24 - 30 May 2001
Issue No.535
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 24 - 30 May 2001 Issue No.535 |
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Short of full compliance
Led by Amr Moussa, Arab capitals resolved on Saturday to suspend official contacts with Israel. But within hours, some Arabs were distancing themselves. Dina Ezzat asks who is off-message
Yet another snub to Washington's policies has been delivered: this time by the Arab League. Key Arab capitals, including Cairo and Jordan, recently adopted a resolution suspending high-level political contacts with Israel. Washington is desperately urging them to reconsider. It can take comfort from some Arab capitals' failure to support the resolution wholeheartedly.
The suspension of political ties with Tel Aviv is a protest against Israel's shameful use of military force against the Palestinian people. It is also aimed at persuading the world to pressure Israel, the occupying power, to end its violence against Palestinians and to allow international protection for Palestinian civilians. "Israel's use of F16 fighters to bombard and kill innocent Palestinian civilians is alarming and unprecedented. It requires immediate international intervention to end the killing," commented Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa. Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who was in the League on Sunday, supported Moussa's remarks.
The resolution forbids senior Arab officials from visiting, inviting or telephoning their Israeli counterparts. The embargo extends outside the region too: if an Arab foreign minister visits the US at the same time as an Israeli official, the Arab may not speak to the Israeli. "In other words, it puts an end to the silly show whereby Israel tries to pretend before the international public that it talks peace with the Arabs by sending its soft spoken Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to some Arab capital," commented an Arab League source who preferred not to be named. He added, "It also gives Arab officials the political support that they may need in turning down US requests for Arab capitals to exchange envoys with Israel."
This resolution was adopted on Saturday by a limited Arab foreign ministers council, established by the last Arab summit. The resolution calls for "the suspension of all Arab political contacts with the Israeli government for as long as the aggression against and blockade on the Palestinian people and its national authority continue." Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Morocco and Tunis all adopted the resolution. Other resolutions adopted on Saturday called for concerned parties to work towards ending the excessive use of force against Palestinian civilians.
The resolution will remain in force until specific conditions are met, according to Moussa. In a press conference following the ministerial meeting, Moussa declared that the resolution is binding as long as Israel uses military force against Palestinians and continues to blockade Palestinians. "We, the Arabs, will not resume political contacts or seek mediation before Israel puts an end to its use of military force against unarmed Palestinian civilians. We cannot contact Israelis while they use F16 warplanes and Apache helicopters to bombard and kill Palestinians," he said on Tuesday, hours after Israel responded negatively to the report of an independent inquiry panel chaired by former US Senator George Mitchell. The Mitchell report, whose conclusions Washington supported, called for an end to violence and the immediate cessation of Israeli settlement building. Arab countries view settlements as an insuperable obstacle to peace. The Israeli response was to reiterate that Israel will continue to build settlements and will not resume negotiations until Palestinians end the Intifada. League Secretary-General Moussa replied that Arab countries will persist with their resolution as long as Israel persists in its intransigence.
But Arab capitals may not share Moussa's firmness. Hours after the meeting, several Arab capitals were already undermining the resolution. On Sunday, Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher was quick to tell reporters that the Arab League resolution does not apply to contacts conducted by the embassies of both Egypt and Israel in their respective capitals. Indeed, before entering the Saturday meeting, Maher was keen to tell reporters that Egypt, while fully supporting the Palestinian right to resist Israeli occupation, disagreed with "some of the ways" adopted to demonstrate this resistance. Meanwhile Jordanian officials, Al-Ahram Weekly has learnt, were also keen to explain to the US that Jordan, as current chair of the Arab summit and as a country with a huge Palestinian population, could not afford to go against this resolution, but that Jordan's peace treaty with Israel was not compromised. There was more bad news. Mauritania also failed to deny reports broadcast by an Israeli radio channel that Mauritania's foreign minister will visit Tel Aviv.
When Moussa began his tenure as secretary-general of the Arab League, aides said a first step in his plan to regenerate the institution was to ensure that all the resolutions of the Arab summit were assiduously and fully observed. The resolution against official contacts was the result of a summit communiqué. Despite Moussa's vigorous endorsement of the resolution and promotion of it to the world, other diplomats seem not to share his fervour. Moussa's ambition, it seems, has already run into quicksand.
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