Ambassador Says Arab League Playing ëCrucial Roleí in Middle Eastern Issues by Craig Mauro For the ambassador of an organization that often faces criticism from many directions, Hussein Hassouna keeps a remarkably positive outlook. Yes, the League of Arab States, which turned 60 last month, may have its problems, but its viability is more important than ever, said Hassouna, who has been the organizationís envoy in Washington since 2002. The league, a political and economic grouping of 22 Arab-speaking countries, has faced life-threatening challenges in the past. When Egypt signed a peace agreement with Israel in 1979, the resulting schism prompted the league to move its headquarters from Cairo to Tunis for 10 years (it is now back in Egyptís capital). When Iraq, a member country, invaded Kuwait in 1991, other league members joined the coalition to fight against Saddam Husseinís forces. The wounds from that split also took many years to heal. ìThe league withstood all those challenges and crises and overcame them. Now it is re-emerging as an organization that is playing, in my view, a crucial role in the region for many reasons,î Hassouna said. ìMost challenges and pr oblems [in the Arab world] now are of a regional nature. The league is the best organization able to deal with those challenges because it understands the issues and the root causes and it can play a role in trying to solve them. It is also the organization that provides a collective vision.î The League of Arab States, known informally as the Arab League, was formed in 1945 by seven member countries. It has grown to 22 members, including Palestine. It began as a political union, comparable to a regional United Nations, and has grown to cover a wide range of affairs, from development and women to human rights and the environment. It has also tried to play a role in the Middle East peace process. ìThe Arab League is an umbrella organization, the only one of its kind that provides a forum for Arab states to meet and discuss things and make decisions,î said Murhaf Jouejati, director of the Middle East Studies program at George Washington University. ìIt is an organization that is needed, and it should not go away. ìHaving said that, there are many systemic problems. First and foremost, member states really push their own agendas through the Arab League so that in the end there is no common will for fusion. In the end it is paralyzed by different state interests that trump one another.î Ambassador Hassouna, although optimistic, also reeled off a list of criticisms. The league ìsuffers problems of bureaucracy. It suffers problems of outdated structures and procedures,î he said. ìIt suffers financial issuesóa lot of times the members donít pay their dues on time or they donít pay their arrears. It suffers also problems of effectiveness. Many resolutions that are adopted by the member states are not implemented. This is a common feature of international and regional organizations.î Some critics say moving from consensus decision-making to a one-country, one-vote system could give teeth to the leagueís resolutions, which they say are often watered down because they aim to please all members. Hassouna said several reforms, including improvements in the voting system, are under review. The ambassador added that last monthís summit in Algiers signaled a renewed interest in making the organization relevant and effective. Leaders thereó13 of the 22 heads of state attendedóapproved the creation of a pan-Arab parliament. They also agreed to incorporate representatives of Arab civil society into the leagueís economic and social council. ìThe member states for the first time supported all this reform of the league and even pledged to pay their dues and arrears. Itís an important development that shows a realization that they want to make the league more effective, to modernize its structure,î Hassouna said. An Arab parliament, he said, would help to unify laws and legislation among the various member states. Eighteen members have already formed an Arab free-trade zone. A parliament could eventually lead to a customs union and a common economic market, following the European Union model, Hassouna noted. There are plenty of other proposals floating around, including an Arab court of justice, an Arab investment bank and a regional security council. ìItís a gradual evolution that is taking place, but the most important is the realization of the need to do this,î Hassouna said. He pointed out that important developments happen on the sidelines of Arab League summits. For instance, the leaders of Morocco and Algeria, recently feuding neighbors, met last month in Algiers and agreed on measures to thaw out relations. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan also met with Syriaís president about that countryís withdrawal from Lebanon, Hassouna said. The leagueís secretary-general, former Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, is seen as a dynamic, popular figure who is serious about reform. But in the end success will probably stem from the will of the leagueís member states. ìInternational organizations really depend on what their membership wants from them,î said David Newton, a former U.S. ambassador to Iraq and Yemen and an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute. ìThe Arab League is an organization thatís useful when people need it, somewhat like the U.N.î In Hassounaís opinion, the league will play a pivotal role in the much-heralded push to spread democracy and reform throughout the Arab world. ìThe Arab people are longing for more democracy. They are longing for reform. They are longing for modernization. They want to be part of the global world today,î he said. ìBut this reform and democratization and modernization have to come from within the Arab societies themselves. They cannot be imposed from the outside as a foreign model because they will not work.î Asked if some Arab governments, the leagueís very members, were part of the problem, Hassouna paused. ìArab societies, in my view, are conservative, and conservative societies donít change quickly. There is a motto, ëWhat we know is better than what we donít know,íî he replied. ìChange cannot be instant. It is an evolution,î Hassouna added. ìIf you want to avoid a revolution in those societies, we have to opt for an evolution. This is to the benefit of everyone concerned.î Hassouna has been a diplomat for Egypt for more than 30 years, serving before in Washington, at the United Nations and in Morocco, Yugoslavia and France. He was also a member of the Egyptian delegation that negotiated the peace treaty with Israel in the 1970s. Before this current post, he was the Arab Leagueís ambassador to the United Nations. Hassouna deftly handles questions relating to politics and diplomacy, but he appears to get most passionate about another area he sees as a crucial part of his job: improving the image of the Arab world in the West. For that purpose, the Arab League is also an invaluable tool, he said. ìIt is an instrument that defends and protects Arab identity, Arab culture, at a time when there is criticism of the Arab world, especially after Sept. 11,î he said. ìThe Arab world has come under criticism, and there are so many misconceptions. The league is the organization that is able to preserve and protect this Arab image, to show that Arabs are for dialogue, that they are not extremists, they believe in coexistence, that Islam is tolerant.î Craig Mauro is a freelance writer in Washington, D.C.