nytimes.com
March 27, 2004
Arab Summit Collapses Amid Differences
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 11:16 p.m. ET

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Arab-Summit.html

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) -- An Arab League summit collapsed
Saturday two days before it was to start because of
differences over peace overtures to Israel and a
U.S.-backed plan to bring more democracy to the Middle
East.

The derailing of the summit, slated to open Monday,
reflected the turmoil in Arab ranks after Monday's
Israeli assassination of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed
Yassin.

Arab leaders had hoped to use the conference, which
was to begin Monday, to relaunch the Saudi-crafted
peace initiative and to submit their own proposals for
political reforms. The Saudi plan of two years ago
offered peace to Israel in return for a withdrawal
from all lands overrun in the 1967 war.

However, Israel's killing of Yassin provoked
widespread outrage in the Arab world, making it
politically risky for some states to pursue a peace
initiative.

No new date for the summit was announced.

There was no immediate comment from the Bush
administration, but U.S. officials had worried that
Yassin's killing might encourage hardliners to scuttle
the summit and thwart any meaningful Arab moves toward
easing tensions with Israel.

Tunisian Foreign Ministry official Hatem bin Salem
told reporters the differences were ``particularly
over the issues of modernization and reform ... to
reactivate Arab institutions.''

``Tunisia strongly regrets the postponement of this
summit on which Arab and international opinion has
pinned great hopes, considering the delicate situation
through which the Arab nation is going and the
deadlock of the Palestinian issue after the recent
tragic events,'' the Foreign Ministry said in a
written statement.

Diplomats said Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben
Ali made the decision to call off the summit. A number
of Arab leaders said earlier they would not attend.

In preliminary talks by Arab foreign ministers, Syria
sought to block proposals for political reform and for
endorsing Libya's move to abandon its weapons of mass
destruction programs, Arab diplomats said.

Syria also wanted to block a summit declaration
advancing the 2002 Saudi initiative, they said.

``The Syrians acted as if they want to turn the tables
on the whole summit,'' one Arab diplomat said on
condition he not be named.

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa said he
regretted the postponement, adding President Bashar
Assad had already been on his way to Tunisia.

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, father of the 2002 peace
plan, and six other heads of state had earlier decided
to stay away from the summit -- although some did so
for genuine health reasons.

On leaving Saturday's talks, Arab League
Secretary-General Amr Moussa brushed past reporters,
repeating three times: ``No comment.''

Foreign ministers since Thursday have been considering
position papers on reform submitted by five countries
-- Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Qatar and Tunisia.

Arab leaders had also planned to unveil a political
reform package in response to the U.S. ``Greater
Middle East Initiative'' to promote more freedom in a
region where change could threaten many regimes.

Moussa earlier cautioned that public reaction to U.S.
reform calls had been negative among Arab populations,
who distrust American motives because of U.S. support
for Israel.

``Stability will not come except by reaching peace and
a proper settlement,'' Moussa told reporters earlier
Saturday. ``Therefore, reaching a settlement to the
Arab-Israeli conflict and the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict serves the cause of stability in the region,
which in turn serves the requirements of development
and the movement of reform.''

Foreign ministers who met in Cairo earlier this month
also failed to reach consensus on a response to the
Greater Middle East Initiative. Arab governments, led
by Egypt and Saudi Arabia, have criticized the
initiative for failing to take account of Arab culture
and tradition.

In the 2002 initiative toward Israel, Arab states for
the first time collectively offered Israel peace,
recognition and normal relations in return for Israeli
withdrawal from Arab territories, the establishment of
a Palestinian state and a solution for Palestinian
refugees.

Hamas's political leader Khaled Mashaal urged Arab
leaders to support the resistance against Israeli
occupation instead of offering Israel more proposals.

``Peace with Israel has become an illusion; we should
not be wasting more time on it,'' Mashaal, head of
Hamas' political bureau, told the Arab language
television station Al-Arabiya.



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