Arab unity: Much more needs to be done

The theme of the recent Arab League meet held in Kuwait was solidarity. A worthy but overly ambitious goal when almost half of the League’s member countries are experiencing conflict or interior turmoil, while others hold competing worldviews. Arab leaderships traditionally recoil from airing their dirty laundry. However, behind closed doors there were differences, according to insiders interviewed by Reuters.
Polluting the atmosphere was Doha’s embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood and its material support of extremist organizations seen as a threat to regional security and stability. The Brotherhood’s status didn’t feature on the agenda due to sensitivities but there were no illusions about the true target of numerous references to the dangers of “terrorism.”
In his opening speech, the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber stressed the fact that terrorism has undermined development in the Arab world.
“We share the burden to confront this dangerous phenomenon. We should double our efforts and join international efforts to uproot this dangerous phenomenon regardless of its source and to rid humanity from its threats.” He also slammed “the participation of foreigners and armed terrorists who come from everywhere.” Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, whose country refuses to extradite Brotherhood fugitives facing trials in Egypt, was in no mood to bow to pressure.
“We cannot accuse a lot of sects of being terrorists because this will generalize terrorism instead of isolating terrorism,” he said during his address. Despite his reservations, the final communiqué read: “The leaders call for stronger ties to combat terrorism by criminalyzing ransom payments to terrorists and confronting transnational crime.”
The summit was the first ever for Egypt’s interim President Adly Mansour who is widely respected at home — and there’s a high probability it will be his last due to upcoming presidential elections. One Egyptian Arabic daily favorably compared his demeanor to that of his predecessor the paper referred to as “the snorer” alluding to Muhammad Mursi being caught on camera napping during last year’s gathering.
The words “Muslim Brotherhood” didn’t pass Mansour’s lips, but one didn’t need to be a mind reader to know the organization was at the root of his call for an Arab counterterrorism treaty. Jabbing at Qatar, he stressed that Arab countries should extradite terrorists wanted by fellow member states. Next year’s summit will be hosted by Egypt after the government of the UAE happily relinquished its turn as host to reflect Arab leaderships’ solidarity with Egypt in transition.
A second bone of contention among attendees was the League’s Syrian seat that’s remained empty since the Assad regime was told it was unwelcome. Representatives of the Syrian National Council (SNC) are invited to attend but deep divisions remain over whether or not the SNC should officially be handed the seat.
Crown Prince Salman rightly stressed that the international community betrayed the Syrian resistance by leaving it “easy prey to tyrant forces” and asked the League to formally approve the SNC as the rightful holder of the Syrian seat “in order to send a strong message to the international community so that it changes its attitude toward Syria.” That didn’t happen due to strong objections primarily from Lebanon, Algeria and Iraq. Head of the SNC Ahmed Jarba argued that the empty seat was a message to Assad to continue killing.
There was good news for the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who’s frustrated that the US-brokered peace process is going nowhere.
The League was united in its criticisms of Israel’s expansion of Jewish colonies, the “Judaization of Jerusalem and Israel’s attacks on its Muslim and Christian holy sites.” The Israeli prime minister’s insistence that the Palestinian National Authority should recognize Israel as “a Jewish state” as a prerequisite to the talks’ successful conclusion was dismissed.
In its final communiqué, the League expressed its “total rejection of the call to consider Israel as a Jewish state.” Abbas has refused to have his arm twisted on this one because such recognition would undermine refugees’ right of return and/or compensation as well as affecting the status of Israel’s Arab citizens. John Kerry gets full marks for trying, but with the April deadline looming it’s looking increasingly likely that his efforts will go for naught.
It goes without saying that although US-led negotiations with Iran over its nuclear enrichment, that could lead to Tehran’s re-entry into the community of nations, was a burning topic during the summit, it wasn’t openly debated.
Gulf States, in particular, are suspicious of any rearranging of geopolitical deckchairs resulting in Iran’s empowerment. The comprehensive “Kuwait Declaration” distributed at the end of the summit calls upon Iran to return to the UAE three islands – Abu Musa, Greater and Lesser Tunbs — forcibly seized by the Shah in 1971. Iran’s Foreign Ministry was quick to fire back stating the islands “have been and will be inseparable parts of Iran” whose ownership “is an irreversible historical fact.”

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