Qatar declines heading Arab League

The State of Qatar has declined the assumption of the presidency of the 154th regular session of the Arab League at the ministerial level.

Qatar announced this in a statement on Sunday September 27, 2020.

“We apologise for completing the aforementioned session, which the State of Palestine abandoned, while adhering to the right of the State of Qatar to the next presidency of the 155th session of March 2021,” it stated.

Qatar was selected alphabetically and in accordance with Article VI of the rules of procedure of the league council.

The article states that “If the president of the council at the ministerial level is unable to assume the position, the temporary presidency is assigned to the delegate of the country that will head the next session.”

The State of Palestine decided on September 22, 2020 to abandon its right to chair the Council of the Arab League for the current session, in response to the wave of normalisation with the Israeli occupation.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki confirmed that this decision came after the league’s general secretariat took a supportive stance of the Emirati and Bahraini normalisation with Israel, in a clear contravention of the Arab Peace Initiative.