Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan president, poured contempt on fellow Arab leaders at the annual Arab summit, which opened on Saturday that was overshadowed by the absence of several key figures. He criticised Arab countries for doing nothing while the United States invaded Iraq in 2003 and overthrew Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi president.
Gaddafi asked: "How can we accept that a foreign power comes to topple an Arab leader while we stand watching?"
He said Saddam had once been an ally of Washington, "but they sold him out".
"Your turn is next," Gaddafi told the Arab officials gathered for the conference, some of whom looked stunned while others broke into laughter at his frankness.
US influence
The Saudi, Egyptian and Jordanian leaders stayed away after Washington urged its allies to think twice before attending.
But Syria trumpeted the absence of US allies as a triumph over Washington's influence.
Amr Moussa, the Arab league chief, spoke of how the summit had solidified the rift between Syria and US allies in the Middle East.
He also echoed words from in his speech from last year's summit, in which he declared that the Israeli-Palestinian peace process was dead.
Urging Arab foreign ministers to meet in mid-2008, Moussa asked for leaders attending the conference to reconsider their options on Israel and the current negotiations if no progress is seen in the next few weeks.
Assad also questioned how long Arab nations can keep offering Israel peace negotiations.
Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian president, repeated his request for international peacekeepers to be sent to the Gaza Strip, but Saturday marked the first time he had urged Arab countries to send troops.
Somewhere is Going to Explode
In another report, a boycott by Lebanon and major Arab powers of the Arab has dashed hopes for a last-ditch settlement of the Lebanese presidential crisis, raising fears of a descent into violence after it passes.
Ahmad Moussalli, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut, said the fractured summit marked the death of an Arab League initiative aimed at electing a president, redistributing cabinet seats and paving the way for parliamentary elections next year.
"The Arab Summit was supposed to revive the initiative and give it some energy, but now what we will be seeing is the stagnation of the Lebanese situation and this could deteriorate into further negative interaction between the two groups in Lebanon," he said.
"I think this could be the beginning of the death of the Arab League. Now we will see more the crystallization of alliances with the two major players in the region, the United States and Iran," said Moussalli.
Moussalli said the regional rift so graphically illustrated by the split over the Arab summit could blow up in Iraq, the Palestinian territories or Lebanon.
He said Saddam had once been an ally of Washington, "but they sold him out".
"Your turn is next," Gaddafi told the Arab officials gathered for the conference, some of whom looked stunned while others broke into laughter at his frankness.
US influence
The Saudi, Egyptian and Jordanian leaders stayed away after Washington urged its allies to think twice before attending.
But Syria trumpeted the absence of US allies as a triumph over Washington's influence.Amr Moussa, the Arab league chief, spoke of how the summit had solidified the rift between Syria and US allies in the Middle East.
He also echoed words from in his speech from last year's summit, in which he declared that the Israeli-Palestinian peace process was dead.
Urging Arab foreign ministers to meet in mid-2008, Moussa asked for leaders attending the conference to reconsider their options on Israel and the current negotiations if no progress is seen in the next few weeks.
Assad also questioned how long Arab nations can keep offering Israel peace negotiations.
Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian president, repeated his request for international peacekeepers to be sent to the Gaza Strip, but Saturday marked the first time he had urged Arab countries to send troops.
Somewhere is Going to Explode
In another report, a boycott by Lebanon and major Arab powers of the Arab has dashed hopes for a last-ditch settlement of the Lebanese presidential crisis, raising fears of a descent into violence after it passes.
Ahmad Moussalli, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut, said the fractured summit marked the death of an Arab League initiative aimed at electing a president, redistributing cabinet seats and paving the way for parliamentary elections next year.
"The Arab Summit was supposed to revive the initiative and give it some energy, but now what we will be seeing is the stagnation of the Lebanese situation and this could deteriorate into further negative interaction between the two groups in Lebanon," he said.
"I think this could be the beginning of the death of the Arab League. Now we will see more the crystallization of alliances with the two major players in the region, the United States and Iran," said Moussalli.
Moussalli said the regional rift so graphically illustrated by the split over the Arab summit could blow up in Iraq, the Palestinian territories or Lebanon.
"Somewhere it's going to explode -- Lebanon seems a very likely place -- and push the players either to go to war or reach a settlement. As things seem now, there is likely to be no settlement."
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