Sticking points
WHETHER it was because of the scenic location or the sunny weather, the delegations from Egypt, the US, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority looked at ease on Tuesday as they chatted with one other and exchanged positive body language. That was in front of the cameras as they waited for their six leaders to emerge from a 100-minute meeting without aides during which the tough issues were tackled, reports Nevine Khalil.
US President George W Bush urged the Arab parties to the Sharm El-Sheikh summit to improve relations with Israel, a difficult proposition considering that under Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government the situation on the ground has gone from bad to worse. Egypt, for example, recalled its long-serving ambassador to Tel Aviv, Mohamed Bassiouny, in November 2000 to protest against Israel's actions against the Palestinians since the start of the second Intifada. Over the past 18 months Cairo has refused to send a new ambassador until "the reasons for which the ambassador was recalled are eliminated", as Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher has often noted, most recently on the eve of the summit. Jordan, the only other Arab state to sign a peace agreement with Israel, also remained without ambassadorial representation in Tel Aviv until recently, when it named a new ambassador to the post.
So far, Saudi Arabia has resisted American calls to hold contacts with Israel until the latter takes concrete steps on the road to peace, including withdrawing from Arab land occupied in 1967 and launching serious negotiations to reach a final settlement. In return, the Saudi-cum-Arab Peace Initiative proposes that Arab countries normalise relations with Israel. Also, Bahrain, the president of the Arab summit, is unwilling to call on all Arab countries to better relations with Israel because some states, such as Syria, are unlikely to mend fences with Israel without Tel Aviv first making progress in the peace process.
Bush's argument to the summit members was that a concrete commitment by them to upgrade relations with Israel would enable him to persuade Sharon to stick to the roadmap. But the Arabs resisted the US proposition, believing they have compromised too much already and have taken several steps on the road to peace only to be stymied by a stubborn and uncompromising Tel Aviv.
A sign that not all went as smoothly as expected was found in the "open" session of the summit which followed the closed-door discussions among the leaders. Briefly mentioning that the summit aimed to "discuss the peace process in order to restore stability in the region for all the people to live in peace and security", President Hosni Mubarak chose to refer to Bush's year-old vision of a two- state solution for the Palestinians and Israelis, but did not indicate what took place in the day's discussions.
An Arab delegate to most of the deliberations noted that Arab leaders were trying to find "a way to support all the requirements of the Palestinians without heading into a confrontation with the Americans". He added that Bush's current position "is a positive one regarding the region. No one, therefore, wants to butt heads with him."
Hard talk at the summit was not limited to prospects of peacemaking between the Arabs and Israel. There were lengthy discussions on fighting terrorism, democratic reform in the region and "the incentive" of a Free Trade Area between Middle East countries and the US. From the five Arab participants at the summit, Washington was able to secure "a firm rejection of terror, regardless of its justification and motives", according to Bush. Addressing the media at the end of the summit, Mubarak also condemned terrorism, vowing to "continue to confront it and to reject the culture of fanaticism and violence in any shape or form. We will use the power of law to prevent assistance to illegal organisations, including terrorist groups."
Although Egypt was hit hard in the early 1990s by a wave of terrorist attacks which crippled its tourism industry, it is Saudi Arabia which was dealt the latest terrorist blow on 12 May by a triple attack on residential compounds housing foreigners in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia is also the native country of Osama Bin Laden, whose name has become synonymous in the West with terrorism. Some of Saudi Arabia's nationals are also accused of generously funding Al- Qa'eda and other militant groups. Bush noted in his concluding statements that Arab leaders at Sharm El-Sheikh "committed to practical action [and to] use all means to cut off assistance, including arms or financing to any terror". Bush added that "progress towards peace requires the rejection of terror. Terror threatens my nation, terror threatens Arab states, terror threatens Israel, terror threatens the emergence of a Palestinian state, terror must be opposed and it must be defeated."
The other Arab country which recently came under a terrorist attack was Morocco when five bombs went off on 16 May in Casablanca. Although King Mohamed VI of Morocco was invited to Sharm El-Sheikh in his capacity as the chairman of the Jerusalem Committee, an affiliate of the Organisation of Islamic Conference, he stayed away because of "the domestic security situation", one source told Al-Ahram Weekly.
The peace process and terrorism aside, the toughest talking point behind closed doors from an Arab perspective may have been the prospect of political reform in the region. Ever since US Secretary of State Colin Powell announced last December Washington's desire to see a new Middle East -- set in motion by the toppling of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad -- several countries have hurried to reform some aspects of their domestic politics. Most notably, Egypt and Saudi Arabia recently created human rights entities to oversee and ensure that the rights of their citizens are not being violated. According to Bush, the time is ripe for "a hopeful direction" for the Middle East. Saddam -- "a tyrant" -- is gone and reform is "taking hold in many societies which are eager to join in the progress and prosperity of our times", he observed.
"The leaders here today recognise the importance of representative, democratic institutions [which] are critical to the hopes of peoples everywhere," said Bush. "Allowing peaceful avenues for the expression of different views and broader political participation will unleash the talents of each nation."
The incentive? "All Middle East countries that travel this challenging path will have the support and friendship of the US," stated Bush.
But reforming domestic politics is not an overnight process. This, perhaps, is why Bush's proposal for a Middle East-US Free Trade Area -- which will prominently feature Israel in a formal economic contract with Arab countries -- is to take no less than 10 years to realise. Bush urged countries in the region to "open their markets, seek broader trade in the world and join us in creating a Middle East-US Free Trade Area within a decade".
Mubarak stated that participants will "relentlessly continue to work for a region which is devoid of division and violence and one which lives in peace".
