Arab follow-up committee wants concrete steps to establish Palestinian state

Ten Arab foreign ministers, grouped in the Arab follow-up committee set up last October by the Arab summit, spoke in favor of concrete actions from the international community to establish the Palestinian state.

"There is an international consensus" on the need to set up a Palestinian state, following the US and British statements, said Jordanian foreign minister, Abdelilah El Khatib, at the end of the committee meeting on Nov.3-4 in Damascus. He also urged Arabs to work collectively to reach this goal.

Arab league secretary general, Amr Moussa, on his part warned Arabs to be cautious against a second "political swindle," and insisted on the need for concrete actions saying "we are not going to wait another ten years," referring to the 1993 Oslo agreements.

The committee, comprising foreign ministers of Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen further urged Arab countries to carry on their monthly financial support of US$ 40 million to the Palestinian authority for the first three months of 2002, pending the upcoming Arab summit in March 2002 in Beirut.

Participants also supported the Arab League initiative to convene on November 26-27 a meeting of intellectuals, researchers and historians to explore ways of confronting the anti-Arabs campaigns.

Syrian president Bachar Al Assad received the foreign ministers who briefed him on the outcome of their meeting.

Morocco's delegation to the meeting was chaired by foreign affairs and cooperation minister, Mohamed Benaissa.