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| By: Israel Insider staff and partners |
| Published: March 30, 2006 |
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A summit of Arab leaders limped to a close Wednesday, offering a few lofty pledges where some had hoped it would take strong action on burning issues like the instability in Iraq and the deeply troubled Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Only two of the Arab League's 22 heads of state stayed in the Sudanese capital for the final sessions Wednesday - and 10 didn't attend the two-day gathering at all, including the leaders of regional powerhouses Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Saudi Arabia was so apathetic that at the summit's close it announced it did not want to take its turn hosting the next one in 2007, passing it to Egypt without explanation.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari castigated Arab countries in a speech to the final session after days of arguing with Arab officials in closed door meetings, urging them to do more to help his violence-torn country.
He accused Iraq's Arabs neighbors of "targeting Iraq since the fall of (Saddam Hussein's) dictatorship and failing to protect Iraq's border against terrorists." He said Arab media were "spreading and supporting falsifications" about the conflict there.
"It is our right to tell our brothers ... that we expect them to support our political march and extend any help and backing that will contribute to isolating terrorism and drying up of the sources that finance its activities," he said.
A resolution passed by the summit promises help in rebuilding Iraq and calls for Arab states to send ambassadors to Baghdad - a longtime demand of the new Iraqi government, which has seen their failure to do so since Saddam's fall in 2003 as a sign they don't recognize the country's new regime.
But the resolution set no timetable for the move, and Zebari dismissed it as "rhetoric" in closed-door meetings.
The summit drew comparisons by some to gatherings centuries ago by Arab tribal chieftains, who converged annually in Oqaz, in the deserts of the Arabian peninsula, to trade goods, compete in poetry and ponder issues of public interest. After a few days, they journeyed home again, having vented their grievances but often failing to solve any problems.
The only issue that appeared to galvanize the summit was the Israeli election on Tuesday, which set up acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to form a new government to carry out his plans to unilaterally withdrawal from parts of Judea and Samaria and draw Israel's borders by 2010.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and others at the summit demanded Israel not take any unilateral moves, and the summit repeated its support of a 2002 Arab League initiative that offers Israel peace with Arab nations in return for a full withdrawal from Arab lands. Israel has repeatedly rejected the initiative - and the militant group Hamas, whose new Palestinian government was sworn in Wednesday, has not endorsed it.
The summit also repeated its plan to provide $55 million a month to the Palestinian Authority, despite Western pressure to close up funding for the Hamas-led government. But most Arab countries have failed to follow through on their pledges since the plan was adopted in 2002, and Wednesday's resolutions contained no language pressing them to pay up.
On Sudan, the final statement promised Arab help in funding the African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur and an increase in the number of Arab soldiers in the force, but the leaders did not commit themselves to specific figures.
Still, Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol praised the summit as "a big success."
"The most important thing is that serious discussions went on," he told journalists when asked about the large number of absentee leaders.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa interrupted to point out that the percentage of the participation was the same as in past years. "We hope it increases with the increase of the dangerous issues," he said.
A handful of leaders are regularly absent, usually due to illness. In 2003, the run-up to the Iraq war kept at least 11 heads of state away.
Saudi Arabia's declining to host the next summit, surprised many delegates amid expectations the kingdom would use the summit to enhance its role as the Arab world's heavyweight.
Before a 2001 amendment in the Arab League charter made them annual, summits were only called when leaders felt a particular need for a meeting. The host countries rotate in Arabic alphabetic order, and since 2001 three have passed on their turn: the United Arab Emirates in 2002, Bahrain in 2003 and Djibouti in 2005.
Frustration and disappointment were evident in Arab capitals.
"A long time will pass before the Arab League will restore the confidence of its member states. They (Arabs) differ on every thing even on soccer," wrote Abdul Rahman Al Rashid, a columnist in a leading Arab daily, Asharq Al-Awsat.
AP contributed to this report. |
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