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 fatigue
Another peace conference appears in the works. Dina Ezzat reports on the Arab diplomatic reaction
A high-level Arab meeting is scheduled to take place this evening at the Cairo headquarters of the Arab League. It will be attended by Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal -- who is just back from a long visit to the US -- and a group of other Arab foreign ministers. The objective of the meeting is to examine the proposal made last week by the US, the UN, Russia and the EU to hold an international conference on the Middle East.
Palestinian girls sit on the rubble of their wrecked house in the West Bank city of Nablus in the aftermath of the Israeli invasion of the city
Hisham Youssef, the official spokesman for the Arab League secretary-general, said: "There is an ongoing process of consultation among Arab governments. The Arab League secretary-general and Lebanon, the current chair of the Arab summit, are consulting Arab foreign ministers." Youssef said the objective of the discussion was to formulate a joint Arab response to the proposal for the Middle East conference.
The Arabs' initial reaction to the proposed conference has been unenthusiastic. "There are too many ambiguities about this conference," Arab League Secretary- General Amr Moussa said. "It is not clear what it is going to be about. We are not at all interested in a conference that aims to serve the purposes of PR. We are not going to take part in any theatrics when the situation on the ground in the occupied territories is so bad."
The Arab League secretary-general questioned why Arab governments should send representatives to a meeting with Israel given the country's repeated failure in recent months to honour its international commitments. "Israel has been repeatedly snubbing the UN; so what are we supposed to go to this conference for?" commented Moussa, referring to the UN Security Council and Human Rights Committee's failed attempts to dispatch fact-finding missions to investigate the outcome of the Israeli invasion of the Palestinian territories.
Moussa said that before agreeing to attend such a conference, Arab states require a "clear format and agenda" for the meeting. "We need to know what we are supposed to get out of this conference. The Arabs cannot be expected to talk about interim agreements any longer. We have had enough of interim agreements. Now is the time to talk of a final status solution," he said.
Support for the Arab League secretary- general's statements came from all key Arab capitals. Some were more critical than others about the conference proposal, but there was a general consensus that the situation in the occupied territories would not be remedied by such a meeting alone. Even those Arab capitals that did not explicitly express opposition to the proposed conference insisted that Israel should not try to prevent any Arab states from attending or stipulate whom they should be represented by. They also said that a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories was a prerequisite for their attendance.
The Arabs' were largely negative about the proposal because they are concerned that the conference will be tailored to serve the interests of Israel, the US, the EU, the UN, and Russia at the expense of Arab countries.
Arab officials interviewed by Al-Ahram Weekly suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would use the conference to promote a long-term interim agreement. He would also attack Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and criticise Syria with the aim of positioning himself to win the upcoming contest for the leadership of Likud, when he will go head to head with former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
For the US, the officials argue, this conference could be an excellent opportunity to promote the involvement of the administration of President George W Bush in the Middle East and impose a temporary deal to secure stability in the occupied territories -- a major prerequisite for the long-planned military action against Iraq.
As for the EU and Russia, the argument is that such a conference would be an opportunity for them to take up roles in the Middle East peacemaking process -- something that Israel has long opposed.
As for the UN, an Arab diplomatic source suggested that the conference would provide it the opportunity to show concern about the Palestinian situation in the wake of its failure to send a fact- finding team to the occupied territories called for under a Security Council resolution. The same source said, "But what do the Arabs get? Nothing."
The diplomat expressed pessimism that Syria and Lebanon would be able to obtain anything from the conference because neither the Americans or Israelis were interested in acceding to their demands. The diplomat predicted that the Palestinians would be forced to agree on yet another interim agreement that would burden them with additional Israeli security arrangements and get them nothing in return.
Meanwhile, this conference could prove the end of the Arab peace initiative that was based on a Saudi proposal to establish a comprehensive Arab- Israeli peace in return for an Israeli withdrawal from all Arab land occupied in June 1967.
Secretary-General Moussa said, "We do not need to rush to this conference, especially in light of Israel's intransigence, and its rejection of all the parameters of a lasting, fair and comprehensive peace, because we could be simply wasting our time."
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