The failure of the Arab League system could logically herald the failure of its member states and in the long run could lead to the fall of both the league and the political "systems" that desperately cling to keep it floating.
This failure has led realpolitic ruling elites to seek "foreign solutions" to Pan-Arab crises.
The Arab League was de-Arabized a long time ago.
Replying to a question about closing the Palestinian information office in 1987 and the creation of a Palestinian state, the former U.S. Secretary of State, Sirus Vance, told an audience of diplomats and journalists at the National Press Club in Washington, that Arabs were never united neither for war nor for peace, that Algeria's former president, Chadli bin Jadid, was the only visiting Arab leader to urge the U.S. Administration to support the creation of a Palestinian state. Had 21 Arab nations closed the offices of the USIA in their capitals, Washington would have opened the PLO information office within days, he said.
Did the Arab League change since 1987? Yes it did, but towards more de-Arabization.
The failure of the Arab leaders to convene an emergency summit meeting on the Israeli offensive on Lebanon has exacerbated the people-state conflict.
*Nicola Nasser is a veteran Arab journalist based in Ramallah, West Bank. He is the editor of the English language Web site of the Palestine Media Centre (PMC).
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