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U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to meet with 8 U.S.-allied Arab countries on Tuesday. (AP file)
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| By Associated Press October 3, 2006 |
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Eight U.S.-allied Arab countries are banding together to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on her trip here, in hopes of reviving the deadlocked Arab-Israeli peace process and making headway on other regional issues.
During their meeting Tuesday with Rice, the ministers of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, Egypt and Jordan are expected coordinate efforts to buttress the stature of the "moderate" Palestinian leader and stem Iran's growing influence.
The trip comes as Arab countries have in recent weeks halted dealings with the Palestinian militant group Hamas. They want it to join a unity government that supports a 2002 Arab League plan that would offer peace to Israel in exchange for land and they've even started funneling aid through Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Arab diplomats say.
The goal of the secretary of state's tour is to push ahead the U.S. democratization agenda and discuss threats to stability in the region such as Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah, Rice's spokesman has said. But the Arab ministers' priority -- officials and media reports in the region say -- is relaunching peace talks.
On Sunday, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II called for Palestinian-Israeli talks to be resumed "as soon as possible." Their meeting came as the worst internal Palestinian violence since Hamas took power in March shook the Gaza Strip.
Egypt, a longtime mediator among Palestinian factions and between Israel and the Palestinians, appears to be losing its patience with Hamas.
Last week, Egypt's powerful chief of intelligence Omar Suleiman demanded of Hamas the immediate release of Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit. Militants close to Hamas captured the soldier in June, triggering Israeli military retaliation. Suleiman has been working for months on a prisoner swap deal.
But Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Monday that Hamas turned down a deal to exchange up to 1,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel in return for Shalit.
Suleiman also told the Syrian-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal that the militant group should cooperate fully with Abbas to form a national unity government, a step that has been stalled by Hamas' refusal to join a Cabinet that recognizes Israel.
Meanwhile, Aboul Gheit accused Hamas of "reneging on what the Palestinians had already accepted," referring to the Palestinian-Israeli peace agreements that created the Palestinian Authority.
"Those Palestinians who resist the negotiations to secure what it is left of their interests will be sorry," he said, the pan-Arab Ashraq Al Awsat newspaper reported Saturday.
Jordan, Saudi Arabia and some Gulf states expressed similar concerns. The Gulf Cooperation Council comprises Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
On Saturday, Arab media reported that the intelligence chiefs of Egypt, Jordan and some Gulf nations met last week in Aqaba, Jordan with their Israeli counterpart. Israeli media said the meeting was held "to discuss the confrontation with the extreme Middle Eastern states and how to handle the threat of terror."
Meanwhile, Hamas' isolation from the Arab fold deepens.
"They are virtually boycotting them. No Arab government talks to them, even not the Arab League," an official from the regional organization said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Just what will be on the table Tuesday when Arab leaders meet Rice is unclear, but Egyptian semiofficial newspaper Rose El Youssef dubbed the gathering in "the meeting of great consequence." The paper's chief editor, Abdullah Kamal, who is close to key decision-makers in Egypt, said all the region's conflicts will be on its agenda.
"Iraq, the Gulf, Lebanon, and Darfur will be there, but the crux of all the region's issues is the Arab-Israeli conflict, which should take the priority," he told the AP.
By sending Rice to the area after the war in Lebanon, Washington may be signaling its willingness to listen to the concerns of its moderate Arab leaders -- though its unlikely the two sides share the same priorities. Washington seems intent on building support to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions, though not averse to exploring ways putting the peace process back on track.
But the Bush administration's sees a greater harmony of interests in the aftermath of the war in Lebanon, believing that Arab leaders are now more concerned that Iran, a staunch supporter of Hezbollah, poses a threat to regional stability.
Opponents of those who meet Rice Tuesday said the talks aim to coordinate a strategy to weaken Hamas and buttress the Abbas-led Authority.
They also said that Washington is being low key on issues of reform and democratization in the Middle East.
"Washington wants to divide the region into moderate and radical regimes and make them fight one another," said Hassan Abu Talib, editor of the Cairo-based Arab Strategic Report. "All will pay the same price and Israel will be the only winner," he said.
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