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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 November 1999 Issue No. 454 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 November 1999 Issue No. 454
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Albright looks on as Levy and Ahmed Ould Sid Ahmed shake hands after signing an agreement to establish diplomatic ties between Mauritania and Israel
(photo: AFP)Friendship at a price
By Rasha SaadMauritania's government has been sharply criticised by fellow Arab states and at home after signing an agreement with Israel in Washington on Thursday to establish full diplomatic relations. At a ceremony sponsored by the US State Department and attended by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Mauritania became the third Arab country, after Jordan and Egypt, to establish full diplomatic ties with Israel.
Shortly after the signing ceremony attended by Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy and his Mauritanian counterpart, Ahmed Weld Sid-Ahmed, reports circulated in Arab newspapers that the US Administration was putting pressure on Kuwait, Bahrain, Yemen and Algeria to make a similar move. But the foreign ministries of the four Arab countries denied such reports, saying they remained committed to the latest Arab summit decision made in Cairo in 1996, which links normalisation of relations with Israel to the achievement of tangible progress in peace talks with Palestine, Syria and Lebanon.
During the State Department ceremony, both Israel and the US hailed the Mauritanian move. Levy called Mauritania's decision "wise and courageous", while Albright said, "this opening will bring real benefits to the Mauritanian people [and Israel]." Albright also said she hoped "today's ceremony is the first of many such openings we will see in the months ahead."
The official Syrian press lashed out at both Mauritania, for making the move, and the United States, for encouraging it. The Iraqi government accused Mauritania of damaging Arab interests and, in protest against the harshly-worded Iraqi statement, the Mauritanian government recalled its ambassador from Baghdad. The state-run Libyan news agency described the move as a "blow" to the five-nation Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) and any attempts to revive it.
Mauritanian opposition leader, Ahmed Weld Dadah, called the agreement "a black spot in the history of our country". Several hundred high school students demonstrated peacefully in the capital Nouakchott Saturday to express their opposition and the government came under fire by some preachers during Friday's Muslim weekly prayers.
Mauritanian Prime Minister Sheikh Al-Avia Weld Mohamed Khouna arrived in Rabat on Monday to explain his country's decision. Foreign ministers from Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Sudan travelled to Libya over the weekend to discuss Mauritania's action.
Morocco has withheld comment on Nouakchott's decision. According to diplomatic sources, although Morocco sent its foreign minister to Tripoli to discuss the move, Rabat was unlikely to be as critical as Libya, which rejects any form of ties with Israel.
Morocco and Tunisia have low-level diplomatic ties with Israel, while Algeria has signalled improving ties with Tel Aviv since President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika took office in April. The Arab League and Mauritanian officials, meanwhile, exchanged verbal attacks over the decision.
Echoing Arab reservations, the League's secretary-general, Esmat Abdel-Meguid, said Mauritania's decision to establish diplomatic ties with Israel "was a badly timed step for the Arab position, since neither the peace process nor negotiations between the Arab states have ended yet." A statement by the league cited the "no's" of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and ongoing Israeli attempts to Judaise Jerusalem as clear examples of the deterioration in the peace process.
Mauritanian government spokesman Rachid Weld Salah responded by saying that Abdel-Meguid's comments were "inappropriate and beyond his mandate". He said his country's decision was based on a joint Arab strategy agreed upon on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in September. Weld Salah also claimed that "Mauritania's support for the Arab and, in particular, the Palestinian cause is firm and documented." He also said his country aimed to restore confidence by breaking through the "psychological obstacles" to Middle East peace.
Mauritania vehemently denied indirect accusations by some Arab countries that it agreed to ties with Israel in return for pledges of US economic assistance. In Albright's celebration speech, there was no mention of US aid to Mauritania, but many Arab observers believe that Washington has set improvement of relations with Israel as a condition for any Arab country seeking to improve ties with the world's sole superpower.
Mohamed Sobeih, Palestinian representative to the Arab League, told Al-Ahram Weekly that the same day Mauritania upgraded its diplomatic relations with Israel, the Palestinian Authority was informed that the Israeli government intends to fund 1,793 housing units in occupied Palestinian territory, "in flagrant violation of international resolutions". According to Sobeih, "Israel builds new settlements and then Mauritania comes to reward it. Mauritanian officials should have waited until Israel complies with its peace commitments."
Though Mauritania is not considered a strategically key country in the region, the move is symbolically important. Analysts say Israel has made progress in normalising relations with Arab states and that the integrity of the Arab League has sustained a blow.
Sobeih blamed the Arabs for not preventing this move. "There were many signs that this would happen, but the Arabs did not move to prevent it," he said.
Mauritania had already signed a mutual recognition pact with Israel in 1995. Israel opened a special interests section at the Spanish Embassy in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, in June 1996 and Mauritania has a similar office in Tel Aviv. Both sides also have cooperation agreements in the agricultural and health fields. A few years ago, reports surfaced that Mauritania is where Israeli nuclear wastes are buried.
Meanwhile, the US State Department warned US citizens in Mauritania to be "vigilant" against demonstrations, which, according to the warning, could also be hostile to the United States.
