"The risks of climate, weapons and stability in the Arab region": the Zionist entity in the region is a conflict generator

The Center for Studies on Arab Unity, in collaboration with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and the Swedish Institute in Alexandria, organized a seminar on "Climate, Weapons and stability in the Arab region "at the Bristol Hotel in Beirut, Thursday 17 and 18 January 2019. The seminar was attended by the Swedish Ambassador to Lebanon Jürgen Lindtrom, academics and scholars from the Arab and Western world.
The opening session included the launch of the Arabic version of the annual book "Armaments, disarmament and international security 2018" Issued by the Center. The latter agreed with the Stockholm Institute, with the support of the Swedish Institute in Alexandria for the second consecutive year, to publish the Arab edition of the book, covering the most important developments. on the world stage with regard to armaments, armed conflicts, tensions and insecurity.

Obossuyrah

The director general of the Center, Luna AbuSuhehr, opened the seminar emphasizing that the Arab region is on a hot plate of wars. And it stopped at the crisis that continues to rise in Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iraq and the political crisis in the Gulf. And he identified the crisis of the century represented by the Arab-Israeli conflict. This led to an arms race in the region, where Saudi Arabia became the second largest arms importer in the world between 2013 and 2017 and the third country in terms of military spending after America and China and then the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

He blamed the West for not taking a serious decision on arms control in the interests of his economic interests. And he described the armaments relationship between the West and the hypocrisy "Israel", where the latter continues to violate international laws and human rights, and the use of banned weapons at the level international in occupied Palestine. And he addressed crises related to extreme weather events and their impact on human security in the region.

Eliasson
The director of the Swedish Institute of Alessandria, dr. Niels Eliasson, has taken note in collaboration with the Center for Arab Unity Studies. He provided an overview of the activities of the Swedish Institute in Alexandria, stating that "the Institute was established in Sweden to confirm the peace that has existed for 150 years".

blacksmith

The director of the Stockholm Institute, Dr. Dan Smith, presented the map of the distribution of nuclear weapons in the world, emphasizing that the largest number is owned by France and Russia. While America is the first to own this weapon and Israel is in eighth place. He stressed that India and Saudi Arabia are at the forefront of arms importing countries, stressing that problems in the Arab region have been increasing recently due to the interference of Arab countries in mutual respect problems. the previous decades in which foreign intervention policies were an important factor in the region's crises.

Trays
The Director of the Department of Studies at the Center for Studies on Arab Unity, Dr. Yousef Al-Sawani, presented an overview and conclusions on the relationship of the "Sabri" report, stating that the report shows that the state of peace and international security is heading for regression and underlines the concern of the authors of the international security report.

He noted that Israeli military spending will increase by 4.9% in 2017 to $ 16.5 billion, as will US military aid of $ 3.1 billion. According to the report, the five largest arms importers in 2017 were India, followed by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and China, which account for 35% of total imports. of weapons. Therefore, arms flows to the Middle East have increased by 103% between 2013-2017 compared to 2008-2012, and the reason is that most of the countries in the region are directly involved in conflicts.
Between 2013 and 2017, Saudi Arabia occupied the list of arms importers in the region of 31%, followed by Egypt with 14% and the United Arab Emirates by 13%. Only the United States exported 52% of total arms shipments to the Middle East, followed by the United Kingdom (9.4%) and France (8.6%), according to the report.
Imports of Qatari weapons increased by 166% between 2008 and 2013 and 2013-2017, with the United States accounting for 67% of imports and Germany with 20%. Israel increased its arms imports by 125% between 2008 and 2012 and 2013-2017, and only the United States accounted for 60% of these imports.

The first day also included two sessions on arms spending in the region and its negative effects on stability and growth, followed by a session on regional tensions and their development.

The second day of the conference was on climate change and insecurity in the region. The region of the Middle East and North Africa has been identified as one of the most affected by climate change in the world. The participants propose a series of solutions that help mitigate the effects of this global crisis.