Sana'a, Yemen - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Saturday called on Muslim countries to allow their citizens to serve as volunteer fighters alongside Palestinian militants against the Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, the state Saba news agency reported.

Saleh, who made the call during a meeting with an Iranian envoy in Sana'a, also called for a summit for leaders of Muslim countries to be convened to discuss the Israeli attacks on Gaza, the agency said.

"President Saleh called upon Muslim countries to open the door for volunteers to help render their brothers in Palestine victorious," the agency said.

Sana'a, Yemen - A Yemeni official source said on Thursday that his country has retracted its support for an emergency summit by Arab leaders in Doha to discuss the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

"Yemen retracted the support it has announced for the Doha summit," the source, who requested anonymity, told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.

He said the move was aimed at "avoiding a split among Arab countries that might be caused by the conflicting plans for summits to discuss the situation in Gaza."

The source said Yemen "urges Arab leaders to give Gaza a top priority in the Kuwait economic summit."

Sana'a, Yemen - A Yemeni state security court began on Saturday the trial of three young countrymen accused of spying for Israel.

The prosecution charged the three young men, aged between 23 and 26, with "establishing contacts with the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and offering to work as agents for the Mossad intelligence agency."

They are also accused of operating under a fake organisation called the "Islamic Jihad of Yemen" and spreading false statements and news and claims of responsibility for attacks on embassies and foreign interests in Yemen between last year.

Sana'a, Yemen - A prominent Yemeni cleric on Monday called on Arab leaders to open camps for training volunteers to fight Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.

"Allow your people to volunteer. Allow your people to carry out their duty. Open camps for volunteers," Abdul-Majeed al-Zendani said in an address to a pro-Palestinian rally in Sana'a.

He said if training camps are opened in Arab countries, "millions of youths would join."

"Where are Arab defence ministers? Where are Arab and Muslim Armies?" al-Zendani questioned.

Sana'a - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered a major fundraising campaign for the Palestinians as Israeli air strikes on the Gaza strip continued Friday, the official Saba news agency said.

Saleh entrusted a local pro-Palestinian NGO with leading the country-wide campaign, the agency said.

He urged Yemenis to "open-handedly contribute for their Palestinian brothers in the Gaza Strip who are subjected to the barbaric aggression and atrocities by the Zionist occupation forces," Saba said.

Saleh also ordered an "urgent shipment of medical and food supplies" to Gaza through Egypt.