Iraq Urges Arab Summit to Focus on Palestine Issue

Iraq said on Monday that it wants the coming Arab League (AL) summit to focus on the Palestine issue rather than the Iraq issue, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.

The decision was made at a meeting, chaired by President Saddam Hussein and attended by top officials, including Vice Chairman of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council Izzat Ibrahim, Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan and Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz, said the INA.

The meeting urged the Arab summit to give priority to the Palestine issue, as more than 420 people, mostly Palestinians, have been killed and thousands others wounded in the violent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers since last September.

Iraq issue could come next if it will not cause divergence at the summit, the INA said.

The Arab summit is due to be held on March 27-28 in the Jordanian capital of Amman.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdel Ilah Al-Khatib has said that the deadlocked Mideast peace process and the conflict between Iraq and the United Nations will top the agenda of the summit of the 22- member pan-Arab forum.






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