Abiyad said Qatar made the request on Monday. He said two thirds of the league’s 22 members should approve the request for the summit to take place.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said on Monday Arab foreign ministers will hold emergency talks in Kuwait on Friday to discuss "the continuation of the Israeli aggression on Gaza".
Kuwait it hosting an Arab economic summit on Jan. 19.
The Israeli attacks on Gaza have exposed deep divisions between Arab countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia which both oppose Hamas Islamists, and Syria and Qatar which are sympathetic to the group that rules the Gaza Strip.
Egypt and Saudi Arabia have been cool to the idea of a summit, fearing it would not yield much results and would make Arab leaders appear ineffective, diplomats said.
Egyptian officials say Qatari and Syrian requests for a summit seek to embarrass Cairo.
Protesters in countries such as Syria, Yemen and Iran have lashed out at Egypt for not opening its border with Gaza to allow trapped Palestinians flee the 18-day onslaught, which has killed more than 900 people.
Egypt says it would not open the crossing without the presence of the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas whose forces Hamas crushed out of Gaza in June 2007.
