Zayed hopes for a summit of solidarity

President His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan is hopeful that tomorrow's Arab summit conference will be one of solidarity for all Arabs, Foreign Minister Rashid Abdullah said on arrival here yesterday to attend the foreign ministers' meeting.

"We have had enough of interpretative judgments and disagreements, especially over formal issues. Now is the time for Arabs to join hands in the face of dangers, whether the issue is Iraq, Palestine or the Arab solidarity and Arab joint action," Abdullah said.

"We no longer feel the warmth of solidarity among Arabs as we used to in the past."

Prince Saud Al Faisal, Saudi Foreign Minister, yesterday confirmed to Gulf News that his country would present an integrated initiative tomorrow for "reforming the Arab home from within."

"We are going to present this Saudi initiative to the summit on Saturday, and we hope that Arab leaders would discuss it in detail, add their contributions and remarks and adopt it as a unified Arab initiative," Prince Saud told Gulf News before joining his Arab counterparts in their second session of their preparatory meeting to work out the summit agenda.

He refused to give details about the document initiated by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, who called for carrying out essential reforms in the Arab world instead of "waiting for reforms to be imposed by others."

Commenting on the initiative, Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustapha Osman Ismail said if adopted and implemented by Arab leaders, "it is going to bring important changes in the political, economic, social, and cultural scene throughout the Arab world."

A draft final communique for the summit seen by Gulf News merely reiterated the rejection of war against any Arab state, including Iraq, as a threat to all Arabs' national security.

It also "welcomed Iraq's cooperation with the UN inspectors", and called for the resumption of the Arab-Israeli peace process.