"What if Egypt were to reach an agreement with the Nile basin states ending the dispute over the cooperative framework agreement?" asked Mahmood Issa in an opinion piece for Qatari daily Al Watan. Would that mean that the Nile water problem, which is still escalating, would come to an end? Our problem is that we limit the issue to the current crisis and the solution to maintaining our share of the river's water.
"It is true that reaching this conclusion right now is a matter of life and death, but what about afterwards?" There is an essential element of the solution that is still missing, in Egypt and in the Arab world, considering that most of the Arab countries suffer from water problems. It is the element of scientific research which allows nations to benefit from modern technologies for processing water, reducing waste and searching for alternative water sources under the sands of our vast deserts. Many studies have shown that the deserts contain underground rivers. A researcher at Nasa confirmed that the exploration of Arabian deserts may take six years once its financial cost of $200-500 million is covered. New technologies have already proved the existence of fresh water lakes that date back to 6000 years under the sands of Darfur in Sudan. The water crisis calls for scientific solutions, no matter what the cost, for the alternative is human disaster.
In an article for Jordanian daily Al Dustoor, Hussein al Rawashida wrote about the Freedom Flotilla that is supposed to reach the Gaza beaches soon, but which might have to postpone its arrival date due to Israeli threats. In any case, the European campaign that launched this initiative has already reached its goals. It gathered 650 activists from more than 60 countries worldwide to transport aid and supplies to besieged Gazans.
Facing this insistence to break the blockade, Israel finds itself in a difficult position, unable to maintain its distorted image before the West. Turkey, as many other nations did, exploited the initiative politically, offering to provide air protection to the ships and to transport passengers in case of emergency. "It appears we are seeing a Turkish-European joint effort to uncover and condemn Israel's real face." This is a position that can be exploited in the Arab world to lift the siege, call for more international support for the Palestinians and bring their case back to the forefront of international interest. "We wish that the convoy had set sail from an Arab port but we have found people to do our job for us. They deserve our respect and gratitude just as Gazans deserve every support to enable them to continue their resistance."
In response to the failure of campaigns calling for women's right to drive cars in Saudi Arabia, Zainab Hifni wrote in the Emirati newspaper Al Ittihad to voice her objections.
"If we were to wait for a popular decision for every new change in our societies, we would reach a standstill." In fact, recent history shows that strict religious figures were strongly against women's right to education in Saudi, yet here they are now supporting their daughters' education so they can reap the rewards of their income in the future. These same people were strict opponents of satellite dishes that would open the gates of vice, and yet we see them now as guests on all the Arab channels where they've become stars, earning millions.
It is a known fact that continuous and unrelenting strife is the way to change in a society. Any change is feared at first, but the fear soon dissolves into acceptance. "I am not interested in women's right to drive a car. My focus is on the necessity of freeing Saudi women so they can take their destinies into their own hands." Lifting men's guardianship over women will allow them to seek their rights and benefit from the riches of their country. Change will not happen overnight. It should be the result of accumulations in the march of history. But the spark has been lit and change is inevitable.
In an interview with Ghassan Charbel, the editor-in-chief of the London-based newspaper Al Hayat, the Iraqi president Jalal Talibani revealed: "Once, the Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki in this very house [Mr Talibani's residency] told me: 'Ask your friend, Zalmay Khalilzad [who was then US ambassador to Baghdad], what does the US want from us? We have supported the liberation of Iraq from Saddam, backed the ruling council and the election of the president, and endorsed the new order that the Americans have established in Iraq. There is nothing the Americans have done that we didn't support, so ask your friend what more do they want from us?'"
The Iranian foreign minister's statement sums up the paradoxical nature of the Tehran-Washington story: hostile discourse on camera, hidden concord on the ground, wrote Daoud al Shariyan, a columnist with the same newspaper. Tehran has, indeed, never stood in the way of the US invasion. "It simply sought to exploit it in its own interest." Even the Iraqi president thinks the two antagonists are somehow willing to mend fences. When asked if there is any possibility that the US and Iran would ever seal some sort of deal, he replied: "I do think there is a desire on the part of Americans and Iranians to reach an agreement."
* Digest compiled by Racha Makarem rmakarem@thenational.ae
