MIDDLE EAST:THE 20TH Arab League summit ended yesterday in Damascus with a warning that the Arabs would reconsider their offer to make peace with Israel unless it agrees to withdraw from all Arab territory occupied in 1967.
The Damascus declaration stated: "The Arab side's continued promotion of the Arab peace initiative is tied to Israel's execution of its commitments under international agreements to achieve peace in the region."
Foreign ministers are set to meet this summer to review Israel's policies and decide whether to drop or alter the Arab peace plan.
All Arab speakers adopted a tough line towards Israel, accusing it of rejecting or ignoring the Arab peace plan put forward in 2002. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas adopted a pessimistic tone over the prospects of ongoing talks with Israel. "The coming couple of months are decisive," he said.
"If we don't reach a solution by the end of the year, it means the whole region will be on the verge of a new era of tension and loss of confidence in the peace process." He castigated Israeli settlement expansion and military operations against Gaza.
US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, who has been holding talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Jerusalem, said later that Israel had pledged to lift 50 of the 550-plus roadblocks, barriers and checkpoints erected in the West Bank with the aim of granting Palestinians greater freedom of movement and improving their living conditions.
The summit also expressed support for the Arab proposal to resolve the Lebanese crisis which involves the election of a consensus president, appointment of a national unity cabinet and adoption of a law to govern the 2009 parliamentary poll.
Lebanon, which boycotted the summit, has been without a president since last November. While the US-backed government and Hizbollah-led opposition, supported by Syria, agree on the choice of army chief Michel Suleiman for the post, they disagree on the composition of a new government or on a law for the 2009 parliamentary poll.
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad adopted a conciliatory tone on the Lebanese crisis in a bid to mollify Saudi King Abdullah who missed the summit. Riyadh accuses Damascus's Lebanese allies of obstructing the election of Gen Suleiman.
A senior Syrian source said that all three issues must be resolved: "If Suleiman is elected without agreement on a new government, the current government will still have to resign [ in accordance with Lebanon's constitution]. This will leave Suleiman and the speaker of parliament in charge."
Since both are considered to be friendly to Syria, this would not please the pro-US camp which includes Jordan and Egypt as well as Saudi Arabia.