RIYADH/DUBAI/CAIRO: Egypt and Saudi Arabia said Tuesday they supported discussing the Gaza crisis at a Kuwait summit set for Jan. 19, rejecting Qatar s proposal for an extraordinary summit later this week.
However, an Arab League official says that most Arab governments have agreed to hold an emergency summit on the crisis in Gaza on Friday in Qatar.
Hesham Youssef, an aide to the league s head Amr Moussa, says 15 of the 22-member group have endorsed Qatar s invitation to a summit in Doha.
For the meeting to take place 16 members must agree.
Saudi Arabia sees as inappropriate an extraordinary meeting of Arab leaders proposed by Qatar to discuss the situation in Gaza, a top Saudi diplomat said in remarks aired on Tuesday.
Doha, the only Gulf Arab country that has ties with Israel, called for an emergency Arab summit to be held on Friday, the same day Arab foreign ministers were scheduled to meet in Kuwait.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Saudi King Abdullah said they backed talks at the Kuwait economic summit to seek a halt to the aggression in Gaza, in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
It is only logical and natural that Gaza will be at the heart of the Kuwait summit. The (Arab) leaders will discuss during their summit the situation there, Kuwait s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Sabah told the official KUNA news agency.
He said Kuwait s Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah will discuss with his Arab counterparts means to put a quick end to the sufferings of our brothers in Gaza . – Agencies
