IRIA News

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Prince Mohammed bin Salman hosted the leaders of the Arab world in Jeddah on May 19, 2023, for the 32nd Arab League summit. The main agenda of the meeting focused on reinforcing peace and stability in the region while enhancing Arab solidarity.

The annual summit of the oil-rich Arab nations, often slammed by critics for being dysfunctional, found a renewed importance in the wake of diverging interests, peaceful negotiations, and multiple armed conflicts. With the new wave of international cooperation in the Middle East, the summit provided a chance for the Arab leaders to listen to each other.

Created in 1945, the Cairo-based Arab League consists of 22 different countries sharing a common language, stretching from Oman to Mauritania and Tunisia to Somalia. Although several of the Arab League members are now normalizing their relations with Israel, the organization upholds the Palestinian cause as one of its most important missions. Palestine is a full member of the bloc, despite not being an independent state.

Jeddah Declaration

The summit concluded with the Jeddah Declaration which addresses all the major events affecting the Arab world, including the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and developments in Sudan, Yemen, Libya, and Lebanon.

Members also voiced the activation of the “Arab Peace Initiative,” a Saudi-proposed peace plan to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The Arab Peace Initiative was adopted in 2022.

The Arab League also urged dialogue and unity among the warring sides in Sudan. The Jeddah Declaration rejected any “foreign interferences that inflame the conflict and threaten regional security and stability.”

The ongoing conflict in Sudan between the country’s armed forces and paramilitary forces has resulted in several deaths ad displaced at least 843,000 people within Sudan and forced around 250,000 to flee to neighboring countries. Last week, Saudi Arabia and the United States also took the mantle to mediate talks between the two warring sides in Sudan.

Saudi Arabia is now taking the role of the rotating president of the Arab League for this year, handed over by Algeria. The declaration said, during its presidency of the bloc, Saudi Arabia will strengthen joint Arab action in various cultural, economic, social, and environmental sectors.

Saudi Arabia, once heavily influenced by Washington, has shown a diplomatic shift in the Arab world by re-establishing ties with Iran and Syria. Saudi Arabia’s recent diplomatic engagements have restored the confidence of the Arab leaders toward achieving the long-desired Arab solidarity in geopolitical relations and economic ties.

Syria’s Assad receives a warm welcome

Despite being a founding member of the Arab League, Syrian leadership had been facing isolation from fellow Arab leaders due to the ongoing conflict. With Bashar al-Asad’s evident victory in Syria, Damascus is on a path to normalizing relations with other Arab nations after decade-long political isolation. The Arab League nations agreed to reinstate Syria’s membership in the organization after 11 years of suspension.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad attended the summit and was given a warm welcome from his former rival, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, turning the page on enmity. Crown Prince Mohammed said he hoped Syria’s “return to the Arab League leads to the end of its crisis.” He stressed that Saudi Arabia would “not allow our region to turn into a field of conflicts,” adding that the page had been turned on “painful years of struggle”.

Saudi Arabia’s acceptance of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad comes despite Washington’s objection to any steps towards normalization with Assad, saying there must first be progress towards a political solution to the conflict.

Assad, a close ally of both Russia and Iran, said he hoped the summit would mark a “new stage of Arab solidarity” that would bring peace “instead of war and destruction.” He added that Arab countries should reject “external interference” in their affairs.

Zelenskyy’s surprise visit

After making a previously unannounced appearance at the Arab League summit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered an emotional speech seeking support from the Arab leaders while complaining about their silence on the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Another strong day for Ukraine. Arab League summit. Bilateral meetings – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Iraq. Security. The release of our people from captivity. Peace Formula. The leader of the Crimean Tatar people, Mustafa Dzhemilev, was with us. Grateful to the Crown Prince,… pic.twitter.com/b0SkmO1ZLl

— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) May 19, 2023

“I greet everyone who is ready to join us on the path to justice,” Zelenskyy said in his speech. “Unfortunately, there are some in the world and here among you who turn a blind eye to those cages and illegal annexations,” he continued, “and I am here so that everyone can take an honest look no matter how hard the Russians try to influence.”

While aiming to stir empathy among the attendees, Zelenskyy repeatedly made references in his speech highlighting the historical ties between Ukraine and the Arab Muslim world. He spoke about Ukraine’s Crimean Tatar population, which he described as “the center of Muslim culture in Ukraine.”

“For centuries the Crimean Tatars have been and should remain, an integral and strong part of the Muslim community of the world, but Crimea was the first to suffer from the Russian occupation, and until now most of those who are subjected to repression in the occupied Crimea are Muslims,” Zelensky said, referring to Russia’s invasion and annexation of the peninsula in 2014.

Zelenskyy also held a one-on-one meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman where the two leaders discussed ways to end the war in Ukraine and Saudi Arabia’s role in releasing captives held by Russian forces. Saudi Arabia has previously mediated a prisoner swap deal between Russia and Ukraine. Several Arab states have resisted pressure to pick sides in the larger competition for power between the United States and Russia.