CAIRO (Reuters):
TWO MORE Arab governments have backed the call for an Arab summit on the violence between Israel and Hizbollah and the Palestinians, bringing the total to eight, Arab League officials said yesterday.
Lebanon and Djibouti joined Algeria, Egypt, Qatar, Sudan and the Palestinians in supporting the Yemeni proposal of an emergency summit, but the number remains short of the necessary majority of two thirds of the 22 league members, they said.
Syria, a major player as the only Arab government which openly supports the guerrilla groups Hamas and Hizbollah, said its position depended on the aim of the summit.
"Syria stipulates that the pur-pose should be to support the steadfastness of the Lebanese and Palestinian resistance," said the Syrian ambassador to the league, Youssef Ahmed.
"But if it's a matter of endorsing policies in which the interests of individual Arab countries prevail over the Arab national interest then certainly we will not be in favour of the summit," Egyptian state news agency MENA quoted him as saying.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has said Arab countries must agree on the main points before the leaders meet.
Arab foreign ministers had an emergency meeting in Cairo on Saturday on the violence and called for a ceasefire.
Only Saudi Arabia has criticised Hizbollah directly, referring to its military operation on the border last week as an ill-considered adventure. But in private, other governments friendly with the United States consider the Hizbollah operation a mistake, diplomats say.
