Arab ministerial committee in Khartoum to discuss Qathafi proposals

The Arab League has announced in Cairo that an Arab ministerial committee will meet on January 13 in Khartoum to study proposals by Libya's Leader of the Revolution Colonel Muammar al Qathafi, aiming at strengthening the Arab stand towards Israel and the USA.

The Director of the Arab affairs department at the Arab League, Ali Jarroush, said that the committee which includes Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Sudan, Jordan, Syria and the Palestinians will be meeting at the level of the foreign ministers.

The announcement for this meeting came After Qathafi announced on December 25 during his meeting with the Egyptian foreign minister Ahmad Maher that his country is committed to the decision of withdrawal from the Arab League.

He said then that Libya is committed to its position in pulling out from the Arab League unless the charter of the AL is revitalized and honored so as to ensure an effective common Arab action to withstand dangers against the Arab nation.

On October 24, 2002, Libya announced its decision to withdraw from the Arab League (AL) in protest of the absence of Arab initiatives for the crisis in the region especially concerning the Palestinians and Iraqi files.

However, the AL internal regulations state that withdrawal is not recognized actually except after one year of the concerned country's official notification. A matter which Libya had not made yet.

Jarroush said that one of the Qathafi proposals is that the summit which was held in Amman in 2001 would resort to the "Military option" by the Arabs "against Israel" in case it will not accept the return back of all Palestinians to their homeland.