Arafat to annouce statehood after conference on Jerusalem

The Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference will present an international conference about "Honored Jerusalem" in the Moroccan capital Rabat in February 1999, under the sponsorship of the Moroccan monarch, King Hassan II, the head of Jerusalem committee.

The head of the Euro-Arab Studies Center, Dr. Saleh Bakr El-Tiar, said that after his meeting with A.L. Secretary-General Esmat Abdul Meguid that the center will supervise the choosing of the pivotal issues that will be discussed at the conference. These issues will concentrate on Jerusalem's situation and its international status, the different religions, the future of peace within the current circumstances, Jerusalem's future and economic development.

Saleh added that the conference will be attended by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the head of the European Commission Jacques Santer, U.S. peace process coordinator Dennis Ross and a number of U.S. State Department officials concerned with the Middle East, the Palestinian issue, Islamic affairs, UNESCO, and Arab businessmen.

Meanwhile, he added that high-ranking Islamic and Christian businessmen will participate in the conference as well. A call was directed to ministers of Islamic affairs in Islamic and Arab countries, Jerusalem's Mufti Sheikh Ekrma Sabri, the patriarch of Jerusalem and a number of Vatican officials.

El-Tiar confirmed that the conference will be held at the very time when Palestinian President Yasser Arafat will formally announce the establishment of an independent Palestinian state after the meeting, pointing out that the coming year is a decisive year for Jerusalem according to the Oslo accords.

El-Tiar added that the Euro-Arab Studies Center will hold an international symposium about the future of Arab-Gulf security within the current international circumstances during October in Paris, in which academics and officials from the Gulf countries will participate.