DOHA, March 3 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – After the Arab Summit refused, just two days ago, to put it on its agenda, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members agreed that the a United Arab Emirates proposal for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to go into exile needed further study.

In a final statement after a two-day meeting in Doha, GCC Foreign Ministers did not say they had formally adopted the proposal, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

However, the six-member alliance did express "consideration to United Arab Emirates President, Sheikh Zayed for his commendable efforts, aimed at avoiding harm to the Iraqi people".

The six-nation GCC meeting also judged it "necessary to discuss the initiative at the Arab level."

The initiative were given short shrift by other Arab leaders at Saturday's Arab League summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, that refused even to discuss it.

"We in Qatar support Sheikh Zayed for his ideas, his initiative (that is in the interests of) the Arab world and the Iraqi people," Qatar's chief diplomat Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani said after the Doha meeting.

The GCC "agreed that this is a very important initiative and we think it needs to be discussed further in the Arab League," Sheikh Hamad said.

He underlined there "were no decisions" within the GCC on the significance of the proposal, which he praised for "asking the Iraqi leadership to decide (its fate) without interference in its internal affairs."

Oman remains the only member of the oil-rich club not to have responded publicly to the Emirati proposal, which led Baghdad to call Abu Dhabi a "snake".

Saddam has said he would rather die than quit Iraq and his Foreign Minister Naji Sabri branded the exile call U.S.-inspired "bilge."

UAE Foreign Minister Rashid Abdullah al-Nuaimi said Abu Dhabi stood by its offer and would raise it again at Wednesday's summit in Doha of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference on the crisis over Iraq.

Sheikh Hamad, however, said it would not be on the agenda.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa came in for strong criticism from UAE Information Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan for blocking the proposals.

"He does not have the right to block the ideas put forward by the Emirates," Sheikh Abdullah told Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper Monday.

At the end of the summit, the Minister said that apart from Gulf countries, "other Arab states approve it (Sheikh Zayed's proposal) as well but haven't had the courage to openly announce it."

Peaceful Settlement

But in a fresh challenge to the U.S hawkish plans to go to war against Iraq, Gulf states and the European Union (EU), insisted Monday it was the job of the United Nations to ensure that Iraq disarms.

In a joint statement, the GCC and the European Union said "the primary responsibility for dealing with Iraqi disarmament lies with the Security Council."

Both parties "pledged their full support to the council in discharging its responsibilities" and said the United Nations should remain "at the center of the international order."

The statement came as indications mounted that the United States and Britain were prepared to invade and occupy Iraq to strip it of its alleged weapons of mass destruction without Security Council authorization.

Foreign ministers and senior officials from the Gulf and Europe nonetheless maintained that "it is for the Iraqi regime to end this crisis by complying with the demands of the Security Council."

"The Iraqi regime alone will be responsible for the consequences if it continues to flout the will of the international community and does not take this last chance," the statement said.

While voicing support for UN weapons inspectors operating in Iraq, it warned that "inspections cannot continue indefinitely in the absence of full Iraqi cooperation."

The meeting called for the inspectors to be given the time and the resources "that the UN Security Council believes they need." +

Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said there was still time to avoid conflict.

"We feel there is still a window of opportunity if Saddam Hussein is to make a dramatic move on the issue of full compliance and quickly on disarmament," he told reporters.

Both Sheikh Hamad and Papandreou agreed that chances for a peaceful solution to the Iraqi crisis are "slim".