UN commission says Israel is THE major problem in the Arab world. Yes, really.

The UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)  just unveiled a report called "Arab Integration: A 21st Century Development Imperative." The report is book-length, 324 pages long.

It took two years and dozens of authors to write this.

The Foreword says:

There is general agreement that the current state of the Arab world warrants serious concern. Observers concur that the Arab countries appear to be at a development impasse, evidenced by persisting knowledge gaps, fragile economies and the prevalence of human injustice. But when it comes to the reasons for the status quo, or what it will take to change it, agreement gives way to heated debate.

This report, entitled “Arab Integration: A 21st Century Development Imperative”, suggests an alternative to the present predicament. Readers may wish to study its ideas and
recommendations, take up those which they find relevant and reflect constructively on how to adapt others that may seem contentious. The report results from an ESCWA initiative conducted with a group of distinguished Arab thinkers from various schools of thought, occupations and regional backgrounds. What unites this eclectic group is a common belief in the role of the Arab world and a shared desire to protect its future. Its members firmly agree on the main aims and recommendations of the report, if not with every detail in it.

In the overview, it says in a pull-quote: Israel’s policies threaten the security of all Arab citizens

Yes - every single Arab citizen is threatened by Israel.

In the speech launching the report, Rima Khalaf, Executive Secretary of ESCWA and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, said:

The effects of fragmentation have blighted all Arabs; observers cannot but notice the consequences of decades of division and underdevelopment. It is an explosive combination of threats and challenges, characterized by unconstrained foreign interference and human misery.

Foreign interference comes in various forms, such as violations of Arab rights and dignity, but its worst manifestation is the Israeli occupation of Palestine, the Syrian Golan Heights and Lebanese territories, in flagrant breach of all international conventions and resolutions.

The authors of the report claim that the damage caused by Israeli policies is not limited to occupation activities, but they believe that aggressive Israeli policies, including its support for discord aimed at establishing Arab sectarian mini-States and its nuclear programme that is not subject to international monitoring, pose a continuous threat to the security of Arab citizens in the region as a whole.

The most dangerous of these policies is Israel's adamancy that it is a Jewish State, which violates the rights of both the Muslim and Christian indigenous populations and revives the concept of state ethnic and religious purity, which caused egregious human suffering during the twentieth century.

The report claims that Arab rights would not have been trampled; Jerusalem would not have suffered under Judaization policies, land confiscation and the expulsion of populations; and Muslim and Christian holy shrines would not have been desecrated if Arabs had stood united and coordinated their efforts, or at least met their existing commitments to joint defence.

This sure sounds like the UN is saying that Israel shouldn't exist, and if only Arabs had been united, that scourge would never have arisen.

It is not surprising that when you get a bunch of Arabs who disagree about everything in a room to write a report about Arab problems, the one thing they will all agree on is to blame Israel. Privately they might think differently, but you will never find any of them to admit it publicly.So naturally the report will be top-heavy on blaming Israel for everything, especially their own disunity. From the report:

Before the State of Israel was established in 1948, the Zionist movement sought to thwart any Arab attempt at unity, or even cooperation. Post-1948, this policy extended to supporting civil wars in the region and sowing sedition among various groups. Israel took advantage of the sectarian and ethnic diversity of Arab countries, stoking feelings of injustice among minorities. In Lebanon, Israel supported certain parties in the civil war and sought to divide the country into a series of sectarian cantons. In the Sudan, it played a role in encouraging secessionist tendencies. In Morocco, Israel sought to strengthen its relations with Amazigh factions, but failed to penetrate the Moroccan social fabric.

Every page of the report indicates that the Arab world will never live with the Western world. It praises Nasser lavishly, even quoting his refusal to speak to Israel after the 1967 war to negotiate Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai.

You will not often see a UN report that praises a war of aggression, but when Israel is the object of such a war, then it becomes admirable:

Israel was to remain an obstacle to Arab unity. It occupied further Arab territories during the 1967 Six-Day War, which ended in the disastrous defeat of the Egyptian army. From then until his death, Nasser waged a war of attrition against Israeli occupation and sought to rebuild the Egyptian army in preparation for another war. He did not live to see the Egyptian army launch a surprise attack on Israeli positions and achieve a military victory in the 1973 October War, with the cooperation of several Arab States and the support of their peoples.

There are lots of lies and ridiculous assumptions in this report - downplaying if not ignoring Arab corruption and infighting and highlighting that the major problems are really everyone else's fault.

You really have to wonder why any enlightened nation give any respect to this thoroughly corrupt, immoral organization.