Iraq On Arab Summit Agenda Despite Fears Of Division
CAIRO, March 13 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Arab foreign ministers decided overnight Monday to include the issue of Iraq at the March 27th Arab summit in Amman, Jordan, agenda despite the risk the issue could further divide the 22 member states, instead of uniting them, on backing the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.
"The Iraqi question will be included in the agenda under the chapter of the situation between Iraq and Kuwait," Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassem told news agencies.
Whether Arab countries should fully restore relations with Baghdad has been a dividing issue with Gulf Arab countries insisting that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime cannot be trusted after it invaded neighboring Kuwait in 1990. Other countries like Syria and Jordan say Iraq should be brought back into the Arab fold.
The foreign ministers were meeting at Arab League headquarters in Cairo to prepare for the Amman summit, expected to focus on the Palestinian uprising against Israel and the crumbling U.N. sanctions on Iraq.
"We had long talks on the Iraqi question and there is a new Arab spirit on how to deal with that issue," the Qatari foreign minister said.
According to an Arab diplomatic source who took part in the talks, Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhaf accepted the lifting of sanctions against his country, and believed the abolition of the no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq would not be a major point on the agenda as long as a resolution was adopted expressing the hope the embargo would be lifted.
The source told the AFP news agency that Saudi Arabia and Kuwait opposed the Iraqi request to mention the lifting of the embargo in the main points of the Arab summit agenda.
Diplomats at the Cairo meeting added that talks would continue on the contents of such a resolution.
Three countries are in charge of drawing up a draft resolution on Iraq: Egypt, which chaired the previous Arab summit, Jordan, which chairs the upcoming one, and Qatar, which chairs the Arab League ministerial council.
Cairo newspapers predicted Tuesday that Arab leaders would take a tough line against Israel and were likely to denounce recent statements by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell that the U.S. would take measures to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
