Last update - 00:00 05/09/2007
Arab League chief: Mideast summit shouldn't favor Israel
By Associated Press
Arab League chief Amr Moussa warned Wednesday that the Mideast fall peace conference proposed by U.S. President George W. Bush should not favor Israel in its pursuit of a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
At a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo, Moussa accused Israel of trying to strip the conference of any meaning, saying Israeli leaders have so far not committed to discussing definitive issues like the borders of a proposed Palestinian state and the return of refugees.
Moussa said it was imperative that the fall summit should not be a meaningless and useless political demonstration which would only serve to maintain the status quo
The meeting in Cairo on Wednesday's aim was to reach a unified Arab stand before the conference, expected to be held in Washington in November.
U.S. allies Saudi Arabia and Egypt have expressed concern that Washington is unprepared for the summit.
On Tuesday, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak warned it should not be another lost chance like to previous meetings, and Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit said only a well-defined agenda could ensure the conference's success.
Arabs are pushing for an initial framework agreement on main issues by the Palestinians and the Israelis ahead of the conference. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is also expected in the Middle East later this
month to try to get the sides to agree on an outline for a future peace agreement ahead of the U.S.-sponsored conference.
On Wednesday in Cairo, the ministers of the 21-member League states and the Palestinian Authority also discussed Iraq, Lebanon and other conflicts in the region.
On Iraq, Moussa called for talks between Arab countries and Iran over the war-torn country, while dismissing fears that the regime in Tehran would step in to fill a power vacuum in Iraq in the case of U.S. troop withdrawal.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last week said such a vacuum is imminent and that Iran was ready to help fill the gap. The Iranian leader also suggested Iran should cooperate with neighbors such as Saudi Arabia, to fill the vacuum. Sunni Arab countries are concerned about what they see as Iran's meddling in Iraq, especially its close ties to the Shiite-led government in Baghdad.