Almost irrelevant

Neither the host nor the guests are showing much enthusiasm for the expected Arab summit. Dina Ezzat reports from Tunis

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"So what could come out of the Arab summit?" asked a Tunisian civil servant who asked that his name be withheld. "Here we are with the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and all these demonstrations in the Arab world. Do you think that Arab leaders are going to come up with a reaction? Of course not. We are going to hear the usual n'importe quoi they issue every time they meet. Anyway, who cares about politics any more?" he added as he shrugged his shoulders.

His lukewarm reaction to the scheduled Arab summit in his country was similar to that expressed by all Tunisians who have spoken to Al-Ahram Weekly over the past few days. His replies to the Weekly 's questions were only more detailed than those of many other Tunisian men and women approached for interviews. For the most part, Tunisians seemed more or less indifferent about the summit. "We are not very interested in politics any more. We used to be, but we are losing interest. The situation in the Arab world is very depressing and it does not look like it is going to improve in the near future," said an 18-year-old milk-bar attendant in the Tunisian capital who spoke on condition of anonymity.

This indifference towards the scheduled summit has also been manifested in both the Arabic and French-language Tunisian press. The preparatory meetings that started on Monday -- and are expected to reach their peak as of this evening with the arrival of Arab foreign ministers -- have hardly received any serious coverage during the week. Even the official Tunisian news agency has not been reporting much on the summit, except for a few lines about the meetings and phone calls conducted by Tunisian President Zein Al-Abidine bin Ali.

Arab diplomats, who have been flocking to Tunis in the past few days, attribute this reaction to the highly pro-government orientation of the Tunisian press and the concerns many Tunisians feel about talking with foreigners about politics. "It is not that they do not care but rather that they do not want to share their political views with strangers. This is a way of life in Tunis where the margins of freedom of expression do not leave many Tunisians comfortable to publicly express their views. They would not even give their real names," said one Arab diplomatic source who has long-served in Tunis. This source, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, argued that since the Tunisian government's display of indifference stems from its initial reluctance to host the summit at all.

Like the civil servant and the milk-bar waitress, this source did not have very high hopes or expectations of the Arab summit that is scheduled to open on Monday for two days. His reasoning was also centred upon the lack of Arab will to address the chronic political problems of the Arab world. "What are they going to do about the situation in Palestine? In Iraq? The plans to re-work the Arab world? The answers are not clear," he said.

Developments in Palestine and Iraq are high on the agenda of the Tunis summit. But the draft resolutions related to both issues are not offering a creative approach. Instead, they vaguely outline the typical stances of condemning violence, stressing commitment to a fair and just peace in Palestine and to securing a transfer of power and the restoration of independence in Iraq.

"Yes. They are the usual clichés more or less -- if you wish to call them so -- but what else do you expect?" the Arab diplomat told the Weekly. He added: "The countries that have generally been in favour of taking grey stances -- including Egypt and Saudi Arabia -- are now more in favour of [staying in] the grey area than ever before. Those who used to opt for the hard-line stance, at least when it comes to the language of the resolutions -- especially Syria -- have been avoiding confrontations since the US invasion of Iraq."

This vagueness is also true of the draft resolution and communiqué that the summit is going to examine for adoption regarding the issue of proposed reform for the Arab world. The Arab summit is set to underline the importance of reform while insisting that it will have to come by evolution, not revolution.

The issue of Arab League reform will probably capture most of the debate in both the summit and the Arab foreign ministers' preparatory meetings. But again, there are no great expectations on this front.

Some serious confrontations took place during the preparatory meetings that were held by the Arab League permanent representatives on Monday and Tuesday, participants said. Secretary-General Amr Moussa and the permanent representatives of Kuwait and Syria had a serious row over the restructuring of the league to the extent that Moussa walked out of the meeting on Monday evening.

"The Syrian delegation expressed concern over Moussa's proposal to assign a commissioner for Arab national security because they were not sure that this commissioner would be a Syrian. They feel that national security has become a predominantly Syrian worry," said one source. He added that the Kuwaiti delegation interfered only to add more opposition to the secretary-general following "what has become a standard Kuwaiti line to antagonise Moussa in the meetings".

Meanwhile other aspects of Arab League reform are likely to be subject to further debate. There may be further confrontations during the foreign ministers' meeting that will then be referred to the summit. The summit would, in principle, adopt the reform measures and defer their implementation until the 2005 summit set to be chaired by Algeria.

With such tension and lack of resolve in the air, it seems unrealistic to expect any major resolutions to come out of the Arab summit. "Since when have Arab summits adopted any major resolutions? What was the major resolution the summit adopted last year when the US was planning to occupy Iraq? What was the major resolution it adopted two years ago when Sharon invaded the surroundings of the residence of [Palestinian President Yasser] Arafat to put him under curfew?" asked a Tunisian taxi driver. He added: "What is in another summit?"

Tunisian commentator Fatema Kurray is subscribing to the "no great expectations" approach, but unlike many she still believes that the summit is important. "At least Arab leaders meet and talk on a regular basis. This is important because this is the way for them to deal with their differences rather than to let them grow. So at least we have that," she said.

For his part, Moussa insists that this is not the time to give up on the Arab summit. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday evening he did not attempt to deny that there are differences but he seemed determined to stress the overall awareness of Arab countries of the need to address many issues in an increasingly alarming regional situation.