The Mecca Deal

A key test of how the Palestinian agreement is going to work will come Feb. 19 in Jerusalem. That's when Condi Rice holds a summit with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Olmert. The Bush administration itself is heralding the summit as the most important exercise in peacemaking since it took office. If Palestinians stick to the accord they reached in Mecca last night, and maintain a truce in the conflict, it's going to put diplomatic pressure on Israel, the U.S. and the West not only to end the financial embargo of the Hamas-led government but to re-start serious peace negotiations with Mahmoud Abbas. One of the reasons for this is the Saudi Factor in the deal.
In a perfect world, the Palestinians should have gone much further in Mecca in establishing themselves as credible peace partners. But Hamas made a useful gesture by agreeing to "respect" previous agreements with Israel, reached by Abbas's Fatah group when it was in sole control of Palestinian leadership. This is an effective green light to continue negotiations with Israel led by Abbas, who remains president of the Palestinian authority as well as head of the PLO, which represents the Palestinian diaspora as well.
If Israel is wary of such an arrangement, it also has to take into account the Mecca Accord's profound Palestinian, Arab and Islamic dimensions. After decades of Fatah dominance and a year of Hamas rule, the deal for a national unity government now strengthens the Palestinian demand for an end to Israel's occupation. What is even more important, however, is the fact that it was brokered by Saudi Arabia, which gives crucial Arab and Islamic support to the Palestinians. Saudi Arabia has major weight in the equation now, as the custodian of Islam's holiest place and as author of the 2002 Arab peace initiative that agreed to full peace with Israel in exchange for Israel's withdrawal from Arab territories.
Saudi Arabia's sponsorship thus gives the Palestinian deal international support that cannot be easily ignored. Dismissing the Mecca Accord would be tantamount to snubbing not Hamas but the Arab and Islamic worlds. That the Palestinian deal was made in Mecca and not in Qom is a point that should not be lost on Bush or Olmert. Supporting the accord will advance a converging interest they have with Arab states to curb the increasing influence of Iran, which is Hamas's main foreign backer. Within hours of the Mecca Accord, I received an email from a Saudi source that indicates the level of respect for the deal that the Saudis are expecting from the Israelis and Americans:

A world that wants peace and tranquility is increasingly looking towards this emerging power of tolerant Islam and wise diplomacy. By developing this new image for Islam and for Saudi Arabia's diplomacy we are playing a key role in denying any clash of civilizations and we are speaking the same clear language with both Muslims and the West. We all share issues that require our best efforts and we all have interests that should push us together towards applying the values of compromise, tolerance and understanding in an effort to resolve them.
Most importantly, Saudi Arabia is showing the world that it wants the unity of Islam, that there is no fight between Sunni and Shia, and that we respect all religions, be it Christianity, Judaism or any other. What we want is religious tolerance for the sake of living together, whatever the conditions, and resolving political differences and conflicts as clearly as we can. That approach to Islam is one where religion adds value, rather than conflict, to our world and our society.
The Middle East can be reassured about what is happening in Mecca this week. Palestinians are mending fences that no one else could get them to mend. Our common Muslim faith is a help in reaching a solution to complicated issues. It is making us more tolerant and accepting, making us problem-solvers rather than the ideologues which others perceived us to be. In fact, we are content to live with Lebanese Christians, with our Iranian, Iraqi and Saudi Shia brothers, and, once they have accepted Arab grievances, also with Israeli Jews.

--By Scott MacLeod/Beirut