Jordan?s al-Rai recently published an article questioning the failure of Arab regimes to play what cards they have aggressively in order to influence the West to act against Israel. ?Is it true that the Arabs possess no cards they can use to influence America in particular and the West in general?? asks the al-Rai columnist. His answer is, ?The cards are there.? Yet, the author sees that ?Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah appealed to ?the American conscience? to come to the aid of the Palestinians, and the Qatari foreign minister earlier suggested that the Arabs ?beseech? America to use its influence with Israel.? Such appeals will, in the author?s view, be repeated at the upcoming Arab Summit in Beirut, where they will also ?achieve nothing.?
The al-Rai article questions why Arab leaders addressed the West in terms of ?conscience? and ?beseeching? and not in terms of oil and commerce, or in terms of US military bases and reconciliation with Iraq. While recognizing the ?two-edged sword? of slowing oil production, ?the late King Faisal paid with his life for using it,? the Jordanian author points out that there are other Western interests that can be pressured to attain the desired result.
Arab reconciliation with Iraq, writes the author, ?would pull the rug from under the American hawks who want to destroy Iraq to guarantee Israel?s security and perpetuate their control of Arab oil.? The United States military bases and troops in Arab Gulf states are, according to the al-Rai piece, ?no longer necessary or welcome but viewed as occupying armies.? Therefore the writer calls on the Arab states to use the threat ?of expelling American forces and bases from Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states?? as a card to play against Washington?s interests in Israel. In addition, the al-Rai columnist calls on a renewal of the Arab economic boycott of ?Israel and the corporations that deal with it? as a means of applying pressure on Western states.
?If President George W. Bush can tell the world ?you are either with us or with terrorism,?? the Jordanian article states, ?the Arab states should tell the world ?you are either with the rights of the Palestinian people and their independent state or with the Israeli occupation.??
The al-Rai article questions why Arab leaders addressed the West in terms of ?conscience? and ?beseeching? and not in terms of oil and commerce, or in terms of US military bases and reconciliation with Iraq. While recognizing the ?two-edged sword? of slowing oil production, ?the late King Faisal paid with his life for using it,? the Jordanian author points out that there are other Western interests that can be pressured to attain the desired result.
Arab reconciliation with Iraq, writes the author, ?would pull the rug from under the American hawks who want to destroy Iraq to guarantee Israel?s security and perpetuate their control of Arab oil.? The United States military bases and troops in Arab Gulf states are, according to the al-Rai piece, ?no longer necessary or welcome but viewed as occupying armies.? Therefore the writer calls on the Arab states to use the threat ?of expelling American forces and bases from Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states?? as a card to play against Washington?s interests in Israel. In addition, the al-Rai columnist calls on a renewal of the Arab economic boycott of ?Israel and the corporations that deal with it? as a means of applying pressure on Western states.
?If President George W. Bush can tell the world ?you are either with us or with terrorism,?? the Jordanian article states, ?the Arab states should tell the world ?you are either with the rights of the Palestinian people and their independent state or with the Israeli occupation.??