Emirati President Sheikh Zayed al-Nahyan called on Arabs Sunday to put an end to the decade-old sanctions against Iraq, at the opening of an Arab inter-parliamentary meeting in Abu Dhabi, said reports.
"It is absolutely necessary for the Arabs to reconcile," the leader said in a speech read by Sheikh Hamad bin Mohammad al-Sharji, ruler of Fujeirah.
"We must find a solution to the Iraqi crisis and, before all else, put an end to the international sanctions," in force since Iraq's August 1990 invasion of Kuwait, he said.
Sheikh Zayed also urged Arab states to help lift sanctions against Libya and "to support the Palestinian Intifada through all means."
The host country has put the focus of the two-day meeting in Abu Dhabi, attended by MPs from all members of the Arab League apart from Somalia and the Comoros islands, on building Arab solidarity, said AFP.
Sheikh Zayed also called for Arab countries "to unite their efforts to lead Iran to opt for a constructive dialogue" with the UAE on a dispute over three strategic islands in the southern Gulf, said the Gulf News.
"Iran must be made to realize that its ties with Arab states will be in danger so long as Tehran has not opted for constructive dialogue or accepted a recourse, with the UAE, to arbitration before the International Court of Justice," he said.
Speaker of the Arab Parliamentary Union, Abdulkader bin Saleh, said the meeting unites all Arab nations at a time when the whole world is going through changes and facing obstacles, according to the daily.
He highlighted Lebanon's victory over Israel after the liberation of the south, and called for a united Arab stand with the Palestinians and Syrians in their bid to regain their occupied lands from Israel.
"Most alarming is the recent resumption of air strikes over Iraq by US and British air forces," he said – Albawaba.com
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