For a successful summit

Jordan is already taking steps to make the next Arab summit, scheduled to take place in Amman in March, a big success.

Jordanian ministerial emissaries have already started visiting Arab capitals to deliver His Majesty King Abdullah’s invitation to Arab heads of state to attend the summit. 

While the odds against a big success for the Arab meeting remain formidable, Jordan is obviously making great effort to ensure that it will yield great results.

True, holding an Arab summit at a time when differences among Arabs are at an all-time high, especially over Syria, Iraq and Yemen, does not augur well, but it might still be a fruitful meaning that manages to iron the differences.

A meeting of Arab heads of state is all the more needed when they are hardly in agreement on core Arab issues. 

Accepting Jordan’s invitation would show that the Arab leaders are amenable to reconciling their differences.

The summit will have to be well prepared to ensure a minimum level of success.

If the ceasefire in Syria, brokered by Moscow and Ankara, holds and the Astana peace talks get going at promising speed, one big hurdle would be out of the way at the Amman summit.

If by sheer luck, if for nothing else, the Yemeni conflict is contained before March, when the summit is due to take place, it will also be one less reason for acrimony.

If the battle for Mosul ends soon with a resounding victory over Daesh, the Arab climate can be expected to become more favourable for holding a summit.

Obviously there are many ifs and buts on the way to a successful Arab summit, but the almost three months remaining before its start could be enough to create a positive climate conducive to a landmark meeting.

In order to improve the chances for a historic Arab summit, the agenda must be short and confined to major issues.

Arab foreign ministers can be expected to iron out some aspects of inter-Arab differences and leave the really knotty subjects for the Arab heads of state to settle.

An effort to improve the chemistry between some Arab leaders would go a long way to reaching the desired goals. Some socialising should be encouraged, as personal contacts can do wonders to creating a fraternal atmosphere.

One last point: isolating Damascus for too long will do more harm than good.

Despite all the grievances that many Arab capitals have with the Syrian government over its handling of the 2011 demonstrations, and the high death toll and destruction that followed to silence the opposition, now is time to open a new page for the sake of the Syrian people.

If Moscow and Ankara’s efforts bear fruit between now and March, there will be no reason for rejecting dialogue with Damascus to persuade it to think first and foremost of the lives and interests of the people.

Excluding Damascus from the next Arab summit will be, on balance, counterproductive even from the Syrian people’s point of view.