‘No to normalization attempts’

‘Long live Palestinian cause’

“THE Deputy Foreign Minister of Kuwait Khaled AlJarallah has categorically turned down the idea of normalization of ties with Israel and reiterated Kuwait’s commitment to the stand that was declared by the late Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad, (we pray to Almighty Allah to rest his soul in peace) when he had made it clear that Kuwait will be the last state to normalize ties with Israel. Although this reflects the will of the Kuwaiti citizens and the Arabs at large, we found some big mouths with their pens continuing to post tweets calling through a fake adulation for normalization of ties with Israel,” columnist and attorney Riyadh Al-Sanea wrote for AlKuwaitiah daily.

“As a matter of fact, the intellectual, cultural, economic and commercial exchanges have their own rules and procedures. And although such exchanges are mostly subjected to the basic aspects represented only by the interests, this doesn’t mean we have to stretch our hands of friendship to the brutal Zionist regime that is, over the years, involved in killing, displacing and occupation of Arab lands just because this regime at the moment enjoys a successful economic pattern.

“However, let as presume that the above is right, but it is needless to say that this economy is based on usurping the lands and the history through an exposed myth over the existence of a temple which has no existence on the ground, it rather exists only in a dream.

“For us the normalization, will not be done unless the usurpers are brought to book and the usurped rights returned to their rightful owners and call for historical reconciliation over the crimes that have been committed by the Zionist entity against the Palestinians throughout the past years and ultimately follow the German example of paying compensations for the Holocaust victims.

“But what we observe today is related to a high ceiling of the Israeli demands, which can be at- tributed to the absence of necessary pressure that should have been put on Israel and the people who are in a race to normalize ties with the Zionist entity.

“Anyway, if there are calls for such normalization, this is something that should be owned by the callers, but for us the issue falls within the morals and values. In other words, it will be impossible for us to easily delete this history of legitimate struggle for the sake of legitimate rights, because any deletion in this connection, will be construed as a collusion with the occupier, given the fact the attitude should be translated into an action and the forsaking will be seen as assistance to the oppressor against the victim.

“With regard to the Palestinian cause, there is actually no middle way. In other words, either you have to support the right or to sympathize with the foe, because here even the silence can be classified as a negative action.

“Such being the case, we suggest that those who are calling for normalization of ties, are either seeking a bigger media area or for fake fame or may be he/she doesn’t understand the background of the Palestinian/Israeli struggle, in the face of the Arabs who are currently adopting a unified attitude in dealing with the issue and this is obvious through our passports the last page of which says ‘the holder of this passport can have access to any country throughout the world except Israel’.

“As such, any attempt calling for the normalization of ties with Israel actually represents a deletion of the history of the martyrs memory and this can be deemed as a challenge to the official attitude of the State.

“In other words, the topic is not a matter of opinion or expression of freedom, because the expression here shall undermine the attitude of the State and cause a big embarrassment for it before the Arab joint public opinion.

“Given the above, there are limits between the freedom and the responsibility, between the stance and the denial and between the history and cheating.

“However, I would like with pleasure to send a message to all Arab activists and the educated people who are calling for the normalization of ties with Israel to keep in mind that the educated people represents a stance, but not a website to be proud of the same in terms of the number of people who are involved in following up the same and realize that the freak opinion may gain a temporary informational momentum, but the latter will rapidly vanish when adamant attitudes surface.

“In conclusion, I would like to write what was said by the poet Mahmoud Darwish, (we pray to Almighty Allah to bestow His mercy upon him) who said ‘Don’t forget the people who live in tents … then think about those who have no place to sleep.’

“Long live the Palestinian cause against any attempts for normalization.”

Also:

“Our Arab and Muslim region, can be seen as an area of tremendous natural wealth and human resources, and as such the rivalry and the struggle therein, have unfortunately been transformed something into legitimate for powers who enjoy military, economic, cultural and scientific might,” columnist Hamad Saleh Al-Qattan wrote for Annahar daily

“Such being the case, history shows that prior to 1900 and until now the great powers motivated by their greediness were striving to dominate the natural and human resources of this region and export the same to both Europe and America.

“In other words, this region, from time to time has witnessed the domination of the region by new players following the struggle among the big powers that were promoting critical unrest and these struggles had resulted in deleting some states from the map.

“In this context, we cite a specific era of history when the French, the Britons, the Italians and the Portuguese were involved in a struggle to dominate the region. After that, we found how both the Soviet Union and the United States of America, entered the fray, but both France and Britain had managed to maintain their influence, but America later came to the region and dominated all areas of influence.

“However, for the time being, we wonder when we look at the reasons behind the current disorders in our Islamic and Arab region which the politicians are talking about? The answer, however, shows that the involvement of a new player in the region had caused an upset for both America and Britain, although this player neither represents a state nor a group within a state, it is rather the player of political awareness for the Arab peoples and this has been crystallized through the appearance of the resistance movement against the domination of the superpowers.

“Such being the outcome of such a political awareness, this was obvious in Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Lebanon and Palestine in addition to many other peoples throughout the world such as that in Venezuela.

“Anyway, besides the struggle between the peoples of the region and the great powers, we have observed the struggle between the United States of America and some of the European Union (EU) States over some partial political and domination issues and this was evident through the statements that have been issued by the US President Donald Trump against the European states.

“Apart from the above, there is a very fierce economic and technological struggle between America and China, and the military struggle between America and Russia in addition to another type of struggle over natural gas.

“It is needless to say all of the above constitute a danger for some of the small Arab states which are protected by some parties, but for the time being these states are helpless and stand as spectators looking for a firm opportunity that may serve their interests.”

“One common misconception in the Kuwaiti academic community is that a faculty member affiliated to a higher education institution must have a good record of research published in the prestigious journals,” Professor Abdullatif Bin Nakhi wrote for Al-Rai daily.

“This erroneous idea was established in the academic institutions by considering scientific production as the hinge in the regulations for promoting academics, which contributed to the concern of academics in scientific research at the expense of other academic commitments. Scientific research, although one of the main features and tasks of academic institutions, is a competency responsibility rather than an in-kind responsibility for every faculty member.

“I quoted this ‘strange’ view of our academic community from Energy Systems Research Unit of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde where I worked during the years of my doctoral fellowship. There I noted the difference in teaching hours between members of the unit and the department. Then I later found out that the university had three categories of faculty members: teachers, researchers, and academics. I learned that each of the three categories had a parallel promotion line for two other promotions; all promotion lines expire at the 10th financial grade.

“A few years ago, a fourth group of teaching staff, including those involved in the exchange of knowledge, was added to enhance opportunities for cooperation between the university and its corresponding and noncounterpart institutions. This category also has a fourth academic promotion line that aligns with the previous three lines and ends in 10th grade as the ‘Principal Knowledge Exchange Fellow’ but it seems that this class is not common in the British universities. Obviously, the British universities have resorted to providing three or four categories of faculty members to increase their efficiency and financial resources by enhancing their ability to attract students and scholars, and by meeting the needs of community members and institutions in both public and private sectors.

“On the other hand, it responded to the disparities in teaching, research capacities and concerns of faculty members.

“Tasks assigned to the research group are mostly in research activities, while teaching activities required of them are limited. It begins by helping to supervise students projects for sixth degree researchers. It develops to supervise the projects of research students for master and doctorate students. It is about participation in teaching scientific programs for researchers in grades 9 and 10. The tenth grade researcher is called Principal Research Fellow.

“As for lecturers, their research tasks are limited and often linked to improving teaching and learning environment, and the methodology, for example, is through their involvement in educational research, but they are burdened with teaching assignments within and outside the lecture halls. In addition to activities related to lecturing, preparation of tests, evaluation of students’ performance, and reporting on the progress of their academic achievement. Veteran teachers are responsible for the development of programs and curricula, and their responsibilities include assignments related to academic accreditation. The tenth grade teacher is called Principal Teaching Fellow.

“For the academic category, it is the middle class between the categories of researchers and teachers, which is the class adopted in local higher education institutions. This category requires research tasks without the required category of researchers, and with fewer teaching tasks than required of lecturers. The tenth grade academic is called Professor. What I am interested in is to develop our concept of a faculty membership in local higher education institutions, like their British counterparts, so that we can develop the capacity and capability of our academic institutions to meet the needs of their clients: students, society, labor market and public and private sector institutions.

“We may differ in our need for researchers in our academic institutions but I am sure we need to develop a class of teachers, especially in applied colleges, so that we can bridge the gap between the outputs of higher education, needs of the labor market and the national economy. The effort required to make a breakthrough in the curricula and programs of our institutions of higher education is a very big one, not a price-list in academic promotion regulations. It will engage academics in the conduct and dissemination of scientific research, which may delay their promotion. Therefore, there is a need to develop a parallel promotion line for the current academic line and to revise the current regulations to encourage participation in program development activities and academic accreditation ... ‘May God truly show us the truth and bless us with those who follow it.”’

“It is assumed that lawmakers, being the community elites, should shape the future of the nation through legislation and coordinating the government’s march through continuous and responsible oversight,” Sattam Ahmed Al-Jarallah wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.

“However, what happened in recent months, especially in the case of a purely judicial issue, as regards attempts by a group of lawmakers to dominate the judiciary through efforts to abolish the Constitutional Court just because they were not satisfied with a judgment, is a clear violation of human rights even before the right of the Parliament. This is because the lawmaker as a representative of the people must protect the rights of citizens, not be a model of infringement on the judiciary which is the basic criterion in the advancement of nations.

“Unfortunately, many issues were disrupted due to the lack of national responsibility among a number of MPs who have limited their role by undermining other authorities that do not conform to their aspirations. They have abandoned their role stipulated in the Constitution and the bylaws with a behavior that has never been witnessed by any real democracy in the history of nations. When we feel bitterness about what happened in recent times. As citizens, we have been deceived by those we chose to represent us in the legislative authority. This means we have to be careful who we choose in the future so as not to be worse than the current ones. The fact remains that failure to hold them accountable means accepting the errant parliamentary manner of transforming the legislative authority into personal benefit for lawmakers rather than national duty.

“A lot of legislative work had been left to the unknown, or rather, not considered, to the extent that the Parliament set up a quasi-committee to study the bills which were not considered in the previous stage, and because we are on the threshold of a supplementary election. This action will be postponed until after the election which will be close to the annual leave of the Parliament. In addition, the Parliament will be near the end of its mandate. This is tantamount to wasting time with a black chalet experienced by Kuwait throughout the entire legislative season.”