Bethlehem - Ma‘an - The 19th Arab summit will ends its activities on Thursday after having held two sessions on Wednesday, one in public, and the other behind the scenes. In the first session, several Arab and foreign leaders delivered speeches, while in the second, the Arab leaders adopted unanimously the decisions which the Arab foreign ministers had prepared. According to sources close to the delegates, there will be no other closed sessions, and the final session will be held on Thursday morning.
Informed sources told the Saudi website ‘EILAF‘ that the Arab summit will announce in its final session the formation of an ‘Arab National Security Council‘. It will initially comprise the influential Arab states, and they will endeavour to join the UN Security Council.
The most important decision that the Arab summit ratified was the Arab peace initiative without amendments. This initiative, originally launched in the Arab summit of 2002, calls for normalization of relations between the Arab states and Israel in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from all the territory it occupied in 1967. It also calls for an agreed, just solution to the Palestinian refugees‘ issue, in accordance with UN resolution 194. Israel has been demanding amendments to this initiative before it will consider it seriously, particularly in regards to the refugee issue.
Several marginal talks were held such as that between the Syrian president, Bashar Al-Asad, and the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud Al-Faisal, which indicates that reconciliation between the two countries is progressing well.
There was also an agreement between Lebanon‘s two delegations which read that the ‘international resolution be endorsed within Lebanese harmony‘, and it also welcomed the seven points without adopting them. It was also decided that the Arab League must act towards solving the Lebanese crisis in all aspects, including in regards to the constitutional institutions, in addition to the government.
The Arab summit‘s concluding statement is also expected to confirm the importance of Iraqi unity, independence and sovereignty without any external intervention. Real national reconciliation between Iraqi different groups should be achieved, the statement will affirm.
For their part, the United States rejected Saudi King Abdullah‘s depiction of the US intervention in Iraq as an ‘illegal occupation.‘ He was quoted as saying, ‘In the beloved Iraq, brothers‘ blood is being spilt under foreign illegal occupation.‘
The spokesperson of the US National Security Council, Gordon Johndroe, said in a press conference that ‘the United States is in Iraq at the request of the Iraqis, and the UN.‘ The US foreign ministry affirmed that ‘the US army will leave once the Iraqis are able to guarantee their security on their own.‘