Chairperson of the Media Department, Dr. Walid Shurafa, pointed to the risk involved in modern history making, noting that the Arab Spring is part of a metaphor that shapes history and generates a social reality.

 

This came during a seminar organized by the Media Department titled: "Arab Spring: Reality and Metaphor" at the  Kamal Nasir Hall on 6 December 2011.  Dr. Sabri Saidam, an expert in telecommunications and information technology participated along with the Director of the Middle East Forum and the Al-Maqdis Center, Dr. Mohammed Hamzeh; BZU faculty member in political science, Sameeh Hammoudeh.

 

In his reading of the reality of the Arab revolutions, Dr. Saidam emphasized the importance of technology in everyday life. He argued that the tremendous development in access to and use of technology has made core issues, such as unemployment, poverty and administrative corruption, vital concerns which people have expressed in their revolutions.

 

He explained that the Palestinian spring is inspired by lessons from the Arab street, but unlike in past decades, the many attempts to initiate a Palestinian spring have primarily targeted the political split, and only secondly occupation. Factionalism overwhelmed these attempts with political mobility characterized by partisan directions, rather than by youth-based political mobility.

 

Dr. Hamzeh explained that the Arab revolutions mainly respond to political corruption and an absence of popular political participation, but the Arab region remains a black spot that lags behind other revolutions of the world. He added that countries, which currently witness revolutions, are rearranging their internal and external agendas, and may focus on the internal situation, especially in Egypt.

 

Hammoudeh clarified that those revolutions that have occurred in Tunisia and Egypt motivated other Arab nations to rise up, as in Libya and Yemen, despite differences between these countries. He added that these revolutions have broken the barrier of fear, which is the most significant point.  Freedom and dignity are fundamental aspects of people's lives, and these qualities in the Arab popular revolutions have influenced Palestinian masses and factions, giving the Palestinian people impetus to move towards an end to the political division by demanding unity which is a major weapon against the occupation.