ALGIERS, March 22, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Tuesday, March 22, urged Arab leaders to back his initiative to create an “alliance of civilizations” to crush terrorism and bridge the gap with the West.

“We are in favor of a constructive dialogue between civilizations, peoples and religion,” Zapatero said as he addressed the opening session of an Arab League summit in the Algerian capital, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Everything must be done to “dominate misunderstandings between the Western world and Islam,” he said.

The goal of setting up an “alliance of civilizations” is aimed at forging ahead “toward consolidating a more just international order,” Zapatero said.

Zapatero unveiled the idea last September at the United Nations.

Zapatero also condemned terrorism and said any attempt to link it to Islam “is a very serious error that only serves to multiply misunderstandings ... (and) to erect a wall more mighty than the Berlin Wall.”

He also called for international support for the Palestinian leadership “to ensure a just peace with Israel.”

His project is set to breathe new life into trans-Mediterranean dialogue and Barcelona is scheduled to stage a November summit to mark the 10th anniversary of the launching of the so-called Barcelona Process designed to that end.

The process foresees the creation of a zone of political stability and economic prosperity, greater cooperation on social, cultural affairs and education, promotion of human rights and a joint fight against terrorism.

A further aim is the creation of a trans-Mediterranean free trade zone by 2010.

Thirteen Arab heads of state out of the 22-member Arab League gathered in the plenary session of the two-day summit to discuss a 17-point agenda, including a resolution to revive a plan for peace with Israel.

The opening was marred by the last minute cancellation of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz.

An hour into the opening session of the summit Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi and Morocco's King Mohamed VI were seen by AFP correspondents leaving the conference hall.

It was not immediately clear why they left or where they were headed, although the Libyan leader has frequently stormed out of Arab summits like last year in Tunis, when he left saying he disagreed with the agenda.

Before handing over the summit's presidency to the Algerian president, Ben Ali asked Arab leaders to join him in reciting a prayer for slain former prime minister Lebanese Rafiq Al- Hariri, killed February 14 in a massive car bombing in Beirut.

Ben Ali also urged the leaders to pray for Palestinian president Yasser Arafat and United Arab Emirates president Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nuhayan who both died last year.

An hour into the opening session of the summit Gaddafi was seen leaving the hall. (Reuters)

Tunisian President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said in opening remarks that any settlement with Israel rests on the return of occupied Arab land.

“It is necessary to reaffirm strongly that peace (with Israel) is the strategic choice of all the Arab world,” and based on a land-for-peace exchange as stipulated by the Arab peace initiative, Bouteflika said.

He was referring to an initiative to normalize ties with Israel in return for its pullout from all Arab land, a deal that had been initially proposed by Saudi Arabia and endorsed at the 2002 Beirut summit but rejected by Israel.

The three-point draft, based on a revamped Jordanian proposal, states that peace with Israel also depends on the creation of an independent Palestinian state and a solution to guarantee the rights of Palestinian refugees.

“Based on the Arab peace initiative, Arab countries will therefore consider the Arab-Israeli conflict over and will set up normal ties with Israel within the framework of a comprehensive peace,” a copy obtained by AFP said.

The Jordanian draft, which has been revised after fierce opposition from most of the Arab foreign ministers, originally called for not linking the normalization of relations with Israel to full withdrawal form the territories occupied in the 1967 war, but rather to the planned Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip in July.

The Arab League chief warned for his part that peace with Israel depends on a commitment by Tel Aviv to respect the rights of the Palestinian and other Arabs.

“Israel believes that rights will be forgotten... and that the Arabs will normalize with nothing in return,” Moussa said.

“Commitments must be met with commitments and then we can reach balanced ties (in) parallel with a complete (Israeli) withdrawal and the establishment of a Palestinian state,” Moussa added.

The president of Tunisia, who hosted last year's summit, insisted that the Arab countries want a just and comprehensive peace based on the Arab initiative, international resolutions and the Middle East roadmap.”

Hours before the start of the Arab summit in the Algerian capital, Palestinian experts said Monday, March 21, the incumbent Arab regimes have crumbled and cannot stand or even counterattack mounting American pressures, let alone helping restore usurped Palestinian rights.

Bouteflika, in his speech, did not refer to Mahmmoud Abbas as the “Palestinian president,” but rather the “president of the Palestinian Authority.”

Agenda

“Israel believes that rights will be forgotten... and that the Arabs will normalize with nothing in return,” Moussa said.(Reuters)

The political transition in Iraq following January's controversial legislative elections and the continued “presence” of US-led troops.

The Syrian troop withdrawal and redeployment from and in Lebanon is not on the official agenda but Arab leaders are expected to voice solidarity with Damascus, which is facing heavy international pressure to end its domination over Lebanon.

Arab leaders will also discuss the civil war in Sudan's western Darfur region and the conflict in Somalia, and are expected to agree to set up a pan-Arab parliament.

Several foreign dignitaries attended the opening ceremony, including French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier and the European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana.