khalil ali haydar
By Khalil Ali Haydar
The Middle East in 2015, after four years of revolutions and changes, will remain for Israeli intelligence a “dangerous and unstable region, especially since some of the countries will disintegrate resulting in hostile parties to resort to violence.”
An article in the Israeli newspaper, “Yediot Ahronot,” adds that the Israeli military intelligence service, when looking across the border into Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and North Africa, “sees a world that has deteriorated socially, dismantled politically, getting weak economically and with poor living conditions.” (Al-Watan, 31/12/2014).
“Widows are increasing in numbers with the killing of Syrian rebels,” explains one Kuwaiti newspaper!
After nearly four years, Abdul Sattar Hutaita reports that several thousand Arabs, mostly leaders and contributors in launching what is known as the Arab Spring in early 2011, felt bitter as they watched the tragic news about their countries from their new residence away from home; most of them are currently in Egypt.
Of these, there are a lot of Syrians and Libyans who excelled financially but no more, and then Yemenis followed them after the Houthis invaded Sana’a.
Someone who was enthusiastic about the Libyan revolution said: “What makes me sad is the belief that we would be able to fix the situation in Libya after getting rid of Gaddafi. When the revolution began, I was generous to the rebels and their families by giving them five SUVs. Also, throughout the months on the Eastern Front to Benghazi, I have also dedicated to them tonnes of food and drinking water.”
Many of these were militants who fought in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Iraq; then in Derna, Libya. All of this, the Libyan refugee adds, “has evaporated since these militants claim that democracy is disbelief.” (29 /01/2015)
An Israeli report says that it is clear that “Greater Syria” no longer exist in its previous form, “the terminology that has been raised in an acceptable manner these days is small Assad’s Syria, which controls about 20pc to 30pc of the country.”
He adds: “The Russians, who have come to help the Damascus regime against the rebels, do not hide today their despair of its army. The Syrian army will not be able to achieve the desired result, that’s why the Russians, with US consent, are working to reach a compromise between the rebels and Bashar Al Assad, leading to power-sharing in the country.”
The majority of Syrian refugees in Egypt have radical tendencies.
According to a Middle East report, Syrian refugees flocked in large numbers to Egypt during the reign of the Muslim Brotherhood, where they lived on charity of Brotherhood’s aid organisations.
According to security information, the Movement members in Egypt were the first to marry Syrian refugees to Egyptians, mostly to their members. However, the Syrian — Lebanese commercial ingenious trend quickly emerged even in this gloomy circumstance.
“Syrians were able to quickly adapt to Egyptian society; there is no area in the heart of Cairo and Alexandria that does not have a shawarma or Syrian food restaurant.”
Women under the Arab Spring have been able to carve a space for themselves in the political and social realm from the outset. Dr Shirin Abu Al Naja says: “The women will never disappear from this realm; it is only a period of ups and downs.”
After taking advantage of her role in toppling the regimes in Egypt and Libya, the practices of rape, harassment, rights violation, and male domination have increased. “The presence of women in the public sphere is no longer desirable.” (See: Journal of Democracy, January 2015, pp. 44-46).
Minorities came under threat and elimination with women’s rights and freedoms. The participation of Christians in the revolution against Mubarak was clear.
“Barely a month has passed after the revolution that so many sectarian incidents exploded,” says researcher Dr Mai Mugeeb in the same Egyptian Journal.
The ills of the Arab Spring are not one of a kind. Some of which are caused by the long domination of the systems of tyranny and autocracy and the confiscation of rights and freedoms.
This includes religious and national fanaticism and lack of tolerance, and the spread of underdevelopment involving strong foreign countries and parties’ interventions as we have seen in the Russian and Iranian role with relation to Hezbollah.
From here, political, social and demographic diseases of every colour have exploded.
No one knows what will happen to us after another four years. But much of what happened and is happening is/was done by monsters that were growing and permeating in our homes, schools, mosques and governments, while we remained silent!
The writer is a columnist and researcher.
