Egyptian Information Minister Safwat Al Sharif on Tuesday called on his Arab counterparts to use the media to mobilize world opinion against the Israeli occupation of Palestine and bring to justice the authors of killings at Sabra, Shatilla and Qana.
“This is to enhance the recognition by international public opinion of our legitimate rights, and to win more of peacelovers and sympathizers…to our side,” he told the Arab Information Ministers Council in Beirut.
“At present, we need to send a rational and objective Arab message to the international public and ensure that it will reach the decision makers and pressure groups,” added the Egyptian minister. “This is to mobilize international efforts to provide protection to our Palestinian brothers in the Occupied Territories.”
He said Arab media was capable of setting up an international court to try those who had “shed the blood of the innocent children, women and elderly people in the occupied Palestinian territories, Sabra, Shatila, Qana and south Lebanon. A court with international public opinion as its site, and the world’s intellectuals, scholars and writers as its judges.”
The Egyptian minister added that the Arab media needed to abide by the media’s code of ethics and the “honor accord” among the various satellite channels.
“We need to unite and drop our temporary differences…in order to devote ourselves to the key issues,” said Sharif.
He proposed the formation of a ministerial committee including members from the past, present and future Arab Information Ministers Council conferences, in addition to the assistant secretary general of the Arab League and the Arab media permanent committee chief.
The committee would set up new mechanisms and propose new structures suitable for the current state of the media.
In his speech to the conference, Arab League Secretary General Amr Mousa proposed the formation of a specialized political, media, economic and cultural committee to formulate a modern Arab media vision and strategy to be presented to the upcoming Arab Summit Conference.
“The Arab League will give the Arab media its rights and the priority it deserves by going to the outside world to explain the Arab vision and point of view,” added Mousa – Albawaba.com
