Arab League: Date of Algiers Arab Summit Missing Starting Date

Arab League Assistant Secretary-General ambassador Hossam Zaki during a press conference in Algiers on Wednesday, January 19, 2022. (Algerian media)
Arab League Assistant Secretary-General ambassador Hossam Zaki during a press conference in Algiers on Wednesday, January 19, 2022. (Algerian media)
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Arab League: Date of Algiers Arab Summit Missing Starting Date

Arab League Assistant Secretary-General ambassador Hossam Zaki during a press conference in Algiers on Wednesday, January 19, 2022. (Algerian media)
Arab League Assistant Secretary-General ambassador Hossam Zaki during a press conference in Algiers on Wednesday, January 19, 2022. (Algerian media)

Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Ambassador Hossam Zaki said the date of the Arab summit scheduled to be held in Algeria hasn’t been determined yet.

“The date of the summit will be specified based on consultations between the host country and the rest of the member states,” Zaki told a press conference, noting that it will be held following the holy month of Ramadan.

He affirmed Algeria’s preparedness to host this major event, adding that it is sharing all its arrangements with the Arab League.

Zaki also touched on attempts to achieve Arab reconciliation and reunification, noting that it depends on the success of the preliminary consultations and dialogues.

Officials from the Algerian Foreign Ministry discussed on Wednesday with an Arab League delegation, headed by Zaki, the logistical and organizational preparations for the upcoming Arab summit, expected to be held in March.

“In preparation for hosting the upcoming Arab summit in Algeria, a coordination meeting was held at the headquarters of the foreign ministry, co-chaired by Ambassador Nor-Eddine Aouam, the Special Envoy in charge of the Palestinian cause, the Middle East and Libya, and Zaki, who was accompanied by high-ranking delegation from the AL General Secretariat,” read a foreign ministry statement.

The visiting delegation’s agenda includes holding coordination meetings with the subcommittees emanating from the National Committee charged with preparing and organizing for the next Arab Summit, in addition to visits to several establishments and facilities that will host the work of the Arab League Council at the summit level and its preceding preparatory meetings.

The delegation arrived in Algiers on Monday to meet with representatives of the National Committee charged with preparing for the summit.



Hamas Official Says Group ‘Appreciates’ Lebanon’s Right to Reach Agreement

 A man walks next to a destroyed building in Beirut's southern suburbs on November 27, 2024, as people returned to the area to check their homes after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect. (AFP)
A man walks next to a destroyed building in Beirut's southern suburbs on November 27, 2024, as people returned to the area to check their homes after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect. (AFP)
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Hamas Official Says Group ‘Appreciates’ Lebanon’s Right to Reach Agreement

 A man walks next to a destroyed building in Beirut's southern suburbs on November 27, 2024, as people returned to the area to check their homes after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect. (AFP)
A man walks next to a destroyed building in Beirut's southern suburbs on November 27, 2024, as people returned to the area to check their homes after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect. (AFP)

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said on Wednesday the group "appreciates" Lebanon's right to reach an agreement that protects its people and it hopes for a deal to end the war in Gaza.

A ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement came into effect on Wednesday after both sides accepted an agreement brokered by the United States and France, but international efforts to halt the 14-month-old war between Hamas and Israel in the Palestinian territory of Gaza have stalled.

"Hamas appreciates the right of Lebanon and Hezbollah to reach an agreement that protects the people of Lebanon and we hope that this agreement will pave the way to reaching an agreement that ends the war of genocide against our people in Gaza," Abu Zuhri told Reuters.

Later on Wednesday, the group said in a statement it was open to efforts to secure a deal in Gaza, reiterating its outstanding conditions.

"We are committed to cooperating with any effort to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and we are interested in ending the aggression against our people," Hamas said.

It added that an agreement must end the war, pull Israeli forces out of Gaza, return displaced Gazans to their homes, and achieve a hostages-for-prisoners swap deal.

Without a similar deal in Gaza, many residents said they felt abandoned. In the latest violence, Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed 15 people on Wednesday, some of them in a school housing displaced people, medics there said.

Months of attempts to negotiate a ceasefire have yielded scant progress and negotiations are now on hold, with mediator Qatar saying it has told the two warring parties it would suspend its efforts until the sides are prepared to make concessions.

Abu Zuhri blamed the failure to reach a ceasefire deal that would end the Gaza war on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has repeatedly accused Hamas of foiling efforts.

"Hamas showed high flexibility to reach an agreement and it is still committed to that position and is interested in reaching an agreement that ends the war in Gaza," Abu Zuhri said.

"The problem was always with Netanyahu who has always escaped from reaching an agreement," he added.

Hamas wants an agreement that ends the war in Gaza and sees the release of Israeli and foreign hostages as well as Palestinians jailed by Israel, while Netanyahu has said the war can only end after Hamas is eradicated.

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, senior Palestinian Authority Hussein Al-Sheikh welcomed the agreement in Lebanon.

"We welcome the decision to ceasefire in Lebanon, and we call on the international community to pressure Israel to stop its criminal war in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and to stop all its escalatory measures against the Palestinian people," Sheikh, a confidant of President Mahmoud Abbas, posted on X.

US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday his administration was pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza.