Arab League chief warns of threat to Arab entity, identity

Arab League Secretary General Nabil el Araby has warned of threats to the Arab world.
In a speech to a conference on regional challenges facing the Arab world Monday, Araby touched upon threats to the Arab entity, identity and diversity.
"The Arab world is facing grave challenges that have big repercussions," Araby told the conference.
He called for a comprehensive revision of all tracks of social life to be able to determine where the mistake comes from.
The culture of extremism and fundamentalism foments bloody violence, which constitutes a threat to the Arab national security, Araby said.
According to him, religious and ideological extremism is one of the most irksome issues Arab communities have to endure. It constitutes a grave threat to Arab development, stability and progress, Araby said, pressing for action to counter this threat.
Religious and ideological extremism remains the main source of social disintegration because it destroys the social fabric, the AL chief said.
It has always been the main source of violence and terrorism throughout history, he added.
Araby said that terrorist groups acting under the cover of religion and committing heinous crimes have been making headlines being the gravest threat of all times.
He pointed to qualitative changes to the terrorist groups over the past three years – from 2011 until 2014.
They have developed from small cells carrying out individual terrorist acts with limited number of individual weapons to a regular army taking control of lands and owning advanced artillery and rockets, Araby explained.
This qualitative development has honed combat skills of terrorist organizations in a number of Arab states, he noted.
Those organizations are representing a growing threat to the Arab national security, he stressed.
He pressed for a comprehensive and effective strategy to face ideological extremism and terrorist organizations.
This should be done through an expanded dialogue grouping all state institutions concerned, NGOs, intellectuals, experts and politicians, Araby said.
A conference as such is capable of outlining a new comprehensive project to upgrade educational curricula and the religious discourse, the AL chief said.
Fighting terrorism should start from the environment where extremist ideologies are promoted, Araby said, stressing the need to address the root causes.
A direct military and security intervention will not do the trick alone, he said.