Saudi Arabia lashed out at tiny next-door Qatar yesterday accusing Doha of "losing its credibility" because it refused to close the Israeli trade office and dismissed it as "unworthy" of hosting the gathering.
Speaking to Gulf News, a senior Saudi Arabian Foreign Ministry official also said the Kingdom was intent on attending the Organisation of Islamic Conference summit in Doha, but Qatar's persistence in maintaining trade relations with Israel forced Riyadh to change its mind and boycott the high profile gathering.
The Saudi boycott is its first of an OIC summit in the organisation's 31-year history. The 56-member organisation is based in Jeddah. Iran, Bahrain and Libya also said they would also boycott the summit. In 1997, Riyadh had refused to attend the 1997 Middle East Economic Conference, and by not participating, forced it into irrelevance.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar have had bad relations caused by border disputes and in 1994 armed clashes flared over the issue. Political analysts believe that Doha still mistrusts Riyadh's intentions and has therefore allied itself with countries like the United States, Iraq and Israel.
Qatar is "adopting a strange policy and is always following a route contrary to what Arabs and Muslims take," said the official who spoke under customary condition of anonymity.
"It has thrown out the decisions of the Arab summit (in Cairo on Oct. 21-22) and wants to keep the Zionist presence on its territory." Therefore Qatar is "unworthy of the honour of hosting the Islamic summit as it views its relations with Israel above any Arab or Islamic relations," he added.
The Arab summit in Cairo has called for freezing any relations with Israel if the spate of violence in the Palestinian territories has not ended and the peace process restored to its track.
Earlier yesterday, the Saudi delegation withdrew from a summit preparatory meeting following Riyadh's decision to boycott the summit.
"The entire Saudi team has left," a member of the Saudi delegation said as they swept out of the hotel where the meeting was held. The delegation comprised experts to help draw up the leaders' agenda for the Nov. 12-14 summit.
Izzidine Al Iraqi, a Moroccan who is the summit's secretary-general, said the Saudi boycott would have 'a deep impact on the summit proceedings.'
Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi has announced he would not attend the summit because it would end up in failure and was trying to pressure Iran into not attending as well.
Gaddafi also suggested that Qatar would not close the Israeli trade office because it needs Israel's protection for fear of its neighbours.
Iran, on its part, was expected to pass on the chairmanship of the summit to Qatar for a three-year term. Tehran's decision comes a day after a Qatari OIC official had said that Khatami would attend. But that day, Tuesday, Khatami repeated his call for all Muslim countries to sever ties with Israel, saying that 'the least Islamic countries are expected to do is to sever ties with the criminal Zionist regime,' Tehran radio reported.
Iran, a harsh critic of Muslim countries improving ties with Israel, does not recognise the existence of the Jewish state.
Lebanon, meanwhile, said it was considering boycotting the summit because of the "worsening of the situation" in the Palestinian territories, according to a government source.
"The Lebanese government is in the process of reviewing, along with the president of the republic, Emile Lahoud, the possibility of not attending in the summit of OIC."
Bahraini Emir His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has also said he would not attend the summit because of a long-running territorial dispute with Qatar which is currently before the International Court of Justice awaiting a decision.