In the News 1-17-2009

Qatar and Mauritania freeze ties with Israel

By Anwar Elshamy

Qatar and Mauritania froze ties with Israel yesterday in protest over the ongoing Israeli onslaught on Gaza. Addressing a press conference last night following the emergency summit held in Doha to tackle the worsening situation in the Gaza Strip, Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minster HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani said the Israeli trade office in Doha would be closed down until the situation improved.

“We will tell them (the Israeli mission) that their presence is unwanted until the circumstances improve and the chances for peace get better. We will give them one week period to close the office and leave,” he said, while observing that the trade office was opened in Doha mainly to help peace efforts in the region.

“As you know, it (the trade office) was part of Madrid peace conference which initiated the peace process in the Middle East. We were considering the decision (to close it) since the Israelis started their aggression on Gaza,” the prime minister added.

Mauritania, which had full relation with Israel, also announced it was suspending diplomatic relations with the Zionist entity.

The name of the meeting was changed at the last moment to “Gaza Summit” after Qatar failed to meet the quorum required for hosting an Arab League meeting and invited non-Arab states such as Iran and Senegal to attend it.

“We completed the quorum for holding an Arab League summit five times, but it fell short as one of the countries had withdrawn,” the prime minister said.

To a question on the recent rivalry between some Arab sates over holding Arab summits to deal with the situation in Gaza, Sheikh Hamad said Qatar called for an Arab summit in the early days of the Israeli assault.

“Rivalry over summits is not a healthy thing. We were ready to attend an Arab summit anywhere. Our main concern was to take a united Arab stance and stop the bloodshed in Palestine. We are trying to be part of the Arab system, but I do know not why they are sensitive towards Qatar,” he said.

He blamed the split between the Palestinian factions on what he called “Inter-Arab states divisions”.

He dismissed the notion that the Doha meeting might affect the recently improved Qatari-Saudi relations as “untrue”, describing the bilateral relation as “excellent”.

“It is only a difference over how to deal with the situation in Gaza, but does not at all affect the relations. We are sure that King Abdullah of Saudi is as keen as us on the Palestinian issue or even more.”

The summit issued a communique urging all Arab nations to stop normalising all forms of relations with Israel and to reconsider their diplomatic and economic ties with it. Egypt and Jordan, which did not attend the summit, are the only Arab states which have signed peace treaties with Israel and maintain full diplomatic relations with the Zionist entity.

The Doha meeting was held amid deepening divisions between Arab states as both Egypt and Saudi Arabia rejected Qatar’s call for the summit.

The communique also called on Israel to halt its aggression on Gaza, and demanded immediate, unconditional and comprehensive withdrawal of its forces.

It also called upon the Arab states to suspend the Arab peace initiative which was adopted in Beirut in 2002, and halt all forms of normalisation of relations including the reconsideration of diplomatic and economic ties with Israel.

The summit also commended the stances taken both by Qatar and Mauritania regarding the freezing of their relations with the Zionist entity.

via Gulf Times – Qatar’s top-selling English daily newspaper – First Page.

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