Golan Heights, the US, and the shameful Arab regimes

The Arab electronic armies insult and curse Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on a daily basis for being the only one to express his rejection of the new American position on the Golan Heights. The Golan Heights is an occupied Arab territories and neither the international community nor international law recognise Israel’s sovereignty over it, and consider such sovereignty an illegal, criminal, military occupation.

READ: Israel has no rights over Golan Heights, says Erdogan

The Arab regimes no longer care about the Arab land. Instead, the media outlets in the Gulf have been busy talking about Detective Mueller’s acquittal of US President Donald Trump more than these outlets addressed the US position on the occupied Arab territories. The irony is that these Arab regimes themselves have constantly condemned the Russian and Iranian presence in Syria, calling it a violation of the sovereignty of an Arab country, while they have and continues to remain silent on the Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights, and the American position on this occupation. It is as if the Iranians are foreigners while the Israelis are the indigenous people.

Some Arab regimes have reached a level of disregard and shame that no one expected. We have even started to miss the statements and speeches that the Arab regimes presented to their peoples because Trump is currently enslaving Arab rulers, silencing them. He has even banned them from protesting for show or issuing fake statements in order to distract and pacify their people. The problem, however, is not with the Arab regimes, as they have been exposed and have over the past years raced towards Israel in order to please Netanyahu and resort to him for help to confront their people. What is important here is the analysis of the new American position on the Golan Heights and what the Trump administration is doing regarding our Arab region and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The American administration is currently completely changing the legal status of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is liquidating the major issues of dispute, unilaterally, without any negotiations. It is clear that it is also implementing the “deal of the century” in practice before announcing its terms. This also applies to the refugee and Jerusalem issues, which is something that was clearly understood by the King of Jordan during his last visit to Washington. This is why he returned to Jordan and made a surprising speech in which he angrily expressed his commitment to his position on occupied Jerusalem and rejected any change.

The US is currently violating international law and providing absolute support to Israel in confiscating Arab territories, including the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. This is evidenced by the fact that during 2018, illegal and illegitimate settlement activity reached a peak in the West Bank, reaching over 480,000 settlers. This is the largest number since 1967, meaning that the West Bank no longer exists, as it is distributed amongst a Separation Wall, Jewish settlements and military checkpoints. Between all of this, there are small Palestinian communities. Israel took advantage of the new American administration and exploited the tensions in the Arab region. It also benefited from the regimes that have no legitimacy in the region because these regimes were forced into Israel’s embrace in order to remain in their positions. Therefore, Trump and his son-in-law supported settlement activity in the West Bank and made the decision to move their embassy to occupied Jerusalem. Now they are recognising the annexation of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights. Meanwhile, the Arabs are silent or preoccupied with insulting Erdogan through their electronic armies, on which they spend millions of dollars.

OPINION: Whatever Israel wants, Israel gets

The bottom line is that the Arab reality is very miserable and shameful. While no Arab ruler has dared to condemn America and say that the Golan Heights is an occupied Syrian Arab territory, Erdogan alone has done it. Why are the Americans doing this? The answer is simple: they are actually liquidating the Palestinian cause and ending contentious issues gradually, without any negotiations and without consideration for any Arab or Palestinian party.

This article first appeared in Arabic in Al-Quds Al-Arabi on 24 March 2019

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.