Israellycool

The Arab league has expressed its anger at palestinian infighting.

The head of the Arab League said on Tuesday that he was angry with fractious Palestinian political groups and that sanctions against them were being discussed by Arab governments.

Egypt, the main mediator between often rival Palestinian groups, has been holding bilateral talks with minor groups in preparation for similar talks with the two main groups — Fatah and Hamas.

“I am extremely angry with the Palestinian organizations,” Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the league, told a news conference in an unusually harsh criticism of the Palestinians.

“We are studying the measures to be taken in the face of the current Palestinian chaos,” he said, after a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo.

But he added: “The sanctions would not be against anyone in particular. They would be against the party which obstructs reconciliation and maybe against everyone or against the organization which obstructs Egyptian efforts.”

If talks with the main groups succeed, Egypt might bring all the factions together in October after the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and the holiday which follows.

Hamas routed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s forces in Gaza in June 2007. In response, Abbas dismissed the Hamas-led government and appointed a new administration in the occupied West Bank where his Fatah group holds sway.

Hamas and Fatah disagree on their approach to talks with Israel and over how to resolve the dispute which led to Hamas control of Gaza.

Moussa gave no details of the sanctions the Arab states envisaged against the Palestinian groups. “They (the sanctions) are now all in the framework of closed consultations within the Arab system,” he added, referring to the Arab League.

He said: “Do they (the Palestinians) have a state for them to be fighting over ministerial positions? We kidded ourselves and called it the state of Palestine. It’s not a state until it obtains its full rights.”

Meanwhile, the Arab League has not once expressed its anger at palestinian terror.

During the Arab League conference discussing the latest turmoil in Lebanon, the Saudi Foreign Minister could not resist dragging Israel into the discussion.

“(Hizbullah leader Hassan) Nasrallah is like (former Israeli Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon * – they both invaded Beirut,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said during a recent Arab League conference in Cairo on the sectarian violence in Lebanon.

Leaving aside the fact that Israel captured Beirut to drive out the PLO (which had been launching terrorist attacks from Lebanon) while Hizbullah’s agenda is very different, Al-Faisal’s statement once again shows the Arab fixation with Israel, even when Israel is not involved.

By the way, in case you were wondering:

The Arab League eventually decided that it would try to mediate between the rival factions in Lebanon but did not condemn Hizbullah.

* There is no similarity between Nasrallah and Sharon, although I really wish there was in one respect.