|
Riyadh/Dubai: Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has called for an emergency summit meeting of the six Gulf Cooperation Council member states to be held on Thursday in Riyadh to discuss the Israeli war on Gaza, Saudi television said last night.
The Saudi call came shortly after Qatar said it secured the required quorum for convening an emergency summit tomorrow. The Qatari announcement followed the confirmation of the UAE that it would attend the Qatar-proposed summit.
Observers believe the Saudi move was meant to pre-empt Qatar's plan.
Qatar, which recently patched up once-tense relations with Saudi Arabia, had asked the 22-member Arab League in Cairo to convene an emergency Arab Summit on Gaza in its capital Doha tomorrow. But regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Egypt, both of which oppose the Hamas group that rules Gaza, said on Tuesday they prefer to hold consultations on Gaza on the sidelines of Arab economic summit in Kuwait next week.
The Kuwait summit would merge the discussion of the Gaza conflict with the previously scheduled economic meeting.
Saudi news channel Al Ikhbariya, which reported the summit call in Riyadh, gave no more immediate information.
With the death toll in Gaza crossing 1,000, the tug-of-war over summit plans has underscored deep divisions in the Arab world over Palestinian armed resistance to the Israeli invasion and challenging the United States, which supports Israel. Some Arab countries have blamed Hamas for provoking Israel with rocket attacks.
Qatar's official news agency earlier quoted Prime Minister Shaikh Hamad Bin Jassim Al Thani as saying his country had secured the required 15-state quorum. He said Doha had received the names of the Iraqi delegation, making up the 15 League members needed for an official Arab summit to be held, and was waiting for Baghdad to inform the Arab League in writing.
"There is an Arab effort that we hope will lead to the important thing, which is reaching a solution to the situation in the Gaza Strip," the agency quoted Shaikh Hamad as saying, adding that Qatar had also received positive signals from some countries awaiting a quorum before making a decision.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mousa arrived in Kuwait yesterday and told reporters at the airport it would become clear within hours whether the Arab summit would take place. But his senior aide, Hesham Yousuf, told Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television only 14 countries had agreed to the summit, contradicting the Qatari announcement.
Officials in Qatar said preparations for the Doha meeting were under way but there were still chances that it would not go ahead, with some officials insisting that key Arab states had refused to go. |
