Arab leaders at their summit Thursday agreed on a call for Israel to accept their land-for-peace offer and open direct negotiations with the Arabs.

'The Palestinian people is sincere in extending its hand of peace to the Israeli people, and I call on that people and its leaders to share that dream with us.' —Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

Unlike past summits that at times saw overt feuds break out, the gathering of Arab kings, emirs and presidents showed unusual public unity as it revived the peace offer, which they first made in 2002 only to meet rejection from Israel.

But still unknown is how the Arabs will persuade Israel to accept the initiative, which the United States and Europe hope can help build momentum for a resumption of the long-stalled peace process. Israel has said it could accept the offer with some changes, but the Arab leaders refused the amend it.

Instead, they created "working groups" that will seek to drum up support for the deal from the U.S., UN and Europe. U.S. allies Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan hope the smaller groups will be able to be more flexible in promoting the offer to win acceptance, despite the summit's rejection of changes.

Saudi Arabia should head working groups

"The Palestinian people is sincere in extending its hand of peace to the Israeli people, and I call on that people and its leaders to share that dream with us," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the summit in a speech Thursday.

He said Saudi Arabia should head the working groups, which should have "freedom to move according to the circumstances to achieve our national goals."

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, left, talks to Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal after the opening session of the Arab Summit in Riyadh on Wednesday.
(Awad Awad/Associated Press)

The summit, which ends later Thursday, was to call on Israel to "accept the Arab peace initiative" and reopen "direct and serious negotiations," according to a draft resolution.

The initiative offers Israel recognition and permanent peace with all Arab countries in return for:

• Israeli withdrawal from lands captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
• Setting up a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
• A "just solution" to the issue of Palestinian refugees forced out of lands in what is now Israel.

Israel has sought to water down the provisions, in particular those dealing with refugees. It opposes the influx of Palestinian refugees into the Jewish state and rejects a full withdrawal from the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Arab allies of the U.S. painted the peace offer as key to achieving progress at a time of mounting crises across the Mideast, including the bloodshed in Iraq. The Arab summit was to call on Iraq's Shia-led government to change its constitution and military to give a greater role to Sunni Arabs.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa rejected amending the peace offer, saying, "They tell us to amend it, but we tell them to accept it first, then we can sit down at the negotiating table."

But he said the Arabs must "do more to convince" the Israelis on the offer.