Arab leaders gather in Tunisia for summit on Iraq, Palestinians, Middle East reform

Friday, May 21st 2004, 9:49 am

By: News On 6

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) _ Arab diplomats said Friday they were encouraged by a U.S. decision to allow passage of a U.N. resolution criticizing Israel, saying they hoped it signaled a tougher line against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

On Wednesday, the United States abstained from a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding that Israel halt the demolition of Palestinian homes and condemning the killing of Palestinian civilians near a Gaza refugee camp. The United States usually uses its veto power to block resolutions criticizing Israel.

Israel has been conducting a military offensive in Gaza in search of militants and arms-smuggling tunnels and militants. Israel raided the refugee camp less than a week after Palestinian militants killed 13 soldiers in Gaza, seven of them along the Egyptian border.

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, speaking at a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Tunisia, said the U.S. abstention in the U.N. vote was a positive signal but that the Bush administration needs to go further to be perceived as an ``honest broker'' in Mideast peace efforts.

``I hope this is a message that would stress there is a change in American policy,'' Moussa told The Associated Press. ``Abstention is definitely better than the usual veto that hampers the United Nations in dealing with major issues of human rights in the occupied territories.''

Several Arab foreign ministers, meeting Friday in the Tunisian capital a day ahead of a weekend summit of leaders from the Arab League, also said they saw the U.S. abstention as a good sign.

``I hope they (the Americans) finally realize that support of Israel under the pretext of self-defense is leaving the Israelis to commit more and more acts of aggression and further complicates and inflames the situation, said Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher.

``We hope that this is an indication that the U.S. is finally determined to exert its influence on the Israelis to allow the peace process to resume,'' he said.

The summit that starts Saturday is expected to focus on the deteriorating situation in Iraq and the recent escalation of violence in the Palestinian territories. Other items on the agenda are reform of the Arab League and a response to a U.S. proposal for political reform in the Middle East.

President Bush's plan for reform, known as the Middle East Greater Initiative, is expected to be a main topic at G-8 summit of major industrial countries June 8-10 in Sea Island, Ga.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has accepted an invitation to attend the G-8. The king of Bahrain, Sheik Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, also plans to attend, the official Bahraini news agency reported Friday. In Amman, a royal palace official said Jordan's King Abdullah II had been invited, but the official did not know if the monarch would accept.

Leaders of heavyweight Arab nations Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria were not invited to the G-8 discussions, according to Arab diplomats. They linked the apparent snub to the cool response those countries have given Washington's push for political reforms in the Middle East. Leaders of the three countries have proposed their own plan, expected to be endorsed by the Arab summit in Tunis, calling for homegrown reforms.

U.S. diplomats reached for comment in Cairo and Tunis referred the query to the U.S. State Department.