Arab leaders offering ‘normal relations’ with Israel

By Sam F. Ghattas

Associated Press

BEIRUT, Lebanon – The Arab world on Thursday for the first time collectively offered Israel recognition, security and “normal relations” in exchange for a full withdrawal from Arab lands held since 1967 and a “fair solution” for Palestinian refugees.

Arab leaders gathered here in a summit gave their endorsement to the overture, first put forward by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. The offer also calls for the creation of a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.

The United States has welcomed the Saudi plan, while Israel has expressed reservations. Still, Raanan Gissin, an adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, called the Arab offer “a very interesting development, something that should be pursued.” Gissin said Arab states should now enter into direct negotiations with Israel, perhaps at a follow-up conference to the Beirut gathering. Arab nations have so far resisted direct talks.

A final statement by the summit said that once Israel fulfills Arab demands, “the Arab-Israeli conflict would be considered finished and (the parties) would enter into a peace treaty … achieving security for all countries of the region and establish normal relations with Israel.”

The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, told reporters after the summit closed: “If Israel wants security and seeks peace, this is the way to security. It cannot keep the land and demand peace.”

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said the proposal had been unanimously adopted during a closed session, meaning hard-liners like Syria and Iraq signed on along with moderates like Egypt and Jordan.

The endorsement came as the Arab delegations made displays of unity Thursday, trying to ease tempers after a stormy opening session the day before. When the summit opened Wednesday, the key leaders of Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinians were absent, and the Palestinian delegation walked out after Yasser Arafat was not given a chance to address the summit from the West Bank. The Palestinians rejoined the session Thursday.

Arab states have long called for a land-for-peace solution to the Middle East conflict. But the statement by the summit in the Lebanese capital was their clearest offer yet of what sort of peace Israel would receive. It was also the first time that the 22-member Arab League has collectively put forward such an offer.

When Abdullah presented his proposal to the summit Wednesday, Israel said the offer of “normal relations” was too vague and rejected any right of return for refugees. Sharon has also rejected any full withdrawal from occupied territories.

“Israel has reservations and objections, the Palestinians and Arab side have their objections. The first thing is that they should listen to the Israeli side as well,” Gissin said Thursday.

As the summit’s first day ended, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a hotel dining room in the Israeli coastal resort of Netanya. The attack killed 20 diners and wounded more than 130 during a festive Passover Seder, the ritual meal ushering in the weeklong Jewish holiday.

The Palestinian Islamic militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the Netanya attack, and Hamas officials on Thursday dismissed the peace offer from the Arab summit, saying they doubted Israel would accept it.

Sharon “is not going to deal with such an initiative,” said Ismail abu Shanab, a Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip. “We do believe that the only way to end the occupation in our land is resistance and holy war, or jihad.” Hamas said the Netanya attack was not connected to the Beirut summit.

The Beirut declaration calls on Israel to conduct a full withdrawal from Arab lands occupied since 1967, including the Golan Heights, taken from Syria.

It also calls for a “fair solution” to the refugee problem based on U.N. resolutions that say Palestinians should be allowed to return home or receive compensation. Recognition of the right of refugees to return to land they lost in Israel has been a long-standing Arab demand; the term “fair solution” appeared to leave room for negotiations.

Israel has ruled out any return, fearing that if Palestinian refugees came back, it would undermine the state’s Jewish character.

The statement also required Israel to accept an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with east Jerusalem as its capital.

Asked in an interview with CNN how “normal relations” was defined, the Saudi foreign minister said: “We envision a relationship between the Arab countries and Israel that is exactly like the relationship between the Arab countries and any other state.”

“All the neighborhood, if you will, will be at peace with Israel, will recognize their right to exist,” al-Faisal said. “If this doesn’t provide security for Israel, I assure you the muzzle of a gun is not going to provide that security.”

Meanwhile, the delegations in Beirut tried to patch up their own tensions.

Delegates applauded as the Palestinians rejoined the conference hall. Palestinian delegation leader Farouk Kaddoumi delivered a speech and entered into the summit record an address made the day before by Arafat on the Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera.

The summit’s Lebanese hosts had prevented Arafat from speaking live to the summit the day before, with some officials saying they feared Israel would interfere with the signal.

Also, the top Iraqi and Saudi delegates entered the hall together in a reconciliatory gesture. Abdullah and Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a deputy of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, kissed in front of television cameras to the applause of the other delegates.

Iraq and Saudi Arabia have been estranged since Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 and threatened Saudi Arabia. Reconciliation efforts have picked up steam in recent months, especially after Saudi Arabia rejected U.S. threats of a military strike against Iraq.

Arafat was prevented from coming to Beirut after Israel said its conditions were not met for lifting a travel ban on him. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said he stayed home out of solidarity with Arafat. Jordan’s King Abdullah also did not attend.