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Another year, another Arab League summit
Arab disunity and inaction were the main themes of this year's meeting, hosted by Damascus.
- Gulf News
- Published: 00:08 March 31, 2008
The Arab summit ended on Sunday with no strong statement. Its final communique repeated the usual positions on the various issues.
Its flat concluding statement reflected the unprecedented division in the Arab world, highlighted by the no show of regional heavyweights. Arab League Secretary General Amr Mousa rightly referred to this division as "dangerous".
Thus, Arab disunity and inaction were the main themes of this year's meeting, hosted by Damascus. Attracting only 10 heads of state of Arab countries, besides President Bashar Al Assad, the main focus of the summit was unsurprisingly Palestine.
The usual calls on Israel to end its illegal policies against the Palestinians were made. There were of course the oversimplified references to the region's main headaches - Lebanon (which finds itself in a political standoff) and Iraq (which remains an occupied land).
The fact that regional heavyweights did not attend the summit was indicative of these countries' stances of the host country regarding its policies towards Lebanon. On the other hand, countries, which took part wanted to make a point that they did not want to see the Arab house collapse.
It was hoped that this year and during this particular period, Arab states would be able to express their shared policies articulately and without any complications. It was also hoped that this would be a time for them to work out their differences and devote themselves to coming up with coordinated action.
One thing is clear: any divisions amongst the Arab states were clearly brought into this annual meeting and the fact that there were absent heads of states did have an effect on the issues discussed.
The purpose of the formation of the Arab League was to "strengthen the close relations and numerous ties that bind the Arab states". Judging by this year's gathering, this is yet to be fulfilled.
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