Bush tells Arabs to 'seize the moment' and accept Saudi plan
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Your support makes all the difference.Arab leaders received their marching orders from Washington yesterday. Endorse the Saudi "peace plan", they were told by President George Bush. Accept the land-for-peace deal – however vaguely worded and however much it ignores Palestinian refugees – because they must "seize the moment" for peace. So President Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan and President Assad of Syria and the Gulf Arab princes and emirs are expected to do as they are told when they gather in Beirut tomorrow.
As for Yasser Arafat, the Americans have appealed to the Israelis to free him from Ramallah so he can attend the Beirut gathering. And since the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, has warned that Mr Arafat may not be allowed to return to "Palestine" if the Israelis regard his speech as incitement, it will be a tame chairman of the Palestine Authority who turns up in Lebanon tomorrow – always supposing he comes.
The US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, telephoned Mr Sharon yesterday, insisting that Mr Arafat should be allowed to go to Beirut, followed by a further 35 minutes on the phone to the Palestinian leader. But, save for a plea from Mr Arafat that America should be more deeply involved in "peacemaking", there was little of substance from the talks.
The Americans, it seems, want a blanket endorsement of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah's proposal – even though it does not cover the so-called "right of return" of Palestinian refugees nor whether Arab recognition of Israel should precede or follow an Israeli withdrawal.
However humiliating the American demands are, the Syrians and the Lebanese will have grave misgivings. President Bashar Assad has made it clear the Saudi proposals must be detailed and must include a clause consisting of an Israeli withdrawal from all Arab land occupied in 1967 – including the Syrian Golan Heights – before any recognition of Israel.
Just how weak is the Arab position was made painfully clear in Beirut yesterday when Amr Moussa, the Egyptian head of the Arab League, warned a preliminary meeting of foreign ministers that they must choose between justice and peace or "total chaos".
Ghazi Aridi, the Lebanese Information Minister, said it was impossible for his country not to discuss the refugees.
For Mr Arafat, of course, his presence will be a double humiliation. It was the army of Mr Sharon, as Israeli Defence Minister, that drove Mr Arafat and his guerrillas out of Beirut in 1982. Now, two decades later, it is Mr Sharon who will decide whether Mr Arafat can return.
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