With the conclusion of the Six-nation Arab retreat in the Dead Sea for Arab foreign ministers, politicians are questioning the extent to which these countries can come up with solutions to Arab and regional crises.

At the end of the short meeting, foreign minister Ayman Safadi issued a brief statement describing the meeting as "positive and productive." The meeting was an open consultation without an official agenda. It focused on achieving common Arab interests.

Writer and political analyst Hamadeh Faraneh described to AmmanNet, the retreat positively, "given the importance of establishing consultation and coordination among the Arab countries, in hopes to achieve a common vision on many issues, where there may be differences."

Faraneh stated that the choice of Jordan as a venue for the meeting consolidates the Kingdom’s political position among the participating countries, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Egypt.

It is believed that the U.S is attempting to push Arab and Iranian differences towards hostility, in favor of Israel, with the aim of targeting Iran after it destroyed a number of Arab countries in the region.

The meeting was preceded by a tour of US Secretary of state Mike Pompeo in the region, in which he called for the collaboration of Arab countries to the initiative, addressing vital regional issues, including Iran and Washington’s plans with its allies of increasing pressure on them.

The retreat comes ahead of the World Summit regarding the Middle East, to discuss the issues of stability in the region, in Warsaw, Poland, on the 13^th and 14^th of next month.

In addition to this, the 30^th session of the Arab summit will be held in Tunis at the end of next month and the most important discussion on the agenda will be the return of Syria as a member of the Arab League.

Faraneh believes that the Syrian file should be on the agenda of the Arab summit to discuss the possibility of Syria returning to the Arab League.

Political analyst Dr. Anis Khasawneh speculated that the meeting may be a prelude to returning Syria to the Arab League, as well as other regional developments.

Khasawneh stated that the conference could contribute to the re-establishing of diplomatic relations between the UAE and Saudi Arabia with Damascus, as well as Jordan's diplomatic representation.

This is the second meeting to be held by the six foreign ministers, the first of which was held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September last year in New York to discuss several political and economic files.

Translation by Ayesha Patel

Read original in Arabic here