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Terror threatening the Arab Skies By Benjamin Stone……. Pages 8

Your tweets write History... By Paula Stoleru……. Page 5 and 7

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UoBMALeVE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM MODEL ARAB LEAGUE

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ISSUE N°2

Published in :

University of Birmingham

Free

Roxana Raileanu and Edward Sainsbury

The Arab-Israeli conflict: a never-ending story

Nothing lasts forever, the saying goes; yet, do

not underestimate the longevity of undesirable oc-

currences. One of the most ardent issues in the in-

ternational forum, the incessant dispute between the

Arab countries and Israel, seems to compete for the

longest ongoing conflict in modern history. When it

comes to this particular sensitive matter, there are a

plethora of reasons why conciliation is regarded as

a utopic goal.

See Pages 3 to 5

By Andreea Gavrila

A flaming inferno began the day for the dele-

gates of UoBMAL 2013, no, not the opening speeches

of course; though they were interesting enough; Dima

Mubarak, head of the university’s Arab society gave an

interesting and at times controversial speech on the

state of the Arab world; particularly on the need for un-

restricted trade and on the state of Syria in the grip of

its bloody civil war. ………. Page 6

A Burning Surprise

The Opening Ceremony—Credit : Paula Stoleru

By William Chapman

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The SG’s speaking

When UoBMAL takes over your life

Leaving my house at 11 today was not easy since I took my holiday luggage with me in order to fit two dresses, two pairs of shoes and all the magical things that make a girl look ma-jestic, especially on the occasion of Internation-al Women’s Day (#alotofmake-up). The excite-ment was already humming in my ears, or may-be it was just the coffee kicking in.

Once I arrived at the Guild and met up with our lovely Social Secretary and the Logis-tics team, I had to accomplish the most im-portant tasks in my capacity as Secretary Gen-eral within the MAL: printing and carrying con-ference paraphernalia from one room to the other. It was then that I realized that wearing my most uncomfortable heels was not the best choice for the day.

No worries, I came prepared. Thus, I spent most of the afternoon in a dress and tennis trainers.

The Press Team

Camille Dupont - Head of Press

Paula Stoleru - Assistant Head of Press

William Chapman - Writer, proof reader

Benjamin Stone - Writer

Andreea Gavrila - Social Media Reporter

Losing a bet was my cover story for everyone who was looking at me in a dodgy manner. Note to self: it was worth it!

The opening ceremony, as every other similar respectful event, went through tech-nical difficulties, but that did not hold the amazing Press Team back from live streaming the event on twitter and to tweet… wait for it! 40 times in 45 minutes! Once the committee session started I was fooled into believing I can rest but Camille, the Head of Press, used her je ne sais quoi in order to make me write this article...Thus I’ll blame the lack of adjectives and nouns on lack of sleep. The rest as they say is history. Did I forget to mention the formal event?

To be continued… @roxa_rylee

Roxana Raileanu during her speech—Opening

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The Arab-Israeli

conflict:

a never-ending story

Nothing lasts forever, the saying goes;

yet, do not underestimate the longevity of unde-

sirable occurrences. One of the most ardent is-

sues in the international forum, the incessant dis-

pute between the Arab countries and Israel,

seems to compete for the longest ongoing con-

flict in modern history. When it comes to this

particular sensitive matter, there are a plethora of

reasons why conciliation is regarded as a utopic

goal.

First of all, the conflict is more directly

concerned with the tense situation between the

Israelis and the Palestinians and the repercussions

this lays on the member states of the Arab

League. Taking into consideration the fact that

the two parties never seemed able to reach a con-

sensus, they have constantly enjoyed the pres-

ence of a mediator willing to resolve their prob-

lems. Consequently, the most prominent figure in

this duo has unmistakably been the United States,

who despite its best efforts, still struggles to en-

force effective policies.

Secondly, the nature of this conflict can-

not be described as a solely political one, but it is

integrated in a broader context, putting forward

socio-cultural factors, which are keystone pawns

in its understanding. In trying to shed light over

essential problems at hand, old since time imme-

morial, or recently manufactured, we benefit

from Dr. Asaf Siniver’s vast knowledge, an ex-

pert in Middle East affairs, and the Arab-Israeli

conflict specifically.

HOW DID IT ESCALATE?

Although records of Arab-Israeli conflict point to

the late 1940s, Dr. Siniver explains that it dates

even further back, for “more than a hundred years

ago”. Starting with 1947-1948 though, there have

been numerous attempts of mediation, only few of

which were truly successful. As it is narrated in Dr.

Siniver’s article, Power, impartiality and timing,

and as he mentions himself, the treaties which re-

sulted in a positive outcome were those with Egypt

and Jordan, in 1979 and 1994 respectively. When it

comes to the West Bank of Palestine, nevertheless,

the situation is more ambiguous.

The Oslo Accord, signed in 1993, represent-

ed the milestone of the reconcilement process, yet it

did nothing palpable to deter the state of belligeren-

cy between the Israelis and the Palestinians. In oth-

er words, inasmuch as Israel managed to suppress

its Arab neighbours’ violent triggers, it still failed

to deter hostilities on behalf of Palestine. Since

there was too much at stake to begin with and nei-

ther of the involved parties wanted to compromise,

the role of mediators became somehow obvious and

necessary, or at least that is the state of wishful

thinking into which negotiators fooled themselves.

After the Norwegian intervention, which was a tru-

ly impartial course of action, all the mediation fell

within the responsibility of the United States.

THE UNITED STATES’ INVOLVEMENT:

A LONG-RUN COMMITMENT

As it was above-mentioned, at some point along the

way, even the United Nations, the “traditional me-

diator”, backed down and ceased to make Israel and

Palestine see eye to eye. Therefore, having a clear

road in front of them, the Americans stepped in and

took over. The three most successful ambassadors

of peace assigned by the United States were un-

doubtedly “Henry Kissinger in the sort of mid-

1970s, Jimmy Carter and the Camp David accord

between Israel and Egypt in ’78-’79 and Secretary

of State, James Baker, at the end of the first Gulf

War, in 1991”. The latter two were highly depend-

ent on Henry Kissinger’s debut, as Dr. Siniver

notes, “President Jimmy Carter and Camp David,

even though concluding a comprehensive peace

treaty between Israel and Egypt, really building on

previous agreements”. These mediations had such

great results due to a careful, well-devised ap-

proach.

By Andreea Gavrila

Twitter : @amgavrila

References : See page 9

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The Americans chose the most opportune

moments to carry out these negotiations in the

Middle East, having as historical or political back-

ground the end of the Yom Kippur War or the re-

treat of the Soviets. Being offered this supplemen-

tary advantage, they managed to wisely use their

resources in order to engage Israel and the Arab

countries in a mutually profitable agreement,

mainly based on economic and military aid. The

problem was that while its scopes were all so well-

intended, the cabinet of the United States had a

weakness: its affinity towards the cause of Israel.

“America has been so closely allied with Israel

and the interest

between the

countries has

been so aligned,

that the Ameri-

cans have been

accused of acting

as a dishonest

broker in the con-

flict”, or as it was

later called

“Israel’s attor-

ney”. Yet, alt-

hough these are

most often dis-

missed as alleged

rumors, they are

nonetheless true

and indicative of

a notable trend in

American inter-

vention in the

Middle East. Winds of change were announced to

come, however.

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION:

A NICELY-PUT CHIMERA

It was the beginning of a new era for the Ameri-

cans, and as far as President Obama’s declarations

went, a fresh start for the Israelis and Arabs too.

The United States longed to mend their fragile ties

with the Arab world, and Barack Obama an-

nounced to make a shift in policy. He argued that

his intention was not to support Israel so overtly,

but to provide solutions which would benefit both

parties in an equal manner. Nevertheless, there

were serious shortcomings regarding his first man-

date. As Dr. Siniver reckons, Barack Obama

“believed or aimed or hoped to achieve some kind

of a comprehensive peace between Israel and the

Arab world, which was based on the Arab League

peace initiative from 2002”, trying to solve the con-

flict in one solid attempt. This proved utterly naïve

of him, considering that he played his best cards and

was imperatively refused. He “put his power and

prestige on the line to the few months in the life of

his administration” and was already overly involved

in the conflict, whereas this is highly uncharacteris-

tic of an American leader. Mitchell and Ross, in

whom Obama put his faith, both failed to achieve

anything palpable, causing the president’s first term

to be probably the less

effective in dealing

with Arab-Israeli con-

flict in the history of

the United States. Hav-

ing realized past mis-

takes, Barack Obama is

yet again renewing his

position. In his second

term, he is keen on

dealing primarily with

domestic and economic

affairs, while still try-

ing to make amends

with the Arab world.

“He announced today

that he will pull further

34.000 troops out of

Afghanistan, so there is

a real sense that he

wants to wrap up

America’s foreign

commitments”. It re-

mains to see whether this new approach is a truly

genuine one or the continuation of past American

traits in disguise.

BEYOND THE POLITICS

It was implied at the beginning of the article that

there are other causes for this continuous conflict,

which are not politically-related. Most notably, it is

the socio-cultural context of Israel and Palestine, for

instance, that previously hindered mediation pro-

gress and that is now preventing the two countries

from acting reasonably and adopting a less hostile

attitude. The media probably bears a great influence

as well, let alone the actual acts of violence that the

countries exert. It is in this atmosphere that new gen-

erations of Palestinians and Israelis grow into, being

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raised to question and not only fear, but despise the

“enemy”. Seeing the other party as the enemy will

most probably intensify current conflicts, if it be-

comes an inherent trait in the young population. Not

only is this negativist approach traditionally induced,

within a familiar context, but now it has become viral

to the point that it has penetrated the educational sys-

tem. Israeli and Palestinian textbooks are subtly con-

touring hurtful stereotypes, as well as enticing to

“malicious slander”, as Netanyahu’s office calls it.

The two peoples’ hatred is taken to extremes, espe-

cially in the event of violent manifestations, when

“generations of Israelis and Palestinians don’t know

how to live with each other, but they learn how to see

each other as the enemy, either through a the sight of

a telescope, or a rifle, or security check in occupied

territories”. It is unlikely that Israel or the Arab coun-

tries will ever willingly compromise over such sensi-

tive issues, but there is clearly a desperate call for a

change in attitude if the peace process is ever to be

completed.

WHERE TO?

If the past of Middle Eastern countries was tumultu-

ous, its future holds no brighter prospects of im-

provement. With Egypt on the brink of collapse

again, and the changes currently undergone by the

Israeli government, it is next to impossible to predict

what will happen next. The United States, although

visibly less concerned than in the past, are still stay-

ing strong on their positions, shedding even more

ambiguity around this already blurry context. What

seems to be unshakable though is the status in which

Israel and the Arab countries find themselves. Unfor-

tunately, a feeling of uncertainty is still clouding Is-

raeli and Arab judgment, delaying the so-longed

peace.

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A Burning

Surprise

A flaming inferno began the day for the

delegates of UoBMAL 2013, no, not the open-

ing speeches of course; though they were inter-

esting enough; Dima Mubarak, head of the uni-

versity’s Arab society gave an interesting and at

times controversial speech on the state of the

Arab world; particularly on the need for unre-

stricted trade and on the state of Syria in the

grip of its bloody civil war.

After the “cool” music(#coolmusic) it

was the Secretary General’s and logistical an-

nouncements followed soon again after that the

world began to fall apart. With planes and heli-

copters falling out of the sky with more rapidity

than Usain Bolt in the 100 metres, the commit-

tees of Egypt and Saudi Arabia had some seri-

ous work to be done. And done it was, with the

cabinet of Saudi Arabia quickly trying to work

out whether this plane was attacked by master-

mind terrorists or a lazy mechanic in Dubai who

was busy scratching his bum rather than fixing

the plane.

This was closely followed with every

nation under the sun expressing a wish to help con-

sole the families of those affected and vowing to

find out what happened. Airport security was also

ramped up with the Saudi government tactically

inserting troops to help guard the doors and also

their borders which until then had not been men-

tioned…by anyone…ever. This was remedied

when the moderator and (only deputy?) PM saw

sense.

As the terrorist attack saw oil prices rise

across the world the serious nature of the Saudi

committee evaporated as they imagined the fiction-

al wealth that this would bring. Then with Ayman

al-Zawahiri acceptance of responsibility a cacoph-

ony of tutting was heard with many sighs and

shakes of the head to boot.

As the situation goes ever more perilous will the

heroes, sorry, the cabinets of Egypt and Saudi raise

their game? Will terrorists rule the world? I for one

hope not but I doubt I will sleep in anticipation.

See you tomorrow, the great game has begun.

DON'T FORGET TO USE TWITTER.

#UoBMAL13

All the best tweets will be published here

NEW!NEW!

UoBMALUoBMAL

By William Chapman

Twitter : @wxc198

The Opening Ceremony—Credit : Paula Stoleru

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Your tweets write History...

By Paula Stoleru

Twitter: @PaulaStoleru

Best tweet of the day!

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Terror threatening

the Arab Skies

The first day of UoBMAL committees has

drawn to a close. Aviation crises and terrorist threats

have dominated committee discussions leading to

diplomatic befuddlement as well as suspicions of in-

side corruption. With many twists and turns this first

committee meeting more resembles a dramatic epi-

sode of Homeland than what one would expect from

a typical cabinet meeting.

Discussion began after news of a Dubai air-

plane mysteriously vanishing off radar. This news

was met by calls for state response, as well as the

realistically juvenile reaction: “Do we care?” Howev-

er the question was surely answered when the com-

mittee received news from Crisis of 36 Egyptian na-

tionals on the plane.

So what state action should be taken? The

customary press release was followed by debate. The

suspicious circumstances of the crash led to initial

concerns of foul play and possible terrorism. Con-

cerns which were bolstered by some of the Egyptians

nationals involved being linked to oil trade. As such,

sending the Egyptian Prime Minister to release a

statement himself was deemed too dangerous and a

cautiously conservative Egyptian government decid-

ed instead on hosting a state dinner in which the fam-

ilies of those on board the plane would be present.

On this occasion the Prime Minister could be present

although surrounded by security.

The already suspicious plane crash was suc-

ceeded by yet another aviation crisis in the skies of

Gaza, this time more fishy. An Israeli craft, an A-4

Skyhawk to be precise, crashing to the ground after a

supposed technical fault raised concerns, with the

Prime Minister stating of the crashes – happening

within an hour of each other – that “there is obvious-

ly some connection”. The suspicion of foul play was

By Benjamin Stone

Twitter : @BenjaminStone13

vindicated by the contradictory account of the Gaza

“Press TV”, which witnessed the plane being shot

down – contrasting with the official Israeli account of

“technical difficulties”.

Finally, affirmation of terrorist activity came

from the release of a press statement from Al-Qaeda's,

Ayman al-Zawahiri, stating that “the skies were no

longer safe!”. This containing more disastrous news

that Al-Qaeda had control of the skies from the Atlantic

ocean to the Chinese border. So what to be done?

The Egyptian Prime Minister took control and

was decisive. The Suez Canal Authority being told to

tighten security in the Suez Canal, the Minister of Jus-

tice to investigate whether there were any Al-Qaeda

cells operating from within Egypt and appointing the

Minister of Communications to monitor outgoing calls

(whether on a legal basis or not). As an act of extra pre-

caution the Prime Minister ordered for all cabinet offi-

cials to be checked for any possible link to the terrorist

group, particularly after suspicions of inside dissent

after the hacking of government communications.

So, how to describe this first day of the Model

Arab League? Well, certainly eventful. We had a com-

pelling if not somewhat controversial speech from our

guest speaker and a speech from our Secretary General

about the role of women in the Arab uprising on this

103rd International Women's Day, as well as the politi-

cal turmoil which is a crisis cabinet. Finally we can

declare the University of Birmingham's sixth Model

Arab League officially underway!

Roxana Raileanu and Edward Sainsbury before the Opening Ceremony. Credit: Paula Stoleru

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The Arab-Israeli conflict: a never-ending story - P., N., 2013. “Israeli and Palestinian textbooks. Teaching children to hate each other”. [online] Available at: http://www.economist.com/blogs/pomegranate/2013/02/israeli-and-palestinian-textbooks [Accessed on 14 February 2013] - Siniver, A., 2013. Interview on the Arab-Israeli conflict. [audio recorded] Interviewed by (Maria) Andreea Gavrila, Social Media Reporter UoBMAL 2013, University of Birmingham, Muirhead Tower, Room 319, 13/02/2013, 12:30pm - Siniver, A., 2012. “Israeli Identities and the Politics of Threat: A Constructivist Interpretation”. Eth-nopolitics, 11(1), pp. 24-42 - Siniver, A., 2011. “Change Nobody Believes In: Obama and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”. Diplo-macy & Statecraft, 22(4), pp. 678-695

- Siniver, A., 2006. “Power, Impartiality and Timing: Three Hypotheses on Third Party Mediation in

the Middle East”. Political Studies, Volume 54(4), pp. 806-826

REFERENCES

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