A breath of fresh air from West Asia

The large international presence at the royal wedding in Amman point to a bigger role for Jordan in West Asia in foretelling an end to the region’s long turmoil

There is nothing like a royal wedding even in these times to bring cheer, hope, and joy in conventional societies.

Amidst questions over the future of monarchies, the wedding on June 1 of Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah stands out. Jubilant scenes of a Saudi Arabian bride without veil and attired serenely in white, riding in an open-top white SUV with the bridegroom amidst cheering crowds, was a change from images of blood and violence not long ago.

Coronations of kings and queens no longer arouse people, as the ascension to the British throne by King Charles last year and the subsequent formal celebrations on May 6, conclusively showed. Hotel rooms in London went abegging during his coronation compared to the rush for accommodation in London and long lines to pay tributes when his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died. No surprise then, that Belgium dispensed with coronation rites long ago while Sweden simplified them. In Europe, coronations are a disappearing ritual.

In a region which had little good news to offer since the Arab Spring a decade ago, the confident and public royal wedding celebrations were a statement of stability for Jordanians. It was also a message to the world that the Hashemite Kingdom had turned the corner after rifts in the ruling dynasty following the removal of Hamza bin Hussein as Crown Prince by his half-brother, King Abdullah bin Hussein. In a video leaked to the British media in 2021, Hamza claimed that he had been put under house arrest by the king.

The large and distinguished international presence — United States First Lady Jill Biden, the United Kingdom’s Prince William and Princess Kate, the bridegroom’s counterpart in Abu Dhabi, Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan — at the glittering wedding in Amman point to a bigger role for Jordan in West Asia in foretelling an end to the region’s long turmoil.

King Abdullah, along with the presidents of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates plus Iraq’s Prime Minister, have set up a promising regional coalition, a much less publicised Arab Quad. With Saudi Arabia lending tentative support, with participation at ministerial level at the group’s second summit in Aquaba in Jordan in March 2022, this group could uplift the region with financial resources from the Gulf and talent from other participating Arab nations.

Since then, the group has been expanded to include the Sultan of Oman, the King of Bahrain, and the Emir of Qatar. They held another meeting in Abu Dhabi in January. Given the big disparities among the participating countries, their leaders are moving slowly and cautiously: there is no institutional structure for the group yet. But appropriately, the group’s founding theme is simply ‘Prosperity and Stability in the Region’.

With Syria’s landmark readmission to the Arab League at its summit in Jeddah on May 19, it is to be expected that President Bashar al-Assad will eventually join this group. He needs financial support after the recent devastating earthquake, which added to the sufferings of the Syrian people during the country’s long civil war.

Lebanon also may like to be associated with this new group, but for that Beirut must first put its house in order. Lebanon has been without a President for almost eight months: elected by parliament, the country has an executive presidency with wide powers, even to dismiss the Prime Minister. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Lebanon’s economy has been in a shambles, but for the rich oil producers of the region to inject aid or investments, the rival political forces that control the country must moderate their actions and policies. Especially end support for militancy in the region, stop frequent armed incursions into Israel, and create a more cohesive military, under effective civilian supervision.

The Gulf states realise that without the new vision of ‘prosperity and stability in the region’, they are not immune from spillovers from their backyard such as a refugee outflows and threats to food security.

Another potentially good news with long-term implications not only in the Gulf, but well beyond, was the official reopening of Iran’s embassy in Saudi Arabia on June 6. This is a sequel to a historic rapprochement between the two heavyweights in the Gulf, brokered by China in March. Because the kingdom is Arab and Sunni while Iran is Persian and Shia, the resumption of relations between them is a good augury for the complexities of the sprawling Arab world.

(KP Nayar has extensively covered West Asia and reported from Washington as a foreign correspondent for 15 years.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.