DOHA/KUWAIT CITY, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Arab leaders
met in Qatar and foreign ministers in Kuwait on Friday to deal with the Israeli
offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 1,100 people and wounded more than
5,000 others in 21 days.
In Doha, the Qatari capital, about 12 to 13 Arab
leaders began an emergency summit as scheduled despite the fact that it did not
achieve the quorum of two thirds of the 22-member Arab League to hold such a
summit with regional heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia refusing to attend.
Damascus-based Hamas exile top leader
Khaled Meshaal (R) attends an emergency Arab summit in Doha Jan. 16, 2009.
Meshaal vowed on Friday that his movement would not accept Israel's
conditions for a ceasefire in Gaza.(Xinhua/Li Zhen) Photo Gallery>>>
Hamas exiled leader Khaled Meshaal vowed that the
Islamist movement would not accept Israel's conditions for a ceasefire.
"I assure you: despite all the destruction in Gaza,
we will not accept Israel's conditions for a ceasefire," he said.
Meshaal also called on Arab leaders to cut all ties
with the Jewish state.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad also urged Arab
nations to cutties with Israel.
The Arab-Israel peace initiative is "dead," Assad
told the meeting, calling for the Arabs to cease "all direct and indirect ties"
with the Jewish country.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
attends an emergency Arab summit in Doha Jan. 16, 2009. The summit on
Friday was attended by about 12 to 13 Arab leaders despite it did not
reach the quorum of two thirds of the 22-member Arab League to hold such a
summit. (Xinhua/Li Zhiping) Photo Gallery>>>
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Muslim
nations "need to cut relations with Israel and America."
In Kuwait City, Arab foreign ministers met to address
the Israeli offensive, adopting a proposal that called for a halt to the
"Israeli aggression" in Gaza.
The proposal called for lifting the Israeli blockade
in the Palestinian territory and opening of all border crossings with Gaza.
Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Saud bin
al-Faisal urged the concerned parties to move effectively to implement UN
Security Council Resolution 1860, which called for an immediate ceasefire in the
Gaza Strip "leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces."
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa
(R) and Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Saud bin al-Faisal attend a
press conference after the meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Kuwait
City, Kuwait, on Jan. 16, 2009. Arab foreign ministers held an emergency
meeting here on Friday, with the situation in the Gaza Strip under
unprecedented Israeli attacks topping the agenda. (Xinhua/Noufal
Ibrahim) Photo
Gallery>>>
Prince
al-Faisal said the current stage needed to carry out the first of several steps
to support Egyptian efforts to provide mechanisms for the rapid implementation
of the resolution.
In the Egyptian capital Cairo, whirlwind diplomacy is
on.
Amos Gilad, head of the Diplomatic-Security Bureau of
the Israeli Defense Ministry, left Cairo after a several-hour visit Friday
without announcing any progress in talks with Egyptian mediators on a ceasefire
deal with Hamas. It was his second visit to Egypt in two days.
Israeli diplomatic-security cabinet was scheduled to
meet Friday to vote on the Egyptian offer, but it has decided to put off the
debate until Gilad returns from Cairo with the latest information.
The Israeli air and ground offensive on Gaza
continued Friday, with at least eight Palestinians killed in fresh attacks. That
brought the death toll to more than 1,140 since the assault on Gaza began on
Dec. 27, and some 5150 others were wounded, local Palestinian medical sources
and witnesses said.
Meanwhile, Israeli tanks are advancing toward the
south of Netzarim, approaching the newly-built city of Alzahra, witnesses said.
Palestinian National Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas
said Friday in the West Bank city of Ramallah that at this moment the main goal
is to end bloodshed and destruction in Gaza.
"We should exert efforts on achieving the ceasefire"
as soon as possible, otherwise, more casualties and destruction are unavoidable,
Abbas said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said during a visit
to Ramallah Friday that casualties and the humanitarian situation in Gaza are
"unbearable" and called on for an immediate halt to the fighting.
The UN chief said there was "no time to lose" for an
immediate halt to the military operations in Gaza.
Ban arrived in Turkey later in the day and is
scheduled to meet with Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the ongoing Israeli offensive against Gaza, a UN
information official told Xinhua.
DOHA, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- About 12 to 13 Arab leaders opened an emergency summit on Friday afternoon as scheduled in the Qatari capital Doha, despite it did not reach the quorum of two thirds of the 22-member Arab League to hold such a summit with regional heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia refusing to attend.
A joint communique issued at the end of the summit meeting, hastily proposed by Qatar on Monday, called on all Arab countries to stop all peace negotiations and cut ties with Israel in response to the latter's ongoing offensive against the Gaza Strip. Full story
DOHA, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- About 12 to 13 Arab leaders
opened an emergency summit on Friday afternoon as scheduled in the Qatari
capital Doha, despite it did not reach the quorum of two thirds of the 22-member
Arab League to hold such a summit with regional heavyweights Egypt and Saudi
Arabia refusing to attend.
A joint communique issued at the end of the summit
meeting, hastily proposed by Qatar on Monday, called on all Arab countries to
stop all peace negotiations and cut ties with Israel in response to the latter's
ongoing offensive against the Gaza Strip. Full story
KUWAIT CITY, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Arab foreign
ministers gathered in Kuwait on Friday for an emergency meeting on Gaza as Qatar
pressed forward with its initiative hosting an urgent summit on Gaza despite a
low turnout of Arab leaders.
An official source involved in the Kuwait meeting
told Kuwait's state news agency KUNA that the foreign ministers consulted on the
steps that should be carried out after Israel's refusal to abide by UN Security
Council resolution 1860. Full story
DOHA,
Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Doha emergency summit on Gaza on Friday called on all
Arab countries to stop all peace negotiations and cut ties with Israel in
response to the latter's ongoing offensive against the Gaza Strip.
"We called on all Arab countries to stop the Arab
Peace Initiative (with Israel) launched in 2002," a joint communique said after
the summit meeting, adding that the Arabs should freeze ties with the Jewish
country. Full story
DOHA, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad urged at an emergency summit here Friday that Arab nations should cut
ties with Israel which has been pounding the Palestinian enclave of Gaza since
Dec. 27.
The Arab-Israel peace initiative is "dead", Assad
told the meeting, calling for the Arabs to cease "all direct and indirect ties"
with the Jewish country. Full story
KUWAIT CITY, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Saud bin
al-Faisal here Friday urged the concerned sides to move effectively to implement
the UN Security Council Resolution 1860 calling for an immediate ceasefire in
the Gaza Strip.
Prince al-Faisal told an Arab foreign ministers'
emergency meeting opened here Friday that the current stage needed to carry out
the first of several steps to support the Egyptian efforts to provide mechanisms
for the rapid implementation of the resolution. Full story
