Dubai: The development of a new mechanism for joint Arab action and reforms of the Arab League system were the main focus of the extraordinary Arab summit, chaired by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, which ended in Sirte on Saturday.
His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, headed the UAE delegation.
Arab leaders discussed a wide range of important topics, with Palestine and Sudan being added to the meeting's original agenda.
"Two important issues — the pressing Arab-Israeli conflict and Sudan — were added to the agenda," Amr Mousa, the Arab League's Secretary-General, said.
Sudan will hold a referendum on January 9, 2011 in which the southern part of the country could choose independence.
Postponed
Arab leaders initially planned to discuss two main topics — reforms to the Arab League and a proposal to create an ‘Arab neighbourhood' of countries that would include Iran and Turkey.
However, the League's foreign ministers agreed to submit proposals on "the development of joint Arab action" and postpone discussions on the neighbourhood issue till the next summit, due to the lack of a consensus on the matter.
Mousa stressed that the League rejected any attempts to marginalise its role or collective Arab opinion in the pressing topics like the Arab-Israeli conflict, as well as the situation in Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan and Mauritania.
The summit got under way after the Arab League Follow-up Committee for the Peace Process backed Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' threat to quit direct talks if Israel does not halt colony activity in the Occupied Territories.
The committee urged the United States to pursue its efforts to pressure Israel into stopping its colony activities. It said it would meet again in one month to review alternative measures if that fails.
Abbas urged Arab leaders to press the United States to recognise a unilateral declaration of statehood if peace talks with Israel collapse, diplomats said.
