December 16, 2001	Sunday	Ramazan 30, 1422

CAIRO, Dec 15: Palestinian authorities have asked the 22-member Arab League to hold an emergency foreign ministers’ meeting next week to discuss mounting violence, the League said on Saturday.

The organisation said the Palestinians called for the urgent talks on Dec 20 “to discuss the dangerous and deteriorating situation in the Palestinian areas due to the vicious assault which the Israeli occupation forces launched against the Palestinian people and the national authority”.

The Arab League said in the statement that it had passed the request to the permanent representatives of member states, who would pass it on to their governments.

A diplomatic source at Egypt’s foreign ministry, quoted by the official Middle East News Agency, said Egypt backed the idea of holding a meeting on Thursday.

On Thursday, Egypt cancelled plans for an urgent meeting of Arab foreign ministers, set after Israel severed ties with the Palestinian Authority, and the Arab League said a meeting would be held on Jan 4 and 5.—Reuters