A great event ... the Arab countries will meet in Cairo!
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ennahar
The Arab League has scheduled to meet Tuesday and Wednesday to define a collective response after the deadly attack by Israel against a pro-Palestinian flotilla, amid strong pressure from public opinion, press and several countries for a strong response.
- A special meeting of ambassadors of the 21 member countries plus the Palestinian Authority was to begin Tuesday at around 6:00 p.m. (3:00 GMT) at the headquarters of the pan-Arab organization in Cairo.
But Qatar, backed by Syria and other capitals, obtained Tuesday that the meeting continues Wednesday at the level of Foreign Ministers, to give more weight to the decision of the Arabs.
Egypt, traditionally moderate country against Israel, has made a gesture towards the Palestinians in the Ghaza strip - subject to an Israeli blockade since June 2007 - Tuesday in announcing the reopening of the Rafah crossing with the enclave the only one that is not controlled by Israel.
President Hosni Mubarak has made this decision just hours before the start of works of the Arab League, stating that it was to let humanitarian aid and allow the sick and wounded out of Ghaza by Egypt.
This decision appears to be a shift in Egypt's political, which had mainly been devoted in recent months to increase the locking of its part of the border with the Ghaza strip to fight against trafficking and to pressure on the radical Hamas, which controls the enclave.
The Secretary General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, called Monday for a "collective Arab position" against the Israeli operation off Ghaza, which he described as "very strong message from Israel that it does not want peace.
This attack on Monday in international waters against the fleet of six ships carrying aid to Ghaza caused an outrage in the Middle East where the press is calling for sanctions against Israel amid popular protests.
The first official reaction, however, had left dawn traditional divides of the Arab world against Israel, which often result in strong statements of the League, but without practical consequences.
President Mubarak, whose country was the first in the Arab world to sign peace with Israel in 1979, on Monday denounced the "excessive and unjustified use of force by Israel," in unison with most of Western capitals, but without talking about sanctions and criticizing Hamas covertly.
Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had however been more ruthless. They called for the UN to take "concrete steps to stop Israeli crimes which threaten to plunge the Middle East in a war whose impact will not be limited to countries in the region."
The talks at the Arab League are part of a cascade of international consultations after the attack that claimed the lives of nine civilians.
The Security Council has asked the United Nations an impartial investigation, the Commission on Human Rights of the United Nations convened an emergency meeting, and the NATO countries were to hold a special meeting at the request of Turkey.
Ennahar
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