Arab officials began making their way to the United States on Nov. 25 to attend the U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace talks in Annapolis, Maryland, warning that there would be no normalization with Israel without a comprehensive peace.

A boy in Gaza holds up a key representing the issue of refugees Nov. 24 at a protest against a Nov. 27 U.S. Mideast peace conference. AP PHOTO

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa boarded a plane for the United States on Nov. 25 while the foreign ministers of Egypt and Lebanon left the night before, following last-minute discussions with their Saudi and Syrian counterparts.

"The Arab League will participate for the first time in a peace conference with an Israeli presence," Moussa said on his departure. "We will say that there can be no normalization except in the framework of the Arab peace initiative and in the framework of total peace."

"We will speak with frankness and inform the world everything that happens at the conference," he added.

In a meeting Nov. 23, Arab countries all agreed to attend the Nov. 27 peace conference at the ministerial level, a victory for the United States, which is hoping that broad Arab participation will support its efforts to solve the intractable Arab-Israel situation. Arab countries have participated in past peace conferences, but the league itself has not in a formal capacity.

In a sign of the skepticism, however, the Saudi foreign minister cautioned Nov. 23 that there would be no public handshakes with Israeli officials at the gathering.

The Annapolis meeting is geared mainly toward relaunching the Palestinian-Israeli track, but there have been U.S. assurances that there will be discussions of a comprehensive Arab-Israeli deal.