Let’s look at what was absent from the Arab Summit closing statement

Millions listened to the closing statement of this week’s Arab Summit, which undoubtedly showed great progress in its tone and the seriousness of its objections to the criminal Zionist actions across all of Palestine, all of Lebanon and, more lately, all of Syria. The attendees’ position on the unacceptable statements made by the US president was categorical rejection.

However, there is no doubt that, in many respects, the statement fell far below the level expected by the overwhelming majority of the Arab people. I want to focus on a critical aspect of the statement, and summarise what I believe is a shortcoming in the form of a question. If it remains unanswered, then the statement becomes a theoretical, objectionable discourse suspended in the Arab political air, and neither the Zionist state nor America will care about it.

The question is this: Shouldn’t the statement have set out what the signatories will do if the colonial Zionist regime and the United States reject all of its content?

The Zionist entity, remember, has rejected all of the Palestinian concessions made in all of the Oslo negotiations for over a third of a century, and whenever the Palestinians give up a right or part of what remains of their homeland, it demands more concessions, all the while building illegal settlements for more than a million Jewish immigrants in the occupied West Bank.

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Given its history of territorial expansion and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population, does anyone really believe that this entity will accept what the Arab statement says regarding the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, even if it is on less than twenty per cent of historic Palestine?

And the US president gave the Zionist state the city of Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan Heights during his first term; declared recently that the Zionist state has the right to annex the West Bank; has declared with no shame whatsoever his approval for the occupation entity to expel the people of Gaza; and only a few days ago approved of Israel’s closure of the border crossings to keep the people of Gaza cold, hungry and lacking medicines and shelter.

Will this American president, who is a Zionist to his core, accept giving the Palestinians even a fraction of the rights mentioned in the Arab statement?

All of the above questions also apply to Lebanon and Syria to one degree or another. And, indeed, to every inch of all Arab land threatened and violated by Zionist and US colonialism. European colonialism does not act independently these days, so I shan’t even discuss it.

Taking the above into account, it was surely necessary for the Arab states at the summit to reject any involvement by the Zionist entity and the US in the next steps for the people of Palestine. And for the statement to set out what they will do if both parties reject some or all of what was agreed on Tuesday.

Was it too much to mention the possibility of recalling all the Arab ambassadors present in the Zionist entity and demanding that the occupation recall its ambassadors from every Arab country in which they are present? Would it have been too much to mention the possibility of activating a boycott on the economic, sports, arts and tourism levels wherever diplomatic and economic relations are in place? Would it have been too much to mention, even implicitly, the possibility of US companies and interests in Arab countries being affected if Washington continues with its completely pro-Israel bias? Couldn’t they have decided to activate the Arab-Islamic bloc to play a role in such boycotts, or even mention the alliance with the South American countries, the BRICS front and others, to prosecute the Zionist entity and its leaders in international courts?

I am talking about starting to put into practice actions that are linked to the most serious theoretical condemnation that the Zionist entity and the US have said will have no effect and will not change the reality on the ground. I for one do not want the summit statement to exemplify what US General Norman Schwarzkopf said: “The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.” Or what journalist Sydney Harris said: “Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.”

The Arab people have so much potential, wealth and status, making it possible for us to defend our rights and dignity as long as there is a will to do so.

Let us, therefore, do what Thomas Edison said — “If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves” — and in doing so, we would realise the truth of what T. H. Huxley said: “The great end of life is not knowledge but action.”

We must refuse to be a people who sit on the sidelines and gossip. This is what our leaders need to realise, and we know for sure that this is beginning to be ingrained in the soul of every young Arab man and woman as they perceive the visions of the future.

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This is a translated and edited version of an article that first appeared in Arabic in Al-Quds Al-Arabi on 5 March 2025.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.