BAGHDAD, March 29, (Agen-cies): Addressing the 23rd Arab summit here His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah dealt with three major issues: the current crisis in Syria, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and the growing concern over Iran’s nuclear intentions.

Having started off his speech to his fellow summiteers by marking the fact that the summit was being held in Baghdad, a regional power center that had been absent from the political scene for a long time, Sheikh Sabah brought to mind the tumultuous circumstances that are at this juncture engulfing some parts of the Arab world and the multitude of challenges facing Arab governments in providing ingredients for a safe, secure, and prosperous life for their citizens.

One of these points of tumult is Syria, which Sheikh Sabah noted has been getting the attention of Arab leaders in the past few months, whose efforts at seeking a solution for that country resulted in the Arab League issuing a ministerial council resolution no.7444, which the United Nations General Assembly adopted. He said that implementing this resolution would be a successful way out of the current turmoil in Syria in that it would avert the situation there from deteriorating into a bloody civil war that would wreak havoc on the Syrian people and undermine all development plans in that country.

HH the Amir hammered on the notion that prolonging the ordeal in Syria would be a bad idea that would only result in human and material losses, both being easily avoidable. He appealed to the UN Security Council to shore up its responsibilities in that regard by having consensus on seeking a firm solution for the situation in Syria.

At the same time, he urged the Syrian government to listen to the sound of reason by obviating all manifestations of violence against a defenseless population, and coaxed that government to respond positively to the overtures and efforts of the joint UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan who is currently seeking a resolution for the crisis in Syria.

Turning to the Israeli-Palestinian issue, HH the Amir expressed dismay at the Israeli policies that target the Palestinians, depriving them of their basic human rights and violating their safety and security. Unfortunately that was being done, he said, while the whole world stood watching impotently.

He appealed to the international community, particularly those concerned with the Middle East peace process such as the international peace quartet to exert pressure on Israel to comply with international resolutions, cease settlement activities, tear down the separation wall, and disallow any changes to the status of the city of Jerusalem (or al-Quds).

Sheikh Sabah affirmed that no just or comprehensive peace would prevail in the region without the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in accordance with international resolutions and the principle of land-for-peace as well as the Arab peace initiative.

In that vein, HH the Amir commended efforts of the Amir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani at bringing together contending Palestinian factions for a conciliatory agreement which they signed lately in Doha.

The third issue HH the Amir dealt with focused on Iran, which he urged to cooperate assiduously with the IAEA to bring resolution to the question regarding the Iranian nuclear ambitions. At the same time he acknowledged the right of Iran and all countries to resort to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in tandem with IAEA standards and regulations. On the other hand, he renewed the call that the Middle East be a region free from any weapons of mass destruction in tune with IAEA standards and regulations, noting that these standards should apply to all countries of the region including Israel.

Returned
The Amir and his accompanying delegation have since returned home from Baghdad.
He was received at the airport by HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Speaker of the National Assembly Ahmad Al-Saadoun, senior sheikhs, Deputy Chief of the National Guard Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, HH Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Deputy Minister for Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al-Sabah, ministers, senior state officials, high-ranking officers of the army, police and National Guard.

During his stay in Baghdad for the summit, HH the Amir was accompanied by Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shimali, Director of the Bureau of HH the Amir Ahmad Fahad Al-Fahad, Advisor at the Amiri Diwan Mohammad Abul-Hassan, Head of Amiri Protocol Sheikh Khaled Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah Al-Nasser Al-Sabah, Foreign Undersecretary Khaled Al-Jarallah, senior officials of the Amiri Diwan, the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Finance.

The summit meeting opened in the Iraqi capital Baghdad with only 10 of the leaders of the 22-member Arab League in attendance and amid a growing rift between Arab countries over how far they should go to end the one-year conflict in Syria.

As the summit opened, two explosions were heard in central Baghdad.

A senior Iraqi intelligence official said a mortar hit near the Iranian Embassy, just outside the Green Zone where the summit was being held in a palace once used by dictator Saddam Hussein. He had no word on a second explosion and said there were no immediate reports of casualties.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
Iraq had hoped that hosting the summit would herald its return to the Arab fold after two decades of isolation, but the absence of more than half of the Arab leaders and the ability of militants to launch attacks despite a massive security operation suggest that Iraq may still have some way to go before it could fully return to normalcy and reintegrate into the Arab world.

The Amir of Kuwait was the lone head of state to attend from the six US-allied Gulf Arab nations.
The absence of five Gulf Arab leaders reflects increased Sunni-Shia tensions across the region in the aftermath of last year’s Arab Spring uprisings, particularly the one against a regime dominated by a Shiite offshoot sect in Sunni-majority Syria and another by majority Shiites in Sunni-ruled Bahrain, also a Gulf Arab nation.

Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem Bin Jabr Al Thani, also the country’s foreign minister, told Al-Jazeera late Wednesday that his own nation’s low level of representation was a “message” to Iraq’s majority Shiites to stop what he called the marginalization of minority Sunnis.

Majority Shiites have dominated Iraq since the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni. The nation’s once powerful Sunnis complain that the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is concentrating power in the hands of the Shiites. There is a growing desire by Sunni-majority provinces to win autonomy as a way to escape Shiite domination.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis died in the sectarian violence that began shortly after Saddam’s ouster but peaked in 2006 and 2007. Tension continues to simmers to this day, with occasional attacks by Sunni militants against Shiites and crackdowns on Sunni areas by the Shiite-led security forces.

Demand

Arab leaders dropped a demand that Bashar al-Assad give up the presidency of Syria but urged him to act quickly on a UN-backed peace plan he has accepted as fighting between Syrian troops and rebels killed at least 22 people on Thursday.

“The solution for the crisis is still in the hands of the Syrians as a government and opposition,” Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby told Arab heads of state at the summit meeting in Baghdad.
Syria’s opposition groups continue to demand that Assad must go and have not agreed to peace talks.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon kept up pressure on Assad, saying he must turn his acceptance of the six-point peace plan into action, to shift his country off a “dangerous trajectory” with risks for the entire region.

“It is essential that President Assad put those commitments into immediate effect. The world is waiting for commitments to be translated into action. The key here is implementation, there is no time to waste,” Ban told the Arab League Summit.

In Istanbul, Syrian opposition representatives met to try to settle deep internal disputes before the arrival of Western foreign ministers for a “Friends of Syria” conference on Sunday to map out where the year-old uprising is heading.

The chances of Western powers deciding to arm the insurgents at this point appeared to be very remote.
Sunni Muslim powers Saudi Arabia and Qatar have led the campaign to isolate Syria, suggesting arming Syria’s mainly Sunni opposition.

Arab states outside the Gulf, such as Algeria and Shi’ite Muslim-led Iraq, urge more caution, fearing that toppling Assad — a member of Syria’s minority Alawite sect, a branch of Shi’ite Islam — could spark sectarian violence.

Annan’s six-point plan calls for the withdrawal of heavy weapons and troops from population centres, humanitarian assistance, the release of prisoners and free movement and access for journalists.
Diplomats say one of his ideas is for a UN observer mission to monitor any eventual ceasefire, a mechanism likely to require a UN Security Council mandate. An Arab League monitoring mission late last year failed to make any difference to the crisis.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton headed for Saudi Arabia and later Turkey to consult Gulf states and promote unity in Syrian opposition ranks, but there was no sign that President Barack Obama was about to drop his hands-off approach.

Unless opposition splits are healed, there is little chance that Assad’s opponents can oust him without a military intervention the West clearly does not want, and some analysts are saying it is time to force the opposition to talk to Assad.

The Obama administration’s approach to the crisis will continue to be “wary and slow-moving,” said Michael O’Hanlon, a military expert at the Brookings Institution.

“If Assad has reached a turning point and really made headway against insurgents, I believe there is a good chance he will ‘win’ without too much American pushback,” O’Hanlon said.