The Damascus summit was the 20th of its kind. Twenty times when leaders of the Arab world got together to exchange more animosity, reaffirm their mistrust of each other, drag the affair out over two or three days (actually, one summit held in the Moroccan city of Fez lasted all of 15 minutes); and leave a little bit more depressed than when they arrived.

Otherwise, the typical scenario is: they meet, they put up a false pretense that there is such a thing as an Arab entente, Arab unity, or a truly common and unified Arab cause.

For the sake of television cameras, of which the Middle East now has an abundance, and for the press photographers – one must not forget the front pages of government-run newspapers must carry the obligatory larger-than-life image of their own leader – there are polite exchanges, large smiles and firm handshakes. But once the press has been carefully distanced, the microphones and television cameras duly turned off, it becomes a different matter altogether.

Syria and Saudi Arabia disagree over Lebanon; Egypt and Syria disagree over Lebanon; Lebanon and Syria disagree over Lebanon; as does Jordan; as do other countries.

Syria for its part disagrees with Jordan over Iraq. And Iraq disagrees with Syria over, well, Iraq.

Numerous countries disagree with Syria over its own rapprochement with Iran, long considered if not an enemy, at least not a friend of the Arab world. And this is just scratching the surface.

Anyway, you get the drift. For the sake of keeping up appearances, they issue a final communiqué. The Damascus communiqué contained "a warning" to Israel to refrain from "excessive policies against Palestinians." Does that mean that non-excessive force against the Palestinians is acceptable?

A sure sign that your summit is derailing becomes apparent when the "voice of reason" is none other than that of Libyan leader Colonel Moammar Gadhafi.

One may recall that until quite recently the Libyan leader was considered by the United States and its European allies to be one of the leading supporters of international terrorism. But as Bob Dylan said, "The times, they are a-changin'." And it may appear that Mr. Gadhafi has also changed.

And the leader, as he likes to be called, was seen cautioning his fellow leaders that unless they change, they risk being overthrown like former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein

"One day, you will see yourselves in a similar situation and at that time no one should blame [anyone] but himself, because we did not work sincerely to build a strong and unified Arab nation," Gadhafi said, at the opening of the two-day summit.

"Each one of you hates others. Syria is not on good terms with its neighbors, while Libya has stronger ties with Italy than it has with Tunisia or Egypt," he said.

"No notable development has come out of this summit, as has always been the case with previous summits," Gadhafi added.

Perhaps it is time to revisit the whole concept.