 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 July 2000 Issue No. 489 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 July 2000 Issue No. 489
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
Egypt Region Focus International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Trying to be united
By Gamal Essam El-DinMembers of an Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) parliamentary union have declared support for the Palestinians' right to Jerusalem and urged an Iran-UAE dialogue on three disputed Gulf islands.
Some 100 parliamentarians from 27 Islamic countries gathered at the People's Assembly on Monday to attend the second session of the union, founded in July 1999 in Tehran to act as a parliamentary forum for strengthening solidarity among Islamic states in democracy and civil society.
The union selected Fathi Sorour, speaker of Egypt's People's Assembly, as chairman for one year but the decision did not go down well with Nabih Berri, speaker of the Lebanese Parliament. Berri objected, arguing it had been agreed in the first session in Tehran that Lebanon would be chairman. The dispute delayed the opening session for more than three hours after which Berri eventually bowed down in favour of Sorour who received the support of all Arab states.
Analysts believe that Sorour scored points by having himself chosen as the union's head for one year. "Sorour was very keen that he be selected as head of this union although it was agreed in Tehran last year that Lebanon would be the chair," said an Egyptian parliamentarian who asked not to be identified. "It was necessary for Sorour to achieve this objective in order to promote his chances of being re-elected as speaker of the People's Assembly." The official said Sorour had used the tactic before when he sought to become chairman of the International Parliamentary Union and the Arab Parliamentary Union.
In his address, Sorour expressed hope that the union would lay down the groundwork for a dialogue between Islamic states and the West. "We all should work together to rectify misconceptions in the Western world about Islam and erroneous notions of a conflict of civilisations, and to highlight points of agreement among peoples," Sorour said.
One objective of the union was indeed to open a dialogue with non-Muslim societies and build a new international community based on peace, equality, democracy and the protection of under-privileged social classes.
Before ending on Tuesday, the two-day session adopted a series of resolutions, including one that urged Islamic countries to confront Israeli plans to Judaise Jerusalem and build more Jewish settlements in the city. "Jerusalem is not only Muslim but Christian as well and this is why all efforts by member states should be directed to fight Israeli attempts to make East Jerusalem its future capital," the resolution said.
Another resolution urged Iran to open a dialogue with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over the disputed islands of Little Tunb, Greater Tunb and Abu Moussa.
Mohsen Mirdamadi, head of the Iranian parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, defended Iran's position on the three islands. "The session should focus more on discussing political problems in the Islamic world rather than bilateral issues. Iran's position on these three disputed islands is misunderstood. We are conducting a dialogue with the UAE on the issue. Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi visited the UAE for this reason and we hope that the UAE foreign minister will pay a visit to Iran," said Mirdamadi. However, Al-Sayed Saleh Al-Shall, head of the UAE delegation, insisted the dispute was more than a mere misunderstanding. "It is a matter of occupying Arab land and an aggression by an Islamic state against another," he said.
Al-Shall told Al-Ahram Weekly that Iran had turned down a UAE request to take the dispute to the International Court of Justice. Asked if the recent rapprochement between Egypt and Iran may soften Egypt's support for the UAE in the dispute, Al-Shall said Egypt's position was firmly in favour of the UAE, "not only because of their brotherly relations but also because Egypt knows that the UAE has the necessary documents proving that the three islands belong to it."
The session strongly praised the struggle of the Lebanese people in regaining their usurped lands from Israeli occupation. "Israel claims that its withdrawal was in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions 425 and 426," the resolution said. "If this is true, we call upon Israel to implement Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 which call for a withdrawal from the Palestinian West Bank and East Jerusalem, the Syrian Golan Heights and the Shebaa Farms in Lebanon. It should also let the Palestinian people establish their state, whose capital is Jerusalem, on their territories."
The session concluded that Islamic and Arab political, material and moral support should be provided to shore up the steadfastness of the Palestinian people. "The union will also make sure that the necessary funds and aid would be channeled to preserve the cultural heritage of the Holy City," the resolution said.
While agreement was reached on Jerusalem as expected, Kuwait and Iraq not surprisingly failed to see eye-to-eye. The head of the Iraqi delegation argued that Kuwait's allegations that 589 Kuwaitis are still detained in Iraqi prisons were entirely unfounded, insisting Iraq had released all prisoners following the March 1991 cease-fire. The Iraqi official claimed Kuwait had raised the prisoners issue in all international forums "as a form of blackmail and pressure to keep Iraq under sanctions."
"All what you have heard from the Iraqi parliamentarian is sheer lies," the head of the Kuwaiti delegation retorted. He asked Iraq to cooperate with an international committee established to investigate the fate of the Kuwaiti prisoners. However, the Iraqi delegate said that since the committee includes the United States and Britain, cooperating with it does not make sense.
"These two countries have launched 22,247 air raids against Iraq since 1991. They left 302 Iraqis dead. We cannot sit with these aggressors to discuss the issue of Kuwaiti prisoners," he said.
The Iraqi position was supported by Al-Sheikh Al-Zanati, head of the Libyan delegation. Al-Zanati said he had appealed to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in the name of Arab parliamentarians, "to save the credibility of the United Nations from double standards and US hegemony and lift the sanctions imposed on the people of Iraq."
Related story:
