Bahrain calls for Arab summit to address region-wide protests

Bahrain called Thursday for an Arab summit to discuss efforts to calm the region amid widening protests in the Arab world while Syria expressed hope that reason will prevail in Egypt.

The state-run Bahrain News Agency said Thursday that King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa urged the emergency Arab meeting in a telephone call with Hosni Mubarak, in which he pledged support for the Egyptian president. Major anti-government demonstrations also have broken out in Yemen.

In Damascus, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said Syria was following the developments in Tunisia and Egypt. We regret that there are casualties among the Egyptian people and police, Moallem said at a news conference with British Foreign Secretary William Hague.

Syria hopes reason will prevail, he said, adding that we will not interfere with what happens in Egypt.

In its first official assessment of the unrest in Egypt, Israel said it expects the regime of Mubarak to survive the democracy protests.

We have an earthquake in the Middle East but we believe the Egyptian regime is strong enough and that Egypt is going to overcome the current wave of demonstrations, an Israeli government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Thursday.

He said Israel saw limited parallels between the countries. Mubarak is not Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. There is a huge difference. The Egyptian regime is well rooted, including the defense establishment, he said.

Israels vice prime minister, Silvan Shalom, said Thursday that the government is closely watching the situation in Egypt. Egypt is the most important country in the Arab world.

Internationally, calls mounted on Egypt to respect the right to protest.

In Brussels, the EUs foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Cairo should fully respect and protect the rights of its citizens to hold peaceful political demonstrations.

She also said she deplored deaths reported in Egypt and voiced concern over the high number of people injured an! d arrest ed, and the use of violence.

I call on all parties to exercise restraint and on the Egyptian authorities to release all peaceful demonstrators who have been detained, the European Unions chief diplomat added.

Ashton also urged the government to listen carefully to voices calling for full respect of political, social and economic rights. I call on the Egyptian authorities to fully respect and protect the rights of their citizens to manifest their political aspirations by means of peaceful demonstrations.

In Paris, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said: We expect the authorities and public powers concerned to respect public liberties, notably the freedom of expression.

We are also attentive as to the treatment and fate of the hundreds of people arrested following the demonstrations of recent days, he said.

It is not up to France to intervene in Egyptian internal affairs, Valero said when asked about the use of force against protestors.

But we remain attentive, along with our partners, as to the respect of individual and public liberties, he said.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, speaking on a visit to Morocco, said, We want to see democratic development in that country as well and were very supportive of that, but at the same time we want to see that that happens in a way that is peaceful and non-violent.

China said Thursday it was monitoring the situation in Egypt and expressed hope that stability would be restored after the biggest uprising against Mubaraks 30-year rule.

Egypt is a friend of China, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters. With agencies