The Mediterranean infested by a French love bug

The French president is a man in love and by the looks of it he wants to spread it around. This week he was serenaded by his new bride Carla with the launch of her new album As if nothing happened to the irritation of the more conservative members of French society. But he had no time to worry about small minded, anti-bling-bling, 'tut-tutters' during the week his dream, the Mediterranean Union would finally be launched with the goal of learning 'how to love each other in the Mediterranean, instead of continuing to hate and wage war'.

By extension the Carla effect appears to have infected delegates to the inaugural Mediterranean Union summit held in Paris last weekend. Firstly, Arab leaders whose countries have had no dealings with Israel to date have been willing to sit at the same table as the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, which is a coup for Sarkozy in itself.

And secondly, when Olmert and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas shook hands they could have been mistaken for lottery winners thanking a grinning Sarkozy for a big cheque. We "have never been this close" to a peace deal Olmert is quoted as saying.

Even the Syrian President Bashar Assad was brought in from the cold after years of diplomatic isolation to engage in a love-peace fest with Lebanon's new President Michel Suleiman while the Emir of Qatar Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani and Sarkozy played joint matchmaker.

Diplomatic ties

The outcome was described by Sarkozy as "historic". Syria and Lebanon have finally agreed to form diplomatic ties leading to embassies being opened in both capitals for the first time since both countries achieved independence in the 1940s. Although judging by Bashar's facial expressions his enthusiasm didn't match that of his French host. Nevertheless, Suleiman and Sarkozy have both accepted Syria's invitations to visit Damascus later this year.

Bashar is, however, said to be pleased that the French President has agreed to act as co-broker (with Turkey) between Syria and Israel on conditions for direct peace talks that may go ahead once there's a new tenant in the White House. "Quite frankly, this American administration is not interested in the peace process," the Syrian leader said. In turn, he has been asked to relay France's concerns to Tehran over its nuclear enrichment programme.

Another sign that Syria is no longer being ostracised came from EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana. He lauded the summit as marking a new détente between Damascus and Europe while hinting that a partnership pact between the EU and Syria that was stalled following the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri could be signed before the end of this year.

France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is delighted at the progress on both Israeli-Syrian and Syrian-Lebanon fronts. "There's a wind of hope. Something appears to be starting," he said.

He may be right. In the meantime, Syria and Egypt are said to be working to convince the leadership of Hamas to accept conditions that would end Palestinian divisions.

Also Hamas chief Khalid Mashal says he has asked Shaikh Hamad to broker dialogue between Hamas and Fatah aimed at "restoring the situation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to what it was before and remedying all the causes that led to the Palestinian dispute".

And where does Washington stand among these Kumbaya-singing tree-huggers superbly conducted by a French man in love in the city of love, who appears to cast off his neo-conservative mantle, temporarily at least?

There's no doubt that Sarkozy has achieved more in a few hours than the Bush administration together has achieved in seven years in terms of bringing foes together. His policy of dialogue and inclusion has probably caught the White House and State Department off guard for while Bashar was given the red carpet treatment in Paris his country is still considered a rogue state by the US.

Moreover, throughout decades of US-brokered Israeli-Palestinian talks the respective leaders of those nations have never looked so enthusiastic or sounded as positive as they did on Sunday. There will no doubt be certain people in Washington who fear France is not only muscling in on their territory but doing a better job of melting intransigent hearts using friendly diplomacy instead of cold threats.

The Mediterranean Union has got off to a good start with 43 nation members representing 800 million diverse people but the challenge is where does it go from here?

"We will build peace in the Mediterranean together in the way we built peace in Europe yesterday," Sarkozy promised. But one leader remains immune from the love bug.

Libya's leader President Muammar Gaddafi boycotted the launch and described the union as a "frightening and dangerous" imperialist project that will force Arab countries into a relationship with Israel via the backdoor and will be perceived by extremists as "a crusade against Islam".

He would have to go and spoil it all. That's my bubble burst. Seems that love can't conquer all after all.

Linda S. Heard is a specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She can be contacted at lheard@gulfnews.com. Some of the comments may be considered for publication.