KUWAIT CITY: Arab leaders yesterday pledged “all forms of support for the reconstruction of Gaza” but failed to set up a specific fund for the war-battered Palestinian territory, as they wound up a two-day summit.
The leaders of the 23-member Arab League, meeting in Kuwait City, approved a declaration calling for steps to accelerate the economic integration of their countries after struggling to reach consensus on Israel’s assault on Gaza.
They vowed to “provide all forms of support for the reconstruction of Gaza” but made no reference to a mechanism for reconstruction. Arab leaders “welcome all contributions pledged so far by Arab countries,” the leaders said in a final statement read out by Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa.
Meanwhile, in an important development, Hamas welcomed the summit’s call for reconciliation talks among Palestinian factions on the basis of an initiative taken by Custodian of Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah. “We welcome any Saudi invitation in this respect,” said Sami Abu-Zahri, spokesman of the movement.
The final session of the Arabs’ first-ever economic summit gave a rundown of the agreements: To launch a customs union in 2010, to set up a pan-Arab power grid and a rail network project.
The Kuwait Declaration called for “adopting monetary and fiscal policies to enable Arab nations to face the consequences of the global financial crisis.” According to one report, Arab countries have incurred losses of $2.5 trillion due to the economic turmoil.
The leaders remained at odds on Gaza. “The Arab position is still in disarray and tense ... Things are not as good as we want it to be,” Moussa told a press conference later. “We had to be content with this statement (on Gaza) because of disruptions in inter-Arab relations ... We need your prayers,” he said, referring to a brief statement on Gaza. “We have not mentioned the (Arab) peace initiative but it still exists,” Moussa said, adding it would not remain on the table forever. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah pledged $1 billion to rebuild Gaza.
Moussa said the Arab division had weakened the Palestinian cause. He urged all Arab countries to pay the financial offers they made to support the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
A recent summit hosted by Qatar and attended by 13 Arab countries on Friday called for scrapping the peace initiative which pledges normalization of ties with Israel in exchange for its withdrawal from occupied Arab land.
Moussa said an attempt by Qatar to include the resolutions of that summit in the Kuwait Declaration was rejected.
Leaders of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria and Qatar met on Monday and were reported to have sorted out differences exposed by Israel’s deadly 22-day offensive on Gaza. But Arab foreign ministers, who met just ahead of the closing session, failed to reach consensus on the Gaza Strip, Iraq’s foreign minister said.
“We held a closed-door session to discuss the final statement on Gaza ... We have not reached a conclusion because of time constraints and some positions,” Hoshyar Zebari said.
Diplomatic sources told AFP the differences focused on a mechanism for spending the reconstruction money amid Palestinian divisions and over whether to renew support for the Arab peace initiative.
Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Muhammad Al-Sabah said the summit had succeeded in achieving reconciliation among some Arab countries. “We have to make more efforts to unify the ranks of Palestinians,” he told a press conference.
Sheikh Muhammad said his country had donated $34 million to UNRWA to meet the emergency requirements of people in Gaza. “The summit has agreed to authorize World Bank and Arab Fund for Social and Economic Development to make an estimate of the damage caused by the Israeli attack in Gaza and cost of reconstruction projects,” he explained.
The summit announced the establishment of an Arab Development Fund with capital of $2 billion to provide loans and assistance to establish small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Kuwait donated $500 million to the fund. The declaration urged “necessary steps to uplift the living standards of Arab citizens and to give priority to promoting inter-Arab investments.”
The Arab League estimates that Arab capital invested at home is equivalent to less than 20 percent of funds invested by Arab countries and businessmen in the United States and Europe.
“Despite progress made by some Arab nations, the Arab world is still facing many challenges... especially poverty, unemployment, poor inter-Arab trade and migration of Arab capital and brains,” the declaration said.
The leaders called for “strengthening the role of Arab funds and financial institutions by boosting their resources and easing restrictions on providing loans.”
The summit decided to establish the customs union by 2015 as a prelude to establishing an Arab common market in 2020.
Arab countries launched the Pan-Arab Free Trade Area about three years ago but it did little to boost commerce among members states, which remained at just between 10 percent and 12 percent of total Arab trade.
The summit also approved a resolution calling for measures that would halve the regional unemployment rate, which topped 14 percent last year, in the period between 2010 and 2020.
The leaders approved another resolution calling for the implementation of an Arab program for the reduction of poverty, which exceeds 40 percent in at least seven Arab nations.
They also approved a resolution calling for improved water security, one of the most acute problems facing the Arab world, where the desert makes up 68 percent of its area.
Although the Arab world occupies 10 percent of the world’s land and has five percent of the its population, its water resources are just a meager 0.59 percent of the world’s water.
— With input from P.K. Abdul Ghafour and agencies
