Algiers Declaration Forms Troika To Follow-Up On Arab Initiative

2005-03-24

Arab Leaders Reject Resettlement of Palestinian Refugees in Host Countries

Palestine Media Center - PMC [Official PA website]

www.palestine-pmc.com/details.asp ?cat=1&id=832

Arab leaders on Wednesday issued the "Algiers Declaration" at the conclusion of their two-day summit in Algiers, adopted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' proposal to form an Arab delegation that will follow-up the reactivated Arab Peace Initiative, which was immediately rejected by Israel, and pledged Arab support for the Palestinian people, Syria and Lebanon to recover the land occupied by the Jewish state in 1967.

Abbas on Tuesday proposed that an Arab delegation be formed to visit US President George W. Bush to urge him to translate his words on a two-state solution into action.

Abbas' proposal aimed at "reactivating the Arab Peace Initiative and reinforcing the positive stances of the US President (George W.) Bush," who repeatedly called on Israel to "ensure that a new Palestinian state is truly viable, with contiguous territory."

The proposed delegation would also visit the other partners to the Quartet peace efforts, namely the EU, the UN, and Russia, he said.

A communiqué read out at the final session of the Algiers summit by Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mousa said peace was the Arabs' "strategic option" to settle the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The leaders "affirm in this context the Arab Peace Initiative approved by the Arab summit in Beirut in 2002," it said.

They also called on the international community to support the initiative. For this purpose, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak proposed, during the last closed session of the summit, that a committee be formed to activate the 2002 Arab peace initiative, the Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported.

The leaders adopted Mubarak's proposal as well as his suggestion that the committee members be from Arab countries whose lands are not occupied by Israel and appointed a troika to follow-up on the initiative.

The hosts of the Arab summits, namely Tunisia in 2004, Algeria in 2005 and Sudan in 2006, were appointed to the committtee by the Arab leaders meeting in Algiers on Wednesday.

When the Arab Peace Initiative was endorsed by the Beirut summit in 2002, it was agreed to form a similar committee to promote the plan to the UN, US, Russia, Islamic states and the European Union.

The Beirut Initiative was originally proposed by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, who skipped the Algiers gathering.

However, Syrian President Bashar Al-Asad suggested that Syria, Lebanon and the Palestine National Authority (PNA) be on the committee. "After all, it is our land," he said.

Egyptian President Mubarak said that would not be logical.

"Syria, Lebanon and Palestine will be more effectively represented by other Arab figures," Mubarak explained "They will be stronger defending Arab interests without Syria and Lebanon," he added.

The Arab leaders settled the last-minute dispute by authorizing the Algerian host President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to decide after consultations what other members of the Arab League to join the committee.

Jordan also was proposed to join the committee.

Affirming his confidence in Arab leaders, Palestinian President Abbas said: "We want this peace initiative to take its path to the world."

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa told reporters later that the Arab leaders had asked the Algerian President, the chairman of the summit, to give the Arab Peace Initiative fresh impetus "in the way he sees fit."

'Algiers Declaration' Rejects Resettlement of Refugee

The summit's final communiqué called on the international community to help back the Arab Peace Initiative, noting that there was a new atmosphere in the Middle East and called for "exploiting the new climate that revived hopes for resuming the peace process."

The leaders pledged total support of the Palestinian people and their new leadership in confronting the Israeli occupation and consolidating their national unity.

The Arab leaders re-launched their 2002 peace initiative, which offers Israel normal relations in return for withdrawal to 1967 borders, a condition which Israel has repeatedly rejected.

The summit communiqué, at the insistence of governments opposed to easy normalization, set out in details the conditions Israel should meet for integration into the region.

These conditions included full Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders, a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and a just solution for Palestinian refugees based on the 1948 UN resolution 194, which gives them the right to go home and to receive compensation.

The Arab leaders emphasized also that the peace process could not be "divided" and that a just and comprehensive peace cannot be achieved unless all Israeli-occupied Arab territory, including the Golan Heights and the Shabaa Farms in southern Lebanon, are recovered, the Palestinian refugee problem is justly solved, and a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital is established.

"Peace cannot be achieved without the withdrawal from occupied Arab territories, the creation of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, and settling the issue of Palestinian refugees," the statement said, rejecting any attempt to resettle Palestinians in host countries.

The meeting in Algiers marked 60 years since the creation of the Arab League.

It reiterated the Arab leaders' call to make the Middle East a region free of weapons of mass destruction, and considered as dangerous Israel's refusal to let the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) inspect its facilities.

Israel Rejects Arab Initiative, US Reserved

An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said the Arab reference to peace as a "strategic option" was positive but Israel regretted that the summit had not proposed dialogue.

"From our first reading ... it would appear that not much is new. We are disappointed that nothing was done to put substance behind that statement [on strategic option]," said spokesman Mark Regev.

The United States voiced similar reaction.

"I would note that 13 of the 22 heads of state were there, but I would say that the final communiqué did not have anything noteworthy, one way or the other, to comment on," US Deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Hani Al-Mulki told AFP that Israel's "quick and negative" reaction to the Arab Peace Initiative reactivated by the Algiers summit on Wednesday looks as if "they are not interested in peace, and we hope this is not the case."

Source: IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis