Arab leaders recognize challenges
Summit in Jordan to face issues such as war and unemployment
DEAD SEA, Jordan — Arab leaders “realize the urgency” of tackling long-running regional crises, from war to high unemployment, Jordan’s foreign minister said Monday after chairing a meeting of his counterparts from the region.
Ayman Safadi said he and his colleagues endorsed more than a dozen policy resolutions, including several on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, that are to be adopted Wednesday by heads of state of the 22member Arab League at their annual gathering.
The summit, hosted this year by Jordan, comes at a time when festering crises have “led to an erosion in the level of trust that people have in the regional Arab order, in the Arab League,” Safadi told reporters. “So there is a realization of that, of the difficulty.”
Despite calls for unity, Arab League member states remain divided on key issues, including the six-yearold civil war in Syria.
The league suspended Syria in 2011, several months after a popular uprising against President Bashar Assad that quickly turned into a brutal civil war. Assad hasn’t been invited to a summit since then, and Arab League member states disagree on his political fate, if any, if fighting ends one day.
Regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia, led by King Salman, supports the Syrian opposition, while Egypt, fearful of Islamic militants among the rebels’ ranks, has pushed for a political solution that might keep Assad in power. Saudi-Egyptian relations have been tense in recent months.
The Saudi monarch arrived in Jordan on Monday to a lavish airport welcome, descending from his aircraft by escalator before being greeted by Jordan’s King Abdullah II. The ceremony included troops on camelback, a vintage cream-colored Mercedes convertible and cannon salutes.
The two monarchs are to sign several bilateral agreements during Salman’s visit. Saudi Arabia is one of Jordan’s main financial backers, and Jordan desperately needs more foreign aid amid a continuous economic downturn, including rising unemployment and public debt.
This year’s summit is being held six years after the Arab Spring uprisings that raised initial hopes for greater freedoms in a region still largely ruled by autocrats. Instead, the upheavals led to violent conflict and crackdowns in many parts of the region.
Safadi, the foreign minister, said he expects the summit to signal a readiness for change.
“I think this summit has confirmed and will confirm ... that Arab leaders, the Arab world, need to work together and realize the urgency of working together” on providing solutions that will offer hope to people, he said.