Ain-Al-Yaqeen - November 26, 2004

		November 26, 2004

ON THE SIDELINES OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON IRAQ IN SHARM EL-SHEIKH:
THE QUARTET REAFFIRMS ITS DETERMINATION TO WORK WITH THE PALESTINIAN LEADERSHIP TO SUPPORT THE ELECTIONS.
POWELL PRAISES THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY'S DEMOCRATIC MEASURES AND ISRAELI LEADERS AVOID ANY OFFICIAL COMMITMENT CONCERNING THE PARTICIPATION OF EAST JERUSALEM INHABITANTS IN THE ELECTIONS.
ABBAS: WE PROMISE THAT WE WILL NOT REST UNTIL THE RIGHT OF RETURN OF OUR PEOPLE IS ACHIEVED AND THE TRAGEDY OF OUR DIASPORA ENDS.
THE WORLD BANK: HALF OF THE PALESTINIAN POPULATION LIVE ON LESS THAN $ 2 PER DAY.

The Middle East quartet pledged to pool their resources to guarantee the success of the Palestinian election in January, in a bid to inject new life into the moribund peace process.

After meeting on the sidelines of the international conference on Iraq in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, quartet officials said the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had opened the way for renewed peace efforts.

"We reaffirmed our determination to work with the Palestinian leadership to support the (January 9) election" to choose a successor to Arafat, UN chief Kofi Annan said after the one-hour talks.

"We must give them all the necessary support," Annan said after meeting his quartet partners US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and European foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

"There is an opportunity to... move ahead with the roadmap" peace plan, Annan said.

"We believe the Israeli government is also ready," he said, also referring to discussions with the Israelis to release frozen Palestinian funds.

"We will send election monitors, ensure international support to see they get the necessary budgetary support," Annan said. "We are all encouraged." The roadmap drawn up by the quartet set a 2005 target date for Palestinian statehood but has made virtually no progress since its launch last year and the United States is now aiming for a state by 2009.

The quartet meeting came a day after Powell held talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on his first trip to the region in 18 months. Powell on Monday hailed a "moment of opportunity" for peace in the Middle East, as Israel agreed to do all it could to allow a smooth election and said it would permit Arabs living in annexed east Jerusalem to vote.

Lavrov, who was heading to Israel, said the quartet wanted Israel to work with the Palestinians to ensure a smooth run-up to the election, the first since 1996. "The message to the Palestinians and the Israelis is that the quartet want them to cooperate to have free and fair elections," Lavrov said.

Israel, he said, "could assist in getting in touch with the Palestinians to ensure that Palestinians who want to vote can do so," by removing military roadblocks around the occupied territories. On the other hand, he said, the quartet "wants to cooperate with a leadership which would be responsible in implementing the Palestinian part of the roadmap".

The quartet discussed providing the Palestinians with funds and equipment "to be more ready to get control of their territories", he said without giving details.

Solana's spokeswoman Cristina Gallach said the quartet also mulled plans to convene an international donors conference for the Palestinians, who have complained about their dire financial straits.

"The international community favours emergency financial support for the Palestinians but prefers to hold a donors conference after the elections, as a message to legitimise the new elected leadership," Gallach said.

The international community has already chosen former French prime minister Michel Rocard to lead an election observation team.

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, also attending the Iraq conference, said there was now "a possibility to write a new page" in the Middle East.

Meanwhile Fateh Movement's Central Committee in consensus nominated Mahmood Abbas its candidate in the presidential elections.

In its two-day meetings in Ramallah, the Central Committee discussed number of political and security issues in the light of the forthcoming elections, calling on President of Palestinian National Authority to issue a decree to define the period for the parlamantarian elections before the mid of the up coming year. This approach paves the way for democratic establishment of the Palestinian institutions towards establishing an independent Palestinian state which ends the Israeli occupation started in 1967.

The Central Committee decided to submit its candidate before the Fateh Revolutionary Council to endorse the candidancy and to provide all support possible for the success of Fateh in the coming elections.

The Committee stressed on the importance of achieving the Palestinian refugees' issue based on the international legitimacy resolutions.

It also confirmed on prevailing security and freedom to ensure the success of the upcoming electoral process and the inevitability of the east Jerusalem's Palestinians participation which requires a total cooperation from the Quartet and the international community.

The Committee asserted that the programme of these elections is the programme for the coming phase in all levels to establish a Palestinian state, liberate the occupied land, realize just and durable peace.

On its part, the Central electoral Commission announced the reopening of the voters' registration centers in all cities and villages for one week as of next Wednesday to enable voters who could not register during the last period.

On the other hand Jailed uprising leader Marwan Barghouti has decided to run for Palestinian Authority president in a Jan. 9 election, seeking to succeed the late Yasser Arafat and throwing Palestinian politics into turmoil, his associates said.

Barghouti, 45, is challenging interim leader Mahmoud Abbas, 69, a pragmatist who appears to have the tacit support of Israel and the United States.

The candidacy sharpens a power struggle in the ruling Fatah movement, pitting the old guard of politicians that had returned with Arafat from exile against the younger generation of activists who led two uprisings in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Abbas was nominated as the presidential candidate of Fatah, mainly with the support of the old guard. The young guard, represented in part by Barghouti, is seeking a greater share of the power.

Barghouti informed his associates, through his lawyers, that he would run.

One Fatah official, Abdel Rahman Shomali, said he would distribute a statement by Barghouti later Thursday. A top Fatah official, Amin Maqboul, also said he was informed of Barghouti's decision to run.

The uprising leader, who is serving five life terms for his role in attacks on Israelis, has not explained how he would run Palestinian affairs from prison in the event of victory. However, his supporters have said they are counting on international pressure on Israel to free Barghouti.

Both Abbas and Barghouti support the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.

New PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas pledged to follow in the footsteps of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and vowed to commit to Palestinian refugees' right of return, telling the PLC: "We promise that we will not rest until the right of return of our people is achieved and the tragedy of our diaspora ends."

Palestinian leaders Abbas, Acting President of the Palestine National Authority (PNA) Rawhi Fattouh and Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei on Tuesday addressed a special session of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), which convened in the West Bank city of Ramallah to pay tribute to Arafat.

"We will stick to Palestinian steadfastness in support of the dream you (Arafat) lived for and you promised to your people," Abbas, 69, told Palestinian lawmakers.

He pledged to continue on Arafat's path.

"We promise that we will continue on the same path that you (Arafat) have paved to achieve the dream that has always lived with you... establishing an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," Abbas said.

Abbas also pledged to preserve the "Palestinian national unity."

"We will reinforce and realize a real unity based on partnership and mutual respect" with all the Palestinian factions and parties, he said.

He also pledged to honor Arafat's orders to hold presidential, legislative and municipal elections, and to side with Palestinian women and to secure their role in parliamentary and municipal institutions.

Abbas confirmed the leadership's adherence to the Palestinian "right of Return."

"We promise that we will not rest until the right of return of our people is achieved and the tragedy of our diaspora ends," he added.

Abbas, born in the northern Palestinian city of Safad in 1935, was among hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were forced out by the Jewish paramilitary forces when Israel was created in 1948.

UN resolution 194 of 1948 endorsed the right of Palestinian refugees to return and compensation.

Two thirds of the total Palestinian population live in exile.

Similarly, in another address to parliament, Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei reaffirmed Palestinians would settle in negotiations for no less than a state in all of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Qurei pledged to maintain national unity and full cooperation with the PLC "to pass this difficult transitional period and to develop the institutions built by late President" Arafat.

Rawhi Fattuh, the Acting Palestinian President, promised to "put an end to the chaos and preserve the law and order for the people as you (Arafat) ordered."

Fattuh also referred to the cause of Arafat's death in a hospital near Paris 13 days ago.

"You fought against your illness but we do not know if it was an illness or poison which caused your death," he said.

Acting Speaker Hasan Khraisheh opened the PLC session by reaffirming the Palestinian "red lines."

Noting the absence of the father of Palestinian nationalism, Khraisheh reminded the lawmakers of Arafat's life commitment to the creation of a "full-fledged sovereign Palestinian state within the borders of 1967, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital, while maintaining the right of our people to return to the land and properties from which they were uprooted in 1948."

President Emile Lahoud expressed his deep condolences on the death of Arafat and said he was deeply moved by the loss of a leader who represented the enduring symbol of the Palestinian cause. "His death is a great loss for the brotherly Palestinian people and for the Arab Umma (nation) and the whole world," Lahoud said. He added that Arafat was a great leader who struggled for the Palestinian rights and resisted Israel's hegemony. "He fought (Israel) on more than one front. His struggle made the whole world recognize the Palestinians' right to live freely and enjoy a free national decision making," Lahoud said.

"Lebanon shares with the Palestinians their deep sorrow, especially that the deceased had appreciated Lebanon's supportive stance to the Palestinians' right, mainly their right of return to their homeland. Lebanon defended this cause in regional and international conferences," Lahoud said.

In Lebanon the PLO held a memorial for the late President Yasser Arafat.

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa expressed the League's commitment to backing the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to complete the march late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had started to establish a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

He said that the attack on the Arab world started to impose itself with the aim of forcing the Arabs to accept an Israeli peace.

Moussa's statements were read out by Ambassador Abdel Rahman Al-Solh, the League's representative in the Lebanese capital, during a rally organized by the Palestinian factions in Lebanon to mourn late President Arafat.

On his part, speaker of the Lebanese Chamber of Deputies Nabih Berri hailed the stances of the late Palestinian leader.

Head of the Palestine Liberation Organization Farouq Qaddoumi affirmed that the Palestinians would not cease efforts aiming at achieving just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.

The new president of Fatah, Farouq Qaddoumi, said "If the U.S. is serious about the peace process, then it should exert pressure on Israel and go forth with the road map," said Qaddoumi.

Qaddoumi welcomed "any international observers to supervise the Palestinian coming elections." He was responding to outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who promised U.S. aid for the Palestinian elections after his visit to the Occupied Territories this month.

"We are democratic and we respect democracy," he added.

But, "to have just and fair elections Israel has to withdraw to the lands before Sept. 28, 2000," when Israel re-occupied some Palestinian territories following the intifada, he said.

In the course of the Palestinian elections, Qaddoumi said, "we have nominated Abu Mazen - current PLO President Mahmoud Abbass - because he is a Palestinian choice and one of the founding leaders of Fatah."

He said there "is no difference between Abu Mazen," and any other Palestinian because "in the end we will be working together and we will be committed to the Palestinian cause."

As for his return to Palestine, which he has not visited since he was a child, Qaddoumi said that he "will definitely come back to Palestine; but to the liberated territories not to the occupied ones, and this will happen after Israel withdraws from the 1967 Palestinian occupied lands."

When asked about the Iraqi situation and whether he felt that the international community had found a way to marginalize the Palestinian cause as a result of the war there, Qaddoumi replied: "Of course not. The Palestinian and Iraqi causes are one. Both are fighting against occupation."

Speaking of Powell's recent remark that some Palestinian factions are in fact terrorist organizations, Qaddoumi said: "We do not have terrorist factions," adding that the Palestinians do not practice terrorism and the policy of murder.

"We are practicing legitimate resistance and have all the right to fight occupation," he said.

"This resistance is granted to us by international laws and norms. If the U.S. and Israel want to call it terrorism then it is their own business," he said.

He added: "We think that occupation is the highest form of terrorism."

Meanwhile US Secretary of State Colin Powell pledged to the Palestinians full American support for their election to replace Yasser Arafat as he received Israeli assurances of a smooth path to the ballot box in a new push toward Middle East peace.

In one of his last overseas trips as the top US diplomat, Powell sat down with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders on their home turf, seeking to capitalize on new realities created by Arafat's death.

"I have come to bring a message of peace and commitment from President Bush that he wants to move forward on the path of peace, to take advantage of the new opportunities that are before us," Powell said during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Much of the discussions with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders focused on the Jan. 9 elections for Palestinian Authority president. Powell visited a voter registration center in the town of Jericho, listening intently to Palestinians' pleas for a state of their own.

Though they mourn their leader's death, many Palestinians feel a sense of excitement and possibility.

Nevertheless it's far from clear if Palestinian and Israeli leaders will have enough confidence and credibility to make the painful concessions required for any peace deal.

Israeli leaders assured Powell that they will do their utmost to allow the January vote to take place, including easing travel restrictions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Powell said the Israelis expressed a willingness to allow Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem to take part in the vote a contentious issue because Israel fears doing so could undermine its claims to all of the city.

Powell said both sides agreed that the model used in the last Palestinian elections in 1996 allowing East Jerusalem residents to vote with absentee ballots could be used again.

In a sign of an improving atmosphere after four years of bloody violence, Israeli officials also said they are willing to renew talks with the Palestinians on some issues, including security, and to coordinate the aftermath of Israel's planned withdrawal from Gaza and part of the West Bank in 2005.

Israel and the United States had refused to talk to Arafat, branding him an unacceptable negotiating partner because of what they said was his support of terror. Arafat died Nov. 11 at a Paris hospital of a still unknown illness.

Powell met with PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei and interim Palestinian Authority president Rauhi Fattuh, among others.

Powell said both Israel and the Palestinians must return to the US-backed road map peace plan, which calls for a Palestinian state after requiring Palestinians to dismantle terror groups and Israel to freeze settlement building in the West Bank and Gaza. Before Arafat's death, the plan was all but dead because of each side's failure to implement the initial requirements.

When a group of voters in Jericho pressed Powell for a timetable for the creation of a Palestinian state, Powell told them, "It won't be determined by picking a date, but by progress and action on the ground."

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said it is in Israel's interest to see the Palestinian elections go forward, saying they could pave the way for a new leadership "with whom we can sit down."

"I have reassured the secretary that Israel will do everything in its power to ensure their smooth running," he said, adding that Palestinians would have "freedom of movement." Shalom did not say whether Israel would pull back troops. Palestinian officials asked Powell to ensure that Israel do so, though it wasn't immediately clear how he responded.

Shalom said Israel would coordinate the election with the Palestinians but would not compromise on security.

A senior Israeli official said the two sides were already in contact, and that a coordination meeting could be scheduled after the registration of candidates ends next week.

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Shalom also told Powell that Israel is willing to resume talks with the Palestinians on other issues, including security.

Israel reoccupied West Bank towns during a 2002 military offensive aimed at halting Palestinian bombings in Israel. Troops have since withdrawn from some areas, but continue to enforce travel restrictions on Palestinians. Palestinians say they need freedom of movement for the election campaign and voting.

Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said Powell told Palestinian leaders that "the United States will stand shoulder to shoulder with us to have free elections."

International efforts to revive the Middle East peace process have grown following the death of Yasser Arafat and the rise of moderate Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas as his most likely successor in elections on January 9. Efforts to re-invigorate the peace process have included visits to the region this week by senior American, Russian and British diplomats.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is the most recent senior diplomat to come here. His principle task is to work with both sides on ways to help with Palestinian elections.

Israel has said it will do whatever it can to facilitate the voting so long as its security is not at risk. Mr. Straw is also seeking assurances that the Palestinians do more to rein in Palestinian militants and stop attacks on Israel.

The British diplomat's visit follows a trip over the weekend by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and a visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Mr. Lavrov arrived following a meeting of the Middle East quartet in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh. He said the Unites States, the United Nations, the EU and Russia agree there are new opportunities for peace following the death of Yasser Arafat.

"There is an emerging common understanding that we must seize the unique opportunity of the current situation, that we should all encourage the orderly preparation of Palestinian elections and assist them in whatever way each of us can," he said.

Palestinian officials have said they welcome this renewed commitment from the international community but that it must extend to more than just helping with elections.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, says the international community must also pressure Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian territory and stop its targeted killings of Palestinian militants.

EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana said he was confident that Israel would work with Europe to ensure a Palestinian leadership election in January goes ahead throughout the occupied territories.

"We don't have a guarantee that the election will be carried out as we would wish," he said when asked if the European Union was confident that the election to choose a successor to Yasser Arafat would go ahead in east Jerusalem.

"But so far our relations with the Israeli authorities have been very good, and the Palestinian leaders would probably say the same.

"I think that if things continue as they have been, the election can take place in a completely free manner, that is to say with all the cooperation from the Israeli side including in (east) Jerusalem," Solana said.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell, visiting the region, won a pledge from Israel that it would do all it could to enable a smooth election including by allowing Arabs in occupied and annexed east Jerusalem to vote.

But the Israeli government showed no compromise on the bitterly contested sovereignty of the holy city.

Solana also called on the Palestinian Authority to devote all its energy to the presidential election, arguing that local or parliamentary polls "can wait". "The most important objective is to have a really legitimate Palestinian Authority through the electoral process," he said.

In a statement, the EU ministers said that "free and fair presidential elections are an indispensable step in the process of consolidating democratic institutions".

"At this critical moment in time, the Palestinian Authority should dispose of the means necessary to carry out its functions, including in the field of security," the statement added.

It was announced meanwhile that French former prime minister Michel Rocard will lead a team of EU monitors to observe the Palestinian leadership election, which is scheduled for January 9.

The team's work will be a "concrete expression" of the EU's desire to build democratic institutions in the Palestinian territories after Arafat's death this month, EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said.

"It is crucial -- for the Palestinians themselves, and for the peace process -- that a new Palestinian leadership has the legitimacy that only credible elections can bring," she said.

The team will be directed by Rocard, who is now a member of the European Parliament, and start work in early December ahead of the presidential ballot.

The observer mission forms part of a 14 million euro package offered by the EU to the Palestinians to help organise the elections as well as for institutional reforms.

In the meantime, plans are being made for the Palestinian election, and world leaders are descending on Israel and the West Bank to speak with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders. British Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected next month.

Powell conveyed his upbeat assessment about peace prospects to world leaders Tuesday at a Red Sea conference. And he told them that President George W. Bush had pledged to concentrate on furthering the peace process during his second term.

"We are all encouraged," said United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, who said the UN would provide election monitors.

The European Union said it too would send monitors, and the U.S., the UN, Russia and the EU have promised to help the Palestinians pay for the election. The Bush administration said it was sending $20 million.

On the other hand Despite a slowdown in fighting, the Palestinian economy remains crippled by four years of violence with Israel, with nearly half the population living in poverty on less than $2 a day, the World Bank said in a report released last Tuesday.

The international development bank paints a dire picture in its first assessment of the Palestinian economy since May 2003. Economic activity has plummeted, while poverty and unemployment climbed sharply since the current wave of violence began in September 2000, the report said.

The report was issued ahead of next month's meeting of international donors, including the United States and European countries, whose money sustains the Palestinian economy.

The report cites Israel's "closure" policies - a series of restrictions on the movement of Palestinian people and products meant to boost Israeli security - as the main cause of economic hardship in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

It also calls on the Palestinians to carry out further economic reforms.

An Israeli official replied that the Palestinian violence is responsible for the downturn in the Palestinian economy. "The Palestinian economy was growing in the years leading up to the terrorist uprising," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev.

According to the report, the Palestinian economy recovered slightly in 2003 after two years of sharp decline. It cited a slowdown in violence and drop in Israeli curfews in Palestinian areas as well as a modest rebound in the Israeli economy for the improvement.

Economic activity has stagnated in 2004, and remains well below the pre-uprising levels, the report says.

Per capita gross domestic product has fallen to about $930 this year from $1,490 in 1999, according to the bank. Unemployment shot up to 27 percent from 12 percent during the same period, while the poverty rate has more than doubled to 48 percent from 20 percent.

Those figures translate into 1.7 million Palestinians living below the poverty line, set by the World Bank at $2.10 a day. Nearly one-third of those people, or 600,000 Palestinians, live below the "subsistence" level of $1.50 a day - the amount necessary to meet basic nutritional needs, according to the bank.

As one of the first acts of the European Commission, the Commissioner for External Relations and the European Neighbourhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner has decided to deploy an EU Election Observer Mission (EOM) to observe the Presidential Elections in the West Bank and Gaza scheduled for 9th January 2005. The decision is a concrete expression of the EU's effort to support the development of democratic institutions and stability in the Palestinian Territories. The presence of the EOM and the reporting of its observers will help to increase transparency and build confidence in the election process.

Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner said: "It is crucial for the Palestinians themselves, and for the peace process that a new Palestinian leadership has the legitimacy that only credible elections can bring. The EU has gained a reputation as a major, professional actor in the field of election observation, and I am convinced that the mission announced today has an essential role to play".

The European Commission intends to deploy the Mission in early December. It will be led by former French Prime Minister, and current member of the European Parliament, Michel Rocard.

In line with the principles of the Quartet Roadmap, the European Commission has been in the lead in the international community in providing support to the Palestinian electoral process since 2003. The overall objective is to give the Palestinian society a chance to hold meaningful and credible elections to provide democratic legitimacy for the institutions on the road to statehood.

Some €14 million have been allocated since 2003 to prepare the elections. Of this, €2.5 million has been designated for the EU Election Observation Mission announced today.

In addition to deployment of an Election Observation Mission, the core elements of EU support are financial assistance to election operations to be carried out by the Palestinian Election Commission and its Election Administration, voter registration, support for polling and counting activities, and voter information. In delivering this, the EU has worked closely with other partners in the international community.

The UN will be soon sending over a special delegation to help organize the elections in the Palestinian Authority. Diplomatic sources said that a technical delegation from the UN's Electoral Assistance Division will arrive in the territories in the next few weeks. A senior official in the division who is involved in organizing the elections in Iraq will also arrive to supervise the process.

In addition, the UN is planning steps to assist the new Palestinian leadership in obtaining funding for the PA's budget by applying pressure on Israel to release PA tax monies that were collected and have been frozen in Israel, and by raising funds in the Arab world and in the West.

On the other hand in London Eid celebration was held at the House of Commons and attended by the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Home Secretary, Members of Parliament and a cross section of representatives from the Muslim Community.

In his Eid message the Prime Minister said: I am delighted to have this opportunity to send my very best wishes to British Muslims celebrating Eid at the end of Ramadan.

I know that the Holy Month of Ramadan has been an important and special time for Muslims across the world. It is a month of daily fasting during which you reflect on your lives and your faith.

But while this Holy Month is obviously of greatest significance to Muslims, it also contains an important message for the whole country, whatever our faith or background.

For through fasting and the giving of Zakaat, you remind each and every one of us of our shared obligation to help those less fortunate than ourselves.

The celebration of Eid also gives us all a chance to reflect on the influence and contribution that Islam has made to our world. Yours is a beautiful and generous faith.

Islamic art, science and philosophy have enriched all our lives over the centuries.

And in Britain, of course, we have also benefited immensely from the contribution of British Muslims to our country's success, prosperity and culture.

It's why I believe it is right that we tighten the law to outlaw religious discrimination.

It's why I welcome, too, the increased participation of British Muslims in politics and public life.

I am very pleased that Britain now has MPs, Members of the House of Lords and the first British Ambassadors drawn from the Muslim community.

It is a reflection not just on the vital and growing role of the Muslim community here but also of Britain's strength as a tolerant, diverse multi-faith nation.

But I believe we must do more to make better use of the talents and experience of Muslims throughout public life and am determined to work with you to build on this in the future.

This is not only important for the Muslim community but also for our country's future success.