An urgent Cairo meeting of Arab foreign ministers kicked off Wednesday. Earlier, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met separately with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Syrian FM Faruq Al Shara to discuss the Mideast conflict.
The meeting, which came at the request of the Palestinians, was inaugurated by a speech by Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassem Al Thani, who said that the meeting should come up with new ways to support the Palestinians and protect them from “the Israeli war machine.”
The Qatari FM reportedly clashed with his Syrian counterpart over whether to make the loosely-prepared session closed or open-door, but finally the decision was made to include all delegation members in a closed session.
The official MENA news agency, cited by AFP, reported that Mubarak and Arafat met privately at Mersa Matruh, near the Mediterranean resort of Borg Al Arab, to discuss the "latest developments in the region, notably the latest Israeli escalation in the occupied (Palestinian) territories."
Following those one-on-one talks, the two men were joined by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher, senior Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erakat and Palestinian International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath.
No details were provided on the meeting with Shara, which was also attended by Maher, said the agency.
Arafat is expected to submit a report on the situation in the Occupied Territories and on efforts to convince the UN Security Council to send international observers there, said Mohammad Subeih, the Palestinian envoy at the Arab League, in remarks to the official Kuwaiti news agency, KUNA, on Tuesday.
The ministers will attempt to "formulate a unified Arab position on supporting the Palestinian cause and to stop the cycle of Israeli violence against the unarmed Palestinian people," the Egyptian government daily Al Ahram said on Tuesday – Albawaba.com
