Emirati President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan called Saturday for Arab leaders to overcome their differences, warning that the Cairo summit was a test of their credibility.
"I call on you all to adopt firm resolutions, which are up to the challenges and aspirations of our peoples. May this summit be that of Arab reconciliation," he said in a message carried by the official news agency WAM.
"The blood flowing (in the Palestinian territories) is more important than all our differences. Without a unified Arab stand, we can not give real support to the Palestinian people," said Sheikh Zayed.
"We must rise above that which divides us. Instead, we must give priority to that which unites us. The Arab world expects its leaders to respond to their aspirations," he said.
"This summit is the real test of our credibility," said Sheikh Zayed, an advocate of Arab unity and regular summits as well as Iraq's reintegration into the Arab fold after a decade in the cold since its Kuwait invasion.
Sheikh Zayed, 82, who is in the United States recovering from a kidney transplant operation he had on August 28, is represented in Cairo by the vice president and prime minister, Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashed al-Maktoum – ABU DHABI (AFP)
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