A Primer on Today's Mini-Arab Summit

A Saudi-sponsored effort is underway to paper over deep divisions in the Arab-speaking world.  King Abdullah II, the Saudi monarch and the man most responsible for the Arab peace initiative of 2002, has asked President Mubarrak of Egypt and President Assad of Syria to come to Riyadh today for separate bilateral and perhaps three-way, face-to-face sessions, all to show unity of purpose at the fortcoming Arab League summit in Doha at the end of March.  Last year's Arab League summit in Damascus proved to be a dismal failure, as the leaderships of Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia stayed away from the annual conclave. 

The recent Gaza War demonstrated disunity in the Arab world, with schisms over Egypt's mediating role between Hamas and Israel, the continuing power struggle between the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority and the Hamas-led Gaza Strip, the fierce rivalry between Syria and Egypt and personal animosities between Syria's Assad and Saudi Arabia's Abdullah, between Qatar and other Gulf States, self-described "rejectionists" of Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, and Qatar versus Egypt, the monarchies of Jordan and Saudi Arabia, the Palesinan Authority, among others.  Iran, the Persian-speaking Shi'a state that continues down the road to acquiring nuclear weapon systems, looms large over the whole region and is a serious issue for its neighbors, including the Egyptians, Jordanians, Saudis, Iraqis, Afghans, and Pakistanis, as well as Israel and Turkey. King Abdullah II wants to ensure the Arab League supports his plan that calls for a return of territory taken by Israel in the 1967 June War in exchange for recognition of Israel and a compehensive peace.