CAIRO: Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit admitted that Egypt caused the Doha summit to fail in order “to save Arab unity.
In an interview with Orbit satellite television channel Tuesday evening, Aboul Gheit also heavily criticized Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah for attempting to force a confrontation during the Israeli offensive on Gaza.
He said, “Egypt made the summit fail… This summit, if it had taken place as an Arab summit with a proper quorum, would have damaged joint Arab action. We can see what others do not see.
The Arab summit, called by Qatar during the Israeli strikes on Gaza, fell short of the requisite 15 members needed for it to become an official Arab summit when Egypt and Saudi Arabia refused to attend.
Aboul Gheit also said of Hamas and Hezbollah, “[They tried] to force the region into a confrontation in the interest of Iran, which is trying to use its cards to escape Western pressure … on the nuclear file.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah responded to Aboul Gheit’s comments in a press conference Thursday saying that the Arab world is indeed split, with some wanting to continue the resistance and others – alluding to Egypt – wanting to end the struggle completely.
Egypt came under a barrage of criticism during the war on Gaza because of its perceived lack of support for Hamas and the people of Gaza. This led to a war of words between Egypt – spearheaded by Aboul Gheit – and other Arab countries and groups in the Arab world.
“Aboul Gheit’s comments are a reaction to the critical comments on Egyptian diplomacy, so he is making a point that Iranian-Syrian-Qatari efforts had waged a verbal war on Egypt during the Gaza crisis, Nabil Abdel-Fatah from Al Ahram Political and Strategic Studies said.
“What all this means is that now there is a struggle in the Arab world between countries that revolve around the Iranian axis and those known as the ‘moderate’ countries like Egypt over roles in the region and spheres of influence, he added.
Aboul Gheit also criticized the Qatari Al Jazeera satellite channel, saying, “Some people imagined that a satellite channel could bring down the Egyptian state, without realizing that Egypt is much stronger than that. Egypt is very big and has extensive influence despite [attacks against it] on Al Jazeera channel or on other channels.
