Arab summit conferences are the highest and broadest expression of the collective Arab will.
There are "ordinary" ones and "emergency" ones. For 50 years now, it has almost always been the more or less permanent "emergency" of Palestine that prompted them.
They are supposed to bring strength through unity. But in practice the kings and presidents have been so ineffectual that, for much of the Arab public, their performance on Palestine has long since become the most obvious single yardstick of their weakness and incompetence. Never, perhaps, will this judgment hold truer than after this weekend's gathering, summoned to cope with the latest "emergency". More obviously than ever before, President Yasser Arafat and the leaders of 21 Arab states came together under pressure of their respective publics.
Those twin villains, Israel and the US, have been the main target of the popular indignation; but the "Arab rulers" - now almost a word of abuse in itself - have been a close second, denounced for their inaction and seeming indifference. In speech after speech at the summit, the leaders paid tribute to the so-called "anger of the Arab street".
President Mubarak, the host, reiterated how "deeply he respects public opinion". King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia warned against the administration of mere "tranquilisers" to "absorb Arab anger". It is true that the Arab public did not have high expectations of their leaders. Some opposition groups, especially Islamists, may have called for war, or serious preparations for war, and some leaders - notably Iraqi, Yemeni, and Libyan - may have played to the gallery with lip-service to such militancy. But the mainstream public have known all along that the very most that could have been expected was that those states which have relations of one kind or another with Israel would break them off.
These are Jordan and Egypt, which, being the two states that have made formal peace with Israel, have full diplomatic ties with it, and Oman, Tunisia, Qatar, Mauritania and Morocco, which established liaison offices in Tel Aviv The leaders denounced Israeli "atrocities", called for an international tribunal to try Israeli "war criminals" and demanded UN protection for the Palestinians. But when it came to things they could do themselves, great moderation prevailed.
The reactions of the Arab "street" - and politicians and pundits speaking in its name - have been swift and severe. "A farce", said Mr Abdul Bari Atwan, editor of the influential, London-based pan-Arab opposition newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi. "The summit has its decisions", said Mr Daoud Tutah, a student in the occupied territories, "but the decision of the Arab people has yet to be taken, and it will be in the streets." That, however, remains to be seen.