How The West Came to Control Arabism

Dr Elias Akleh

The Arab world lies in one of the most important global strategic locations, controlling most of the major commercial transportation routes. It is rich in natural agricultural and industrial resources and has always been a prime target for Western colonial powers, which periodically launched military campaigns to occupy and control our world, starting from the heart of the Arab world, Palestine, known as the Holy Land, and expanding to the Levant in the north — Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Jordan— then to Egypt, and it’s rich in its fertile Nile River, and finally to the Arabian Peninsula in the south.

When we look back in history, we find these military colonial campaigns against the Arab world—especially Palestine—were numerous, even dating back to before Christ, such as the campaign of Alexander the Great (336 BC–323 BC) and the Roman colonial rule (63 BC–324 AD). Moving on to the ages after Christ, we recall, for example, the eight Crusades over nearly two centuries (1096–1291), followed by Napoleon Bonaparte’s campaign (1799–1801), and finally the Talmudic Zionist campaign initiated by Theodor Herzl in 1896, which continues into the present day.

These post-Christ colonial campaigns were primarily charged with religious fervor and can be termed as religious wars. In fact, Pope Urban II in 1095 described them as a “holy war” to liberate the holy city of Jerusalem from the “brutal” Muslim Arabs. As for Napoleon Bonaparte, who was defeated at the walls of Acca, he promised the Jews he would help them reach the “Promised Land,” holy Jerusalem, if they aided him in his colonial campaign.

Finally, at the present time, Britain, France and Germany came first, followed by all the US presidents who started supporting Zionist colonialism financially, politically and militarily to “recover” the “Promised Land” promised by a “racist” god biased towards the Jews to “rebuild” the alleged Temple of Solomon in the city of Jerusalem and to build Greater Israel.

All these colonial campaigns attempted to divide the Arab world into small, weak states by perpetrating genocides against their many Arab peoples. They destroyed and burned cities, tortured and killed civilians, and raped women, girls, and even boys, just as Zionist Israel is doing now in Palestine. However, past genocides cannot be compared to the brutality and brutality of the Zionist genocide against the Arabs of Palestine, from 1947 to the present day, due to the power of modern, highly destructive and lethal weapons.

The Arab nation was able to defeat all past colonial campaigns because of the people’s sense of belonging to their homeland and their unity, undivided by distance or borders, and led by brave, honorable, national leaders who sought the best for the entire nation.

The western colonialists noticed this inherent sense of belonging within the nation and decided to target it. After World War II, Britain, then the Great Power, agreed with France in the Sykes-Picot Agreement, to break the pact it signed with Sharif Hussein bin Ali. This agreement divided the Middle East into small states, appointing rulers loyal first to Britain and then to the current American administrations.

To further weaken these Arab states, the Western Axis powers divided the economies and financial systems of these states, rendering them alien and compete with each other. They also sowed division and religious, regional, and ethnic animosity among the Arab nation, allowing Zionist colonialism to penetrate the Arab world, beginning with Palestine.

Unfortunately, most Arab leaders failed to attempt to restore Arab unity and unify the people, economy, and currency, as the late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser attempted to. Instead, what was spread was division, hatred, competition, animosity, and even war among Arab peoples, as has happened in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, and what is currently happening in Arab African countries such as Libya, Algeria, Morocco, and Sudan.

Worst of all is the spread of the philosophy of distancing oneself from the problems of any neighboring Arab country. Some leaders consider that the wars that take place in a neighboring Arab country do not concern them as long as these wars do not affect their country, even in the short term. We see this now clearly in what is happening in Palestine, especially the extermination of the Arabs of Gaza.

The heads of neighboring Arab countries are trying to convince their people that their national interest requires non-interference and to distance themselves to avoid destructive wars and to leave the Palestinians to resist the Israeli occupation alone.

Israel, launching pad

It would be better for these leaders to warn and inform their people that Israel is a launching pad for a broad western colonial campaign aimed firstly at destroying the Arab homeland and colonizing it by planting Zionist terrorism in the form of the Israeli entity which aims to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates, from the far south of the Nile – on the Sudan borders – to the far north of the Euphrates – to the Turkish borders – to build what is called Greater Israel in the Promised Land promised by a racist land broker god to a criminal, savage, genocidal people.

Secondly, for this Zionist entity to grow from Great Israel to Greater Israel it is going to move to the south to include all of the Arabian Peninsula – to recover Khaybar and Yathrib and their dependencies – then move west to the northern coast of the African continent, extending to Morocco and control the entire Arab world, monopolizing  the most important strategic locations internationally, and global maritime trade routes between East and West, including the Strait of Hormuz on the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea, passing through Bab al-Mandab Strait to the Red Sea, then via the Suez Canal to the ports of occupied Palestine, and from there to the Western world via the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. And across the Giberalter Strait to the Americas – the ultimate goal of the Greater Israel Project.

All we have to do is listen to and understand the Israeli (and American) statements, both public and broadcast, clearly and vociferously, that the goal of Israel and the West is to exterminate all Arabs, just as they did to the Native Americans—they call them Red Indians— to build Greater Israel and control the Arab world and its natural resources. The evidence of these goals is clear, such as the destruction of Iraq and the theft of its wealth, and the establishment of American military bases along the Arab states on the western coast of the Persian Gulf.

We also witnessed how the Western colonial powers destroyed, divided, and weakened Libya and stole its wealth, then spread enmity between Algeria and Morocco, waged a war of extermination in Sudan, and then divided Syria and Lebanon, weakened Jordan, and effectively occupied it with American, British, and French military bases. All that remains is Egypt, which is subjected to economic occupation through conditional World Bank debt and by allowing other countries to purchase Egyptian land, real estate, and companies, which will ultimately lead to Egypt’s economic collapse.

Many people from all over the world, regardless of their ethnicity, religion, or language, are taking to the streets in massive, daily and weekly marches and demonstrations in solidarity with the Arabs of Palestine, against Israeli brutality, against Western countries, and against their own governments, which fund and supports Israel politically and militarily.

They wonder why the Arab peoples don’t take to the streets in solidarity with the Arabs of Palestine, demanding that their Arab governments personally intervene to protect and assist the Palestinians, instead of these governments begging for assistance from the powerless United Nations. Have the Arabs lost their humanity and solidarity with their Arab brothers in Palestine, or are they simply cowards and selfish and unable to do anything?

Dr. Elias Akleh is a Palestinian writer who contributed this article the Arabic Al Rai Al Youm website. This is a translated piece that was slightly edited at the end for the sake of brevity.

CrossFireArabia

CrossFireArabia

Dr. Marwan Asmar holds a PhD from Leeds University and is a freelance writer specializing on the Middle East. He has worked as a journalist since the early 1990s in Jordan and the Gulf countries, and been widely published, including at Albawaba, Gulf News, Al Ghad, World Press Review and others.

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Occupation and Israeli Violence

By Najla M. Shahwan

In the context of Israel’s unlawful occupation and its imposition of a system of apartheid against all Palestinians, and against the backdrop of its ongoing genocide in Gaza, Israeli authorities have been recently accelerating its violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in pursuing its policy of ethnic cleansing in the occupied West Bank.

This policy has been implemented through the forcible displacement of Palestinians in refugee camps, Bedouin and herding communities in the West Bank, as well as the creation and expansion of settlements , acts that amount to the war crime of unlawful deportation and transfer.

Palestine’s Permanent Mission to the UN on June 12 sounded the alarm over the newest largest wave of forced displacement of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

During a briefing held by the Palestine’s Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva, Palestine’s Permanent Representative, ambassador Ibrahim Khraishi, warned of the unprecedented deterioration of conditions in the occupied West Bank amid the upsurge of colonist attacks, colonial settlement expansion, and the ongoing military offensive on the refugee camps of Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams, which has triggered the largest wave of forced displacement in the West Bank since 1967, alongside widespread destruction of infrastructure, homes and civilian facilities.

He stressed that the West Bank was witnessing a dangerous escalation at the political, economic and humanitarian levels due to Israel’s unbridled annexation and settler-colonialism policies, arrests, extrajudicial killings, colonist violence, and the continued withholding of Palestinian clearance revenues.

On his part, UNRWA representatives outlined the latest developments in the northern West Bank, pointing to escalating destruction and the forced displacement of more than 45,000 Palestinians, attacks on infrastructure and medical facilities, and Israeli measures aimed at demolishing the Agency’s premises in occupied Jerusalem.

Israeli authorities have been accelerating annexation through a state-driven campaign of ethnic cleansing targeting Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities in Area C of the occupied West Bank, while committing the crime against humanity of forcible transfer.

The Israeli government has made formal annexation an explicit policy objective .

It has accelerated settlement expansion and land grabs, increased financial and logistical support to settlements, and has armed settlers, thereby enabling a brutal state-sanctioned campaign of settler violence and of forced displacement of Palestinians from Area C.

This area constitutes over 60 per cent of the occupied West Bank and has long been central to Israel’s efforts to control land and demographics, given its natural resources, vital grazing and agricultural land.

Communities in Area C have been facing growing risks of displacement and settlement expansion.

The Jordan Valley and South Hebron Hills have been areas under particular pressure where residents have faced repeated raids, demolitions and damage to infrastructure. Restrictions on access to land and essential services have also increased pressure on these communities and State -backed settler violence and home demolitions have forcibly displaced thousands of Palestinians in, emptying out over 100 villages entirely.

In the Gaza Strip , Israel’s ongoing military operations and evacuation orders despite the ceasefire have displaced roughly 90 per cent of the population (approximately 1.9 million people), with much of the civilian infrastructure destroyed to create long-term buffer zones.

Families have been displaced from their neighborhoods many times – and the last time they were uprooted, they were homeless for more than six months.

Israel’s ‘voluntary emigration’ plan from Gaza is its latest attempt to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from the Strip .

Israel’s defense minister has advanced plans to remove Palestinians from the Gaza Strip through “voluntary emigration”.

Israel Katz said late last May that the plans would take place “at the proper time and in the proper manner”.

Israel’s security cabinet approved a proposal by Katz in March to establish a directorate within his ministry to facilitate “migration” from the enclave.

Despite the Israeli genocide in Gaza, which has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians and wrought utter destruction on the coastal enclave, the vast majority of Palestinians there say they will never abandon their home.

Proposals for the removal of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip have been repeatedly raised during the course of the Israeli genocide.

Though some ministers have framed the move to remove Palestinians as a voluntary option, other Israeli officials have been explicitly calling for forced expulsion, which is a war crime.

Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits an occupying power from forcibly transferring , deporting or displacing occupied people from an occupied territory while the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court names deportation by “expulsion or other coercive acts” a crime against humanity.

Ninety-two per cent of Gaza’s homes have been destroyed or damaged. None of its 37 hospitals is fully functional. Aid trucks cut from 4,200 a week to 590 when Israel sealed the crossings in February, families burning trash to cook whatever arrives, children frozen to death last winter for lack of shelter materials Israel would not allow in.

The Yellow Line, the boundary of Israeli control drawn by the ceasefire, keeps moving west, swallowing water points and clinics, with Palestinians killed for approaching a line that approaches them. More than 986 Palestinians have been killed since the “ceasefire” was signed in October 2025.

Amid the expanding Israeli military incursions record levels of settler violence, and impending annexations , the overwhelming majority of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are fiercely resisting displacement , viewing it as a permanent severing from their homeland .

The writer is a Palestinian author, researcher and freelance journalist and contributed this article to the Jordan Times

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Arabism From The Skies?

By Capt. Osama Shaqman

Ten years ago, I ended my official flight, but I didn’t sever my connection with the skies above. When a pilot retires he doesn’t bid farewell to the sky; rather, he carries it in his memory, in his silence, in his gaze upon the earth, and in his understanding of life, people, borders, and destiny.

For over 40 years, I roared above cities, seas, deserts, and mountains. I saw the earth from a height unseen by eyes bound by the earth, and I saw the Arab world stretching from the ocean to the gulf, separated not so much by mountains or seas, but by politics, disputes, fear, and mistrust. From the skies, borders appeared as silent, lifeless lines, but on the ground, they were transformed into high walls separating brother from brother, and Arab from Arab.

From the cockpit

From the cockpit, I learned that an airplane doesn’t reach its destination through loud voices, nor through mere desire, nor through emotional impulse. It arrives when there is a clear destination, a precise plan, a harmonious crew, vigilant monitoring, mutual trust, and discipline that knows no improvisation. Likewise, nations don’t rise with slogans, nor do they weather storms with speeches, neither do they enter the future with divided decisions, conflicting visions, and a fear of their own disunity that outweighs their own weakness.

The higher I ascended in the skies, the more I felt that the Arab world is vaster than our disagreements, that Arab history is deeper than our crises, and that what unites us is far greater than what divides us. A single language resonates in our hearts, a long history of glory and suffering, a shared religion, civilization, culture, and destiny, and peoples who share similar joys and sorrows, dignity and hope. Yet, an Arab still sometimes needs a long journey to reach his brother, the borders between us remain harsher than the distances, and visas and barriers continue to turn our one nation into scattered islands in a single sea.

Today, as I look back on the years from the vantage point of life and experience, I ask myself: When will we break free from this predicament? When will we realize that division is no longer our destiny, but a costly choice? When will we understand that the world does not wait for the weak, and that nations that fail to unite around their own interests will find themselves vulnerable to the interests of others?

We have seen many Western nations unite after long wars, after bloodshed, conflict, and devastation. They learned from their pain, opening borders, unifying markets, bringing universities closer together, and facilitating the movement of people, ideas, and goods. Yet we, possessing bonds what others lack, still hesitate before taking a step that should be natural: which is that for every Arab to feel at home in any Arab land.

I am not advocating for the abolition of homelands; for every homeland is a memory, a dignity, a flag, and a legacy of martyrs. But I call for a broader Arab horizon, for unity of interests, economic integration, educational continuity, research cooperation, open borders, and respect for the sovereignty of each nation, without this sovereignty becoming isolation or estrangement.

Two wings of a single plane

Algeria remains Algeria, Egypt remains Egypt, Jordan remains Jordan, Morocco remains Morocco, Iraq remains Iraq, the Levant remains the Levant, and the Gulf remains the Gulf; but the entire Arab nation can be the two wings of a single plane, not scattered parts of a structure that has lost its ability to take off.

From the skies, I learned that the greatest danger is not the storm, but the loss of direction. A plane may face fierce winds, may fly through dark clouds, may be rocked in the heart of the sky, but it survives if the compass remains working and if the pilot knows where he wants to land. A nation that loses its compass, however, may possess wealth, population, and history, but it remains adrift in a turbulent sky without a clear destination.

Our compass today must be clear: Knowledge before noise, action before slogans, dignity before fear, unity before division, and humanity before narrow calculations. No nation can rise without investing in the minds of its children, and no people can progress while limiting their horizons to the dreams of their youth.

O Arab nation, we have waited too long in the hall of history. It is time for us to leave our seats of waiting and allow the plane of renaissance to take off. We lack neither fuel, for our resources are abundant; nor a runway, for our land is vast; nor history, for our past is glorious. What we lack is resolve, courage, and the confidence that we can be together without one of us negating the other.

Open the borders between minds first, and the borders between nations will follow. Open universities to Arab students, markets to Arab labor, hospitals to Arab people, libraries to Arab researchers, airports to Arab travelers, and hearts to Arab trust. A nation that fears its own children will not be respected by others, and a nation that closes its doors to itself will not enter the future through its widest gates.

I retired from flying 10 years ago, but I did not retire from dreaming. I still believe that this nation is capable of rising if it is true to itself, rises above its petty differences, and understands that the heavens do not recognize the borders created by fear.

From the memory of 40 years in the skies, I say with the sincerity of age and experience: The Arab nation is not poor in potential, but rather poor in resolve. It is not weak in its essence, but rather weakened by fragmentation. It is not incapable of taking off, but it needs someone to unify its direction, awaken its confidence, and open the runway to the future.

So when will we leave the land of division?

When will we break the chains of fear?

When will we open our borders as the heavens have opened their gates to us?

A nation created to have two wings cannot remain with one wing broken. The land I saw from the skies is one, and hearts deserve to see it as well: One in dignity, one in destiny, one in the dream.

This article was first published in the Jo24  Arabic website and reprinted in crossfirearabia.com.

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