A draft document condemning Israel and calling for diplomatic sanctions against it may be modified by the Arab summit after Israel's move to suspend peace negotiations, a senior Arab official said Saturday.
"The leaders could modify the document in light of the latest developments," the official said on condition he not be named.
When asked if the draft would take a tougher line, the official replied: "Not necessarily. It will certainly be more thought out."
He recalled that the summit's goal was still to "support the Palestinian cause and all the stands taken will be in this direction."
Diplomats said a draft document prepared by Arab foreign ministers ahead of the summit calls on countries that have relations with Israel but not a peace treaty to "stop all relations and all cooperation" with the Jewish state.
Those countries are Qatar, Oman, Tunisia, Morocco and Mauritania, which would have to close or freeze activities at the trade or interests missions they have exchanged with Israel, they said.
Egypt and Jordan, which signed peace treaties with Israel in 1979 and 1994, and the Palestinian Authority, which signed the Oslo accords in 1993, would not have to abide by the measure.
But US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher warned Friday that limiting ties with Israel could not help the volatile situation in the Middle East and could only hurt the chances of the US-brokered Sharm el-Sheikh truce.
The hard-hitting draft Arab document also calls for some Israelis to be prosecuted in an international court for "war crimes" and condemns Israel for "plunging the region back into a spiral of violence."
But Israel said it would take a "time-out" in the peace process, which would last "as long as necessary in order to evaluate the situation and determine what we have to do, what the other side is doing, what we expect in light of the lessons that have been learned from these painful events.” – CAIRO (AFP)
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