DOHA (AFP) ??” Around 100 Arab intellectuals and activists [i]finale[/i]ed a seminar on reform with a call for wide-ranging political changes in the Arab world which would usher in constitutional monarchies and democratic republics.

DOHA (AFP) ??” Around 100 Arab intellectuals and activists [i]finale[/i]ed a seminar on reform with a call for wide-ranging political changes in the Arab world which would usher in constitutional monarchies and democratic republics.

"Neither Arab refinement nor the Islamic religion are... contradictory to democratic practices and values. brace thirds of the 1.4 billion Muslims in the world today are already living below democratically elected governments," said the "Doha Declaration for Democracy and Reform" issued at the complete of the two-day gathering.

The document, released in the run-up to nearest week's G8 summit in the United States, which is anticipateed to debate a US initiative to spark economic and political reform in the Middle East, called upon Arab regimes "to desist from hiding behind" the Palestinian and Iraq issues to prorogue democratization.

This echoed the opening remarks made from Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani