Lebanonwire, March 26, 2003

The Daily Star

The new pan-Arab initiative proposed by Saudi Arabia was billed as a “charter for reform” for the Arab world.
When it was unveiled last January by Crown Prince Abdullah at a meeting with a group of Saudi intellectuals, he indicated that it had been proposed to Arab leaders for discussion at their annual summit, which was held earlier this month at Sharm el-Sheikh. But Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told a press conference there that the crown prince was postponing presentation of his initiative until the 2004 Arab summit in Tunis to provide Arab leaders with more time.
If and when it is endorsed, the charter for pan-Arab reform is to be adopted as a contract binding the Arab monarchs and presidents, under which they pledge to their peoples to work toward the advancement of the pan-Arab nation. The initiative ostensibly aims at bringing about a wholesale transformation in the dire condition of the Arab world in order to prepare it to cope with the daunting challenges posed by the contemporary world. Hence the perceived need for a charter that commits the Arab states to upholding the nation’s collective interests.
The initiative covers four areas: inter-Arab and external relations, and political, economic and cultural issues. It calls for relations among Arab states to be repaired, and clear mechanisms to be adopted to ensure that Arab summit resolutions are faithfully implemented and inter-Arab disputes are peacefully resolved. The proposed charter also rejects external aggression against any Arab country, upholds the territorial integrity and unity of all, and stresses the need to reinforce Arab defense capabilities.
The political section of the initiative commits the Arab states to supporting the Palestinian Authority (PA), and strives to secure implementation of the Arab Peace Initiative ­ calling for an Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied in 1967 and the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital ­ as the rock bottom requirement for normalizing relations with Israel.
The economic component of the initiative advocates enhanced economic cooperation among Arab states, encouragement of the private sector and measures to stimulate private investment and initiative and attract foreign and expatriate capital. It also envisages the introduction of common trade policies planned to lead to the creation of a customs union within a decade and eventually a full-fledged Arab common market. On the educational and cultural side, the initiative speaks of the need for sweeping advances aimed at optimizing the use of human resources, encouraging creative thinking and enabling the Arab world to compete in global markets.
There can be little doubt that the Saudi blueprint is a response to the American initiative for encouraging democracy in the region, which was unveiled by US Secretary of State Colin Powell ­ and which drew heavily on the damning report on human development in the region published last year by the UN Development Program.
The aim may be to signal that the Arab governments are embarking on reforms of their own accord rather than under external pressure, but the main issues raised in the American initiative are only touched on in passing in the Saudi document. It makes no reference to democracy or human rights.
The Arab media has played up its call for more “political participation,” but that is only mentioned in the vaguest terms, in a single sentence which speaks of “self-generated reform and the development of political participation in the Arab states as basic foundations for building Arab capabilities and establishing the conditions for Arab progress.” There is no reference at all to the condition of Arab women or their liberation, empowerment or involvement in the renaissance of their societies and nation.
A further indication that the Saudi initiative came in answer to the American one is that it contains no allusion to Islam as part of the cultural or political makeup of the Arab world, a remarkable omission given the authors’ self-styled status as sponsors of Muslim interests worldwide. Nor does it depict Islam as a motivating force for the liberation and progress it speaks of. It also conspicuously fails to refer to terrorism and its relationship to Islam, at a time when Arab political and intellectual elites are doing their utmost to dissociate the two in Western minds.
The initiative’s main irony is that it is to be adopted by the very Arab kings and presidents who have presided over the Arab world’s breathtaking decline in virtually every area and at every level. The preamble to the text reads: “The Arab kings and presidents, having considered the current Arab condition, and noted the prolonged silence and incomprehensible neglect vis-a-vis unfolding developments, which convey an impression of impotence and weakness that has prompted some to make light of attacking the Arab nation and damaging its legitimate interests.”
One cannot avoid wondering who it is who was, and remains, “silent” about what has been happening to the Arab world? The regimes and their security agencies have done everything in their power to muzzle people, stifle opposition through threats and intimidation and silence dissent. Are we to understand, then, that the initiative constitutes an act of self-critical reappraisal on the part of the leaders? If so, are those who are responsible for the Arab world’s decline capable of overseeing its revival?
Moreover, if the Saudi initiative, once adopted and turned into a pan-Arab initiative, is supposed to be a contract binding the Arab rulers and a pledge to their peoples that they will work resolutely and single-mindedly toward the attainment of the objectives listed, doesn’t a contract require the approval of two parties? The Arab peoples are unlikely to be impressed by such verbal promises and undertakings, given their accumulated real-life experience of misrule and oppression and official submission to hostile external powers.
No one doubts the capacity of Arab leaders  to produce impressive texts, but the vast chasm between official words and deeds is one of the Arab world’s major problems. No amount of promises or pledges will persuade the Arab peoples of the authenticity of the declared goals or the sincerity of the endeavor.
Besides, when the Saudi initiative is presented to the Arab summit in Tunis, Iraq could well be under American occupation. That would make redundant its purported goal of preventing war on Iraq and render meaningless its talk of rejecting external aggression ­ unless its purpose is to safeguard all threatened Arab countries except Iraq.

Muna Shuqair is an Amman-based Jordanian political analyst. She wrote this commentary for The Daily Star

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