By Shayma Al-Ruwaished
KUWAIT, March 30 (KUNA) -- The Arab world looks forward to the outcomes of the 30th ordinary Arab summit due in Tunis on Sunday, hoping that it would lead to cementing Arab security, stability and development.
A total of 42 Arab summits, including 29 ordinary and 13 extraordinary ones, have been held since a maiden gathering was convened in March 1945.
This is a chronology of all Arab summits involving the first emergency Inshas conference in 1946 and the last Zahran meeting in April 2018: -- The extraordinary Inshas summit was held in May 1946 upon request from King Farouk of Egypt, with the attendance of the seven co-founders of the Arab League: Egypt, East Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. They called for halting the emigration of Jews to Palestine.
-- The emergency Beirut Summit was convened by Lebanese President Camille Chamoun in November 1956 following a tripartite aggression on Egypt and Gaza Strip, in the presence of nine Arab leaders.
-- Cairo Summit took place in January 1964 as requested by Egyptian President Gamal Abdelnaser, with all the 13 Arab League members attending.
-- Alexandria Summit took place in September 1964 and was attended by 14 Arab leaders, mainly calling for supporting Arab solidarity.
-- Casablanca Summit was convened in September 1965, with the attendance of 12 Arab countries and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). They participants stressed regional and international backing to the Palestinian cause.
-- Khartoum Summit took place in August 1967 following Arab defeat in the 1967 war with Israel. All Arab countries, excluding Syria, were represented.
-- Rabat Summit was held in December 1969, in the presence of 14 Arab countries, which called for a cessation of hostilities between Palestinians and Jordanian forces in Jordan.
-- The extraordinary Cairo Summit was convened in September 1970 following armed clashes between Palestinian organizations and Jordanian forces in Jordan. It was boycotted by Syria, Iraq, Algeria and Morocco.
-- Algiers Summit took place in November 1973 following October 1973 War. It was attended by 16 Arab countries, but boycotted by Libya and Iraq. Mauritania joined the Arab League during this gathering.
-- Rabat Summit was held in October 1974, with all Arab countries.
-- Riyadh Summit was convened by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in October 1974 to look into the Lebanese conflict.
-- The extraordinary Cairo Summit was hosted by the Egyptian capital in October 1976, with 14 countries participating.
-- Baghdad Summit was hosted by the Iraqi capital in November 1978 following the signing of a peace accord between Egypt and Israel. The conferees adopted a resolution relocating the Arab League headquarters and suspending Egypt's membership.
-- Tunis Summit came in November 1979 upon request from Tunisian President Habib Ben Ali Bourguiba. The conferees echoed condemnation of the Camp David accord.
-- Amman Summit came in November 1980 and was participated in by 15 countries, but boycotted by Syria, Algeria, Lebanon and PLO.
-- Fez Summit was held in November 1981, with all Arab countries, excluding Egypt, participating.
-- Fez emergency summit, held in September 1982, grouped leaders of 18 Arab states, except for Libya and Egypt. Summiteers discussed the "Arab peace plan." -- Casablanca extraordinary summit was held on August 1, 1985, in response to a request by (late) Moroccan King Hassan II. It addressed the Palestinian cause, deteriorating conditions in Lebanon and international terrorism.
-- Amman emergency summit was convened in November 1987 with participation of 20 Arab states and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The summit declared solidarity with Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Iraq in the face of Iranian threats and provocations.
-- Algeria extraordinary summit, June 1988, held in response to a request by Algerian President Chadli Benjedid to support a Palestinian uprising.
-- Casablanca emergency summit, May 1989, during which Egypt's membership in the Arab League was reinstated. Lebanon that was witnessing a power struggle between two governments did not take part in the summit.
-- Baghdad emergency summit, May 1990, which was held with absence of Lebanon and Syria addressed threats against Arab national security and condemned intensification of Jews' immigration to Israel.
-- Cairo emergency summit, August 1990, was held in aftermath of the Iraqi aggression on the State of Kuwait. Tunisia was absent. Kuwait was represented by the Crown Prince (the late Father Amir) Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah.
-- Cairo emergency summit, October 2000, was held upon a request by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Iraq did not partake in the top-level meeting that coincided with the Israeli right-wing movement rise to power.
-- Cairo extraordinary summit, October 2000, was held in aftermath of violence in the occupied territories after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon entered compound of shrines in Jerusalem.
-- Amman summit, March 2001, adopted an initiative by the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz with respect of normalizing Arab-Israeli relations on condition that Israel would withdraw to the June 4, 1967, line.
-- Sharm El-Sheikha summit, March 2003, was chaired by Bahraini King Hamad bin Issa Al-Khalifa. Summiteers jointly rejected US offensive on Baghdad.
-- Tunis summit was held in May 2004. Summiteers agreed on amending the Arab League charter for the first time since 1945.
-- Algeria summit, held in March 2005, kicked off by observing a minute of silence and Koranic reading in homage to souls of the deceased: UAE President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Al-Hariri.
-- Khartoum summit, March 2006, approved establishment of the Arab Peace and Security Council.
-- Riyadh summit, March 2007, was attended by 17 Arab leaders.
-- Damascus summit, March 2008, called for tackling inter-Arab rifts.
-- Kuwait economic, development and social Summit, January 2009. It was the first Arab summit to be held with attendance of 22 Arab states. Conferees agreed on doubling efforts to attain inter-Arab social and economic integration and adopting policies to cope with fallouts of the global financial crisis.
-- Doha summit, March 2009, rejected a ruling by the International Criminal Court issuing an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir.
-- Sirte summit, October 2010, called for an Arab plan to salvage Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque.
-- Sharm El-Sheikh economic and development summit, January 2011, condemned terrorism called for promoting religious tolerance and dialogue.
-- Baghdad summit, March 2012, adopted a full-scale vision for reforms in the Arab world.
-- Riyadh economic and development summit, January 2013, welcomed an initiative by Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz to increase capitals of Arab financial organizations by no less than 50 percent.
-- Doha summit, March 2013, approved establishment of the Arab Court for Human Rights and the Fund for Supporting Jerusalem.
-- Kuwait summit, March 2014. It was the first Arab summit to be hosted by Kuwait since officially joining the Arab League on July 20, 1961.
-- Sharm El-Sheikh Summit, March 2015, approved forming a joint Arab military force.
-- Nouakchott summit, June 2016, approved merging the Arab economic, social summit with the regular summit.
-- Amman summit, March 2017, called on states of the globe to abstain from moving their embassies to Jerusalem or recognizing the holy city as capital of Israel.
-- Dhahran summit, April 2018, it was named "Jerusalem summit." Summiteers declared as illegitimate Washington's decision to recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
-- Beirut economic and development summit, January 2019, affirmed the Arabs and Muslims' responsibility toward Jerusalem and called for greater efforts to ensure return of refugees to their homelands.
-- Sharm El-Sheikh summit, February 2019. It was the first summit that included leaders of the European Union. Summiteers affirmed necessity of regional cooperation to face common challenges, boosting Arab-European partnership, tackling irregular immigration and protecting the refugees. (end) sr.rk.mt