Beyond Paris: Arabs Hold the Key to Defeating the Islamic State

The Arab world must implement reforms like providing education to curb the IS menace, writes Aditi Bhaduri.

People pay tribute to the victims of the terror attacks in Paris by a poster which reads “Solidarity with Paris” in Nice, southeastern France, November 16, 2015. (Photo: AP)

The Paris attacks have shocked and awed much of the world. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have claimed responsibility for it. What is horrifying for people is the reach of ISIS which had threatened to take the war into the heart of countries which were bombing it. While the postmortem of the attacks has begun with respect to the intelligence failure, security issues thrown up by the migrants, it is important to remember the centrality of the Arab world in the ISIS phenomenon.

That the ISIS has continued to exist for so long, holding on to territory is a shameful indictment of the collective failure of the international community.

People participate in a tribute ceremony remembering victims of the Paris attacks at the 9/11 Memorial and Survivor Tree, in New York November 16, 2015. (Photo: AP)

Arabs, a Mute Spectator?

IS is a mirror to Arab world and society, indeed to much of the Muslim world irrespective of sect. Saudi Arabia, Iran - all that shocks us about the IS has already been in practice elsewhere. Beheadings, act of stoning, lashings, degradation of women and minorities - these are all part of institutionalised behaviour in one or the other country of the region.

That perhaps explains to some measure the ease with which recruits take to executing these atrocities. It is simpler doing a better job of shock and awe.

It is also telling that while IS prompts many conspiracy theories -- which the Paris attacks are also fuelling -- it has not yet sufficiently unsettled Arabs to launch an assault on them as vicious as the one which is ongoing in impoverished Yemen for instance.

A Mirror to the Dysfunctional World

Even after Russia’s military intervention, and at the Geneva talks, differences between Saudi Arabia and Iran take precedence than joint efforts against a monstrous entity whose very existence offends sensibilities. Till the Russian entry, whatever air power has been used has been done sporadically, more as revenge, and often as a means to divert the attention.

A boy holds a banner reading in Catalan: “Islam is not terrorism” during a demonstration in Barcelona, Spain, November 16, 2015. (Photo: AP)

Arab commentators and analysts continue to see Assad and Iran as bigger threats. ISIS grew from Al Qaeda in Iraq. In his book ‘The Rise of the Islamic State’, journalist Patrick Cockburn writes “the failure of the ‘war on terror’ and the resurgence of Al-Qaeda is further explained by a phenomenon...that the anti-terror war would be waged without any confrontation with Saudi Arabia or Pakistan...despite the fact that without the involvement of these two countries 9/11 was unlikely to have happened.”

Wikileaks revealed that in 2009 then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a secret memo had written, “More needs to be done since Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qaeda, the Taliban, the LeT and other terrorist groups.”

IS holds up a mirror to this dysfunctional world. Such dysfunctional societies in part motivate those who flock to it, or those it can activate from afar - like the bombers who wreaked destruction in Beirut just before the Paris attacks.

Arab World Needs to Do More

• Islamic State has not yet unsettled the Arabs to launch an assault on them as vicious as the one which is ongoing in impoverished Yemen for instance
  
• Even in Syria, till the Russian entry, whatever air power has been used has been done sporadically, often as a means to divert the attention
  
• The Arab world, particularly the monarchies that have done much to fuel strife and hatred across the region, must wake up to the threat posed by the IS
  
• Long overdue internal reforms such as those with respect to facilitating education in the Arab world should be pursued urgently
  

Finding an Antidote

An analysis of four polls surveying Arab public opinion towards the Islamic State on the first anniversary of the ISIS revealed that the terrorist outfit has up to 42 million supporters in the Arab world, where support ranges from somewhat positive to strong. Hence, the antidote is to be found in these very societies. The Arab world, and in particular the monarchies that have done much to fuel strife and hatred across the region, must wake up and smell the coffee.

But like the proverbial Frankenstein the IS is now threatening not the bastions of power in the region - the Gulf monarchies, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia itself - but with Paris it proves that its reach is beyond West Asia.

It will not help to simply blame the West, which indeed has also done much to bring destruction to the region and shoulders much responsibility.

Indian Muslims trample on an effigy of the Islamic State group in Mumbai and shout slogans condemning Friday’s attacks in Paris, November 16, 2015. (Photo: AP)

Implementing Long-Pending Reforms

The Arab world must seize the moment. Long overdue internal reforms have to be pursued urgently, as some countries like Egypt are doing, like revising the curriculum by Al Azhar University -- the bastion of Islamic learning and ruling.

A report released in April this year by UNICEF and UNESCO said that more than 21 million children and young adolescents across the Arab world are either out of school or at risk of dropping out, mainly because of poor education standards and low-quality school environment.

A man places a candle next to the image of a victim of the Paris attacks outside the French embassy in Mexico during a candlelight vigil, November 16, 2015. (Photo: AP)

Simultaneously, Arab states must close ranks with Russia in the military offensive against the ISIS. That will prevent the conflict from being framed in terms of a holy war. Any victory won by Russia, even jointly with Iran or US can be greatly counter-productive. The key to defeating the Islamic State lies in Arab hands.

(The author is an award-winning independent journalist and researcher.)