BEIRUT - Arab rulers were due to begin arriving in Beirut overnight to pass judgment on a Saudi Middle East peace plan as Washington pushed Israel to let Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat attend a summit that could endorse it.
The heads of key Arab states including Syria and Jordan will round
out the cast of the Arab League summit which Washington - wooing Arab support for a possible strike on Iraq - wants Arafat to attend in order to strengthen the plan.
A Kuwaiti summit delegate said the plan, a draft of which offers Israel peace for full withdrawal from Arab land, a Palestinian state and a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees, would likely win approval at the summit.
"It's an Arab message to the world for a full and comprehensive peace," said Kuwaiti State Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammad al-Salem al-Sabah.
A White House spokesman said Israel should give "serious consideration" to allowing Arafat, whom it has kept penned up in the West Bank since December, to attend.
Israel demands he implement a truce before going and said he might not be allowed to return if he uses the summit for "incitement".
"They are putting on my shoulders conditions," said Arafat. "Do you accept it if you are in my place?"
US-led talks on a ceasefire were on hold, with Israel saying Palestinians had backed out of talks to help end 18 months of Israeli-Palestinian carnage.
Israel was expected to decide early today whether to let Arafat travel to Beirut for the first time since invading Israeli troops drove him out in 1982.
Palestinian minister Nabil Shaath said the chances of Arafat going were "50-50".
Palestinian officials have said he may opt not to go rather than bow to Israeli conditions.
Palestinian militants including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades linked to Arafat's Fatah group have called on Arab leaders to reject the plan, which is vague on the final fate of 3.6 million Palestinian refugees.
Shaath said the summit would take up the issue of refugees, who states like Lebanon - reluctant host to 360,000 Palestinian refugees - want to ensure do not stay on as part of any "settlement".
Israel rejects any right of return for refugees, saying this would threaten its Jewish character and security.
Arab leaders also want to make clear that their priority is to end Israeli occupation, not to join any effort to extend the "war on global terrorism" declared by the United States to Iraq.
Meanwhile, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Iraq was making payments to the families of dead Palestinian terrorists.
It reported that US$500,000 was doled out to families on the West Bank, meaning Saddam had contributed more than US$10 million to Palestinian families since the intifada began 18 months ago.
The newspaper said Saddam would pay US$25,000 to the family of each suicide bomber as an enticement for others to volunteer.
Speculation has grown about a US attack on Iraq since US President George W. Bush labelled it part of an "axis of evil" with North Korea and Iran.
But odds of any reconciliation at the summit between Kuwait and Iraq over Baghdad's 1990 invasion of its neighbour looked long as they clashed at a ministerial meeting.
"There is no serious change in the Iraqi policy towards Kuwait," Kuwait's Sheikh Mohammad said, adding that the Iraqi delegation had refused to pledge never to attack Kuwait again.
A US-led coalition drove Iraq from the emirate in 1991.
Asked whether Kuwait would join a possible Arab call to oppose a US attack on Iraq, Sheikh Mohammad said: "Inasmuch as Iraq is threatened by the United States, we are threatened by Iraq.
"You can't speak of Iraq's security in isolation from the security of Kuwait."
Monday's friction between Iraq and Kuwait came as foreign ministers struggled merely to phrase a statement on the conflict between the countries that would please all.
Arab League head Amr Moussa sought to downplay the clash, saying he thought both sides were near agreement. "I believe there's only a little left to do to reach the desired result."
- REUTERS
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Arab heads gather for Saudi peace plan
BEIRUT - Arab rulers were due to begin arriving in Beirut overnight to pass judgment on a Saudi Middle East peace plan as Washington pushed Israel to let Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat attend a summit that could endorse it.
The heads of key Arab states including Syria and Jordan will round
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