If it bleeds, it leads. American, European, and even Arab news focuses on the disaster that so much of the Middle East has become: Civil war has displaced half of Syria’s population, either internally or as refugees. Hundreds of thousands more Syrians are dead or missing. Yemen, too, continues its descent into civil war and state failure, with Libya not far behind. Hezbollah’s rise in Lebanon imperils civil society there, and Hezbollah’s patron Iran remains the world’s largest sponsor of terror. While the Palestinian-Israeli conflict shows no sign of abating, Hamas in the Gaza Strip and corruption and poor governance among the Palestinian Authority pose as much if not more of a threat to Palestinian society. The repercussions of journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, meanwhile, continues to rock Saudi Arabia. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may seek the high ground in that one case in order to launder his image, but that is hard to do when his country has become the world’s largest prison for journalists.
In short, it’s easy to think about the Middle East in terms of a race to the bottom and as ground zero for conflict, repression, and state failure.
There’s another competition going on, however, that seldom makes the headlines but is increasingly at play: The race to be the region’s peacemaker and to be recognized as the Middle East’s Switzerland, a neutral safe-zone in which enemies can meet and whose diplomats can facilitate peace.
Morocco, for example, has become a beacon for tolerance across the region. It has taken the lead on de-radicalization not only among its own citizens, but across North and West Africa. Its mourchidat program also prioritizes gender equality among the religious clergy, even if specific roles are gender specific. More broadly, Morocco is a force for political and diplomatic moderation across the Middle East and Africa. While many outsiders associate truth and reconciliation commissions with South Africa’s embrace of the post-Apartheid-era, Morocco also embraced the concept (only televised) as it came to grips with the often repressive policies of King Hassan II (r. 1961-1999). Today, Morocco also remains among the region’s greatest beacons of religious tolerance.
Iraq, too, actively seeks to become the region’s neutral ground. While the legacy of invasion, war, and insurgency shapes outside perceptions of Iraq, the country is on the rebound: There have now been four peaceful transfers of power, including between opposition parties. Violence, according to UN statistics, is down almost an order of magnitude: Baghdad’s biggest problem on a Friday night is now traffic, as Sunnis, Shi’ites, and Christians and Arabs and Kurds head out to their favorite parks, malls, and restaurants. Successive Iraqi governments actively talk about how they can use the ethnic and religious diversity as an asset. For too much of Iraqi history, governments have viewed that diversity as a liability. They see Iraq as a country which has come back from the precipice of dictatorship and ethnic and religious hatred with a unique experience to share. Likewise, as a country bordering Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Iran, three of the Middle East’s largest and most activist powers, as well as playing host to the United States’ largest embassy, not to mention a continuing troop presence—Iraqis see themselves as the natural meeting point for quiet diplomacy.
Of course, for all of Iraq’s ambition, the continuing presence of and threat from Iranian militias loyal more to Tehran than to Baghdad undercuts its claim to be the region’s natural arbiter.
The Gulf, too, increasingly also seeks such a role. Bahrain is perhaps, even more than Lebanon, the Arab world’s most religiously diverse state. Bahrain may be tiny, but it plays host to a centuries-old Jewish community (one member of whom was, between 2008 and 2003, Bahrain’s ambassador to the United States), and has robust Christian and Hindu communities as well. And while recent decades have witnessed sectarian tension between the country’s majority Shi’ite population and Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy, the island continues to embrace an acceptance of religious and cultural diversity no longer tolerated in many other Arab states, Iran, or Turkey.
The United Arab Emirates, too, has become a safe place to meet and mingle for almost any religion and nationality. Dubai has repeatedly been named the world’s most cosmopolitan city and, Hatikvah, Israel’s national anthem, was recently played for the first time in Abu Dhabi, a first for the Gulf region, when an Israeli judoka won his weight class in an international competition. Recent conflicts with Qatar, however, over that Persian Gulf state’s terror financing, Qatar’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood, and Qatar’s efforts to undermine neighboring states, however, have led both Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to suspend their diplomatic neutrality in favor of a more activist role in the region. The UAE’s military involvement in Yemen, albeit primarily to contain and defeat al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, suggests the UAE seeks to rollback militarily destructive elements in the region when diplomacy is not enough.
Perhaps the Middle Eastern country which is quickly claiming the mantle of regional if not international peacemaker is the Sultanate of Oman. Under Sultan Qaboos, who is nearing the 50th year of his reign, Oman has become a consistent beacon of moderation and relative progressivism within a region that in recent centuries has become anything but tolerant. Women in Oman have risen to the highest levels of the diplomatic corps and bureaucracy — not as isolated symbols, but more broadly and substantively. Oman also has among the freest presses in the Arab world, ahead not only of Jordan and Morocco but, beyond the region, also surpassing much of Latin America, South Asia, and Africa. Whereas Iran sponsors terrorism and Turkey increasingly supports radicalism not only at home but also abroad, Oman has channeled its resources and diplomatic energy into bringing together parties in some of the world’s most intractable conflicts. It was Oman, for example, which initiated the secret talks between Iran and the United States that culminated in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. (That it was a spectacularly poor deal cannot be blamed on Oman, but rather on American negotiators). Likewise, Oman recently welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks, probably not by coincidence around the same time that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was in Muscat. Oman also seems poised to play a greater role in repairing rifts between other Gulf states as well as in Yemen.
Long story short: The Middle East may have more than its fair share of problems, but it is crucial to recognize not only what is wrong but what is right. Western diplomats and civil society groups often imagine the Middle East needs them to parachute in to rescue the region from its own worst inclination but, increasingly, it is governments like those in Rabat, Baghdad, Manama, Abu Dhabi, and especially Muscat which are being proactive in the pursuit for peace. Rather than have every U.S. administration and European Union foreign minister (High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in EU bureaucrat-speak) try to broker their own peace initiatives for the region according to the political calendars in Washington and Brussels, perhaps it would be wise to recognize that Middle Eastern governments have agency, and increasingly use it for good.
Michael Rubin (@Mrubin1971) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a former Pentagon official.
