Arab leaders expected to support Jordan as it handles refugee file

KUWAIT — Arab leaders are expected to endorse a resolution at Tuesday’s Arab summit to technically and financially support Jordan to deal with the impact of some 1.3 million Syrians living in the country, including some 600,000 registered refugees, a Jordanian official said here.

According to officials and international agencies, the Syrians, the majority of whom sought refuge in the Kingdom from the raging civil war back home, are placing pressure on its already limited resources.

Arab leaders will also stress the importance of an agreement signed between Jordan and Palestine last year that reaffirms the status of His Majesty King Abdullah as the custodian of the holy sites in Jerusalem, according to a copy of the draft resolutions.

Tuesday’s summit, which is the first to be held in Kuwait since the start of Arab summits in 1964, is expected to be attended by heads of nine Arab states.

More than two-thirds of the resolutions are expected to focus on supporting the Palestinians, progress in the Palestinian issue as well condemning Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories and violations against Jerusalem, according to the draft, a copy of which was obtained by The Jordan Times.

Syria’s seat at this year’s summit will remain vacant. However, Ahmad Al Jarba, president of the Syrian National Coalition, will deliver a speech at the summit, which will run through Wednesday.

“Jordan will submit a draft resolution to support the Kingdom in dealing with the Syrian refugees in the country,” Jordan’s Ambassador to Egypt Bisher Al Khasawneh said Sunday on the sidelines of the meeting of the foreign Arab ministers in preparation for the summit.

“Jordan is in discussions with all the Arab delegations to get support for this resolution” as the burden the Kingdom is shouldering is too heavy even for countries with greater capabilities, said Khasawneh.

In one of the resolutions, Arab leaders will stress the importance of the agreement signed between King Abdullah and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last year on Jerusalem.

The deal, which was signed in March 2013, helps Jordan and Palestine exert all efforts to protect Jerusalem and its holy sites from “Israeli escalatory Judaisation measures” and aims at protecting hundreds of waqf properties that are endowed to Al Aqsa Mosque.

Under the deal, King Abdullah enjoys the “full right to exert all legal efforts to safeguard and preserve [Jerusalem’s holy sites], especially Al Aqsa Mosque at Al Haram Al Sharif compound [or the Noble Sanctuary whose area is estimated at 144 dunums]”.

Resolutions expected to be adopted by Arab leaders at the summit do not refer to a previously endorsed resolution at last year’s Doha summit that gave the right to any Arab country to provide military equipment to the Free Syrian Army to support their steadfastness in the face of the Syrian regime forces.

Instead, Arab leaders will urge the Security Council to shoulder its responsibilities in ending the impasse in talks between Syrian opposition and the regime that occurred lately in Geneva.

They will urge the league Secretary General Nabil El Araby and UN chief Ban Ki-moon to coordinate efforts to achieve a political solution to the Syrian crisis through negotiations, according to the draft communiqué.

Arab leaders will renew their commitment to a resolution to give Syria’s seat at the 22-member Arab League to the Syrian National Coalition and recognise it as the sole representative of the Syrian people. However, this year’s seat for Syria will remain vacant until the coalition completes procedures required by the league.

At the summit, heads of Arab states will urge the Security Council to take necessary measures to reach a ceasefire and all types of violence and terrorism in Syria and the random and excessive use of heavy weapons against civilians to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to all besieged areas in Syria.

Arab leaders will also look into supporting countries hosting Syrian refugees who fled the violence in their country, according to the draft resolutions.

On the Palestinian issue, Arab leaders are set to renew their commitment to the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which offers Israel recognition by the Arab states in return for withdrawal from territories it occupied in 1967.

Heads of Arab states will stress on their rejection of recognising Israel as a Jewish state and refusing all types of pressure placed on the Palestinian Authority in this respect.

They will also hold Israel accountable for the stalemate in the peace process, which they said should be in line with the Arab Peace Initiative.

Next year’s Arab summit will be held in Cairo after the UAE agreed to give the presidency to Egypt, according to draft resolutions.