Arafat will not attend Arab summit

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat

RAMALLAH, West Bank (CNN) -- Yasser Arafat has decided not to attend the Arab League summit set to begin Wednesday in Beirut, Lebanon, Palestinian officials said late Tuesday, accusing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of undermining the Palestinian leader's intended mission.

The decision was made during a late-night meeting of top Palestinian officials in Ramallah hours after Sharon said the conditions were "not yet ripe" for Arafat to leave his compound in Ramallah, where he has been confined by Israeli authorities since December.

U.S. officials were monitoring developments closely on Tuesday night, holding out hope that Arafat would still go to the summit. The State Department reserved comment on his decision because officials said they did not know if it was final.

"There is a lot of jockeying going on," one senior State Department official said. He added, "We still think it is a good idea for him to go. We're staying in touch with the parties and will continue to stay in touch through the night."

In comments aired on Israeli television earlier Tuesday, Sharon indicated that if a terror attack occurred while Arafat was away, Israel reserved the right not to let him return to the West Bank.

Sharon said it would be easier for the Israeli Cabinet to allow Arafat to travel if Arafat issued a call, in Arabic, for a cease-fire and an end to the violence that has escalated dramatically in recent weeks.

"Unfortunately, the conditions are not yet ripe for Chairman Arafat to leave for Beirut," Sharon said in the televised interview. "I understand the importance of peace and wish to achieve peace. This is the goal before me now, but peace must be peace that provides Israel with security in the area."

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The Israeli government had indicated it would not decide whether to allow Arafat to travel until Wednesday, and that it might not let him go because he has not done enough to crack down on terror.

Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo told CNN that Sharon's comments were the "utmost of provocations" and "we hope the American administration will not play the same games."

"There are no limits to the provocations of Sharon and his occupation army," Rabbo said.

Earlier in the day, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said he also would not attend the summit. Furthermore, Egypt advised Arafat not to go, in part out of concerns that Israel would not allow him to return to the West Bank once he left.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher accused Sharon of playing games with Arafat and said the Palestinian leader should not try to attend the summit.

"The honorable way is for Arafat to say that he is not coming because it does not depend on the decisions of the Israelis, which is illegal, which is unjustified. And Arafat, whether he comes or not, will be represented by all the rest of the Arab states," Maher said.

The Arab League meeting is expected to focus on a peace proposal advanced by Saudi Arabia that would exchange Arab recognition of Israel for an Israeli withdrawal to borders that existed before the 1967 Six-Day War. (More on the history of the conflict)

The meeting is scheduled to take place after a dramatic escalation of violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank and Gaza in recent weeks.

The violence continued Tuesday as two international observers were killed when Palestinians opened fire on their car in the West Bank, Israeli and international officials said. (More on Tuesday's violence)

U.S. still hopes Arafat will go

There was no immediate official reaction from the White House on Arafat's decision not to go.

The Bush administration was still holding out hope that Arafat would attend because Arab leaders are to consider a Saudi proposal that would swap normalization of relations between Israel and the Arab world for an Israeli withdrawal to its borders before the 1967 war.

"It's a complicated situation," a senior administration official told CNN. "There are a lot of mixed signals certainly in public and we will have to see what happens."

Reacting to Arafat's decision, Sharon spokesman Ra'anan Gissin said, "This is his prerogative, and hopefully he will spend the time that he's going to spend in the territories to try and really put an effort -- all effort that he didn't put up to now -- to stop terrorist activity, to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure, to call upon his people to cease from violent terrorism and incitement."

Gissin rejected Palestinian suggestions that conditions for Arafat's trip put forward by Israel were designed to make it impossible for him to go to Beirut. Rather, he said Israel was trying to ensure that he would go to the summit to play a "constructive role, not a destructive one."

'Historic' message from summit

Lebanese army honor guard soldiers await the arrivals Tuesday of Arab leaders in Beirut.

Earlier, both the foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan -- two Arab states that have relations with Israel -- said Arab leaders were planning to send a historic message to Israelis that offers an end to the Middle East conflict, security and recognition for Israel.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher said it would be the first time Arab leaders collectively addressed the Israeli public.

"We are telling the whole Israeli people we are ready for peace," said Muasher, whose country is a neighbor of Israel and has a peace treaty with the Jewish state.

Maher sounded a similar theme.

"The message the Arab summit will be sending to the world and to the Israelis in fact is that we want peace," he told CNN.

Muasher said the Saudi Arabian peace plan that is to be discussed at the summit "is going to be converted into an Arab initiative" as a basis to offer peace, security and full recognition to the Jewish state.

In the plan, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah offered an end to the Israeli-Arab conflict in exchange for Israel's withdrawal from the territories it occupied in the Six Day War in 1967.

"This is the whole Arab world coming on board," said Muasher. "This is a huge opportunity that should not be missed and it is not a PR campaign. This is a serious initiative which we have every intention of following through in order to get it implemented.