ANOTHER ISLAMIC CONFERENCE ENDED IN FUTILITY
By IPS Diplomatic Correspondent with reports from Tel-Aviv and Doha
LONDON 28 May (IPS) As the new US mediator to the Middle East Peace Process Williams Burns was meeting with Mr. Yaser Arafat in Gaza Sunday morning, urging him to do “his best” to stop “terrorist” operations against Israel, two new car bombs exploded within hour of interval in the Western sector of Jerusalem, making almost impossible an already very difficult mission.
Two hard-line Palestinian organisations, both based in Damascus and supported directly by the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Jihad of Palestine and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, claimed responsibility for the explosions that, contrary to previews ones, had no causality but few passer bys who were slightly wounded by the blasts.
In his talks with Mr. Burns, Mr. Arafat, freshly back from the one day Extraordinary meeting of the Conference of foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), once again conditioned the American and European demand to the total halt by Israel of constructing new settlements in the Palestinian-held territories as well as the dismantlement of those built in the past year.
But that condition, also formulated in the fact finding commission led by former US Senator George Mitchell that is to form the basis of new round of negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians, was rejected by Mr. Ariel Sharon, the hard-line Israeli Prime Minister, while offering a unilateral cease-fire.
Israel and Palestine have accepted the proposals that Egypt’s Information Minister Safwat el-Sharif described as a “good basis end to violence and restore calm to the area”.
Held in Doha, the Capital city of the oil and gas-rich Qatar Emirate situated in the southern shore of the Persian Gulf on Saturday, to “examine the dangerous situation in the Palestinian territories”, the low-level meeting called on the Organisation’s 56 members to “halt all political contact with the Israeli government as long as the aggression and the blockade against the Palestinian people continues”.
The conference, initiated by Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, also called on “member states, which have established, or have started to take steps to establish relations with Israel within the context of the peace process, to break these relations”.
However, several countries, including Egypt but also some Persian Gulf states had refused to their foreign ministers to Qatar, witch presides over the OIC, in protest against the fact that an Israeli trade office was still operating in Doha, only agreeing to attend the session at lower level on the express request of the Palestinian Authority, according to diplomat in Doha.
Some Arab diplomats present at the meeting said that (the Israeli trade Mission) was a “good excuse” to escape from being forced to sign a document that, under pressure from some radical states like Iran, “could have gone too far”.
Under the pressure of a boycott by key participants because of the Israeli presence in Doha, Qatari authorities announced the closure of the trade office last November on the eve of an OIC summit there.
But it has emerged that the office is still operating.
Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs said that the Qatari government formally announced closure of the trade office and that before departure of the Iranian delegation to Doha, the Iranian embassy in Doha confirmed that the trade office no longer existed, the Iranian official news agency IRNA quoted him.
But this was a blunt lie, as just few days ago, Iranian newspapers, some of them close to the government of the embattled President Mohammad Khatami had blasted Qatar for having “accepted the re-opening” of the Israeli Trade Mission in Doha.
Though Zarif admitted that several member states had not sent their foreign ministers to the Doha meeting in protest at existence of the Israeli trade office in Qatar, yet he could not explain why the Islamic Republic, which boast itself to be Israel’s staunchest enemy, had send a large delegation led by its foreign minister?
The action by the OIC came after Palestinian leader Yaser Arafat appealed for a "firm and solid stand as an Arab and Islamic nation in the face of this wicked aggression."
Last week Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo called for a freeze on relations with Israel but stopped short of demanding a full break in ties.
Sheik Hamad called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the escalation in fighting in the Palestinian territories, where Israeli fighter-bombers carried out air strikes last week in retaliation for a Palestinian suicide bombing that killed and wounded more than 30 Israeli shoppers.
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi called for a complete boycott of the Jewish State.
As Mr. Burns, US ambassador to Jordan, was starting his delicate missions aimed at bringing back the Israelis and the Palestinians to the negotiating table, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Sunday concluded a two-day Persian Gulf tour aimed at forging a united Arab stand on efforts to end eight months of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed.
Mubarak left Abu Dhabi after talks with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Zaid bin Sultan al-Nahayan on "efforts to stop the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people", the official UAE news agency WAM said.
Mubarak held similar talks with Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah on Saturday before flying to Abu Dhabi.
Egypt’s Information Minister Safwat el-Sharif said Mubarak’s Gulf tour was part of recent diplomatic efforts with other Arab leaders, including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Jordan’s King Abdullah, to “forge a common Arab stand” to end the violence engulfing the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
At least 500 Palestinians and 90 Israelis have been killed since the start of the new intifada last September that saw the fighting escalating from M-16 automatic riffles to the US-made F-16 fighter-bombers.
Palestinian President Yaser Arafat made an emotional appeal to Muslim states to isolate Israel, which he accused of “using depleted uranium weapons and poison gas against Palestinians”.
"There are the monstrous massacres against our unarmed people carried out by missiles and bombs from F-16 warplanes, Apache helicopters, tanks and artillery," he told the OIC meeting.
Arafat told the ministers "The danger...is grave...it cannot be stopped by statements of denunciation, condemnation and censure. There is no way but to take a firm stand that puts aggression and the aggressors in shackles..."
In his strongest criticism of the United Nations, Arafat accused the world body of “double standards”.
"Why this absolute incapacity in the U.N. Security Council in the face of this war of aggression..? Frankly, I say, the Israeli aggressors enjoy complete protection and total support for their aggression from the dominating and hegemonic forces in the international community", Arafat said bitterly.
But at the same time he made a fresh call for a resumption of peace talks and also repeated the call he had made in Paris last week for a new summit in Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt, to discuss ways to revive peace talks with Israel.
"Why do we not follow up on this (Mitchell report and a Jordanian-Egyptian intuitive) to put a mechanism of implementation in place by convening a new conference", in which Russia should also participate, he added.
"It is necessary (for Bush) to intervene immediately to put an end to this worsening situation, it is no longer acceptable to remain silent. (Bush has) to pressure the Israeli government to force it to stop its aggression and return unconditionally to the basis of the peace process..." the Qatari leader said.
The Emir also demanded that an OIC team visit the United Nations and world powers to push for a U.N. protection force for the Palestinians -- an idea raised by the group at a summit in Doha in November but rejected by Israel.
Here are excerpts from the Qatar extraordinary assembly's final communiqué
are as reported by IRNA:
- The conference salutes... the Intifada... and reaffirms its full support and backing to the Palestinian resistance...
- It calls on the member states for prompt provision of the necessary material assistance to the Palestinian National Authority and to open way for raising popular donations to support the resistance of the Palestinian people...
- The conference holds Israel fully responsible for its aggression and oppressive practices that have caused the deaths of hundreds of martyrs...
- The conference condemns the Israeli occupying forces for shelling the Palestinian cities, villages and camps and its use of F16 fighters and US made Apache helicopter gunship, heavy tanks, missiles form naval ships and the use of depleted uranium bullets and poison gases...
- The conferences calls on the US to promptly intervene to stop the Israeli aggression...
- The conference strongly condemns the gross and wide scale violations of Human Rights, which the Israeli occupation authorities persist on committing...
- The conference calls on the UN to take binding decisions to force Israel to pay damages reparations...
- The conference urges UN to arrange for a special International Criminal Tribunal to bring the Israeli war criminals to its courts of justice...
- The conference urges the UN to force Israel to dismantle all its Illegal weapons mass destruction, including its nuclear warheads...
- The conference calls on the cosponsors of the peace process, the USA and the Russian Federation, to assume their responsibilities in ensuring the respect of the principles emanating from the Madrid Conference...
- The conference reaffirms adherence to the just and comprehensive peace option in the Middle East...
- The conference decides to halt all political contacts with Israel as long as the aggression and blockade against the Palestinian people continues...
- The conference calls for a commitment to the implementation of the provisions of the Islamic boycott of Israel...
ENDS OIC INTIFADA 28501