“We are with the right of the Palestinians to defend themselves, and we will provide them with the necessary weapons to do so….” This is what the Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh told Al-Jazeerah television station in an interview on the upcoming Arab summit . President Saleh said that he supported an Arab summit and said he was one of the ones who had called for the summit. He said that the recent threats of Syria and Lebanon were completely unacceptable; Adding that he supported a comprehensive peace, and not the type of peace that Israel wants “where it acts in the way it wants without anyone saying anything.” When the reporter on Al-Jazira asked him what will be proposed at the summit Saleh said that we call for the unity of the Arab front and there are several ways to help the Palestinian Intifada, whether politically or economically.
The emergency Arab summit which will take place on the 22nd of October was initially called for by Hosni Mubarak during a press conference with Bashar Al-Assad following Palestinian-Israeli clashes. At the time, the summit was expected to be held at the beginning of the new year, but due to escalating tension and threats by Israel, the summit was moved up.
During the Arab summit the countries are expected to examine what to do about the recent Palestinian-Israeli clashes, which have caused the death of more than eighty Palestinian citizens and the injury of close to two thousand people.
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
