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Arab leaders gather for low-turnout summit

Almost half of key leaders boycotting it, FMs agree to relaunch ME peace plan

AFP, Damascus
/Almost half of .Arab leaders are boycotting a weekend summit hosted by Syria, an Arab League official said on Friday, as US allies snub Damascus over the political crisis in Lebanon.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will host the leaders of /Algeria, Comoros, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, the Palestinian Authority. Qatar, Sudan, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, theofficial told AFP
With US allies Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan sending only low level delegations, only 12 leaders from the 22-member body will attend the two-day summit, which opens on Saturday.
The leaders of Iraq, Morocco and Oman will also be absent, while Lebanon is boycotting the event.
As leaders began gathering in Damascus on Friday, Assad greeted the first arrival Comoran President Ahmed Abdallah Sambi, followed by Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdel Mahdi, an /AFP correspondent said.
Damascus airport has been closed to all commercial flights until Sunday for the leaders' arrivals.
On Thursday. Syria's press hailed the summit a success due to the absence of US influence, a reference to the boycott by the heads of state from several regional US-friendly heavyweights.
"It is enough for the Arab summit in Damascus that the American ghost is banished... it is enough that for the first time all its decisions and agreements will be free of the American virus.” state-owned Ath-Thawra wrote.
The ruling party mouthpiece Al-Baath said the summit had managed to avoid external influence.
"The Damascus summit has succeeded in overcoming all sorts of pressures, starting from the statements of US officials and their desire not to hold the summit, or their desire for non-participation," Al-Baath wrote.
The United States last week called on its Arab allies in the region to think carefully about attending the summit, accusing Syria of blocking the election of a president in Lebanon.
Lebanon has been without a president since the end of November.
It has been mired in a political crisis for over a year due to political feuding between the majority, backed by the West and most Arab states, and the Hezbollah-led opposition, backed by Syria and Iran.
Earlier Arab foreign ministers on Thursday agreed to relaunch the Arab peace initiative in its current
form, despite earlier suggestions by the Syrian minister that the initiative could be rethought.
"We agreed on maintaining the Arab peace initiative and there is no intention on the ministers’ part to amend it," Mohammed Sobeih, Arab League assistant secretary general for Palestinian affairs, told reporters.
"It was also agreed that the initiative will be relaunched to the international community in order to stress Arab concern for finding a solution to the Arab Israeli conflict," Sobeih said.
At the opening of the ministers meeting in Damascus earlier on Thursday, Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem hinted at the possibility of reconsidering the initiative if Israel did not prove its intention to establish peace in the Middle East.