May 28, 2004

ARAB LEADERS CONFIRM IN TUNISIA THEIR REFUSAL OF REFORMS IMPOSED FROM ABROAD. IN THEIR OPENING SPEECHES THE LEADERS REAFFIRM THEIR BASIC CHOICES, THAT REFORMS ARE UNDER WAY AND THAT THEY ARE OF THEIR OWN MAKING. THE MOROCCAN KING CALLS FOR THE RE-ACTIVATION OF THE ARAB INITIATIVE. ARAFAT CALLS FOR THE RE-ACTIVATION OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ROADMAP WITH AN ARAB MECHANISM. THE SULTANATE OF OMAN DRAWS ATTENTION TO THE NEED FOR ELABORATE STUDIES ON THE IDEAS OF JOINT ARAB WORK. The 16th Arab Summit started its deliberations In Tunisia under the chairmanship of Tunisian President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali. The delegation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the Summit was led by Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal. Meanwhile, a report said Arab leaders were united in outrage over the prisoner abuse scandal in U.S.-occupied Iraq. It quoted draft resolutions also condemning terrorism, reiterated calls for Arab-Israeli peace and putting Arab nations on the road to political and economic reform. The Arabs "look forward to results that would rise to their ambitions of cooperation and solidarity," Ben Ali said on opening the meeting as Arab kings, emirs, presidents, prime ministers and delegates from the Arab League's 22 countries and the Palestinians sat in the circular hall of the Palais de Congres conference center. He asked delegates to stand in a moment of silence for the Palestinian victims of Israeli attacks. Late Friday, foreign ministers huddled in an informal meeting to put the final touches on the draft resolutions before submitting them to their leaders for endorsement at the two-day summit. High on the agenda were the deteriorating situation in Iraq and the recent escalation of violence in the Palestinian territories, particularly the Gaza Strip, where 40 Palestinians have been killed in the past week in an Israeli offensive in the Rafah refugee camp on the Egyptian border. Other items include reform of the Arab League and a response to a U.S. proposal for political reform in the Middle East. Inaugurating the Arab summit, Tunisian President Zine Al-Abidine Bin Ali welcomed the Arab leaders, hailing the efforts exerted by the Arab League Secretary General for pushing forward the march of peace. The Tunisian President expressed hope that the outcome of this gathering would meet the aspirations of the entire Arab nation in cooperation, solidarity, progress and invulnerability. He further said "we have all been keen to intensify our consultations and coordination concerning the crucial and fundamental questions submitted to our summit in all fields, in order to elevate the resolutions that will come out of this summit to the level that meets our peoples' aspirations and strengthen their solidarity and cohesion. "We hope our meeting will consecrate the Arab consensus, confirm the will for reform and modernization, and adopt optimum ways for the promotion of joint Arab action and the reinforcement of its credibility in all fields," he added. "The cause of the Palestinian people, which we consider our prime cause, remains a source of deep concern for us, given the great dangers it poses, which threatens security and stability in the Middle East region and allover the world, especially following the escalation of tension and violence and Israel's persistence in its aggressions, causing everyday destruction and the death of innocent Palestinian victims," Bin Ali said. "While reaffirming our condemnation and rejection of the assassination of political leaders and the targeting of innocent civilians, we consider that the solution lies in joining all the international efforts in order to promptly get the peace process out of the state of stagnation and collapse it currently witnesses," the Tunisian President said. "Our commitment to international legitimacy and to peace as a strategic choice requires us today and more than ever before to intensify endeavors with the United Nations Organization and the influential international parties, so that they fully assume their responsibility for the implementation of the roadmap and the achievement of a just, comprehensive and durable settlement to the Arab-Israeli conflict," Bin Ali added. The Tunisian President said: "on our part, we reiterate our call to all these parties in order to promptly provide an international protection to the Palestinian people, to put an end to the violations committed by the occupation army, to halt the construction of the separation wall, and to cease the imposition of the policy of fait accompli." He added: "it is also necessary that the parties in conflict work, in a fully responsible way, to provide appropriate conditions for the resumption of negotiations, so that the brotherly Palestinian people can recover its legitimate national rights and establish its independent state, and so that all the peoples of the region can enjoy security and peace." "Laying the foundations for a new period of stability in the Middle East also requires that sisterly Syria and Lebanon recover all their occupied territories, he said. "While underlining the necessity for Iraq to recover its sovereignty as soon as possible, and for the United Nations to assume their responsibilities in the current political process we express hope to see the steps brought to completion, while preserving the dignity, unity and territorial integrity of brotherly Iraqi people, and helping them overcome the difficult situation it currently knows, so that they can manage their affairs, build its national institutions and be devoted to the reconstruction of their country," he added. The Tunisian President said: "We are always keen on consecrating our belief in the universal values of human rights and liberties, in light of the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the relevant international treaties and conventions. We also adopt the Arab Human Rights Charter, based on a comprehensive and multi-dimensional approach, through Which we anchor our belief in the dignity of human being, in the principles of freedom, democracy, justice and equality, and in the values of dialogue, cooperation, tolerance and solidarity, Bin Ali added. "I am convinced that this charter will help our peoples make further strides on the path of reform and change, promote women's status, consecrate their rights and strengthen their participation in public life, and stimulate the role of civil society, as part of the objectives of balance, complementarity, growth and prosperity we have set for our countries," he said. "In this context, we have always reaffirmed our total rejection of all forms of fanaticism and extremism and of the violence and terrorism they generate," he added. "Our will is strong today to establish relations of rich and balanced dialogue with all countries, based on mutual respect, fruitful cooperation and coexistence with all religions, cultures and civilizations, in a context of mutual understanding, entente and consensus, and stability, this latter being the path conducive to the building of a more balanced, more just, more secure and more stable world," he said. Bahrain Chief delegate, Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa delivered his country's speech on behalf of Bahraini King Hamad Bin Isa. Sheikh Khalifa underlined, in his speech, the necessity of introducing reform in the Arab countries. He underlined that the suffering of the Palestinian people should come to an end and the Palestinian state should be set up. Also, the Bahraini official underlined the necessity of (Israeli) withdrawal from the Syrian and Lebanese lands. The Bahraini Prime Minister drove home a point to the effect that the Arab nation was opting for peace and seeks the establishment of justice and uprooting of terrorism. "Though the Arab nation lives a stage of frustration and fears, it pins hope on a collective and unified Arab stance to stave off current risks and unleash the potentials of its peoples to build a future of freedom, democracy, economic and social progress, Arab League (AL) Secretary General Amr Moussa told the opening session of the 16th Arab summit currently in session in Tunis. The summit, he said, is a message that expresses an Arab resolve to adopt a stance against attempts to infringe rights of Arabs inside their territories. It also expresses rejection of the occupation of their countries and of collaboration to entrench such occupation. The Arab summit further voices resolve that Arabs are an effective part and parcel of contemporary civilization, which helps its diversification and progress, Moussa added. "The existing international order has not succeeded in solving the world's political, economic and social problems. On the contrary it helped worsen such problems. This threatens a serious deterioration of world stability. This has reflected on the Arab world, which is witnessing an unprecedented collapse of peace opportunities and a regressing hope for a regional future, Moussa said. The Beirut summit initiative on resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict has expressed a clear-cut stance to achieve a just and balanced peace and adhered to the objective of setting up a Palestinian state, with Al-Quda as its capital. It also pressed for the withdrawal of Israel from all occupied Arab territories to the 1967 borders, including the Syrian Golan Heights and all Lebanese territories, the AL chief told the Arab summit meeting. On Iraq, he said that the return of the UN to run the country could be a guarantee of positive progress in the right direction towards restoring sovereignty and ending the occupation there. He reviewed the pan-Arab organization's efforts to effectively handle the serious issues of the Arab world, including the Palestinian cause, the Iraqi file, the developments in Sudan, the reconciliation in Somalia and developments in the Comers in addition to economic, social and cultural issues of the Arab nation. He described the call for development and reform as rightful and enjoying the support of a keen and clear Arab popular and official desire. Moussa pressed for respecting creeds while at the same time accepting the dynamics of movement. Reform initiatives from outside the Arab world, he added, triggered a lot of ambiguity and disturbance. They seemed sometimes contradicting each other and some other time competing with each others, despite an Arab interest in development and modernization, Moussa added. The safe path for Arabs, he added, is to adopt a collective Arab stance on regional security and its geographical scope and to set up a region free of weapons of mass destruction, to cover the whole Middle East. Following Moussa's speech, the summit listened to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat through a video message, Arafat could not attend due to a continued Israeli siege of his Ramallah HQ. He called or holding a meeting by AI-Quds committee as soon as possible to discuss threats of destruction and judaisation of the holy city. "Al-Quds is the responsibility of all Arab leaders," Arafat said, expressing hope that they would some day perform prayers there. Israel, he said, is launching a comprehensive war on the Palestinian people and is trying to re-occupy the Palestinian territories, thus demonstrating its rejection of the Arab peace plan and international legitimacy resolutions and conventions in addition to the roadmap peace plan. Israel, he added, had 14 reservations on the plan to render it void of any content and impede the role of the Quartet in the peace process, because it does not so want peace. The Palestinian people will remain steadfast in the face of the latest Israeli escalation, Arafat vowed, stressing the importance of international efforts to press Israel to return to the peace of the brave, the roadmap, the audio initiative and the efforts of the Quartet and neighbors of the Palestinian people in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Arafat underlined adherence to the choice of just and comprehensive peace through a full Israeli withdrawal from the Syrian Golan Heights and South Lebanon, the setting up of a Palestinian state with AI-Quds as its capital and finding a just solution to the refugees' return. In front of Arab leaders and the world, the Palestinian President reiterated his categorical rejection of targeting civilians, Palestinians and Israelis alike. "It contradicts the ethics and principles of the Palestinian people as well as their beliefs which reject terrorism," he said. Following Arafat's word, the Tunisian President adjourned the public session. President Hosni Mubarak believes that Arab leaders must be aware of five important points when they come to handle the "Greater Middle East" initiative that is to be floated by the US during the upcoming G-8 summit of the major industrialized countries, scheduled in Georgia, US, on June 8-12. In his address to the Arab Summit, Mubarak said first of all the initiative has grown to reflect a united American-European stance. Second, he said, it is based on a presumed disagreement over the wanted reforms between the Arab governments and the civil society. Third, the initiative aims at creating some kind of a regional mechanism, that is larger than the Arab League, and in which all countries of the so-called Greater Middle East are represented, he said. Fourth, he said the GME would seek to draw a line between efforts to support regional reforms and those to resolve vital regional problems, such as the Iraqi and Palestinian crises. Fifth, it would engage NATO to become a partner in supporting regional reform efforts, he said. At this Arab Summit, it is a pressing need to discuss "a vision that aims at the formation of a unified Arab view towards the initiatives that were raised in the past phase on reform in the Arab world," President Mubarak said. These were incorporated into one main initiative that will be launched at the upcoming G-8 Summit in Sea Land, Georgia, he added. It will be completed, thereafter, at the American-European summit in Brussels and the NATO summit in Istanbul, he said. It is also imperative for the summit to adopt a clear-cut stance on how to deal with the initiative once it is launched, taking into consideration several factors, he added. Among the most important points, is that the initiative now represents a unified American-European stance, he said. The US has changed its perception from the initial vision of the initiative that rested on imposing a specific model of reform on Arab countries, to the European vision, "that we welcomed and that rests on supporting the independent efforts of countries of the region in the reform field," he added. The initiative is based on the assumption that there is a difference in visions towards reforms between the governments, on the one hand, and the civil society and its non-governmental organizations and businessmen associations, on the other, and that this difference requires a framework grouping all these visions in one unified vision, President Mubarak said. Those who laid down the revised vision of the initiative, that was issued mid May, were keen to add whole paragraphs from the final documents that were issued at the end of conferences held on Arab reforms, democracy and human rights in the Arab region with total disregard for what reforms require, including gradualism and popular preparedness, that would preserve stability in the region, Mubarak added. The initiative seeks to create a framework larger than that of the Arab League, he said. At the start, the initiative suggested that reforms in the Arab world should follow the model of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, that it suggested after that following the model of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Organization, Mubarak said. All these concepts aim at creating alternative structures to the Arab League, he said, adding that it would be better that reforms be carried out via the existing Arab organization after developing and upgrading its performance. Mubarak said in his address to the summit that the initiative sought to separate efforts for reform, on the one hand, and handling pivotal political issues, especially the situation in Iraq and the Palestinian territories, on the other. Mubarak said the initiative clearly considers the state of no progress on handling political issues no impediment to going ahead towards the reform plans. The initiative, the Egyptian President underlined, also separated the reform plans from halting a double-standard policy on other key issues as that of weapons of mass destruction. Mubarak said the Greater Middle East plan seeks to include NATO as a party boosting reform efforts, under the cloak of strengthening security and stability as well as combating terrorism. But, Mubarak averred, supporting the culture of Arab societies and seeking to settle political and economic questions created by feelings of frustration, fanaticism and weakness could rather act to that effect.