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AMMAN, March 19 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming Arab Summit in Jordan comes at a crucial time, when developments are unfolding at a fast pace in the Arab world and regional crises will take a centre stage in the discussions, according to political analysts.
The meeting is expected to shed light on the pan-Arab cooperation in the fight against terrorism, the situation in Syria and elsewhere in the region, but analysts believe that the Palestinian issue will be the highlight of the summit, which is slated for March 23-29 at the Dead Sea in Jordan.
Stressing the importance of hosting the summit as part of Jordan's efforts to enhance pan-Arab collaboration on regional issues and challenges, the experts, however, said one should not raise expectations about the outcomes of the summit.
Oraib Rantawi, the founder and director general of the Amman-based Al Quds Center for Political Studies, said the upcoming Arab Summit should not be labeled as historic though it comes at a very critical time.
"In order for the summit to be historic, the conditions in the Arab world need to be different. There is deterioration across the Arab world and split in viewpoints and stances. Arabs countries have different positions when it comes to the crisis in Syria, for example," he told Xinhua in a recent interview.
"This has nothing to do with the hosting country. Even if it is held anywhere else, the situation of the Arab states is problematic," he said.
The Palestinian issue is the one that can have consensus among all Arabs, especially that all Arabs are united in supporting the two-state solution and reject the one-state solution proposed by the U.S. President Donald Trump.
At a meeting between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in February, the U.S. president said he was open to a "one-state solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which experts said was a backing away from the historical U.S. commitment to supporting a separate Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Jordan has repeatedly stressed support and putting its full weight behind the two-state solution and highlighted that the creation of an independent Palestinian state within the border of 1967 with east Jerusalem as its capital is a strategic interest for the Kingdom.
According to the expert, with regard to the situation in Syria, no major resolutions are expected and all decisions are expected to reiterate support to the Geneva and Astana talks to help reach a political solution to the crisis.
Syria is not invited to take part in the Arab Summit in line with a previous resolution by the Arab League that suspended Syria's membership and that Jordan announced earlier that it would abide by the league's decision.
The issue in Yemen will not take a centre stage in the Arab Summit, according to Oraib Rantawi's prediction.
Another political analyst, who preferred not to be named, said "We should not expect miracles. I do not expect any major changes that will come out from the upcoming Arab summit."
In recent remarks to the press, Minister of State for Media Affairs Mohammad Momani said Jordan hopes for the Arab summit to be a platform for pan-Arab action, whereby Arab leaders can hold talks and coordinate to present their visions to the Arab world and the international community regarding the several challenges facing Arab national security.
Mohammad Abu Hammour, secretary general of the Arab Thought Forum, said the Arab Summit will help strengthen joint Arab action towards issues of concern.
The Arab Summit, he said, should play a key role in supporting socio-economic development in the Arab world to help overcome challenges in the region, he was quoted by the state-run Petra news agency as saying over the weekend.
He called for intensified cooperation between the Arab states to develop human resources that are key to addressing all challenges the region is going through and stressed sustainable development should be also addressed during the summit.
Jordan was asked to host the Arab summit last December after Yemen, the supposed host, declined to do so due to security reasons.
