Arab leaders begin emergency summit in Doha

2009-01-16 20:09:17

·About 12 to 13 Arab leaders began an emergency summit on Friday afternoon. ·Meshaal attended the summit, representing the Palestinian side. ·Meshaal said the Israeli aggression will be destroyed.

     CAIRO, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) --

About 12 to 13 Arab leaders began an emergency summit on Friday afternoon as scheduled despite it did not reach the quorum of two thirds of the 22-member Arab League to hold such a summit.

    Hamas top political leader exile in Damascus Khaled Meshaal attended the summit, representing the Palestinian side, according to al-Jazeera TV.

    According to the live broadcast, Meshaal said the Israeli aggression will be destroyed and on behalf of the whole Palestinians, he extended appreciation to the people in Gaza who resist the aggression.

    He said it is unacceptable for Gaza to be sieged and blockaded.

    He also urged the emir of Qatar to set up a fund to hold the people in Gaza.

    Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is also showing up at the meeting which aims to form a united Arab stance toward ongoing Israel offensive on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

    The summit was held as scheduled despite it did not reach the quorum of two thirds of the 22-member Arab League to hold such a summit with regional heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia refusing to attend.

Hamas leader Mesha'al vows to reject Israeli terms for Gaza ceasefire

2009-01-16 21:09:52  

     DOHA, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) --

Damascus-based Hamas exile top leader, Khaled Mesha'al, vowed here Friday that his movement would not accept Israel's conditions for a ceasefire in Gaza.

    Mesha'al, representing the Palestinian delegation (as the acting PA president Mahmoud Abbas did not attend the Doha summit), made the remarks in an emergency Arab summit on Friday afternoon, which was attended by about 12 to 13 Arab leaders despite it did not reach the quorum of two thirds of the 22-member Arab League to hold such a summit.

    He told the meeting that the Israeli aggression will be destroyed, reiterating Hamas' stance to reject Israel's terms for a Gaza ceasefire.

    On behalf of the whole Palestinian people, Mesha'al extended appreciation to the people in Gaza who resist the aggression, vowing that it is unacceptable for Gaza to be besieged and blockaded.

    He also urged the emir of Qatar to set up a fund to help the Palestinians in Gaza.

    On the other hand, a senior Israeli official returned to the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Friday following talks with Egyptian mediators on Thursday for a ceasefire in the warring Gaza Strip.

    Amos Gilad, head of the Diplomatic-Security Bureau of Israeli Defense Ministry, arrived here on Friday morning and is expected to meet with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who is in charge of the Egyptian mediation talks between Hamas and Israel.

    Earlier on Wednesday, a Hamas delegation presented a detailed vision to the Egyptian truce initiative.

    Salah Al-Bardawil, a member of the Hamas delegation for talks with Egyptian officials on Gaza ceasefire, said at a press conference on Wednesday evening that "we have no difference with Egyptian leadership (on a ceasefire)."

    In addition, Hamas said Thursday it has told Egyptian mediators that it is ready to accept a one-year renewable truce with Israel in Gaza if Israel pulls out its troops from the Palestinian enclave within a week and reopens Gaza border crossings with international guarantees.

    The Doha summit also came as Arab foreign ministers kicked off an emergency meeting in Kuwait on Friday to address the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, amid deep rifts in the Arab world.

    Minutes before entering the meeting in Kuwait, Arab League (AL) Secretary General Amr Moussa told reporters that "the situation in Arab countries is quite chaotic. It is regrettable and harmful."

    Arab states have been at odds over the time and place to hold an emergency summit on Gaza which has been under intensive Israeli onslaught for the past 20 days.

    Qatar has spearheaded in calling on the 22-member Cairo-based AL to convene an emergency Arab summit on Gaza in its capital Doha, but the proposal of the tiny Gulf Arab state met strong resistance from regional heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

    The two countries, close allies in the region with the United States, have declared their preference to discuss the Gaza situation when they meet for the long-planned Arab economic summit scheduled for Jan. 19-20 in Kuwait.

    Though Saudi king invited leaders of six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to attend an emergency summit in Riyadh on Thursday in a bid to adopt a unified stance on rendering support to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, oil-rich Qatar insisted on going ahead with its initiative on the Doha summit.

    The AL said Doha has failed to secure the quorum of 15 required for a formal Arab summit.

Editor: Zhang Xiang

Arab summit on Gaza starts in Doha; Saudi Arabia, Egypt and PA refuse to attend

Date: 16 / 01 / 2009  Time:  14:50
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

The Arab summit in Doha, Qatar, began Friday without representatives from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Tunisia, and Morocco.

Hamas leader Khaled Mesha’al, Islamic Jihad leader Ramadhan Shallah, and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC) leader, Ahmed Jibril, have all attended the summit.

They were joined by the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, Sudanese President Umar Al-Bashir, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, Algerian President Abdul Aziz Butefleiqa, Iraqi Vice President Tariq Al-Hashimi, and high-level representatives from Mauritania, Libya, Yemen, Djibouti, the Comoros, and Somalia.

The summit discussions will focus on possible reactions to the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip. On the agenda is Israel’s refusal to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 1860, passed last week in New York, which called for an immediate and lasting ceasefire. It is unclear, however, whether the partially-attended summit will have enough members to meet the 14 member Quorum necessary for action, though Qatar announced that there would be 16 states in attendance.

Several of the Arab leaders who refused to attend the conference, like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, indicated that they plan to discuss Gaza at a pre-scheduled Arab League summit in Kuwait set to start on Monday.

The Israeli terrorist war on Gaza has led to several divisions in the Arab world, highlighted by the three separate summits of Arab states within a week. Qatari Emir, Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani called for the emergency Doha Summit of the Arab League which began Friday. A few days later Saudi Arabia called an emergency meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Riyadh, which took place yesterday, January 15.

A regularly scheduled Arab League summit is set to start on Monday 19 January in Kuwait.

Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani noted that Tunisia and Morocco had refused to participate in both the Doha and Kuwait summits, on the pretext that they are not prepared for the meetings.

"We all know it is shameful to discuss the national and human cost of Gaza that has now been stained with children's blood at the margin of a previously planned summit," Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar, said.

He added that the war in Gaza demanded an urgent and high-level Arab response. The Shaikh called for rebuilding the Gaza Strip, a boycott of Israel, and concrete Arab support for Gazans.

Halt genocide: GCC summit Ghazanfar Ali Khan | Arab News  

Friday, 16 January 2009 (19 Muharram 1430)

Arab News

RIYADH:

Leaders of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) held an emergency summit here last night and discussed ways and means to stop Israel’s war on Gaza that has so far claimed close to 1,100 lives.

The leaders endorsed a broader agreement that calls for renewed efforts to halt the genocide and open corridors for relief supplies in the war-battered Gaza Strip.

The summit, which was called by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, urged the international community to stop the Israeli attack.

The GCC leaders went into a closed-door session soon after their arrival at the Dirriyah Palace in the Saudi capital. The summit coincided with an emergency session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

The extraordinary GCC summit was attended by Qatari Emir Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and Fahd bin Mahmoud Al-Saeed, deputy premier of Oman. A number of GCC ministers, members of the royal families and other high-ranking Gulf officials attended the summit.

Shaikh Khalifa said his country was committed to bolstering efforts through concerted Arab action.

“The aim is to fortify the security and stability of the region and to face the challenges through joint vision that will safeguard the unity of Arab ranks and ensure the clarity of our stand,” he told reporters before the summit. “The Emirati participation in the summit was in full belief in the collective action and unification of the Arab rank and file,” he added.

He said the UAE is awaiting the Arab Economic, Development and Social Summit in Kuwait, which will lead to a decisive Arab response.

A GCC General Secretariat spokesman confirmed that the summit’s main aim was to arrive at a unified response to the Israeli onslaught in Gaza. “The GCC leaders devoted much of their time to find out how to respond to the Israeli airstrikes on Gaza,” the spokesman said.

Arab FMs meet in Kuwait to discuss Gaza offensive

2009-01-16 16:03:24

     KUWAIT CITY, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) --

Arab foreign ministers kicked off an emergency meeting here on Friday to address the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, amid deep rifts in the Arab world.

    Minutes before entering the meeting in Kuwait, Arab League (AL) Secretary General Amr Moussa told reporters that "The situation in Arab countries is quite chaotic. It is regrettable and harmful."  

    Arab states have been at odds over the time and place to hold an emergency summit on Gaza which has been under intensive Israeli onslaught for the past 20 days.

    Qatar has spearheaded in calling on the 22-member AL based in Cairo to convene an emergency Arab summit on Gaza in its capital Doha, but the proposal of the tiny Gulf Arab state met strong resistance from regional heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

    The two countries, close allies in the region with the United States, have declared their preference to discuss the Gaza situation when they meet for the long-planned Arab economic summit scheduled for Jan. 19-20 in Kuwait.

    Saudi king invited leaders of six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to attend an emergency summit in Riyadh on Thursday in a bid to adopt a unified stance on rendering support to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

    The AL said Doha has failed to secure the quorum of 15 required for a formal Arab summit, but oil-rich Qatar insisted on going ahead with its initiative.

    Some leaders of the Arab countries, such as Lebanon, Syria, Libya, and Sudan, have arrived on Thursday in Doha to attend the meeting scheduled on Friday, though Egypt and Saudi Arabia refused to attend.

    The closed-door emergency meeting in Kuwait, the second one in half a month, addresses the Gaza offensive which Israel said was aimed at retaliating rocket attacks by the Islamist militant group Hamas which has been ruling the impoverished coastal enclave since June 2007. 

    On Monday, Moussa said the Kuwait meeting will examine the developments related to Israel's refusal to abide by UN Security Council Resolution 1860 calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

    The first emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers on Gaza was held in Cairo on Dec. 31, four days after Israel launched the military operation, which has so far killed over 1,133 Palestinians and wounded 5,000 others.

Editor: Zhang Xiang