Palestine’s fate, Syria’s return: Key topics at Arab League summit

Syria and Palestine are likely to be the two significant issues for discussion and decision-making at the Arab League Summit that opens Friday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Many Arab leaders are expected to participate, including, potentially, de facto ruler of Sudan Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, who is currently fighting for control of the country in an armed civil conflict.

Syria is expected to be present at the summit after a decade of absence, although it remains unclear whether President Bashar Assad himself will represent the country. Arab opposition to Syria has weakened in the past months, with only Qatar, Kuwait, and Morocco continuing to oppose Syria’s reintroduction into the Arab League. Qatar’s opposition mostly stems from an attempt to curry favor with the US. Kuwait’s opposition has to do with internal politics while Morocco’s is due to Syria’s support of a separatist movement in Western Sahara.

Syrian journalist Aghyad Abu Zaid told the Media Line that if Assad does attend the summit, it will likely mean that he has accepted the conditions that the other countries placed on his reentry to the Arab League. The other countries of the Arab League have insisted that Syria deal with the presence of foreign militias in the country and the proliferation of synthetic drugs produced there. They have also called on Syria to resolve its humanitarian crisis in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2254, which calls for an immediate cease-fire in Syria and a political transition.

Expert in pan-Arabism Oraib Rantawi said that all indications suggest that the Syrian president will attend the summit and that some of those conditions might be flexible. “Syria will agree to engage with [Resolution] 2254 but not totally implement it,” he told The Media Line.

He also said that Syria will likely be unable to rein in the country’s drug trade. “At best they will reduce the trade,” he said. He noted that a recent Jordanian attack on a drug trafficker in Syria was likely done in coordination with Damascus.

It is unclear whether the summit will deal with the Syrian refugee crisis and its impact on the countries bordering Syria. Rantawi said that seriously addressing the refugee crisis would demand the passage of an amnesty law and exemption from mandatory military service for returning Syrian refugees. He also said that the international community would need to fund cash support for returning refugees for three years after their return to Syria.

Palestinian leaders aren't expecting much from the Arab League summit

Palestinian leaders and activists are wary of expecting too much from the summit. Jamal Dajani, who served as director of communications for former Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, said that decisions made at previous summits have failed to materialize.

“I have low expectations, based on the previous summits. However, if one thing needs to happen besides Arab unity, it’s a unanimous vote to put an end to normalization with the apartheid regime of Israel,” Dajani told The Media Line.

Ali Jarbawi, a professor of political science at Birzeit University in the West Bank, expressed a similar pessimism. “No one counts on Arab summits anymore. There is an exceptionally low threshold for expectations. Now all we wish for is the healing of the divisions and some sort of unity among Arabs,” he told The Media Line.

Jarbawi said that if any country could solve some of the problems in the region, it would be Saudi Arabia, the host of the summit. “The Saudi role can be seen and felt, but it requires a lot of effort to solve some of the problems,” he said.

Palestinian Foreign Ministry Director General Ahmad Deek told The Media Line that a number of issues relating to the Palestinians need to be addressed. He said that May 15 should be marked as a day to commemorate the Nakba, the exodus of more than 700,000 Palestinians who were expelled from their homes by armed Zionist groups or Israeli soldiers during the 1948-1949 Arab-Israeli War. Those who deny the Nakba “must be condemned,” he said.

Deek raised the “urgent need to activate the Arab financial safety net for Palestine” and said that decisions made at previous summits needed to be revisited, including discussions about mechanisms for implementing them.

Palestinian Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Fadi Hidmi told The Media Line that above all, the Palestinian focus is on the Arab League holding Israel accountable.

“We would like to see a clear Arab position holding Israel accountable for its violations as an occupier, its cold-blooded murder and settlement, and attempts to change the status quo in Al-Aqsa. Arabs should also be active in supporting Palestinian Christian presence in Jerusalem,” Hidmi said.

Hidmi also called on Arab leaders to approve Palestine’s “comprehensive multi-sector plan for supporting Jerusalemites.”

With Europe’s support, Saudi Arabia will reintroduce the Arab Peace Initiative, a plan to end the Arab-Israeli conflict that was first proposed at the 2002 Arab League summit. Rantawi said that the clauses of the proposal have already been violated by the US-mediated Abraham Accords process, during which four Arab countries normalized their relations with Israel.

Besides some potential financial support for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, it is not clear whether the countries will agree to concrete steps to support Palestine. Gulf countries have recently made it clear that they will no longer offer “free money” unless the country seeking support submits proposals for investments and a clear economic plan.