Arab FMs start 142nd ministerial meeting in Cairo

Arab Foreign Ministers on Sunday started meetings of their 142nd session at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo, chaired by Mauritania's Ahmad Ould Tekdi to discuss a host of issues relevant to Arab join action.
Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al-Araby is attending and Kuwait is represented in the meeting by First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.
The foreign ministers will discuss up to 30 items and a draft resolution submitted by the permanent delegates regarding Arab joint action, on the political, economic and social levels, with the Palestinian cause on top.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will review in a special meeting for the ministers a future plan for moving on the world arena seeking an end to the Israeli occupation and the aggression on the Palestinian people.
Abbas will discuss the political plan that also seeks international protection for the Palestinians, hoping for a resolution by the UN Security Council (UNSC) to end the occupation on basis of a two-state settlement.
It also includes a call for convening a meeting for the countries signatories to the 4th Geneva Convention, to apply it on Israel.
The Arab Foreign Ministers will also discuss developments in Iraq and Syria, and activating Arab joint defense to counter threats posed by terrorist organizations and groups to the Arab national security, especially by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Developments in Libya are a major issue on the ministerial agenda, together with supporting the national dialogue in the Sudan, the situation in Somalia and Yemen as well as the issue of Iran's occupation of the three UAE islands, Abu Moussa, Greater and Lesser Tunbs islands.
Reforming the Arab League will feature high on the agenda.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres and UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Commissioner General, Pierre Krahenbuhl are taking part in the meeting. Both will brief the ministers on the conditions of refugees and the support required to meet their needs.