23 - 29 August 2001
Issue No.548
|
Al-Ahram Weekly Online 23 - 29 August 2001 Issue No.548 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Fundamentally wrong
PALESTINIANS rebuked the UN Security Council and the United States, Monday, for not taking action to place monitors in the West Bank and Gaza, saying this has contributed to the past 11 months of violence.Washington, which has veto power in the 15-member council, again backed Israel in a public debate and said a proposed Palestinian resolution calling for monitors was one-sided and unworkable.
Because of US objections, many non-Islamic countries were not anxious to push any resolution to a vote and some, such as Russia, were silent on monitors or observers.
Opening the debate, requested by the 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Conference, Nasser Al-Kidwa, the chief Palestinian UN observer, said the escalation of violence might have been avoided had the 15-member body lived up to its responsibilities by taking specific measures blocked by the United States months ago.
"Frankly, it seems to be that there is something fundamentally wrong," he said.
Demanding security
THE UNION for Arab Human Rights Organisations has sent a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson urging her to guarantee the safety and security of all Palestinians participating in the week-long UN-sponsored conference on racism that will open in Durban on 31 August. The call by the Union comes after two of its members, Amir Mekhawal and Khedr Shouqairat, were subject to an investigation -- apparently of a political rather than security nature -- conducted by Israeli security officers for El Al airlines in Ben Gurion Airport after attending the conference's preparatory meetings in Geneva.
The Union stated in the letter that it "considers these incidents alarming and fears that Israeli security forces will target these two members along with other Palestinians taking part in the Durban conference."
Stronger relations
IRAQI vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan started an official visit to Yemen on Sunday, during which the two countries are set to consider setting up a free-trade zone.
"We will look at bilateral relations in various areas with the intention of moving them up a grade," Ramadan told journalists on his arrival at Sanaa Airport.
In Egypt, Iraqi Trade Minister Mohamed Mehdi Saleh stressed this week that the free trade agreement between Iraq and Egypt, which calls for an end to all customs barriers between the two countries, is now in force. "The free-trade agreement, signed between Iraq and Egypt on January 18, came into effect in mid-August," Saleh was quoted as saying by Iraq's official news agency.
Border village closed
LEBANON'S Hizbullah guerrilla group, closed access to a village on the Lebanon-Israel frontier on Monday, where it has set up a checkpoint just hundreds of metres from its Israeli enemies.
At the weekend, Israel declared the village a military zone closed to Israeli non-residents. The village, situated on the volatile frontier between the two countries, has been the focus of attention since United Nations peace-keepers quit a nearby post several weeks ago from which they restricted access to Ghajar from Lebanon.
Berbers anger
TENS of thousands of Algerian Berbers gathered in Ouzellaguene village east of Algiers on Monday to renew their call for the government to withdraw paramilitary gendarmes from the restive Kabylie region.
Dozens of other activists erected barricades on the road linking Algiers to Ifri, a mountainous village near Ouzellaguene, in a bid to prevent President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika visiting the village.
Algerian leaders often meet in Ifri on August 20 to commemorate a meeting in the village 45 years ago at which National Liberation Front leaders worked out a strategy that helped Algeria win independence from France in 1962. Protesters dispersed peacefully after making their demands.
Compiled by Rasha Saad
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
