Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and top Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal meet in DOHA

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and top Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal have made a surprise appearance at an emergency summit of Arab leaders in the Qatari capital, aiming to show their weight in diplomatic efforts surrounding the Gaza crisis. U.S. allies Egypt and Saudi Arabia are boycotting the Doha summit, fearing that Hamas and its allies Syria and Iran will use it as a platform for a hard-line position and hurt Egypt's efforts to mediate a Hamas-Israel cease-fire.

The presidents of Syria and Lebanon are also in Doha, along with Ahmadinejad and Meshal. Qatar's ruler Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani called the gathering in a bid to find a unified Arab position on Israel's offensive in the coastal strip, now in its 21st day. On Friday, the A-Sharq al-Awset daily reported that Hamas is prepared to accept a conditional cease-fire with Israel in the Gaza-Strip starting on Saturday. Earlier Friday, Israeli and Western sources said that Jerusalem has rebuffed some of the conditions initially set forth by Hamas for an Egyptian-proposed truce in the Gaza Strip, including how long it would last and who would manage the border crossings