Saudis also blame Hamas.....

Nice to see much of the Arab world aligned against Hamas....

Saudi Arabaia yesterday blamed Hamas for Israel's continuing offensive in the Gaza Strip and urged it to resolve bitter differences with the western-backed Palestinian Authority - even as divisions deepened with a new charge of treachery.

Arab League foreign ministers meeting in emergency session in Cairo warned it was not possible to help until the Islamist movement in control of Gaza returned to national unity talks with its rival Fatah.

A furious Hamas attacked the Arab League stance as "pathetic". Spokesman Fawzi Barhoum also accused Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, of ordering members of Fatah in Gaza to gather intelligence on the whereabouts of Hamas leaders to pass to Israel - a grave charge that underscores the deep rift between the factions.

Discussions between Arab states were sharp too, amid bickering over calls for an emergency summit conference in Qatar tomorrow .

"Everyone is watching as the intensity of Arab-Arab disputes increase," warned the league's secretary general, Amr Moussa.

"We must close ranks and stop pouring oil on the fire."

Moussa advised the Palestinians to demand a ceasefire resolution from the UN security council despite the clear risk that it would be vetoed by the US. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri scorned the Arab position as "weaker than statements issued by the EU".