Arab FMs meet tomorrow to forge united position on ME peace
Arab foreign ministers will meet in emergency session in Cairo tomorrow to discuss escalating Palestinian-Israeli violence, a spokesman for the 22-member Arab League said yesterday.
The League's Secretary General Amr Moussa said the meeting was meant to project a united Arab stand against Israel's provocative policies and its determination to foist its own peace agenda on Arabs.
He told reporters yesterday that the foreign ministers' deliberations on the sidelines of the recent OIC ministerial meeting in Doha focused on the need to contact the Security Council directly, which he described as a politically feasible move.
He added that the United States' unjustified use of veto to block a balanced peace proposal submitted by Egypt and Tunisia to the Security Council made the need for a ministerial meeting more urgent than ever before.
When asked about the impact of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's policies to restrict the activities of some organisations on Palestinian unity, Moussa said this was an internal Palestinian issue. "We have full confidence in President Arafat," he said.
"The ministerial meeting will be a good opportunity for comparing notes and forging a united Arab position against the Israeli policies. We will listen carefully to the Palestinian side and agree on a common policy to counter the Israeli aggression," he said.
Moussa stressed that Israel's continued brutalities against Palestinians despite statements by Arafat to crack down on activists was a strong evidence that the Israeli government was not working towards peace.
"We hoped Arafat's statements could have promoted the chances of returning to negotiations, but the current Israeli policies proved that Israel was only trying to perpetuate the status quo. This is completely unacceptable," he said.
It's not yet clear how many foreign ministers would attend, although representatives of all Arab states would be there.
"It was too early to say whether Palestinian President Yasser Arafat would join them," an Arab League spokesman said.
The Palestinians last week requested urgent talks of Arab foreign ministers to discuss the situation "due to the vicious assault which the Israeli occupation forces launched against the Palestinian people and the national authority".
Israel has launched air strikes against Palestinian installations in retaliation for a spate of suicide bombings.
Arafat called on Sunday for a complete end to military activities against Israel, including suicide attacks, and urged Israel to end its "brutal war" against the Palestinian Authority.
