Demanding consensus

As the Tunis summit approaches the Israeli assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin must strengthen Arab leaders' resolve, writes Ibrahim Nafie

---

Israel's assassination, this week, of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder and spiritual leader of Hamas, triggered a wave of shock that rippled throughout the Arab world and abroad. The elderly sheikh, wheelchair-bound from the age of 16 and almost blind, was killed in a missile attack on Monday morning as he and his companions were leaving the mosque after morning prayers. Sheikh Yassin, widely perceived as a moderate among leaders of the Palestinian factions, was a symbol of the Palestinian cause.

It is difficult to imagine that any leader of the civilised world could so much as hint at their connection with such an unjustifiable and loathsome crime. Yet there were Israel's prime minister and minister of defence making special appearances to personally congratulate the soldiers responsible for this heinous act.

This crime could not have occurred at a more sensitive time for the region. It leaves no doubt that Sharon and his gang understand only violence and murder. In his statement condemning the assassination President Mubarak expressed the prevailing sentiments: "This barbaric act is unimaginable. It is senseless and will have incalculable repercussions... The assassination of the Hamas leader aborts all peace efforts and its impact will be felt throughout the region."

This latest act of Israeli state-sponsored terrorism cannot go unanswered. If the world truly seeks peace and reform in this region it can no longer ignore the brutal reality of an occupying power -- the last remaining instance of this colonial phenomenon -- that can perpetrate its crimes unchallenged because of the political and legal coverage afforded by the US. It is time we tell Washington that its extreme pro-Israeli bias is the foremost cause of anti-American feelings in the region and that it is impossible to consider any initiative for the reform of the Arab world as long as Israel continues to occupy Arab territory and perpetrate its atrocities with impunity.

The assassination of Sheikh Yassin was clearly timed to undermine the Arab summit scheduled to meet in Tunis next week. It sought to derail the primary purpose of that conference -- to strengthen inter-Arab cooperation and to generate a constructive climate for reform -- by triggering inter-Arab tensions and tensions between the Arabs and international powers. I believe that the best course of action Arab leaders can take, after devising an appropriate response to Israel's crime, is to press ahead with their agenda for the Arab summit and do their utmost to ensure it accomplishes its objectives.

Through their recent diplomatic drives in Europe and the US leaders from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria have done much to pave the way for the summit's success on the question of reform. European officials now acknowledge that reform in the Arab world must be driven from within and attuned to the particular economic, social and cultural circumstances of individual states. They also recognise how contingent the success of the reform process is upon a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian cause. Even the US, which remains adamant in its refusal to perceive the intrinsic connection between reform and the priority that must be given to ending one of the foremost causes of extremism and terrorism, has tangibly modified its stance. It is difficult to imagine that US Secretary of State Colin Powell would have issued his recent statements acknowledging that reform should not be imposed from the outside had not Arab leaders pressed their case for a domestically driven reform process so forcefully and cogently home.

Arab leaders in Tunis must now shoulder the burden of capitalising on this groundwork. Above all they must reach a consensus on a clear and coherent vision for reform that underscores the principles mentioned above and that simultaneously stresses that most Arab countries had already embarked on reform programmes well before western powers began to air their demands. If the Tunis summit succeeds in producing a solid reform project that is Arab in spirit and drive there is a strong possibility that European powers will back it as the basis for a proposal to be put before the G8 summit in June. Then, if adopted, G8 members will release the necessary assistance and technical support to facilitate the implementation of the project and offset its potential adverse effects, spurring a level of development equal in scale to that generated by the Marshall plan in Western Europe.

It goes without saying that if the Arabs fail to produce a plan of their own western leaders will turn to the initiatives they have devised, the most ominous being Washington's scheme for a Greater Middle East.

Arab leaders in Tunis will have to make tough and realistic decisions on a number of other issues. In particular they will be required to lay the foundations for more rational and practical mechanisms of inter-Arab cooperation. Towards this end they will need to summon resolve and courage to avert past pitfalls. A second task will be to devise a clear collective approach on how to help the Iraqi people regain their sovereignty, as well as concrete programmes to assist them in the process of reconstruction.

It cannot be overstated just how crucial the Tunis summit will be in determining the future of inter-Arab collaboration and the tenor of Arab relations with the rest of the world. In this summit the Arabs will have the opportunity to take the initiative in shaping the future of this region. Participants in Tunis must bear in mind that if they do not take the initiative "others" will.

I have cautioned on numerous occasions against schemes to divide the Arab world and urged closer and more effective inter-Arab cooperation as the only means to counter these schemes. It seems appropriate, here, to return to an article I wrote on 7 August 1987. Then I wrote: "The Arab nation has always been the target of conspiracies by outside forces that regard Arab unity and strength as the foremost obstacle to their designs on the region. Their solution is partition, fragmentation, indeed, Balkanisation to use the contemporary term."

This caution issued 17 years ago is still valid today. One hopes that the Arabs are up to the challenge.

---

See:
Focus: Ahmed Yassin