Arab League and OIC Summit Meeting: Conflict in the Middle East Revealed

Thea Fathanah Arbar, CNBC Indonesia

Tuesday, 11/21/2023 21:10 IWST

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The summit meeting of leaders of the Arab League, which has 22 member countries, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a group consisting of 57 Muslim-majority countries, some time ago apparently revealed the veil of conflict in the Middle East.

Report The Economist on November 16 said the summit had deep contradictions, despite regional reactions to the war.

“Many Gulf states, for example, want Israel to get rid of Hamas, even though they fear it will give rise to extremism in their own countries,” the report said.

“They want to see the ‘resistance axis’ of Iran’s proxy militias hurt, but worry about being caught in the crossfire. For several years they have been promoting a new Middle East narrative, one that focuses on economics over ideology. They fear a prolonged war in Gaza will derail those plans. “

This was seen when Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi aggressively urged Muslim countries to send weapons to Palestine, but the suggestion was politely ignored. Several other participants urged diplomatic and economic sanctions against Israel, but these were also rejected.

Several Arab countries have withdrawn their ambassadors to Israel, but countries with which they have diplomatic relations are unwilling to sever their ties.

They also ruled out using oil as a weapon, as they did in 1973, when OPEC imposed an embargo on countries that supported Israel during the Yom Kippur war.

The Saudis themselves need stable oil revenues for years to finance their economic diversification plans. The last thing they want to do is impose an embargo that would spur Western countries to accelerate their transition away from oil.

“The results of the summit were divisive. Some Arabs were pleased with the tough rhetoric; others complained that their governments had been too passive about the war. Take away the threat of military or economic sanctions, and all that was left was tough talks,” the report said.

It is stated that each country acts in its own interests. Saudi Arabia decided to continue the Riyadh Season, an annual festival that is part of Muhammad bin Salman’s (MBS) plan to ease the kingdom’s cultural restrictions.

This of course drew a lot of criticism, with the crown prince wanting people in Riyadh to have fun while people in Gaza were dying. Condemnation like this deeply hurts Saudi society, who feel that they are being singled out, as if they are the only ones celebrating while the rest of the region mourns.

But most areas in the region are trying to act as if things are business as usual. Even Iran has so far allowed pragmatism to restrain its actions.

Although its militias have carried out regular attacks against Israeli and American targets, they have decided not to spare Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite group that is their most powerful proxy, in an all-out battle for Palestinian support.

“If peace efforts fail, it will only be a matter of time before a wider war breaks out,” said Mohammed Alyahya, a Saudi researcher at the Belfer Center at Harvard University.

However, in the long term, the events of the last six weeks are a reminder that calm in the Middle East is currently fragile. Report The Economist said the region is still at the crossroads between endless conflict and ending it, and the Gaza war is increasingly sharpening that choice.

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