Delayed to mark the passing of Saudi Arabia's monarch, much continues to ride on the upcoming Arab summit, Dina Ezzat reports Ahead of wide participation in the funeral of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, Arab leaders consulted on the possible date and venue of an extraordinary summit that was scheduled to take place on Wednesday but was postponed following the announcement of the death of the Saudi monarch. Upon consultations with the Arab League, Egypt called for a summit to discuss a three-item agenda: the situation in Palestine leading up to and following the expected Israeli disengagement from Gaza, developments in Iraq in anticipation of the draft constitution, and -- which many fear -- civil strife and the collective Arab stance on terrorism. "This agenda remains the same. The issues are there. The need to discuss them at the highest level still stands," Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa told reporters in Sharm El-Sheikh on Monday. Having just announced the indefinite delay of the summit, Moussa stressed that "preparations will still be underway for the summit to convene within a few days." Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit also told reporters in Cairo that the summit was merely delayed and not cancelled. Speculation has been rife over the destiny of this extraordinary high-level Arab congregation. Algeria, the 2005 chair of the Arab summit, has been offended by the Egyptian decision to declare a specific date and venue for a summit away from what Algerian diplomats deemed "appropriate and adequate consultations with [Algerian] President Abdul-Aziz Boutaflika." Boutaflika subsequently declined to chair the proposed summit and according to Cairo-based Algerian diplomats had intended to absent himself and delegate his personal representative, Abdul-Aziz Belkhadem, to attend instead. Arab diplomats say that the funeral of King Fahd acted as an opportune, if solemn, moment to end Egyptian-Algerian tensions that had manifested in an exchange of unfriendly statements by ministers on both sides. Moussa underlined that this is a time for all Arab countries to close ranks and discuss issues of key importance to their strategic interests. According to Moussa, the situation in the Arab region requires a firm stance, especially in relation to the three items the delayed Sharm El-Sheikh summit was slated to discuss. Moussa is particularly disturbed by developments in Iraq. "Iraq's Arab identity is at serious risk," he said. While making no explicit link between the language used in the anticipated draft of the Iraqi constitution -- expected to be issued 15 August -- which refers to Iraq as part of the Arab world rather than an Arab country, the secretary-general argued that the Arab summit should underline "the identity of Iraq as an Arab country -- a very important Arab country in the Arab world -- that has an important role to assume." Moussa is also unsettled by what he fears are alarming signs of a possible, impending civil war in Iraq and that would undermine its ethnic unity. "The Arab world needs to provide an umbrella to help Iraqis maintain their national and ethnic unity," he said. The Arab League secretary-general is also hopeful that high-level Arab consultations could provide another opportunity for Palestinians to work out the details of their management of Gaza following the expected Israeli withdrawal after 15 August. "This is an important issue for Arabs to consult on. There has to be support for the Palestinians in the days leading to that date, and beyond," Moussa said this week in Sharm El-Sheikh. For its part, Egypt is hopeful that the convocation of an Arab summit this month in Sharm El-Sheikh -- so soon after terrorist attacks rocked the Red Sea city -- would lend a strong vote of confidence in the city and its level of security. This, Egyptian officials admit, would have been very useful not just for the purposes of promoting Sharm El-Sheikh, which analysts predict will not recover quickly a sizeable part of its share of world tourism, but also would have benefited President Hosni Mubarak's electoral campaign that is due to start 17 August. Egyptian sources say that the delayed Sharm El-Sheikh summit was expected to voice a strong condemnation of terrorism. The Iraqi government was also anxious to see and hear this stand against terrorism. "We have to take a firm stance against terrorism. We cannot but call those people who blow up children, women and men on Iraqi streets terrorists," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in Sharm El-Sheikh on Monday. "We want all Arabs to be clear about their condemnation of terrorism in Iraq. The killing and the bloodshed that we see in Iraq is sheer terrorism. It has no other name. And it is unacceptable for Arabs to condemn the killing of innocent civilians everywhere in the world except in Iraq," said Raad Al-Aloussi, Iraqi permanent representative to the Arab League. For its part, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is pinning much hope on the proposed Arab summit. While well aware of the limitations of such summits to deliver half of the promises it makes to the Palestinians, the PA still felt it needed this summit. Palestinian diplomats who asked for their names to be withheld said the PA had a main request of the Arab summit: to convince and, if need be, pressure Hamas and Islamic Jihad to refrain from taking militant action against Israeli troops during or after the withdrawal. The PA is also hopeful that Arab leaders with close ties to Washington, and for that matter Tel Aviv, commit their efforts to get Israel to slow down its provocative activities in the West Bank, including the construction of houses for Jewish settlers in Muslim parts of East Jerusalem. Egypt, the Arab League and several Arab capitals announced earlier this week a three-day mourning period for King Fahd. These three days end today by which time the Arab League should know when and where the delayed extraordinary summit would convene. Some Arab diplomatic sources predict that it will not be held at all in view of the inability of Arabs to come up with serious working plans to deal with the challenges ahead. Other diplomats, however, believe that irrespective of Arab weaknesses, there is too much at stake not to hold the summit. They predict the summit will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh before 15 August.
