ARABS CAUTION ISRAELI REGIME TO SEEK PEACE.

Byline: Douglas Jehl The New York Times

In a firm message directed at Israel's new conservative government, leaders of Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia announced plans Saturday to convene an Arab summit meeting, the first to take place in six years, and warned against any Israeli retreat from past commitments to peace.

In a joint communique, the leaders declared that neglect by Israel of the quest toward peace with its Arab neighbors ``will put Israel in confrontation with the international community, representing a genuine threat of returning the region to the cycle of violence and instability, and Israel will be completely responsible for this.''

The large-scale meeting of Arab leaders, to be held in Cairo, Egypt, June 21-23, would be the first since shortly after Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, and the support voiced for it here underscored the depth of Arab apprehensions about Israel's new course.

Arab diplomats have made plain their hope that a show of renewed Arab unity can serve as a counterweight to prime minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and his apparent inclination at least to slow the pace of peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

The call for an Arab summit came at the end of a two-day meeting of President Hafez al-Assad  of Syria, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. It was the third meeting convened by Arab leaders this week to show common cause in the aftermath of the Israeli elections.

In elaborating on the decision, Foreign Minister Amr Moussa of Egypt pointed to what he called disturbing new signals from Netanyahu, and he said it was important that the Arab countries gather to demonstrate strength and solidarity in even greater numbers.

``We are not calling for confrontation; we are calling for a just peace, including relations with Israel,'' Moussa said. ``But it takes two to tango.''

Arab states have ranged widely in their public reactions to the election of Netanyahu, who said during his campaign that he opposed the establishment of a Palestinian state and would not be willing to trade occupied territory on the Golan Heights for peace with Syria.

But the communique issued Saturday represented the hardest line taken by Arab countries since the election 10 days ago, and it appeared to signal a willingness to risk at least verbal confrontation with the new Israeli government.

With a warning that Israel should not neglect or procrastinate about ``commitments that have already been reached,'' the Arab leaders made clear that they would react adversely if Netanyahu's government did not move swiftly to withdraw Israeli troops from the West Bank city of Hebron, as his predecessor promised to do under the interim peace accord that Israel signed with the Palestinians last fall.