Saudi, Egyptian FM s deny calls for plenary, mini summits

The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Egypt, Prince Saud al-Faisal and Amr Moussa respectively, denied that they have issued calls to convene any Arab summit, mini or plenary.

The two ministers' statements were made just before convening the meetings of the Egyptian-Saudi joint committee in Riyadh on Tuesday. Al-Faisal stressed that there is no Saudi initiative to convene an Arab summit, proposed by the Palestinians to discuss in the deadlocked Middle East peace process. Replying to a question in this respect the Saudi minister said: "There is no separate Saudi initiative on convening an Arab summit on any level."

For his part, Moussa said that there are no obstacles for convening Arab meetings on any level. He added, "When we talk about the need for good preparation before convening such a summit, this does not mean postponement rather it means the Arab world thinks in a reasonable way."

Al-Faisal denounced the Israeli decision to expand its grip on Jerusalem, noting that the Israeli measure of expanding occupation in the city "would break the backbone of the Middle East peace process."