Arab foreign ministers open a two-day meeting Saturday in Jordan to examine means of supporting the Palestinians following the triumphal election in Israel of hard-liner Ariel Sharon.
The follow-up committee to October's Arab summit in Cairo brings together the foreign ministers or representatives of Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Tunisia and the Palestinian Authority.
The meeting comes on the heels of fears triggered in Arab capitals following Sharon's election to the post of prime minister and precedes another Arab summit set to take place in Amman the last week of March.
Arab leaders have said they will judge Sharon by his "actions for peace" but many worry that the man considered by most a war criminal will steer the troubled Middle East away from a comprehensive peace settlement.
"Sharon's arrival to power and its repercussion on the peace process will be the focus of discussions over the next two days," the Palestinian ambassador in Amman, Omar Khatib, told AFP.
"Talks will also center on the sufferings of the Palestinian people and Arab financial aid for them," Khatib said.
The Cairo summit pledged a total of one billion dollars for the Palestinians to help them overcome the physical and economic losses linked to the uprising launched against Israel in September.
The money was to be divided into two funds: one dedicated to preserving the Arab character of Israeli-held east Jerusalem and the other to assist families of "martyrs" of the uprising, in which nearly 400 people have been killed, most of them Palestinians.
"So far there has been no remarkable progress whatsoever made on the financial front," Khatib told AFP.
Arab diplomatic sources said that a mere 50 million dollars have passed hands.
Arab League Secretary General Esmat Abdel Meguid and Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Mussa, who will both be attending the Amman talks, said the meeting will prepare for the March summit.
"The meeting will deal with the difficult situation in the Middle East, the prospects for the peace process and the preparation of the next Arab summit," Mussa told the Egyptian state news agnecy MENA.
Abdel Meguid meanwhile condemned Sharon as a "war criminal" and said his victory will not deter the Arabs from their support for the uprising and a comprehensive peace in the region that ensures Palestinian rights.
"Sharon's election will not change the Arab positions on Jerusalem, the Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories or the issue of the (return) of the (Palestinian) refugees," Abdel Meguid said.
Arab leaders in October backed Palestinian demands to set up an independent state with its capital in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as well as the dismantling of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza and the return of millions of Palestinians to homes they lost when Israel was created in 1948.
They also appealed for an Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab land, including the Syrian Golan Heights captured by Israel in 1967 and a pullout from a strip of territory in southern Lebanon.
Palestinian political department chief Faruq Kaddumi will chair the Palestinian delegation at the meeting along with international cooperation minister Nabil Shaath.
The foreign ministers of Tunisia and Morocco have also confirmed their presence at the ministerial meeting -- the fourth since the Cairo summit -- AMMAN (AFP)
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