RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- Arab League official Ahmad Bin Hilli announced Saturday that an urgent meeting in Qatar will convene with members of the Arab peace initiative later in July.

Bin Hilli told reporters that the July 22 meeting will be held in Doha at the request of President Mahmoud Abbas. He is expected to brief the initiative's follow-up committee on future steps.

Topics cited at the news conference include "pressures on the PA," the 19-percent increase in illegal Israeli settlements and an ongoing financial crisis.

A meeting on the 17th will take up the issue of Yasser Arafat's death, he added. That case has taken on new urgency following Al Jazeera's reporting on the possibility he was poisoned.