Arab summit start deliberations today
Regional, Politics, 5/22/2004

Works of the 16th postponed Arab summit will start today. The Arab foreign ministers met yesterday ( Friday) evening in Qamrit suburb, northern Tunisia.

The Algerian foreign minister Abdul Aziz Balkhadem said that the meeting deals with the bloody military operation in Rafah to the south of Gaza, the situation in Iraq, the American sanctions on Syria and the issue of reforms.

A prominent Arab diplomat said that the Arab leaders will condemn for the first time in their final statement attacks on all civilians on the Palestinians and the Israelis, alike.

The source explained in press statements that the Arab foreign ministers adopted this decision in their preliminary meeting which they had held in Cairo on May 10th and will be ratified during the summit.

The decision condemned the military operations carried out by the Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinian civilians and the leaders of resistance. The summit is expected to adopt two new resolutions concerning the events in Rafah and the American sanctions on Syria.

The Arab draft resolution also calls for the withdrawal of the occupation forces from Iraq, taking into account the security situation in the country, at the request of the Iraqi Interim Governing Council, according to Arab officials in Tunisia on Friday.

However, the Arab leaders started to arrive in Tunis. yesterday, each of the Lebanese President Emil lahoud, President of Mauritania Mu'aweya Weld Seidi Ahmad Taye, Algeria's Abdul Aziz Butaflika, Morocco's King, the ruler of Qatar Sheikh hamad Bin Khaleifa al-Thani have arrived, while other Arab leaders or their representatives are expected to arrive until the end of the day ( Saturday).

It is, however, expected that the leaders of 14 countries out of 22 countries member of the Arab league will take part in the Tunis' s summit which Tunisia postponed at a separate decision on March at the pretext that certain Arab states obstructs the reformation plan.

So far leaders who are absent from the summit are those of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Also is absent the Palestinian president Yasser Arafat because of the siege imposed on him but he had announced he will talk to the summit via satellites, while Libya did not confirm its participation. N.

Previous Stories:
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