Qatar emir cites economic 'turmoil'

DOHA, Qatar, March 30 (UPI) -- The Arab world must help find solutions to the problems that have produced a "shaking of the foundation" of the global economy, Qatar's emir said Monday.

Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the country's royal leader, said the summit of the Council of the Arab League in Doha was needed because of the "turmoil and anxiety" resulting from the "emergencies that have befallen our world," Qatar News Agency reported.

He said the economic and financial storms "seemed bigger than the ability of those charged with tackling them" and have not only affected the resources of the Arab world and its savings, "but also revealed a serious brittleness affecting the systems that the world was depending on to control its affairs and maintain its balance."

"All of this led to the shaking of the foundation on which every system in every field is based, namely trust," he said, noting that international trust is now jeopardized

He said the international situation so complex "the greatest experts in the world" were in a "state of shock and helplessness" not knowing the causes or cures.

He said "Arabs should partake with the rest of the world" in arriving at solutions.

Meanwhile, the Arab League leaders gathered in Qatar say Israel may have to accept an Arab peace initiative soon or see it withdrawn.

The proposal, spearheaded by Saudi Arabia and initially put forth seven years ago, calls on Israel to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories and allow Arab refugees to return to their ancestral homelands in a new state with Jerusalem as its capital.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported the draft proposal was written by Arab foreign ministers and was to be debated at the summit.