AMMAN -- Capping his tour this week of ruling dynasties in the Arab east -- oil-rich Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, and Kuwait, as well as oil-poor Jordan -- Moroccan King Muhammad VI visits the desert capital Amman today at a time of crisis. As I write this he is inspecting the military hospital in Jordan which he established to care for refugees from the Syrian regime's killing machine, and meeting with some of the tens of thousands of displaced Syrians which Jordan now shelters. Later this afternoon, he'll aim to help curb the spillover effects of Syria's deadly civil war and ensure Jordan's survival: In keeping with U.S. policy, he is coordinating over $1 billion in aid to Jordan, a key American ally, which that economy will depend on while the U.S. faces economic challenges of its own. The Moroccan king lobbied for this non-Western grant aid throughout his visit to the Gulf this week. At the same time, he worked to build consensus on an Arab strategy to support Syria's rebels without enabling jihadists to hijack the revolution. Jordan, bordering Syria, will be the lynchpin in that effort -- but close coordination among the Arab world's dynasties will prove vital to implement and stabilize it, and Morocco's role as a go-between and enabler will either make it or break it.
These activities speak to a new alliance that is emerging among the remaining Arab kingdoms and emirates that survived last year's revolutions -- that is, the six "Gulf Cooperation Council" member states (Saudi, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman) and the kingdoms of Jordan and Morocco. Their collective reach spans the Mid-East flash-points that are of greatest concern to Washington: To the east, the Gulf states are a bulwark against Iran. In the center, Jordan straddles Syria, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and Iraq. And far to the West, where revolutionary Libya and Tunisia struggle to democratize amid ascendant jihadism, Morocco stands strong, secure, and well on its way toward a European-style parliamentary monarchy. Last year Saudi Arabia invited Morocco and Jordan to join the Gulf Coordination Council as full members, offering a fairer distribution of wealth between the oil-poor and the oil-rich while asking all parties to join hands in holding the region together.
This initiative presented an important opportunity as well as a special responsibility to Morocco. Decades before Egypt established relations with Israel, Morocco under King Hassan II was the primary force pressing for an Arab-Israeli peace settlement. When the Gulf emirates had just begun to establish their own modern states in the 1970s, centuries-old Morocco lent the expertise of its police and intelligence apparatus to build viable security structures for those young nations. When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, King Hassan worked behind the scenes to help the U.S. and NATO ensure that Arab armies joined the coalition to oust the Iraqi dictator. And years ahead of the Arab spring, the new and current king, Muhammad VI, initiated his own approach toward democratization -- fostering civil society, supporting human rights and political reform, and ultimately rewriting the constitution to split power with an elected prime minister. These last positive steps are the envy of the neighborhood today, while Morocco's larger track record has created a region-wide footprint for the kingdom as well as a strategic alliance with the United States and Europe. Egypt, engulfed in its own internal challenges at this time, no longer plays the regional stabilizing role which it did for decades under Mubarak. Influential voices across the Arab world -- from the Gulf to the Levant to North Africa -- are calling for Morocco to fill this vacuum, and reclaim its historic place as a broker of peace and security.
This week's visit by the king to the Gulf and Jordan epitomizes his embrace of GCC expansion. What's more, Morocco has a vision, warmly accepted by the other states, for how best to make use of the new alliance both throughout the region as well as inside the borders of the member states:
While a hardened Israel and a fractured Palestine remain resistant to peace efforts, Morocco wants to press the two parties to sit down and work out their two-state solution before it's too late. The new GCC alliance will equip Morocco with the powerful tools of statesmanship that are necessary to do so: It can leverage oil wealth and its own political development model to assist the Palestinians. It can offer Israel a gateway to the most powerful economies in the Arab world in exchange for Palestinian independence. And it has the credibility within the GCC alliance to make good on such commitments. Morocco is a Muslim country that supports the Palestinian cause, but also a friend to the Jewish people -- the birthplace of 265,000 Moroccan Jews who now reside primarily in Israel where their numbers have swelled beyond a million. The role Morocco can play will greatly facilitate America's own efforts toward peace -- and one day, God willing, relieve the next White House of this onerous responsibility.
During the current international standoff with Iran, Morocco stands firmly against Iranian ambitions to acquire nuclear weapons capability. The king agrees that all options should be on the table, and via his GCC, Jordanian, and Western partners, has been working to ensure the toughest application of sanctions. But Morocco also knows that the possibility of a military attack on Iran is real -- and believes that enhancing the military threat against Iran might be the last possible way to avoid war, by achieving peace through strength. To that end, Morocco is leveraging its security ties with the Gulf and warm relations with Israel and the West to create a highly intimidating military alliance. Iranians know this -- which is why they have singled out Morocco for acts of sabotage and destabilization. Those attempts have failed. Morocco has accordingly ejected its Iranian ambassador, setting a trend that other Arab states have followed.
But King Muhammad is also aware that in the long run, regional stability depends on building a culture of tolerance, the rule of law, human rights, and democratic reform. As an evolving constitutional monarchy, Morocco is in the unique position of offering political support to transitioning democracies as well as trust to its GCC partners who are at a more junior stage of reform. Thus the new GCC alliance, in the kingdom's view, is not only a support base for the less stable countries outside it; it can also be a cauldron of reform inside its community of members. The path toward change will be difficult for some of the members, much as it was and still is for Morocco. But just as NATO expansion after the Soviet collapse fostered political transformations as well as even greater military power, GCC expansion can offer a similar combination to its members and the region as a whole.
Morocco is no democracy and its human rights are questionable. There is no free speech; the gov't cracks down on the critical press on a regular basis. What happened to Nichane, eh? How about the constant harassment of Tel Quel?
What acts of sabotage and destabilization?
One school of thought - that adopted by the pseudo-democracies which have deposed their leaders (Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria(?)), is to go about it with violence and chaos. Destroy to rebuild on a fresh foundation. Its the French model, bring out the guillotines ! It can be very effective, it can also be disastrous (economically, socially, politically). Lets not forget that when Iran's shah was deposed the first time, a secular democracy was erected. When he was deposed the second time, it was the theocracy we know today that came to power. Likewise, the French revolution was followed by Napoleonic rule (dictatorship). It can go either way.
The second school of thought, currently being adopted by the less-affected monarchies of the middle-east, is to enact incremental reform with the ultimate goal to transition to a fully functional democracy. This is the British (and Spanish) model. Its admittedly slower, since archaic structures must be progressively replaced - but it has the merit of stability and the ability to maintain steady growth.
Today, these monarchs are acutely aware of their duty to the people - else they risk an Egypt-style scenario.
The violence there came from the dictators exclusively, not from the protesters.
What has been 'destroyed' there? Nothing.
Libya was going to be a mess anyway, and tell me, what alternative did the Libyan people have to attain democracy?
Where do you see democracy, pseudo or otherwise, in Syria?
The monarchies of the ME have no intention of truly democratizing, that's a joke. What is taking them so long? What archaic structures can't be taken down? You mean the makhzen in Morocco, the fact that the king owns half the country? Well he can give that up overnight.
The Spanish model? A brutal dictatorship that only ended when the monstruous dictator died?
What's wrong with Egypt?
And how about the mass murders in Bahrain?
Really. Are you paid by one of these 'monarchs'?
You are entitled to your opinion, but I would not be so quick to discount the true economic, political, and social growth that may come from this union.
These antidemocratic forces spending billions to cling to power while thwarting progress is shameful.
Praising these efforts in the name of stability while they fund chaos is bizarre.
All of the countries mentioned are past due for their own "Arab spring" movements to end their corrupt and oppressive tactics.
However, there is a point of warped logic in this piece.
Morocco may be "the birthplace of 265,000 Moroccan Jews who now reside primarily in Israel" but for their "numbers hav[ing] swelled beyond a million" - that is false. Second and third generation persons of Moroccan descent are Israelis, and carry only a culinary and folkloric link to the land of their ancestors.
The same warped logic has been used for decades by the Arab states who refrained for all those decades from according citizenship to Arabs who fled (some were chased away) from places Israel was apportioned by the UN (or conquered in wars of defence). Thus, they now count as refugees third and fourth generation persons whom they held stateless for political gain.