Short on miracles on the Dead Sea
Business and political leaders from around the world dipped their toes in salty waters and promised to bring health to an ailing region. Reda Helal, in Jordan for the extraordinary meeting of the World Economic Forum, finds that miracles require more attention to detail
They came to the Dead Sea with a view to brining it back to life. They came to see a new peace process born, even by caesarean section, from the womb of a slumberous, if not outright comatose Middle East. Leaders of politics, business, and civil society converged on the shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan between 21 and 23 June for an extraordinary meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
WEF founder and head, Claus Schwab, told me that the preparations for the Dead Sea meeting began right on the heels of the end of military operations in Iraq. The meeting was envisioned as a "summit of reconciliation" in the post-Iraq war period.
Iraq's post-war reconstruction and Middle East peace topped the agenda during the 71 sessions held in the course of the three-day gathering. The United States, occupier of Iraq and midwife of the revived peace process, played the lead role in the event. US Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived two days before the gathering started. After it ended, he visited Israel and the West Bank for talks with Palestinian and Israeli prime ministers, Mahmoud Abbas and Ariel Sharon. Powell also held talks with the representatives of the Quartet that launched the roadmap: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou (Greece is current EU president), and EU top foreign policy chief, Javier Solana.
No sooner had the Quartet meeting got underway, however, than Israel assassinated a key Hamas leader. This prompted Powell to voice "regret" at the incidence, during the news conference that followed the Quartet meeting. In its final statement, the Quartet criticised Israel's military practices and its policy of assassinations, noting the adverse effect this could have on the roadmap. Although the situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories was less than sanguine, the WEF conference on the Red Sea has produced something of a momentum for peace in the region.
Israel's representation in the conference was the largest, second only to the American. Shimon Peres, interim leader of the Labour Party, Ehud Olmert, minister of industry and trade, peace activists from Labour and old timers of the Likud were all there. The Israelis held side meetings with the Palestinians and other Arabs. The conference provided both Arabs and Israelis with the opportunity to reassert their commitment to peace, while blaming each other for the continuing crisis. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa spoke at length about Arab rights and warned of proceeding with normalisation before progress is made in the peace process.
Despite continued Israeli assassinations, searches, and blockade of the Palestinians, and despite Palestinian suicide attacks, efforts to revive the peace process continued. An imminent agreement between the Palestinian Authority and Israel over the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from Gaza and Bethlehem is on the cards. Secretary Powell promised to give the Palestinian Authority $50 million to pave the way for such an agreement. According to well-informed sources, the agreement calls for Israel to exercise "self-restraint" for three to six weeks, during which time the Palestinians would get organised and deploy their own security forces in the evacuated areas. The draft of the Palestinian-Israeli agreement has been conveyed to US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, who's due to visit the region soon.
In another development, Jordan, Palestine, and Israel agreed on the need to start implementing a project linking the Dead Sea with the Red Sea, independently from the tense situation between Israel and the Palestinians. If such a project is not implemented, experts say, the Dead Sea would disappear by the year 2050.
Another significant meeting was between the Bahrain crown prince and Israel's foreign minister. The Israelis claim that the encounter led to an agreement to open a representation office, while the Bahrainis say that such a step is yet premature.
The third day of the WEF meeting was devoted to a discussion of President Bush's initiative to create a US-Middle East free trade area, including Israel and Arab countries. In this context, Robert Zoellick, US top trade official, called on several Arab countries including Saudi Arabia to join the World Trade Organisation, before proceeding to conclude free trade agreements with the United States.
While Arab businessmen and economists present at the conference welcomed the idea of linking the region further with world economy, several Arab official delegations were less than enthusiastic at the prospect of a regional economic body that includes Israel as member. Zoellick and a number of Arab officials, however, succeeded in drafting a blueprint for implementing Bush's idea of a free trade zone.
The US administration seemed eager to promote Jordan and its ruler, King Abdullah II, as a model that other Arab countries need to emulate. The US- Jordanian free trade agreement was hailed for its effect in boosting Jordanian exports to the United States and attracting foreign investment to Jordan. Jordan was extolled as a future facilitator of the peace talks, with the conference it hosted in Aqaba portrayed as a groundbreaking event. More significantly, the WEF meeting on the Red Sea was depicted as an indication of Jordan's ability to sponsor meetings between the Palestinians and Israelis. This US and international recognition comes as a morale boost to Jordan, which is now being billed as the archetype of modernity in the region, a local player that possesses the mind and spirit of Davos. The underlying message could be that older and bigger countries in the region are not adjusting smoothly enough with the new changes and are too encumbered with economic, political, and social stagnation.
For all the celebratory notes, all the backslapping, the whole WEF affair was rather belaboured. Effort was made to spread optimism about a new peace process, but perhaps the midwife has arrived much earlier than the mother was ready to give birth.
The forced note of cheer was equally apparent in the case of Iraq. Paul Bremer, US overseer in Iraq, came to the conference flanked by Secretary Powell and veteran Iraqi statesman Adnan Pachachi. But the situation in Iraq remains dismal. While businessmen and politicians debated the future of the country on the shores of the Dead Sea, Iraqi opposition was launching resistance operations against US forces, with casualties rising on both sides, and with oil pipelines getting blown up. Security, human dignity, and basic human needs continued to be in very short supply in Iraq.
Bremer painted a rosy picture, promising a detailed political and economic plan leading to the formation of an Iraqi political council, and pledging to turn the Iraqi economy around, from central planning to free market. The first priority of the US administration, he said, is to establish law and order, for this is a necessary condition for political and economic reform. Bremer stated that the reconstruction of Iraq would depend on the Iraqi people. A political council would be formed, leading to the convocation of a constitutional congress to draft a new constitution of the country, he promised.
Bremer was actually responding to a report Amnesty International handed out during the Dead Sea conference. The report states that the international community, specially the United States and the United Kingdom, a.k.a. "the occupying force", should abide by their legal commitments; ensure that Iraqis are to be involved in the reconstruction of their country and in managing its wealth, and guarantee that human rights would be guaranteed for all Iraqis. The Amnesty International report calls on the US and UK to submit periodical reports to the Security Council on the progress of the reconstruction process in Iraq.
Secretary Powell gave a more realistic account of the situation in Iraq at a press conference he held on the second day of the WEF conference. Powell said that US forces in Iraq were still coming under attack by some Iraqis, and that America will have to stay in the country until the security situation stabilises. The United States, he added, needs to discover the weapons of mass destruction and get rid of the remnants of Saddam's regime.
The birth of a new Iraq, just as the birth of a new peace process, is apparently harder than the United States had imagined. Despite all the confident statements and optimistic remarks, it was hard to conceal the difficulties the Americans were having in both Iraq and Palestine.
So far, the Bush administration has appeared strong on grand schemes, but weak on detail -- though, as the Americans themselves would say, this is just where the devil lies in wait.
When I confronted William Burns, US assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, with this view, he responded by saying complicated though the details on the ground are, this should not stop us from moving forward; otherwise all plans and visions would collapse. This is why the WEF conference was held on the Dead Sea shores in Jordan, he said.
The Dead Sea conference was an attempt to bring the spirit of Davos to the Middle East, a region ridden by political and social stagnation, as Professor Claus Schwab said. It was an attempt to bring life to the Dead Sea, to use the words of Kofi Annan. Interestingly, however, Israel seems to have been the primary beneficiary of the gathering, followed by Jordan, followed by the WEF.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 26 June - 2 July 2003 (Issue No. 644)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/644/re10.htm