Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat told the Palestinian delegation to the Arab League summit, which opened Wednesday in Beirut, to leave the summit and return home, reported AFP.
Earlier, it was reported that the Palestinian delegation walked out on the first day of the two-day conference after a speech by Arafat - absent from Beirut - was not aired for the participants.
Majdi Khaldi, a member of the Palestinian delegation in Beirut, said summit organizers kept moving other speakers ahead of Arafat. "Then we found that that they didn't carry out what they promised us. We decided to leave and we left," Khaldi said.
A Palestinian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Palestinian delegation left the room but remained in Beirut. He did not say whether they would participate in another session later. A Lebanese government official said mediation was under way to bring the Palestinians back into the afternoon session.
In the end, Arafat delivered his remarks on the Qatar-based Al Jazeera satellite TV station, but his speech was not heard by those attending the summit.
In his speech, Arafat welcomed the Saudi peace plan and praised the peace offer to Israel.
"In the name of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian leadership, I would assert here our welcome of the courageous initiative which was declared by Crown Prince Abdullah regarding a peaceful solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict," Arafat said.
"This initiative, God willing, will turn at this summit into an Arab initiative for the peace of the brave between us and the Israeli people and Jews in the world," Arafat said, adding holiday greetings to Jews at the start of their Passover holiday.
Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said summit organizers later called Palestinian officials and assured them Arafat would be able to address the summit at a later time.
The Saudi Arabian delegation also departed a short time later, after one of their party - Prince Nawaf - was taken ill. He was taken to hospital in Beirut, accompanied by the rest of the Saudi delegates.
Saudi Plan
In his speech, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah proposed on Wednesday that the Arab League offer Israel "normal relations" in exchange for recognition of a Palestinian state and of refugees' right to return.
Speaking at an Arab League summit, Abdullah said, "having a real peace is the only way to normalize relationships between all the peoples and the only thing that could replace all the destruction." "Starting from this point I propose that the Arab League present a collective program to the (U.N.) Security Council based on normal relationships and security to Israel and parallel with an independent Palestinian country with its capital Jerusalem and the right of Palestinian people to come back to their homeland."
Abdullah also called on Israel to withdraw from occupied Arab land. "Land for peace has been the principal adopted by the international community," he said. "Full Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories is the basis for everything."
Mubarak
Egypt’s president, Hosni Mubarak, who did not arrive in Beirut, said earlier Wednesday he stayed away in solidarity with Arafat, saying the Palestinian leader had been humiliated by an Israeli stance that kept him from attending.
Mubarak also said that he supported the Saudi initiative and had been "keen" on attending the summit, but changed his mind "when I found the issue becoming a matter of blackmail of the Palestinian people and the head of the Palestinian Authority, insult and humiliation." Mubarak sent his prime minister Atef Ebeid to attend the summit. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
