1.
SV PAN Riad and Foreign Minister of Algeria entering hall
0.08

2.
SV Pan Boumedienne entering hall
0.16

3.
SV PAN Yasser Arafat entering
0.22

4.
SV PAN Bourguiba entering
0.35

5.
SV PAN Sadat entering
0.43

6.
SV Assad entering
0.50

7.
SV PAN King Faisal entering
1.01

8.
SV Interior Delegates seated
1.02

9.
CU King Faisal Yassir Arafat, Sadat, Assad (4 shots)
1.12

10.
GV Delegates seated in conference room
1.15

11.
SCU & GV Boumedienne speaking in Arabic (2 shots)
1.44


Boumedienne walks from dais as delegates applaud
1.50



Initials SC/343 SC/349



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The Arab Summit Conference opened in Algiers on Monday night (26 November) with a strong condemnation of Israel by Algerian President Houari Boumedienne and a message from the Soviet Union offering help to achieve peace in the Middle East.

Welcoming leaders from 16 Arab nations as well as the Palestinians, President Boumedienne said Israel, whatever its strength, would never prevail over the Arab nations. He said the Arabs would have the last word. He said, "Justice is with us and we are not lacking strength."
President Boumedienne expressed joy at the success of the "oil weapon". He said there was a new consciousness of the size of the potentialities that Arab land harbours and their influence on industrial and economic life in general.

He said the Arabs had waited a long time, and were still waiting, for Europe to review its relations with the Arab nations -- not so much as a reservoir of energy but as a great human community having a right to live.

A message from the Soviet Union said its leaders were ready to contribute to the creation of favourable conditions for the installation of authentic peace in the Middle East.

The opening session lasted two hours, including 90 minutes behind closed doors during which the Arab League Secretary General Mahmoud Riad gave a report on the situation of the Arab World before and after the October war.

Secret sessions of the Arab Summit conference resumed on Tuesday morning (27 November), with President Anwar Sadat and Syrian leader Hafez-al-Assad briefing the heads of state in a ninety-minute session on the terms they intend to demand in the negotiations envisaged in Geneva on December 18.

A document approved on Monday night by Foreign Ministers recommended stipulations that Israel must return all Arab territory occupied in the 1967 war in a "total and integral" fashion and that the Arabs must have total sovereignty over Jerusalem.

By Tuesday night, it was announced that the Summit Conference has agreed to give full practical and moral backing to Egypt and Syria when they meet Israel in negotiations to seek peace in the Middle East.