Expert Says Gaza War Marks End of Pan-Arab Unity

The concept of a unified “Arab World” is dead, according to a provocative new analysis published this week by a prominent Middle East expert.

“The Palestinian people are facing a barbaric and brutal Israeli aggression by themselves,” writes Dr Mohamed Berween, Emeritus Professor at Texas A&M International University, in an extensive analysis for Libyan Express.

His declaration comes amid the ongoing Gaza conflict, which he says has exposed unprecedented fissures in Arab solidarity.

The analysis reveals shocking diplomatic exchanges between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Arab leaders in October 2023, documented in Bob Woodward’s book “War”.

In one meeting, according to Berween’s analysis, a prominent Arab leader told Blinken: “We told Israel not to do this, we told them not to trust Hamas… We will not say this publicly, but we support the defeat of Hamas”.

The “Arab World” traditionally encompasses 22 nations across 13 million square kilometres and contains one-fourth of global gas and oil reserves. But Berween argues this unified concept was “born dead” — a British Empire strategy to challenge Ottoman rule that never truly materialised.

The regions traditionally considered part of the Arab World include al-Maghreb (Northern Africa), al-Neel (Nile River region), al-Mashreq (the Levant), al-Khaleej (the Gulf), and Al-Janoob (Horn of Africa).

In his analysis, Berween identifies several Western tactics that he says undermined Arab unity, including the “politics of fear”, use of historical symbolism, and double standards on Palestinian issues.

“The neo-cons do not want to narrow our list of enemies,” Berween quotes American conservative author Patrick J Buchanan. “They want to expand our list of enemies to include Israel’s enemies”.

Instead of the failed “Arab World” concept, Berween proposes a new framework: “The Confederate States of the Middle East”. He suggests a system where states maintain sovereignty whilst cooperating on shared objectives.

The analysis also highlights a cultural decline, noting that even the Arabic language, despite its UN official status, faces challenges. Arab leaders, Berween observes, often prefer speaking English, “even when most of them do not speak it well”.

The Gaza war has “dropped what so called, the ‘fig leaf’ that was covering their shame,” Berween writes, referring to the collapse of pan-Arab solidarity.

His analysis suggests this could mark the beginning of a new era in Middle Eastern politics — one potentially more focused on practical cooperation than ideological unity.