Qatar holds consultations for emergency Islamic summit

Qatar, acting chairman of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), is currently conducting consultations with the heads of state of the OIC member countries for the holding of an emergency Islamic summit, at the request of President Yasser Arafat of Palestine.

Qatari ruler, Sheikh Hamad Ben Khalifa Al-Thani, is examining with Islamic countries' leaders the holding of the emergency summit, to discuss the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, said a release by the Qatari embassy in Rabat, quoting the Qatari foreign minister, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem Ben Jabr Al-Thani.

The Palestinian issue was at the center of talks held Tuesday in Casablanca between Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani and Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Prince Abdallah Ibn Abdelaziz, who is currently on a private visit to Morocco, the release said.

Expressing hope that the efforts of the US envoy to the Middle East will be crowned with success, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem Ben Jabr Al-Thani, said the "Israeli army withdrawal from the Palestinian territories is the only way to stop the massacres against the unarmed Palestinian people."

He also expressed hope that a rapid settlement be reached to bring to a halt the Israeli aggressions and force the Israeli army to withdraw from the lands it had re-occupied, the release said, adding that the Qatari foreign minister discussed in phone talks with his Iranian peer, Kamal Kharazi and with the Palestinian minister of planning and international cooperation, Nabil Chaath, the dangerous escalation in the Palestinian territories and the holding of the emergency Islamic summit.