Word: arabism
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Lebanon took a hopeful turn last week. Reason: Syrian troops, who only a week earlier had been combatants in the war, suddenly switched to peacemakers and took the road to Beirut-in order to enforce peace between the Christian and Moslem factions. With the tacit permission of other major Arab powers-notably Egypt and Saudi Arabia-Syria was on the verge of turning Lebanon into a de facto protectorate...
Israel's failure to deal with the Palestinian problem could represent miscalculation. Israel may be allowing another big opportunity to slip by. The Palestinian problem essentially began with the creation of the state of Israel and it has been perpetuated as a result of active manipulation by Arab leaders and by the refusal on the part of Israel to take any initiative to reach a resolution. The problem wasn't "resolved" during the Lebanese war and will not be resolved in the future by violent means: that message was made abundantly clear by the cease-fire imposed by the Saudi...
Thus, the Palestinian issue remains alive and important. There are Palestinians all over the world with large communities in several Arab countries, Israeli-occupied territories, and in Israel proper behind the so-called green line. They are not about to disappear and abandon their sense of national identity and their longing for a homeland. They will continue to struggle in order to win the right to self-determination. The main spokesman for this nationalist drive is the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), recognized by nearly every nation in the world as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people...
...strength allows, the PLO has become a much more independent group and has therefore much greater flexibility of operation. The first signs of this flexibility are hints of a more pro-American stand, accompanied by a leaning towards the Egypt-Saudi Arabian side, the pro-western wing of the Arab world. (Hussein should also be mentioned as part of the pro-western wing, but for the time being he seems to be fairly isolated in the Arab world, except for some Syrian support...
Iraq and Libya, the main representatives of the rejectionists among the Arab countries, have been considerably neutralization by the latest developments. To a somewhat lesser extent this is also true of Syria and Russia. The neutralization presents an excellent opportunity for a dialogue with the moderates in the Arab world--a confrontation which would neutralize the radicals even further...