Arab League (AL) Secretary General Amir Moussa Wednesday revealed in Riyadh that Arab nations stood ready to begin a peace process to end their conflict with Israel which lies at the heart of regional instability and tension.

"The Arabs have prepared themselves to start a peace process to end the Arab-Israeli conflict, partly through helping the Palestinian warring factions reach an agreement in Mecca to end infighting and pave the way for formation of a national unity government," Moussa said at the opening session of the 19th Arab summit that started in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, yesterday.

He commented that to resolve the conflict would also require steps from Israel but stopped short of listing these. 

The peace initiative calls for Israel to leave land occupied in the 1967 war and to allow the formation of a Palestinian state. In return, Muslim nations in the region will engage in full normalization of ties.

Haling the nations that have recognized the new Palestinian coalition, Moussa asked on the international community to lift financial sanctions which crippled the Palestinian people.

Highlighting regional strife such as the violence in Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan and Somalia, the AL chief reiterated the purpose of the joint action was to secure strategic, political and security aspects in the region.

Addressing Iraq, Moussa called for a political solution to complement the new security approach. He further said that Iraqis, Arabs, neighboring countries and the whole world needed to shoulder the responsibility of uniting Iraq and halting its descent into sectarian strife.

Turning to Lebanon, Moussa pledged full AL efforts to help reduce the differences between the current parliamentary majority and the opposition. The Lebanese legislators are split over the creation of an international tribunal to oversee the trials of suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Kicking off the opening session at around 1:20 PM Wednesday at Abdulaziz International Conference Center, Arab leaders or representatives from 21 countries gathered to discuss regional issues and potential concerns.

Libya was the only country to boycott the meeting. Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalqam revealed his nation would not attend earlier this month, angry at the meeting being relocated to Riyadh from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egyptian Red Sea resort on the Sinai Peninsula.

Among the international dignitaries invited to attend the summit are UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, African Union Commission Chairman Alfa Omer Donary and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

China's representative to the Cairo-based Arab League and Ambassador to Egypt Wu Sike is also in attendance.

(Xinhua News Agency March 29, 2007)