Arab nations play China card to give US a Gaza nudge

For the past seven weeks, the Arab governments of the Middle East have watched helplessly as

Israeli forces pounded Gaza.

Except for Qatar, which has worked tirelessly to broker a deal under which Israeli hostages held by the Hamas militant organisation are to be exchanged for Hamas fighters held by Israel, the rest of the Arab world was reduced to issuing ineffectual protests while the number of civilian Palestinian casualties continued to mount.

No longer, however. A delegation comprising foreign ministers from Middle Eastern and other Islamic states has now embarked on a tour of key world capitals, in a first example of a serious diplomatic effort to stop the fighting.