Arab leaders to condemn attacks on Israelis for first time

TUNIS - International Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat reported Friday that a conciliatory resolution condemning attacks on both Israeli and Palestinian civilians would be approved at the Arab summit meeting set to begin Saturday in Tunis.

The French news agency (AFP) reported Saturday that the said resolution was adopted by a preparatory meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo on May 10.

According to the report in Asharq Al-Awsat, the Arab League condemnation of Palestinian terror attacks on Israeli civilians will be the first of its kind.

The report quotes senior Arab sources as saying the resolution will be adopted under heavy U.S. pressure and that the Americans, in exchange, will ease their pressure on Arab states to adopt political reforms.

The resolution will also lend its support to "efforts for a mutual and simultaneous" ceasefire in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a "rejection of any modification to the reference points of the peace process."

The Arabs will send a message to the world that they "remain attached to peace and to dialogue," one Arab delegate told the French news agency (AFP).

At the same time, a delegate said the Palestinians will propose a "firm denunciation" of this week's Israeli military operation in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, where 42 Palestinians have been killed.

Meanwhile, Arab foreign ministers worked Friday on building consensus for resolutions on Iraq and Middle East reform that their leaders will consider at a summit this weekend.

Arab leaders say encouraged by U.S. allowing UN condemnation of Israel
Coming into the summit, Arab officials on Friday were encouraged by a U.S. decision to allow passage of a UN resolution this week criticizing Israel, saying they hoped it signaled a tougher line by Israel's closest ally against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

The Arab League's Moussa said the vote was a positive signal but that the Bush administration needs to go further to be perceived as a "honest broker" in efforts to make peace in the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

"We hope that this is an indication that the U.S. is finally determined to exert its influence on the Israelis to allow the peace process to resume," added Maher, the Egyptian foreign minister.

Jordan's Muasher said the U.S. abstention is good, "but we don't believe it is enough. There should be movement toward stopping the Israeli action."

As leaders flew into the Tunisian capital for their annual gathering, scuttled two months ago over sharp differences, diplomats from the Arab League's 21 countries and the Palestinians huddled in an informal meeting late Friday to put the final touches on draft resolutions before submitting them to their leaders for endorsement when they open their summit Saturday morning.

But underlining the differences that plagued this year's summit, Sudan's president became the eighth Arab leader to stay away, apparently in protest of a report critical of his African nation's alleged human rights abuses in Darfur. Four leaders have excused themselves because of their health conditions and three others, including the de facto leader of heavyweight Saudi Arabia, apparently for political reasons.

The summit is expected to focus on the deteriorating situation in Iraq and the recent escalation of violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Other items on the agenda are a response to a U.S. proposal for political reform in the Middle East and reform of the Arab League. But since the Arab foreign ministers last met in Cairo earlier this month, an upsurge in violence in Iraq and in the Gaza Strip that has killed 40 Palestinians brought new urgency to the discussions.

"This is a summit that is very well prepared," said Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher of Egypt, the most populous Arab country. He told the AP that the foreign ministers have finalized all the documents, which will be submitted to the leaders for approval.

Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, the first Arab leader to arrive in Tunis on Friday, said the summit offers the Arabs an opportunity to act together and failure to come up with a united stand hands a "free service" to the Arabs' enemies.

Conditions in the region should "provide an impetus to brotherly Arab countries to put aside all that divides and concentrate on all that unites," Lahoud said in a statement.

U.S. President George Bush's administration plans to formally unveil its plan for Mideast reform that has been criticized as a brazen interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries. The plan, known as the Greater Middle East Initiative, will be launched at the G-8 summit of major industrial countries June 8-10 in the United States to which Yemen, Bahrain, Algeria and Jordan have been invited.

The Arab summit is expected to conclude Sunday with a resolution calling for the relaunching of a peace-for-land initiative to end the 56-year-old Arab-Israeli conflict that was endorsed by an Arab summit in Beirut, Lebanon, in 2002. A call for a bilateral cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians under UN supervision also was expected, according to Arab diplomats.

The summit is also expected to endorse proposals for homegrown reforms put forward by Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria, in order to counter the U.S. initiative on reform, the diplomats said on condition of anonymity.

Sending to Iraq peacekeeping troops drawn from Arab countries was discounted by diplomats.

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said he did not think a specific proposal will be discussed when the issue of Iraq comes up.

At the UN this week, a senior official from a country in the U.S.-led coalition said that Tunisia, Egypt, Oman and Jordan were possible troop contributors to a multinational peacekeeping force.

But Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher said in Tunis on Friday that Jordan, a neighbor of Iraq, supports Baghdad's wishes that it did not want troops from neighboring countries.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/430499.html