Toward a New Arab World

There are a lot of things to learn from the mainstream events in the Middle East and Northern Africa.
The fall of Ben Ali and Mubarak system followed by the Libyan bloody revolution against Elqadafi has
shocked the west including US, Israel, and EU. The rise of the Arab peoples against dictatorship has
taught the west, particularly America, which often intervenes in the Arab internal affairs in the name
of freedom and democracy, a really authentic lesson on freedom, dignity and democracy. A
considerable reflection is so necessary to realize the value of such revolutionary events, their
profound impact on the west, and the potential changes they are going to make on the geographical,
political, and cultural map of the Arab world.

Needless to say that the Egyptian revolution is to a far extent more influential than the Tunisian or
Libyan one, even though Tunisia has the honor of precedence and Lebya has sacrificed a higher
number of victims than the two other countries has done. The reason is simply due to the fact that
Egypt has always been a central interface and actor in the political affairs of the modern Arab world,
particularly the Middle East, and it has been an official Arab mediator between Palestine and Israel
along their peace processes for so many years. And since Egypt has normalized its relationship with
Israel and used to support it economically by supplying it with the natural gas and politically through
the normalization of relationships and the defensive tendency toward Israel security by standing
against the resistance around, especially Hamas movement, the loss of the Egyptian political and
Economic role under Mubarak reign will soon change the political map in the Middle East, deprive
Israel from the economic and political role of Egypt, foster the Anti-Israel resistance, and open new
horizons for Arabs to unify against US interferences, Zionism and Israeli invasions.

The Tunisian and Libyan revolutions have also paved the ground for a new Arab World. If the new
government responded to the calls of both peoples, radical changes in the structure of the Arabs
political systems will take place. Freedom in its all kinds will diffuse, real and people-based
democracy will prevail, and diversity in culture, race, and political tendencies will be overcome. The
Arab World will be simply unified as their peoples have done in Tunisia, Egypt, and now in Libya,
when they sung similarly one chant, which is that of freedom and justice.

The revolutionary events in the three countries have become real lessons for other Arab countries to
learn. They were obliged to reflect on their political systems and make the necessary reforms to
meet the needs of their peoples. In other words, the Arab states have now pushed to address their
social problems and become just and more democratic. The mainstream tensions and strikes in
Jordan, Yemen, Algeria, Morocco…etc are concrete examples of the deep impact of the Tunisian,
Egyptian, and Libyan revolution. I say ‘revolution’ because they are all about ONE revolution, which is
that of the peoples, against ONE system, which that of autocracy.

Along these improvements in the Arab World, US, EU and Israel kept afraid, hesitant, and worry, not
really because the people died for their countries to live in freedom and democracy, but because the
Arab World is entering a new phase in which democracy is no longer imported from US or EU, but
built by and inside the peoples; i.e., the Arab World is growing more and more independent. And this
deserves fears from some Israeli and US officials, who couldn’t hide their fear of the rise of new
Islamic states that will break up with Israel and US and turn back to Palestine and resistance to
provide help and support. Till then, let’s turn on TV and search for Aljazeera, in whatever frequency,
to catch up with the revolution in Libya and see whether Elqadafi is going to give up or be kicked out
by the people.

By Abdelouahed OULGOUT/22nd February, 2011.