Dina Ezzat assesses the results of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's four-day tour of the region Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wound up her Middle East tour yesterday and returns to Washington having secured the support of eight Arab countries for US President George Bush's new strategy on Iraq. Her departure from the region coincided with statements made by Bush openly criticising the Iraqi government for its conduct of the execution of members of the toppled Iraqi regime. Rice's success in the Arab world coincides with growing criticism in the US over Bush's strategy in Iraq. Democratic House and Senate leaders have called for votes to gauge Republican opposition to Bush's decision to send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq. Rice's four-day tour, which included Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, was an occasion for the American administration to deliver its list of regional priorities as well as for Arab capitals, and the Arab League, to seek to amend the US agenda in line with their own concerns and interests. During the tour, Rice paid lip service to the Arab world's main concern -- more forceful US involvement in re-launching the Middle East peace process -- but offered no commitment on the form or content of American involvement. She also sought to bolster regional support for the government of Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Al-Siniora, and to further isolate Iran, though she was warned, most strongly by Egypt, of the grave consequences that would follow any miscalculated military action against Iranian nuclear facilities. Rice's reception varied from capital to capital. Cairo, say Egyptian diplomats, offered "conditional" support to Bush's new strategy. In a joint press conference with Rice following her meeting with President Hosni Mubarak and other senior Egyptian officials on Monday afternoon, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit said Egypt hoped "the Bush strategy... would lead to success and secure the situation [in the Iraqi capital]." Yet he also said that to be judged a success American plans must "deal with all militias that constitute a threat to the Iraqi people" and allow "constitutional amendments" that will encourage "greater participation of all Iraqis in running the affairs of their unified country". In Cairo Rice heard demands that Washington must be more active in relaunching Palestinian- Israeli talks. Grateful for the support she received from Egyptian officials on Iraq, she promised Washington would "deepen [its] involvement" and vowed to revisit the region within weeks in order to bring Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert together. During her press conference in Egypt, though, while expressing her support for the bilateral back-channel talks between Israel and the Palestinians proposed by Abbas, she insisted it was "not wise to have formal negotiations before people are ready" and that the US "does not have to be present every time" Palestinians and Israelis meet. Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly over the phone, Nabil Shaath, a leading member of the Palestinian Authority who took part in last week's Madrid conference that called for an international conference under the auspices of the UN, a prospect Israel views as an anathema, argued that it was a mistake to expect anything from Rice. The time has come, he argued, for Arabs and the rest of the international community to simply "drop the Americans and initiate a process which will eventually gain the support of the US, as was the case with Oslo". He argued that Washington's "top priority in the Middle East is Iraq, then Iran, Syria and Lebanon, and only then the peace process." In Saudi Arabia on Tuesday Rice received more support for Washington's Iraq strategy and made fewer promises concerning US involvement in the peace process. When she arrived later that day in Kuwait, the momentum of support behind Washington's Iraq policy was growing and she made even less mention of US peace mediation. "We expressed our desire to see the president's plan to reinforce American military presence in Baghdad [succeed in] stabilising Baghdad and prevent Iraq from sliding into an ugly war," Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Mohamed Al-Sabbah said during a joint press conference with his US counterpart. Also in Kuwait, during the by-now regular "consultative" meeting with her counterparts from Egypt, Jordan and the six GCC members, Rice reiterated the new US line that the US, Egypt, Jordan and GCC countries should share risks and responsibilities. She received support for a "long-term plan to confront any threats to regional security and stability" as perceived by the US and Arab participants. That, according to the communiqué issued after the meeting, covers cooperation on Iraq, against Islamist political and militant groups and against any attempt by Tehran to further flex its muscles. Some commentators argued that the meeting marked the first step in US plans to escalate its showdown with Iran, speculation that appeared to be supported by repeated Saudi denials of reports it was mediating between Tehran and Washington. The Kuwait meeting, sources say, also helped in bolstering dwindling Arab support for the Siniora government, something unlikely to be welcomed in Damascus. Washington remains committed to seeing the Siniora government through its current crisis. But support of Siniora, Egypt argued, must come within the overall objective of securing national accord in Lebanon. "We want the Lebanese to find peace and stability and we are not going to adopt positions that complicate matters," said one Egyptian diplomat. It was in this spirit, the source said, that Egypt's ambassador to Beirut, Hussein Derar, recently met Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Following the meeting between Mubarak and Siniora earlier in the week, presidential spokesman Suleiman Awaad insisted that Egypt deals with the different Lebanese factions on an equal footing. Egypt's position on Lebanon was countered by some other participants in the Kuwait meeting who explicitly attacked Hizbullah. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa voiced his concern at the polarisation among Arab states into supporters and opponents of Washington's Middle East agenda during his meeting with Rice on Monday in Cairo. Moussa declined to lend support to the Bush strategy -- for better or worse -- in return for a US commitment to hold Palestinian-Israeli meetings. Rather, he insisted that Arabs should attempt to resolve the situation in Iraq irrespective of American plans "because it is in their interest to do so". He did, however, insist the US refrain from playing the sectarian card in Iraq, and that it should urge the Iraqi government to dissolve all militias as a prerequisite for Iraqi reconciliation. Reconciliation, Moussa told Rice, should be the top priority, warning that no serious progress on Iraq, or the Palestinian file, could be secured without collective Arab support. (see p.7 and Editorial p.14)
