Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa described the situation in the Arab region as "a great chaos", referring to the rifts among the Arab countries following the war on Gaza. In Doha, a summit was held although the legal quorum of participants had not been completed, while Arab foreign ministers held an emergency meeting in Kuwait. The Doha summit was attended by 12 countries and five presidents, including Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Senegal's Abdoulaye Wade as observers. For his part, Hamas's Political Bureau President Khaled Meshaal said that the resistance had not been defeated in Gaza and that Hamas refused Israel's terms for a ceasefire. The Syrian President Bashar al-Asad demanded that Israeli embassies be closed in all Arab countries and relations be cut with Israel. He said the Arab peace initiative had definitively died, while Al-Jazeera channel announced that Qatar and Mauritania had decided to suspend political and economic relations with Israel. The Arab split was also evident in the Kuwait summit, as it was not attended by most foreign ministers of the countries which had backed the Doha summit. Such countries just sent representatives. Instead, the meeting was attended by most of the countries which had objected to the Doha summit. As for Syria, it unexpectedly boycotted the Kuwait meeting and its seat remained empty. The foreign ministers adopted a draft resolution to be referred to the Kuwait economic summit. Such draft calls for ending the Israeli aggression on Gaza, opening all border crossings and lifting the embargo according to the Egyptian initiative. Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told the press in Kuwait: "Efforts are still underway. Egypt is responsible for Gaza and is trying to relieve it of this huge tragedy and that's what I hope for." Asked for his opinion about the media's attack on Egypt, Aboul Gheit said: "Ask this question to those who are attacking us!" Egyptian Foreign Ministry's official spokesman Hissam Zaki said many efforts needed to be made to bring the situation of most Arab countries back to what it used to be, adding there were rifts and different opinions among the Arab states. He also said Egypt is patient, listens to criticisms and keeps pushing ahead, as it knows where it is going. Cairo is sure that those critics will realize that Egypt's efforts have always aimed to achieve the Palestinians' supreme goals, he pointed out. In response to a question over whether Egypt had felt embarrassed by Qatar's call to hold an emergency summit, Zaki said: "No Egyptian official has talked about this or has even expressed any criticism to any other Arab state." Zaki said Arabs are split, adding that Egypt and other fundamental countries such as Saudi Arabia have their opinion while others have different views, as is now clear to everyone.
