Saudi hopes to rally Arab "moderates" at summit

By Andrew Hammond - Analysis

RIYADH (Reuters) - This week's Arab summit will crown months of intense Saudi diplomacy aimed at dousing the flames of radicalism in the region and promoting the once insular oil state as a U.S.-backed "leader of the Arabs".

Riyadh has watched with concern as non-Arab Shi'ite Muslim Iran spreads its influence in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, where Washington's prestige has waned over the past year with its failure to pacify Iraq.

Analysts say the two-day summit that opens on Wednesday is a chance for U.S.-backed Sunni Arab states to assert themselves.

Their effort will focus on a revived Arab peace initiative -- a Saudi land-for-peace plan that the Arab League adopted in 2002 but which Israel and the United States ignored at the time.

Arabs across the political spectrum have long argued that the decades-old conflict is a festering wound at the heart of the region's problems, the key to marginalizing radical ideologies and developing democratic political systems.

Sunni states including Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan -- considered "moderate" by the United States because they favor a realist policy of accepting Western ground rules for resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict -- are keener than ever to see it end.

"Who in the Arab world is ready to go into a peace plan with Israel on behalf of everyone?" said Ahmed Shalan, a columnist in Saudi-owned Arab daily al-Hayat.

"The role of leadership in the Arab world falls on Saudi Arabia, which certainly did not seek to obtain it. This role, which is a great challenge, carries enormous consequences."

In February, Saudi Arabia brokered a deal creating a Palestinian unity government and ending months of infighting. It is also trying to mediate in Lebanon between opposition forces led by pro-Iranian Hezbollah and the Western-backed government.

Saudi-owned Arab media have heavily promoted the summit, and Riyadh is festooned with flags, flowers and slogans such as "Unity behind a just cause provides strength" and "Welcome to the country of peace and humanity".

Dubai-based analyst Mustafa Alani said Arab states were in a relatively strong position because of U.S. difficulties in Iraq and Israel's failure to crush Hezbollah in a war last year.

"I'm not saying (the Israelis) are so weak as to give any concession, but they are not so strong as to be able to dictate," Alani said.

"Any way you look at it, the Americans need the Saudis more right now. On Lebanon, the Palestinians, Iraq and countering Iranian influence. You can't dispense with the Saudis."

NEW ARAB ORDER

All this is a far cry from the Saudi Arabia of old.