BEIRUT, Lebanon, March 27 (UPI) -- Arab leaders voiced support at the Beirut summit Wednesday for Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah's peace initiative, though some did so in terms which made it clear that important differences remain about the detail of any Arab peace plan.
"This initiative is a basket of ideas where we put all our principles and ideas to be presented to the world," Syrian President Bashar Assad said.
Assad -- considered one of the more hard-line Arab leaders -- said the prince's initiative confirmed to the world the Arab desire for peace.
Abdullah's initiative offers -- in his own words -- "normal relations and the security of Israel in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab lands, recognition of an independent Palestinian state with noble Jerusalem as its capital and the return of the (Palestinian) refugees." Normal relations is Arab shorthand for recognition of Israel.
Assad said the initiative would expose Israelis who are not working for peace.
He warned his fellow leaders that they must seek a clear pledge for the return of all occupied Arab land if Abdullah's initiative were adopted at the Beirut summit. Syria has consistently sought a formula that will ensure the return to it of the Golan Heights -- a strategic mountain range on the border with Israel which the Jewish state occupied in 1967 and annexed in 1981.
"There will be no negotiations without a clear Israeli pledge for its withdrawal," Assad said, and called on Arab nations to sever relations with Israel until a comprehensive peace was achieved, something not envisaged by the Saudi plan.
"We ask the countries which have ties with Israel only to tell us when it is possible to sever those ties. Is it going to be after half a million Palestinians are killed and the Palestinian people annihilated, or (Israel) hits the Arab countries with nuclear bombs?"
However, Assad said negotiations on the other elements of a peace agreement, such as water, diplomatic relations, security arrangements and removing weapons of mass destruction, could take place after a comprehensive settlement. His formulation suggested that the Syrian position might envisage recognition of Israel without the establishment of diplomatic ties.
Assad also proposed the creation of a committee made up of Saudi Arabia, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and concerned Arab countries to thrash out the details of Abdullah's initiative. Observers pointed out that this would be a way to postpone discussion of any arguments about the plan until after the summit, allowing a façade of unity to be maintained.
A similar suggestion was made by Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh, who called for a mechanism to implement Abdullah's initiative and the formation of a committee made up of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, the Palestinians and the Arab League's secretary-general to propose the plan to the United States, the United Nations and the European Union.
Saleh also echoed Assad's call for all Arab nations to sever their ties with Israel, and to allow those nations that wanted to use military force against the Jewish state to protect Palestinian civilians.
"Open your borders and we are ready to fight Israel," he declared. "Israel will not bow and give back our land unless by resistance."
Some 1 million Yemenis demonstrated in Sanaa on Tuesday in support of Palestinians and their intifada. Many Arab leaders are concerned that normal relations with Israel might provoke discontent among their people. In particular, diplomatic ties with the Jewish state would require them to allow Israeli embassies to open in their capitals -- a geographical focus for any popular anger.
And no one would have forgotten the fate the first Arab leader to make peace with Israel, Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, who was assassinated two years after signing the peace treaty that established diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.
Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al Ahmed al Sabah supported the Saudi initiative for it expresses "the faith that the peace settlement is a strategic option to achieve just and lasting peace in the Middle East" and "completes the struggle of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state."
Al Sabah said that just and comprehensive peace could not be achieved except by resuming peace negotiations and ensuring Israeli implementation of all international resolutions.
Speaking on behalf of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Obeid said he supported Abdullah's initiative to achieve peace with Israel because, "it strongly confirms Arab principles and mixes right and justice."
Other delegates were less enthusiastic.
Izzat Ibrahim al Douri, deputy president of the Iraqi Revolutionary Council, ignored Abdullah's initiative but praised Saudi Arabia for its rejection of any U.S. strike against Iraq.
Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel Salam al Tureiki, said Libya supported the idea of an Israeli pullout but opposed any quid pro quo for the Jewish state.
"We are with a complete Israeli pullout and the return of the return of the Palestinian refugees but the price should not be establishing ties with the Zionist enemy," al Tureiki said. "We will not recognize this entity (Israel) even if it withdraws because it possesses weapons, lethal weapons and is a racist country."
He called for Arab nations to provide money and guns for the Palestinians and echoed the Yemeni president's call to open Arab borders for "resistance fighters."
