It's all so pathetic to watch; and out-of-sight, under the rock so-to-speak, the decay and muck is even more slimy and desperate to behold!

The very idea that this group of "Arab leaders" could lead their people to anything successful, not to mention take on the Israelis and manuever around the Americans, is even more ludicrous today than yesterday.

BEIRUT (Reuters - 27 March) - Saudi Arabia asked Arab leaders to back its Middle East peace plan Wednesday, but a Palestinian walkout in protest of Lebanon's failure to air Yasser Arafat's summit speech plunged the meeting into disarray.

Farouq al-Kaddoumi, head of the Palestine Liberation rganization's political department, told Qatar's al-Jazeera television the Palestinian delegation had quit because Lebanese President Emile Lahoud had blocked the broadcast of Arafat's speech from his West Bank office.

"This is an Arab summit, not a Lebanon summit," Kaddoumi added. "The summit is for all the Arabs and for the (Palestinian) Intifada and he (Lahoud) has no right not to listen to the Palestinian speech."

Delegates said the United Arab Emirates had downgraded its delegation in solidarity with the Palestinian walkout.

Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh told a news conference there had been a "misunderstanding" over Arafat's speech, saying it could be aired to the summit in the afternoon.

But Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Shaath told Reuters Lahoud had shown contempt for the whole summit.

"Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, with all his mean and impertinent ways, prevented President Arafat from attending the summit physically," Shaath said. "The head of the summit prevented his image and voice from being present."

The row over the Palestinian leader's address, eventually broadcast on al-Jazeera, overshadowed the impact of the land-for-peace proposal made by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.

The prince asked the summit to back his plan for "normal ties" with Israel in return for an Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab land and creation of a Palestinian state.

But Syrian President Bashar al-Assad countered with a call for Arab states to back the Palestinian uprising by severing any ties with Israel -- a dig at Egypt and Jordan, the only Arab countries to sign peace treaties with the Jewish state.

Prince Abdullah, who praised the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation, urged the summit to submit a "clear and unanimous" peace initiative to the U.N. Security Council.

It should be based on "normal relations and security for Israel in exchange for full withdrawal from all occupied territories, recognition of an independent Palestinian state with al-Quds al-Sharif (East Jerusalem) as its capital and the return of (Palestinian) refugees."

The Saudi leader appealed to the world to support "this noble humanitarian proposal which seeks to remove the danger of destructive wars and the establishment of peace for all the inhabitants of the region, without exception."

Arafat immediately welcomed the Saudi plan.

"The Palestinian leadership confirms that it welcomes the enlightened, brave initiative launched by ... Crown Prince Abdullah," he said in his speech. "This initiative, God willing, will turn into an Arab initiative at this summit for the peace of the brave between us and the Israeli and Jewish people."

Prince Abdullah, detailing a plan he floated last month, asked the summit in Beirut to let him address the Israeli people with a message that "the use of violence for more than 50 years has only resulted in more violence and destruction and that they are as far from security and peace as they have ever been.

"I would further say to the Israeli people that, if their government abandons the policy of force and oppression and embraces true peace, we will not hesitate to accept the right of the Israeli people to live in security with the people of the region," Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler declared.

Syrian President Assad, while acknowledging the Saudi plan enshrined long-held Arab positions, stressed that Israel must commit itself to returning all occupied Arab lands.

"For us, if there are no clear guarantees to recover the land completely to (the borders of) 1967...let's not waste our time, there won't be any negotiation," Assad said, demanding that Israel make such a pledge in an official, public document.

He then asked Arab countries to take a stand in support of the Palestinian uprising. "The issue of cutting ties is one of sovereignty and we understand that every country has its own special circumstances. We ask countries that have relations with Israel to tell us when these ties can be cut," he said.

"Now is the time for action to save the Palestinian people from the massacres, from the new Holocaust, that they are being subjected to," the Syrian leader declared. Several Arab leaders earlier praised the much-anticipated Saudi land-for-peace proposal, but poor attendance at the summit that opened Wednesday threatened to weaken their message.

Sharon stopped Arafat from going to Beirut from his West Bank headquarters. He stayed away after Sharon said he might block his return if attacks on Israel continued.

It was not clear if Assad's position had any bearing on the last-minute decision of key U.S. allies King Abdullah of Jordan and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to stay away.

Military helicopters prowled rainy skies as the summit got under way at a luxury seafront hotel in Beirut in the absence of 12 heads of state from the Arab League's 22 members.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the summit to unite behind the prince's plan and told them to come to terms "once and for all" with Israel's right to exist in peace and security.

Delegates, who held late-night consultations on the eve of the summit, said Arab leaders were set to endorse the Saudi peace plan, but had found no way to bridge an Iraq-Kuwait dispute that has festered since the 1990-91 Gulf crisis.

BEIRUT (Reuters - 27 March) - Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, hosting an Arab summit that is supposed to showcase a Saudi plan for Middle East peace, sought to rescue it from collapse Wednesday after a Palestinian walkout.

The Palestinians quit the morning session in fury over what they said was Lahoud's refusal to let their leader Yasser Arafat address the summit by satellite from his West Bank base.

Lahoud reconvened the meeting after a lengthy delay, saying there had been a "misunderstanding" over Arafat's speech. "I say we are all determined that his speech reach the summit and through it the world," he said. "We agreed with the Palestinians that it should be recorded and then broadcast to the summit because direct transmission would have given Israel the chance to interfere with the speech."

But Palestinian delegates stayed out of the conference hall and one of them said they were waiting for Arafat, prevented by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from attending the summit, to tell them whether they should resume their seats or leave.

The head of the United Arab Emirates delegation earlier left Beirut in solidarity with the Palestinian walkout.

"The summit is heading toward total chaos," UAE Information Minister Abdullah bin Zaid al-Nahayan told Reuters.

"This is an Arab summit, not a Lebanon summit," Farouq al-Kaddoumi, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization's political department, thundered, adding that Lahoud had no right to block Arafat's speech to the Arab leaders.

The row over the Palestinian leader's address, eventually broadcast on al-Jazeera, threatened to diminish the impact of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah's land-for-peace proposal.

The prince asked the summit to back his plan for "normal ties" with Israel in return for an Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab land and creation of a Palestinian state.

But Syrian President Bashar al-Assad countered with a call for Arab states to back the Palestinian uprising by severing any ties with Israel -- a dig at Egypt and Jordan, the only Arab countries to sign peace treaties with the Jewish state.

Prince Abdullah, who praised the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation, urged the summit to submit a "clear and unanimous" peace initiative to the U.N. Security Council.

It should be based on "normal relations and security for Israel in exchange for full withdrawal from all occupied territories, recognition of an independent Palestinian state with al-Quds al-Sharif (East Jerusalem) as its capital and the return of (Palestinian) refugees," Prince Abdullah said.

He skirted some of the Middle East's linguistic minefields, avoiding "normalization," anathema to Syria, and the phrase "right of return," a formula fiercely rejected by Israel.

Arafat immediately welcomed the Saudi plan.

"The Palestinian leadership confirms that it welcomes the enlightened, brave initiative launched by...Crown Prince Abdullah," he said in his speech. "This initiative, God willing, will turn into an Arab initiative at this summit for the peace of the brave between us and the Israeli and Jewish people."

At one point Prince Abdullah spoke directly to the Israeli people, telling them that "if their government abandons the policy of force and oppression and embraces true peace, we will not hesitate to accept the right of the Israeli people to live in security with the people of the region."

Syrian President Assad, while acknowledging the Saudi plan enshrined long-held Arab positions, stressed that Israel must commit itself publicly to returning all occupied Arab lands.

"Now is the time for action to save the Palestinian people from the massacres, from the new Holocaust, that they are being subjected to," Assad said. He asked Arab states that have relations with Israel to "tell us when these ties can be cut."

It was not clear if Assad's position had any bearing on the last-minute decision of key U.S. allies King Abdullah of Jordan and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak not to attend the summit.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the summit to unite behind the Saudi plan and told them to come to terms "once and for all" with Israel's right to exist in peace and security.

Delegates, who held late-night consultations on the eve of the summit, said Arab leaders were set to endorse the Saudi peace plan, but had found no way to bridge an Iraq-Kuwait dispute that has festered since the 1990-91 Gulf crisis.

Iraq offered an olive branch to Kuwait at the summit after announcing that it had freed a Kuwaiti detainee.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri told reporters Baghdad respected "the sovereignty of Kuwait and its national security" and pledged not to interfere in its internal affairs.

It was not clear if Sabri's words would satisfy Kuwait, which had insisted that a final summit communique include an Iraqi pledge not to repeat its 1990 invasion of the emirate.

President Bush and other U.S. officials played down Arafat's absence from the summit despite American pressure on Israel to let the Palestinian leader attend.

They preferred to focus on efforts by Bush's envoy Anthony Zinni seeking an Israeli-Palestinian truce to halt violence that has killed more than 1,500 people in the past 18 months.

"I am optimistic that progress is being made and I asked General Zinni to continue the work with both parties, regardless of whether or not they're headed to Beirut," Bush said.

Zinni has been trying to get Israel and the Palestinians to implement a cease-fire plan laid out by CIA Director George Tenet last year.