The 30th Arab League Summit in Tunisia will focus on consolidating unity and avoiding disputing among Arab states, diplomatic sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Friday.
The sources asserted that the Palestinian cause, fostering of the Arab Peace Initiative and defending the identity of Jerusalem would top the agenda of the summit that is scheduled to be held in the Tunisian capital on Sunday.
The summit would also highlight the Syrian war, the situation in Libya, Yemen and Sudan, in addition to needed consensus on Turkey’s violation of Iraqi sovereignty and Iranian interference in Arab affairs.
According to the same sources, the summit would also discuss settling 75 percent of Iraq’s debt and another clause on Iraqi refugees and internally displaced people in Arab states.
The recent US decision to recognize Israel’s sovereignty on the Golan Heights was highly present during Friday’s preparatory meetings of Arab foreign ministers.
The US move came as Syria, whose Arab League membership was suspended at the start of its eight-year civil war, remains absent from the summit.
At the meeting of Arab foreign ministers on Friday, the Tunisian and Saudi FMs respectively Khemaies Jhinaoui and Ibrahim al-Assaf condemned the US decision on the Golan.
Assaf said the Kingdom is working to unify the position of the Syrian opposition before sitting at the negotiating table with the regime, to reach a political solution that guarantees security and stability, in the war-torn country.
He also slammed the Iranian threat as the main challenge facing Arabs, calling for action to confront Tehran.
"One of the most dangerous forms of terrorism and extremism is what Iran practises through its blatant interference in Arab affairs, and its militias ... the Revolutionary Guards in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen, which requires cooperation from us to confront it," he said.
For his part, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said that Arab foreign ministers decided to task the General Secretariat with preparing a plan that deals with the US decision.
