As Arab leaders head to the Libyan city of Sirte next week to attend the sessions of the Arab Summit, they will be leaving the aspirations of their peoples for radical solutions to Arab problems behind. The summit this year is held at a moment of high tension both inside the Arab countries themselves and outside them. While deliberations on the agenda of the summit are being made, Israel goes on in its settlement construction policy in the West Bank full speed. Sudan, Iraq, and Somalia have their own problems too. Despite this, few Arab commentators expect anything new from the Summit. They say Arab leaders have reached the point of complete paralysis that they have no cards left in their hands to use to solve their own problems or those of their fellow Arabs. “Most Arab regimes are outdated and have already lost their own legitimacy,” said Ali elKalidar, an Iraqi writer and political analyst based in Cairo. “These regimes struggle for survival. They're not expected to solve any problems whatsoever,” he told The Gazette in an interview. What really sticks in the throats of most ordinary Arabs is that contrary to all official pronouncements about peace, Israel continues to pursue its settlement construction and annexes more Arab lands and sites every day. A recent Israeli housing plan in east Jerusalem has got thousands of Palestinians protesting and throwing stones over the past few days. Although the Israeli government has been subject to minor US criticism over the new settlement construction plan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is defiant on the housing plan. "The Jewish people were building Jerusalem 3,000 year ago and the Jewish people are building Jerusalem today,” he said. “Jerusalem is not a settlement. It is our capital," he added, addressing a host of US Jews recently. Sherif Hafez, an Egyptian expert on Israel, has seen the Israel Premier speaking confidently about his ability to go ahead with his plans amid what he calls this “total Arab weakness”. He says the next Arab summit will be a complete ludicrous comedy where Arab leaders will play the laughing stock to disinterested and disbelieving Arab audiences. “Before they can talk about making peace with Israel, these Arab leaders should discuss ways of making peace among themselves,” he said. “Inter-Arab disputes are so enormous that their enormity belies all statements about the need to do something to save Palestine,” he added. These inter-Arab disputes were quite clear in the last Arab summit in Qatar when Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi locked horns verbally with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Gaddafi has always made the show in Arab summits by his radical pronouncements and his, sometimes, shocking attitudes particularly in relation to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Some Arab commentators say Arab governments still hold some cards they can use to bring Israel back to the negotiating table. ElKalidar and like-minded observers say Arab governments need to put the necessary pressure on Israel to stop building settlements and recognise the Palestinians' right to establish their own state on the pre-1967 borders. “Arab peoples must also move to exert the necessary pressure on their governments,” he said. “These peoples shouldn't stand idly by and watch only,” he added.
