Ammon News - by Bilal M. Ayasrah

Another Arab summit convenes. This time violence-torn Iraq plays host amidst a wave of unrest that has been sweeping the Arab streets for a year or so and which already toppled long-entrenched leaders and cast its shadow over the political scene in the region.

The Baghdad summit is the first since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime. It comes at a time when the Arab political map seems to be reshaping, with great hopes for better pan-Arab cooperation on a number of common issues. It also comes at a time of growing public frustration, resentment and pessimism.

Baghdad insists to host the summit of the 22-nation Arab League; the only gain for Iraq, it seems, is to convene the summit in Baghdad no matter what. To secure its success, the Iraqi government spent over $450 million and took unprecedented security measures, deploying more than 100,000 security forces along the well-armoured Green Zone, with a view to quelling terrorists’ attacks, foiling insurgents’ threats and thwarting any potential attempt at marring the summit and hobbling its success. In so doing, Iraq hopes to put an end to its decades-old isolation and return to the Arab fold. However, rarely has an Arab summit been held with as much fogginess as the Baghdad summit, which was delayed several times within a couple of years.

This most significant Arab event, expected to tackle the region’s tricky and thorny issues, has become routine; it has become too dull to catch the Arabs’ interest. Worse still, participants are sharply divided even before it starts and the event was shortened to a few hours, in lieu of two days, despite the complex topics that top its agenda.

Syria is absent and the summit is held with low-profile representation and four transitional heads of state who are likely to be visiting Iraq for the first time. Under the pretext of political and security reasons, most leaders did not up and are represented at ministerial and ambassadorial levels, in a bid to save the “Arab face” and sign up the summit’s resolutions.

The Arab masses, whose great expectations are continuously disappointed, tend to see Arab summits, by and large, as a mere protocol gathering concluded with platitudes which are exact copies of the previous summits, except for changes in the venue and date. These meetings have become a place to flex muscles, air futile threats, deliver fiery speeches and flashy slogans.

Arab peoples are looking for an alternative course of life. They doubt the summit’s ability to result in concrete and substantial outcomes that would promote Arab integration, forge ahead with cooperation and share a common vision for the future.

The Arab summits should not be an occasion to lament Arab woes. There is always the half full glass. I believe that the Baghdad summit is timely and significant. It provides a historic opportunity for Arab heads of state to confront looming challenges and transcend lingering differences, dismantle barriers, settle vexing issues and take bold decisions. It is time to tidy up our divided house and clear off all hurdles that impede our unity.

It is time to have the political will to embark on a new era of consensus and joint action, long aspired by the Arab nation. Arabs can form an economic powerhouse, which could revolutionarily change the balance of power in the world. Arab states have very many things in common. What prevents the Arab nation from having a common market, free trade agreements, a defence council, a council for peace and security, an active Parliament, a court of justice, etc?

Aren’t we more geographically connected than any other economic and political blocs across the globe? Don’t we enjoy the essential ingredients for unity, solidarity and integration?

The writer is a researcher based in London. His current interests are media and the Arab Spring. He contributed this article to The Jordan Times.