Amman Tripartite Summit: First Step towards New Middle East

Jordan's King Abdullah II, center, arrives with Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, left, and Iraqi PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi, right, ahead of the summit in the capital Amman. (Jordanian Royal Palace – AFP)
Jordan's King Abdullah II, center, arrives with Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, left, and Iraqi PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi, right, ahead of the summit in the capital Amman. (Jordanian Royal Palace – AFP)
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Amman Tripartite Summit: First Step towards New Middle East

Jordan's King Abdullah II, center, arrives with Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, left, and Iraqi PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi, right, ahead of the summit in the capital Amman. (Jordanian Royal Palace – AFP)
Jordan's King Abdullah II, center, arrives with Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, left, and Iraqi PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi, right, ahead of the summit in the capital Amman. (Jordanian Royal Palace – AFP)

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi received an unprecedented warm welcome when he landed in the Jordanian capital Amman on Tuesday. King Abdullah II swept aside protocols and personally received the premier at the airport.

The Iraqi PM was in Jordan for a tripartite summit that included King Abdullah and Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.

Kadhimi, who had just returned from a successful visit to the United States, was seeking to employ Iraq’s financial and human resources to boost the concept of partnership and veer away from pervious government’s reliance on bilateral cooperation with Iran and Turkey, said sources close to the premier. Such a dependence has kept Iraq away from its Arab fold: Iraq’s trade balance with Turkey is estimated at 10 to 12 billion dollars annually and 8 to ten billion dollars with Iran, while the balance is at a meager 2 billion with Saudi Arabia and hardly any better with Egypt and Jordan.

The signs of a new chapter of Iraqi relations with its Arab neighbors first emerged with the formation of the Iraqi-Saudi coordination council during the term of former Iraqi PM Haidar al-Abadi. These relations were boosted with his successor, Adel Abdul Mahdi, before he encountered numerous challenges, notably massive popular protests that led to his resignation in late 2019. Abdul Mahdi had held summits with King Abdullah and Sisi in each of Cairo and Amman, but circumstances worked against him and the meetings never yielded any significant results.

Kadhimi will now try to pick up from where his successors left off. He has just returned with great American political and economic support and sought to propose the project of a “new Middle East”. This project will follow European example, whereby capital and technology would flow more freely.

Member of the Iraqi parliamentary foreign relations committee, Dr. Dhafer al-Ani said the tripartite cooperation between Baghdad, Amman and Cairo was not born yesterday, but dates back to several years.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Iraq needs the Arab fold, which would empower it in confronting regional problems from Iran and Turkey.” He added that no outstanding years-long unresolved issues exist between Iraq, Jordan and Egypt, which will facilitate the process of bolstering their relations.

In fact, he continued, Jordan and Egypt are both looking forward to striking promising economic and oil deals with Iraq. Iraq has always provided them with their oil needs. Cairo and Amman, in turn, view Baghdad as an important strategic partner in the region.

The tripartite summit may yield political and economic results if Iraq were to open up economically, which will in turn open up political opportunities and boost its Arab standing.

Iraqi MP Aras Habib Karim told Asharq Al-Awsat that Iraq needs to adopt a policy of regional and international openness that prioritizes its national interest, especially when it comes to economic, energy and investment affairs.



Little Hope in Gaza that Arrest Warrants will Cool Israeli Onslaught

Palestinians gather to buy bread from a bakery, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip November 22, 2024. REUTERS/Hussam Al-Masri Purchase Licensing Rights
Palestinians gather to buy bread from a bakery, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip November 22, 2024. REUTERS/Hussam Al-Masri Purchase Licensing Rights
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Little Hope in Gaza that Arrest Warrants will Cool Israeli Onslaught

Palestinians gather to buy bread from a bakery, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip November 22, 2024. REUTERS/Hussam Al-Masri Purchase Licensing Rights
Palestinians gather to buy bread from a bakery, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip November 22, 2024. REUTERS/Hussam Al-Masri Purchase Licensing Rights

Gazans saw little hope on Friday that International Criminal Court arrest warrants for Israeli leaders would slow down the onslaught on the Palestinian territory, where medics said at least 24 people were killed in fresh Israeli military strikes.

In Gaza City in the north, an Israeli strike on a house in Shejaia killed eight people, medics said. Three others were killed in a strike near a bakery and a fisherman was killed as he set out to sea. In the central and southern areas, 12 people were killed in three separate Israeli airstrikes.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces deepened their incursion and bombardment of the northern edge of the enclave, their main offensive since early last month. The military says it aims to prevent Hamas fighters from waging attacks and regrouping there; residents say they fear the aim is to permanently depopulate a strip of territory as a buffer zone, which Israel denies.

Residents in the three besieged towns on the northern edge - Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun - said Israeli forces had blown up dozens of houses.

An Israeli strike hit the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, one of three medical facilities barely operational in the area, injuring six medical staff, some critically, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement, Reuters reported.

"The strike also destroyed the hospital's main generator, and punctured the water tanks, leaving the hospital without oxygen or water, which threatens the lives of patients and staff inside the hospital," it added. It said 85 wounded people including children and women were inside, eight in the ICU.

Later on Friday, the Gaza health ministry said all hospital services across the enclave would stop within 48 hours unless fuel shipments are permitted, blaming restrictions which Israel says are designed to stop fuel being used by Hamas.

Gazans saw the ICC's decision to seek the arrest of Israeli leaders for suspected war crimes as international recognition of the enclave's plight. But those queuing for bread at a bakery in the southern city of Khan Younis were doubtful it would have any impact.

"The decision will not be implemented because America protects Israel, and it can veto anything. Israel will not be held accountable," said Saber Abu Ghali, as he waited for his turn in the crowd.

Saeed Abu Youssef, 75, said even if justice were to arrive, it would be decades late: "We have been hearing decisions for more than 76 years that have not been implemented and haven't done anything for us."

Since Hamas's October 7th attack on Israel, nearly 44,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, much of which has been laid to waste.

The court's prosecutors said there were reasonable grounds to believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant were criminally responsible for acts including murder, persecution, and starvation as a weapon of war, as part of a "widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza".

The Hague-based court also ordered the arrest of the top Hamas commander Ibrahim Al-Masri, also known as Mohammed Deif. Israel says it has already killed him, which Hamas has not confirmed.

Israel says Hamas is to blame for all harm to Gaza's civilians, for operating among them, which Hamas denies.

Israeli politicians from across the political spectrum have denounced the ICC arrest warrants as biased and based on false evidence, and Israel says the court has no jurisdiction over the war. Hamas hailed the arrest warrants as a first step towards justice.

Efforts by Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt backed by the United States to conclude a ceasefire deal have stalled. Hamas wants a deal that ends the war, while Netanyahu has vowed the war can end only once Hamas is eradicated.