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Leaders fail to bridge rift on Gaza war Publish Date: Wednesday,21 January, 2009, at 12:31 PM Doha Time KUWAIT: Arab leaders agreed at a summit yesterday to help rebuild the battered Gaza Strip, but failed to bridge differences over the three-week Israeli offensive that killed more than 1,300 people. Arab leaders condemned Israel's attack and demanded its immediate withdrawal from Gaza in the summit declaration read by Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa. It called on Israel to punish those who had committed war crimes during the offensive. "The summit is holding Israel legally responsible for war crimes it committed and for taking the necessary action to pursue those who committed the crimes," Moussa said. Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani attends the Arab Economic, Development and Social Summit in Kuwait yesterday A debate over the strength of the wording on Gaza delayed the concluding session. Moussa, who had pushed for stronger condemnation of Israel, later said the declaration bore the imprint of the diplomatic tensions among Arab leaders. "Arab affairs are still tense," Moussa said. "Things are still not good in my opinion and that's why the declaration was issued like that ... Other things needed to be included and were not." Last week, clusters of leaders gathered at different meetings to draw up resolutions to put to the Arab summit in Kuwait. A meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Kuwait on Friday prepared resolutions including a pledge of support for the Palestinian Authority headed by President Mahmoud Abbas. But another meeting in Doha took a much stronger line, calling on Arab countries to review their ties with Israel and to suspend a 2002 Arab peace initiative. Qatar, which froze its ties with Israel over the Gaza offensive, had pushed to include those resolutions in the Kuwait declaration, Moussa said. Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohamed al-Sabah bids farewell to Saudi King Abdullah at the end of the summit in Kuwait City yesterday The 2002 peace initiative offered Israel normal relations in return for full withdrawal from all Arab land occupied in the 1967 Middle East War and a just solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees. Moussa said alternatives to the peace initiative would have to be found if Israel continued with its aggression. That comment echoed a speech by Saudi King Abdullah on Monday in which he said the initiative was still on the table, but that Israel should not expect it to stay there forever. On Monday, Abbas, who controls the West Bank but lost control of Gaza to Hamas in 2007, called for reconciliation and the formation of a national unity government to pave the way for presidential and parliamentary elections. Abbas is backed by the West but seen as weak by leaders of some Arab states such as Syria. Leaders were also divided on whether the aid should go Hamas or to Abbas, Arab diplomats said. The final declaration omitted detail on the size of a fund to rebuild Gaza. Foreign ministers meeting on Friday had adopted a resolution to establish a fund of up to $2bn that leaders were expected to back. Saudi Arabia committed $1bn towards reconstruction on Monday. The declaration focused on increased economic co-operation and inter-regional investment, with the emphasis on energy. It called on Arab states to work together to tackle the impact of the global financial crisis on the region and to take part in global efforts to restore financial stability. World Bank president Robert Zoellick said in a speech to the summit on Monday that the Arab world must be a part of the global response to the crisis. Western governments have asked Arab oil exporters to contribute to efforts to ease the crisis. Arab leaders called for co-operation in the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and the expansion of regional power grids and natural gas networks. - Reuters
