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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 19 - 25 October 2000 Issue No. 504 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 19 - 25 October 2000 Issue No. 504
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Elections Palestine International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Features Travel Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Curbing Israel's free hand
By Ibrahim Nafie
The Sharm Al-Sheikh summit constituted a serious attempt to end the violent confrontation between the Israelis and Palestinians and to stop the brutal Israeli siege of Palestinian towns and villages. And if the results of the summit were less than the Arabs hoped for, they nevertheless mark a beginning for the resumption of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process at a time when the Intifada has delivered a profound practical lesson on the potential repercussions of aborted negotiations and continued Israeli provocation.
Sharm Al-Sheikh also underscored Egypt's pivotal role, as demonstrated by the intensive efforts of President Hosni Mubarak to ensure its success. But above all the summit, and recent events, should have driven home to the Arabs the imperative of a more united stance. The peace process would probably not have reached its current impasse and the Israelis would never have been able to engage in such brutal repression had the Arabs overcome their differences, more closely coordinated their positions and rallied in support to the Palestinian people.
The Sharm Al-Sheikh talks were among the most complex to have taken place in the entire peace Arab-Israeli peace process, not only because of the vast gap between the positions of the parties involved, but also because the ongoing Israeli assault on Palestinian territories during the summit.
Last week, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat appealed to President Mubarak to intervene urgently to put an and to the Israeli assault on Palestinian cities in the West Bank and Gaza. Egypt responded immediately, intensifying its regional and international drive to rescue the situation. In his contacts with US President Clinton, in particular, Mubarak stressed the need for Israeli forces to lift their siege, which targets defenceless civilians, and to withdraw from Palestinian controlled areas. To allow this crisis to persist, he warned, would have dire ramifications that would encompass the region as a whole.
Clinton agreed, essentially, that the Israelis should withdraw, although he preferred to call it "redeployment." Egypt was less concerned with names than with ending the Israeli violence against the Palestinian people. Through such contacts emerged the need to hold a summit, the purpose of which would be to secure Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territories, to prevent Israel from undertaking such repressive measures in the future and to form an international commission to investigate the causes behind the eruption of the confrontation.
As was expected, Israeli intransigence proved the most obstructive factor in Sharm Al-Sheikh. Ehud Barak, whatever his personal convictions, was bound by a commitment exacted of him by his government in advance of Sharm Al-Sheikh to press, among other things, for measures to prevent a reoccurrence of "Palestinian violence" and for the redetention of recently released Hamas prisoners. Barak was further restricted by the fragility of his government. Before Barak came to Sharm Al-Sheikh, the extremist Likud leader Ariel Sharon had threatened to bring down the government if any concessions were made to the Palestinians.
Barak, of course, was able to persuade Clinton to advance Israel's demands. Clinton, for example, raised with Arafat the issue of redetaining the Hamas prisoners. Clinton was also under the pressure to appease the powerful American Jewish lobby so as not to compromise the electoral chances of his wife, or Al Gore.
In spite of the fact that domestic factors in Israel and the US tended to determine the course of the Sharm Al-Sheikh talks, Egypt, along with Jordan, did its utmost to support the Palestinian position. In his opening address to the summit, President Mubarak condemned the arrogance, brutality and inhumanity of Israel's use of force against Palestinian civilians and civilian targets. He urged that if the peace process is to get back on track Israel must halt its military actions against the Palestinians, refrain from further provocative acts and safeguard the sanctity and integrity of the holy areas in East Jerusalem. Above all, he said, the course of the peace process should not be determined by forces of extremism and hatred inside Israel.
The closing communiqué of the Sharm Al-Sheikh summit represented an important step towards containing an explosive situation. Among the most positive points in the communiqué was the call for Israeli forces to withdraw from PA controlled areas. The communiqué also called for the formation of an investigatory commission, which, ultimately, should contribute to preventing a repetition the confrontation and which will put to the test US commitment to and credibility in the peace process as a whole.
Although the summit came some distance towards protecting the Palestinians from such outrages in the future, that the situation came to this pass at all holds important lessons for the Arabs. It has demonstrated the extent to which Arab disunity has given a free hand to Israel to wreak attrition on the peace process and on the Palestinian people, while simultaneously encouraging the US to discount Arab reactions. In spite of the enormous economic potential of the Arab World, the Arabs have not been able to effectively rally this to their benefit in the regional and international spheres. Dissension and rivalries have rendered the Arabs extremely vulnerable, not only in terms of their economic development but in terms of their ability to defend their most vital political causes.
This reality places an additional burden on the forthcoming Arab Summit, making it of utmost importance that the summit adopt a mechanism to ensure the periodic reconvention of the forum. It must focus on mending the rifts over the outstanding thorny issues that stand in the way of restoring Arab solidarity. This course of action, moreover, should be complimented at the economic level through the establishment of closer bonds and channels for economic cooperation, particularly in view of the fact that all the subregional formulas and groupings that have been formed for the purpose of economic integration, such as the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Maghrebi Cooperation Council, have proven ineffectual. As the world moves to more and more powerful economic blocs with greater and greater technological prowess, the Arabs cannot afford to stand by.
The forthcoming Arab Summit, therefore, should not only focus on the urgent and immediate issues. It should also take a broader, strategic view aimed at countering the perils that emanate from disunity and disintegration.
Related:
Intifada in focus 12 - 18 October 2000
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