By Munir K. Nasser
Washington, DC
As Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak prepare to meet with US President Bill Clinton this week at the UN Millennium Summit in New York, both sides are lowering expectations for a breakthrough on the sticky issues of the peace process.
With the September 13th deadline for an agreement fast approaching, State Department officials say President Clinton is deeply focused on breaking the Palestinian-Israeli impasse over the future of Jerusalem.
UN sources said that many diplomats are angered by President Clinton’s decision to cancel his appearance at the round-table discussions of the Millennium Summit to make time for Middle East peace talks. They have expressed concern that the Clinton-Barak-Arafat meetings may overshadow the event's main agenda of reducing poverty, fighting AIDS and enhancing UN peacekeeping around the globe.
Israeli sources say that if Barak is able to reach an agreement with the Palestinians this week in New York, it will be the breakthrough he needs to breathe new life into his government. Otherwise, new Israeli elections appear almost certain.
According to press reports from the region, Palestinian leaders are reportedly divided on how far they can go on compromising over the issue of Jerusalem. The Palestinian negotiating team seems to be paralyzed by a split between senior leaders Ahmed Qurie, Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and Mahmoud Abbas, second in command of the PLO, on one side and a group of younger leaders on the other, who have called on Arafat to seize the moment, be flexible, and show pragmatism in the negotiations. This second group includes Gaza Preventive Security Chief Mohammad Dahlan, Economic Adviser Khaled Salam, and Minister of Non-Governmental Organizations Hassan Asfour.
Meanwhile, the Clinton Administration is taking unprecedented security measures to protect the largest number of world leaders ever under one roof. Kings, chancellors, presidents and prime ministers from more than 155 countries will gather in New York City Wednesday through Friday amid reports about security threats, traffic gridlocks, and a shortage of luxury hotel rooms.
State Department officials expressed concern about the security and protocol nightmare that the Summit might cause. UN organizers had planned that the heads of states would hold many of their closed-door meetings in the UN’s grand economic and social chamber along the East River. But they were forced to move those sessions into cramped basement conference rooms after the US Secret Service said it would have to shut down Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive, the highway that passes underneath the meeting hall, for fear of a terrorist bombing. That decision has raised resentment against the United States among many diplomats, who believe the basement conference rooms are undignified for a gathering of world leaders.
New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said 8,000 police officers would provide security, at a cost to the city of more than $10 million. He warned the city's residents to plan to walk or take public transportation all week. In addition to the gridlock from 170 motorcades commuting world leaders between the United Nations and 36 hotels, the city has granted permits for 91 demonstrations, including major protests against Cuban President Fidel Castro and Iranian President Mohammad Khatami. Giuliani extended his traditional New York welcome by saying: “As far as I am concerned, some of them I think are despicable, horrible human beings and you should always make that point every time you get a chance to make that point."
But while UN organizers worry about security concerns, the largest gathering of heads of states or governments will be focusing on their ideas to chart the future of the United Nations in the 21st Century. They will deliver formal statements and will have the opportunity to engage in interactive discussions by participating in several roundtable meetings.
American diplomats, meanwhile, are struggling to prevent the summit from turning into a forum for bashing the United States. US officials have pressed the UN to remove language in the draft declaration of the Summit that emphasizes noninterference in countries' internal affairs, which is aimed at the US emphasis on human rights around the globe. They said President Clinton would also try to persuade foreign leaders to block Sudan from gaining a seat on the UN Security Council.
But analysts believe that Clinton's authority will be undercut by the continuing failure of the United States to pay its arrears for UN dues or contributions to peacekeeping missions, which now amount to $1.7 billion.
The Summit declaration will be based in part on the regional meetings that have been organized to elicit innovative views from civil society and political leaders on how best to strengthen the United Nations to face the challenges ahead. The hearings have been held in Beirut, Lebanon, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Geneva, Switzerland, Santiago, Chile, and Tokyo, Japan. The Beirut meeting, which was held last May, was attended by over 70 participants representing the civil society of the region, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the media and academia.
At the May session, Chairman Mohsen Al-Ayni of Yemen, called for freedom and democracy in the Arab countries. He stressed, "Human rights are upheld only when we have sound and just government,” noting that this was lacking in many countries of the region. Other panelists stressed the growing international imbalance of power, as well as new forms of human rights violations, which were not addressed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Beirut meeting called on the Millennium Summit to review the charter of the United Nations and the role it should play in the Middle East in the future by increasing public awareness of human rights and supporting NGOs to help them promote and protect these interests – Albawaba.com
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
