When the Ottoman Sultanate collapsed at the end of the First World War, the Arab Levant had two options: either accept the nation states that the British and French mandates come to us with, or try to build a state that encompasses all the communities and peoples of the region, such that the link, this time around, is Arab instead of Ottoman.
It is widely believed that freedom, rights, and interests are the Arab Levant’s vehicle to national democratic change, that is, toward refounding its homelands. Here, citizens head to public squares and bring down a regime with absolutely no legitimacy that is contaminated by nasty interests; a new legitimate regime created by the population emerges and represents their interests. As for ramping up civic and peaceful resistance, it accelerates this noble and meaningful exercise.
Many adjectives could be used in describing the current moment in history of the Arab Levant, but we can add another: it is a struggle between two conceptions of "dignity". In the Axis of Resistance's rhetoric, Gaza is the crown jewel of dignity, not only that of the Palestinians, but also Arab and Muslim dignity. Why? Because Gaza fires missiles and has missiles fired at it; it stands firm, engages the enemy, and defies - in a word, because it is fighting.
In this essay, renowned Lebanese journalist and writer Hazem Saghieh asks whether the Arab Levant, which stretches from Iraq in the east to Egypt in the west, will remain an inhabitable region in the long term