Arab Leadership Responsible for Disunity among Muslim Countries: Saudi King            
'Pakistan Times' Special Correspondent

RIYADH (Saudi Arabia): Saudi King Abdullah, whose country is a close US ally, on Wednesday slammed the "illegitimate foreign occupation" of Iraq in an opening speech to the annual Arab summit in Riyadh.

He said that the foreign forces may not be allowed to decide the future of Middle East, adding that Arab leadership is responsible for the disunity among the Arab world and Arab leaders are condemnable, as they could not get over their mutual differences.

"In beloved Iraq, blood is being shed among brothers in the shadow of an illegitimate foreign occupation, and ugly sectarianism threatens civil war," Abdullah said.

He also said that Arab nations, which are planning to revive a five-year-old Middle East peace plan at the summit, would not allow any foreign force to decide the future of the region.

In the past, Saudi leaders including Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal have often criticised US policy in Iraq but have never described its presence there as "illegitimate."

If Arab leaders recover trust in each other and regain their credibility, "the winds of hope will blow on the nation, and then, we will not allow forces from outside the region to determine the future of the region, and only the flag of Arabism will be raised on Arab soil," Abdullah said.

Arab foreign ministers meeting ahead of the summit agreed on Monday to call for an amendment of Iraq's 2005 constitution to give Sunni Arabs a greater share of power in the war-ravaged country and prevent its breakup.

But Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari responded by saying the government did not need a "diktat" from the Arabs on how to amend its constitution and boost national reconciliation.

UN Chief Warns

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned the situation in the Middle East was more dangerous than ever in a speech to the opening session of an Arab summit in Riyadh on Wednesday.

"The Middle East region is more complex, more fragile and more dangerous than it has been for a very long time," said Ban, one of several world figures invited to the opening of the two-day gathering.

"For most in the Arab world, the wound that is still fresh even after 40 years is the continued (Israeli) occupation of Arab territory and the denial of legitimate Palestinian claims to statehood," he said.

"The basis for a solution is clear -- an end to the occupation that began in 1967, the creation of an independent and viable Palestinian state alongside a secure and fully recognised state of Israel, and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the region," Ban said.

The UN chief, who plans to visit Lebanon as part of a regional tour that also took in Iraq, said that the political stalemate in Lebanon "threatens to undermine one of the region's most vibrant societies," while the violence in Iraq "continues to take a shocking daily toll in civilian lives."

White House Reax

And, a report from Washington qouts the White House as saying Wednesday that Saudi King Abdullah, a key US ally among Arab states, was wrong to call US military presence in Iraq an "illegitimate foreign occupation."

"The United States is in Iraq at the request of the Iraqis and under a United Nations mandate. Any suggestion to the contrary is wrong," said National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

Earlier Wednesday, the Saudi king slammed the "illegitimate foreign occupation" of Iraq in an opening speech to the annual Arab summit in Riyadh.

"In beloved Iraq, blood is being shed among brothers in the shadow of an illegitimate foreign occupation and ugly sectarianism threatens civil war," Abdullah said.●