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Arafat Holds Talks with Arab League Chief, Arab FMs
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Wednesday held a closed-door meeting with Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa and Arab foreign ministers to discuss the Middle East situation.
Arafat was expected to present to the consultative meeting "a detailed picture of Israel's aggressions against the Palestinians and the Palestinian demand for political and economic support," Egypt's state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported.
The meeting was held before an emergency meeting of an Arab follow-up committee, due to open later in the day, aimed at crystallizing an Arab stance on Israel's brutalities against the Palestinians and Israel's non-commitment to signed agreements with the Palestinians, MENA said.
Arafat arrived in Cairo Wednesday morning to attend the emergency meeting, during which he will brief the participants on the current situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and escalating Israeli aggressions against the Palestinians.
"The latest Israeli military escalation in the Palestinian territories is not only a setback for the peacemaking but also shows Israel's determination to pursue aggressions against the Palestinians at all levels and their institutions, as well as against Islamic and Christian sanctities," Arafat said in a statement, issued upon his arrival.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict raged on after Israeli helicopters killed four Palestinians in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Tuesday, in retaliation for the killings of two Israelis in a suicide bombing attack by a Palestinian activist in northern Israel on Monday.
The Arab follow-up committee will be convened at the request of foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council states to discuss the deteriorating situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and ways of protecting the Palestinians.
The committee was set up at the Arab summit held last October in Cairo to follow up the implementation of moral and financial aids pledged by the Arab leaders to the Palestinians.
It is made up of foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian National Authority, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Tunisia, as well as the Arab League chief.
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