AL sends invitations for meeting of its 112th council
Regional, Politics, 8/13/1999

Arab League Secretary General Esmat Abdul Meguid has sent messages to the Arab foreign ministers inviting them to take part in the meetings of the 112th session which will start on September 4 and will be presided over by Iraqi Foreign Minister Muhammad Saeed al-Sahaf.

The spokesman for the A.L., Tallat Hamid, said in statements he made in Cairo on Thursday that the A.L. did not receive any apology for not participating from any Arab state.

He said that Israel's continued occupation of the Golan, south Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, and the Middle East peace process will be on top of the agenda of the A.L. council's works, adding that the agenda will include some 40 items dealing with joint Arab work actions in various political, economic and social fields.

The A.L. spokesman added that the Arab ministers will discuss the work of the Arab committee in charge of making contacts with the sides concerned and the U.N. Security Council in order to lift the sanctions imposed on Iraq. This committee is headed by Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa.

Meanwhile a report submitted by the Arab League on the Israeli settlements and Israel's theft of Arab waters as Israel steals the underground waters of the Palestinian people and resells these waters to the Palestinians at a price of one US doller per cubic liter.

The report, of which SANA's correspondent in Cairo obtained a copy, stressed that the problem of water in Palestine is to a large extent a political problem as Israel gets 40% of its water requirements from the water sources situated in the occupied Arab territories in the occupied Golan Heights and south Lebanon, but its greater share of waters is taken from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The report said that the number of settlers in the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, has annually increased at 9.6% under the rule of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach some 172,000 settlers by the end of 1998.

The report added that in occupied East Jerusalem the number of settlers since the signing of the Oslo agreement until the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin increased from 153,000 to 160,000, while under Netanyahu the number increased to 170,000, SANA reported.

Previous Stories:
  Arab League condemns Israeli aggression on al Aqsa mosque   (8/12/1999)
  Abdul Meguid to visit Jordan on Saturday   (8/12/1999)
  Damascus Declaration States to meet in October   (8/12/1999)
  Meeting of the Arab committee for Barcelona   (8/11/1999)
  AL chief sends invitation messages to Arab FM s   (7/26/1999)

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