A tall order

It is, once again, the time of the year when the United Nations General Assembly gets ready for its next session scheduled to begin on September 18. This is a ritual that is repeated year in, year out with little surprises at the end of the day.

The theme for this year's session is: "Making the UN relevant to all peoples." This is a tall order as the world has gotten used to euphoric and ambitious slogans to dominate every year's UN General Assembly sessions only to end up disappointed. This theme that is especially coined for this year's UN General Assembly meeting could be no different.

The peoples of the world have gotten used to disappointment and disillusionment from UN meetings and this year's UN platform could be no different. Still, major regional conflicts can be expected to dominate the UN deliberations, with some hope that they could receive more attention.

The Middle East conflicts, especially the Palestinian, Syrian, Iraqi, Yemeni and Libyan conflicts are traditional situations that surely will be raised. They are expected to enjoy the lion's share of the traditional speeches that world leaders are projected to deliver during the course of nine days of the General Assembly debates, due to start on September 25.

From Jordan's own point of view, the developing conflict over the status and future of Jerusalem can be expected to dominate Jordan's interventions. The Hashemite custodianship over the Muslim and Christian holy places in East Jerusalem will be also reaffirmed by the international organisation. The two-state solution to the Palestinian case will continue to be the cornerstone of Jordan's position, especially in the wake of the talk about a federation between the West Bank and Jordan, which Jordan has already rejected as a deviation from the real solution.

His Majesty King Abdullah is scheduled to make Jordan’s case on East Jerusalem and the two-state solution crystal clear once again before the world body.

The challenges that the Syrian refugees in Jordan pose to the country's economy and security will also figure highly in Jordan's message to the UN General Assembly. Not less important and pressing are the issues related to radicalism and terrorism in the region that can be expected to be raised. The battle for Idlib and the continuing war in Yemen are two "volatile" situations that governments' attending this year's UN General Assembly session are expected to dwell on.

Yet, raising issues and conflicts is one thing, doing something concrete about them is another. Maybe this time around, the UN will do things differently and countries will come out of this year's session proud of their achievements. Let us hope so.