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American Morning

Leaders Quit Arab Summit

Aired March 27, 2002 - 08:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Up front this morning, though, the Arab summit in Beirut is now underway, but some say it has already been undermined. The decision by major Arab leaders not to attend, including Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah, now jeopardize a major Saudi Arabian plan for Middle East peace.

CNN's Brent Sadler joins us now from Beirut with an update -- good morning, Brent.

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this (AUDIO GAP) non- appearances here of key leaders in Middle East peacemaking. Nevertheless, Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, is expected to address this summit conference shortly, having a very dramatic impact here because a live video linkup has been established between his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah and the summit heads of state here in Beirut.

So it's going to be a very important moment when he does link up from there. No doubt he'll be talking about the fact that he's under Israeli siege, Israeli oppression, he will be saying to the Arab leaders here, who have shown throughout this morning here in Beirut that they strongly support a continuation of the Palestinian intifada, the struggle for the liberation, they say, of Palestinian land at the same time as this Saudi peace initiative has been officially launched here.

And we heard a short time ago from Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah of the specific proposals. These are the words, "normal relations and security for Israel in exchange for full withdrawal from all occupied Arab territories, recognition of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and the return of refugees."

So there it is, the official launching of the Saudi initiative seeking full Arab backing here today -- Paula.

ZAHN: Brent, was there anything new advanced?

SADLER: Well, it was interesting to hear the kind of phrases that Crown Prince Abdullah was using here. He said that, "Peace emanates from the heart and mind and not from the barrel of a cannon or the exploding warhead of a missile. The time has come," said Crown Prince Abdullah, for Israel to put its trust in peace after it's gambled on war for decades without success." And also, very poignantly, he had a message for the Israeli people. He told them that if their government abandons the policy of force and oppression and embraces true peace we -- he means the Arabs -- would not hesitate to accept the right of the Israeli people to live in security with the people of the region.

So very clearly there Saudi Arabia setting out the principals of this much talked about initiative and the expectation there will be unanimous support here even though Arab heavyweights are not in attendance at this very crucial Arab summit -- back to you, Paula.

ZAHN: Brent, in the morning newspapers here in this country, there seems to be an indication from some Bush officials, they still hold out hope that Yasser Arafat may end up going to the summit. Does anybody there have that expectation?

SADLER: No. The expectation is and the word on the ground here, Paula, is that events, of course, are ahead of newspaper headlines. Arafat, we understand, has been standing by in Ramallah waiting to link up live with this summit here. But, you know, this has been full of surprises, President Mubarak not coming here, also King Abdullah not coming here. So, you know, anything can happen.

But the expectation is that Yasser Arafat will be addressing this conference from his headquarters in a dramatic address, we expect some time soon. But let's see -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, we'll continue to rely on you for our updates.

Brent Sadler, thanks so much for that report.

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