DUBAI, May 22 (News Agencies) - Most Gulf Arab foreign ministers are to stay away from a Doha meeting of Islamic countries called to discuss the Middle East conflict because of Israel's trade office in Qatar, Gulf diplomats said Tuesday.
"Certain Gulf countries are dismayed at Qatar's refusal to close the Israeli trade office in Doha ... and have decided to lower the level of their representation" at the May 26th meeting in Doha, one diplomat said.
He said the foreign ministers of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would not travel to Doha.
But Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has convinced Gulf States not to boycott the ministerial meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the diplomats said, asking not to be named, AFP news agency reported.
Qatar's foreign minister said last week that the Israeli office in Doha was still operating despite its announced closure in November on the eve of an OIC summit hosted by Qatar.
"Qatar's positions are not contradictory," Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani told journalists when asked how Doha could convene a meeting of OIC foreign ministers to condemn Israel while at the same time hosting an Israeli office.
Under pressure of a boycott by key participants because of the Israeli presence in Doha, Qatar announced the closure of the trade office on November 9th, a day before the Islamic summit.
Qatar, as current OIC president, has called an Islamic foreign ministers' meeting to discuss the "dangerous" escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Jewish state's "savage aggressions".
