The Arab Summit (No More to be Said)

Many Arabs received the Summit with a great deal of apathy

Given the thorny atmosphere surrounding the region and the complicated relations between Arab regimes and the United States, what was agreed upon in Sharm El-Sheikh is “the best that could be reached,” according to most observers.

However, others believe that the only thing the Arab leaders managed to settle in Sharm El-Sheikh was the fact that no way would they ever be able to live up to their peoples’ aspirations. The harsh exchange of “accusations and bad names” between Libya’s Gadhafi and Saudi Arabia’s prince Abdullah was but a true indication of the real things those so-called leaders care about: holding on to their cozy chairs.

Another thing asserted in Sharm El-Sheikh was that each Arab leader cared first about showing himself as the one and only who is not “fearful” of the United States. It would be safe to conclude that an old fact was re-emphasized: Arabs say what they never do.

Gulf States host US troops preparing to attack and invade Baghdad. Egypt, on a daily basis, allows warships to pass its Suez Canal, en route to the Gulf, for the same mission. Bahrain’s King, President of the current summit, less than a month ago, hailed “the great efforts by [brother] Bush for the good of the Gulf countries.” Jordan’s Abdullah, in Davos, asked the US to make its strike against Iraq “as quick and as painless as possible”!

However, there were some positive signs that immediately followed the Arab summit. Thousands of Libyan protestors gathered near the Saudi embassy in Tripoli. To protest war on Iraq? No, to protest the live TV spat between Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz and Moamer Gadhafi. Several demonstrators were injured in clashes with riot police who prevented the crowd from approaching the embassy compound in the Libyan capital.

So the looming invasion of Iraq, thanks to the Summit, made way for new great national challenges: accusations of treason and working for colonialist powers. “Who exactly brought you to power?” Yeah, who brought those leaders to power has jumped on top of their peoples’ priorities now. People are in fact trying to remember when and how those guys came to power!

When Abdullah accused Gadhafi, “You are a liar and your grave awaits you,” some observers argued that the phrase could have been the only honest sentence said in that Sharm El-Sheikh hall. But not at face value; “they are all liars and their graves await them,” not just the Libyan leader.

It was argued that the spat did not have much effect on the results of the summit. This comes in the sense that the final communique was already worded and approved even before the leaders set foot on the Sharm airport. They said they rejected the war. Well, Bush himself repeatedly declared that he was not very happy about war!

The Arab summit could be seen as a success in form; that an approved communique was issued. However, the summit fell behind offering any new politically palatable solution. The UAE proposal asking Saddam Hussein to resign would be a good example. Such a proposal, although not debated by the summit, undermined the ability of the Arab leaders to work as mediators to bring peace. That is to say, they lost any effect they might have had with the Iraqi leadership.

Perhaps the statement of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was the wisest and most balanced: “I suggest adopting a resolution stating the need not to provide military facilities for the war.” Knowing that such a resolution would sure meet a dead end, the young leader explained: “We are not asking for the closure of the bases, that is a matter of sovereignty. But the important thing is that the forces [deployed in the region] do not go beyond the borders of the countries in which they are based.”

His request is clearly directed toward Arab Gulf states, like Kuwait and Qatar, hosting large numbers of US troops preparing for a possible invasion of “brotherly Iraq.”

It is not just logical, but legal, I believe. Military bases used by the US were only adopted for defending the Gulf States that panicked when Saddam invaded Kuwait in 1990.

The situation is completely different now. Unless Arab states have secret obligations to the United States, they can stick to their Summit resolutions and refuse to let the Yankees use their soil to attack and invade Iraq.

Assad, who has built a reputation for his frank talk in previous Arab summits, said that “any overflowing of these forces beyond the border would make an aggressor of the [host] country, and it would have to bear responsibility.”

He said that he is not asking for the implementation of joint Arab defense agreement to protect Iraq, or the withdrawing of the American forces from Arab states, but just not to give any military facilities for this war.”

If what Assad asked for is too much then, to Arab leaders, “Welcome to Hell!”

Khaled Mamdouh is an editor and staff writer in the News Desk of IslamOnline. He is also a radio announcer, journalist and translator for several Arabic magazines.