WORLD leaders arriving at the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el Sheikh for today's whirlwind "summit of peacemakers" were determined that the meeting would be more than a round of speech making.
"You cannot have an event like this which is purely symbolic," the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Mr Amr Musa, said. "It is a statement that they want the peace process to go on and will do what is needed to make sure it does.
The meeting, which will discuss peace and violence in the Middle East, is scheduled to last for a mere four hours and many critics have said that practical steps to solve such complex issues cannot be decided in such a short time.
Even Mr Musa could not say whether any concrete measures would be adopted, but he did mention the possibility of clamping down on religious charities that are suspected of channelling funds from the Gulf to terrorist groups elsewhere in the Middle East.
President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt called the summit in the wake of the suicide bombings in Israel that left 58 dead and have severely shaken the Middle East peace process. Although Mr Mubarak originally talked of using the gathering to take stern measures against terrorism he has since shifted the emphasis to support of the peace process.
"Terrorism is not the issue here. We're talking about an international conference to support the peace process and based on this we must meet or the peace process will collapse," he said last weekend.
The summit will he attended by some 16 heads of state including President Clinton, President Yeltsin. President Chirac of France, and the German Chancellor, Dr Kohl. The Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, is also attending.
But the gathering has been overshadowed by the absence of Syria, which has ignored the event and called instead for a reconvening of the Middle East conference that recessed shortly after opening in Madrid in October 1991.
Damascus has not condemned the suicide bombings in Israel and said that the violence would only end when Israel worked for a just and comprehensive peace.
Syria has been criticised by the US for allowing radical Palestinian groups including Hamas, which claimed responsibility for the blast to maintain offices in Damascus, but its absence at the summit leaves many to question how much can be accomplished in Sharm el Sheikh.
"It is a disappointment because we consider Syria one of the main parties to the peace process", said Mr Musa.
Sudan and Iran are among the other countries not attending. Libya has also refused to attend but there were reports last that a Libyan official was on his way to Sharm el Sheikh to deliver a message from the Libyan leader, Col Muammar Gadafy, to Mr Mubarak.
Many Muslim militant groups in the region have also criticised the summit as an attempt to use the term "terrorism" to squash legitimate movements. They also note the world's reaction to the bombings in Israel and compare it with its response to the killings of Muslims in Bosnia and Chechnya.
"Surprise, surprise," said one Egyptian opposition newspaper closely allied to the domestic Islamist movement. "The whole world, East, West, North and South, has jumped to defend the security of Israel against young Palestinian freedom fighters."
The usually peaceful Sharm el Sheikh has been transformed from a tranquil resort to a security zone. Large men with walkie talkies patrol hotel entrances and road blocks stop unauthorised traffic from entering the area.
Mercedes with tinted glass have replaced the jeeps and tourist buses that normally ferry people to and from the beaches. Tourists have been unceremoniously removed from their hotels to make room.
Reuter reports from Jerusalem: A sonic boom rocked Jerusalem yesterday, causing alarm among Israelis shaken by a wave of Muslim suicide bombings.
It is very important that we calm down Jerusalem residents who heard a big explosion. The chief of Jerusalem police says to relax and it was only a sonic boom. Don't worry. The big noise was only a sonic boom. Take it easy," Army Radio said.
"Our friends, the air force pilots, flying over Jerusalem, to say Hi to your girlfriends? If you have to break the sound barrier, do it over your own houses, not over Jerusalem," an Army Radio disc jockey said.