Word: arabs
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...Disputes among Arab leaders are nothing new, and the current rift was evident long before the war in Gaza. But the bloodshed and destruction wrought by Israel's offensive against Hamas has sharpened those differences, and will continue to shape regional dynamics in the months to come. At its most simplistic, the divide pits a so-called moderate camp, backed by the United States and led by Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, against a "resistance front" group that includes Syria along with powerful political and military movements such as Hamas and Lebanon's Hizballah - all of which oppose Israel...
...When Israel struck Gaza in December the Arab moderates initially backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, head of Fatah, while the resisters supported Fatah's bitter rivals, Hamas. Egypt and Saudi Arabia criticized Hamas for triggering the conflict by refusing to extend a six-month cease-fire. But as the death toll climbed and anger rose on the streets of Arab capitals, Saudi Arabia fell silent and Egypt scrambled to find a diplomatic solution...
...summit, Syrian President Bashar Assad demanded the scrapping of the Arab peace initiative, a seven-year-old Saudi plan that offers collective Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for the return of occupied territory and the establishment of a Palestinian state. Assad's call was intended to signal anger toward Israel, but it also served as a swipe at the Saudi architects of the initiative, with whom he is feuding...
...With the conflict over, at least for now, the squabbling between Arab capitals continues. Pointing to the 1,300 Palestinians killed and $2 billion worth of damage to homes and infrastructure, Hamas' allies say the camp of Arab moderates has been thoroughly discredited. Calls for peace with Israel have never sounded so hollow, they say. "The settlement process [between Arabs and Israel] is gone," Nawaf Mussawi, Hizballah's chief of international relations, told TIME. "The resistance [against Israel] has become the mecca of everyone in the region." (See pictures of Israel's deadly assault on Gaza...
...apparent nod to that sentiment, King Abdullah struck a conciliatory note on Monday when he told the Kuwait summit that the Arab peace initiative, his own brainchild, could be withdrawn, a shift that indicates the moderates may be losing the argument. "Israel has to understand that the choice between war and peace will not always stay open and that the Arab peace initiative that is on the table today will not stay on the table," he said...