Dr. Khaled Manzlawiy
Assistant Secretary General for International Political Affairs at the Arab League
Given the highly complicated circumstances facing the Arab region, it must confront exacerbating challenges and threats. Thus, the countries of the Arab world have a historical responsibility to rise to the occasion at the Arab League Summit in Jeddah.
They must develop a united and robust Arab stance for addressing these challenges and threats that safeguards the security and interests of the Arab world, faces up to attempts to interfere in its affairs, and ensures the right of the Arab peoples to security, peace, stability, and development. This can only be achieved through diplomacy at this Summit.
It must be emphasized that diplomacy at the Summit is the ideal approach for unpacking pivotal questions. Indeed, it brings the leaders who make political decisions on pressing issues together, and today, it comes amid substantial regional and international changes that have imposed themselves on the agenda, discussions and decisions of the Summit. The Summit itself will be distinguished by the issued statements, decisions, and recommendations, including practical proposals, formulas for implementing them, and mechanisms for following-up on the progress being made.
Historically, Arab summits have yielded many positive outcomes for a wide variety of joint Arab actions, be it by engendering settlements or containing disputes proactively and preemptively. At various historical junctures, practical and conceptual policies, initiatives, and positions that resolved internal problems, regional challenges, and international crises were also developed at Arab summits.
Today, the Arab world is being confronted with direct and indirect wars and conflicts of various shapes and forms. These conflicts are intertwined in very complex ways, leaving the countries of the Arab world surrounded by multiple threats to divergent extents. They have turned some of these countries into geopolitical arenas where regional and global players vie to change the balance of power, exploiting the vacuum created by the disputes, conflicts, and schisms seen in some Arab countries.
Tensions in the occupied Palestinian Territories are escalating. There remains no realistic path to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace as the constant assaults on holy sites continue to escalate. Meanwhile, there are also other crises to address elsewhere: in Syria, after its return to the Arab League; in Yemen, after the efforts to enforce the truce; in Libya, where there is a need to organize general elections; and in Sudan, where the army and the Rapid Support Forces have reached an agreement that lays out the basic principles for resolving the crisis, developing comprehensive and sustainable political solutions to end the ongoing conflict, and establishing stability and order...
All of these issues are pivotal for Arab national security. On the other hand, the Summit must also address the war in Ukraine and the global economic crisis as well. All of this has had an array of implications on various aspects of life in the Arab world, both politically and economically.
The repercussions of these crises affect different countries in the Arab region to divergent degrees, and they might give rise to several complications. These complications could hamper peace-building and the reconstruction that follows, and they could give rise to disputes. All of this means a united Arab strategy is needed to address them more effectively. This is not optional; it is necessary for overcoming the ramifications of these crises, underpinning stability, and ensuring prosperity in the Arab world.
Consensus and solidarity are urgently needed. They are prerequisites for crystallizing firm positions and joint approaches for overcoming the challenges undermining regional security and stability. Moreover, we must consider the fact that the crises are extremely consequential and that they will not only cost the countries in which the conflicts are being fought.
Indeed, the entire world is undergoing a perilous stage in history as the maps of international relations are redrawn. On the other hand, an Arab consensus would engender a unified Arab position that gives joint Arab action weight and grants the Arab world a voice that is heard not only in the region but also across the globe.
Consensus can only be driven by interests grounded in material realities, which have an inherent fluidity and capacity to flip the map of international relations on its head. Reshaping the material realities on which these interests are grounded would render the Arab Summit in Jeddah a crucial turning point for collective Arab endeavors.
It would create a bulwark against the threats facing the Arab world through the formulation of joint positions that allow for the crystallization of more effective policies and approaches for bridging gaps in meeting the various shared challenges and risks facing the region, thereby solidifying security and stability.
Saudi Arabia - as the host of this Arab Summit, and given the pivotal role that Saudi diplomacy plays in the region and across the globe, as well as its political weight, solid partnerships and international credibility - will play an essential role in addressing Arab crises and laying the groundwork for dialogue through which suitable solutions emerge, thereby satisfying all parties and maintaining order in the region:
- Ensuring development and prosperity for all peoples of the region.
- Alleviating tensions and cooling conflicts, thereby allowing for greater emphasis on the reconstruction and development process by allowing all to benefit and guaranteeing sustainable development, which the region's peoples aspire to.
