On a TV program broadcast from Dubai, I said that there was no Arab unity nor Arab cooperation; there are only countries speaking Arabic. Language is not a barrier to unity since after all we see European countries speaking many languages, and they have come together to form the European Union.
Some of my friends were unhappy with me because they thought I was against Arab unity and some even went so far as to say that I was anti-Arab. I am a Muslim and I am an Arab. At the same time, I ask where are the Arab unity and Arab nationalism that people dream of and talk about?
When I turn to Arab nationalism, I see people drawing pictures of the bedouin riding camels and living in tents. In the picture after that, there are men living in the desert, beside an oil well and surrounded by women.
This picture is not only found in the western media but also in our own. After the events of Sept. 11, many media attacks came from Arab countries. The Zionist media attacks us all the time. Unfortunately, some nationalists and extremists provide incorrect information to the West about Saudi Arabia and the missionary work of Sheikh Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahab.
I remember the president of an Arab country giving a press conference in which he attacked our country. The American journalists circulated the man’s allegations against the Kingdom and what they call Wahabism.
The allegations were accepted as correct because they came from someone from our region who speaks our language.
Libyan President Muammar Qaddafi, a symbol of Arab nationalism, accuses Saudi Arabia and tries to build a good relationship with the Zionist lobby as well as the American media. I do not blame the Libyan president, but I do blame our media for taking no action to refute his words.
We want a media that does not accept provocation, a media that attacks those who attack us. Since Sept. 11, every country has sold out other countries.
There is nothing that makes us believe in an Arabian joint action that will stand with us to face the future. We must organize ourselves from the inside.
We must use our economic political and religious capabilities to build an alliance which does not rely on sympathetic illusion.
Once again, we have to learn from our mistakes. Will we learn from them? Will we learn from history? Only God knows.
Arab News From the Local Press 23 August 2003
