Lebanese citizens banned from entering Qatar?
Lebanon, Politics, 10/24/1997

Diplomats at the Lebanese Foreign Ministry on Thursday denied receiving official word on measures reportedly taken by Qatari officials banning Lebanese passport holders from entering Qatar.

However, diplomatic sources said any measures possibly taken by the Qatari government banning Lebanese and other Arab nationals from entering the Gulf country would be purely for "security considerations" prior to the Economic Conference for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) which will be held in Doha on November 16-19.

The sources were responding to a report in Lebanon's As-Safir newspaper which said Qatar has banned Lebanese nationals from entering the country as a "precautionary measure," after learning that "some quarters" were bent on sabotaging the conference.

Lebanon and Syria have announced they will boycott the MENA conference, in which Israel is participating, as they have done for the past three years. Three Gulf states, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait have also said they will boycott this year's conference.

Other Arab countries have said they will decide at the last moment, pending progress in the Middle East peace process.

Meanwhile, leaders of Lebanese and Palestinian political parties meeting in Beirut Thursday denounced the "positions of some Arab leaders running to the Doha conference in compliance with the orders of the United States of America."

The parties issued a statement at the end of the meeting in which they stated that the "presence of the Zionist entity in this conference will lead to the justification of the terrorist and aggressive actions of the Zionist enemy against the Arab nation..."

It said that the MENA conference was "doomed to failure" and called for the trial of any Lebanese who participate in the conference.

Previous Stories:
  Jordan announced its official delegation to MENA   (10/23/1997)
  Qatar says Israel is undermining peace but wants Arabs to attend Mena   (10/23/1997)
  Qatar expects 12 Arab countries to attend - Iraq, Syria, Libya not invited!   (10/14/1997)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search