Arab leaders renew support for peace efforts, rejecting calls from Syria, Libya to quit talks

Arab leaders renew support for peace efforts

SIRTE, Libya — Arab leaders on Sunday renewed their support for Mideast peace efforts, rejecting pressure from Syria and Libya on the Palestinians to abandon talks with Israel and resume armed resistance.

The Arab League’s backing for the land for peace initiative with Israel comes despite its firm opposition to Israeli plans for new Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem, land Palestinians claim as the capital of a future state.

“The Arab peace initiative is a serious move. If we withdraw it, what will be the Arab stance after that,” Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa told reporters after the summit’s closing session.

But the calls from Damascus and Tripoli — which were later echoed by the Islamic militant group Hamas — to quit peace efforts reflected the depth of frustration and anger over the stalled peace process and continued Israeli construction in areas claimed by the Palestinians, particularly east Jerusalem.

Syrian President Bashar Assad urged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to withdraw from a U.S.-supported peace strategy and take up arms against Israel, according to two delegates who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

They said Assad also urged Arab countries to halt any contacts with Israel, though only Egypt and Jordan have peace deals with the Jewish state.

“The price of resistance is not higher than the price of peace,” one delegate quoted Assad as telling Abbas.

Summit host Moammar Gadhafi of Libya warned that his nation will withdraw support for the peace initiative launched at a 2002 Arab League summit in Beirut.

Late Sunday, Hamas criticized the summit’s support for peace negotiations. The group, whose leader resides in Syria, urged Arabs instead to “try a new strategy” and unite behind resistance groups, sever diplomatic ties with Israel and support boycott campaigns of the Jewish state.

“The summit’s persistence in keeping negotiations as a strategic option, without considering alternative ways, the foremost of which is resistance, will only add to the arrogance of the Zionist occupation,” the group said in a statement issued in Damascus.

The group said it still expects Arab leaders to reconsider their political options.

Senior Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh swiftly dismissed the pressure.

“Let us be realistic. We will not follow those who have special agendas,” he told Al-Jazeera television.

“We are ready for any Arab option. If they want to go to war let them declare that and mobilize their armies and their people and we will follow suit.”

But the wrangling reflects deep division among Arabs over how to deal with the stalled Mideast talks. Arabs blame the sides’ failure to return to the negotiating table on Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu.

Earlier this month, Arab nations opened the door for Abbas to enter four months of indirect, American-brokered peace talks with Israel. But they later threatened to withdraw support for the negotiations after Israel announced plans for new Jewish homes in east Jerusalem, the part of the city Palestinians claim as the capital of a future state.

Speaking at the summit Saturday, Abbas urged Mideast peace brokers to push Israel to stop settlement construction, and he vowed that the Palestinians will not sign any peace deal with Israel without the Jewish state ending its “occupation” of east Jerusalem.

He accused Netanyahu’s government of trying to create a de facto situation in Jerusalem that would torpedo any future peace settlement.

The Palestinians are also asking Arab nations for millions of dollars in funding for Palestinians living in east Jerusalem.

A day after proposing Arab states directly engage Iran over its growing influence and disputed nuclear program, Moussa said some nations had reservations about an open a dialogue with Tehran.

“Iran is not an enemy. Iran is a brotherly country. Let us sit and put every thing on the table and reach an agreement for the sake of peace and stability,” he said.

Turkish Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who attended the summit, immediately endorsed Moussa’s proposal, along with Syria and Iraq. But delegates said both Egypt and Saudi Arabia, two key U.S allies, rejected the idea.

The summit registered a higher than usual number of no-shows from Arab leaders. Eight heads of state stayed away, including Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

Recent Arab summits have been marred by disagreements among Arab leaders, divided between pro-Western rulers and more radical regimes. The divisions tend to water down joint Arab positions.

Nasrawi reported from Cairo.