BEIRUT, 28 March— It was a day of ups and downs yesterday at the Arab summit here, but mostly of ups — and it ended on a positive note when the peace plan submitted by Crown Prince Abdullah was unanimously approved.
An Arab League committee was also established to push forward the peace process on the basis of the Saudi proposal.
What appeared to be high drama at about mid-afternoon, when Palestinian delegates walked out of the meeting in protest at the Lebanese authorities barring of Yasser Arafat’s speech relayed by satellite, turned out to be no more than a storm in a teacup. Palestinian International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath told me that Arafat’s speech will be relayed to the delegates today. There were clear indications that the Palestinian delegates will return today.
The meeting of the foreign ministers was friendly and productive. It looked into ways in which the summit may bring about closer unity among Arab countries.
There was even talk of a possible thawing of relations between Iraq and Kuwait.
In an unprecedented direct address to the Israelis on two occasions, the crown prince repeated his offer of full normalization of relations between the Arab world and the Jewish state for the return of all occupied Arab land and the establishment of a Palestinian state within pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital and the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat hailed the Saudi initiative as courageous. “In the name of the Palestinian people and its leadership, we hail the farsighted and courageous initiative that was launched by Crown Prince Abdullah. We hope that it becomes a group Arab initiative in favor of the peace of the brave,” Arafat said in his speech on the Arab television news channel Al-Jazeera.
“The Palestinian leadership... asserts that this initiative represents a sound basis for a just and comprehensive solution and a just peace between Arab states and Israel,” added Khaled Salam, a senior aide to the Palestinian president.
In his speech, Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, called on Arab leaders to endorse his peace plan and then submit it to the UN Security Council.
Prince Abdullah also urged Israel to respond positively to the new peace initiative. “Peace comes from the heart and the mind, not from the barrel of a gun. The time has come for Israel to put its trust in peace as it has gambled on war for decades without success,” he said.
The crown prince added: “We embarked upon the peace process with open eyes and clear minds, and we have never accepted that this process can be turned into a non-binding obligation imposed by any one party.”
The crown prince reminded the Israelis that the Palestinians will not stop their uprising until a just and comprehensive peace settlement is reached. “I would further say to the Israeli people that, if their government abandons the policy of force and oppression and embraces true peace, we will not hesitate to accept the right of the Israeli people to live in security with the people of the region,” the said.
Crown Prince Abdullah called on Arabs to strengthen their unity and solidarity.
“Dispute not with one another, lest ye falter and your strength depart from you,” he quoted from a Qur’anic verse. “The believers in their amicability, compassion and warmth are like the human body; if an organ feels an ailment, the rest of the body will react with pain and sleeplessness,” he said, quoting a saying by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Crown Prince Abdullah stressed that the restoration of legitimate rights in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon was the prime concern of the Arab and Islamic worlds. “These rights, which are linked with the cherished occupied lands, cannot be erased from memory. Nor will the passage of time diminish their importance. No right is lost that has an advocate behind it,” he added.
He commended the Palestinian intifada against Israeli occupation forces and said it was backed by all Arabs and Muslims. “The intifada highlights that the steadfastness will not wither, that bravery will not retreat, and that justice will prevail,” he said.
“Every person in Palestine — young and old — understands that the way to the liberation of his land and soil is either through steadfastness and struggle, or a just and comprehensive peace. It is therefore incumbent on the Israeli government to understand this and deal with it by embarking on a new path, and that is the path of peace,” the crown prince said in his address.
“When the Arabs opted for peace as a strategic choice, they did not do so out of crippling desperation or debilitating weakness, and Israel is mistaken if it believes that it can impose an unjust peace by force.
“Peace is a free and voluntary choice made by two equal parties, and it cannot survive if it is based on oppression and humiliation. The peace process is based on a clear principle: land for peace. This principle is accepted by the international community as a whole, and is embodied in UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, and was adopted by the Madrid conference in 1991. It was affirmed by the resolutions of the European Community and other organizations, and re-emphasized once more this month, by UN Security Council Resolution 1397.
“It is clear in our minds, and in the minds of our brethren in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, that the only acceptable objective of the peace process is the full Israeli withdrawal from all the occupied Arab territories, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Al-Quds (east Jerusalem) as its capital, and the return of refugees.
“Without moving toward this objective, the peace process is an exercise in futility and a play on words and a squandering of time which perpetuates the cycle of violence.
“The return to the negotiating table is a meaningless endeavor, if the negotiations do not produce tangible and positive results, as has been the case for the past 10 years,” the crown prince said in his keynote speech.
Lebanese President Emile Lahoud warned Arab leaders that “submission” to pressures for ending the resistance against Israeli occupation of Arab territories will make them lose their rights. “The real danger resides in our collective submission to international pressures to put an end to the resistance and intifada in return for halting aggression, totally discarding the occupation and the rights of those who have been wronged,” Lahoud said.
“If we succumb to this denigrating trade-off, we will be reneging on the thousands of fallen martyrs, ultimately losing our souls and our cause,” he said.
Syrian President Bashar Assad took a harder line. “I propose the breaking off of Arab countries’ relations with Israel until the achievement of a just and comprehensive peace, with the total (Israeli) withdrawal from the territories occupied in 1967,” he said.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed to both Sharon and Arafat to declare peace as a strategic aim. Annan said: “It is their role and their duty to lead their peoples back from the brink. History, and their peoples, will judge them harshly if they do not.”
Annan urged Arab states to support the Saudi proposal, describing it as the “foundation” for peace based on the land-for-peace principle.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, representing the European Union, delivered a similar message to Arab leaders.
“I greet President Yasser Arafat as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people,” Aznar said and regretted that Arafat was not present.
Prominent among the absentees at the summit were Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan’s King Abdallah.
