From: abde@troi.cc.rochester.edu (Tamer A. Abdelgawad)
Subject: Re: Arab U N I T Y
Summary: My two cents' worth
Organization: University of Rochester (Rochester, NY)
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 92 10:05:41 GMT

In article <nabeel.722049956@oracle.sce.carleton.ca> nabeel@sce.carleton.ca (Bulbul) writes:
>In <1992Nov17.063918.17594@galileo.cc.rochester.edu> abde@troi.cc.rochester.edu (Tamer A. Abdelgawad) writes:
>
>" I guess this implies we either have to kick all the Christian Arabs out
>" of the Arab world, or simply force them into an Arab unity based on Islam
>" (since we can't convince them!)
>
>   Everybody is kicking butt, why not us? But we don't have to do it anyway. Xians
>who do not like it can sell their property and immigrate to the States where it is
>already better than Arab/Muslim countries, so they won't lose. Again Xians can stay
>in a Muslim country, even if they don't like it, God expected:
>       "wa lan tar.dA ^anka lyahOdo wa la Na.sArA .haTA taTabi^a miLatahom."
>If you want to please them, convert. 
>   And why do you have to force them? What will they lose, compared to today's
>situation?

Sounds like what some Israelis want to do to the Palestinians.  As far as
why we would have to force them, it's simple:  They don't want Arab Unity
based on Islam, and probably for good reason.

>
>   Arab unity based on the Arab race is very hard to achieve. There is no way to
>discern if someone is Arab or a foreigner who lived for generations and mixed with
>the Arab society. If you want to base it on the language and culture, there are
>nonArabs who speak the language and practice the culture more than some Arabs. And
>if you want to base it on political stance then it is obvious to be funny, what do
>you consider Somalis/Moritans/etc.? It is hopeless. do"i ya maZIkah!
>

You rule out race, language, and political stance.  I agree.  By similar 
arguments, I rule out religion (otherwise, we would have to include muslim
republics in the former USSR, muslims in Afghanistan, Bagladesh, India, 
Iran, ...). Do you agree? 

>" After all, Islamic tyranny would be much better than other types of tyranny!
>
>   Your fear for belly dancing is unwarranted; you can marry a gorgeous gal and let
>her belly dance for you day and night. Also my problem is greater than yours; I
>prefer exotic dancing/striptease because it is more creative and artistic. I guess
>I am too old for belly dancing (-; (Sometimes I like to wink with my left eye!) 
Maybe you haven't seen a good bellydancer ;-)

>
>   But answering your literal remark, Islamic tyranny is the worst of all, especially
>if the tyrant is a relative or descendent of the Prophet (MPBUH). Look at Abbasids,
>Fatemis, and modern relatives of the Prophet. hAt ilmizjwiz yA ^aBOd.
>
>   By the way, Tamer, what is your opinion? You've just been participating negatively.
>What do you suggest? (Other than belly dancing ;-))
>
>
>** bismiLAh iTa.hadnA.
>                       From a UAE song
>
>** You give me reason to live.
>                       From "9 1/2 Weeks"

I suggest that Arab unity, in the sense being discussed in this newsgroup,
is completely undesirable:  To me, the only kind of unity that makes sense
in today's world is Economic.  Of course, to have the sort of economic 
cooperation that is strong enough to be called 'unity', there are some
prerequisites.  For one, the parties involved should not lose by entering
into such a union.  That prerequisite alone should rule out any kind of
'union' on an arab-world scale:  while the Saudis and Kuwaitis might find
that it is in their best interest to open their common border, and trade
freely, do not expect the Saudis to be happy about opening their border
and their markets completely to, say, Egypt.

I'm not implying that there is no room for Arab cooperation.  Clearly,
Arab countries can work out mutually beneficial cooperation agreements,
and they do!  For example, many oil-rich Arab countries find it beneficial
to employ relatively cheap white-collar labor from Egypt, and the Egyptians
are not complaining.  Ditto for Egyptian farmers in Iraq.

So instead of making general statements about Arab Unity, I suggest 
posters point out specific situations where Arab cooperation would be
useful.

And *that* is what I think :)

Tamer Abdelgawad