I have a way to know whether the US government is in favor or opposed to a particular Arab summit. When the US government supports an Arab summit, all leaders (especially the president of Egypt and the King of Saudi Arabia) attend. When the US is opposed to a summit (like this one), many leaders (nine in this case) just don't show up. In the Beirut summit in 2002, all Arab leaders attended (except Arafat) because they were required to endorse the Thomas Friedman Arab "peace" plan.