Self-Criticism After the Defeat: A Devastating Critique of the Arab World's Political Stagnation by One of Its Most Revered Thinkers
Sadiq Jalal Al-Azm, 1934 - 2016) was a Professor Emeritus of Modern European Philosophy at the University of Damascus in Syria and was, until 2007, a visiting professor in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. His 1968 book analyzed the impact of the Six-Day War on the Arabs. He strongly criticized traditional Islamic religious thought and the way pan-Arabist leaders and intellectuals handled the 1967 war and attacked many of the "excuses" used to explain away the result. His outlook was rooted in outmoded Marxism and ideas of "revolutionary struggle" which have not aged well and he accepted the struggle of Arabs and the Zionist entity as the the base of everything. His criticisims fit the 1948 war as well as the 1967 war.
He wrote that a great number of refugees chose to flee rather than stay in fear for their daughters, women, infants, and young men. The truth is that the Arab concept of "sexual honor" played an important role in the process of flight.
Indeed, our use of the term "nakbah" [disaster] to indicate the June War and its aftermath contains much of the logic of exoneration and the evasion of responsibility and accountability, since whomever is struck by a disaster is not considered responsible for it, or its occurrence, and even if we were to consider him so, 1n some sense, his responsibility remains minimal in comparison with the terror and enormity of the disaster. This is why we ascribe disasters to fate, destiny, and nature, that is, to factors outside our control and for which we cannot be held accountable.
Moreover, the tribal, clan, and family ties and values mentioned above that continue to dominate the mentality of the Arabs and determine the patterns of his behavior had dangerous negative effects during as well as after the war on the psychology of the ordinary Arab, on his flight from the occupied territories, and on his incoherent reactions in the face of the Israeli attack. Because of the lack of social institutions, political organzations, and political parties working effectlvely among the masses, the Arab citizen falls, at the time of sudden danger, under the spontaneous sway of the tribal, behaving in accordance with its norms, and thus feels that his ties to his family or group are stronger than his ties to the "land," and his connection to his tribe, daughters and relatives is more significant and important than his connection to the threatened "soil of the fatherland."
The study published by the Institute for Palestine Studies about the refugees and the causes of their flight brings full clarity to this aspect of the topic. It is worth mentioning that this study is considered the first scientific empirical inquiry undertaken with Palestinian refugees, and it employed the methodologies of "field studies" and "social surveys," which are well known in the field of social studies. This empirical investigation contains the following facts concerning the effect of tribal values on the behavior of the Arabs in confronting a surprise war and the dangers that threaten their homeland:
Indeed, family ties are stronger and firmer (than the ties to the land or nation), and these ties have an important impact in the choice to flee rather than stay as we mentioned earlier. In fact, a great number of refugees left in fear for their daughters, women, infants, and young men, rather than in fear for themselves. The truth is that the Arab concept of "sexual honor" played an important role in the process of flight. A refugee whom we spoke with in Zizia refugee camp expressed this role in the following form: "we fled with our sexual honor." In interview after interview, refugee families mentioned that this was among the chief causes for fleeing."
Naturally, no one has brought up these facts in order to blame the defenseless Arab citizen who faces the attacking army while he is under a terrifying shock without any preparation at all (psychological, intellectual, or mental) for dealing with the occupation and its consequences. We admit to a distressing fact only, namely, that the level of social and national maturity among the Arab people, even in the more advanced Arab countries, has yet to transcend the stage of family and tribal allegiance and traditional values,and force the recognition that wars often lead to occupation, violation of sexual honor, and the presence of an occupying army inside the country. However, none of these compel "the flight of the citizens with their sexual honor," and their giving the enemy what it desires, a land empty of inhabitants. The study also demonstrated that the source of this weakness is the lack of social institutions, organizations, and political parties that should take the place of tribal ties in modern national states.