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In Post-Mubarak Egypt, the Rebirth of the Arab World

(Washington Post) Hussein Agha and Robert Malley - The Arab world is dead. Egypt's revolution is trying to revive it. Other than to wait and see what others might do, Arab regimes have no clear and effective approach toward any of the issues vital to their collective future. Long before Tahrir Square, Egypt forfeited any claim to Arab leadership. Al-Jazeera has emerged as a full-fledged political actor because it reflects and articulates popular sentiment. It has become the new Nasser. The leader of the Arab world is a television network. Injecting economic assistance into faltering regimes will not work. The grievance Arab peoples feel is not principally material, and one of its main targets is over-reliance on the outside. U.S. calls for reform will likewise fall flat. A messenger who has backed the status quo for decades is a poor voice for change. Some policymakers in Western capitals have convinced themselves that seizing the moment to promote the Israeli-Palestinian peace process will placate public opinion. This is to engage in both denial and wishful thinking. It ignores that Arabs have become estranged from current peace efforts; they believe that such endeavors reflect a foreign rather than a national agenda. And it presumes that a peace agreement acceptable to the West and to Arab leaders will be acceptable to the Arab public, when in truth, it is more likely to be seen as an unjust imposition and denounced as the liquidation of a cherished cause.
2011-02-14 00:00:00
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