PRAGUE -Iraq's foreign minister says he is prepared to postpone the forthcoming Arab League summit in Baghdad, but he will not agree to cancel it entirely.

Gulf nations asked the Arab League last week to cancel the May 10-11 summit of the 22-member group due to political unrest persisting across the region, signaling growing tensions between Sunni Arab states and Iraq's Shiite-dominated government.

"We refused that because it is against the Arab league charter," Hoshyar Zebari said.

Zebari said Monday after meeting his Czech counterpart Karel Schwarzenberg that "an emergency Arab ministerial meeting" is scheduled to convene soon to discuss the situation. He gave no details.

In Baghdad, parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi called the summit "very important" and said Iraq has spent millions of dollars preparing for it. He conceded that the May dates may need to be pushed back but said "calling off the summit is not acceptable to Iraq and it will deeply affect Iraqi-Arab relations.

"I think all Arab leaders should reconsider their stance about the summit because it is important to us and for them," he said.

The summit already has been postponed from March because of concerns about Iraq's instability and questions over whether Arab leaders whose nations were hit by popular unrest would be able to attend.

Zebari has defended a recent Iraqi military raid on Camp Ashraf housing Iranian exiles that U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi said left 34 people dead.

The April 8 operation against the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, which seeks to overthrow Iran's clerical leaders, drew sharp rebukes from Baghdad's Western allies.

"We were saddened by the number of deaths of injured people at the recent events but the goal of the security forces was really to take control of part of the camp," he said. "No country in the world would accept a state within a state."