CAIRO, 21 March — Egypt and Syria pledged yesterday to persuade fellow Arab leaders at a forthcoming summit to agree on a Saudi peace plan that has become the focus of efforts to end the Arab-Israeli conflict. Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Syria’s Bashar Assad, whose views weigh heavily on the direction of Middle East peacemaking, also called on Israel to withdraw from occupied Arab land and for the creation of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Bashar met twice with Mubarak, first on his arrival in Cairo from Damascus and later at Mubarak’s presidential palace.
Neither leader spoke to reporters after the meetings, but a joint communiqué later said they had reviewed "the dangers and challenges facing the Arab nation at this critical point."
The two leaders welcomed "the positive spirit" of the initiative by Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard. They pledged "to contribute at the next Arab summit to adopt a common Arab position concerning this initiative" that calls for normalizing Arab ties with Israel in return for its withdrawal from all land occupied in 1967.
Mubarak and Assad, who headed back home to Damascus later, hosted separate talks Tuesday with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal.
While promoting Arab-Israeli peace, Mubarak and Bashar warned against "targeting" Iraq amid concerns that the United States is preparing to launch a military strike against Baghdad as part of its "war on terror".
Their meetings in Cairo coincided with anti-Israeli demonstrations in Sudan, Kuwait, Lebanon and Syria that attracted thousands in protest of Israel’s use of brute force against Palestinians. They also called on Arab leaders to give the Palestinians more support.
Intense Arab diplomacy and angry mass protests have been taking place in the lead up to the March 27-28 Arab summit in Beirut. In an apparent acknowledgment to the mood on Arab streets, Mubarak and Assad used their joint communiqué to urge Israel to stop its repressive measures against the Palestinians.
The communiqué marked the highest-placed official Syrian comment to date on Crown Prince Abdullah’s proposal. The plan, announced by Crown Prince Abdullah in a newspaper interview last month, has the support of most Arab countries and has been welcomed by the United States, the United Nations and the European Union.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has endorsed it as a fresh start, but Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has not commented on it, though he has opposed a full withdrawal to pre-1967 borders.
In Beirut, Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat must be able to attend the Arab summit. Israel has set conditions on letting Arafat go to Lebanon.
"This issue is urgent and necessary," Prince Saud said after meeting Lebanese President Emile Lahoud. "We hope that arrangements will be made (for Arafat) to attend the summit and return safely," Prince Saud added. Israel said on Tuesday it would let Arafat, whom the Israeli Army has confined to his Ramallah compound since early December, go to the summit only if he executed a US truce plan to end 18 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Al-Muasher, who was also in Beirut, called on the summit to back the Saudi plan. "We hope it will turn into an Arab initiative and become the framework for a just and comprehensive solution," Muasher said after meeting his Lebanese counterpart Mahmoud Hammoud.
