Sayyed Fadlullah: We have to conclude that this eternal helplessness, failure and refusal to accept responsibility indicate that the Arab League has indirectly collaborated with America and Israel to fail all the Arab vital issues and to pave the way for additional concessions

Asked in his weekly seminar the following question: In about half a century the Arab League has been moving from one failure to another, Do not you think that these failures justify the question about its role and the meaning of its very existence?

The Religious Authority Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah said:

It does not need too much research to conclude that the Arab League has failed to safeguard the major Arab causes.

It has even failed to envisage a plan for confrontation. It has also failed to get out of the state dependency to the major international powers, whether those of the past or the current ones.

The tragic development of the Palestinian cause, as well as the Arab disruptions, what is going on in Sudan, and the WMD lies in Iraq, all indicate that the American Israeli attack has been able to undermine the movement of the League and turn it to a satellite of the major international powers and one that is part of the decoration which means that it had ultimately played a negative role in the Arab World.

Now when we study the recent talk about reform that secures only the American interests, as there is a need to change the totalitarian regimes that can no longer promote these interests, we notice that America does not allow other international powers, not even the NATO, to take part in, except on its terms.

The catastrophes the Arabs find themselves nowadays in, whether in Palestine, Iraq, Sudan or in this security chaos and these explosions, that have created a state of weightlessness on all levels, are part of the negative history that has accompanied the march of the Arab League with all its summits and communiqués that have so far offered nothing but concessions. The plans the American Administration has drawn for the region have turned into political and security programs to most of the League’s states.

We have seen that the international, political or economic unions like the EU hasten to meet whenever any development that affects their countries occurs. But the Arab states, which face a vital and critical challenge, give itself extended vacation for months and months before they would meet and then they will issue communiqués of no political significance that would be archived for further use as the same tragedies reoccur and they would confront them by similar communiqués.

The Arab summit’s stands are controlled by the relations of most Arab states with America and Israel. We have seen how the last summit in Tunis was postponed, so as not to issue any strong communiqué in the aftermath of the assassination of Sheik Yassin and to allow Israel to kill more Palestinian leaders, and put an end to any Arab consensus.

In these circumstances, how could the Arab leaders go to Washington and come back putting on happy faces after all this disgrace caused by Bush’s promise to Sharon that is similar to the Belford declaration in its consequences?

We are afraid that there is an actual plan which the Arab league is taking part in to give Sharon more time to finish off his on going project of eradicating the Palestinians, as well as giving Bush the time he needs to destroy Iraq… In the meantime, perhaps the Arab rulers will be in a better situation to protect their thrones.

That is why the hopes are attached to the Arab and Muslim peoples to voice their rejection, especially with the virtual death that the Arab league and most Arab rulers convey.

We have to conclude that this helplessness, failure and refusing to accept responsibility indicate that the Arab League has indirectly collaborated with America and Israel to fail all the Arab vital issues and to pave the way for additional concessions.

In the end we have to ask: What Arab League is this league?