Sharing a common destiny

The Sharm El Sheikh Arab-EU summit ended with a promising communiqué, assuring and supporting the Arab position on the Palestinian problem, including the two-state solution, the unequivocal support to UNRWA and condemnation of the Israeli settlement activity on Palestinian land and the continuing Israeli designs on East Jerusalem.

Fifty countries were represented at the summit, which is nearly half the international community. What they said and agreed upon will go a long way to lending support and understanding of the Arab point of view, not only on the Palestinian case, but also on other regional conflicts.

It is not often that such a summit takes place in an Arab country, and this occasion, and what has emerged from it, must not be in vain or escape the attention of friend and foe alike.

There is a lot that is common between the two groups of countries, and the sharing of interests between the EU nations and the Arab countries has been demonstrated time and time again. The two groups of states are practically neighbours, geographically speaking, and have shared a common history for centuries. It is no secret that the European nations have demonstrated more understanding of the region’s main conflicts than other regions of the world and have steadily contributed to their solution.

On the Palestinian front, the EU nations adopted the Arab stance on the basis of a final solution, shared the concerns of the Arab capitals on both the Iraqi and Syrian conflicts and offered practical support to their resolution.

The campaign against the common enemy, Daesh, was supported by Europe from day one. It is, therefore, safe to say that the Arab world and the EU states share a common destiny and must work together to confront the myriad regional and international conflicts.

To achieve that, more trade and commerce need to be done in the future. It is never enough to lend political understanding of the region’s concerns. Strengthening the economy of the region could be the catalyst for standing up to the mushrooming threats to peace and security, regionally and internationally.

In other words, investing in the Arab world is an investment in regional and international peace and stability.