The Israel-Africa summit which was slated to be held in October has been called off at the request of the president of Togo where the event was set to take place Haaretz newspaper said on Monday.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said that the summit was postponed following pressure by the Palestinians and several African and Arab countries to cancel the gathering.
The summit which was meant to bring 54 countries of the continent to the Togolese capital of Lome on October 23-27 will be moved to a date to be agreed upon between the two countries a statement by the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.
However Togo’s President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe stressed that “significant preparations and complex planning was needed to ensure the important event’s success” the statement said adding that he had spoken with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before making the decision.
In its statement the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said that the League of Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation along with other Arab and regional organizations including Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union had embarked on many moves aimed at cancelling the summit.
