THE MIDDLE EAST: Arab foreign ministers met yesterday in the refurbished Phoenicia Hotel at the heart of the Lebanese capital, marking the country's rise from the ashes of the 15 year civil war. The wall facing the Phoenicia bears a mural showing the touristic delights of Lebanon and the words: "Vive Le Liban."
The foreign ministers' meeting was opened by the Arab League Secretary General, Mr Amr Moussa, who warned that the Arab world was at a crossroads facing "justice and peace or total anarchy and confrontation". He identified the greatest danger as the conflict in the occupied Palestinian territories and spoke, cryptically, of "threats...of an attack on another \ country."
The main task of the Arab ministers and rulers is to consider the peace proposal put forward by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah which calls for "full withdrawal" by Israel from territory occupied in 1967 in exchange for "full normalisation" by the Arabs. Sources inside the summit told The Irish Times that there was a tussle taking place between those who favour a simple formulation of the proposal and those who want it to be spelled out in detail.
The Lebanese Minister of Culture, Mr Ghassan Salameh, said: "The Saudi initiative remains a Saudi initiative until it becomes an Arab initiative through its adoption by the summit
"The Arabs are perplexed. They want to retain the political efficacy of the initiative while guaranteeing their interests."
Syria, Libya and the Palestinians favour a detailed presentation. President Yasser Arafat will certainly press for this. But the Saudis, Egyptians and the Gulf emirs prefer a sweet and simple formulation. According to Dr Patrick Seale, a leading commentator on the region and the official biographer of the late Syrian President, Hafez al-Assad: "The summit is \ an attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of Israel through a public relations exercise aimed at convincing the Labour Party to leave the Sharon government. An attempt to produce a peace partner on the Israeli side."