Stands >2004 Stands >The Stand of Safar 9  -1425H /March 30 2004A.D.


The Aborted Arab Summit:
An American plan to cancel the Arab world

Sayyed Fadlullah: the Arab peoples should take to the streets and follow the model of Spaniards and French. Staying silent in the face of all these catastrophes means that we are facing death and advancing towards the darkness of the unknown.

Asked in his weekly seminar the following question: Are the current Arabian policies American or Arabian ones? 

The Religious Authority Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah said:

The follower of the Arab policies since the middle of the last century could easily notice this subjection to American demands even to the extent of anticipation, and even to the extent that certain Arab leaders have worked on canceling their peoples or freezing any movement, once they know that it does not conform with the American guidelines.

This blind following of America, and this insistence on taking the American train without knowing its destination, all for the sake of keeping their positions, have made the Arab official policies in a state of total disarray and left the nation in an unstable state that it lost not only its rights in Palestine, but also its resource and its political decision that became fully controlled by America that one could no longer determine if it is an Arab or American policy.

Aborting the Arab summit was but another step in the same direction, but it nevertheless indicates how much those leaders have lost… they have lost even the decency of feeling ashamed of their actions.

We believe that those who failed the summit have made all efforts whether in public or behind closed doors to execute the American political agenda. In this respect, we believe that the American secretary of state, Colin Powell, was dissimulating when he said that he wanted to meet with the Arab foreign ministers to learn their assessment of the current situation. America has already reached its own assessment that is based on the Israeli interests and gave its instructions to those concerned in the summit.

They followed the American orders to the letter, and Israel went out of its way to express its rejoicing by this Arab surrender that made them withdraw from this media forum that might have disturbed the enemy if only a little.

All preparations to reach this sad conclusion were made in advance. The “American Arabs” came up with all the American issues that could blow up the summit including the Great Middle East that totally conceals the pains and sufferings of the Palestinians.

The Palestinian cause itself was lost in all that talk about reform, which although the Arab leaders hate to hear the word itself, they used it as smoke screen that could hide what is happening in Israel and help pass the time until the American elections in November.

We are afraid that certain Arab parties have become part of the American plan to cancel the Arab world. It is a plan to undermine even what has a symbolic value in representing Arab solidarity including the Arab League which could remain as a body without a soul and lose any respect the Arab peoples might have for.

How else could we understand that the host country would cancel the other countries and decide on its own to postpone the summit? Is not it a way to avoid any condemnation of the assassination of Sheik Ahmad Yassin for they know that such condemnation will not be accepted by America? Or is it that the Arab leaders, as it was said, are afraid of the emergence of an Arab leader, like president Bashar al-Assad, who might use a strategic rationale in discussing the Arab conditions.

The papers that were presented for discussion that sought to end the summit before it begins were only concerned with declaring total submission to America, while few only are concerned with Palestine and its suffering. Therefore, the Arab peoples should take to the streets and follow the model of Spaniards and French. Staying silent in the face of all these catastrophes means that we are facing death and advancing towards the darkness of the unknown.