Arab nations have been pressing for effective United Nations action to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
In a speech to the 57th session of the UN General Assembly Sunday, Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher said "the current situation in the Middle East region is extremely dangerous" and "must be addressed effectively and expeditiously."
"The whole landscape constantly changes to the worse, especially in the occupied Palestinian territories," Muasher stated. According to him, "Israeli measures to strangle the Palestinian people economically and politically with a view to bring it down to its knees and to coerce it into surrendering its rights have reached inadmissible levels of gravity."
He urged Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian cities without delay and cease its policy of closures and siege.
On his part, Bahrain's foreign minister, Sheik Mohammed bin Mubarak, also called for UN action to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
"The oppression to which the Palestinian people are subjected to ... requires the immediate intervention of the Security Counciland the international community to stop Israeli practices against the Palestinian people," he told the General Assembly.
The toughest speech came from Faruk Al-Shara, foreign minister of Syria. "We see no justification for igniting another war in the Middle East," al-Shara said. He noted that "Iraq no longer occupies another's territory (and...) has officially recognized the state of Kuwait and its international borders."
He accused the world of "blind bias" in dealing with Iraq while ignoring what he said was Israel's refusal to abide by international laws.
According to the Syrian minister, Israel had ignored 28 Security Council resolutions and "hundreds" of other UN decisions."Is it reasonable for the world to request Iraq to implement Security Council resolutions while some help Israel to remain above international law?" he asked.
"It is legitimate for us to ask the United States to distance itself from Israeli aggressive practices and to apply to Israel the American law which prohibits the use of American weapons against a third party," he said.
Al-Shara aired that "making Israel abide by Security Council resolutions" was the only way out of the Middle East crisis.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese newspaper Daily Star reported on Monday that Syria would become part of the Arab ministerial negotiating group after the international “Quartet” approved this move. Lebanon’s foreign minister, Mahmoud Hammoud, received word of this step this weekend, following a request by the Arab Peace Initiative Committee, formed by the Arab League to follow-up the work of the Arab summit that convened in Beirut last March.
According to the report, al-Shara will join his counterparts from Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan in the delegation, which is due to meet on Tuesday in New York with the Quartet.
Sources told the newspaper that the Quartet, made up of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, approved the move after being approached by the Arab Peace Initiative Committee. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
