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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 19 - 25 October 2000 Issue No. 504 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 19 - 25 October 2000 Issue No. 504
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Elections Palestine International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Features Travel Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters The time for talk is over
Officials and the press in Iran condemned the two-day emergency peace summit in Sharm Al-Sheikh saying it is aimed at "influencing" next week's Arab summit in Cairo and sidetracking the IntifadaThe Sharm Al-Sheikh summit is "aimed at influencing [next week's] Arab summit and blocking Arab heads of state from taking a firm position of support for the Palestinians," said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi in a recent interview. Asefi reiterated Iran's insistence on Muslim unity in the face of the bloodshed in Palestine.
The conservative Tehran Times said Palestinian demonstrators had "sent a clear message to those holding the summit that the time for talk is over."
Approximately 1,000 Iranians demonstrated outside UN headquarters in Tehran on Monday calling for an end to peace talks with Israel. Protesters hurled eggs at the building, burned US and Israeli flags and chanted "down with Israel" and "down with Arafat" with many vowing that they are "ready for Jihad."
One of the rally's organisers said the site of the demonstration was chosen to protest against UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's ineffectiveness concerning recent upheaval. Annan came to the region following the kidnapping of three Israeli soldiers by Hizbullah, but according to demonstrators, has "done nothing" concerning the deaths of Palestinians.
It was no coincidence that as the worst violence in years escalated in Palestine, a prominent leader of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas visited Tehran. Khaled Misha'al, could have easily broadcast his group's support for the Al-Aqsa Intifada and aired his frustration with the bankrupt peace process from any Arab capital. But with the Arab states' cautious response to the renewed violence, Iran, a traditional friend of militant Islamic groups like Hamas and Hizbullah, may emerge as the regional power most willing, to take a strong stand against Israel.
"This trend of negotiations is not the path to securing our rights," Misha'al said at a gathering organised two weeks ago by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, echoing Tehran's long-standing rejection of the peace process and its scepticism that hastily US-brokered summits will work to the Palestinians' advantage.
A spokesperson for Hamas said its leaders met with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to discuss the volatile situation on the ground, but denied that Iran had pledged any direct financial assistance to the group. Iranian money helped sustain Hizbullah in Lebanon during its resistance to Israel's occupation of the southern "security zone," and the Israeli withdrawal in May was viewed by Iran as a significant coup for its foreign policy.
For Tehran, backing groups like Hamas and Hizbullah is a relatively painless way of influencing key Arab issues, namely, relations with Israel, the Syrian presence in Lebanon and the domestic political activities of militant Islamic groups. As a détente seems to be gradually developing between Iran and Arab states, Iranian analysts are suggesting that Tehran may refashion its foreign policy to benefit from the renewed struggle in Palestine as well as to prepare for the possibility that Iraq might be politically rehabilitated.
Towards keeping solidarity with the Palestinians alive in Iran, there are reports that an Iranian charity intends to build 1,000 schools named after Palestinian martyrs in the West Bank and Gaza. Of more immediate relevance are plans by Iran's wealthy state foundation for the disinherited to offer medical treatment in Tehran's hospitals to some 100 Palestinians badly wounded in the recent violence. Mohamed Abu Jihad, Hamas representative in Tehran said that Iranian officials are working on the logistics for transporting the wounded to Iran "with the help of the Red Cross" so as to be able to get out of Palestinian territories which are currently sealed off.
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