Arab Summits Part II: Second Intifada breaks out, US topples Saddam, and Arab Spring sweeps region

Cairo Summit (15 August 1990)

An extraordinary summit, it was called for by President Husni Mubarak in response to Saddam's invasion of Kuwait earlier that August.

Only the emir of Bahrain attended from the Gulf Cooperation Council, while Kuwait sent its Crown Prince Saad Al Abdullah Al Sabah. Arranged in haste, this conference slammed Saddam's invasion and annexation of Kuwait, calling for his immediate withdrawal.

Cairo Summit (21-23 June 1996)

All the Arab states were present, except for Iraq, now suffering under a crippling sanctions regime imposed by the US.

Monumental events had happened since the last summit was held in 1990: Kuwait had been liberated by a US-led coalition, the Middle East Peace Conference had convened in Madrid, followed by the Washington talks, and in September 1993, the Oslo Peace Agreement had been signed between the Palestinians and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

In 1994, Jordan signed the Wadi Araba Agreement, ending war on its territory and Syria was engaged in serious talks with the Americans and Israelis, which brought Bill Clinton to Damascus in October 1994.

The Cairo Conference stressed that the Arab peace efforts were ongoing in good faith, but they were conditional on full withdrawal from occupied Palestinian and Arab territory, including South Lebanon and the Syrian Golan Heights.

It was the first Arab League summit to be chaired by top Egyptian diplomat Esmat Abdul Majid, who assumed the job in 1991.

Cairo Summit (21-22 October 2000)

Called for in response to the outbreak of the second intifada on 28 September 2000, it was coined the Al-Aqsa Summit.

Four new Arab leaders sat around the conference table, having come to power since the last summit was held in 1996: Jordan's King Abdullah II, Morocco's King Mohammad VI, Bahrain's King Hamad Bin Issa, and Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.

Arab leaders agreed to establish an Arab fund to support the al-Aqsa Intifada, with $200mn. Another fund would be named the Al-Aqsa Fund and its seed money would be $800mn to uplift the Palestinian economy.

And it was at this summit that regular periodic meetings were set up for the Arab League, making its summit an annual event after having convened them according to necessity since 1946.

Amman Summit (27 March 2001)

Also dedicated to the Palestinian intifada, it was named the Summit of Accord and Agreement and it came just 20 days after Ariel Sharon (perpetrator of the provocation that triggered the second intifada) became prime minister of Israel, succeeding Ehud Barak.

Sharon was a sworn-enemy of Yasser Arafat and had frequently threatened to kill him. He would lay siege to him at his compound in Ramallah later that year, keeping him under house arrest until his illness and transfer to Paris in 2004, where he would die that that November.

The Amman Summit would be the last for Yasser Arafat (although he would eventually address the Beirut one of 2002 via video conference).

In Amman, he complained to his Arab "brothers" that Israel had blocked tax revenue collected from Palestinians, making it impossible for him to pay salaries for 130,000 employees at the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).

Beirut Summit (27 March 2002)

Chaired by Lebanese president Emile Lahoud, this summit contained high drama since Arafat was prevented from attending by Ariel Sharon and decided to address the summit via satellite connection.

This was the first Arab summit after the 9/11 attacks that brought down the World Trade Centre but more importantly, it was the summit in which King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (then crown prince) came out with his peace initiative that was adopted by the Arab League.

The Arab Peace Initiative, or the King Abdullah Initiative, called for Israeli withdrawal from all occupied land up to the 4 June 1967 borders, in exchange for collective Arab recognition of Israel.

This would end the Arab-Israeli conflict, while guaranteeing creation of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Sharon responded to the Arab Peace Initiative by raiding Ramallah.

Sharm El-Sheikh Summit (1-2 March 2003)

The second Gulf War was about to start, as US President George W. Bush was accusing Saddam Hussein of harbouring WMDs. Arab states wanted to address the situation in Iraq and debate an initiative that would have resulted in Saddam's resignation, announced during the summit via UAE President Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

It did not mention Saddam by name but referred to "the entire Iraqi leadership," giving them two weeks to step down. Iraq would be then ruled by the Arab League and UN for an interim period, while neither Saddam nor any of his associates would face persecution.

The Iraqi delegate, Vice-President Ibrahim Izzat al-Douri, threatened to walk out on the summit in protest to the initiative. All assembled Arab countries opposed the upcoming US invasion, stressing that they would not take part in it.

Emir Abdullah warned that no country would be saved from the aftermath of the upcoming war on Iraq: "Those who think otherwise are mistaken."

The Sharm al-Sheikh summit was co-chaired by the league's new secretary-general Amr Mousa, another former Egyptian foreign minister who took over from Esmat Abdul Majib in May 2001.

Tunisia Summit (22-23 March 2004)

The Iraq War of 2003, followed by the invasion of Baghdad and the toppling of Saddam Hussein, showed how weak the Arab League had become, resulting in Arab summits losing their appeal from hereon, and much of the attention they had once generated on the Arab Street.

All the thundering rhetoric about Iraq, and previously about Palestine, had been scrapped by the Americans and Israelis. The Tunisia summit conveyed to discuss "reforms" in the Arab world, continued support for the Palestinians, and the breakdown of security in post-Saddam Iraq. 

Algiers Summit (22-23 March 2005)

Conveyed less than a month after the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik al-Hariri, this summit concentrated on Syrian-Lebanese relations and issued a collective request by the assembled Arab states for Syria to withdraw troops from Lebanon, based on UNSCR 1559.

Other topics on the agenda were Egypt's bid for a seat on the Security Council and the situation in the Palestinian Territories.

Assembled heads of state stood a moment of silence in respect for three Arab leaders who had died since the last summit: Sheikh Zayed and Yasser Yasser Arafat (both in November 2004) and Rafik al-Hariri (February 2005).

Khartoum Summit (28-30 March 2006)

One of the less memorable summits — certainly no match to that held in Sudan back in 1967 — it came out with no important resolutions, only re-affirming the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, and it was chaired by Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir.

Riyadh Summit (28 March 2007)

Originally scheduled for Sharm al-Sheikh, it was moved to Riyadh early in 2007, at the request of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

Libya announced an early boycott, citing "lack of seriousness" on behalf of the Arab League. This summit took place months after the July 2006 Lebanon-Israeli war and once again, it called for peace in the region — citing King Abdullah's Peace Initiative — and adopted a plan to support Lebanon's reconstruction.

Damascus Summit (29-30 March 2008)

The first Arab summit to be held in Syria, it was chaired by its host, President Bashar al-Assad. 

Both the king of Saudi Arabia and the president of Egypt sent low-level delegations while Lebanon skipped the entire event due to a presidential vacuum at Baabda Palace and high tension between its government and Syria.

The summit was held amid the ongoing international tribunal over the 2005 assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, and while accusations were being fired at Damascus both for killing Hariri and supporting the insurgency in Iraq.

Doha Summit (28-30 March 2009)

Held in Qatar, the star of the summit was Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who was received with open arms despite an international arrest warrant issued in his name by the International Court of Justice (ICC), over crimes committed in Darfur.

Initially coined a "reconciliation summit" the Doha convention was supposed to build on common ground between the Arabs and help settle long-standing differences between Syria and Lebanon, Qatar and Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Libya.

President Mubarak skipped the event, objecting to Doha's strong ties with Iran, its hosting of the Muslim Brotherhood, ties with Hamas, and the editorial line of Al-Jazeera TV, differences that would prevail right until outbreak of the Arab Spring in December 2010.

Sirte Summit (27-28 March 2010)

Conveyed in Muammar al-Gaddafi's hometown, it would also prove his last before outbreak of the Libyan revolt in February 2011. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who was a good friend of Gaddafi, was invited to address the summit. He stressed the need for Israel to withdraw from the occupied Golan Heights.

The Sirte Summit contained no groundbreaking or important resolutions, but it was the last in the Arab World before the Arab Spring broke out in Tunisia nine months later, toppling its president, Zein al-Abidin Bin Ali, in early January 2011.

Baghdad Summit (27-29 March 2012)

Much changed in Arab affairs during the period between the Sirte Summit of 2010 and the Baghdad Summit of 2012. Four Arab leaders had been toppled (Zein al-Abidin Ben Ali, Husni Mubarak, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and Mu'ammar al-Gaddafi).

Mubarak ended up in jail, while Gaddafi had been killed and his body mutilated. Bashar al-Assad of Syria was battling what had snowballed into a full-fledged insurgency and his country's membership in the Arab League had been suspended since November 2011.

All of that combined explains why the 2011 summit was postponed several times, then called off completely due to security concerns throughout the region.

In fact, Arabs joked that if held in 2011 then it would require a formal introduction of presidents, since four of them were completely new to the Arab convention, replacing those who had been around for decades.

This was the first summit in Baghdad since the downfall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and the first attended by a Kuwaiti emir since the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Among the topics discussed at the Baghdad summit were Iraqi debts to its neighbours and the situation in Syria.  

Post-Saddam leaders were eager to impress their Arab guests, spending nearly $500mn to clean up and rehabilitate Baghdad, paving new highways, renovating several hotels, repairing destroyed buildings and rehauling Saddam's palaces inside the Green Zone. 

All of this didn't compensate for the lack of security in Baghdad, causing many Arab leaders to skip the event for fear of attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI).

Doha Summit (21-27 March 2013)

Chaired by the Emir of Qatar at the apex of the Syria war, its high point was inviting leader of the Doha-backed opposition Moaz al-Khatib to address the summit from Syria's official seat.

The Arab League then approved arming of the Syrian opposition and recognised the Syrian National Coalition as the "legitimate" representative of the Syrian people, despite strong objections from Algeria, Lebanon, and Iraq.

Kuwait Summit (25-26 March 2014)

Egypt was represented by its acting interim president Adly Mansour, since the Kuwait summit was held just months after the ouster of Mohammad Morsi and before General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi assumed the presidency in 2014.

The conference came amidst unprecedented tension in the Arab World over Doha's support for the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, which brought Qatari-Egyptian relations to their worst point in history.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain had withdrawn their ambassadors from Doha, in protest of its embrace of both the Brotherhood and Hamas.

The Syrian conflict had become a full-fledged war threatening the security of neighbouring countries, now more than ever with the rise of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS).

Sharm El-Sheikh (28-29 March 2015)

This was the first summit to be attended by Saudi Arabia's new king Salman Ibn Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud and Egypt's new president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Arab leaders spoke of the need for a united Arab force to counter problems across the region — an idea that had been floated by el-Sisi but which would take months, if not years, to materialise.

It would be a voluntary army, he said, under the supervision of the chiefs of staff of the Arab armed forces. This was put on the table as IS had started expanding from the deserts of Syria and Iraq, striking in the Sinai Peninsula and Libya after declaring its caliphate in al-Raqqa.

Nouakchott Summit (25-27 July 2016)

The first Arab summit to ever be held in Mauritania, it focused mainly on the Yemen War and the situation in Syria after the Russian army had entered the conflict in September 2015. The summit dubbed that of "hope" came out with no important resolutions on Yemen, Syria, or Palestine.

It was skipped by the presidents of Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, and Palestine, along with the kings of Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Jordan, among others.  

Amman Summit (29 March 2017)

Originally scheduled for Yemen, this summit was moved to the Dead Sea in Jordan due to deteriorating security in Sana'a. Foreigners attending included Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General and his special envoy to Syria Staffan De Mistura.

It came out with no important resolutions on any of the chronic problems facing the region, from Palestine and Syria to the war in Yemen or the threat of IS.

Dhahran Summit (15 April 2018)

Named the "Jerusalem Summit" it was convened at the King Abdul-Aziz International Cultural Centre in Dhahran and chaired by King Salman, who stressed at his opening speech that Palestine "is our first issue and will remain so."

He criticised the decision of US President Donald Trump to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and announced that Riyadh would donate $50mn to UNRWA and $150mn to the Islamic Endowment Support Program in Jerusalem, stressing that East Jerusalem should be the capital of the State of Palestine.

The summit came amidst high tension in the Arab Gulf, with the boycott of Qatar by Saudi Arabia and the UAE over its support for the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas and the destabilising regional editorial policy of its satellite television channel, Al-Jazeera. 

Tunis Summit (31 March 2019)

The Tunis summit reaffirmed strong Arab rejection of the US decision to declare Jerusalem as the "eternal capital" of Israel. Also present were Antonio Guterres and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

Addressing the Arab leaders was chair of the previous Dhahran Summit, King Salman, who spoke out against the Trump Administration's decision to recognise Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

"We reaffirm our unequivocal rejection of infringing the Syrian sovereignty over Golan Heights," he said, a position that was echoed by Tunisian president Beji Caid Essebsi and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

The Tunisia summit was brief — one day only — and was attended by 13 Arab leaders. There were eight absentees, notably Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, Algeria's Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Omani Sultan Qaboos bin Said and Moroccan King Mohammed VI.

The summit touched upon Israeli escalation in Gaza, the standoff in Libya between Fayez al-Sarraj and Khalifa Haftar, in addition to the ongoing war in Syria.

Algiers Summit (1-2 November 2022)

This was the fourth time that Algeria hosted the Arab League summit, and it had tried, with little luck, to include Syria on the list of attendees, but that was vetoed by a handful of Arab states.

The summit had been postponed several times due to outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020, with a date set for March 2022 which was scrapped. Many leaders were absent, including the kings of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Morocco, the emir of Kuwait, the sultan of Oman, and the president of Lebanon.

So did King Abdullah II of Jordan, who decided to send his son and crown prince, Hussein Ibn Abdullah — being his first participation in such a venue.

Its final communique, dubbed the Algerian Declaration, focused mainly on supporting the Palestinians. Ahead of the summit, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had tried, also with no luck, to negotiate an agreement between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the leadership of Hamas.