Dina Ezzat reports on Arab attempts to minimise losses in the face of President Bush's U-turn on US Middle East policy "Where are the Arabs?" The question is now a fixture of TV reports and press stories filed from the Palestinian territories. Palestinians demonstrating against Israeli military coercion, US pro-Israel bias and international indifference to their plight are clearly just as angered by the failure of Arab governments to move beyond hollow statements. During the past four weeks Israel has assassinated two Hamas leaders, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdul-Aziz Al- Rantisi, and received unprecedented US support for what many Arab capitals concede is an "Israeli-tailored" final settlement. "Arabs are very angry. The entire region is entering a state of agitation," said Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa. Moussa's statement came in the wake of the assassination of Al-Rantisi and the exchange of letters between Bush and Sharon that pre-empts final status negotiations. Several Arab capitals have seen angry demonstrations since the murder of Al-Rantisi demanding the cutting of relations with the US in response to its pro-Israeli bias. On the official level some Arab capitals expressed shock over the shift in US policy, and almost all condemned the assassination of Al-Rantisi. "This is a serious situation that is going to lead to an increase in extremism and anti-US sentiments across the Arab world," warned President Hosni Mubarak. In response to the deteriorating situation in the wake of the new US policy Jordan's King Abdullah has delayed a Washington meeting with the US president. Dismay over Washington's position has been expressed in the UN and many European capitals. "This is the beginning of the end of the Palestinian cause. Our rights are being liquidated alongside our leaders," said one Cairo-based Palestinian diplomat. During recent weeks Arab governments' efforts to pass a UN Security Council resolution condemning the assassination of Sheikh Yassin fell foul of the US veto. "And there is no reason the US will act differently this time," argued a New York-based Arab diplomat asked about a draft UN Security Council resolution that Arab countries hoped would call on Israel to end its policy of targeted killings. Arab governments have called on the US to consider the consequences of its new policy on the Middle East. A statement issued by the Arab League following a meeting of permanent representatives rejected "the US's new stance on the Middle East". "What we are telling the US administration is that despite all the problems it encountered at least the peace process was there... the pre-judgement of final status talks involved in the new position adopted by President Bush in his press conference with Sharon last week puts an end to any semblance of the peace process that we were trying to revive," a Washington-based Arab diplomat commented. But neither official statements nor one-to-one talks are producing positive results from the American administration. In response to Arab anger over Washington's Middle East turnaround and the assassination of Al-Rantisi, US Secretary of State Colin Powell insisted that Arabs were "over-reacting" and that Washington was capable of containing such reactions. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice simply repeated the mantra that Israel has the right to defend itself against terror. "Americans insist it is the Palestinians who should be blamed for blocking the roadmap since they failed to curb terror or introduce reform, both of which were necessary for any progress in the peace process," the Washington source said. Some Arab capitals also blame the Palestinians, at least partially, for the current situation with some Arab officials arguing that at a time when the Israeli prime minister was quickly moving towards securing US support for unilateral disengagement and the construction of the separation wall the Palestinian Authority was involved in financial corruption and infighting. "We warned [the Palestinians] repeatedly that they had to get their act together and we told them that the international power play is not in favour of Arabs. They did not budge," one Egyptian official said. Arab capitals also argue that the PA could have done more to curb militant attacks against Israeli civilians. Of the $330 million in financial support pledged to the PA in Arab summit resolutions less than 50 per cent was paid in 2002. In 2003 the figure dropped to 15 per cent. "This is a clear sign of the decline in support for the Palestinians," one Palestinian diplomat commented. There are no indications that that declining support will be reversed with some Arab capitals arguing that political support should now be conditional on serious Palestinian commitment to reform and the election of a new leadership. "There is no point in asking the Americans to change their position. They will not, not even if a new administration is elected," said a senior Arab diplomat. The question now, he added, is how to move ahead. At the next Arab summit -- the date of which is still being debated -- Arab governments are planning to re-launch the Arab peace initiative adopted at the 2002 Beirut summit. "By doing so we are not putting our heads in the sand but underlining our position that any final status settlement has to recognise the relevant UN Security Council resolutions that give the Palestinians the right to have a state along the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital and that a fair settlement has to be reached on the issue of refugees," Moussa said. Meanwhile Arab capitals are launching an intensive campaign to lobby European support. But, as one senior Arab diplomat concedes, "sad as the situation is there is not much more that we can do in view of the current state of overall Arab weakness." International Response to the Bush Declaration on the Palestinian Right to Return
