Arab League FMs threaten to abandon peace initiative

Arab ministers search for solutions to crises; mainly Lebanon, Palestinian territories

Mousa: All Arab states will participate in the Arab summit; Lebanese situation critical

GCC FMs call on int'l community to protect Palestinians, elect new Lebanese president

The proceedings of the 129th regular session of the Arab Foreign Ministers’ Council began at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo under the chairmanship of Djibouti.

As Arab foreign ministers met to prepare for their annual summit at the end of the month, they also issued a series of statements on regional issues, including extremely sensitive matter of the Israeli regime's refusal to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Arab states, all of which are signatories to the treaty, have long called for a nuclear-free Middle East and expressed their concern over Israel's apparent possession of nuclear weapons.

They said that if the Israeli regime admitted to having the weapons, they would call on the UN Security Council to pressure Israel to destroy its nuclear arsenal and bring its other atomic installation under international inspection.

If this did not happen, Arab countries would leave the treaty and not sign any new one until Israel itself joined.

"As soon as Israel announces it has nuclear weapons, the Arab will announce their withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty,'' an Arab League statement said.

The Israeli regime is reportedly the only nuclear-armed country in the Middle East which has refused to sign the NPT.

Addressing the top Arab diplomats, Arab League Secretary General Amr Mousa said the meeting was being held amid rapid preparations for the Arab summit in light increasing dangers facing the Arab nation in Palestine, Lebanon, Sudan and Somalia. He said the clash of civilization and the reprinting of offending caricatures against Islam's prophet Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him) were also overshadowing the gathering.

'The situation is very complicated in the region and the world at large. The Arab countries have no options but to forge ahead for reinforcing solidarity among themselves...I'm confident of our capability to change this reality and stand up to these challenges" the Arab League chief said, calling on Arabs not to give up and resist any situation running against their interests.

'Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people will figure high on the agenda,' he added, disclosing that a set of measures had been adopted to deal with the situation in Gaza Strip which will be raise to the Arab summit in Damascus later this month.

'The Arab attitude towards the peace process should be quite clear: peace or no peace,' he affirmed, indicating that Israel's acts had annihilated any chance for settlement.

Iran's occupation of the UAE islands will also be discussed in the meeting.

On another issue, there was no report on how the EU is to take part in controlling the border crossing.

The comment comes as Hamas earlier rejected the US-brokered 2005 deal which allowed the Rafah monitoring post to be activated with Palestinian Authority personnel serving alongside EU monitors.

"We said the border must be under Egyptian-Palestinian control with no Israeli interference... and with no European partners," said senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar after his recent trip to Cairo to discuss the issue with Egyptian officials.

Solana was in Egypt to confer with senior Egyptian officials including President Hosni Mubarak Gaza crisis, Lebanon's political standoff, and the EU-Arab Summit in Malta.

The EU foreign policy also met with Arab League Secretary General Amr Mousa at the headquarters of the 22-nation organization in Cairo.

In Riyadh, the 106th meeting of GCC foreign ministers began with the attendance of Yemeni Foreign Minister Dr. Abu Baker Al-Qurabi.

The meeting was inaugurated by Qatari Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ahmad Al Mahmoud who welcomed the Yemeni delegation to the GCC session.

He indicated that the GCC was very keen on developing relations with Yemen, calling on Gulf countries' development funds to invest in Yemen.

Al-Qurabi lauded on his part the relations between Yemen and the GCC, saying that joint meetings with Gulf State officials had a great impact on development plans in his country.

The one-day meeting discussed boosting GCC action and projects, as well as Iran's occupation of the three UAE islands, the Palestinian issue and Middle East peace, the Iranian nuclear file, Iran-GCC relations, and recent developments in Iraq and Lebanon.

Foreign ministers of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) insisted on electing a president by the Lebanese Parliament on March 11 as scheduled. Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal led the Saudi delegation at the meeting, which was chaired by Ahmed Ibn Abdullah Al-Mahmoud, Qatari minister of state for foreign affairs.

In a joint communiqué issued after the meeting, the GCC foreign ministers "stressed the need to eliminate any obstacles to the president of Lebanese republic being elected on March 11."

The ministers, who met in a closed-door session, underlined their support for the "constitutional institutions" of Lebanon and expressed concern over obstacles to the Arab initiative for Lebanon.

The ministers were concerned about the volatile situation in Lebanon, which has led Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to advise their citizens in Lebanon, especially families living there, to leave the country immediately.

The final communiqué deplored "the brutal acts of aggression being perpetuated by Israeli forces against the Palestinian people and condemned the killing and the intimidation of civilians, especially women and children."

"The offensive operations and acts of killings and assassinations constitute a violation of international conventions, a breach of the international and humanitarian law," it said.

The GCC foreign ministers urged the international community to shoulder its responsibility and take necessary measures to protect the Palestinian people against such acts of aggression.

The meeting decided to intensify efforts to integrate Yemen with the Gulf bloc. "Completion of Yemen's accession procedures to Gulf Organization for Industrial Consultation (GOIC) and Gulf Cooperation Council Standardization Organization are set to be completed," said the communiqué.

The foreign ministers also did the homework before they leave for the Senegalese capital Dakar to take part in the OIC foreign ministers ahead of the OIC summit scheduled for March 13 and 14.

Referring to the integration of Yemen to the GCC economic framework, the communiqué said that "the meeting has set in place mechanisms to encourage the investment of private sector from the Gulf states in Yemen. The meeting took note of the funds required to carry out the economic and social development plan for Yemen for 2006-2010.

Speaking on this occasion, Yemen's Al-Qarubi said: "This cooperation is a start of a larger political Arab cooperation and the meeting conveys the desire of Yemen and the GCC states to get together.

He cited the increasing commercial exchange between Yemen and the Gulf countries since 2000.

In his speech, the GCC Secretary-General Abdulrahman Al-Atiyyah noted that the meeting comes within "the framework of joint and continuing efforts to strengthen fraternal relations between the GCC and Yemen due to Yemen's status and importance from the GCC's perspective.