Arab states express views on Jerusalem as meeting begins
Regional, Politics, 7/29/1998

The Jerusalem (Al Quds) Committee will open this Wednesday its 17th session in the Moroccan economic capital of Casablanca to debate the deadlocked Middle-East peace process and the Israeli expansionist policy in the holy city of Jerusalem.

The Arab and Islamic delegations to the Casablanca session, that will be opened by King Hassan II, unanimously stress the timeliness of the meeting and call for adequate measures to shield the city of Jerusalem against the Israeli hegemony policy.

The Palestinians, who will be represented by President Yasser Arafat, are pinning great hopes on the committee to come up with a unified stance against the policy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Head of the Political Department at the PLO, Farouk Qaddoumi, said the Casablanca meeting is particularly important as it is held at a crucial time, marked by the intensification of the Israeli Judaization moves in Jerusalem.

He voiced his hope that the meeting will be crowned with success to preserve the Arab and Islamic identity of Jerusalem.

Palestinian Planing and International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath stressed the need for the committee to draw an action plan to increase pressure on Israel and back the Palestinian people for the consolidation of their existence on their own territory.

He added that the Jerusalem Committee meeting is a response to the Israeli Judaization and expansionist practices in Jerusalem.

The present session should not be restricted to denouncing the Israeli attitude nor to assessing the situation, he said, adding that it should rather mark a shift toward diplomatic and political activation and material backing to Jerusalem and to the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian official accused Washington of taking no action to pressure "its ally" (Israel), while the European initiatives are not enough to put pressure on the Israelis.

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi, whose country is currently chairing the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), said the Jerusalem Committee is expected to take firm decisions to confront the challenges that the holy city is facing.

For his part, Iran's ambassador to Morocco, Hossein Sohbani, said "the settlement of the Palestinian issue is in the hands of Arab and Islamic countries and the liberation of the holy city of Jerusalem depends on a joint and unified action of these countries."

He added that his country rejects any kind of normalization of relations with Israel, because it would only consolidate Netanyahu's intransigence.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, whose country is currently involved with France in a new initiative to boost the Middle-East peace process, rejected and denounced the fait accompli policy of the Israelis.

He added that the Arab and Islamic countries will not remain "passive" as to the Israeli moves in Jerusalem.

Touching on the Egyptian-French initiative, Moussa said, "We shifted to studying the details of the initiative."

The initiative seeks to salvage the Middle East peace process through the holding of an international conference.

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa said the Israeli policy seeks "to make of the Arab Jerusalem a mere district in a greater Jewish Jerusalem." He added that such plans seriously harm the interests and the dignity of the Islamic Ummah (nation).

The Jerusalem Committee meeting, to be chaired by King Hassan II, will be attended by President Yasser Arafat of Palestine in addition to the foreign ministers of the 16 member countries.

The Committee, an off-shoot of the OIC, seeks "to establish a global plan for the liberation" of Jerusalem and the preservation of the cultural and religious heritage of the holy city.

Moroccan official sources said it will examine "the dangerous situation in the city of holy Jerusalem following the Israeli government decision to expand the limits of the municipality of the holy city with a view to modifying its political status."

The Jerusalem Committee, which was set up in 1975, gathers Morocco, as chairman, Palestine, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Senegal, Guinea, Niger and Mauritania.

Previous Stories:
  Decisive decisions expected from Jerusalem committee   (7/28/1998)
  Pan-Islamic organization terms Jerusalem committee meeting as timely   (7/27/1998)
  No breakthrough worries Israel as next week's conference may isolate Israel   (7/23/1998)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search