The just-concluded Arab summit succeeded in rallying ranks for peace with Israel by unanimously approving a Saudi proposal-based Arab peace plan.
The historic peace option came through the two-day summit Thursday in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, having been overshadowed by absence of more than half of the heads of state of the 22-member Arab League countries and a chaos resulted from the controversial interruption of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's televised speech to the conference.
Arab leaders hailed the summit as a "highly successful" event, citing the Arab consensus on the peace plan and the improvement of relations between arch rivals -- Iraq and Kuwait.
Former Arab League Secretary-General Esmat Abdel-Meguid told Xinhua that the summit was against the backdrop of "an unprecedented Israeli escalation" against the Palestinians in the past few months and more than one year of the impasse of the Mideast peace process.
"During the summit, Arab leaders discussed profound and sensitive issues, and under the current circumstances, Arab leaders were required to make choices and find solutions to problems facing the Arab nation," he said.
Arab Peace Plan -- Clear Message to Israelis
Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Mohab Mokbel said that the Arab peace plan puts Israel at bay, showing to the world that the Arabs desire peace while bringing to light an Israeli lie that the Arabs want war.
"The peace plan sent a clear message to the Israelis that if you continue to support horrible and bloody policies pursued by your government, you may pay high price for that," he told Xinhua in a telephone interview.
Under the the Arab peace plan, Israel must withdraw from all the Arab territories occupied since 1967, and there should be a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem in accordance with UN resolution 194.
In addition, Israel must recognize a sovereign independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
In return, Arabs states will establish "normal relations" in the context of a comprehensive peace with Israel.
The Arab peace plan was based on a Saudi Mideast proposal, whichwas raised by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul-Aziz in an interview with the New York Times in mid-February.
"The summit marked an important step forward toward realizing the Mideast peace by Arab nations," Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Obeid told Xinhua Thursday shortly after his return from the summit, where he represented Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
"The most important result of the summit was that the Arab peace plan was unanimously approved," Obeid said.
During the summit, some Arab countries called for an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and return to the negotiating table, while some others insisted the Arab world continue offering firm support for the Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation.
"There was no doubt about the fact that the Palestine issue became the biggest challenge for the summit," according to Said Kadry, military and political advisor for Strategic Studies Center affiliated to the elite Egyptian Al Ahram newspaper.
"But the summit succeeded in healing rifts in this respect, and as a result, the Arab leaders approved a clear-cut document on seeking a just solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees based on UN resolution 194," he said.
Iraq, Kuwait Agree on Reconciliation
Iraq on Friday hailed an agreement it reached with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia at the Beirut Arab summit, expressing the hope that its ties with the two foes in the Gulf War will be normalized.
"What has been achieved at the summit between Iraq and Kuwait, Saudi Arabia was historic," said Ezzat Ibrahim, vice chairman of Iraq's ruling Arab Baath Socialist Party and envoy of President Saddam Hussein at the summit.
Ibrahim's remarks echoed Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who said that Kuwait is fully satisfied with the agreement.
"Of course, I'm 100 percent satisfied," the Kuwaiti foreign minister said upon his return from the summit on Thursday.
Ibrahim also embraced with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul-Aziz and shook hands with Kuwaiti officials during the summit.
Iraq invaded and occupied kuwait in August 1990 and was evicted out of the small emirate by the US-led multinational forces in the 1991 Gulf War.
Iraq's relations with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have since remained cold and severed.
A final document adopted at the end of the summit stipulates that Iraq respects the independence and the sovereignty of Kuwait, as well as its security, a guarantee for no repetition of what happened in 1990.
It also calls on Iraq and Kuwait to cooperate in seeking quick solutions to pending issues, such as prisoners of war and the return of properties Iraq captured from the Gulf emirate.
Said of the strategic studies center termed the improvement of the Iraq-Kuwait ties as the most important result of the summit, expressing the hope that the summit would become a starting point for consolidating Arab unity.
( March 30, 2002)
