Uncle Sam and Haj Mutwali

Uncle Sam and Haj Mutwali

Soon after the US-Israeli fallout over the settlement issue in Jerusalem took the form of a public spat, Joe Lieberman, the leading backer of Israel in the US senate, demanded an end to the family feud.
 
Considering his dual loyalties, it's no wonder that the Zionist senator is worried. "Let's cut the family fighting, the family feud… it's time to lower voices, to get over the family feud... it just doesn't serve anybody's interests but our enemies."
 
But, like that of Tiger Woods, the US-Israeli spousal scandal continues unabated despite the warnings. As Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, continued to embarrass his US partner in public, Barack Obama refused to be seen with him in public.
 
Instead, Netanyahu was let in from the back door of the White House, away from the cameras.
 
How is it possible, complained Charles Krauthammer, a Neo-Con commentator, that Obama meets publicly with "dictators" like Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and the Saudi monarch, but not with the "leader of the only democracy" in the Middle East.
 
In fact, the more Obama distances himself from the extremist Israeli leadership, the more he will be embraced by 'moderate' and not so 'moderate' Arabs.
 
The US partnership with Israel has long been shaped by geopolitical interests as it was wrought by envy and pressures of Washington’s Arab regional partners.
 
America's friends and foes alike have competed for its attention and protection since the US emerged victorious from the Second World War, and President Franklin Roosevelt met Abdul Aziz bin Saud, the Saudi king, in 1945 on a US warship to celebrate a new imperial partnership with Arab leaders in the Middle East.
 
However, America's strong commitment and support to Israel despite its occupation of Arab land in later years became the main, but by no means the only, obstacle towards warmer US-Arab relations. 
 
"Ok Haj"
 
The Arab sense of betrayal and jealousy as a result of US engagement with Israel is best portrayed by the Haj Mutwali family feud, a much hyped and controversial Arab soap opera frothing with  paternalism, love and envy.
 
Mutwali, a traditional man, marries a rich widow, followed by three others. Envied by his peers, the polygamist tries hard to run a tight ship while keeping all his wives happy. 
 
"Ok Haj", the wives' trademark response to his admonitions, has made its way into contemporary Arab lexicon.
 
Uncle Mutwali’s melodrama turns into tragicomedy when the aging but greedy Haj is attracted to a young but feisty and egotistical woman whom he eventually marries. The young bride is as  irresistible to Mutwali as she is resisted by his other wives.
 
But for Haj, nothing matches the desire for a dynasty. And the once likable man becomes increasingly destructive, so much that his entire family turns against him.
 
Only the young wife, the troublemaker, sees in this an opportunity to get rid of the competition. Isolated and unable to maintain the balancing act, he takes on his wife's aggressiveness as she takes on his authoritativeness!
 
If this sounds like a folkloric saga think again. Nothing could better portray Uncle Sam’s family feud than of the Mutwalis.
 
Power-struggle, jealousies, and squabbles among Middle Eastern regimes have been shaped in no small part by competition to attract the US away from one and pull it closer to another.
 
Regional leaders are either US partners, ex-partners or potential partners.  A dynamic not lost on Uncle Sam, who has mastered the balancing act among wives and courtesans.
 
Hubristic  
 
The Peace Process has been transformed by Washington into its post Cold War regional order that provided it with the best possible venue to manage crises and resolve disputes among its intimate and not so intimate partners.
 
It also provides open invitation to new partners to join if they accept the 'house rules' and vow loyalty to their sponsor.  New members must recognise the existence of the other partners, or are kept out in the cold.
 
Likewise, as we've seen over the last couple of weeks, unruly partners, regardless of how attractive, who don't play by the rules, will be confronted in public as in private.
 
With the US preoccupied by its many wars, continued embarrassments, even humiliation, heaped on it by the Middle Eastern ally, could eventually turn Israel's assets into liabilities.
 
Remember, arrogance breeds stupidity. Persistent Israeli chutzpah towards its partners like the US (Jerusalem and settlement freeze), UK (response to fake passports), Turkey (rebuff) and the UN (Goldstone report) among others, is proving costly. 
 
Without Uncle Sam, Israel has no where to go.  Ask Haj Mutwali.