Some excerpts from ‘Arab centre’ needs introspection

For one thing, governments are like revolving doors, with many of the same faces moving from one portfolio to the other. As for leaders, well, most of them stay on for life, and so few have the chance or the time to write their memoirs. The history of the Arab world is therefore left to be written by outsiders. And that has become a prolific trend in recent years, judging by the number of Middle Eastern books that land on my desk.

I can't resist noting that it is perhaps less the number of memoirs, but the fact whether written in Arabic or English or French, said memoirs tend to say nothing.

At least nothing about domestic issues or internal politics, although whinging on about the foreigners is usually good business:

Now Marwan Muasher, Jordan’s former foreign minister, has broken the tradition of silence with an account of his time in office, written in English and soon to be translated into Arabic. His book, The Arab Centre, is shy on palace intrigue and short on direct criticism of Jordan itself.

Emphasis added: Ah who would have guessed....

.... One of its important contributions, however, is to question the meaning of an Arab “moderate” and the selective application of moderation to a single issue – the pursuit of a two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

.... “The problem is that they didn’t solve the peace process. The Americans and the Israelis did not take their initiatives seriously. So they have nothing to show for their efforts.” To regain credibility, [Muasher] continued, “they have take the centre on all issues, on governance, on political diversity”.

These are indeed tough times for the pro-western states in the Arab world – particularly the trio of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan which has led the search for Middle East peace.

The Arab peace initiative of 2002, an excellent idea which was badly marketed, was ignored by the US and contested by Israel. The 2003 road map, which also originated in Arab diplomacy, went nowhere. Meanwhile, the regional rivals of the “Arab centre”, the forces which argue that only armed resistance can rid the Arabs of Israeli occupation, have been gaining ground. Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group is in control of the Gaza Strip, Hizbollah’s power is expanding in Lebanon, and Iraq after the 2003 war fell under the influence of Iran.

So while the “moderates” are celebrated as reasonable and pragmatic in the west, they are mocked in the region as ineffectual, their commitment to peace is seen as questionable, and their diplomatic efforts are viewed as a sign of embarrassing compromise.

Well, of course, the diplomatic efforts are embarrassing compromises, and the Egyptian regime is a vampire state propped up by the US for the sole purpose of securing a border for Israel. Jordan at least has undertaken something approaching reform in the economic area that, were its situation not so fundamentally economically marginal, would have some nice payoffs.

The closing obs:

.... A crisis of credibility, the radicalisation of society, and fragmentation of political establishments, are also a consequence of a lack of moderation on domestic politics, and a deep deficit of political reform.

“Arab governments cannot demand that Arabs accept relations with Israel, an enemy state for decades, while refusing to accept opposition parties in their own countries, and still be seen as credible by their publics,” writes Mr Muasher. If the “Arab centre” wants to keep power, he rightly concludes, “it must also share it”

Ah fine sentiments, but how?