Arab leaders tonight called on Israeli Prime Minister-elect, Ariel Sharon, not to take his country off the path of peace. The call comes as the right-wing hard liner continued work on putting together a governing coalition. Arab foreign ministers were beginning a two-day meeting in Amman to discuss the peace process after Mr Sharon's election. The Jordanian Foreign Minister told the opening session that the new Israeli government must tread the path of peace and stay away from anything that contradicted this path, particularly the language of aggression and the threat to use force.
Meanwhile, a United Nations team has begun an investigation of alleged human rights violations during the five-month-old Palestinian uprising. Israel has repeated that it will not co-operate with the inquiry. The UN team will carry out fieldwork in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem before reporting its findings to a session of the organisation's Commission on Human Rights next month.
The follow-up committee to October's Arab summit in Cairo brings together the foreign ministers or representatives of Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Tunisia and the Palestinian Authority. The meeting comes on the heels of fears triggered in Arab capitals following Sharon's election to the post of Prime Minister. It also precedes another Arab summit set to take place in Amman in the last week of March. Arab leaders have said they will judge Sharon by his "actions for peace" but many worry that the man considered by most a war criminal will steer the troubled Middle East away from a comprehensive peace settlement.
The Cairo summit pledged a total of $1 billion for the Palestinians to help them overcome the physical and economic losses linked to the uprising launched against Israel in September. The money is to be divided into two funds. One fund is to be dedicated to preserving the Arab character of Israeli-held east Jerusalem. The other is to assist families of "martyrs" of the uprising, in which nearly 400 people have been killed, most of them Palestinians.
