Dr. Rifat Sayed Ahmed: There is no point in holding the Arab Summit if it is held, and I rule out that it will be a full summit.

Dr. Munther Hawarat: The Arab Summit represents a state of Arab consensus and will be beneficial to the Palestinian cause at this time

Dr. Kholoud Al-Obaidi: Divisions and unrest are escalating in Israel, and it is unlikely that calm and peace are an option it seeks

Dr. Abdul Wahab Al-Qassab: The Arab League carried its most dangerous weakness, which is the necessity of consensus to achieve the obligation to implement decisions.

Dr. Muhammad Najib Bou Taleb: The Arabs no longer have a role today after they have handed over all their papers and after their dictionaries have lost the word “no”

Hatim Abdel Qader: I don't think an Arab summit can do anything in light of the indifferent Arab positions

The call for an Arab summit to confront the dangerous Israeli escalation in the West Bank, and the announced plans led by the right to resolve the conflict by force, which are based on giving the Palestinians the choice between submission, killing, or displacement, does not seem to be on the minds of the Palestinian public, who have experienced and become familiar with the state of helplessness that characterizes the Arab League, which held its last “emergency” summit on May 16, 2024, more than six months after the massacres and war of extermination in the Gaza Strip.

The issue is not limited to the delay of the previous Arab Summit, despite the seriousness of the situation that the Palestinian people and their national cause are going through, but it also extends to the decisions taken by the summit, the most prominent of which was securing the delivery of aid to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing. But even this decision, which is much less than what was hoped for, the Arab countries were unable to implement due to the Israeli-American veto.

Analysts and academics agreed in statements to “I” that holding an Arab summit is worthless, and that it will not issue, at best, any decisions beyond condemnation and denunciation, calling on major countries, especially the United States, to intervene in order to put an end to Israeli violations and attacks.

Arabs are scattered and affiliated with America

Dr. Rifat Sayed Ahmed, the Egyptian strategic expert, told “I” that he doubts the usefulness of the upcoming Arab summit if it is held, explaining that the summit may be held partially with the participation of some representatives of Arab countries, and not a full summit.

He added: "The Arabs are divided, and they have become more loyal to America than America itself," noting that "holding the summit will be primarily in the service of American interests, with the aim of pressuring the Palestinian resistance and not moving the Arab armies towards Palestine."

Ahmed stressed that holding the summit would have no real value on the ground, and if it was held, it would be formal and symbolic.

He added: "If the summit is not held, hope lies in the axis of resistance and its continuity in Palestine, and on other fronts such as southern Lebanon, the Houthis and the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq.

He concluded his speech by stressing that the Arab summit, if held, would be just a show and appearance without any real impact on the ground.

The importance of holding an Arab summit to achieve a unified Arab position

For his part, Jordanian writer and political analyst Dr. Munther Hawarat stressed in an interview with “Y” the importance of holding an Arab summit in the coming period to achieve a unified Arab position towards what Israel is doing, pointing out that this position could lead to positive results, despite many people losing hope in Arab summits.

Dialogues explained that any Arab consensus at this moment would be beneficial to the Palestinian cause.

He pointed out that there are signs of serious moves to create a state of Arab consensus, with increasing contacts between Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, as well as between the Jordanian and Saudi foreign ministers, which reflects efforts to enhance Arab coordination in the face of the challenges imposed by Israel.

Dialogues explained that the Arab response to any developments affecting Jerusalem and the Palestinian cause could be welcomed, but the impact of any Arab meeting depends on the positions of the different countries.

He pointed out that there are countries that see what is happening as an attempt to eliminate the Hamas movement, while other countries, such as Jordan, feel a real danger to the chances of peace and the rights of the Palestinians, in addition to the threat to Jordanian national security.

He added: "Jordan will strive to gather Arab countries to support its position and the position of the Palestinians in confronting Israel."

He concluded his speech by saying: “If an Arab summit is called, it is possible that the invitation will be responded to, but perhaps not quickly enough.”

Serious developments in the West Bank

Dr. Kholoud Al-Obaidi, a political science and international law specialist from Iraq, told Al-Monitor: “Last week witnessed serious developments in the war that has been going on for more than ten months in Gaza. Military campaigns targeted the northern West Bank, amid statements by Israeli officials about annexing the West Bank, in violation of the rulings of the International Court of Justice and international resolutions considering the West Bank as occupied territory.”

She added: "The Israeli occupation seeks to displace the residents of the West Bank in the camps and deport them to Jordan. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi stated that Jordan will not stand silent in the face of the possibility of displacing the Palestinians of the West Bank."

Al-Abidi confirmed that the current crisis can be summed up as follows:

First: Israel’s failure to respect the agreements it concluded, whether with Jordan in 1994, or the Oslo Accords with the Palestine Liberation Organization, and even the Camp David Accords with Egypt, which Israel violated in what is known as the Rafah Crossing Crisis.

Second: The crisis of the Israeli occupation is that it feels its end is near. Unrest is escalating inside Israel, and there are divisions and tension, which means that it is unlikely that calm and peace are an option that Israel seeks.

The Israeli right is terrified of the Palestinian existence

Third: The Israeli right, which is dominated by the idea of terror from the Palestinian existence, the ideas of the Zionist Jabotinsky who called for control over all of Palestine and, if possible, over Jordan, and they expressed their panic over the increase in the number of Palestinians, and the way to exterminate the Palestinians.

Fourth: The Arab League condemned the widespread genocide in the West Bank, as Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary-General of the League, said that Israel is waging a war of genocide against the Palestinians, and the operation in the West Bank aims to make the lives of the Palestinians impossible.

Al-Obaidi pointed out that "in light of the dangerous development and the current crisis, an Arab summit has been proposed to discuss these repercussions. The threat extends to the surrounding countries, and the military escalation is increasing, and the Arab countries may respond by holding an emergency Arab summit," noting that "even if the emergency Arab summit takes place, there is no hope for radical action, especially since the last thirty-third summit, which was held in May 2024 in Manama, called for a cessation of the war and the deployment of international protection and peacekeeping forces in the occupied Palestinian territories. This proposal is subject to diplomatic efforts in the United Nations and the issuance of a resolution by the Security Council, and as we know, the United States of America will misuse what is known as the veto. The current US government is fully involved with Israel, and if the government changes, Trump has announced that he wants to expand the area of Israel."

Need decisions that are commensurate with the occupation's attacks

She stressed that the Arab Summit Conference needs to issue decisions that are consistent with the Israeli attacks and its disrespect for international treaties, explaining that the decision must include severing relations with Israel, as Israel clearly threatens Arab national security.

Al-Obaidi said that “the summit conferences, whether those held in Manama or the previous conferences, all confirmed the rights of the Palestinian people, but the required position is for the Arab countries to take effective measures that are parallel to the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation. The first is that the occupation cannot be coexisted with, and it must be confronted and relations with it cut off, and the resistance must be supported and cooperation with Islamic and friendly countries in the international community to isolate and punish the occupation.”

The Arab League is the twin of the United Nations

For his part, Dr. Abdul Wahab Al-Qassab, a visiting fellow at the Arab Center in Washington and a founding member of the Global Institute for Arab Renewal, told “Y” that “since the Arab League was formed, it has been the twin of the United Nations, as it carried in the seed of its founding its first and most dangerous weakness, which is the necessity of consensus to achieve the obligation to implement decisions.”

He added: “Perhaps one of its first fateful and binding decisions was the decision to send Arab armies into Palestine in 1948, which was implemented by certain countries with their forces, and supported by other countries with money and weapons. But even in this case, the countries failed to form a unified leadership, and consultation was lost between these countries, whether at the level of field, operational or strategic leadership, not to mention coordination and consultation between the leaders of the seven member countries of the League.”

He continued: "This resulted in a comprehensive failure to achieve the preservation of the partition borders that the Arab League rejected. We lost the Western Galilee, Lod, Ramla, Ashdod and Ashkelon, which were held by the Western Corps (the Jordanian army) and were occupied by the Zionists. As for the Egyptian army, it was besieged by Haganah gangs after the first truce was imposed in June 1948, and the Arab armies were in a better position."

The Nakba is the fruit of the first effort of the Arab League

He added: "I do not want to delve into the bloody history too much, but I shed light on the role played by the Arab League in its early founding, and we emerged from that confrontation that we call the Nakba, and with us were East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip."

Al-Qassab pointed out that “the Arab League formed the unified Western military command in the sixties of the last century, and it was agreed to entrust its leadership to Egypt, which was still called the United Arab Republic, and attempts began to abort Israel’s intention to divert the Jordan River, then relations became tense until the second catastrophe occurred, in which we lost what remained of Palestine and the Syrian Golan Heights, in addition to Sinai. The second catastrophe (the defeat of June 1967) had more violent effects than the first catastrophe, and perhaps the only achievement that the Arabs achieved was the Palestinians’ adherence to their heritage, and not being displaced as happened in 1947/1948.”

He continued: "Even in October 1973, despite the important strategic achievement of achieving the strategic surprise, crossing the canal, and the Syrians regaining the Golan and descending to the banks of Lake Tiberias, the end of this battle was also negative. The Israeli occupation forces crossed the Suez Canal for the first time, besieged the Egyptian Third Army, and the occupation regained the Golan. It even threatened Damascus, had the Iraqi army not arrived at the right time."

The necessity of unity of political/strategic will

Al-Qassab added: “From this historical narrative we can deduce an important lesson, which is that there is no hope in the Arab League, as it is in this state, tossed about by whims, and its work has been paralyzed as a result of fragmentation and internal conflict.”

He stressed, "In order for this League to be effective and for the summits it holds to be rewarding, it is necessary to secure the unity of the political/strategic will of all the League's countries, and to build a real Arab deterrent force that proves its presence on the ground, as is the case with NATO. This will never be achieved, and the state of fragmentation exists as we see it, and the absence of awareness and then will is the ruler."

Al-Qassab concluded by saying: “Perhaps the only bright hope we live in is the legendary steadfastness of the Palestinian people and their resistance to aggression for exactly eleven months, and perhaps this is what will shake dead or sleeping consciences in various Arab capitals.”

Arabs surrendered to Israeli bullying and insults

The writer and political sociology analyst Dr. Muhammad Najib Bou Taleb from Tunisia told “I”: “I do not see that the Arabs have any role now after they surrendered to Israel’s bullying and insults, and after they submitted to the dictates of the Americans. The Arabs no longer have a role today after they surrendered all their cards and after their dictionaries lost the formula (no).”

He pointed out that "some of them believe that the duty is to stand with the authority in the West Bank, but the reality is something else."

Counting on the return of Arab students to schools and universities

Bou Taleb expressed his belief that “what is happening in secret and governed by pressures, threats and blackmail is more dangerous and clearer than what is announced. Therefore, perhaps the return of schools to work this month will allow Arab youth and Arab civil societies to return to supporting Gaza and the West Bank. Also, talk about attempts to displace residents of the northern West Bank remains unlikely because other recent experiments failed in Gaza, despite the great destruction. The Israelis know that emigration is closer to “their people” than talk about displacing the Palestinians.”

Bou Taleb stressed that “history proves to us that the power of will and geography is stronger than the power of the occupation policy and the bombing of the population, and this is the difference. It is only a matter of time because the Israelis, despite their stubbornness and insistence on occupation, have begun to know the meaning of Palestine and its resistant people, so they will tend to accept coexistence with their neighbors, but changing their positions and those of their allies requires time, as they are embarrassed by the blood of a people who write their victory with strength and power.”

A very dangerous Zionist project

Hatem Abdel Qader, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, said: What is happening in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is very dangerous, and is part of a Jewish Zionist project that aims to eliminate the Palestinian Authority and the PLO, and thus displace the Palestinians. He stressed that the Palestinians are shocked by the official Arab position regarding the war that Israel is waging on the Gaza Strip, as the Arab world has not assumed its responsibility to stop the massacre and slaughter.

He added: "If this is the Arab position towards the Gaza Strip, and what has happened over the past 11 months, then we fear that this position will be extended to what is happening in the West Bank, especially since there is no real Arab response to what is happening in the West Bank, and there is no Arab defense of Palestinian legitimacy," stressing that "the Zionist project now aims to overthrow Palestinian legitimacy, and the Arabs are helpless."

He pointed out that "overthrowing legitimacy is the beginning of the plan to displace Palestinians from the West Bank," adding: We look with shame at these positions, and that the Palestinian issue has crossed the red line, stressing that it is the duty of Arab and Islamic countries to move to defend the Palestinian people and their national project.

Abdul Qader explained that "it is possible to hold an Arab summit, and although we are enthusiastic about it, we are not optimistic that it will come out with real positions to confront the Israeli massacres."