Our unity is a ball for a day, and our division is politics for an age
How amazed we were by the scale of Arab and Gulf sympathy for the Arab national teams, Egypt and Morocco, in the last World Cup. Different Arab nationalities united in their feelings. Their victory was our victory, and even the injustice suffered by some of them we felt as an injustice to all of us. The match, which lasted no more than 90 minutes, united millions of Arabs in their feelings, enthusiasm, and love. This raises a question that may seem innocent: If we Arabs can unite when facing opponents who seek to defeat us in such sporting events, why does helplessness prevail and dominate the scene and hearts sometimes when it comes to security, sovereignty, and the future?
All of us Arabs are convinced that the greatest threat facing our nation today is not fleeting political differences, but regional and international challenges that we have experienced through all their stages, the latest being talk of redrawing a new map of the Arab reality, recalibrating the balance of power, and imposing new facts on the ground based on interests that know only the language of force. In this landscape, Israel remains one of the most prominent actors, which many believe seeks to consolidate the hopes of “Hostile Israel,” characterized by its strategic superiority, and is seriously striving to expand its regional influence, relying on political and military support from major powers, foremost among them the United States of America.
In the face of such challenges, our response must not be seasonal, emotional, or tied to a specific event. We have understood yesterday, today, and tomorrow that the security of any Arab state is not a local matter concerning it alone, but part of the security of the entire nation. Any Arab state that believes the threat will stop at its borders is not reading history well. Major projects do not jump directly to the final goal; rather, they are preceded by small, distant steps that test reactions, before expanding. These projects thrive on gaps and divisions.
We may differ in policies, and visions may vary, which is natural among states. Our Arab past has proven, and continues to prove, that division is the greatest gift we can offer to those who await our weakness. How much we, Arabs in general and the Gulf in particular, need the feelings of unity we see in stadiums to transform into a permanent culture, political will, and popular belief that what unites us is far greater than what divides us. Population size, no matter how large, does not provide protection; rather, cohesion and unity are what matter most.
As a Gulf Arab, I believe that Gulf security cannot be fragmented. Any military, political, or expansionist threat targeting a specific Gulf state must be viewed as a threat to a system of states that are united not only by geography, but by a security, destiny, and future system. Therefore, the strongest message that Gulf states can send lies not in the number of missiles or the size of armies, but in a single, unified voice. It does not matter whether the source of the threat is Israel, Iran, or any other power, because the principle must remain constant and unchanging.
Ibrahim Al-Ahmad
