Saudi Arabia, the host of the 19th Arab summit which concluded
Thursday afternoon, is stepping up its diplomatic efforts in
mediating Middle East issues.
High summit turnout displays Saudi regional
power
The 19th Arab League (AL) summit drew together 17 heads of state
of Arab countries, outnumbering the number of the two previous ones
in Khartoum and Algiers due to the sensitive situation in the
region and the influence of the host.
The world's prominent politicians, including UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, African
Union chief Alfa Omer Konary, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf
and Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, also attended the two- day summit
of pan-Arab bloc.
The unprecedented high turnout of Arab leaders is certainly a
good illustration of Saudi Arabia's increasing power, which plays
more active diplomatic role in the region.
Just like what UN chief Ban Ki-moon described, this year's Arab
summit with high turnout is the most important one in the recent
years.
But the unprecedented attention comes undeniably with another
reason, as pointed out by Ban, the situation in the region is now
more complicated and more dangerous than ever before.
Brokering Mecca Agreement sets a good
example
Analysts expected that the oil-rich kingdom will play a more and
more important role in mediating a wide range of issues in the
Mideast, citing the recent Saudi-brokered Mecca agreement as a
successful and encouraging example.
On Feb. 8, two Palestinian mainstream movements of Fatah and
Hamas reached a power-sharing agreement to form a national unity
government and end factional infighting prevailed in the
Palestinian territories.
According to the accord, a new Palestinian unity government was
finally established earlier this month, bringing hopes that the
sanctions imposed on Palestinians will be lifted with the inclusion
of moderate Fatah movement.
Saudi Arabia's active and effective mediation between the two
rival Palestinian movements deeply impressed not only the Arab
world but also the whole international community.
While winning laud from the world, Saudi Arabia's successful
diplomatic efforts would naturally increase its confidence in its
future mediating and diplomatic moves.
Engaging Iran on Lebanon crisis
Reaching out to Iran, a non-Arab but a controversial regional
power, is another recent diplomatic move by Saudi Arabia, said the
analysts.
Riyadh held an eye-catching summit with Iran in early March,
whose disputed nuclear program has become a focal point in the
international arena.
It is also believed that the predominantly Shiite Iran has
massive leverage in Iraq and Lebanon although Tehran is always
reluctant to admit that.
The predominantly Sunni Saudi Arabia supports the Western-
backed Seniora government in Beirut, while the opposition in
Lebanon is led by the Shiite Hezbollah movement backed by Iran and
Syria.
Judged from the above fact, Iran and Saudi Arabia seems two
parallel lines never with intersection point, but the kingdom
managed to make the impossibility to reality.
On March 3, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad paid his first
official visit to Riyadh, where the hard-line Iranian leader had
reportedly backed Saudi efforts to break the political deadlock in
Lebanon.
In the wake of the visit, Lebanese parliamentary majority leader
Saad Hariri and opposition speaker Nabih Berri then embarked on a
series of talks, sparking hopes of a breakthrough in the
four-month-old stalemate.
(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2007)
