IASbhai Daily Editorial Hunt | 14th Oct 2020
Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.– Jamie Paolinetti
Dear AspirantsIASbhai Editorial Hunt is an initiative to dilute major Editorials of leading Newspapers in India which are most relevant to UPSC preparation –‘THE HINDU, LIVEMINT , INDIAN EXPRESS’ and help millions of readers who find difficulty in answer writing and making notes everyday. Here we choose two editorials on daily basis and analyse them with respect to UPSC MAINS 2020-21.
EDITORIAL HUNT #188 :“Why Abraham Accord is most Important Deal of 2020 ? | UPSC”
Hamid Ansari
Why Abraham Accord is most Important Deal of 2020 ? | UPSC
Hamid Ansari is the former Vice President of India, 2007-2017
HEADLINES:
The Arab World and the elusive two-state solution
CENTRAL THEME:
The Arab World in a geopolitical sense no longer exists; the PLO leadership may have to think of a one-state solution
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 2 : IR
MAINS QUESTION:
What is Abraham Accord ? Critically analyse the impact of Abraham Accord in Gulf region. (GS 2)
LEARNING:
- Meaning of Abraham Accord
- Arab Nationalism
- The Palestine Issue
INTRODUCTION:
- This was the first time any Arab country had normalized relations with Israel since Jordan in 1994.
- THE BYCOTT : Gulf countries had boycotted Israel since its independence in 1948.
- ARABS vs ISRAEL : Arab countries however gradually developed stealthy relations with Israel over the years.
- REVOLT : The State of Palestine quit its role as the chair of Arab League to protest the accords
- ABRAHAMIC : A few weeks ago, someone with evident limitations fulminated against a category of faiths depicted as ‘Abrahamic’.
- SIGNIFICANCE : The global media gleefully proclaimed the newly minted ‘Abraham Accord’ to describe a happening of political significance.
- FOLLOWERS : Followers today account for a little over 55% of the world’s population.
- LINGUISTIC IDENTITY : The followers belong to a group of languages as Semitic — principally Arabic, Hebrew, Amharic and Aramaic.
BODY:
LANGUAGE AS FULCRUM
- ARAB EMPIRE : Till the end of World War I, most of the Arabic-speaking lands of West Asia and North Africa were ruled directly or indirectly by the Ottoman Empire.
- ARAB NATIONALISM : The point of commonality is the language.The seeds of Arab nationalism were sown in the 19th century.
- RECORDS OF ORIGIN : It was at a secret gathering of certain members of the Syrian Scientific Society that the Arab national movement may be said to have uttered its first cry.
- THE BATTLE CRY : Arise, ye Arabs, and awake! The poem, viewed as seditious by the Ottoman rulers, did much to foster the national movement in its infancy.
A CRITIQUE
- LEAGUE OF ARAB STATES : In 1945 and reportedly on British prompting, the League of Arab States was formed to ‘draw closer the relations between member states and co-ordinate their political activities .
- ROLE OF ARAB LEAGUE : Its aim was of realising a close collaboration between them, to safeguard their independence and sovereignty, consider interests of the Arab countries.
- THE REVOLUTION : The critique of mystifications of Arab nationalism was a promise; but the promise of getting light at the end of the tunnel did not bear the expected results.
- UNDP REPORT : This was attributed by a UNDP Human Development Report many years ago to deficits of knowledge, freedom and empowerment of women.
- INFRA-HISTORICAL RHYTHM : Thus, absence of participatory governance and its institutions, disregard for individual freedoms, and the prevalence of one-person rule resulted in autocratic rule.
- THE UPRISING : The Arab Uprising of 2011 showed, deep disagreements prevented the emergence of an Arab order and its impact on ‘Arab unity’.
THE PALESTINE ISSUE
- PALESTINE ISSUE : The one problem on which Arab states professed unity of opinion, but not necessarily of approach, related to Palestine and to the demand for a Palestinian state.
- OSLO ACCORD : After multiple resorts to war and popular uprisings, the tenacity of Israel and its American backers forced the Arab states to accept the Oslo Accords.
- ARAB PEACE INITIATIVE : Finally the Saudi-sponsored 2002 Arab Peace Initiative.
- CHALLENGES FOR ARABS : The perceived threat from Iran, the spread of regional terrorism and the rise of Islamism.
PUBLIC OPINION VS. POLICY
- ARAB OPINION INDEX FOR 2019-2020 : It was published last week concluded that 79% of the respondents felt ‘the Palestinian cause concerns all Arabs and not the Palestinian people alone’.
- A DECADE AGO : This figure in 2012-2013 was 84%. It is thus difficult not to conclude that opinion at the public/respondent level is not in step with official policy orientation on this question.
IASbhai Windup:
A WAY OUT
- GEOPOLITICS : So the Arab World in a geopolitical sense no longer exists.
- ESSENCE : It is all about who will retain its focus on linguistic homogeneity and attendant cultural glory !
Hopes are still alive for Palestine that divine justice would eventually be forthcoming as has been with their Abrahamic cousins.
SOURCES: THE HINDU EDITORIAL HUNT | Why Abraham Accord is most Important Deal of 2020 ? | UPSC
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