DOHA (AFP) — Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni attended a forum on democracy in Qatar Sunday on a rare visit to the Gulf that sparked boycotts by other guests, and her hosts said they would discuss with her ending the violence in the Gaza Strip.
The leader of the gas-rich emirate which hosts US Central Command, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, opened the three-day forum shortly after Livni was welcomed by Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani.
Livni did not speak to reporters but was heard chatting with the Qatari prime minister after sitting at a dinner table at which Omani minister for foreign affairs Yussef bin Alawi bin Abdullah was also seated.
"I have seven cancellations because of your arrival. Don't cause any more problems," Hamad bin Jassem told Livni jokingly.
According to a Qatari official, Fawzi Sallukh, Lebanon's pro-Syrian foreign minister who was one of six ministers to resign from the Western-backed cabinet in November 2006, will not come to the forum although he had been due to attend.
Lebanon's pro-Syrian parliament speaker Nabih Berri is reportedly expected in Doha on Tuesday but his visit is apparently not linked to the forum.
Livni was due to address the Doha Forum on Democracy, Development and Free Trade on Monday during a session on international dialogue and international peace, but no Arab participant was listed among the speakers at the session, according to the programme released by the organisers.
Although Qatar has political contacts with Israel and hosts a commercial interests office, Livni's presence in Doha is a rare occurrence in the Arab world and comes amid a crippling Israeli blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip and persistent violence between the two sides.
Qatar's prime minister told AFP after the first session of the forum, which was attended by several international figures including Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that he will discuss with Livni ways of calming the situation in Gaza.
"This, of course, will be our main preoccupation and the main issue we will discuss with Livni tomorrow (Monday)," Hamad bin Jassem said.
"But I don't want to put this in the context of a mediation," Sheikh Hamad said, when asked if Livni's presence meant that Qatar was trying to mediate between Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement which controls Gaza.
Asked if Qatar was trying to help broker a prisoner exchange involving Corporal Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who was captured by Gaza militants last June, Sheikh Hamad said: "We will wait to see what she has to say ... on this subject."
An online report in Israel said earlier this week that Livni is expected to push for the release of Shalit who was seized in a cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip by militants including Hamas members.
The Qatari premier, who doubles as foreign minister, reiterated that his country wants to see a peaceful settlement of Iran's standoff with the West over its nuclear programme.
"Iran is a neighbour and is important to us. Stability is also important in the region and we are always keen on seeing any issue in the region resolved peacefully, especially with regard to Iran," he said.
An aide to Livni said in Jerusalem Sunday that her meetings in Doha would focus on Iran's nuclear drive.
He said she will also discuss the situation in Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
In October 2006 Livni shunned a conference in Doha because of the participation of Hamas.
Members of the West Bank-based government named by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas after Hamas' seizure of Gaza last June are attending this year's forum.
Qatar's emir met Livni in New York last September. Israeli President Shimon Peres visited Qatar and met the emir in January 2007 when he was still deputy prime minister in Ehud Olmert's government.
Qatar has used its gas and oil wealth to play a diplomatic role and try to mediate in several regional conflicts in the past few years.
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