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Saudi Quit Will Have Negative Impact on Islamic Summit: OIC Chief
Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Ezzeddin Laraki said Wednesday that the Saudi boycott of the upcoming OIC summit will produce negative impacts.
The Saudi withdrawal will certainly have a "noticeable impact over the proceedings of the summit due to the important position the Gulf kingdom occupies in the Islamic world," Laraki told Qatar TV.
Perhaps, the Saudi decision will have repercussions on the number of countries to take part in the ninth Islamic summit due on November 12-14, he added.
Riyadh announced on Wednesday that it would not attend the summit by saying that "the conditions necessary to hold such a meeting are not met yet because of the deteriorating situation in the Palestinian territories."
The Saudi delegation withdrew later in the day from Doha following the announcement.
The summit of the 56-member OIC coincides with the raging Palestinian-Israeli clashes, in which some 180 Palestinians have been killed and over 5,000 others injured by Israeli security forces in the nearly six weeks of violence.
The Israeli excessive use of force against the Palestinians has aroused great anger throughout the Islamic world, and Qatar has been under strong urge to sever trade ties with the Jewish state. But Qatar has refused to meet the demand, arguing that the move would do little to defuse the ongoing tensions.
On other issues, Laraki indicated that during the OIC experts meeting held here Wednesday, Iraq requested to modify an expression, namely "the Iraqi aggression of Kuwait," to "the situation between Iraq and Kuwait."
But he did not mention the result of the debate on this topic, only saying that the experts meeting lasted till late in the evening.
The meeting prepared an agenda for the three-day foreign ministers' meeting due to open on Thursday.
About 70 draft resolutions will be discussed by the ministers, who will refer them to the summit.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has said he will stay away from the summit and the emir of Bahrain has also announced he will boycott the summit because of a simmering territorial dispute with Qatar.
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