The last annual summit of Arab Heads of states in Damascus, in March this year, was met with a chorus of apathy on the streets of Amman, Cairo, Casablanca, Gaza and every other corner of the Arab world. The only thing that seems to get people to turn on their TV sets is the perennial (and always entertaining) Gaddafi speech, with the average Arab viewer wondering just how far the Colonel will go in his latest oration.

It is difficult to blame the Arabs for deriding their league. The seeming impotence of the Arab League in the face of adversity is quite legendary. As the situation in Palestine, especially Gaza, deteriorates, as the cruel civil war wages in Iraq (not to mention the illegal invasion that sparked it), as the Darfur situation worsens, the Arab league stands totally powerless. And this is just a snapshot of the current crop of crises in Arabia. The history of the last six decades since the founding of the League in 1945 is deluged with examples of the Arab League’s inefficiency and incapacity to resolve any of the major issues facing the region.

But then, in the midst of all this inaction, we woke up one morning last week to the sight of a truly extraordinary and improbable achievement: a real Arab League success. The Arab League’s success in brokering an agreement between the endlessly feuding Lebanese factions is a major triumph of unprecedented caliber. Of course, particular credit is due to the Qatari Government and the few Arab Foreign Ministers who devoted their time and energy towards the attainment of this goal in the period leading up to the agreement. But it was the institution of the Arab League that made this entire effort possible and, despite all our instincts to disbelieve, we should all recognize that.

The success is particularly laudable in light of the initial inability of the Arab League to put a meeting together quickly enough to respond to the surge of violence in Lebanon that started earlier this month. When the decisions of the Lebanese government to dismantle the telecommunications network of Hezbollah and to remove the security chief of Beirut airport unleashed an unprecedented reaction by Hezbollah on the streets of Beirut, it took the Arab League almost a week to get the Foreign Ministers of its members to meet.

When the Foreign Ministers finally managed to congregate, most Arabs didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. With Beirut burning for several days, the sight of this belated meeting was discouraging to say the least. And we all were betting on the usual result, i.e. a few speeches, a couple of incidents, and then the dignitaries pack up and head home on the earliest flight.

Somehow, Arab will manifested itself, with the rival factions of Lebanon compelled to agree to attend a meeting in Doha, Qatar, as a direct result of the meeting of the Arab League. Even then, we all thought it was a meeting doomed to failure. As the days wore on in Doha, we were sure it was all going nowhere. As leaks broke through informing us of the latest disagreement, we all shook our heads with the usual air of resignation mixed with disbelief.

And then, despite all of our misgivings, the Arab League managed to do what Sarkozy, Bush, the United Nations and many others have failed to do: Secure a deal amongst the forces of the great Lebanese divide that had brought the country to a standstill for 18 months and was about to take the country down the dark tunnels of civil war.

Lebanon is now celebrating the election of Michel Suleiman as its new President, filling a vacancy that has persisted since November last year and that could not be resolved through 19 previous attempts in Parliament.

In all of this, credit is due to the indefatigable nature of the Arab League’s Secretary General, Amr Moussa. I have always marveled at his extraordinary capacity to soldier on despite the failure of Arab countries to reach agreement on any major political issue.

As we reflect on this achievement, there is a lesson for us Arabs that is worth noting. We seem to have taken cynicism in the Arab world to new highs. We are artists of self-deprecation, and not of the charming, Hugh Grant variety!

I am not belittling the reasons for our cynical or defeatist outlook. We sure have tons of reasons to be downcast about the present Arab predicament. From coast to coast, Arab countries face daunting challenges ranging from civil wars to a seemingly unstoppable and downright scary proliferation of religious extremism. The helplessness with which we watch crisis unfold is enough to put anyone in a state of anxiety or depression.

But it is time to try and snap out of it. And one way to do that is to try and inject a few more ounces of self-belief and belief in some of our institutions. Or, to be more precise, perhaps part of the answer to all the problems we face in the region lies in applying ourselves to work patiently to improve the lot of our institutions and systems, such as the Arab League and various national institutions.

The answer could be in a little bit of application and effort towards our current systems. For example, many Arabs rightly worry about the chronic lack of democracy in Arab countries. And in this state of eternal concern and sarcasm, they leave any institutions that have some semblance of democracy to fall prey to either the thoughtless or the extremists amongst us. Any knowledge of the history of true democracies shows that many of the oldest democracies developed with time, with Parliaments and their processes improving through the effort of citizens. The British Parliament was a highly imperfect institution and it took the dedication of people throughout centuries to work within that institution and lead it to where it is today.

The same is true of more effective models of regionalization. The European Community did not reach where it is today without the commitment of people to its symbolism and the effort of a number of thought leaders. This process managed to turn centuries of war into a period of great economic harmony that was unimaginable to most in the aftermath of World War II. The Gulf Cooperation Council is fast becoming almost EU-like in its ideals and practice. The Arab League could in turn yet prove itself to be the nucleus of a major change in Arabia. One important area is that of the economic role of the Arab League.

HH Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashed, the Ruler of Dubai, suggested two years ago an idea that could prove pivotal if applied. He suggested an annual summit of Arab leaders that focused purely on economics, and ways to improve the economic situation of all in the region. In other words, the League could have one annual summit for politics and one for economics. How refreshing would that be? With Arab Presidents and Kings gathered to focus entirely on economics, the room for rhetoric would diminish further and the opportunity for effective brainstorming would widen.

And so, today, as we reflect on a major achievement of the Arab League, and the sense of timid hope that prevails in Lebanon as a result, let us for one small moment exercise that emotion that has eluded us Arabs for so long: Optimism.

I will always remember my conversation with a friend on the day it transpired that Baghdad was about to break all records in the speed of city surrender in conflict (so much for Stalingrad!). He said in despair: “Call me back in a few minutes. I think I’m going to kill myself.”! This friend is a modern Arab. His education and work life had been almost entirely in Europe and the pragmatism of that continent marks his character. And he has always believed in the sanctity of democracy. He was far ahead of Bush and Rumsfeld in the anti-Saddam stakes. He hated Saddam so much he would have recurring nightmares in which he sees a scarily grumpy Saddam threatening to kill him. Yet he was hoping, like that overwhelming majority of Arabs, for a victory for the Iraqi people.

Other enlightened Arabs were hoping against hope for a miracle: the Iraqi people, in a moment of inspiration at once rivaling the American War of Independence and the Czech Velvet revolution, would put up a stoic resistance to the Anglo American invasion while simultaneously getting rid of Saddam. People power like never seen before in the Arab world.

But that was too much to ask of a people who have lived for at least six hundred years under dictatorial or colonial rule. That is too much to ask of other Arab people who have also lived for at least six hundred years deprived of freedom. There can be no turning point in Arab fortunes without a structured and pragmatic agenda. An agenda that would be wholeheartedly adopted by big sections of that proverbial Arab street. Another friend of mine (an Arab too) has so long despaired of the Arab street, he frequently taunts me by saying the street is entirely populated by lackadaisical Shawirma sellers. But it’s our own laziness in thinking up a solid vision for the future that leads us to this interminable cycle of self-mockery, desperation and empty dreams of easy salvation.

There is no salvation from an Anglo American invasion of Iraq. Not even if Bush and Blair were angelic reincarnations of Mother Teresa and Thomas Jefferson. Not even if it’s proven that we were all too skeptical of the likes of Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle and, contrary to all reasonable analysis and the facts, they were actually selfless warriors who dream of nothing more than assisting the Iraqis and other Arabs in establishing democracies. The fact of the matter is that the US, like every superpower since the beginning of time, is working to further its own self-interest. And as the historical record shows, the US has almost always worked against true democratic movements in the Middle East. But US intentions are ultimately irrelevant in this debate. Nothing good will ever come to the Arab world unless Arabs start willing it for themselves.

Most Arabs are presently caught between a rock and a hard place. The governing regimes are, for the most part, the antitheses of democracy and the rule of law. Yet, if elections were held tomorrow, it’s acknowledged that the winners would be extremist religious parties that fundamentally reject the notion of democracy. So where do we go from here? Do we simply accept the status quo, as so many do, on the ground that the relative tolerance of the regimes in power is infinitely better than the unpalatable alternative that awaits us in the ballot box? Do we simply accept the religious parties’ almost absolute dominance of the hearts and minds of the majority? Do we simply resign to our seemingly eternal role as spectators? Just hang around and hope Bush doesn’t bomb Syria next? Just watch television and cry tears of shame and hilarity as Arab governments yet again demonstrate unparalleled impotence towards every important issue of the day?

Surely, there is a way out. A way that is not confrontational, reactionary or revolutionary. We definitely don’t need any more so-called revolutionary movements in the Arab world. God knows we’ve had enough of those and they have almost succeeded in destroying what the colonial powers and dynastical systems couldn’t get to.

What is needed is a new movement that seeks to unite the “we” I took the liberty of using so far. I am talking of Arabs who are tired of an Arabia that is light years behind realizing its true potential. Arabs who firmly believe that Islam is the greatest and most positive force in the history of the region, yet understand that the notion of mixing politics and religion is at best an act of self-serving deception. Arabs who are wise enough to realize that talk of democracy being incompatible with Arab culture is nothing more than racist claptrap propagated by apologists for the pervading dictatorial rule. Arabs who are open to the culture of the world and believe that there is a lot of good to be learnt from the economic and political success stories of Europe, Asia, and, yes, the United States. Arabs who believe in our potential to play a key role in a vibrant free market economy. Arabs who will settle for nothing less than real and lasting justice for their long suffering compatriots in Palestine. And last but not least, Arabs who believe, whether by conviction or necessity, that Arab unity is the only real bedrock for sustainable development in the region.

This movement need not focus on political change. It should direct its efforts at real cultural, social and economic change in the Arab world. On the economic level, while it is still lamentable that inter-Arab trade represents only around 9% of Arab countries’ trade, there are signs that regional business is on the rise. This is particularly the case in the Information Technology and other copyright-based industries. A new breed of young Arab businessmen is coming to the fore. Businessmen who tailor their economic models on the region, racing to set up branches in Amman, Cairo, Riyadh and other Arab cities. While such regional expansion is of course not novel, the passion with which these new age traders seek Arab synergies is.

A concerted effort must be made to raise the level of cultural awareness in the region. A starting point should be book-reading. We must do everything possible to make reading books cool in Arabia again! The Arab book publishing business, let alone the business of reading, is in terrible disarray. I am always amazed when I travel in the region; plane passengers almost never carry a book on them. Whilst any flight in Europe is a mobile air library. We are in desperate need for public awareness initiatives to increase book reading. This is an important step in fostering the culture of democracy in the Arab mind.

This movement would give voice and structure to the impressive outburst of expression spreading across the internet. Every day, I am bombarded with articles and thoughts on Iraq, Palestine and the world from friends, friends of friends, distant acquaintances… The internet is providing the forum that empires and armies tried to deny us for centuries. It is finding its way to every office and home. It’s the voice of new Arabia.

I do not purport to write a program for this movement in this short article. I simply wanted to express the obvious need for it. In the Arab world, we will not have the strands of political thinking that pervade in Europe and the US. There will not be an Arab equivalent of the Tories and Labour. No Arab Gores and Bushes fighting it out in a bye-election in Karbala! The slow and hard road to democracy in Arabia will be traveled by three schools of thought, the same schools that will compete in any eventual democracy that we hope to achieve in the region: the “status quo” movement (arguing that what we have now is better than any alternative), the political Islam movement, and the modern freedom-aspiring pan-Arab movement. It is this last movement that needs to spring into action immediately, bringing the disparate personalities and groups that believe in its tenets together. It’s a historic opportunity that we cannot miss.

This is unlike the fall of Baghdad to the Moguls. This is no lamentable loss of Al Andalus. The peculiar situation of the Arabs today is that a whole nation has died en masse while it is still breathing – and having a jolly good time, for that matter.

Have we been there before? I don’t think so. The Arab Israeli wars usually lasted for a few hours or days. The siege of Beirut only lasted three months. But this is the longest and fiercest war of extermination to which the Palestinians have been subjected so far.

I am not asking for too much. Forget about Arab solidarity. Forget about common history or religion. Let’s, for the sake of reality, screw all that. Wouldn’t normal political entities at least try to get together with a meaningful reaction if such atrocities were perpetrated against total foreigners at their doorsteps? The Christian Europeans, for heaven’s sake, couldn’t ignore the massacres of Muslims at their doorsteps in Bosnia and Kosovo and had to do something about it, despite the lack of political, historical or cultural affinity with the victims. The mere proximity of the location of the carnage meant that the bloodbath could not be ignored for too long.

But the total impotence of the Arabs is indeed without equal in modern or ancient history. The Arab leaders met in Amman last year in response to the massacres in Palestine, huffed and puffed, and, in a surreal scene out of a sick movie, went back home to business as usual.

Now they want to meet again. For God’s sake, WHY? No one is buying it this time, and no one ever did. They should save themselves the embarrassment and pack it in.

These are very implausible times; it really feels like a science fiction or horror movie. It is not a natural situation for so many Arab states with so much human and financial resources to be cowed into their first-class spectator seats to watch the grim show while not being able to lift a finger to save one Palestinian life.

In fact, it is such an unbelievable situation that a new name for this era has to be invented by the lucky historians I talked about. The “dark ages” is passé. I would suggest the “filthy ages”, the “shameful ages”, the “dishonourable ages”… something along those lines.

Or maybe also, like “the artist formerly known as Prince,” the Arabs should just drop their name and replace it with a symbol, out of humiliation and disgrace. A symbol of someone shooting himself, or perhaps just someone giving himself the finger would be more appropriate.

May God have mercy on the “people formerly known as the Arabs” and bless their departed souls.

Arabs cannot remain impervious to the realities and demands of the global economy. The removal of trade barriers, the growing importance of multinational companies and the developing consensus against national protectionist policies are a few of the trends leading to the development of regional economic blocs. This is reflected by the growing influence of trading blocks such as The European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) and the Association of South Eastern Asian Nations (ASEAN). Even the GATT/WTO rules provide for economic regional blocs.

There is a palpable necessity for nation states to form regional groups that will compete more effectively in an economy that is more free and global than at any other time in human history. No nation state can happily float as an isolated island and hope to succeed in this new economic reality. In other words, if the concept of Arab unity did not exist, we would have had to invent it.

It is no coincidence that the world’s most developed economies have the highest inter-regional trading figures. For example, inter-regional trade amongst European countries represents over 60% of Europe’s worldwide trade, and inter-regional trade among Asian countries exceeds 30%. As for inter-regional Arab trade, it represents a derisory 9 % of Arab countries’ overall trade (figures quoted by the Trade and Industry Journal, Dubai, September 1998, Volume 23 – Number 272). In 1990, whilst its inter-Arab trade only amounted to 10% of its overall trade figures, Saudi Arabia imported products from Japan, US and the UK worth US$ 21.5 billion, and its exports to the same countries amounted to US$ 28 billion (figures quoted by the American University of Cairo). This is an imbalance which is repeated across the Arab world.

Arab countries, through the Arab League, have made several failed attempts over the past 50 years to achieve economic integration.There was the 1957 Agreement of Economic Unity, the 1964 formation of he Arab Common Market, and the 1981 Facilitation and Promotion of Inter-Arab Trade Agreement (the “Facilitation Agreement”). But justwhen we thought all of these agreements were destined for history’s scrap-heap, the Facilitation Agreement went and staged an astonishing comeback.

The main objective of the Facilitation Agreement, signed by all members of the Arab League, was to free all goods traded between Arab countries from all custom tariffs and non-tariff trade restrictions. However, the enforcement of this Agreement was subject to the enactment of an implementing schedule. This schedule was ignored for 16 years, but then, with most Arabs barely noticing, 18 members of the Arab League enacted this schedule in February 1997 (only Algeria, Mauritania, Djibouti and Comoros did not sign). The full name of this schedule is a bit of mouth-full: “The Implementation Schedule of the Facilitation and Promotion of Inter-Arab Trade Agreement to Establish an Arab Free Trade Zone.” In brief, this is known as the Arab Free Trade Zone Agreement (AFTZA).

AFTZA stipulates that all custom rates and duties applied on Arab products traded between the signatory countries shall be reduced at an annual rate of 10% starting 1 January 1998, until all rates and duties are phased out by 31 December 2007. AFTZA further stipulates that “Arab products” that are traded in the framework of the Agreement “will not be subject to any non-tariff barriers whatsoever.” The Agreement contains various other provisions aiming to establish greater Arab economic integration. For example, there are provisions establishing the National Treatment Principle (each Arab country is bound to subject all Arab-origin goods to the same treatment given to its own goods), the harmonized system (HS) of custom classification, and standardized rules of origin for goods falling within the scope of the Agreement.

AFZA has thus far been ratified by 13 of its 18 signatory countries (Jordan, Syria, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya). Furthermore, countries like Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt have availed themselves of the AFTZA provision sanctioning separate bilateral and multilateral agreements to accelerate the creation of the Arab Free Trade Zone. For example, as of January 1, 1999, all custom duties and rates applicable on products traded between Egypt and Lebanon have been eliminated.

This is a momentous development, and accolades are due to all those who helped pull it off. AFTZA has bound nearly all Arab countries to the goal of an Arab Free Trade Zone, with unfettered free movement of goods, by 31 December 2007. And unlike its predecessors, AFTZA has specified a mechanism for the gradual creation of this Zone which is being applied on the ground by 13 Arab countries. This is an excellent step in the right direction, the direction of complete Arab economic unity.

The challenge now is to ensure the application of AFTZA and to work towards the acceleration of the creation of the Arab Free Trade Zone. Over the past 50 years, attempts at greater economic integration amongst Arab countries have failed mainly due to the lack of political will. Due to reasons that are beyond the scope of this article, many Arab governments have in practice stalled moves towards Arab economic unity, while in rhetoric they kept on playing the pan-Arab record.

In fact, slogans of pan-Arabism are repeated so often in the Arab press that the pan-Arab argument has lost its allure. Words of unity ring hollow with Arabs now, because they are simply sick of endless speeches trying to make flippant political capital of a concept that once made us all dream. This is perhaps why AFTZA has thus far gone unnoticed. It is simply amazing how many Arabs I have come across who have never even heard of it. Those who know about it tend to smile cynically when it is mentioned; it’s all words on paper, as far as they are concerned.

After years of meaningless sloganeering about pan-Arabism, I do not blame Arabs for their skepticism about AFTZA. But the fact remains, this is the most tangible step in the past 50 years towards real economic integration. It is now for the people to protect it. We have to keep talking about AFTZA and monitoring its application. We have to make it clear to our governments that we congratulate them on this step and that we want them to continue down this track. It is for us to ensure that the political will behind AFTZA does not wane.

Also, AFTZA needs a leader. Where is the Kohl or Miterrand behind this Agreement? The field is clear for a prominent Arab leader to articulate the political speech underlying AFTZA. The excellent work of the Arab league’s committees and personnel who made AFTZA a legal reality must now be rewarded by an Arab political leader who will ensure that this Agreement becomes a political and popular reality.

For there are many potential problems that may yet scupper this promising project. Firstly, under the terms of the Facilitation Agreement, which forms the basis of AFTZA, there is a mechanism which Arab countries can use to claim exceptions from the application of the lower tariffs and the removal of non-tariff barriers stipulated in AFTZA. If many Arab countries decide to claim exceptions for many of their products, AFTZA would soon turn into a lame duck. Secondly, AFTZA calls for the creation of a committee that would resolve disputes regarding its application. According to my information, this committee has not yet been established. Thirdly, AFTZA does notestablish any sanctions that would apply against a non-compliant country. Fourthly, five of the 18 signatory countries have not yet ratified this Agreement, not to mention the four Arab countries who did not sign it altogether.

All of these could prove to be fatal pitfalls. As already stated, the only guarantee against the decline of AFTZA is an iron political will forged by the people and articulated by committed Arab leaders. Such a will would work towards transcending all potential obstacles and ensuring that AFZA is applied by all Arab countries in an unmitigated manner. And, if I may allow myself to dream a little, this political will may end up unleashing a drive towards greater Arab integration: acceleration of AFTZA for all Arab countries based on the Egyptian/Lebanese model? Free movement of people across Arab frontiers? Anything is possible.