foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will hold a meeting in Jeddah on Saturday, described by the organization’s general secretariat as "very important," reported the Gulf News.
The meeting will take place against a background of escalating unrest in the occupied Palestinian territories and is expected to strengthen the GCC stance in support of the Palestinians, said the paper.
Expectations are that it will confirm implementation of the decisions of the recent meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) foreign ministers in Doha, which decided that the Islamic countries should freeze all contacts with Israel.
Sources told the paper that they expect the foreign ministers to discuss the possibility of urging the US administration to abandon its partiality for Israel so that it can truly mediate in the conflict and bring pressure to bear on Israel to halt its aggression.
The ministers will also discuss developments in the Gulf region, particularly ways of ending the suffering of the Iraqi people, and relations with Iran in the light of it is insistence on continuing to occupy the three UAE islands, they added.
The sources told the paper that “it is likely efforts being made by Saudi Arabia to resolve the islands problem will succeed,” and that “negotiations between the UAE and Iran will start after Iran's election.” – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
