Existential conditions

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa says he is more concerned with inter-Arab fighting than with Iranian intentions towards the Arab world. Dina Ezzat listens

---

Arab inter-fighting has become a serious threat as much as the Arab-Israeli struggle to the interests of Arab countries now and in the future, but the squabbles of Arab states are not too difficult to overcome if there is enough political will. This was the most striking argument that Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa delivered Monday during a speech addressed to a select group of businessmen, intellectuals and journalists.

Moussa equally stressed that Iranian intentions -- their qualification aside -- towards the Arab regions should not cause too much anxiety on the part of Arab countries. "Collectively Arab countries are strong enough to face up to any challenges and when all is said and done Iranian-Arab relations should be subject to an in-depth and open discussion," Moussa said.

According to the Arab League chief, "dialogue and confrontation" should be the way for Arab states to handle their differences and their problems with Iran, which Moussa acknowledged as substantial in some cases but insisted were not impossible to manage on the basis of common interests. "Some Arab Gulf countries have over $20 billion annual trade with Iran," Moussa said.

As for the approach towards the Arab-Israeli struggle, Moussa said that Arabs should make a choice "upon how Israel deals with the requirements for a fair settlement" for the struggle. And whatever they choose, Moussa added, Arab countries should refrain from "providing humiliating concessions that serve no good purpose when it comes to the settlement of the Arab- Israeli struggle."

"We have to be very clear that the future and stability of this region, and consequently the future and stability of Egypt, depend a great deal on the way of settling the Arab-Israeli struggle. And it is only through a fair settlement that the regional as well as national security can be secured for the [Arab countries]," Moussa said. He added that this peaceful and fair settlement is only possible when "Israel is put in the normal and acceptable place that could help it and the Arabs live in real peace." Putting Israel in its place and achieving a fair and durable peace, Moussa said, is crucial to strike "military balance and balance of power and [more significantly] a psychological balance among the peoples of this region".

As such, Moussa stressed, "Arab countries should be resilient in rejecting [any attempt] to grant Israel, or for that matter its security, a special status [in the region]." The Arab League secretary-general added that Arabs should not accept that the issue of Israeli security be blown out of all acceptable proportions "at the expense of the security of others [in the region] and at the expense of Arab security". "And when all is said and done, the [normalised] relations that come with peace are the best source of security for all," Moussa stressed.

According to Moussa, a fair settlement to the Arab- Israeli struggle is necessary in deciding the fate of regional security. "Ending the Arab-Israeli struggle in a fair way [that entails the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders and the return of the Golan] might pave the way towards establishing regional security order," Moussa said. He added that this fair settlement is not the only condition required to establish a balanced and sustainable regional security order.

What is essential for a solid regional security regime, the Arab League chief argued, is to make it free of weapons of mass destruction. "The Middle East needs a regional security regime that is based on turning this region into one that is free of weapons of mass destruction, especially nuclear weapons," Moussa said. "In this context I must refer to the initiative of US President Barack Obama that he declared in Prague on 5 April to establish a world free of nuclear weapons; this is an important and positive initiative... that should be actively pursued before the next review conference of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty in 2010," Moussa said.

For Moussa, Arab-Israeli peace, a solid regional security regime, Arab solidarity, good neighbourly relations with Iran just as with Turkey are part and parcel to a set of conditions that he offered as existential for the survival of the Arab world. Other conditions offered by the Arab League secretary-general included reform -- societal as well as political, the fight against corruption, enhancement of quality education and scientific research and economic development.

These conditions were offered to answer a question proposed by Moussa's host on whether or not the Arab world could have a better future. The Arab diplomat who has been at the helm of the Arab organisation since 2001 offered an answer that was very much "yes, but".

For Moussa, what was essential to make these conditions possible and to take the answer from "yes, but" to "yes" was "Egypt's leadership", which he qualified as simply crucial for the survival of the Arab world and the accomplishment of its legitimate interests -- political, military, economic and cultural.