The leaders of Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia said the Arabs were determined to make peace with Israel and rejected "all forms of violence."
The statement came after the Saudis last week spoke of mutual US and Arab responsibilities toward stopping the 19-month-old Israeli-Palestinian violence and reviving moribund peace negotiations.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Syrian President Hafez al-Assad and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz ended their three-hour summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh with the new appeal for peace.
The three key Arab leaders "restated the Arabs' sincere determination to achieve peace and their rejection of all forms of violence," according to the statement read by Egyptian Information Minister Safwat al-Sherif. "The leaders particularly condemned what Israel did in Jenin" refugee camp and demanded that UN Security Council resolutions calling for an investigation into the Israeli military operations in the camp be implemented, the Egyptian official said.
Palestinian international cooperation minister Nabil Shaath, who was in Sharm el-Sheikh for talks with senior Egyptian and Saudi diplomats, said the Palestinians were "very serious" about stopping suicide bombings against civilians in Israel.
"There is a big difference between pursuing the legitimate resistance and pursuing suicide attacks," Shaath said when asked about Riyadh's efforts to end attacks on Israelis.
The final statement said the Saudi-sponsored initiative adopted at the Arab summit in Beirut in March "is the basis for any Arab step to achieve the hoped-for just and comprehensive peace."
Before Assad arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh, Syria's official Tishreen daily said the mini-summit in Egypt must take into account that Sharon refuses to make peace with his neighbors.
Syria has usually taken a tough line in meetings with other Arab countries, calling for a renewal of the Arab boycott of Israel and cutting Arab ties with the Jewish state.
Assad returned on Saturday to Damascus, while Mubarak and Abdullah remained in Sharm el-Sheikh where they are expected to meet again Sunday.
Israel
Israel praised the declaration by the mini-summit in Egypt.
"The text is encouraging, and we have to see how it will translate concretely on the ground. It's progress that could bring us closer to a return to the negotiating table," Raanan Gissin, the spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, told AFP on Sunday.
"It seems clear that the leadership of the (Palestinian) territories no longer depends exclusively on Yasser Arafat, but also on Arab countries," he said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
