Arab world offers to recognise Israel

11:45am

BEIRUT - Arab leaders set aside old taboos and rivalries to make a dramatic peace offer to Israel at an Arab summit yesterday, but Israeli intransigence and lack of United States interest may dent its impact, Arab analysts said.

"Never in their history have the Arabs presented such a clear proposal," said Lebanese analyst Khairallah Khairallah. "The Israelis could not have dreamt of getting the Arabs to approve such a plan unanimously."

Arab hardliners and moderates alike endorsed a Saudi proposal that offers Israel peace and normal ties if it quits all Arab lands occupied in the 1967 Middle East war, accepts a Palestinian state and agrees a "just solution" for refugees.

"In any other circumstances this would have been a breakthrough," said Beirut-based analyst Carol Hakim, noting the "stunning" readiness of previously reticent Saudi leaders to pitch their peace message directly to the Israeli people.

But she said the United States did not seem enthusiastic about any significant new initiative. Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed might also take the shine off the Arab peace offer.

Israel first rejected the Arab initiative as a "non-starter in its current form" but later described it as "very important and interesting", while saying its reference to Palestinian refugees looked problematic.

Saudi Arabia, often a back-seat player in Middle East diplomacy, showed its frustration with deadlocked peace efforts and Israel's confrontation with Palestinians in revolt against occupation even before the September 11 attacks on US cities.

Crown Prince Abdullah wrote to US President George W Bush in August, saying the kingdom would be forced to review its ties with the United States if Washington did not show readiness to move ahead in finding a solution to the Middle East conflict.

Soon afterwards the September attacks by Arab hijackers said to be loyal to Saudi-born Osama bin Laden triggered a wave of US media criticism of the conservative Gulf oil power.

Bush's declaration of war on "global terror", his threats to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and his abrasive "for us or against us" challenge unnerved many Arab rulers caught between their US ally and fierce anti-American sentiment at home.

These factors may all have helped galvanise Prince Abdullah into launching a peace plan aimed at dragging the United States back into Middle East mediation and countering the Bush administration's perceived tilt towards Israel.

Farid Khazen, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut, said that contrary to expectations the summit had gone beyond a vague endorsement of the Saudi plan.

"It had substance regarding the occupied territories, Jerusalem and the refugees, all the important issues," he said.

Khazen said the plan was impossible to implement now "due to the situation in the territories and the lack of American commitment", but would serve as a future frame of reference.

"Now there is an Arab peace plan which is reasonable, flexible and not a non-starter, I think, for moderate Israelis."

Khairallah said it was hard to imagine any Arab leaders coming up with a more moderate approach. "If Israel wants to encourage extremism in the region, it will reject it."

The Arabs were careful to avoid any explicit demand for the "right of return" of Palestinian refugees, asking only for a "just solution" to deal with their plight.

They also substituted the phrase "normal ties" for the word "normalisation" in deference to Syrian reservations.

"Despite all the ups and downs, the mismanagement and the chaos, the summit managed to deliver," said Jawad al-Anani, a former Jordanian royal court chief. "It showed the Arabs are beginning to learn to negotiate amongst themselves."

He said the Arabs had for once come out with their own peace plan, rather than reacting to those of others.

Nevertheless, longstanding inter-Arab tensions swirled around the luxury hotels of Beirut and kept many Arab heads of state from attending the often stormy two-day summit.

"There was a facade of unity, but one could sense all the usual rivalries, which detracted from the message," said Hakim.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah stayed at home. The Palestinians walked out temporarily when Lebanon blocked a plan for Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to address the summit by video link from the West Bank.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may have signed on to the Saudi proposal, but his hardline speech made clear that he harbours no real expectations that it will get anywhere.

His call for Arab states to sever ties with Israel was calculated to embarrass Jordan and Egypt, the only Arab countries to have signed peace treaties with the Jewish state.

Mubarak, a central player in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks since the 1993 Oslo accords, may have stayed away in pique that he had not been consulted before Prince Abdullah floated his plan last month. Mubarak was in the United States at the time.

"Egypt has not been too keen on the Saudi plan. Mubarak has held the Palestinian card for the past 10 years," Hakim said.

Anani said Mubarak and King Abdullah had missed the summit because they did not want to be confronted by Arab hardliners.

"So they stayed away and let the Syrians take on the Saudis, and it worked. The absences won't take away from the initiative because Mubarak and the king are in the Saudi camp," he said.

- REUTERS

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