Wednesday, Mar 23, 2005
Wednesday, Mar 23, 2005 |
| International | ||||
|
News:
Front Page |
National |
Tamil Nadu |
Andhra Pradesh |
Karnataka |
Kerala |
New Delhi |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Engagements |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | International
By Atul Aneja
MANAMA, MARCH 22. The Arab League summit that opened in Algiers today is set to reject a Jordanian proposal advocating an improvement of ties with Israel. Instead, the meeting of top Arab leaders of the 22-nation grouping would reiterate support for Saudi Arabia's proposal, which the League adopted in 2002 in Lebanon.
"Led by emotion"
The Saudi proposal had called for the normalisation of ties with Israel, only if the latter ended its occupation by withdrawing to its pre-1967 borders, resulting in the establishment of an independent Palestinian State. The Jordanian Foreign Minister, Hani al-Mulqi, was quoted as saying, "Arabs cannot read history well and they are led by their emotion, not by reason." Abdullah II, the King of Jordan, a key U.S. ally, has opted out of the summit while heads of state from Morocco, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates are also not attending. The Foreign Minister of host Algeria, Abdelaziz Belkhadem, said the summit "will not be the summit of normalisation". "We are not going to move even one millimetre away from this," the Arab League Secretary General, Amr Moussa, told reporters. The summit has evoked considerable interest among countries belonging to the European Union (E.U.). The E.U. Foreign Minister, Javier Solana, arrived on Monday in Algiers, where he is expected to hold talks the Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas. "We must seize this occasion to help advance the peace process globally," he said, referring to the Arab-Israeli conflict. The Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, the Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, and the French Foreign Minister, Michel Barnier, are also expected to attend part of the summit.
Collective stance
The collective Arab stance against normalisation with Israel under the existing circumstances could mean that individual members would have to take their own decisions on this issue, analysts say.
Printer friendly
page
News:
Front Page |
National |
Tamil Nadu |
Andhra Pradesh |
Karnataka |
Kerala |
New Delhi |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Engagements |
|
|
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | The Hindu Images | Home |
Copyright © 2005, The
Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu
|
