Israel committing crimes and genocide in Gaza: Arab leaders

Arab and other Muslim leaders meeting on Friday in Qatar accused Israel of "crimes of war and genocide" in Gaza, where the Jewish state has conducted a three-week onslaught against rulers Hamas.
Proposals adopted in Doha call for "an immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Israeli forces and suspension of the Arab peace initiative," while accusing Israel of "committing crimes of war and genocide," the final statement said.
The proposals will be presented to Arab leaders in Kuwait on Monday at an official Arab League summit.Other demands mentioned in the statement were "the opening of all border crossings, lifting of the blockade, and holding Israel responsible for paying compensation."

"We request that this crime stops," Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani said at the press conference that followed the meeting.

Also in Doha, Qatar and Mauritania announced the suspension of the relations with Israel.

The move followed appeals by both the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad for Arab states to sever any ties they had with Israel.

Mauritania has diplomatic ties to Israel, while Qatar is the only Gulf Arab country with commercial relations with the Jewish state.

Meanwhile, Qatar and Mauritania suspended contacts with Israel to protest the Gaza bloodshed at an Arab summit Friday that deepened the divisions between pro-U.S. Arab nations and their rivals in the Middle East.

U.S. allies Egypt and Saudi Arabia led a boycott of the gathering in the Qatari capital, which the Gulf nation had called to take a united stance over the Gaza violence but which ended up being dominated by backers of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a top Hamas supporter, made a surprise appearance, along with Hamas' Syria-based political chief Khaled Mashaal. They and Syria's president made fiery denunciations of Israel and called for Arab and Muslim nations to cut any bilateral ties they have with the Jewish state.

Syrian President Bashar Assad repeated an earlier announcement that his country had frozen its indirect peace negotiations with Israel, mediated by Turkey.

He also declared that a 2002 Saudi-led Arab peace offer to Israel was "dead" because of the assault against Hamas in Gaza.

Qatar's prime minister, Sheik Hamad bin Jassem Al Thani, announced the suspension in ties with Israel. The oil-rich state does not have diplomatic relations with Israel but has maintained lower-level ties, allowing an Israeli trade mission to operate and hosting Israeli leaders at conferences.

Hamad, who is also Qatar's foreign minister, said the Israeli trade mission in the country will have about a week to leave. "We will tell the Israeli (trade mission) office that their presence here is unwanted until the circumstances improve and there is a better chance for peace," he told reporters.
Mauritania, an Arab League member attending the summit, also announced it was suspending diplomatic relations with Israel over Gaza. Mauritania had full relations with Israel. Earlier this month, the Western African nation recalled its ambassador from Israel amid street protests over Gaza.

The Qatar summit issued a final statement urging all Arab states to stop all forms of "normalization" with Israel and to reconsider their diplomatic and economic ties with it. Egypt and Jordan, which did not attend the summit, are the only Arab countries with peace treaties and full relations with Israel.