There was a bit of a muddle earlier this week as an Israeli journalist was denied a visa and then, on direct orders of the Saudi Foreign Minister, given a visa to cover the Riyadh Summit. That journalist, Orly Azoulay of Yedioth Ahronoth, has filed a couple of interesting op-ed reports:

The first deals with the ‘new’ Saudi Arabia:

Times have changed
Show of power at king’s palace reflects growing Saudi influence in region

Riyadh: The power of the Saudi kingdom, which is gradually becoming a leading force in the Middle East, didn’t go unnoticed at the Arab Summit in Riyadh.

The heads of the Arab states coming through the congress palace doors in Riyadh couldn’t ignore the opulent wealth evident in every corner: From the Italian marble highlighted by bright lights, to the solid gold faucets in the bathrooms, the shining crystal chandeliers hanging from the expansive session halls ceiling, through to the gold trays bearing the emblem of the royal court on which lunch was served.

… This demonstration of Saudi power is the climax of a recently developing process. The US has realized that its support for Israel coupled with its desire to enforce democracy as was the case in Iraq, served to anger the Arab world and weakened its ability to serve as Mideast mediator….

The second concerns her experiences in the ping pong of her visa and her visit:

‘Welcome to Riyadh’
Saudi Arabia officially opens its doors to Israeli journalist for first time

Riyadh: I wrapped by head in a scarf as did all the other women who arrived on the Qatari aircraft that flew us to Riyadh. I hesitantly presented my passport. “You are on the list,” said the Saudi press officer who welcomed us warmly. “Welcome to the Saudi kingdom.”

I marched on the gleaming marble floor and couldn’t quite believe it: Long days of uncertainty had elapsed with a diplomatic incident looming in the background until finally receiving authorization to be the only Israeli journalist present at the Arab summit in Riyadh.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is currently engaged in promoting the Saudi peace initiative between Israel and the Arab states, wanted to convey a placating message: He believed that if he brought a joint delegation comprising Arab journalists and an Israeli media representative on the same plane, he would succeed in partially breaking the ice.

This is my only diplomatic achievement during the three months I have been in office, the secretary general told me with a broad smile on his face while on board the flight to Riyadh. There are many things I am handling that have yet to mature. In this case I succeeded and I am happy, he said. I told him that I was too….

Both articles are worth reading in their entirety.

[Note: If a Saudi reader cannot access the full articles, please let me know by e-mail.]

The ‘Battle of Minds’ and Economic Challenges
Kamal Wazni

The world is witnessing a war known as the ‘battle of minds’ among the developed countries. In facing economic, political and social challenges, major countries started to rely on an infrastructure mainly based on education, modern curricula and huge expenditure on schools, universities and research.

Industrial countries are updating their laws for this purpose to build confidence in all sectors so that their peoples can keep progress and creativity. At a time when the West is undergoing a remarkable development in this respect, the Arab societies are experiencing weakness in their educational systems, and are considered on a low-level among other countries, according to the UN Development Program report, which made it certain that the low educational standards are the main reason for the backwardness of this world.

Knowledge now has become part of trade, service and cultural exchange among peoples, where the rich and powerful countries seem distinguished from the poor and backward ones. National sovereignty and social strength have become a key component represented in the society’s ability to export knowledge and inventions.

The great, continuous progress in the technological and telecommunication systems has made the future of wealth and production indirectly contingent upon technology and information at all times and for all purposes.

What should the Arab countries do in order to achieve the required development to keep abreast of the industrial and developed countries? What is the role that can be played by the financial sector to fund skillful and intellectual cadres?

…

Interesting article from the Lebanese Al-Hayat newspaper. It notes how Western countries invest both heavily and productively in education and research & development and calls for the Arab world to pick itself up and do the same. Worth reading.

Arab News has a couple of articles on the summit worth taking a look at.

The first is Summit Reflects ‘Peacemaker King’s’ Regional Leadership, as fulsome a piece of hagiography as one could wish.

Somewhat more usefully interesting is Arab Street’s Hopes Tempered With Caution. This piece suggests that Arabs are finally getting so fed up with the messes in the region that they seem slightly more willing to back off from extreme positions and try reality for a change.

Sudan agrees to U.N.-African Darfur force: Saudi

RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia said on Thursday Sudan had agreed to a joint U.N.-African Union force in Darfur after a meeting with United Nations, African and Saudi officials on the sidelines of an Arab summit.

“Sudan has now agreed for the U.N. to provide logistical support to help African forces,” Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said at a news conference.

“This means there will be some non-African forces there and this is a breakthrough that never happened before and we hope it leads immediately to a solution to the humanitarian tragedy in Darfur as soon as possible.”

The announcement follows a meeting on Wednesday of Sudanese President Omar Hassan Bashir, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Arab League chief Amr Moussa, Saudi King Abdullah and Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, who heads East African body, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD)….

Reuters is running this story on its wires. If this pans out, it will be the first accomplishment of the Riyadh summit. That’s rather a big ‘If’ however, given Sudan’s past performance.

UPDATE: The White House has its own comment on the King’s remark: White House Rejects Saudi View on Iraq

The US State Department addressed the issue of King Abdullah’s calling the US presence in Iraq ‘illegal occupation’ further today. Below is an excerpt from State’s noon press briefing:

QUESTION: Can I move to Saudi Arabia? I know you said this morning you didn’t want to dissect King Abdullah’s remarks yesterday to the Arab League. But Nick Burns told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the U.S. was seeking clarification of his remarks.

MR. MCCORMACK: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: And that you guys were surprised by them. Do you have anymore on that?

MR. MCCORMACK: We hadn’t — we certainly had not seen that particular phrase before coming out talking about illegal occupation. I think it only stands to reason that we would be interested in understanding better what exactly King Abdullah meant by that phrase. We are operating under Security Council resolutions in Iraq as well as with the invitation of the Iraqi Government.

In any case, I believe that the United States as well as Saudi Arabia has an interest, a shared interest, in a Iraq that maintains its territorial integrity; that is an Iraq that is a place for all Iraqis whether you’re Sunni, Shia, Kurd or other ethnic or religious background; a place that is more prosperous, more stable and more secure for all Iraqis. So that I believe is something that we all share and we have encouraged Saudi Arabia over the period of time to increase their engagement with the Iraqi Government in a — at a variety of different levels. And one indication of their willingness to do so is their attendance in Baghdad at the neighbors conference, which is certainly a positive sign.

As for U.S.-Saudi relations, they’re — we have a very good relationship with Saudi Arabia. They’re good friends and allies. President Bush and Secretary Rice have excellent personal relationships with King Abdullah and we’re certainly grateful for the hospitality that they have extended to us whenever we visit there. King Abdullah has visited President Bush down at his ranch.

So the U.S.-Saudi relationship is good. It’s sound. That said, of course when issues like this come up, we will seek clarification as to exactly what it is that King Abdullah meant in his statement talking about illegal occupation.

QUESTION: How are you seeking clarification? Do you know through which channels?

MR. MCCORMACK: I assume through our Embassy, our Embassy as well as through the Embassy here.

QUESTION: Whatever he meant, does it not dismay you that he used the word “illegal” to describe something that the United States has done?

MR. MCCORMACK: Look, you know, our view is very clear, and that is we are operating in Iraq under the invitation of the Iraqi Government, as well it is within the boundaries of Security Council resolutions, so quite clearly it is — the United States is operating well within the boundaries of international law.

QUESTION: Are you happy in general with the role, the increased role, Saudi Arabia has played in the region as of late?

MR. MCCORMACK: Obviously, Saudi Arabia is taking an active diplomatic role in the region in trying to solve the region’s many problems. The King has stated quite clearly that he has an interest in seeing a Middle East that is at peace, that is free from bloodshed. He is a man who is obviously going to operate in the best interests of Saudi Arabia, and we believe is making a variety of different attempts to see that the region is more peaceful, is more secure, and obviously more prosperous.

QUESTION: Sean, what exactly about the phrase “illegal occupation,” which seems to be pretty cut and dried, needs to clarifying.

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, we want to understand what the thinking is behind it.

QUESTION: Okay. And — but you’re not operating under the assumption that he misspoke or didn’t mean to say?

MR. MCCORMACK: I think it’s just exactly what we said. We’re going to — we want to understand more clearly what it is exactly that he had in mind when he talked about an illegal occupation.

Yeah.

QUESTION: So in other words, you have clarified that he did indeed say this and you’ve checked all the translations and you’re satisfied that that’s what he did say?

MR. MCCORMACK: Oh, I — you know, I can’t vouch for that. I — you know, we have obviously read the — read a variety of different translations, but I — you know, I can’t vouch for the precise translation in those.

QUESTION: Has the Secretary picked up the phone to speak to her counterpart in Saudi Arabia to find out whether he can explain where they’re going with this?

MR. MCCORMACK: No. She has not.

Yeah, Nina.

QUESTION: Does she plan to?

MR. MCCORMACK: I don’t anticipate that she is. Anything else on Saudi Arabia?

QUESTION: (Inaudible).

NOTE:

This post has been removed. I had misunderstood the conditions under which had been sent and, at the request of Tarek Heggy, have taken it down.

Apologies to all.

The Saudi Embassy in Washington provides an English transcript of King Abdullah’s opening remarks to the Arab Summit. The headline it uses understates the anger and frustration contained within the statement, though.

King Abdullah calls for greater cooperation to solve Arab issues

In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate,
Prayers and Salutations on Prophet Mohammad

Your Majesties, Excellencies, Highnesses,
The leaders of the Arab nations:
Peace and blessings of Allah be upon you.

It gives me pleasure, in my name and the name of the Saudi people, to welcome you and wish you success in your deliberations. I thank H.E. President Omer Al-Bashir, the president of the brotherly Republic of Sudan for the effort he exerted while presiding over last year’s Summit.

The Arab League was established over sixty years ago to become a nucleus for a genuine Arab unity, united Arab armies, integrated economies, united political objectives, and before all, the unity of hearts and minds.

Undoubtedly, the question that raises itself is: what was achieved out of all these objectives? The answer to this is in our current reality, which stands to prove that we are far away from the unity compared to the day in which the Arab League was created.

Dear Brothers:
In injured Palestine, the people are still resolute while suffering occupation and repression, and are deprived of their rights to independence and a sovereign state.

As you all know, our Palestinian brethren met in Makkah in the vicinity of the Holy Mosque. By the grace of God Almighty, they succeeded in ending their differences and agreed to form a national unity government as declared. In light of this positive development, it became a necessity to put an end to the unjust siege imposed on the Palestinian people as soon as possible so as to enable the peace process to proceed in an atmosphere free from compulsion and repression and in a manner that enables success in realizing the desired goal of an independent Palestinian state.

In the beloved Iraq, blood is spilled between brothers under an illegitimate foreign occupation and despicable sectarianism that threatens civil war.

Lebanon, which was a good example for co-existence and prosperity, is now crippled and unable to move ahead. Its streets had turned into hotels and sedition is about to show its teeth.

In Sudan, Arab laxity led to foreign intervention in its affairs. In Somalia, a civil war ends to pave the way for another. All that is taking place while we are unable to extend help to our brothers.

The question is: what have we done throughout these years to resolve all that? I do not want to blame the Arab League because it is an entity that reflects our conditions in details, so the real blame should fall on us: we the leaders of the Arab nations. Our permanent differences, our refusal to take the path of unity – all of that led the nations to lose their confidence in our credibility and to lose hope in our present and future.

Honorable brothers:
Disunity is not our fate, nor are we condemned to backwardness as an inescapable fate. The Almighty God has bestowed dignity upon us and given us brains to differentiate between truth and falsehood and a conscience that differentiates between good and evil.

All that we need is to liberate our minds from fears and to exchange bonds of love and goodness.
» Continue Reading

Will the Riyadh summit advance peace?
ERAN LERMAN

ARAB League members gathering in Riyadh for their summit are acutely aware of the gravity of the hour. The top priority, for Arab leaders as well as the international community, is Iran’s bid for the bomb.

To avert this dire possibility, the region needs a common front, uniting Arab states, the United States and key Western allies. At stake is the survival of these Arab regimes and the existing regional order.

Still, for many it is important that such a mobilisation be given political cover in the form of action, or at least a framework for action, on the Arab-Israeli front. While Arab leaders worry about Iran, their “street” frets about the Palestinian question.

Israel knows this. Hence the recent positive comments by Israeli leaders of engaging with the Arab world on the basis of a 2002 Saudi peace initiative, and the announcement once again from the Israeli Cabinet of its commitment to a two-state solution.

Israelis are also acutely aware that for the Arab “street” and many Arab leaders the issue is not any specific Palestinian grievance. After all, the option of Palestinian statehood and independence has been open for years. It is Israel’s very existence they find unacceptable.

Thus it is particularly important for Israel to be assured that the bid for peace is not the first step towards its demise. If the Saudis and the Arab League could come to the peace table with an open-ended agenda it could at least create an opportunity for further progress.

The Saudi initiative, presented by Crown Prince Abdullah in March 2002, has never really left us. It was included in the Road Map preamble, the document which governed much of what was done in recent years in pursuit of Israeli-Palestinian agreement….

Among the more downbeat assessment of the summit is this op-ed by Eran Lerman, a former senior Israeli military intelligence officer, is director of the American Jewish Committee’s office in Jerusalem, published in the UAE’s Al-Khaleej.

Khaleej Times also carries this Agence France Press story:

Arab peace proposal not good enough: Israel

… Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres rejected the initiative as it currently stands and said negotiations were needed.

“There is only one way to overcome our differences, and that is negotiation,” Peres told Israeli public radio. “It’s impossible to say: you must take what we offer you as is.”

“With a diktat neither the Palestinians, nor the Arabs nor us will achieve a solution,” he added.

Israel rejected the proposal when it was first made, but its leaders have recently spoken of it as a starting point for talks.

The obstacle is the insistence on the right of return of those Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes during the violence that surrounded the creation of Israel in 1948, and of their descendants.

According to the United Nations, there are now more than four million Palestinian refugees, living mostly in the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Libya.

Israel fiercely opposes allowing their return, arguing that the influx would effectively erase the Jewish character of the state.

… However, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal warned in an interview with a British newspaper that Israel should not expect any further diplomatic overtures.

“If Israel refuses (the plan), that means it doesn’t want peace and it places everything back in the hands of fate. They will be putting their future not in the hands of the peacemakers but in the hands of the lords of war.”

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas warned Israel on Tuesday: “If this initiative is destroyed, I do not believe that a better chance for peace will present itself in the near future.”

Taking the bull by the horns

Clearly fed up with the deep divisions in the Arab world, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia decided to grab the issue by the scruff of its neck and give it a thorough shaking up. The king lashed out at his Arab brethren in Riyadh yesterday while addressing a summit of leaders from the Arab world. The infighting, hidden jealousies, plotting and scheming were all the doing of the Arabs themselves and unity is nothing but a mirage in the desert, he pretty much hinted.

Saudi Arabia has been increasingly concerned by the goings-on in the Arab world, be it the American occupation of Iraq which has already led to a civil war, the blockade on Palestine and even the recent Israeli aggression on Lebanon. The last caused a rift between the Saudis and the Syrians, whose leader, Bashar Assad, at the time of the Lebanese crisis called other Arabs names that did not sit too well with the Saudi leadership.

A sign that Saudi Arabia is bent on making its mark in the Arab world and forging at least a semblance of unity was displayed in the meeting of Fatah and Hamas leaders in Makkah. They had been brought together at Saudi insistence and so far, it looks like happy days politically in Palestine. The country appears willing to take on the Arabs’ eternal enemy, the Israelis, head-on as the countryís foreign minister stated that if the Israelis do not accept the Arabs’ peace proposals, then perhaps the only way to sort out issues could well be through conflict. Perhaps in not so many words, but reading between the lines, it is easy to see the Saudis are keen to take a leadership role in the Arab world.

While other Arab states may have the military might to be a power in the region, Saudi Arabia has the wherewithal to lead from the front. It may not have powerful armed forces and may have internal problems, but the country is the home to Islamís two holiest cities — Makkah and Madinah — and of course, Saudi Arabia has huge wealth generated by its huge oil resources.

Armed with these, the country can yet emerge as a leader both in the Islamic world and conceivably, the Arab world. King Abdullah looks like he is taking the first steps towards that end.

This editorial, from the Qatari daily The Peninsula, is noteworthy not only for what it says, but that it’s in a Qatari newspaper. Qatar rarely misses the chance to take a swipe at Saudi Arabia.

The Summit and the Factories of Orphans
Ghassan Charbel

When the Arab looks at the world he feels like an orphan, as if he is out of the race. He neither makes his future, State or nation, nor participates in making the future of the world. He neither makes his peace nor his war. That is why he resigns, loses hope and his despair grows or explodes in the world increasing two fold the number of orphans.

The Arab is an orphan. His country is temporary and his institutions are corrupt. Civil war will come sooner or later. If the ruler falls, everything falls with him: districts, militias, booby-trapped cars, suicides, and death squads. There is no consolation for the Arab. His nation is like the Tower of Babel, or a ship abandoned by its passengers and their languages, dialects and alliances grew wider apart. Orphanhood is a state that befalls individuals, as well as groups and States. The Arab is an orphan in the world and is an orphan in Iraq, where there is occupation, sectarian division and a hint of separation between ethnicities. Al-Rasheed city is an orphan. Palm trees are cut down to be used for coffins. Others are seen dancing in the Iraqi field. Orphans are searching for umbrellas and alliances and then turn into figures, papers and victims.

The Lebanese is an orphan. He faced the Israeli occupation bravely. He is now regrettably committing suicide bravely. The assassination of the State project turned the country into a number of orphanages that equal the number of sects and districts. The orphan Beirut is watching Baghdad cut down palm trees to make coffins.

I will not recite the list of orphans. It is long. There are declared orphans and nominated orphans. But what is this Arab World? There’s an explosion here, and a congestion warning of an explosion there. There is a civil war here, and a sectarian schism there, where sectarianism is mixed with flagrant interventions and appetites of near and far countries. Fanaticism and reckless bets have wiped out any opportunities for dialogue and internal solutions. Regional ambitions impede the efforts made by the Arab League of islands. Then we clash with the international legitimacy and use the rejection of dictations as an excuse.

… The Arabs are lucky that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia refuses to renounce its Arab, Islamic and international responsibilities. That is why King Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz overweighed his country and its broad contributions to make an attempt to stop the Arab deterioration. From the Arab Peace Initiative, to the encouragement of the Iraqis to restore their unity and country, and the embracement of Lebanon to prevent it from falling – whether by being killed or killing itself – the Riyadh summit seems to be the last opportunity.

The Arabs need to rise up and repair the Arab thought. Failure means keeping the factories of orphans open; that is, the Arabs will remain orphans, watching the Arab civil wars and seasons of roaming funerals on satellite channels.

This piece, appearing in the Lebanese Al-Hayat lines up quite well with the pieces by Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed and Mshari Al-Zaydi posted below. The recognition of a structural weakness within the Arab world is a good thing. Even more important, though, will be the steps taken to correct it.

ISLAM: MUSLIMS NOT READY FOR FOR DIALOGUE WITH WEST
SAYS SHARJAH’S RULER

Paris, 28 March (AKI) – Dialogue between Islam and the West is not yet possible as Muslims are currently unable to overcome their own differences, according to the emirate of Sharjah’s ruler, Sultan bin Muhammad al-Qasimi. “The problem is between us – our actions all militate against dialogue,” he al-told Adnkronos International (AKI). Al-Qasimi was in the French capital, Paris to attend International Theatre Day at UNESCO’s headquarters on Tuesday.

“We need to improve our own internal relations before reaching out to the rest of the world,” al-Qasimi said.

“A storm of doubts and suspicions is raging in Muslim countries that is preventing us from seeing clearly or hearing ourselves above the howling and across the chasms that separate us,” al-Qasimi said.

“We need to tackle those who are stirring up this storm and concentrate our energies on building loving relations with those who are calling for fraternity between peoples,” he continued.

According to the Sultan, the way out of the quagmire is education. “We need to devise a new education system – a new way of teaching, of acquiring knowledge, and guaranteeing individual rights,” he said.

“It is only in this way that we will not violate other people’s rights,” al-Qasimi underlined….

The Italian news agency AKI carries this piece from Paris. Its sentiments align quite well with those of Mshari Al-Zaydi noted in the post immediately below.

These pieces are making an analysis that was made by some countries in the West five years ago. Dialogue is always preferable, except when it becomes a waste of time. It is useful when both sides have agreed that something needs to be discussed, that the terms of the discussion are understood, and when both sides have a clear understanding of their own goals for the dialogue. These conditions have not prevailed in the region lately, to the cost of many.

The End of Repetition?
Mshari Al-Zaydi

It is man who gives things their identities and directs the course of events with his ambitions and fears behind him and with all that remains in his conscience of beliefs. Paradoxically, man always repeats the same actions and then complains about them. By man here, we mean the one capable of influencing public affairs, politicians and economists, and people of faiths and ideologies and the rest of their affiliates.

Let us leave this generalization and try to be more precise. Arabs are gathering today in Riyadh in a summit held in a bleak atmosphere of war and projects of wars and tension, each arriving with their own concerns. Each of them came, hoping that the Arab summit would endorse his agenda. Syria wants unconditional support, Palestinians came with the Arab peace initiative of King Abdullah ahead of them; this time and after many wasted years, the initiative has been granted greater support. Iraqis now seek Arab support, after all plans have failed and bombs have overwhelmed even the Green Zone and have flown over the head of the UN Secretary General.

Undoubtedly, these are “ordeals” and difficult issues. However, the question that remained unanswered for decades is why has the same error been repeated every time. Furthermore, the same complaint is repeated as well; the same solutions are put forward each time and then distorted, the same distortion every time.

Haven’t Arabs tired of going round in circles? Haven’t they run out of energy for fallacy? Is it not time for a moment of calmness and facing oneself?

Mshari Al-Zaydi writes this thoughtful piece for Asharq Alawsat. He notes that Arabs and Arab governments, whether in the quest for ‘Arab unity’ or an Islamic Caliphate, continue to blind themselves to the reality of the world. As a result, an entire generation has been raised to see death as preferable to life. Total distrust of the other, whether it be an ‘outsider’ or another Arab, leads to impossible dreams that tempt young people to their deaths while achieving nothing.

What more do we need to convince us that it is imperative to bury the old discourse and establish a new discourse that loves life? When will this “terrible” education that is prevailing in the Arab world come to an end? In this regards, I refer to “weak” Arab education, which is a calmer description than that given by Amr Mousa who, before the summit, stated that it is “rubbish”.

What we are saying is far more difficult than what will be presented at the recent summit. Arabs have said that they “finally” support the undisputable Arab initiative but will their acceptance of this realistic and unconventional initiative reflect a “minor” step towards breaking the narrow and repeated way of thinking that always affects resolving Arab problems and that has lasted for almost one century?

We hope that this is the case and that each party’s agenda does not become a pretext to obstruct any natural growth in realistic and practical thinking. This is unless some Arab countries, such as Syria of “Arab nationalism” or regional powers such as “Islamic” Iran will benefit from the survival of the Palestinian and Iraqi dilemmas more than they will benefit from their solution.