Arabs - Israel conflict and Iraq - Kuwait issues at Inter-Parliamentary Union conference in Jordan
Regional-Jordan-International, Politics, 5/3/2000

Manifestation of the conflict between the Arabs and Israelis due to continued Israeli occupation of Arab territories and the refugees issues has characterized the three-day meetings of the 103rd session of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which started in Amman on Sunday in the presence of 1,400 parliamentary figures from 123 states.

The Arab group attending the conference succeeded in enrolling the question of the Palestinian refugees as an additional item on the conference's agenda and foiled an Israeli attempt not to debate this issue.

Despite the fact that the resolutions of this conference are not compulsory on the international level, the Israeli delegation has tried since the opening of the meeting to stimulate the parliamentarians to vote for its proposal to add a new provision on the agenda to help poor countries use advanced communications technology.

The Israeli delegation also tried to convince the participants to postpone the discussions of the issue of the Palestinian refugees until the IPU's next conference to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia in October.

Meanwhile, Arab delegations were active in collecting backing for a proposal made by Algeria to discuss "Parliaments' backing for the rights of the displaced and evacuees because of wars and occupation, especially their right to return," as an introduction to paying attention to the question of more than 3.5 million Palestinian refugees, mostly living in camps in Jordan, Lebanon, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Syria.

Before the conferees voted for the Algerian proposal, members of the Lebanese, Syrian, Iranian and Iraqi delegations withdrew from the conference when the chairman of the Israeli delegation, Ran Cohen, read his presentation in which he urged the parliamentarians to vote for the Israeli proposal. These Arab and Iranian delegations returned to the conference hall during the voting process.

Also on Tuesday all Arab delegations withdrew from the meeting except the delegations of Jordan, Palestine and Egypt, just before Cohen started his presentation on the first item on political, economic and social conditions in the world.

Meanwhile, Jordanian party and trade union figures carried out a sit-in in front of the conference's headquarters at the Amman Hayat hotel in protest against the Israeli participation in the conference. They raised a banner called for "expelling the Zionist delegation" and preventing it from "dishonoring the Jordanian soil."

The observers of the sit-in also denounced the continued international sanctions on Iraq and Cohen tried to take photos of the sit-in and a clash was about to take place between Cohen and the chairman of the Jordanian Bar Association, Saleh al-Armouti, until the police interfered.

Also the Iraqi- Kuwaiti hate of each other was present in the works of the conference. On Monday and during the coordination meeting of the Arab delegations, the chairman of the Iraqi delegation, Sadoun Hammadi, proposed a draft project that provides for inviting Arab parliaments to visit Iraq and maintain solidarity with it in confrontation of the international embargo imposed on it. Immediately the chairman of the Kuwaiti parliament, Jasem al-Khurafi, opposed this Iraqi proposal and said, "Such a matter does not need a decision. And we distinguish between the killer and the victim. We are with backing the Iraqi people, but we question who is the cause of the suffering of those people."

Then the chairman of the Arab Parliamentary Union, Algerian's Abdul Qader Bin Saleh, interfered and closed the file of discussions.

At the conference's inaugural ceremony, Jordan's King Abdullah II stressed the need to bridge the gap between the developing countries and the developed countries as constituting a remarkable problem before the world's parliamentarians.

The king added that, "The region has been witnessing a historical chance to achieve peace and coexistence among people." He continued, "It is ripe time to make peace we aspire for, to end disputes and conflicts and to direct our efforts to investments in the future."

The conference, which will conclude its deliberations on Friday, discussed means of reaching peace, stability and overall development in the world, fostering political, economic and social relations among peoples, maintaining dialogue between cultures and civilizations and the question of the refugees.

Previous Stories:
  Egypt urges parliamentary declaration on peace, anti-terrorism   (5/2/2000)
  Moroccan House of Representatives publishes translation of international humanitarian law   (5/2/2000)
  Arab group at the IPU conference in Amman   (5/2/2000)

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