Logo

Logo

Arab counter-blast

Donald Trump has ignited a major flutter in the Arab roost. On the eve of the seventh anniversary of the…

Arab counter-blast

US President Donald Trump. (Photo: IANS/File)

Donald Trump has ignited a major flutter in the Arab roost. On the eve of the seventh anniversary of the Arab Spring, the ferment has intensified if Sunday’s meeting of foreign ministers in Cairo is any indication. Prompt and swift has been the collective outcry against the White House, couched in the demand that the United States must rescind President Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The foreign ministers have treated the issue, indeed the US President’s reckless foreign policy gambit, as a flagrant violation of international law, condemning the shift of capital as a “grave development” that places Washington on the same side as “occupation”. The charge is as serious as it could be, and Mr Trump could scarcely have anticipated so furious a diplomatic offensive from the Arab world.

The Cairo resolution may be long on rhetoric and short in terms of concrete action. The respective countries in the bloc have been direly fractious; but it is the united stand of the ministers that has conveyed a resounding message to the White House. The Cairo document has appealed to the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution condemning Mr Trump’s deeply controversial decision, acknowledging nonetheless that America will almost certainly veto the same.

A veto in the Council will not in itself be reassuring to the President and his frequently reshuffled cabal; the Arabs will seek a similar resolution in the General Assembly going by the signal of intent emitted by the Palestinian foreign minister, Riyad Al-Maliki, at a pre-dawn press conference in Cairo. The timing of the media interaction is suggestive of the gravity of the situation. Given the Council’s prevarication on the Arab storm-centres ~ pre-eminently Syria and Libya ~ a counter-resolution cannot be readily expected. Yet it is the counter-blast of the Arab bloc that lends a new dimension to international relations.

Advertisement

A two-page resolution adopted by the emergency meeting did not mention any punitive action against the United States, like a call for a boycott of American products or suspending or downgrading ties with Washington. Given the persistent turmoil in the Arab world, notably in Egypt, Syria, and Libya, drastic measures seem unlikely quite yet.

The focus is on the Palestinians, who since the December 6 announcement by Trump have been rendered a furiously infuriated segment in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, exemplified by the arson and violent protests over the past three days. The Middle East is no stranger to such violence; it is the context that has lent an emotive edge to the reprisal against the attack on the certitudes of international law. “Jerusalem has been occupied for 50 years. This is an extended battle, a battle that will be escalated,” is the succinct response of the Arab League. The confrontation has only just begun. The epitaph on the seventh anniversary of the Arab Spring can be as stark as that.

Advertisement