United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana also attended the summit.
According to Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel Rahman Shalgham, Libya boycotted the summit in protest of the lack of "seriousness" of Arab countries.
Libya's absence has also been attributed to a public quarrel that al-Gaddafi had with King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia in 2003 over the United States military presence in the region.
[6] Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said that the plan would have a strong chance of winning international support and of reviving Israeli–Arab peace talks if adopted unanimously by all Arab leaders.
[citation needed] The peace initiative, as Middle Eastern scholars explain, was considered a "great leap from historical resolutions of 1964 and 1967, which had vowed to destroy Israel.
The final draft of the plan, moreover, avoided mentioning the phrase "right of return", which has been a point of contention in all previous peace talks; instead it called for a "just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem.
"[citation needed] According to the scholar, Roger Hardy, the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative was revived "because it is a starting point on the Palestinian issue that most parties can accept—although with reservations.
[citation needed] It was widely viewed by scholars around the world that it would be in Israel's best interest to act respectfully to Saudi Arabia's supremacy in Middle East affairs, especially if Arab states begin to line up behind an anti-Iranian position.
Differences of principle between Israel and Arab League members over some of the elements in the proposed arrangement made it difficult to translate the initiative into an actual agreement.
[9] The President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, supported the initiative, but Hamas leaders refrained from endorsing even the conditional readiness to recognize Israel.
The power struggle in Palestine will, consequently, make it impossible to implement any security understandings reached in the past or future between Israel and Abbas.
"[10] Furthermore, the Israeli spokesman explained, "Israel also believes that moderate Arab states can fill a positive role by encouraging regional cooperation, and supporting the Israeli–Palestinian track.
"[citation needed] Many Israelis were disenchanted, however, especially when remembering the results of previous Arab League summits and the current Hamas-dominated Palestinian leadership.
The Iraqi Foreign Minister, Hoshyar Zebari revealed that draft laws in support of Iraq would arise at the Riyadh summit.
Furthermore, sources and forms of political, security, economic, cultural, and social threats from both inside and outside the Arab world would be taken into consideration.
The Arab nation is capable, with God’s help, to achieve the security, dignity, and prosperity it deserves when it unifies its ranks and strengthens its joint actions.