The Lebanese-British scientist Sir Peter Medawar won the Nobel Prize in 1960 as a result of his achievements in transplanting human organs into foreign bodies. In the world of medicine, he was called “Father of Transplantation.” The man came to visit his father’s country, and I interviewed him at the St. George Hotel, even though his wife was scolding him the whole time: This young man will not understand what you are saying.
The truth is that I tried, understood and wrote. What I have not understood until today is the Arabs’ rejection of a single body. I have not yet understood how the first Arab unity between Egypt and Syria (1958-1961) fell after three years of discord and rivalry between the two governments, the two peoples, and the two armies. And always about ridiculous appearances, as the memoirs of men of the era narrate.
After that, not a month passed without the announcement of a bilateral, tripartite, or quadruple unit. She lived the longest, four months. The novice boy, Muammar, insisted on the great freedom fighter, Bourguiba, on an immediate unity that lasted as long as it was announced. A unity was established between Syria, Jaafar Al-Numeiri, and Brother Muammar, and it ended with applause. A unity was declared between Syria and Iraq, and it was more hostile than divorce. Yemen joined the unit squadron, and Abdullah Al-Sallal won the rank of field marshal. My colleague, Muhammad Khaled Al-Qatma, saw him at Cairo airport, greeted him, and tried to ask him some questions. But he noticed that the field marshal was consulting his Egyptian companion before answering the question.
Some Arab politicians turned unity into an insulting joke. Some believed that this was a deliberate attempt to mock the most important possible Arab work.
When we ask: “Why did we get here?”, we must remember those who brought us here. We must remember the festivals of hatred and malice. And that we are on the way to Palestine, destroying it and with it the Arab countries on both sides of the road. We must remember, in particular, that those to whom we handed over the reins of countries gave us what they had. They gave us their nature and what they know. We are not here today. We have been here since the day the unity between Egypt and Syria was dropped, so that it could be established between Egypt and Yemen. We have been here since Palestine became “the puppet of the Arab world.” Since the accusation of treason has become as easy as evening greetings. Since compassion between rulers was lost, and since the strong ruler began besieging the weak ruler, with insults, insults, and even obscenities. A body that rejects everything. A mind that rejects all logic. And people applaud the crosscutting.
Peter Medawar had to give us the secret of planting. How do we give immunity to the body of the unit? How do we realize that the wear and tear begins from within, and especially how do we escape from the dictates of the “escorts,” as is happening in Bab al-Mandab, where al-Houthi was given the title of field marshal and carried out the orders of the field marshals.
