Egypt hosts summit to defend 'Arab unity'

The Egyptian city of El-Alamein is hosting a new Arab summit bringing together the leaders of Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, along with the prime minister of Iraq. Representatives from these countries are expected to discuss the profound changes the region is undergoing in diplomatic, political and social terms.

The first leader to arrive in the Egyptian enclave was Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed, who met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to discuss the regional and international challenges facing Middle Eastern countries as a result of the new transformations that are shaking the region. During the meeting, they also stressed the importance of maintaining a consistent Arab unity that is capable of reaching "lasting solutions" to the current crises that the different countries are going through. 

According to the Emirati news agency WAM, the two sides also discussed ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation, as well as to deepen the various "promising opportunities" in order to "enhance the strategic partnership", especially in the economic sphere. 

In this vein, relations between Egypt and the UAE have been characterised as close. This year alone, the leaders of the two countries have held two summits. The first, held in Abu Dhabi in early January, was also attended by Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, while the second, hosted in Cairo, brought together Jordanian King Abdullah II and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi.

In addition to seeking to strengthen cooperation both bilaterally and among the other countries taking part in the new summit, the Arab leaders will discuss the economic and social consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, as well as the new waves of violence in Palestine. 

In this sense, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is an issue that is a controversial one for the rest of the Arab countries, even more so after the normalisation, for the first time, of relations between Israel and different Arab countries such as the Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco after the signing of the Abraham Accords, under the umbrella of the United States, during the presidency of the Republican Donald Trump.

While on the one hand the Accords were a historic milestone that gave rise to the strengthening of the region through relations between several Arab countries and Israel, Palestine was dissatisfied and felt "betrayed". According to several Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) figures, the Accords were a "stab in the back", leaving the Palestinian cause "completely neglected". 

Developments such as the eviction of Palestinian families in the Shaykh Jarrah neighbourhood near the Old City in East Jerusalem were openly condemned by Jordan - which currently has more than two million Palestinian refugees - and its king, who criticised "the Israeli authorities' attempts to change the demographic situation in East Jerusalem". Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, rejected Israel's "strategy to evict dozens of Palestinians from their homes" and other countries such as Morocco expressed their "deep concern".

In addition to these evictions, the recent clashes in the Esplanade of the Mosques forced the rest of the Arab countries to speak out, prompting a meeting in Cairo between Egypt, Jordan and the Emirates in which Arab leaders condemned Israel for "ceasing all measures that undermine the options for peace".

For this reason, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is expected to return to the agenda of the meeting, along with other issues such as international security, terrorism, the food crisis triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as well as the energy crisis, which is expected to worsen, especially in Europe, in the run-up to winter.