We learned today that Prince Charles and his wife Camilla visited the Abdullah Park refugee camp in northern Jordan. Other notables in the past, like Angelina Jolie, have shed their tears for our children over their miserable existence in these camps. Have you noticed that Arab leaders never visit refugee camps? They send envoys like Lahkdar Brahimi.
I can understand if the PM of Britain cannot visit for security reasons and because he is not responsible for Arab or Muslim lives.
However, why is it that the Emir of Qatar does not visit the Syrian refugees in Jordan his al-Jazeera channel tells us he loves so much? Instead, he would feel more comfortable rolling the red carpet for Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, indicted for war crimes by the ICC. The same goes for every Arab leader.
It is not about security because that could be handled easily by the host country. Could it be because refugees may throw their shoes at them?
The disconnect between the simmering hopelessness of Arabs and Muslims and their leaders is expressed sometimes in the simplest of questions Arab leaders are unable to answer but which tells us the big earthquake is coming.
Arab leaders, whose main concern is to gain Western approval and photo-ops with U.S. Presidents, believe control of the masses can be delivered more efficiently by the stick than with a smile. Prince Charles is a monarch the same way the Emir of Qatar is a monarch; yet, one finds it important to connect with people at every level and the other finds such task a burden that yields nothing of value.
In fact, Arab leaders almost never visit public places in their own countries. You don’t see a King or an Emir strolling down a shopping mall shaking hands or riding a convertible car to greet masses at a special national ceremony, or kicking a football to start a game.
They stay in palaces and tents gorging on their own excesses.
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