Last update - 00:00 30/07/2007
Arab League discusses U.S. call for Mideast summit, peace plan
By The Associated Press
The Arab League met in Egypt on Monday to discuss recent efforts by its representatives to rally support for an Arab initiative to make peace with Israel, the group said in a draft statement.
The Arab foreign ministers that make up the 22-member group were also expected to formulate a response to U.S. President George W. Bush's recent call for an international Mideast peace conference to be held later this year.
During Monday's meeting, Arab League chief Amr Moussa reported on the outcome of the group's efforts over the past two months to promote the Arab peace plan, which offers Israel full peace with all Arab nations if it withdraws from territories captured in the 1967 Six Day war and allows the creation of a Palestinian state. The statement did not provide details of the report.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and his Jordanian counterpart, Abdul-Ilah Khatib, visited Israel last week to formally present the initiative. Aboul Gheit, upon his return to Egypt, speculated that other Arab countries may join in future contacts with Israel.
Monday's draft statement stressed that peace cannot be achieved unless Israel fully withdraws from all Arab territories, solves the Palestinian refugee issue and allows the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The ministers also called on the international community to exert pressure on Israel to release more than 10,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalqam did not attend Monday's meeting, but his country issued a memorandum calling on the Arab League to sever economic and diplomatic relations with Bulgaria following that country's decision to pardon six medics who Libya had sentenced to death for infecting more than 400 Libyan children with HIV.
The Arab League's draft statement did not comment on Libya's request.
Following Monday's meeting, a small group of Arab foreign ministers will travel to the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheik to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The U.S. officials are expected to rally support for Bush's proposed peace conference.
Moussa said Sunday that the conference should be sponsored by either the UN or the Quartet of Mideast mediators, made up of the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia.
Washington's close Arab state allies have welcomed the Bush proposal, but have stressed the importance of making the Arab peace initiative key to any talks. Also Monday, the Arab committee assigned to analyze the situation in the Gaza Strip following Hamas' military takeover of the territory held a meeting and issued a report on its activities.
The group, which includes Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and Jordan, was formed during an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo on June 15.
The committee said in a statement that it was continuing its work to achieve a decisive solution to the Palestinian crisis and to ensure the return of a normal situation to Gaza within the constitutional and legal framework.