On the evening of March 27 shortly after Abdallah presented his plan, a Pales-
tinian blew himself up at a hotel in the Israeli seaside resort town of Netanya, killing
twenty-eight people and wounding about 140 others; most of the victims were Israelis
and tourists celebrating the first night of Passover. The Islamist group Hamas issued
a statement claiming responsibility and warning of its intention to carry out similar
acts of “resistance” against Israel.
Despite Hamas’s assertion of responsibility, Israel blamed Arafat and sent an army
contingent to Ramallah, where troops surrounded Arafat’s compound. On March 29, the
Israeli army moved into other West Bank cities, reoccupying them in a massive show of
force and in the process destroying much of the infrastructure of the Palestinian Author-
ity. Israel rejected the Beirut summit declaration as insufficient grounds for a peace ini-
tiative. President George W. Bush sent Secretary of State Colin Powell to meet separately
with Arafat and Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon in April; their sessions made no
progress. On June 24, Bush stepped up U.S. criticism of Arafat, calling on Palestinians to
elect “new leaders” as a prelude to negotiations on the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The immediate circumstances of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict frustrated Abdal-
lah’s plan to breathe new life into the long-stalled Arab-Israeli peace process, and the
war in Iraq one year later made it impossible for either side to attempt a new initia-
tive to carry the plan forward. Abdallah’s peace plan appeared to take on new life in
2007, again at an inauspicious moment. Meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on March
29, 2007, Arab leaders reaffirmed the 2002 peace plan and urged Israel to “seize the
opportunity” the plan offered for direct negotiations. The Israeli government and the
Bush administration responded more positively, with Israeli prime minister Ehud
Olmert suggesting a regional peace conference, and U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza
Rice using the Arab plan as the starting point for exploratory trips to the region.
Olmert’s (weakened) government, however, continued to suffer from the lingering con-
sequences of its summer 2006 war against Hizballah, and Palestinian leaders, focused
on internal political struggles caused by the election of a Hamas-led government and
a Fatah-led presidency, were in no position to devise a united approach for dealing
with Israel (Hizballah-Israeli War, p. 365; Hamas Government, p. 317).
Following are the texts of two documents adopted at the conclusion of the summit
of the Arab League held in Beirut, Lebanon, March 27–28, 2002. The Arab Peace
Initiative, based on a proposal by Saudi crown prince Abdallah, is followed by the
Beirut Declaration, which incorporates the peace initiative and other statements on
regional affairs.ARABS AND ISRAELIS 157