MIDDLE EAST: Arabs Seek to Form Common Policy Towards Israel

LONDON, Dic 29 (IPS) - The meeting Thursday between the leaders of Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the secretary general of the Arab League, reflects growing concern at the way Israel has managed to undermine a once common Arab policy towards the Jewish state.

Since the signing of the Israeli-Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) accord in September 1993, Israel has made significant strides in its bilateral relations with Arab nations, and Syria in particular, which has been most cautious in negotiations with the Israelis, is keen to see more Arab unity.

Damascus has for example expressed concern about the recent decision by the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) -- comprising Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to ease a near 50-year-old economic boycott of the Jewish state.

The much bigger Arab League is yet to make a decision on this issue.

But even before the GCC's decision, Qatar had confirmed that it was already negotiating the sale of natural gas to Israel.

Also, in the regional diplomatic arena, Israel has succeeded in establishing links with Morocco and Tunisia -- both members of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU).

But most significantly, Israel was able to reach a peace accord with Jordan, the peace treaty signing taking place just over a year after the Israeli-PLO accord.

Among other things, Israel now recognises the Jordanian monarch as the custodian of the Islamic holy shrines in East Jerusalem, thus pre-empting the PLO position regarding these sites.

All in all then, in exchange for granting limited self-rule to less than half of the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories -- with no acceptance of the principle of self-determination of Palestinians in the form of an independent state -- Israel has made impressive gains, diplomatically and economically.

This week's talks in Alexandria, Egypt, between Syrian President Hafez Assad, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Saudi Arabia's King Fahd and Esmat Abdel Maguid of the Arab League were therefore aimed at consolidating the Arab position on dealings with Israel.

Significantly as well, they were held in the wake of a visit to Muscat, Oman by the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on Dec 26, barely a week after the GCC summit in Bahrain.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service