Arab leaders seek common ground at summit

DEAD SEA, Jordan — With an eye toward Washington, leaders of a fractured and conflict-ridden Arab world hold their annual summit this week, seeking common positions and leverage as President Donald Trump weighs his approach toward the region.

From their hotel on the Dead Sea, they have a view of the Israeli-occupied West Bank on the opposite shore — a visual reminder of the stalled Palestinian quest for statehood, an issue that will take center stage this year.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II plays host this year. Key participants include King Salman of Saudi Arabia, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. and Arab League envoy for Syria, are coming, as are U.S. and Russian envoys.

The leaders are to reaffirm a Saudi-led peace plan that offers Israel full relations with dozens of Arab and Muslim states in exchange for its withdrawal from lands captured in 1967. The Arab Peace Initiative, which would pave the way for a Palestinian state in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, was first proposed in 2002. This week, the summit is being asked to endorse the plan “as is,” a request promoted by Abbas, who says reopening it to negotiations would weaken the Palestinians.

Such a reaffirmation undercuts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s talk of “regional peace,” in which Israeli-Arab normalization would precede a deal with the Palestinians.

In previous summits, the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011 and their chaotic aftermath overshadowed the Palestinian issue. This year, Jordan wants it high on the agenda. The stakes are high for the kingdom, which has a large Palestinian population and custodianship of a major Muslim shrine in contested Jerusalem.