmed the Palestinian cause indirectly and also directly, What Arab nationalists rejected regarding partition, for example, was wrong, and the inability to avoid wars was a political and military weakness, and deceiving people by claiming victory in wars was a crime, and the greatest of crimes was the crime of lying and hypocrisy that turned the undeniable and repeated defeats into mythical and illusory victories.
Whether the goal is pan-Arab, i.e., the establishment of a greater Arab state, or a separate, independent state, in both cases, the importance of human development and the advancement of each Arab country to a higher and better state cannot be ignored, The chances of success for any future union or unity are directly proportional to the progress and development of the state concerned with the union or unity, As for Syria, which has been exhausted by Arabism to the point of destruction… “I, my friend, am weary of my Arabism. Is Arabism a curse and a punishment?” (Nizar Qabbani), The Syrians were deceived by the lie of Arabism and neglected the project of a Syrian state since 1920, and directed their efforts towards the pan-Arab framework, The Syrians carried the Arab concern before the Syrian national concern, Therefore, the experiment of the Syrian state failed, and the failed experiment of unity increased the height of the accumulated mountain of failure. Any step, no matter how good, turns bad when it is not placed at the right time and in the right way, Thus, unity, in its merger form and at that unsuitable time, turned into a future catastrophe.
Who benefited from the resistance and the Syrian intervention in Palestinian affairs? Did the Palestinians benefit? Did the Syrians benefit? Was Palestine liberated? Did Syria prosper? The Palestinian cause was harmed, and Syria was harmed, The same questions can be asked about Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, and others, If the Palestinian cause hadn’t been exploited for purposes that served the interests of dictatorships, the Palestinians could have achieved greater success in obtaining their rights, Dictatorships employed Arabism, Arab nationalist thought, and then resistance and defiance to cover up their deceit and failure, Arab nationalist thought enabled the prolongation of dictatorships and even the establishment of new ones, It was this same ideology that sometimes collaborated with Islamists and at other times fought alongside them—a conflict that claimed the lives of millions of Syrians and Palestinians and led to the near-total destruction of Syria, Had it not been for Arabism and Arab nationalist thought, what happened to Palestine would not have happened, and what happened to the Syrians would not have happened!
Did the idea of Arab unity fall before the birth of the idea of Arab nationalism at the beginning of the twentieth century, or after the birth of nationalist thought? We believe that the idea of Arab unity and a unified Arab world fell before the birth of nationalist thought,In reality, there were never any unified Arab countries, Syria and Egypt were neighbors like the others, and what happened after the conquests was the unification of the administration of these colonies by the Caliph, not the unification of the different regions, which were transformed by the conquests into Quraysh colonies, Even in the time of the Caliph, each colony had its own governor, as was the case in Egypt, Morocco, Spain, Syria, and others, The idea of Arab nationalism was based on the unity of the Ottoman colonies in confronting Ottoman colonialism, and it was a kind of alliance of resistance, After the departure of the Ottomans, that alliance of resistance began to fade, and the period of fading lasted for almost a full century, Now, Arab nationalist thought exists only in the grave!