Arab writers seemed to agree that joint Arab work was facing a crisis which is further revealed in the wake of every summit meeting. However, the problem should be treated within the boundaries of the Arab League. Mohamed Salah wrote that nothing new happened in the Sirte summit. Arab leaders imagine that holding a yearly summit meeting in the last week of March will resolve the problems of the region promptly. But every year, the leaders, although they manage to reach resolutions that appeal to all parties, leave the problems unresolved. And final communiqués that follow every summit include demands, confirmations and denunciations without reaching clear resolutions that call for decisive action. "It is noticeable that the summits held in the last five years were called 'reconciliation summits'. But they ended up either without reaching any reconciliation or with superficial reconciliation that takes the shape of handshakes before the cameras without any action on the ground," Salah wrote in the London-based independent political daily Al-Hayat. Like previous summits, the scenario in Sirte was different in form rather than in action. Thus, Salah added, it was not strange that the summit was not preceded by demonstrations in Arab capitals calling for certain stands or followed by popular actions to the summit's resolutions. It seems that the people believe that the Arab body is in need of treatment before being able to take decisions. Seeking a perfect summit has become at present like seeking that Utopia that Plato wrote about, he concluded. The editorial of the United Arab Emirates daily Al-Bayan cast an analytic eye on the summit. It said that by openly acknowledging that Arab work is facing a crisis, the summit put its hand on the wound but failed to find ways to deal with the crisis in spite of the fact that the Arab region is passing through a very difficult stage and that regional and international conditions are set for a breakthrough. The edit added that the summit focussed on two axes: a review of joint Arab work and proposing ways to boost it. Although there was agreement that there was a clear problem regarding the first axis, differences prevailed on ways to treat it. "Acknowledging that there is a crisis within Arab ranks is the first step in the right direction. But finding ways to deal with it is another important step especially when the Arab nation is facing unprecedented challenges that have repercussions on Arab security in general and on the Palestinian issue and the fate of Jerusalem in particular," the edit read. The editorial of the Qatari daily Al-Watan said that although the final communiqué of the summit was not completely satisfactory, it reflected a degree of seriousness in comparison to previous summits. Instead of the usual rhetoric, the leaders decided in Sirte to hold an emergency summit by October to look at pressing issues. Working towards that end, they decided to form a five- state committee that included Egypt, Libya, Qatar, Iraq and Yemen to prepare a document to develop joint work to be presented to the emergency summit. "The emergency summit is a positive step forward. Arab peoples are looking to it to see if tomorrow is better than today," the edit added. The editorial of the Saudi daily Al-Watan said the $500 million earmarked for saving Jerusalem is a tiny amount in comparison to the amounts allocated by Israel to Judaise the city. However, it hailed the proposed project to extend the membership of the Arab League to include non-Arab neighbouring countries Turkey, Iran, Senegal, Mali, Spain, Italy and others. The edit shed light on the importance of change inside the Arab League which has held 33 summits since its establishment but has failed to carry out the resolutions taken during these summits because it lacks a mechanism for executing them. Thus, the editorial suggested that since the Arab League failed in resolving political problems, it should focus on economic problems. It should benefit from the experience of European states which managed to unite on the economic level. "On the Arab level, we need less resolutions and a more effective mechanism to follow up their execution especially in the economic field," the edit concluded. Khalil Qandil focussed on how $500 million earmarked for Jerusalem would be used in supporting people living there in standing up to Israeli practices. Qandil noted in the Jordanian independent political daily Addustour that brokers try to tempt the Palestinians owner of houses in old Jerusalem to buy their units, sometimes offering more than double the actual price. They then resell them to Zionists. Thus, Qandil questioned how that modest amount of money offered by the summit could support the people living in Jerusalem in the face of these temptations. He also predicted that half that amount would be wasted in procedural matters and in forming supervising committees. "We still remember the decision taken by the Sharm El-Sheikh conference to earmark more than $2 billion to rebuild Gaza. That decision was never implemented. We hope that the same scenario will not be repeated in Sirte," he added. The editorial of the Palestinian daily Al-Quds noted that at a time when Arabs leaders gathered to show their support for Jerusalem, Israeli officials declared that Jerusalem was the capital of Israel and that work to build more settlements in the West Bank and Gaza was going on uninterrupted. That is the Israeli response to the Arabs who agreed to start indirect Palestinian-Israeli negotiations without an Israeli halt to settlement building. This Israeli hardline and illegal stand managed to impose realities on the ground and cause more pain and suffering to the Palestinians. And these realities would not be removed by the money allocated by the summit to support the steadfastness of Jerusalem. That money would not remove one of the settlements that Israel is building in the holy city, the edit noted. Abdel-Rahman Al-Rashed wrote that Sirte is a classic repetition of the conflicts between the Arab camps; the difference is that it focussed this year on the Arab League. Following the line of Arab leaders, Al-Rashed acknowledged that the Arab League has never led a war to liberate Palestine or Kuwait or to combat terrorism. Its role was minimal in the civil wars in Lebanon, Somalia and southern Sudan. It did not resolve any inter-Arab difference like the Sahara issue or deal with the Iraqi crisis during the presence of the US forces or after their withdrawal. Nevertheless, its seal on any resolution gives it legitimacy. The liberation of Kuwait and the advent of the coalition forces to the region would not have been possible without the consent of the Arab League. The Arab League gave the Palestine Liberation Organisation its legitimacy by acknowledging it as the sole representative of the Palestinians and later it acknowledged the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas as the legal government rather than Hamas after the latter managed to seize Gaza. "Thus, the seal of the Arab League is still very precious in granting legitimacy," Al-Rashed explained in the London-based political daily Asharq Al-Awsat.
