Arab Nations Challenge Israel to Pursue Peace

Arab leaders holding their first summit since the Persian Gulf crisis challenged the new Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday to prove its commitment to real peace by giving up land in exchange for security “without slackness or hesitation.”

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who opened the summit representing 21 of the 22 Arab League members--Iraq was not invited--said Arab countries have no wish to return to war, or even to the former state of “no war, no peace” with Israel.

Addressing princes, presidents and potentates seated in Arabic alphabetical order around a huge pale-green oval table, Mubarak declared: “Peace to the Arab nation is an inalienable strategic goal. We are not warmongers, and we reject violence.”

Instead, Mubarak said, Arabs will work for the comprehensive Middle East peace outlined at the 1991 Madrid Conference, based on Israel’s eventual return of territory taken in battle in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and southern Lebanon.

Even without overtly bellicose statements, the Arab leaders evidently hoped that the symbolism of their drawing together for the first time since 1990 will have an impact on political calculations in Israel and Washington.

U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher is due to meet with Netanyahu in Israel this week to explore the prime minister’s plans for the peace process.

The summit’s official agenda was to discuss the peace process and build solidarity, but side disputes that have divided Arab countries began bubbling to the surface almost immediately, according to participants.

Among these was a push by Jordan, Bahrain and Algeria to draft a strong statement condemning terrorism, and the desire of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates for a censure of Iran’s Islamic government for alleged threats to security in the Persian Gulf.

Both initiatives could be seen as criticisms of Syria, which has been accused of backing terrorist groups and maintains close links with Tehran.

The two-day Arab summit was called after last month’s surprise victory of the conservative Likud Party leader in Israel’s election for prime minister. Netanyahu had based his campaign on rejecting further territorial concessions to Arab states neighboring Israel.

“We call upon the new Israeli government to cooperate with us so as to complete the peace process without slackness or hesitation. We call upon the Israeli government to prove its commitment to real peace to the international community--no more and no less,” Mubarak said.

Apparently alluding to Netanyahu’s public statements that he would never barter over the status of East Jerusalem, Mubarak said, “If any party allows itself to choose what to negotiate and what not, then this means that the other parties have the same right, which thus takes the peace process back to square one or rather totally destroys it.”

In Israel, Netanyahu’s aides said they would have no comment until the summit is over.

Jordan, arguably the most pro-Israel Arab country, was happy with the tone of the meeting, said the kingdom’s information minister, Marwan Muasher.

He said it was significant that the conference “has not sounded alarm bells” and that most present agreed that the peace process would continue with the new Israeli government.

The leaders met amid heavy security at a Cairo conference center situated next to the tomb of assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, who was the first Arab head of state to risk peace with Israel and was subsequently killed by Islamic extremists.

Opening speeches by Mubarak and by Tunisian President Zine el Abidine ben Ali were watched by journalists, but the rest of the first day’s proceedings were held in private. A final communique is expected today.

Mubarak, as host, worked hard behind the scenes to heal rifts within the Arab community that could undermine a united front against Netanyahu’s hard-line stances.

He led by example, publicly embracing and kissing Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, accused by Mubarak of planning his attempted assassination last year in Ethiopia.

Syrian leader Hafez Assad was ushered to a meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and another with Jordan’s King Hussein, two leaders with whom he had not spoken since 1994 because of their pursuit of separate peace agreements with Israel.

Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi made a dramatic, last-minute arrival, flying into Cairo in defiance of United Nations sanctions that ban air travel to and from his country until he surrenders for trial the suspected bombers of Pan Am Flight 103, downed over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988.

Unlike the somber faces of the other leaders at the summit opening, Kadafi appeared to be enjoying the spotlight and mugged for the cameras.

The gathering was the first Arab League summit since a 1990 crisis session over Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, the event that sparked the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The organization did not even meet to mark its 50th anniversary last year.

Mubarak said the current summit was necessary for the Arabs at this “critical stage.”

“The issue of paramount importance to all of us and to our peoples is to close Arab ranks, clear the atmosphere and enhance Arab solidarity,” Mubarak told the participants.

But differences obviously remain.

King Hussein, in remarks sure to rankle Syria’s Assad, used his speech principally to denounce terrorism. Jordanian officials recently accused Syrian operatives of mounting plots to destabilize their country.

“In particular,” said Hussein, according to a text released by his aides, “we must confront the problem of cross-border terrorism, through condemnation, pursuit and through the liquidation of all pockets of terrorism, wherever their dens may be.”

The king also appeared to chide Assad for failing to reach a final agreement on the Golan Heights during five years of negotiations with Israel’s previous Labor-led governments.

“We live in a world that moves forward. It does not wait for the hesitant,” the king’s text said.