CAIRO: The Arab League was due to convene an emergency meeting Thursday to discuss the spiraling crisis between Israel and the Palestinians, an official said. The meeting, held at the level of permanent representatives, was requested by Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar, the official said. Zahar s governing Hamas movement came under unprecedented pressure overnight when 64 of its members, including eight ministers, were rounded up by Israeli troops in the West Bank. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalated dramatically over the past few days when Israel responded to the capture of one of its soldiers in the Gaza Strip by sending tanks back into the territory. The threat of a regional conflagration loomed as Israeli warplanes on Wednesday flew over a palace of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, who is accused of supporting Palestinian and other armed groups in the region. Israeli troops were also bracing for retaliation along the northern border from the Syria-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa on Wednesday called on the United States to assume its role as the honest broker in the Mideast peace process, stressing that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict must be Washington s top priority in the region. But the Arab League s head, in an interview with The Associated Press, said Israel s response to the capture of 19-year-old Israeli soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit underscored the need for the United States to reassume the role President Bill Clinton had defined for the country as the honest broker in the peace process. We don t need to reinvent the wheel, Moussa said on the sidelines of the U.S.-Arab Economic Forum which wraps up Wednesday evening. We need an honest broker of considerable weight to move things. Things are not moving at all. Up until now, there is no movement at all. The snatching of Shalit by Palestinian militants has further fueled tension between Israel and the new Hamas-led Palestinian government. Hamas is demanding a prisoner swap for his release, a condition Israel has refused. As the situation escalated, witnesses reported heavy shelling around Gaza s long-closed airport and Israeli tanks shelled former settlements abandoned following last year s withdrawal. In Washington, U.S. officials declined to take a position on Israel s actions, reaffirming instead its right to defend itself against terror acts and calling on Egypt and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to help resolve the crisis. Moussa urged caution, saying: I would hope that no harm would come to any civilians on either side, Moussa said upon hearing the news. This only further escalates the tensions. Moussa said attention must be paid to other crisis areas in the Middle East, such as the crisis in Sudan s Darfur region where 180,000 people have died as rebels battle government-backed militias. But the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian struggle is vital to the region s long-term stability, he said. Iraq will come and go; Sudan will come and go; Darfur will come and go; Syria and Lebanon will come and go, but the Palestinian question is the one that makes or breaks stability in the Middle East, he said. Moussa also expressed support for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki s reconciliation plan which, among other points, included offering an amnesty to insurgents who have not committed terrorist acts or killings. Additionally, he has proposed an amnesty for insurgents still in the field, but ruled out including opposition fighters who have killed coalition forces or Iraqis. Moussa said Iraq has no choice but to pursue this path. In the absence of this, there will never, there could never, be a new Iraq, he said. Chaos will continue. It s either reconciliation or chaos. The vital point is the clash between sects; it s the eye of the problem. It s not the question of elections; elections are fine. To have a parliament is fine; it s a necessity. Amid the political tension, Moussa and others attending the three-day event which was canceled last year because of the hurricanes that ravaged the U.S. Gulf coast, have been working to boost economic ties between the U.S. and Arab nations. Agencies
