Libyan stance will hijack the summit, analyst says

Dubai: The 22nd Arab summit will be no different from the preceding 21 meetings as it will be all talks with little results.

Dr Abdul Khaleq Abdullah, professor of political sciences at the UAE University in Al Ain and prominent political analyst, told Gulf News that the summit will be worse than the previous ones as host government Libya is not known for its ability to take a middle-ground position.

He predicts that Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, will change the momentum of the meeting for his personal interests including his latest confrontation with Switzerland.

"These summits and the investment put into them are not worth the time. Arab leaders must look at more practical ways to discuss issues and come up with decisions that are worthy to meet the expectations of its people," Dr Abdullah said.

He said the summit will raise the tone against the construction of colonies in occupied Jerusalem because it has international coverage at the moment. But he expects no action on this.

"The only hope for Arabs at this stage is the US. They should work with the Obama administration to put pressure on Israel. In my opinion, Israelis are going through the worst time in their relations with the US. Arabs must show the US that its interests lie in taking sides with its people," he said.

Logistics

A Dubai-based Syrian analyst, Ayman Abdul Noor, said the conference will not succeed for many reasons, including the venue which lacks the necessary logistics.

"A number of key leaders will not attend the summit and in my opinion Gaddafi will not lead the Arabs to reach fruitful decisions," he said.

He said the summit will offer Arabs another chance to protest about Israel and international terrorism.

"Leaders can also criticise about the division among Palestinians, but most probably they will not be able to take action in any direction," he said.

Yassir Al Edle, political science teacher at the Ain Shams University in Cairo, said, "It is about time Arabs take drastic decisions on the league and its institutions including the summit.

"Arabs should learn from other world gatherings how countries resolve their issues and what mechanisms they can use to interact with other nations.