No to MENA repeats Saudi Arabia and UAE to US

U.S envoy Martin Indyk has failed to persuade some Gulf Arab states to reverse their decision to boycott the Mena economic conference in Qatar, to which Israel has been invited, a diplomatic source said yesterday.

While Saudi Arabia said "we can't" it also said it would not try to convince others to do the same (boycott) said the source.

"The United Arab Emirates (UAE) was also firm in its view that lack of progress in Arab-Israeli peace talks forces it to stay away from the conference, Al Khaleej times said today.