As their divisions widen, Arab governments have scrapped a proposed summit to discuss the Israeli war on Gaza and Lebanon. Dina Ezzat reports Arab countries are ending any hope of convening a summit for heads of states to discuss a collective Arab reaction to the month-long Israeli aggression against Gaza and a two- week devastating conflict with Lebanon. The summit proposal that was presented less than two weeks ago by Yemen in reaction to the unchecked bloodshed in Gaza and Lebanon has now been scrapped. Earlier in the week, Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al-Qerabi declared his country's decision to end its attempts to convene the summit, "in order to avoid further disagreements among Arabs". Al-Qerabi's latest announcement came only hours after another in which he declared that his ministry had received the approval of 14 out of the 22 member states of the Arab League for the convening of the summit. In accordance with the rules of the Arab organisation, 15 countries had to agree for a decision to be taken for the summit to convene. Arab diplomatic sources had questioned the chances of convening this summit right from the day when the proposal was made, during an Arab foreign ministers' meeting at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, a couple of weeks ago. A good reason that this summit seemed unlikely was the clear lack of interest of two leading Arab states, with direct involvement in the Arab-Israeli conflict: Syria and Saudi Arabia. While Syria is supporting Hizbullah in its kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers to demand the exchange of Lebanese prisoners, Saudi Arabia has been overtly, and unprecedentedly, critical of Hizbullah and had all but held them responsible for the bloody Israeli aggression. "To judge by the unpleasant encounters between the Saudi and Syrian foreign ministers in Cairo two weeks ago, it was unrealistic to expect that Damascus or Riyadh would want a summit now, because while the first would have wanted the summit to declare support for Hizbullah, and Hamas in Palestine, the latter would want to take the opposite direction. Neither could have secured enough support," said one. While the Yemeni government did not give many reasons for its actions, informed sources suggest that Sanaa had received sufficient discouragement, not just from Riyadh and Damascus but also from Cairo and Amman, that argued the wisdom of pursuing a limited summit that could reach conclusions away from confrontations. In the words of one Arab diplomat, who requested his name to be withheld: "It is better this way because the summit would have certainly failed to deliver, and would have only prompted anger over already frustrated public opinion." Senior officials of leading rich Arab countries made it crystal clear that they have no intention of going into any political or economic confrontation with Washington over recent Middle East developments. Press questions addressed to Egyptian and Jordanian officials over the possibility of calling back their heads of diplomatic missions from Tel Aviv were shrugged off during the past few days. Similarly dismissed were questions addressed to Arab Gulf countries about the possibility of reducing their production of oil to force the American administration to restrict its bias towards Israel. Arab diplomats seem convinced that while high-level consultations would continue, no new proposals for a summit are likely to surface in the near future. The regular annual Arab summit convenes in March. Last year, a limited selection of Arab leaders met in Sudan. In an unprecedented attack by an Arab League secretary-general, on Tuesday said that "the official Arab stance is weak and divided". Speaking before an emergency session of the Arab Parliament, Moussa said that "it is becoming increasingly difficult to secure any collective Arab movement or to take any serious action on the current disturbing situation." The Arab League secretary- general insisted that in the continued absence of a unified Arab position, the situation is unlikely to improve on the front of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and a just and comprehensive peace will not be attained. "We have to work together to contain this state of disarray," he said.
