Will WEF’s Jordan Conference Bring Spirit of Davos to Middle East?

SHUNEH, Jordan, 30 June 2003 — World Economic Forum (WEF) founder and head, Claus Schwab, told me that preparations for the Dead Sea meeting began at the end of military operations in Iraq. The meeting was envisioned as a “summit of reconciliation” in the post-Iraq war period.

Iraq’s postwar reconstruction and Middle East peace topped the agenda during the 71 sessions held at the three-day gathering. The United States, occupier of Iraq and midwife of the revived peace process, played the lead role. When the conference ended, US Secretary of State Colin Powell visited Israel and the West Bank for talks with Palestinian and Israeli prime ministers, Mahmoud Abbas and Ariel Sharon. Powell also held talks with the representatives of the Quartet that launched the road map.

Israel’s representation at the conference was the largest, second only to the American.

The Israelis held side meetings with the Palestinians and other Arabs. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa spoke at length about Arab rights and warned of proceeding with normalization before progress is made in the peace process.

In another development, Jordan, Palestine, and Israel agreed on the need to start implementing a project linking the Dead Sea with the Red Sea. If such a project is not implemented, experts say, the Dead Sea will disappear by the year 2050. Another significant meeting was between the Bahraini crown prince and Israel’s foreign minister. The Israelis claim that the encounter led to an agreement to open a representation office, while the Bahrainis say that such a step is premature.

The third day of the meeting was devoted to a discussion of President George W. Bush’s initiative to create a US-Middle East free trade area, including Israel and Arab countries. In this context, the top US top trade official called on several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, to join the World Trade Organization, before concluding free trade agreements with the United States.

For all the celebration and backslapping, the WEF affair was belabored. The forced note of cheer was apparent in the case of Iraq. Paul Bremer, US overseer in Iraq, came to the conference flanked by Secretary Powell and veteran Iraqi statesman, Adnan Pachachi. While businessmen and politicians debated the future of the country, Iraqi opposition was launching resistance operations against US forces. Bremer painted a rosy picture, promising a detailed political and economic plan leading to an Iraqi political council, and pledging to turn the Iraqi economy from central planning to free market. The first priority of the US administration, he said, is to establish law and order, as this is necessary for political and economic reform. Bremer stated that the reconstruction of Iraq would depend on the Iraqi people. A political council would be formed, leading to a constitutional congress to draft a new constitution of the country, he promised.

Secretary Powell gave a more realistic account of the situation in Iraq at a press conference he held on the second day of the WEF conference. Powell said that US forces in Iraq were still coming under attack by some Iraqis, and that America will have to stay in the country until the security situation stabilizes. The United States, he added, needs to discover the weapons of mass destruction and get rid of the remnants of Saddam’s regime.

The birth of a new Iraq, just as the birth of a new peace process, is apparently harder than the United States had imagined. Despite all the confident statements and optimistic remarks, it was hard to conceal the difficulties the Americans were having in both Iraq and Palestine.

So far, the Bush administration has appeared strong on grand schemes, but weak on detail — though, as the Americans themselves would say, this is just where the devil lies in wait.

When I confronted William Burns, US assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, with this view, he responded by saying complicated though the details on the ground are, this should not stop us from moving forward; otherwise all plans and visions would collapse. This is why the WEF conference was held on the Dead Sea shores in Jordan, he said.

The Dead Sea conference was an attempt to bring the spirit of Davos to the Middle East, a region ridden by political and social stagnation, as Schwab said. It was an attempt to bring life to the Dead Sea, to use the words of Kofi Annan. Interestingly, however, Israel seems to have been the primary beneficiary of the gathering, followed by Jordan, followed by the WEF.