A gesture of solidarity

President Mubarak's absence from the Arab summit caught everybody by surprise, but the Egyptian leader explained that he stayed away as an expression of solidarity with Arafat. Nevine Khalil reports from Beirut
As Arab leaders were arriving in Beirut early on Tuesday, the city was drenched in rain. In the evening, news came that President Hosni Mubarak would not be attending the Arab summit. The announcement dealt a blow to the conference and dampened spirits in Beirut. Without Mubarak, the decisions reached at the summit would not appear to be the result of a united Arab front, committed to one goal and one strategy.
Rumours began as early as Saturday that Mubarak would not be attending the summit if he does not ensure that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat will accompany him. However, the next day, and upon his arrival in Beirut, Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said that President Mubarak was invited to the summit, and he has accepted the invitation. Reassurances by Mubarak himself to a number of Arab leaders during telephone conversations dispelled rumours.
But even in an interview published in An- Nahar newspaper on Tuesday, Mubarak did not specify when he will be arriving in Beirut for the summit. "I haven't decided exactly yet," he said. And within hours, Egyptian television announced that Mubarak would not be making the trip to the Lebanese capital, and instead is sending Prime Minister Atef Ebeid to head the Egyptian delegation.
In statements to the press yesterday, Mubarak intimated that his absence from the summit was an expression of solidarity with Palestinian Yasser Arafat and anger at the humiliating manner in which Israel has treated the issue of the Palestinian leader's attendance of the Beirut summit.
"Generally, I am always very careful to take part in the meetings of the Arab summit [conference], but this summit in Beirut is surrounded by certain circumstances that make it different from any other summit," Mubarak told reporters in Cairo, after chairing a meeting with a ministerial working group.
Elaborating, Mubarak reiterated that he had adviced Arafat not to travel from Ramallah to Beirut for the summit meeting, explaining that if Arafat went to Beirut and then is not allowed to return, this would put the Arab leaders in the worst possible position -- for no one, not the Europeans nor the Americans, will be able to convince Sharon to allow Arafat to return to the Palestinian territories.
A visibly angry Mubarak pointed out that Israel's terms to allow Arafat's return (that he would refrain from making any 'incidiery' remarks in Beirut) was an excercise in "utter humiliation'. "Having suggested to Arafat not to go to the Arab summit, I waited for his decision... and decided not to go [myself], for this [Israel's terms] has been an ugly and humiliating attempt at blackmail," said Mubarak.
The president, on the other hand, vehemently denied suggestions that his absence from the summit expressed reservations regarding the Saudi peace initiative. "I support any peace initiative, especially when it comes from Saudi Arabia, because it is of a special nature... This is the first time Saudi Arabia [declares its willingness to call for normal relations between the Arabs and Israel in return for Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories and implementing UN Resolution 194 and other related resolutions]," pointed out Mubarak, and as such "I have to support it 100 per cent, because I have a peace treaty with Israel and want peace to prevail in the whole region, in the interest of its peoples."
But Mubarak was only one of 13 heads of state who stayed away from the two-day summit. Most prominent among them was Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who was not granted permission by Israel to travel to Lebanon, and Jordan's King Abdullah, whose country, alongside Egypt has peace agreements with Israel and plays a role in peacemaking in the region. But also a large number of Gulf leaders including the rulers of Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar, as well as the King of Saudi Arabia, and Sultan of Oman were absent. Some stayed away for medical reasons such as the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and UAE, while others did not attend for political reasons. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi refused to attend because the summit would not discuss his ideas voiced at last year's Amman summit regarding the peace process, and as a result of Lebanese Shi'ite opposition to his presence in Lebanon.
On the other hand, restrictions on Iraq's Saddam Hussein make it impossible for him to make any public appearances overseas. The presidents of Sudan, the Comoro Islands and Mauritania also stayed away, which left only nine out of 22 leaders of the Arab world present in Beirut. These were the kings of Morocco and Bahrain, the presidents of Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Tunis, Algeria, Djibouti and Somalia.
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