A history of Arab summits
NIYAZI GUNAY
Washington Institute for Near East Policy
WASHINGTON - For the first time in nearly five years, heads of state and representatives from the 22 members of the Arab League convened for a summit meeting in Cairo.
It was a critical meeting not only because of the regional tensions steaming from Israeli-Palestinian violence but also because Iraq - and leader Saddam Hussein - was invited to participate for the first time in a decade.
What follows is a brief overview of some of the Arab summits since 1964:
- First Summit, Cairo (Jan. 17, 1964) - The first Arab summit was held to define a united reaction to Israel's diversion of the headwaters of the Jordan River.
- Fourth Summit, Khartoum, Sudan (Sept. 1, 1967) - Convened after the Six-Day War, this conference issued the famous "three no's": "no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel and no negotiations with Israel."
- Ninth Summit, Baghdad, Iraq (Nov. 5, 1978) - The Egyptian government was urged not to ratify the agreements and to align itself with the Arab League. Most importantly, the league froze its relations with the government of Egypt.
- 19th Summit, Cairo (June 22, 1996) - This was the first summit since Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and Iraq was not invited. The summit, which came some months after a wave of terrorist bombings in Israel, publicly denounced terrorism and radicalism.
Niyazi Gunay is a research assistant at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
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