Al-Ahram Weekly On-line   Al-Ahram Weekly On-line
26 Oct. - 1 Nov. 2000
Issue No. 505
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 Issues navigation Current Issue Previous Issue Back Issues
 
Front Page
 Menue
  
 
  SEARCH
 

Tempered anger at the summit

By Khaled Dawoud

Few in the Arab world had expected Arab leaders to take radical decisions during their first summit meeting in four years, which ended in Cairo on Sunday. The complexity of the situation in this volatile region, the influence of the US as the sole world superpower, and the various alliances and divisions among Arab countries all require more attention than one summit could provide time for.

The summit was nevertheless unique. For the first time in the Arab League's 55-year history, leaders of the 22 member-states met in response to pressure from their own citizens. The masses all over the Arab world had marched and protested to demand a strong reaction to the atrocities committed by Israeli occupation troops against unarmed civilians in Palestine. The minimum the protesters were looking for was a removal of the Israeli flag from the embassies or liaison offices they have established in Arab capitals.

The summit's opening speeches on Saturday reflected the anger and fury in the Arab streets, triggering speculations that some radical decisions might be forthcoming by the end of the two-day event. The document distributed ahead of the opening of the summit listed three inaugural speeches, by President Hosni Mubarak, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Arab League Secretary-General Esmat Abdel-Meguid. After these, the first closed session was held. However, the opening public session unexpectedly lasted for three hours because 14 heads-of-state had in fact asked to deliver speeches.

All were sharply critical of Israel's actions in the occupied territories, particularly its excessive use of force, its siege of three million Palestinians and its failure to reciprocate the Arabs' commitment to peace as a strategic option. Yet the Arab leaders clearly had different ideas about how to force Israel to halt its daily massacre of Palestinians.

Mubarak stated that the Israeli policy of "collective punishment, isolating towns, closing crossing points, terrorising innocent civilians, killing harmless children and giving full rein to extremist settlers, armed with lethal weapons supplied by official state bodies, are all reckless and completely objectionable."

Arafat held Israeli Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon responsible for sparking the violence by visiting Al-Haram Al-Sharif on 28 September. The visit, he argued, would not have been possible without the approval of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Arafat appealed for Arab unity, saying that this would be the best way of assisting the Palestinian people in their struggle. He added that 193 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured since the outbreak of violence, providing a much higher figure for casualties than that reported in the press.

summit Collective photo of Arab leaders who took part in "Al-Aqsa Summit" -- a first since the pan-Arab summit of 1946. The photo shows four new Arab leaders who participated in a summit meeting for the first time: Syria's Bashar Al-Assad, Morocco's King Mohamed VI, Jordan's King Abdullah and Bahrain's Emir Hamad bin Eissa Al-Khalifa
photo: Ahmed Afifi
summit President Hosni Mubarak in a discussion with Foreign Minister Amr Moussa during the summit on Saturday summit Palestinian President Yasser Arafat lends an ear to Nabil Shaath, planning minister and negotiator
(photos: Reuters)

The strongest words came from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who sent his vice president, Ezzat Ibrahim, to read out his speech. "Iraq's clear position is to call and act for the liberation of Palestine through Jihad, because only Jihad is capable of liberating Palestine and the rest of the [occupied] Arab territories."

Since Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, its relations have soured with nearly all Arab countries. It was not invited to participate in the last Arab summit in Cairo in 1996.

Except for Iraq, no other Arab country called for open war against Israel. Indeed, the majority of speakers affirmed their commitment to peace. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh called for opening the door to volunteers to join the Palestinian resistance and provide Palestinians with weapons.

Syria's young President Bashar Al-Assad, who reminded his counterparts that he was speaking in the name of a new generation of leaders, delivered a lecture on definitions of the diplomatic terms used since the start of the peace process, only to make the point that Arabs have to adopt the strategy of seeking "the peace of the strong" and not the "peace of the weak."

Responding to the terms often used by the US as its first priority in dealing with the ongoing crisis, "putting an end to the bloodshed," Bashar asked: "Who said that Palestinians want to stop the bloodshed? If they wanted to do so, they could have stayed at their homes. They are making an Intifada because of their sufferings, and Israel must be punished for the lives it took." He concluded that Arabs should bring an end to all moves towards normalisation with Israel and revive an economic boycott frozen for nearly a decade. Neither of these demands were included in the summit's concluding declaration.

One of the most surprising speeches at the opening session was that delivered by Saudi Crown-Prince Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz. Saudi Arabia, America's closest ally in the region, pledged $250 million as the first Arab contribution to a billion-dollar fund aimed at supporting families of Palestinian martyrs and preserving the Arab and Muslim character of Jerusalem.

Equally important, Prince Abdullah openly criticised the US for its blatant support of Israel, saying that the minimum Arab expectations was a clear condemnation from the US and an attempt to curb Israel's aggression. Surprisingly, the summit's concluding communiqué did not mention the US at all, or even make the usual plea for it to put pressure on Israel to respect previously signed agreements. Regarding the issue of relations with Israel, the Saudi crown-prince called for "halting the establishment of any relations and cancelling all relations established within the framework of the Middle East peace process."

After Prince Abdullah made this remark, many observers speculated that an anti-normalisation clause would be included in the summit's concluding communiqué. But expectations were proved wrong once again, and the Arab countries agreed on a far more flexible wording that would leave each Arab country the freedom to decide the future of its relations with Israel. The concluding communiqué, an eighth draft agreed after lengthy discussions by foreign ministers and presidents, announced that Arab leaders would "stop establishing any [new] relations with Israel, and hold Israel responsible for steps and decisions to be taken by Arab countries concerning relations with Israel, including the possibility of their cancellation." Arab leaders also ruled out, if only for the time being, further multilateral talks, as well as activities promoting regional economic cooperation.

When Foreign Minister Amr Moussa was asked about the significance of a decision to stop multilateral talks which had already been on the shelf for years, he said that some ongoing contacts had remained, and that these would stop.

The watered-down wording on the future of relations with Israel was apparently in response to Jordan's announcement that it would not sever ties with Israel or close down either its embassy in Tel Aviv or the Israeli Embassy in Amman. In a television interview President Mubarak remarked one day before the opening of the summit that he too opposed the recall of the Egyptian ambassador to Tel Aviv on the grounds that channels of communication with the Israeli side must remain open if the crisis is to be defused.

Egyptian diplomats taking part in the summit explained to Al-Ahram Weekly that even the original wording of the concluding communiqué, that was later watered down, calling for "cancelling all relations established in the framework of the Middle East peace process," did not apply to Egypt. Egypt signed its peace treaty with Israel in 1979, long before the peace process started in 1991.

Only Jordan, which signed its own peace treaty with Israel in 1994, and other Arab countries which established low-level ties with Israel after the signing of the 1993 Oslo agreements between Israel and the Palestinians, would have been required to cancel these relations.

Jordan had in any case been delaying the dispatch of its new ambassador to Israel. Tunisia, on the same day the summit ended its deliberations, decided to close down its "liaison office" in Tel Aviv and the Israeli office in Tunis. On Monday, Morocco declared that it was taking the same step. Oman had taken similar action a week before the summit.

Apart from Egypt and Jordan, Qatar and Mauritania are the only Arab countries that continue to have relations with Israel. Qatar's Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jabr Al-Thani told reporters that his country "was quietly considering the closure of the Israeli liaison office in Doha in line with the Arab consensus." But Mauritania said that it will not take action now because it had only established full diplomatic ties with Israel earlier this year.

Foreign Minister Moussa pointed out, in a joint news conference with the Arab League's Abdel-Meguid at the conclusion of the summit, that the Arab response to the Israeli actions would escalate. "As long as there is escalation from the Israeli side, there will be similar escalation from the Arab side," he anticipated. In addition to the debate on the future of relations with Israel, diplomatic sources said that the Arab leaders also differed on who would run Al-Aqsa billion-dollar Fund and Jerusalem's Intifada Fund. Syria's Bashar Al-Assad opposed giving Arafat's Palestinian Authority sole right to distribute the money and called for a mechanism under Arab League supervision. Arafat, according to leaks of the deliberations of the concluding closed session, said he did not mind the Arab League's supervision, but wanted the money immediately. He did not get what he wanted and Arab finance ministers will meet in three weeks to take a decision on the matter.

The summit's seven-page concluding communiqué included other provisions which most analysts said would be impossible to translate into reality. The Arab leaders called upon the UN Security Council to establish a special international criminal tribunal "to try Israeli war criminals who committed massacres against Palestinians and other Arabs along the lines of the tribunals for war criminals in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda." In view of the US veto power and powerful sway over the Security Council, Arab countries would not even be able to table this proposal on the Council's agenda for discussion.

The same applies to the summit's demand for the formation of an international investigation committee in the framework of the UN to investigate the reasons behind the outbreak of violence and determine the party responsible for it. They also asked the Security Council to consider the deployment of international peace-keeping troops to provide protection for Palestinians. Israel, at last week's Sharm Al-Sheikh summit, had strongly rejected the possibility of deploying an international force. Even the fact-finding committee Israel agreed to at Sharm Al-Sheikh would be presided over by the US.

Abdel-Meguid announced that the state of Qatar had agreed to contribute $815,000 to cover the cost of an international investigation committee called for by the Geneva-based UN Commission on Human Rights last Thursday. Yet, Israel had already announced that it would not receive any UN investigators and would deny them entry.

Abdel-Meguid said that even if the Security Council decided to reject the Arab request for establishing a tribunal for "Israeli war criminals," the Arabs would still make the request "in order to end the myth that Israel is a democracy that respects human rights. Isn't martyring Mohamed Al-Dorra [shot dead while hiding behind his father] a war crime?" Al-Dorra was a point of reference in the speeches of many of speakers at the summit, with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah saying: "I will never forget as long as I live the sight [of the martyring] of the child Mohamed Al-Dorra."

The Arab leaders also affirmed that "comprehensive and just peace will not be achieved except with the restoration of Jerusalem under full Palestinian sovereignty and recognising the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to establish an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital."

They also renewed an earlier Arab decision to sever ties with any country that accepts Israel's claim over East Jerusalem by re-locating its embassy to the disputed city. The warning was clearly directed at the US, where Congress had approved such a move. President Bill Clinton subsequently postponed it.

Another decision the League's secretary-general described as "historic" was the agreement by all Arab leaders to hold regular annual summits. Abdel-Meguid said the first Arab summit based on this new mechanism will be held in Amman, Jordan, in March 2001. Arab countries will host summits in alphabetical order.

Libya's low-level delegation to the summit walked out on Saturday after it became clear that the concluding communiqué would fail to clearly call for severing all ties with Israel and the revival of boycott measures. Iraq had also reportedly expressed reservations over the final statement for failing to call for Jihad or, as a minimum, warn that it is an option. On Monday, the Iraqi press called on the Arab masses to "overthrow their rulers" for failing to make a strong stand against Israel.

Moussa said that Israel should seriously contemplate the decisions taken by Arab leaders. Asked to comment on Barak's decision to take "time-out" from the peace process, he added that "we also want a time-out." Barak's decision, he continued, was meaningless anyway because "there is no peace process or negotiations right now, and I think that continuing negotiations in the same way is not effective because it mainly aims at wasting time. There will be no more handshakes or photo opportunities."

They said at the summit..

"Peace, by its very nature, should be an equal partnership. Co-existence requires continual effort on both sides. It is either co-existence and stability maintained by mutual respect or continuing tension and apprehension."
President Hosni Mubarak

"The United States of America, in its capacity as the sponsor of the peace process, has a particular responsibility for the collapse of this process ... We are hoping that after the positive stand of the Arab side and the spirit of commitment demonstrated toward the peace process, the Israeli side will be chastised -- or at least blamed for its intransigence and unacceptable conduct."
Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz

"Our people, the people who conducted a revolutionary struggle over the past half century, the people of the great Intifada... commit themselves before each Arab, Muslim, Christian and friendly citizen of this world, that we will continue our struggle by all legitimate means until we reach victory, God willing. Therefore, we call upon you to adopt a strong Arab stand, a stand of honour and dignity.."
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat

"The decisive stage that the region is going through requires us to work in the spirit of realism in order to be able to take the right initiatives. We need to create a new Arab atmosphere and carry out an influential and active role in the face the fast-changing developments our region is witnessing." King Mohamed VI of Morocco

"The so-called road of peaceful settlement has led to nothing but failure... As for us, we call for Jihad, and say that all previous attempts and efforts did not restore Palestine. Therefore, it is only logical to say that we have to give up the policy followed by Arabs who think it will convince the Americans and Zionists to give Palestine back to its people."
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein

"Tunisia calls for the dispatching of an international force to the clash points between the Palestinians and the Israelis in order to safeguard peace and security between the two sides and prevent the recurrence of clashes." Tunisian President Zine Al-Abidine bin Ali

"What does peace as a strategic option mean? It means there are other options. The best option is the peace of the strong, and the worst is peace of the weak, or the war of the weak... What we are seeking now is not a declaration of war, or haphazard decisions... One thing we could do is to stop all forms of normalisation with Israel and revive the Arab boycott."
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad

Related stories:
Intifada in focus
States of emergency
Producing the body (count)
Tempered anger at the summit
Composing the consensus
The electronic Intifada
Horror in your sitting room
Variations on a theme
The big freeze
Solidarity days
'A valid fear'
Meet the press
The earth speaks Arabic
Also see Focus on Intifada 19 - 25 October 2000

© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
   Top of page
Front Page 
  
`