Arab League aims for united front on Gaza carnage

Source: Compiled by Daily Star, 10-11-2006
Arab foreign ministers will gather Sunday for an emergency meeting to discuss a common response to the "Israeli" offensive in the Gaza Strip, the Arab League chief said Thursday. Separately, foreign ministers from seven Islamic states are to meet in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah next week to discuss this month`s deadly "Israeli" offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Secretary General Amr Moussa said he called for the meeting in Cairo at the request of Palestinian and Lebanese officials to "look into practical steps and measures to deal with the "Israeli" ongoing and recurrent aggression against the Palestinian people, latest of which is the Beit Hanun massacre."
"The message from `Israel` is clear, that it will be stopped by no one. And as such Arab countries must take up their responsibilities," Moussa said after a meeting of Arab representatives to the Cairo-based organization.
He said the League hoped that the US would deal with the issue objectively.
"We hope the United States will re-examine many of its policies which led to anger and the reactions it saw and continues to see in the Middle East and elsewhere," he said.
Moussa also said the League would back calls by Palestinian officials for an international fact-finding mission into what he described as a "massacre."
Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahhar also came to Cairo Thursday to discuss ``the latest tragic incidents in Gaza`` with his Egyptian counterpart, Ahmad Abu al-Gheit, who condemned the "Israeli" offensive in the Palestinian territories.
Speaking to reporters, Abu al-Gheit called for an investigation into the killings.
"There has to be an investigation into the massacre that took place yesterday in Beit Hanun and the victims of which were civilians. The issue should not be left to the "Israeli" armed forces to merely say that a mistake happened," he said.
Meanwhile, at the request of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, foreign ministers from Azerbaijan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal and Yemen will gather on November 18 for a meeting which will also be attended by Palestinian representatives to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip, the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference said Thursday.