15 - 21 February 2001
Issue No.521
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 15 - 21 February 2001 Issue No.521 |
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Greater Arab resolve in Amman
After five meetings following the Cairo Arab summit in October of last year, some Arab foreign ministers have managed to improve Arab rapport on a number of serious political problems as well as economic cooperation.
Increased understanding reached at their meetings should facilitate Arab leaders' decision-making process when they meet for their summit in Amman late next month.
The secretary-general of the Arab League together with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Tunisia, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain have been meeting on a monthly basis for the past four months under the umbrella of the Arab summit follow-up committee. An extraordinary meeting was added last month upon a Palestinian request.
The direct objective of these meetings was to secure the implementation of resolutions adopted during the Cairo summit dedicated to the Palestinian cause last October, as the Al-Aqsa Intifada was entering its second month.
Now, with the Intifada soon to complete its fifth month, the ministerial meetings still fall short of ensuring full implementation of the Cairo Summit resolutions for political and economic support of the Palestinian people. The $1 billion promised in aid to Palestine has yet to be completely earmarked, and what has been earmarked is not reaching the Palestinian Authority. Meanwhile, the political resolutions that promised collective Arab measures against Israel for its brutal repression of the Intifada are not being pursued, partially due to the Arab countries' lack of power and partially because of the intensive Palestinian-Israeli negotiations pursued after the summit.
"This said, nobody could deny that the meetings of the Arab summit follow-up committee are managing the resolutions of the summit -- if not the exact text, then the spirit," an Egyptian diplomatic source said. For many Arab diplomats the Cairo summit communiqué's key aim was to increase support for the Palestinians through enhancing Arab-Arab relations. "This has been realised," the Egyptian diplomat commented. "In fact, these meetings have proved an excellent opportunity for the foreign ministers of nine Arab countries to meet with the secretary-general of the Arab League on a monthly basis to review the level of implementation of the Cairo summit resolutions in view of fast-moving regional political developments," he added.
For example, when former US President Bill Clinton offered his ideas for a framework peace agreement between Palestinians and Israelis, the Arab summit follow-up committee met to discuss the offer. It was this summit's insistence on Arab parameters for a peace deal that made it possible for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to turn down the Clinton ideas without worrying about the pressure that Washington would surely put on him.
"Even if Arafat was willing to sign what the Americans were offering him, this meeting made this move impossible," commented a Syrian official.
The monthly ministerial consultations, Arab diplomatic sources agree, were useful in securing coordination among their countries, at least on the stance to take on the peace process.
"Now we consult with everybody and put everybody in the picture so that nobody comes and says you made independent decisions so you have to put up with the consequences of those decisions on your own," said one senior Palestinian diplomat.
In an indirect way these meetings provide a venue for the revival of dormant coordination among front-line Arab countries, particularly between Syrians and Palestinians.
"For years, since Oslo, the Syrians have been reluctant to meet with the Palestinians and talk about the peace process. Now this is happening even if indirectly," commented a source from the Arab League.
Last Saturday in Amman the Arab summit follow-up committee not only examined the chances of the peace process following Likud hard-liner Ariel Sharon's election as Israel's prime minister and the inauguration of a new US administration, but it also prepared the agenda of the upcoming Arab summit.
Given that the coming summit is bound to dwell on the issue of Iraq and the need for Arab action to alleviate the misery of the Iraqi people after 10 years of economic sanctions, the foreign ministers who met in Amman had a serious discussion on what the Arab countries could offer Iraq.
"So this follow-up committee is evolving into an institutionalised Arab group that has a mandate for encouraging Arab consensus on controversial Arab issues," commented one source at the Arab League. "It is true that every time there is a meeting of the follow-up committee you have differences aired, but it is also true that greater understanding is reached," he added.
The follow-up committee is planning its next meeting in Cairo on 11 March, on the eve of the regular Arab foreign ministers council session that takes place at Arab League headquarters. The council is expected to finalise the agenda of the Amman Summit.
According to Arab diplomatic sources, judging by the consultations that have been taking place in the past four months, it seems that the peace process -- and not Iraq as some have expected -- will be the primary concern of Arab leaders in Amman.
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