by AHMAD RASHED IBN SAID
Gaza has shattered the illusion of credibility in the Arab political order, exposing its deep structural and moral bankruptcy
In a televised speech last month, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas crudely lashed out at Hamas, calling them “sons of dogs” and demanding that they disarm and release the remaining Israeli captives.
In his speech, he seemed to forget his previous plea to the “international community” for protection from the occupiers’ aggression in May 2023, when he addressed the United Nations.
“People of the world, protect us,” Abbas said. “Aren’t we human beings? Even animals should be protected. If you have an animal, won’t you protect it?”
This past February, Israeli media reported that Saudi Arabia had put forward a plan for Gaza centred on disarming Hamas and removing the group from power.
Arab and American sources told the Israel Hayom newspaper that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would not participate financially or practically in the reconstruction of Gaza unless it was guaranteed that Hamas would surrender its weapons and play no role in postwar governance.
In March, Middle East Eye reported that Jordan was proposing a plan to disarm Palestinian groups in Gaza, as well as to exile 3,000 members of Hamas, including both military and civilian leaders, from Gaza.
Then, in mid-April, just days before Abbas issued his threat to Hamas, Egypt presented a “ceasefire proposal” to a Hamas delegation in Cairo that included a demand for the group’s disarmament.
Pattern of hostility
The calls from Abbas and prominent Arab regimes for Hamas to surrender its weapons reflect a broader pattern of hostility from the Arab political order towards the resistance in Gaza.
This raises crucial and legitimate questions about the very essence of the struggle for liberation: do the occupied have a right to resist their occupier? How can an unarmed resistance stand up to a brutal military occupation that commits genocide against defenceless people?
What guarantees are there to end the occupation and lift the siege if Zionism continues its unchecked aggression, while Arab regimes and the world turn a blind eye?
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