24 - 30 January 2002
Issue No.570
|
Al-Ahram Weekly Online 24 - 30 January 2002 Issue No.570 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Walking a tightrope
The road to a constructive and fruitful Arab summit is strewn with obstacles. Dina Ezzat reports
With the Arab summit approaching, extensive diplomatic efforts are being exerted to decide the agenda and outcome of this top-level, annual meeting. These efforts are not confined solely to Arab diplomacy but extend to attempts by some Western capitals to put their views and policy objectives on the summit's agenda.
Moussa (l) and Saddam (r) during their meeting in Baghdad
(photo: AP)
Arab interests and objectives are anything but unified. Iraq wants to avert a potential US attack while working to reintegrate itself into the Arab world. It is seeking to work out its problems with its Gulf neighbours, something that was clearly demonstrated during Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa's recent visit of to the Iraqi capital.
Moussa was in Baghdad on Friday, meeting with top Iraqi officials who underlined Baghdad's willingness to use the mediation of the Arab League in order to restart the dialogue with the UN and its neighbours. In an almost three-hour long meeting with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Moussa was offered a clear mandate for pursuing a dialogue with all the international and regional parties concerned, in a bid to bring about an understanding on the critical issue of a potential return for United Nations inspectors in exchange for a partial lifting of the sanctions imposed on Iraq. Moussa was given a mandate to encourage Iraq's neighbours to consider possibilities for turning over a new page in Iraqi-Arab relations.
With this mandate in hand, Moussa has been in touch with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Jordanian King Abdullah II (currently chairing the Arab summit), and Kuwaiti and Saudi officials. The objective of his mission is to spare Iraq from attack and start its reintegration.
This is not exactly what the Kuwaitis and Saudis have in mind. "Spare Iraq the attack? Yes. But reintegrate Baghdad?" one Saudi diplomatic source questioned.
It is not only the Saudis and Kuwaitis who question the proposition of reintegrating Baghdad. Egyptians are also apprehensive. "We heard from top [Egyptian] officials, as we did from other Arab officials, that they are concerned about the consequences of any potential strikes against Iraq. But there is no question in the mind of the many Arab leaders I met with that the current Iraqi regime has to go away," commented a member of the many American delegations who have recently been touring the region.
Statements made by Egyptian and Gulf officials are a clear indication that the road towards reintegrating Iraq is far from easy. In a briefing he gave to reporters in Baghdad, Moussa did not promise to end Iraq's isolation, in effect since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. However, he did give signs that he is "optimistic" and "hopeful" about making some positive moves.
But the subject of what to do with Iraq may be the most difficult item to achieve unanimous agreement on the forthcoming summit. The delicacy of the issue, and its great sensitivity, were proven at the last Arab summit in Amman, where there was heated debate on the subject However, it is not the only tough item on the Arab summit's agenda. An Arab consensus on how to handle Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's aggressive policies is another area in which heavy American pressure is bound to cause complications.
"If the Palestinians, Egyptians and Jordanians are going to Beirut to declare an end to the right of military resistance against the Israeli military occupation, then agreement will be very difficult," one Syrian diplomat said.
This may well prove to be the case. Not only is there the prospect that the Palestinians, Egyptians and Jordanians will declare, along with other Arab capitals, that they see no hope in reaching peace with Sharon in office, but it is also clear that they all want a definite stop to all military resistance of the Israeli occupation. "Nobody wants to give the Americans the excuse they need to attack Arab countries under the pretext of getting at 'terrorist' groups," commented one Egyptian diplomatic source.
It seems unlikely that the Palestinian Authority is going to ask the summit to offer its support to the Intifada á-- something that it has attempted ever since the October 2000 Cairo summit. But the point was eliminated from the declaration of an Arab foreign ministers conference last December. According to the permanent Palestinian representative to the Arab League, Mohamed Sobeih, the Palestinians will ask the summit to offer their support to "the different forms of the Intifada," including its political dimension. And, according to Palestinian cabinet Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, the Palestinians remain committed to the cease-fire declaration that Arafat made on 16 December.
So, having healed the Libyan-Lebanese rift that threatened to derail holding the summit in Beirut, or even call it off altogether, the Arab League has now to secure an agenda and a draft declaration for the summit, scheduled to open in the Lebanese capital on 27 March.
Securing Arab solidarity, in addition to the interests and territorial integrity of the Arab League member-states, the Arab League Secretary-General stated, is the motivating power for all these efforts.
Arab solidarity, political commentators agree, has become essential in view of the increasing Israeli aggression and the continued US tolerance, and even defence, of Israel's violation of the terms of reference for peace.
It was for the sake of giving Arab solidarity a chance, it is said, that Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi agreed to withdraw a Libyan request to hold the summit outside Beirut after members of the Lebanese Shi'ite establishment publicly attacked and threatened Gaddafi for his alleged involvement in the mysterious disappearance of a Shi'ite leader on a visit to Libya in 1978. It is also said that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's new-found willingness to show unprecedented flexibility is for the sake of Arab solidarity. But as Arab diplomatic sources argue, securing Arab solidarity is not what the Americans have in mind for this region. "What the Americans want is a Middle East where Israel is the leading economic power and sole guarantor of security," a senior Arab diplomat commented. To do this, Washington is sending unequivocal messages to all concerned Arab capitals that its "either-you-are-with-us-or-you- are-against-us" policy line is highly applicable to the Middle East.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page