End sought to Arab world crises
Summit deviates from norms
“THE Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan recently hosted the Arab Summit which was attended by Arab League member states leaders – the monarchs, the Amirs and the presidents with their accompanying delegations in addition to UN and EU representatives,” columnist Dr Nada Suleiman Al-Mutawa wrote for Al-Jarida daily Wednesday.
“But the question here is did this summit offer practical solutions to the crises facing the Arab World? Did the summit realize the failure of some Arab countries to contain the situations post Arab Spring period?
“As a matter of fact, in our viewpoint the Arab League is a regional organization of all Arab and Muslim countries from both continents Asia and Africa, but in view of the augmentation of the differences among the member states since very beginning of its foundation, we found the League’s law and charter has put in place articles to solve the differences arising among member states.
“In this context, we recall how the Arab League at the beginning of its foundation was playing the role of the forum for Arab monarchs, because it was founded by the then royal Arab regimes including Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen and the Kingdom of Saudi Arab in addition to the Republic of Lebanon and the Republic of Syria.
“But the League in the 1950s witnessed a radical change following the onset of the so-called, ‘Spring of the 1950s’. In this context, we elucidate that this period witnessed the independence of many Arab countries which were under the umbrella of the Arab League.
“Moreover, some member states witnessed military coups that changed the structure of these states from royal to republican regimes.
“During 1960s, many ‘young’ Arab countries joined the League, and these countries including the State of Kuwait, were actually looking forward to join many regional and international organizations. But in the 1970s all the Arabian Gulf states joined the Arab League immediately following their independence.
“Last year, Mauritania hosted the Arab Summit, but what drew my attention during this summit was actually the legal injection in the form of a communiqué containing the rights of the Arab youth and their right in appropriation of the small project in addition to offering them the necessary protection to prevent them falling prey to the illegal immigration. Moreover, the Mauritania summit encouraged the elected councils in the Arab world in addition to protecting women’s rights.
“But the last Arab Summit that was held in the Dead Sea area of Jordan, in my own opinion could be seen different from Mauritania because the Dead Sea Summit concentrated on political injections and this was evident because the Yemen issue gained prominence and the delegates decided to award this issue to the neighboring Gulf countries to enable ‘The Happy Yemen’ to restore its past glory.
“Apart from the above, the summit decided to hand over the Libyan issue to countries bordering Tripoli instead of the Arab African nations in a bid to find out solution for the Libyan crisis.
“But with regard to surmounting of terrorism and violence, this issue was actually awarded to all Arab leaders and the Summit authorized them to handle this topic from all aspects.
“With regard to the Muslim and Christian holy places in Jerusalem, it was reported that this issue will be awarded to UNESCO. But the question is, what about the churches and archeological places of worship in Syria which were targeted by the saboteurs. And what about the people who refused to leave their country unless the Arab League provided a safe harbor for them?”
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“In previous years the Zionist entity was working to weave political and economic relations with some Arab countries. This entity’s efforts in this connection bore some fruit on the military, intelligence, political and economic fronts in its favor,” columnist Hamad Saleh Al-Qattan wrote for Annahar daily Wednesday.
“Apart from the above, the Zionist entity also managed to achieve diplomatic success at international level and successfully built a relationship with the international community where it had managed to introduce itself as a just entity in spite of the impediments it faced in this connection, but it had surmounted these impediments illegally in collaboration with the United States of America.
“In other words, this collaboration violated international treaties and conventions, but it is needless to say this entity managed to maintain good relations with some Arab countries which facilitated its tasks at the international level.
“But for the time being the events which currently prevail in the Arab and Muslim worlds in general and the situations in Syria in particular, it looks like the Zionist entity (Israel) is preparing for itself a table of negotiations with some Arab countries in a bid to normalize ties with the latter where negotiators who have failed in the past will meet again.
“In spite of the above, Israel realizes that its choices are limited, given the fact the military choice, for instance, against those who are determined to confront this entity was doomed to failure during 2000 and 2006, and this entity during these periods was reluctant to resort to the diplomatic choice and this reflected its failure in dealing with its opponent at military level.
“Such being the case, we found that this entity is currently involved in supporting some factions which are involved in a war on its behalf in Syria, but it has failed to achieve any tangible victory, rather it has opened the door for its opponents to advance towards its illusive frontiers.
“But for the time being, we found Israel using the choice of the support that was extended to its policy by some Arab countries in the region in a bid to maintaining its existence in the world.”
“Since the ’60s, the number of Arab League summits tops the number of political summits held in the world. However, they unfortunately have been the least productive and the farthest in dealing with the current crises as well as the most failed in carrying out people’s demands,” Dr Hassan Abdulla Jowhar wrote for Aljarida daily.
“Since the time we were little children, our brains have been filled with false heroism and our fake power in being able to smash the heads of our enemies. We were deceived by slogans of development, peace and integration. I think nobody can deny the fact that all those slogans were nothing but illusion.
“The Arab region is one of the most important regions in the world. It is rich in wealth and human resources. It occupies a very distinguished place on the planet. Almost all Arabs share the same religion, language and even traditions. However, we need to have a look at the real place of Arabs based on the statistics introduced in the International Governments Summit held in Dubai on February 2017.
“These statistics showed that 57 million Arabs are illiterate and 14 million Arab children did not go to schools this year. It also showed that 30 million Arabs live under the poverty line. The rate of poverty in Arab countries has risen by eight percent in the last two years. About 70 percent of the recent war victims are Arabs. Most of the Arab wars occurred between Arab parties. About 50 percent of the terrorist operations took place on Arab lands. The losses of Arab national incomes were a total of $1 trillion. About 75 percent of the refugees around the world are Arabs.
“While 3,000 patents were issued to Arabs, 20,000 patents were issued to South Koreans. Arabs publish 20,000 books in a year, which is quite less than the number of books published in a developing European country like Romania.
“While the rest of the world is engaged in the discovery of a system that is similar to the solar system with six planets that resemble the Earth, we are engaged in discussing fateful questions such as — What tribe do you come from? Are you Sunni or Shiite?”
“A couple of weeks ago, I was part of the academic delegation of 27 Kuwaiti engineers that travelled to Qatar for five days,” Eng Tareq Jamal Al-Derbas wrote for Al-Anba daily.
“We visited a number of state organizations and international Qatari companies. The main thing we noticed was that most of the leaders in major state bodies were young individuals. We met the executive presidents of many foundations who are about 40 years old. This created an impression in us that we are visiting a young and ambitious state that trusted in the youth and offered them the chance to prove themselves.
“We spent one whole day in Qatar Airways where we got a detailed idea about the company which has 190 planes but is planning to increase its fleet to 400 planes within five years. Qatar Airways was established in 1992. We also visited Hamad International Airport which was recently ranked the sixth top airport in the world. We visited the Supreme Committee for Projects and Heritage which is responsible for organizing the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. We noticed that planning had already begun for using the constructed field following the completion of the World Cup. We also visited the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Society Development which brought the best universities to Qatar in order to give the opportunity of advanced education to Qatari students. The care shown by Qatar about education is quite obvious and everybody can vouch for this. The government offers high salaries to the teachers and managed to create a high-quality educational environment. The government believes that investing in the youth is the best for ensuring a good future for the country.
“We felt very proud of these Qatari achievements, which is part of the Gulf achievements. This tells us that we also can do it. The Qatari successful experience proves that Arab, Muslim and the Gulf citizens are capable of achieving advancement. We call for studying such successful experiences in order to help us in our development process.”
“This is our Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. From the time the flag of Kuwait was raised in the early 1960s above the UN building which marked the beginning of Kuwait’s journey as an independent Arab state until this day, he has not changed except for the best,” Talal Al-Saeed wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.
“This is our Amir (May Allah protect him) to whose call the whole world stood for liberating Kuwait from the Iraqi invasion. After his call, the United Nations Security Council issued the decision to liberate Kuwait. Kuwait became the only state that was liberated by unprecedented UN decisions. Thank God and thanks to the wisdom of His Highness the Amir and his foreign policy.
“This is our Amir whose humanitarian and prominent role in handling world problems had the whole world stand in appreciation. Because of his achievements in this regard, he became the first president in the world to be given the title of International Humanitarian Leader.”
“Many times, meetings and sessions of the Municipal Council have failed or been postponed due to lack of legal quorum. Sessions for discussing urgent solutions to some issues related to the interests of citizens have been adjourned several times because of this problem,” Abdulrahman Al-Awwad wrote for Al-Sabah daily.
“I would like to say to those who are unaware of the significance of the Municipal Council and its periodic sessions that the Municipal Council is considered one of the most important bases for setting up the public policy of Kuwaiti Municipality, due to its clear role in preparing policies, laying down plans and determining projects.
“Apart from the above, the responsibilities of the Municipal Council are so many that we cannot list them here in this small space. For instance, it is involved in determining projects, beautification of cities, villages, islands, streets and squares, and many such roles.”
“The current National Assembly has yet to meet the desires of the people who voted them, because their sessions are full of altercations, exchange of accusations and waste of time without any effort to improve the situation,” Abdul-Mohsin Al-Husseini wrote for Al-Shahed daily.
“It seems the National Assembly needs support of some competent specialist academics and personalities to be nominated for roles of this nature should be academics having vast experience and information. They should be well known in society for their contributions to ideas in public places and social gatherings in a way that serves the interest of citizens and the general public.
“His Highness the Amir could nominate renowned competent hands to support the National Assembly to help them upgrade the level of dialogue and deliberations inside the hallowed chambers. All sports lovers should stand up today to mourn the passing of legendary sportsman who spent all his life serving the Kuwaiti sports.
“May Allah the Almighty be merciful to our late brother Fahad Al-Humaidan (Bu Waleed) and grant him Al-Jannah Al-Firdous. We also pray for his family, acquaintances and friends in the field of sport fortitude to bear the loss.”