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Joint Arab effort may save day
The recent Qatari initiative in Lebanon, under the aegis of the Arab League, may provide some inspiration for inter-Arab collaboration.
- By Osama Al Sharif, Special to Gulf News
- Published: 23:44 May 31, 2008
- Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Mousa.
- Image Credit: Gulf News Archive
The Arab political order may have been mourned more often than not, but the recent success of the Qatari reconciliation initiative in Lebanon has raised hopes that collective regional effort may still save the day.
All praise to the Qataris notwithstanding, it is clear to many that certain geopolitical developments have contributed significantly to the adoption of the Doha Accord last month.
For years the Arab League, the oldest and most established of inter-Arab organisations, appeared paralysed and almost indifferent to regional crises.
The Anglo-American invasion of Iraq, a founding Arab League member, is a classic case. Even today, the Cairo-based organisation's role in dealing with the ramifications of Iraq's occupation is minimal and ineffective.
The Arab League has failed to address other problems in Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and others. The 22-member body has achieved little in areas such as Arab economic integration, environmental challenges, food, water and agricultural issues.
When Israeli jets bombed a Syrian base last year, the Arab League looked the other way. Indeed, the joint Arab defence pact exists only in name.
The organisation and its members have also failed to extend aid to Gaza or convince Israel to remove its economic blockade. Overall, the Arab League's list of breakthroughs is modest, giving its critics ample ammunition to press for its abrogation.
Set up in 1946, the Arab League was challenged from the start. The Zionist expansion in Palestine and the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, which the Arabs lost magnificently, left the organisation divided and weak.
The Arab world was facing a number of threats on multiple fronts. Internally the Arab political order was being ravaged by ideological confrontations. A number of its future member states were still under foreign rule and few had just gained independence and were fighting for their economic survival.
Gravely ill
The Cold War and the political realities of the day, including the 1967 war, which claimed the remainder of historical Palestine in addition to the territories of Syria and Egypt, left the Arab League gravely ill.
Reflecting the will and commitment of its members, the organisation drifted aimlessly, torn between popular pressure to punish Israel militarily, as underlined in the famous three "nos" of the Khartoum summit, and the sobering idea entertained by few leaders that only a peaceful resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict can bring justice to the Palestinians.
But when Egypt's Anwar Sadat made his stunning visit to Occupied Jerusalem in 1977, which later led to the signing of the Camp David peace accords, the Arab League faced total collapse. The organisation was moved from Cairo to Tunis, but with Egypt's neutralisation, it could barely function.
A few years later the Arabs believed the worst was behind them. Arab countries restored relations with Cairo and the Arab League was back in its permanent headquarters overlooking the Nile.
But it had suffered deadly blows. New regional organisations had come about such as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the shortlived Arab Cooperation Council (ACC) and the Maghreb Cooperation Council (MCC).
Arab countries were clustering together with the rich and politically similar Arab Gulf states giving their club the needed resources to survive.
The Arab League defied odds and kept going. Under Egypt's former foreign minister Amr Mousa, it was able to find a new footing and the Arab summit, the most important of the league's institutions, was re-launched on an annual basis.
Global changes, most importantly the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, allowed the Arab League to reinvent itself.
In the aftermath of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the former's defeat by an international coalition that included Arab countries, the region was facing a new set of challenges that included the threat of the Islamic republic of Iran, America's military presence in the Gulf and the opportunity to settle the Arab-Israeli dispute peacefully.
But the Arab world was again being polarised. America was now the world's only superpower, a friend and an ally of Israel, and as a result of the Gulf War, had forces on Arab lands. The Arab world was being divided between those who followed America's cue and those who opposed Washington's policies.
Still the Arab League was able to produce the Arab peace initiative in its Beirut summit in 2002, an offering that received the backing of all member states. What the league lacked though were the tools to implement that deal and any other agreement.
Meanwhile, the state of paralysis that had become endemic to the organisation was getting worse. With the invasion of Iraq, the Israeli war on Lebanon, and the conflagration of inter-Arab disputes, the league lost the momentum. This year's summit in Damascus exemplified the acuteness of divisions.
But the Qatari initiative in Lebanon, under the aegis of the Arab League, may provide some inspiration for inter-Arab collaboration. With America's influence over the region going through serious and unprecedented relapse, member states have found a wider area for political manoeuvre.
Again it is not the Arab League as a body that should take the risk or lead the effort, but individual members that have the courage to launch small initiatives.
No effort can succeed without collective work and support. But as Qatar's prime minister said recently the dangers that loom ahead threaten the well being of the entire nation. Whether it is Darfur or Gaza, rising oil prices or drought, the Arab countries can provide solutions.
The Arab League badly needs a success here and achievement there and the opportunity has never presented itself as it does now for something positive to be done.
Osama Al Sharif is a veteran journalist based in Jordan.
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