The Global Reconciliation Summit in June 2003 held in Jordan discussed a wide range of issues regarding the Middle East and promoted dialogue in the region--in a bid to replace an age of confrontation with a spirit of cooperation with the International community. The “Extraordinary Annual Meeting” organized by the World Economic Forum concluded that the Middle East was still at crossroads and that political and social reforms are needed. This essay traces back the debates and their subsequent impact on a region that has been plagued by instability, wars and disillusionment of the Arab majority against Israel's hegemony in the occupied territories.
According to the organizers of the summit, Jordan has emerged as the leading of 'reformist' in the Arab world, gaining the confidence of the Western world, thanks to its peace treaty with Israel while maintaining friendly relations with all its neighbors. However, it remains to be seen if the Amman Summit will have any impact in re-defining the values shared by Jordan and the West and whether they can create a strategy for making the world a safer, more secure place. Saudi Arabia, a major power in the Middle East is still struggling with the recent spate of bombings that has focused the limelight on its efforts for reforms, but has also unveiled the impatience of the west in the absence of an agenda for promotion the conditions in the Muslim country and the region as a whole.
| There are serious doubts on the 'wishful thinking' and 'media punching' that resulted from the summit, purposely called "reconciliation summit" |
Nevertheless, there are serious doubts on the 'wishful thinking' and 'media punching' that resulted from the summit, purposely called "reconciliation summit"—though it dealt with (or rather ignored) the Israeli occupation, and its subsequent regional impact as a given, which has had the dire effect on the Middle East for the past 50 years. Another shortcoming of the global summit is the fact that the Western world was free to express its fears of Islamic resurgence (while the voice of the Arab masses--critical of American and Western domination and irritated by the calamity in the occupied Palestinian lands—was unheard).
