Arab summit calls for WMD-free middle-east
Regional, Politics, 3/23/2005

The Arab Summit has urged the United Nations Organization to make of the Middle East a region free of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), while condemning "all forms of terrorism."

This came in the Summit Final Declaration published at the end, Wednesday, of the two-day summit that was attended by the 22 member-countries of the Arab league with only two thirds represented by the heads of state.

Arab leaders, while reiterating their commitment to the so-called Arab Peace Initiative, deplored in particular Israel's exclusive possession of nuclear weapons and its refusal to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty and open its nuclear sites to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). They deemed this attitude "a serious danger to the region and a hindrance to regional security."

The Declaration also condemned linking terrorism to any religion or culture, and sustaining the confusion between terrorism and peoples' legitimate right to combat occupation.

The leaders stressed the need to destroy terrorism bases and to consolidate international counter-terrorism cooperation, underlining in this regard the importance of the recommendations of the Counter-Terrorism International Conference, held recently in Riyadh, especially the creation of an International Counter-Terrorism Center.

As for the peace process in the Middle East, the Arab Summit affirmed that settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be based on "international legality and the references agreed upon such as the United Nations resolutions, the principles of land for peace, the refusal of the appropriation of land by force and the Madrid Conference." The settlement, they stressed, relies on everything that leads to the creation of an independent and totally sovereign Palestinian State with Al Qods Al-Sharif as its capital.

The final declaration also highlighted the need to reform the UN, reinforce the role of the General Assembly and enlarge the Security Council to boost its efficiency and to confer more democracy and credibility to its decisions.

Arab leaders also agreed to campaign for a permanent seat in the Council.

Previous Stories:
  War on terrorism requires advance of freedom, Bush says   (3/9/2005)
  Arab League stresses support to Lebanon   (3/5/2005)
  Arab foreign ministers meeting   (3/4/2005)

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