9 - 15 May 2002
Issue No.585
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 9 - 15 May 2002 Issue No.585 |
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Conference window-dressing
Regional stability must be counted among the mounting casualties of Israel's savage re-invasion of Palestinian territories during the past five weeks and it is unlikely to be resuscitated by the proposed international conference for peace in the Middle East.Nor is it remotely comprehensible how the US -- or, for that matter, the EU, Russia and the UN -- can seriously propose that a conference be held when the Israeli army continues its rampage against the Palestinian people. The proposal becomes even more nonsensical in the light of Israel's rebuttal -- not once but twice -- of UN attempts simply to verify Palestinian complaints about Israel's breaches of international humanitarian law during its re-invasion operations.
Most peculiar of all, though, is that the US administration cannot itself agree on the format and objectives of this conference. Yet still the conference has been received in some Western diplomatic quarters with enthusiasm, signalling, it is said, that Washington is at last ready to become seriously involved in the Middle East. All of which might sound more convincing were it not for the fact that the administration in Washington is headed by someone who has repeatedly called Sharon "a man of peace."
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa was quick to say that Arabs will not participate in meetings with no clear objectives and no agenda and Egypt immediately supported this position, effectively closing the door to those in Tel Aviv or Washington who had hoped Cairo might help pressure other Arab states to attend a conference in which Israel will press for a long-term interim solution that excludes Arafat, the Syrians and Lebanese.
If the US wants a conference on peace in the Middle East some time this summer than it might as well start doing its homework: get Sharon to end his occupation and invasion of the Palestinian territories, notify the Israeli government that all concerned Arab parties will be present, and prepare a coherent agenda, on which all parties agree, for the meeting.
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