Mediterranean union must not ignore Palestinians: Arab League

(PARIS) - The new Union for the Mediterranean to be inaugurated on Sunday in Paris must not ignore the plight of the Palestinians, Arab League chief Amr Mussa said Saturday.

Mussa was attending a meeting of Arab foreign ministers held ahead of the founding summit of the new union that will bring together 43 leaders from Europe, the Middle East, north Africa and the Balkans.

"When the UFM examines the situation in the Mediterranean region, it must not ignore the Palestinian cause," Mussa told journalists.

But he added that Arab countries do not expect the new forum to "find solutions, because the solutions are there and are known."

He cited halting the expansion of Jewish settlements, creating a Palestinian state and an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories.

Arab foreign ministers were meeting to consider provisions of the summit's final declaration that deal with the situation in the Middle East.

Finding an acceptable wording for such declarations has in the past dogged meetings of the European Union's Barcelona process, which sought to bring together EU and Mediterranean leaders.

The Paris summit will be attended by 43 leaders, with only Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi boycotting the gathering after dismissing it as a ploy to undermine Arab and African unity.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will be attending along with Lebanon's new head of state Michel Sleiman, Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.