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SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON THE ARAB SUMMIT IN KHARTOUM 
 
                 Editorial Commentary 
 
-- "Quiet summit over flaming issues" 
 
Chief Editor Taher Odwan writes on the back-page of 
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm 
(03/26):  "I feel no enthusiasm about following up on 
the works of the Arab summit that started yesterday in 
Khartoum.  Whoever described it as 'the quiet summit' 
said it best, and yet the source of this quietness is 
not the feeling of power or self-confidence, but 
rather the feeling of weakness, helplessness and 
surrender..  The quietness of the Khartoum summit is 
unfortunately an indication that the decision-making 
center has moved from the hands of the Arab countries 
to the hands of foreign countries.  This region is 
living its worst historical crisis since era of 
national independence.  The national state as such is 
threatened, for the first time, by ethnic and 
sectarian divisions, and foreign occupations have 
settled here and the international belief that the 
Arab affairs are the business of others is now 
prevalent..  It is a summit swamped with flaming 
issues, and yet, describing it as 'quiet' is a true 
reflection of the status of countries and regimes that 
are incapable of acting or reacting and that settle 
for quietness as if they are living up in the sky 
while their people sink in the mud of the earth." 
 
-- "Khartoum summit: there must be acknowledgement of 
helplessness first" 
 
Columnist Khairallah Khairallah writes on the op-ed 
page of independent, centrist Arabic daily Al-Ghad 
(03/26):  "It is a scandal in all the meaning of the 
word exposed during the past three years that is since 
the American occupation of Iraq.  It is a scandal that 
continues, summarizing the extent of the status of 
Arab helplessness which inevitably must be 
acknowledged at the end of the day if the Khartoum 
summit is to be at all successful.  Acknowledging 
helplessness and the bitter reality of the nation is 
the first step towards getting out of the dilemma by 
asking this main question: what can be done and what 
cannot be done, and ultimately what can the Arabs do 
at any level, be that in Iraq, Palestine or Lebanon.. 
Does anyone want to learn the lesson of what happened 
in Iraq?  The answer so far is no, with the exception 
of a few Arab leaders who warned and continue to warn 
of the repercussions of what is happening in Iraq and 
around it.  The truth is, if we exclude these few 
leaders, no one wants to admit that the Arab summit 
ought to be discussing what to do to stop the civil 
war in Iraq instead of talking about the potential of 
its happening.  Even more, is there still a 
possibility to talk about a joint Arab action for Iraq 
or is that too late?  The future of Iraq now is being 
discussed between the United States and Iran, the 
latter being the first and foremost beneficiary of the 
American war on Iraq.  Does the Arab summit have the 
guts to discuss this issue?  Is this not the ultimate 
sign of Arab helplessness?  Is the Arab summit not 
supposed to adopt a clear stand vis--vis the 
injustice that Lebanon suffered and continues to 
suffer from?  There is another issue that needs to 
confronted, namely the political program of the new 
Palestinian government formed by Hamas.  It is a 
program that opposes the Arab peace initiative 
endorsed at the Beirut summit in 2002.  Can the Arab 
summit warn of the risks to which the Palestinian 
cause will be exposed at this stage since there is a 
clear contradiction between the PLO's political 
program that agrees with Beirut summit conclusions and 
the program adopted by the Hamas government?  There 
must be a clear Arab stand in this regard, because 
without it, Israel would seem to be capable of 
attaining more gains at the expense of the Palestinian 
people and their legitimate rights..  Does anyone want 
to deal with the situation as it really stands, thus 
acknowledge helplessness first, or is the Arab summit 
supposed to be another Arab summit that deals with 
everything except the real problems that face the 
nation?" 
 
-- "Khartoum summit needs new no's 
 
Columnist Yaser Abu Hilaleh writes on the op-ed page 
of independent, centrist Arabic daily Al-Ghad (03/26): 
"When the Arabs launched their famous no's at the 
Khartoum summit after the defeat of 1967, they were 
trying to send a clear message to the people and to 
the world that military defeat does not become 
political defeat and that 'no reconciliation, no 
recognition and no negotiations' are not empty slogans 
but a realistic political move..  Had the Arabs then 
changed their no's to yes's, the situation would not 
have been much different now, and the proof to that is 
Oslo and what followed..  The Arabs abandoned their 
no's too early, and everyone entered into negotiations 
with the Israelis whose problem turned out to be with 
the Palestinians and no one else.  After all, Egypt 
got Sinai back, Jordan got Al-Baqourah back, Lebanon 
got the south back, and Syria could get back the Golan 
now if it wants.  The problem lies in the core issues 
of the Arab Israeli conflict: the refugees, the state 
and Jerusalem...  The Arab leaders must preoccupy 
themselves with what is good for their people who will 
ultimately forgive them if they could not convince the 
Israelis of peace and could say no's they capable of 
achieving: no to tyranny; no to corruption; no to 
backwardness, no's that should have been launched in 
Khartoum four years ago.  We were not defeated by the 
Israeli military machine alone, but by the superiority 
of the enemy's society and state from all economic and 
political aspects.  The enemy's heroes who had 
defeated all the Arab armies were themselves defeated 
in the ballot boxes.  But the heroes of our defeat 
were vanquished only by the prince of death, as if 
death is the only effective tool of change in the Arab 
world." 
HALE