DUBAI, Dec 18: A summit of the six Gulf monarchies has fallen foul of Qatar’s free-wheeling Al-Jazeera television as a boycott led by Saudi Arabia takes shape despite the critical juncture in neighbouring Iraq.

Saudi newspapers front-paged on Wednesday a boycott of the Saturday-Sunday annual gathering of Gulf leaders by Riyadh’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz.

King Hamad of Bahrain also announced that he too was staying away from the summit in Qatar, home to the satellite channel that has upset all the Gulf states with its no-holds-barred debates.

Both countries are sending their foreign ministers to the decision-making Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) talks.

Omani sources said the attendance of Sultan Qaboos bin Said was also in doubt as discussions continued with Saudi Arabia, the regional superpower, over the level of representation.

With the Emir of Kuwait and the Emirati president both too frail to travel, the Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, may find himself as the sole leader present.

The United Arab Emirates is sending Vice President, Prime Minister and Dubai ruler Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashed al-Maktoum and Kuwait its Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, diplomats said.

GCC secretary general Abder Rahman al-Attiya, who is Qatari, has been left scrambling around. At the start of the month he assured AFP the Gulf leaders would attend.

Attiya described the summit as “very important” amid the threat of war on Iraq and the intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as vital economic issues such as a GCC customs union due to start in January.

The secretary general met Prince Abdullah in Riyadh on Tuesday, but said the question of who would represent Saudi Arabia was not discussed.

Instead, he said they discussed the agenda and the situation in Iraq.

Such are the sensitivities of Gulf protocol that the real story seldom emerges into the public domain.

However, there has been no denying that behind all the trouble lies Qatar’s government-owned Al-Jazeera.

The Gulf leaders have however not been moved by the concerns aired in the West that the TV channel has become a mouthpiece for Osama bin Laden.

It is usually the insults thrown around in debates that the Arab world is encouraged to phone in and join that upsets the sheikhs of Arabia who ensure their own press is more polite.

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr Al-Thani said unnamed Gulf states had even offered him five billion dollars to close down Al-Jazeera.

Simmering tension boiled over in October when Riyadh took the unprecedented step of recalling its ambassador to Doha for “consultations”.

During a June 25 live debate on Al-Jazeera, participants criticized Prince Abdullah’s Middle East peace initiative, accused Riyadh of having “betrayed the Palestinian cause”, and made disparaging remarks about the kingdom’s founder and late king Abdul Aziz.

Bahrain, like Saudi Arabia, gave no official explanation for the snub.

“It is not necessary for the monarch to attend the work of the summit,” an official in Manama said.

However, last month Bahraini Information Minister Nabil al-Hamar vehemently denounced Al-Jazeera, calling it the “diabolical (network) in the pay of Zionism.”

Also in November, Kuwait closed down Al-Jazeera’s local office, accusing it of taking a “hostile” stand against the emirate.

“I believe the closure of this shop is better for security reasons. I don’t consider it an office as much as I consider it a shop,” Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah said.

A month earlier, GCC information ministers ganged up to reproach Al-Jazeera with insulting and defaming their countries and called for an end to cooperation with the network if it failed to mend its ways.

Qatar does not have a minister of information, having long since scrapped the role and declared press freedom across the country.

Saudi Arabia has strongly supported moves by Saudi-owned MBC television to launch a 24-hour news channel to rival Al-Jazeera and present a picture in keeping with the kingdom’s traditions.—AFP