It had already been made plain to this reporter that he would not be admitted to a limited press briefing held at the embassy by Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal just before the Arab League gathering. The best I could do was to ask one of the American reporters who had been invited to put a question on my behalf to Faisal: "What steps are you prepared to take right now toward normalizing ties with Israel?" His answer, relayed to me, was simple, and later confirmed by the scene in the rain: "None." Faisal elaborated that the Arab peace plan makes plain that "normalization will come after peace is established." And peace, he went on, entailed full Israeli withdrawal.

Nonetheless, he added that he was "glad" that Faisal was attending the summit. Until recently, people had been saying it would be "monumental" were the Saudis to come at all, he noted. Now, he said lightly, people were saying it would be disappointing "if they don't kiss you on both cheeks for the cameras, and invite you to a weekend's entertainment in Riyadh."

"That's going to be up to all of the representatives, how they decide to interact. We will of course be respectful of the various relationships, of the various states of relationships among the participants," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "They're going to be focused on the tasks at hand. As the Saudi foreign minister put it, nobody's interested in these uncomfortable situations where there are theatrics for the sake of photographs. We'll of course be respectful and mindful of that as we'll put together the various events."