AS ARAB leaders converged on the Egyptian capital for the first Arab summit in six years, a war of words began between the Arabs and Israel, with both sides seeking to avoid the blame for halting the ailing Middle East peace process.
Arab foreign ministers meeting to prepare for the two day summit said yesterday that they wanted the new Israeli government to reconsider its policies towards the peace process and to negotiate on the basis of existing agreements.
The Israeli Prime Minister Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, has been claiming that Israel wants unconditional peace negotiations with its Arab neighbours and that the new government needs more time to formulate its policies.
But at his swearing in ceremony last week Mr Netanyahu vowed not to return the occupied Golan Heights to Syria and rejected a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital causing anger and dismay throughout the Arab world.
"The Israeli side, which requests a resumption of talks or calls for a resumption of talks without any precondition, is the side which calls for preconditions," said the Syrian Foreign Minister, Mr Farouq al Shara, in Cairo on Thursday night.
"It says no to a Palestinian state, no to withdrawal from the Golan and no to the return of [East] Jerusalem. These are quite simply preconditions," he added.
This weekend's summit is intended to stress Arab commitment to the peace process in the wake of Mr Netanyahu's victory, based on the land for peace principle that brought many of them to the negotiating table in Madrid in 1991.
But the Arabs are divided over the best way to achieve this, with Syria and Lebanon expected to lobby for a freeze in the normalisation in relations with Israel and more moderate regime such as Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia likely to avoid specific threats.
The US has added its voice to the debate, putting pressure on its Arab allies to take the moderate line this weekend.
"It is absolutely essential that this summit not prejudge the new government of Israel and that it not foreclose the prospect or possibility for future progress in the Arab Israeli peace process, said a US negotiator, Mr Aaron Miller, in Washington on Thursday.
Complicating the discussion, still further are the deep divisions between Arab states over regional issues, such as the alleged interference of Iran in Bahrain, Jordanian accusations of Syrian support for terrorism, fears over a recent Turkish Israeli defence pact and lingering tensions over the Gulf War.
AFP adds from Jerusalem: The Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr David Levy, warned Arab leaders that any attempt to intimidate the new right wing Israeli government during the Cairo summit would be counterproductive to the interests of peace.
"Peace cannot be obtained through threats, and there is no need to pressure Israel into putting into action our willingness to pursue peace," Mr Levy said after meeting the Egyptian ambassador, Mr Mohammad Bassiuni.
"Arab states have no reason to be worried because the goal of this government is to achieve peace," he said.