It started with the so-called “Arab Spring.” Regardless of how it spread anarchy among misguided youth or older generations in the thralls of ultra-conservative Islamism, which stimulated a deep revision of the concept of the Arab state. Within the Arab countries in question, there was an increasingly acute realization that we had fallen behind the modern world.
Somewhere between successive revolutions, deep-seated conservatism and intensive government intervention in economic, social, and intellectual life, chronic stagnation had set in, posing a grave threat to our countries’ present and future wellbeing. Even natural resource wealth could not break the cycle and lift us up into the ranks of advanced nations.
Guidance came through the exploration of identity as a frame of reference for change. This led to the penetration of the territorial expanse of the state, which was vast but poor and untapped in terms of investment and development. It led to the appreciation of the great potential of our youth and the importance of rapidly developing technologies that offer the young more opportunities than ever before imaginable to participate in shaping their world.
Thus, instead of “constructive chaos”, energies were invested in an unprecedented constructive momentum, generating an environment conducive to creativity, innovation, and the exploration of new horizons. Much of this was channeled into nationwide mega-projects, and the results are visible today in the Arab reform states: the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco.
The change occurred not only at the domestic level in the form of urbanization and development. It also manifested itself regionally in the al-Ula Declaration of 4 January 2021, calling for the elimination of all regional obstacles to progress. Peace and stability were of the essence. The al-Ula spirit sparked inter-Arab reconciliations with Qatar, Arab reconciliations with Iran and Turkey, and efforts to bring Syria back into the Arab fold and to support Iraq. Such actions were key to preventing Arab countries from the slide into Civil War and state failure.
History’s dialectic has always had a cunning way of surprising peoples and nations with painful twists when they most needed regional stability, which is a natural extension of domestic stability. Both domestic and regional stability are prerequisites for the march of reform and progress that the nine countries above began in the middle of the last decade.
At the time, some of these countries embarked on ambitious reform projects that set their sights on 2030 as the dawn of new dynamism and global standing. On this occasion, history’s surprise came from those who had not been touched by the spirit of revision. They remained unchanged since the treacherous “spring,” mired in stagnation, regardless of whether it assumed a reactionary/revolutionary form in a state or in lawless militias that undermined or destroyed the state in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Sudan, and Libya.
The Al-Aqsa Flood was intended to halt the forward march, preventing it from adding regional peace and stability to domestic achievements. Since the operation was more a form of revenge than a strategy for liberation, it segued into a “steadfastness” in the face of a brutal enemy who leaped upon the opportunity to crush the Palestinian people’s aspirations for independence and statehood. We all know the outcome: the reoccupation of territory and the cruel ordeal suffered by a fellow Arab people.
The Arab reform states acted wisely by not letting slogans lure them into a regional war set in motion by those who had no right to ignite it, from which they had nothing to benefit. The nine Arab countries’ statement of 27 October 2023, following the peace summit in Egypt, condemned the attacks on civilians on both sides, calling for a halt to the hostilities and relief for the Palestinians, and outlined a path to a genuine peace process based on the long-awaited two-state solution.
In conjunction with efforts to implement the statement, which was adopted in a US initiative under Biden, aid and relief convoys were sent to Gaza and all possible efforts were made to overcome Israeli obstacles to their entry, as well as those posed by Hamas.
Now the march of reform has encountered another twist, this time taking the form of the bombshells dropped by the Trump administration, which espouses the expulsion of the Palestinian people in deference to the most fanatical segments of Israeli society who are set on ethnically cleansing Palestine. The “Washington Flood” has presented the Arab reform states with another test in which they have succeeded in defending Palestinian rights while informing Washington that the road to a just and comprehensive peace is shorter than the road that ignores Palestinian national identity and reduces the Palestinian cause and even the Israeli question to “real estate.”
This achievement in establishing the Arab stance will require follow-through. The highest levels of coordination and joint Arab action must be brought to bear in the coming stages.
This article was originally published on Ahram Online February 20, 2025, and a version of it appears in print in the 20 February edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.
