After Two Years of Suspension … Arab Summit to take place in Algeria next November
In the land of the country of “one and a half million martyrs”, the summit of the leaders of the 31 Arab countries will be held in Algeria at the beginning of next November.
After it was postponed 3 consecutive times (2020, 2021, March 2022), the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Arab States unanimously approved an Algerian proposal to hold the next Arab summit on November 1 and 2.
A statement from the Algerian Foreign Ministry stated that the Arab League adopted the Algerian president’s decision to hold a summit of Arab leaders on “the anniversary of the revolutions summit.”
The statement pointed out that “the Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo, within the framework of the regular session of the Ministerial Council, adopted the decision of the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, on the date of the Arab summit to be hosted by Algeria, which was ordained on the second and second of November 2022, coinciding with the 68th anniversary of the outbreak of the liberation revolution. glorious.”
The “Algerian Foreign Ministry” stated that Minister Ramtane Lamamra presented during this session, a presentation on the most important results of the consultations led by the President of the Republic with his Arab brothers, directly or through his special envoy, stressing the symbolism of the date he chose for the summit as a comprehensive history devoted to the solidarity of Arab countries and peoples with the glorious Algerian revolution.
By adopting this decision – the statement adds – to “program the convening of the Arab summit on the first of the glorious month of November, the Arabs will be facing an important political date in the history of the Arab nation at the regional and international levels.
“It will also be an opportunity to celebrate with the Algerian people and all Arab peoples the glories of this nation and to inspire their determination to formulate a future vision to achieve a comprehensive Arab renaissance in all fields, allowing the Arab region to reposition itself on the map of international relations.” The statement explained.
The Algerian leadership sought to make the date of the Arab summit coincide with this historical anniversary of the great support provided by the Arabs to the Algerian revolution, and as gratitude from Algeria for its appreciation for the support of its Arab brothers in its liberation revolution.
History of the Summits of Algeria
Since it acceded to the Arab League in August 1962, a month after its independence, Algeria has embraced 3 Arab summits, including one extraordinary.
The first was on November 26-28, 1973 during the era of the late President Houari Boumediene, which was the sixth summit conference in the history of the Arab League, which witnessed Mauritania’s accession to the Arab League.
And from June 7 to 9, 1988, Algeria hosted the “fifth” extraordinary Arab summit conference during the era of the late President Chadli Bendjedid to discuss the latest developments in the occupied Palestinian territories and condemn the American aggression against Libya.
The emergency summit issued 8 resolutions, represented in support of the Palestinian uprising, and the demand to hold an international peace conference in the Middle East under the supervision of the United Nations, alongside Lebanon in restoring its lands, renewing full solidarity with Iraq, and standing with it in its war against Iran, and condemning the US aggression on Libya and condemnation of international terrorism and racist practices.
As for the last Arab summit hosted by Algeria, it was during the era of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika from 22 to 23 March 2005 and witnessed the participation of a large number of leaders of Arab countries, including Moroccan King Mohammed VI.
Signs of History
The date of November 1 has great historical significance for the Algerian people and for all the Arab countries that supported, supported, and stood by the Algerian revolution against the French occupation.
Most of the Arab countries were the first to provide all forms of material, military, political and diplomatic support to the Algerian revolution that erupted on November 1, 1954, and ended in 1962, after France acquiesced to the will of the Algerians, and Algeria gained its independence on July 5, 1962.
A revolution that historians describe as “one of the greatest revolutions of the twentieth century”, during which the Algerians faced the most powerful colonial power of that century (France), despite the high cost of independence, which amounted to one and a half million martyrs.
Many historical testimonies and references confirmed that the Algerians and their revolution were not alone, and as France called on NATO to bury the Algerian revolution, the Arab support for the revolution to liberate Algeria from the French occupation was very great.
Tunisia & Morocco … Common Ties
Arab support for the Algerian revolution was the strategic dimension of the leadership of the “National Liberation Front”, which was at the time the only representative of the Algerian people, a revolution around which the Arabs gathered with various kinds of support for the Algerians in their struggle to gain their independence.
From geographic grounds and common historical and cultural ties, the Tunisian and Moroccan support for the Algerian revolution was very large, through money, food, medicine, clothing, blankets, medical means, and treatment of the wounded that were reaching the resistance of the Algerian revolution, in addition to the weapons that the Algerian revolutionaries were buying from the two countries and the risk of passing them through borders with Tunisia and Morocco.
Over the seven-and-a-half years of the Algerian revolution, Tunisia and Morocco were a background base for this revolution, and the Algerian revolution received strong popular and official support in Tunisia and Morocco.
Egypt … Unlimited Support
This geographical distance between the two countries was not an obstacle to the official and popular Egyptian support for the Algerian revolution during the era of the late Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser.
The Egyptian support for the Algerian revolution from its inception was unparalleled, a confession made by Christian Pinault, the French Foreign Minister at the time, who described the Algerian revolution as a “rebellion”, and claimed that “the rebellion is motivated only by Egyptian aid.”
He stressed that this aid “if it stops, all things will calm down,” because France considers “Algeria an integral part of France”, which is the support that motivated France’s participation in the tripartite aggression against Egypt.
He affirmed the great Egyptian support for the Algerian revolution in the statement of the Algerian Liberation Front after the tripartite aggression against Egypt, which stated that “no Algerian forgets that brotherly Egypt was subjected to a heinous aggression in which it was a victim of its support for the struggling Algerian people.”
No Algerian forgets that the victory of the Egyptian people in the historic battle of Port Said is nothing but a victory for one of the many battlefronts that have been taking place in Algeria for 38 months and that the Algerian people are engaged in their great liberation battle to send to the brotherly Egyptian people and their immortal hero Gamal Abdel Nasser with the most sincere feelings of brotherhood and solidarity Long live Arabism, free and immortal, and Arabs live under the banner of independence, pride, and glory.
Saudi Arabia …A Big Supporter of the revolution
Two months after the outbreak of Algeria’s liberation revolution, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz took over when he was head of the “People’s Committee to Raise Donations for the Algerian Revolution” commissioned by his brother, the late King Saud bin Abdulaziz.
In 1957, King Saud designated the 15th of Sha’ban of each Hijri year as a “day to collect popular donations to support the Algerian revolution,” and allocated £250,000 from the kingdom’s general budget as a “gift to support Algeria.”
In the same year, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced a new slogan for the Hajj season of 1957, the name “Pilgrimage to Algeria”, and Algerian flags were spread next to Saudi Arabia in the Great Mosque of Mecca.
The Kingdom also moved in international forums to make the Algerian issue an “international issue”, and Prince Faisal “was the first to transfer the Algerian issue to the corridors of the Security Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1955.”
The strength and importance of Saudi relations with France did not prevent King Saud from taking a “bold and courageous” decision, as he was described at the time when he decided to sever his country’s relations with France.
The broad Arab support for the Algerian revolution extended to most Arab countries. Syria was among the first Arab countries to open the door for Syrians to volunteer to participate in the Algerian war of liberation, although the leadership of the Algerian “liberation front” considered that the liberation of the land of Algeria could only be Algerian.
With all kinds of financial and medical support, food aid, and diplomatic support in the forums, and despite the weakness of the economy of some Arab countries in that period, the Algerian revolution received great support from several Arab countries, and Algeria’s independence in 1962 was also a united joy in all Arab countries.
