Arab leaders pledged on Tuesday to renounce terror and help end violence against Israel, standing in solidarity with US President Bush at what he said was "a moment of promise" for peace. Bush called on Israel to dismantle Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
In the first of two Mideast summits, the United States welcomed Arab promises to block financial support for terrorists and help the new Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, build a democratic state.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell warned longtime Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat not "to be a spoiler" of those efforts. Arafat, considered untrustworthy by Bush, was not invited to the Arab summit.
There was an extraordinary degree of personal interaction as Bush met with the leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain and the Palestinian Authority at this Red Sea resort. Foreign ministers and note takers were excluded as the leaders talked among themselves for 90 minutes. The only outsiders were translators. Bush also took the wheel of a large golf cart and ferried the leaders around.
American officials cautioned that many obstacles have to be overcome to achieve peace, a goal that has eluded US efforts for decades. There is widespread skepticism in the Middle East about whether this effort will succeed.
"The leaders at this table have got a responsibility," Bush said at a brief, formal segment of the discussions. "The biggest responsibility that they have, it seems like to me, is to fight off any source of funding to terror. It's to prevent the terrorists from gaining a foothold."
Taking up that theme, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said, "We will continue to fight the scourge of terrorism against humanity."
Speaking alongside Bush and other leaders at an outdoor ceremony on the shore of the Red Sea, Mubarak said, "We will use all the power of the law to prevent support reaching illegal organizations, including terrorist groups."
The next step comes Wednesday when Bush travels to Jordan for a summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Abbas. Bush was counting on both sides to take steps launching a three-year blueprint for the end of 32 months of violence and the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.
"We have an opportunity. We must not miss it," Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said late Tuesday in an interview on Israel TV. "But we must know that there are doubts and risks, and the most important thing is not to give in to illusions, as our predecessors did in previous processes."
Sharon will issue a statement accepting the principle of a Palestinian state, an Israeli official said. Abbas will recognize Israel's right to exist side by side with a Palestinian state, Palestinian officials said. Powell said that in any agreement, Israel "must always be seen as a Jewish state."
On the Palestinian side, Minister of Cabinet Affairs Yasser Abed Rabbo said the Palestinians would issue a statement making a commitment to stop violence and to stop the armed uprising. "We will recognize Israel to exist on the basis of two states, Palestine and Israel," he said.
Ismail Abu Shanab, spokesman for Hamas, a group that takes responsibility for several suicide bombings against Israelis, said "if the occupation stops the Palestinians are willing to live in peace and stop all kinds of violence."
Abu Shanab said on ABC News' Nightline program that if the United States guaranteed the preliminary steps Sharon is taking would lead to an end to occupation and the release of more than 7,000 prisoners "we are ready" to stop the bombings.
In a goodwill gesture, Israel released scores of Palestinian prisoners.
"Israel must deal with the settlements," Bush told the Arab leaders. "Israel must make sure there's a continuous territory that the Palestinians can call home." The White House said Bush meant to say "contiguous," and Powell said that meant that a Palestinian state could not be chopped up haphazardly.
Sharon has said he likely would commit Israel to dismantling settlement outposts set up without government sanction. Stopping all settlement construction is a key element of the peace plan.
Abbas was expected to pledge to stop the "military intefadeh," a reference to armed militant attacks that have killed more than 750 Israelis in the latest round of violence, including about 350 from suicide bombings.
Abbas also has been working to secure a cease-fire with militant groups including Hamas, and said earlier this week he hoped to obtain one before the summit.
"We must not allow a few people, a few killers, a few terrorists, to destroy the dreams and hopes of the many," Bush told Arab leaders. Looking directly at Abbas, Bush said, "You, sir, have got a responsibility, and you've assumed it. I want to work with you and so do the other leaders here."
The leaders gave public support to the internationally crafted peace "road map" which calls for an immediate cease-fire and then reciprocal steps by both sides.
"We support the determination of the Palestinian Authority to fulfill its responsibilities to end violence and to restore law and order," Mubarak said as Abbas looked on.
A high-ranking Saudi official said the next move was up to Israel, and called for a halt to the use of force against Palestinians, the release of humanitarian aid, the dismantling of wire fences that restrict movement and an end to work restrictions. Those steps would help Abbas "show that his way is the way to change the lives of the Palestinians and not the way of the gun," said the official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
Bush predicted progress if the sides met their commitments. "We seek true peace, not just a pause between more wars and intefadehs, but a permanent reconciliation among the peoples of the Middle East."
Also attending were Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and Jordan's King Abdullah II. Egypt and Jordan have peace treaties with Israel.
(China Daily June 4, 2003)
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