Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - On the eve of an Arab summit -- the first one ever to take place in Damascus, Syria -- strains are showing in the 22-member Arab League, which is wrangling over the political crisis in Lebanon. No resolution is expected, however.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan -- close U.S. Arab allies -- are sending lower-level representatives to the summit instead of heads of state -- a snub directed at Syria because of its meddling in Lebanon and its cozy ties with Shi'ite Iran. Lebanon's government will boycott the meeting altogether.

Iran, which isn't an Arab League member, is sending its foreign minister, at Syria's invitation. Some Arab states, Sunni Saudi Arabia among them, are worried about Shi'ite Iran's increasing influence in the region.

Prof. Moshe Maoz of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem said that Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Lebanon are unhappy about Syria's ties to Iran (and Hizballah), which they see as threatening the region's security.

They also are upset with Syria for undermining the election of a Lebanese president, Maoz told Cybercast News Service. The Lebanese presidential election has been postponed 17 times, most recently on Monday. It is now scheduled to take place on April 22.

Pro-Syrian forces in Lebanon (Hizballah foremost among them) have blocked the election of a new Lebanese president since the term of (pro-Syrian) Emile Lahoud ended in November. (Hizballah parliamentarians are refusing to participate in voting for a new president.)

Washington and other regional players believe that Syria wants to reassert its control over Lebanon, where it was the main powerbroker for years until its military was forced to withdraw following the 2005 assassination of Rafik Hariri, a pro-Western political leader who twice served as Lebanon's prime minister.

Many people believe the Syrian government had a hand in Hariri's assassination.

Anti-Syrian forces in Lebanon, led by the pro-Western government of Fouad Siniora, accused the regime in Damascus of direct involvement in Hariri's murder and a string of other assassinations involving anti-Syrian Lebanese figures.

Syria has never recognized the sovereignty of Lebanon.

But Maoz said he believes that Syria might respond to the right inducements, such as U.S. pressure on Israel to give up the strategic Golan Heights; and being allowed to duck blame for Hariri's assassination.

Dr. Walid Phares, director of the Future Terrorism Project at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington, said Saudi Arabia and Egypt think the Syrian-Iranian alliance has gone too far and is threatening the Arab-Sunni bloc in the Middle East.

Syria and Iran have a mutual defense pact, and Iran is said to be supplying Syria with weapons. Israel and the U.S. have accused Iran of supplying Hizballah with weapons via Syria.

Both Iran and Syria also back Palestinian terror groups: Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards provide training and weapons for groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, while the headquarters of about a dozen Palestinian terror groups are based in Damascus.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Middle East players also are upset with what they see as Syria's push for last year's coup in the Gaza Strip. Hamas, which is supported by Iran, ousted forces loyal to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, making Arab-Israeli negotiations very difficult, Phares said in a telephone interview from Washington.

Vice President Dick Cheney this week accused Iran and Syria of trying to torpedo the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Phares said the Syrian regime, increasingly isolated, is fighting for its life, and therefore the world can expect to see more of the same from Syria, including opposition to Lebanese Prime Minister Siniora and more pressure on Hamas and Islamic Jihad to act against the Palestinian Authority and Israel.

Arab-Israeli peace deal

With Lebanon's political crisis on the back burner, the Arab League instead is expected to discuss a six-year-old Arab League offer to recognize Israel if it withdraws from territory it conquered in the 1967 Six-Day War, including the Golan Heights.

Israel initially rejected the initiative when it was first put forward in 2002 by Saudi Arabia, at a time when the desert kingdom was a heavy backer of Hamas. But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has spoken favorably about it since then.

Israeli National Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said on Friday that efforts are under way to revive negotiations with Syria, with the aim of signing a peace treaty.

In a radio interview, Ben-Eliezer said Israel knows that the price for an Israeli-Syrian peace agreement would be the return of the Golan Heights.

In the past, Israel has switched back and forth between the Palestinian and Syrian peace tracks when Israel hit an impasse in talks with one side or the other.

Israeli-Syrian peace talks were renewed briefly at the end of 1999 under U.S. sponsorship but collapsed again at the beginning of 2000 when Syria rejected Israel's offer to withdraw from the Golan Heights, objecting to some of the details.

Ben-Eliezer's comments come less than two days after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he was ready to make peace with Syria and hinted that secret talks could take place.

Last week, Olmert told visiting German officials that he would be willing to start talks with Damascus if Syria halted its support of Hizballah and Palestinian terror groups.

Washington (and many in Israel) oppose such talks, though a bipartisan panel, headed by former Secretary of State James Baker and former U.S. Congressman Lee Hamilton, suggested that the U.S. could not achieve its goals in the Middle East with out dealing with the Israeli-Arab conflict.

The Baker report recommended that Israel pursue peace with Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinians based on the idea of "land for peace."

See Earlier Stories:
Israelis Wary of Baker's Report (Dec. 6, 2006)
Baker Report 'Strange and Disturbing' to Israel (Dec. 7, 2006)