Arab governments will take their case for an end to Israel's attacks on Gaza back to the UN Security Council, a ministerial statement said on Wednesday. After a meeting of Arab ministers in Cairo, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal said the ministers strongly condemned what they called the barbaric Israeli aggression, which has killed close to 400 people since it began on Saturday. “(The ministers) convey an immediate demand that the UN Security Council convene and ask it to issue a resolution which binds Israel to immediately stop the aggression,” he said, reading from the ministerial statement. Several of the participants said the outcome of the meeting fell short of expectations. “None of us are satisfied with this,” said Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa. The Arab governments will ask a delegation of Arab ministers, including the Saudi and Libyan ministers, to go to New York to press for UN action, Prince Saud said. They will seek a UN resolution that provides for international observers to guarantee that a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza is maintained, the statement said. Israel has rejected proposals for UN monitors in Gaza. The UN Security Council called on Sunday for an immediate end to all violence in Gaza but Israel also dismissed that. The ministers welcomed Syrian and Yemeni calls for an Arab summit but will not decide on holding one pending the UN response, Prince Saud said. One delegate said that Syria, which is allied with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, proposed that the ministers call on Egypt to open its border with Gaza, closed most of the time since Hamas took control of the coastal strip in June. But the proposal, which would mark a dramatic change in Egyptian policy of cooperating in the Israeli blockade, was quickly rejected with little argument, the diplomat said. During the meeting, Prince Saud called for immediate Palestinian reconciliation saying it only strengthens and prevents an effective Arab response to Israel's ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip.
