The first salon entry was, in my estimation, delightful. It generated such important debates in the Box, over at Lina’s place and even reaching Egypt.

Yes, it is an old-new argument and counter-argument and, positively, actions speak louder than words. But the truth of the situation has it that people do want to touch upon this issue.

“Part of the problem is that “Arabness” doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Every Arab has other identities (i.e., Sunni Muslim, Shiite Muslim, Christian, Libyan, Jordanian, economic class, etc). Each identity has its own agenda. IMHO, it is the clash of these identities that is the biggest of the obstacles facing Arab unity.” - Peter S.

” I think that arabs are amazing people that need a great and powerful leader to unite them and bring the best in them, Prophet Mohammed, and the great caliphs after him, Salahiddeen, and to certain extent (Jamal Abdulnasser). ” - Electro

“I am afraid an Ideological dream is no more, bad be that or good. However there is plenty of room for mutual beneficial corporation, but that dose not sleep easy with back stabbing!” - Nidal

“I for one don’t want it based on religion, muslim nor christian, I want it based on the fact that in the end we would all be better off if we worked as a unit. ” - Lulwa

“Jordan came up with that nationalistic slogan of Jordan First a few years ago. Truth is, every Arab country has had their own slogan for years and years, and we just started getting more seriously in to the game.

The west has a vested interest in keeping us seperated and now enough time has passed for us to be brainwashed into thinking that there is a huuuuge difference between a syrian and an egyptian…or even worse…a jordanian and a palestinian. we’ve been convinced from everyone and everything of these differences and these assumptions become a wedge which seperate everyone.” - Nas

” On some level, of course, there is a bond — ethnic and linguistic similarities count for something. But from my distant vantage point, “pan-Arabism” is little more than a cynical political ploy to create a false sense of community in order to direct public ire away from internal problems that the state is unable or unwilling to address.” - Vincent

“The issue of “American Influence” is more complex than we customarily think of it and it is indeed a two-way street. Yet underpinning the ability of America to have the final call in any situation is due to immense military power (Nuclear Diplomacy) and its PetroDollars. ” - Gafgafa

” The Arab context is not the best context to talk about unity in. The people that you want to unite half of them don’t even identify with being Arabs and more importantly lack the ability to identify with the rest of the group, and on the other hand even those who identify with being Arab and identify with other Arabs are still not guaranteed to fully cooperate simply because the majority of them still operate in a tribal mode that fails to see the big picture beyond the tribe.” - Hamzeh N.

Now who’s talking about Arab Unity? It’s you.