Qatar PM urges Arab League to do more than talk on Palestinian issue

CAIRO: Qatar’s prime minister on Saturday delivered a biting criticism of Arab League meetings during emergency talks in Cairo, and called for a review of the pan-Arab body’s dealing with the Palestinian issue.
“Our meetings have become a waste of money and a waste of time,” Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani told Arab foreign ministers gathered to draw up a response to Israel’s attack on Gaza.
“We are meeting today and we will issue a statement. The statement will mean nothing,” he said.
“The whole situation needs a clear and honest review... We can’t keep giving hope without delivering,” Sheikh Hamad said.
Qatar is to give Egypt $10 million (7.8 million euros) to help treat Palestinians wounded in Israeli air strikes on the neighboring Gaza Strip, state news agency QNA reported on Saturday.
The oil-rich Gulf nation will also send emergency aid including medical equipment and medicines to Hamas-controlled Gaza, it said.
Sheikh Hamad complained that money pledged to the Palestinians after previous Israeli attacks had failed to reach the Palestinians.
“They received nothing... Gaza needs to receive the money we have already pledged.”
“They need housing, schools, hospitals. This is what we should be offering them. We have been used to pledging things and not carrying them through,” Sheikh Hamad said.
“There must be a clear policy to deal with the situation. It’s not the first time Gaza has been attacked... We need a clear plan. This situation has divided the Arab world,” he said.
“The peace process is not working, the Quartet (the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia) is not working... We are not declaring war, we want a peaceful process... I’m not talking about war, I know our capabilities... I’m talking about standing by our Palestinian brothers,” he said.
At the meeting, Arab League chief Nabil Al-Arabi said the bloc should review its peace proposals to Israel and its entire stance on the peace process in response to the conflict in Gaza which has killed 40 Gazans since Wednesday.
Qatar, which supported the uprisings in Arab Spring countries that gave power to Islamist movements last year, said in October it would invest $400 million in rebuilding Gaza.
Gaza was devastated by Israel’s Operation Cast Lead offensive in December 2008 and January 2009, which claimed the lives of 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.
The investment announcement was made on a visit by the emir, the first by a head of state to Gaza since Hamas took control of it in 2007.
Israeli air strikes in the territory killed 10 people on Saturday, raising the total number of Palestinians killed to 40 in just over 72 hours of bombardment that began on Wednesday, according to Gaza’s emergency services.
A further 393 Palestinians have been injured, they said.
In the same period, three Israelis have been killed by rocket fire from Gaza and another 18 injured, 10 of them soldiers, police and the army said.