In 1947, the Arabs rejected the UN partition resolution. When British forces withdrew in 1948, the State of Israel was declared, and its forces began taking control of villages and cities, while the Arab armies retreated in a humiliating manner. Using their eloquence as their most powerful weapon, the Arabs labeled the 1948 defeat “Nakba” to soften its impact. Yet again, the compass was pointed in the wrong direction. Four years after that failed war, the Egyptian Free Officers, led by Jamal Abdel Nasser, falsely claimed that King Farouk’s government had supplied the army with defective weapons. Similar patterns unfolded in many Arab countries. Notable military coups followed in Iraq, then Syria, Libya, Yemen, Sudan, and a failed coup attempt in Lebanon. The “Egyptian Revolution” changed its course, adopting the argument that “overthrowing reactionary regimes is a higher priority than liberating Palestine.”
The 1979 Iranian Revolution raised the slogan “March … March until Jerusalem,” yet its forces marched instead to Beirut, Damascus, Baghdad, and finally Sanaa. This echoes the story of the “traitor Abu Raghal,” who mixed the poison of treason with the honey of slogans. From the division between its north and south until the “Arab Spring,” Yemen was regarded as a failed state. To add salt to the wound, the Houthi group entered the scene through wide-open doors. They exploited the turmoil to tighten their grip on Yemen, attempting to concentrate power in the hands of roughly three percent of the country’s 27 million people.
Today, after Hamas’s strategic error with Operation Al-Aqsa Flood led to the destruction of Gaza through systematic Israeli attacks and unprecedented starvation, the Houthis exploited the situation to flex their muscles by launching rockets at Israel. The Houthis’ missile attacks were never intended to support Palestine but rather to serve Iran and maintain its control over its remaining proxies following the fall of the Assad regime and Hezbollah’s defeat in Lebanon. In reality, the Houthis have shown themselves to be reckless. They have yet to realize that Yemen will never recover without unification, the re-establishment of institutions, and the restoration of internal peace.
According to international reports, Yemen will need approximately 30 years to rebuild. In other words, instead of missiles worsening the humanitarian crisis and causing blockades on Yemen due to the Houthis’ actions and their shelling of commercial vessels in the Bab al- Mandab Strait, Yemenis must examine their reality and break free from the tragedy imposed by Abdulmalik al- Houthi and his militant group. Yemen’s priority must be to rebuild the nation, as Palestine will not be liberated through backwardness and Arab divisions, but through reason, unity, and awareness.
