Has the countdown to an Arab summit begun? Certainly Arab leaders and officials have been engaged in intensive consultations to agree on what should be done to confront the intransigent policies of the Israeli government which have forced regional peace-making to grind to a halt. Sources say that a restricted summit is likely to be convened by the end of this month, or early next month, bringing together Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinians and Saudi Arabia. There is also the possibility that it be expanded to include Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. The summit's task will be to formulate a way of pressurising Israel to honour its peace commitments. Sources suggest that there is a likelihood that the Arab gathering will be followed by an international conference for peace, for which President Hosni Mubarak and French President Jacques Chirac have called. But the Arabs must reach a consensus on basic issues before this international conference sees the light. According to a concerned Egyptian official, there is not much point in organising an international conference if the Arabs are uncertain about their next move, something that would only serve an Israeli government keen to keep the peace process bogged down. The idea of an international summit is the brainchild of France and the "Americans are not putting up the kind of opposition they showed when the idea was first floated earlier this year," the official said. "The Americans know very well that their efforts to get the Israelis to accept their package of proposals are not working. But they said they need a few more days." Visiting the region this week, US Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Pickering told Arab officials that Washington has been pressing Tel Aviv to accept the US package. Washington, he added, would be appreciative if the idea of an Arab summit was put on hold for a short while. Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said that the US is expected to reveal the outcome of its diplomatic efforts within two weeks and that things will be taken from there. "But an Arab summit remains a possibility," he said. Sources say that since the outcome of the US initiative is expected to be negative, consultations are already underway to organise the Arab summit. But they cautioned that it will be more than a matter of days before Arab leaders take their seats around the table. "This summit is no longer an [unattainable] objective or just something that we hope to do; we now have a mechanism through which everybody is working to convene the summit and make it successful," said Nabil Shaath, Palestinian minister of planning and international cooperation, following talks with Foreign Ministry officials in Cairo. The Palestinians have been asking for a summit for some time. They want it to offer unconditional support for their position in the peace negotiations and to evolve "a coordinated joint Arab effort to confront the negative Israeli attitude and the inadequate, albeit recognisable, US effort," Shaath explained. Conceding that countries such as Egypt and Jordan, which signed peace treaties with Israel, are unlikely to break off diplomatic relations with Israel, the Palestinians say they expect the level of diplomatic representation would be lowered. They also want Arab countries, particularly the affluent, to use their economic clout to "serve" the peace process. Given that the last Arab summit, that took place in Cairo in 1996, produced a strategy that substantially slowed down the pace of normalisation with Israel, the Palestinians hope Arab states will be prepared to take another step in the same direction. Indications that Arab consultations have focused on the agenda, venue and outcome of the summit have come from senior officials in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. While the most probable venue is Cairo, Riyadh has also been suggested, and there remains a possibility that Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad may insist on Damascus. The latter option, though, has problems. The Jordanians are unlikely to relish a Damascus-based summit, fearing that Syria would pressure the gathering to come up with results in line with its own policies. Syria's opposition to Jordan's policy of a speedy normalisation of relations with Israel has never been much of a secret and was one of the factors that scuttled attempts to organise a summit earlier this spring. Actually, the Jordanians have openly expressed their preference for Cairo. "We prefer to have the summit held at the Arab League headquarters," said Jordanian Foreign Minister Jawad Al-Anani. This week, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz visited the Jordanian and Syrian capitals to iron out their differences with the aim of opening the way to the summit. Following his visit to Damascus, Syrian Vice-President Abdel-Halim Khaddam spoke openly of his country's differences with Jordan. "There is a political disagreement" between the two countries, Khaddam said, describing their policies on Israel as "two lines that could never meet". In other words, inter-Arab feuding may yet undermine the chances of organising this summit. But informed sources say that there is awareness in all Arab capitals that the death crisis of the peace process must be dealt with and that it cannot be dealt with properly unless a unified Arab position is forged. Dina Ezzat in Cairo; Lola El-Keilani in Amman Related: Ice breaking in Amman
