Out of the 1.2 billion Muslims represented by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), one can claim that only an insignificant number were waiting for the final communiqué of the body’s meeting on Monday.
With the presence of Yasser Arafat or without, the whole thing was meaningless and shamefully “realistic.”
There is nothing new with the Arabs being realistic as far as US policies in the region are concerned, particularly after September 11.
Ironically, while the foreign ministers of 57 countries humiliated by Israel that occupies their third holiest shrine in Jerusalem, Ariel Sharon was killing a three-year-old Palestinian baby in Hebron and another 11 year old in a US-made Apache attack against the fasting city on a Ramadan day.
The final statement of the conference, according to AFP, dropped the usual anti-Zionist rhetoric and opted for diplomatic action directed at Washington to contain the Israeli military offensive.
The OIC called on the US administration to implement the "positive elements" of its new support for a Palestinian state, and urged Washington to set a "precise mechanism and calendar, to turn words into action."
That’s all. Very realistic!
The 57 Muslim states knew their limits; in other words, “they had the right to remain silent,” and anything they said could have been used against them by the Zionist lobby in the US.
Maybe our ministers in Doha should learn a lesson from Sharon, who was, in the meantime, meeting with US envoy Anthony Zinni.
Zinni had put a 48-hour ultimatum for both Israeli and the Palestinians to impose calm in the region, or he would pack and go home.
Sharon was persuading the man to stay, while his warplanes were killing civilians in the West Bank. And guess what, he didn’t give a damn to what Washington would say.
Maybe it’s not realistic on our part as Arab citizens to ask the representatives of the quarter of the world to show some manhood in dealing with the world master, but there remains one piece of advice for our governments if they are truly after realism.
Some one might argue: if such meetings hold no sense and are totally fruitless, isn’t it realistic to stop them for good and save the money spent on them?
