Arab foreign ministers meet in Cairo to probe Palestinian Intifada

The 116th session of the Arab League Council will kick off on Sunday at the level of Foreign Ministers.

The meetings will be attended by Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

Over two days, some 25 items are expected to figure on the agenda of the Council meetings, including the latest developments in the occupied Palestinian territories as well as the Israeli occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights and the Lebanese Shebaa Farms.

Issues of Lockerbie, the civil war in Sudan and the Israeli nuclear arms will also come high in the discussions.

A consultative session will be held prior to the start of the Council meetings. Also, a number of Ministerial Committees are scheduled to meet on the fringe of the Council meetings.

On Sunday, members of the Arab Follow-Up Committee will pore over the resolutions which had been taken at their last meeting.

Meanwhile , Iraqi Foreign Minister Nagy Sabri left Baghdad late Friday for Damascus en route to Cairo. He will arrive in Cairo on Saturday to lead his country's delegation to meetings of Arab Foreign Ministers' Council, slated or Sunday.

In pre-departure statements, the top Iraqi diplomat voiced hope that meetings of the Arab Foreign Ministers would be an opportunity to narrow gaps in viewpoints over the activation of pan-Arab action.

He underlined the necessity of facing the serious challenges manifested in the escalating Israeli aggressions against the Palestinian people, Israeli threats against Arab states and the continuation of the Anglo-American military and economic aggression against Iraq.

Meanwhile, Gulf Cooperation Council GCC Foreign Ministers begin meetings in Jeddah yesterday under Bahrain Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed Ben Mubarak Al-Khalifa.

The Foreign ministers will probe a number of political and economic issue as well as means to stop Israeli aggression on the Palestinians.