Arab Press

A weekly selection of opinions and analyses from the Arab media around the world

WHY DO WE KEEP LOSING AT THE LAST MINUTE? Al-Shorouk, Egypt, June 22

Hamas chose to align itself with Iran and Syria, thereby cutting off the Gaza Strip not only from the West Bank, but also from the rest of the world

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that most Arab sport clubs are not on par with other teams competing at the international level. This is in part due to a difference in funding, training and resources available as compared to other wealthier and more developed nations. Still, the gap between the Arab world and the Western one is unfathomable. Between 1896 and 2016, the United States managed to win over 2,500 Olympic medals. Do you know how many medals the Arab world, in its entirety, collected during this same time frame? 108. What’s even more frustrating is that our teams seem to lose at the very last minute of each match. Why is this?

The answer, in my view, has little to do with physical fitness and everything to do with culture. We, in the Arab world, have no regard for getting tasks done from start to finish. Think back to your childhood experiences at school, when a teacher would skip entire chapters of a textbook just because the end of the school year was nearing. Look at our workplaces, where employees cut corners and leave “just 15 minutes” before the end of a shift in order to save time and evade their responsibilities. We leave things to the last minute and we take shortcuts whenever we can. While elsewhere in the world people are held accountable for each and every phase of their work, we in the Middle East have embraced mediocrity. We’ve become complacent. While other teams view the last few minutes of a match as an ideal opportunity to tip the scale in their favor and win the game, we view those exact same minutes as time to kill. When a game doesn’t go well, we immediately defend ourselves by saying we had bad luck.

Because of this mentality, we lose some of the most precious moments that could change our fate. Success is only achieved by those who strive for it.

– Hussein al-Mastaqawi

HAMAS’S DOUBLE STANDARD ON SYRIA Al-Arab, London, June 23

About eight kilometers from downtown Damascus is a large refugee camp by the name of Yarmouk. Established in 1957 to house Palestinian refugees, the camp quickly transformed into the epicenter of the exiled Palestinian community living in Syria, as well as other displaced populations. Sadly, it also has suffered massive destruction.

In April 2015, Islamic State forces entered the camp and launched an assault against rebels from the Free Syrian Army who were positioned at Yarmouk. Within a few days, the camp was completely taken over by ISIS fighters, who began executing citizens in the streets. Over 10,000 Palestinians are estimated to have fled the camp, while hundreds of others were killed. The camp was placed under siege for months.

This is one of the biggest tragedies in Palestinian history, one that calls for widespread condemnation and denunciation. Yet the world, and even the Palestinian leadership, has remained silent. Worst of all is Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, who went so far as to describe the Syrian regime as a “guardian of Palestinian rights.” In making such a shameful statement, Haniyeh revealed that Hamas does not care at all about the rights of Palestinians. Even more troubling, if Hamas is not bothered by the condition of Palestinian refugees abroad, why should it care about those living in the Gaza Strip? Indeed, since Hamas took over Gaza a decade ago, it has done nothing to improve the living conditions of the population it controls. The only thing the people of Gaza have experienced under Hamas’s rule is increased misery and isolation.

Hamas chose to align itself with Iran and Syria, thereby cutting off the Gaza Strip not only from the West Bank, but also from the rest of the world. Hamas’s division with the Palestinian Authority, coupled with its insistence on affiliating with the worst regimes in the region, has only brought death and destruction upon the people of Palestine. Instead of pretending that the Syrian regime is loyal to Palestinians, Haniyeh

(Photos: Reuters) ‘WORST OF all is Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh [pictured gesturing during a protest on the Gaza border on April 9], who went so far as to describe the Syrian regime as a “guardian of Palestinian rights.”’