An Arab-backed Middle East peace offer will not be on the table for ever, Arab foreign ministers warned yesterday, days before a right-wing government assumes power in Israel.

"The peace initiative that is proposed today will not be on offer for a long time," read a copy of the draft declaration obtained by AFP ahead of Arab leaders' annual summit starting in Doha tomorrow.

"Arab commitment to this initiative is dependent on an Israeli acceptance of it," the declaration said.

Saudi King Abdullah said during a January Arab economic summit that the Saudi-inspired initiative, which offers full normalisation of ties with Israel in return for its withdrawal from occupied territories, could be withdrawn.

The draft declaration reiterated, however, that the peace initiative remains "a strategic Arab choice to achieve just and comprehensive peace." Prospects for peace could be complicated by the pending return to power in Israel of Benjamin Netanyahu, whose right-wing Likud party rejects the creation of a Palestinian state.

Arab leaders will meet tomorrow amid attempts to overcome rifts stemming largely from responses to Israel's three-week onslaught on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

They will also discuss the growing influence of Shiite Iran in the region.

"We have to live up to our responsibilities and work towards closing ranks," Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani said at yesterday's meeting of foreign ministers.

It remains unclear how many leaders from the 22-members of the Arab League will take part in the summit, although a Qatari official said some 16 heads of state will be present.