The Arabs' chat-show

摘要

Arab summit meetings are notoriously iVlong on talk and short on substance. At this week's gathering in Jordan, the elaborate pageantry of brotherhood again failed todisguise the gaps, not just between words and deeds, or even between nations, but between leaders and public opinion. The two main questions discussed in Amman, the six-month Palestinian intifada and the decade-long punishment of Iraq, are burning issues for ordinary Arabs. What they want is direct and generous support for the Palestinians, and the complete lifting of sanctions against Iraq. What the 22 delegations gave them was a rancorous search for lowest common denominators, ending with a pledge to release funds to the Palestinians that had already been promised, and a muted call for the relief of Iraq.