Sunday, April 19, 2015

Time to establish a Christian Arabic State in the Middle East - 2

I now want to explain why American politicians don't seem to care about the plight of Christian Arabs. In our system, politicians don't act on any issue unless there is adequate pressure and lobbying to force them to. Christian Arabs to my knowledge have no centralized organization that speaks on their behalf. There is no one lobbying on their behalf with the exception of a few voices from religious corners. There is no large voting constituency that politicians need to be concerned about. Christian-Arabs in America lack organizational, financial and political might. The Arab-American institute run by James Zogby is an organization that is mostly funded by Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia and the emirate states. Even though it is run mostly by Christian Arabs of Lebanese descent, the organizations tends not to rock the boat on the status quo. You will not see James Zogby criticizing Saudi Arabia human rights record or religious freedom record. In fact, where does the Arab-American Institute stand on Christians being ethnically cleansed and oppressed in practically all of the Arab states? Another challenge is identity. Many Christian Arabs identify more with their country of origin than their religion. Christian Egyptians, Christian Lebanese, Christian Syrian, Christian Iraqi's or Christian Palestinian all put their nationality above their religion in terms of identity. This cannot continue and it has to change in order to create a new reality in the Middle East. You can't create a new reality without first creating a new way of thinking. Currently there is no such thing as the " Christian-Arab people". To create such a people and a new way of thinking, it requires an ideology that can speak to their highest aspirations. A good idea is mightier than a sword they say and history proves it to be true. Christian-Arabs can only look forward to either continue living as second-class citizens or in the worst case scenario, which I argue is unfolding now, become extinct in their own lands. Not unlike what early Jewish Zionists had to do, basically carve a "Jewish people" out of the Jewish diaspora, Christian Arabs need to follow that example. Jews came from different parts of the world and they spoke different languages. Arab-Christians need to start thinking about establishing a state of their own. Christian Arabs have a similar language, religion, geography and culture. On paper this should be easier to pull off than Zionism. Nevertheless, it is an undertaking of biblical proportion to gather all the Christian-Arabs and create a state of their own in that tinder box called the Middle East.