26 July - 1 August 2001
Issue No.544
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 26 July - 1 August 2001 Issue No.544 |
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In the shadow of war
For the time being, the accent among the Arab states is on containment rather than escalation, writes Dina Ezzat
With the confrontation between Israel and the Palestinians seemingly on the brink of exploding into all out war, all eyes were on last week's meeting of the Arab Summit follow-up committee in Cairo. But if people on 'the Arab street' had been expecting a further hardening of their governments' position towards Israel, they were due for disappointment. If anything, the looming shadow of war seems, for the moment, to have deepened Arab fractions rather than provided an incentive for greater unity.
"If the six hours of closed consultations between [Arab] foreign ministers and the Arab League secretary-general did not produce any plan for action, then you have to realise that there is something very wrong with the way Arabs are looking at the current situation," commented one Arab diplomatic source. He added, "It means that the 10 foreign ministers who were locked in closed deliberations [with Moussa] cannot agree on either the diagnosis or the prescription for a remedy," he added.
The meeting, which took place last Wednesday upon the request of the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), included the foreign ministers of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, Tunisia and Morocco, along with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa. The committee was formed by Arab leaders following the landmark summit in Cairo last October, shortly after the Al-Aqsa Intifada broke out.
The objective of the meeting, as Gulf officials put it, was to deal with the deteriorating situation in the occupied territories. The result was a communiqué that offered the Palestinians more financial aid (although not as much as they had hoped for) and no political plan of action, which the Palestinians did not mind.
The communiqué stressed Arab commitment to combating Israel's attempt to force acceptance of its actions as faits accomplis and emphasised Arab support for Palestinians defending their rights. The communiqué also reiterated Arab support for Syria to free the Golan Heights from Israeli occupation and for the Lebanese to do the same with the contested area of Shebaa Farms. But the document issued by the ministers gave no indication how any of these goals might be achieved. It did not even reaffirm a previous recommendation issued in May to suspend all political contacts with Israel for as long as it continued its policy of aggression against the Palestinians. Instead, the communiqué described the Israeli government as "rogue" and demanded that the international community deal with the country as such.
Indeed, the earlier reccomendation to suspend Arab contacts with Israel has been the source of particular controversy during the meeting and since. Cairo's view seems to be that the crisis situation in the occupied territories makes such contacts even more urgent today than they were at less perilous periods in Arab- Israeli relations. Insiders told Al-Ahram Weekly that Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher was "very, very opposed" to any reference to the suspension of contacts with Israel in the communiqué. "He even went as far as saying that this recommendation should not have been adopted in May," one source said. This line, however, was strongly criticised by Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Al-Sharaa. Al-Sharaa, the same source told the Weekly, did little to conceal his anger when he insisted that with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon shrugging off repeated attempts by Arabs to compromise, Arab countries should be talking about a full economic boycott, not merely a suspension of high-level political contacts -- a pledge that was never really put into effect.
In a joint press conference by Moussa and Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdel-Ilah El-Khatib, whose country is currently chairing the Arab summit, Moussa defended the communiqué by saying that "it was all that could be reached for now." Moussa had earlier defended what several Arab countries saw as Egypt's "violation" of the recommendation on suspending political contacts with Israel by receiving Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres in Cairo two weeks ago. Moussa, Egypt's former foreign minister, argued that this was done in the wake of Palestinian-Israeli contacts and with the intention to provide the Palestinians with essential political support. Last Wednesday, Moussa insisted that what matters in Arab meetings is "reaching a consensus, so that [what is decided] can be implemented."
"In the final analysis, the communiqué had to please the political orientations of every country, so you cannot really say that it was a weak communiqué -- because Syria would not have agreed to it -- and you cannot say that it is a strong communiqué -- because Egypt would not have seen it as politically correct," commented one Arab League source. He added, "While trying to put pressure on Israel, you do not want to encourage any potential Arab disagreements."
Earlier this week Maher told a gathering of journalists and interested parties that the recommendation to suspend political ties with Israel adopted by the follow-up committee last May "was taken under the spell of enthusiasm" following intensive Israeli air raids on Palestinian towns using F-16 planes. This recommendation, Maher insisted, was "out of line for a committee that is not in a position to issue such resolutions."
This statement is already causing unease in several Arab capitals. Jordan, as chair of the meeting at which the recommendation was issued, feels that Maher's criticism was directed at it. "Even though the Jordanians may agree with Cairo that political contacts do not need to be suspended with Israel, they would not like to see the committee criticised when they are chairing it," remarked one diplomatic source. The Syrians, who are already upset with Cairo for its alleged violation of the decree, are not pleased either. "What does this mean?" demanded one Syrian diplomat. "Egypt was present at that meeting [where the recommendation was decided on]. Maher himself was there."
Even the Palestinians, who are conducting high-level political contacts with Israel, feel that Maher's statement may be misconstrued by the Israelis as a message that Arabs will keep contacts with Israel under any circumstances. One Arab diplomat commented that even the Saudis feel that this was not the right thing to say, "since it contradicts a publicly adopted policy of key Arab states, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia."
But statements made later in the week by Maher attributed the whole fracas to a misunderstanding. The Egyptian foreign minister vehemently denied that his earlier statements had implied any criticism of the follow-up committee. Maher said that he had been merely explaining the limits to the committee's mandate.
Acting to help defuse the tension, Secretary General Moussa told reporters that Maher had informed him that he was acting to dispel the confusion surrounding his earlier statement. According to Moussa, Egypt's stance on the futility of contacts with the current Israeli government had been expressed clearly at the highest level in press statements made by President Hosni Mubarak himself. Maher's statements should have been read in light of Mubarak's statement and not otherwise, Moussa argued.
Meanwhile, Jordan's King Abdullah has contacted Arab heads of state to deliberate a set of "secret" recommendations offered to him by the committee last Wednesday. One informed source told the Weekly that the crux of those recommendations was to work on activating the Damascus-based Arab Boycott Office, to hold another Arab summit and to rally the necessary political support for a Security Council resolution to send international monitors to the occupied territories.
According to the assessment of a veteran Arab diplomat, however, given the recommendation of the G8 summit this week to send international monitors to the Middle East, "all these 'secret' recommendations will be put to sleep -- unless Israel decides to implement its threats of reoccupying Palestinian Authority territories."
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