'Don't ask me what to do,' Arab League chief says

[barb162]

'Don't ask me what to do,' Arab League chief says

By Agence France Presse (AFP)

Monday, July 17, 2006
CAIRO: The spiraling Middle East crisis has exposed deep divisions within the Arab world and forced its leaders into a frank admission of helplessness. After an emergency meeting of Arab League foreign ministers on Saturday, the 22-member bloc admitted it was impotent in the face of Israel's deadly attacks on the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

"Don't ask me what to do," the League's secretary general, Amr Moussa, told reporters after the meeting.

Analysts said the huge rift between Western allies such as Egypt and Jordan and radical states like Syria had proved impossible for diplomats to bridge.

"The main structure of the Arab League is the idea of consensus, so meetings always come up with the lowest common denominator," said Nadim Shehadi, a Middle East specialist with the London-based Royal Institute of International Affairs.

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http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=74002

[Totallybushed]

1. 'Don't ask me what to do'

The problem in a nutshell.