The Doha Arab and Arab-South America summits allow for shows of solidarity, but little more, Dina Ezzat reports Wednesday morning in the capital of Qatar was busy as delegations from all over the Arab world headed to the airport having participated in two consecutive high-level summits: the regular annual Arab summit and the second Arab-South America summit. Among those present at the two events, convened in Doha on Monday and Tuesday, were the leaders of all key Arab capitals except President Hosni Mubarak, who absented himself against the backdrop of an Egyptian-Qatari diplomatic tug-of- war, and Algerian President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika who is campaigning for upcoming presidential elections. President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela was present and so was President Michelle Bachelet of Chile, who co-chaired the Arab-South America summit, along with other presidents and vice-presidents of the 12 South American states. This wide diplomatic presence in Doha offered Arab countries an opportunity to debate a range of pressing political issues, especially the fate of tense Arab relations in view of growing differences among Arab capitals about regional policy choices. With reconciliation achieved between Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi and Saudi King Abdullah, the Arab summit in Doha ended a dispute that had lasted for six years between the two countries. Other Arab squabbles, however, especially the Egypt-Qatar feud, is still far from being resolved. To many observers, Arab leaders seem to have agreed to disagree as they ended their summit without much progress in narrowing their most divisive disagreement over how to deal with the growing regional influence of Iran. In Doha, too, Arabs discussed the future of Arab-Israeli relations in light of the ascent to power of the right wing under Binyamin Netanyahu. A special communiqué adopted by the Arab summit on the Arab-Israeli struggle and its developments voiced scepticism over the chances of pursuing peace with Israel, but did not constrain this pessimism to the arrival of the Netanyahu government. "Israeli procrastination has been an ongoing [choice] of consecutive Israeli governments," the communiqué said. The communiqué demanded a clear timeframe and specific terms of reference for any future negotiations with Israel. It also demanded the suspension of all illegal Israeli settlement activities in Palestinian occupied territories. Further, in Doha Arab countries rejected "the economic and security approach" that Netanyahu is promoting as a framework for managing the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. Arab leaders also affirmed that the Arab Peace Initiative would not be on offer indefinitely. The Arab summit in Doha also gave the go ahead for an orchestrated Arab League effort to pursue Israeli officials for war crimes committed against Palestinians in Gaza during the recent Israeli war on the occupied Strip. And in the Arab- South America summit, Arab countries received support from their southern partners on positions adopted to end the Israeli occupation and to establish an independent Palestinian state. The consecutive Doha summits also offered Arab states opportunity to express their solidarity with Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir in face of the arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. South American countries, however, declined to support the Arab stand on the ICC warrant. Chile's president told a press conference in Doha Tuesday evening that the countries of South America that "suffered violations of human rights and [fought] for democracy" believe that promoting human rights and democracy is the way to establish stability. On Iran, while the Doha Arab summit adopted routine resolutions calling on Iran to end its "occupation " of three United Arab Emirates islands in the Arab Gulf and to pursue good relations with its Arab neighbours, Arab League Secretary- General Amr Moussa suggested Iran as a potential partner of a regional security system that he proposed should be established to include all Arab countries along with Turkey. Moussa's proposal suggested that potential members should abandon all military nuclear schemes in favour of a collective programme for peaceful nuclear technology use. Moussa's proposal, as well as his proposal for an Arab-Iranian dialogue, was not adopted in summit resolutions but was endorsed for further deliberation. Technology, economy, education and cultural cooperation were covered in several resolutions adopted by the two consecutive summits in Doha. The next Arab summit, it was decided, will take place in Libya. According to a brief statement made by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, who headed Iraq's delegation to the Arab summit, Baghdad decided to pass its turn to chair the Arab summit in 2010 to the following year, so that Iraq would be able to host and chair the summit rather than just chair it in the Cairo headquarters of the Arab League. The next Arab-South America summit is set to convene in Peru in 2011. (see pp.2,7,13&14)
