Dr. Nabil el-Arabi will assume his post as Secretary General of the Arab League tomorrow. However, he will not start work until Sunday, since Friday and Saturday mark the weekend holidays in Egypt. The new secretary-general is the person most qualified to occupy this post. His abilities as a diplomat, negotiator and international judge are unmatched except by his patriotic love for Egypt and the Arab world, which has characterized his career. He is a worthy successor to the best predecessor. His political positions resemble the ones I know and heard from Amr Moussa, and sometimes are identical to them. As soon as he was appointed as Egypt's Foreign Minister last March, Dr. el-Arabi called for a review of Egyptian foreign policy, which he described as reactionary and less reflective of Egypt's historical weight and role. He also objected to the blockade on Gaza which he described as preposterous, and called for the prices at which Egyptian gas is sold to Israel to be reconsidered. El-Arabi also warned Netanyahu's government against a new military adventure in Gaza, and sought to normalize diplomatic relations with Iran. In truth, the Israeli press often described Amr Moussa as a ‘closeted Nasserist' (the English expression is usually used about homosexuals), and the same press has now quickly classed Dr. el-Arabi as an ‘enemy of Israel'. Any enemy of Israel is my friend. Nonetheless, I do not need to read the Israeli press's views on Nabil el-Arabi to appreciate him. I have followed his work closely over the decades, and the Israeli claims about him are malicious and misleading. What would be more accurate is that the new Secretary-General of the Arab League is an Egyptian and Arab patriot who has served the interests of his country and his nation. For this reason, he is considered an enemy of Israel, because the latter is a fascist occupation state that murders women and children, and wants the whole world to be in collusion with it. There is another reason that prompts me to place my utmost confidence in Dr. el-Arabi, which is that he is of an age that would render his tenure as the Arab League's secretary-general the last official appointment for him of any kind, and thus he must no doubt want his appointment to the Arab League to be the final legacy of his patriotic track record. In other words, he has no personal ambitions after this post. But my confidence does not mean I'm optimistic. The new secretary-general will face many thorny issues and problems, ranging between the difficult and the impossible. Resolving them will need nothing short of a biblical miracle, that none of us mortals can conjure up. Nonetheless, I can recall that Dr. el-Arabi knows the Israelis, having negotiated with them before, and his experience and patriotism will prevent any willful or inadvertent laxity, and hence he is a guarantee for the Palestinians, Egypt and the Arabs as well. Then there is the issue of dealing with the U.S. administration, against the backdrop of the peace treaty with Israel and its terms. While President Barack Obama is indeed better than George W. Bush by far, his hands are tied by a Congress that is more pro-Israel than the Knesset itself. A month before the appointment of Dr. el-Arabi as the Foreign Minister of Egypt, we saw how the United States used its veto power at the Security Council to block a resolution supported by all other fourteen members of the council, including the four other permanent members. Two weeks ago, I had a long meeting with Dr. el-Arabi in his office in Cairo. We went over the American position on the peace process, and I found el-Arabi's knowledge on this issue to be encyclopedic. For instance, he reminded me of the declaration of the Israeli state on 14/5/1948, signed by David Ben-Gurion and the other Khazari Jewish thieves who stole the lands of Palestine. The declaration had mentioned “a Jewish state in Greater Israel…” which means that Benjamin Netanyahu is now only continuing what the Jewish occupation started 63 years ago. I also listened to Dr. el-Arabi compare a French paper on the peace process parameters and a joint European paper (British, German and French), and explain to me [their] advantages and disadvantages, and what Palestinian and Arab negotiators want in comparison. I left Dr. el-Arabi's office with mixed feelings of admiration and sympathy towards him. My confidence in his abilities and patriotism does not negate the fact that he will face extremely difficult situations. The post of secretary-general means that he will not be able to appease all member states. But then satisfying everyone is an impossible pursuit, especially if Arabs are involved, as their common denominator is often their differences. Then there are Israel and the United States behind it, so all I say is God help Dr. el-Arabi, and help us with him. [email protected]
