The 35th Gulf Cooperation Council Summit

The time and place of the 35th Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit was previously scheduled to be held in Doha, Qatar. The holding of the summit is significant in itself regardless of the topics being discussed by the attendees. The recent crisis of the recalled ambassadors from Doha was the worst crisis over the past 35 years, and it almost destroyed the GCC. Most of the issues that threatened the Council are associated with Egypt and other Arab Spring issues due to the varying positions of the GCC states in this regard. However, the wisdom of Prince Tamim and Qatar’s calm diplomacy and objectivity saved the Council from destruction.

Kuwait played a significant role in the historical reconciliation between Qatar on one hand and Saudi Arabia and the UAE on the other. The Emir of Kuwait’s eight months of hard work, patience, and wisdom produced the meeting being held today in Doha in the presence of all the GCC members.

The Doha summit is important in terms of it being held, the issues it will be discussing and in terms of the Arab and regional atmosphere surrounding the summit. There are internal issues that concern Gulf citizens and countries such as the military union, decreased petrol prices, the Gulf railway, border issues, unifying customs tariffs, etc. However, the most important matter at hand is agreeing on a unified policy regarding the region, including Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Islamic State (ISIS), Yemen, Houthis, Al-Qaeda and Libya.

If you ponder the issues of the countries surrounding the Gulf states, you would find them to be very grave matters with unknown repercussions. The Doha Summit does not have solutions on the table ready to address ISIS, the problem of the Houthi expansion, or the Syrian crisis that has gone on for four years. Most of these issues have reached the stage of internationalisation, and the Gulf cannot come up with solutions for these crises without consulting with the major superpowers. This complicates the matter for the attendees of the summit due to the variation in the superpowers’ will regarding these issues.

The Gulf’s money is no longer enough to deal with the threats posed by these issues. Both arms and ideology have entered the open battlefield and money on its own is not sufficient to solve these problems. Ideology is usually confronted with ideology, while arms are confronted with arms; and therefore we understand the significance of the military unity of the Gulf countries proposed in the Doha Summit as military threats come knocking on the Gulf’s door.

The Gulf used to apply a conservative foreign policy, but since the Arab Spring revolutions, the GCC states have abandoned their conservative policies and played a major role in the internal battles in Egypt, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood. This interference is very costly financially, militarily and politically, while its results are not guaranteed since it increases hostility towards these countries.

The GCC’s dealing with such issues should not be separate from the Gulf countries’ revision of its policies regarding socio-political time-bombs that have enveloped the Arab world. The Gulf’s opposition to moderate Islam has given power to the extremists and gave those carrying arms justification to go after the heads of the Gulf regimes. The only cure for extremism is unleashing moderate Islam; justice is the ultimate foundation for the survival of kings.

Translated from Felesteen newspaper, 9 December, 2014

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