Arab leaders open a two-day summit in the Algerian capital yesterday to discuss a 17-point agenda, including a resolution to revive a plan for peace with Israel that the Jewish state rejected three years ago.
Only 14 Arab heads of state or rulers out of the 22-member Arab League are expected to attend the summit which coincides with the 60th anniversary of the pan-Arab organisation.
Several leaders, including Jordan's King Abdullah, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his embattled pro-Lebanese counterpart Emile Lahoud, will skip the summit.
Several foreign dignitaries are also expected to be present at the opening ceremony, including UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier and the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero will address the summit to garner Arab support for his plan to create an "alliance of civilizations" to defeat terrorism and bring Western and Arab nations closer together.
Jordan succeeded in putting back on the table an Arab plan to normalize ties with Israel in return for an Israeli pullout of all Arab land, which Saudi Arabia had initially proposed at the 2002 Beirut summit.
"Jordan presented a document aiming at reactivating, promoting and marketing the Arab initiative for peace, by submitting a precise and concise form," Arab League spokesman Hossam Zaki told reporters.
"This document was examined by the delegates who introduced a few additions in a way to please everybody and this is what was adopted," he said, referring to objections that had been made in the run-up to the summit.
The three-point draft offers Israel the chance to normalize ties with the Arab countries in exchange for a total pullout from land it conquered in 1967 and later annexed.
It also insists that an independent Palestinian state and a solution to guarantee the rights of Palestinian refugees were essential to peace with Israel.
"Based on the Arab peace initiative, Arab countries will therefore consider the Arab-Israeli conflict over and will set up normal ties with Israel within the framework of a comprehensive peace," a copy obtained by reporters said.
The Arab offer comes a month after a landmark summit between Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon during which they agreed to a truce.
The political transition in Iraq following January's historic legislative elections and the continued presence of foreign troops in the embattled country will also be addressed at the summit.
The Syrian troop redeployment in Lebanon is not on the official agenda but Arab leaders are expected to voice solidarity with Damascus, which is facing heavy international pressure to end its domination over Lebanon.
The deadly civil war in Sudan's western Darfur region and the conflict in Somalia are also on the agenda.
Arab leaders are also expected to agree on setting up a pan-Arab parliament and dicuss how best they should push ahead with a pledge they took last year to speed up democratic reforms.
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