The Palestinian political elites managed in the third quarter of the last century to make the Palestinian question the first and core issue at both Arab and Islamic levels. These elites were able to take the Palestinian dossier to international arenas with the help of faithful Arab and Muslim leaders and politicians along with international activists supporting Palestinians and defending their rights. With this backing, the Palestinians achieved many legal and political gains, including UN resolutions — most notably UN resolution No 3379 in 1975, which determined that Zionism was a form of racism and racial discrimination. Another achievement was the concept of boycotting Israeli products, which was seriously implemented by many countries and had clear moral and material effects.

Before this and that; the Palestinian cause, all with the pains, hopes and aspirations, was and still is the first cause in the thought and conscience of Arab citizens, except for a few who swam against the current. Those few were the subject of indignation and criticism by the Arab society. The true understating and strong belief in the justice of the Palestinian cause and the Palestinians’ right to return and regain their occupied lands were clearly stipulated in our education and curricula, culture and literature. The Palestinian cause was the main concern for all Arabs, who were fully aware of the major threats to our existence as a nation and the greatest danger to the Arab-Islamic identity, about which Arab poets composed patriotic poetry glorifying the great Arab nation and writers wrote their articles and books about Arab unity and the need to unify ranks in the face of the enemy.

Most of the Arab world’s strugglers and activists graduated through this phase in history. They held high the banner of boycotting Israel, which had stolen the Arab Palestinian land. In those days, the mere idea of making peace and amends with Israel was out of the question, let alone the idea of normalising relations with the Zionist entity.

Hence, those leaders were a strong barrier that rejected all ideas and thoughts of a rapprochement with the enemy and for that reason, all Arabs deplored the calls of the late Tunisian president, Al Habib Bourqiba, who wanted to make peace with Israel and as a result was branded a traitor.

However, the attack on the nation was ruthless and the planning was tight, while Arab disagreements resembled the termites which plagued the unified Arab stand at the time.

The 1967 defeat of the six-day war came to multiply the sufferings of the forces which stood against reconciliation with the Zionists. Some of the Arab masses even went a step further by shunning their traditional leaderships and started searching for leaderships and communities that provided them with a living.

The Camp David Accords came as the straw which broke the camel’s back, where the president of the biggest and most important Arab country landed in Tel Aviv and delivered a speech at the Knesset. A diplomatic presentation at the highest level was also maintained between the two countries. Then, Iraq invaded Kuwait!

After that came the Madrid Conference that was hosted by the government of Spain and co-sponsored by the US and USSR. It convened on October 30, 1991, and lasted three days. Israel refused to attend the conference unless the UN Security Council cancelled its resolution No 3379. Therefore, resolution number 8646 was issued in 1991, apologising to the Zionist entity and that was the last straw.

Accordingly, the Arab environment became ripe for reconciliation and normalising relations with Israel, especially after the passing away of most of the ‘Arab awakening’ — the generation that had carried the responsibility of freeing the Arab land and spare it the succumbing to the dominance of the West.

In our current age, the reader may look at the Arab geopolitical map and find out if the Zionist entity has achieved its goals or not.

As it seems, all matters in the Arab world are proceeding according to the Zionist-American liking. The Palestinian question is no more on the Arab or Muslim individual’s list of priorities and that is apparent from viewing the size and type of topics included in every Arab school curriculum. The situation is also clear in the electronic media, where we seldom hear about Palestine unless the piece of news entails a rocket launched from Gaza without any damages inflicted or Israeli air raids targeting Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

It is not wrong that an Emirati cares about UAE issues or that a Syrian or Lebanese does the same about their country’s issues and affairs. However, it is a great shame if any of us forgot that our greatest threat is the Israeli enemy and its allies. The Zionist enemy is the reason behind most of our problems as Arabs. It also contributed to our underdevelopment and regression in many fields. It is also the entity which played a big role in deepening our differences as Arabs.

True, we did commit many faults which made our enemy’s mission much easier. We also presented our enemy with our necks and the lead of our convoys, but that does not justify our following this enemy indefinitely.

Dr Khalifa Rashid Al Sha’ali is an Emirati writer who specialises in legal affairs.