Sudan Liberation Movement Leader Abdul Wahid Al-Nur On Normalization With Israel: Pan-Arabism Is A Lie; We Should Solve Our Own Problems Before Worrying About The Palestinian Cause

Abdul Wahid Al-Nur, the founder and leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement, said in an October 26, 2020 interview on France 24 TV that pan-Arabism is a lie, and he criticized pan-Arab Ba'athist leaders and their hypocrisy surrounding their aggression towards Israel. Al-Nur said that the Sudan Liberation Movement believes that interests, and not ideologies or religious affiliations, are what bring countries together, and he emphasized that Sudan should solve its own problems before worrying about the Palestinians' problems or causes.

Abdul Wahid Al-Nur: "The pan-Arab enterprise was introduced by Gamal Abdel Nasser."

Interviewer: "Okay."

Al-Nur: "After Abdel Nasser came Sadat. Sadat said that he is not an Arab, but Pharaonic. He normalized relations with Israel even before the peace [treaty] – he visited Jerusalem and delivered his famous speech [there]. That's because [pan-Arabism] was a lie. The Arabs banned [Egypt] from the Arab League, and moved [the League's headquarters from Cairo] to Tunis. The same Arabs later normalized their relations with Israel, under the same terms, like Egypt, and they returned [the League's headquarters] to Egypt. That's because [pan-Arabism] isn't an enterprise, it’s a lie.

"Let's talk about the Arabs themselves, and about the pan-Arab Ba'athists. The Syrians... The Golan Heights are occupied... So, they entered Lebanon and joined the Front of... Whatchamacallit?"

Interviewer: "Steadfastness and Confrontation..."

Al-Nur: "The Steadfastness and Confrontation Front. Go and fight, if you really believe in steadfastness and confrontation. Go liberate the Golan, which is Syrian land. You don’t need to defend Lebanon. But they hide behind this... Look at the Iraqis who invaded Kuwait. These were the Arab Ba'athists... They did not attack Israel. Didn't [Saddam] say that he has chemical weapons? Why didn’t he use them against Israel? – These are all..."

Interviewer: "You have visited Israel, right?"

Al-Nur: "Of course I have."

Interviewer: "How many times?"

Wahid Al-Nur: "Time and again.

[...]

"We in the Sudan Liberation Movement believe that countries are connected by interests, and that people come together based on interests, and not on ideologies or racial and religious affiliations."

Interviewer: "But you admit that there is a big problem between Israel and the Palestinians."

Al-Nur: "But we are not Palestinians. We should resolve our own problems. We should care about our own country. Why do we need to..."

Interviewer: "Don't you care about the Palestinian cause?"

Al-Nur: "It's not like that. We should care, first and foremost, about the cause of Sudan."

Interviewer: "More than the Palestinian cause?"

Al-Nur: "Of course! A billion times more."