Without the most populous Arab country in attendance, the summit is effectively torpedoed, writes MICHAEL JANSEN
THE SO-CALLED Arab reconciliation summit convening in Doha today has been torpedoed by Egypt’s president Hosni Mubarak, who will not attend. Without Egypt, the most populous Arab country, there can be no effective reconciliation.
Mr Mubarak’s absence amounts to a snub to Qatari ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the host, and Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah who recently held a tripartite meeting to heal a rift between Mr Mubarak and Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
But Syria is not the cause of Mr Mubarak’s boycott. According to an Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman, he is piqued over criticisms of Cairo’s policies broadcast on the satellite news channel al-Jazeera owned by Qatar.
Key issues before the 22-member Arab League’s annual summit are the indictment by the International Criminal Court of Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir for war crimes in Darfur, relations with Iran, Palestinian factional divisions, and revival of the 2002 Arab plan for peace with Israel.
The Arabs have agreed to ignore the arrest warrant issued for Mr al-Bashir, press for it to be rescinded, and provide aid for Darfur to compensate for assistance given by international agencies expelled by Mr al-Bashir. But on the other three issues, there are major disagreements, deepened by Doha’s actions.
Qatar’s invitation to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has displeased Cairo and Riyadh, which fear Tehran’s rising influence and see its president as a dangerously disruptive figure.
However, Qatar, Syria and Iraq argue that the Arabs should follow the example of the new US administration which, recognising Iran as a key player, is offering to open talks with Tehran.
The main obstacle is the refusal of the US and its western allies to accept the participation of Hamas in a unity government unless it recognises Israel, halts attacks against Israel, and commits to agreements reached by Fatah and Israel. Egypt’s intelligence chief Omar Suleiman tried and failed to convince the Obama administration to relax these demands, leaving negotiations between the factions in limbo.
Doha, which would like to take over from Cairo, last year suc- cessfully mediated an end to a crisis which had paralysed Lebanon’s government and deprived the country of a president.
Ahead of the summit, Qatar proposed taking the Arab peace plan off the table because Israel has refused to take it seriously.
The plan calls for Israeli withdrawal from all Arab territory occupied in 1967 in exchange for full normalisation of relations and peace with the Arabs. Saudi Arabia, author of the proposal, and Egypt rejected this suggestion but agreed that the plan cannot remain on offer indefinitely.
Egypt and Saudi Arabia, dubbed the “moderate camp”, are at a disadvantage because they have nothing to show for adopting the pro-western line on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. And Arab nationalist Syria and Qatar enjoy being courted by the West as well as the backing of Arab public opinion. The other Arabs hover between the camps.