By Ulf Laessing KUWAIT, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Arab foreign ministers meet in Kuwait and other officials gather in Qatar on Friday to deal with the Israeli offensive in Gaza that has highlighted deep splits in the Arab world. The rival meetings come amid a public tug-of-war among Arab states over whether, where and when to hold an emergency summit on Gaza, where the death toll after three weeks of fighting has exceeded 1,100. Qatar had proposed hosting a special Arab summit on Gaza but met with resistance from regional heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia, who said they preferred to discuss the situation as part of the previously scheduled economic summit in Kuwait on Monday. The 22-member Arab League says Doha has failed to secure the quroum of 15 required for a formal Arab Summit, but Qatar has insisted on going ahead with a consultative meeting that also is expected to attract Turkish officials. Adding to the confusion, U.S.-allied Gulf Arab leaders held an emergency meeting on Gaza late on Thursday, in an apparent bid to pre-empt Qatar's diplomatic efforts. Gulf Arab leaders promised at their meeting in Riyadh that the Arab summit in Kuwait would discuss the Gaza offensive and that president-elect Barack Obama may change U.S. policy. "The Arab situation has been very chaotic and this is regrettable," Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa told reporters in Kuwait. The meeting on Friday at foreign ministers' level had been scheduled by Kuwait even before the Israeli offensive on Gaza but Qatar felt the severity of the situation required an earlier meeting at leaders' level. The flurry of rival Arab meetings reflects the Arab divide between Egypt, Saudi and their allies on one side, and Syria, Qatar and their allies on the other. It also risks further undermining the Arab League, already seen by many ordinary Arabs as a toothless body. Syria and Qatar, which recently patched up once-frosty ties with its Saudi neighbour, are more sympathetic toward Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which won a 2006 election and has ruled Gaza since 2007, after routing fighters from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction. But Egypt, Gaza's only Arab neighbour, has said it will not open the border for normal traffic without the presence of Abbas. It has faced criticism for cooperating in the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory. Asked if his country was doing enough to help ordinary Palestinians caught up in the Gaza fighting, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said: "Egypt is allowing the transfer of medical equipment to Gaza to ease the tragedy." With bloody images of Palestinian casualties plastered across Arab television screens for the past 21 days, public demands have grown for Arab leaders to take a stronger stand. Conservative Arab governments are wary of summits at times of crisis because they are reluctant to pass confrontational resolutions which would meet the expectations of public opinion. Speaking in Kuwait, Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, whose president will be attending the Doha meeting on Friday, called for another U.N. Security Council meeting to push for an end to the violence. "The issue of the hour is Gaza," he said. "All Arabs need to have a united stance." (Writing by Lin Noueihed, Editing by Michael Roddy)
Javid Mir (C in black), leader of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Forum (JKLF), and his activists hold placards during a protest against Israel's offensive in Gaza, in Srinagar January 16, 2009. ...
Egypt
