At a time of transformation and slow reconstruction of the Middle East we have known for the last seven decades, a great Arab statesman left us. On Tuesday, 29 September, Sheikh Al-Sabah Jaber Al-Sabah, the former ruler of Kuwait from January 2006, passed away. With his death, the wise man among Arab rulers left the scene at a time when his policies of inter-Arab reconciliation are so badly needed. The late ruler of Kuwait belonged to an era in Arab politics that was shaped by strong nationalist sentiments across the Arab world. It was a period of liberation from more than a century of foreign domination, either by the British or by the French. This period saw the wax and wane of Arab solidarity and a political consensus on the way forward for Arab nations. It is true that during the Iraq-Iran War, that lasted eight years from 1980 till 1988, Gulf countries decided to get together in a Gulf subsystem called the Gulf Cooperation Council. It came into being as a counterweight to the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and to benefit from the financial windfall that came from oil proceeds that had skyrocketed after the 1973 October War. Still, Kuwait remained greatly involved in Arab affairs — not out of expediency but rather out of firm conviction. The late Sheikh Sabah was the architect of this strategy. He was appointed foreign minister in the 1960s and occupied the post of deputy prime minister and foreign minister for more than three decades — 30 years that saw turmoil, wars, threats to Kuwaiti independence and terrorist attacks by pro-Iranian groups. Aside from the threats posed by Iran of the Ayatollahs, and the stark choices that the Iraq-Iran War imposed on Kuwait, the most serious threat to the very existence of Kuwait as a state came on 2 August 1990, when Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait overnight, and the Iraqi government announced the annexation of Kuwait as the 19th governorate of Iraq. In exile, the late Sheikh Sabah campaigned and travelled the world over in search of a diplomatic solution whereby the Iraqi forces could withdraw from Kuwait. He found in Egypt, under the late president Hosni Mubarak, a true ally among Arab countries, some of which had sided with Iraq in indirect ways. Among the latter, surprisingly enough, figured the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) of the late Yasser Arafat. Despite more than 60 public appeals from Mubarak for Saddam Hussein to withdraw from Kuwait, Iraq rejected all diplomatic solutions. The Kuwaitis had preferred a political way out, particularly after the destruction brought about by Iraqi forces on their soil. However, war became inevitable through “Desert Storm” — a coalition of American, foreign and Arab armies under the command of the United States Military. The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait had been a serious setback for Arab solidarity and the willingness of Arab countries to work together. Another consequence of the invasion was its adverse impact on Gulf-Arab relations. However, the late Kuwaiti ruler remained committed to working diplomatically with other Arab countries in order to meet the challenges that had faced the Arab world after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the disintegration of the former Soviet Union. This period coincided with the Madrid Peace Conference of October 1991, a conference that had aimed to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict as well as the Palestinian question. Kuwait welcomed the convening of the conference, but adopted a reserved position. Kuwait has been a staunch supporter of the Palestinian people, and Kuwaiti diplomacy under Sheikh Sabah never tried to link Palestinian policies to its own interests; nor have the Kuwaitis interfered in Palestinian domestic politics, even though it has been a major benefactor of the Palestinian people. Before the Iraqi invasion, there were 400,000 Palestinians working in Kuwait, and their monthly remittance transfers to the West Bank and Gaza were tremendous, and this besides the generous financial aid that the Kuwaiti government earmarked for Palestinian institutions and the PLO. Because of the pro-Iraqi position of the PLO, in support of Saddam Hussein after the Iraqi invasion, things changed and a major source of hard currency for Palestinians in the occupied territories and the Gaza Strip dried up. However, and under his watch as the Emir of Kuwait, Kuwaiti diplomacy opened up to the Palestinians, particularly after the passing of Yasser Arafat at the end of 2004. But the largess of bygone days is history. One of the main features of this diplomacy has been the non-intervention policies of Sheikh Sabah in both Arab and Gulf differences. And this has been quite apparent during the last decade. Unlike other Gulf countries, Kuwait did not interfere, one way or another, in the domestic affairs of Arab countries that saw the popular uprisings of the so-called “Arab Spring”. And this was manifested quite clearly in Syria. Whereas three Gulf countries directly and publicly lent support to what is wrongly called the “Syrian Revolution”, in mid-March 2011, and their backing for bringing down a legitimate Arab government, Kuwait stood out as a country that chose not to destabilise an established government. Such a position is empowering in Arab politics if and when the times come to find political solutions to intractable Arab differences. In this context, the late Sheikh Sabah tried to mediate between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, on the one hand, and Qatar on the other after the former four cut off diplomatic relations with the latter in June 2017. His failing health, however, plus the economic and financial challenges that faced his country in the last year because of the fall in oil revenues, drove Kuwaiti mediation to a near standstill. Another major feature of the diplomacy of the late emir was the non-use of force in settling inter-Arab differences — an opposite policy to the gung-ho diplomacy of other Gulf countries. And Yemen is a case in point. Similarly, Kuwait never tried to intervene in Libyan affairs by choosing sides. Last, but not least, Kuwait, while other Gulf countries chose to disregard the Arab Peace Initiative, with its built-in sequencing of establishing diplomatic relations with the Hebrew state, to its credit stood out as the last Gulf and Arab country that would have forsaken the common Arab strategy of establishing an independent Palestinian state before making any moves to “normalise” with Israel. The late emir of Kuwait was the last Arab statesman of a generation of leaders who sincerely translated popular aspirations into official positions vis-à-vis issues that have been, and still are, of utmost importance to Arab countries. While we mourn his passing, we are certain that his legacy will be an example for whoever comes next to take the reins of power across the Arab world. His diplomacy will remain an inspiration for those who seriously aspire to ensure security, stability and genuine peace in the Arab world. May you rest in peace, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. The writer is former assistant foreign minister.
*A version of this article appears in print in the 8 October, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
