The emergency GGC summit called by King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques here Thursday evening concluded with a communique that said the leaders would pursue their discussion on the Gaza crisis and the overall Palestinian issue at the Arab League economic summit starting Monday in Kuwait. All the leaders of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council, except for Sultan Qaboos of Oman who sent Vice Prime Minister Fahad Bin Said, attended the unexpected summit, which began at 5 P.M. and went into closed-door session of more than two hours. Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said at a press conference later that all the GCC member states support the Egyptian initiative to bring about an urgent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. About Qatar's efforts to convene an Arab League summit in Doha on Friday, Prince Saud said that it did not get the required quorum. Leaders of Sudan, Lebanon, Algeria, Mauritania, and Djibouti arrived in Doha Thursday in anticipation of the summit. Prince Saud said the Doha discussions Friday can be taken up at the Kuwait summit as well. Answering a question about the Arab peace initiative, Prince Saud said that the plan has managed to garner international support and will only do good as it will isolate Israel internationally so long as it does not accept it. Israel does not want peace and will be happy if the Arabs freeze the initiative at this point, he said. The UN Security Council resolution last week calling for an urgent end to hostilities in Gaza “has “isolated Israel politically,” Prince Saud said. The Foreign Minister also spoke about long-standing Saudi-US ties. He said that Saudi Arabia was waiting to see if there is any change in the strategic alliance with Barack Obama as president, and that the Kingdom would evaluate its policy accordingly.
