Arab states offered Israel a deal which the Jewish state should not have refused. The Arab Peace Initiative, drawn up by Saudi Arabia and endorsed by the Arab states at the 2002 Beirut Summit, outlined a realistic and practical plan for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.
It offers Israel total peace, with full normalisation with Arab countries, in return for full withdrawal from Arab land occupied during the 1967 war.
The plan is in fact based on United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 and 338.
But Israel shunned the offer. Instead, it has carried on with its policy of confiscating Palestinian land, expanding its colonies in the West Bank and the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
It continues to blockade the Gaza Strip, starving its population. And it expects rewards from the Arabs. This defies logic and proves what the Palestinian leaders have been saying for decades - Israel is not ready for peace.
Therefore, proposing to include Israel in a regional forum at this time, in the hope of bringing its leaders and people closer to peace, is a futile exercise.
The proposal was made by Bahraini Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa in his recent address to the UN General Assembly. Naturally, the proposal was met with rage in Bahrain and other Arab countries.
Moreover, the move was attempted before and failed. During the 1990s, the Arabs agreed to set up a regional economic forum in which Israel was included.
The group met twice against the opposition of Arab public opinion. The third meeting, held in Qatar in 1997, was boycotted by most Arab states.
The project failed to change the Israeli attitude but managed to split the Arabs into two camps - the moderates and the radicals.
There is an official Arab plan to which all agreed, the Beirut Peace Initiative. All should stick to it. Other proposals can only be considered when a comprehensive peace agreement is signed. Period.
