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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Arab foreign ministers to meet on Gaza crisis |
| 2009-01-13 |
| Foreign ministers from the Arab world will hold an emergency meeting in Kuwait on the Gaza crisis, officials said Monday as diplomatic efforts picked up speed to halt Israel's war on the besieged territory. Arab League chief Amr Moussa confirmed on Monday that the meeting would be held in the Persian Gulf nation later this week. Qatar requested the meeting on Sunday to discuss Israel's rejection of a UN Security Council resolution that called for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group Hamas. Friday's meeting in Kuwait "will examine the developments relating to Israel's refusal to abide by UN Security Council Resolution 1860," Moussa told reporters in Cairo. Israel has rejected the ceasefire, saying it was impracticable and demanding an end to Hamas rocket fire into Israel and the smuggling of weapons into Gaza. Hamas has said it would not accept any truce that did not lift Israel's blockade of Gaza and has called on Egypt to permanently open its Rafah border crossing with the enclave. Israel launched an offensive on Gaza on December 27, with the stated aim of stopping rocket attacks from the territory. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been pushing a plan which calls for an immediate ceasefire to let humanitarian aid into Gaza, talks on opening border crossings and taking steps to prevent arms smuggling. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, whose remit is limited to the Occupied West Bank, said the initiative offered the best hope of peace, putting pressure on both Israel and Hamas to respond positively. "He who refuses, voices reservations or moves slowly on this initiative bears the responsibility of explaining themselves, especially to the people of Gaza," Fayyad said. Ex-British Premier Tony Blair, now a peace envoy for the international community, said after meeting Mubarak that the elements for an immediate truce are in place and talks were "at a sensitive and delicate" stage. "The elements for an agreement for an immediate ceasefire are there. I think they are now being worked on very hard in great detail," he said. He said details included an end to the smuggling of weapons into Gaza and the opening of passages into the Palestinian enclave. The smuggling of weapons into Gaza, which Israel says are brought through tunnels linking Egypt and the coastal strip, is one of the points of contention in the talks. Egypt says it would be willing to accept tunnel detection equipment and training but denies weapons are smuggled in from its territory and says Israel should open the border crossings if it wishes to end smuggling. However, Egypt refuses to permanently open its Rafah border crossing with Gaza - a key Hamas demand - citing a 2005 agreement that requires the presence of EU monitors and Palestinian Authority representatives. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 They will be serving lunch, right? |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2009-01-13 10:40 |