Where are We Going? By Thaer Abdallah, Palestine

I remember one day in 2010 when I opened Google image and typed the word Syria…

It showed me images of nature scenes and springs and the wheels of Homs. Thirty months were enough to change the scene completely, if you were to search ‘Syria’ in Google now, you will find images of destruction, and bodies everywhere. Thirty months were enough to change the whole situation with 4 million displaced citizens and more than 2 million people outside Syria, which illustrates one of the largest disasters in modern history. Recently, the Russian solution to gradually get rid of the chemical weapons came to halt a US military strike against Syria; I believe that this is a step in the right direction to end the crisis. For countries like Turkey, the US, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia and all parties that interfere in Syrian affairs, instead of sending more weapons, they should work hard to implement the  Geneva II conference and reach a diplomatic solution that satisfies all parties, and most importantly to stop the tragic reality of the  Syrian people who are the major losers in this game.

Since the start of the Syrian crisis, I have been watching the conditions there. I have many Syrian friends, most of whom are supporters of the Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. Unfortunately, the Arab reality states the following: I am ready to live under the rule of a dictator as long as he provides security for me. This explains the high ratio of votes going to the presidential candidate Ahmad Shafiq in Egypt in 2012 (one of the leading figures during the regime of Hosni Mubarak), and I visited Tunis last March and heard the following expression a lot “we wish the days of Ben Ali would return”. All this explains the problems of the Arab Spring. This spring which started as a relatively spontaneous movement, inevitable after years of oppression and despotism. However, since the revolution is a group of ideas and approaches based on certain principles led by a group of people, the Arab revolutions were the reflection of several approaches and trends led by groups of people with different ideologies, taking into account external interferences. All this led to a vicious cycle of chaos, but I am confident that the Arab young people who are aware of  the situation around them  in Yemen, Tunis, Egypt and Libya and who started these revolutions will not give in to these conditions and will continue community and systemic work to achieve freedom and democracy for the societies from which they started their revolutions. No more excuses: Twenty years have passed since the signing of the agreement on mutual recognition between the PLO and Israel, which also led to other several agreements, yet, we have not been able to reach a comprehensive final solution. Recently a new round of negotiations started under US sponsorship and the good thing about them is that they must be completed within nine months, which is the duration of pregnancy. The question that raises itself here is as follows: will Mr. Kerry perform a caesarian operation to come up with a solution at the end of the nine months or will we remain hostages of endless negotiations for twenty more years; this is why we must raise our voices high and say: No more excuses. Thaer Abdallah, YaLa Young Leaders