Arabic → English transcript

Egyptians have a beautiful saying

The Egyptian saying goes

“If you’ve forgotten what you read

we’ll bring the notebooks to be reread.”

And it seems that there is

something worth opening the notebooks for

Between the ninth and tenth days

of August, nineteen ninety

an emergency Arab summit was held

in Cairo

to discuss the Iraqi invasion

the brutal one against the State of Kuwait

Meaning it is a clear-cut issue

in fact, extremely clear

An Arab state attacked another Arab state

occupied it

killed

and destroyed and laid waste

But how do you deal

with this extremely clear issue

if you have bad intentions

of supporting the Iraqi aggression?

I will tell you

it is very easy

Put Palestine in the middle

and mix everything up

We have a saying

“Pin it on a scholar and walk away safe.”

And they have a saying

“Pin it on Palestine and walk away safe.”

That day

Yasser Arafat stood up

and said that finding

a solution to the Palestinian cause

is a condition

for finding a solution to the Kuwait problem

Notice

Palestine is a cause

whereas Kuwait

is just a problem, a mere problem, nothing more

That day an Arab resolution

condemning the Iraqi invasion was issued

condemning the Iraqi invasion

How many states voted?

Twelve states

Out of twenty-two Arab countries

six Gulf states

and six Arab countries

and everyone knows

that some, in return

for their support, received a price

those whose debts were written off

at the Paris Club

and those who received a political price

and those who got

their own material reward

The prince and poet Abdulrahman bin Musaad says

My friend

when even laughter has a price

and my friends became many

but at a price

and loyalty

there is no loyalty except at a price

Let me ask you

I am not poor

And we say

My friend, when even principles have a price

and my allies became many

but at a price

and loyalty

there is no loyalty except at a price

But in the end

despite everyone’s mustaches

Kuwait was liberated

despite those who refused

and despite

those who got paid

And today the same scenario is repeated

a brutal Iranian aggression

against the Arab Gulf states

and the cries grow louder, “Where are the Arabs?”

“Where are the millions?”

the same situation as in the year ninety

but this time it is much clearer

the aggressor is a non-Arab state

and nothing could be clearer than that

So

whoever harbors ill will toward the Gulf

and its people, what does he do?

he goes back to the archives, oh “Cries”

and digs up the issue again

once again the victim is Palestine

And herds that claim to be Arab emerge

and say,

“We support the Iranian action

because it is in the context of defending the cause.”

For thirty-six years,

hearts have not changed

toward the Gulf states and their people.

For thirty-six years,

the pattern has not changed

of trading in Palestine and its people.

In Libya,

the eastern government clearly condemns,

explicitly,

while the western government issued a soft statement.

In Sudan,

the commander of the Rapid Support Forces

was frank in condemning the aggression,

while al-Burhan

Burhan did not give us anything

and came out with a half-position.

Iraq and Algeria—

no end to what can be said,

quarter and half positions from here and there.

This is what history records

right now regarding

the Arab stance

on the brutal Iranian aggression

against our Gulf states.

In the year 1992,

the Kuwaiti poet Talal Al-Sayyed stood up

and said, “Oh Bush,

is your name Bush?

Your name is Kahilan Al-Boosh, by God.

Our Arabs’ cowardice…

And I do not say cowardice,

but

this was not what we hoped for, Mr. Ahmed Aboul Gheit,

that a statement would be issued in the name of

the secretary-general of the Arab League

which carries nothing but the phrase

that Iran has committed

a strategic mistake.”

Show some insight, Your Excellency, Mr. Secretary-General

The only strategic mistake

is to rely on your League

Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds

that the Gulf is far from this mistake

It has been said that history

repeats itself twice

once as a tragedy

and once again

as a farce

And the overall Arab positions

toward the Iranian aggression

are nothing but

a farce, and in the face of

this farce we raise nothing

but the words of Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed

We will never

be blackmailed

and beside them the statement of Prince Faisal bin Farhan

We will deter the

Iranian aggression by all means