Summit plan A THREE-WAY summit bringing together Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinians may be in the making. Sources told Al-Ahram Weekly that the conference has been repeatedly requested by the Palestinians, who expect a show of Arab support in their current diplomatic confrontation with the Israelis. According to the sources, a top Jordanian official stopped over in Cairo on Monday for unpublicised talks on the issue with Foreign Minister Amr Moussa. However, differences in views on the nature of the next step that needs to be taken remain to be ironed out by the three parties. UN returns UN WEAPONS inspectors resumed their monitoring mission of suspected arms sites in Iraq yesterday after a halt of more than two weeks. Inspectors limited their visits to sites designated for long-term monitoring, but officers of the UN commission charged with dismantling the weapons (UNSCOM) said the real challenge will come when they attempt to make spot checks on other suspected sites. Amer Al-Saadi, adviser to the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, said Baghdad is ready to discuss documents concerning chemical and biological weapons but stopped short of saying they would hand them over to UNSCOM, as demanded by its chairman Richard Butler. Meanwhile, leading Arab and Muslim Americans urged the White House to reassess its policy on Iraq. Representatives of 20 Arab American and Muslim groups called for a consistent, credible and universally applied approach to the Middle East, at a meeting with the National Security Council on Tuesday. James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, criticised the US for not having a long-term US policy designed to achieve disarmament without alienating the Iraqi people and Arab public opinion. Further meetings with government officials are expected to take place next week.
