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Arab
Summit Calls Israel To End Occupation In Return For Peace
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| The
highlight of the summit was a warm embrace between Izzat
Ibrahim Al-Douri, deputy chairman of Iraq's Revolutionary
Command Council and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah
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CAIRO,
March 28 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – The Arab Summit in
Beirut ended its meeting on Thursday, March 28, with a statement
that presented a peace initiative calling Israel to completely
withdraw from occupied Arab lands in exchange for peaceful relations
with Arab states.
The
final communique also calls for a just solution to the refugee
problem according to U.N. resolution 194 and the refusal of the
nationalization of the refugees.
The
Arab leaders also reiterated their refusal for any strikes against
Iraq, and the communique welcomed the Iraqi commitment towards the
sovereignty of the state of Kuwait.
The
summit will set up a committee to pursue a Saudi initiative for
peace with Israel, including with the U.N. Security Council, the
statement said.
"The
summit asks the chair (held by Lebanese President Emile Lahoud) to
form a special committee comprising a certain number of member
states to work for the support of this initiative by the UN Security
Council, the United States, Russia, Islamic countries and the
European Union, it said.
The
Saudi initiative adopted unanimously by the conference of 21 Arab
states plus the Palestinians offers Israel a peace treaty
guaranteeing its security and normal relations with Arab states.
This comes as Palestinian President Yasser Arafat suffers a four
month seige - imposed by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon - in
his headquarters in Ramallah.
In
return, Israel must withdraw from Arab territory it occupied in the
1967 Middle East war, including the Syrian Golan and negotiate a
satisfactory solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees.
The
peace project came in a six-page document entitled, "Beirut
Declaration" read out at the close of the two-day summit by
Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmud Hammud.
The
text said "the Arab League Council calls on Israel to review
its policies, turn toward peace and declare that just peace is also
its strategic choice."
"Reaching
a just solution to the issue of the Palestinian refugees, agreed
upon in accordance with United Nations General Assembly Resolution
194."
"The
acceptance of the establishment of an independent Palestinian state
with sovereignty on Palestinian territories occupied since June 4,
1967 in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and with its capital east
Jerusalem."
In
return the Arab countries pledge to:
- "Consider the Arab-Israeli conflict over,
and enter a peace agreement between them and Israel, while
guaranteeing security for all the countries of the region."
- "Establish normal relations with Israel
within the framework of this comprehensive peace."
Arab countries "reject any kind of Palestinian settlement which
goes against the special condition in Arab host countries."
Iraq, under threat of U.S. military strike, has made an
unprecedented pledge never to repeat its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, as
part of a series of conciliatory gestures to the international
community.
The
two neighbors sealed a non-aggression agreement at an Arab summit
that wound up in Beirut on Thursday, the first such document since
Baghdad's invasion of Kuwait that sparked the 1991 Gulf War.
"Arab leaders welcome favorably Iraq's statements concerning
its respect for the independence, sovereignty and territorial
integrity of Kuwait, which will guarantee avoiding anything that
could lead to a repetition of the events of 1990," said the
agreement, which formed part of the final resolutions adopted at the
close of the two-day summit.
Iraq's number two Ezzat Ibrahim, leading his country's delegation to
the summit, told Arab leaders Wednesday that Baghdad "respects
the security of Kuwait" and wishes to restore ties with its
smaller neighbor.
Ibrahim stressed that Iraq was holding out its olive branch as a
sign of goodwill, not "out of fear of the United States,
Britain or any other enemy." But Iraq watchers were not so
sure.
"Baghdad
hopes, through such overtures, to secure outright support against US
threats" of attack, a Baghdad-based Western diplomat told
Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Iraq's
conciliatory gestures have not been limited to fellow Arabs, but
also extended to the United States, he said, pointing to Baghdad's
offer to host a U.S. team to look into the fate of an American navy
pilot whose plane was shot down over Iraq during the Gulf War.
In
the final resolutions, the Arab summit also said it
"categorically rejects" a military strike against Iraq.
Ibrahim's
remarks at the summit were designed to "overcome differences
between Arab states in order to enable the Arab nation to stand up
to the challenges posed by the evil U.S. administration and the
Zionist entity (Israel)," a senior Iraqi MP told AFP.
Iraq's
address to the summit "outlined its positions toward all Arab
causes, irrespective of hostile attempts to derail" its
efforts, said Salem al-Kubaisi, who heads parliament's Arab and
international relations committee.
Baghdad has made another gesture of "goodwill" to Kuwait
coinciding with the summit by releasing a Kuwaiti national detained
after accidentally crossing into Iraqi territory earlier this month.
In
his speech to the summit, Ibrahim also had surprisingly warm
comments about Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, thanking
him for "opposing any aggression against Iraq" in talks
with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney during his recent tour of the
region.
Ibrahim
and Abdullah Thursday embraced in front of the cameras amid applause
by Arab delegates.
A member of the Kuwaiti delegation in Beirut told AFP his country
had "effectively noted a change in the tone and the attitude of
the Iraqi delgation which satisfies us."
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