EGYPT: Biting criticism of Doha summit

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The Egyptian state-owned media have pursued their ruthless campaign against Qatar, which hosted an Arab summit Friday despite the boycott of many Arab countries.

On Saturday, the semi-official press dismissed the Qatar-sponsored summit as ‘opportunistic’ and ‘a failure.’ The attendance of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad elicited further criticism. The front page of Akhbar El-Youm newspaper shrugged off the summit as ‘Persian’ rather than ‘Arab.’

Since Israel launched its military offensive in Gaza Strip, Qatar has been calling for an extraordinary Arab summit to hammer out a united Arab position on the conflict. In the meantime, Qatar-financed news channel Al Jazeera spearheaded a campaign criticizing Egypt for declining to throw its full support behind Hamas and open its borders fully to Gazans.

Eventually, Egypt and its partner Saudi Arabia decided not to attend.

The conflict exposed the rift between U.S. allies in the region, led by Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and U.S. opponents, led by Syria, Iran and Islamist groups that seek to consolidate an alliance to counter the Israeli power.

Momtaz Qot, the editor in chief of Akhbar El-Youm, wrote Saturday:

‘The wise Arab leaders realized this summit would be a cheap attempt to conceal Qatar’s real role supporting the U.S., Israel, Iran and Hezbollah. Qatar is an emirate of contradictions; it deals with the devil and is willing to play any role that would ensure its existence even if its name is just mentioned in news bulletins.’

Karam Gabr, a supporter of President Hosni Mubarak’s regime, wrote in Rose-al-Youssef magazine:

‘The leaders of the Gulf country gave the first slap on the face of the chubby prince of Qatar when they praised the Egyptian initiative. He [Prince of Qatar] thought that the kings and sheiks of Gulf countries would have expressed compassion towards his call to hold a failing summit in Doha.’

Al-Ahram’s editorial today read:

‘While the machine of barbaric assassination is chopping off the heads of children and women with no mercy, Arabs keep exchanging accusations and insults.... Your summits cannot deceive anyone anymore or deter any aggressor. The best evidence is that while the summit was going on yesterday, the Israelis kept chopping off innocent heads in Gaza.... In two days, a summit will be held in Kuwait so what is the point to hold a summit in Doha? Is it just an attempt to prove a certain stance or to compete for a virtual leadership? What is the purpose of all these summits?’

Qatar insisted on holding the summit although the number of attendees did not reach the quorum of two-thirds. Hamas was represented at the summit by Khaled Meshaal, the group’s Syrian-based leader.

On the same day, Arab foreign ministers representing countries that did not approve of the Qatar summit met in Kuwait to prepare for another summit scheduled for Monday.

— Noha El-Hennawy in Cairo

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