Arab Summit Wraps Up Qatar Hosts Next Summit

Source: Al Manar Tv, 30-03-2008
Arab League Chief Amr Mussa read out Sunday afternoon the final statement of the 20th Arab Summit held in Syria entitled "Damascus Declaration".
A Damascus Declaration - which Mussa read out at the end of the two-day summit - called on Lebanon to elect a consensus president and re-endorsed an Arab initiative for peace with Israel. It also urged Iraq "to disband all militias without exception... and speed up the building and training of the Iraqi armed and security forces... in preparation for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq." Arab leaders called on Arab states to bolster their diplomatic representation in Iraq by opening up embassies in the war-torn country.
On Lebanon, "Arab leaders stress their commitment to the Arab initiative to solve the Lebanese crisis, and call on Lebanese leaders to elect consensus candidate General Michel Sleiman at the time agreed," in the final resolutions.
They also called in their resolutions for the strained ties between Lebanon and its neighbor Syria to be put "on the right path". Feuding Lebanese politicians should "decide on the basis for forming a national unity cabinet", in line with an Arab League initiative to end Lebanon's worst political crisis since the end of a 1975-1990 civil war.
The Declaration termed 'Israeli' attacks on Gaza as "crimes" and it denounced terrorism and stressed on differences between terror and the right of peoples to fight occupation.
Washington had urged its Arab allies, which it calls them as "Arab moderates" like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, to think twice before attending the summit, accusing Syria of blocking Lebanon's presidential election. But Syrian President Bashar al-Assad denied charges of meddling in Lebanon in his opening address on Saturday. "It is the contrary which is true because pressure has been exerted on Syria for over a year to interfere in Lebanon's affairs" but Damascus has refused, he said. "They have their nation, their institutions, and their constitution."
Arab leaders at their meeting in the Syrian capital also renewed an offer to normalize ties with 'Israel' if the Zionist state withdrew from occupied Arab lands. The summit "stressed its insistence on maintaining the Arab initiative for peace which represents the main launch-pad for resolving the different aspects of the Arab-'Israeli' conflict", according to the final resolutions.
The Saudi-inspired initiative for peace with 'Israel' was first launched at a Beirut summit in 2002 and reactivated in Riyadh last year. 'Israeli' leaders have spoken of the "positive aspects" of the Arab initiative but it was never formally endorsed by the Zionist state, which rejects a clause calling for the return of Palestinian refugees.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, in a message, said the Arab world "had hoped that prior to the summit a long-awaited settlement to the crisis... would be reached".
Syria, hosting an Arab summit for the first time, trumpeted the absence of the United States as a triumph over Washington's influence. "They (the United States) did their best to prevent the summit but they failed," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem told reporters. "Their aim is to divide the Arab world."
The leaders agreed on Doha as the venue for their 2009 summit. President al-Assad expressed gratitude to Qatar for accepting to host the next summit.
Al-Assad addressed the last session, saying the most positive development in the summit was the session held behind closed doors on Saturday evening as he declared that the Damascus Summit ends its meetings.