Arab League Summit Pushes Syria On Peace Plan

Arab leaders, attending an Arab League summit in Iraq, Thursday called for practical solutions to the crisis in Syria, but stopped short of demanding President Bashar al-Assad step down.Iraqi President Jalal Talabani told the summit that his country was supporting the Syrian people’s right to choose their ruling system, but ‘without any foreign intervention.”Syria’s non-participation in this Arab summit does not underestimate our interest in this country. There should be a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis,’ Talabani added.Syria was not invited to the one-day summit, the first pan-Arab gathering in two years, under a resolution adopted by the Arab League in November to protest a crackdown by al-Assad’s regime on the opposition.Addressing the event, the Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi called on Syria to ‘immediately and fully’ implement a United Nations-backed plan aimed at ending violence, which the UN says has left more than 9,000 people dead since the conflict started in March 2011.’This plan represents a positive development that can be built on,’ added al-Arabi.The plan calls for an immediate ceasefire, to be monitored by UN observers, access to humanitarian services and inclusive talks between the Syrian government and the opposition.’The events recently witnessed by some Arab countries make it necessary for us to listen to the people’s voice,’ added al-Arabi, referring to a wave of popular revolts that has swept across the region starting in December 2010 in Tunisia.The uprisings have toppled long-ruling autocrats in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki, meanwhile, called at the summit for ‘intensifying political pressure’ on the Syrian regime, whom he said has no future.Marzouki was a newcomer to the summit after a pro-democracy uprising forced his predecessor Zine al-Abdine Ben Ali to flee to Saudi Arabia in early 2011.Another newcomer was Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the head of Libya’s Transitional national Council, who took over after an armed revolt toppled the regime of Muammar Gaddafi last year.’I call for a firm and clear stand to expedite the formulation of practical solutions to what is going on Syria,’ said Abdel Jalil.Ten Arab heads of state from the 22-member Arab League showed up for the summit, the first to be held in Iraq in more than two decades.They included President Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan against whom the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant.Iraq is not a member of The Hague-based ICC, and has promised to protect al-Bashir during his visit.Kuwaiti Emir Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah also attended, marking the first visit to Iraq by a leader of the Gulf country since it was invaded by late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 1990.As the summit got under way, an explosion occurred near the Iranian embassy in central Baghdad.The sound of a shell exploding could be heard outside the walls of the Green Zone, the city’s high-security area where the pan-Arab gathering was being held.There were no reports about casualties or major damage.Iraqi authorities have put in place tough security measures for the summit, including the deployment of large numbers of army and police personnel to head off potential attacks.