01 April 2011 By Tariq Alhomayed The worst thing that the Shiite opposition in
Bahrain could do now is to accept external mediation
to resolve their problems with the government, because
this would have serious consequences for the
opposition itself, even if Kuwait were to mediate. By merely accepting Kuwaiti mediation, this is a
genuine sectarian move on the part of the opposition.
The Shiite opposition criticized the decision to send
the Peninsula Shield force to Bahrain, although the
force was deployed to maintain security and not to
deal with the demonstrators. The opposition considered
this to be a form of 'Saudi occupation', and defamed
Riyadh in the Western media, even though the Saudi
troops were accompanied by the rest of the Peninsula
Shield forces, which entered Bahrain in accordance
with a Gulf convention that has stood for nearly 30
years. How can the opposition say all this, and then
accept Kuwaiti mediation between them and the
government? Is this because Kuwait hesitated to send
troops to Bahrain, or is it in response to sectarian
advice from within Kuwait? Of course, I have nothing but the utmost love and
respect for Kuwait. I previously commended the Emir of
Kuwait's initiative to resolve the dispute between
Oman and the UAE, but now I also criticize the
proposal for Kuwaiti mediation in Bahrain. What Kuwait
accomplished between Muscat and Abu Dhabi was both
necessary and praiseworthy, because it purified the
relationship between two Gulf States. However,
mediation in Bahrain would mean interfering between a
particular component of society, and the government,
and this model has no parallel other than in Lebanon,
where everyone acts as mediator to solve the country's
problems with the Iranian-sponsored Hezbollah. Is this
what the Bahraini opposition wants? This is
incomprehensible, even if the Bahraini government
agreed to it, or if the initiative was sponsored by
the UAE, Qatar or Saudi Arabia. Bahrain must not become another Lebanon. Rather we
must enhance the sense of citizenship in our
countries, and our region, instead of entrenching the
sense of sectarianism which is manipulated by external
forces. The Gulf States have a problem with the
Iranian regime, not its citizens, and not the Shiites.
Citizenship should be all-encompassing, and it is
wrong to classify between components, not just in
Bahrain but in all Gulf States. The fear is that the
Bahraini opposition wants to manipulate Kuwaiti
mediation in order to embarrass the Gulf States, but
the truth is that the opposition will only embarrass
themselves, because they are repeating a universally
rejected model, that of Hezbollah. Consequently, my message to the Gulf States is that
the Shiites are citizens like everyone else. My
message to the Bahraini opposition is that they have
committed an age old mistake by declaring a sectarian
identity, and advocating the use of external mediation
to solve domestic problems. This would be the last
thing any rational observer would wish for, even if it
came from a trusted mediator such as Kuwait. Thus it
is up to the Bahraini opposition to choose their own
form: Do they want to be like the Houthis in Yemen,
when Qatar served as a mediator? Do they want to be
like Hezbollah, which would be the worst possible
outcome? Or do they want to be like the Kuwaiti
opposition, incorporating both Sunnis and Shiites, who
did not accept foreign interference between them and
their government, not even in the darkest of times,
and did not raise the ceiling of their demands, or
exploit the Arab scene and its emergency
circumstances, as the Shiite opposition in Bahrain are
doing today. Thus the Bahraini opposition must choose
the most appropriate model, because everything has its
price!
Tariq Alhomayed is the Editor-in-Chief of Asharq Al-Awsat, the youngest
person to be appointed that position. He holds a BA degree in Media studies from
King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, and has also completed his Introductory
courses towards a Master's degree from George Washington University in
Washington D.C. He is based in London. Comments 💬 التعليقات |