In Arab-Latin FMs' meeting:

Prince Saud Alfaisal: Absence of positive feedback on peace would bring Arabs to reconsider their stand

Saudi FM calls for backing Lebanon initiative

Abu Mazen: We reject applying Kosovo model on Palestine

Human rights watchdog urges investigations with Israel over use of cluster bombs in Lebanon

Saudi Arabia appealed to "all actors" to ease the materialization of the Arab initiative with the aim of finding a solution to the political crisis in Lebanon.

Speaking before the Arab and Latin American foreign ministers' meeting, hosted by the Argentine capital Buenos Aires, Prince Saud said "the previous initiatives by the Arab League on Lebanon did not attain the aspired success due to the extremists who brought Lebanon on the brink of a civil war."

On the Middle East peace process, Prince Saud said that Israel's failure to come up with positive reactions to the initiatives to bring about peace would prompt the Arab countries to reconsider their positions.

"The kingdom (of Saudi Arabia) hopes that Israel replies positively to the Arab endeavors and efforts in order to avoid reaching a state of despair bringing Arabs to re-think their options," Prince Saud said.

He said the Arab participation in the Annapolis conference last November was to launch a new bid for peace in the Middle East and enter into a new stage of the talks.

"It does not make sense to blame most of the time the weak party in this equation. The Palestinian people are suffering and what Israel is doing as far as the expansion of settlements could not be ignored," he said.

Negotiations held since the Annapolis meeting have met hardships due to Israel's plans to build new houses near Jerusalem.

During the Arab-Latin foreign ministers' meeting, which follows the 2005 Brasilia summit, aimed at enhancing the dialogue between Latin America and Arab countries, Prince Saud said that the return of tension between the West and East "is raising our concerns," considering that "Israel's practices in the issues of settlements cannot be ignored," and criticizing the continued the policy of settlements "particularly in Eastern Jerusalem."

"While we continue to reject terrorism, we also have to analyze its causes that have to do with a state of frustration leading to similar stands," he said.

The foreign ministers and their representatives in more than Arab and Latin American countries expressed support for dialogue among civilizations with the aim of eliminating terrorism and East-West tension.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa criticized "negative practices and policies pursued by Israel like the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip."

Faisal and Moussa called for having a dialogue among civilizations and deal with the problem of poverty as well as "frustration" suffered by the peoples in order to bring an end to terrorism.

Moussa urged the participants in the meeting to back the establishment of an "alliance of civilizations," a proposal that had been tabled by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero at the United Nations.

"It is our duty to back the alliance of civilizations," Moussa said, stressing that "the 22 Arab countries present in Buenos Aires believe in this alliance and work against all groups that seek its destruction."

Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana defended the concept and praised the dialogue that started between the two sides in 2005 while the Qatari Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Mahmoud stressed that a second summit between the heads of state and government of Arab and Latin American countries would be convened in Doha by the end of this year.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ruled out any unilateral declaration of statehood in the near future, responding to an aide's call to take the step if peace talks with Israel continued to falter.

Abbas made the remarks a day after he and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met to accelerate U.S.-backed peace talks launched at a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, in November.

"We will pursue negotiations in order to reach a peace agreement during 2008 that includes the settlement of all final status issues including Jerusalem," Abbas said in a statement.

"But if we cannot achieve that, and we reach a deadlock, we will go back to our Arab nation to take the necessary decision at the highest level," he said, without mentioning any options.

The peace talks, which Washington hopes will yield a statehood deal this year, have been stalled by disputes over Israeli plans to build new homes on occupied land and Olmert's insistence on putting off talks about the future of Jerusalem.

Abbas's authority has also been limited to the occupied West Bank since Hamas Islamists, who oppose his peace efforts with Israel, seized the Gaza Strip in June. A Hamas spokesman said Abed Rabbo's suggestion was not worth listening to.

"Our Palestinian people are not in need of more failed experiences from some failed people," said Sami Abu Zuhri. A top Palestinian official, arguing that Israel is stalling peace negotiations, said the Palestinian Authority should declare independence as Kosovo did.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told Voice of Palestine Radio that he does not expect any agreement with Israel this year, Voice of America reported.

Abbas and Israeli officials disagreed. Abbas, in a statement, said he does expect an agreement by the end of the year, rejecting a Kosovo model to be applied on Palestine.

Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said that unilateral independence has never been brought up in the negotiations.

It is not going to be easy, Regev said about the talks. The issues on the table are difficult, but with hard work, and if both sides come to the table and are willing to make compromises, I believe it is possible to have such a deal.

Hamas on Friday welcomed a European Parliament resolution calling for an end to Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the Palestinian Islamist group.

However, spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri was more circumspect with regard to the resolution's call for an end to rocket fire on Israel by Palestinian militants in Gaza.

"Hamas welcomes the appeal launched by the European Union for an end to the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip," Abu Zuhri said in a statement.

"Regarding the call for an end to rocket fire, we maintain that the problem lies in the (Israeli) occupation, aggression and siege of our people. Hamas is ready to examine any initiative that can put an end to Israeli aggression."

The European Union, in a bid to prevent a humanitarian crisis in the already impoverished coastal strip, has begun increasing pressure on Israel to end its nine-month old blockade.

On Thursday, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for just that, with MEPs saying "the policy of isolation of the Gaza Strip has failed at both the political and humanitarian level."

The resolution called for the controlled reopening of crossings in and out of the territory, which is home to 1.5 million people who depend mostly on aid.

It also called for Israel to cease military actions that kill or endanger civilians, as well as extrajudicial targeted killings.

As for Hamas, the parliament described the Islamist group's bloody seizure of Gaza in June as illegal and said it should prevent the firing of rockets on Israeli territory.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has said that any talk of ending the sanctions only weakens Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, with whom Israel renewed peace talks in November.

Israel closed vital border crossings and restricted supplies to Gaza after Hamas, which does not recognize the Jewish state, took over the territory, violently routing forces loyal to Abbas.

Last month Israel began reducing fuel and electricity supplies to Gaza in response to near daily rocket fire on southern Israel, further raising fears of a humanitarian crisis.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said earlier this week that Israel would maintain the tight blockade.

Abbas welcomed a Yemeni initiative aimed at healing the rift between his government and Hamas movement that controls the Gaza Strip since a showdown with the Fatah-led security forces last June. The initiative calls for a return to the status quo ante in Gaza, according to Yemen's official Saba news agency.

An official source in Sanaa told AFP that the Yemeni president handed the proposal to Abbas when he visited Yemen earlier this month and that the plan was also sent to Hamas' exiled leader Khaled Misha’al in Syria.

“President Mahmoud Abbas has welcomed the initiative of the Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh” and he is “completely in favor of this friendly and brotherly initiative,” Abbas's office said in a statement.

Speaker of the Fatah bloc in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), Azzam al-Ahmad, told the Ramallah-based Al-Ayyam daily Monday that, “This initiative is worth appreciation and immediate acceptance without hesitation, so we could pull ourselves out of the impasse we were put into after the coup” of Hamas in Gaza.

Hamas was less enthusiastic and more reserved. A Yemeni foreign ministry official told AFP that Hamas had “reservations” about the initiative, mainly over the first clause calling for a return to the situation that prevailed before its takeover of the impoverished territory.

“The Hamas movement is absolutely prepared to discuss any effort to return Hamas and Fatah to dialogue but without prior conditions ... and to explore all the issues in an open way at the negotiating table,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said.

Another Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri, said Sunday that, “Hamas leadership is following up the initiative in details with the Yemeni leadership.”

Al-Ayyam reported Monday that the Palestinian billionaire Munib al-Masri led a delegation of his recently established “The Palestine Forum” to the Syrian capital, Damascus, where he met on Saturday with the Hamas politburo head Khaled Misha’al in an attempt of his own to heal the Fatah – Hamas rift.

On Monday the Secretary General of the League of Arab States (LAS), Amr Moussa, told the Iranian Mehr News in an interview that, “at the moment, some Arab states, such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Sudan, in coordination with the Arab league, are trying to end the conflict” between Hamas and Fatah.

Moussa described the conflict as “the most dangerous events in the history of Palestine” and reminded that the LAS had “formed a committee to discuss ways to end the confrontation. The committee presented a report suggesting practical solutions to the conflict.”

In Lebanon, Prime Minister Fouad al-Siniora phoned Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss recent developments in the country and the Middle East region. Siniora also briefed the Egyptian leader on the outcome of his recent Arab and European tour.

The Lebanese premier underlined the importance of electing a new president for Lebanon, noting "the presence of a president of the republic of Lebanon during the forthcoming Arab summit is necessary."

Siniora also said in statements that he insisted on the Arab initiative as the only serious initiative forwarded at present to solve the current crisis suffered by Lebanon, expressing belief that "the Arabs, like the Lebanese, would not accept convening an Arab summit while the Lebanon's seat is empty."

In Cairo Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit reiterated his country's hope that Lebanese parties would quickly find a solution to fill the presidential gap and avert the Lebanon sliding into confrontations on the street.

Abul-Gheit, during a meeting with Lebanese Member of Parliament Akram Shuhayb, affirmed that Egypt would continue backing the Lebanese state and institutions as a bid to maintain the Arab country's independence and sovereignty.

Asked on Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah's announcement on taking revenge on Israel for the killing of top military commander Emad Mughniyeh, the Lebanese legislator replied, "I don't think the critical condition Lebanon is experiencing would allow a new war while we still mend our wounds from the Tammuz (July) war."

"No one in Lebanon has the right to unilaterally declare a war at home or against any other country. The issue of the decision of war or peace has to be up to the consensus of the Lebanese people, not up to some militia or party," said Shuhayb.