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Arab leaders hold Tuesday 1er November in Algeria their first summit in three years, against a backdrop of persistent divisions on the conflicts which agitate the region, in particular Syria and Libya, and the rapprochement of certain States with Israel.
The Arab League, which brings together twenty-two countries, last met at such a level in March 2019 in Tunis, before the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, several members of this bloc, which has historically placed support for the Palestinian cause and condemnation of Israel at the top of its agenda, have made a spectacular rapprochement with the Jewish state.
The United Arab Emirates have thus normalized their relations with Israel in 2020 within the framework of a series of agreements, known as Abraham, negotiated by Washington. Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan have followed suit.
This rapprochement is all the more significant in the context of the summit as its Algerian host is a fierce supporter of the Palestinians. Algiers sponsored a reconciliation agreement between rival Palestinian factions in mid-October, although the chances of seeing it materialize on the ground seem slim.
Welcome to the “Arab brothers”
The security cooperation established by the Moroccan neighbor with Israel after the normalization of their relations has exacerbated the tensions between the two Maghreb enemy brothers, already high due to deep disagreements on Western Sahara, which led to the breakdown of their diplomatic relations in August 2021, at the initiative of Algiers.
Algeria has been deploying increasingly offensive diplomacy since President Abdelmadjid Tebboune came to power at the end of 2019, after years of immobility under his bedridden predecessor Abdelaziz Bouteflika. She pulled out all the stops to offer a distinguished reception to participants at the summit, which is due to open at 6 p.m. local time (5 p.m. GMT) and end early Wednesday afternoon.
The main arteries of the capital were adorned with flags of Arab countries and posters welcoming “Arab brothers” were plastered on huge billboards. “Algeria’s foreign policy has gone on the offensive at the regional, African and Arab levels”believes Hasni Abidi, director of the Center for Studies and Research on the Arab and Mediterranean World (Cermam) in Geneva.
If the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the situation in Syria, Libya and Yemen are indeed on the agenda of the summit, the Arab leaders and their collaborators will have to engage in veritable diplomatic acrobatics in the formulation of the declaration final, adopted unanimously, to avoid offending this or that heavyweight of the organization.
Under the sign of “gathering”
According to sources in the Arab League, the foreign ministers working on the final declaration are trying to reach a compromise on how to discuss the “interference” of Turkey and Iran in Arab affairs. Some members demand that Ankara and Tehran be mentioned by name, while others oppose it.
“It is the paradox of this summit which is held under the label of common coordination while each Arab state displays an agenda and objectives specific to its interests. In short, the Arab League is the perfect mirror of Arab foreign policy.underlines Mr. Abidi.
Algeria placed this summit on 31e of the pan-Arab organization, under the sign of ” gathering “, but several countries, in particular from the Gulf, will not be represented there by their Head of State. Thus, the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salman, de facto ruler of the kingdom, will not go to Algiers, officially because of a hearing problem. According to the Arab press, the leaders of Morocco, the Emirates and Bahrain will also be absent.
Algeria, encouraged by Moscow, sought behind the scenes to use the summit to reintegrate Damascus into the Arab League, from which Syria had been excluded at the end of 2011 at the start of the revolt against the regime of Bashar Al-Assad, but finally gave it up, officially at the request of the Syrian regime itself.
“Damascus had to come to terms with the evidence. With the civil war continuing, a victorious return of President Assad to the League was illusory. Moscow had nevertheless bet on this scenario. Again, pragmatism prevailed. Russia renounces a forced passage which would have affected its relations with Arab countries already very burned by the economic impact of the Ukrainian conflict »believes Pierre Boussel, associate researcher at the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS) in France.