2 - 8 August 2001
Issue No.545
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 2 - 8 August 2001 Issue No.545 |
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Resuming the boycott
REFLECTING growing Arab anger at Israeli actions, the Damascus-based Arab Boycott Office held its first meeting in eight years, during which it recommended the resumption of boycott measures to push Tel Aviv to respect peace agreements it signed with Arab countries.
(photo: AP)
Officials from 13 Arab countries (from among the Arab League's 22) took part in the meeting which ended on Monday. Egypt, Jordan and Mauritania did not take part because boycotting Israel would violate peace agreements they signed with Tel Aviv. Qatar, Oman and Bahrain also failed to send representatives.
Observers noted the participation of Saudi Arabia, the largest and wealthiest Arab country in the gulf region, as a strong sign of support for Syria's effort to revive the Arab boycott.
"We all want to reactivate the boycott and to make it a legitimate and peaceful resistance tool," said Ahmed Khazaal, general commissioner of the Damascus-based organisation. In a statement issued at the end of their two-day meeting, delegates said the boycott "contributes to restraining the Israeli military machine."
After Palestinians and Israelis signed the Oslo Accords in 1993, most Arab countries dropped boycott measures against Israel, which had been in place since the early 1950s. The United States has also made the complete lifting of the Arab boycott of Israel a top item in diplomatic contacts with Arab countries.
In the meeting's final statement, delegates called on Arab governments to reactivate their local boycott offices and coordinate with the central office in Damascus.
It also asked that they "reactivate the economic committees abroad for the purpose of tracking down foreign companies that do business with or support Israel," the statement said. Meeting participants also agreed to resume regular meetings every six months, and to lower the quorum for such gatherings. Several attempts by Syria to hold such meetings failed because fewer than two-thirds of Arab countries declined to take part. The officials agreed in Damascus to reduce the quorum to eight Arab countries.
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