By
New Age Islam Edit Desk
14 December
2020
• Morocco-Israel Deal Has Wide-Ranging Benefits
By Zaid M. Belbagi
• Is Egypt Ready To Turn Page On Gulf Crisis With
Qatar?
By Rasha Mahmoud
• Time To Bring Perpetrators Of Iran’s 1988 Massacre
To Justice
By Dr. Majid Rafizadeh
• How Have Philosophers Responded To The Pandemic?
By Santiago Zabala
------
Morocco-Israel
Deal Has Wide-Ranging Benefits
By
Zaid M. Belbagi
December
14, 2020
The late
King Hassan II was indefatigable in his efforts in three main policy areas:
Morocco’s claim over the Western Sahara, seeking a just solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian dispute, and his kingdom’s relationship with the US. The
three issues have continued to characterize Moroccan foreign policy and it is
therefore fitting that a deal was last week secured that included them all.
The White
House announced on Friday that President Donald Trump and King Mohammed VI had
agreed that Morocco would “resume diplomatic relations between Morocco and
Israel and expand economic and cultural co-operation to advance regional
stability.” A more important facet of their agreement was that the US
recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara, with plans for a US
consulate there, following those that have been opened in recent weeks by the
UAE and Jordan.
The deal
has been lauded as Moroccan recognition of the Israeli state, when in fact it
is the resumption of relations that had previously existed. It will see the
reopening of liaison offices in Tel Aviv and Rabat — which had shut in 2000,
when relations broke down amid the Second Intifada — and the eventual opening
of embassies, while Morocco will also grant direct flights to and from Israel
for all Israelis. Despite being a vocal and diplomatically active player in
support of the Palestinians and a two-state solution through the Fez Plan of
1981, Morocco has an independent relationship with the Jewish people that is
exclusive to those which other members of the Arab League enjoy. A large
indigenous Jewish population, coupled with as many as 1 million Israelis being
of Moroccan origin, is an important facet of the Morocco-Israel relationship,
which has familial, cultural and historical significance. Moroccan Jews are the
second-largest Jewish group in Israel. Despite Morocco being the only Arab
country in which Jewish history is taught in schools, King Mohammed VI remains
the chairman of the Al-Quds Committee and a close collaborator with the
Palestinian leadership in its struggle for statehood, as well as in the
maintenance and protection of the holy Islamic sites in Jerusalem.
Further to
last week’s announcement, the Moroccan government has been keen to underscore
its commitment to the Palestinian cause. In many respects, this is why its
diplomatic activity has not been met with the level of criticism that followed
the Bahraini and Emirati normalization efforts. This is, however, separate to
and exclusive of its own relationship with the Jewish people, which is
long-standing and indeed a critical facet of Morocco’s tolerant society. The
multiconfessional and multiracial fabric of Morocco is central to its identity;
indeed, the pluralism that other Arab nations are only now trying to encourage
has always been a fact of life in Morocco.
Whether
through the historic efforts of the Jewish emissaries of Morocco’s many
sultans, the Moroccan government in saving its Jewish population from the
Holocaust or the modern-day contribution of Jewish entrepreneurs to the
Moroccan economy, the relationship is positive and deep-rooted. In fact, the
discussions that took place last week even allowed for some remedy of the great
tragedy of the Moroccan Jewish experience, which was their mass exodus to
Israel in the 20th century. Fearing social strife that never occurred, the
experience divided families and caused many Israelis to lose their centuries-long
Moroccan identity and privileged societal status — only to then be treated as
second-class citizens in Israel on account of their Arab-Berber heritage.
The Jewish
community is not, however, the only group Morocco’s leadership and government
have been keen to deal with in a protective manner. The Western Sahara has been
the focus of developmental efforts as the government has sought to reinforce
the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion of 1974, which affirmed
“legal ties of allegiance between the Sultan of Morocco and some of the tribes
living in the territory of Western Sahara” from antiquity. Given the recent
outbreak of hostilities following the attacks by Polisario rebels on civilian
trucking, many had feared a more widespread escalation of what was actually a
greatly promising regional story of economic and human development. Following a
diplomatic and at times military struggle that has lasted almost half a
century, the US decision to unequivocally support Morocco’s claim is not only
important with regard to the North African kingdom, but also to bringing about
regional peace and the unity that has long eluded the countries of the Maghreb.
For the least-integrated region in the world, a resolution to its most pressing
political problem will allow for the economic and political integration for
which its countries are desperate.
As he
welcomed this week’s deal, Trump warmly noted Morocco’s historic role in being
the first state to recognize the fledgling union. This sentiment has also been
publicly shared by President-elect Joe Biden, who famously stated during his
vice presidency that: “Morocco was the first nation in the world to recognize
the United States of America… in December 1777. So I’ve come here to say thank
you.”
The
US-Moroccan relationship is not dissimilar from Morocco’s ties with the Jewish
people or the Western Sahara, as it is rooted in history and also the focus of
modern diplomatic efforts. The Morocco-Israel deal is a positive step toward
peace on several fronts in a wider region that has been ravaged by conflict.
Though resource-poor, Morocco is historically rich — a fact that continues to
pay dividends for its modern efforts and, no doubt, future aspirations.
-----
Zaid M.
Belbagi is a political commentator, and an adviser to private clients between
London and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Twitter: @Moulay_Zaid
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1776986
-----
Is Egypt
Ready To Turn Page On Gulf Crisis With Qatar?
By
Rasha Mahmoud
Dec 13,
2020
After Saudi
Arabia and Kuwait recently announced that they had made progress toward ending
the dispute Egypt and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have with Qatar,
Egypt's Foreign Ministry praised Gulf efforts, particularly those of Kuwait,
aimed at bringing an end to the yearlong crisis that has pitted Doha against
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
In a Dec. 8
press statement, Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Hafez expressed his
country’s appreciation of the continued efforts made by Kuwait’s emir to heal
the Arab rift and settle the crisis that broke out in 2017 between Qatar and
the Arab Quartet countries, within the framework of Kuwait’s constant desire
for stability in the region.
“We hope
that these commendable efforts will pave the way for a comprehensive solution
to all the causes of this crisis and ensure strict and serious commitment to
what will be agreed upon,” Hafez added.
In a
statement carried by the Kuwait News Agency on Dec. 4, Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh
Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah expressed his appreciation for the ongoing and
constructive efforts being deployed to end the Gulf crisis.
Kuwaiti
Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah said in a speech
broadcast on the official Kuwait TV on Dec. 4 that fruitful discussions had
been taking place to resolve the Gulf crisis, which has been ongoing since
2017.
He added
that during these talks, “All parties affirmed their keenness to achieve Gulf
and Arab solidarity and stability and reach a final agreement on permanent
solidarity between their countries in a bid to serve the interest of these
countries’ people.”
He also
thanked US President Donald Trump for “his support [to end the Gulf crisis],
which reflects the US commitment to preserve the security and stability of the
region.”
The Kuwaiti
foreign minister further said his country's efforts to resolve the Gulf crisis
are ongoing based on the directives of the political leadership.
In a press
briefing Dec. 10, Timothy Lenderking, the US deputy assistant secretary of
state for Arabian Peninsula affairs, lauded Kuwait’s efforts, calling their
role “extremely helpful.”
“The
Kuwaitis have been the key mediator here and still continue to play that role,”
Lenderking said.
Saudi
Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic relations and trade and
travel ties with Qatar in mid-2017 over its alleged support to terrorism. Doha
has repeatedly denied the accusations.
The four
countries set 13 demands that Qatar needed to meet for the relations to be
restored, including the closure of the Al Jazeera channel, the closure of a
Turkish base on its territory and the severing of relations with the Muslim
Brotherhood.
On Dec. 9,
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told journalist Ahmed Moussa on Sada
al-Balad TV that “understandings and contacts have taken place” regarding
reconciliation with Qatar, adding that there are suggestions for a new phase
that seeks to shun “the negative effects of Qatari policies.”
He added,
“If there is a sincere political will to overcome this crisis, Egypt will be
seeking consensus and brotherly relations.”
Asked
whether the four countries have set demands in order for the reconciliation
with Qatar to materialize, Shoukry said in another interview on Ten TV on Dec.
8, “A framework has been developed over the past few days to solve the issues
behind this problem, and we always welcome anything that achieves Arab
solidarity and defuses tensions. However, the agreement that is being
elaborated needs to be comprehensive and should take into account all the
factors that led to this current situation.”
Shoukry
added that his country is willing to positively deal with any proposal that
achieves Arab solidarity and defuses tensions, and stressed that there have
been developments over the past few days with regard to efforts to try to solve
the Gulf crisis.
While
Bahrain has yet to comment on such efforts, UAE Minister of State for Foreign
Affairs Anwar Gargash tweeted Dec. 8 that his country “appreciates the efforts
of sisterly Kuwait and the US endeavors toward strengthening solidarity in the
Gulf. It also supports, on behalf of the four countries, the sound Saudi
efforts.”
US
officials say they believe the dispute with Qatar is impeding the establishment
of a united Gulf front to confront Iran.
Gargash
added in his tweet that the UAE “knows full well that the GCC relations with
brotherly Egypt are a fundamental pillar in preserving Arab security and
stability in the region, and it is looking forward to a successful Gulf
summit.”
The
reconciliation efforts also have been welcomed by the secretary-general of the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Yousef Bin Ahmad Bin Abdul Rahman
Al-Othaimeen, who in a Dec. 4 statement praised the efforts made by Kuwait to
promote Arab and Gulf solidarity and stability.
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/12/egypt-welcome-kuwait-end-gulf-crisis-saudi-arabia-qatar.html
-----
Time to
Bring Perpetrators of Iran’s 1988 Massacre to Justice
By Dr.
Majid Rafizadeh
December
13, 2020
Since its
establishment, the Islamic Republic has committed various forms of human rights
violations. One of the regime’s most egregious crimes, which until last week
seemed to have been forgotten by the wider world, was the 1988 massacre of tens
of thousands of political prisoners, including women and teenagers.
However, a
group of UN human rights experts has finally written a letter about the
massacre to the Iranian government, pointing out that the regime’s actions “may
amount to crimes against humanity.” The letter also called on the global
community to take action to investigate the atrocity, including through the
establishment of an international investigation.
Amnesty
International also weighed in on the issue and is applauding the move. Diana
Eltahawy, the human rights group’s deputy director for the Middle East and
North Africa, said: “The UN experts’ communication is a momentous breakthrough.
It marks a turning point in the long-standing struggles of victims’ families
and survivors, supported by Iranian human rights organizations and Amnesty
International, to end these crimes and obtain truth, justice and reparation.”
Although
the letter is a step in the right direction, the UN must do more to hold the
Iranian leaders accountable, both due to the heinous nature of the crime and
the high positions that some of the officials who played key roles in
orchestrating the massacre currently have. Current Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
was, for example, reportedly aware of the massacre.
For
decades, the Iranian regime has tried to systematically cover up one of its
greatest crimes. Less than 10 years after its establishment, the Islamic
Republic began cleansing prisons of thousands of dissidents and opposition
activists. Ultimately, an estimated 30,000 people lost their lives in the
brutal massacre. In 2017, Amnesty International released a comprehensive report
on the slaughter. The 200-page report stated that the disappeared “were mostly
young men and women, some just teenagers, unjustly imprisoned because of their
political opinions and non-violent political activities.”
Even some
high-ranking officials at the time warned then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Khomeini not to carry out the massacre. For example, a shocking audio recording
of a meeting between the regime’s second-most-senior official and a number of
people involved in the killings was surprisingly disclosed in 2016. In it,
Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, who had been named as Khomeini’s successor,
says in chillingly blunt terms: “In my view, the biggest crime in the Islamic
Republic, for which history will condemn us, has been committed at your hands,
and they’ll write your names as criminals in history.” He warned regime
officials: “You will be in the future etched in the annals of history as
criminals. The greatest crime committed under the Islamic Republic, from the
beginning of the revolution until now, which will be condemned by history, is
this crime committed by you.”
Montazeri
was talking to senior members of the “death committee” in Tehran, the likes of
which had been set up across the country to oversee the massacre of political
prisoners. He had written letters to Khomeini, urging clerical rulers to
refrain from committing a crime that should now rank alongside the Srebrenica
massacre. Enraged, Khomeini removed Montazeri as his heir apparent. The audio
tape was disclosed by Montazeri’s son, Ahmad, a moderate cleric who posted the
confidential recording on his website, but was ordered by the intelligence
agency to remove it.
Ironically,
almost all of the people Montazeri was addressing in the audio clip currently
or have recently enjoyed high-ranking positions in the regime. For example,
Mostafa Pourmohammadi, who was a representative of the intelligence ministry at
the notorious Evin Prison at the time, served as justice minister from 2013 to
2017 under the so-called moderate President Hassan Rouhani. Ebrahim Raisi was a
public prosecutor in 1988 and is now chief justice for the whole of Iran.
Hussein Ali Nayeri was a judge and is now a deputy of the Supreme Court of
Iran. In his memoir, Montazeri wrote that he told Nayeri to stop the executions
at least in the religious holidays during the month of Muharram, but Nayeri
said: “We have executed so far 750 people in Tehran... we get the job done with
(executing) another 200 people and then we will listen to whatever you say.”
Pourmohammadi has in recent years defended the commission of the massacre and
said he was “proud” of his role in the killing of political opponents.
The
foundations of the current regime’s power structure, with Khamenei as leader,
were built on that massacre. The world must know that the authorities now in
charge of Iran showed their true allegiance and unwavering fealty to the
fundamentalist regime and its goals by having no qualms about ordering and
implementing one of the greatest political crimes of the 20th century. The
international community must do more to identify those Iranian officials who
committed crimes against humanity and hold them accountable.
-----
Dr.
Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1776791
------
How Have
Philosophers Responded To The Pandemic?
By
Santiago Zabala
13 Dec 2020
In her
message to mark World Philosophy Day 2020, UNESCO Director-General Audrey
Azoulay underlined the exceptional nature of this year’s celebration.
“This day
is particularly meaningful this year,” she said. “It gives us the opportunity
to celebrate much more than an academic discipline or a human science, but a
certain way of being in the world made all the more necessary by the context in
which we live today.”
The context
Azoulay was referring to, of course, is the coronavirus pandemic that has
touched every aspect of our lives. Indeed, from Barcelona to Baghdad, COVID-19
has radically altered the daily routines of everyone, that is, their “being in
the world”.
Unlike the
September 11 attacks and the 2008 financial crisis – the first two supposedly
global events of the 21st century – this pandemic has not spared anyone
anywhere, and its consequences will continue to be felt for decades in every
corner of the world.
The global
nature of this emergency has compelled everyone to contribute to the efforts to
end it either professionally or in a personal capacity. While immunologists,
doctors, and nurses became indispensable in the quest to develop vaccines and
assist patients, others contributed simply by wearing masks and offering to
help their vulnerable neighbours during lockdowns.
But how
have philosophers contributed? Can “the love for wisdom”, as it is classically
defined, make any difference in a pandemic?
As Karl
Marx once pointed out, “Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world
in various ways; the point is to change it.” Something we learned this year,
however, is that this truism must be reversed.
The
pandemic is a direct consequence of the imperative for growth at all costs,
especially through extractive wealth-concentrating capitalism, and at the
expanse of the environment. This should make us all think whether any of us
have spent enough time interpreting the world around us, and whether our
actions have been preceded by thoughtful consideration and debate.
The recent
US presidential election, in which the isolationist “America first” candidate
experienced a crushing defeat, signalled a growing consensus that this
unprecedented global emergency requires a global solution. If this is indeed
the case, then philosophy can contribute in a great way to the resolution of
this crisis. After all, unlike “experts” who often have a narrow focus and
offer localised solutions, philosophy always aspires to address problems from a
global perspective.
Many
renowned philosophers, such as Judith Butler, Achille Mbembe, and Giorgio
Agamben, have written about the pandemic and the lessons all peoples of the world
could learn from it, but there are two thinkers whose global perspective can
especially help stem our obsession to change the world without taking the time
to interpret it first – Slavoj Zizek and Bruno Latour.
Zizek and
Latour do not necessarily agree on how we can overcome this pandemic, but they
both offer new ideas and questions that might at least prepare us for the next
global emergency.
Zizek
asserts that the way we deal with this pandemic “ultimately depends on our
basic stance toward human life”. This is why he believes this emergency, more
than it has changed the world, has brought to the fore those issues – such as
extreme inequality, the commodified digitisation of our lives, and
institutional disregard for the environment – that were raging beneath the
surface all along.
The fact
that there are billions of people, from refugees to those trapped in extreme
poverty or in war zones, for whom COVID-19 is a comparatively minor issue is an
indication that we are not “all in the same boat” as many suggest.
This is
also evident for those who cannot work from home, in safe isolation, and must
instead spend their day working in supermarkets, distribution depots, factories
and on the streets, protected only by whatever safety measures their employers
care to offer them. In order for some to survive in their private quarantine,
Zizek explains, many have to risk their lives for nothing more than the smooth
functioning of the world capitalist market.
According
to the Slovenian thinker, the pandemic not only reveals these devastating
consequences of capitalism, but also presents an opportunity for the
reinvention of communism. He is not talking about a possible rebirth of the
old-style communism of the Soviet Union, but rather a “reorganisation of global
economy which will no longer be at the mercy of market mechanisms”. Alongside
the viral pandemic, Zizek calls also for a confrontation with the pandemic of
inequality and ecological degradation – a reconsideration of our entire stance
towards life and nature.
This
reconsideration is also at the centre of Bruno Latour’s response to the
pandemic. The renowned French philosopher of science suggests that the
coronavirus emergency should be understood as a “dress rehearsal” for the
ongoing ecological crisis.
The coronavirus
epidemic, he explains, is not simply a stand-alone health crisis but part of a
much bigger problem, a moment within the ongoing global ecological
annihilation.
While it
might be true that we have now acknowledged the need to fight this virus collectively,
this acknowledgement did not expand to the ongoing ecological crisis, as not
many have drawn the connection between the continued degradation of the
environment and the outbreak of this sickness.
According
to the French thinker, the pandemic calls for a new definition of society that
is not limited to “humans among themselves” but also includes other actors who
do not have human forms such as “microbes, [the] internet, the law, the
organisation of hospitals, the logistics of the state, as well as the climate.”
When this
pandemic is over, Latour believes, it will be our obligation to demand from
politicians that economic recovery does not bring back the climate policies
that created this condition in the first place. The fact that we managed in a
few weeks to put our economic system on hold everywhere is a demonstration that
it is possible to instantly stop the so-called capitalist train of progress and
create an alternative. “If I could change one thing,” as he recently said, “it
would be to get out of the system of production and instead build a political
ecology.”
Both Zizek
and Latour, as well as other philosophers who have publicly reflected on this
pandemic, concur that this is the time to reconsider our “way of being in the
world”. For too long we have changed the world too rapidly without thinking
carefully about the consequences. This is why both Zizek and Latour welcome the
lockdowns that forced many into a kind of retreat to think, question, and
imagine new ways to create a better future.
While
Zizek’s call for “a reorganisation of global economy” and Latour’s desire for
“political ecology” might sound unrealistic even during this pandemic, even
merely thinking about these ideas could exert enough pressure on us to
reconsider our “way of being in” and interpreting the world.
----
Santiago
Zabala is ICREA Research Professor of Philosophy at the Pompeu Fabra University
in Barcelona. He is the author and editor of, among others, 'Why Only Art Can
Save Us (2017), 'Hermeneutic Communism' (2011, coauthored with G. Vattimo),
'The Future of Religion' (2005), all published by Columbia University Press and
translated into several languages. His work can be seen here. His latest book
is Being at Large: Freedom in the Age of Alternative Facts (2020). He has
written for The Guardian, The New York Times, and The Los Angeles Review of
Books.
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/12/13/how-have-philosophers-responded-to-the-pandemic
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