Arabs say they will not amend the Beirut peace initiative, but Dina Ezzat asks whether they can update it This week has been marked by a wave of official statements issued in Arab capitals to the effect that the Arab peace initiative will not be amended. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal, Egyptian Presidential Spokesman Suleiman Awad and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit have all asserted that the Arab initiative will not be altered. Some have even suggested that the Israelis can take it or leave it. Others argued that if Israel wished for amendments it should have reciprocated much earlier. The question, however, remains: will the Arab summit -- expected to take place in Riyadh 28-29 March -- offer the "un-amended" initiative within new political packaging more appealing to the Israeli, or for that matter the American, eye? Debate has been escalating over proposed Israeli amendments to the peace initiative adopted by the Arab League summit in Beirut in 2002. The Israelis, according to Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, find "some positive elements" in the initiative but declare they will only cooperate if Arabs make it more tailored to the Israeli point of view. Israel is pleased with the offer of total normalisation of relations with all Arab countries. However, it rejects the price that Arabs ask in return: Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem, a legally sound settlement to the question of millions of Palestinian refugees who are entitled under international law to return to the homes they were expelled from, and the establishment of a viable Palestinian state. Israel wants the Arab summit to amend its position in relation to the issue of refugees, 1967 borders, and East Jerusalem. Its proposals have not only been falling on deaf ears. Arab diplomatic sources say that Amman has been particularly responsive to the idea of certain modifications. Sources add that while in Washington last week to address the US Congress, Jordan's King Abdullah promised American interlocutors to engage the key concerned Arab capitals, Cairo and Riyadh, whose influence on the Palestinian Authority could produce "a new horizon". In his speech before US Congress last Thursday, King Abdullah argued that "a lasting peace can only be built on understanding, agreement and compromise," and that the Arab peace initiative "puts forward a path for both" Arabs and Israelis to pursue. Abdullah said Tuesday that ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is crucial and that efforts were "underway, with the backing of the United States, to prepare the necessary framework for the Israelis and Palestinians to return to the negotiating table." Abdullah spoke following meetings with David Welch, assistant US secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, and a group of US diplomats. Yesterday, in Amman, the foreign ministers of Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia met to discuss prospects of Arab- Israeli peacemaking in view of American failure to convince Israel to begin final status talks as Egypt has been proposing. "There is a lot of interest that is shared by all concerned in this region to move the peace process forward, to bring the parties back to the negotiating table, to make progress on that front," Jordanian government spokesman Nasser Jawdeh said. The premise of the meeting, as proposed by the Jordanian side, is that the fundamentals, not necessarily the text of the initiative, is what Arabs need to emphasise. On the other hand, the Jordanians accept that it is too difficult for Arab leaders, especially at these times of high anti-American and anti-Israeli sentiment, to draft a new initiative with a lower ceiling than that suggested in 2002. Indeed, there is a clear awareness on all sides that any attempt to amend the initiative, especially with regards the issue of refugees, would risk splitting Arab countries into two camps. What Jordan sees as possible, however, is to include in resolutions to be issued by the Arab summit later this month a language that "indicates Arab willingness to talk and reach a deal," especially on the issue of refugees since, as one Arab diplomat said, all Arab capitals know very well that there is no way that millions of Palestinians will be allowed to return to their original towns that have now become Israeli cities, even if they would want to anyway. Speaking in Cairo Tuesday following a meeting at the office of the foreign minister, Israeli Ambassador to Egypt Shalom Cohen said he conveyed his country's demands for amendments in the expectation that Egypt would be of assistance on that front. In later remarks, Foreign Minister Abul-Gheit said the Israeli request was rejected. "There are some basic rights of the Palestinians that are embedded in this initiative. These rights should be preserved," said Abul-Gheit, in clear reference to the legal right of return. In the eyes of many Arab capitals, the return of a few thousand refugees to now Israel -- although not necessarily to their exact former homes -- and the entitlement of others to citizenship in a would-be Palestinian state would be fair preservation of the rights of these refugees. However, for the Palestinian Authority (PA), and a majority of Arab capitals, Israel would have to start a credible negotiations process and agree with the PA to better administer the occupation while awaiting the beginning of talks to end it. This trade-off is likely to be the main subject of a meeting to be held in Aswan 25 March between visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Abul-Gheit, along with counterparts from Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The Aswan meeting comes practically on the eve of the Arab summit and is designed to allow Rice to convey to key actors ahead of the summit a clear US vision on the Palestinian-Israeli issue. The foreign ministers of these four Arab states -- labelled the "Arab Quartet" -- are scheduling another meeting, two weeks after the summit, with their counterpart of the international Quartet to review progress in the wake of the Arab summit. The "peace diplomacy" being promoted by Jordan comes against a backdrop of warmer Jordanian-Israeli ties. The Israeli government Sunday approved an extensive regional cooperation project that includes the creation of a railway linking Jordan to the northern Israeli port of Haifa. The plan, dubbed the "economic peace corridor," is spearheaded by Minister for Regional Development Shimon Peres and includes an array of projects between Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians. Most of the projects of the "peace corridor" will be concentrated in the 500 kilometre-long Jordan Valley between the Red Sea resort town of Eilat and the Yarmuch River on the border with Syria. The project includes the construction of a 160-kilometre canal between the Red Sea and the gradually evaporating Dead Sea, a joint airport for the three countries, and the creation of a regional industrial zone. The most groundbreaking project, and perhaps the most controversial, would be linking Israel's railway system to Jordan's to allow the future transport of goods from Iraq and Jordan to Haifa.
