Arab League condemns Israeli offensives

EGYPT: Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo on Saturday condemned Israel's offensives in Lebanon and Gaza, declared unconditional support for Lebanon and called upon the UN Security Council to stop the escalating conflict.

In a unanimous declaration, the 18 foreign ministers stated that Israel's action in Lebanon "contradicts all international laws" and said that Israel "bears the responsibility of compensating [ Lebanon] for the loss and destruction which is a result of its aggression on Lebanese soil".

The league characterised Israel's actions in Gaza as "war crimes and crimes against humanity". But while they adopted a united front on the onslaughts on Gaza and Lebanon, the ministers were divided on the issue of Hizbullah's involvement.

After acrimonious exchanges, the meeting agreed to call "on all parties not to undertake acts which will lead to undermining the security and stability of the region, whose effects will be felt by the countries in the region and its people".

This portion of the statement reflected the view of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia that the seizure of two Israeli soldiers last Wednesday by the Lebanese Shia Hizbullah movement was an "adventurous" act which has put Arab interests at risk by eliciting massive Israeli retaliation against Lebanon. Their line was supported by Kuwait, Iraq, the Palestinian Authority, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Saudi foreign minister Saud al-Faisal accused Hizbullah of "inappropriate and irresponsible" behaviour which might "take the region back to old times" of constant conflict.

But the Lebanese, Qatari, Yemeni and Algerian foreign ministers argued against this approach, and sided with their Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem, who said Hizbullah had carried out "legitimate acts of resistance against [ Israeli] occupation in line with international law and the UN charter".

Angered over the attitude of the critics of Hizbullah, Lebanese foreign minister Fawzi Salloukh warned of an escalating regional crisis in the absence of a strong, unified Arab response to the current conflagration.

"The Arab people will sooner or later take matters into their own hands if their governments do not find serious ways to give them hope," he said.

Following the meeting, Arab League secretary general Amr Moussa said: "The Middle East peace process is dead. All the mechanisms, including the Quartet, have failed the peace process or contributed to burying the peace process. The only way to revive the peace process is to take it back to the [ UN] Security Council . . . and start over from scratch."

Referring to Washington's staunch support of Israel and use of the veto to obstruct council action, Mr Moussa said that "certain powers have given Israel every capacity to do whatever it wishes".

Also on Saturday, the council failed to adopt a Qatari statement calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hizbullah. But regional analysts do not believe this will be achieved until the US presses Israel to halt its offensive.

Lebanon's UN envoy Nouhad Mahmoud accused the US of torpedoing the statement.

Three UN envoys dispatched to the region by secretary general Kofi Annan held consultations with ministers on the sidelines of the meeting. The UN team, consisting of Mr Annan's special political advisor Vijay Nambiar, UN special coordinator for the region Alvaro de Soto, and special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, is to travel to Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories.

The team's tasks are to express concern to Israel about the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza due to the lack of electricity, water and food, and to impress on the warring parties the need to protect civilians and preserve civilian infrastructure.