In Baghdad, all’s well that ends quickly

The Arab summit in Baghdad adjourned on Thursday with an endorsement of Kofi Annan’s mission in Syria, topping Arab media reports Friday. All three leading Arabic-language dailies feature the group photo of the Arab leaders who attended the summit.

Liberal London-based daily Al-Hayat reports that the heads of the Arab delegations praised Iraq for organizing a successful summit, and returning the country to the Arab fold.

Al-Hayat columnist Walid Shqeir writes that the Arab summit in Baghdad beckons a new era of Arab assertiveness and independence:

“The extinct regional mechanism was based on dictatorial regimes in many components of the Arab League, who sought the protection of the West; sometimes in the name of realism and sometimes in the name of containment. This left the Arabs ineffectual in the international equation, weak regionally, and absent from shaping the destiny of the region and defending the Palestinian people.”

In its headline, Saudi-owned news website Elaph phrases the summit’s decision thus: “The Leaders grant Assad a last chance before internationalization: start implementing the Annan plan.”

According to Elaph, the Baghdad summit was unique in that it placed the Syrian issue ahead of the Palestinian one, which usually dominated previous summits.

A poignant cartoon in Al-Hayat features an Iraqi, probably in the image of prime minister Nuri Al-Maliki, embracing a generic Arab from behind, while secretly shaking a mysterious hand marked “Iran.” The cartoon reflects the suspicion of many Arab commentators that, due to its powerful Shiite and Kurdish leaders, Iraq is not quite “Arab.”

Egypt: going deeper into crisis, or coming out of it?

The Arab press seems to disagree on Friday as to whether the constitutional crisis in Egypt is about to be resolved, or whether it will only get worse.

Saudi-owned daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat reports in its headline that “the constitutional crisis intensifies following the withdrawal of Al-Azhar,” Egypt’s leading Islamic academy and exclusive representative of state-supervised Islamic scholarship. Not only Al-Azhar, but the Coptic Christian minority, too, protested its low representation in the constitutional assembly.

This forced Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and de-facto leader of Egypt, to issue a statement Thursday calling for participation of all political parties in the drafting of the constitution — a blow for the Muslim Brotherhood.

Al-Hayat, however, reports in its headline that the military and the Muslim Brotherhood have agreed to amend the constitutional assembly and make it more representative.

Meanwhile, a new scandal is developing in Egypt as Islamist presidential candidates are being accused of holding dual citizenship. One such candidate, Hazem Abu-Ismail, denied the allegation that his mother carries an American passport, saying that someone is trying to tarnish his name in the run-up to the elections.

“Tomorrow they will say that my sister is French and that my wife is Israeli,” Abu-Ismail was quoted as saying by independent Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, adding scathing criticism of America’s policy in Egypt.

Which route will the Islamist parties choose?

Three Islamist parties have made headlines this week: the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, its counterpart in Syria, and the Nahda party in Tunisia.

A-Sharq Al-Awsat columnist Radwan Sayid points to two political models which these parties can choose to imitate: the Iranian model, which entails the creation of a religious state based on Islamic authority, or the Turkish model, which envisions a secular or civil state where Islamist and non-Islamist parties compete for power.

“There is no doubt that… Islamist parties, from the most conservative to the most liberal, have so far committed to two things: peaceful tendencies and the democracy of the ballot box.”

Why has Iran opened its mouth on Syria?

Iran decided to break its longstanding silence on Syria on Wednesday, when its foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi warned against international intervention in the country and proposed Iran as a broker to end violence there.

The question, posed by an editorial in Al-Quds Al-Arabi on Friday, is: Why now?

The editorial gives three reasons: Firstly, Iran timed its statement to precede the Arab summit in Baghdad and the Syrian opposition meeting in Istanbul, both of which discuss “the day after” Assad. Secondly, Russia and China have successfully thwarted international intervention in Syria through their veto at the UN Security Council. Thirdly, Kofi Annan’s diplomatic mission in Syria has gradually steered the United States away from its “hawkish” attitude toward Syria to a more moderate one.

All these reasons, as well as the government’s effective control of Homs and Idlib,  have emboldened Iran, the editorial argues.

“It may be too soon for Iran and its allies in Syria and Lebanon to celebrate a diplomatic victory. But one must admit that they are in a better position today than they were six months ago.”