ARAB leaders ended their summit in Cairo with a warning to Israel that it must live up to its commitments in the peace process, but stopped short of detailing the action they would take if Israel failed to comply.
In their final communique, the 14 leaders and seven heads of delegation reiterated Arab commitment to the peace process based on the land for peace formula agreed upon in Madrid in 1991.
Any Israeli deviation from this principle would lead to setbacks in the peace process, with all that implies in the way of dangers and repercussions which would take the region back to a cycle of tension," said the statement.
But, in an apparent compromise between Arab moderates and countries such as Syria and Lebanon, the statement said only that the Arabs would reconsider the steps taken in the context of the peace process vis a vis Israel" in the event of Israeli backtracking on peace.
Syria and Lebanon had wanted Arab states to rethink normalisation with Israel if the government of the Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, reneged on any of its peace commitments.
When asked to elaborate on this, the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Mr Amr Musa, speaking to reporters after the closing session of the summit, would only say that "a step on one side will be met by a step on the other side".
The two day meeting was called in response to Arab alarm at the new hardline Israeli government of Mr Netanyahu and its apparent opposition to the basic principles of the peace process. The fact that it took the victory of Mr Netanyahu to force the Arabs, who have not met since the Gulf war divided them six years ago, to come together was an irony lost on nobody here.
King Hussein of Jordan and President As sad of Syria, who have not met since Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel, sat in deep conversation at dinner on Saturday evening. President Mubarak of Egypt and President Omar el Bashir of Sudan, whose relations have been strained by Egyptian accusations of Sudanese complicity in the attempted assassination of President Mubarak in Add is Ababa last summer, also met in what was described as a "somewhat positive" meeting.
The only open dissension at the meeting came from the Libyan leader, Col Gadafy, who has consistently opposed the peace process with Israel. Col Gadafy broke a UN ban on flights from Libya to attend the meeting, and then refused to shake hands with the Palestinian leader, President Yasser Arafat, and criticised other Arab leaders in a rambling speech that delegates said had many heads of state laughing.
The summit also addressed thorny regional issues, including Bahraini allegations of Iranian interference in recent unrest, and the military pact signed by Turkey and Israel last February. The pact has alarmed many Arab countries, particularly Syria.
Terrorism, a sensitive issue for many Arab states and a source of disagreement between Jordan and Syria, was also condemned, but the final statement supported the inalienable right to resist occupation and aggression.
David Horovitz reports from Jerusalem: True to its fractured nature, the Israeli government last night issued contradictory reactions to the Arab summit's concluding communique.
Sources in the Prime Minister's office expressed relief that Syrian demands for threats and ultimatums had apparently been resisted, and that the final text contained nothing overly hostile.
An official statement issued by the Prime Minister, however, was slightly less upbeat, noting vaguely that "one sided demands" hurt security and did not contribute to peace making.
The Foreign Minister, Mr David Levy, speaking earlier in the day, was unequivocally critical. He said the communique featured various "grave elements" that undermined positive peacemaking efforts, and warned that "you don't make peace by threats."
Mr Levy has been under heavy attack all weekend from the right wing for implying, in a television interview, that he would sanction at least a partial withdrawal from the Golan Heights in exchange for peace with Syria. His unexpectedly hostile stance on the Cairo summit may well reflect an effort to assuage fears that he intends to serve as an overly moderate voice in the new hardline government.