A bevy of diplomatic meetings have been taking
place across the Middle East this past week, bringing together leaders and top
diplomats from some key countries that do not usually spend a lot of time out
in the open with one another. The most recent of these took place at the start
of this week at a desert retreat in Israel where the country’s founder David Ben-Gurion
is buried and included the participation of four Arab countries (Egypt,
Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain) as well as US Secretary of
State Antony Blinken.
اضافة اعلان
It is too early to
tell whether what was discussed at this latest meeting, including the
announcement of a new regional security architecture, will take root and
produce lasting results. But one thing is for certain: the tectonic plates in
the region continue to shift in important but as yet unclear ways. This means
the Biden administration should look for opportunities to put into practice
what it promises in one of its favorite foreign policy slogans, “diplomacy
first”.
A long list of
issues confronts US policymakers on the Middle East, including a possible
renewed nuclear deal with Iran at a time of continued escalation and regional
instability as many countries are on edge amid worries about human security
driven by higher food and energy prices as a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
In addition to these challenges, there are opportunities, like the many
possibilities for de-escalating tensions across the region through diplomacy
backed by more balanced security cooperation and the search for new ways to
jumpstart the long-stalled efforts on the Israeli-Palestinian front.
The fundamental
question the Biden administration faces at this juncture in its Middle East
approach is whether it is going to engage more deeply than it has over its
first year or maintain its posture of staying mostly above the fray and
pursuing selective diplomacy at key junctures. At a time when Russia’s war in
Ukraine rages and the global competition with China continues to loom large, it
may seem unlikely that the US would focus more diplomatic attention on the
Middle East. But doubling down with a strategic reengagement and leading with
diplomacy is needed to make sure America is shaping dynamics in the region in a
way that benefits broader global stability.
That would mean
making sure that key actors who have not been at the center of these regional
discussions like Jordan and Saudi Arabia are not left on the sidelines, and it
also means making sure that Palestinian leaders and their people are brought
into the picture. Helping countries face the long-standing threats to stability
from Iran and its network of partners across the region like Hezbollah is
another key component, no matter what happens with the Iran deal.
Doing all of this
will require the Biden administration to have a deeper diplomatic bench that is
more empowered than the current team.
A formal security
alliance in the Middle East is an idea that has come up from time to time over
the years; it has fallen short in large part because of the lack of trust among
key actors in the region.
There is no
guarantee that stepped-up US diplomatic engagement in the Middle East will
resolve these issues. But as the Biden administration is seeing in the efforts
to maintain transatlantic unity on Ukraine, it requires constant diplomacy
combined with security reassurances to get results.
Lasting peace and
stability in the Middle East will likely remain elusive for a long time to
come, but recent shifts could produce important openings if the US deepens and
broadens its diplomatic engagement across the region.
The writer is a senior fellow and vice president of policy
at the Middle East Institute.
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