BEIRUT, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh has decided not to travel to Egypt for an emergency Arab League meeting following the deepening of political schism in Lebanon, local media reported on Sunday.

    Salloukh, who quit the government on Saturday, had been due to attend a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo on Sunday to examine Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, including a raid that killed 18 Palestinians, mainly women and children, in Beit Hanoun on Wednesday.

    A government source in Beirut was quoted by Naharnet news website as saying that Salloukh would not be going, even though the meeting had been called for by Lebanon.

    According to the An Nahar newspaper on Sunday, the Arab League was "very upset" at the minister's decision.

    Salloukh is among the five Shiite ministers who resigned from Prime Minister Fouad Seniora's government after the country's leaders failed to reach an agreement on the formation of a national unity government.