Arabs Gather for Summit Amid Discord

Arab leaders gathered here Tuesday for their first summit meeting in nearly three years, but at least four countries are boycotting the conference, and many heads of state have stayed home.

Conference sources said that fewer than half the kings or chief executives of the 21 Arab League members would head their delegations at the conference, which begins today.

Syria condemned the summit and said members sending delegations “will be punished.” Joining Syria in the boycott were South Yemen, Algeria and Syria-influenced Lebanon.

Angry Session

Morocco’s King Hassan II, the current chairman of the league, said the meeting’s main goal would be to strive for Arab unity. However, longstanding divisions arose Tuesday at an angry session of Arab foreign ministers held as a preliminary to the summit.

According to one source at the session, the Libyan delegation unsuccessfully sought to have the summit condemn Iraq for initiating the war with Iran in September, 1980.

The source, speaking on condition that he not be identified, said Libya also failed to get the foreign ministers to condemn America’s Middle East policies and the proposed meeting between the United States and a Palestinian-Jordanian delegation to prepare for possible peace talks with Israel.

Libya’s official news agency, in a report from Casablanca, said Libya also demanded that Iraq and Jordan be “put on trial” because of their friendly relations with Egypt.

Egypt was expelled from the Arab League and nearly all members severed relations with Egypt after it signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. Jordan re-established relations with Egypt last year, and Iraqi-Egyptian relations have become increasingly friendly, although the two countries do not have formal ties.

Libya Might Leave

Although Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi sent delegates to the foreign ministers’ meeting, a source said the divisiveness of the meeting raised the possibility that they would not remain for the summit.

King Hussein of Jordan and Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, arrived Tuesday in Casablanca. The heads of state of Sudan, Djibouti, Qatar, Bahrain, Somalia, Mauritania and the United Arab Emirates were also expected to attend.