Rich Arab countries ignore refugee crisis

Finally, a wealthy Arab has offered to help refugees from the Middle East.

Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris posted on Twitter on September 1 that he is ready to buy an island from Greece or Italy to settle refugees and provide all necessary financial resources to make that island their permanent home, reports the Patria news agency.

He even suggested that the island could become a new state called „Hope“, although he indicated that this solution could be "at least temporary until the refugees can return to their countries.“

Reactions on social networks to Sawiris's generous offer are mostly positive. After all, who would dare to criticize a successful businessman for being willing to do something that most governments are unwilling to do to resolve the current refugee crisis.

However, few in the media or diplomatic circles have asked an even more important question: Where have the rich Arab countries been over the past few years while the Syrian civil war raged and millions of refugees fled to neighboring countries?

The only Arab countries that have accepted Syrian refugees are Jordan and Lebanon, two weak economies with very limited resources. The rich Arab countries have sent some aid to refugees in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon, but have not offered any significant action plan that would truly help the most vulnerable.

Consider the financial resources available to the five energy-richest Arab countries: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain.

Their total GDP is about $2 trillion annually, and their total population is 55 million people. This means that the annual per capita income in the poorest country of this group, Bahrain, is over $21,000, and in the richest, Qatar, it is about $90,000.

It is not hard to imagine what five percent of their total annual GDP, about $100 billion, could do to resolve the refugee crisis.

Arab countries could offer safe haven for refugees in the vast territories they control, or at least offer a large financial incentive to other countries that receive refugees, writes RSE.