When the Arab summit begins today in Baghdad, the hallmarks of the Arab Spring will be very clear. Libya will not be represented this time by the ‘Historical Leader', the Dean of Arab rulers, and the King of Africa's Kings. The cameras will not focus their lenses on the conjurer of surprises, be it with his words or his robes. A normal and ordinary man will occupy his seat this time, a man who hails from a different lexicon altogether. Nor will Egypt be represented by a President with an open-ended term, like the term of the pyramids and the term of the Nile. A normal man who hails from a different book will instead occupy its seat. Besides, Egypt continues to search for a president and for a constitution. People who care for Egypt hope that it will adopt an embracive and natural constitution that would help the country move forward and not backward. The summit will no doubt miss the humor and shrewdness of Ali Abdullah Saleh, after the ‘Spring' bestowed upon him the title of the former president. Zine El Abidine Ben Ali will not attend at all. He had secured his safety by returning the palace and the country to their owners. Syria's seat will remain vacant. This is not a trivial scene. Some fear that Syria may remain absent for a long period of time. Fortunately, Iraq is hosting the Summit without engendering, at least not yet, a new historical leader. What the Guardian of the Eastern Gate did is enough. We were there in Baghdad and we saw him in his elegance and hubris receiving and embracing Arab leaders. We saw him welcoming the Emir of Kuwait with warmth only to attack his country two months later in what was a gross historical mistake. The absence of the historical leader is a joyful and amusing event. People have seen enough suffering thanks to historical leaders who seized power with tanks or through one-party rule. Experience tells us that historical leaders are a bane to both countries and their peoples. They are harmful even to children's books, songs, the public treasury, and the elderly, the young and unborn children. They are detrimental to health, the environment and drinking water, and to life's good days. Even international borders and those living behind them are hurt by the historical leaders. Arabs do not demand for the Baghdad Summit to be a historical one. Nor do they want it to be a ‘juncture in collective Arab action'. We have been exhausted by junctures. The Arabs rejoice because the Summit reflects the Arabs' continued need for a regular meeting under one roof, and because the Summit will reaffirm their ability to meet, regardless of the level of representation and decisions. The Arabs also rejoice because the Summit is being held in Baghdad, the deep-rooted city in our Arab history. This is also true because Iraq's absence from its nation, and vice versa, has gone on for too long. Indeed, Iraq needs the nation, which also needs Iraq. For one thing, Iraq is not a marginal country. Restoring the Arab role in the region requires Iraq to be a partner in the life and the concerns of the nation. In the last years, the Arabs paid the price for the alignment of the beleaguered Iraqi state in the Iranian-Iraqi-Turkish axis. They especially paid the price for the grave imbalance between Iraq and Iran. The Arabs have too long been absent from Baghdad, which also bears some responsibility for their late return to Iraq. The Arab embracement of Iraq contributes to curbing the spread of sectarian strife, which is now rampant in many arenas under different names. Furthermore, it helps Iraq establish equal or near-equal relations with Iran, especially if this is to be accompanied by serious national reconciliation in Iraq. Of course, the Iraqi government could have organized the Summit amid a better internal climate. The crises of recent weeks have contributed to hardening the impression that Iraq remains beleaguered, and that its institutions are paralyzed or divided. The same goes for the impression that the relationship among the country's segments are under threat of a new cycle of tension. The danger of what is taking place in Iraq must encourage the Iraqi politicians to return to their agreements and to engage one another under the umbrella of the institutions. This means the Shiite-Sunni and Arab-Kurdish relations. The Baghdad Summit is the summit of the Spring, with its explosions, shrapnel and reverberations. The Spring that ended the inertia and launched hopes, fears and conflicts. The Summit will be advantageous if it foments consultation among concerned countries seeking reform, constitutions or presidents. The Baghdad Summit is being held near the Syrian fire, which will be the top and most dangerous issue in the coming months.
