Arab leaders talk unity as hawks rise in Israel.Summary: Arab foreign ministers meet Saturday in Doha to prepare for the annual Arab League's annual summit to make a show of unity as hawkish right-wingers prepare to assume power in Israel in what is Arab foreign ministers meet Saturday in Doha to prepare for the annual Arab League's annual summit to make a show of unity as hawkish right-wingers prepare to assume power in Israel in what is seen as a threat to Middle East peace. The ministers held on Friday night consultation talks to consolidate Arab reconciliation and to ignore their disputes over the last Israeli offensive on Gaza in the upcoming summit. Leaders of the 22-member Arab League will seek during their summit on Monday to close ranks split largely over how to respond to Israel's 22-day onslaught on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip Gaza Strip (gäz`ə), (2003 est. pop. 1,330,000) rectangular coastal area, c.140 sq mi (370 sq km), SW Asia, on the Mediterranean Sea adjoining Egypt and Israel, in what was formerly SW Palestine. , and also amid the growing influence of Shiite Iran in the region. Consolidating reconciliation A Qatari official voiced "hope that the Doha summit will serve to streamline Arab relations and prelaunch pre·launch adj. Preparatory or preliminary to launch, especially of a spacecraft or missile. a common Arab action that has a firm basis." "Inter-Arab reconciliation figures high on the summit's agenda," Arab League deputy chief Ahmed bin Helli told AFP (1) (AppleTalk Filing Protocol) The file sharing protocol used in an AppleTalk network. In order for non-Apple networks to access data in an AppleShare server, their protocols must translate into the AFP language. See file sharing protocol. ahead of the two-day gathering. King Abdullah King Abdullah can refer to:
 `dē ərā`bēə, sou`–, sô–), officially Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, kingdom (2005 est. pop. met the presidents of Egypt and Syria
on March 11 to promote such reconciliation, two months after another
ice-breaking mini-summit in Kuwait.
The two meetings allowed Egypt and Saudi Arabia to improve contacts with Syria--a major Arab ally of Iran--which had worsened during the war on Gaza. Cairo and Riyadh are staunch supporters of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, while Damascus and Doha back the Islamist Hamas, which routed Abbas's Fatah loyalists from Gaza in deadly factional fighting in June 2007. Egypt mediated reconciliation talks between Fatah and Hamas, and they are due to resume discussions on April 1 after failing in a first round to agree on the composition and program of a unity government. King Abdullah warned last week that "the Palestinian dispute... is more serious in jeopardizing our just cause than Israeli aggression." Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem meanwhile spoke of the "positive impact" of his country's reconciliation with Saudi Arabia. Muallem also urged Israel to accept an Arab peace initiative on offer since 2002. It calls on the Jewish state to withdraw from all Arab land occupied since 1967 in return for full normalization In relational database management, a process that breaks down data into record groups for efficient processing. There are six stages. By the third stage (third normal form), data are identified only by the key field in their record. of ties. Peace may not survive But the prospects for peace could be further complicated by the pending return to power in Israel of Benjamin Netanyahu, whose right-wing Likud party rejects the creation of a Palestinian state. The chief Palestinian peace negotiator warned Saturday the Middle East peace process may not survive if the new Israeli government fails to accept a two-state solution for the crisis. "The peace process lives on borrowed time," Saeb Erakat wrote in an article in The Washington Post. "With its credibility at stake, it will not survive another round of failed negotiations--and neither will the two-state solution." Erakat said the conservative Israeli government led by Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu must unequivocally affirm its support for the two-state solution and the establishment of a viable and independent Palestinian state based on 1967 borders. Sunni Arab governments are also wary of growing Iranian influence in the region, and especially Tehran's support for militant groups such as Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah. "As much as we appreciate Iran's support for Arab causes, we would like to see it channeled through Arab legality and be in harmony with its objectives," Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said this month. Iran and Sudan There is also concern about Tehran's nuclear program amid fears in the West that Iran is trying to construct an atomic bomb atomic bomb or A-bomb, weapon deriving its explosive force from the release of atomic energy through the fission (splitting) of heavy nuclei (see nuclear energy). The first atomic bomb was produced at the Los Alamos, N.Mex. . The Islamic republic insists that its nuclear drive is entirely peaceful. Summit host Qatar enjoys good relations with Iran and has been seeking to cement its role as mediator in many regional crises, including the deadly conflict in Darfur. The Arab summit is also expected to discuss the arrest warrant for the Sudanese President Bashir issued by the International Criminal Court earlier this month for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Sudanese clerics warned him against travelling to the Qatar summit, amid calls by the ICC ICC See: International Chamber of Commerce to Doha to cooperate with the arrest warrant even though Qatar is not a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the court. Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion