While the 1978 Camp David accords which paved the way for a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel are regarded as a "triumph of US diplomacy" by Westerners, every Arab government except Egypt considers this bilateral deal, dubbed "the separate peace", a "betrayal".
In the majority Arab view, Egypt, the major Arab military power, had deserted the Arab front against Israel, tipping the regional balance totally in Israel's favour. By making peace with Israel, Egypt had deprived the Arabs of deterrence and of the political leverage provided by military muscle.
As the saying goes, "the Arabs cannot make war on Israel without Egypt or make peace without Syria." This being the case, Damascus was particularly incensed by "the separate peace". The Arabs felt doubly "betrayed" because the US and Russia had agreed to call an international conference in Geneva to negotiate a comprehensive Middle East settlement. This plan was scrapped when President Anwar Sadat of Egypt paid his dramatic visit to the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem and thereafter pursued his "separate peace".
Sadat was not mourned in the Arab world when he was assassinated in 1981 and his peace with Israel remains "a cold peace".
Arab governments called two summit conferences where they suspended Egypt's membership of the Arab League, transferred its headquarters from Cairo to Tunis and cut diplomatic contacts and financial aid, effectively ostracising the country until it was rehabilitated in 1990.
History is not the only reason the Arabs are wary of Camp David. They do not believe Israel is prepared to settle on terms they can accept. The Beirut daily al- Safir called Camp David 2000 "the most desperate summit in history" and predicted it would fail. Whatever happens, Yasser Arafat will find it difficult to sell a deal. Egypt's al-Ahram expressed concern that the sensitive issue of Jerusalem, holy to Muslims and Christians as well as Jews, could be shelved because Israel insists on exclusive sovereignty.
The Jordanian press was overtly hostile because the kingdom has no representative at Camp David to protect the country's strategic interests while arrangements for Jerusalem, water resources, borders and refugees are being discussed. Jordan, Lebanon and Syria all have a critical interest in Palestinian exiles.
Jordan says it will not admit refugees if there is instability in the Palestinian territories. Al- Ahram reflected official and public feeling in an editorial: "We say that the . . . summit is not the final chance to attain peace on the Palestinian track. The peace process is very complicated and sustained efforts will be needed to attain a just, viable peace."